Floyd Patrick N. Piedad

My Published Book

High Availability:Design, Techniques, Processes

The complete "how-to guide" for maximizing the availability of enterprise systems. 

Training, support, backup, and maintenance account for nearly 80 percent of the total cost of today's enterprise applications-and much of that money is spent trying to squeeze increased availability out of applications in spite of weak design and management processes. In High Availability, IT experts bring together best practices for every people and process-related issue associated with maximizing application availability. The goal: to help enterprises dramatically improve the value of their strategic applications, without investing a dime more than necessary. 

View book at Amazon.com

White Papers and Articles

Over the past years, I was contracted to write these articles and whitepapers which were published online.

How Microsoft Moves ITIL V3 from Concept to Practice

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has evolved from focusing on functions in its first version, to processes in its second version, and now—with ITIL version 3 (v3)—to addressing the entire service management life cycle, from service conceptualization to continuous service improvement. The benefit of a full life-cycle approach is that you design services that hold strategic value for the business and you continue to operate and improve those services to continually meet business needs as they evolve. 

This paper articulates how Microsoft supports and extends this service life-cycle approach. 

Read the white paper


Microsoft White Paper / Posted: Sept, 2007

Mobile trends: It's time for developers to think beyond the app

The mobile app trends for 2015 and beyond are being driven by three major changes in the telecom and IT industries: the availability of low-cost mobile devices, ubiquitous Internet connectivity, and the proliferation of low-cost cloud-based services. I discuss each of these in detail below. This environment is driving three major trends with respect to app functionalities: apps that aggregate and publish content, apps that act like a platform for other apps, and apps that become the collection tool for personalized data. All these are now pushing developers to adopt a new model for app development, one that involves building not just an app, but a "service." Success with this new model hinges not just on their development skills but, more critically, on their operational capabilities.

Read the article


TechBeacon.com / Posted: Jul, 2015

Discover your Biggest DevOps Problems — by Causing Them

The best way for organizations to identify their DevOps problems is to cause the problems to happen. However, this "fire drill" approach to problem discovery should be implemented only when accompanied by a strategic focus on the "three Ps" of the DevOps ecosystem: product, platform and process.


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HPE.com / Posted Jun, 2015

IoT Apps Trend: 3 Essential Ingredients for Success 

Is 2015 the year Internet of Things (IoT) hype turns into opportunity? Should you invest in IoT apps and services? If you are an independent developer, the answer is yes, but proceed with caution. The risks and are still high, but IoT app development is easy enough that you can roll out small-scale deployments with a modest investment. Creating these exploratory products now can prepare you for the larger opportunities ahead.

Read the article


TechBeacon.com / Posted Apr, 2015

Will Android Fragmentation Spoil its IoT Appeal?

The openness of Android may be good for consumers, but it hurts the platform's potential for wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT). Developers who were already frustrated with Android fragmentation are finding IoT design a real nightmare—and many are opting to build their first products on iOS instead. Google has responded by making the platform less open, but it may be too late. If Android is forever a mess of not-quite-compatible platforms, should developers keep IoT development focused on iOS?


Read article


TechBeacon.com / Posted 2015

Aligning the IT Organization to Business Needs

One of the biggest challenges for CIOs and senior IT managers today is to be able to communicate the value of the IT organization to the business that it supports. The problem is significant, as surveys of CEOs and top executives show a general dissatisfaction, or more precisely a lack of full satisfaction, with the services provided by their internal IT organizations. Communicating the business value of the IT organization starts with understanding the major drivers of senior executives and where the use of Information Technology can be of help to them. 


Read the article


HarrisKern.com / Posted May, 2005

Implement Security Management with these Six Steps

With security one of their highest priorities, executives are searching for effective techniques to deliver maximum security while simplifying security management. This outline explains what you'll need to focus on. 


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TechRepublic.com / Posted Oct, 2008

High Availability in Outsourced IT Services

The terms "high availability" and "outsourced services" are rarely seen together, with their combined use looking more like an oxymoron or a contradiction in terms. Is it possible to get high availability levels from services rendered by a third party? This article helps you gain the right perspective in making use of outsourced services and giving up that control that is so vital in any high-availability operations setup.


Read the article


InformIT.com / Posted Feb, 2003

Total Cost of Ownership: Principles and Practical Applications

"Cheap" computer technology ain't necessarily cheap. When evaluating what something will cost to purchase, are you giving any thought to the total cost of owning it? What will it cost you to use it? Maintain it? Repair it? Upgrade it? Will end users adopt it? Will they spend all of their valuable working time playing with it? Fighting with it? Complaining about it? 


Read the article


InformIT.com / Posted Jun, 2001

Choosing a Service Provider Requires Careful Research

Before you choose to outsource, you need to do some research into potential service providers. Here are the main points to cover and a quick evaluation checklist. Is it possible to have high availability in outsourced IT services? The answer is a cautious “yes”—as long as you are willing to put in some extra work. Maintaining high availability while using a third-party provider requires a change in management practice, close monitoring of the service suppliers, and identification of alternate sources of the outsourced service in case of supplier failures. Done correctly, outsourcing can help you focus on your core business expertise; but done incorrectly, you can end up spending too much effort and resources trying to make up for poor service from your service provider, which defeats the purpose of the outsourcing effort. 


Read the article


TechRepublic.com / Posted Jan, 2003

Keep Outsourced IT Services from Impeding High Availability

If you think third-party providers equal reduced availability, think again. You can maintain high availability AND employ a third-party provider if you follow these golden outsourcing rules. One of the biggest risks you face when employing a third-party provider is reduced availability. Low system availability not only infuriates users, but it usually defeats any possible reason for employing a third-party provider in the first place. When your IT organization decides to outsource a service that it traditionally provided directly, that decision will create an intermediary layer of service delivery between IT and the end users. This intermediary layer should be transparent to the end users. 


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TechRepublic.com / Posted Jan, 2003

The Discipline of Systems Management

One of the problems brought about by the proliferation of advanced user computing platforms (desktop PCs, notebook PCs, PDAs, and even smart phones) is that it makes the task of maintaining the entire corporate information system much more complex and difficult. Bear in mind that even these end-user systems need to be treated as part of the whole IT setup, because corporate data is stored, processed, and transferred by and through these devices.


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InformIT.com / Posted Dec, 2001
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