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Google App Marketplace Could Revolutionize Cloud Computing
Mar 10th
You must have noticed that Google has been slowly inching towards a culture of Online cloud computing, and most companies, individuals and businesses have adapted to the culture of cloud computing because of its obvious advantages. Cloud computing allows users to manage data, applications and information in a way that traditional software or hardware don’t allow and the most important advantage is that you could access your data, application and software from any computer in the world, provided you have the ID and password.
However, cloud computing itself is not without disadvantages, and the most unpleasant one is the lack of applications directly integrated into Google. Hence, users copy and paste data, use different applications time and again in order to get everything into the cloud. Google itself has admitted that it does not have the expertise to integrate the hundreds of business applications out there into the cloud.
Thus Google has now announced that Google Apps Marketplace is now open for business. Developers and software providers can now join the new Online store for integrated business applications. These cloud applications will allow Google Apps customers to discover newer applications without having to manage each one of them separately.
At the moment, there are already more than 50 companies who are selling their applications. Some of the apps already available are
Intuit Online Payroll: It allows users to run payroll, pay taxes and check paystubs within an integrated online office environment.
Manymoon: It helps in organizing and sharing information with co-workers and partners, including tasks, projects, documents, status updates and links.
Professional Services Connect (PS Connect): This provides contextually relevant information about people, projects, customers and transactions so that one could make better decisions.
JIRA Studio: This app helps to track and manage project issues and workflow, especially in design and development of tools.
What the Google Apps Marketplace Is
It works similar to the Apple App Store, but is only cheaper. Google is asking the developers and businesses a onetime fee of $100 and 20% of the revenue in exchange to the access to 25 million Google users. Apps would be authenticated using OpenID and would be secured through oAuth. The applications would be accessible through a universal Google Apps navigation system.
How It Could Help Businesses
Businesses and companies could stop using multiple applications and get rid of the burden of having to remember multiple passwords for each applications. Whether you are an employee or a proprietor, you could use your Google account to access all these applications, and edit/use based on the permissions you have.
How It Could Help Individuals
Google Apps are used by not just companies and businesses but also students, freelance workers, and independent professionals. There are several account management apps, data related apps and other applications that could help the end user to make use of Google cloud computing and the Google App Marketplace makes it easy for everyone.
How Cool Is It Anyway?
Like I mentioned earlier, cloud computing has already become popular and most of us have been using Google Docs, and other apps successfully. The marketplace would allow us to access more applications which are not developed by Google but have been authenticated nevertheless. This allows for a streamlined system of working and managing data, software, accounts and information.
Companies and individuals could make use of payroll, data entry, management, and an office suite for instance and integrate them to the Google account. It would also help in terms of social media, data management and communication. Google App Marketplace could thus be a great beginning and a step in the direction!
Read more: Google App Marketplace Could Revolutionize Cloud Computing | Walyou
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2010: The Year of the Cloud Platform
Mar 9th
For the 3rd installment of our webinar recap series, we dive into what the future holds for cloud computing. In particular, will look at the role of platform-as-a-service in the broader cloud ecosystem. In particular, will 2010 be “the year of PaaS?” Read on for more about why platform-level services will be hot in 2010, and who we felt would be the big winners this year as the focus shifts from the infrastructure to the platform
2010: The Year of Platform as a Service
Michael: 2010 is going to be the year of the platform layer. If we look back at the predictions in 2008 going into 2009, people were getting excited about cloud. People were talking very much about virtualization. People were talking very much about renting resources and tying them all together.
That was great, and we saw that come together in 2009, a lot of excitement out of Amazon and VMware with their various solutions for public and private clouds. A lot of users are coming. When we talk to our customers and various users around the country, I hear a lot of application developers come and say, “But wait how do I tie all of this together? What tools are there for me to take advantage of this new paradigm?” That’s really the core of this prediction.
The platform tools are there. We have our platform tools that assist developers to put together these large applications so they can focus on their value add. There are frameworks such as Hadoop where with just writing a couple of functions of code, you get this massive platform for churning through terabytes or petabytes of data across your infrastructure.
These are the tools. This is the next tier up on the cloud technology stack. This is what people are going to be looking for. I think it’s interesting that if you look back in 2009, you see this come. I see two big points that really drive this.
First of all, there was the VMware acquisition of SpringSource. VMware is still all about the private clouds for tying together your resources and being able to control them dynamically, but you could tell they saw that, to them, the VM is still just a black box that they manage.
They really don’t have the insight into what the application is doing, and they needed those tools to go one tier up. So, here they look at SpringSource. They have more control on runtimes. They have the Hyperic monitoring system to see what’s going on inside the VM, and they can control it at a tighter level.
We talked about standards for 2009. Here at the end of 2009, I’ve seen the first talk about not standards at the infrastructure layer, but standards at the platform layer, about how to try to keep these tools together. So it’s time. People need to move up that stack.
The masses of developers don’t want to be distributed computing experts. They want a tool set to assist them on top of this tremendous infrastructure we’ve built, and I really see it all coming together with another round of great tools for application developers to build upon.
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G.ho.st’s Web-Based Operating System To Shut Down March 15
Mar 4th
Ghost Inc.
, also known as G.ho.st, is shutting down its personal cloud-based services in two weeks, according to an email the company just sent out to users. Ghost cites “changes in the marketplace” as the reason behind the shutdown, but says that the startup will continue to license or sell its technology to larger companies.
The service launched its beta last summer after years of development, allowing users to store their files in the cloud. Files were accessed through a web-based desktop environment, which also included integrated tools like Zoho for editing documents. Users could also access their files through a mounted virtual drive in Windows or from their mobile phones.
Ghost was previously hosted at G.ho.st, which stood for “Global hosted operating system”. The company later moved to the current domain, Ghost.cc, which has the broader tagline, “Cloud Computing”.
Here’s the email the company just sent out to users:
Dear Ghost User,
We hope you have been enjoying our free Ghost service. Regrettably changes in the marketplace mean that it is no longer economical for us to host the Ghost service and we will be closing down the service on or around March 15. We will instead be focusing on licensing or selling our technology to larger companies.
We advise you to migrate ALL important folders, files and emails to another secure place before March 15. You might like to consider Google Docs or Microsoft SkyDrive for files and services such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail for email. Some instructions for migrating data are included below.We are really sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you and are very grateful for the fantastic support we had from our community.
Note that the message says “on or around” March 15 — hopefully they mean “no earlier than”, but I’d back up my data as soon as possible.
It’s also unclear if Ghost’s unreleased services are being shutdown as well (both “Ghost Enterprise” and “Ghost Business” are marked as Coming soon on the site). I’ve reached out to the company for more details.
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Cloud Computing News – Apple looks to move movies to the cloud…
Mar 3rd
Apple’s plans for cloud computing go beyond music.
The company’s representatives have recently spoken with some of the major film studios about enabling iTunes users to store their content on the company’s servers, two people familiar with the discussions told CNET. That’s in addition to streaming television shows and music.
The news comes a month after Apple spoke to the major record companies about a similar plan involving music. Apple’s vision is to build proverbial digital shelves where iTunes users store their media, one of the sources said. “Basically, they want to eliminate the hard drive,” the source said.
By cramming digital songs, videos, and all manner of software applications on computers and handheld devices, there’s some indication that consumers are maxing out hard drives, particularly on smaller mobile devices. That has led to speculation among Apple watchers that some consumers might slow their purchasing of new content, if they have nowhere to easily put it.
It’s a bit of leap to reach that conclusion, certainly when a stagnant economy might be hampering sales, but there are some worrisome signs. The NPD Group reported last week that the number of people who legally downloaded songs dropped by nearly a million, from 35.2 million in 2008 to 34.6 million last year. Screen Digest, a research firm that focuses on the entertainment industry, on Monday said growth in movie downloads slowed dramatically in 2009, following sharp increases in the two prior years. Screen Digest had projected that total U.S. online movie sales for 2009 would come in at about $360 million, but the total reached only $291 million, the company said.
Before iTunes users can store their movies and TV shows in Apple’s cloud, the company must get the studios to sign on. This may not be easy. The studios want to make sure that Apple’s plans play nice with non-Apple devices and services.
Hollywood isn’t interested in any walled gardens, said James McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research.
“The studios are very concerned that they’re going to get roped into somebody’s proprietary platform,” McQuivey said. “They want a world where consumers have a relationship with the content, and not with the device or the service. They are in a position to force Apple to go along and make sure that content bought [via] iTunes will play on a Nokia phone. That is very un-Apple-like.”
The upper hand in Hollywood
“Apple would prefer not to do this,” McQuivey continued. “But it just doesn’t have the leverage it once did. Apple can’t dictate terms or position itself as a digital savior.”
The reason that Apple doesn’t wield the same power over the film and TV industries that it did with music is that more players are willing to give the studios what they want.
The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, or DECE, is a consortium of heavy-hitting media stakeholders lining up to create standards for file formats, digital rights management, and authentication technologies. The group includes Adobe Systems, Best Buy, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Lions Gate Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Microsoft, Netflix, Panasonic, the four largest recording companies (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group, and Warner Music Group), Samsung, Sony, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
DECE’s goal is to make sure that a movie or TV show bought from Comcast’s video service will play on Samsung devices or on Netflix’s service.
Not all the studios have joined. Walt Disney has create a DECE-like service called KeyChest, which is supposed to be DECE-compatible.
Applying more pressure on Apple is Google, one of its main rivals. Google, obviously, has YouTube. It’s also eyeing some start-ups with cloud technology to beef up its streaming services.
Two weeks ago, sources told CNET that Google had informal acquisition talks with Catch Media, a Los Angeles company that wants to become a clearinghouse of sorts, in which consumers move media around the Web, and Catch handles the permissions and licensing.
So what’s Apple’s answer to the Google threat? Apple is building a new data center in North Carolina that, according to reports, will be the backbone of its streaming offerings. In December, Apple bought Lala, a struggling music service with an expertise in cloud computing. Google was also trying to acquire the company, but Apple outbid Google.
The one thing that could help Apple pull away from Google, giving it more clout with the studios and TV networks, is if iPad catches on with consumers.
The Web-enabled computer tablet, which is due to hit store shelves later this month, features a 9.7-inch display screen and can play back video at up to 720p resolution, the sources said. If consumers start buying video to watch on the iPad, Hollywood could soften its stance on standards. But McQuivey says Apple can’t create any proprietary formats, at this point.
“Apple can’t suddenly make the iPad a closed environment,” he said. “Apple is not any position to refuse to limit its customers’ choices. By pioneering (the apps), Apple is stuck doing what’s right for consumers.”
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Amazon Web Services CTO out to Prove Enterprise Chops
Mar 2nd
There is still a misconception that Amazon Web Services exists to sell the company’s excess server capacity, but that is not the case, CTO Werner Vogels said during a keynote at Cebit.
“There is a myth out there that when Christmas comes, suddenly, all of the foundations under your building will be gone … that is obviously not the case,” said Vogels, referring to Amazon’s high-volume sales during the holidays.
During his speech, he showcased the customers that are using Amazon Web Services, with the aim of persuading skeptics that his company offers a viable option.
For example, also at Cebit Software AG announced ARISalign, which offers business process management as a service using Amazon Web services’ cloud computing. Time-to-market and tight control over costs were among the reasons Software AG picked Amazon, Vogels said.
Also, the growth of Amazon’s cloud can be seen in the number of objects stored on S3 (Simple Storage Service). The number grew from 54 billion at this time last year to more than 100 billion, according to Vogels.
Bigger scale lets Amazon Web Services offer lower prices than competitors, according to Vogels. The latest price cut was Feb. 1 for outbound data transfer.
Lower cost for both infrastructure and operations is the first attraction when companies start looking at moving systems into the cloud, but the ability to add or decrease computing capacity as needed soon takes over as the biggest advantage, Vogels said.
Some enterprises are more enthusiastic about cloud services than others — Web site and application hosting companies, as well as media distribution companies are jumping right in, he said. Other applications that make sense to move to the cloud are testing and development, backup, disaster recovery and large-scale data analysis, according to Vogels.
However, there are companies that take a more long-term approach to cloud services and start by making all new IT systems ready for the cloud, he said.
Vogels also took the opportunity to push Amazon’s VPC (virtual private cloud), which integrates a company’s existing IT infrastructure and the cloud, which makes it particularly attractive to enterprise customers, according to Vogels. Companies can build a walled garden in the cloud using VPC and connect it to the data center using an encrypted VPN (virtual private network), he said.
VPC was announced almost six months ago and is still only available in beta, according to Amazon Web Services’ site. Vogels didn’t provide any details on when VPC would exit the testing stage.
He assured the audience that Amazon Web Services is focused on security, which is another big issue when it comes to cloud computing.
“We would not be in business if we did not consider security our top priority,” said Vogels.
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Cloud computing: the biggest threats
Mar 2nd
The next generation of cloud-based storage and services allows us greater freedom to compute on the go. It enables us to be free from the storage constraints of compact devices and gives us the ability to access services and personal information on these devices regardless of our location. Cloud computing also poses serious threats to online privacy.
A new report published by The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and HP on March 1 details some of the more serious threats about what could occur when using cloud-based services, now and in the future.
Perhaps the most worrisome threat for individuals is the loss and interception of personal information such as credit card details, banking records, medical records, home and work address and any other information that could leave them susceptible to identity theft.
A lot of research has gone into creating cloud-based services, but perhaps not enough time and money has been spent protecting individuals’ privacy and safeguarding against the interception of information via third-party sites. More resources need to be harnessed to ensure these services will be safe for people to use when future generations of hackers try to prey on cloud-based databases.
There are few laws in place that govern cloud-based security practices. Cloud computing privacy policies are often very vague about what happens in the event of information loss or theft.
This level of uncertainty is largely replicated in the early adoption of cloud computing. Security is cited as the number one barrier to adoption. New users find it difficult to weigh up the pros and cons of cloud computing; there is a wealth of opportunities floating in the cloud but customers are very concerned about the associated risks.
By highlighting the top cloud computing security issues, CSA and HP hope to make cloud computing safer for consumers and businesses alike.
“Cloud services are clearly the next generation of information technology that enterprises must master. We have a shared responsibility to understand the security threats that accompany the cloud and apply the necessary best practices to mitigate them,” said Jim Reavis, founder of the Cloud Security Alliance.
The top security threats of cloud computing:
1. Abuse and Nefarious Use of Cloud Computing
2. Insecure Interfaces and APIs
3. Malicious Insiders
4. Shared Technology Issues
5. Data Loss or Leakage
6. Account or Service Hijacking
7. Unknown Risk Profile
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Force.com – Huge 4Q profit on big sales jump
Feb 25th
SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce.com on Wednesday posted a 48 percent jump in fiscal fourth-quarter profit, on strong sales growth for its online business software applications.
For the three months ended Jan. 31, Salesforce.com said profit jumped to $20.4 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with $13.8 million, or 11 cents per share, in last year’s fourth quarter.
Revenue shot up 22 percent to $354 million, from $289.6 million a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of 15 cents per share, on revenue of $342.3 million.
Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff said the company is benefiting from the move to cloud computing.
Cloud computing lets companies collaborate online and store data on outside servers, lowering the cost of maintaining their own computer systems.
For the fiscal year, the company earned $80.7 million, or 63 cents per share, on revenue of $1.31 billion. That compares with profit of $43.4 million, or 35 cents per share, on revenue of $1.08 billion last year.
The company said it added more than 17,000 new customers during the fiscal year, to about 72,500.
For the fiscal first quarter, the company expects earnings between 12 and 13 cents per share, on revenue between $365 million and $367 million.
Analysts call for profit of 18 cents per share, on revenue of $354.7 million. The earnings per share numbers, however, may not be comparable because of unusual items.
For the full fiscal year, Salesforce.com forecast earnings between 58 cents and 60 cents per share. It raised its revenue guidance to growth between 16 percent and 17 percent, from 15 to 16 percent. That implies a revenue forecast between $1.51 billion and $1.53 billion.
Wall Street expects profit of 82 cents per share on revenue of $1.51 billion for the fiscal year.
Salesforce.com shares wobbled in aftermarket electronic trading, falling immediately after the release before gaining $1.28 to $70.90. The stock closed regular trading up $1.20 at $69.44.
