Derrick Harris
Sun Talks (a Little) About Cloud Plans
Post Date: December 10, 2008 @ 1:54 PM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

Last month, we broke the news that Sun Microsystems is investing heavily in a cloud computing strategy. In a teleconference yesterday, Sun expanded on its plans … a little. I've included some bullet points of the key points.

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Derrick Harris
IBM Enabling 'IT as Electricity'
Post Date: December 09, 2008 @ 8:47 AM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

I wrote last week about some of the analyst presentations at Gartner’s annual Data Center Conference, but Gartner’s sages weren’t the only ones talking cloud computing. One very interesting talk began with IBM’s Willy Chiu, vice president of High Performance on Demand Solutions, and concluded with Robert Rosier, founder and CEO of IBM Blue Cloud customer iTricity.

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Derrick Harris
Even Gartner Loves Cloud Computing
Post Date: December 04, 2008 @ 4:21 PM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

Now, I respect Gartner as much as the next guy, but it has to stop scheduling Data Center Conference keynotes at 8 a.m. I was unable to make it to the MGM Grand that early – even to hear about cloud computing and disruptive datacenter technologies. (Shocking!) Luckily, I’ve got slides.

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Derrick Harris
Software Vets Turn to Federated Cloud Computing
Post Date: December 02, 2008 @ 4:49 PM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

Every now and then -- especially in the cloud computing market -- you come across a company who seems to have something really unique going on. Such is the case with Arjuna, whose software, business model and experience suggest it could have a bright future in the cloud.

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Derrick Harris
IBM Attacking the Cloud from All Angles
Post Date: November 25, 2008 @ 5:02 PM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

As it has done so many times before, IBM might have drawn up the perfect strategy for making money in cloud computing. Instead of simply selling infrastructure or software as services, Big Blue also will be offering consulting and implementation advice, and will brand others’ clouds with the IBM-approved “Resilient Cloud” logo.

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Derrick Harris
High-Performance Cloud Computing: It's Here
Post Date: November 22, 2008 @ 10:40 AM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

Cloud computing and high-performance computing: strange bedfellows, perhaps, but there is a connection. As supercomputers and high-performance commercial datacenters grow increasingly power-hungry, so, too, do HPC cloud offerings -- particularly on on Amazon's EC2.

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Derrick Harris
A Look Inside CA's Cloud Computing/Virtualization Push
Post Date: November 17, 2008 @ 1:24 PM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

It’s funny how life works inside large software companies. For example, when CA decided to get aggressive around virtualization management, people were surprised with the capabilities that had been developed across the product portfolio.

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Derrick Harris
Sun's Cloud Computing Wheels in Motion
Post Date: November 13, 2008 @ 9:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

So, I had a conversation with a “cloud evangelist” at Sun Microsystems, during which I noted his reference to Network.com in the past tense. That’s right, the service is no longer available (except for existing customers). Oh, and did I mention the cloud imagery in the background? Hmm …

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Derrick Harris
Financial Apps in the Cloud?! What's Next?
Post Date: November 12, 2008 @ 8:14 AM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

Derivix yesterday announced its cloud-based risk management application. If trading applications can run successfully in the cloud (assuming this product does what is expected of it), why not just about everything else?

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Derrick Harris
Parallel Paths: Barack Obama and Cloud Computing
Post Date: November 05, 2008 @ 2:10 PM, Pacific Standard Time
Blog: The Essence of 'On-Demand'

I don’t think I’m forcing an analogy by comparing yesterday’s historic election to the current shift toward on-demand computing models. Both can be viewed as referendums on past practices that have left constituents in dicey situations, and both will take some time to bear the promised fruit.

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