In case you missed it, McKinsey released a report entitled “Clearing the air on Cloud Computing” and it is fair to say that its timing is quite apt, as there has been much debate recently in the blogosphere about Cloud Computing, the “buzz”, it value proposition, the economics/financials and most important of all the role virtualisation plays.

With Cloud Computing being such a broad - and dare I say it - vague term, the report overall highlights some interesting areas but at the same time has lots of folks raising questions about the cost models used, areas of focus etc..  

So with all of this, the last 2 weeks have been interesting to say the least, as folks debate whether Cloud is cheaper, IaaS vs PaaS and the role virtualisation and system management tools plays.

Even today, 2 of the big heavyweights have added to the debate

- Google -  Official Google Enterprise Blog: What we talk about when we talk about cloud computing

- Microsoft - 'Private cloud' = just another buzzword for on-premise datacenter?

Cloud Computing definitions and snowflakes have a lot in common, no two are alike.

And this is even before you bring in the discussion of what is multi-tenancy and is virtualisation enough? Or is there more to the value proposition of multi-tenancy and is of a direct benefit to customers as well as SaaS/Cloud Providers – and their tenancy density models, OpEx and CapEx.

More on this later!

/Paul

Citrix Joins DMTF Board of Directors

/Paul

Since its announcement a year ago, rumours and speculation (for a good review, see link) have been circulating about Google intentions with AppEngine, e.g. see a sample of the blogosphere discussion at Techmeme at the time.

One of the big take aways I had at the time was besides the fact that it was an early preview (only python based etc…), but also that it was focused on targeting the consumer-focused market and not the business applications market.

In the 12 months that have passed alot has changed and Cloud Computing is now the principal lingua franca for all things OnDemand, be it Web2.0 or Business Applications. 

So I find it interesting that Google announces that the second development language and environment that it is going to support on AppEngine is Java! Not PHP or Ruby! It will be interesting to see if Google uses its own custom VM, i.e. a variation of its Dalvik VM.

[update from link : Google’s AppEngine “Java runtime can support any language with a compiler that targets the JVM. In fact, many advanced scenarios work as well - such as libraries that rely on runtime bytecode generation (such as dependency injection frameworks, AOP)”]

And even more interesting, Google has also announced Google SDC (Secure Data Connector), which enables behind the firewall integration with Google AppEngine(/Cloud) , also see link, link and link 

Is Google getting more into Enterprise computing? If you combine the new pricing for AppEngine,  existing SSO functionality and Google Apps (and its reseller programme), it certainly looks possible.

The big questions that seem to remain are SLA (i.e. none exists, as far as I know), marketplace (next logical step, when looking at where Google Apps appears to be going) and production ready ( and hooks up with Android for mobile and netbooks), but I guess the Google I/O conference at the end of May could answer some of these questions.

All of this certainly makes Fabric based Cloud Computing even more interesting, especially as the IT ops and scalability costs are more and more baked into the fabric. If folks like Google and Microsoft can get feature parity with OnPremise offerings - but for an OnDemand context - then folks like Amazon and Salesforce are in an interesting position, from a costs and overheads perspective.

/Paul

Just saw that Salesforce’s CloudForce London Content is now available at this link, plus this excellent MarComms video – which I think is very well put together.

/Paul

Well yesterday was the day that the Open Cloud Manifesto was officially published so I thought I would follow up on my previous post and share a few links that I found insight.

- Larry Dignan gives an excellent run down of who is in and who is out

Can you have an Open Cloud Manifesto without Amazon, Google, Salesforce and Microsoft?

-  Paul Greenberg provides an insightful review and analysis of the current state of play of the Manifesto

The Open Cloud Initiative: Whats Up With That?

After having a few days to think about the Manifesto, I am still not certain as to what it aims to achieve or could achieve?

This is especially the case as the folks at the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forumpulled out of Monday’s announcement of the Open Cloud Manifesto (also see link) and even more important in my view, the Big Four in Cloud Computing are not involved.  

But ultimately, the single biggest aspect I still do not get is the current list of backers for the manifesto, see link. This is a vastly diverse portfolio of companies with very different offerings and value propositions for different parts of the Solution delivery stack. With all of those different agendas and constituencies could a productive outcome be achieved in a reasonable timeframe?

If you buy into the proposition and thesis that Cloud Computing encompasses, SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, then what common ground can be developed for so many diverse vendors – ranging from chip manufactures to Public Cloud (IaaS) providers to Network Equipment vendors to Application/Platform (SaaS/PaaS) providers to System Management Tool Vendors/Services = outside of what currently exists in the industry via Web Services Interoperability and REST/POX. As for Virtualisation (the core atomic unit in a data center today), already their are efforts in place here, but Citrix, Microsoft, Parallels and Virtual Iron are not backers of the manifesto at the moment.

Maybe this is just a push for a Private Cloud Computing, which right now makes more sense to me , especially considering who is in and who is out at the moment. 

If you look at the list through a OnPremise/MSP/Telco/Managed Hosting/”private cloud” lens, then more of the dots seem to join up and with the aim of Public Cloud Private Cloud “inteop”.

Just a few thoughts!

/Paul

For all of the details, go to virtualization.info.

……. and then their was 6…….

Certainly not an early arrival to the game, but their OS Containers are very interesting for certain target scenarios and the more they build out the hypervisor offering the more interesting OS Containers become! Or at least that's how I see it and mileage will vary!

/Paul

[document below via link]

Hopefully the platform wars are not back (also see Techmeme conversation at link),  with the Manifesto below reportedly being backed by IBM, SUN, GOOG amongst others, while MSFT and AMZ are not involved.

Cloud Computing can be a daunting enough concept to navigate, without full on Vendor sports taking place like we had with the SOA Hype cycle. There is some really good stuff in there but seeing through the clouds can be challenging sometimes ;) and ultimately it is very early days yet for standards to form.

/Paul

Open Cloud Manifesto v1.0.9

[via link]

From the CNet article:

“A small new survey from Nielsen about the five fastest growing "member community destinations" in the U.S. reveals what we all kind of knew already: Twitter is at the top. From February 2008 to February 2009, it clocked in at a whopping 1,382 percent growth rate.”

For me (and being in Ireland), the tipping point was when Irish media (Radio and TV) started to talk more about Social Media as part of their normal flow (i.e. not called out specifically as being social media) and Bebo and MySpace were less called out (if called out at all) – i.e. its only been Facebook and Twitter (in the vast majority of cases) for a while now.

/Paul

[via Intel’s blog see link]

“You can read the whitepaper online here or download it here.”

/Paul

Since it took me a little head scratching to figure out where the Session recordings are being posted (Doh!!)  I thought I would share.

Session Videos or alternatively go to this link and look for a like camera icon beside the session title (in the Summary/Abstract view of a session that is below the timetable)

There is a certain bit of irony about this, considering that so much of Mix is about UX and Usability ;) But ‘nough about that, a simple blog post on the main page/site would have done the trick.

/Paul

[via BTL, see link]

I’m a bit late on blogging this, but certainly worth noting! right?

/Paul

Like Mary-Jo Foley, I reckon the unsung announcement is that Silverlight 3.0 is going to run outside of the browser is a big one.

See Mary-Jo Foley’s post on the Silverlight 3.0 announcement,

/Paul

[via link]

“New capabilities in Windows Azure include support for full trust to increase the level of flexibility for developers through support of native code, non-.NET language support via FastCGI, and geolocation to provide developers with the capability to host data and code across two U.S.-based datacenters.”

/Paul

fresh bits, get them while they are hot…….

/Paul

[via virtualization.info, see link]

virtualizationreview.com have performed a performancce bake off of the 3 big names in Hypervisor, ESX vs Hyper-V vs XenServer.

You can see the results at this link.

Its Interesting to see Microsoft's Hyper-V do so well. It seems that VMWare are not happy, see link.

But, as pointed out in the review, there are lots of other things that also need to be considered, such as Management tools and advanced features such as vMotion, plus I would add initiatives like vCloud.

Anyways, VMare is still pretty much the market leader in virtualisation and will be for at least the next 3+ years - as it transforms into a software infrastructure player and a possible acquisition target of Cisco's

/Paul

[updated: added a new link - link]

…… going by what folks make of the long awaited announcements that Cisco made on Monday it would appear folks sense a major shift is taking place - and I would tend to agree but perhaps for different reasons.

Here are a collection of links that I have found useful and insightful

- Cisco: Unified Computing is an ‘Inflection Point’

- Cisco's big data center plans: Assessing winners and losers rack by rack

- Cisco: Beyond the data center

- Cisco launches bid to capture the data center

- Savvis Discusses Its Use of Unified Computing

Right now for me, this is one of the core fundamental areas of Cloud Computing where innovation needs to take place – such as things like better chip design, more integrated hardware “fabrics” and more advanced large scale system management tooling.

The really beauty of what is taking place is best captured in this quote (see link),

“ ‘The Virtual Machine has become the new atomic building block of the data center, creating new challenges and opportunities with the potential to transform the computing environment and deliver significant benefits,’ said Mario Mazzola, senior vice president, Server Access and Virtualization Business Unit, Cisco.

While there will be great debate for some time to come about such things as what is cloud computing, Grid Computing, Utility Computing, Elastic Computing, Public Clouds, Private Clouds etc……. The core fundamentals that have finally broken through the perception barrier is the importance of Virtualisation and the opportunities that come from its usage.

I believe the consequence of this is only really beginning, as core fundamentals in building OnDemand solutions, distributed systems and solution delivery models will bubble back into the stream of consciousness and cloud computing will be seen as less of a Silver Bullet. Also it appears that debates such as fabric vs instance based cloud computing have not really gained enough traction yet and/or are mainstream, plus issues such as SLA, Security and Compliance levels are still being explored in many different ways.

Currently in my view the real question is Cloud Computing just a buzz word that means some combination of “infrastructure-as-a-service”, PaaS and good architecture/design that utilises resources effectively and efficiently  - for target scenarios and use case that have qualities that vary from General purpose to disposable to specific to … ????

…. and that seems to be the meta & mega question right now? – IMHO the Platform/PaaS question being a totally different discussion about updates/upgrades cycles, multi-tenancy, onus of responsibility scenarios, dual-deployment, development tooling and other such concerns that are higher up the stack! 

Just a few thoughts!

/Paul

ps

… and oh yeah, right now I’m in the camp that Cisco is going to buy VMWare (or EMC outright) !!

[via link/Techcrunch]

Congrats to Scoble. Building 43 sounds like a great project and Kudos to Rackspace as they are making all of the right moves to be one of the top players in Cloud Computing.

/Paul

[via link]

While I would have added some other terms, I believe the point in the same ;-) Cloud Computing is the new SOA, but much improved and with more buzzword bingo.

Let the (en mass) marketing led "fresh lick of paint" begin....... :-D

/Paul

[via link]

This is more a placeholder for myself, but I thought it might it be useful to share :-D

"An Introduction to Microsoft .NET Services for Developers

This overview paper introduces Microsoft® .NET Services, each of its building block services, and how they fit together.

A Developer’s Guide to the Microsoft® .NET Access Control Service

This whitepaper shows developers how to use a claims-based identity model and the Microsoft® .NET Access Control Service – part of the Microsoft® .NET Services family – to implement single sign-on, federated identity, and role based access control in Web applications and services.

A Developer’s Guide to the Microsoft® .NET Service Bus

This whitepaper shows developers how to use the .NET Service Bus – part of the Microsoft® .NET Services family – to provide a secure, standards-based messaging fabric to connect applications across the Internet.

A Developer’s Guide to the Microsoft® .NET Workflow Service

This whitepaper provides details about the Microsoft® .NET Workflow Service, its relation to Windows Workflow Foundation, and what developers need to know to begin building workflows for the cloud. It not only explains the current tools and capabilities but also outlines the vision for future releases.

Windows Azure Table – Programming Table Storage

Windows Azure Table provides scalable, available, and durable structured storage in the form of tables. The tables contain entities, and the entities contain properties. The tables are scalable to billions of entities and terabytes of data, and may be partitioned across thousands of servers. The tables support ACID transactions over single entities and rich queries over the entire table. Simple and familiar .NET and REST programming interfaces are provided via ADO.NET Data Services. This paper describes these concepts and the advanced features of Windows Azure Table.

Windows Azure Blob – Programming Blob Storage

Windows Azure Storage provides durable, scalable, available, secure, and performance-efficient storage services for the cloud, and it does this through familiar and easy-to-use programming interfaces. Windows Azure Blob provides a simple interface for storing named files along with metadata for a file. This paper describes the Windows Azure Blob programming interface and the advanced blob concepts.

Windows Azure Queue - Programming Queue Storage

Windows Azure Storage provides durable, scalable, available, secure, and performance-efficient storage services for the cloud, and it does this through familiar and easy-to-use programming interfaces. Windows Azure Queue provides reliable storage and delivery of messages for an application. This paper describes the Windows Azure Queue programming interface and the advanced queue concepts."

Ciao,

/Paul

"Geek and Poke" is a great blog to subscribe to, I would highly recommend.

/Paul

ps

Some Samples

[via GigaOm - see link]

It looks like the "new" Slicehost.com is going to be launched today.

/Paul

[via link]

".....a new EC2 pricing model, which we call Reserved Instances. After you purchase such an instance for a one-time fee, you have the option to launch an EC2 instance of a certain instance type, in a particular availability zone, for a period of either 1 of 3 years. Your launch is guaranteed to succeed; there's no chance of encountering any transient limitations in EC2 capacity. You have no obligation to run the instances full time, so you'll pay even less if you choose to turn them off when you are not using them."

Also here are some other links

- Amazon tweaks EC2 pricing; Takes next step in its enterprise evolution

- Amazon EC2 Inches Closer To Corporate Customers

This announcement certainly makes the "infrastructure as a service" offering of Amazon Web Services a lot more interesting to enterprises and perhaps even SaaS players, especially in the area of disaster recovery.

/Paul