When is a cloud not a cloud? When it is a 'private' one

ComputerWorldUK reports on a recent Forrester analysis that shows how much confusion over cloud computing remains:

If an enterprise data centre has a highly virtualised environment, a web portal for business users to request and access virtual machines and a method for tracking how many of those resources are being used... that's not quite a private cloud.

If there is enough capacity to supply employees with almost any amount of compute resources they need, and scale that capacity up and down dynamically, but it requires IT workers to provision the systems, then sorry that's not a private cloud either.

The line between virtualisation and a private cloud can be a fuzzy one, and according to a new report by Forrester Research, up to 70% of what IT administrators claim are private clouds are not. "It's a huge problem," says Forrester cloud expert James Staten. "It's cloud-washing."

In Forrester's reading, a private cloud is an extrapolation of server virtualization by providing self-service mechanisms where network/systems administrators can deploy services. From this perspective, a service is a business application comprised of components like Apache, MySQL, virtual machines with operating systems, application components (Java, database, and web content), and additional edge network configurations like load balancer and perhaps network-attached storage. However, a human being from the unit that manages IT still must deploy the virtual infrastructure that needed to meet a business need.

Mobile computing -- smart phones like the iPhone are re-defining the personal computing space

At the Barcelona mobile event, U.S.'s AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says potential for combination of emerging technologies is sure to mean growth for business, and a better experience for consumers. He sees his company (and other mobile providers) expanding services to enable users to stream stored data and content from the cloud at faster rates and with lower delays. The net result: increased data usage and necessary additional investment in spectrum and network infrastructure (towers, repeaters, routers). Stephenson pointed out that the Texas-based AT&T experienced a 30,000 percent increase in data traffic in the past six years as more customers use mobile phones to check e-mails, watch video, and surf the web.

Regulators should use a “light touch” and keep taxes “very, very low” to encourage new investment and allow more data traffic, Stephenson said. His sentiments were echoed today by the CEO’s of Telecom Italia SpA and Telefonica SA who called for a change in the regulatory environment to allow more consolidation among European carriers.

By the end of 2017, there will be 9.7 billion wireless connections worldwide as the industry brings mobile communications into cars and other consumer electronics, according to the GSMA industry association.

No argument that mobility is important -- people need to be able to access applications and data any time, anywhere.

Automation and Work - and Freelancers

Automation was once considered the bane of the laborer. We have seen, however, how factory automation has not fully replaced humans. For example, China's "outsourced" manufacturing (and Mexico's) has led to more products, more cheaply available. And a marginally better standard of living in that country.

But automation is still a challenge. As this article discusses,

In the early nineteenth century, David Ricardo considered the possibility that machines would replace labor; Karl Marx followed him. Around the same time, the Luddites smashed the textile machinery that they saw as taking their jobs.
CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphThen the fear of machines died away. New jobs – at higher wages, in easier conditions, and for more people – were soon created and readily found.

In the growing knowledge worker sector, automation can help -- collaboration across time zones is more practical. Engaging teams with better productivity can result in more work, done more effectively. Results of collaborative efforts are often of higher quality, and delivered more quickly. Collaborative knowledge worker automation allows geographically dispersed teams in an extended enterprise work smarter, faster, and more effectively together.

Robert Skidelsky's conclusion is worth considering:

If one machine can cut necessary human labor by half, why make half of the workforce redundant, rather than employing the same number for half the time? Why not take advantage of automation to reduce the average working week from 40 hours to 30, and then to 20, and then to ten, with each diminishing block of labor time counting as a full time job? This would be possible if the gains from automation were not mostly seized by the rich and powerful, but were distributed fairly instead... Rather than try to repel the advance of the machine, which is all that the Luddites could imagine, we should prepare for a future of more leisure, which automation makes possible. But, to do that, we first need a revolution in social thinking.

White Roof = Lower Temperature

Can light-colored rooftops and roads really curb carbon emissions and combat global climate change? The idea has been around for years, but now, a new study by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that is the first to use a global model to study the question has found that implementing cool roofs and cool pavements in cities around the world can not only help cities stay cooler, they can also cool the world, with the potential of canceling the heating effect of up to two years of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.

“Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “By demonstrating the benefits of cool roofs on our facilities, the federal government can lead the nation toward more sustainable building practices, while reducing the federal carbon footprint and saving money for taxpayers.”

Read more...

Dolphins Protest Off Coast of California

The protesters in Washington DC were joined in spirit by our watery brothers, a huge gathering of dolphins who showed brotherly sympathy for those wanting to save this planet. When will we show the largest-brained mammals reciprocal respect?


- Posted by Tom/Bluedog