Thursday 29 July 2010
The deal, in which IBM will sell products from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper under its own name, builds on similar relationships IBM has with other networking companies. The Armonk, N.Y.-based technology giant already resells networking equipment from Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the world’s largest networking equipment company and Brocade Communication Systems Inc. (BRCD), another networking product maker. Cisco, Juniper and Brocade all make routers and switches, used to “network” computers together, as well as direct information and data over the Internet.
IBM’s deal comes amid growing interest in “cloud computing,” the concept of selling computing services that are accessed online and paid for on a metered basis. Cloud computing is shaking up the technology sector - Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT) and Google Inc. (GOOG) have launched products to establish themselves in the field - and several big technology vendors are seeking to augment their portfolios with products which can better serve the cloud computing platform.
In particular, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), IBM’s biggest rival in the hardware and IT services market, has been beefing up its ProCurve networking division and is starting to compete more aggressively with Cisco and others. Cisco, for its part, recently announced its intention to start making servers, bringing it ultimately into more direct competition with IBM, while Oracle Corp. (ORCL), the database and software giant, also recently moved into the hardware business through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc.
The deal, in which IBM will sell products from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper under its own name, builds on similar relationships IBM has with other networking companies. The Armonk, N.Y.-based technology giant already resells networking equipment from Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the world’s largest networking equipment company and Brocade Communication Systems Inc. (BRCD), another networking product maker. Cisco, Juniper and Brocade all make routers and switches, used to “network” computers together, as well as direct information and data over the Internet. IBM’s deal comes amid growing interest in “cloud computing,” the concept of selling computing services that are accessed online and paid for on a metered basis. Cloud computing is shaking up the technology sector - Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT) and Google Inc. (GOOG) have launched products to establish themselves in the field - and several big technology vendors are seeking to augment their portfolios with products which can better serve the cloud computing platform.
IBM has traditionally resold some networking equipment made by companies such as Juniper and Cisco, through its massive technology services unit. In particular, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), IBM’s biggest rival in the hardware and IT services market, has been beefing up its ProCurve networking division and is starting to compete more aggressively with Cisco and others. Cisco, for its part, recently announced its intention to start making servers, bringing it ultimately into more direct competition with IBM, while Oracle Corp. (ORCL), the database and software giant, also recently moved into the hardware business through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc.
The concept basically entails a shift away from the idea of locally installed software that can only be accessed from one machine, and into an infrastructure where applications are accessed online as terminal sessions. For those of you who have missed the buzz, ‘cloud’ computing (I’m still not convinced about the word ‘cloud’) is a new computing concept that has already started to take a real hold on the world of computing. The concept basically entails a shift away from the idea of locally installed software that can only be accessed from one machine, and into an infrastructure where applications are accessed online as terminal sessions.
The greatest impact that this push forward into cloud computing will have for most people is that the minimum system spec for their computer will plummet as processing and storage shift away from the local system and into the virtual world. Naturally, there will always be some computing tasks that require a high level of computing power, such as video editing, high level graphics work and gaming, and these will always require a powerful local machine. The other big bonus is the reduction in IT failures, as systems will become largely remotely maintained, thus eliminating down-time and expensive maintenance costs.
For the majority of casual computer users we are about to see a real shift in the way that we use our computers. Less time will be spent installing and maintaining system, or re-configuring all of our settings every time we re-install our machines, and more time spent doing the things that we want to be doing, such as browsing, networking with our friends, and creating digital media. All in all, we are living in very exciting times.
Although most have never heard of cloud computing — and experts argue over its very definition — many do it every day. By uploading photos to Facebook, sending messages via Gmail or playing Club Penguin online, users are accessing programs that live far away in cavernous rooms containing thousands of computers. Andreas Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, where he still consults, knows a thing or two about cloud computing. He’s chief development officer for Arista Networks, a Silicon Valley start-up that supplies networking equipment used to build these massive arrays of servers.
He also was one of the first people to invest in Google in 1998. His $100,000 investment in the company started by Sergey Brin and Larry Page helped turn the Birkenstock-wearing engineer into a billionaire. Bechtolsheim helped explain this shift in the way we use computers.
HP, Intel Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. announced today the creation of a global, multi-data center, open source test bed for the advancement of cloud computing research and education. The goal of the initiative is to promote open collaboration among industry, academia and governments by removing the financial and logistical barriers to research in data-intensive, Internet-scale computing. The HP, Intel and Yahoo! Cloud Computing Test Bed will provide a globally distributed, Internet-scale testing environment designed to encourage research on the software, data center management and hardware issues associated with cloud computing at a larger scale than ever before. The initiative will also support research of cloud applications and services.
HP, Intel and Yahoo! have partnered with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany to form the research initiative. The partnership with Illinois also includes the National Science Foundation. Intel is a leading provider of platform technologies, including processors, chipsets, networking and SSD (solid state drives), for cloud computing data centers. Current platform features such as Data Center Management Interface (DCMI), Node Manager (NM) and virtualization have been designed to improve the manageability and energy efficiency of data centers. IDA will also leverage the test bed and its industry partnerships to train local students and professionals on the technologies and programs associated with cloud computing.
Andreas Bechtolsheim, 53, co-founder of Sun Microsystems Inc. where he still consults — knows a thing or two about cloud computing. He’s chief development officer for Arista Networks Inc., a Silicon Valley start-up that supplies networking equipment used to build these massive arrays of computer servers.
Although most have never heard of cloud computing, many do it every day. By uploading photos to Facebook, sending messages via Gmail or playing Club Penguin online, users are accessing programs and software files that are kept far away in cavernous, climate-controlled rooms containing thousands of computers. He also was one of the first people to invest in Google in 1998 when the company was just two Stanford geeks with a laptop. His $100,000 investment in the company started by Sergey Brin and Larry Page helped turn the Birkenstock-wearing engineer into a billionaire. Hollywood uses high-performance clusters to render movies. The advantage of the cloud is that it’s always running and not idle. They get much better utilization.
These computer farms can simulate car crashes, render movies. Facebook also does an enormous amount of computing behind the scenes to generate relevant content to you. That’s what is going on inside the cloud farms. What you see is just what is relevant to you. You get convenience. You don’t have to deal with servers, data storage or big expensive computers. The laptop accesses everything. You don’t have to worry about backup or security; it’s all being handled by the company that manages the cloud.
So people built these dark pages behind the Web page to game the system. As a result, the search results became useless, and doing a high-quality search was impossible. I was just interested in getting better search results. After I heard from Larry and Sergey about their idea, I rushed out to my car to get my checkbook. The company didn’t exist yet. So I wrote them a check and said, “Here’s a check to get you started.”
Juniper leaders will contribute to this one-day event by engaging in sessions aimed at educating the industry about the opportunities presented by the future cloud paradigm. Specifically, Juniper executives will speak to the role of networking in cloud computing. We’re building huge Cloud Computing cities, but are we neglecting the already clogged broadband highways between them.
As internal data center networking speeds start to exceed 40 Gbps, the pipes that connect those clouds to the outside world and each other will hit their limits. This panel examines what stress fractures we may see initially, what technology can do about it, and who will ultimately pay for it. Cloud Computing is set to take off, but today’s legacy data center networks just won’t fly. Learn about next-generation networks where the simple solution lies in a simpler architecture.
LotusLive Connections helps individuals, departments and small businesses tap into the intellectual resources and capabilities that previously have only been accessible to large enterprises. Using core elements of IBM’s proven on-premise Lotus Connections social software, LotusLive Connections connects colleagues, partners, suppliers and customers from within and beyond firewalls. As part of the unveiling, LotusLive was voted the winner of The Enterprise 2.0 Cloud Computing Technology Buyers’ Choice Award. IBM’s cloud services won in a side-by-side comparison with Google Apps, EMC and other vendors’ cloud technologies, as voted by the Enterprise 2.0 conference attendees. BM is an established leader in two major trends: cloud computing and social networking for business. At the nexus of these trends is LotusLive Connections,” said Bob Picciano, general manager, IBM Lotus Software. “LotusLive Connections brings companies of all sizes the ability to build, share information and easily work with their extended business network over the Web.”
LotusLive Connections simplifies working together, making it easy to identify and work with experts from any company online with the flexibility, convenience and affordable pricing associated with multi-tenant cloud services. Instant messaging, file sharing and activities are all instantly accessible for use with LotusLive networks. For example, a team planning a project can create a group around the project, including vendors from outside their company. Together they can build a project plan using Activities and post and share associated files. Comments can be made and tasks tracked in the same service. All participants are kept up-to-date without having to hunt through email for the latest documents. Networking, sharing and collaborating are all integrated in LotusLive Connections.
