Designing the Cloud

PodCast with Paul Miller, The Cloud of Data

2009-04-27T00:06:00Z

I greatly enjoyed talking with Paul last month--sorry it took so long to link to it here.

Tech@Work 2009 Keynote: Everything as a Service: A Blue Sky View of the Cloud

2009-04-26T19:50:00Z

I had the pleasure of delivering this talk last week. The video doesn't show the slides--we're looking into a way to include them--but on the other hand it's a rare opportunity to see me in a suit.... :)

ars technica interview Part 1

2008-12-22T20:18:00Z

Jon Stokes at ars technica has posted Part 1 of an extensive interview he did with me on the Cloud. I'll link to part 2 when it's posted next month.

CapGemini and HP Podcast on Cloud and SOA

2008-12-16T16:59:00Z

Dana Gardner posted a briefing including a podcast he did with Andy Mulholland, CTO of CapGemini, Tim Hall of HP Software, and me, linking to a white paper HP and CapGemini jointly authored on the Cloud and SOA.

Financial Times editorial on the Cloud

2008-12-05T00:30:00Z

Peter Whitehead's editorial includes a quote from me and a link to my short essay on applying the cloud approach to e-governance.

IGT2008

2008-10-06T23:26:00Z

I'll be speaking at IGT2008--The World summit of Cloud Computing. The event is in the Wohl Centre in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, 1-2 Dec 2008. It's a great line-up. Hope to see you there!

Let's hold off on declaring Cloud 2.0

2008-08-23T00:06:00Z

I've mentioned the industry's proclivity to hyperbole; we're also impatient, easily distracted, and anxious to move on the next big thing. The Cloud is in its infancy--off to a great start, occasionally exhibiting a few growing pains, but also showing lots of potential. Still, well before we've delivered on its promise, I'm sure we'll have people bumping the version number on the Cloud. I can't wait to see the movie "The Cloud: TNG," coming soon to a press release near you.

Well, maybe I can wait. Creating the future is hard work, especially compared to declaring you're leading in the next generation.

It starts with delivering the building blocks needed for innovators to explore. HP's Scalable Computing offerings provide products and services needed to stay on the frontier of the possible.

It requires working with real customers deploying cloud computing today. Especially customers with demanding requirements.

It requires a commitment to open innovation, recognizing that our commitment to research and (not just) development cannot be sufficient--we must enable others to help tackle the challenges ahead.

Most of all it takes commitment. HP is investing in the short, medium, and long-term to deliver on the promise of the Cloud. Together with our partners, customers, academia, and the industry we can design the business models, social experiences, and of course the technology required.Let's keep working.

The Cloud Defined

2008-08-22T23:42:00Z

It’s impossible to overestimate the industry’s ability to hype any new concept, stretching it to mean virtually everything, and so nothing. The Cloud is the latest example. Here I propose a narrow, limited definition, intentionally excluding as much as possible, because in that narrow definition something profound is occurring, something that will extend the reach of information technology to vast new markets, increase its value to existing ones, and ultimately transform the structure of our industry.

The Cloud comprises three aspects:

Cloud Computing, a design pattern that enables self-service automation, scaling , flexing, variable costs, and rich data and analytics;
Cloud Services, a delivery model for information services;
Cloud Platforms, the tools, programming and information models, supporting software runtime components, and related technologies. Platforms facilitate implementing Cloud Services that depend on the Cloud Computing design pattern to meet their requirements, particularly those related to cost.

This definition excludes much that others would include in the Cloud: hosted application management, SaaS (some SaaS offerings are Cloud-based, others aren’t), and other forms of remote delivery and distributed computing with different architectures and different economics.

The Role of the Cloud

The Cloud will not replace other forms of IT delivery any time soon. We’ll still find value in software running and storing data on local devices, in complex mission critical applications running on scale-up hardware, in virtualized and automated internal IT environments using Adaptive Infrastructure and HP BTO software, in outsourced delivery, and so on. There are many reasons: today's inability of the Cloud to meet mission-critical requirements, the cost and risk of rewriting software to the Cloud Computing design pattern, and an unwillingness to change things that aren’t broken among them. This means that most enterprises will execute in a hybrid model, providing and consuming Cloud Services, with those services integrated into traditionally delivered IT services as needed.

If not to replace existing IT services, where will the Cloud fit? The best use of the Cloud will be to exploit its advantages and address un-served markets beyond the reach of traditional IT approaches. Because of their low-cost, pervasive accessibility, and ability to capture, persist, and analyze massive amounts of data, Cloud Services allow us to identify an individual's intentions, preferences, and circumstances and offer assistance. We can shift the focus of experience from an application/device pair to the user’s concerns. Technology can provide continuity and consistency across services and devices, removing layers of complexity, serving more people in more circumstances.

None of this will happen without the appropriate incentives for the businesses needed to enable it. The good news is the other side of this coin is that Cloud Services enable businesses to create richer, deeper relationships with customers, to treat each one as an individual, to customize offerings to meet the specific needs of each, and to integrate with the business partners to make this happen smoothly and affordably.

KLIV story on Cloud Research Testbed

2008-08-16T17:30:00Z

HP, Intel, Yahoo!, and three partner institutions announced a Cloud research test bed; KLIV's coverage includes me describing the role of the Cloud in realizing HP's vision of Everything as a Service.

Anticipating needs and offering assistance: Cloud Services and the Intuitive Internet

2008-08-16T16:47:00Z

Update: Sadly the event has been postponed and the web site taken down. I'm looking forward to the event when it's rescheduled.

I'm speaking at Technology of Tomorrow 2008 on 30 Sep 2008 at Royal Albert Hall in London. I'm thrilled to be included with so many industry luminaries, including Sir Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak, Jimmy Wales, and executives from leading technology and media companies. Here's an overview of the event:

technology of tomorrow ⁰⁸ is the first transformational conference of its kind in the UK, and globally, to offer a strategic perspective of how 'disruptive new technology' (created through the internet, technology convergence and new innovation) is a) shifting our focus as leaders, b) offering and forcing new methods of innovation, and c) transforming many industries as we know them. Our event themes break out and ask critical questions from the right perspective on LEADERSHIP, INNOVATION, INDUSTRY TRANSFORMATION and TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT resulting from new technological change.

and of my talk:

'The Intuitive Internet: Technology that anticipates our needs'

Russ discusses how Cloud Computing lays the foundation for dynamic web services that anticipate and respond to individual and business needs. These services will allow organizations to scale up and address millions of customers in new ways that were previously unavailable. Russ will describe the business, social, and technological innovations needed to capitalize on this opportunity.

This interview gives an overview of my talk. It will be a great event--check it out!

TechCrunch questions on the HP/Intel/Yahoo! Research Test Bed Announcement

2008-07-30T17:59:00Z

Michael Arrington had some questions about yesterday's announcement. I've attempted to provide some answers below.

1. How do third parties open their own facilities/data centers? What if Stanford wants to open a facility?

Third parties are welcome to join the test bed by contacting the founding corporate sponsors (HP, Intel, and Yahoo)

2. Pricing: How will resources be allocated to people building on the platform?

This is a research test bed and resources will be allocated based on research activities. The intent of the test bed is to support research into large-scale systems. To avoid dividing the resources up into many small slivers, we will bias the allocation policy to support short, large-scale experiments, rather than smaller, long-lived ones. We hope to construct several services that will be used by many of the participants; to ensure that we don't consume all the resources for such services, they will be treated just like other users of the system, requiring them to acquire resources from the common pool. In this way, we hope to be able to manage allocation, and flex resource needs as a function of popularity and load - just like other cloud computing services.

3. Where do people go for information on APIs and other tools needed to access the platform?

We have a web site under development that will serve as a resource for information about the test bed. The website will have details about APIs and tools shared by all members, news, resources, and a discussion forum.

4. Yahoo kept referring to M45 as a version of this already deployed. Is that their contribution or are they building out a new facility?

The M45 will be used as part of the test bed.

5. Overall this is super squishy, and appears to be more of a hype release than anything. More details are needed. A lot more.

The test bed will have six centers of excellence that are expected to be operational by the end of the year. On the technical side, the entire stack, from applications to systems software to lower layers, is expected to be available for investigation. We expect to support APIs that range from enabling users to reserve, reset, reboot, power up, and power down VLAN-isolated machines, to higher level services like virtual machines on demand, virtual resource services, and the ability to run Hadoop and/or Pig jobs. Given that this is just the announcement of the test bed, more details are definitely on the way. With major commitment from companies, universities, and government agencies, we are already in the procurement phase and expect the facilities to be up and running later this year. We’ll make sure to send you updates as we reach other milestones.