Red Hat, Inc. on Wednesday announced its strategy for OpenShift Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), an open cloud application platform for enterprises, to enable enterprises to take advantage of the benefits of PaaS by providing a consistent environment for both public cloud and on-premise datacenter usage. Under the roadmap, Red Hat plans to extend OpenShift PaaS to allow enterprises to use both leading-edge DevOps operational models, as well as traditional application management methodologies. Building on the core technology stack that already powers the OpenShift public PaaS, Red Hat’s OpenShift PaaS for enterprises will help provide the benefits of cloud computing in a way that maximizes both operational flexibility and application development efficiency.
Archivo mensual: mayo 2012
Red Hat Unveils Enterprise PaaS Roadmap and Strategy
Red Hat, Inc. on Wednesday announced its strategy for OpenShift Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), an open cloud application platform for enterprises, to enable enterprises to take advantage of the benefits of PaaS by providing a consistent environment for both public cloud and on-premise datacenter usage. Under the roadmap, Red Hat plans to extend OpenShift PaaS to allow enterprises to use both leading-edge DevOps operational models, as well as traditional application management methodologies. Building on the core technology stack that already powers the OpenShift public PaaS, Red Hat’s OpenShift PaaS for enterprises will help provide the benefits of cloud computing in a way that maximizes both operational flexibility and application development efficiency.
The Future of Big Data
About once every five years or so, the technology industry blazes a new path of innovation. The PC, the Internet, smart mobility and social networking have emerged over the past 20 plus years, delivering new technologies and business ecosystems that have fundamentally changed the world. The latest catalyst is Big Data.
Nearly every major new computing era in the past has had a hot IPO provide a catalyst for more widespread adoption of the shift. The recent Splunk IPO evokes parallels with Netscape, the company that provided the catalyst in 1995 to a wave of Internet computing for both B2C and B2B marketplaces. It ushered in a wave of new innovation and a plethora of new .com businesses. Hundreds of billions of dollars in new value was subsequently created and business environments changed forever.
Greece Failing in ICT, Too
As we approach the upcoming Cloud Expo in cosmopolitan, worldly New York City, my thoughts turn again to the global dimension of IT and what IT means to the world.
It seems axiomatic that IT drives a rising tide that lifts all boats, and the question to me is now who has the biggest boats today, but who will a couple of decades from now?
This question helped spawn my Tau Index research about 18 months ago, in which I seek to create a relative measure of national IT expenditures. In doing so, I seek to find the most dynamic IT cultures; not the largest, and not necessarily the fastest growing by traditional, absolute measures.
My rankings are based upon an integration of raw IT expenditures, per-person income, local cost-of-living, income disparity, and bandwidth. Several other societal and economic factors refine the numbers. The results can be surprising, but I think accurate in taking a look at present realities and future prospects.
Which brings me to today’s topic: Greece. The country is in the news again as it struggles to form a new government and threatens to cause more disruption in the Eurozone. It seems that its economic problems will extend to the horizon and beyond.
Keeping Up With the Neighbors
Greece does not do well in my rankings. Among 17 nations in “western” Europe that I surveyed, it finishes next to last, above only Italy. If categorized among the developing nations of Eastern and Central Europe, it fares even worse. Greece’s ranking is brought down by a relative lack of ICT expenditures, a high income disparity for its region, and relatively slow average Internet speeds.
Contrast Greece with one of its neighbors, Bulgaria. Both have modest populations (about 11 and 7.5 million, respectively). Greece has a far larger economy – at about $330 billion, more than 6X of Bulgaria’s $50 billion. Greece’s per-person income is five times that of its neighbor; the country is still solidly considered to be a developed nation, while Bulgaria has a long way to go to achieve that distinction.
In my rankings, Bulgaria does well in relative ICT expenditures and income disparity. Add to this one of the highest average Internet speeds in the world, and the infrastructure for a dynamic ICT and economic culture emerges.
Which country has the brighter prospects? Which is more dynamic? Which do you think will be better off 20 years from now?
I don’t mean to cajole or demean any of the countries in my research. My intent is to glean the diamonds from the rough, while also offering a comparative look at different regions and income tiers. In doing so, Bulgaria emerges as a superstar, trailing only South Korea in the overall world rankings, and leading all of Europe.
Bulgaria has also committed itself to a number of ICT clusters and aggressively promotes its ICT capability – not a large factor in my research, but evidence of why and how it is emerging as a dynamic place.
It’s certainly not too late for Greece and other laggards in my research to renovate their ICT cultures. I’m struck by how infrequently a more aggressive use of information technology is mentioned by world leaders as a key component of economic development. It seems to me that information technology should be the prime component.
No More Jokes
It’s far past time to move beyond lame jokes about how most world leaders “can’t open Facebook” or “ask their teenager” to help them with the modern tools of technology. Widespread use of ICT in all its forms increasingly distinguishes the world’s economic winners from its losers.
It’s time to get serious about looking at it in a relative, productive way, rather than to relegate it to the nerd ghetto in economic discussions.
I’m glad to share details of my rankings with anyone who’s interested.
CloudStore – the pathway to improving SME participation
Alan Mac Neela, the UK Government Director for Dell, discusses how to improve SME engagement in the delivery of the Government’s ICT strategy, and how consortia can support this as well as enhancing partnerships between large vendors and SMEs.
Changing World of End User Devices
Let me start out by saying that I am not an Apple fan boy. I am not a Microsoft zealot or a Linux aficionado. I use them all daily; it is all about usability to me.
I wanted to talk about the shift I have seen in technology that we use in business every day. This transformation has been just as large and disruptive as virtualization. 10 years ago, the end user hardware and software was set and had very little diversity or customization. It was Win/Tel (Windows running on Intel processors) all the way with Microsoft Office. There was very little or no working from home, and you had to be in the office or have a VPN to the office to do your work.
Fast forward to today and the end user client and software environment has a lot more options. The other architects and I have daily conversations about thin clients, zero clients, iPads, iPhones, Android phones, VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructures) so workers can work from anywhere. I am also seeing many more Apple Macintosh’s in business environments. Exchange is moving into the cloud as in storage, social networks and many companies we work with consider Instant Massaging as a key business application.
You can blame Apple and the usability of the iPad and iPhone, Samsung and other Android tablet and phone manufacturers or the continued advances in technology, but you cannot deny that providing applications and data to end users is not just Windows, Office and a desktop anymore.
I had an interesting personal experience with this recently. I have been a Windows user for most of my life. I do have an iPad and have been using that more and more. I needed a new personal laptop and after much soul searching and justifying the additional cost, I purchased a MacBook Pro. It took me years to talk myself into paying more money for essentially the same hardware. Well, I am very happy that I did. I find the Mac has almost all of the applications that I use, and I have VMware Fusion for any Windows applications that are not supported. I really enjoy using the Mac more and find it much more usable than the Windows laptop I use for work. Gestures and the awesome usability of the mousepad (trackpad) make this my personal choice of hardware going forward.
The bottom line is that today’s IT department has many more choices in how to deliver applications and data to their end users. This can be a management nightmare, if not planned correctly, but does offer end users many more options to stay connected and do the work they need to anyplace, anytime, and on (almost) any device.
HP Cloud Is All Set to Enter the Public Beta
OpenStack gets one of the most crucial endorsements as HP goes into the public beta on May 10th. I got the private beta access a couple of months ago and I tried a few scenarios. Though it has a long way to go, HP Cloud looks complete in its approach and is ready to take head on!
Soon after going into the public beta, HP wants to add persistent block storage and relational database capabilities to the stack. According to HP, the Cloud Block Storage offers a high performance, persistent storage solution that allows users to easily move data from one compute instance to a second compute instance and the HP Cloud Relational Database for MySQL is a managed, web-based service that provides you with on-demand access to your application data stored in a relation-based structure. HP manages the database administration tasks for you.
Aquilent Gives Federal Agencies Affordable, Strategic Cloud Options
“Aquilent is thrilled to have the opportunity to offer the AWS GovCloud (US) Region through the GSA IT-70 Schedule,” stated Aquilent CEO, David Fout, as Aquilent announced that it has added Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud (US) Region to its GSA Information Technology Schedule-70.
“At this point, every agency should have a cloud strategy in place. Regardless of the stage, Aquilent isuniquely qualified to offer a full spectrum of services to support the government’s cloud needs,” Fout added.
Storming the Castle
When developing your security architecture, look to the 500 year old medieval castle model to create layers of protection. And this best practice extends itself to the cloud as security-as-a-service.
One of the true benefits of the cloud is the ability to reconfigure and create a stronger, more active asset protection strategy than you might be able to otherwise afford. But let’s look beyond the cost factor for a moment and analyze a true best practice that gives an organization a true advantage within the cloud and an overall strategic deployment of security resources.
OpenNebula and OpenStack Featured in European Report Advances in Clouds
The European Commission has just published a report entitled Advances in Clouds – Research in Future Cloud Computing where a Group of Experts provides a state-of-the-art view on cloud computing technologies, its position in and its relevance for Europe. The Group of Experts was conveyed in 2011 and includes representatives from major Cloud players, like IBM, NEC, Google, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, France Telecom, Oracle, British Telecom, or T-Systems. The report brings valuable information for people defining Cloud Computing strategies, developing innovative research lines, or exploring emerging market opportunities beyond today’s Clouds.