The “cloud” may be the future of enterprise storage, but can it lay claim to the present as well? At Storage Networking World in Phoenix, Ariz. this week, I wanted to find out if IT executives are excited about cloud storage, or more accurately, hosted data storage services accessible from a remote location over the Internet.
While services like Amazon S3 must be attracting enough customers to stay afloat, there isl definitely a lot of skepticism about the suitability of cloud storage for the enterprise. Security, legal issues and portability of data are key concerns. Read more
The US Department of Energy said today it will spend $32 million on a project that will deploy a large cloud computing test bed with thousands of Intel Nehalem CPU cores and explore commercial offerings from Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Read more
A crippling DDoS attack over the weekend against open-source hosting service Bitbucket and Amazon's EC2 service has questions being raised about the speed and effectiveness of Amazon's response to the emergency, as well as the general reliability of cloud services. Read more
There are many things to consider before moving a business application to the cloud, and the service-level agreement offered by the vendor is among the most important. A vendor might promise five nines of availability – but that’s no consolation if there are no meaningful service credits or an easy way to collect them. Read more
A few weeks ago I concluded a short series on cloud computing and networking with a blog about building a private extranet for cloud computing. A private extranet service that would link existing enterprise IP VPNs (MPLS-based) into a cloud provider's service would ensure optimal routing, guaranteed bandwidth, QoS, and better security.
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Okay, I am as sick of the hype around cloud computing as anyone else but I also belive that cloud computing architecture is a very exciting future technology with a few existing proofpoints like Amazon, Google, DISA, Microsoft, IBM System z, etc.
One of the underpinnings of cloud computing is a technology called Apache Hadoop. The Apache Hadoop website describes the technology as follows:
"The Apache Hadoop project develops open-source software for reliable, scalable, distributed computing."
Meet the newest player in cloud computing: OpSource. Read more
The Google Books deal has gained a new, powerful group of enemies, the competitors that would be most hurt if the deal were to proceed: Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon. Read more
Cloud computing, according to Gartner, has reached the top of the hype cycle. But does anyone in their right minds think cloud hype will become anything other than louder and more deafening?
Seemingly every IT vendor, even ones that have nothing to do with the cloud, is using the satisfyingly vague word to describe every product they have ever released.
Gartner recognized that in a new report detailing the so-called “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies.” Read the press release here: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1124212 Read more
Amazon has introduced a free Android application that makes it easier for Android users to shop online at Amazon. The app, already available for iPhone and iTouch users, has an extra cool feature dubbed Amazon Remembers. This lets you use the phone's camera to snap a photo of an item's bar code and, in that way, add it to the your online Wish List. Read more
If sitting down with the President of the United States and quaffing a few brewskis can really help tamp down controversy over a highly-charged race issue then perhaps the President could pull up a bar stool and settle some far less vital disagreements plaguing the tech industry. Here we go: Read more
Google, a corporate name synonymous with open source and free, is planning an old-fashioned standards war with online retailer Amazon. Amazon would like to lock people into its e-reader and its selection of e-books. Currently a reader of Amazon's e-books can only do so on Amazon's Kindle or the Kindle iPhone app. But that may soon change. Read more
Is Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) a competitor to Amazon or a vendor? The answer is both and that means that Microsoft (the vendor) will be bowing to pressure from Amazon and offering a simpler, cheaper Windows cloud hosting licensing deal to Amazon and others, according to an interview published in InformationWeek. So says Microsoft server and tools division president Bob Muglia. Read more
As expected, Apple on Tuesday began rolling out tiered pricing on the iTunes Music Store. Gone are the days of ubiquitous 99 cent songs, and in its place are songs that range in price from 69 cents to $1.29. Record Executives are ecstatic while music lovers are cringing. The reality, however, is that the price hike is the target of a lot more criticism than it actually deserves, especially if you remember what purchasing music used to be like even 10 years ago. Read more
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When is a call to open cloud computing not so open? When the biggest cloud OS players--Google, Amazon, Salesforce.com and Microsoft--aren't a key part of the process. And that's just what happened when IBM and its partners published their Open Cloud Manifesto.
The scoop: Kindle application for the iPhone, by Amazon, free download.
What it is: Amazon's application for the iPhone gives users access to its Kindle store of electronic books without the need to purchase a Kindle or Kindle 2 electronic book reader. The e-books are formatted to the iPhone's smaller display, and pages can be "turned" with a finger flick to the left or right.
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I was on a plane heading home from DEMO 09 when the Amazon Kindle iPhone App news broke and, after a week of seeing new gadgets and software, didn't fully digest the news until this week. But, we just posted a video of the Kindle App and I have to say the release is a very nice move by Amazon: Read more
Cloud computing is not a new topic, by any means. While the technology is still growing in popularity, cloud computing has led to an exciting and revolutionary means of hosting for the Voice Over IP and telephony markets. We've discussed "cloud telephony" several times on Considering Convergence, but now that the foundational elements of the technology are tried and tested, it's ready for prime time. Read more
Canonical Software, which administers the popular Ubuntu distribution of Linux (and my personal favorite), recently announced improved support for Cloud computing in the upcoming release 9.10 , named Karmic Koala. Read more
Boy, times are tough when people start selling electronics at extreme prices. Just look at how much this keyboard is on Amazon:
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