Greetings: And So It Begins . . .

This site, along with its accompanying newsletter, is new. What you’re reading now is the inaugural post, meant to provide an introduction to your gracious host (that’s me) and to offer a rough guide as to what you might expect to find here in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Let’s start with me. My name is Brad Casemore. For the last decade (ten and half years, but who’s counting?), I was a market analyst at International Data Corporation (IDC), responsible for research coverage of cloud and datacenter networking.

In this new realm, however, I will not trouble you with commentary on those areas. I’ll be scanning a broader horizon, analyzing and observing the interplay and tensions between the technology industry and society, which facilitated the creation of these advanced digital technologies and is now being profoundly affected by their quickening advance. Admittedly, I’ve given myself a generous mandate, but the wide latitude should allow me to make connections that I would otherwise not be able to establish if I were more circumscribed.

I possess neither fame nor notoriety, but a scant few of you might vaguely remember me from a blog I wrote, before I joined IDC, called Twilight in the Valley of the Nerds. It offered commentary on the events and happenings that attended various information technologies and their markets (primarily but not exclusively computer networking). If you don’t remember reading Twilight in the Valley of the Nerds, or if its mention means nothing to you, don’t worry: As I’ve mentioned, the focus here will be broader, less constrained, driven more by exploration of themes and topics than by the importuning of day-to-day news items.

What did I do before Twilight in the Valley of the Nerds? I have been in the technology industry for (checks calendar) about 35 years, which is at least partly why I have retired. My career took me from involvement with foundational hardware infrastructure to various types of software, and I was subjected to both sides of time’s remorseless double-edged sword: gaining insights and knowledge through invaluable experience but, unfortunately, getting older in the process. There’s a well-known maxim that youth is wasted on the young. Perhaps that’s too harsh, but there’s no question that most of us who have endured the ravages of time, and been taught countless hard lessons by experience, wish that we knew then what we know now.

So, what should else you expect to find here? One way for me to answer that question is to reveal more about my disposition, how I look at things. I’m sure all of you are familiar with the proverbial rhetorical question: “Is the glass half empty or half full?” The question is intended to discern whether the individual who answers it has an optimistic or pessimistic outlook. The problem is, the question is binary in nature, arguably intolerant of any trace of ambiguity. Perhaps that’s by design, but there are other questions that might be relevant, too: Who poured the water into the glass? Why did they stop at the halfway point? Did the choice result from indifference, meanness, or the preference of the person who will drink the water. Perhaps there’s a water shortage? I’m being facetious here, digressing into the overripe garden of parody, but you get the point: I’m inclined to thorough analysis by nature; I come by it honestly. My aim here is to be incisive and to provide a distinctive, if not always unique, perspective on a range of concerns that technology’s inexorable ascent has brought to the forefront.

I should address a couple other matters in this introductory note.

I will be charging for the content. Why? I’m embracing the principle that there should be reciprocal respect between writer and reader. By charging a modest fee for what I write, I’m ensuring that I have an abiding obligation to continually deliver material of high quality. Similarly, I’m ensuring that I serve an engaged and respectful readership, perhaps one that will develop into a collaborative cohort, providing feedback, constructive criticism, and recommendations on topics and themes for future exploration. I am not so presumptuous as to suggest that a close-knit community will develop, but I welcome as much interaction as readers are willing to offer. What I definitely don’t want — and I hope we’re in agreement on this point — is abusive language, personal attacks, and incivility. The digital world has more than enough of those commodities; I won’t be adding to the stock here. Mutual courtesy will prevail, ensuring that we will be considerate and respectful, even — perhaps especially — when we disagree.

I also want to emphasize that what I will offer here will be mine and mine only. I am not, nor do I aspire to be, a “digital influencer,” modern-day shill, or pay-to-play impresario. I will not entertain sponsorships, and I will not subject readers to hucksterism. The views expressed here will be mine, and I will have only myself to blame for errors of commission and omission.

Finally, I should inform you about the frequency of published content. My commitment is to publish twice a week. You might see three pieces occasionally, but those instances should be viewed as bonus weeks. My aim is to ensure that the quality of the output remains high; a requirement to blast out daily salvos would work against that objective. I can maintain both quality and quantity on a twice-weekly regimen.

I’m retired from the working world, but I’m not dead. The synapses are still firing, and I retain some fire in the belly. I hope that the material to come will be as engaging for you to read as it will be for me to write.