|
Sponsored Links
Resources
Enterprise Java
Research Library
Get Java white papers, product information, case studies and webcasts
|
News
News
News
|
Messages: 2
Messages: 2
Messages: 2
Printer friendly
Printer friendly
Printer friendly
Post reply
Post reply
Post reply
XML
XML
XML
|
 |
The Blind Men and the Cloud: Defining Cloud Computing
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.
[Slide: Cloud computing is the evolution and convergence of many seemingly independent computing trends.]
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?
(Originally Post: http://www.appistry.com/blogs/sam/the-blind-men-and-cloud)
|
|
|
Message #267833
Post reply
Post reply
Post reply
Go to top
Go to top
Go to top
|
|
Re: The Blind Men and the Cloud: Defining Cloud Computing
Please don't get me started on that fiasco :-)!
|
|
|
| New content on TheServerSide.comNew content on TheServerSide.comNew content on TheServerSide.com |
|
|
Reza Rahman explores the features of the proposed JSR 299, Contexts and Dependency Injection for Java EE (CDI). When approved, it promises to be a key feature of Java EE 6.
(November 2, Article)
SAML is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains. The single most important problem that SAML was created to solve is the Web browser Single Sign-On problem. Many organizations are debating whether to stay with version 1.1 or move to 2.0. This article makes observations about both options.
(September 28, Article)
Joe Ottinger takes a look at how people learn, and applies it to the practice of programming. He notes that understanding how people learn is an essential part of working in a programming team.
(September 22, Article)
Stephen Maryka gave us an article about the Asynchronous Web and posed a number of questions that get examined like an approach to delivering Asynchronous Web capabilities through extensions to existing Java EE technologies.
(July 14, Article)
JavaServer Faces Flex goal is to provide users capability in creating standard Flex components, part of flexSDK which is open sourced through MPL license, as normal JSF components. This article by Ji Hoon Kim will provide an overview of creating a simple multilingual JSF page consisting of JSF Flex tags.
(June 29, Article)
In this session Jeff explores the key characteristics of successful SOA projects. He covers some of the patterns, and anti-patterns, tool sets, and strategies that he himself learned the hard way. Last, he provides a strategy and blueprint for achieving a high likelihood of success in your SOA project.
(June 23, Tech Talk)
Ari Zilka, CTO of Terracotta, Inc., talks about the new features in Terracotta 3.1, announced during JavaOne and available now.
(June 15, Tech Talk)
In this Tech Talk, Josh Long explores an integration challenge using Spring Integration and walks through the implementation, employing and expanding on the basic patterns of Enterprise Application Integration to tie together components into a function integration solution, and then demonstrates how Spring Integration helps address the integration requirements.
(June 15, Tech Talk)
In this Tech Talk, David Geary teaches you: The basics of Google Web Toolkit; How to implement Ajax-enabled applications in Java; Internationalization; Hooking into the browser history mechanism; Remote procedure calls.
(June 4, Tech Talk)
Jon Kern discusses the best architecture/technical solutions and ensure that they are repeated by all developers. By tackling the architecture up-front in a serial manner, subsequent parallel development will be much more manageable and predictable.
(May 28, Tech Talk)
This keynote describes the frustrations of modern knowledge workers in their quest to actually get some work done, and solutions for how to guard yourself against all those distractions. Neal Ford talks about environments, coding, acceleration, automation, and avoiding repetition as ways to defeat the misguided attempts to sap your ability to produce good work.
(May 26, Tech Talk)
Gil demonstrates how new, aggressive uses of already abundant compute capacity by common applications offer competitive value for application designers.
(May 21, Tech Talk)
Chris Keene introduces WaveMaker as a new way to automate the ability to generate Hibernate classes in order to more quickly bring OR mapping into an application.
(May 19, Article)
In this session Nati Shalom demonstrates how to take a standard Java EE web application and scale it out or down dynamically without changes to the application code. Seeing as most web applications are over-provisioned to meet infrequent peak loads, this is a dramatic change because it enables growing your application as needed, when needed, without paying for unutilized resources.
(May 19, Tech Talk)
Mastering EJB was one of the original and most influential EJB books in the industry. Mastering EJB III now returns with two new expert co-authors, updated for EJB 2.1 and 30% new chapters including security, integration, best practices, open source, and more.
(Book PDF Download)
The Application Server Matrix is a detailed listing of J2EE vendors and their application server products, with information on latest version numbers, J2EE spec support and licensing, pricing, platform support, and links to product downloads and reviews.
(Application Server Comparison Matrix)
|
|
