Cloud Computing Digest

Here we are back for my second update in a row. Not being “on the road” has its perks. Still to early to call this a trend yet, but hopefully I can start getting back into my old habits. But enough about me, on to this week’s digest.

I often post articles here on things moving to the cloud. But I ran across an interesting article on why Zynga, the massively successful casual game company, moved from Amazon’s EC2 back to hosting their own resources. This isn’t a failure of cloud. Instead it’s a great story of leveraging the cloud to help you meet unexpected demands. Public cloud doesn’t have to be a life-long commitment.

Even if it’s not a permanent commitment, the choice of a public cloud provider can be difficult. Connected System Microsoft MVP Richard Seroter wrote a great blog post recently on why he usually leans towards AWS (Amazon Web Services) over Microsoft’s Windows Azure. To sum it up, I’ll take a line my father taught me back when I spent my summer’s helping me on construction sites. Use the right tool, for the right job. There is no single tool for everything.

I know I spend most of these digests on platforms and providers, but it’s also important to look at individual products/solutions and ponder what problems they are trying to solve.  A recent editorial over at cloudcomments.com highlights this by looking at what DynamoDB can teach us about the future of cloud.

Questions about cloud will continue, but it’s nice to see the cloud used for solutions that simply couldn’t be easily addressed on-premises. A great example of this is two companies that partnered up and used 50,000 cores in Amazon to run a HPC (High Performance Computing) job to screen potential cancer drugs. This type of temporary, massive scale up of compute is a great example of using cloud to extend your traditional infrastructure.

I mentioned in the last digest that cloud computing jobs are really starting to take off. But the number of experts available to fill those positions continues to lag. Well the providers themselves are starting to step into the game and deliver consulting services. I have been asked where to find cloud talent and I always tell folks the same thing, grown it. Find those talented folks in your own organization and support them. BTW, did I mention that Sogeti is hiring.

And lastly, I need to give props to my colleague Leigh Sperberg down in Texas who gave me a heads up on Cisco’s 2012 Global Cloud Networking Survey results. Aside from some nifty sound bites and an info graphic, this survey does help highlight the chasm between development and infrastructure when it comes to how they view cloud computing. You can access the PDF version of these occasionally hilarious results here.

Until next time!