QuickStudy: Cloud computing. Ask any five IT specialists what cloud computing is, and you're likely to get five different answers. That's partly because cloud computing is merely the latest, broadest development in a trend that's been growing for years. Cloud computing is the most recent successor to grid computing, utility computing, virtualization and clustering. Cloud computing overlaps those concepts but has its own meaning: the ability to connect to software and data on the Internet (the cloud) instead of on your hard drive or local network.
To do anything with a PC 10 years ago, you needed to buy and install software. Now, cloud computing allows users to access programs and resources across the Internet as if they were on their own machines. Definition Cloud computing describes a system where users can connect to a vast network of computing resources, data and servers that reside somewhere "out there," usually on the Internet, rather than on a local machine or a LAN or in a data center.
In the Beginning. Commodity Clouds for the Enterprise–Inside the Economics. Recently at the Cloud Connect event in San Jose, Randy Bias, co-founder of cloud builder Cloudscaling gave a fascinating talk which sought to dispel many of the myths around enterprise cloud computing. Bias’ talk is an excellent way to spend ten minutes – I’d recommend watching it below. Cloudscaling is an organization that has been building some of the worlds biggest clouds and it was great to have someone peel back some of the covers around the economics involved with that. I caught up with Bias last week and took a very deep dive into some (unfortunately private) information that he uses to differentiate between “traditional enterprise clouds” and the commodity clouds that Cloudscaling has been building customers. Part of Bias’ argument lies in what he says as a dual battle that is going on.
On the one hand public cloud providers (Amazon, Rackspace etc) are fighting over the greenfield opportunities within enterprises. So too said Sam Johnstone, contending that; The Red Ocean of Cloud Infrastructure Stacks (updated) | CloudBzz. Update: am revising this still… Reposting now – but send me your comments via @CloudBzz on Twitter if you have them. It seems like every day there’s a new company touting their infrastructure stack. I’m sure I’m missing some, but I show more than 30 solutions for building clouds below, and I am sure that more are on their way. The market certainly can’t support so many participants! Not for very long anyway. This is the definition of a “red ocean” situation — lots of noise, and lots of blood in the water. This is the list of the stacks that I am aware of: I.
II. III. IV. I hope you’ll pardon my dubious take, but I can’t possibly understand how most of these will survive. If you’re one of the new stack providers – think long and hard about this situation before you make your splash. Like this: Like Loading... Does OpenStack Change the Cloud Game? July 20, 2010 Randy Bias This week Rackspace Cloud, in conjunction with the NASA Nebula project, open sourced some of their Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud software. This initiative, dubbed ‘OpenStack’, should have a dramatic impact on the current dynamics for building cloud computing infrastructure. Previously there have been two major camps: Amazon API and architecture compatible and VMware’s vCloud. Now there is a third alternative that could not only be a viable alternative to these two approaches, but more importantly, a fantastic option for service providers and telecommunications companies that face unique challenges.
Let’s dive in and I’ll explain. Cloud Stack Evolution & ‘Camps’Amazon Web Services (AWS) spawned a huge ecosystem of knock-offs, management systems, tools, and vendors. Together, as a block, Amazon and Google could create a de facto duopoly for infrastructure clouds, which isn’t good for anyone. Up against the Amazon camp is VMware. Yet this is only storage. StackOps Distribution Offers an Introduction to OpenStack Cloud - Cloud Computing. OpenStack is out to be the Linux of the cloud infrastructure world-the project, founded by NASA and Rackspace, is aimed at rounding up the various compute, storage and networking components that make up a public or private cloud into an open-source cloud operating system.
Just as most people who use and deploy Linux rely on distributions to take care of the many packaging and configuration details required to get up and running, the OpenStack world will have its own distributions. I've been testing one such OpenStack distribution, called StackOps, which makes it rather easy to get up and running with a single-node OpenStack implementation, suitable for early testing and for familiarizing oneself with this fast-moving cloud computing project. StackOps consists of an Ubuntu Linux-based distribution, which, paired with a Web-based Smart Installer application, speeds the process of configuring and deploying OpenStack clouds. Index Ventures Blog – Citrix acquires marketing leading Cloud.com. Ken Pepple.
Eucalyptus: 2010 top cloud computing startup. Cloud.com: 2010 top cloud computing startup. Five open source tools for building and managing clouds. Open source technology is going to seriously impact the cloud computing world, and there are two main reasons why: Open source software is essentially free, and it is not generally encumbered by the software license models of proprietary software. Many proprietary software vendors, such as Microsoft and Oracle, are trying to maintain old and expensive license models, even though they impede the flexibility gained by virtualization and cloud computing.
Proprietary tools for building and managing clouds are no further along than their open source counterparts, and the open source tools are free.Bill Claybrook A number of open source tools have already had a huge impact on cloud computing: Linux and KVMKVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is an open source hypervisor for Linux running on x86 hardware. DeltacloudDeltacloud is an open source project started last year by Red Hat. OpenNebulaOpenNebula is an open source tool kit for cloud computing.
Private cloud computing tutorial: An introduction to private clouds. Private cloud computing is an amorphous concept, with differing opinions on what constitutes a private cloud and what technologies to use to build one. And for many organizations that are still building out their virtual infrastructure, the hype is outpacing reality. To help provide clarity, this tutorial on private cloud computing -- part of our Virtualization School series -- covers the following topics: the characteristics of a private cloud the differences between virtualization and private cloud infrastructures strategies for implementing a private cloud After completing the lessons below, you can take a short quiz to test your knowledge on private cloud computing.
Virtualization School: Private cloud computing Lesson 1: Private cloud 101: Is your data center ready? More on private cloud computing resources. Cloud computing 101. Cloud computing is a significant shift in IT, and IT pros are wary and often unsure what to make of it. More a new way to look at IT delivery and operations than a new technology, there are very real forces driving it forward. Learn more about it the basic pressures driving cloud computing in this podcast with Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director at THINKstrategies Inc. Jeff also discusses Amazon's influence on the When you register, my team of editors will also send you alerts about public, private and hybrid cloud computing as well as other related technologies. cloud market , along with the three elements that draw enterprises into the cloud. is the founder and managing director of THINKstrategies, the only strategic consulting firm focused entirely on the business implications of the transition of the technology industry from product-centric to services-driven solutions.
He has a BA in Urban Planning from Rutgers University and MBA from Boston College. What is hypervisor? - Definition from Whatis.com. Cloud computing winners and losers: Our audience says… Jo Maitland, Senior Executive Editor Published: 20 Jun 2011 Picking the right cloud computing vendor isn't easy, especially when it's unclear what you need, how all the pieces fit together and which suppliers are in it for the long term. Still, IT pros are forging ahead; our latest survey reveals which providers are top of their minds today. Over 500 respondents, from IT organizations large and small across North America, took the survey from January through March 2011. They were asked about a variety of topics that impact decisions around cloud computing, including security, storage, networking, virtualization, interoperability, sourcing, hiring and TCO.
Many respondents said that the "one-size-fits-all" commodity nature of cloud products and services is tough to integrate with legacy IT environments that have been kicking around for decades. Almost 70% of respondents said they had some portion of a private cloud infrastructure in place today.