In The Loop

  With the U.S. presidential elections in the not-too-distant past, I thought it would be a timely opportunity to highlight a few of the results of a survey we conducted at the recent CloudCamp Silicon Valley. The survey is part of a series dubbed “Inside the Cloud” and is an effort to gauge the impact of cloud computing on the cloud community in general, and those attending CloudCamp particular, as well as uncover the issues and opportunities cloud presents.

We had 61 CloudCampers respond to the Silicon Valley survey, representing a mix of providers and consultants (and the ever elusive "other"). Through the survey, they provided feedback on cloud leadership, market conditions, innovation, challenges to cloud adoption, critical cloud attributes, and relevant cloud applications.

Some of the key findings include: 

• Amazon is perceived as leading the race for cloud king, besting Google by a 2-1 margin.
• Respondents expect an uptick in cloud interest as a result of the current state of the economy.
• Infrastructure is currently seen as the source of the most innovation in cloud computing right now.
• Cloud computing's "Big Three" -- security, reliability and scalability -- continue to haunt developers' dreams.
• There remains a considerable amount of uncertainty around what applications will win the cloud race.

The full survey report was released today complete with deeper analysis and statistics. You can read the press release here.

Have a question you'd like to submit for consideration in the next "Inside the Cloud" survey? Post a comment to let me know.

P.S. We're tallying the results of a similar survey conducted at CloudCamp Federal in Washington, DC, which focused on the unique challenges and opportunities for cloud computing in the federal market (more to follow in a future post).

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post about the amazing CloudCamp Silicon Valley event we held a couple of weeks ago. But there’s no better time than the present, especially since it gives me a chance to plug next week’s CloudCamp Chicago.

CloudCamp Silicon Valley was held at Sun’s executive briefing center in Menlo Park on September 30th. The EBC is an amazing facility; thanks again to Sun for hosting us. We had more than 10 rooms filled to capacity with more than 150 people discussing various aspects of cloud computing. In fact, due to strong interest in the event a good number of walk-ins we found ourselves pushing the limits of the Menlo Park fire code. We may need to pony up for a door man/bouncer at the next event. :-)

The event took on the traditional CloudCamp “un-conference” approach, with attendees driving the discussion by posting topics to the board. We had really strong participation and the board filled up quickly. There were a handful of slots open at the end, so I volunteered to facilitate two topics I thought would be of interest. The first was a session on “What is Cloud Computing?” targeted at those new to the field. The second was a more advanced topic on cloud application development: what it means, how it’s different, and what enterprise developers – Java and .Net – need to do to fully leverage cloud environments.

Defining the Cloud

About 25 CloudCampers joined me to explore what cloud computing really is. It was a highly interactive session (as most camp discussions are) where we talked about different approaches to cloud computing. In the end, the group consensus lined-up very well with the approach I’ve been advocating here on my blog (see especially the Blind Men and the Cloud post), that is, that trying to define cloud based on the technologies used to enable it doesn’t capture the full promise of cloud, and that the best way to define cloud computing is in terms of the set of characteristics each of us is trying to achieve with it. Some of the essential cloud characteristics we came up with in the session were:

A Heated Debate on Cloud Application Development

The second session I led was around cloud application development. There were about 20 or so very technical participants crammed into a relatively small room, many standing, and we ended up having a very lively discussion about software development in the age of the cloud. I took a show-of-hands survey at the start of the session and the group’s primary focus was on achieving scalability for their cloud applications, as opposed to simply trying to outsource the ownership and management of servers to a third party. (Not a surprising finding for a group of developers.)

There was a bit of a split in the group between whether cloud application development was, in fact, different than traditional application development at all, or if it was just more of the same. Many of those in the room felt that developing for the cloud required a different approach so that applications could take advantage of the resources the cloud made available. A couple of folks took the position that cloud development wasn’t really any different. (Chris Richardson did a great job of challenging the notion that a new approach was needed). I think the unifying idea between both positions is that cloud development necessitates the best practices that people have been talking about for a long time. Developing applications that can truly scale in the cloud depends on writing loosely coupled, highly modular code and being careful about the way state is managed. For more on this topic see the Guerry’s great series of posts on “Is your code cloud-ready and multi-core friendly?” (Part 1: Introduction, Part 2: Atomicity, Part 3: Statelessness, Part 4: Idempotence, with more to come)

Finally, the exceptional turnout also gave us the opportunity to more formally ask about the industry issues on the minds of CloudCamp participants. Appistry partnered with Cloud Camp to sponsor the first-ever Cloud Camp attendee survey. We’re in the process of tabulating the responses and will highlight some of them in upcoming posts. We’ll continue to sponsor these surveys to help the community enhance its understanding of cloud computing in the market.

It's CloudCamp time again. Please join us for CloudCamp Silicon Valley as we return to the Bay Area after a successful event in London.

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CloudCamp Silicon Valley – September 30, 2008

Call for Participants

CloudCamp was formed in order to provide a common ground for the introduction and advancement of cloudcomputing. Through a series of local CloudCamp events, attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies.

As an informal, member-supported gathering, we rely entirely on volunteers to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting locations, equipment and membership recruitment. We also depend on corporate sponsors who provide financial assistance with venues, software, books, discounts, and other valuable donations.

We invite you to participate in the next CloudCamp event, to be held Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 from 6-10 pm in Menlo Park, California.

There are a number of opportunities to get involved, including:

· ATTEND – Attending CloudCamp Silicon Valley is both free and fun. Space is limited, so please visit http://cloudcamp-silicon-valley-08.eventbrite.com to register.

· PRESENT – CloudCamp Silicon Valley will follow the popular Open Space format, which encourages an open exchange between presenters and participants. If you've got a cloud-related topic to discuss, visit the CloudCamp SV and present your ideas.

· SPONSOR – A number of sponsorship opportunities are available at the Platinum, Gold and Silver levels. Sponsors receive recognition for their support and enhanced visibility at the Camp. A separate track will allow sponsors to hold 10 minute cloud computing demonstrations. If you'd like to demo or sponsor, please contact Dave Nielsen.

· ORGANIZE – CloudCamp is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization. If you'd like to help plan CloudCamp SV or a future CloudCamp, join an organizing committee by joining the CloudCamp Google Group  and letting us know about your interest.

CloudCamp Around the Web

For additional information on CloudCamp, please visit www.cloudcamp.com. CloudCamp can also be found in various places around the Web:

• CloudCamp on Facebook
• CloudCamp on Twitter (Hashtag: #cloudcamp)
• CloudCamp on FriendFeed
• Cloud Computing Google Group (Mailing List)

Contacts

Media:

• Sam Charrington, sam -at- appistry.com, http://twitter.com/samcharrington
• Sara Dornsife, sara.dornsife -at- sun.com, http://twitter.com/sarad

Sponsorships:

• Dave Nielsen, dnielsen -at- gmail.com, https://twitter.com/davenielsen
• Jesse Silver, jesse.silver -at- sun.com, http://twitter.com/silverguru

Program:

• Dave Nielsen, dnielsen -at- gmail.com, https://twitter.com/davenielsen
• Reuven Cohen, ruv -at- enomaly.com, http://twitter.com/ruv

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to deliver two presentations on cloud computing at the Next Generation Data Center (NGDC) conference. The first talk was part of the Executive Summit, an all-day event for senior IT professionals moderated by Don Tennant of ComputerWorld. The second was a stand-alone presentation as part of the conference’s Applications Track.

Since so many of us still struggle to define cloud computing, offering my perspective on what it’s all about seemed like a natural place to start.

I took a bit of an integrative approach with the definition I presented. Granted, it's not the kind of definition that satisfies the engineer in me, but I think it helps capture the essence--and promise--of cloud computing.

My main point is that when we try to define cloud based on some subset of the technologies used to implement it, we risk missing the forest for the trees.

Unfortunately this is done all-too-frequently, in part because of the different perspectives that we bring to the task. To illustrate a few of these perspectives at play, I read Executive Summit attendees a poem called “The Blind Men and the Cloud,” which I wrote with help from Noreen Barczewski, the Appistry office bard.

The poem, based on “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” by John Godfrey Saxe, tells the story of six "blind men of Info Tech," each trying to define cloud computing. If you look around at the various cloud definitions being proposed, I think you'll see these six perspectives--and more--at play.

The Blind Men and the Cloud

It was six men of Info Tech

        To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Cloud

        (Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

        Might satisfy his mind

 

The First approached the Cloud,

        So sure that he was boasting

“I know exactly what this is…

       This Cloud is simply Hosting.”

 

The Second grasped within the Cloud,

        Saying, “No it’s obvious to me,

This Cloud is grid computing…

        Servers working together in harmony!”

 

The Third, in need of an answer,

        Cried, "Ho! I know its source of power

It’s a utility computing solution

       Which charges by the hour.”

 

The Fourth reached out to touch it,

        It was there, but it was not   

“Virtualization,” said he.

        “That’s precisely what we’ve got!”

 

The Fifth, so sure the rest were wrong

        Declared “It’s sass you fools,

Applications with no installation

        It’s breaking all the rules!"

 

The Sixth (whose name was Benioff),

        Felt the future he did know,

He made haste in boldly stating,           

        “This *IS* Web 3.0.”

 

And so these men of Info Tech

        Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

        Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

        And all were partly wrong!

So, what perspectives are you seeing out there? Does keeping the different perspectives in mind help make sense of the different definitions being proposed?

From essentially nowhere less than a year ago, Cloud Computing has quickly risen to the top of the IT industry agenda and has everyone talking about what amounts to an exciting new way to deliver applications and services.

With this growing buzz as backdrop, three brand new Cloud-focused events launched in San Francisco last week, bringing together a host of key players from the rapidly growing Cloud Computing ecosystem.

I had the good fortune of attending all three of these events -- the O'Reilly Velocity conference, CloudCamp, and GigaOM's Structure '08.

Velocity 2008

The week began with Velocity 2008, O'Reilly's inaugural "Web Performance and Operations Conference." Targeted at the folks who build and operate large-scale Web/Cloud infrastructures, Velocity addressed the Cloud from the bottom up. The conference was chaired by Jesse Robbins and Steve Souders, both of whom are brilliant and did a fantastic job with the event.

The conference explored many of the ideas, best practices and tools used by leading companies to manage extremely large Web applications. There was an Operations/Infrastructure track and a perhaps deceptively-named "Performance" track. (The Performance track seemed to focus not on server-side application performance but on end-user perceived performance at the client. Focusing on the end-user is a Good Thing™, but the sessions on what's new in the browser world, page rendering, etc. seemed off-topic to me, a server-side kind of guy.)

There were a good number of very informative Cloud-oriented sessions. Here are some highlights from my Twitter stream from Velocity 2008:

• Best session title: "Clouds are no Substitute for Competence," by Javier Soltero of Hyperic
• Favorite line: Jesse Robbins' description of the Cloud as a "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Data-centers"
• Interesting tidbit: The average adult male consumes about as much energy as a 3 year old Dell; ~120 Watts

Big shout-out to Jesse for helping me make it to Velocity. Thanks!

Structure '08

Whereas Velocity was a meeting place for work-a-day uber-geeks sharing best practices on how to weave the Web, Structure was the Cloud equivalent of the World Economic Forum at Davos, bringing together the "Clouderati" for a day of thought-provoking panels and presentations on where it was all going and what was needed to get there.

Om Malik, Alistair Croll, and the rest of the GigaOM team did a great job with the agenda and list speakers; there was very little fluff in the program. Fortunately, for those of you who couldn't make it, the entire event is available for on-demand viewing. If you're interested in Cloud Computing or the evolution of Web infrastructure and platforms, I encourage you to check out some of the sessions.

I found the most interesting presentations to be:

• Jonathan Yarmis' (VP, AMR Research) talk "The Platform Revolution: A Look Into Disruptive Technologies," which really helped set the tone for the day Jonathan made some very interesting points about the intersection of Cloud Computing, mobile, social networking, and the enterprise.
• Werner Vogels (CTO, Amazon.com) on "Ahead in the Cloud: The Power of Infrastructure as a Service". Werner argued that running data center infrastructure is "undifferentiated heavy lifting" that consumes lots of enterprise resources/energy but provides little unique value, and therefore should be in the Cloud. I was hoping for a bit more on where Amazon was headed, but still enjoyed the presentation.
• Greg Papadoploulos (CTO, Sun) on "The Invisible Hand of Web Architecture," which attempted to present an economic argument for Cloud Computing a la Adam Smith: economies of scale will drive innovation which will in turn drive everything to the cloud, assuming openness prevails.

The panels were interesting as well.

My favorite line from the conference was Werner Vogels opening with "Hi, I'm the system administrator for a small bookshop in Seattle." Other highlights can be found in my Twitter stream from Structure 08.

CloudCamp San Francisco

Nestled between the the high-gloss conferences that were Structure and Velocity was the "little unconference that could," CloudCamp! When I say that CloudCamp was my favorite event of the week, it's not just because I helped organize it. What made CloudCamp so cool was that it was totally participant driven, and boy did the 300+ participants "bring the funk." CloudCamp was pure grassroots energy -- the enthusiasm about the topic was palpable.

Unlike the other events with their set agendas, at CloudCamp the participants both created and facilitated the sessions. After some opening remarks, attendees were invited to volunteer to present or facilitate a discussion on a topic. We had 27 volunteers step up to run a session (without any prodding!) and easily filled the 30 available slots (10 rooms, compliments Microsoft x 3 one-hour-long sessions).

The list of presentation/discussion topics ran the gamut. A few were:

• What is Cloud Computing?
• 1 Billion Page Views: Hacks to Scale Big on the Cloud
• Cloud Storage; Unifying Cloud Storage APIs
• SQL Database Clusters in the Cloud
• Simple DB or SQL: Which Will Dominate the Cloud?
• Connect the Clouds: Integration Between Clouds and Local Applications
• No Cure for Cancer: Managing the Expectations of Cloud Computing Today and Tomorrow

Here's the entire session board:

I held a session (this one ^^^^^  ) entitled "How Cloud Impacts Enterprise Computing." I was joined by about 20 other CloudCampers to explore a range of topics including the emergence of Private Clouds, standardization of Cloud Computing environments, Cloud security issues, and more. One of the most quotes of the evening came from Geoffrey Routledge in this session when he asked "After all, what is the difference between a really well run virtualized environment and a Cloud?"

CloudCamp managed to attract its share of Cloud heavy hitters, including many of the folks that attended at presented at both Velocity and Structure. After the sessions, folks hung around networking, chatting and catching up for quite some time.

What the Future Holds

The energy level was extremely high at each of these events, and I was left with the distinct impression that we as attendees were witnessing a decisive turning point for Cloud Computing as a market -- a coming-out party of sorts.

I expect each of these first-time events will continue long into the future., and I've already learned about three new Cloud-focused events just SINCE LAST WEEK! For our part, we certainly hope to make CloudCamp an ongoing tradition. The next CloudCamp, CloudCamp London, will take place on July 16th, and additional dates/locations are in the works. If you're interested in bringing CloudCamp to your area, please do get in touch.

Finally, I'll be bringing a little bit of Cloud-mojo to my session at the upcoming Next-Generation Data Center conference in August. Let me know if you're planning to attend. Also, if you're interested in attending and would like a 20% discount let me know and I'll send you my Priority Code.