Monthly Archives: May 2009

In your opinion, it’s positive or negative to know where Google Data Centers are located?

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In the last days, some news were released about the location of Google Data Centers, like for example the  Google container data center tour video  and the Revealed: where Google’s data centres are around the world article

In my opinion, this kind of news are positive, but can be negative…

They are positive, because consumers can feel more save, after all they ”know” where their data is stored, the exact locations, etc., in a way we can say that  it’s like if they can “touch it”.

But, just like consumers can know where their data is stored, so can terrorists. I know that Google have backup Data Centers,etc. etc. but…

I will share some information, I tweet the Google container data center tour video with one of those programs that short and track the links, the results are the following (until now):

Total Clicks : 582
3 Major Locations:  I will not disclosure the exact country,but it’s a country with terrorism activities and was in war very recently: 540; United States: 20; Portugal: 11

Whta’s your opinion? “it’s positive or negative to know where Google Data Centers are located?”  Thanks.

Cloud Computing: The “low cost” arrived to IT business?

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The low cost products and services are here, either at supermarkets, airlines, holidays, automobiles, hotels, food-chains, etc., and we use them because, sometimes, we really don’t need all the features of the non low cost products and services.

In my opinion, the Cloud Computing, in a way, is the “low cost” for IT business.

Let’s take the example of Traditional CRM software versus CRM as SaaS:

  • Traditional CRM software : They earned a bad reputation by bringing with it integration and customization demands that easily spiraled out-of-control. So as a result, there was the feeling that CRM software was a huge head-heck and a huge waste of money with no practical results.

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  • CRM as SaaS: what have SaaS vendors done? they provide just-enough customization in a very easy way, and they shifted integration responsibility from the clients. So as a result CRM as SaaS is simple to use, economic and with practical results.

Or the example of infrastructure such as Amazon’s S3 and SimpleDB versus conventional enterprise counterparts (distributed file systems and relational databases) : they can’t be compared to their conventional, however they offer the basic features that everyone needs  (and also one huge advantage: vast scalability)

In other words, we can say that the use of the 80/20 rule is actually a common theme across cloud technology, and what might appear to be a limitation is actually a secret to success: it gives customers what they actually need in a very easy and cheaper way.

“Give me some confidence” …

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For the majority of  companies, the possibility of buying computational power, disk storage, collaboration, application development resources, programs, etc. on demand is very compelling. After all we can say that Cloud Computing is: No Hardware, No Software, Don’t Hire No One …

But until the major Cloud Computing providers don’t answer in a very clear way, to the legitimate questions entreprises have about security, scalability, performance, availability, reliability, etc. (either at infrastructure level, platform level and service level) we can say that we have a “barrier” between entreprises and Cloud Computing , and that “barrier” needs to be addressed, so that entreprises can feel “total” confidence in Cloud Computing.

Here are some of those concerns that need clear answers:

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Increasing the control over the Cloud – Reducing the EDoS danger

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As it has been discussed in the Cloud Computing Google Group (Cloud Forum), the Cloud Computing paradigm has an ever growing underlying attachment. As I’m sure you can guess, I’m talking about the security threats that have emerged, one of them being the Economic Denial of Sustainability (EDoS). The EDoS attack has as its main goal to make no longer viable the business model of Cloud providers. The majority of Cloud Computing business models have as its basis the notion of elasticity and the pay as use. In this business model, clients pay as use, or as its clients use (for those who are selling services based on Cloud providers). This flexibility and elasticity is one of the greatest innovations that have sprung from Cloud Computing but it could also be a danger for the users of this model. Without the proper control technologies Cloud Computing clients could easily be exposed to fake usage, and because they are paying as the platform is used, they cloud be suffering the EDoS and their business cloud be seriously affected.

One of the control technologies that will definitely reduce the dangers of the EDoS is the new Auto Scaling from Amazon. With this technology Amazon clients will be able to define boundaries that would limit the elasticity of its platforms. With these boundaries they will always control how their platforms will grow and therefore they will no longer be exposed to the EDoS. This new feature of the AWS platform should be used with the also new Amazon CloudWatch which adds to the Amazon platform the ability to be full motorized by their costumers.