Cisco VBlocks and PoD based Private Cloud Designs

Deploying Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) becomes easy with the Cisco VMDC solution.

This Cisco VMDC solution is multi-tenant data center architecture that uses Vblocks defined by VCE coalition. The architecture specifies two PoD ("point of delivery") sizes, large PoDs and compact PoDs, which differ in compute and storage scalability as well as access- and aggregation-layer design to meet the scalability requirements for different sizes of data centers.

The compact PoD includes 64 servers, and the large PoD includes 512 servers. The design for both the compact and the large PoDs provides the capability to incrementally scale resources by adding multiple such PoDs to the system.

The Cisco Virtualized Multi-Tenant Data Center VMDC 2.0 solution eliminates the cost of home grown development of orchestration systems and complexity of designing, integrating and verifying that all systems and tools work together. It integrates crucial components of the cloud, including the virtualized infrastructure building blocks (compute, storage, and network), service orchestration for automation and configuration management, and end-to-end security.

Now question is How do we design Compact PoD using VBlocks as sub components? Which Vblock (0,1 ,2) to be used within which PoD?

Comments?

Visit URL :
http://www.intel.com/en_US/Assets/PDF/general/icb_ra_cloud_computing_Cisco_on_Intel.pdf

-Cheers

PS:
Next Blog on PaaS and Microsoft Cloud in a Box!

Let's debate & discuss - I have my viewpoints as well..!

Scenario 1:

A start-up wants to develop and demo a product (software) to multiple customers. All employees (less than 25) are technology savvy. Average age less than 25. What should go to cloud?

-          Everything

-          Test & Development

-          Production and demo

-          Mail, collaboration & IT applications  

Scenario 2:

A consulting company well established for last 10 years.  All employees are using current applications and are happy.  Average age more than 30 years. What should be cloud strategy?

-          Everything

-          Mail, collaboration & IT applications  

-          Nothing

-          Look for Saas based IT applications to move first

Scenario 3:

Global IT Services company with more than 20 years in business.  50% of  employees are below 25 years. Everyone not happy with what they get to use or not as per company policy. What options should CIO pursue?

-          Create Privet cloud for company

-          Move DR, Test & Development to AWS

-          Move to Google Mail from exchange for majority or all employees  

-          All of the above

Scenario 4:

A High performance computing facility is required by a  company to complete and deliver a project in a mature and not so fast growing market.

-          Lease  Servers  

-          Go for On demand Servers

-          Use to AWS (Amazon Cloud) for delivering the project

-          Create Privet cloud

Scenario 5:

A CIO who always wants to be using cutting edge technology for a fortune 500 company.

-          Plan strategy to move to Public cloud in next 4 quarters

-          Create Privet cloud within next two quarter

-          Look at IaaS, PaaS and SaaS and target all SaaS implementations first

-          Do nothing - it is too risky to take any side now!

Let's select only one option in all 5 scenarios 

Comments?

-Cheers

Watch List # 4: Liquidware Labs

Watch List # 4: Liquidware Labs

Liquidware Labs is the leader in User Experience Management for next generation desktops including VMware View, Citrix XenDesktop, and Microsoft Windows® 7.

Liquidware Labs Stratsuphere and Liquidware Labs ProfileUnity solutions have been described by analysts as the industry’s first “On-Ramp to VDI” by providing complete methodology and software that enable organizations to cost-effectively plan, migrate, and manage their next generation desktop infrastructure using the industry’s best practices.

Its comprehensive solutions provide Assessment, Personalization Management, User Configuration, and Service Level Assurance. 

Stratusphere invokes patented Connector ID technology to track usage and performance of physical and virtual desktop infrastructure and deployments. The solution delivers a fitness rating of desktop infrastructure, giving organizations the information they need to plan, design, and roll-out next-generation desktop technology. After roll-out, Stratusphere uses proprietary metrics to assign individual User Experience ratings that empowers IT staff with the information needed to identify problems before they occur.

ProfileUnity migrates and transforms user personalization, resulting in user profiles that are completely portable across heterogeneous Windows environments. ProfileUnity Pro adds User Configuration features that enable administrators to centrally configure and deploy user settings, ushering in a new dimension of centralized user personalization control, enforcement, and portability to the enterprise.

Comments?

-Cheers

Low Cost IT & Price Hike!

News from Business Line - India, Sept. 29

After being content without a price hike for more than a year, software companies are now seeking a price increase with clients even as discretionary spend is going up.

A senior official at Cognizant Technology Solutions confirmed that it is getting price increase, while an official at Tata Consultancy Services said rate increase could happen before the year-end.

“Pricing has clearly stabilized. We are now talking to clients about price increases and we are getting price increases. They are not big increases but clearly it is heading in a positive direction,” CFO, Cognizant. He said the company was talking with many of its clients about costs going up and making a pitch for price increases. One of the reasons why clients are open to discussions today is because they are giving wage increases to their own employees. This makes the discussion much easier. Having such a discussion was tough for years, when CIOs were not giving their own staff wage increases.

The industry overall has been quite disciplined on pricing even during the economic downturn. “Yes, there was some volume rebates but compared to what it could have been it is pretty mild. The reason for this is that pricing in this sector is fairly transparent,”.

CFO-TCS, said at this point the company did not get any price increase. “We may start seeing price increases only at the end of this calendar year, Prices are not declining. We do not disclose the onsite and offshore rates. If the pricing power comes back, this will go up,” .

Mr Partha Iyengar, VP-Gartner India, the price hike will be two-three per cent to begin with and possibly settling around five per cent by next year. “This is a completely anecdotal assessment. I believe we will start seeing rates go up, starting with some of the high demand areas such as SAP, Oracle and Business Intelligence by next quarter, and rates across-the-board will start going up mid-way through the calendar 2011.”

The rates have steadied over the past two quarters. Service providers are starting to ‘make noises' about the need for an increase in rates and clients are bracing themselves for it.

- What I am amzed at, on one hand we know that Low cost IT will be the way forward. How do we get pricing ledership along with quality ledership is the drive. On the otehr hand I see this news and hence pressure on all service providers to ask for price hike. Does it make sense?
I think Tier 1 Indian software compnies (service providers) should look at reducing prices by at least 5% year on year for next three years.

Comments?

Cloud Service Models

Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

Ref: NIST

INTEROP 2010 Mumbai

Today Visited : INTEROP 28-30 Sept. 2010. Mumbai, India. (Day 1)

Cloud was the buzz word.
Cisco, LG and Avaya were prominent exibiters. Good sessions but few people have attended. Very few New and Next things to see!

I have seen many  people using  Privet Cloud very casually to describe Virtualization or Consolidation. Looks like I need to post more NIST definitions for cloud.

Cisco, VMWare EMC Partnership on Privet Cloud is picking up steam. New investments in VBlocks are still slow (my opinion).

Riverbed has many good solutions around cloud based WAN Acceleration.

Interop Power Panel: Tales from the Cloud discussion were good. (Patni, Wipro and LTITL shared their experiences in building Privet cloud internally.)

Security Products and Services market was at peak in 2008…. Looks like it will pick up steam in 2011 as more cloud adaptation would drive need for more security.

Worth Looking at –

TrustWave - https://www.trustwave.com/

NeoAccel - http://www.neoaccel.com/

-Cheers
PS: Good use of VIP Pass ;)

Synthesis on low cost IT service.

Synthesis on low cost IT service:

“Economic fluctuations and business uncertainty, accelerated service globalization, and increasing competition of IT services are major factors that could force businesses to move further toward low-cost IT, according to Gartner, Inc.” (From blog 1)

- No one wants to break the price barriers because of the mindset that low price means low margins.

-Higher in the value chain is the a good lever to get more margins and customer stickiness.

- When customers have the choice between faceless options, they pick the cheapest, fastest, more direct option. If you want customers to opt you, it’s tempting to race to the bottom of the price chart.

- innovations and new services would drive revenue growth.

“China does not talk. They have demonstrated by becoming more and more indispensable to global economy order. Talk can take you only that far. Why don’t we learn from China? “ (from blog 3)

-When  organization becomes more human(a face to relate to), more remarkable(strive for the best services), faster on its feet, and  connect directly with customers, it becomes indispensable.

- Only few organizations are going beyond thinking up new technologies, products and services and, through comprehensive organizational change, are achieving the deep customer focus that is nearly impossible to imitate.

Comments?

-Cheers

Watch List # 3: Key Pair Technologies

Key factors moving to cloud - Connectivity, Security & Integration. Key Pair solves security and Authentication part.....

Migrate your applications and infrastructure to Cloud based deployments confidently and securely

Key Pair Cloud Security - SME Edition

Drop-ship box/soft appliance with High Availability (HA), the product provides key features such as web and host single sign-on (Web SSO and Host SSO),  SAML 2.0 based federated authentication, pre-integrated adapters for credential store/authentication, including Microsoft Active Directory/LDAP, RADIUS, Kerberos-KDC and ODBC, as well as, agent-less application integration. The product optionally supports Firewall for infrastructure security, access policy enforcement and multi-factor authentication with built-in Mobile OTP server and smart phone client.

Key Pair Cloud Manager - Enterprise Edition

Designed to enable, secure and manage enterprise private clouds on virtual platforms. As a soft appliance with multiple fast path processing engines, the product provides virtualized, hypervisor agnostic, Firewall with  inter-VM and intra-VM authentication and authorization to enable multi-tenancy, in-line policy enforcement and application SSO. Included are interfaces to external policy management servers, resource management, monitoring and full auditing and compliance capability

Key Pair Cloud Manager - Data Center Edition (Availability: Fall 2010)

Data Center Edition extends the Enterprise Edition, to address the specific needs of commercial data centers including on demand access to computing resources, dynamic provisioning,  allocation and pooling of resources, remote monitoring and application metering with the level of access control security needed for deployments in cloud.  With these key features the product is tailored for "Pay As you Go" deployment models.

Comments?

-Cheers

Watch List # 1& 2

There are two companies who are on my watch list for Cloud based Network Services Aryaka Netwroks and Pareto Networks. Will periodically see how they are doing!

Watch List # 1: Aryaka Networks

Aryaka Launches Cloud-Based Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization Platform

Aryaka Networks (http://www.aryaka.com/), provider of the world’s first cloud-based application acceleration and WAN optimization solution, announced it has officially launched the Aryaka™ platform. Aryaka’s solution enables enterprises to deploy WAN optimization in a matter of minutes and with no capital expenditures. Unlike traditional appliance-based or managed-service models that often take months to test and implement, Aryaka democratizes the world of application acceleration and WAN optimization by offering exemplary performance at a significantly lower cost. Aryaka delivers a guaranteed 99.999% network uptime as enterprises scale to accommodate new applications, users, and locations across the globe.

Instead of traditional approaches, which use either a WAN Optimization Controller (WOC) or implement it as a managed service, Aryaka is designed for cloud-based Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization and offers customers cost effective, scalable, and reliable connectivity between enterprise locations. The software and technology used in the Aryaka Network is proprietary, built from the ground up, and patent pending. The intelligence is moved from the traditional appliance model and built into the secure Aryaka Network.

Watch List # 2: Pareto Networks

Pareto Networks (http://www.paretonetworks.com/) delivers the first multi-tenant, cloud-based distributed networking solution, requiring zero CAPEX and no on-site technical expertise to deploy.

Pareto Branch On Demand, takes the complexity and costs out of deploying and managing a distributed enterprise. Now, you can truly leverage all the scale, availability and economies of the Cloud to confidently deploy and deliver all the advanced video and voice services your remote offices need to drive the business forward. You can have it all - a dynamic, future-proof networking solution that is quick to scale, easy to control and requires zero capital outlay.

Pareto is the leader in Cloud-based Networking, providing you the ability to instantly and securely scale your networks to meet the ever-changing demands of your distributed users.

You need an agile IT infrastructure that can scale to securely deliver all the advanced services and applications your users need, from wherever they are located. But you can’t afford all the costs and management headaches that typically go along with extending that network infrastructure. With the industry’s first 100% Cloud-based networking solutions, Pareto can eliminate the complexity traditionally associated with a distributed network, providing you a cost-effective way to quickly and securely deploy distributed sites to support your growth, productivity and operational efficiency goals.

Pareto leverages the economies of the Cloud to create Cloud-Based Networking solutions that deliver the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership. Solutions require Zero CAPEX to deploy and our subscription model ensures you are only paying for what you need, with the comfort of knowing you can scale the network up or down as those needs change. Pareto solutions are simple to provision, so you can quickly create a dynamic, distributed network that requires no on-site expertise to deploy, manage or maintain. Through a centralized, real-time repository of everything that is going on in the network, you have the visibility and control you need to reduce risks and support regulatory compliance requirements. With Pareto, you can eliminate the complexities and inefficiencies traditionally associated with deploying, managing and maintaining distributed networks to ensure you have the infrastructure you need to respond to all the changing business demands that come your way.

-Cheers

Blog - Freeflow...!

I know, I have put lot of data points out there and you may see few more structured data points as I go thro' some Watchlists, Predictions & News items.

I hope will see some good discussions and free-flow blogging in the time to come...

Hope a very spirited participation and healthy discussions and learnings. :)


Cheers -

The Magic Idea

Patni’s Jeya Kumar is urging employees to become “entrepreneurs” inside the company — and in the process discover the firm’s next spurt of growth...

So here is Jeya Kumar’s dangerous idea to speed up the journey towards the stretch target. It is a chance to become an “entrepreneur” inside the company. All, but the top 50 people inside the company, can pitch ideas for services that Patni doesn’t offer currently.

Every year the company will pick two ideas to support. To create the same risk — reward structure of entrepreneurial environment, the employee whose idea gets selected will have to forego his variable pay for a period of 18 months. This is the time in which the idea will have to be brought to market. The “Patni-preneur” will have the freedom to pick his team. He can, for instance, make an “offer” to an ace solution architect working in another division and bring him on board. If the solution architect accepts the offer, he too foregoes his variable pay, for the time that the project is brought to market.

Once the idea is accepted, key members of the senior team will act as mentors and offer active support to the team that is executing the idea,” says Jeya Kumar. The entire variable compensation withheld will be repaid once the service is launched within 18 months or earlier. The employee is also eligible for promotion to the appropriate level based on the role-based organisation model that the company is implementing in December 2010.The upside for the “Patni-preneur” can be as high as 20 percent of the revenues generated from the service line that he/she has created. The person will also get to run that business till it reaches a size where it may be needed to be integrated into another service line or a division.

“It is quite possible that the employee who creates a successful service line may end up earning more than the CEO. CEOs should be comfortable with that. I am,” says Kumar.

-Comments?

Why don't we learn from China?

Excerpts from TOI Interview of Infosys Chairman & Chief Mentor – N R Narayana Murthy

On US -

I never thought that I would live to see protectionist tendencies of US! But I know one thing, Solution for us is not to become strident or jingoistic. It would be better to use Innovation, use ideas by which we become more indispensable to our customer.

On India –

I believe that Indian companies must make a very serious efforts at recruiting local talent (abroad).

On China –

You see, today, China does not talk. They have demonstrated by becoming more and more indispensable to global economy order. Talk can take you only that far. Why don’t we learn from China?

I find it unbelievable that – Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to China and says ‘China will be one of the two countries that they will shortlist to build California s high speed metro.’

Comments?

Cloud Computing

On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service’s provider.

Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines.

Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured Service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Ref: NIST

“Well begun is half done.” -Artistotle

Bonjour,
Heureux commencement est la moitiéde l'oeuvre.

Today I will start with IT Services Trends discussion...

A.
Economic fluctuations and business uncertainty, accelerated service globalization, and increasing competition of IT services are major factors that could force businesses to move further toward low-cost IT, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner defines low-cost IT as the delivery of managed IT services (infrastructure, application, business process services) designed and implemented to minimize IT price — per-user/unit per-month (PUPM) — while maximizing the number of client organizations and users that adopt the services.

B.

1.    Virtualization and Data Center Consolidation will progress to Privet & Hybrid Cloud.

2.    Cost, Efficiency & focus on Core functions would be the primary driver for outsourcing and offshoring IT Operations.

3.    Lower cost & SaaS based IT management tools and open source tools will be evaluated against high cost Enterprise Management Tools. Enterprise Management Tools will also offer SaaS model to counter this trend.

C.

ABC’s private cloud implementation

·         Virtualizing the infrastructure helped ABC achieve a server consolidation ratio of 12:1 for its IT infrastructure services / development environments and a ratio of 6:1 for production systems. ·         Server provisioning time has been reduced from half a day to 30 minutes. ·         Applications (custom or non-custom) moving from a non-virtualized to a virtualized architecture need to be tested for successful operation in a virtual environment. ·         Applications need to be tested and may require re-architecting for offering multi-tenancy. ·         IP address-based application access, active server directory-based access did not work after being moved to the virtualized environment and needed re-architecting. ·         Most of Patni’s applications did not require re-architecting for multi-tenancy.