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What is not a service these days? We start to wonder when we hear the latest incantation: "virtualization as a service." But after closer look, perhaps it makes sense, especially considering now that VMware and Salesforce.com are working on a partnership and joint product dubbed VMForce . So, we ask you: "What does virtualization as a service really mean? Sponsor What does Virtualization as a Service Really Mean? polls Last week, we asked: "How does the iPad affect cloud computing?" Once again, seeing from our responses, it's virtualization that plays a key role in the way cloud computing evolves. Plus, people agree that the tablet is the next step to the embedded computer on any object. For Salesforce.com, a partnership with VMware could mean it gets a foot inside the data center with the capability to provide its technology in a private cloud environment, leveraging its installed base. For VMware, the potential is to take a big step into the cloud, packaging its virtual infrastructure with Zimbra and the technology suite provided by Salesforce.com. So, what do you think? Discuss
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Weekly Poll: What does Virtualization as a Service Really Mean?
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inside-the-data,
potential,
salesforce-com,
technology,
virtualization
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Cloud computing is affecting the evolution of content management systems and the manners in which data becomes a service. Business services are evolving as cloud computing forces people to think more about how information is organized and shared. At the consumer level, Apple iTunes will be replaced by cloud computing services, often referred to as online music storage lockers. People have become accustomed to using iTunes but as people get access to more data, they will find new ways to organize information. And the kids will realize how the information can be shared. Sponsor At the business level, cloud computing is having a profound effect in a number of markets. In the mapping world it's leading to new forms of content management systems that use data for specific niche purposes. Services like WeoGeo offer new forms of geo-spatial, content management systems and marketplaces that offer deep repositories of data, like a giant map case in the sky. It's in some ways like a content management system and marketplace for map makers, an age old craft now in a different dimension. Foe example, WeoGeo offers a map library and a marketplace , designed specifically for surveyors, engineers, architects, geoscientists, and cartographers. It offers both the library and the marketplace as data services, petabytes of data stored in the cloud. All of its services are available via RESTful web services. Is that a big deal? We kind of think so. Web oriented architectures require the data to be browser compatible. With RESTful, companies can create new kinds of mashups baked into a new generation of content management systems that correlate to specific communities. That's the evolution taking place. Applications that can share data through API's that provide the capability to organize new sets of data and shared in a variety of manners. The service is in contrast to what Google and Microsoft offer. Both of these companies use map data to enhance their services. They serve as ways to lock in data that they use for search and advertising. SimpleGeo is a similar service to WeoGeo but it uses geodata to makes applications more location aware. ESRI represents the old guard of the industry and is the market leader in mapping software. It's a proprietary platform. But the real future for the mapping world is in the cloud. It serves as a place that data can be served and built upon. It's also the place where markets will develop. It's like a data fabric that the map makers use to sell their works. It's a community made of developers. And that's how communities evolve. They trade between themselves, thus creating the demand. It's similar to how the publishing market evolved several hundred years ago. Book makers traded books. As more books were published, the market grew. We are in the same place with data as a service. Google and Microsoft will not and can not control the entire market. The foundation for geo market services will strengthen as its developer/small business community evolves. Its these small businesses that represent the future. Discuss
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WeoGeo: How the Cloud Makes New Markets Possible
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Business,
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small-business
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It's worth noting that the cloud certainly has borders. It's the one reality that proves the cloud computing movement may seem at times abstract and vague but in the end it is the international politics of our world that creates some of the deepest issues for its place in the world markets. According to InformationWeek , The 451 Group presented a webcast that showed cloud computing adoption trails in Europe and Asia. About 57% op spending is in the United States with 31% in Europe and 12% in Asia. The numbers get even more polarized when you only look at the adoption for infrastructure as a service. A full 93% of spending is in the United States with 6% in Europe and 1% in the United States. Sponsor The low numbers almost makes it seem like some artificial effect is in play. And in some ways it really is. A lack of European data centers services by the large providers affects adoption. Rackspace, Terremark and Savvis are the primary companies looking to develop a presence in Europe. But they need to build data centers before they can have any real presence there. According to the 451 Group, 99 percent of European businesses are either small or mid-sized organizations. And they have plenty of choices from telecommunications providers. But here is an interesting twist. InformationWeek: One obstacle to both sides is the U.S. Patriot Act, which gives the U.S. government a right to demand data if it defines conditions as being an emergency or necessary to homeland security, and a measure that contradicts that power when the data is of European origin, the European Union's Data Protection Directive. In 2006, the European Court of Justice ruled that an agreement negotiated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was too broadly construed and violated the EU's directive. The agreement was about sharing data on European airline passengers headed for the U.S. The data sought by the U.S. was too broadly construed and violated the EU's directive, the court said. "Both measures could prevent establishing a cloud without borders," said 451's William Fellows. Cloud advocates say services established via an Internet data center should be accessible by people around the world, and they are in the case of Google search or Facebook apps. But when it comes to sensitive data, national borders still prevail because of conflicting laws." The issue is apparent now with Google's issues with the Chinese government. It's not the technology that is making cloud computing an issue. It's international politics. Discuss
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International Politics Slow Cloud Computing In Europe and Asia
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Rackspace launched an iPad app to manage a cloud infrastructure, one of the first to offer such a service. Amazon Web Services (AWS) does not have apps for the iPhone nor the iPad platforms. It has historically not offered mobile apps for AWS. Sponsor You can still access AWS on the iPad through the Safari browser. But is the experience as rich as what you would have as on a native app? Mike Mayo built Rackspace's iPad app. He says it is the functionality that gives apps their value. It's evident in both consumer and enterprise apps. Users get a rich user experience. You can see it in the Racskpace cloud app. Mayo humorously says that the app offers administrators "a life." Meaning that you can go out for dinner without the anxiety of not knowing how the infrastructure is faring. If you see a problem, you can reboot, directly from the device. The app does have a new service not available on the iPhone version. You can delete your servers on it. Mayo kept the feature off the iPhone due to the concern that it's such a small device, easily left at a bar or restaurant. He feels people are less likely to leave an iPad due to its size. We're not so sure. People leave their laptops behind all the time. We could go into details about the app and what it offers but Robert Scoble's video does a good job of that. Mayo is currently developing a Rackpace cloud app for the Android. Disclosure: RackSpace is a sponsor of ReadWriteCloud's parent site, ReadWriteWeb. Discuss
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Does the iPad App Give Rackspace An Advantage?
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cloud computing,
experience,
from-the-device,
functionality,
humorously-says,
infrastructure,
iPad,
iphone,
racskpace,
Robert Scoble,
safari
