Speaking at Cloud3 Forum November 17, 2009
Posted by Simeon Simeonov in cloud computing.Tags: cloud computing, xconomy
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I will be leading an unPanel (like unConference but smaller) at Xconomy’s Cloud3 Forum. Great lineup of speakers and the audience will be full of pundits (trust me, see the invite list) so the conversation is guaranteed to be both interesting and educational. This isn’t yet another “intro to cloud” or “cloud 101″. Expect a much deeper and more engaging and interactive forum. CloudCamp comes right after. Register here.
Tollbit — Cloud Virtualization June 6, 2009
Posted by Simeon Simeonov in startups.Tags: startups, cloud computing, FastIgnite, Tollbit, cloud virtualization
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The initial web site for the latest startup I’m working with through FastIgnite is finally up.
Tollbit is a cloud virtualization company with the lofty goal to do for cloud computing what virtualization did for data centers. Wish us luck and stay tuned by following @Tollbit.
Cloud Ecosystem Map May 5, 2009
Posted by Simeon Simeonov in cloud computing.Tags: cloud computing, MIT Enterprise Forum, Tory Angringnon
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Many of you who were at the MIT Enterprise Forum cloud computing event I organized a couple of weeks ago have asked for the “eye chart” showing companies in the cloud space. As I mentioned at the event, it is not mine but Troy Angrignon‘s creation. Troy just sent me the link to the latest version on DocStoc. Enjoy!
FastIgnite is born April 6, 2009
Posted by Simeon Simeonov in FastIgnite, Polaris Venture Partners.Tags: cloud computing, FastIgnite
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Spring time. Time for changes. I’ve moved on from Polaris and I have a new company called FastIgnite. Read about it here, subscribe to my feed and follow me on Twitter to stay informed and, while you are at it, come by and say hi at the cloud computing event I’m organizing on Tax Day.
Cloudy, With a Chance of Rain June 24, 2008
Posted by Simeon Simeonov in amazon web services, cloud computing.Tags: Akamai, amazon web services, App Engine, AWS, cloud computing, edge computing, Google, Project Caroline, Sun
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Xconomy put together a cloud computing event at Akamai‘s HQ in Cambridge today. The location was appropriate since Akamai was one of the first companies to work on computing in the cloud or, more specifically, at the edge of the network.
I spoke on a panel with Google, IBM, Microsoft and Sun. Their offering are somewhere between vaporware and beta.
- Google recently launched App Engine
- IBM has a big vision and is mastering resources internally
- Microsoft is trying to equate enterprise application hosting and SaaS as cloud services
- Sun recently did a beta release of Project Caroline.
Absent from the discussion due to schedules was Amazon, so I had to be the one to talk about Amazon Web Services. For the record, I like what AWS is doing for the simple reasons that (a) they shipped early and (b) they took a very open approach to the core of cloud computing (EC2 and S3).
The audience focused Q&A on a couple of interesting areas: SLAs/reliability, where is became clear that one-size cloud computing would not fit all, and security/privacy, which is indeed a very interesting topic, especially when one considers, for example, what governments can force your cloud services provider to do with your data.
There are three complementary approaches to both topics or, for that matter, any facet of value-add on top of the core infrastructure-as-a-service cloud computing layer:
- You can architect a solution that achieves your objectives based on core cloud services. For example, since many startups don’t trust Amazon S3 and EC2 not to fail they have made alternative provisions. In another example, one can introduce application-level encryption such that Amazon or Google only keep encrypted data and don’t have access to the keys.
- You can rely on enhanced cloud services, e.g., data encryption add-ins or spreading servers across different zones with an automatic failover layer maintained by the cloud service provider (CSP), etc. This carries potential lock-in implications in exchange for having to solve less of the problem yourself.
- Rather than solving the problem through technology, you can solve it through processes and contracts. For example, failure to meet SLAs can carry financial penalties.
Forced Upgrades June 6, 2008
Posted by Simeon Simeonov in SaaS, Web 2.0, cloud computing, startups.Tags: cloud computing, PaaS, SaaS
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Rolling out a product upgrade used to be a big deal. Decades ago it was about replacing boards and ICs. Twenty years ago it was about shipping stacks of floppies and hoping they survive the UPS trip. A decade ago it was about getting a CD in the mail. Since then we’ve all gotten used to downloading software. With software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, the upgrade is rolled out in some data-center 3,000 miles away.
My point is that the cost to vendors for upgrading products has gone down substantially. First, there were the truck rolls. Then it was about provisioning and shipping the right type of media to the right customer. Then it was about posting a nicely packaged updater online. And, if you are hosting, you don’t even have to package an update–just get it to your servers anyway you can.
As upgrade costs to vendors have gone down, it has become easier to push more and more smaller upgrades. There are other factors driving this trend also, including the spread of security vulnerability exploitation tools. The net effect on customers is not necessarily positive. Just find a CIO and ask him/her about the cost of planned and unplanned outages due to upgrades. For example, several of the Blackberry outages have been pinned on upgrades.
The worst type of upgrade in the shrinkwrap world was a “forced upgrade,” an upgrade that you had to install in order to maintain support coverage or deploy any additional upgrades. As I have been thinking more about building startups that leverage online platforms and cloud computing, I’m starting to realize that almost every SaaS and PaaS upgrade is a forced upgrade.
When Facebook changed the way in which so-called “forced friend invites” were handled last February, hundreds of Facebook application vendors using the F8 platform were affected overnight. They had no control over Facebook’s choice — it was a “forced upgrade.” The only options developers had were to roll with it or get off the platform. This is much different from building applications on top of infrastructure deployed on premises (for example, if you don’t like Vista, don’t upgrade).
