monks

The changing face of private cloud

The debate over private clouds will likely continue in the foreseeable future as public-cloud usage becomes more acceptable in the enterprise, and private-cloud vendors offer more solutions-oriented approaches to create cloud-like infrastructure.

And it's only getting more confusing as the cloud term has effectively lost any specific meaning and is thrown around in relation to everything from Internet-based storage to grid computing.

To the extent that cloud offerings can be categorized for ease of discussion, I like RedMonk analyst Michael Cote's explanation. (He also uses a burger metaphor in describing these layers.)

IaaS = servers, storage PaaS = middleware SaaS = applications

Most vendors focused on private clouds are targeting the IaaS layer, which for ease of discussion is similar to Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2. And while EC2 sets the tone for how most people think about clouds, it lacks (and maybe doesn't require?) the same kind of tooling enterprises need to manage their complete infrastructure.

Tooling and management is arguably the most important aspect for enterprise private clouds to be successful but may also be the most difficult to get right.

But tools may also be where the money is. And considering the cloud has yet to rain down the cash we all hope for, it seems like it's time to reset thinking a bit and focus more on enabling applications and infrastructure to make it appear more cloud-like rather than focusing on specifically making clouds. (Note: see my blog colleague James Urquhart's excellent series on DevOps to learn more about what happens after you have a cloud deployment.)

In terms of private-cloud software, its becoming less clear that enterprises want to run their own version of EC2, but perhaps that they want to make their existing infrastructure behave the same way--that is, allow for APIs and such to turn up VMs with a variety of images that are relevant to their organization.

And, perhaps more interestingly, I've recently heard from several enterprises that they are interested in programming-language and/or application-specific private clouds for Java application or other infrastructure like internal content management tools that require variability in their scaling. … Read more

IBM closes lackluster M&A year with buying spree

IBM decided to close 2009 with a bang by acquiring Lombardi, a privately held provider of business process management (BPM) software. Big Blue racked up a number of acquisitions this year including: data discovery software firm Exeros, database security firm Guardium, security provider Ounce Labs, and analytics provider SPSS.

Lombardi marks IBM's 90th acquisition since 2003. That's a lot of companies to digest.

With Lombardi, IBM strengthens its presence in BPM by effectively capturing the customers it doesn't already have. IBM currently has more than 5,000 BPM customers in about 30 countries and growing.

According to Lombardi CEO Rod Favaron, the company has about 300 enterprise-level customers with a high percentage shared with IBM. Lombardi has a shockingly impressive customer list, including Allianz Group, Aflac, Barlays Global Investors, Dell, FETAC, Ford Motor, Hasbro, ING Direct, Intel, Maritz Travel, National, Bank of Canada, National Institute of Health, Safety-Kleen, T-Mobile, UCLH, and several governmental agencies.

It's generally been a quiet year for technology merger and acquisition deals with the 2009 value total for tech M&A activity reaching $142 billion, according to recent data from technology investment research firm The 451 Group. To provide context, the second quarter of 2008 alone saw $173 billion in tech M&A deals. The median deal size in 2009 was $40 million, contrasted with a median of $43 million in 2008 and $100 million in 2007.

From January to November 2009 there were only 31 technology transactions valued at $1 billion or more, and The 451 Group reports that all of the high-multiple deals took place in the second half of 2009, resulting in M&A spending running 50 percent higher than in the first two quarters. Notable deals include Dell's purchase of Perot Systems and Cisco Systems' pair of $3 billion acquisitions in October. … Read more

NoSQL and the future of cloud databases

One of the cloud-related trends that developers have been paying attention to lately is the idea of "NoSQL," a set of operational-data technologies based on nonrelational technology.

These technologies do not replace the relational database but rather add a new tool to the developer toolbox. Business intelligence database technologies such as Aster Data, Greenplum, Neteeza, and Vertica do not completely replace the traditional relational database but rather use nonrelational databases to augment the software.

RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady wrote recently that NoSQL "adoption was inevitable because, just as in every other walk of life, there are … Read more

Canonical survey: Ubuntu Server is mission-critical

Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu Linux, and analyst firm RedMonk have released survey results that show usage patterns for the Ubuntu server product.

The survey, completed by nearly 7,000 respondents, shows that Ubuntu Server Edition is being used for most enterprise tasks, such as Web sites, files, databases, and mail servers, and is considered "mission-critical" by most respondents.

This is an interesting set of results, even if they are biased, considering that Ubuntu has largely been known for its desktop grace and focus on developing a better Linux user experience. But the enterprise is where all … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 806: Battlestar Monk

On today's show, we reveal a huge spoiler: Monk is the 12th Cylon. (Apologies to any of you who don't watch that show.) This is vaguely related to the news that NBC's return to iTunes comes shackled with variable pricing. In other news, RIM releases its first ever flip phone, and amazing space-based solar power arrives (bad news for birds). Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 806

CERN’s big collider now in action http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10037565-76.html

Flipping out: RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 debuts http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-10036487-7.html

Congress questions … Read more

Tech analysts embrace Twitter for instant gratification

In a new trend somewhere between direct customer contact and the public facing comments lies Twitter.

I'll start with the obvious joke that 140 characters, or roughly 2 sentences is typically the value that you get from analysts. However, my experience over the last year or so is that the analysts that I've worked with (both paid and unpaid) have been extremely helpful.

The Top 10 Analyst Twitter-ers via Technobabble: 1 Forrester - Jeremiah Owyang 2 Redmonk - James Governor 3 Message - Stowe Boyd 4 Hurwitz & Assoc. - Robin Bloor 5 Greenmonk - Tom Raftery 6 … Read more

Using Twitter to build your brand: Cool or creepy?

Twitter largely reminds me of when people started to register their own names for domains, turning the Internet into a giant customized license plate. It's somewhere between self-expression and mental onanism.

I use it to track several news sites but following other "people" often makes me feel weird. Most of the content seems like therapy for those who don't spend enough time with others. From a technology perspective, I find it really interesting and useful to an extent. But is this online stream of consciousness a marketing tool?

There are some great users like the guys … Read more

Sun's VirtualBox hits 5 million downloads

I didn't pay much attention to VirtualBox when Sun Microsystems first acquired Innotek, but RedMonk's Michael Coté just posted an interview and demo of the software, and it's very cool.

In a few clicks, you can see VirtualBox create a Vista instance and run it on the Mac. There are many options for virtualization at this point, but I would expect Sun to make this its weapon of choice (versus Xen), since it owns it and can tweak it for Solaris.

On the Mac, I'm not sure it's any better than Parallels, but it … Read more

Self-promotion: Gartner selects MuleSource as Cool Vendor in SOA Governance

UPDATED ON MAY 5, 2008 AT 8:30PM TO FIX BROKEN LINK

I think it's a great thing to see the big analyst firms recognize open source products and companies as key players in today's software world. The fact that Gartner has named MuleSource as a "Cool Vendor in SOA Governance" obviously speaks to the quality of the software, but also to the fact that the analysts who have typically been less open source focused (versus say, Red Monk) are realizing the massive impact that we are having on the market.

According to Gartner, "The … Read more

My (fake) interview with Michael Cote of RedMonk

I had planned to interview Cote this afternoon after he moderated a few panels at MuleCon but somehow he got lost in the crowd. So, I've decided to make it all up and entertain myself.

Q: Being that you do most of you work in the Bay Area, why do you live in Austin? A: I had flown blimps for a number of years and I was based down in Sunnyvale at Moffett Field. I had been training for the next manned shuttle launch to the moon but then Iceland pulled the funding that they had allotted to the … Read more