Broadband Developments

Efraim Schwartz over at ComputerWorld reported back in July the results of various studies that indicate that IT jobs will drop in 2009.  Contractors, projects, overall spending down.  The news is dire: “Almost no investment in cloud computing”.

Well, I don’t have any studies to refer to just gut predictions.
Like that old sly cop with the corduroy jacket on your favorite TV show, I got some hunches.

Shining up my crystal ball:

YES…….
Economy is kinda clouding things up, but yes, a few things seem clear..

1. Yahoo – Microsoft will scoop them up
2. Windows 7 – Unfortunately for Microsoft, this will probably dud, too many factors against it.
3. Ipod Touch Tablet – An internet-capable touch screen tablet –March or June
4. Chrome 2 – will run on cell platform and desktop, instant browser sync
5. Digg – Google property
6. Giants win the Super Bowl – not a tech prediction-that just popped in there.

Again, 1-5 are based on nothing but hunches here people.  #6 is something else entirely.  (We make no claims to the validity of any of these predictions, however)

Side note – Gizmodo posted this rumor about Steve Jobs on their website.  Nothing that wasn’t said before, but there are alleged reliable sources here.  Jobs is the Walt Disney of Computing™, let’s hope this rumor is not true.  Long live Jobs and I will take one of those Touch Tablets please…

Have a good 2009..

Lofty goals are important.  Changes in the technology continuum create a better experience for everyone.  No doubt about it.  Things like the rise of Google, Youtube, Ebay, and so forth are all examples to that.
Something new comes along, some folks make money, a leap in technology is made and everyone plays catchup.  And then we are all better off.

So let’s talk about this Chrome business.  Now, just because a browser is better doesn’t mean people will use it.  The only thing that will change Internet Explorer’s dominance is knocking Windows off the desktop.   Don’t hold your breath.

I have been a Firefox user for years. I use IE when I have to.  I love the flexibility, quickness, the tabbed browsing, extensions, etc all that stuff that makes it a 100X superior browser to Internet Explorer.  And I have tried to get so many people to change over.  Technical people, non-technical people, you name it.  The bottom line is Internet Explorer is good enough.  There are enough new features being released in IE that few but the technically elite will bother to change.  I am also betting that most people that switch to Chrome will be Firefox users at least at first.

What will undeniably happen is that all the browsers will keep pace as well, transforming the web as we know it in the long run.  Chrome and Firefox need Internet Explorer and vice versa. At the root of it all is a focus on Google Chrome to be the platform for their web-based Apps.  We will have to see if this incentive along with the technical prowess of this browser is enough to turn the tide.

So give Chrome a whirl, know this is a first version.  Some things will come up as Alex Lewis has mentioned, but they can and will improve.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and proclaim this will knock Microsoft’s browser out of the box.  Maybe with steady improvements and some marketing or a tie-in with an Android-based phone revolution, we will see something significant in the long-run.  This is certainly significant news and it could be one piece to a grand story that remains to be told.

Rackspace Hosting Inc, began trading common stock today under the symbol “RAX”. 15 million shares of common stock were initially priced by Rackspace at $12.50 per share. The company is going through a “dutch auction” IPO process that is similar to that employed by Google back in 2004. The trend for the market on this 8-8-08 is an upbeat market at mid-day. This is the first information technology company to IPO in six months. Zachary Scheidt breaks down the viability of and potential of this IPO.

Rackspace recently announced upgrades to its Cloud Computing Project, through its Mosso cloud division and The avantages to Rackspace’s system is scalability and provisioning time. Will other hosting companies compete? Rackspace appears to have taken managed hosting a step further and beyond the realm of shared hosting into robust, scalable application platforms. And through Mosso’s control panel, they appear to have created a focus on usability.

So the hosting revolution is on, major webhosting companies coming into the fray, cutting-edge pioneers, a major IPO, and the attention of the buzz word of 2008.

Hang on, this will be a great ride….

Follow Rackspace (RAX) here

Cloud Computing, Web2.0, Unified Communications, there are many of these terms and a whole world about what they mean. Here’s another one Software as a Service or SaaS. Given the fluid definitions, what is clear is that the leaders in any of these fields are those companies that have a distinct vision, commitment and approach to delivering on the promise of cloud computing. Once such company is Opsource.

I recently had the privilege of talking to Treb Ryan, CEO of Opsource, Inc., a leading SaaS provider based in Santa Clara CA.

Treb, please tell us about the presence of Opsource today.

This is an interesting time, we have realized what is happening in SaaS in the cloud paradigm is that fundamentally, the business world is adopting at incredible rates. This is why the market is moving this way: Originally, Saas was being adopted because of the potential of cost savings. We are seeing an elemental shift. Let me expand on that, going back to the eighties, we ran on the mainframe model and environments with many computers and PC’s. This was truly the PC generation. Now we’re seeing this evolve where the generation now grew up with the web, and therefore ubiquitous ability to access, share, and collaborate data. They want their applications to work in that respect, and to have this functionality. SaaS, serves the enterprise in delivering on the promise that applications will deliver across all those demands and do so in a way that is business-class.

What are the challenges out there for SaaS?

That brings us back to delivering on that business-class promise. Software in this model must be reliable, scalable, secure, and compliant. Saas is about software on demand and about being business-class. From the underlying infrastructure up to the operations, focus on all these requirements is fundamental. Whether its SAS, PCI, or any other type of compliance that is out there, the proper approach to building is essential. A successful product in this market must take what is basically

What are some of the cutting-edge aspects to the Opsource model?

We must take mashups and make sure they work in enterprise fashion. Things like RSS feeds, 3rd party data feeds, and more information coming from multiple locations is still brand new. Seeing how little in tools or systems to insure they work together for the enterprise, we released Opsource Connect, this is a cloud-based version of Informatica, a middleware application that connects cloud services and connects them with traditional applications like quickbooks or oracle.
Another challenge we address is the ability to remediate billing. To date, SaaS has been a subscription-based model. Business today are looking to capability to bill on software usage. We address this with our approach.

Tell us about your relationships

Well, we have a variety of underpinnings from partnerships and relationships, from open-source on up. We enjoy great partnerships with Boomi, a technology that delivers information in an agents-based technology from the cloud, Nirvanix, which specializes in storage delivery, Tricipher, which provides SSO (Single Sign-on) functionality. So you see, we bring a whole bunch of cutting-edge relationships into our approach and our offerings are unmatched because of it. We have a relationship with Amazon as well, which has opened up to take their platform towards their online goals which included SaaS applications.

How about misconceptions about SaaS?

Unfortunately a good deal of distinct technologies that represent different layers of this type of technology are clumped together. For example Amazon’s approach is more of a webservice to access infrastructure. This is different from other approaches that rely on a single code. Different layers of the technology are merging and this further adds to that gap.
Opsource is focused only on SaaS. Our customers are typically application companies, startups, software companies, pretty much anywhere that our dynamic offerings are realized as business class solutions. Opsource delivers on all that with advanced features such as analytics, billing, and integration offerings. We offer real-time visibility on application performance. We focus on all these challenges in the enterprise.

Where do you see the future of Web2.0, SaaS, and cloud computing initiatives?

New and exciting cloud initiatives are emerging, and how these all work together is the next big set of challenges. The fundamental technology is there, but attention will need to be paid to how these initiatives work with legacy traditional systems. The two worlds will continue to become increasingly interwoven. Questions like how do we ensure a seamless user experience? How do we ensure cloud initiatives are proven secure, reliable, scalable or what we would categorize as business class? More and more what we do will be about managing services that are out on the cloud. Opsource will be there on the edge of what’s coming next.

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.

Intel, HP and Yahoo are joining forces for a joint research initiative according to PCWorld and TechCrunch. I thought only Google felt entitled to making announcements on forthcoming announcements. What could it be? HP and Intel makes a bit of sense given they ae hardware partners but how does Yahoo, exclusively a hardware company, fit? They promised an answer by 8am this morning. Here it is 9am and I haven’t seen anything so it’s speculation time. Here are some ideas tossed around to me and some friends:

1. A mobile device focusing on Yahoo’s mobile services - We all agree mobile is a huge evolving market but unless Yahoo comes up with a game changing killer app this is a bad idea. Even the agile giant google can’t seem to get their phone out on time. That brings up the other issue, how would it differentiate itself from smart phones and what would it use for transport?
2. Yahoo bloatware installed on all HP PCs - Okay, just like AOL back in the day but where does Intel fit in? …and this isn’t exactly a research initiative.
3. Cloud computer - Really a cloud computer is just a small step up from a dumb terminal. I’m not sure Yahoo has the resources and applications to compete with MSFT, google and all of web 2.0 in the cloud but it does make the most sense given the who’s who involved.

Update: Looks like #3 was at least partially right. Intel, HP and Yahoo have partnered to launch a cloud computing “test bed”. I’m not sure on the test bed part… Aren’t there plenty of companies doing cloud computing pretty darned well? The most interesting part is who’s not involved, meaning Google and Microsoft. They are clearly leaders in this space. Intel has very close business ties to Microsoft and HP some business and non-business ties to Google.

For anyone who wonders when/if Microsoft would be moving into the realm of cloud computing, all one has to do is look at their growing Internet Infrastructure. This week, Om Malik shared a video chat with Debra Chrapaty, Microsoft’s corporate VP of global foundation services. The details and video are available here. In Information Week, the magnitude of the new Microsoft Data Center in San Antonio, and its whopping 11 acres of building footprint is described.

There are a number of interesting points in Malik’s post that indicate all-out arms race with Google. Some of the facts include that they are adding 10,000 servers a month and their total data grows ten times every three years. These kind of statistics and moves do not point to a company that is spending money to just to spend it. As Microsoft is considered a late entrant to the set of businesses often referred to as Web 2.0, they certainly are taking catching up seriously.

Amazon.com suffered outages on June 6th and 9th. Worst case scenario, you can’t spend your hard-earned money on books and trinkets. However an outage in the SaaS world could have widespread economic impact both for individual companies and the economy as a whole. Google had just such an outage earlier this week. …and it wasn’t the first time

Google wants companies to bring all their tools to the google cloud. From Microsoft Office replacements to email and who knows what other enterprise apps are next. It’s a great idea and leveraging the great power of the Google datacenter sounds great… until it breaks. How does a CFO explain to wall street that they missed their numbers because some cloud app had an outage at quarter end?

It’s not just limited to Google. Microsoft has a similiar solution that includes a limited version of Office Communications Server, Exchange and Sharepoint in their HMC 4.5 offering. That said, somehow I trust Microsoft knows how to keep Exchange running more than I trust Google to keep a hurried app designed for both individuals and coroporations up and running at 5 nines. Part of the problem is Google tries to be everything to everyone. All of its apps are directed to all classes of users from individuals through enterprise. Different classes of users have different needs, different requirements and different tolerances for learning curve. Simply put there is no single solution for everyone. Despite the hype, until Google realizes this they’re doomed to be a novelty in the business market.

Google, try not to fail, we’re all watching -