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This Week in Cloud: Enomaly SpotCloud, Microsoft Hyper-V Partners, Forrester Private Cloud Webcast
Featured on Cloud Commons
Are You Ready to Provide a Private Cloud?
Featuring James Staten, Forrester Research
Join Forrester VP & Principal Analyst James Staten as he explains the latest challenges, myths, trends and emerging best practices for businesses seeking to reap the benefits of private cloud computing. In addition, hear recent success stories and “how they did it” as Mr. Staten shares his insights in this webcast created especially for the Cloud Commons community. Watch the webcast.
Cloud News
- Enomaly launched SpotCloud, a clearinghouse for cloud computing, as a way for cloud providers to sell unused capacity and computing inventory. Fifteen cloud service providers are currently offering their services through SpotCloud. Users pick the price they want to pay, and the names of the service providers are kept anonymous until the buyer has made a purchase. This TechWorld article offers more detail on how the service works. Analyst Ben Kepes believes there is a need for this type of cloud marketplace, and that it is a natural move as services at the lower end of the stack are becoming commoditized. Here’s an article on SecureCloudReview that explores the security implications of SpotCloud.
- Microsoft has partnered with hardware providers Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM and NEC to provide reference architectures for building private IaaS offerings, according to this PC World article. Each reference architecture describes the hardware to purchase, how to install the Microsoft Hyper-V software to run on particular equipment, and a range of design issues including how failover works, and how many virtual versus physical servers should be deployed. Dell, HP and IBM architectures are available; others will follow next month.
- IBM defined six types of cloud computing partners it works with, as described in this slideshow: cloud builders, cloud infrastructure providers, cloud application providers, cloud services resellers, cloud technology providers and cloud aggregators. IBM also launched a Cloud Computing Lab in the UK to provide partners a way to test models for developing and selling cloud services.
- Web-based business software vendor NetSuite made it clear that it considers Microsoft its chief competitor. This ZDNet article includes excerpts and analysis of the NetSuite CEO’s comments on a recent earnings call, in which he gave examples of recent customers who migrated away from Microsoft and derides what he calls Microsoft’s “fake cloud.”
Upcoming Cloud Events
- UP 2010 Cloud Computing Conference, November 15 – 19, San Franscisco, CA; Islandia, NY; Virtual
- DreamForce 2010, December 6 – 9, San Francisco, California
- Gartner Data Center Conference, December 6 – 9, Las Vegas, Nevada
Cloud Views
- New research from Forrester explores how cloud computing will impact the channel market. In a blog posting, analyst Tim Harmon predicts that there will be a 12 – 15 percent decrease in the number of channel providers in the next 5 years, but that there will continue to be great demand for the value-added services provided by channel partners. He advises vendors to work with channel partners to help them transform their marketing and business models.
- This article in BankTech describes the attitudes of financial institutions towards cloud computing, citing results of some recent research. Research indicated that the majority of bankers are testing and researching cloud environments and 37 percent plan to deliver 10 – 25 percent of their IT services over a cloud in the next two years. One very strong cloud advocate cited in the article, the CIO of Commonwealth Bank in Australia, said he feels so strongly about cloud, that his organization will never buy another rack, server, storage or network device again.
