I Am Amaryllis - IMRAN™

I Am Amaryllis - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

Click to see larger!

Two years ago I was at a local home fixtures store when I saw a packaged bulb-in-a-pot offer for what looked like a lovely flower photo on the cardboard carton.

Even for someone who does not actively garden, I am blessed with having a green thumb (except when it comes to enough Dollars… that color green always slips through my fingers too fast LOL).

I purchased it, and planted the included bulb and dirt in the silver-painted plastic container.

I was thrilled when the bulb shot up stem a few months later and a beautiful set of flowers erupted.

I do not think I got a chance to photograph that set. Later, I ignored the instructions on how to take out the bulb and store it and how to revive it next season.

First two, and then just a single long green blade stayed alive for another year.

I just lightly watered the pot every few months. And, just when I got home from a long trip abroad, I was thrilled to see this explosion of sweet, stunning, shining, shimmering pink flowers all bloom within a two day period, shouting….

I Am Amarlyliis!.

Even without any special place to photograph them, I took pictures with the iPhone 4S and the Nikon D300, and they came out looking like an art gallery exhibit of white on white against my simple jacuzzi bathroom wall.

I had to change my usual framing colors to honor this simply stunning pink flowering plant. I hope you enjoy this beautiful flower as much as I am even as I write these lines.

© 2012 IMRAN
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CURES For Security Challenges In Cloud, Crowd, Big Data And The Big Bad World

An industry colleague and fellow blogger/journalist Mary Jander wrote an interesting article, "Security May Be Too Big a Job for IT" on Internet Evolution. It was a thought provoking post. Though I only see two comments on it at the time of writing this article, I am, for someone often taking contrarian views, quite in agreement with both Kim Davis and smkinoshita who wrote comments there. They talked about collaboration, and where the role of Security in an organization should lie.

With the advent of Cloud Computing, and more and more use of public, hybrid and public cloud converged infrastructures, one of the questions I am asked most often is, "Oh, is the cloud secure?"

Ironically, this is common between a housewife sitting on a flight next to me and a CEO that I may be advising. 

"Nothing is secure, unless you make it a collaborative business of everyone in the enterprise to make it so," is what I, sometimes to their chagrin, bluntly tell them.

The problem is how Cloud Security, IT Security, Information Security, Data Security, Premises Security, Perimeter Security, XYZ Security, are still almost islands of imagined security unto themselves. This is not so much a technical limitation as an issue of three major distinct issues. 

The first is due to enterprise architectures designed for the last century, or at best, for the last decade. 

The second is the human element of doing management by dividing large entities into smaller pieces for easier management. That works great for operations, project management, etc. but is a terrible approach to security. 

The third is a lack of collaboration (and integration) where it counts (end-to-end enterprise security) while organizational leaders patting themselves on the back for having rolled out some collaboration platform for sharing Word documents and Excel files.

This problem is not new. It goes back decades.

In 1999, as CEO of EverTrac, a pioneer of location-aware mobile information management & security, I was privileged to speak to top leaders at the United States Space & Missile Defense Command (I still get goosebumps at that name :-) and tell people to envisage Crystal Palace in one of my favorite childhood movies, War Games) at an Undisclosed Location in Alabama :-) .

But, excitement aside, I was surprised (and seriously concerned) when they were surprised at my saying they had to worry more about the information than about how to secure the servers and data centers, as they were focused on. 

Even more, I said, they had to start thinking in terms of erasing boundaries between security departments -- not just in IT but even with and within non-IT. At the level of criical importance their Star Wars program was (and the nature of information today must be even more important and the threats even more nefarious and multifarious), not only would there be attempts, I said, to break in over the network, but physically, as well as various combinations. 

The advent of mobile devices, global networks, hacking tools, complicated systems with often un-patched vulnerabilities, managed by people either lacking or not interested in keeping up with the latest iterations of technology and security challenges and solutions, all touching the cloud, make for an explosive mixture. 

Even in 1999, I declared to my audience that these problems had CURES™. 

I said Collaborative Unified Realtime Enterprise Security (collaboration was not yet a buzzword then) would be key to solving the problem before it became intractable. Sadly, 12-13 years later, even the top companies in private sector high information value businesses do not get it. 

I continue to highlight this even more vociferously the more our lives generate, use, and are governed by, floods of big data, accessible to crowds large and small, all in a cloud with nebulous threats and security capabilities. I am glad others are taking up this serious problem. 

Together, we can find the CURES!

25 Years!

25 Years! Back To Commemorate On Exact Date Of First Visit To Europe 19 April 1987 - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

I left Pakistan early on the morning of the 19th, for my first flight into Europe, my first trip abroad, landing in Europe on April 19, 1987. It was an incredible April to June trip.

I promised I would return, and I did, visiting France, and Spain, at other times in the past few years.

But, I had not previously made it to Holland, even though I had passed through Schipol, Amsterdam, during my trip to Barcelona, Spain, (ironically with a Dutch born then GF).

By the grace of God, I took a flight that left USA on the evening of the 18th, when it was EXACTLY the same time in Pakistan EXACTLY 25 Years after my first international flight, to again travel to Europe on the same exact date as my first trip.

April 19, 1987. April 19, 2012. Exactly 25 years later, I am back to commemorate that awesome chapter in my life.

God is kind and has blessed me with an incredible journey, every step of the way, Please keep me in your prayers. May we all meet and celebrate such anniversaries another 25 years from now. Amen.

© 2012 IMRAN
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iPhone 4S photo taken by a random tourist who I offered to take a picture of with his camera. This was after 24 hours of travel, and 30 hours awake!

Technorati Tags: Imran Anwar, Europe, Photography, Travel, Travelogue

How To Think Clearly Before You Buy A Motorcycle!

I just read an interesting article in BusinessWeek, How to Buy a Motorcycle by Mitch Daniels.


I love motorcycles. (Of course, I love flying, boating, driving German cars, and motorcycles, in that order!).


My Dad bought me my first (and until recently only) motorcycle, a Yamaha Enduro in Pakistan in 1981-82, when they were still imported from Japan.


Twenty years later, in about 2001-2002, here in the USA, I went to go buy another bike because I wanted to enjoy them while I was physically fit. (I prefer racing style bikes to hogs). I figured the under $200 monthly payment was worth it, but was dissuaded by the shocking price of comprehensive insurance.


The insurance company was treating me like a new rider considering how long I had not ridden officially. (I did take friend's bikes in Pakistan for occasional spins during trips there in that time).


So, 10 more years went by, but as I near 50, I took the leap and last year at my birthday, got myself a gorgeous 2011 Yamaha YZF-R6.


The R1 was just a couple thousand dollars more, and a year older unsold Kawasaki 1400cc was just a thousand more on clearance. It was very tempting. But, I realized the few thousand dollars more was worth the price of the toy but not the almost certain guarantee to have too much power and get myself killed.


However, even though I decided on the 600cc, even after the R6 was delivered to me, I did not ride it until I had taken three riding classes. I was delighted at how the instructors were pleasantly surprised that I did not need classes but took them anyway. And I am glad I did. I still learnt so much more. I had all the mechanical and riding skills to pass my test, but the lessons, the tips, the advice, the stories of how people get in trouble, made the riding classes a great investment.


Fortunately, I realized something a lot of people may rather forget. In the 30 years since my first Yamaha, the bike I owned went from 100cc street legal dirt bike weighing probably 100 lbs to a 600cc monster of power (max speed 165 mph) weighing 350 lbs, while my body, though fairly fit, has gone from that of a 150 lbs. 18 year old to a man nearing 200 lbs. and 50, even if not feeling (or looking, LOL) it.


I also bought, and read, books like Proficient Motorcycling, and others, and learned even more. In about 8 months, including winter in NY, I put nearly 4000 miles on the bike and loved every minute of it.


I believe in the adage that at the end of life we regret the things we did not do more than the ones we did (and shouldn't have). But, keep in mind, there are many cases of people where the purchase of a motorcycle more than they could handle led to a hastened end of life.


So, be very, very careful in making this decision. I did not regret it and am blessed so far. But I realize, one false move, even from an inattentive car driver on the road, can mean the end for me.


Choose wisely. Ride safe. I'll see you on the road. 

Clock Tower, Sea Time - IMRAN™

Clock Tower, Sea Time - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

Singer Island, Florida, is a place I fell in love with when I made it my second home in America in 2003.

One of the nearby places I loved going with special people in life has been Palm Beach, the ritzy but understated, island home-ground and playground of the rich and (many choosing NOT to be) famous. In particular, Worth Avenue is a great place to hang out, where old money meets new glitz. Fancy stores of the world's most posh brands stand next to understated elegant dining. Expensive cars that seem to flash irritatingly in Miami appear to be quietly parked along the street as their owners quietly and without pretense walk the sidewalks.

On the East end of Worth Avenue, a maor renovation was done recently, which included the building of this clock tower. Its architecture has elicited diverse comments, but the view from inside and around it is wonderful.

My last trip here recently was on a stormy night, and the rain was falling on me as I stood by the roadside, taking advantage of low traffic at that dusk hour, when the sky was still bright but the lights were turning on, when the clouds were menacing, but the sea was welcoming.

As I stood there, I realized, as the seconds of our lives go by, standing under a Clock Tower, Sea Time and distance merging at the horizon, you see time through a portal, the image merging time gone by and the endless promise of a beautiful life still ahead, despite the storms on the horizon.

Handheld photo captured with my spare Nikon (pocket sized 16MP Coolpix 6200 ISO1600, f/3.2 at half-second 4.5mm), as I did not want to risk damaging the D300 in the rain.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Technorati Tags: Architecture, Art, Florida, IMRAN, Night, Nikon, Photography, Tourism, Travel, Palm Beach

Pigeon, Homing - IMRAN™

Pigeon, Homing - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

I stood on the shore of Pompano Beach, Florida, more than a thousand miles from the shore of my NY home, and not too far from where I had my second home in Florida.

I was soaking in the late winter sun, the stunning turquoise blue waters, and foaming white surf.

I stopped to take a photo of this wild pigeon, thinking how a breed of this bird can be used as a carrier/homing pigeon that can travel a thousand miles on its own.

It can fly at 50 mph for long distances and even up to 110 mph over short races.

As I contemplated this and looked at the bird, it in turn observed me. It sat there for a while, and then suddenly took off.

I only had an instant to change focus, while the bird focused on the mission at hand.

It was hard to do on a manual focus 300mm-450mm eq zoom which barely had space to focus on the pier wood a few feet from me.

But, in that instant, the shallow depth of field was perfect to catch the pigeon, the moment after it launched, it's wings stretched almost like an eagle's, as it homed in on the Nikon Moment.... Pigeon, Homing!

The Nikon D300 caught the spectacular blue and white rolling surf and sea, the dark grained wood, and the sharp, intensely focused glare of the piegeon's menacing orange ringed eye…. while the sun behind my shoulder reflected its shoulders brightly, making it an intense, interesting and incredible moment.

I hope your imagination also takes off on seeing this photo as you, I, we all, home in our goals in life, in this time we share on this planet.

© 2012 IMRAN
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Sun. At Half Mast. Literally. - IMRAN™

Sun. At Half Mast. Literally. - IMRAN™ -- [SOOC], a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

SOOC. Image Straight Out Of Camera, absolutely unedited and untouched. (Only frame and titles added in Photoshop.)

I am blessed to live on the water, looking at glorious silky satin smooth silver blue waters in the morning and luscious, brilliant sunsets and dusks, from all the windows of my blessed home on Long Island, New York.

The beach my home is on also gives me magical moments to savor, to make memories in, and to photograph sunsets.

But, sometimes the stunning imagery lies to the side of the house, if I walk out the ftont door and head to my boat slip or beach, the setting sun behind the marina to the side makes for interesting combinations, of sun, clouds, and sailboat masts.

This latest photo I captured at the side of the home was of the Sun sliding down behind the sailboat while the clouds seem like wave passing in front of the… Sun. At Half Mast. Literally!

I hope you enjoy this totally unedited SOOC photo. Click to see larger and on black.

© 2012 IMRAN
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