Virtualization and so called "Private Clouds"

An interesting comment from RedHat during the acquisition of ManageIQ this week:

http://www.serverwatch.com/server-news/red-hat-linux-grows-top-deals-as-private-cloud-management-enters-batting-practice.html

"A lot of people will say they have a private cloud because they have a bunch of virtualized servers, but truly when you think about managing an application portfolio or an elastic infrastructure, that is still quite nascent," Whitehurst said.

"So that's a very large opportunity, we believe, in the future," Whitehurst continued, "but we are, again, we're in batting practice. We haven't even started the first inning."

Here is an interview that I gave to Cloudstory.in

Enterprises today are finding it extremely challenging to manage the assets running across physical, virtual, Private Cloud and Public Cloud. They are looking for tools that helps them take control of the infrastructure through a single, unified environment. There is a huge opportunity that exists in the multi-cloud management tools market. Cloud360 from Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) is one of the leading Cloud management platforms for enterprises.

I got a chance to interview Mr. Ramesh Panuganty, the founder and MD for Cloud360. Ramesh shares his views about the Cloud adoption in enterprises, the challenges they face and how their product addresses them.

http://cloudstory.in/2012/12/cloud-conversations-interview-with-ramesh-panuganty-md-cloud360-at-cognizant-technology-solutions/

Recorded session: Enterprise Application Operations in the Cloud Powered by Cloud360 & AWS

AWS and Cognizant invite you to learn more about Cloud360, an enterprise IT management solution that enables enterprise application migration and operations on AWS. Cloud360 provides a comprehensive portfolio of services for provisioning, deploying, monitoring, managing and securing enterprise applications running on AWS. Learn more: https://aws.amazon.com/solution-providers/si/cognizant

Possible spin off of vFabric line of products from VMware

Finally the news seems to be coming out...
 
VMware plans to turn over SpringSource, Cloud Foundry, GemStone and other non-core technologies over to a new EMC-owned subsidiary, GigaOM has learned. The move helps separate the money-making, enterprise-focused VMware business from the future CloudFoundry unit that will compete against Amazon and Microsoft Azure.

VMware is finally getting ready to spin off most of its non-core products to an EMC-run subsidiary, GigaOM has learned. If everything goes according to plan, the move will be announced next week, according to several sources familiar with the effort.

http://gigaom.com/cloud/remember-that-vmware-spin-off-its-baaa-aack/ 

The AWS Report - Ramesh Panuganty of Cognizant

... my recent interview with Jeff Barr @AWS.

http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2012/11/the-aws-report-ramesh-panuganty-of-cognizant.html

Cloud 360 helps technology and business managers to deploy and manage cloud-based architectures in a flexible and scalable fashion. Learn more about Cloud 360...

AWS speeds-up EBS and reduces instances pricing

Another busy week for AWS which added new compute instance types, cut prices on existing ones, and increased the limit on provisioned IOPS for EBS volumes. Amazon is getting busier as more public cloud options come on line. 

Some computing and storage tasks require faster data input/output than others. That’s why in August, Amazon Web Services said customers could, for an additional fee, allocate up to 1,000 Input/Output Operations per Second (IOPS) per EBS storage volume.  On Thursday, the company doubled the limit to 2,000 IOPS per EBS volume according to a post on the very busy AWS blog.  Faster storage input/output is important in database and transaction processing applications. Insights here.

Enterprise Application Operations in the Cloud Powered by Cloud360 & AWS

AWS and Cognizant are pleased to invite you to attend this live webinar where you will learn more about Cloud360, an enterprise IT management solution that enables enterprise application migration and operations on AWS. Cloud360 provides a comprehensive portfolio of services for provisioning, deploying, monitoring, managing and securing enterprise applications running on AWS.

Featured speakers will provide insights into how Cloud360 enables enterprises to achieve: 

• Rapid Provisioning: cutting down time from weeks to minutes.
• Simplified IT Management: simple service management, distributed control.
• Improved Planning and Budgeting: more insights, better cost control.
• Automated Governance: controlled usage, enterprise compliance.
• Improved Security: auditing and variance detection.

Agenda:

• State of the Cloud - Paul Roehrig, Cognizant
• AWS Platform Overview - Tom Stickle, AWS
• Cloud360 for the Enterprise - Ramesh Panuganty, Cognizant

Who should attend:

• CIOs, CTOs, IT Executives, Enterprise Architects, and other Technical IT Leaders

Date / Time

• Tuesday, November 6, 2012 - 10AM PST/ 1PM EST

Attendees get a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD.

>> Register now for this live webinar on Nov 6

Cloud Computing: Hey, Hey, You, You, Get Off of My Cloud! - Geoffrey Moore

The economics of cloud computing are so compelling it is clear, over time, that it will re-engineer the entire landscape of enterprise IT.  It is that little phrase—over time­­—that poses challenges, for customers and vendors alike.  Different applications will drive cloud adoption at different paces and in different directions.  To help sort out your priorities, here is a cartoon of the various types of clouds in nature, with a companion cartoon mapping them to the cloud applications getting the most traction these days.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121015205517-110300724-cloud-computing-hey-hey-you-you-get-off-of-my-cloud?_mSplash=1

Cognizant Announces Significant Expansion of Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure to Deliver a Broader Range of Transformational Services

Cognizant's enterprise-class, multi-tenant cloud infrastructure platform broadens the company's overall cloud services portfolio, which includes cloud assessment, architecture and design consulting, cloud system integration, and cloud management services across private, public, and hybrid cloud solutions. These services are powered by Cloud360™, Cognizant's cloud management solution that efficiently automates provisioning, management, and monitoring of diverse cloud operations from a single consolidated management console. These capabilities position the company well to help clients re-platform existing applications on the cloud, deploy new mobile, software-as-a-service, and social networking services to their end-users, and support other business-critical processes. 

http://news.cognizant.com/2012-10-25-Cognizant-Announces-Significant-Expansion-of-Data-Center-and-Cloud-Infrastructure-to-Deliver-a-Broader-Range-of-Transformational-Services

 

Microsoft to acquire cloud-integrated storage provider StorSimple

The eco-system is changing a lot and also very quickly. The difference between on-premise and IaaS is going to fade-away pretty soon. It is all going to be about the time to market, cost of services,  integrated offering and managed services.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9232447/Microsoft_to_acquire_cloud_integrated_storage_provider_StorSimple

This acquisition is going to give a boost to both Azure & Hyper-V, to deliver cloud storage to data centers, and also offer integrated Backup/DR/Archival solutions.

What is Cloud and what drives its adoption?

While "Cloud" is the most overused/overloaded word in the industry, one key attribute stands out consistently... The single most key tenets of Cloud is "self-service". This has been the biggest driver of cloud adoption and will continue to drive the products & requirements. If there is any product that is not self-service, but is intended only to be used by administrators - folks, reconsider your products.

Multi-user profiles in tablets & freetime support for kids!

Great job Amazon! You are the first tablet maker to allow multi-user profiles on the same device. This is a common item on any personal computer, as common as the buttons on a shirt. Happy to see this 'new feature' on Kindle Fire. We can now store user's own settings, data, applications and perhaps even special restrictions. 

Freetime is another wanted setting to allow specific usage hours for the kids - otherwise, it has become very uncontrolled. Finally someone is paying attention to a common problem.

PaaS - private and public modes

We haven't heard of Private PaaS or Public PaaS (or hybrid!) but the industry is clearly moving in multiple directions here if you observed App Engine, Azure, Force.com, Heroku, Engine Yard, ActiveState, AppFog, Tier 3, Uhuru Software, PaaS.io or CloudFoundry.com. 

VMware is clearly pitching for private PaaS within enterprises to deploy internal applications. This would enterprises to have a common PaaS platform that results in 'standardization' and 'governance'. While the productivity boost is questionable since any PaaS would need a mindset change in the developer community and PaaS enforces thinking in one-way. 

It is interesting to see so many new PaaS platforms (such as AppFog) as new-entrants in the market (some based on CloudFoundry), and others with the message of running PaaS across infrastructure providers. If I am anyway going to be on PaaS - why worry about IaaS flexibility - I am locked in at the usage layer itself.

Oracle Throws in the Towel on VMware Licensing

... Oracle has maintained that all servers in a cluster must be licensed if even a single VM on any server in the cluster is running Oracle software. VMware has officially disagreed with this statement in their white paper on Oracle Licensing and Support. But the opposing view by Oracle has been a serious deterrent to adoption of VMware virtualization of Oracle servers. No longer.

http://oraclestorageguy.typepad.com/oraclestorageguy/2012/08/oracle-throws-in-the-towel-on-vmware-licensing.html

Cognizant's Cloud360 is an enterprise-class cloud management solution that helps enterprises to quickly and cost-effectively deploy, manage and operate modern, dynamic and scalable architectures on industry leading cloud platforms.

User Experience of IT Delivery & Cloud benefits

What are the top benefits of cloud as viewed by Enterprise IT managers? Interestingly most of the enterprise IT organizations seem to feel that cloud is going to shape the user experience of IT delivery, with the primary benefits being:

• Enable work from anywhere
• Enable collaboration more effectively and with coworkers
• Simpler access to business applications regardless of client device
• Improved IT applications

VMware & public cloud IaaS offering

If you haven’t heard the rumors, there are rumblings that VMware is launching a public cloud IaaS service. The formal announcement may come at next week’s VMWorld conference where theCube will be broadcasting.

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/08/20/project-zephyr-vmwares-upcoming-public-cloud-project-built-to-take-on-aws-rackspace-ms/

... a recently purchased data center in Nevada... Pricing for this service will likely be aggressive in order to gain the most market possible from major players such as Amazon, Rackspace and Microsoft.

It would be interesting to see how the partner eco-system will play out for VMware.