soa+ Virtualization +saas Cloud computing is big

Cloud computing (Cloud Computing) is becoming a technical jargon or even a code word. Not only are big companies such as Google, IBM, Microsoft and Yahoo, the cloud fans, but smaller companies are moving closer. CRM software online service provider Salesforce.com began to call itself the cloud computing application, which was previously positioned as the SaaS (software-service) model of "replacing traditional software delivery"; Facebook simply declared itself a cloud computing platform, Developers can develop applications on the platform and distribute these applications on this platform.

"Really, we don't create storage, database, computer, or database functions, but provide a more economical way to process data." "said Andy Jessi, senior vice president of Amazon Network services. Founded in 2006, his department is a pioneer in cloud computing infrastructure service providers, and the New York Times uses the "Flexible Computing Cloud" (Elastic Compute Cloud) service to provide the newspaper version from 1851 to 1922 on the Internet.

In short, cloud computing means that computing resources are acquired, processed, stored, delivered, and databases are from four of the company's own walls, and users simply pay for the portion of the resources they use. In the past few years, this computing pattern has also been called grid (NET) or utility computing (UtilITy Computing)-access it when it is needed, like using a power network or running water, and paying only for the part that is used. At the same time, its application marginal successfully expands to the domain of SOA, virtualization, SaaS, Network Service and so on.

The Almighty cloud?

Just as the MP3 player kills CDs, cloud computing will inevitably break the old computing model and trigger an "omnipotent" fervent fantasy: with high-speed Internet access, near-limitless storage space, and the ability to assemble, what else can't do?

Within a day of June 24, IBM also set up two cloud computing centers in Johannesburg, China and South Africa. At the end of the year, IBM plans to build at least 10 cloud computing centers around the world.　IBM has dubbed its own idea "blue Cloud", with at least 200 researchers focused on cloud computing. "As time goes by, some old things appear in new faces." Nickolas Donofrio, IBM Global Innovation and Technology executive vice president, lamented. In recent years, IBM has done a lot in the efficient operation of data centers, such as Grid computing, which centralizes desktops and other devices, and users extend computing across many machines and make programming simpler. With the network bandwidth and virtualization technology far beyond the current year, the grid technology has been carried forward with the help of cloud computing. "In a sense, cloud computing is a natural development of grid computing models," he said. "What's different, says Frank Gens, an IDC analyst, is that Google's programming model and its true openness--ordinary people can also write apps, without having to be PhD at Stanford or Carnegie Mellon University. ”

A vivid example of the charm of cloud computing comes from Animoto, a company founded in New York, which is only 18 months old, allowing customers to upload their pictures and music and provide automatic generation of customized web-based video display services that people can share with their friends, This service is used by about 5,000 visitors a day.

In mid-April this year, Facebook users ' interest in the app came to a small climax, with about 750,000 people registering on Animoto in three days. At peak hours, about 25,000 people use Animoto services every hour.

To fill the server's demand gap, the company needs to expand its server capacity 100 times times on its existing base. But the founders did not have the money to scale server expansion, or to manage the servers with technical capabilities and interest.

So they started working with rightscale-, a cloud computing service provider based in Santa Barbara, California, which designed apps for Amazon's cloud computing. With this collaboration, Animoto only needs to pay for a three-day surge in traffic and does not need to buy or configure any new servers. It takes the load to Amazon, a server that costs about 10 cents an hour, and includes some marginal cost of bandwidth, storage, and related services. When server demand drops, Animoto automatically lowers their server usage and lowers their bills.

The combination of rapid response capabilities and new sales and marketing channels like Facebook causes software companies to have a strong interest in cloud computing. This is even true for companies that are not in the software industry-traditional companies are also changing their computer architecture to use cloud computing.

"In fact, cloud computing plays a role in technology as the power network does for power applications," Nick Carr, the former executive editor of Harvard Business Review, compared cloud computing and power Networks in his new book, The Big Switch. The power network has improved the company's operations, and when every home has cheap energy and access, "there is incredible creativity to take advantage of these cheap energy," Carr said. He thinks cloud computing will also lead to a similar cycle in the next 10 years with power networks.

Safe in the Cloud

In theory, cloud computing's powerful data operations and synchronous scheduling capabilities can greatly enhance the responsiveness of security companies to new threats, while at the same time distributing patches or security policies to branch nodes.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)