Avastu Blog: Sustainable Global Clouds

We rely on each others brains. We freely pick stuff on the web, "find" things and store them in our local storage (some call it stealing ), and we keep listening to each other. So I was curious how my feedstats did, and as you see its doing pretty well.

Dave Graham, a Cloud Computing member at the Google Group has been working on some neat COS (Cloud Optimized Storage) mindmap. Check it out here , he isn't done yet but has spent good amount of time there. So I thought, we do and talk about signaturing on storage level, how about signaturing the whole Data Center? With Feds and Governmental interventionism looking rather inevitable, we would rather work on some pretty much well signatured data centers! This is my first attempt to start on the Xing Mindmap stuff, I guess it will keep me busy the coming days. So say hello to the rather embroyonic version of " Cloud SIGnature Framework" The final draft will be posted on the Xmind site

I will lay emphasis on HPC, Genome, Research and Neural implants. Sergey's wife Anne is on to something which has been my childhood dream , both scary and exciting. One of those heady things that will happen to us and maybe the next generations as we evolve further into super human beings. Ideation Age is upon us. Cloud will be the vehicle that will take us there. Anyways couple of shots, I may speak about: I have been asked by several researchers and academics to share some thoughts and in some occasions co-create stuff. There will be many of such activites in the year 2009.

I had predicted in Jan 2008 about the big contraction, an implosion, the blackhole effect . I had predicted September and it happened. Watch the video yourself ( Watch from 3:50 minutes onwards ). Although it talks about the democratization of a building block we call virtualization to the Cloud Computing model, it refers to all the other industries as well, that are betting high on increasingly commoditizing markets and businesses. Now, my prediction series, as promised earlier , will come for the next 9 months. Today, I will start with the articles talking about the impact the continuing contraction of industries will have on firms, both larger and smaller. As revenues dwindle, suppliers will have to craft some contingent strategies and will have to take fundamental decisions, if not radical , to change their direction and approach. As new trends and models emerge and as they aggressively intensify, I predict a major contraction coming in the next year, don't worry we will throw...

(Update 1) Final call! So why should you really attend? Its a very free format session Many group discussions will be there (see tentative planning below) Its got some really great quality, not just some free event. Its definitely a lot richer than those paid events where you cannot get your ideas on the table. So why again? Cloud Computing is all about YOU ! The program: 4.00 pm Welcome & drink 4.30 pm Keynote: The Shi(f)t is Happening! (Tarry Singh, Technology Evangelist) 5.00 pm Keynote “Visionary” panel (Q-layer – Salesforce.com – Flexiscale - Itricity) 5:30 pm Sponsor Lightning Talk 1: Aserver 5:35 pm Sponsor Lightning Talk 2: Quest Software 5:40 pm Sponsor Lightning Talk 3: Amazon 5:45 pm Sponsor Lightning Talk 4: Philipp Huber 5:50 pm Sponsor Lightning Talk 5: Microsoft 5.55 pm Powerbreak 6.00 pm Unconference Introduction by Raphael Bauduin - Profoss “The Engine Behind Cloud Computing” Attendees split up in smaller groups to discuss topics of the...

Although I would also have loved to have the author: Ask me in advance (Obviously I'd have obliged) Told me later (instead of me looking into my logs to find where the link came from) Maybe, just maybe, thanked me as well Nevertheless, it is good to be mentioned (and get unjar'ed while I'm emitting) :-) The Economist page where you can read the snippet, and obviously I downloaded the full copy. Here is the detailed acknowledgment page on sources the author used to write the report.

A slide that may touch a moderate historian and an economist. The CloudCamp is a typical unconference stuff where we all participate. I'd love to chat up with you all and discuss how we plan the future of computing together !

Introduction CloudCamp was formed in order to provide a common ground for the introduction and advancement of cloud computing. Through a series of local CloudCamp events, attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies. CloudCamp Brussels is the first edition of CloudCamp in mainland Europe, after successful editions in the US and the UK. As an informal, member-supported gathering, we rely entirely on volunteers to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting locations, equipment and membership recruitment. We also have corporate sponsors that provide financial assistance with venues, software, books, discounts, and other valuable donations. To become a member, simply register for an upcoming event. Anyone may attend a meeting, there are no fees or dues. Location Given its international character, its central location and the ease of access, we thought Brussels wou...

I am doing a couple of calls with some investors who are suddenly willing to bet on several open source parties or parties who have strong open source offerings. These parties could be open source vendors or could be parties that may have some open source or free hypervisors such as VMware Server, Hyper-V in their offerings. This has several reasons: Past experience : The 90s and .the dot com boom and bust clearly helped many open source companies such as Red Hat to weather the storm. Many perished and then next wave many will perish. Many companies are still stuck in the legacy mode. They are bound to perish ! Many firms are breaking out of the older mode and are facing challenges but will survive to fight another battle. Cloud Computing : More stuff is running on the web and more stuff will be serviced from the web. All will be run as CloudApps. That will be the Killer App. No one would really care how it all is provisioned. That's the way we ran our little websites a couple of y...

My prediction series on ITToolbox were very well received. I will be starting off with the 2009 predictions and will cover: Security, Ethics and Ownership issues Regulatory Compliance Globalization Visualization Methods (Dashboards, Toolkits) Consumerization Industrialization (Data Center, Practices, etc) Operational Excellence within IT: SCM, Sales automation, Marketing automation, Bid Management, Project Management etc and lots more. I will also be linking back to my articles and will continue from there.

For long we have struggled with technologies. We have had a hard time knitting it all together and then we get to hear from these so called pioneers that the model just changed. And all the investments that were made to the data centers eventually were all wasted initiatives. These so called pioneers could very well save us from having our data centers shut down and us losing our businesses ! So why do we have to bury our current legacy data centers? Or to put it more mildly, why do we have to change the way we run our data centers. I will not delve too deep into this discussion, I'd rather want you to take a look at this presentation I gave in Africa, last year. Cloud Computing: The Green Grid View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: cloud computing ) The case here is very simple. no long stories here, really if you need long stories go Google for stuff, read Wikipedia and search the web as to how it all can be done. I know here for one thing, we better start doi...

This has been on my list for so long. I want to talk about it and describe how smart employers and communities can benefit from the "emerging part of their workers and cope with the dyning part of them" Expect a : Sketch Real-Time Analysis soon.

I know, no big deal. But I've been talking about Cloud Computing for quite a while before I really realized that I was indeed talking about Cloud computing for a while. Now I am talking about it more consciously though and that's what I meant by it. Looking back at some of my Virtualization articles at CEB/ITtoolbox you'll realize that we have been talking about a lof of it. In a seprate post I will outline that here and we will continue with the series, see all my posts there. We will continue with the Cloud Predictions on my newly hosted site called IdeationCloud.com (which I will soon get developed and move my blog there). I do love my blog here and being hosted by Google but I cannot attract advertisers here. Anyways, here I'm working on my slide of Cloud Computing and Security/Compliance. A sneak peak at the first slide, up there. More will follow soon. We'll do my session/note on our upcoming series at CloudCamp and other cloud events across the world.

So what the heck is a Ceiling Gap? As an executive on my day job and a part-time consultant for JP Morgan, I have a lot of questions thrown at me from time to time. I see challenges rise and I see people fall. I see technologies rise and I see trends evaporate. I see subtle transitions and I see loads of promiscuity. Anyways I get enough "data" in my head and I have this sense of urgency, the insatiable urge to find a way to solve the loss of the untold. That could ... save the planet. Help the world reshape the global economy and watch the innovation which is deeply embedded within the layers of the the inclined ceiling from where all the ideas drop into baskets and creative destruction ( Joseph Schumpeter was nutty enough to have seen it happen 70 years ago when the world was in a much more turmoil than today) takes place. So anyways I have been toying with the idea of the middle , the place that needs a solid filling and it is that space that is the gap. We all talk abo...

This is a really scary story but I need to also hear from people who are doing something worthwhile to make it better. Be it Obama or McCain, this one is the toughest to crack an probably the one that may make any U.S president hero, if he got the balls to take the U.S economy and future towards the intended and desired future. Anyways here's the BusinessWeek's article: The economic crisis has been triggered by what economists call "structural shifts" in the global supply and demand for commodities, coupled with the meltdown in the mortgage markets and the ensuing credit squeeze. But this crisis is now moving into a whole new gear, creating a new set of economic conditions that have yet to be named. Call it "the frozen economy." As pain reaches deep into the daily lives of ordinary Americans—irrespective of their creditworthiness—it will trigger unforeseen consequences for every corner of the marketplace. Nearly two-thirds of Americans already say they are...

Because they have to get into the adjacent markets. Well it is still IT and eventually how does it matter, to even the IT geeks, if the stuff is in the network or storage or some sort of abstraction layer (which you and I fondly call virtualization). Cisco's chief John Chambers has said again and again, as if to convince the board members that "a mega-acquisition has just gotta happen or else we'll die", that earnings will erode over time as the world goes to a much on-demand computing. Update: This news from Bloomberg today (dated 5th August,2008) is enough for the shareholders to be convinced that a "natural adjacent merger or acquisition" is the best thing that can happen to Cisco, surely EMC has a lot to gain from this deal as well. This is the best way both chiefs can handover the helms to their successors as well. The obvious dangers of the on-demand computing is that the sales guys will not be able to sell anymore, at least not the kind of stuff that ...

I've been on two excellent weeks in Normandy , France ( Isigny Sur Mer ) with wife and kids. And obviously I was NOT blogging, although I bought daily the Financial Times newspaper to keep up with the latest news on: - M&A - Globalization and lots. So obviously I have already figured out how we can move from our stove-pipe global economy to the Novo- Global Economy with the " Regulated Jar'ing '). I drew sketches at the back of the newspaper and will soon be posting the framework online as soon as I have the images copied from my cell phone to my laptop. But the vacation was great, we were at a camping and had a great time drinking Cider , Calvados and eating lots of local delicacies, like dairy products etc. Expect power blogging to resume.

Saw this on the net. Even though Microsoft is yet to officially breathe a single word on the matter, the virtualization capabilities of Windows 7 will also evolve in comparison to what is offered with Windows Vista today. Vista was the Redmond giant’s first client for which virtualization was introduced into the End User License Agreement, and Windows 7 will take it one step further. The next iteration of the Windows client will feature a solution designed to permit end users to access remotely virtualized operating systems running on top of a hypervisor. “As part of hosted desktop virtualization initiative, in Win7 we are building a platform with suite of products that enables remote connectivity to virtual desktops running under Hyper-V via thin or traditional clients. The products enables remote desktop and application publishing, provisioning and connecting to VMs via RDP and management which leverages SCVMM. The platform will also provide rich value-add opportunities for ISVs ...

Watching folks panic and start picking up glass-balls and attempting to predict the future made me worry a bit. I got drawn to it and indeed fell prey to the trap. So I got myself thinking and wrote up a little piece of what we ought to expect from this evolving market. Real-Time Market Analysis We are at the brink of a cylindrical upstaging . VMware is more challenged than any other party we have to mention today. KVM is the least worrisome of the rest. Microsoft's Hyper-V has its own trajectory and will soon define and refine its own strategy as it goes on embedding (maybe they'll just call it embedding and still do the old fashioned hulky-bulky way) its "virtualization technology" into all their core-applications (where they draw a revenue of $12Bn yearly, more or less). Citrix's purchase of Xen is indeed still an edible, digestible and maybe at some time in the future a launchpad (I am not saying disposable) to its future directions. Could that be a pos...