In the first part of this three-part series on cloud computing and the convergence of development and operations known as "devops," I explained how cloud computing is shifting the unit of deployment from the server to the application. This fundamental change in the focus of operations is having a profound effect on the nature of IT operations.

Why? The answer begins with understanding the relationship between applications, services and data (aka "payloads"), and cloud services. The infrastructure and platforms that you find in cloud computing are designed specifically so they can handle as wide a variety … Read more

IT management software vendor CA on Wednesday announced an agreement to acquire privately held 3Tera, a Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based producer of AppLogic, a cloud-computing management platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

CA's press release announcing the pending acquisition noted that 3Tera adds new application delivery capabilities to its existing portfolio of cloud-related management tools:

By streamlining cloud-based deployment of composite applications, 3Tera adds significant new capabilities alongside CA's existing virtual and physical infrastructure management functionality--including that provided by CA Spectrum Automation Manager, the CA Service Assurance line of products, and the recently acquired assets of … Read more

Software heavyweight Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems has (and will have) a wide impact on the technology market.

Oracle's strategy of targeting an "all in one" relationship with its customers--providing hardware, software, and services--is something to which the rest of the high-technology industry will have to pay close attention. Modeling yourself after the "IBM of the 1960s" is not a bad target, especially when you consider market share.

However, when it comes to cloud computing, Oracle has taken a fairly "arm's length" position. CEO Larry Ellison's famous "cloud is fashion" rant … Read more

Recently, I outlined my thoughts around simplifying application delivery into cloud-computing environments. At the time, I thought what was needed was a way to package applications in a universal format, whether targeted for infrastructure or platform services, Java or Ubuntu, VMs or disk drives.

The core concept was to define this format so that it combines the actual bits being delivered with the deployment logic and run-time service level parameters required to successfully make the application work in a cloud. I wasn't very clear initially about the core motivation for this proposal, but I will make them explicitly clear … Read more

A few weeks ago I completed a series of posts describing the ways that cloud computing will change the way we utilize virtual machines and operating systems. The very heart and soul of software systems design is being challenged by the decoupling of infrastructure architectures from the software architectures that run on them.

Over the last few weeks, I've been slowly trying to get a grip on what the state of the union is with respect to software "packaging" architectures in cloud computing environments. Specifically, I've been focusing on infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, and … Read more

In January of 2008, dreading the idea of a cliche "prediction" post, I wrote a post that attempted to somewhat humorously outline seven businesses that would result from the then nascent cloud computing movement. As I look back at that post this year, I'm surprised to find myself thinking that most--if not all--of these should appear in one form or another in the coming year.

Here's the list, with my updated commentary from this year in italics:

SaaS<-->Enterprise data conversion practice: All those existing enterprise apps will need to have their data … Read more

As reported on CNET, Amazon Web Services has announced a new pricing option that lets its customers take advantage of spare capacity within the EC2 infrastructure at variable, supply-and-demand-driven pricing.

The news has taken the cloud community by storm. For some, it represents the beginning of a long-anticipated move to market pricing for core IT infrastructure services.

While there is some truth to the importance of AWS spot pricing to the history of cloud computing, let's keep things in perspective: this pricing is set by Amazon, not any market. We are a long way from a true commodity market … Read more

In a much anticipated move, Microsoft announced the combination of the Windows Azure group with the Windows Server and Solutions group into a new organization, titled the Server and Cloud Division. The new division, headed by Senior Vice President Amitabh Srivastava, will be a part of the Servers and Tools Business, headed by Bob Muglia.

The new division will "deliver solutions that help our customers realize even greater benefits from Microsoft's investments in on-premises and cloud technologies," according to the Windows Server Division blog. The Windows Azure team blog adds that the combined team will "ensure … Read more

Cloud computing providers have a difficult marketing challenge, in my opinion. Think about it--no matter what service model or deployment model a provider is delivering, they must differentiate their service while meeting the "commodity" needs of as many customers as possible. It would seem these businesses are stuck between providing least common denominator service capabilities and being accused of intentional customer lock-in.

From a customer perspective, it is equally challenging when one is "looking for servers and storage" and must choose between a bunch of services that essentially run Linux or Windows and store your files. … Read more