If you've been following the most recent BlueLock blog posts, you know that a good number of the BlueLock team members returned to Indianapolis this week after spending last week in Las Vegas for the VMware Partner Exchange. With milestone achievements like winning the VMware Cloud Service Provider of the Year and the launch of the BlueLock CloudSuite, there was a ton of excitement.

Luckily for you, the BlueLock marketing team was well-equipped with their Flip video cameras and documented the adventure. For your viewing pleasure, I created a quick video montage, complete with Fat Boy Slim conference-esque soundtrack.

My favorite quote is near the end of the video when, after the VMware Partner of the Year award is announced, John Qualls (our CEO) is asked, "What are you going to do next?" John's Resopnse: 

"Do it again next year."

Over the past two years, BlueLock and Apparatus have built a strong and dynamic partnership with their complimentary virtualization and data center expertise.  By joining forces, the teams are able to work together to wrap services around BlueLock's cloud hosting solutions to better serve clients.

Due to our great success together, VMware asked BlueLock (a VMware Hosting Provider) and Apparatus, to take the stage during the keynote session at this year's VMware Partner Exchange to share our story in front of 2500 conference attendees. The VMware Partner Exchange is an annual partner conference dedicated to educating and enabling partners for success with VMware. 

Brian Wolff, VP of Sales at BlueLock and Casey Watson, Chief Evangelist at Apparatus went on stage and showed the virtualization community at the Las Vegas conference what Indiana's technology Community is all about - innovation, trust and execution.  That's right, Indianapolis is a virtualization hot-bed.

flexibility, security, & possibly reduced capital expenditure…

By Jon Schackmuth

Savvy business owners looking to get in the cloud are looking for flexibility, security and reduced cost.

The underlying question is:  Can small and medium sized businesses find what they are looking for in the cloud at a price they can afford?

Let’s start with flexibility in the cloud.  Simply put, this is what the cloud does best.  When the marketplace changes and we all know it does, the cloud allows business owners to turn the dial up or down as needed.  As an example, if a business jumps from 1,000 hits to 50,000 hits on their website and it’s positioned at a cloud hosting company like BlueLock, running on virtual machines, they can call the 24/7/365 operations staff and spin up more virtual servers – scalability on demand.  Conversely, if traffic slows in six months, simply turn the dial down and pay for the services being utilized – the beauty of metered usage…

Now that we have established that the cloud is flexible, the true objection of the cloud must be security.  Security is paramount when it comes to companies like BlueLock.  If in doubt, schedule a visit and see the layers of security BlueLock has to offer.  BlueLock’s privately owned building is made of poured concrete with a steel and concrete roof.  The actual servers are secured behind six levels of security and are accessed on a need-to-know basis. - TOUGH.

The use of Check Point firewalls and SAS 70 certification is the gold standard in the IT world and BlueLock utilizes both to protect its clients.  Ask yourself:  Where are my servers stored and who has access to them?  What if your servers crashed today?  What is your disaster recovery plan and how long could your servers be down before you start losing one customer?  What is the value of that customer?  These questions may be hard to answer, but the results could save your livelihood.  BlueLock has all of them answered for you, 24/7/365.

At this point, if I haven’t given you enough to think about with flexibility & security, you are probably in the mindset that it’s too costly!  Consider the amount you pay for your infrastructure.  Excessive CAPEX (capital expenditure) can bankrupt a company faster than a lack of customers.  What does it cost to build your own data center plus a back up site and then maintain it at the level that allows you to sleep at night?
 
Depending on the situation, the business may be a start-up or they may be upgrading existing servers. If you are a start-up, what do a full time IT employees cost?  If you build for today and you hit the home run you planned for, your company may be crippled.  If you spend too much CAPEX on IT infrastructure, you may not have enough left over for marketing and sales generating programs.  Once the original hardware purchase has been made, switching to outsourcing and OPEX (operating expenditure) is sometimes a difficult decision.   At some point, enough is enough when it comes to excessive CAPEX - you may need to go in a new direction and outsource – you may need to put your business in the cloud.

Having been a small business owner in the past, I can attest to each of these topics.  Flexibility is paramount in any business, security is critical when clients trust you with their personal data, and cost overruns will bankrupt even the well-informed business owner.  Having choices in the cloud is something that hasn’t been available in the past… Until now.

Fresh off center stage at VMware Partner Exchange 2010, BlueLock introduced its latest surprise, BlueLock CloudSuite.  After years of offering a robust enterprise-level service, businesses can now have the flexibility and price competitiveness of the newly introduced Bluelock vCloud Express.  For those who want managed services with varying levels of scale, security, and performance - choose between Virtual Cloud Professional and Virtual Cloud Enterprise.  A business that requires onsite control of their own isolated cloud can try the Virtual Private Cloud, you own it and BlueLock manages it.

If you have questions about BlueLock's enterprise cloud computing options, please contact us.

In my last post, I tackled tips 1-5.  This week I’d like to take a look at the next five tips Adam Stone referred to in regards to "Making sense of the cloud: 15 tips for software CEOs" and provide you with the BlueLock perspective on what companies looking to migrate to cloud computing should be thinking about.

Tip #6:  To Avoid vendor Lock-in, stick to open standards. 
This one makes a lot of sense to me – in the end, you need to make sure that whatever you put in the cloud you can get back easily and intact.  While some may argue that deploying VMware technology locks you into VMware’s virtualization platform, I would argue that VMware is the defacto standard for virtualization technology for the enterprise, by virtue of their large market share.  Deploying VMware gives clients a lot of flexibility to move that server to another VMware host if they wish to move.  We even have cases where companies wish to protect themselves from something happening to BlueLock as a cloud provider.  In that instance, we’re replicating the entire virtual machines to a neutral third party, Iron Mountain.  If a triggering event were to occur, the company simply contacts Iron Mountain and receives immediate access to the virtual machines, which can immediately be loaded on servers running VMware.  That’s just one straight-forward example of how “portable” the environment is as a result of running in a VM ware-based virtualization platform.

Tip #7:  Location, Location, Location. 
Yes, indeed, it’s difficult to bend the laws of physics and the speed of light.  This tip talks about two real issues – the first is latency and the second deals with the laws that govern the location where the data center sits, in both cases, BlueLock has engineered solutions to address our client’s specific challenges.   We have clients that need to have the data closer to them than our data centers in Indianapolis, IN or in Salt Lake City, UT for speed or data privacy issues.  For these clients, we introduced our version of a private data center called The BlueLock Box in October 2007.  This private cloud solution entails installing an HP C3000 blade chassis with redundant SAN shelves behind the client’s firewall.  This solution provides them with the same benefits of BlueLock’s public cloud such as fault tolerance and scalability, but puts the data closer to them for speed and/or privacy issues. 

Tip #8:  Consider using a middleman. 
I agree with Adam – there is a huge opportunity for cloud brokers or companies that have expertise in helping clients make thoughtful decisions about what can and/or should go into the cloud and then to actually help architect and deliver the cloud solution.  We’ve worked closely with several partners who have trusted advisor relationships with large fortune 1000 clients that have chosen BlueLock as their cloud solution.  In fact, we’ve been asked to present next week in VMware’s Partner Exchange keynote on the topic of how partners can work with a cloud providers to deliver real value to their clients.  I will be sharing the stage with Carl Eschenbach, EVP of Worldwide Field Operations and Casey Watson, VP Business Development for Apparatus to talk about how BlueLock and Apparatus have built a sizable business delivering cloud integration services for large clients.

Tip #9:  Monitoring uptime isn’t enough, you need an action plan. 
We couldn’t agree more with Adam on this point.  From day one, we’ve had a resolution-based 99.99% uptime SLA in place for our clients.  This means that not only will we respond quickly to the issue, but we’ll promise resolution of that issue.  On top of that, we’ve also patented a portal that we call “the VITAL signs portal” that provides our clients with an overall view of the health of their environment, as well as an ability to drill into each aspect of their environment, to see what’s actually happening.  Finally, we have also built capabilities in the portal to send alerts and alarms when something goes wrong or when the environment has reached a pre-determined limit on things like CPU, RAM and storage.   If those measures aren’t enough, we’ve also built tailored metrics for some clients that wish to monitor additional key metrics in their environment.

Tip #10:  A clause may look good in the contract, but be useless in the real World.  Adam’s tip in this area covered a “useless” escrow agreement.  In tip number six, I shared how we’ve put an escrow agreement in place that can be tested and actually works.  Having said that, I agree that empty legal promises are not the way to make sure you’re protected.  Testing the system is the best way to insure what’s being set aside actually works.  In addition to the escrow agreement, we also have numerous disaster recovery clients that have performed successful tests of our geographic failover disaster recovery service.  In the end, you want the “promise” in writing, but then you want to do a test to make sure it performs as expected.  Reminds me of an old Reaganism – “trust but verify”.

Next week, I’ll take us down the homestretch and walk through the final five tips for migrating successfully to the cloud. 

Tip #11:  Set financial penalties for downtime
Tip #12:  It takes time to see ROI on SaaS development
Tip #13:  Savings are not in the cloud, but in headcount
Tip #14:  Follow the cloud into new markets
Tip #15:  Let the cloud lead you to new innovations

If you'd like to read the original post by Adam Stone, go here.

  Support - Done Well

The word 'support' has become cringe-worthy, much like 'Vista' or 'Millennium Edition.' Opinions seem to fall on one side or the other of a distinct dividing line - no vendor's 'support' is merely adequate these days. It's either phenomenal or terrible.

It's crazy to think that vendors strive for an utter lack of excellence. Still, many end users report just such an attitude in their communications with support personnel. Too often, customer support calls are considered unavoidable nuisances in an otherwise productive day. Of course, no one would ever admit they feel that way. But the attitude is pervasive, and it is all too easy for customers to detect, whether in voice inflection during phone calls or while reading hastily prepared e-mail responses. Worse still is getting no response at all.

BlueLock works very diligently to avoid falling into that trap. Working the front lines for a VMware hosting provider is a unique opportunity. Customers can contact us via e-mail or by telephone and all sorts of queries come in which keeps things interesting. Much of our work is generated automatically by our monitoring system. It's important for BlueLock Support personnel to be able to juggle several roles each day and we employ several tools that make it easier to provide top-level service. 

Don't Hesitate, Educate!

We understand that Cloud Computing is a fairly new concept, so one of the primary roles that we perform on the support desk is education. It takes time to become familiar with virtual servers, online disk expansions, and balloon drivers. At BlueLock, we can help make such concepts more clear - and it's as easy as calling the Support Desk.

The most popular topic for education at the BlueLock Support Desk is snapshots. Proper use of snapshots can make an administrator's job much easier. In a nutshell, each virtual machine on our environment is comprised of a file - that's right, the entire server is essentially a file running on a host system. Snapshots serve basically as restore points for those files. This is useful mainly when making major configuration changes or installing new software. When a snapshot is created, what really happens is that a 'change file' is generated. All subsequents changes to the virtual server are written to the change file. When testing is complete, the snapshot must be either committed or reverted. Committing the snapshot merges it with the original server file. This happens on the fly with no interruptions to service. Reverting essentially destroys the change file and returns the server to its state before the snapshot was taken.

The primary drawback of snapshots is that they tend to grow very quickly. Thus, BlueLock has a retention policy of 24-48 hours during which the snapshot must be committed or reverted.

VMware virtual servers are unique entities, especially when backing them up. Backups at BlueLock work much differently than with standard, physical hardware. We perform a combination of snapshots, disk-to-disk and tape backups to protect customer data. The current system is complex enough for its own blog posting, so I'll cover that in more detail at a later date.

BlueLock provided a cloud computing solution to Marian University as their aging hardware began putting a toll on IT efficiency within the organization.  Marian University needed the comfort of a virtual disaster recovery solution, greater uptime and better computing capabilities.  BlueLock's private cloud solution was able to meet those goals with virtualization storage, copmute stability and flexible growth capabilities without a large upfront investment.

With the BlueLock Box, essentially a private cloud solution, Marian replicates their systems from their LeftHand SAN to BlueLock's LeftHand SAN, allowing them to "talk" to each other in cases when Marian University needs more compute or storage space.  Watch this video to hear more about Marian's success with BlueLock.

Because we needed another "top" list, I'd love to go through David Linthicum's latest list, "Top 5 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2010."

Prediction #1: The rise of cloud computing standards

The whole theme of standards and interoperability was a big topic in 2009, but those discussions were very conceptual, and not really actionable.  Some organizations waited on the wayside before adopting a cloud computing solution because standards and interoperability would prevent them from experiencing vendor lock-in. On that note, some have said that BlueLock was a bad name choice because it has a connotation that we would "lock" our clients in.  I like to think that BlueLock would make someone think of security, but I guess not.  However, our cloud uses VMware virtualization technology, so you can take your VMware stuff and take it wherever you like (as long as it stays VMware) if you decide you aren't a big fan of us.  No vendor-lockin here.  Back to topic - I can already tell from listening in on some strategic meetings here that interoperability will take on a large role this year for us.  I can only guess that we aren't the only cloud computing provider with that on our mind.

Prediction #2: First Major Cloud Computing Outages

This one is only a matter of time.  Stuff happens in the cloud.  The cloud still involves real people and of course, real technology.  Although outages will happen, your provider should make sure that there is a sufficient backup plan in order that will help alleviate those pains.  And of course, the second a "big" provider has a "big" mishap, all aim will go to the cloud.  However, Linthicum reminds us, "Despite the outages, cloud computing providers will maintain an uptime record that far exceeds that of most on-premise systems, but you won't hear about that in the technology press."

Prediction #3: Microsoft will be relevant in the cloud

Most businesses run Microsoft, so to say that Microsoft will not become a larger cloud player would be silly.  Now that they've finally got going on the cloud front, we'll see just how much of an impact they'll make, but we're sure to see them make some sort of splash.  However, "Google will continue to dominate small to medium-sized businesses, using its free ad-driven model for delivery of Google Docs and Gmail, with a few larger enterprise deals thrown in."

Prediction #4: Rapid Consolidation of Existing Providers

As cloud computing continues to grow, many of the successful providers will want to expand even more, which will involve buying up the smaller guys.  Hence, there will be less small providers and more big - consolidation.

Prediction #5: Rise of Cloud Computing Startups

As if 2009 didn't see enough, there will be more in 2010 as the technology leaves the stage of early adoption and reaches the masses.  As consolidation occurs (see prediction #4), market value will increase and more VC-backed startups will sprout up.  Think you've seen a lot of "as a services" this year?  It won't be the end of it.

Read David's original post here.

Do you have a prediction for the cloud in 2010?

(Indianapolis, IN – December 1, 2009) - Indianapolis-based BlueLock, provider of cloud computing and managed IT services, announces its second round of Beta testing with BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II.  BlueLock was one of only five cloud computing hosting providers chosen by VMware to provide VMware vCloud Express services since its launch in September 2009.

BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II is a Compute-as-a-Service solution designed to support transient workloads by providing a high level of elasticity for faster turnaround time and future workload federation.  BlueLock vCloud Express will compete with services such as Amazon EC2 and Windows Azure.

“BlueLock vCloud Express Beta I was an instant success,” said Pat O’Day, CTO, BlueLock. “We filled up our Beta I slots in less than two months.  With the feedback we garnered from those early users we’ve been able to make some major changes and the offering will continue to get better as we prepare to launch the public offering early in 2010.”

BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II is a reliable, on-demand infrastructure solution that ensures compatibility with internal VMware environments and with VMware Virtualized™ services worldwide. The technology allows users to create virtual machines as needed and add compute capacity via an online interface. The beta services are currently free, but the public offering in the future will include a pay-as-you-go payment structure where users pay only for the compute and storage space they use.

BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II is available immediately. For additional information, visit http://vcloudexpress.bluelock.com.

What makes education different from any other business with hundreds or thousands of users?  The economics are all the same, so why wouldn’t the education industry be able to benefit from the advantages of cloud computing like other organizations?  A recent article in Campus Technology entitled, “Is Cloud Computing a Credible Solution for Education?” visits that subject.

Bruce Schneier points out that cloud computing is really nothing new.  Hotmail and Gmail have been doing it for a long time; social networking sites, remote backup companies and remote email filtering companies have also been in on the game.  Schneier says, “Any IT outsourcing—network infrastructure, security monitoring, remote hosting—is a form of cloud computing.”

Cloud Computing provides computer applications to users without the need to purchase, install or support those application.  The software and data is hosted on a remote computer.  Infrastructure-as-a-service providers such as BlueLock are able to provide substantial financial advantages as well as increased IT agility, improving collaboration and innovation within that organization.  And we’ve done that for higher education organizations already.   

Gartner Group blogger Thomas Bittman said this: "The Web, social software and cloud computing will definitely have an impact on enterprise IT--but the impact on our educational system will be astounding, and many in our educational system don't see it coming."

But the downside…

Schneier also cautioned that cloud computing forces reliance on a third party, which may not always be the best idea.  Why? Because when the computer is outside your network, you’re not able to protect it with security systems like firewalls and IDSs.  Not only that but you have to trust your vendor completely – its security, reliability, availability and business continuity.

That’s not a downside at BlueLock.

So yes, you’ll have to rely on us, a third party.  But we install firewalls and IDSs and most likely take more security precautions than you are already taking.  We are SAS 70 and PCI compliant.  Not only that, but we provide SLA with promised uptimes of 99.99%, in case you’re worried about availability.  As for business continuity, we’ve got that too, and at a fraction of the cost.  You can click here to learn more about our virtual disaster recovery solutions.  And most importantly, the trust issue.  Our clients view us as a trusted advisor.  We don’t want to be just another vendor; we want to be an extension of your organization, a partner.  That’s our goal (and we tend to hit goals over here).

And when it comes right down to successes in the education industry, just click here to read our case study on Marian University.  You could say they were more than pleased with what we were able to do for them.

Rackspace recently released their growth numbers for their cloud computing services.  They are obviously very big and only hoping to get bigger like many other large clouds.  Large cloud hosting providers are great at what they do – offer cheap cloud hosting solutions with no frills and no customization.  When I say no customization, we’re talking McDonald’s cloud computing, not Burger King.

On the other hand, for those clients who don’t want McDonald’s cloud hosting, a big cloud computing company might not be better.  Let’s face it; Seth Godin really has something going in “Small is the New Big.”  Bigger companies tend to have lots of set processes, procedures, guidelines, systems and such that can get in the way of one big thing – the creation of client-specific solutions for even the most complex projects.  But there are some slightly smaller cloud hosting providers (with just as much stability, maybe more) who can better focus on the specific client's need to create just the right cloud solution.

A client with those complex needs for their important data and processing like higher up-time, disaster recovery, compliance and security, can’t go with the McDonald’s approach.  They need something more like Burger King.  Obviously Burger King doesn't offer cloud computing, but BlueLock does.  And we’re able to create cloud computing environments for our clients that fill their specific needs, not just the needs a "big" cloud computing company assumes they have.  So, if you’re an enterprise client, with big ole’ security and service requirements, you can still enjoy the wonderful benefits of cloud computing.  You just might not be able to do it with a huge cloud computing company.  But that’s why we’re here. 

After a great success at CloudCamp Indy #2 on Tuesday we've already started planning CloudCamp Cincinnati.  Lucky for us Brian Prince of Microsoft, who presented a Lightning Talk at CloudCamp Indy offered up the MS headquarters in Cinci.  Eager to host the event, he's already got it booked for February 24th.  Mark your calendars now, this should be a good one!

Haven't been to a CloudCamp and not sure what you're missing?  Read this post and/or watch this video.

Last night we had almost 100 people at BlueLock to participate in CloudCamp Indy #2 – It professionals, students and business professionals alike.  It was a success by all measures.

BlueLock, Apparatus, Network Storage Inc. and Windows Azure all led lightning talks, which are quick 5-minute presentations on the company’s offerings and how they are involved in cloud computing.  Some of the presenters, like Brian Prince of Window’s Azure also went into detail on the definition of cloud computing as you can see from this image below.


From there, Dave Nielsen drew six cloud computing experts from the cloud to take part in the cloud computing “unpanel.”  They answered questions from the cloud like:
Stay tuned for some video footage of the experts’ responses.

Thanks to all of the folks who turned out at the event and to the awesome sponsors!

If you haven’t already registered, it’s not too late!  Click here to register now, the more the merrier!

About CloudCamp:
CloudCamp is an unconference where attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies. As an informal, member-supported gathering, we rely entirely on volunteers to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting locations, equipment and membership recruitment. We also have corporate sponsors that provide financial assistance with venues, food, drink, software, services and other valuable donations.

Sponsors & Presenters:
Thank you to the following sponsors:

-    Apparatus
-    Scale Computing
-    Network Storage, Inc
-    Windows Azure
-    Cisco

Location: Note - Photo ID is required to get into CloudCamp Indianapolis

BlueLock
6325 Morenci Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46268

Tentative Schedule:
4:00PM Networking
4:45PM Introduction
5:00PM Lightning Talks (5 min each)
5:45PM Un-panel (with Audience Questions)
6:15PM Organize Un-conference
6:30PM 1st round of breakout sessions (including “What is Cloud Computing”)
7:30PM Food, Drinks & Networking
7:45PM 2nd round of breakout sessions
8:30PM Wrap-up Session and more Networking

CloudCamp Indy Organizers:

- Alicia (Glick) Gaba of BlueLock
- Ryan Birk of Apparatus
- Ed Saipetch of Network Storage Inc.


Interested in more CloudCamps? See - http://www.cloudcamp.com

BlueLock serves its clients by providing the people, expertise and IT infrastructure in a world-class, SAS 70 certified data center. The company provides Virtual Cloud Computing through Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) where clients subscribe monthly to just the right amount of computing, storage and bandwidth capacity needed today with the ability to grow “on demand” in the future. Their unique IT environments are ideal for Web-facing software applications (also known as software as a service) and IT environments that require high availability and the ability to expand and contract dynamically for production or disaster recovery.  Our rapid growth earned BlueLock the accolade of one of 50 Indiana “Companies to Watch” in 2009 by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. BlueLock, a Collina Ventures company, is privately-held and headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Position Summary
BlueLock is looking for a Controller. This role will be vital to the Finance and Administration team and is being added due to explosive growth. 

The Controller would report directly to the Chief Financial Officer. This position is responsible for a variety of accounting, finance and treasury activities. Specific responsibilities will include directing the monthly reporting and daily accounting activities, budgeting, forecasting and planning of the company performance. This is a key position and the individual must have high energy, strong work ethic and experience in a fast paced entrepreneurial environment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Oversee all aspects of the Company’s accounting functions. Some of these duties include general accounting, operational accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, taxes, internal controls and reconciliations.

Ideal Personal Profile:
To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies to perform the essential functions of this position.This position requires a bachelor’s degree preferably in accounting or finance, and 4 – 8 years of related accounting and financial experience.  Strong understanding of accounting and finance principles is required.  A CPA, MBA or other advance degree would be preferred.

Company Culture
If you’re a motivated self-starter that shares our commitment to building a world-class organization, you might be the right person for BlueLock. We believe that each employee who joins our staff is important to the success of our company, and that each and every employee makes a difference.  The key to our success lies in the hard work, dedication and commitment of our employees, whose accomplishments we recognize with personal acknowledgement, competitive compensation, excellent benefits, and opportunities for personal and professional growth and advancement.  We are committed to attracting new employees as we grow as a company, but believe that the key to our long-term success is the retention of current employees

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of a level of work performed by people assigned to this classification.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees so classified.  Management retains the discretion to add to or change the duties of the position at any time.

If you want to join one of Indiana’s best employment opportunities, please send your resume to Brian Modiano, CFO bmodiano@bluelock.com

CloudCamp Indy is just around the corner and BlueLock would like to thank all of the sponsors who have shown their dedication to growing cloud computing expertise and knowledge in Central Indiana.

CloudCamp Indianapolis sponsors include:

Scale Computing
Network Storage, Inc
Apparatus
Windows Azure
Cisco

CloudCamp is an unconference where attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information about cloud computing in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies. As an informal, member-supported gathering, we rely entirely on volunteers to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting locations, equipment and membership recruitment. We also have corporate sponsors that provide financial assistance with venues, food, drink, software, services and other valuable donations.

If you haven't registered for this free event, but would like to attend click here.

October 27th is getting closer!  If you haven't registered for CloudCamp Indy #2 yet, what are you waiting for?  Click here to register. (It's free!)

Not sure what CloudCamp is? Click here to read an earlier blog post.

Or click here to watch a video from CloudCamp Indy back in February.


Basically, CloudCamp is an event for anyone - users, vendors, experts or novices - interested in learning more about cloud computing technologies.  Not sure if the cloud is right for your company or what to look for in a provider?  Virtualization and cloud computing experts will be there (on the panels and in the audiences) to answer those questions.  There will surely be discussions on the risks and benefits of cloud computing and how to find the right cloud computing provider for your needs.  The best thing about an "unconference" like CloudCamp is that the topics and breakout sessions are designed by the audience.

Come and join the fun here at BlueLock from 4-8PM on Tuesday, October 27th.  Just make sure you register first!

With all of this hoopla about how awful cloud computing is because of the Microsoft/T-Mobile data loss incident, I’d say cloud computing isn’t just getting Sidekicked, its getting a round-house to the gut.  And I don’t know that all of the generalizations about the cloud (and how good or bad it is) are necessarily fair or accurate…

Yesterday I saw this status update on my Facebook Newsfeed (among many other similar updates who had experienced the same problem). 


It’s quite obvious users are not happy about their losses, nor can they be happy with cloud computing at this point.  This post in particular sheds no light of hope for the poor unfortunate Sidekick users like Lindsey who are out of luck with no access to their contacts or other services on their phones.  T-Mobile just published an official apology regarding the server error at Danger (a subsidiary of Microsoft) saying that the users may never see their precious data again.

And this begs the never-end question as to whether or not you can actually rely on cloud computing.

My answer – you get what you pay for, and what you pay for is the SLA.  If your data is sensitive and/or important, it’s not smart to use a cloud that has an SLA of only 99.9% (or less, or none) and no data recovery or data backup options.  If you don’t want to get Sidekicked like T-Mobile did, take a better look at what you’re storing in the cloud, what that means for the SLA and disaster recovery you need and what kind of people (and how much of their time) you need to run your cloud.

Not all clouds are alike – some are managed and some are DIY – some have high SLA’s like BlueLock (99.99% uptime), some have low SLAs and some are just dependent on the engineering your team is able to do. 

There is reason to trust cloud computing, but you can only trust your cloud if you’ve done your due diligence and made the right choices along the way.

I'm sure you've heard a lot about the many advantages of virtualization, but what are the drawbacks?  Can you believe everything you hear about the technology?  Well, a recent post on Forbes dove into a number of virtualization myths, and debunked them.

Here are my favorites:

Virtualization is only for large companies. 
False.  Virtualization can be used in almost any company, as long as you have more than one server.  In addition to workload consolidation, other benefits of virtualization include high availability, live migration, streamlined backups and fault tolerance – all of which can benefit any organization by simplifying maintenance and lowering infrastructure costs.

Virtualization is expensive.
Most likely false.  Virtualization is somewhat expensive on the onset, but it will pay for itself.  The cost savings come over time from using fewer servers, less power, cooling & operating system licensing and reduced maintenance.  TIP: Do a ROI calculation from the beginning to see how much virtualization will really cost you.

Virtualization is not secure.
Any type of software can be found not secure.  In every circumstance, virtualization included, it is always important to follow best practices for network, storage and operating system configurations to produce a secure environment.  If your company has its own security requirements, it obviously smart to follow those as well.  In short, security measures should be followed no matter what – virtualization is no less secure than any other technology.

Interested in learning more about virtualization?  Read these other posts. Or contact us.

To read the full list of myths click here.

 

Indianapolis-based BlueLock, provider of cloud computing and managed IT services, announced they will sponsor and host CloudCamp Indianapolis #2 on Tuesday, October 27th. CloudCamp events are free and follow an interactive, unscripted format as attendees suggest topics of discussion, before and during the event. Attracting IT professionals and non-technical business managers alike, the cloud computing event is designed to expand awareness of cloud computing, from both a technical and business integration perspective.

At a typical CloudCamp, activities include:

• Panels and discussions focused on different types of Cloud Computing technologies
• Identify and discuss challenges posed by Cloud Computing
• Exchange ideas with other Cloud Computing innovators
• Learn about business models and discover opportunities
• Networking between potential cloud clients and business partners
 

In response to the growing interest in cloud computing, these camps have been held in major tech centers around the world, such as San Francisco, Washington D.C., Atlanta and London. Upcoming events, in addition to the Indy event, include: Silicon Valley, Munich, Germany, Phoenix, AZ and Tel Aviv.

"We are excited to host and sponsor another CloudCamp event in Indianapolis,'" said Brian Wolff, VP Sales and Marketing for BlueLock. “We had an amazing crowd of more than 100 people, who brought an abundance of questions, knowledge and ideas about cloud computing back in February at the first CloudCamp Indianapolis. We’re hoping to attract even more participants to share more ideas and knowledge about the current and always-changing cloud landscape.”

The unique unconference will be held from 4 – 8:30 pm at BlueLock, 6325 Morenci Trail, Indianapolis, IN. CloudCamp is a free event, but space is limited so you must register.

Virtual pre-conference discussions can be found at www.cloudcamp.com and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cloudcamp.

For more information or to register for this event go to www.cloudcamp.com/indianapolis.
 

To all of you Indy-area cloudies, BlueLock is happy to announce another Cloud Camp Indy event which will take place on October 27th at 4pm.  The location has not yet been officially booked, but we are on board and looking sponsoring partners already.

Mark your calendars and register now.  Space will be limited, so don't wait too long!

CloudCamp is an unconference where attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies. As an informal, member-supported gathering, we rely entirely on volunteers to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting locations, equipment and membership recruitment. We also have corporate sponsors that provide financial assistance with venues, food, drink, software, services and other valuable donations.

Discussions are never the same, but here are some examples of topics we've covered before:

- Security in the cloud
- Maximizing application performance with cloud computing
- What are my torage options?
- What should my requirements be as a client?
- How many clouds should I have?
- What is the difference between virtualization and cloud computing?

If you are interested in sponsoring or have any questions about the event please contact me (Alicia) at agaba@bluelock.com.

At the February 2009 CloudCamp event we had almost 100 attendees and we're hoping to make this event even bigger and better!  Watch this video to see how much fun we had last year.