"The new UI is the social network"

It's evident that communication service providers (CSPs) are currently pondering on how to approach the changes in usage behavior that social networking, especially Facebook, is bringing. CSPs are concerned that Facebook and the likes will hurt their current revenue streams from voice, text messaging and other services. From a new ReadWriteWeb article:

It's a logical conclusion that Facebook will extend its messaging platform to voice and other communications. That realization is forcing the telecommunications providers to respond. Facebook is moving into telco territory.

 Whether CSPs manage to adapt to the ongoing challenges remains to be seen. However, becoming active participants and embracing cooperation opportunities with social networking providers seems to be the only viable long-term strategy in my opinion. CSPs should be in a very good position to enable and create added value to social networking services.

CloudComputingTopics

Why are companies not moving to the Cloud?

Not all companies are willing to move to the Cloud for various reasons, some of the listed below

Security--customers want physical control of their data and still don't trust it off site.

Unapproachable--moving applications to the cloud seems complicated and abstract.

Proprietary--it's too hard to move data among systems.

Rearchitecting current applications is time-consuming and complicated.

All or nothing--you're either cloud or on-premise, but not both.

Do-it-yourself--support isn't a big priority for some cloud computing vendors.

These are taken from Rackspace CTO, John Engates, in his speech at the Web 2.0 Summit 

Furthermore

For his part, Engates defined cloud computing as being similar to hosting, but with much greater flexibility thanks to the use of virtualization to create and break down applications quickly. VMWare, Microsoft, and Amazon would probably all agree with that definition. Then they can get to work solving the other problems.

CloudComputingTopics 

Cloud computing on Gartner's 2011 technology list

Again, for 2011, cloud computing is on Gartner's top list of technologies to watch and invest in. See the Gartner slides

Each year, Gartner Research trots out a short list of top 10 technologies it believes enterprises should be investing in for the coming year. Check out last year's list here. With Gartner's Symposium in Orlando, Fla., just wrapped up, it's that time again to parse Gartner's prognostications for 2011. Cloud computing and social software have reigned the last few years, and so they do again for 2011.

 

CloudComputingTopics

Cloud computing - top technologies for 2011

Cloud computing is one on the top 10 strategic technologies for 2011, according to Gartner

Cloud Computing. Cloud computing services exist along a spectrum from open public to closed private. The next three years will see the delivery of a range of cloud service approaches that fall between these two extremes. Vendors will offer packaged private cloud implementations that deliver the vendor's public cloud service technologies (software and/or hardware) and methodologies (i.e., best practices to build and run the service) in a form that can be implemented inside the consumer's enterprise. Many will also offer management services to remotely manage the cloud service implementation. Gartner expects large enterprises to have a dynamic sourcing team in place by 2012 that is responsible for ongoing cloudsourcing decisions and management.

Cloud computing is actually now at the height of the Gartner hype-cycle and will enter a more productive stage over the coming years.

CloudComputingTopics 

Google Instant and the mobile cloud

Google will soon launch a new search product, Google Instant, that's directly targeted at mobile touch-screen users. Google Instant will show results "as you type", suggesting the relevant search result before you finish tying in your search phrase. From GigaOM:

In many ways, Google Instant demonstrates the evolution of a product in order to keep up with times; today’s faster broadband means that the search results need to come up faster than one could type. More importantly, Google Instant is a search product optimized for a brave new world where the user interface is touch rather than keyboards, and devices aren’t your classic computer, but instead mobile and tablet-like

The Google Instant, and other mobile cloud applications, will certainly advance the mobile cloud. It's inevitable that more and more native mobile applications will move into the cloud.

CloudComputingTopics

 

Version CaaS will open up in the UK!

Verizon has scheduled to open up a new presence in the UK by next year, aimed at the European market. It's services, called "CaaS" (Compute-as-a-Service) is basically a IaaS offering. Not surprisingly, the primary reasons for establishing a data center in the UK is to minimize latency and address data location issues, thereby complying to the EU privacy regulations. From ZDNet UK:

Region-specific facilities are necessary for two reasons — latency and data location, Beaumont said. By having the service come from a local facility, latency can be reduced, and the company can track the geographical location of customer data by using its own network. This helps "with some of the regulatory type of issues", Beaumont said. "If you're a company, some have issues with things like safe harbour or the Patriot Act, so they feel much more comfortable with those resources residing outside the US rather than in the US," he added

CloudComputingTopics 

Growth in mobile cloud computing will be phenomenal

A a new online survey conducted by IBM developerWorks among 2000 IT developer in 87 countries concluded that mobile development will become larger than development for traditional computing platform. From an article in OnlySoftwareBlog:

According to the survey, 55 percent of them expect mobile software application development for devices such as iPhone and Android, and even tablet PCs like iPad and PlayBook, will surpass application development on all other traditional computing platforms by 2015.

Industry analysts also are predicting mobile applications sales will undergo massive growth over the next three years, with estimates of mobile application revenues expanding from $6.2 billion this year to nearly $30 billion by 2013.

The Cloud will be a big enabler for this to happen. More and more applications and services will move into the cloud and be provisioned from there. We will most probably also see new types of smartphones, sometimes called mobile cloud phones, that will be particularly designed for accessing apps and services in the cloud as I discussed in an earlier post.

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Importance of cloud computing vision

It's true that many enterprises lack a strategic vision when it comes to cloud computing, resulting in ad hoc deployment that create heterogeneous IT environment and lack of cohesiveness. David Linthicum blogs about this problem in a new post, saying:

However, for all this cloud stuff to work, you really need to focus on the end game, moreso than with any other fundamental technology shift. Those that don't will end up with another set of new cloud-based systems that are highly dysfunctional in how they work and play together. In other words, cloud computing won't be able to deliver on the expected business value.

IT managers need to focus more on long-term planning and establish a vision when it comes to cloud computing. Aligning the IT implementation towards a clear strategy must be the overall goal for effective execution and economical benefits of every enterprise IT division.

CloudComputingTopics

Mobile cloud: Native vs. Web-base apps

There is an interesting debate going on about native vs. web based applications in the mobile cloud. There are different opinions of whether smartphones will continue running native, handset-centric, applications in the future, or if these will be replaced by mobile web-based applications a la Google Apps and Facebook. In an article at the Cloudave.com, there is a summary from a panelist session from the Mobilize 2010 conferenece, since earlier this month:

• Native Apps will stay because web apps cannot take complete advantage of the increasingly more powerful mobile phone hardwar
• The counter point to the above claim is that with HTML 5 and modern browsers, web app can easily take control of hardware like GPS, Camera, Accelerometer, etc.
• Enterprise native apps will be with us for just 2+ years as enterprises move more towards web apps for better efficiency and cost savings
• The biggest pain point for web apps is the issue of discovery. Since the web apps lack a marketplace like Apple’s app store or Android marketplace, discovery is a big problem
• Networks are a bottleneck pushing against the web apps. With the increase in the speed and reliability of mobile broadband, this could change

Overall, the results seem to be biased towards web-based apps. As I pointed out in a blog post, HTML5 is a big enabler when it comes to mobile cloud applications

 

CloudComputingTopics

New types of clouds - quasi-private?

It seems that in order to address the data residency requirements, that public cloud providers are increasingly starting to offer their cloud services in local regions, even through local hosting providers instead of own data centers. There is an interesting blog post by Terry Wolozsyn about this trend at the Cloud Computing at Ulitzer site.

In response to these data residency requirements, Oracle made a very interesting announcement today - they will be offering their CRM on-demand in Australia through a local hosting provider in Sydney.  What this means for Oracle customers is that they can adopt Oracle's CRM cloud solution, while addressing their data residency requirements - the data never leaves the shores of Australia. 

This somehow appears to disconnect the claimed benefits of public cloud computing - and has in fact been termed as "quasi-private clouds" - as somewhere in between public and private clouds. It will be interesting to see if this will continue as a trend in the future.

CloudComputingTopics

Telcos are strengthening their Cloud position!

The French telecom service provider Orange has teamed with VMware, EMC and Cisco to create a "ultimate" cloud proposition for enterprise customers, as detailed in this MarketWatch new story. This initiative, called "Flexible 4 Business" is targeted directly at enterprises that require high reliability and quality of service levels. In fact, Orange will offer SLAs for the service, promising customers certain quality levels:

As the service provider in all Flexible 4 Business engagements, Orange Business Services will commit to tiered end-to-end service level agreements (SLAs).

As I pointed out in one of my posts, I believe telcos are in a strong position when it comes to delivering cloud services to enterprises by providing SLAs and managed network services.

CloudComputingTopics 

Microsoft urges changes in privacy regulations

It's interesting to note that Microsoft is urging an overhaul of U.S. laws for electronic privacy in order to help new cloud computing services, according to a Bloomberg new story. As Microsoft has announced that the Cloud is a central part of their future strategy, the company has realized that the current legislation is a barrier for future Cloud implementation. 

As more data are stored on remote servers and away from personal computers, a 1986 digital law needs to be updated to give consumers confidence their information is protected, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said yesterday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington.

According to Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel:

Microsoft supports changes that will ensure that users do not suffer a decrease in their privacy protections when they move data from their desktop PCs to the cloud,” Smith said in his prepared comments

CloudComputingTopics 

 

Cloud computing will not replace enterprise IT

As usual, I completely agree with David's Linthicum view that cloud computing will not replace enterprise computing. From his blog:

Cloud computing does not replace enterprise architecture. It does not provide "infinite scalability," it does not "cost pennies a day," you can't "get there in an hour" -- it won't iron my shirts either. It's exciting technology that holds the promise of providing more effective, efficient, and elastic computing platforms, but we're taking this hype to silly levels these days, and my core concern is that the cloud may not be able to meet these overblown expectations.

Although more and more companies will prefer to migrate services into the cloud and only pay-for-what-you-use, it will not be applicable for every situation, especially when it comes to critical data. Regulated data, like HIPPA and financial data, will probably not be sent to the cloud - at least to not a public cloud provider. However, as time passes, more and more vertical cloud providers will emerge that can address specific needs of individual companies. 

CloudComputingTopics

Cloud computing integration

Appirio is providing valuable tools for cloud integration and interoperability with its new cross-cloud solutions that enables enterprise users to integrate SaaS services/applications from multiple cloud providers, e.g. Salesforce, Google Apps and others, into a homogeneous and contextual interface. This can definitely simplify the life for enterprises that are already dealing with the increasingly complex ecosystems of various APIs and platforms from various cloud vendor. I think this type of proposition, like Appirio's cross-cloud solution, certainly is an interesting step forward in corroborating the vision put forth by a number "cloud broker" proponents. Here is an interesting video for the Appirio CloudWorks:

Several organizations, like the Deltacloud and the Cloud Forum are currently developing and promoting a single API that encompasses multiple APIs from different cloud providers and frameworks that enable cloud interoperability.

CloudComputingTopics

Jurisdiction and data privacy in the Cloud

In one of my earlier blog post, I discussed issues regarding data privacy and different jurisdictions in the cloud. Due to the very nature of cloud computing, there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding these issues and dissimilar legislation increases the challenges at hand. The European Union, for example, has certain strict regulations that forbids the transfer of personal data out of its jurisdiction which is considered by some to hamper the cloud computing evolution in EU - especially when it's compared to what's happening in the US, as discussed in an interesting article in the New York Times:

“There are restrictions on cloud computing in Europe,” said Bob Lindsay, privacy director in Europe for Hewlett-Packard, which makes servers and other equipment for cloud data centers. “This isn’t killing the business, but it is slowing its evolution, compared with what is taking place in the United States.”

Whether this will adversely affect Europe's competitive position when it comes to cloud services remains to be seen  - but it seems possible. As US authorities have a more "hands-off" position when it comes to data transfer and usage, companies are more agile when it comes to deploy cloud services and migrate processes to the cloud. More from the NYT article:

Cloud computing, which allows companies to tap enormous computing power via the Internet without having to invest in the infrastructure themselves, has grown rapidly in the United States under a legal system that permits the sale and transfer of many forms of private data. 

CloudComputingTopics 

Google Data Center cooled by seawater!

It's interesting to learn that Google is building a new mega data center in Finland that will actually be cooled by seawater!

From Google's blog:

Google is very happy to be constructing a new data center in Hamina, Finland. When fully developed, this facility will be a critical part of our infrastructure for many years to come. Limited testing of the facility should be underway in 2010 and the center should be fully operational later that year. Eventually, we plan to employ approximately 50 people, ranging from Linux system administrators and experienced data center managers to security contractors and technology assistants. We’re confident this EUR200 million investment will be good for Hamina, Google and our Internet users.

The new data center is strategically located to specifically serve the Nordic market and growing markets in Russia and Eastern-Europe. Data Center Knowledge has more on the story

CloudComputingTopics

Cloud governance

Scott Morrison provides an interesting point about cloud governance in his blog post. Obviously, trusted governance is a key motivator for businesses to trust the cloud and cloud vendors in general:

It turns out that cloud governance, while a logical evolution of SOA governance, has a number of unique characteristics all its own. One of these is the re-distribution of roles and responsibilities around provisioning, security, and operations. Self-service is a defining attribute of cloud computing. Cloud governance solutions need to embrace this and provide value not just for administrators, but for the users who take on a much more active role in the full life cycle of their applications.

 As Scott points out, David Linthicum, cloud computing expert at InfoWorld and CTO at Blue Mountain Lab, has addressed this topic several times in his writings. Both established provider of SOA governance technologies like Layer 7 and Amberpoint (now part of Oracle) and new players like Abiquo have entered this important field.

CloudComputingTopics

Cloud Computing will force you to change the way that you look at IT

"Cloud Computing will force you to change the way that you look at IT", says David Davis virtualization expert at VMware in a blog post. Davis points out 5 criteria for SMEs assessing the Cloud. I completely agree with Davis that cloud computing will have a dramatic effect on how businesses will observe IT. When businesses have a IT need of some sort, they will start looking into how the Cloud can resolve their issue - before even considering throwing money into purchasing and installing IT resources. This trend obviously starts with the SMEs, but my believe is that it will escalate to large companies when certain problems, like security concerns, have been resolved.

CloudComputingTopics

Cloud computing is not about technology

I agree with Scott Stewart, in his blog article, that cloud computing is not about technology. The concept of cloud computing is not new and actually traces back to 1961, when it was first mentioned by professor John McCarthy that named it "utility computing". Virtualization first emerged from IBM in 1974. Furthermore, in the long term, businesses will not have a choice of whether to migrate to the cloud or not. If they want to stay agile and competitive they will have to leverage on the cloud. Cloud computing is an evolutionary process and can be compared to the shift from generating power locally in the early 20th century to reticulated electricity. Many businesses had their own in-house power generators - something that not many would consider today. Likewise, IT resources will be consumed from the cloud.

CloudComputingTopics 

VMware new cloud products

While the dust is settling since VMware announced its new suite of cloud products at WMworld in San Francisco, it becomes clearer that VMware may actually become a game changer when it comes to companies wanting to deploy hybrid cloud solutions. WMware claims that vCloud Driector will enable companies to provision either public or private "virtual data centers" and brand them according to their marketing strategy. vShield is another product aimed for securing virtualied and cloud computing environments. Here is a product announcement from the VMworld - vCloud Director:

It's interesting to follow the development at VMware as they seem to be emerging as a very important cloud technology provider. 

CloudComputingTopics

VMware's cloud strategy is evolutionary

VMware's cloud strategy is evolutionary - vSphere customer are supposed to easily "glide" into cloud computing, according to John Gilmartin, VMware's product marketing director for private cloud products:

“They can build upon their existing data centres, their existing applications [running in virtual machines, of course] on top of the virtualisation platform they’re accustomed to, vSphere."

This is hardly no surprise. VMware wants to leverage existing virtualization technologies and customer base to create a more interesting value proposition. Customers do not have to learn new tools for extending into the cloud. And, perhaps to most important factor, creating a hybrid cloud model, by extending a private cloud into a public cloud, VMware is removing interoperability barriers for current customers to create a homogeneous environment. In my view this also supports the notion of VMware's intentions of gradually offer a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), as I wrote about in my blog, and divert from pure virtualization focus.

CloudComputingTopics  

Funny video on "what is the cloud"

Funny video on VMware TV. What is the cloud?

What an entertaining way to explain the cloud for the newcomer  - and a good recipe for explaining complex, and sometimes elusive, concepts.

CloudComputingTopics 

Mobile cloud computing event streamed for free!

As I've pointed out in a blog post, mobile cloud computing is expected to become huge in the coming years, according to both Gartner and ABI Reasearch predictions. Now the Mobile Cloud Computing Forum (http://mobilecloudcomputingforum.com) is going to feature an event in London on December 1st. 

Sessions at the 1 day conference and exhibition will include an overview of the Mobile Cloud Computing Proposition and Marketplace, Mobile Cloud and Enterprise Applications, The Challenges for the Mobile Cloud and The Future of Mobile.

For those not able to attend, the event will be streamed live as well, free of charge.

VMware announcing new cloud computing products

It's interesting that VMware has just announced six new cloud computing products at VMworld in San Francisco this week. 

VMware announced six new vCloud products. The headliner here is the vCloud Director, which is designed to model and deliver IT infrastructure services. The idea here is to create virtual data centers and computing pools. There were other security products such as vShield and vShield Edge as well as vCloud Datacenter Services, interoperable clouds.

Not surprisingly, it seems obvious that VMware is going to make a strong inroad into cloud computing. The company is also making important partnerships with other vendors and providers to strengthen their strategy and offering. From ZDNet:

The company also outlined its consulting services and partnerships with the likes of Hewlett-Packard to create private clouds. Verizon will also include VMware’s applications in its computing as a service lineup.

CloudComputingTopics 

Virtualization and cloud computing

This is an simple and understandable blog post about the difference between virtualization and cloud computing, that many still seem to mix interchangeably. 

Plainly, virtualization provides more servers on the same hardware and cloud computing provides measured resources while paying for what you use.  While it is not uncommon to hear people discuss them interchangeably; they are very different approaches to solving the problem of maximizing the use of available resources.

In my blog, I also wrote a short article about virtualization and cloud computing

VMware launching new cloud computing tools

Not surprisingly, VMware is announcing new tools to support its cloud computing strategy, according to news from SmartTrend news:

 

At its annual conference this week, VMware (NYSE:VMW) may unveil cloud technology that enables companies to run their own data centers more efficiently via cloud technology. Cloud computing is an industry term for information that is stored remotely through the use of equipment operated by outside specialists and accessed remotely via internet. VMware, a Sillicon Valley firm, was responsible for ushering in the era of cloud computing. SmarTrend currently has VMware in an Uptrend. Since 2008, SmarTrend subscribers trading VMware using our alerts outperformed the stock by 37%. We are monitoring these developments and will alert subscribers to any change in trend.

It's interesting to analyse VMware's strategy in the cloud, as I attempted in my blog post - especially when it comes to VMware's stronghold - virtualization technology!

Telecom companies best positioned for cloud services

In a new report from the Yankee Group, called "Is IaaS Moving Beyond Just Cloud Fluff?", a survey among early Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) adopters, one-third claimed that telcos would be best suited to provide IaaS services.

The Yankee Group found that 33 percent of early IaaS adopters said telecom companies are best positioned for cloud services.

This is an interesting conclusion - and actually  strengthens my own conclusions as explained in a blog post about telcos finding their niche in the cloud computing business.

Net neutrality and cloud computing

David Linthicum at InfoWorld writes an interesting article on net neutrality and its potential effects on cloud computing.

The concept of allowing specific networks, especially wireless networks, to restrict or prioritize some traffic is a huge threat to the success of cloud computing. If provider networks are allowed to control traffic, they could give priority to the larger cloud computing vendors who write them a big check for the privilege. At the same time, smaller cloud computing upstarts who can't afford the fee will have access to their offerings slowed noticeably, or perhaps not even allowed on the network at all.

While I do not necessarily with his conclusion, as I believe it is vitally important for mobile operators to protect and, if needed, prioritize the limited resources that mobile bandwidth is, I agree that traffic prioritizing must be monitored carefully - as users should be informed about the type of services that are given any type of prioritization.  

CloudComputingTopics  

Cloud computing - jurisdiction of data

The Gehrson Lehrman Group provides an interesting article on jurisdiction of data in the cloud - which is one of the top 5 cloud computing security issues according to ComputerWeekly. From the GLG site:

Agreements can be made concerning the jurisdiction over disputes concerning the data. However, disputes involving other entities not parties to that agreement may not be subject to the agreement. Accordingly, cloud computing presents uncertainty and has the potential for future disputes concerning jurisdiction.

I addressed this issue shortly in earlier post on CloudComputingTopics. Clearly, the data location and jurisdiction issue is one of the more sensitive and thorny concerns in cloud computing that need to be addressed through international cooperation on legislature levels. 

Good YouTube video on cloud computing growth

There are many good videos available you YouTube explaining the concept and growth of cloud computing. Here is one from AMD that I am going to use in a presentation for CloudComputingTopics

CCT recommends the Cloud Codex white paper

CloudComputingTopics must recommend the "Cloud Codex" white paper from the 451 Group for anyone interested in learning more about cloud computing. The Cloud Codex does and excellent work in defining cloud computing, explaining its service modes and primary service types. There is a lot of misunderstanding about cloud computing and the Cloud Codex attempts to answer a set of basic questions, including:

• What are cloud services?

• What are the criteria – hard and fast – for defining a cloud?

• What are the different deployment models for an enterprise cloud?

• Which cloud services will providers offer?

• What features must be developed in order for cloud computing to reach a level of general deployment?

Are telcos struggling in finding their cloud computing niche?

Are telcos loosing in the race of becoming viable cloud computing service providers? At least it seems that many telcos have had a difficult time in positioning themselves in the cloud ecosphere or even decide what cloud services to offer. Obviously, this does not equally apply to all telcos. Verizon, for example, seem to have already come a long way in providing a robust IaaS services through their Communication-as-a-service (CaaS) offering, stressing in particular data security, bandwidth guarantees and SLAs, and BT in the UK are providing, or reselling, a bundle of third-party applications as SaaS services enhanced by value-added services like billing, security and more.
However, some analysts maintain that telcos have a difficult time in becoming a dominant cloud computing player or even identifying their particular niche. Analyst Jeff Kaplan, points out that telcos are still struggling to figure out managed services that already have been around for a decade, and SaaS is still far from their reach. Telcos are also not exactly known for their innovation pace and therefore are in danger of being bypassed by more agile service providers.

While this may have some truth in it, I tend to see a number of inherent strengths that telcos are in a particularly good position to capitalize upon. For one thing, telcos in general have a good reputation for reliability and security, based on their legacy of running mission critical systems (voice and networks). People expect telcos to deliver services with high uptime and reliability. The five-nines, representing 99.999% uptime is a famous reference to the expectations and benchmark that telcos have traditionally placed on their services.

Telcos are in a good position to deliver better than “best-effort” service delivery on the Internet. They can for example provide guaranteed bandwidth in their networks, including MPLS and VPN connections and, through their traditional association with multiple peering-pints and exchange points, capable to establish multi-carrier guaranteed bandwidth for business customers that require high-quality services.

Through their extensive communication services, telcos can provide value-added and bundled services with third-party application providers, e.g. SaaS providers. This can include networking and phone services. Another interesting aspect is the concept of “mash-up” services with a vast range of applications available through the cloud. Telcos can provide and integrate various services and data, including idendity management, location information and billing capabilities with other applications and thereby provide cloud services with added value to their customers.

Certainly there are many more opportunities available for telcos to capitalise upon in the cloud that will become more visible in the coming months and years. Let’s not forget that cloud computing is still in its infancy and a lot may still change before cloud computing becomes a mainstream and the primary IT provisioning and service delivery channel for businesses.