If you read Cloud Report regularly you may be getting tired of hearing about Office 365 all the time. But it just so happens a lot is going on with this rather massive cloud suite from Microsoft.
One of the problems I've been reporting on is this rather massive cloud suite from Microsoft is too unwieldy for many small shops. It is really built for accomplished IT pros with real budgets.
The software is complicated, being the full Office suite and equipped with a full complement of server software. Not for the weak of heart.
You certainly don't have to use all this stuff, but whatever you do choose to actually invoke, these are full enterprise versions, not like the light offerings of Google Apps.
InterCall hopes to lend a helping hand to its small- and medium-size customers and make a few bucks in the process by offering Office 365 services through its InterCall eCommerce conferencing and collaboration portal.
Besides getting Office 365, customers can also get audio conferencing using mobile phones, landlines or VoIP.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/05/2012 at 12:47 PM4 comments
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is building a framework for customers and providers that it hopes will result in a more secure cloud.
The alliance is already comprised of vendors and users, which, to my mind, is the way standards organizations or alliances should be.
CSA already has work done in this direction in the form of its Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Stack projects, which are four initiatives aimed at securing public and private clouds, and include transparency, auditing, and assessment.
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/29/2012 at 12:47 PM0 comments
Windows RT is the name given to Windows 8 when it runs on ARM processors rather than Intel. Sometimes I think Microsoft just does all this crazy naming to confuse us.
Here's something else confusing about Windows RT. Unlike Windows 8, it won't run Active Directory (AD), which makes it more difficult for IT to authenticate these tablets.
That's where a new way of managing devices from Microsoft based on the cloud comes in.
AD is a broad-based form of management that includes authentication. The new approach for Windows RT seems to focus on the apps themselves and provides permission on a per-program basis through a new self-service-portal (SSP).
The SSP is really like an apps store for both commercial and custom apps. In fact, SSP includes apps from the Windows Store itself.
The difference is the end-user authenticates through SSP, which itself can be configured to authenticate the corporation's management infrastructure. AD authentication problem hopefully solved.
You can dive into the details here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/29/2012 at 12:47 PM2 comments
I happen to like Citrix and it's not just because they always seem to be nice to me. While VMware always grabs the virtualization limelight, one could just as easily argue that Citrix is the true pioneer.
Citrix invented desktop virtualization way back in 1989. Server virtualization was invented by IBM for its System 360 (a mainframe is just a big server after all) in 1967 or 68 and VMware didn't start until 1998, almost a decade after Citrix.
Now it's true that VMware is outshining Citrix in the dollars department. Last year VMware pulled in $3.7 billion to Citrix's $2.2 billion, but neither is shabby -- especially in the economy. And those were dollars, not Euros or drachmas.
Citrix's next frontier is not quite space, but just below, the cloud. At its recent Synergy show, Citrix had a number of things to say about the cloud. Here is the rundown:
Citrix is making its next move in Windows virtualization with Avalon. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this but it seems like it is really taking off all the limits or nearly all the limits from what you can do with Windows virt but turning it into a cloud service, either private or public. With Avalon, your PC or laptop could become a private Windows cloud. And Citrix isn't thinking small, but by teaming up with Amazon Web Services will let you run any combination of XenApp, XenDesktop, or Windows Server. We're going to need a bigger boat!
Next up is Podia, a company recently acquired by Citrix which offers "social" oriented collaboration tool. Now that Citrix owns Podia, it has begun integrating it with other bits of cloud/Web software such as Citrix's own GoToMeeting, ShareFile, and EverNote, as well as Microsoft SkyDrive and GoogleDrive.
Podia is a bit like Groove being based on the concept of workspaces and teams, except Podia was built entirely with the Internet in mind.
Citrix is also not forgetting its open source loyalists, and announced the Citrix CloudPlatform. This software, based on the Apache CloudStack, is a cloud orchestration tool that hooks to Amazon via built-in APIs.
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/22/2012 at 12:47 PM1 comments
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is getting chummier with Microsoft all the time. The latest example? Microsoft developers, and there are a ton of them, can now more easily write code again AWS.
In particular SQL Server and ASP.NET coders can either migrate existing code or write fresh stuff to run up in the Amazon cloud, thanks to two new Amazon services.
In the case of SQL, only relatively new versions apply -- SQL Server 2008 R2 and the spankin' new SQL Server 2012 to be exact.
That means AWS supports a rich complement of commercial and open databases, including MySQL, Oracle, and SQL: Express. Low-end SQL installs (a paltry 20 GB) are free.
ASP.NET joins the already supported PHP and Java.
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/21/2012 at 12:47 PM2 comments
A lot of vendors love to tell you what you need through glitzy press conferences, talk of lightning-fast ROI and sure-fire promotions.
Those with proprietary systems talk more about benefits than lock-in and standards.
There are clearly two camps, open and closed.
Jim McNiel, CEO of data protection company FalconStor, has his talons clearly in the former camp. In fact, McNiel feels so strongly he wants you to think the same the way and shout it to all the vendors: "Make your clouds open!"
McNiel recently opened up to Virtualization Review editor in chief Bruce Hoard about openness and how FalconStor is moving to the cloud.
The company is lucky in that it doesn't have to build its own cloud. It partners with HP, which is in itself lucky in that it doesn't have to build its own cloud either since it bought EDS which already had one. Now FalconStor runs on more than 60 EDS ... er, HP data centers.
McNiel has plans for his company. In fact he has a "big, bodacious, hairy goal" to unite backup, archive and disaster recovery "under one single pane of glass."
Check out the complete convo here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/15/2012 at 12:47 PM2 comments
Office 365 is largely aimed at the enterprise. That is true. It is really on-premises software for servers and clients that is hosted on big honking servers with access served up over the Internet or private lines. Big Office 365 installations are run just like on-premises, just without the wires and A/C.
If you are thinking about the Microsoft cloud service, you might want to check out a story I did based on interviews with about a dozen IT pros who used either Office 365 or Google Apps for Business.
If you don't have time, here's the Spark Notes version: Office 365 hits the mark pretty well for current Microsoft shops and the cheaper simple Google offering is sweet for individuals and seriously small shops.
One small shop -- in fact, a one-man operation -- went the opposite way. Redmond magazine (sister to Virtualization Review) columnist Brien Posey is using Office 365 not to replace a big batch of on-premise applications running on a big rack, but a little old Windows Home Server.
The move all came out due to a little crisis. While travelling, Posey couldn't get to his home network. Thanks, clumsy construction crew.
Hmm, Posey thought. Which goes down more, electric power or Internet service in his Ohio neighborhood, or the Internet itself? May be time to give that cloud a try.
Posey, a 7-time Microsoft MVP, found the migration "process to be extremely tedious."
Isn't this like Charlie Sheen getting bored at the beach? This doesn't bode well for the Microsoft migration or the beach.
Despite the grind of getting going, Posey is pretty happy ... well, mostly happy. After the transition, he got a lot more spam as he trained Forefront to spot the bad stuff that GFI MailEssentials knew by heart.
The best thing about Office 365, which is what I also learned from Redmond readers, is that all the management tools and techniques you learned for on-premise pretty much work in the cloud. Sweet.
Is this mixed though generally positive review spot on? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/15/2012 at 12:47 PM2 comments
Recently I spoke with a vendor about private clouds. To me the definition of a private cloud is not precise. Many throw it around the way pundits toss around the term "socialist" when they've never read a word of Das Kapital or "Randian" when they shrugged their shoulders at the very first page of Atlas Shrugged.
I asked what a private cloud was and how was it different from a highly virtualized data center. Security, umm, scalability, he said. We finally got to what I think is the answer -- elasticity. A private cloud, as ill-defined as it still is, is the equivalent of a public cloud. By virtue of being highly virtualized, workloads are highly expandable and transferable both in terms of processing and memory, and storage as well. This means the data center is highly orchestrated. It also has to be either very overbuilt, or applications and data must spill over to an external service when your private cloud runs out of gas.
Of course don't even get me started on the notion of having a private cloud hosted by a service provider. It's too early in the day for my head to spin off just yet.
Jason Cowie of Embotics lives in this world and as a result is far more calm about private cloud nomenclature than I.
Here's how Cowie sees the world of private cloud moving. Cowie's piece is in-depth so I'll just give the Sparks Notes version.
First, Cowie is a fan of private cloud, but once you built one, don't just declare mission accomplished. An elastic, utility-style virtual data center that can spin up new services quickly is all well and good, but there is much more that can be done such as tying your private cloud into a public cloud and making it hybrid.
Before you go hybrid, Cowie wants you to take that cloud and make it the best private cloud it can be. That means optimizing.
What is an optimized private cloud? Provisioning is automatic, multiple hypervisors are handled, chargeback is fully integrated, and workloads are easily deployed so long as they are within the scope of cost models.
Also, all your resources are fully optimized, which is really the beauty behind virtualization. Offline capacity shouldn't stay offline for long, but should be allocated to your most critical workloads. The whole idea is to rightsize your entire operation, making sure you have enough capacity to handle spikes and growth, but not so much idle that you are wasting precious company cash.
What is your experience with private clouds? Share at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 05/01/2012 at 12:47 PM2 comments
Recently we've been reporting on how hard it is to find out how much cloud services cost. It takes a Columbo to get vendors to crack and confess to their actual prices.
Once you've signed the contracts with all the vendors, you are looking at a lot of pay as you go services -- sort of like your Smartphone bill and you know what a surprise those can be!
OS33thinks it can make cloud bills more predictable. The New York-based company bill itself as an IT-as-a-Service Delivery Platform. I had to admit I had to look this one up -- so I did.
Here's what I learned. IaaSDP (don't worry, they don't use this acronym, I just threw it in here to see how it looks), I Googled IT-as-a-Service Delivery Platform and found many places where OS33 used the term, but no place where they defined it. It seems like a vague term where a cloud provider or managed service provider offers IT services such as management as a service to IT. See, not sure it needs such a fancy name for such a general notion as IT service. What is next, Service as a Service? (Sorry, SaaS is already taken.)
In any event, OS33 has a cool new "unified cloud consumption and billing tool" that pulls all your cloud provider's and your usage and costs into one Web-based console page. This includes not just services, but related software licenses from providers such as Citrix and Microsoft, and application management companies.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/24/2012 at 12:47 PM3 comments
Usually a one year-old is barely able to walk or make sense. VMware thinks its twelve-month strong Cloud Foundry is not just robust enough to toddle, but mature, strong and plenty old enough to lead.
Cloud Foundry is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), which means you have to build new or migrate your existing apps to the service.
To help deploy Foundry apps, VMware released BOSH. BOSH is meant to help you make sure your app is ready for the cloud through release engineering, install and configure the app, and then manage its lifecycle.
BOSH isn't just for PaaS. It is also general purpose, VMware says, able to help you set up services to run against OpenStack, Amazon Web Services and other Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/17/2012 at 12:47 PM18 comments
There's nothing worse than a leaky cloud. If you are talking literally about the sky you get soaked. If you are being metaphorical and referring to computing, your leaking cloud means lost data and break-ins. Neither are good, but I'd much rather have to towel off.
Like raincoats and umbrellas, there are ways to protect your cloud apps.
Peter Silva, a manager with F5, wrote a piece for Virtualization Review explaining how to secure cloud software when you don't have control over the physical network, such as the ability to deploy what is now a sumptuous array of security appliances.
Since the cloud is virtual, you yourself have to go virtual such as using virtual Web firewalls rather than the ones you actually put in a rack, hook to the network, and tie to Consolidated Edison.
What's cool about these Web-based firewalls is you can set 'em so easily. With a physical firewall you set it up assuming a need and hoping it fully works.
With virtual, if you spot a cloud application vulnerability -- say there is a security alert -- you can quickly deploy the firewall. This way, your cloud app can be proactively and reactively protected.
Find out more about what Silva calls WAFs here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/17/2012 at 12:47 PM4 comments
AA is a 12-step program. Jason Cowie claims he you can kick out a private cloud in only 10. (Kinda reminds me of "There's Something About Mary" where the creepy hitchhiker told Ben Stiller about his idea for 7-Minute Abs.)
In any event, Cowie, a VP at Embotics, thinks you should:
- Prepare to scale up your virtual environment so it can turn into an elastic utility, i.e. a cloud, and increase your level of IT automation so your shop can handle this level of scale.
- Invest particularly in configuration and change management, capacity planning, and resource management to make your cloud work properly.
- Not be afraid to take baby steps as you build your private cloud.
- When you hit glitches, find a permanent fix so you don't keep repairing the same problem again and again.
For more insight, check out Jason's piece here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/03/2012 at 12:47 PM8 comments