Software Giants Aim for the Clouds
Large companies are flying full throttle into the clouds with new offerings and business models that will enable them to take full advantage of the latest major computing development. With cloud computing identified by some experts as potentially having the same impact on information technology and information sharing as personal computers and the Internet, these firms are seizing the opportunity to offer customers a variety of user experiences that they say will change the way users live, work and play.
With the promise of new and exciting ways to service stalwart customers as well as to entice new ones, it’s no surprise that computing giants Microsoft Corporation and IBM Corporation also are soaring into the cloud computing market. Recognizing the needs of both industry and government to make the most of their resources, the companies recently unveiled a variety of new offerings, including Microsoft’s software-as-a-service strategy and IBM’s consulting and implementation services.
Microsoft’s Windows Azure is the cloud-based service foundation of its Azure Services Platform, a platform that will help developers build the next generation of applications that will span from the cloud to the enterprise data center.
The Azure Services Platform combines cloud-based developer capabilities with storage, computational and networking infrastructure services that are hosted on servers operating within Microsoft’s global data center network. As a result, developers can deploy applications in the cloud, through on-premises servers or using a combination of the two. From a user’s standpoint, the platform also expands capabilities. It enables users to access applications and information from anywhere at any time, through any device or PC and anywhere on the Web.
Brian Roach, general manager, U.S. Federal–Department of Defense, Microsoft, explains that the company’s newest offerings would meet the needs of the military in several ways. For example, combatant commanders not only would be able to connect to services such as SharePoint and e-mail as they always have from a laptop, but they also could access applications that reside in a variety of places, including the command’s server and on the Web through a browser.
The user decides which applications or data will be part of the cloud. For instance, the U.S. Defense Department could choose to host its cloud resources behind the .mil domain. Although this would be an enterprise version of the platform, access could be restricted in predetermined ways.
Windows Azure was unveiled at the company’s Professional Developers Conference in October, at which point the developers were encouraged to explore it and provide feedback. Roach says the updated version of the technology is scheduled to be available by the end of 2008. After this initial release, the capabilities will continue to evolve through 2009, he adds.
In addition to expanding its presence in cloud computing to meet military and federal agency requirements, Microsoft has been increasing its work in the data center arena. “Right now, there is a real arms race in data centers,” Roach states. The goal is to consolidate data centers so information can be more easily accessible, he explains.
The company also is making it possible to bring servers—and all the data and applications that reside on them—to the places they would benefit the warfighter most. Shipping containers are being used as portable housing for servers, providing 10 times the density and savings in power usage. Roach explains the containers, which could be placed aboard a ship or within a command, could include as many as 2,500 servers. These container-housed servers could be used as an organization’s primary server farm or could be part of continuity of operations plans. In addition, they could be employed to transport massive amounts of data from one location to another as part of a Base Realignment and Closure move, Roach notes.
IBM’s move into the cloud marketplace includes offering consulting services in public, private and hybrid cloud models to its clients to help them make the jump into cloud computing. The company’s Global Business Services sector will use an economic model to assess the total cost of ownership for building private clouds or moving data and applications off a company’s site to place it in a public or hybrid cloud model. In addition, IBM will help its clients create roadmaps for reconstructing their information technology environments to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing such as improving operational efficiency. In addition to offering services to help clients install, configure and deliver cloud computing inside the data center, the company is focusing on the security issues surrounding cloud computing.
But IBM is doing more than just jumping on today’s cloud computing bandwagon; it is investing in research that will make it easier for its clients to work in the clouds. For example, an IBM China Research Lab pilot program has developed a cloud computing platform codenamed Project Yun. The goal is to facilitate access to new cloud services by making them user friendly, such as offering them via a drop-down menu. Because back-end provisioning is not required, the Project Yun platform reduces the amount of time required to deliver new services to the user. One of
