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Cloud Computing – The cloud is the great equalizer
May 25th
For small and medium-sized enterprises, the cloud truly is the great equalizer.
Thanks to the opportunities afforded by the Internet, businesses no longer are forced to think local or feel boxed in by geography. On the contrary, the World Wide Web has helped thousands of businesses grow beyond the borders of their home country to reach out to customers in far off, previously inaccessible, markets.
It wasn’t so long ago that North American companies wishing to do business around the world needed not only a good travel agent, but a robust team of technicians to ensure the company’s information technologyinfrastructurecould support international growth.
Now, thanks to Web-based services offered over the Internet and through a Web browser, the cloud is helping more businesses go global. And do it faster.
“The great thing about the cloud is that the cloud is ubiquitous,” said Rajen Sheth, senior product manager for Google Apps, the technology giant’s cloud platform for businesses and educational institutions.
“It’s everywhere where there’s an Internet connection. As a result of that, you can access your services and be just as productive basically anywhere in the world. We’re seeing this in more businesses. They want to be global. They want to be distributed. That doesn’t necessarily just apply to very large businesses anymore. It applies to smaller businesses as well.”
In traditional IT environments where each additional new market or incoming customer often meant greater capital expenditures on expensive software and servers, companies would have a tough time scaling their technology infrastructure to meet demand.
But with cloud services like remote hosting and on-demand software as a service, firms are able to not only grow quickly, but ensure that everyone in the organization has the most up-to-date technology and data, no matter where they are.
“The cloud is this one central platform on which people can run and access their applications,” Mr. Sheth said. “So it doesn’t necessarily matter where your corporation is headquartered, you’re still going to be able to get great service no matter where you are. In a traditional IT environment, it’s very tough to serve that.”
Of course, with the development of browser-based services, companies are able to ensure that not only are their own employees on the same page technology-wise, but their partners and customers can access the same systems through a browser.
“You don’t really have to worry about what kind of system people are using in different parts of the world,” Mr. Sheth said. “Basically, anywhere they have access to a Web browser they can access all of their information, they can access all of their applications.”
On the surface, it might seem like because cloud computing is the ultimate equalizer, it would be opposite of a strategic advantage, said Michael Wade, an associate professor of management information systems at the Schulich School of Business at York University.
“It gives firms efficiencies and allows them to save money, but it makes it more challenging to build a point of competitive differentiation simply because, if you’re using something on the cloud your competitors could be using the same thing,” he said.
Nevertheless , cloud computing is still something of a nascent technology and many organizations are still figuring out how best to take advantage of applications and services that are delivered through a browser.
This first wave of cloud computing is similar to old-fashioned outsourcing: Many companies see it primarily as a cost-containment exercise, Mr. Wade said. However, as time goes by, companies will discover new ways of innovating that use the cloud to their advantage and help them grow globally.
“The real story is more complex,” Mr. Wade said. “Because companies can use cloud computing to not only take care of standardized routine processes — which is what I think it was mostly designed for–they can also use it to improve their own processes. Because they can standardize across the company on this platform in the cloud, they can more effectively innovate on a local level.
“Once they innovate on a local level, they can quite easily propagate those innovations across the organization.”
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/cloud+great+equalizer/3068370/story.html#ixzz0oxuouFiY
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Cloud Computing – Software Forecast Becoming Steady: Many More Clouds
May 5th
Pretty much every day comes more proof that a cloud has descended over the software sector, bringing a storm of change.
On Tuesday, Microsoft (MSFT) executives extolled the benefits of cloud computing at a show in Taiwan, emphasizing CEO Steve Ballmer’s recent declaration that his firm “is all in.” On Monday, IBM (IBM) bought a company to bolster its cloud portfolio.
John Kalkman, a Microsoft vice president, spoke about the potential of cloud computing Tuesday at a company event in Taiwan that backed up CEO Steve… View Enlarged Image
Cloud computing transforms the delivery of technology. It lets users access software and computer resources over the Web — or in the cloud — rather than installing and managing their own systems.
A handful of startups led the early charge into cloud computing over the past decade. They became known as software-as-a-service vendors. A decade later, SaaS firms have largely been vindicated for their belief in the cloud.
More than 95% of companies plan to maintain or increase their use of SaaS systems, according to a survey released by Gartner on April 29.
The largest pre-cloud software companies — including SAP (SAP), Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft and CA (CA) — have been forced to get active in the cloud. It’s a situation of the big guys trying to catch the smaller guys in a competitive field that, for now, offers room for growth.
IBM says global revenue from cloud computing will jump to $126 billion this year from $47 billion in 2008. On Monday, IBM said it would buy privately held Cast Iron Systems. The company makes middleware that will help IBM integrate cloud-based software systems with on-premise software. Cast Iron’s platform integrates applications from firms such as Salesforce.com (CRM).
“We’re now opening the door and walking into a new era for our industry,” Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com, proclaimed in a recent Silicon Valley speech. “Computing is moving forward very rapidly and we have to pay close attention.”
Benioff was called the “godfather” of the cloud movement recently by Tony Perkins, head of AlwaysOn, an online network geared to venture investors and startups. From its 1999 start, Salesforce preached SaaS and cloud computing.
Next Wave: Social Networks
Now, Benioff sees the next wave of cloud-based business software designed more like social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Salesforce is developing an online service called Chatter, designed to work like Facebook for businesses.
Test users say the service has taken off “like wildfire” and were “shocked at how quickly” adoption occurred, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Mark Murphy.
“Participants have discovered that Chatter is driving tangible business value in totally unforeseen ways,” Murphy wrote in a research note last Friday. He rates Salesforce as overweight, or buy, with a 12-month price target of 101. The stock now trades near 87.
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VMware, Salesforce.com to offer in-cloud Java – Cloud Computing
Apr 27th
Two relatively new arrivals in the computing industry announced a partnership to profit from the trend toward general-purpose cloud computing services on the Net.
The first partner is VMware, an EMC subsidiary that specializes in virtualization technology that lets multiple operating systems run simultaneously on the same computer for greater operational flexibility. The second is Salesforce.com, a company that offers its clients customer-relationship management services online. Under the partnership, the two will offer a cloud-based service called VMforce for running Java applications.
Specifically, VMforce will permit programs written with VMware’s SpringSource tools and technology to run on tc Server, a version of the Apache Tomcat project for running Java programs on servers. VMforce will be available in a developer preview form later in 2010, at which point pricing will be announced, the companies said.
The service is an example of one variety of cloud computing, a general-purpose foundation customers can use to run their own programs. Previously, Salesforce.com had offered a Java-like language called Apex for such services.
Among competitors for the service are Google’s App Engine, which now can run Java programs, and Microsoft’s Azure, which are cloud-based Windows servers on which customers can run their own programs.
Another major variety of cloud computing operates at a higher applications level, with examples being Salesforce.com’s pre-built CRM service or Google Docs. And a third variety makes low-level computing resources available over the Net, the prime example being Amazon Web Services.
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Cloud Computing News – Running Clouds, Chasing Cisco
Apr 19th
Arista’s switch opens new chapter in building out cloud computing.
MENLO PARK, Calif. — A small cohort of Silicon Valley luminaries is reinventing the hottest trend in computing–and in the process giving the likes of Cisco, HP and Juniper Networks something to think about.
Arista Networks is announcing on Monday its first chassis-based switch, capable of running 10,000 computer servers in a so-called “cloud” data center, the core of the growing business of remote access to high-speed supercomputing via a Web browser. The company says the product, which lists for $140,000, offers five times the performance of existing machines, while consuming one-tenth the power and occupying half the space.
As much as those specs, however, what is deep inside the machine and who stands behind it are likely to attract the most attention.
Arista was founded in 2005 by Andreas Bechtolsheim, the cofounder of Sun Microsystems ( JAVA – news – people ) who also did important work at Cisco ( CSCO – news – people ) and funded Google ( GOOG – news – people ); and longtime collaborator David Cheriton, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University and another early Google champion. Cheriton is known for his software architecture, while Bechtolsheim is renowned for innovations in semiconductor design and use.
Funded by the two men with about $100 million, Arista’s chief executive is Jayshree Ullal, formerly head of network switching and services at Cisco. Ullal expects the company to be cash flow positive this year, thanks in part to the new switch, called the 7500.
The 7500, she says, will be “our flagship–what puts us in the big league.” Last year the company came out with its first product, called the 7100, which was smaller and had somewhat less performance. That product attracted about 300 initial customers, largely in finance, business computing and cloud data centers. Financial firms like Arista for its speed, useful for capturing small changes in price. Arista boasts thatthe 7500 can handle 5.76 billion data packets a second.
Full Source: Forbes
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Amazon S3 with CloudBerry Explorer freeware – Cloud Tools
Feb 2nd
Cloud Tool Of The Day
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IntroductionCloudBerry Explorer is a freeware Windows Client for Amazon S3 and CloudFront services. CloudBerry Explorer makes managing files in Amazon S3 storage EASY. By providing an FTP client like user interface to Amazon S3 accounts, files, and buckets, CloudBerry lets you manage your files on cloud just as you would on your own local computer. And best of all it is absolutely free! |
Amazon S3
Amazon S3 is a web service that allows reliable and secure storage of your data in the multiple data centers with unlimited capacity and scalability. It allows you to easily scale up your data storage to meet growing needs of your business. What’s more you pay only for what you actually use and you don’t have to provision servers to match anticipate growth far in advance of this growth start hitting you. You don’t have to invest in the hardware infrastructure and you don’t have to pay for ongoing operations of those servers. You just pay low fee for data stored on Amazon servers.
However Amazon S3 is primarily designed for software engineers who would integrate the S3 with their web platform using so called S3 API which is based on REST and SOAP. This makes it difficult for less sophisticated users to employ Amazon S3 who would otherwise benefit from the scalable web storage as well. But at the same time it opens an opportunity to 3rd party vendors such CloudBerry lab and many others to unleash the power of Amazon S3 for consumers.
With CloudBerry Explorer you can
- Allow end users to accomplish simple tasks without special technical knowledge
- Automate time-consuming tasks to improve productivity
- With CloudBerry Explorer, Amazon S3 becomes an extension to your local storage. You are no longer limited to the classic data storage on your local drive(s). With CloudBerry Explorer, you can move files to Amazon S3 just as easily as managing them on your local drive(s).
- CloudBerry Explorer allows you to move large files such as photos, videos, and music to Amazon S3 and free up your local storage.
- The files on your Amazon S3 can be shared with anyone who has access to the internet. For security purposes, the S3 accounts can be password protected and access can be restricted
Now let’s look at some of the CloudBerry Explorer functional capabilities
Browse S3 Buckets
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to browse contents of your S3 bucket and create new buckets and folders and rename files. It works just like Windows Explorer or any other file system browser.
Copy Files in background
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to copy files in the background, you can turn to other tasks while copy process is running. You can also pause/ resume copy process and review copy queue for errors. You can also hide CloudBerry Explorer to system tray to free up some space on your task bar while copy process is running. It will tell you when the process is over.
Register Multiple S3 Accounts
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to register as many Amazon S3 accounts as you like
Setup access control lists (ACL)
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to setup access control lists (ACL) with ACL editor, you can grant access rights to other Amazon S3 users or to any internet users. ACL editor reminds you the one that you use to manage file permissions on Windows.
Besides, you can propagate bucket ACL to all files in that bucket- something that Amazon S3 doesn’t provide out of the box.
Efficiently copy files between S3 accounts
CloudBerry explorer provides for fast and efficient way to copy objects between two Amazon S3 accounts, it leverages Amazon S3 capabilities to run this process on Amazon servers without the need to download files to your local computer.
Generate Web URL
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to generate URL for single or multiple objects. You can also generate time limited URLs that will expire at a predefined time. You can also specify CNAMEs to make your URLs look nicer and use http://chilp.it/ URL shortening service and BiTorrent URLs.
Custom HTTP headers
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to setup custom http headers such as Cache-Control and Expires that allow you to cut your Amazon S3 transfer costs. For more information how to cut costs check out here.
Configure CloudFront Distribution
CloudFront is another Amazon service that works in conjunction with S3 and allows for efficient content distribution. The content is published to data centers in multiple geographical zones and the user download content from the server that requires fewer network hops. All this happens transparently to the end user and the publisher pay a small per usage base fee.
CloudBerry Explorer allows you to configure Amazon CloudFront service in a matter of minutes. Just select a bucket and click a button on the toolbar.
PowerShell Command Line Interface
Finally, CloudBerry Explorer ships with a set of PowerShell cmdlets which you can use to script bulk or frequent operations. Most of the features available thru the user interface are also available though a PowerShell command line interface. You can combine CloudBerry Explorer commands with regular PowerShell commands. PowerShell is designed to operate with other objects, so you’re not limited to command syntax. You can write complex scripts with loops and conditions and schedule routing tasks such as data backup or cleanup.
Conclusion
One final note is that CloudBerry Lab tries to stay on top of what works best for Amazon S3 users and delivers new version almost every month. It has been 6(!) commercial releases since CloudBerry Explorer was first released in November, 2008.
Overall CloudBerry Explorer is a solid Amazon S3 client that can help developers, web designers and other users who want to exploit Amazon S3 and CloudFront services. If you work with Amazon S3 on Windows or considering using Amazon S3 it is a good reason to start now and download CloudBerry Explorer from CloudBerry Lab website at http://cloudberrylab.com/
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Amazon S3 Firefox Organizer (S3Fox) 0.4.9 – Cloud Tools
Jan 29th
S3Fox Organizer helps you organize/manage/store your files on Amazon S3. It is easy to install and use as it is integrated into the browser.
The S3Fox Organizer(S3Fox), offers the ability to upload or download files to and from Amazon S3. The interface, which opens in a Firefox browser tab, looks much like that of FTP clients with a dual-pane layout. It displays files on your PC on the left, files on Amazon S3 on the right, and status or information in a panel on the bottom.
Main Features:
- A Front-end tool for Amazon S3 with a nifty GUI Interface.
- Upload/Download multiple files using a user friendly interface.
- Manage S3 Cloud Front Distributions
- Modifying Access Control Policies
- Synchronize Folders with local system and S3
- Drag-n-Drop Files
- Ability to create/edit and use multiple S3 accounts.
- Create time limited urls
- Works on Windows, Linux and Mac (whereever firefox works)
Manage S3 Cloud Front Distributions
S3 CloudFront is the web service for content delivery. You can create and edit the urls of your buckets very easily in S3Fox.
Right-click on the files/bucket to get the distribution list.
Right-click on the files/bucket to get the distribution list.
Modifying Access Control Policies
S3Fox has a very easy and unique way to set Permissions/Access Control on your files in S3.
Right-click on a bucket/file and choose “Edit ACL” to set permissions.
Right-click on a bucket/file and choose “Edit ACL” to set permissions.
Synchronize Folders with local system and S3
S3Fox can help you with synchronizing the local and remote (S3) folders.
Click on the “Synchronize Folders” on the top to add local and remote directories information.
Click on the “Synchronize Folders” on the top to add local and remote directories information.
You can also drag-n-drop files from Windows Explorer on to the drop-box. Drop Box can be opened directly from the status bar.
You can create Time Limited Access Urls. i.e. generate urls that become inactive after a certain period.
Right-click on a file and click “Get Pre-signed Urls”.
Right-click on a file and click “Get Pre-signed Urls”.
Multiple accounts
You can add multiple accounts for each site. You can even upload/transfer to multiple accounts simultaneously.
Log View
You can view the current tasks in separate panel and all the activity in the Log View.
