Monitis: Cloud Monitoring Blog

Seems we hear a lot about companies making halting steps to cloud computing by moving certain services off internal servers and onto the cloud, for example, email. So far much of the focus has been on saving money.

But increasingly, there’s evidence that companies are using their business (dollars and) sense to make money on the cloud. A San Francisco Chronicle story I read spotlighted how one company, TransUnion, a credit reporting company, which traditionally built custom software for banks, retailers and other companies to check the credit histories of consumers, is now offering revenue-generating applications to its customers as a cloud service.

The Old versus the New

Here’s how it used to work for TransUnion.

The company would build software for customers, but because development is people-intensive and can be slow, it typically cut into the profits that TransUnion could make on each project. It used to take weeks or months for the company to build a new service. On top of that, sometimes the firm had the headache of dealing with a backlog of requests – stretching sometimes for 90 days or more.

Would one of your customers wait around for a product or service for three months?

Now, TransUnion has begun offering its customers access to its data through APIs. Customers can now build their own applications and access consumer credit data via TransUnion’s private cloud. When a customer requests service, TransUnion can provide access to the appropriate APIs within a week. Big improvement over 90 days!

And as far as cost goes, TransUnion offers the same services and data as it always has, but opening APIs to customers costs less than developing custom software.

The company has not neglected security issues, either. It uses an access management appliance to control which customers can access which APIs. That is based on profiles that TransUnion and the customer collaborate on together.

I suggest you check out the full article on how companies are making money on the cloud. It’s a great read!

In a recent article on InformationWeek, I read about a conversation that Microsoft’s VP of Online, Ron Markezich, had with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer that led to the idea of Office Web Apps 2010 – due out in the first half of next year. This chat happened way back in 2004. Essentially, Gates and Ballmer outlined a major new strategy – selling software-as-a-service (SaaS) over the Internet, rather than selling licenses to their software.

It was a major shift in the way the company would do business.

But what I also found interesting was Microsoft’s recognition of the evolutionary nature of the switch to cloud computing. “We don’t want a one-slice-fits-all model,” Markezich said, in the article. “What we’re seeing is that very few customers with any legacy systems will move 100 percent to the cloud. There’s always going to be some data on the desktop or in their data centers.”

With this insight in mind, I found it particularly fascinating reading about the differences in how Office Web Apps and other cloud-based Microsoft services will be marketed – compared to its competitors, such as Google. Apparently, Microsoft will position itself to global companies – many of which enjoy perfect connectivity in some regions (the U.S. and Europe) and scattered or none in others, for example, parts of Africa. Such a company might say, “I’m not going to move my entire operation to the cloud because of sporadic access in some locations,” said Markezich. “They may choose to say that in Nigeria, I’ll have a server running Office Web apps, but [in another location] I’ll have corporate users on the [Microsoft] cloud because I’ve got great connectivity there and can save money.”

How does this compare to Google’s approach?

Quite different from Google’s “socialistic approach” to access to online apps, notes the article. Their approach translates to: “all customers are treated equal; no, we can’t tell you exactly what server your email is hosted on, but trust us, we’ve lived up to our 99.9% availability guarantee so far and prices that can’t be beat. We will treat you well because we’re a good company.”

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing the debut of Office Web Apps and how the competition heats up in the world of cloud computing!

What’s your take? Do you think it will improve cloud computing with new services, standards and security?

The Wall Street Journal today (October 12^th) featured an article, or rather, more of a questionnaire, that provided some basic knowledge about cloud computing – and done in a very fun way. I thought it was significant because such a mainstream business publication was giving subjects such as cloud computing and virtualization so much attention. Clearly, the subject of “the cloud” has moved well beyond the realm of discussions at the water cooler in the IT department.

The Journal said that “cloud computing is attracting a lot of interest from chief information officers and high-tech entrepreneurs. They like the promise of lower cost, less complexity and reduced power consumption.” With a series of 10 questions, the story also tested readers on their general knowledge of the cloud.

Here are a few of the Journal’s Qs&As on cloud computing:

- What exactly is cloud computing? Is it “lightweight software that takes up little space on a hard drive” or “computing resources that can be accessed on demand, like electricity from a utility.” Answer: the latter.

- Which of these techniques is vital for creating cloud computing centers? (Virtualization, Cannibalization, Transubstantiation, or Insubordination?) Answer: Virtualization.

- An internal cloud is: An overhanging threat or a cloud that sits behind a corporate firewall? The first is the right answer if you’re in a lousy mood. But the second choice is the right answer.

- What August event was widely seen as an example of the risky nature of cloud computing? Was it the spread of the Conficker virus, or was it Gmail outage for more than an hour? Answer: the August 31 outage of Google’s Gmail.

I highly recommend reading the WSJ’s coverage of cloud computing and the paper’s very entertaining Q&A!

Yes, a virtual server can be launched in minutes, and, by running apps on virtual servers and consolidating underutilized hardware, corporate data centers get maximum value from the equipment.

And yes, it brings a lot of flexibility and efficiency, but virtualization alone doesn’t cure the underlying problem “and in some ways adds to it.” That’s the opinion in a recent article on virtualization – and it’s not the first time I’ve heard it.

What the piece is saying, virtually, so to speak, is that we’re not done – by any means. That’s because companies still have huge data infrastructures to maintain, and now they have these virtualization costs and management issues. The real improvement comes with the addition of cloud computing. The cloud delivers infrastructure on demand as an accessible, cost-effective service.

An interesting point made in the story is that, with the progression of cloud computing, IT managers need to decide which apps belong where. It’s a critical choice.

“The real issue is determining where each application truly belongs,” according to the article. “Some apps are simply not suitable for any cloud, while others, at least for the foreseeable future, belong in the private cloud. Some applications are candidates for the public cloud, but the appropriate services aren’t ready yet. And some data center applications could be moved to a public cloud now or in the very near future.”

Sounds like some complicated decisions need to be made, but I think they’ll get easier as cloud computing, services, bandwidth, reliability and other issues become more palatable to businesses. I’m an optimist.

In late September, an announcement was made that will make cloud deployment and systems integration easier.

A partnership was struck between an open-source platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider company WaveMaker Software, and cloud computing management firm RightScale. The deal brings together WaveMaker’s open-source visual development platform and RightScale’s Cloud Management Platform.

Why is that newsworthy? It’s partnerships like these that make it easier for businesses to deploy and manage applications on the cloud. WaveMaker allows users to skip the coding when customizing apps on a multi-tenant framework, and they can drag-and-drop their apps and data on clouds managed via the RightScale platform.

So, if you’re a company without the IT resources to dedicate to complex deployments and management, this is the kind of arrangement that will give you scalability and make cloud computing cost-effective.

Cloud computing offerings made possible by the WaveMaker and RightScale integration have become increasingly popular, and are expected to multiply. One estimate of the market: Telecom Trends International recently projected that the cloud computing market will generate $45.5 billion in revenue by 2015.

Read more about cloud deployment and systems integration.

I can only imagine the anger and frustration of customers of T-Mobile Sidekick. Earlier this month, many lost pictures, contact numbers, calendar dates and other data on the Microsoft cloud server Microsoft/Danger. This is yet another setback for consumer cloud users, following a recent Google Gmail outage and other fiascos.

In an Oct. 12th press release put out by T-Mobile and MS, the company thanked customers for their patience and noted that service had been restored to most and that hard-working teams were re-establishing full stability. T-Mobile and MS said they would continue to try and recover lost content and that “recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible.” At the same time, it acknowledged that some may never recover their data.

Cloud computing defenders say that losses like these can easily be avoided by backing up customers’ data – something that individual PC users are continually urged to do to save their own internally stored files and information.

I agree. Website monitoring can help, too, by alerting companies when they’re approaching usage thresholds and keeping track of access highs and lows.

I think, too, that, whether you’re talking about cloud computing for consumers or businesses, we need more industry-established standards, security and safety guarantees and such to bring more users – consumers and businesses — to the cloud. We won’t get them without more confidence out there in the very concept and workability of the cloud.

This week, at the Oracle OpenWorld show, LoadSpring Solutions, which makes enterprise software hosting solutions, will preview Version 5 of its proprietary SpringBoard Control Console – the security and administrative Internet portal. SpringBoard gives project managers and IT departments secure access and functionality for running specialized project management apps for organizational teams across the world.

Some of the new enhancements:

1) Customization – enabling users to move applets to different locations within the portal that best supports their work processes.

2) Project site applets – allowing project teams to share site weather and deadline information. Site pictures, video streaming, and RSS Feeds can be uploaded for visual display.

3) A federated services and single-sign-on (SSO) functionality option – the combination of which allows enterprises to integrate their user names and password information automatically from desktop to application sign-on. It’s secure, and can be done from anywhere in the world.

I think LoadSpring’s announcement represents a growing new way of thinking about hosting solutions. Just accessing apps is nothing extraordinary anymore. Now, it’s all about building solutions to help project managers and IT teams make better, timelier decisions, enabling easy collaboration and adding efficiency to the game.

Have you registered yet for Oracle OpenWorld?

I thought it was interesting to read about the ‘future think’ behind Citrix’s new XenDesktop 4 virtualization software. Citrix this week unveiled software that will give users access to hi-def desktops from anywhere, and including from PCS, Macs, thin clients, laptops, netbooks and even smartphones..

The company is gambling that Windows 7 will feed more demand for desktop virtualization software, and it recognizes that a traditional PC linked to an office or laptop belongs to, well, the Lincoln administration.

“Today, the world is flat and small,” said Raj Dhingra, XenDesktop general manager at Citrix, in a recent story about virtualization software.  “We need to work in entirely different ways than before. A traditional PC that is locked to an office or a laptop is too confining.”

Citrix’s all-devices strategy follows its moves bringing virtual apps to the iPhone earlier this year.

Apparently, the latest XenDesktop version comes with a range of server-and client-side virtualization options, including offline desktops hosted in local virtual machines; desktops hosted on blade PCs; hosted desktops based in virtualized servers; and hosted shared desktops.

But what I found equally interesting to read was that the desktop virtualization market has lots of room for growth. Did you know that fewer than 10% of data centers worldwide have virtualized desktops? That’s what analysts at ITIC say.

But nearly one-third of customers plan to virtualize in 2010, according to an ITIC poll of 400 corporations mentioned in the story.

Is your company virtualized – or on its way? Or have you chosen a different route?

IBM: only three little initials, but a huge enterprise presence. That’s why it’s recent unveiling of a cloud-based email service application is such big news.

It’s called IBM Lotus Live iNotes, and it’s the company’s “first real foray into a mass-market cloud-based service,” according to a recent story that caught my eye. The solution includes e-mail, calendaring, and contact management, and it is designed to work with existing on-premise, e-mail. Or, it can operate stand-alone. Per user pricing will start at just $3 per month.

The company’s thinking behind creating IBM Lotus Live iNotes, according to the story I read, is that it reduces the cost of running applications for companies. Also, it will reduce the burden on IT people to make it possible for people both within and beyond their organizations to share data, such as documents and files.

OK, say you don’t like Lotus Notes, or even IBM, particularly. And so what if Yahoo and Google already have such animals launched and in operation. The fact that IBM has created this app-hosted cloud is big news for cloud computing. Heck, at least I think so.

You’ve heard of software-as- a- service (SaaS), platform-as- a- service (Paas) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), but what’s the fourth type of cloud computing. I hear that several vendors are positioning services as such to gain marketing traction. But just what is it?

Apparently, they are advisory or development consulting services. But Dan Kuznetsky of ZDNet doesn’t consider these true cloud computing formats because to be a true cloud, a few things need to be present. As a primer, I thought I’d share:

A – APIs must be available so that companies or organizations can develop their own management environments;

B – You need a Web-based management environment to enable organizations to operate and administer all functions of a subscriber’s cloud environment;

C – Subscribers should have access to very granular accounting and costing information that allow them a detailed  level of control and the creation of chargeback mechanisms.

D – The cloud environment must be scalable and elastic – allowing subscribers to control their use of cloud resources.

E – There should be a set of self-service tools available that can be very quickly used.

F – The cloud should exist virtually, and the hardware supplier should be independent.

Dan thinks a fourth type of legitimate cloud computing could exist, for example, a service that would front-end multiple kinds of offerings and allow automatic deployment across numerous cloud computing supplier environments. “This approach would support workload management, workload service level management, workload failover and the like.”

Interesting! What do you think could be a fourth type of cloud computing?