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IBM, RightScale and Wavemaker
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IBM Cloud Quickstart: Accelerating your path to cloud computing
Learn how the IBM Cloud Quickstart Roadmap can accelerate your cloud development. Based on IBM best practices leveraging WebSphere Application Server and DB2 and best-of-breed components from WaveMaker and RightScale, the IBM Cloud Quickstart Roadmap makes it fast and easy for anyone to build scalable cloud applications.
Register here:
webinar replay
for additional details read the joint annouce on PRWeb
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Corent, IBM and Amazon Web Services: Fast Tracking ISV Transformation to SaaS
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Find out how Corent’s SaaS-Suite, Amazon Web Services and IBM meet the challenges of transforming your stand alone software to cloud-compatible SaaS.
Hear how to fast track your SaaS transformation by offering solutions to the toughest SaaS enablement issues from Scott Chate, Vice President of Products for Corent Technology, and Jamie Kinney, Business Development Manager, Strategic Alliances for Amazon Web Services.
Or if you prefer, you can dowload the webinar pdf.
Also, listen to the developerWorks interview with Scott Chate, Vice President for Corent Technology, on YouTube.
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Explore Perl, Apache, Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) and SimpleDB
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Read this five-part series to understand how to use the Perl programming language with cloud services on AWS. Part 1 helps you understand the benefits and drawbacks of using Amazon's S3 and SimpleDB for Web site building. Then in Part 2 see how to upload a file into S3 from a Web page through an HTML form to minimize the load on the server and Part 3 shows how to upload images via a list of URLs in a table and manage images and comments. Part 4 walks through the full site's code base. And the series ends with Part 5 examining the full mod_perl site's templates, including one for indexing, three for uploading (general, S3 forms, and URL additions), one for image and comment browsing, and one to browse comments recursively for an image (or threading down).
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- SaaS partner program overview: Get help from IBM to enable, deliver, and market your hosted application solutions
- SaaS demo series: Learn how IBM technologies can help you deliver secure and customizable multi-tenant applications
- SaaSpace.com: Collaborative venue for companies who offer Software as a Service applications or are interested in learning more about the SaaS software model
- SaaS Showcase: Worldwide online directory of business partner solutions delivered in a SaaS model on IBM infrastructure
- SaaS Business Partner News/RSS feed: The latest news and updates regarding Software as a Service (SaaS) from IBM PartnerWorld
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IBM business partners develop cloud services through our sandbox
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Start with our new pre-configured SaaS stack featuring WebSphere Application Server Community Edition and DB2 Express C running on Linux, and use the features and support of the Virtual Loaner Program, including the save and restore capability that allows you to continue testing at a later time.
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- IBM SaaS Business Partners
- Webcast: IBM Tivoli Monitoring now available on Amazon EC2 - 15 Dec 2009
If you are moving, or considering moving, software applications to the cloud and are wondering how you can effectively monitor and manage your application performance environment, join product and technical experts from IBM Tivoli Monitoring for this webcast. - SaaS Business Partner community newsletter - November 2009 issue available
We've been very busy working with you, our Business Partners, as you work to adopt Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing into your business models. Read the current newsletter issue to learn more about SaaS and its future from business and technical leaders. - New SaaS Enablement Network entry: GNi
GNi is a premier provider of hosted infrastructure solutions. By providing extensive infrastructure as a service, GNi focuses on the performance requirements associated with delivering online applications. GNi gives customers the control to quickly customize, scale, and provision their infrastructure configuration, security, and routing. - New SaaS Enablement Network entry: Claritas Solutions
For over ten years, Claritas Solutions has provided fully managed hosting solutions on securely connected infrastructures. They are ideally positioned to work with ISVs in the design and facilitation of world class IBM SaaS platforms. - Register for the Cloud Futures conference and receive a US$200 voucher from IBM
Register for the Cloud Futures: Cloud Computing for Software Vendors '09 conference in San Jose, California, on 7-8 Dec 2009, and receive a US$200 voucher from IBM.
- Cloud Computing Magazine
- Broadcom to Pay $178 Million for ‘Cloud’ Chip
Broadcom is paying $178 million and mostly cash for nine-year-old privately held Israeli-based Dune Networks and its “cloud” chipset, which can connect upwards of 10,000 servers (ports) at bandwidth speeds of 100 Gbps a port. That’s supposed to be Google-scale, which indicates where Broadcom is placing its bets, having failed to secure Emulex this summer. read more - Cloud Computing: A Security Analysis
With its ability to provide users dynamically scalable, shared resources over the Internet and avoid large upfront fixed costs, cloud computing promises to change the future of computing. However, storing a lot of data creates a situation similar to storing a lot of money, attracting more frequent assaults by increasingly skilled and highly motivated attackers. As a result, security is one – if not the – top issue that users have when considering cloud computing. read more - Microsoft's Ray Ozzie on Mobile Applications and the iPhone
Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, recently commented in an interview with CNET, "Yes, iPhone has a lot of momentum, unquestionably. But I think the phenomenon we're in right now is the app phone. And if you look at the depth of apps that are on these phones, they're not very deep. It's not like Office or AutoCAD, where there are just thousands of man years that have gone into developing these apps. They're relatively thin apps that are companions to some service."read more - Virtual Infrastructure in Cloud Computing Just Passes the Buck
There are many good reasons to go down the virtual infrastructure road. The illusion that it’s cheaper than dedicated hardware solutions is not one of them.
I was reading an interesting predictive article on WAN optimization that contends that virtualized WAN optimization controllers (WOC) are, well, just better than sliced bread. One of the reasons why the author opined this way was presented as the great benefits of horizontal scalability (linear) in cloud computing environments.
 Savings and scalability. This approach ensures that there is no need for dedicated hardware to support WAN optimization, saving on CAPEX and OPEX. Cost savings will also be realized through virtual scalability. As enterprises add more services or applications to be accessed by additional remote workers via the cloud, the virtualized WAN optimization model will be able to scale linearly.
The implication here is clear: WAN optimization via virtual solutions saves CAPEX and OPEX over dedicated hardware and additional savings are achieved through virtual scalability. But that’s ignoring that the initial investment cost is simply shifted from CAPEX to longer-term OPEX when scalability enters the picture. Not just scalability of the solution, but the impact of application and virtual infrastructure scalability on the solution as well.
VIRTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE is just PASSING the BUCK
Back in the old days we used to deploy all our infrastructure as software. As you needed more compute resources, you deployed bigger, beefier servers on which to deploy said solutions. That’s vertical scalability. Today we prefer the cloud computing model: horizontal scalability. Pay as you grow, compute resources on-demand. Whatever you want to call it the appeal is certainly in the perception that it’s easier and, perhaps more importantly, cheaper than traditional hardware-based scalability solutions. But it’s not accurate at all to equate this model with what is essentially “cheaper” scalability. The operational expenses associated with management, the cost of additional licenses, integration, and the hourly costs associated with the cloud computing environment in question all must be factored into the equation lest we fall prey to the hype that encircles cloud computing today.
One of the reasons you see cost savings in cloud computing is that the costs of the hardware – the physical servers – are shared. You only pay a “nominal” fee per hour for using that hardware. The cost of that hardware is shared across hundreds of other customers, all seeking the same reduction in operating and capital expenditures. So far, so good. Sharing the physical hardware certainly does spread the cost around and results in a cheaper operating environment – at least for the customer.
 But when you start virtualizing the infrastructure (as in virtual software equivalents) you generally don’t get to share the costs of the solution and you never share the costs of management. Most of the time you just share the same costs you do for any other generic virtual image: the underlying physical hardware. You’re also forced to scale horizontally based on the capacity constraints inherent in the virtual image. The provider and/or solution vendor sets the RAM/compute resources available for the virtual instance and if you need more resources when you’ve reached the largest configuration you’ll have to start scaling horizontally. Whether you want to or not. The second image incurs the same management costs as well as the hourly fees. Likely, too, you’re paying for the licensing because virtual versions of solutions aren’t free, after all, unless you’re leveraging open source solutions that are.
You don’t share those costs with anyone. They are yours, and yours alone. The buck passes from CAPEX to OPEX. CAPEX is reduced, yes, but OPEX? Not so much. Perhaps that’s better from an accounting point of view, but from a total cost perspective it doesn’t really change much.
SCALABILITY of APPLICATIONS IMPACTS COSTS of VIRTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE
You can, of course, choose the largest image and thus avoid horizontal scalability. But that is going to increase the costs of the solution overall. Consider the virtual equivalent of an application delivery controller delivered via Amazon EC2 on its largest (quadruple large) image is $4.80 / hour (based on pricing listed by Zeus Technologies for its virtual solution on Amazon). It is unlikely you’ll have any hour in which that solution is not used. Assuming even one request handled per hour, every hour, every day you’re looking at more than $42000 per year. Don’t forget, too, you may likely have additional charges for bandwidth – both ingress and egress. Not nearly as “inexpensive” as purported. You could start smaller, but that means it’s more likely you’ll need to “upgrade” midstream. This is far easier to do with a virtual infrastructure than with hardware, at least from a physical deployment  perspective, but it is just as disruptive a process and may lead to jumping onto the horizontal scalability path earlier rather than later because it is so easy to simply “add another instance” when compared to “upgrade to a new image.” Consider, too, that deploying virtual infrastructure means it is not integrated with the rest of the environment. That may not sound bad, until you realize that automatic scalability means new instances of applications – and perhaps other infrastructure solutions - may be popping up that you need to manage via the infrastructure. How is the infrastructure going to know about it? Either you are manually managing this process or you are going to be doing some integration work. That’s yet another soft-cost of “scalability” that isn’t factored into the equation when comparing hardware to virtual infrastructure.
Contrast that to a model in which services are provided via shared hardware infrastructure solutions. The cost of the hardware is not nominal. But like the rest of the physical infrastructure its costs are shared across all customers. Providing traditional network and application network solutions as services is inherently better suited to a cloud computing environment in that it allows the management costs to be shared (the provider manages the solution, not the customer) and is completely on-demand. Scalability is not the concern of the customer and generally speaking the limitations on RAM/compute resources do not exist in the same way they exist in virtual solutions. Bandwidth in both scenarios can be limited or unlimited, depending on requirements and implementation. Integration should also be taken care of by virtue of the fact that it’s a part of the cloud computing environment and the provider likely wants to ensure that they are billed properly for services rendered.
The current method of deploying a virtual infrastructure actually breaks the “shared resources, shared costs” model of cloud computing and negates the cost savings associated with the elimination of CAPEX for the hardware with the OPEX costs of management, integration, licensing, and a more constrained operating environment that ultimately leads to the need to scale out sooner than would otherwise be required. Certainly a shared model could be implemented via virtualized software solutions, but this model has the same implementation roadblocks as hardware solutions that lead to non-implementation today. Virtual infrastructure shifts many of the management and maintenance-related burdens offloaded by a public cloud computing model back onto the organization and requires more vigilance and dedication to ensuring the overall architecture is operating as expected.
VIRTUALIZED INFRASTRUCTURE is PROBABLY YOUR ONLY OPTION
Today, virtualized infrastructure may be the only option for an organization to obtain the control and choice that is currently lacking in today’s cloud computing environments. Deploying hardware solutions and associated services requires an investment on the part of the provider and additional time and investment in developing the means by which customers can take advantage of the solution via services. While most providers invest in hardware solutions without pause, they rarely take the next step in integrating its offerings as services for customers. This means that if you need specific infrastructure components – application acceleration, WAN optimization, web application security – that you’ll likely need to go the virtual infrastructure route. That’s not all bad; this path leads to control and isolation of implementation and configuration, which can be a requirement for conforming to organizational security policies. Organizations having concerns about the impact of other customers sharing infrastructure resources (they already do, but a service-based model brings this to the fore) will almost certainly want to take advantage of the isolation afforded by a virtualized infrastructure implementation.
I’m not arguing against virtual infrastructure in theory or against the control and choice they offer customers. There are challenges with such implementations, mind you, but that’s not really the point today. I’m simply arguing against the “it’s cheaper” mantra that is patently false and fails to take into consideration all the variables in the equation and instead focuses only on the most tangible ones.
There are certainly benefits realized from both deployment models and it is up to the organization to decide which model is right for them. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking virtual infrastructure is a “cheaper” solution, because when you step back and take a look at the entire cost of a solution, that’s just not the case and in fact a services-enabled infrastructure may be a much more financially advantageous solution – except for the provider.
Which may be the real reason the only option you ever have is a virtual one.
      
 
Related blogs & articles:
  read more - Telecom Service Assembly Standards in the Cloud
Comptel Corporation announced that BT and Progress Software will be participating in the second phase of the Service Model Catalyst, as it explores the creation of new converged services that include cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) components. The collaborative effort brings together business use cases from BT and Qwest as co-sponsors, with BT providing cloud brokering and cloud assurance services on Amazon Web Services' EC2 platform, Comptel providing a consolidated product and service catalog, Network Cadence providing systems integration with a service fabric broker for fulfilment and assurance orchestration, and Progress providing a management tool for the canonical data model. read more
- O'Reilly Radar
- Four short links: 2 November 2009
Dow Jones CEO's Sandbox Tantrum -- keynote by Dow Jones CEO at the World Newspaper Congress. Highlights include: "the content kleptomaniacs of the Internet", "a lot of newspaper people were taken in by the game-changing gospel of the internet age", "Free costs too much", "Consumers will seek the valuable over the vapid because they always do". Dow Jones is... - Video: Roger Magoulas on The Next Device
I recently sat down with Roger Magoulas, Director of Research at O'Reilly to talk about what he is paying attention to these days. I thought we would do a single, quick segment for Radar. I was mistaken. I have broken out the interview into several parts and will release them weekly... Call it Wednesdays with Roger. This episode touches on... - Four short links: 1 November 2009
Apertus -- open source cinema camera. (via joshua on Delicious)
A Survey of Collaborative Filtering Techniques -- From basic techniques to the state-of-the-art, we attempt to present a comprehensive survey for CF techniques, which can be served as a roadmap for research and practice in this area. (via bos on Delicious) - Ignite Seattle on 12/1 (tomorrow): iPhone Apps, Ben Franklin and Rubik's Cube
The 8th Ignite Seattle is this Tuesday, 12/1. We've got an amazing set of speakers and fun opening activity. We are once again at the King Cat Theatre in Downtown Seattle. Doors open at 7PM. The contest will start at 7:30 and the talks will begin at 8:30. You can track Ignite Seattle updates at http://igniteseattle.com. Here is our list... - What Would Jane Austen Have Twittered?
After the recent Web 2.0 Expo NY--a sprawling, week-long conference and exhibition--I ducked into the Morgan Library to catch "A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy." A one-room show about an 18th century novelist seemed like the perfect antidote to a week of tech talk in the Death Star Javits Center. As I'd hoped, the Morgan focuses on a handful of objects from Austen's life, and the commentary is thoughtful. I was surprised, though, to find myself thinking that had Twitter been around in Austen's time (1775-1817), she would likely have been a fan.
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Cloud Computing Central on my developerWorks
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Join this group of individuals interested and involved in the "next big thing" - cloud computing. We'll be discussing and sharing what we're doing around cloud computing, saas, and related topics. Feel free to invite others to join! The more we share, the faster the clouds will grow.
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- Cloud Computing Use Cases: Read the cloud computing use case whitepaper. Authored by cloud consumers and cloud vendors committed to keeping cloud computing open.
- Alltop Cloud News: Helping you answer the question, “What’s happening in cloud computing?”
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 This three part series covers how programming language and interface options vary across the cloud computing providers, how to create a hybrid cloud application and the governance and security considerations for cloud computing. | |
 IBM, cloud computing, and universities.
Learn about IBM cloud computing initiatives that are already underway at universities around the globe | |
 IBM can offer you real, hands-on experience in implementing cloud technology and services | |
 LotusLive offers a variety of software as a service (SaaS) solutions for your business ranging from e-mail and Web conferencing, to an integrated suite of collaboration solutions in a security rich environment. | |
- IBM LotusLive Engage: An integrated suite of Web collaboration & business networking solutions: online meeting service, store & share capabilities, instant messaging & more
- IBM LotusLive Connections: A collaboration environment that includes profiles, activities, forms, store and share capabilities, instant messaging service and more
- IBM LotusLive Meetings: Full-featured, online meetings with integrated Web, voice and video conferencing
- IBM LotusLive Events: Online Event management service that includes LotusLive Meeting plus registration, promotion, postevent follow up tools and more
- IBM LotusLive iNotes: Web mail managed by IBM in a multi-tenant environment and integrated with LotusLive environment
- IBM LotusLive Notes: Time-tested & proven Lotus Notes e-mail hosted for you by IBM. A simple way to provide industry leading online email solutions for your business
- LotusLive Connections Unveiled, Wins Award at Enterprise 2.0 Conference: Lotus not only unveils the SaaS version of their social computing solution, LotusLive Connections, but also take home an award for it.
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