networking-info

Computerworld reports that Gartner see cloud computing as being at the top of the hype cycle. They have also settled on a definition: "a style of computing where massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered 'as a service' to external customers using internet technologies" Gartner believes that cloud computing will have a "transformational impact" on the enterprise, meaning that the technology will change the way the IT industry "looks at user and vendor relationships,"

You know it's important when NPR covers it !! On the "All Things Consider" radio show, NPR took a look into cloud computing. I'm not sure if Computing In The Cloud: Who Owns Your Files? is good or bad, but it definitely presents a view shared by many non-technologist. "Life on the cloud can be wonderful — except when it's not. "

Sun Federal now has it's ebook on cloud computing available for all. The website doesn't really offer any new information, but it does highlight how Sun Federal is targeting the government market with it's cloud offering.

Last week, with their announcement of Elastic Block Store , Amazon has made enterprise class storage in the cloud a reality. According to Dion Hinchcliffe of Ziff Davis ,"Elastic Block Store finally makes it practical, cost effective, and relatively easy to put traditional storage and processing of very large amounts of data in the cloud from a credible vendor". By establishing a businness model for persistent storage in the cloud, is Amazon setting the stage for the demise of the traditional datacenter? What do you think? Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO, outlines his views on his blog .

In a recent Web Guild article , Shane Robinson, Chief Strategy & Technology Office for HP outilined his belief that we are in the early stages of a major shift. As he sees it, some major trends are; 1) cloud computing and everything as a service 2) quantum leap improvements in user experience 3) search will be done for you and not by you 4) from a static web to an intelligent dynamic web 5) context, relevance and availability of information everywhere 6) everyone will be a publisher and content creator 7) crowd sourcing will be a game changer 8) business intelligence will be real time

As reported by the Christian Science Monitor , "As Georgian troops retreated to defend their capital from Russian attack, the websites of their government, also under fire, retreated to Google. In an Internet first, Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reopened its site on Google's free Blogger network and gave reporters a Gmail address to reach the National Security Council." -------- Now that the Russians are apparently pulling out of Georgia, the world is rushing to understand if we're at the front end of a new Cold War. One of the things I focused on was the impact of this on the reality of cloud computing for the DoD. According to the New York Times, "... the attacks against Georgia’s Internet infrastructure began as early as July 20, with coordinated barrages of millions of requests — known as distributed denial of service, or D.D.O.S., attacks — that overloaded and effectively shut down Georgian servers." Weeks before the "kinetic attack...

On August 18th, Apptis announced a partnership with ServerVault to offer a trusted cloud computing environment to federal agencies. Called Fedcloud they are offering a federally compliant, on-demand infrastructure that lets agencies "acquire, utilize, and disengage without contractual dependency (subscription fees, licenses, or long-term commitments)." Apptis is currently scheduled to present at the October 8th SOA-R event at the Tower Club in Tyson's Corner. Sign-up on the SOA-R registration page if you would like to learn more about this offering. This certainly marks an important milestone. If these two companies are jumping into the Federal market with cloud solutions, can others be far behind?