Networking is getting sexy again, thanks to OpenFlow and other approaches to network virtualization. So what has prompted this movement towards smarter and more flexible networks? Blame it on the cloud, and the fact that the old ways of networking simply can’t keep up with it. Read more »
The world is becoming a giant computer comprised of data centers, networks and devices on the fringe, but that’s not good enough. Datacenters need custom multi-core processors, improved memory and better software before we can gain the rich, immersive services that some computer scientists envision. Read more »
Cloud computing has grown from a pie-in-the-sky vision to a major IT movement over the past few years. As its promise has grown, though, so too has its scope. This report covers six key sectors in cloud computing: commodity Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), enterprise IaaS, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud storage and private clouds. We highlight the current state of each and provide informed insights into where they — and cloud computing in general — are headed. Much like any market in a still-evolving state, the infrastructure of the cloud-computing transition is still being built by startups, practitioners and even a big-name company or two. Companies mentioned in this report include VMware, Amazon, Nasuni, Terremark and Heroku. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In five short years, cloud computing has gone from being a quaint technology to a major catchphrase. Amazon and others are now moving at Internet speed, trying to offer better security, faster networking, more compliance and a host of other products that are attempting to meet the demands of startups, consumers and enterprises alike. On GigaOM’s Structure channel, we cover the gear and software that comprises the cloud, the services and the people who are changing the industry. Now for the first time, we’ve decided to condense that knowledge into the Structure 50, a list of the 50 companies that are influencing how the cloud and infrastructure evolves. All of these players, big or small, have people, technology or strategies that will help shape the way the cloud market is developing and where it will eventually end up. Companies mentioned in this report include Amazon, Rackspace, Cloudera, China Telecom and SeaMicro. For a full list of companies, and to see the Structure 50 as one full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Two markets stand out above all else when looking at the first quarter of 2011: infrastructure as a service (IaaS) — the epitome of cloud computing — and big data. Amazon Web Services continues to lead the IaaS space in terms of customers and innovation, while Rackspace, buoyed by momentum around OpenStack, will be its primary competitor for mainstream customers. In the big data space, there are so many players and terms floating about it’s difficult for outsiders to get a handle on who’s who and what’s what, though such activity validates the technologies. Other developments this quarter included HP’s impending presence in the cloud computing and big data spaces and the realization that Intel won’t be left to die if low-power servers based on x86 processors catch on like the buzz late last year suggests they will. Additional companies mentioned in this report include VMware, Microsoft, Cloudera, SeaMicro and Facebook. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Joyent Founder and Chief Scientist Jason Hoffman redefined the concept of big data in a panel on data science with bit.ly Chief Scientist Hilary Mason, Cloudscale Founder and CEO Bill McColl, Fluidinfo Founder and CEO Terry Jones, and nPario President and CEO Bassel Ojjeh. Read more »
As Amazon Web Services continues to roll out new features and services for its cloud platform, its competitors increasingly tout better performance as a key point of differentiation, which has me wondering if either approach — more features or better performance — will clearly win out. Read more »
With enterprise data volumes growing, business and IT leaders face significant opportunities and challenges from big data. Using cloud-computing technologies, organizations are experimenting with distributed data stores, cloud compute capacity for data analytics, hosted data integration and even operational databases in the cloud. Hadoop/MapReduce, meanwhile, has moved past test and development stage to become a viable extension or alternative to traditional relational databases. Though the space is not without its obstacles, including plenty of privacy concerns, there are numerous sales-growth opportunities and new business models finally surfacing in 2011. Companies mentioned in this report include Google, IBM, Apple, Oracle, Salesforce and VMware. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Michael Dell is talking this week talking about having acquisition plans in “software, data centers, cloud computing, storage and virtualization,” which raises questions about who it might be eying up. There are five vendors, in particular, that could give high value for a relatively low price. Read more »
Amazon Web Services needed to develop its own flavor of PaaS, the cleverly named Elastic Beanstalk, to keep up with cloud development trends, but that doesn’t mean the rest of its IaaS brethren need to follow suit – at least not in the immediate future. Read more »
Some might call this past quarter in the infrastructure space transformative. The rise of ARM-based processing suggests the days of x86 dominance might be coming to an end, while the Amazon Web Services-WikiLeaks controversy cast new light on the legal aspects of cloud computing. Big data got bigger, meanwhile, as the Hadoop ecosystem expanded, and amid all these cutting-edge technologies, two archaic topics — Novell and Java — proved they aren’t going anywhere soon. Companies mentioned in this report include Intel, AMD, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Yahoo, Appistry, VMware, Joyent and Microsoft. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
We’ve already covered the trends that began to shape up in the infrastructure market in 2010 and will really materialize in 2011. Several companies played — and will continue to play — a big role in making those trends happen. From Facebook to Cloudera to Microsoft, here ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This year was rightfully advertised as the “Year of the Cloud.” The cloud computing landscape began to take shape in 2010, with providers honing their offerings, important issues surfacing to light and industry consolidation finally beginning to happen. In most areas, however, the action is likely ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Heroku’s $212 million exit made headlines this week, but Ruby is just part of the emerging PaaS landscape. From Java to Python, providers that can support the gamut of web-programming languages will thrive, which is why everyone from Salesforce.com to VMware is getting into the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Joyent today launched three new services targeted at online gaming studios. They’re noteworthy on their own because of the natural symbiosis between online and mobile games and cloud computing, but they’re also part of a greater trend of prepackaging cloud solutions for specific audiences. Read more »
The analogy goes that with more organizations hosting applications in the cloud, and with data volumes skyrocketing, the data center takes the place of the on-premise server. If that’s the case, the cloud computing management software must be the new operating system, so scalability is critical. Read more »
Can cloud computing’s better IT efficiency lead to more energy efficiency? A new study by Microsoft and Accenture shows shifting business operations to the cloud can shave from 30 to 90 percent off a company’s IT carbon footprint and energy bill. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Dell is often characterized as a mere server maker, and it’s easy to see why when comparing it with full-service vendors like HP and IBM. With it’s cloud moves, however, Dell has been reshaping itself lately into a provider of more than just gear. Read more »
Intel has taken up a patriotic cause, paying special attention to U.S.-based companies and especially those in the cloud. The chipmaker announced today four investments which have collectively received over $30 million from its Intel Capital Invest in America Technology Fund including Joyent and Adaptive Computing. Read more »
Intel has taken up a patriotic cause this year, paying special attention to promising U.S.-based companies. The company announced four software and chip companies that have collectively received over $30 million from its Intel Capital Invest in America Technology Fund, including an energy software maker. Read more »
Intel has taken up a patriotic cause this year, paying special attention to promising U.S.-based companies. The company announced four software and chip companies that have collectively received over $30 million from its Intel Capital Invest in America Technology Fund, including an energy software maker. Read more »
In today’s cloud news we’re tackling the Large Hadron Collider and its petabytes of data as well as the importance of knowing where your apps will eventually run with so many diverse client devices out there. HP is also attempting another cloud play. Read more »
In an effort to steal some attention away from VMware’s VMworld event starting today, Citrix is announcing that it will acquire VMLogix as an integral part of it’s efforts to create the ability for enterprises to utilize clouds without fears of vendors lock in. Read more »
VMware is pushing an aggressive cloud computing strategy, but questions remain as to how successful the vendor can be in its quest to become the dominant player at every layer of the cloud stack. The challenge will be repeating its early hypervisor dominance by getting a first-mover advantage in advanced virtualization and cloud deployments. Other vendors, such as Microsoft, Citrix, and Red Hat, now provide additional cloud capabilities, and cloud-management solutions mean organizations need not even choose a virtualization vendor to complete their cloud transitions. These report examines VMware’s advantages in the cloud computing sector, its competitors, and why, in the end, the company may be a leader, but should not expect to dominate. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Joyent, the hosting company turned private cloud provider, has purchased Layerboom, a Vancouver-based startup, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition helps Joyent create an easier on-ramp to the cloud for customers of its appliances and software. Read more »
Internal clouds are real and they’re here, but many efforts are still in their early days. The problem is that transitioning to a cloud-enabled environment can involve large degrees of technical, cultural and budgetary evolution, and it is of utmost importance that organizations deploy the right solution.
With this in mind, customers need to consider many things, and we profiled numerous solutions and companies to create a guide for deploying the right cloud solution to the right enterprise. We examined cloud application platforms, hypervisor-based clouds, internal infrastructure-as-a-service clouds, and high-performance computing clouds, in addition to looking at hybrid cloud solutions and underlying server architecture. Companies profiled include Appistry, Red Hat, Microsoft, VMware and CA Technologies, among others. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Dell will use cloud computing software made by Joyent, a San Francisco company that owns and operates public clouds. Dell will use Joynet’s software to offer a new Dell Cloud Solution for Web Applications. The moves allows Dell to sell gear to owners of private clouds. Read more »
An event more than a year in the making, Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud-computing offering is finally available to the public. The software giant announced Azure in October 2008, made the service available as a limited Community Technology Preview (CTP) project shortly thereafter, and has been releasing pricing and product details at a regular clip in the meantime. Preview customers have been experimenting for free with a limited version of Azure, but as of April 1, 2010, all existing CTP customers who have not upgraded to the official version will have their accounts deleted. As the cliché goes, general availability is where the rubber meets the road for Microsoft and its vaunted cloud platform: If it can leverage its existing customer base and convince potential users to trust an oft-criticized software vendor with an entirely new delivery model, Microsoft could become a major force among cloud providers. While Windows Azure is a more-than-capable offering, trust could be an issue for a large number of developers and businesses that don’t believe Microsoft will deliver the openness so valued in the cloud world. Here’s a look at what Azure is, what it costs, and how it fits into (and will differentiate itself in) the market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Pirate Bay made headlines earlier this week with yet another dramatic announcement, this time that the notorious BitTorrent site’s tracker has been officially shut down. But the move won’t impact downloading, site admins explained on a blog. Trackers are no longer needed to facilitate BitTorrent […] Read more »
[qi:gigaom_icon_cloud-computing] Intel today said it’s invested an undisclosed amount in Joyent, the 6-year-old Sausalito, Calif.-based startup that started out as a web hosting company but eventually evolved into a cloud service provider. Neither Intel nor Joyent disclosed the amount of money invested, but Intel’s investment in […] Read more »
