Every new development in technology brings with it a bewildering array of new names and concepts Cloud technology is no different. Never mind the “forget what you know” marketing hype. In this article you will see just how attainable the technology is and how little there is to learn. At its heart Cloud Computing consists of a few tools elegant in their simplicity yet profound in their impact, not least of all to the bottom line!
Genesis:
Cloud starts with a revolutionary, but now rather old and familiar technology, that is virtualisation. Virtualisation allows you to install an operating system on a generic layer overlaying the hardware. This simple concept offers two game-changing features.
Portability: The system no longer needs awareness of BrandX hardware, it sees only the generic interfaces of the Virtual Environment. The operating system can now be moved from one physical machine to another as long as both share the virtual environment.
Resource Sharing: Multiple operating systems can share a single set of hardware with the virtual environment managing allocation of the underlying physical resources.
From the operating system perspective and low-level technical caveats excepted, nothing has changed. Your Windows or Linux machine is still a Windows or Linux machine. This is the beauty of Virtualisation, it breaks the tie between operating system and hardware without impacting either. Virtualisation means vanilla installations can be archived ready to be copied and configured when the need arises.
Those familiar with products such as VMWare will know that this technology has been around for years. To understand how Virtualisation became “Cloud” we need to look at Amazon’s ingenious use of the Xen virtualization suite.
Amazon were faced with a problem familiar to many retailers with seasonal peaks. Their infrastructure was as big as their Christmas peak. Virtualisation offered them a way to scale their operation up and down to fit their business volumes leaving clean redundant hardware during lulls. Using a combination of the Portability and Resource Sharing features of Virtualisation, and adding an interface for third party consumption Amazon’s Elastic Cloud was born allowing public use of Amazon’s redundant server and storage space.
An Operational Revolution:
As we’ve seen, Virtualisation changes nothing at the operating system level, a server is still a server, Linux is still Linux, Windows is still Windows. What has changed is the process of provisioning. Until the advent of Cloud, the process of commissioning servers involved either purchasing hardware or outsourcing this to a third party in the form of a server rental agreement. The lead time could be measured in days because it involved wires, screwdrivers and racks. By contrast, Cloud uses redundant hardware, that is hardware already installed and tested by the vendor. The specification for a server is no longer translated into a physical hardware shopping list but to a “virtual” allocation of resources from the existing Virtualised pool. At a stroke provisioning times have been cut from days, or even weeks to minutes.
Shorter provisioning times and easy resource reallocation allows the consumer far greater granular control of infrastructure spend and has revolutionised pricing structures with many vendors now offering rental agreements of 1 hour rather than the more traditional months and years required for them to preserve margin against hardware bought to serve a particular client.
Cloud servers are a genuine win-win, the vendor passes on reduced overhead through better resource allocation and more densely populated data centres while the consumer enjoys flexible hour-by-hour rental charges on a platform their IT staff will already with and the benefits of rescaling only a few minutes away. For the many businesses still sitting on a depreciating asset as large as their seasonal peak, cloud servers are ripe fruit waiting to be harvested.
Showing posts with label cloud computing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cloud computing. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Cloud computing to create one lakh jobs in India: Study
Bangalore: As the next technology wave, cloud computing by enterprises has the potential to create about 100,000 new jobs in India, a study said.
"Of the projected $4.5-billion total cloud computing market in India by 2015, private cloud will account for $3.5 billion, generate about 100,000 additional jobs and save about 50 percent of cost of IT operations for Indian enterprises," the study "Private Cloud Landscape in India", by Zinnov Management Consulting and global IT firm EMC Corporation, revealed.
In cloud computing, multiple servers are used as a single platform through a digital network (website) under secured environment with access to a range of applications and tools for reducing the cost of IT operations.
Cloud computing is emerging as the next big IT service for its pay-as-you-go model, which eliminates capital intensive investment by companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in setting up IT infrastructure.
Spend on using cloud by information technology and back office firms, telecos, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), manufacturing and government organisations is set to increase to 8.2 percent over the next five years from 1.4 percent in 2010.
"There will be an increased preference of cloud adoption over the next five years in India. The total cloud market, which was about $400 million in 2010, is expected to growth by a whopping 60 percent annually with private cloud dominating the landscape," Zinnov chief executive Pari Natrajan told reporters here.
Though vendors with partnerships are better positioned to address enterprise needs, the survey noted that many Indian firms would have to invest in competency building to take advantage of cloud computing technologies as they were under-skilled in meeting the growing requirement.
"Cloud computing will reshape the Indian IT market by generating new opportunities for vendors and driving changes in traditional IT offerings," Natarajan pointed out.
Companies and organisations, which have not adopted IT so far or invested in data centres and server farms will have the advantage of directly moving to the low-cost cloud model.
"For cloud computing to deliver its promise, customers need human resources with cloud computing competencies, both as vendors or as internal resources. Though there are vendors such as ours (EMC) offering the solution to customers for making informed decisions, we need to build competencies to leverage cloud computing technologies," EMC India president Manoj Chugh said on the occasion.
The findings are based on a survey of over 100 chief information officers (CIOs) and IT decision-makers in India across industry verticals conducted during January-May 2011.
"Of the projected $4.5-billion total cloud computing market in India by 2015, private cloud will account for $3.5 billion, generate about 100,000 additional jobs and save about 50 percent of cost of IT operations for Indian enterprises," the study "Private Cloud Landscape in India", by Zinnov Management Consulting and global IT firm EMC Corporation, revealed.
In cloud computing, multiple servers are used as a single platform through a digital network (website) under secured environment with access to a range of applications and tools for reducing the cost of IT operations.
Cloud computing is emerging as the next big IT service for its pay-as-you-go model, which eliminates capital intensive investment by companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in setting up IT infrastructure.
Spend on using cloud by information technology and back office firms, telecos, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), manufacturing and government organisations is set to increase to 8.2 percent over the next five years from 1.4 percent in 2010.
"There will be an increased preference of cloud adoption over the next five years in India. The total cloud market, which was about $400 million in 2010, is expected to growth by a whopping 60 percent annually with private cloud dominating the landscape," Zinnov chief executive Pari Natrajan told reporters here.
Though vendors with partnerships are better positioned to address enterprise needs, the survey noted that many Indian firms would have to invest in competency building to take advantage of cloud computing technologies as they were under-skilled in meeting the growing requirement.
"Cloud computing will reshape the Indian IT market by generating new opportunities for vendors and driving changes in traditional IT offerings," Natarajan pointed out.
Companies and organisations, which have not adopted IT so far or invested in data centres and server farms will have the advantage of directly moving to the low-cost cloud model.
"For cloud computing to deliver its promise, customers need human resources with cloud computing competencies, both as vendors or as internal resources. Though there are vendors such as ours (EMC) offering the solution to customers for making informed decisions, we need to build competencies to leverage cloud computing technologies," EMC India president Manoj Chugh said on the occasion.
The findings are based on a survey of over 100 chief information officers (CIOs) and IT decision-makers in India across industry verticals conducted during January-May 2011.
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Rise of the Cloud in the Age of the App
The intersection of cloud and mobile computing means the next generation of software will be available everywhere, but getting there won't be easy.
Although relatively new technology, cloud implementations have been quickly adopted on the Web, and spurred innovation by coinciding with the proliferation of mobile and tablet devices. We are moving away from software that exists on our hard drives to applications that exist both in the cloud and in our pockets. The future of software is in “everywhere apps” that aren’t tied to a single device, but rather to the end user - available on any platform the user prefers. We no longer expect to go to the software - we expect the software to come to us.
Turn and Face the Strain...
How will the shift in development from local and desktop to clouds and apps change the nature of what we consider software? The software we interact with on a daily basis will become deeply personalized to our needs. We will no longer have to bend “kitchen sink” enterprise applications and one-size-fits-all desktop software to fit our needs. If there is a need, there will be an app for it. Even if it is a corner case of usage requirements, it likely affects many individuals and there will be a developer or entrepreneur willing to make that bet.
Developers will be able to concentrate on solving the problems that are important to the end users and spend less time worrying about the back-end or the infrastructure. In 2011 it's possible to get a logo, a website, setup a store or billing system and spool up a cluster over a weekend. Even user authentication can be simply addressed by utilizing users’ existing identities on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. By outsourcing solved problems the important development time can be spent on unique offerings and addressing the true needs of the user.
Car companies don’t make their own tires and airlines don’t make their own fuel. Every industry capitalizes on the core competencies of others to maximize their competitive advantage. Rather than trying to create more social networks, new communities like Quora and Hashable allow users to utilize their existing networks and are able to focus on their products.
The Age of the App
Although some aspects of developing for the cloud have become easier thanks to new tools and services, the proliferation of mobile computing has us expecting an app to be available on our desktops, phones, tablets, TVs, stereos and game consoles. Netflix itself is used on a whopping 400 devices. We no longer have to go to the software - we expect the software to come to us. In addition, the new relevance of user experience indicates that development cycles that would have formerly been spent on infrastructure, should now be shifted to the front end.
What does this mean for software development? Building a great product and user experience are more important now than ever. The barriers to entry are so few, and the available tools so plenty, that we can expect to see many competitors for every use case. Apps may only get a single chance to impress users. Users can evaluate and compare apps quickly, with very little time or money lost.
Software will spread virally more than ever before, but it will be increasingly done in person and off the Web. The fact that our phones are always with us means we are constantly talking to friends and coworkers about the apps that we actually find worth using. Neither first mover advantages nor inflated marketing budgets will be able to compensate for products that cannot stand on their own.
App Pricing Models
In addition to starting with a great product, apps will need to be where users are looking for them - everywhere. The software we will interact with on a daily basis will be expected to integrate wherever we already are. The competitive advantage of great software in the future will not just be in its utility, or UX, but in its pervasiveness. Selling points such as presence in web and mobile app stores, availability of browser and mail client plugins and integration with other 3rd party apps and devices will be important variables in purchasing decisions, and will increasingly make the difference between evaluations and sales.
The success of the iOS and Android app stores has proven that users are willing to purchase relatively cheap mobile apps that serve a single purpose. Although the apps are varied, there are a handful of pricing models which have become common for applications that are available for multiple devices:
The freemium subscription model: Free but limited versions of web and mobile apps, with options to upgrade to a paid version. Examples include Pandora, Evernote, Prey and Dropbox.
Free mobile apps which support a physical device, like Sonos, Boxee, or MiCommand.
Free mobile apps that are primarily content delivery vehicles which drive revenue elsewhere, like Kindle and Netflix
Free apps which are a “value add” for services like Salesforce or E*TRADE.
Apps which are free on the web, but require a paid subscription to access the mobile apps, such as Lastpass and Remember The Milk. A very interesting experiment on the question of what users value enough to pay for, this essentially makes the web apps loss leaders for the mobile apps. I believe this will become a successful and popular model for the balancing act of limiting functionality while still gaining traction. Last.fm recently announced its transition to this model.
Implications
The reluctance of software developers to adopt an “everywhere” strategy likely relates to not only the development time required, but also the support. If users come to rely on a Firefox plugin and iPhone app, even if they have not paid a dime they will expect updates and support. However, many companies are proving the profitability of the stickiness this philosophy provides. Its important to remember there is more at play here than stickiness - if an application isn’t where its market is, someone else will be.
One way in which software companies can bypass the laborious task of coding for different environments is in Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions such as Appcelerator and Particle Code. Although adoption is not widespread at the moment, solutions like these may soon be viable alternatives to dedicating developers to separate platforms. Another option is to simply bypass platforms completely and create app-like experiences using HTML5. Aside magazine and the startup OnSwipe are examples of the possibilities available for content publishers outside of app stores, which is attractive for various reasons.
Closing
The combination of advances in the cloud and in mobile computing have created entirely new ecosystems of software, with unseen before varieties of applications. What users want and expect out of applications will shape the future of software development more by use case than by technological innovation.
This crossroads of cloud and mobile computing still leaves many questions unanswered: how do users prefer to pay for an app that is not dependant on a physical device, but instead follows them everywhere? Does the user experience need to be familiar across platforms, or instead dependent on the device? Interaction designers and app developers forging this path will be watched closely for their resolutions to these and other questions. Software companies slow or unwilling to brave the web and mobile app space may become obsolete.
For the time being, Android users can tolerate the late arrival of Netflix and iPad users can make do with iPhone versions of some apps. In the future though, markets will be less forgiving. The new reality is that software companies focusing on one platform while neglecting others are missing the bigger picture - the users themselves.
Although relatively new technology, cloud implementations have been quickly adopted on the Web, and spurred innovation by coinciding with the proliferation of mobile and tablet devices. We are moving away from software that exists on our hard drives to applications that exist both in the cloud and in our pockets. The future of software is in “everywhere apps” that aren’t tied to a single device, but rather to the end user - available on any platform the user prefers. We no longer expect to go to the software - we expect the software to come to us.
Turn and Face the Strain...
How will the shift in development from local and desktop to clouds and apps change the nature of what we consider software? The software we interact with on a daily basis will become deeply personalized to our needs. We will no longer have to bend “kitchen sink” enterprise applications and one-size-fits-all desktop software to fit our needs. If there is a need, there will be an app for it. Even if it is a corner case of usage requirements, it likely affects many individuals and there will be a developer or entrepreneur willing to make that bet.
Developers will be able to concentrate on solving the problems that are important to the end users and spend less time worrying about the back-end or the infrastructure. In 2011 it's possible to get a logo, a website, setup a store or billing system and spool up a cluster over a weekend. Even user authentication can be simply addressed by utilizing users’ existing identities on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. By outsourcing solved problems the important development time can be spent on unique offerings and addressing the true needs of the user.
Car companies don’t make their own tires and airlines don’t make their own fuel. Every industry capitalizes on the core competencies of others to maximize their competitive advantage. Rather than trying to create more social networks, new communities like Quora and Hashable allow users to utilize their existing networks and are able to focus on their products.
The Age of the App
Although some aspects of developing for the cloud have become easier thanks to new tools and services, the proliferation of mobile computing has us expecting an app to be available on our desktops, phones, tablets, TVs, stereos and game consoles. Netflix itself is used on a whopping 400 devices. We no longer have to go to the software - we expect the software to come to us. In addition, the new relevance of user experience indicates that development cycles that would have formerly been spent on infrastructure, should now be shifted to the front end.
What does this mean for software development? Building a great product and user experience are more important now than ever. The barriers to entry are so few, and the available tools so plenty, that we can expect to see many competitors for every use case. Apps may only get a single chance to impress users. Users can evaluate and compare apps quickly, with very little time or money lost.
Software will spread virally more than ever before, but it will be increasingly done in person and off the Web. The fact that our phones are always with us means we are constantly talking to friends and coworkers about the apps that we actually find worth using. Neither first mover advantages nor inflated marketing budgets will be able to compensate for products that cannot stand on their own.
App Pricing Models
In addition to starting with a great product, apps will need to be where users are looking for them - everywhere. The software we will interact with on a daily basis will be expected to integrate wherever we already are. The competitive advantage of great software in the future will not just be in its utility, or UX, but in its pervasiveness. Selling points such as presence in web and mobile app stores, availability of browser and mail client plugins and integration with other 3rd party apps and devices will be important variables in purchasing decisions, and will increasingly make the difference between evaluations and sales.
The success of the iOS and Android app stores has proven that users are willing to purchase relatively cheap mobile apps that serve a single purpose. Although the apps are varied, there are a handful of pricing models which have become common for applications that are available for multiple devices:
The freemium subscription model: Free but limited versions of web and mobile apps, with options to upgrade to a paid version. Examples include Pandora, Evernote, Prey and Dropbox.
Free mobile apps which support a physical device, like Sonos, Boxee, or MiCommand.
Free mobile apps that are primarily content delivery vehicles which drive revenue elsewhere, like Kindle and Netflix
Free apps which are a “value add” for services like Salesforce or E*TRADE.
Apps which are free on the web, but require a paid subscription to access the mobile apps, such as Lastpass and Remember The Milk. A very interesting experiment on the question of what users value enough to pay for, this essentially makes the web apps loss leaders for the mobile apps. I believe this will become a successful and popular model for the balancing act of limiting functionality while still gaining traction. Last.fm recently announced its transition to this model.
Implications
The reluctance of software developers to adopt an “everywhere” strategy likely relates to not only the development time required, but also the support. If users come to rely on a Firefox plugin and iPhone app, even if they have not paid a dime they will expect updates and support. However, many companies are proving the profitability of the stickiness this philosophy provides. Its important to remember there is more at play here than stickiness - if an application isn’t where its market is, someone else will be.
One way in which software companies can bypass the laborious task of coding for different environments is in Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions such as Appcelerator and Particle Code. Although adoption is not widespread at the moment, solutions like these may soon be viable alternatives to dedicating developers to separate platforms. Another option is to simply bypass platforms completely and create app-like experiences using HTML5. Aside magazine and the startup OnSwipe are examples of the possibilities available for content publishers outside of app stores, which is attractive for various reasons.
Closing
The combination of advances in the cloud and in mobile computing have created entirely new ecosystems of software, with unseen before varieties of applications. What users want and expect out of applications will shape the future of software development more by use case than by technological innovation.
This crossroads of cloud and mobile computing still leaves many questions unanswered: how do users prefer to pay for an app that is not dependant on a physical device, but instead follows them everywhere? Does the user experience need to be familiar across platforms, or instead dependent on the device? Interaction designers and app developers forging this path will be watched closely for their resolutions to these and other questions. Software companies slow or unwilling to brave the web and mobile app space may become obsolete.
For the time being, Android users can tolerate the late arrival of Netflix and iPad users can make do with iPhone versions of some apps. In the future though, markets will be less forgiving. The new reality is that software companies focusing on one platform while neglecting others are missing the bigger picture - the users themselves.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Cisco launches cloud partner progam
Bangalore: Cisco, today, announced the commencement of a comprehensive Cloud Partner Program for partners to effectively monetize the opportunities in the multi-billion dollar cloud computing space. With this, Cisco becomes the first infrastructure OEM to offer a cloud partner program, which rewards partners not only to build clouds on Cisco infrastructure but also to act as cloud providers and resell cloud services. The new program provides partners flexibility and empowers them to maximize their profitability by offering their own brand of Cloud Services Practice that is powered by Cisco.
Commenting on the roll out of the Cloud Partner Program, B Raghavendran, Vice President, Partner Organization at Cisco India & SAARC said, Cisco's Cloud Partner Program will enable partners to be adequately prepared to meet the large-scale demand for adoption of cloud services by customers in the coming years. This is a first in the industry where the designation is built on the validation of both Cisco and Non-Cisco competencies necessary to build a cloud. The partner will see an additional return on their Cisco and partner investments by leveraging them into a role they can play in the Cloud market. We expect to see the first set of partners being certified on the program, before the end of 2011.
Highlights of the Cloud Partner Program:
Cloud Builder for partners that design and implement cloud-ready infrastructures or fully-provisioned private or public clouds. This designation validates partners competency in three aspects of building Cisco-centric clouds: Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Management Applications, and Cloud Professional Services.
Cloud Provider for companies that are in the business of offering public cloud services to the market X-as-a-Service. This track supports and enables our Cloud Provider partners to sell their own Cisco Powered branded cloud services.
Cloud Services Reseller, complementary to the Cloud Provider track, becomes an additional route to market for the Cloud Provider. Cloud Services Resellers are partners that offer white-label or resell a Cloud Provider's Cisco Powered Cloud Service.
The program aims to supplement the investments in certifications from Cisco so partners can leverage the cloud opportunity at a faster pace and lower cost. Under the aegis of this program, Cisco will also offer intellectual property and training on best practices to help partners increase their expertise in the cloud computing segment. Additional benefits of this program include branding offer creation support, through the Cisco, our Jumpstart financing, market development funding and programmatic access to channel partners as a route to market. Cisco will supplement this thrust by aligning its sales policies internally and providing branding assistance to cloud partners, to sharpen their marketing capabilities.
Cloud Computing has emerged as one of the top technology priorities for information technology professionals according to a study by market researcher Gartner. The study estimates that nearly 50% of all CIO's expect to shift the majority of their applications/infrastructures to the cloud by 2015. In lieu of this seismic shift in technology consumption, the CCP program was created, so that partners can migrate to the cloud easily and profitably. Partners will be given the option to play one, more or all of the three roles and capitalize on the opportunities across the cloud value chain.
Commenting on the roll out of the Cloud Partner Program, B Raghavendran, Vice President, Partner Organization at Cisco India & SAARC said, Cisco's Cloud Partner Program will enable partners to be adequately prepared to meet the large-scale demand for adoption of cloud services by customers in the coming years. This is a first in the industry where the designation is built on the validation of both Cisco and Non-Cisco competencies necessary to build a cloud. The partner will see an additional return on their Cisco and partner investments by leveraging them into a role they can play in the Cloud market. We expect to see the first set of partners being certified on the program, before the end of 2011.
Highlights of the Cloud Partner Program:
Cloud Builder for partners that design and implement cloud-ready infrastructures or fully-provisioned private or public clouds. This designation validates partners competency in three aspects of building Cisco-centric clouds: Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Management Applications, and Cloud Professional Services.
Cloud Provider for companies that are in the business of offering public cloud services to the market X-as-a-Service. This track supports and enables our Cloud Provider partners to sell their own Cisco Powered branded cloud services.
Cloud Services Reseller, complementary to the Cloud Provider track, becomes an additional route to market for the Cloud Provider. Cloud Services Resellers are partners that offer white-label or resell a Cloud Provider's Cisco Powered Cloud Service.
The program aims to supplement the investments in certifications from Cisco so partners can leverage the cloud opportunity at a faster pace and lower cost. Under the aegis of this program, Cisco will also offer intellectual property and training on best practices to help partners increase their expertise in the cloud computing segment. Additional benefits of this program include branding offer creation support, through the Cisco, our Jumpstart financing, market development funding and programmatic access to channel partners as a route to market. Cisco will supplement this thrust by aligning its sales policies internally and providing branding assistance to cloud partners, to sharpen their marketing capabilities.
Cloud Computing has emerged as one of the top technology priorities for information technology professionals according to a study by market researcher Gartner. The study estimates that nearly 50% of all CIO's expect to shift the majority of their applications/infrastructures to the cloud by 2015. In lieu of this seismic shift in technology consumption, the CCP program was created, so that partners can migrate to the cloud easily and profitably. Partners will be given the option to play one, more or all of the three roles and capitalize on the opportunities across the cloud value chain.
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