"Boxed Cloud" can only be a stopgap

In general, the psychology of mass consumption is the more the function of it products the better, the more convenient to use the better. In the enterprise application market, users also have the same mentality, I hope IT system deployment and application of the simpler the better. Therefore, end-to-end, integration and other ideas gradually become popular. This is the user demand, on the other hand, because of mergers and acquisitions among manufacturers, servers, storage, networks, software and other resources slowly concentrated in the hands of a few large manufacturers, so that it has the ability to provide integrated solutions. One of the best examples of the 2011 is the prevalence of all-in-one concepts.

Http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/13723.html "The >oracle Exadata machine is able to fire up, to a large extent, thanks to Oracle after the acquisition of sun hardware and software integration." Faced with the challenges of large data, server, storage and other hardware and data analysis, data mining and other software integration has become logical. IBM, EMC, Oracle, etc. have responded quickly. In the area of cloud computing, alliances among vendors and combinations of different products are common: Cisco, VMware and EMC have launched Cloud Solutions Vblock, Cisco, VMware and NetApp have teamed up to launch the Flexpod Cloud Computing Reference Architecture. Today, NetApp has extended this collaborative model to Microsoft and SAP. In the storage sector, backup, disaster-tolerant integration of products are also emerging. Symantec is bullish on the sales prospects of its backup All-in-one machine. Storage backup cabinets are more love the number of software companies to fame.

For a particular function or market, one machine does have its advantages, the high integration of hardware and software greatly simplifies the procurement, deployment, application and management of the system. But the integration of the model is applicable to all scenarios, especially the ability to meet the needs of cloud computing, but also specific problems specific analysis. Now, some manufacturers put forward the concept of "boxed cloud", hoping to build the cloud system through the software and hardware integration scheme. On the one hand, users can simply buy a "box" packaged with all of their functions, and build their own systems as easily as building blocks, indeed avoiding a lot of trouble. But on the other hand, this simple hidden behind may be the vendor solution to the user's lock. This is actually the last thing users want to see. Cisco's initial UCS of integration was criticized, mainly because the industry feared that UCS might lock in users.

An all-in-one machine is usually not compatible with the user's original system. This means that, even if the original hardware and software can continue to use, users must also purchase the hardware and software products specified in the integrated program, resulting in duplication of procurement. In addition, one machine is usually customized according to the specific needs of users, in terms of functionality, scalability, and so may have a certain limit. Under normal circumstances, the integration of the scheme can only achieve vertical expansion, can not achieve horizontal expansion. In addition, the author is also worried about the use of integrated model to build a cloud system, it is likely to form a cloud island in the future. If this is the case, the integrated machine model completely deviates from the original intention of cloud computing interconnection.

All-in-one is more suitable for small and medium enterprise users who do not have the technical capability, but want to achieve a certain function and pursue system deployment. And one of the biggest value of cloud computing platform is embodied in openness, those who have locked user, restrict the suspicion of the expansion of technology and program will become the user to the road of cloud computing stumbling block.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)