Broadband Developments

The CTO of Amazon is blogging the new service from Amazon called CloudFront. I love this approach for obvious reasons but the question remains about reliability and security. In talking to Mendal Rosenblum this past weekend he and I both agreed that many are afraid of pushing information in the cloud. Mendal is the leader in pushing large scale computing and his observations ring true for many corporate enterprises. No doubt Amazon is great for startups but the open question remains for reliability and security.

When those two issues are lock solid then the era of cloud computing will be mainstream.

Here is the information on Amazon CloudFront.

Hello Amazon CloudFront, the new Amazon Web Service for content delivery. It integrates seamlessly with Amazon S3 to provide low-latency distribution of content with high data transfer speeds through a world-wide network of edge locations. It requires no upfront commitments and is a pay-as-you-go service in the same style as the other Amazon Web Services.

Amazon CloudFront has been designed to be fast; the service will cache copies of the content in edge locations close to the end-user’s location, significantly lowering the access latency to the content. High sustainable data transfer rates can be achieved with the service especially when distributing larger objects.

Amazon CloudFront will be useful for many different application scenarios such as giving your customers low-latency access to popular objects and protecting your site from popularity surges; other popular examples are low-cost delivery of rich media and sustainable fast transfer rates for software distributions.

See also the posting on the AWS Developer weblog and at Rightscale.

Amazon has seen success with the scalability, reliability and cost-effectiveness of Amazon S3 and now with the integration with Amazon EC2 it is easy to distribute Amazon S3 content world-wide. The combination of the two services is really powerful: Amazon S3 will give you durable storage of your data, and the network of edge locations on three continents used by the Amazon CloudFront will deliver the content with low latency from the most appropriate location.

The network of edge locations

To ensure low-latency delivery, Amazon CloudFront uses a network of edge locations world-wide:

• United States: Ashburn (VA), Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Palo Alto, Seattle and St. Louis
• Europe: Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt and London
• Asia: Hong Kong and Tokyo

These edge locations work together to direct customers’ requests to the edge location that can provide the response with the lowest latency.

Simplicity

Because Amazon CloudFront follows the core principles of all Amazon Web Services it is a unique content delivery service. The simplicity in getting started has been described by many of our early customers as a very important feature.

Using Amazon CloudFront is dead simple:

1. Put your objects in an Amazon S3 bucket.
2. Call the CreateDistribution API with the name of the S3 bucket, which will return your distribution’s domain name.
3. Use the new domain name in urls on your web or in your application. Whenever these urls are accessed CloudFront will determine the optimal edge location from where to serve your content.

The second Amazon Web Services principle that sets Amazon CloudFront apart is that no upfront commitments are necessary and you only pay for what you have used. There are no upfront fees or high volume requirements and no negotiations are necessary because we have published low prices from the start. This brings content delivery in the hands of all businesses, and you can exploit the benefits of Amazon’s world-wide network of edge locations, regardless of whether you are a highly popular website, a small blog, a complex enterprise application or a developer doing some prototyping.

A core distributed systems component

It is not uncommon to think about a service for content delivery such as Amazon CloudFront only in the context of media distribution for web sites, but it actually plays a more fundamental role.

There are two main technology components to such a service; the first is intelligent request routing, which routes requests to the location that can best serve the user given a series of requirements and the status of the network. The second technology component is that of object caching, which is a fundamental building block in both operating systems and in distributed systems.

Caching is an essential technique that is used to make sure that components can operate at the fastest speed possible, to overcome the performance differences that exist in systems. For example CPU’s have caches that are much faster than memory, memory works as caches for disks, local disks can function as caches for remote disks, etc.

In distributed systems caching is primarily used to provide fast access to popular objects that are located in remote storage servers. These systems of caching servers often cooperate to create massive aggregate world-wide capacity to provide low latency access. And by using globally decentralized cache servers for distribution, very high data transfer speed can be achieved.

Caching technology has long been the center piece of computer systems research and in Amazon CloudFront we use the type of highly advanced algorithms for reliability and scale that you have come to expect from our Amazon services.

Cloud computing is all the rage.  We’ve been covering it here at Broadband Developments since we started this blog in June 2008.  Just search on Cloud here on the blog for all the blog posts.

Microsoft announces Azure - here is Mary Jo’s post.

Am I bullish on Microsoft with the cloud?  No not really.  I’m confused is this part of their Unified Communications or Online plans?  I’m neutral because I think that Microsoft could do some compelling things if they can just get the formula right.  I will start covering this.  In the past stuff from Microsoft has been a big yawn.

Today, during a keynote speech at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2008 (PDC2008), Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Corp.’s chief software architect, announced Windows Azure, the cloud-based service foundation underlying its Azure Services Platform, and highlighted this platform’s role in delivering a software plus services approach to computing. The Azure Services Platform is an industry-leading move by Microsoft to help developers build the next generation of applications that will span from the cloud to the enterprise datacenter and deliver compelling new experiences across the PC, Web and phone.

Ozzie described how this platform combines cloud-based developer capabilities with storage, computational and networking infrastructure services, all hosted on servers operating within Microsoft’s global datacenter network. This provides developers with the ability to deploy applications in the cloud or on-premises and enables experiences across a broad range of business and consumer scenarios. A limited community technology preview (CTP) of the Azure Services Platform was initially made available to developers in attendance at PDC2008, giving them a chance to try out its features and functions and plan for their own future development.

“Today marks a turning point for Microsoft and the development community,” Ozzie said. “We have introduced a game-changing set of technologies that will bring new opportunities to Web developers and business developers alike. The Azure Services Platform, built from the ground up to be consistent with Microsoft’s commitment to openness and interoperability, promises to transform the way businesses operate and how consumers access their information and experience the Web. Most important, it gives our customers the power of choice to deploy applications in cloud-based Internet services or through on-premises servers, or to combine them in any way that makes the most sense for the needs of their business.”

Empowering Cloud Development With the Azure Services Platform

Unlike many of today’s service-based solutions, the Azure Services Platform provides developers with the flexibility and ability to create applications while taking advantage of their existing skills, tools and technologies such as the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio. Developers also can choose from a broad range of commercial or open source development tools and technologies, and access the Azure Services Platform using a variety of common Internet standards including HTTP, representational state transfer (REST), WS-* and Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub).

Key components of the Azure Services Platform include the following:

State-of-the-Art Datacenter Infrastructure

During the keynote, Ozzie said of Windows Azure, “It’s designed to be the foundation, to be the bedrock, underneath all of Microsoft’s service offerings for consumers and business alike.” Los Angeles, Oct. 27, 2008. Click for high-res version.

Microsoft also described the importance of building robust datacenters in delivering online services. Over the past year, Microsoft has opened major datacenters in Quincy, Wash., and San Antonio, with additional centers scheduled to open in Chicago and Dublin, Ireland. Microsoft is leading the way in services infrastructure with innovative use of shipping containers as flexible and portable housing for servers, providing 10 times the density and dramatic savings in power usage. Supporting the Microsoft software plus services strategy, Microsoft’s datacenters serve up e-mail accounts, Web pages, instant messages, photos, videos, software programs and search information to millions of Internet customers worldwide.

Cut Costs and Unlock Innovation

Services technologies, when employed alongside other core technology enablers such as virtualization and modeling, will result in dramatic benefits for customers’ IT departments. Specifically, these technologies will enable a new and more dynamic world, where IT departments can drive down operating costs, focus their spending on systems that differentiate the business, and ultimately enable IT to become a more strategic asset.

“Only a few companies in the world can bring the promise of cloud computing to reality, and we are excited about the strong capabilities of the Azure Services Platform,” said Paul Farrell, senior vice president of research and development for Epicor Software Corp. “We believe that Microsoft’s initiative and leadership in software plus services will be beneficial to Epicor customers as we architect our solutions to optimize for cloud and on-premises solutions.”

Kara Swisher has the best headlines and is sniffing down the best stories these days.  Here in her blog post she is tracking the Microsoft counterstrike to Amazon in the quest for what I call the LSD awards (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds).

We have been tracking the Infrastructure 2.0 and Cloud Wars at Broadband Developments (BroadDev.com).   Kara is on to something here.

She writes:

Next week in Los Angeles, Microsoft will kick off its Professional Developers Conference (PDC), a place the software giant likes to unveil all kind of news in a big launchtastic flourish.

For all the noise, it’s worth paying attention, because Monday’s outlook will be cloudy, as in cloud computing.

The day will include a speech from Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie (pictured here) and others on, among other topics, its cloud infrastructure service initiatives–designed to match aggressive efforts from Amazon (AMZN) in the space.

Microsoft (MSFT) execs will probably be in a good mood, given the decent earnings results the company announced earlier this week for the third quarter. Revenue was up nine percent to $15 billion, even though net profits only increased 1.9 percent to $4.37 billion.

Still, that was a pretty good performance in a down economy, due to strength in Microsoft’s powerful Windows and Office franchises. And despite–as usual–the weakness of its online division.

While the revenue for its MSN, search and advertising network grew to $770 million or up 15 percent in the quarter, operating losses doubled to $480 million from $267 in the same period a year ago. Search grew more than display advertising, a forward outlook Microsoft that maintained.

And still no digital chief, long promised by Ballmer, in sight either. Sources said that head, who will lead the unit, has still not been selected.

All eys are on Amazon today.  This is great news for web services in the cloud.  The Infrastructure 2.0 model is moving fast.  More on this story as it develops.  Can’t help but get excited.   I love the speed of provisioning on Amazons services but I’m very skeptical on it’s scale and reliability.  This is a classic cost of ownership issue - downtime has been a problem and that costs money folks.  Putting that aside I’m very bullish on the innovation for Amazon and their ecosystem of vendors to apporach close to 5-9s fast.

Keep running fast Amazon… Here’s what’s happening today:

• Amazon EC2 is now in full production. The beta label is gone.
• There’s now an SLA (Service Level Agreement) for EC2.
• Microsoft Windows is now available in beta form on EC2.
• Microsoft SQL Server is now available in beta form on EC2.
• We plan to release an interactive AWS management console.
• We plan to release new load balancing, automatic scaling, and cloud monitoring services.

.  j

The biggest threat to the promise of cloud computing to appear this summer wasn’t the failed trademark attempt by Dell, but rather brilliant research by a leading white hat security researcher. Dan Kaminsky discovered how a well-known and widespread vulnerability in DNS servers could be exploited in seconds and turn any one of millions of servers directing Internet traffic into a cybercrime gold mine in mere seconds.

Note: For those unfamiliar with cloud computing, or the delivery of software and other IT-related functionality as a service, you can read more at Archimedius. Some leading technology players involved or associated with cloud computing include: Google, Microsoft, Dell, VMware and Amazon.

As a result July and August saw unprecedented DNS media attention. Yet the discovery of a DNS exploit was only part of the story. Events soon unfolded that took the exploit from specialized security blogs (like Rational Survivability and Matasano, where the exploit leaked).

When the exploit inadvertently leaked (ahead of the disclosure timeline established to allow service providers ample time to patch their systems) the news quickly spread throughout more generalist blogs and even into mainstream media, including front page coverage in the NY Times referenced at Archimedius on July 31.

The Linux Journal published one of the best high level technical explanations of the exploit and why it matters. Despite the release of a patch and the heroic actions on the part of internet service providers, issues remain.

While the business press dwells on Dell, Microsoft, Google and a handful of key players making investments and strategic moves based on the eventuality of cloud computing, some of us in security and networking are all too aware of the storm clouds. You can read about the security issues at the newly established Infoblox DNS Security Center, with news, developments and resources hand-picked by leading experts.

Dan Kaminsky has openly labeled the patch just applied to protect the DNS vulnerability a temporary fix:

I listened to the Black Hat webcast today to grab as much info as I could on this subject. The biggest thing that I heard from the whole talk is that the patch fixes things to a reasonable point, but that long-term, there will have to be more work done to prevent the issue.

- Nathan McFeters, ZDNet

Unfortunately, it is likely that the DNS summer exploit story will fall back beneath the headlines in coming months; yet the vulnerability will still exist and it will likely require more patches on an ongoing basis. That will place an unprecedented level of demands on the management of the DNS infrastructure, the backbone of the Internet. That infrastructure is made up of millions of servers updated and managed manually. That is a serious problem.

An IDC report sponsored by Microsoft concluded that hardware costs were only a small fraction of the cost of operating a server (see page 5 for the IDC breakdown). Staffing expenses (management) and downtime constituted 75% of a server’s total cost of ownership, according to the April 2007 paper by Randy Perry and Al Gillen. More manual updates will impact both management and availability, the leading cost components before the DNS exploit discovery.

Internet integrity is a critical requirement for cloud computing. It requires a very high level of trust to use an online application for commercial and even personal uses. More management and availability challenges will further increase the cost of internet integrity while introducing new risks. The DNS exploit and the recognition that the recent patch is only a short term measure suggests that internet integrity may be more at risk than ever.

There’s More

A few days ago I discovered this YouTube piece by Cisco promoting green data centers and couldn’t help but to take notice of the points made about other server costs, including power. Cloud computing could suck up huge amounts of energy if cloudplexes are not virtualized properly and managed efficiently. For all of the opportunities posed by cloud computing it is obvious that substantial technical burdens remain before servers will follow the moon In pursuit of cheap electricity.

While low cost electricity and VMotion are important requirements for cloud computing, Internet integrity is the table stake: few will trust IT services from an unknown source. That is why the rise of cloud computing will depend upon the continued success and evolution of utility-grade core network services. Without network integrity the economics of software as a service will always be limited to low value consumers using low value services.

You can read my disclaimer at: About ARCHIMEDIUS.

I love how the bandwagon of cloud computing it hitting on all time high. Everyone is about the cloud. Today AT&T announced it is joining the Cloud Bandwangon. AT&T said Tuesday that it will offer cloud computing services via a new service dubbed AT&T Synaptic Hosting. AT&T is just the latest company to join the cloud computing game. Everyone from traditional IT giants like HP and IBM to Amazon and Google have cloud computing services catering to companies ranging from enterprise giants to startups.

The category of the “Cloud” is the new branding or categorically sector for all the big infrastructure players. Cloud computing is the new category that we’ll all keep score on who is the best vendor.

Why is cloud computing such a hit for these companies? It’s because it spans multiple sectors - enterprise datacenter, web services, consumer, virtualization, security. It’s sort of a convergence between intranets, DMZ, extranet, and outside web all in one.

It’s a land grab and yet it’s so unknown. It’s a marketing dream for a big vendor to say ‘we own the cloud’.

My take: it can’t be owned. Lock-in is harder in today climate. Old lock in tactics don’t work in today’s infrastructure.

What are the new lock-in tactics? We’ll be covering them. Right now Google, VMWare, and Amazon are putting on a clinic in the cloud area. Everyone else is an also ran.