One of the key aspects of cloud’s value to an organization is the way in which its implementation and processes can impact the bottom line of a business. Automation, in particular, is an issue in the cloud that can have a major effect on cost, and there are two major ways to think about what generates the automation ethos that informs a company’s cloud strategy.
From the engineering perspective, if something needs to be done more than once, it should be automated. This saves times and effort, becomes a repeatable task, and since it was automated, everything comes out uniform. All of these
Business considerations are the other main drivers for automation. Is it cheaper to implement a human solution to a problem, or is it cheaper to install a piece of software? Regardless of the engineering ethos, when a business gets to the level of asking these questions, there are cases where it’s cheaper to utilize human power or where it’s cheaper to rely on a machine powered solution or a combo thereof.
Microsoft server platforms pivot to cloud-first development
Fredrik Tunvall, Analyst, Information Managment
The overriding themes of Microsoft’s latest server platform announcements delivered last week at the company’s annual TechEd conference were about design for the cloud. Announcements for Microsoft Windows Server and Systems Center 2012 R2 focused heavily on harmonizing management and deployment tools for cloud and on-premise use.
For the newly announced SQL Server 2014, it was about optimized backup and “always-on” integration with the Windows Azure cloud. With System Center, Microsoft has also taken steps toward managing mobile devices as “first-class citizens”. For the end user, Excel is promoted as a single end-user tool for query, analysis, data exploration, and data-visualization, and it is here that we also find the most BI innovation and integration efforts.
Cloud-first design
With the latest wave of releases, Microsoft has publicly committed to a new “cloud-first” policy for the design of new features for its server platforms …
What CIOs Need to Consider When Migrating to Cloud Is the Next Big Move
In enterprises across the globe, CIOs are looking cautiously in one direction: up – to the cloud. Migrating to the cloud changes not only the operations of the data center but also the roles of the CIO and IT staff. As a result, management must carefully weigh the pros and cons of shifting to cloud-based computing so that they can prepare their organizations and themselves for change that cascades across budgets, vendor relations, job descriptions and career paths, as well as infrastructure and processes.
The benefits of moving from an on-premises model to subscription-based, cloud-hosted computing are substantial. With cloud computing, CIOs have the opportunity to capitalize on a variable-cost structure. Until recently, data centers have needed to load up with hardware, software and networking devices to prepare for peak periods, even though these investments may lie underused or dormant for significant periods. Traditionally, IT costs only go up. By employing the cloud, however, IT departments pay for only the infrastructure and applications that they use, as they need them. They can easily scale up when the business grows or during peak selling seasons, then scale back if the economy shrinks. Over time, the cost of Software-as-a-Service subscriptions is far lower than that of licensing fees for software, middleware and databases, along with expenditures on hardware and staff to maintain it all.
A Comparison Between OpenStack and VMware vCloud IaaS Offerings
I previously wrote a review of the Microsoft Azure public cloud and included a comparison between Azure and AWS (Amazon Web Services) and will now compare OpenStack and VMware vCloud. For a review of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) see my blog post and video.
This table provides a simple and high level comparison of OpenStack and vCloud.
Achilles Selects MetraTech for Billing and Settlement
MetraTech Corp., a provider of Agreements-Based Billing, Commerce and Compensation solutions, on Tuesday announced that Achilles, a global software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of supply chain management services, has selected the MetraNet billing and settlement platform to support its global business growth.
Achilles manages the supply chains of 800 of the world’s largest companies to reduce the risk, time and cost associated with procurement activity. The company verifies and keeps up-to-date data of around 80,000 suppliers across 23 countries to ensure they are operating to the highest possible standards. Achilles recently invested GBP 12 million in the development of new global platforms, which will offer a true SaaS solution to customers looking to manage their data anytime, anywhere – with no downtime for maintenance.
AWS Is Hiring Professional Services Staff
This is one of several recent videos on AWS job opportunities. To apply for a position on the AWS Professional Services team, send your resume toawsproservejobs@amazon.com.
Eating Our Own Dog Food – 2x Faster Hadoop MapReduce Jobs
For a while now I have been writing about how to analyze and optimize Hadoop jobs beyond just tweaking MapReduce options. The other day I took a look at some of our Outage Analyzer Hadoop jobs and put words into action.
A simple analysis of the Outage Analyzer jobs with Compuware APM 5.5 identified three hotspots and two potential Hadoop problems in one of our biggest jobs. It took the responsible developer a couple of hours to fix it and the result is a 2x improvement overall and a 6x improvement on the Reduce part of the job. Let’s see how we achieved that.
AMD Aims for the Cloud via Seattle, Berlin & Warsaw
Over the weekend Barron’s put out a piece touting AMD’s chances of taking share in the mainstream server market that belongs to Intel with its SeaMicro microserver acquisition, a development that would tickle its tiny stock price, if it ever happened. But even the thought of it, although the possibility is a ways off, tickled the shares Monday.
“SeaMicro’s technology looks good; its management team, astute; and the market opportunities, promising,” the story said.
It was the opening salvo for myriad articles sketching out AMD’s already tipped plans to make its first ARM chip, a 64-bit processor that it expects to have sampling in the first quarter of 2014 with production following sometime in the second half.
To Future Proof or Not, That Is the Question
“To be or not to be” is the famous opening phrase of Hamlet’s well-known soliloquy in Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet.” In the soliloquy, Hamlet questions the meaning of life, and whether or not it is worthwhile to stay alive when life contains so many risks and hardships. He concludes that the primary reason people stay alive is due to a fear of death and the uncertainty of what lies beyond. Now what does this passage in Hamlet have to do with future proofing a business or monetization? Many organizations grapple with unknowns as well. “Do I just focus on the now and not worry about the future? Change is scary; risk is even scarier, so I can’t be bothered thinking about the future.” For many, the future never comes as the decisions made in the present impact their ability to define their future. Instead their business is defined very precisely for them by what a billing system can deliver in the present. What seemed like a non-risk suddenly becomes life or death for the business.
Enterprise PaaS Is About Operations
The notion that PaaS exists solely “in the cloud” as a discrete environment of developer services is hampering the maturation of enterprise PaaS.
The three most common answers to “give me an example of PaaS” are: Force.com, Azure, Google. I didn’t even need to do an unscientific Internet survey to nail that one down.
These are certainly fine examples of PaaS, but they are not necessarily examples of enterprise PaaS solutions. While off-premise PaaS offerings do address many of the same challenges being faced by enterprise operations today, they do so in a way that makes integration and control – not to mention the measurement and monitoring required by developers – nearly impossible.