http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudcomputing%2Esys-con%2Ecom%2Fnode%2F1198120&urlhash=Af72

Found a snippet of information about stabilising Cloud Computing. There are people out there that are in fact on to it (why wouldnt they). There is a fantasic blog all about cloud computing, if that interests you. Below is an excerpt from their blog post late last year!

San Jose 12 May, 2009

Monitis launches industry’s first deep EC2 monitoring service. Monitis Cloud Monitor records instantiations and terminations of virtual server instances, automatically configures Monitis agents for deep fault, performance and configuration monitoring, and provisions external availability monitoring. Cloud computing enables companies to attain scale on demand and hence reduced capital investments.

Amazon’s Web Services package is the market leader for on demand dedicated server provisioning and cloud computing. Virtual machine instantiation in Amazon EC2 is a minute and click away. Both startups and established companies are increasingly leveraging EC2 in their production systems. EC2 allows companies to scale to unlimited servers and payment can be tied to actual usage instead of monthly contracts. Users can run 20 servers per 1 hour or 1 server per 20 hour at the same cost.

Software can launch additional services on demand including ability to scale when it experiences heavy load. This has potential to create the following problems for the administrator: 1) cost escalation due to uncontrolled service launch and 2) inability for monitoring service to handle dynamic server instantiation. Monitis Cloud Monitor provides control over services running in EC2 by leveraging Amazon’s API for automated service management. Cloud Monitor leverages AWS account detail to regularly poll active instances, record changes in instance (start/stop) and executes user defined rules & actions including: ability to issue alerts, and setup additional internal/external monitors for new instances.

Monitis automatically configures its agent for probing server CPU, load, storage, and processes resource utilization. Monitis service provisions external http, ping, database and/or custom monitoring. An example of custom monitoring includes notification rules such as “notify if greater than 5 instances are running”, “add an agent for every new instance, start CPU & storage monitoring, and notify if CPU utilization is more than 80%”, etc. “There is tremendous growth in on demand cloud computing and we see growing need for explicit cloud monitoring” said Hovhannes Avoyan, “with our customer first policy, we are here to address the need and we provide a fast, easy, affordable tool”.

Monitis Cloud Monitor is web centric software and no downloads are required. The service is expected to be used by both site owners and IT service providers

Cloud Computing (not physically, though I know alot of people this is one of their wishes)

Cloud computing is Internet- ("cloud-") based development and use of computer technology ("computing").^[1] In concept, it is a paradigm shift whereby details are abstracted from the users who no longer need knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.^[2] Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.^{[3][4] (Wikipedia)}

Cloud Application Examples

• Peer-to-peer / volunteer computing (BOINC, Skype)
• Web applications (Webmail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yammer)
• Security as a service (MessageLabs, Purewire, ScanSafe, Zscaler)
• Software as a service (Envysion.com, A2Zapps.com, Google Apps, Salesforce,Nivio www.nivio.com ,Learn.com, Zoho, BigGyan.com)
• Software plus services (Microsoft Online Services)
• Storage [Distributed]
• Content distribution (BitTorrent, Amazon CloudFront)
• Synchronisation (Dropbox, Live Mesh, SpiderOak, ZumoDrive)

Cloud Platforms Examples

• Services
• Identity (OAuth, OpenID)
• Payments (Amazon Flexible Payments Service, Google Checkout, PayPal)
• Search (Alexa, Google Custom Search, Yahoo! BOSS)
• Real-world (Amazon Mechanical Turk)
• Solution stacks
• Java (Google App Engine)
• PHP (Rackspace Cloud Sites)
• Python Django (Google App Engine)
• Ruby on Rails (Engine Yard, Heroku)
• ColdFusion (Adobe)
• .NET (Azure Services Platform, Rackspace Cloud Sites)
• Proprietary (Force.com, WorkXpress, Wolf Frameworks)
• Storage [Structured]
• Databases (Amazon SimpleDB, BigTable)
• File storage (Centerra Blades,Amazon S3, Nirvanix, Rackspace Cloud Files)
• Queues (Amazon SQS)

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

In general, cloud computing customers do not own the physical infrastructure, instead avoiding capital expenditure by renting usage from a third-party provider.

They consume resources as a service and pay only for resources that they use. Many cloud-computing offerings employ the utility computing model, which is analogous to how traditional utility services (such as electricity) are consumed, whereas others bill on a subscription basis. Sharing "perishable and intangible" computing power among multiple tenants can improve utilization rates, as servers are not unnecessarily left idle (which can reduce costs significantly while increasing the speed of application development).

A side-effect of this approach is that overall computer usage rises dramatically, as customers do not have to engineer for peak load limits.^[9] In addition, "increased high-speed bandwidth" makes it possible to receive the same response times from centralized infrastructure at other sites.(Wikipedia)

The iPhone can be used to access the same files and music that the desktop machine used at home can. You are able to travel with the laptop and just pull down your data from the internet. The data remains secure, backed up in the ether and forever available.

Living the dream? Or “Living in the cloud”….

Risk 1.

Your most important files are the ones you need with you at all times, or at least at any time. But what if the internet connection is down? How do you get the spreadsheet from Google docs, or refer to the map in that email when you are offline?

The standard scenario is that you have your connection chopped of when you’re on a plane, although I actually like the relaxing offline time of a plane ride. This is a problem, but in truth you are cut off whenever you are away from home or office.

3G modems?

Work best when using small data sizes, but the networks are still too slow for shifting big files like music, photos or movies. When outside 3G coverage (possibly your next holiday destination), you may as well be on dial-up. Wi-Fi is no way for the professional to work…

Resolve this risk!

Notebook with a day-long battery life and a guaranteed, 24/7 connection that’s fast enough to stream HD video. We’ll imagine that you get a cheap plan with no crazy bandwidth caps. Would this work?

Your thoughts?

5 Social Media Secrets for 2010

Social media took a wild ride in 2009. The mainstream press fell in love with Twitter, Facebook grew aggressively and a new wave of companies starting taking social media seriously as a business tool. Below are 10 secrets to staying on top of it all in 2010

1. Pay Attention to the Metrics
You can't manage what you can't measure. Chief Marketing Officers are going to pay more attention to metrics and tie in social media more directly to overall business goals, not just web-related goals. When starting up new project agree on what the metrics should be and what goals are appropriate.

2. Scale Good Habits
As you grow, make sure you match your structure, policy and guidelines to your organization size. What works with 2 people won't work with 20 people. All in all your structure should encourage good habits. Your entire team should be motivated to respond quickly, post consistently and talk like a human. Speaking of policies and rules...

3. Have Rules, But Trust People
As your social media strategy matures, you'll add in more rules and guidelines. However, you can't have a rule for every situation. You need to trust your team. Lead by example, don't manage with rulebook.

4. Creativity & Personality Trump Big Budget
Social media is definitely one of those areas in life where more money doesn't always win. Two of the most powerful ingredients in social media are creativity and personality. They are the key to having a viral message and to being a trusted resource. They are also essential to discovering useful strategies and tactics. You can't be afraid to try something new or go against the grain.

5. Listen Listen Listen
Don't focus so much on you and your message. Put that farther down on your To Do List. Focus first on your customers. Hear what they are saying, see what they're up to. Once you've been able to connect, and figure them out, then see how you can help.

I wanted to see how everyone uses Facebook, accepting or adding friends – or not adding or accepting.

During my lifetime I have come across several types of friends. I can rattle off a few: work mate, best mate, chick friends, guys you know through friends, old school friends, old work friends…then there is the awkward one…the guy you have just started seeing. Or, wouldn’t mind dating!!

Ok, so you scope out their reaction first to Facebook. Judging by her/his reaction you get a gauge on whether they are on it, active on it, or not at all.
She is on there! Bang.

You go on and see what you can find, any photos, any comments, and best of all, who she is mates with and whether she is single! Of course you would like to improve the chances of having similar interests, so snooping in her interests is something to look at.

She is a smart one. She has locked down access to her page, unless you become friends with her. But her profile picture is intriguing.

Now this is going to drive you crazy isn’t it? What is she up to in that world? It’s something that you can’t really ask about because the simple answer is ‘you know I talk to family and friends’. Doesn’t really take a Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out.

Is it inappropriate to ask her to be your friend on Facebook when you have only known each other for a month?

And when you do become friends on Facebook..What happens then…you both will be stalking one another’s every move, to see who else is on the scene, if they are telling you the truth? And of course any photos taken of them – what are they really like when they are with their friends. You may find once you are friends it reveals so much more than what you really intended.

Dating and being on Facebook gets complicated, because dating is not a committed relationship! When you are dating, you are just that..having had no talk or mention of the future. Or you may have talked about future plans, without really thinking about the commitment level. Do you assume you are in a relationship only because you have been dating a few months? Apparently this is something ‘you’ should know. Personally, I have to be told as I am very black and white. I might have feelings, but would never assume the other person would unless told directly.

The tricky part in all of this is knowing when to add the new boyfriend as your boyfriend. Do you talk about it? Or just do it?

What do you think?

I wanted to see how everyone uses Facebook, accepting or adding friends – or not adding or accepting.

During my lifetime I have come across several types of friends. I can rattle off a few: work mate, best mate, chick friends, guys you know through friends, old school friends, old work friends…then there is the awkward one…the guy you have just started seeing. Or, wouldn’t mind dating!!

Ok, so you scope out their reaction first to Facebook. Judging by her/his reaction you get a gauge on whether they are on it, active on it, or not at all.
She is on there! Bang.

You go on and see what you can find, any photos, any comments, and best of all, who she is mates with and whether she is single! Of course you would like to improve the chances of having similar interests, so snooping in her interests is something to look at.

She is a smart one. She has locked down access to her page, unless you become friends with her. But her profile picture is intriguing.

Now this is going to drive you crazy isn’t it? What is she up to in that world? It’s something that you can’t really ask about because the simple answer is ‘you know I talk to family and friends’. Doesn’t really take a Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out.

Is it inappropriate to ask her to be your friend on Facebook when you have only known each other for a month?

And when you do become friends on Facebook..What happens then…you both will be stalking one another’s every move, to see who else is on the scene, if they are telling you the truth? And of course any photos taken of them – what are they really like when they are with their friends. You may find once you are friends it reveals so much more than what you really intended.

Dating and being on Facebook gets complicated, because dating is not a committed relationship! When you are dating, you are just that..having had no talk or mention of the future. Or you may have talked about future plans, without really thinking about the commitment level. Do you assume you are in a relationship only because you have been dating a few months? Apparently this is something ‘you’ should know. Personally, I have to be told as I am very black and white. I might have feelings, but would never assume the other person would unless told directly.

The tricky part in all of this is knowing when to add the new boyfriend as your boyfriend. Do you talk about it? Or just do it?

What do you think?

A New Year

A new job? A new home..a new hairstyle?

I can help you find ways to promote yourself and find a new job - if that is what you need!

Get yourself aquainted with LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), fill in your personal details and upload a copy of your recent CV.

Now you have done this, here are some tips and tricks:


1. Groups

Actively participate in a handful of groups related to your professional interests to expand your network. Find "Groups" on the navigation bar. From here you can search for a group to join, manage your groups or start a new one. Groups will keep you updated with industry-related information, plus they function as a forum where you can propose and answer questions, helping you become a recognizable name.

2. Company Buzz

Under "More..." choose "Application Directory". This will bring you to a page with a number of applications that you can add to your homepage and profile. The "Company Buzz" tool aggregates mentions of a company from Twitter, allowing you to discover relevant trends and comments about your company. The tool lets you customize and modify the topics to watch and displays charts to track activity. "A lot of people who use Twitter don't know where they can see what's trending, so this is a great application for that," says Eve Mayer Orsburn, CEO of Social Media Delivered, a social media consultancy.

3. Recommendations

These blurbs from your coworkers make your LinkedIn profile more dynamic and bring more credit and validity to your profile. Career experts recommend that you seek recommendations from your coworkers, former managers, direct reports and even clients. Shorter tends to be better; one or two paragraphs will suffice.

4. Events

"Not enough people use events," Orsburn says. "It's a great way to find and connect with new people." Under "More..." choose "Events". Here you can view events (including webinars) that your connections are attending, search popular events and find ones to attend. Orsburn recommends searching for a person you admire and looking through the events he or she is attending. This will give you a good sense of which conferences or events are worth attending, and will help you build more meaningful connections.

5. Advanced People Search

Try using this search method instead of the basic search when looking for new connections. The "Advanced People Search" allows you to find contacts based on geographic area, company, keyword, industry and more. Advanced People Search also gives you the option to search based on when users joined LinkedIn, which Orsburn says can be especially handy. "One of the best ways to find people who can help you is to help them first," she says. "When you use this function to find someone who's a new member to LinkedIn, you can introduce yourself, mention that you see this person is new and offer to introduce them to some of your contacts." You can find this feature under "More..." in the navigation bar.