What to Expect from Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing: Hot Air or Killer App?

Cloud computing has become a huge ‘buzz-phrase’ in last few years, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing what the term actually means indeed. Different people interpret “cloud computing” in different ways. That’s the dilemma because computing “in the cloud” may be important for you and your organization, but if it’s not clear what it actually means, how will you know?

Cloud vs. Grid

What, for example, is the difference between “cloud computing” and “grid computing”? Both imply data centers filled with computing resources available over the network, so are they, in fact, the same thing?

Actually, No. Grid computing implies the provision of computing resources as a utility that can be turned on or off as required. Computing on tap, so to speak! You pay for what you consume, without worrying about how where it comes from or how much is available.

A good example of this is Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) offering. Customers create their own Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) containing an operating system, applications and data, and they control how many instances of each AMI run at any given time. They pay for the instance-hours (and bandwidth) they use, adding computing resources at peak times and removing them when they are no longer required. Amazon calls this a cloud, but really it’s a grid. The cost of this utility? 10 cents an hour for 1.7 GB of memory, one virtual core, and 160 GB of instance storage, plus data transfer costs.

Cloud computing is slightly different. It implies the supply of applications to end users, rather than just computer cycles. “Cloud-based computing is a type of IT service usually delivered over the Internet, but the defining characteristic is scale — the ability to service millions of users,” said Matt Cain, a research vice president at Gartner. Cloud computing also implies quick and easy provisioning and a simple cost structure, generally on a per-user, per-month basis, if it is billed at all, he said.

Microsoft’s Live Hotmail is a perfect example of an application run in the cloud: It is supplied over the Internet from one or more data centers who-knows-where; it has millions of users; easy self-provisioning; and a very simple cost structure (of no charge per month).

Is It Really All That New?

If some of this sounds familiar, it’s because, apart from the scale, it is an almost perfect description of the application service provider (ASP) model that was in vogue briefly eight or nine years ago. ASPs, you’ll recall, were supposed to manage data centers and use their expertise to run and maintain all sorts of applications for customers, who accessed these applications down the wire. New applications were written or existing applications were “ASP-enabled,” and these were either shared by multiple customers or hosted on a separate server for each customer.

The problem was that very few ASPs managed to get many, and in some cases any, customers. Most disappeared as quickly as they arrived. There were a few successes: Hosted Exchange was a popular offering, and Salesforce.com successfully promoted the idea of software as a service — a low cost solution to fill a particular need, a commodity rather than a differentiator.

So what’s the difference between the ASP model and computing in the clouds? You could argue that the cloud is just a fancy 21st-century way of talking about back-end systems that supply software as a service. “The difference is scale,” said Cain. “ASPs never got millions of customers.”

It’s interesting to note that just as ASPs discovered hosted Exchange was one of the few things for which customers were willing to pay, it’s also an application that runs well in the cloud. “E-mail is the poster child of cloud computing,” said Cain.

ASPs had very little luck offering productivity apps like Office down the wire to customers. That was partly for technical reasons, and partly because very few enterprises wanted their confidential documents and spreadsheets stored offsite. Besides, what was the benefit of not running Office on your own local machine, and who knew whether the ASP would even be in business in a few months’ time?

This hasn’t stopped Google offering its Google Docs suite of productivity and collaboration applications from the cloud. Companies, including IBM and Microsoft, have announced plans to give the cloud increased attention. It’s likely other large organizations, such as Oracle, will join the fray. Cain suggests hardware vendors like Dell and HP may also be looking to get in on the act.

A New View From the Cloud

What’s different today is that although most of the players in the ASP market were startups, the companies getting involved in cloud computing are all very big. They have the resources to build enormous data centers with the vast amounts of storage and computing capacity required to service millions of customers reliably. Cost of entry is high, but it will be worth it to the likes of Google if companies can get their hands on a sizeable proportion of the money enterprises are currently spending on mass market applications like Office.

But they will find customers only if they can demonstrate real benefits from taking applications from the cloud. The question remains: Why would anyone want Office (or other applications such as e-mail) as a service rather than simply installing software on a computer or getting it from the corporate data center?

The answer to this question may also be familiar. The ASP model promised a much simpler way of accessing applications, with a very short provisioning time, a predictable per-user, per-month fee, and lower overall costs due to economies of scale and the harnessing of expertise provided by specialists.

This is precisely what computing in the cloud offers but with less choice of applications and more economy of scale. Google, Dell, Amazon, IBM, and others of similar ilk can build data centers all over the world, in places that have inexpensive and plentiful power supplies. They can offer applications, such as productivity tools and e-mail, to millions of end users with vast economies of scale, so that the cost per-user, permonth is almost nothing. And the customers, or users, are already there.

Users will likely be more receptive to the idea since the old knee-jerk worries about security and allowing third parties to run applications are less prevalent these days. And let’s face it — Google is not likely to run out of money any time soon and is probably far more likely to be around in 10 years time than many of its potential cloud computing customers.

When put like that, cloud computing starts to make sense. After all, e-mail and productivity apps are commodities everyone uses. They are not strategic apps that give a company a competitive advantage. Therefore, why not let a handful of mega-corporations like Google run and maintain them from data centers built near hydro-electric facilities offering unlimited free power for a fraction of the price now spent to license, install, maintain, and run them yourself?

It may not give you a competitive advantage if everyone else is getting their commodity apps from the cloud as well, but it sure does reduce costs. Or, to paraphrase Yossarian from Joseph Heller’s classic novel Catch-22, “if everyone else is getting their apps from the cloud, you’d certainly be a damned fool to get yours any other way ...”

Source: internet.com

Jaquizzi X

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Jaquizzi X

More Presentations coming soon.

A girl Wrote to JRD Tata... and...

This is the stuff legends are made of..Worth a read..

THE GIRL WRITING AS HERSELF....

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.' I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco

I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. 'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.

To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.

There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.

'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'

They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.

I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him. I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.

She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).

Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'

'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.

I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'

I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'

'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'

'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'

'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence. (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)

Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .

Gita - Summed up in 18 Verses

Note: This English article is an explanatory translation, not just word-to-word meaning.

1. Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna, with your mind attached to the Lord. Give up worry for and selfish attachment to the results. Remain calm in both success and failure, because one has no control over the results. The calmness of mind is the fruit of Nishkāma-Karma-yoga. (2.48)
2. All works are done by the forces (or Gunas) of Nature. Due to ignorance, people assume themselves to be the doer and suffer from karmic bondage. We all are just a divine instrument and should help each other. (3.27)
3. As a blazing fire reduces wood to ashes, similarly, the fire of Self-knowledge removes all our past Karma and demonic qualities. Spiritual knowledge is the best purifier. It opens up the gates of Nirvana for us. (4.37)
4. Samnyāsa or giving up the feeling of doer-ship and ownership (Kartā and Bhoktā), is difficult to attain without Nishkām-Karma-Yoga (selfless service, Sevā). We are just a trustee of God-given wealth. Sevā gradually leads to Self-knowledge, faith, deep devotion, and Mukti. (5.06)
5. One who sees Me everywhere and in everything, and sees everything in Me, is not away from Me, and I am not away from him. Such a person loves all and hates no one. (6.30)
6. After many births the wise ones surrender to My will by realizing that everything is, indeed, another form of Brahman. The One has become all these. Such a great soul is very rare. (7.19)
7. Always remember Me before starting any work and do your duty. Thus you shall certainly remember Me at the time of death and come to Me if your mind and intellect are ever focused on Me. (8.07)
8. Whosoever offers Me a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water with faith and devotion -- even mentally; I accept and eat the offering of devotion by the faithful. (9.26)
9. Creator and Lord of all, God of gods, the Supreme person, and Lord of the universe, only You know Yourself. No one can know God, the Source of creation. (10.15)
10. The devotee who offers all his or her work as a worship to Me, who has detached-attachment or no deep attachment to anything, who is My devotee and depends on Me, and who is free from enmity toward any creature, reaches Me. (11.55)
11. Lord Krishna said: I consider the best yogis to be those devotees who worship with supreme faith by fixing their mind on My personal form. (12.02)
12. Dislike for sensual pleasures, absence of “I and my”, thinking about pain and suffering in birth, old age, disease and death leads to Self-knowledge and Nirvana. This world is called the house of misery. (13.08)
13. One who is always God-conscious and depends on My will and, remains calm in pain and pleasure, censure and praise, to whom a clod, a stone, and gold are alike, and to whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike and is full of devotion, attains Me. (14.24)
14. Moksha is attained by those who are free from pride, desires and Moha (delusion), who have controlled the evil of attachment, who is always God conscious and remains calm in gain and loss, victory and defeat. (15.05)
15. Lust (for wealth, power, and sensual pleasures), anger, and greed are the three gates of hell leading to the downfall (or reincarnation) of the individual soul. Uncontrolled sensual desire is the root of all evils and misery. Therefore, one must learn to give up these three. (16.21)
16. The faith of each is according to one’s own nature or Samskāra. One is known by one’s faith. One can become whatever one wants to be (if he constantly thinks about his goal with a burning desire and deep faith in God). All we are is the result of our thoughts. (17.03)
17. Sensual pleasures, appear as nectar in the beginning but become poison in the end, are in the mode of passion. One should not get too much attached to sense pleasures. (18.38)
18. One who shall study and help propagate this supreme secret philosophy to My devotees, shall be doing the highest devotional service (Bhakti) to Me, shall be very dear to Me and shall certainly come to Me. The gift of knowledge is the best gift. (18.68-69)

Source: Gita Society

Check this amazing site for T-shirt designs...