I will make this simple. There is only one question you need to ask yourself or your IT department to determine if what you have is really an Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud. Can I get a VM in 5-10 minutes? Perhaps a little bit more detailed? Can a properly credentialed user, with a legitimate need for cloud... Continue Reading →
Putting Clouds in Perspective – Cloud Redefined
You'd think as we head into the waning months of 2011 that there'd be little left to discuss regarding the definition of cloud IT. Well, not quite yet. Having spent a lot of time with clients working on their cloud strategies and planning, I've come to learn that the definition of cloud IT is fundamentally... Continue Reading →
SeaMicro: Atom and the Ants
I predict that significantly more than half of new data center compute capacity deployed in 2016 and beyond will be based on Atoms, ARMs and other ultra-low-power processors. These mighty mites will change much about how application architectures will evolve too. Lastly, I seriously believe that the small, low-power server model will eliminate the use of virtualization in a majority of public cloud capacity by 2018. The impact in the enterprise will be initially less significant, and will take longer to play out, but in the end it will be the same result. So, let’s take a look at this in more detail to see if you agree.
Cloud Core Principles – Elasticity is NOT #Cloud Computing Response
Ok, I know that this is dangerous. Randy is a very smart guy and he has a lot more experience on the public cloud side than I probably ever will. But I do feel compelled to respond to his recent "Elasticity is NOT #Cloud Computing .... Just Ask Google" post. On many of the key... Continue Reading →
The End of Over-Provisioning
One part of the debate on cloudonomics that often gets overlooked is the effect of over-provisioning. Many people look at the numbers and say they can run a server for less money than they can buy the same capacity in the cloud. And, assuming that you optimize the utilization of that server, that may be... Continue Reading →
The Real Cloud Action is Innovation, not Economics
I have no doubt in my mind that Thomas Edison, were he alive today, would instantly spot the real value of cloud computing. Most people think it's the economics. To one of history's most prolific inventors, cloud computing would mean innovation. You see, cloud isn't just about how cheap you can make a VM, or... Continue Reading →
Predicting the Great Cloud Shakeout – Don’t Become CloudKill
Setting aside the shameless cloud-washing that's going on from some vendors, there are a lot of cloud service providers (CSPs - providers of cloud) today. Many of those listed in Sys-Con's Top 150 report are CSPs, while others are providing extensions, tools or services for clouds. Everybody's a cloud provider these days - and as... Continue Reading →
Market Parallels – Cloud and Open Source?
Any new technology market has its own lifecycle and rhythm. From mainframes, through smartphones, there's the early years, the rapid growth, some slowing down and inevitably a decline. Some technologies never go away completely (e.g. mainframes), while others never really get a foothold (insert your own example here). Open source was a software movement that... Continue Reading →
Private Cloud for Interoperability, or for “Co-Generation?”
There has been a lot of good discussion lately about the semantics of private vs. public clouds. The general issue revolves around the issue of elasticity. It goes something like this: "If you have to buy your own servers and deploy them in your data center, that's not very elastic and therefore cannot be cloud."... Continue Reading →
John Treadway 