Posts tagged development
Confessions of a Cloudaholic
Aug 31st
Confessions of a Cloudaholic – Life in the Cloud
By Nimantha De Silva of CloudTweaks – Aug 31st, 2010
The script is written, actors are ready, it’s time to say ACTION, but hold on, this time it is not about a film, it is just about unveiling the script of Challenges faced in Cloud Computing. This article purely focuses on challenges faced on cloud computing along with how it’s architecture is made of and its key characteristics to make it so special. A real confession is about to make and lets follow it.
Introduction
Cloud computing, from its evolve itself has become a major talking point. There were wide spread consensus among many industrial observers to check whether it is ready for noticeable deployment in the year 2010. So before digging deep into cloud, lets figure out what cloud computing is defined for. Even though it was introduced sometime back, it can still be identified as in the emerging stage, so there are many definitions based on several releases, but the most appropriate according to my view is the definition given by Wikipedia saying “Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and a delivery model for IT services based on Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the internet”. With the introduction itself, this topic was subjected towards many discussions, arguments, reviews, etc… Many expressed their ideas over this new born kid, but it was not to stop it but to make it much better. From that time onwards, cloud did grow and overcame many obstacles, but it is not finished yet. There are a certain set of challenges which needs to be addressed. The challenges which came into limelight along with the boom of the cloud are as follows:
- Who has given rights to access the information that organizations are putting on these external cloud application and systems servers?
- What and how does an organization’s compliance posture for applicable laws, regulations, standards, contracts and policies change when business, and sometimes even customer and employee, information is stored in the clouds?
- How long does information put into the clouds stay in those clouds?
- Do the clouds have retention policies?
- Can information be permanently and completed removed from the clouds once it is put there?
- Are there any logs generated to show how that cloudy information is accessed, copied, modified and otherwise used by anyone else?
- Can all necessary information in clouds be easily retrieved during e-discovery activities? If so, what are the related costs involved in it?
Even though cloud has not reached its peak yet, there are certain level of growth in cloud usage from the year 2008 to 2010, mainly due to its change of architecture. Lets figure out how the architecture is built to make cloud look more clearer than earlier.
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3 Cloud Gaming Companies To Watch…
Aug 25th
Cloud Gaming
is going to be one of the more interesting areas of cloud computing to watch over the next few years. There is a lot at stake and companies are simply trying to figure how to position themselves. There is no doubt cloud computing will be hugely beneficial to the public gaming industry. We have 3 such cloud gaming companies that have entered into this arena. Let the gaming begin!
OnLive
OnLive seems to be generating the most interest of the 3. They have a good number of backers and appear to be in a very good position to capitalize in this huge market. 
OnLive provides the world’s highest performance Games On Demand service, instantly delivering the latest high-end titles over home broadband Internet to the TV and entry-level PCs and Macintosh® computers. Founded by noted technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime) and incubated within the Rearden media and technology incubator, OnLive spent seven years in stealth development before officially unveiling in March 2009.
Gaikai
Gaikai, like Onlive has some growing interest and have investors actively seeking a piece of the action. The big difference between the two is that there is no console but rather a cloud gaming browser.
Gaikai is a cloud-based gaming technology that allows users to play major PC and console games like Call Of Duty or World Of Warcraft instantly, with one click. No download or install required. Gaikai has already inked a deal with Electronic Arts, which will see EA titles like The Sims, Mass Effect and Medal of Honor available via the service; in short, this isn’t just like playing Farmville in your browser.
Sony PS Cloud
Sony is by far the biggest on the block and we expect them to make some huge noise. However, things have been a little quiet on the PS Cloud Front. Sometimes that is just the calm before the storm. 
Sony Entertainment patented the PSCloud according to a filing at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Sony filed the patent on March 24, 2009. You can expect them to make a big big push in the coming months.
Stay tuned for more future developments regarding the Cloud Gaming Market..
By CloudTweaks
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Why Cloud Based Computing is the Best Practice to Adopt
Aug 10th
Cloud based computing offers the most sought after advantages to corporations and all with reduced cost and easy implementation. With the passage of time corporations are becoming more specialized and skilled in their operations. Instead of doing everything themselves, they concentrate more on their specific area and get services from other vendors for related tasks. Cloud computing is one of such services in which companies are free from responsibilities to maintain and manage their data and to get software application for their routine operations.
Here are some advantages which make cloud computing the best practice to adopt.
1. Reduced Cost
Cloud based services greatly reduce the capital expenditure of software, hardware and services. In cloud based services companies have to pay only for what they use. It also saves a lot of space and hardware for the company’s DBMS.
2. More Agile
Cloud based services are more agile because vendors offer services on demand with no time wastage on software development and deployment. The changes in requirements are easy and fast to accommodate.
3. Scalability
Cloud based services suit business of all sizes and types. You don’t have to buy on all or none principal and don’t have to pay for services and modules you don’t use. Since the cloud based vendors charge on utility bill method, the corporations can add and subtract services from its usage as the requirements change.
4. Increased Storage
Corporations can have access to increased storage at a low price as compared to that of company servers or private computers.
5. Specialization of Operations
Cloud based services free your IT department resources from managing and maintaining the IT related tasks. So you can downsize your IT department and concentrate more on your business critical tasks to excel in the market.
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Cloud computing provider RightScale – How the Cloud Industry is Scaling
Aug 5th
Cloud computing management provider RightScale updated its blog this morning with some impressive figures that point to company’s growth: its customers’ cloud computing usage has increased by 1000% in one year. While the post accompanies a press release, it would be a mistake to dismiss the numbers as just PR.
The increased usage reflects three trends:
- Customers are using more cloud servers
- Cloud servers are running for longer periods of time
- Customers are using larger servers
“We are amazed to see how much has changed in the past year, both in terms of the overall amount of cloud computing as well as the applications being deployed,” says Thorsten von Eicken, RightScale CTO. “For example, our customers’ average server runtime has increased 146 percent, and the number of servers running full time has increased 310 percent, which are indications of not only more production applications, but also increasing cloud stability. Our customers are also launching more powerful servers in support of more users, increasing amounts of data, and additional services offered.”
These numbers point to an increasing adoption of cloud technologies in enterprise organizations. But as RightScale note in its blog, it’s not simply the growth itself that’s interesting – it’s how and where the growth occurred. The move to larger instances, for example, seems to indicate that cloud adoption isn’t simply about horizontal scalability. And while new apps should be built with horizontal scalability in mind, many customers are opting instead to simply purchase a larger server instance so that scaling can happen vertically instead.
That servers are running for longer also indicates that it’s not simply development and testing that’s being done on the cloud. RightScale says that of the servers launched in June 2009, 3.3% still ran 30 days later. In June 2010, 6.3% were still running after a month. It’s a small percentage increase, perhaps, but it does indicate that more and more organizations are adopting the cloud for production, not just development.
The RightScale figures only reflect one company’s growth, but it’s an interesting glimpse nonetheless in how the industry itself is scaling.
Read the article at: ReadWriteWeb
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Cloud and SaaS Funding News – Provade Inc Secures $3 Million
Aug 4th
California software as a service company Provade Inc., which has a product development office in downtown Milwaukee, said Tuesday it raised $3 million in new funding.
San Mateo, Calif.-based Provade focuses on vendor management system technology for global work force spend management.
The financing round was led by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Asset Management Company. Also participating were Menlo Park, Calif.-based Altos Ventures and Harbor Pacific Capital, also of Palo Alto.
With the latest funding, total venture investment in the company now exceeds $23 million.
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IBM Expands Cloud Computing Capabilities With New Cloud Competence Center in Ehningen, Germany
Jul 15th
New Facility Delivers Commercial Development and Test and Desktop Cloud for European Clients
EHNINGEN, Germany and ARMONK, N.Y., July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new IBM Cloud Computing Competence Center in Ehningen, Germany, which will provide a broad range of cloud solutions and services to clients locally and internationally. Located in Ehningen, Germany, home to IBM’s largest data center in Europe, the new facility will host a range of technology platforms and optimized service delivery processes, enabling its clients to harness the immense potential offered by cloud computing.
“The opening of this center places IBM in a strong position to meet the growing demand for cloud solutions and services in the market,” said Michael Diemer, general manager, Global Technology Services, IBM Germany. “Meeting the highest standards of technological innovation and data security — which is vital to clients in sensitive areas such as insurance, banking and the public sector — the new facility joins our Cloud Delivery Center in IBM Raleigh, North Carolina as part of our globally integrated cloud delivery network. It will offer local and international clients world-class secure and cost effective cloud capabilities to meet their fast-changing business needs.”
The center will also provide clients access to IBM’s emerging portfolio of standardised cloud services. These include:
- IBM Smart Business Desktop Cloud – The service provides anytime, anywhere access to applications, information and resources, and deliver a resilient and secure, standards-based desktop environment behind a client’s firewall.
- IBM Smart Business Desktop on the IBM Cloud – A fully managed pre-priced subscription service that delivers desktop virtualization in a hosted environment reducing total cost of ownership, easier management and enhanced data security.
- IBM Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud - The service allows clients to expand internal development and test efforts with instant access to resources through IBM’s secure, scalable cloud delivery model, software and image lifecycle management capabilities. IBM’s enterprise-friendly approach to cloud complements clients’ existing data center and development investments.
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Cloud Computing News -3PAR Announces VMware vStorage Integration With 3PAR Space-Saving Technologies
Jul 13th
Jul 13, 2010 08:00 ET
3PAR’s Plug-In for VMware® VAAI, Support for VMware vSphereTM 4.1 Strengthen Foundation for the Cloud
FREMONT, CA–(Marketwire – July 13, 2010) – 3PAR® (NYSE: PAR), the leading global provider of utility storage, announced today full support for VMware vSphere™ 4.1 and the development of a new 3PAR plug-in for VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI). Already a leader in providing storage for cloud computing environments, 3PAR is working with VMware to support VAAI in order to deliver advanced server and storage virtualization capabilities to improve virtual infrastructure performance, agility, and scalability for public and private cloud datacenters.
“In building a private cloud, we learned first-hand just how critical it is to deploy VMware vSphere™ on top of an intelligent storage infrastructure that is designed to support server virtualization,” said Jerry Hook, Senior Manager at University of Tennessee Medical Center. “This is exactly what 3PAR delivered, and with the new 3PAR Plug-In for VAAI and integration with VMware vSphere 4.1, we anticipate achieving even higher levels of performance, flexibility and efficiency in our virtual datacenter.”
The new 3PAR plug-in supports three features of VAAI: Hardware Assisted Locking, Block Zero and Full Copy. The 3PAR Plug-in for VAAI and support for VMware vSphere 4.1 deliver the following benefits, targeted for large-scale enterprise and cloud datacenters:
–Greater scalability by preventing VMs from competing for the same resources. Hardware Assisted Locking reduces SCSI reservation contention that can impact performance in large environments. Reducing conflicting resource requests removes a barrier to virtual machine (VM) performance to enable greater VM density and scalability. 3PAR’s unique implementation of Hardware Assisted Locking takes advantage of the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC to handle data comparisons in silicon with significantly higher performance and throughput, which is especially beneficial in large-scale VMware vSphere deployments.
–Increased performance and efficiency by eliminating repetitive write commands. Block Zero offloads large, block-level write operations of zeros to storage hardware, thus reducing server workload. In addition, with the integration of zero-detection capability built into the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC, in combination with 3PAR Thin Persistence software, provisioning is further accelerated while capacity consumption is reduced since zeros are prevented from being written to physical storage.
–Enhanced agility with faster VM cloning and VMware Storage vMotion™. Full Copy increases agility by halving the amount of time required to perform common copy operations like virtual machine cloning and storage workload migrations using VMware Storage vMotion™. This is made possible by allowing the storage hardware to transparently manage large data movements, and by minimizing host, network, and disk I/O activity. With the integration of the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC and 3PAR Thin Persistence software, built-in zero-detection capabilities further speed cloning and storage workload migrations while also delivering a capacity savings benefit.
–New quality of service capabilities via support for VMware Storage I/O Controls (SIOC). VMware’s SIOC implements new quality-of-service controls that automatically ensure that the most important virtual machines receive the desired I/O resources, even in times of congestion. 3PAR Utility Storage supports SIOC to ensure consistent performance levels across all VMs.
“VMware vSphere™ 4.1 represents the next evolution in our industry-leading platform,” says Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware. “As part of this release, we are excited to incorporate new storage capabilities and to offer integration opportunities that allow storage partners like 3PAR to elevate the performance, reliability, and scalability of their virtual infrastructures to lay the foundation for cloud computing.”
“Whether internally owned or managed by a cloud service provider, we believe that cloud-based infrastructures enable companies of all sizes to dramatically reduce capital and operating expenses, maintain control over service levels, and increase flexibility,” said David Scott, President and CEO of 3PAR. “We are excited to work with VMware under its VAAI initiative to provide joint customers with advanced capabilities to improve performance, efficiency, and agility to boost VMware vSphere™ ROI in enterprise and cloud datacenters.”
3PAR support for VMware vSphere 4.1 is available today and includes the 3PAR InForm® Operating System, 3PAR Recovery Manager for VMware®, and the 3PAR Management Plug-In for VMware vCenter™ Server. The 3PAR Plug-In for VMware® VAAI will be available in September and is provided at no additional charge.
About 3PAR
3PAR® (NYSE: PAR) is the leading global provider of utility storage, a category of highly virtualized, dynamically tiered, multi-tenant storage arrays built for public and private cloud computing. Our virtualized storage platform was built from the ground up to be agile and efficient and to eliminate the limitations of traditional storage arrays for utility infrastructures. As a pioneer of thin provisioning and other storage virtualization technologies, we design our products to reduce power consumption to help companies meet their green computing initiatives and to cut storage total cost of ownership. 3PAR customers have used our self-managing, efficient, and adaptable utility storage systems to reduce administration time and provisioning complexity, to improve server and storage utilization, and to scale and adapt flexibly in response to continuous growth and changing business needs. For more information, visit the 3PAR Website at: www.3PAR.com.
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IBM unit plans to hire 600 workers to help fill their 100,000-square-foot cloud computing center
Jul 9th
New RTP center may draw up to $7.8M in state incentives
DURHAM, Jul 09, 2010 (The Herald-Sun – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) –
A subsidiary of IBM is planning to hire 600 workers and invest $3.7 million in a new process service center in Durham’s Research Triangle Park in the next two years.
As a result of the project, IBM Lender Business Process Services Inc., a specialty loan processing company, could receive up to $7.8 million in incentive payments from North Carolina state government during the next decade.
Gov. Beverly Perdue touted the jobs and facility announcement on Thursday, calling attention to IBM’s longstanding presence in the state.
“IBM has been a major employer in North Carolina providing thousands of skilled jobs for more than 30 years,” Perdue said. “We value this company’s ongoing commitment to North Carolina and Research Triangle Park.”
LBPS will begin hiring immediately for the 600 positions, with salaries averaging $50,000.
Employees in the new center will perform various business process outsourcing activities for financial industry clients.
The new center will be in one of IBM’s existing buildings at its sprawling campus in RTP. LBPS also will transfer its Charlotte office to the new facility, while continuing to maintain a presence in Charlotte, according to an IBM spokesman.
“IBM Lender Business Process Services is taking industry-leading steps to apply its broad and deep history of technology and business management capabilities to provide new and innovative solutions to our clients in the financial services industry,” said Bruce McConnel with IBM. “We are strengthening our commitment to business processing services, improving our clients’ flexibility, competitiveness and ability to manage their businesses more efficiently through ever changing dynamic market cycles.”
The new project was made possible by a state Job Development Investment Grant.
For each year the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 65 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs.
Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for 10 years, the agreement could yield as much as $7.79 million in maximum benefits for IBM, according to the governor’s office.
This is the most recent project undertaken by IBM in RTP.
In February, the Armonk, N.Y.-based computing giant opened a $362 million, 100,000-square-foot cloud computing center in RTP. Durham County is giving IBM $750,000 in incentives during seven years for the center.
At the same time, IBM also has been restructuring its global workforce, including in RTP.
In March, the company also reportedly began laying off 1 percent of its workforce or about 1,000 workers worldwide. The total number of workers affected in RTP is unknown.
In March 2009, the company disclosed that it had laid off 334 workers at RTP, where it employed about 10,000 people.
“The new services operation furthers our commitment to the state of North Carolina and our ongoing presence in Research Triangle Park,” Bob Greenberg, senior state executive of IBM’s North Carolina operations, said in an official statement on Thursday. “These skilled positions, coupled with our investment earlier this year in an energy efficient cloud-computing data center, demonstrate that as the marketplace demands new skills and technology, growth opportunities in North Carolina continue to be a hub of activity.”
Source TradingMarkets
