Today: November 3, 2024 7:51 am
A collection of Software and Cloud patterns with a focus on the Enterprise

Software Engineering


I recently gave a presentation on AI expectations where I explored a critical question: Are we hindering our own progress with AI by setting unrealistic expectations? We’re in an exciting era. AI is increasingly capable of creating content, driving business outcomes, and even pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible. But there’s a gap between what we want from AI and what we’re willing to accept. Here’s a recording of the presentation. My thoughts continue after. In my presentation, you can see that I shared a simple visual: a split image showing a photo-realistic image......

Continue Reading


Application modernization. It’s a term we hear a lot. But what does it really mean, and how can we do it successfully? Most people think about things like moving to the cloud, containers, or microservices when they hear about application modernization. But the reality is that application modernization is about much more than just technology. It’s about transforming your people and processes, too. In my session at the Houston DevOpsDays in 2022, there is a huge cultural component that precedes successful technology modernization. You can view the session here (my commentary is below......

Continue Reading


I recently came across an older video where I discuss the importance of a holistic approach to modernization in software development. This means considering the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders involved, from developers and engineers to business leaders and end-users. You can view the video here (see my commentary below the video). (NOTE: the first several minutes may feel like rehash of old ideas, so feel free to scan ahead) Why a Holistic Approach? Too often, modernization efforts fail because they focus solely on technical aspects, neglecting the human element. This can......

Continue Reading


In May I delivered a session at Google Cloud Next 2024 showing the technology behind MosquitoMax’s journey from a legacy system to a modern, connected mosquito control solution. In this post I highlight the architecture, programming languages, cloud services, and key hardware components that came together to create a real-time, user-friendly experience. Most of the content here aligns with the recording of my presentation: The Architecture’s Backbone: The foundation of MosquitoMax’s new system is built around a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W mounted on a custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that brings together......

Continue Reading


A few years ago I was asked to present on Immutable Infrastructure. Rather than prepare slides, I created a series of blog posts that I presented virtually (thanks to COVID). Here’s a recording of the video that I just noticed was posted online: In this video, I discuss the benefits of immutable infrastructure and how it can help to improve development workflows and team collaboration. I also provide three scenarios where immutable infrastructure can be beneficial: development environments, CI/CD, and production. Here are the key points covered in the video: I also discuss......

Continue Reading


In the ever-evolving world of technology, your business needs a reliable and powerful ally to stay ahead. That’s where Google Cloud comes in. In the following video, Daniel Watrous, a Google Cloud customer engineer, talks with Ron Gerber about the ways that Google Cloud is more than just another cloud provider; it’s a competitive advantage. At its core, Google Cloud is built on a foundation of security, performance, and a vast network that literally spans the globe. Imagine your data traveling seamlessly through Google’s own fiber optic cables, crisscrossing oceans, and ensuring your......

Continue Reading


Recently I decided to give the Orange pi zero 2 W a try, and one of the experiments I decided to run was use an Ultrasonic Distance Measurement based on the Waterproof Ultrasonic Module JSN-SR04T. The code provided is for the Raspberry pi and assumes RPi.GPIO is available, which it isn’t on the Orange pi zero 2 W. It’s important to note that the wiring is identical for the Orange pi zero 2 W and the Raspberry pi zero 2 W. This means you use the same pins. The wiring diagram shown is......

Continue Reading


When Google introduced Anthos as a cloud offering in April 2019, they hoped to unlock value for their customers that was previously trapped in physical data centers. Customer flexibility, scale, reliability and mobility were among the key design principles that influenced Anthos. During the intervening years, Google has augmented the Anthos offering to encompass new products, centralized configuration and various deployment modalities. One enterprise objective that Anthos designs for is to provide a single pane of glass and a homogeneous platform across clouds and on premise. From an operations perspective, this both reduces......

Continue Reading


Accurate pricing for complex cloud projects is a key requirement for success. Unfortunately the sheer number of variables and the ever changing landscape of pricing, shifting of regions, etc. makes it extremely difficult to keep a pricing model up to date as the project evolves. Google Cloud anticipated that when they created https://cloud.google.com/billing/v1/how-tos/catalog-api. Using this API, it’s possible to get up to the moment pricing for all Google Cloud SKUs. These pricing details can then be added to a Google Sheet or other dataset to create flexible cost models for projects of any......

Continue Reading


AI and Machine Learning (ML) can be a real boost for many companies, especially those with a lot of accumulated data from years of operation. AI platforms are getting easier to use without having data scientists on staff, while at the same time data lifecycle patterns are well established. Most of these AI platforms target cloud based use cases, which leads to the question: What do you do if the data needs to stay on premise? Patterns The illustration below shows a few common approaches to using AI. Something that may be less......

Continue Reading