Avastu Blog: Sustainable Global Clouds

What will be the next hot IT trend in 2009 for state and local government? Government Technology informally polled prominent CIOs and security experts about their best guesses. Predictably no consensus emerged, but the majority opinion was that government will turn to technologies that are easy on budgets -- much like U.S. consumers are cutting back their spending amid Wall Street struggles and turmoil in the credit and housing markets. States were forced to close a $48 billion gap in their fiscal 2009 budgets, and the economic pain also has stretched into municipal government because of tax revenue shortfalls. "Whatever gets measured will get funded," South Dakota CIO Otto Doll said. "Under fiscal duress, governors will seek accountability through statistics to ensure cost effectiveness." While that posture could signal that unproven, big-budget IT projects will be delayed until the economy recovers, others believe downsized spending will necessitate innovation. On...

So, Big Blue cranked up its PR machine, and pulled some statistics out of its, er, sales database and wanted everyone to know that more than 5,000 companies worldwide have replaced iron from HP, Sun Microsystems, and EMC since 2004 and moved to them to IBM alternatives. Breaking this down a little, IBM is claiming that in less than one year, more than 150 customers have moved onto its System z mainframes from HP and Sun platforms. When pressed for more details about where these customers were coming from, IBM's PR people said they would get me some answers, but all I got was static. And since the inception of the so-called Migration Factory that IBM set up "several years ago," more than 1,300 customers have been moved to Power-based servers from Sun and HP platforms, and this year alone, another 800 customers have moved onto System x iron (which presumably also includes BladeCenter blade servers). Yes, IBM is mixing different categories and different time scales, but this...

Fool says: Impressive, yes? I'll say, but for cloud computing to endure, it'll have to give IT managers and other industry participants more than just a good do-it-yourself, zero-infrastructure starter kit. NetSuite (NYSE: N) just booked a deal with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) that should help to achieve that goal. HP will grant NetSuite access to its channel of 15,000 resellers in exchange for support resources. The result will presumably be a broader embrace of cloud computing among traditional systems integrators and value-added resellers -- firms that profit by customizing packaged software to fulfill a business need. Think of what Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and India's Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY) do, but on a smaller, more specialized scale. Cloud computing has been considered a bane for VARs and SIs because of there's no "software" to customize; all the code resides on a distant web server. Source

Google has been quietly laying off staff and up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources. Since August, hundreds of employees have been laid off and there are reports that about 500 of them were recruiters for Google. By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly and with the SEC however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement. In fact, one of the ways Google was able to meet Wall Street’s Q3 earnings expectations was by trimming “operational” expenses. Google reports to the SEC that it has 20,123 employees but in reality it has 30,000. Why the discrepancy? Google classifies 10,000 of the employees as temporary operational expenses or “workers”. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, “There is no question that the number of workers is too high”. Source

Improving Cost Structure As part of today's actions, Sun's Board of Directors has approved a restructuring plan aimed at reducing costs by approximately $700 to $800 million annually. The plan includes a reduction of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 employees, representing approximately 15% to 18% of the Company's global workforce. Sun expects to incur total charges in the range of $500 to $600 million over the next twelve months in connection with the plan, of which it expects to incur approximately $375 to $450 million within its current fiscal year 2009. Sun expects to begin realizing cost savings in the third quarter of the Company's fiscal year 2009, and expects to realize a substantial portion of the run rate benefit by the first quarter of the next fiscal year. Streamlining for Growth Sun's new organizational alignment is a recognition of the comprehensive role software plays in the Company's growth strategy. Sun creates the best platforms on which to develop...

SAN DIEGO – November 11, 2008 – Nirvanix, the premier “Cloud Storage” platform provider, and Arkeia Software, the leading provider of powerful, innovative data protection software, today announced that they have partnered to deliver backup protection of business-critical data to the secure, scalable Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network™ (SDN). The first of its kind solution utilizes the Arkeia Network Backup software solution and the Nirvanix CloudNAS™, a software application that turns any server into a virtual NAS gateway to the cloud, to provide unlimited, cost effective storage for long term retention of backups and archives. Combining Arkeia Network Backup, an enterprise-ready network backup solution with Nirvanix’s CloudNAS, organizations gain ready access to powerful data protection via secure, scalable storage at 80-90% cost savings over traditional storage solutions. Additionally, the joint solution safeguards a company’s digital assets with the ability to automatically replic...

The FSA has been investigating Carnegie since a trading scandal last year, after which the regulator gave Carnegie a record fine and ordered the replacement of its entire board because of the failure of its internal controls. Carnegie took a SKr1bn loan facility from the Swedish central bank last month after it suffered a liquidity crisis. It increased the facility to SKr5bn after the announcement of the FSA investigation sent its share price into freefall. The National Debt Office has now taken over the central bank loan, secured with the bank’s shares as collateral. The FSA has also restored Carnegie’s licence, improving the chance of attracting potential bidders. Carnegie had already appointed Goldman Sachs to examine strategic possibilities, including a potential sale. Max Matthiessen, the group’s asset management subsidiary, is seen as particularly attractive. Carnegie’s largest shareholder is Moderna Finance, the Swedish insurer formerly known as Invik, that is in turn owned by M...

We are heading for a cold and chilly K-wave winter (coincidentally I see that it is a Dutch link). This according to some will have started by 2008 and may, if the past few years has been any baseline, continue until 2014. Although there are numerous variables that may be thrown in. One major positive variable that is, if no sinister forces try to steal away our freedom and thoughts*, capable of generating and spreading enormous amount of wealth globally, is the internet, the web. This wealth is, as Alfred Nobel said, contentment and depending of what will keep you content in the future, you may have access to acquire it immediately. The variable will definitely be the today much hyped and clearly misunderstood phenomena we call Cloud Computing . During my last keynote at a recent CloudCamp in Brussels, we had several vendors- including Microsoft, Amazon, Quest etc, and we were struggling to understand what Cloud Computing really was. I just thought of it while discussing with someone...

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...

US-based software maker VMware plans to more than double its research and development staff in China within 18 months, despite the economic slowdown. "China is one of the fastest growing markets for us and the fundamentals for the market will remain strong," said Mike Clayville, vice-president and general manager of VMware. "We are going to increase the R&D staff here up to 300 within 18 months as well as strengthen our field resources dramatically." The company pioneered the market for virtualization technology, which helps a single computer server handle the work of several servers. According to Clayville, the technology could reduce a customers' hardware expenses by as much as 90 percent and energy use up to 88 percent. As a result of the global economic crisis, many businesses are expected to resort to cost-cutting measures, which may boost demand for technologies such as virtualization, analysts said. Source

This is the price you have to pay, or as some call it investing in the future. Facebook apparently is eating a million dollar a month on electricity bills and half million on bandwidth consumption . That is massive. I guess its time to host their stuff someplace else, maybe at Amazon AWS? Lets hope the Dubai lords are also smitten by the social bug. Obviously the environmental discussion will follow soon when I write about the dangers of not just the effects on the economic meltdown but also the meltdown of the data centers as we keep uploading pictures of beers and bras ( See Nick's post here ) on Facebook. I sometimes really wonder how useful Facebook really is, talk about oversubscription. Let's not call electricity a bitch,we just have to get real. These are pragmatic times and money isn't coming easy this time. This week, the TechCruncher has reported, Facebook chief financial officer Gideon Yu is in Dubai, "possibly" discussing fund raising options with Du...

Saving Money Through Technology New technologies and approaches also anticipate lean times ahead. Diane Bryant, CIO of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), spoke to a global workforce increasingly collaborating and sharing data and information. The world is going green, said Bryant, and Intel's goal is to efficiently manage information and data to enable business growth and agility. Bryant outlined an approach for managing the explosion of information based on policies and procedures for information lifecycle, data, capacity, security and rights management, and engineering innovation through SAN/NAS virtualization, thin provisioning, next-generation backup and recovery, fabric unification, and FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet). The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) featured a multi vendor FCoE demo, and the SNW Hands-On Labs featured FCoE exercises from Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), Intel, NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) and QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC). An FCoE case study presented by SNIA (Storage Networking I...

``The question is, do I have too much in one bucket?'' said Szygenda, who has overseen GM's technology budget for more than a decade. ``Down deep, economics tells me I need some more diversity.'' He stressed that the carmaker has no plans to seek new suppliers immediately. Hewlett-Packard, led by Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd, has pledged to offer the same amount of value in spite of the lack of competition for orders, Szygenda said yesterday. ``We understand GM's concerns and are committed to working with them to address those concerns,'' Jeff Kelly, senior vice president of the Americas region at Hewlett-Packard's EDS unit, said in an e-mailed statement. Szygenda, 60, is seeking to reduce expenses as GM struggles to increase cash flow amid a global credit crunch and the lowest U.S. car sales in 15 years. Pitting technology suppliers against one another for contracts has helped save GM $12 billion over the past decade, he said. GM rose 18 cents,...

Google Inc., owner of the most popular Internet search engine, said third-quarter profit climbed 26 percent as more customers used Web search ads to spur sales in a slowing economy, sending the shares higher. Net income rose to $1.35 billion, or $4.24 a share, from $1.07 billion, or $3.38, a year earlier, the company said today in a statement. Leaving out costs such as stock-based compensation, profit was $4.92 a share, beating the $4.75 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Advertisers are shifting budgets away from TV and print media toward ads that run alongside search listings, targeting online shoppers. The Internet will account for 8.7 percent of the $284 billion in U.S. ad spending this year, up from 7.2 percent in 2007, according to Barclays Capital. ``This was exactly the kind of shot in the arm that investors need,'' said Jeff Lindsay, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. ``People lost a lot of faith in the Internet, but this is ex...

Press has never had the tendency to be realistic and pragmatic. It is either frothing over the excitement around it (Sys-Con guys are one of them, No offense to Jeremy) OR going down the negative spiral game. Virtualization has benefits that are desperately waiting to be reaped. Be it VMware with its great technology where enterprises should take up the lead and go for it or other alternatives such as Microsoft, Linux. Speculation and fear almost killed the US economy and the lack of adoption of virtualization and not going forward with the technology refresh and using data center virtualization technologies from vendors such as VMware, Microsoft etc will mean a slow and painful death to firms who are unable to get out of the continuously consolidating market. So my verdict is pretty simple (and it is coming out of the wisdom from all those clients who hold and manage multi-billion dollar assets, as if it matters to state that anyways): Whether you consolidate, get acquired or even per...

Satyam is firing about 4500 employees , Wipro fired some 3000 employees , Patni fired some 400 people , TCS got rid of some 500 beginning this year and a lot of other smaller firms, all firing non-performing staff .

Yankee has laid off about 40% of its analysts. And there are rumors that they're up for sale, although it really makes no sense if you have distanced yourself from your powerful workforce. That is your bloodline, maybe there are buyers who are willing to skin an empty carcass!

Bangalore, India, Aug. 27, 2008 - Dell today unveiled two new Vostro laptops and two desktops designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses, governments and educational institutions operating on limited budgets in India and the world's emerging economies. The new Vostro laptops and desktops will be available through authorized channel partners, as well as direct from Dell in India and more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. More information is available at www.Dell.com/newvostropresskit. "Within the world's emerging economies, such as India, millions of new businesses are demanding just the technology they need, at the prices they can afford, from a vendor they can trust. Today we answer that need by introducing new products that join our existing Vostro product line," said Steve Felice, president, Dell Asia-Pacific/Japan. "Together with our partners, Dell will play an important role in bringing more technology to more peop...

Indian private sector firms have outperformed their public-listed multinational counterparts over the last five years. An ETIG analysis of financial performance of listed subsidiaries of MNCs in India vis-a-vis that of privately-managed local firms show that it is the Indian companies who have grown faster both in revenues and profits. This implies desi firms have been ahead in taking advantage of the turbo-charged growth in the Indian economy. Over FY03-08 period, while Indian companies have recorded more than 22.5% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue, the group of MNCs could manage only 17.4%. The study shows that the difference in the growth rate of bottom line is even greater with Indian firms recording 43% growth compared to just 26% for the MNC arms. Source

Pound took a massive beating as US dollar rose to a 37 year high. Global economy is facing a typical "ceiling effect". Quoting FT's technical analysis: With UK rates set to decline and US rates possibly rising, sterling only has further to fall. If the pound fails to stop its descent at $1.80, its drop could easily extend to $1.70. Then there are fundamentals, those elusive forces that are supposed to guide long-term currency values. The key metric here is purchasing power parity. This is the idea that, after adjusting for exchange rates, an identical good will cost the same wherever you are. Here the prognosis is even more gloomy. Take the Big Mac, a yardstick of fair value popularised by the Economist magazine. Even after taking into account sterling’s recent fall, a burger still costs $3.57 in Chicago against $4.26 in London. To bring those prices into balance, sterling needs to fall to $1.56. It is not far that ECB will be forced to cut the rates sooner than expected...