Open source technologies may have previously conjured images of geeks poring over code to modify and compile, and companies too poor to afford the real thing, but open source offerings are now driving new developments and spawning technological revolutions.  Cloud computing is following suit and opening its code, technology, platforms and forums to the masses.

OpenStack is the moniker given to the project that involves such names as Rackspace, NASA, Citrix and Dell, and it hopes to unite the cloud computing arena behind one community-driven platform.  The project specifically deals with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and cloud storage.    Rackspace is donating its code to the OpenStack project and NASA’s Nebula coordinates and powers arguably one of the most robust cloud services out there.  It is being released under the Apache 2.0 license.

Current public cloud computing providers boast specific and unique platforms to manage data and applications.  While this adds exclusive features, it also creates a culture of vendor lock-in, proprietary formats and customer hesitance.  Their open source counterparts give developers and end users an opportunity to deploy an infrastructure based on a community-driven software stack.  While the platform is still young, massive adoption across cloud vendors and private cloud users would mean great success; and draw more enterprise clients to the cloud for services.  Prospective clients would also be able to evaluate cloud service platforms based on the value of their services and not their core technology.

Interoperability between platforms would also be a key factor for enterprises seeking to utilize multiple public cloud providers for redundancy in the same way that many of us depend on multiple telecommunication carriers.

It’s clear that businesses and government entities are leery of current public cloud services, but many are still taking advantage of cost-savings and accessibility with private clouds.  The OpenStack initiative could potentially draw more public and private cloud clients; businesses are building private clouds first for their more sensitive data and could easily bridge their existing infrastructure to public cloud services as data needs increase and security fears are calmed.  Users of Amazon’s cloud product, EC2, can currently use open-source Eucalyptus to build a private cloud and easily integrate with EC2 for public cloud needs.  Making OpenStack open source and interoperable will develop the same private/public cloud relations for many other cloud vendors.

Many question how vibrant the OpenStack community will be, and how the open source initiative will affect competition in price and services.  It appears that OpenStack will draw users from the technology community, but it’s unclear how much public cloud providers will push OpenStack when users come their way, and how large the user group will extend beyond already cloud-savvy users.

I’m excited to see where OpenStack goes and how it drives the technologies and market, and expect that this is just the first of many movements regarding cloud management.

              

Cloud computing and collaborative environments topped the 2010 Horizon Report of technologies to watch and expect in the K-12 arena for the coming year, and both private companies and publicly funded entities are creating and merging products to meet that expectation.

Infrastructure Technology Solutions serves 20+ K-12 education clients throughout Eastern Iowa with security cameras, consulting, web design, web hosting, firewalls and content filtering, and data backup.

Many of these K-12 clients are also one of 54 schools/districts served by Grant Wood Area Education Association (GWAEA).  There are ten AEAs throughout the State of Iowa, which are state funded and have no taxing authority.  Instead, they are funded via a per-pupil ratio determined by the Legislature and other governing bodies, as well as grant money and sale of services.

GWAEA provides a myriad of solutions and services for our local schools; lending libraries, child support teams, parent and educator training opportunities, graphics and printing, and managed/hosted services.

From hosting payroll and budget applications, to email and websites,  GWAEA serves as a model of how schools can use cloud computing to eliminate costs and increase efficiencies.  While some of the hosted offerings at GWAEA might be better defined as software as a service (SaaS), it is certainly exciting to see our public schools and associated bodies evolving technology right along with -or ahead of – the private sector.

Schools are no stranger to hosted services, and it makes sense.  When schools use hosted solutions (via GWAEA or elsewhere) for business and student management programs, schools can concentrate on integration of technology in the classroom and maintaining equipment used daily by staff and students for learning and growing.  Schools can also take advantage of local training opportunities when a group of schools use the same budgeting tools or student management systems, and have a larger support network.

As schools begin to take advantage of more cloud computing services, they will have the ability to grow their network space during times of peak usage.  Yearly events such as student registration, fiscal year planning, benefits enrollment and parent-teacher conference scheduling can burst into the cloud when needed, and shrink back to the original allocation after the usage has subsided.

With the advent of state-wide academic expectations known as Iowa Core Curriculum, Iowa and its AEAs have a tremendous opportunity to provide collaborative environments for students and educators as well.  Companies like Pearson, Google, Microsoft and ePals are rolling out new products to excite and engage students across the curriculum.

Education is evolving, and our Iowa schools and AEAs are right on track.

              

It’s funny that when we talk about cloud computing and the major players, we mention Google, Amazon, Rackspace and others.  Recently, though, cloud experts are pointing out that another agent claims a large chunk of real estate in the cloud.  This real estate is actually a widespread network of computers infected and controlled by viruses and botnets.

Some call it the dark cloud and others a black cloud; and like spring thunderstorms, it looms.

The many benefits that the cloud boasts – scalability, availability, cost effectiveness and mobility  – are the same traits the dark cloud is exploiting.

New illegitimate websites, phishing scams, and denial of service attacks prey on vulnerabilities in software and operating systems daily.  There’s obviously money to be made in the cloud – both the dark and fluffy white – but there’s also money to be made off your cloud if you aren’t cautious.

              

InformationWeek is gearing up for its co-hosted event, Cloud Connect, in two weeks in Santa Clara.

This week, they released some articles to preview sessions and tracks offered at Cloud Connect.

One of great interest to me is “cloudonomics”, or how to leverage cloud offerings in the best fiscal sense. As a cloud services provider, I want my prices to be fair and appealing while still having a little income left after paying for the utilities. I also want to help my clients determine when to use their existing servers for hosting, and when it makes more sense to utilize the cloud.

Joe Weinman’s piece in InformationWeek does a fair job assessing the pros and cons of using only self-hosted solutions, only cloud solutions, or a hybrid of the two.

To get a more detailed look at the numbers driving cloud pricing, check out another blog by Joe Weinman.

The article uses the example of several industries that see variable demand for their services at specific points during the year; retailers peaking in the Christmas season, tax preparers in February through April, and mortgage lenders being busier during late spring and summer. The article assesses that those industries have a typical baseline for data/hosting services that can be met with their current setup. During their peak periods, however, they could easily burst into the cloud for pay-as-you-use services.

In a specific and recent example, the State of Iowa offered its own “Cash for Clunkers” rebate program for consumers looking for new, energy efficient appliances. Consumers could call a hotline or access a website to secure a rebate code for use when shopping.

The website went live at 8:00 AM on a Monday morning, with enough rebate codes for about 9,000 people. ($2,775,150) At 4:00 PM, the State reported that the rebates had been exhausted.

During the rebate claim process, consumers experienced downtime on the website, broken links and much frustration. While the State of Iowa reportedly contracted out the rebate process and didn’t use their own servers to route traffic, a hybrid solution that burst into the cloud may have helped consumers move on with their day earlier than 4:00 PM.

I’m excited about helping clients use existing infrastructure to meet their needs, and even more excited to show them how cloud services can be a critical component in efficient data management.

              

Cloud Computing has been a hot term in the recent past.  There are so many services that can be offered through or hosted in the cloud that many small/medium-sized businesses are unsure of where to start.

A wonderful example of utilizing cloud services to cut costs, increase reliability and performance is to follow the lead of seven Colorado counties.

According to the report, Pueblo County, Colorado employed the talents of their existing IT department to write custom programs for county assessor and treasurer services.

In 2008, six other counties in Colorado signed up to use these same programs, all hosted out of the Pueblo County cloud.  All seven of the counties were facing rising software and hardware costs before turning to these hosted solutions.

Pueblo County is currently predicting a $200,000 profit from these services, and is using the funds to update their own software and hardware.  Pueblo County didn’t see success without a cost, though.  The code was rewritten six times in one year to accommodate each County’s setup.

All seven counties are pleased with this cloud based solution, especially because they are saving money on software and hardware costs, while still using an enhanced product.

Several other State and City governments are following suit. In October, 2009, The City of Los Angeles announced that they would be adopting Google Apps. and hosting 30,000 email accounts through the Google cloud.

The State governments of Utah and Michigan are also planning to create cloud services that can be utilized by other local governments within their states, much like the Colorado example.

And what about your small/medium business or organization, how you can harness the energy of the cloud?  Start by thinking about files or systems that could be centrally located.  Hosting these in the cloud can encourage collaboration between your employees, clients and vendors.

If your business would like more information on cloud services, don’t hesitate to contact us.

              

There has been a lot of buzz recently about the decision for the FTC to investigate cloud computing.

The FTC reports that the purpose of their investigation is to protect consumers’ privacy and data.  While privacy and data security are valid concerns with cloud computing, people and business have been utilizing online systems for data storage for years.  Privacy and data security should be nothing new to the IT field.

However, cloud computing is often used as a means to lower capital costs in businesses and speed deployment of applications and products.  New cloud offerings are springing up daily, and there is little precedent to follow when it comes to security.

There are many different areas of cloud computing – meant for various applications.  Cloud computing benefits can be huge, but it is not a one size fits all solution to computing.  Consumers of these technologies need to make sure they are educated  as to the benefits and risks of cloud computing.