Don't buy cloud computing hype: Business model will evaporate

Compelling devil's advocate view of cloud computing. Author's definition of cloud computing: data center on-demand.

From what you read and hear of the buzz surrounding cloud computing, it sounds like a model that will just steamroller over the whole data center industry and make everything we've built over the past two decades obsolete. It will allow IT to scale without effort, at minimal cost! It is an on-demand data center with zero capital outlay! It slices, dices and juliennes! But even in the best-case scenario it seems like it can only really solve a small subset of the industry's needs. In the worst case it will be a punch line for lame jokes a few years from now, much like other over-hyped buzzwords from the past.

Search Data Center article

Survey: Data Center Budgets Will Stay Pretty Much the Same in 2009

Of course, you only care if it's YOUR budget.

AFCOM survey indicates that nearly two-thirds of managers of large data centers will maintain or increase their budgets in 2009, despite the deepening recession. The remaining one-third will lose about 15 percent of their budgets, with much of the reduction involving travel and training expenses.

A noted data center industry association reported Dec. 23 in a survey of IT managers that nearly two-thirds will see their IT budgets stay the same or even increase in 2009, and that the remaining one-third will lose only about 15 percent of their budgets.

eWeek article

Economic meltdown to change telecom landscape, report says

The tech industry that includes the telecom and the enterprise networking sectors has gone through some hard times in the last 20 years, but the author of a new economic forecast for the technology industry says he's never seen anything like this.

The title says it all. In Surviving a Tech Market Nuclear Winter: A Planners Handbook to Tech Success in Today's Challenging Financial Times, industry analyst and consultant Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation, says "it's hard to see how we could have a worse juxtaposition of planning activity and economic events." But Nolle also believes that if companies take the right actions in a bad market, they can come out of this economic crunch stronger than when they went into it.

Search Telecom article

10 Predictions for the Future of SAAS and On-Demand

Here's a compelling set of predictions on some of the business ramifications of software as a service.

oSAAS, or cloud computing, on-demand applications or whatever you want to call it, is increasingly important in the enterprise. One software-as-a-service company, Innotas, provides an on-demand Project Portfolio Management package specifically designed for IT organizations. Customers include Forbes, Hamilton Beach and Simon & Schuster, as well as financial services, health care, retail, technology, telecommunications and energy organizations. Innotas CTO, founder and SAAS evangelist Demian Entrekin shares with eWEEK his thoughts on what lies ahead for SAAS as it continues to grow into a major marketing, sales and administration tool for enterprise business.

eWeek article

Google: Raise Your Data Center Temperature

The following article speaks of a growing trend of raising temperature set points in large scale data centers. Lifeline Data Centers believes this is a viable option assuming that hot air removal is well-managed.

The biggest players in the data center industry are raising the thermostats in their data centers, with some saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs in the process.

The latest company to focus attention on temperature in the data center is Google. “The guidance we give to data center operators is to raise the thermostat,” said Erik Teetzel, an Energy Program Manager at Google. “Many data centers operate at 70 degrees or below. We’d recommend looking at going to 80 degrees.”

Data Center Knowledge article

Carrier diversity as important as the costs of power

Finally, an article that addresses how important telecom connectivity is to data center site selection.

For data center managers looking for the best place to locate a data center, the price of power has been at the forefront of the discussion. Mega corporations are building data centers near dams to access three-cent per kWh utility rates, but fiber diversity is a growing concern, and is probably number two or three on the site selection criteria.

The Department of Homeland Security advises companies to seek diversity (i.e. multiple vendors) amongst fiber carriers, but the carriers don’t share maps — it’s part of their competitive advantage. And a lot of times, multiple carriers are in the same trench, which won’t provide resiliency in the event of a cable cut.

Serverspecs article

The great paradigm shift of cloud computing is not self-service...

This is the best article on real cloud benefits I have read this year.

There has been significant discussion over the short life of the term "cloud computing" about how little it differs from concepts like managed hosting and ASPs. And there is some truth to these observations; if you really look closely, what are the key differences between EC2 and a more traditional managed hosting provider? Some would say multi-tenancy, self-service and pay-per-use (including billing and elastic capacity). With specific regard to EC2, I would tend to agree.

(I would also hasten to point out that Amazon provides some very PaaS-like services in conjunction with EC2, such as Simple Queuing Service (SQS) and SimpleDB.)

CNet article

Shifting IT business models in time of economic crisis

Adopting flexilbility as a key IT strategy gives CIOs like Peter Whatnell the ability to shift in changing market conditions.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Peter Whatnell, CIO of Sunoco Inc., prepared three budgets for next
year. The first scenario lays out what IT would have proposed had the financial crash not occurred. The second is the plan if his budget stays flat. And the third? What a 20% reduction in budget would look like.

"In each case, we have said, 'This is what we deliver, this is what you would get for it, this is the consequence for stopping or reducing, and this is how much money you would save.' So, we're trying to be anticipatory with that," Whatnell said, in an interview with SearchCIO.com at the SIMposium 08 conference in Orlando this week.

Search CIO article

360 degree virtual tour of Lifeline Data Centers Eastgate phase I

Lifeline has just posted a 360 degree virtual tour of our first 30,000 square feet of space. This picture was taken in early November. We'll be updating it periodically until the opening in February 2009!

Eastgate virtual tour

Debating IT's True Value

Interesting article on valuing internal IT against the wide availability of outsourced IT services. Should in-house staff worry?

The rise of IT services offers a unique opportunity for IT shops to measure their true value. But not everyone agrees.

One of the few bright spots in these tough times has been the market for IT services. Amidst all the gloomy headlines—the talent shortage, the economic and financial crises, layoffs and lowered forecasts from the tech industry, rising unemployment in the broader economy—IT services employment has gone up.

CIO Insight Article

Outsourcing deals being re-evaluated in weak economy

IT outsourcing remains steady at most large companies, but the weak dollar and service issues are causing some CIOs to reconsider their decisions. And that's not all -- loss of flexibility and control can also be factors.

In a tough economic environment, flexibility definitely becomes more important. Executing change orders, modifying manufacturing orders or altering marketing pitches delivered during telephone contacts are all more difficult when the work is outsourced. "You don't have the luxury of saying, 'Come on team, let's go!'" explained David Rutchik, managing partner at Pace Harmon, a Washington, D.C., consultancy that specializes in outsourcing issues.

SearchCIO article

The problem for web hosting is that everybody wants a free lunch

It can’t be easy to be a web hosting company. On the Internet everybody wants a free lunch (or at least a very cheap one). And this of course includes hosting.

To prove this point, we looked at search data from Google and found something quite interesting for the term “web hosting” (using Google’s excellent Insights for Search tool).

Royal Pingdom article

IT Management Slideshow: Top CIO Priorities for 2009

As expected, cost-cutting goals have expanded, but it’s not the whole ballgame in 2009. Here’s what more than 220 IT executives listed as their top priorities in business, management and technology priorities.

CIO Insight article

Data centers, corn and cows in the Midwest

Every year, I am amazed that this survey omits a critical category; access to telecommunications carriers. Without access to multiple, varying tiers of bandwidth and transport, how can this be a meaningful survey?

More than just corn is popping up in Des Moines. There are also data centers.

Google and Microsoft have both built data centers in Iowa, and apparently for good reason. According to a Boyd Company data center location study, the Midwest is one of the best places to build a new facility -- if you can.

"If a company is looking for a project, if you look at the cost of land, insulation from natural disaster, electric power rates, ability to hire skilled labor – the Midwest has all of that," said John Boyd, president of the Princeton, N.J.-based company.

Search Data Center article

Google Switches Stance on Net Neutrality

This will be interesting to watch.

Google's proposal to Internet carriers marks a departure from its past position on net neutrality.

Google has approached Internet carriers with a proposal to create a "fast lane" for its own content, countering its previously stance of equal network access for all content providers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

CIO Insight article

Business continuity planning consultants: Are they worth the money?

So you are embarking on building a comprehensive business continuity plan, or looking to significantly improve your fledgling plan. Your first question should be: "Can we do it ourselves or should we hire some help?" From my talks with companies, I have found that about half utilize consultants and the other half go it alone.

There are standard steps you should take to determine if a consultancy firm will be worth the money, and a follow-up check list to use for gauging the firms worthy of consideration.

SearchDataCenter article

Cloud computing not the answer for every business

Cloud computing not the answer for every business

This article hits the nail on the head regarding what works in a cloud environment.

Companies like Amazon and Google have been touting cloud computing as the future of IT, but customers need to ask questions before doing their computing "in the cloud."

Cloud computing refers to the practice of running business software applications on someone else’s network. Instead of buying its own servers and running software on them, a company contracts with a third party vendor that provides them with the computer processing capacity they need at the vendor’s data center. The computing capacity is available as needed, much the way electricity is provided by a utility.

Suite101.com article

With economic downturn, Dell, HP cut U.S. server prices

Nice opportunity to get in on some immediate deals.

In a response to the U.S. recession, IT hardware vendors like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. have responded by reducing hardware prices. Conversely, Europe and other markets have begun to see server prices increase because of currency exchange fluctuations.

Take, for instance, Dell; the company recently reduced its U.S. hardware prices almost across the board, according to Mason Reay, the vice president of Dell marketing operations. And during the last quarter, by cutting prices, Dell has exceeded earnings expectations .

SearchDataCenter article

Finding IT's upside in the downturn

The economy may be tanking, but that doesn’t mean the hopes and priorities of IT leaders are in a freefall.

Dan Gingras expected panic.

Gingras, a former CIO at Bausch & Lomb and Watts Regulator Co. and now a partner at the consultancy Tatum LLC, frequently consults with CEOs and corporate boards on IT strategy. After the Wall Street fallout and the looming uncertainty following it, Gingras expected his clients to sound the alarm, particularly on IT spending.

CIO Insight article

Lifeline's Eastgate project phase one nearing completion

This week Lifeline Data Centers installed the first four generators at the Eastgate Mall campus in Indianapolis. Lifeline purchased the former retail mall in May 2008 and has been working to open the first 30,000 square feet of data center.

Lifeline provides data center facilities and services for its clients. Companies use Lifeline's space to build primary or second computer rooms to support their business. Lifeline offers a flexible approach so that clients can use the space to best suits their business needs.

Once complete, the Eastgate project will include 450,000 square feet of data center space, 300,000 square feet of supporting office and storage space, and ample parking for clients. Lifeline is one of only a few locations in the US where companies can purchase 5000 feet or more of contiguous private cage space.

Lifeline builds data center space to a 99.995% uptime standard, with critical systems such as power and cooling built not only as redundant, but are as concurrently maintainable.

Lifeline also offers some of the best pricing for 99.995% uptime data center space in the US. Lifeline's pricing starts at $17 per foot per month.

Sustainability and risk management: beyond green IT

The CIO is a key player in the new sustainability initiatives that are popping up in enterprises across the country.

At large U.S. companies, preserving the environment has spread beyond the data center to encompass sustainability efforts across the corporation. These organizations are moving quickly to minimize negative environmental impacts in all facets of their businesses. But they're not just embracing corporate responsibility more tightly. They're after increased profits.

Mitigating environmental risks that in turn can affect long-term profitability and growth potential has become a mandate at enterprise-sized companies. In mid-July, the Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN), a nonprofit organization made up of analysts whose firms are devoted to sustainability issues, reported that 86 of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. companies now note their sustainability efforts in their annual reports.

SearchCIO article

A CIO Perspective on Change Management

The discipline of change management is as old as computers themselves. Yet the advent of the personal computer and its bottom-up acceptance and growth in the enterprise put many disciplines like change management on the back burner. Many of us have paid the price for this lack of discipline. This article talks about the business side of change management.

The BTM Institute interviews Robert Keefe, CIO of Mueller Water Products and member of the Society for Information Management (SIM) to get some perspective on effectively handling technology-related change management and organizational change management.

Managing change often ranks among the top 10 concerns of the 3,600 senior technology professionals who belong to the Society for Information Management (SIM). Robert Keefe, the president of SIM International, says that although change management ranked seventh in SIM's 2007 survey, the percentage difference between each ranking was very close.

Baseline article

Please don't hug the servers

Here's an old problem rearing its head on a new technology platform.

Virtual servers are not free, but some users are treating them that way. It's so easy and inexpensive to provision new virtual servers these days that users are asking for them for all sorts of temporary applications - and then not telling anyone when they're done with them. At one point the practice became common enough at Qualcomm that IT jokingly coined a term for people who were sitting on idle virtual server capacity: Server huggers.

ComputerWorld article

Gartner: 25 ways to cut IT costs

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Cutting costs is "never an activity with long lead times," Gartner Inc. guru Ellen Kitzis said at Symposium/ITxpo 2008 in Orlando. Kitzis, a research vice president at the Stamford, Conn.-based consultancy, teamed up with colleagues at a packed 8 a.m. panel to give CIOs a roadmap to trim costs.

Here are their 25 tactical tips across four categories: IT management; enterprise software; enterprise infrastructure and operations, the networks and telecom; and enterprise infrastructure, hardware and IT operations.

SearchCIO article

Mother Nature’s assault on electricity and the Internet

Rodents and telecom carriers seem to be the biggest culprits. Coincidence?

We may be screwing up Mother Nature, but she is getting back at us in her own way. And she knows we love electricity and the Internet.

Though a lot of outages are man-made, there are a huge amount of power outages directly caused by nature every year. Causes include storms and hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, and more often than not, animals too curious for their own best.

We had a look at some of the nature-made power outages so far in 2008, focusing mostly on the United States and North America, and how power outages have affected data centers and ISPs.

Outages caused by animals...

Royal Pingdom article

Microsoft rolls out container data center strategy for cloud computing

Say goodbye to chillers and CRAC-units, say goodbye to raised floors and traditional disaster recovery. And say hello to the new paradigm, courtesy of Microsoft’s data center team.

Microsoft’s goal in 2008 was to shake up the data center community in a big way, starting with Mike Manos’ announcement at AFCOM that Microsoft would be deploying containerized data centers, to Christian Belady’s “Data center in a tent” experiment with a PUE of 1.0. Mission accomplished.

These guys are pushing the envelop like no one else in the industry — rabble rousing at ASHRAE TC 9.9 meetings, calling out vendors, and blogging about it every chance they get. They’re literally scaring people who have built their reputation and businesses on traditional data center design — and I don’t just mean the people selling chillers and raised flooring. These engineers are mad scientists, flipping their noses at decades of conventional wisdom.

IT Knowledge Exchange article

Gartner: Cloud Computing Causing Confusion

It's disturbing when the industry experts are confused about new terminology. What does Cloud Computing mean to you?

Cloud computing is “creating a lot of confusion in the market,” according to Gartner, which says dueling perceptions of cloud computing are muddling expectations about its benefits.

“The term cloud computing has come to mean two very different things: a broader use that focuses on ‘cloud,’ and a more-focused use on system infrastructure and virtualization,” said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Mixing the discussion of ‘cloud-enabling technologies’ with ‘cloud computing services’ creates confusion.”

Data Center Knowledge article

Sears.com Melts Down On Black Friday, But Costco, Walmart, Saks and Kmart Have Issues, Too

The best laid plans...

Sears.com suffered the worst Web problems on Black Friday (Nov. 28), experiencing a series of complete site crashes for much of the day. Although no other major retailer came close, according to preliminary reports, many of the industry's largest merchants suffered site slowdowns or other Web problems, including Walmart, Kmart, Saks, Overstock, Amazon, Target, Kohl's, Costco and Buy.com.

Sears.com was "completely offline," said Shawn White, director of operations at site performance monitoring company Keynote Systems. "And if anybody made it through without getting redirected (to a placeholder page that said the site was experiencing load-related difficulties), their experience would have just been horrendously slow. Slow to the point they would have walked away."

StoreFrontBackTalk article