GigaOM

The main value proposition of cloud computing is better economics, that it’s cheaper to rent hardware, software platforms and applications (via a per-usage or subscription model) than it is to buy, build and maintain them in the corporate data center. But if we expect that cloud computing is here to stay –- and not just a passing fad –- it must be feasible for the cloud providers themselves. So how do they do it?

They do it by leverage economies of scale. Put simply, the idea is that one very large organization can more efficiently build and operate its infrastructure than many small firms can on their own. To better understand this, let’s break down some of the financial advantages leveraged in cloud computing: Continue Reading

I was recently talking to Richard Donaldson (an adviser of ours at Panorama Capital) of United Layer about a novel approach to optimizing data center cooling – using forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras.

United Layer rents a FLIR camera, he told me, the kind typically used to help pilots see at night or in dense fog, to create an infrared thermal image of equipment racks in which inefficient configurations can be easily detected. Once they’re found, United Layer works with the customer to redesign their rack layout, improving equipment performance, lifetime and total cost of ownership. Of course, this process also makes it easier to cool the data center, which helps control United Layer’s operational costs. As Donaldson explained to me in an email: Continue Reading

The Top 500 organization has put out its twice-annual list of the fastest supercomputers, and there are few surprises. Roadrunner, IBM’s mammoth supercomputer that broke the petaflop record, holds the top spot. Big Blue is also the source of the lion’s share of the computers on the list, at 210, or 42 percent of the total. Intel’s processors comprise three-quarters of the chips in the Top 500 computers.

Notably, power consumption benchmarks (which you can learn more about over at Earth2Tech) were added to the list this year, further proof of how important conservation and energy efficiency have become in the computing world. So while x86 architectures dominate today’s list, with a few appearances from IBM’s Cell processor, it’s possible some supercomputers of the future will go green now that the power consumption is getting measured. One way could be through the use of lower-powered embedded chips being tested as part of a research project on low-power supercomputers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

It’s time to exhale: Our first Structure 08 conference, slated to be held on June 25th in San Francisco, is almost sold out. With a week to go we have just 25 tickets left, and I have to tell you that despite the long sleepless nights ahead, I’m pretty jazzed about the event.

Amongst ticket buyers, we’ve seen a lot of venture capitalists that are clearly looking at the infrastructure space with some interest, possibly for investments. Also attending will be a lot of people from large corporations as they try to make sense of this whole evolution. Despite how central this issue has become to my writing lately, the mix of people is surprising even to me.

And yes, I’m totally biased, but the line-up of speakers and panelists for the conference would give anyone a serious IQ turbo boost. I recently spent some one-on-one time with speakers such as Salesforce co-founder Parker Harris and Aster Data Systems’ Mayank Bawa, and was amazed by their depth of knowledge. Here’s a quick rundown of the keynotes, panels and workshops: Continue Reading

For those of you underappreciated server jockeys keeping data center costs down and utilization up using duct tape and homemade software, the New York Times salutes you. Actually it recognizes how important people like you are, especially now that demand for compute power and energy efficiency is soaring. Most of the article highlights the need for data centers to go green, which as we’ve pointed out, is neither easy nor cheap — just yesterday a startup building a “green” data center said construction would cost $100 million.

But the need to save energy is only a symptom of the rising demand for hardware and compute power — power that needs to be managed by someone. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the demand for computer and network administrators will grow by 48.5 percent from 2006 to 2016. The demand for designers of such networks and folks to maintain web sites will grow by 82.3 percent, making them two of the fastest-growing jobs in the computer systems design category. According to other data from the agency, the pay isn’t bad, either.

Until software and hardware mature to the point of automating routine tasks around energy efficiency, virtualization and management, more servers mean more people. Which means that instead of social networking, the next generation of startups will need to figure out hardware-oriented tasks. Entrepreneurs focused on how to manage heterogeneous virtualized environments, compliance and security in virtualized servers, or on better ways to bring storage into the data center as Ethernet replaces Fibre Channel for storage area networks, will find funding. These days, we’re moving from programming to pipes.

Solarflare Communications, a chip startup in Irvine, Calif., has raised $26 million in a third round of funding. That brings the total the company’s raised to $126 million, which is a lot of money for a chip startup, even when you consider that the amount includes money raised by Level 5 Networks, which Solarflare acquired in April 2006. But the startup is hoping to use that money to attack a big problem in the data center at prices lower than the current technology offers. And if it succeeds, it’ll make computing faster and data center operations more flexible.

Like many other communications chip companies, Solarflare is working on a way to deliver 10 Gigabit Ethernet over copper, which is cheaper than delivering it via fiber. That enables the high-speed transport technology to move outside of the telecommunications networks, where companies such as Infinera are already pursuing 100 Gigabit Ethernet over fiber, and into mass adoption in the data center. Getting the technology into servers at a reasonable cost would create a market 10 times bigger than that of networking switches. Continue Reading