Reuven Cohen, a loud and important name in cloud computing has pointed towards a new way of looking at the definition of cloud computing.  He argues that we should look at cloud computing as a euphemism rather then trying to define it through a metaphor or analogy or by simplifying it as internet-centric infrastructure.

Cohen says:
So there it is.  Let's start taking a look at the bigger picture like Mr. Cohen.  Cloud computing isn't the infrastructure of the internet, its simply a better way of "applying" it.

Last week with the death of megastar Michael Jackon, news sites and social media outlets posting the earliest reports of the death of Jackson experienced availability problems as web users around the world sought to confirm the tragic news.  TMZ.com was the first site to post the news and was soon kicked off line due to the immense amount of traffic that hit the site.  Twitter struggled and even turned off search features to slow the load.  Many of the other large news sites were slowed as well including ABC, NBC, AOL, CBS, and Yahoo! News. 

Reuven Cohen of Elastic Vapor jumped right in arguing that there is no longer a reason for sites to experience this type of slow-down with cloud computing available.  One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing is capacity on demand.  With capacity on demand, these sites can access almost infinite supplies of compute, leaving the end users with no experience of failure or slowdown.  Cohen says, "Not having a cloud bursting strategy in the age of cloud computing isn't just wrong - its idiotic."

Cohen is obviously very blunt with his feelings, but honestly its true.  These sites have no doubt experienced these huge traffic loads before so either they aren't worried about their end users or they just aren't keeping up with technology enough to make use of the cloud computing solution.

It's getting down to crunchtime for CloudCamp Columbus registration!  The event is taking place at TechColumbus in Columbus, OH on June 30th.  For more information what CloudCamp is and how to register go to www.cloudcamp.com.

If you haven't attended one yet, I can't tell you how compelling the events are.  Very interactive and entertaining - register today!

In Malcolm Gladwell’s first book, The Tipping Point, he studies the social factors which contribute to the spread of an “idea virus.”  In Gladwell’s thesis, it is never just one thing which causes the social shift, but a convergence of social factors, and influential people.  We may very well be at the cusp of such a “tipping point” with Software-as-a-Service.  A quick look at year to date software sales shows the beginnings of the trend. 


While all software sales are relatively flat, SaaS has enjoyed significant growth the last two years.  The factors?  I think there are three major factors contributing to the growth of this category:

1)    The technology is available – With numerous players jumping into SaaS, IaaS and PaaS, there is a race to build the best, fastest, safest applications, platforms and infrastructure.
2)     General increase in consumer confidence in web-based applications.   Only a few years ago, consumers were hesitant to shop online.  Today the explosion of online retail extensions to traditional retailers, as well as sites like eBay and Amazon clearly indicate how comfortable consumers have become with online shopping.  Along with this is the increase in social media.  The web is simply becoming a more integral part of daily life.
3)    Economic factors – It is simply to expensive to build and distribute software using traditional methods. 

In a long overdue announcement, IBM, this weekend officially embraced the cloud with the announcement of some initial products and services and a roadmap for its stable of corporate and government customers to comfortably embrace cloud computing.  Steve Lohr of the New York Times draws parallels to IBM’s role is the advancement of Linux servers and personal computers.
 
While it is good to see IBM joining the ranks of companies embracing the cloud, I see it much more as a “me too” strategy than a leadership position I would have expected from Big Blue. Cloud computing as a technology has already been accepted by larger numbers of organizations world wide, because some degree of virtualization makes sense for almost every business and organization.

I do agree with Lohr, that IBM’s entrance will reinforce many of the things we, and other firms like BlueLock have been saying for several years, but I think they should have said it sooner. 

With the right business model, Right On Interactive is well positioned for growth.  They plan to do that, adding more then 100 jobs over the next five years.   This is good news for ROI and good news for Indy.   

Troy and his team have created a unique software-as-a-service product which works in tandem with users existing systems.  They have enjoyed rapid growth because of the seamless compatibility of their Customer Lifecycle Marketing software with the popular Salesforce.com product as well as other CRM tools. 

They have been able to stay ahead of the curve, meeting explosive demand, in part because of their decision to move their application to the BlueLock cloud. Read the related case study. While we can grow their servers on demand, other operations will need additional people with the immense growth they are experiencing.

If the growth of your software-as-a-service product is constrained by capacity, talk to BlueLock to find out how making a change to virtualization  can free you up for growth as well. 

The Open Cirrus cloud computing test bed led by HP, Intel and Yahoo has broadened the global impact of cloud computing.  With over 50 research projects currently plugged into Open Cirrus now including the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in South Korea and MIMOS in Malaysia cloud is affecting more and more companies, agencies and colleges outside of the US, where much of the leading edge work has been done.

IBM has also helped broaden the reach of cloud computing with their work with Vietnam Technology and Telecommunications and the Wang Fu Jing department store chain in China, one of China’s largest retailers.  The city of Wuxi is also using an IMB cloud for test/dev purposes.

These global early adopters will play a key role in bringing new opportunities and problems to solve in the cloud computing realm.  BlueLock has also seen a rise in global attention to the capabilities of virtualization solutions.  We now have clients in 4 countries and over 10 time zones, and the national and international list of prospects keeps growing!

Mary Hayes Weier wrote a piece about the misconceptions of cloud computing in InformationWeek’s “Plug Into the Cloud.”

Conventional wisdom says that small and midmarket companies are more interested in cloud computing due to their tighter infrastructure budgets and constraints while larger companies want to keep everything inside their walls (i.e. private cloud computing performed in-house).

However, she argues, Forrester’s research shows that thinking is wrong.

Myth #1: Smaller companies are more interested in cloud computing.
Forrester’s research shows 1 in 4 large companies with 1,000 employees or more plan to employ an external provider or have already done so for pay-per-use computing of virtual servers, AKA infrastructure-as-a-service (lately also called computing as a service).  In comparison, only 18% of midmarket and 15% of small businesses have plans for IaaS, from a survey of more than 2,600 hardware decision makers at organizations.

Myth # 2: Larger Companies are more interested in internal or private clouds.
Forrester’s research shows that 33% of large companies plan to outsource their IaaS while only 24% want to run their own clouds. 44% plan to use a mixture of both.  (Hint: we believe a mixture of public/private will be the solution that will make the most sense for the most companies going forward, along with different types of public clouds for different needs – production, test/dev, etc.)

Another finding I find not too surprising: the larger the company, the greater the awareness of pay-per-use cloud computing.

Company size & percentage of those unaware of cloud computing:

20,000 +: 21% of respondents
5,000 – 19,000: 23%
500 – 5000: 20%
100 – 499: 26%
100 or less: 31%

In May, a major outage affecting 14% of Google users caused widespread panic, and raised questions about cloud computing in general.  While Google has a cloud solution, Google is not the only choice when it comes to cloud computing. 

An attractive, and affordable no frills model, it serves the need of a subset of users, willing to invest time and effort instead of cash in their infrastructure.  However, for users requiring a more full service approach, there are other, more stable alternatives.  For example, at BlueLock, we are proud of our 99.99% uptime promise.  With cloud computing, just like any other product or service, you often get what you pay for.

In recent weeks there are more and more conversations about the potential impact of the Pandemic Crisis on communities, schools and businesses.    In a recent post, Rich Miller presents a collection of resources written specifically for data centers.

Do you have a pandemic operating plan?  What happens to your business if a significant portion of your IT department is affected by the flu?  Just as you would plan for any other impending disaster, the World Health Organization is suggesting organizations activate their pandemic preparation plans.  Do you have one?   As you formulate your plans, the IT Pandemic Planning Checklist, created by Scott McPherson, CIO, Florida House of Representatives can help you get started. 

Interested in disaster recovery? Click here.

Mr. Stephen Herrod has been quite a busy man steering the virtualization giant we call VMware.  IT and enterprise organizations everywhere are flocking towards virtualization in order to consolidate and maximize their IT infrastructure - and VMware keeps up by continuing to add to their virtualization portfolio.

While VMware is known for being the most advanced and widely adopted server virtualization platform, Herrod is pushing the organization further by working to tap into new virtualization markets such as desktop, smartphones and the most obvious…cloud computing.  VMware does a lot to lay the groundwork for cloud computing considering the fact that virtual machines are the enablers of the technology, so Herrod has quite a hefty job ahead of him.

To learn more about VMware, their virtualization portfolio and what lies ahead according to Stephen Herrod in this great article in ComputerWorld.

BlueLock is a VMware vCloud partner and we can say from experience that VMware has got what it takes to help make sure virtualization and cloud computing get bigger, faster, easier, smarter.

The Dow Jones, 30 stocks which represent a cross section of American business has a few new players this week.  Managed by the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, it is considered one of the best metrics for the US Stock Market., and it now includes Cisco Systems.  In what is clearly a changing of the guard, they are replacing General Motors, which was dropped after filing for bankruptcy this morning. Travelers Insurance also replaced struggling Citigroup.

Will this be the last of the changes?  I doubt it.   Although it takes a long time to earn a spot on this prestigious list, it is only natural that as more of our economy becomes based on technology and the internet, I expect we will see more changes more in the make up of the Dow Jones.  In the not to distant future, it is possible we will see software-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-a-service based companies joining the Dow as well.

In many communities, “outsourcing" brings up images of American jobs being sent overseas, but according to a recent study by KPMG, Indianapolis is one of two American cities well positioned to profit from outsourcing.  The report outlines several key drivers, which give Indianapolis a competitive advantage in a global marketplace including:

• A number of reputed universities located around Indianapolis offer courses in information technology, creating a ready talent pool for the IT-BPO industry
• The city offers a variety of incentives to the IT-BPO industry. In a 2008 study, KPMG has ranked it the city with the third most cost effective tax structure
• Most  centrally located among the top 100 markets in the US, giving it access to talent from other cities
• Well developed infrastructure including power, telecom, roads and a good quality of life for its residents
• The city is suited to leverage the outsourcing potential in the life sciences industry, due to presence of a large number of life sciences companies in the region
• Companies locating in Indianapolis have the benefit of onshore operations combined with lower costs compared with other IT centers in the US, especially the Silicon Valley area.

While the results of the report may have surprised some people, those of us in the technology community here in Indianapolis are simply pleased to finally begin getting the recognition we deserve. 

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In the last few months we have been working on a series of cloud computing case studies, documenting projects with clients like Wooden McLaughlin Law, WebLink and Marian College move some or their entire infrastructure to an environment comprised of virtual servers.  While each business and their applications presented unique challenges, there are several consistent themes which run through the cases studies: When they turn to BlueLock we worry about their infrastructure, so they don’t have to.  We manage the equipment, insure there is enough capacity available when they need it, configure the software, balance loads, and free them to work on their core product or service.

 In a recent post, Bob Warfield includes many of these same elements in his list of "10 Things You Don’t Need to Do In the Clouds."   His list includes:

1.    De-duping and backup;
2.    Server power consumption;
3.    Little iron vs. big iron ( what size server)
4.    MIPs ( how to make your system run faster)
5.    Bandwidth costs
6.    Load balancing;
7.    Hardware monitoring;
8.    Creating redundant data center;
9.    Configuring complex software;
10.  Engineering time spent on keeping the lights on.

While I am not sure I agree with his assessment that the cloud will completely replace traditional servers the way word processors and laser printers killed typewriters, liquid paper, and Linotype machines I do agree this business model will significantly reduce headaches for more and more companies in the years to come.

Over the last year, I have read a number of discussions about the advantages of cloud computing. While many of the discussions center on the ability to scale, manage costs, and the intrinsic disaster recovery aspects as the primary advantages of virtualization there are other benefits as well. 

One of the benefits often overlooked is the data portability and remote access.   Here are links to two articles with good overviews of the portability topic: 

• In January 2008 Benn Konsynski, a chaired professor of business administration for information systems and operations management at Emory University said:
  • One of the biggest advantages is that a user may no longer have to be tethered to a traditional computer to use an application, or have to buy a version that’s specifically configured for a phone, PDA [personal digital assistant] or other device. It’s likely that at some point any device that can access the Internet will be able to run a cloud-based application. Application services are available, independent of the user devices and network interfaces.
• In October of 2008, Brandon Wybenga argued the key advantage of cloud computing was not scalability, but portability.

As the discussion continues, how important is portability to your decision?

As the need for consistent interoperability continues to grow, BlueLock is committed to adding resources, and investigating products and services which will offer our clients secure, reliable, scalable and flexible environments. 

One of our newest employees Terry Stutzman, joins BlueLock as a Certified Project Manager and will direct his attention to refining BlueLock’s processes and systems with particular emphasis on expanding the vital interoperability between sales, client services and operations.  As Technical Operations Manager he will also work to optimize security processes and offerings. With significant IT experience in the banking industry, he is well-positioned to handle the high security requirements of our clients and our own internal systems. 

More about Terry

Last fall, the majority of conversations in the cloud computing space centered on security, as CIO’s wondered if this emerging platform would really provide enough security for their needs. This spring the conversation seems to have shifted to interoperability and portability. It seems more and more business leaders are becoming comfortable with the idea that some or all of their data will be "in the clouds".  The questions now center on insuring that various clouds can be connected, allowing managers to move data from cloud to cloud.

In the third of a four part series on the subject of interoperability of cloud computing environments, James Urguat lists a number of groups who have sprung up that are all interested in addressing questions around interoperability and portability of cloud computing environments:

• Management of Virtualized Resources - DMTF
• Open Cloud Standards Incubator - DMTF
• SLAs at SOI 
• Compliance - Industry organizations (e.g. HIPAA, PCI)

As the various branches of the Federal government have begun investigating and adopting different “cloud computing” and cloud-like applications, they like the private sector have struggle with the definition of ‘what is cloud computing’.  To provide clarity and a common platform for discussion, a draft definition by Peter Mell and Tim Grance at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was presented at a federal CIO summit last week. 


Cloud computing is a pay-per-use model for enabling available, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is comprised of five key characteristics, three delivery models, and four deployment models.

Key Characteristics:
On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed without requiring human interaction with each service’s provider.

Ubiquitous network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Location independent resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve all consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. The customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources. Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines.

Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned to quickly scale up and rapidly released to quickly scale down. To the consumer, the capabilities available for rent often appear to be infinite and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

Pay per use. Capabilities are charged using a metered, fee-for-service, or advertising based billing model to promote optimization of resource use. Examples are measuring the storage, bandwidth, and computing resources consumed and charging for the number of active user accounts per month. Clouds within an organization accrue cost between business units and may or may not use actual currency.

Note: Cloud software takes full advantage of the cloud paradigm by being service oriented with a focus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.

Delivery Models:
Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure and accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a Web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure, network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created applications using programming languages and tools supported by the provider (e.g., java, python, .Net). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure, network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but the consumer has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to rent processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly select networking components (e.g., firewalls, load balancers).

Deployment Models:
Private cloud. The cloud infrastructure is owned or leased by a single organization and is operated solely for that organization.

Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations).

Public cloud. The cloud infrastructure is owned by an organization selling cloud services to the general public or to a large industry group.

Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (internal, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting).

Each deployment model instance has one of two types: internal or external. Internal clouds reside within an organizations network security perimeter and external clouds reside outside the same perimeter.

In recent studies Gartner identified two trends which on the surface might seem at odds:

Gartner: IT spending in 2009 will be worse than 2001's decline

Business spending on cloud computing rises to $9.6 billion in 2009, up 22%

While overall spending is declining, as IT managers adjust their budgets in light of the current recession, cloud computing continues to grow.  Why?  I think there are several key drivers behind this trend. The first is the convergence of a maturing technology with a correlating market need.  Cloud computing offers significant cost savings at a time when IT managers are looking to reduce costs.   With major players like VMware continually improving their VMware Cloud (vCloud) with increased functionality, responsiveness and reliability makes the transition to infrastructure as a service a natural choice.  

The second factor is the dramatic increase of companies developing Software-as-a-Service products which require SaaS hosting solutions. While Salesforce.com led the way, we are seeing many other companies moving to the cloud.  For example, 5Buckets by Right On Interactive which integrates marketing applications and systems clients already have in place such as ExactTarget and Salesforce.com and WebLink connect a membership management software program (link to client sites or case studies) have chosen the BlueLock Cloud for their infrastructure so they are free to focus their time and resources on product development, not infrastructure management.   

And even as the economy continues to recover I believe smart IT managers, having seen the benefits of cloud computing, will continue to make this transition to fuel their growth and manager their costs.