We’re beginning to see some real shifts in architectures, even for relatively cutting-edge technologies. Today, for instance, IBM Research announced a Hadoop Distributed File System alternative, ZT has an ARM-based server on the market, and Randy Bias of Cloudscaling takes a look at the relation between grid-, cloud- and high-performance computing, lines that have been blurred in recent weeks.
Grid, Cloud, HPC … What’s the Diff? (From the Cloudscaling blog) If you’re at all confused or wondering about how these terms relate, this is a must-read. There are many similarities in terms of architectures and workloads, but also many differences.
New ARM-Based Server From ZT Systems (From Data Center Knowledge) This looks to be the first ARM-based server to market, despite all the hype around Calxeda (nee Smooth-Stone). We’ll see how it sells. Again, ARM has the potential to seriously alter the processor landscape.
Face Off: Which Facebook Data Center is Greener? (From Ecotrope) The reality is that it doesn’t matter which data center is greener — what matters to Greenpeace is that neither is really green. There’s something to the argument that energy efficiency is a red herring.
Microsoft Challenges VMware vCloud Director with SCVMM 2012 (From SearchServerVirtualization) This is potentially a big deal considering the fast advancement in terms of Hyper-V adoption and Microsoft’s general cloud efforts. The one thing VMware doesn’t want is a fully cloud-capable Microsoft.
IBM’s Tools Give Big Data a Good Seeing To (From The Register) This appears in the same vein as Appistry’s CloudIQ Storage Hadoop Edition, but using specialty hardware. The general purpose remains similar though: increasing availability over that of HDFS.
For more cloud-related news analysis and research, visit GigaOM Pro.
Image courtesy of Flickr user jblyberg.

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