“Virident Systems, a newcomer run by a co-founder of SGI, has started down that sometimes thankless, unforgiving path of a disruptive new server company. For its value proposition it’s using Flash instead of traditional memory, targeting the Internet data centers like Google that now account for over 25% of the $65 billion worldwide server market. Wikia is an early customer. Reportedly all of the top websites are kicking Virident’s tires. So are some up-and-comers.”

“The company argues that the servers these data centers are using were designed for the compute age, not the tsunami of data they’re engulfed by or the data-centric, query-rich applications they’re trying to run, which is why they buy so many of them and why virtualization, good perhaps at utilization but not speed, isn’t a remedy. Enter the so-called GreenCloud Architecture, which is supposed to turn the industry standard server into a suitable data-centric in-memory server platform, delivering orders of magnitude better application performance, serious consolidation, lower TCO and real energy efficiency.”

I have seen a number of high-end gaming laptops incorporating Flash-based hard drives recently, a 2 to 3 year industry shift away from Dynamic RAM and Magnetic Hard Drives to fully loaded Flash systems would stir up quite a lot of change in the manufacturing sector. Spansion, the world’s largest producer of Flash RAM, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings currently. Formed as a collaboration between AMD and Toshiba, the company could not withstand the crash in the chip sector that also took out rival Qimonda. Nevertheless, Spansion has just won a patent liability judgment against Samsung, and with it a $70 million reward. The company could jump back quickly on high demand for EcoRAM servers.

Virident unveiled the GreenCloud Server at the 2009 MySQL Conference and Expo held this year in California:

“GreenCloud innovates by enabling the MySQL database to reside entirely ’in−memory’ in very large memory configurations – from 128GB to  512GB today. When compared to production systems which often split the MySQL database between DRAM and disk, GreenCloud can deliver extreme application−level performance for MySQL.  50−70x* improvements in application performance have been observed on typical data center workloads that involve random access to small block sizes common to web workloads.    While industry standard servers typically feature two−tiers of storage — DRAM and disk — the Virident GreenCloud Server for MySQL adds a new tier of high performance ‘storage class memory’ to break the ‘memory bottleneck’ responsible for low efficiency in today’s ‘scale−out’ database tiers.  This new storage class memory tier pioneers the use of non−volatile enterprise−class flash as additional main memory in a server – which can deliver high bandwidth, low latency and random access at small block sizes to very large data sets.  In production database environments, GreenCloud breaks through the 64GB practical ‘in−memory’ limit on production systems.  GreenCloud offers persistence in this expanded memory tier, keeping data ‘always available’ when a server is restarted in a cluster, minimizing down time.  GreenCloud for MySQL also provides multiple hardware and software protection technologies (ViriSafe), which deliver enterprise−class reliability.”

“Said Virident CTO and co−founder Vijay Karamcheti, ‘GreenCloud just may be the world’s fastest and most scalable MySQL server. According to recent benchmark studies*, the improvements in performance, scalability, manageability and energy and cost efficiency for MySQL are compelling and represent a fundamentally new and better approach to building a large scale database infrastructure.   We are excited by the performance gains we have been able to deliver through the optimization of our platform for MySQL and we are confident that the GreenCloud Server for MySQL will become a standard building block for the MySQL database tier.’ ”

“The GreenCloud Server for MySQL, a 2U rack server with dual quad−core CPU’s and with 80GB−576GB of ‘in−memory’ dataset capacity, is priced beginning at $6,000 in the United States.  Each GreenCloud Server for MySQL comes bundled with the complete software environment (consisting of MySQL, MyISAM, and InnoDB).”

In summary, the GreenCloud Server looks to be a game changer, adding a whole new architecture level to computer hardware that should continue to increase in speed & capacity while decreasing in size and cost, potentially scaling to innumerable devices. With regard to the server industry, Karamcheti says, “It is the first server designed with the internet in mind.” Whether or not it is true, the announcement does point the way to computing systems that are completely free of the magnetic disc drive, which may disappear like the floppy in the next 5 years. The GreenCloud Server also presents a challenge to other server companies, who will surely release similarly configured devices with Flash RAM banks for high-end clients. Hopefully, we will also see the Flash RAM boost emerge in the consumer / personal computing market soon.

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Virident GreenCloud Servers Use Flash EcoRam for up to 100x MySQL Performance

VMware is largely responsible for creating the VPS or Virtual Private Server industry with their breakthrough technology first released in 1999. The company currently has a market cap of nearly $12 billion USD, though less than half of its value at the height of the last business peak, and its yearly sales figures totaled nearly $2 billion USD in 2008. VMware has stayed an independent, publicly traded company despite persistent rumors of a buy-out by Microsoft. VMware software currently works on Windows, Linux, and OS X with some versions being able to run directly on a machine level without any OS.

“VMware vSphere is the industry’s first cloud operating system, transforming IT infrastructures into a private cloud—a collection of internal clouds federated on-demand to external clouds—delivering IT infrastructure as an easily accessible service. Enable the next generation of flexible, reliable IT services with the efficiency and low cost of cloud computing—featuring uncompromising control over service levels.. VMware’s enterprise software, VMware ESX Server, runs directly on server hardware without requiring an additional underlying operating system. This is known as being platform- or hardware-agnostic.”

VMware is similar in philosophy and technique to “smart grid” applications that are being developed to optimize the use of local resources and conserve energy. It not only optimizes server efficiency but provides a cost savings in technology investment, especially for large intranets or web hosting providers, that can be passed on to procure faster processors, more machines, or increased profits from the savings.

“Don’t let server sprawl and platform dependencies prevent your organization from achieving its goals. Take control of your IT infrastructure with VMware vSphere. Cut capital and operating costs while increasing IT service delivery without being locked into limited choices of operating systems, applications, and hardware.

* Reduce hardware and operating costs by as much as 50% and energy costs by 80%, saving more than $3,000 per year for every server workload virtualized

* Reduce the time it takes to provision new servers by up to 70%

* Decrease downtime and improve reliability with business continuity and built-in data disaster recovery

* Deliver IT services on-demand now and in the future, independent of hardware, OS, application or infrastructure providers”

There are currently 4 different versions of VMware vSphere on the market for different sized groups and organizations. With pricing starting just over $150, the software is certain to be an important upgrade for data centers that are struggling in the current economic climate to meet costs. As Fredrik Sjostedt, Director of EMEA Product Marketing at VMware, stated in an interview:

“Data centres are spending three quarters of their budget just to keep the lights on… They are not spending much on innovation, which is a real challenge in these financially tight times, as the budget for innovation is smaller than ever. We have been working on the next iteration for quite a long time now. It is an extension of where we were with VMware Infrastructure 3. It is an ongoing evolution from an engineering perspective.”

With cloud computing being the undisputed business mantra of the year, what is the VMware definition of it and why do we need it?

“…a private cloud—a pool of virtualized resources within a datacenter, or internal cloud, federated on-demand to external clouds—delivering IT infrastructure as an easily accessible service. This cloud model enables IT to best align the service level agreement and the infrastructure to the needs of the business and the applications. This gives IT the cost savings seen from external clouds, with the security, compatibility and control needed for the enterprise.”

Considering the gains available from miniaturization and virtualization and the increasing complexity of tasks even simple processing devices are required to do, the VMware software is likely to become ever more fundamental in the sub-configuration of web and network enabled devices.

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VMware Launches vSphere4 – First “Cloud Operating System”

For those interested, you can read the Cloud Manifesto in its entirety.

The document begins with a description of media hype:

The buzz around cloud computing has reached a fever pitch. Some believe it is a disruptive trend representing the next stage in the evolution of the Internet. Others believe it is hype, as it uses long established computing technologies. As with any new trend in the IT world, organizations must figure out the benefits and risks of cloud computing and the best way to use this technology.

One thing is clear: The industry needs an objective, straightforward conversation about how this new computing paradigm will impact organizations, how it can be used with existing technologies, and the potential pitfalls of proprietary technologies that can lead to lock-in and limited choice.

This document is intended to initiate a conversation that will bring together the emerging cloud computing community (both cloud users and cloud providers) around a core set of principles. We believe that these core principles are rooted in the belief that cloud computing should be as open as all other IT technologies.

They then seek to define exactly what cloud computing is:

The key characteristics of the cloud are the ability to scale and provision computing power dynamically in a cost efficient way and the ability of the consumer (end user, organization or IT staff) to make the most of that power without having to manage the underlying complexity of the technology. The cloud architecture itself can be private (hosted within an organization’s firewall) or public (hosted on the Internet). These characteristics lead to a set of core value propositions:

• Scalability on Demand
• Streamlining the Data Center
• Improving Business Processes
• Minimizing Startup Costs

The five main challenges that cloud computing must address:

• Security
• Data and Application Interoperability
• Data and Application Portability
• Governance and Management
• Metering and Monitoring

The Goals of an Open Cloud:

• Choice
• Flexibility
• Speed and Agility
• Skills

The Principles of an Open Cloud:

Of course, many clouds will continue to be different in a number of important ways, providing unique value for organizations. It is not our intention to define standards for every capability in the cloud and create a single homogeneous cloud environment. Rather, as cloud computing matures, there are several key principles that must be followed to ensure the cloud is open and delivers the choice, flexibility and agility organizations demand:

1. Cloud providers must work together to ensure that the challenges to cloud adoption (security, integration, portability, interoperability, governance/management, metering/monitoring) are addressed through open collaboration and the appropriate use of standards.
2. Cloud providers must not use their market position to lock customers into their particular platforms and limit their choice of providers.
3. Cloud providers must use and adopt existing standards wherever appropriate. The IT industry has invested heavily in existing standards and standards organizations; there is no need to duplicate or reinvent them.
4. When new standards (or adjustments to existing standards) are needed, we must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid creating too many standards. We must ensure that standards promote innovation and do not inhibit it.
5. Any community effort around the open cloud should be driven by customer needs, not merely the technical needs of cloud providers, and should be tested or verified against real customer requirements.
6. Cloud computing standards organizations, advocacy groups, and communities should work together and stay coordinated, making sure that efforts do not conflict or overlap.

Companies and organizations that currently support the open cloud manifesto are listed as:

AT&T, Abiquo, Accario, Akamai, ALTIC. Org, AMD, Aptana, Appistry, Arista Networks, Barcelona Supercomputing Center Blend digital, Boomi, Business Logic, Cast Iron, Cisco, CSC, Dilgenter, the Eclipse Foundation, Elastra, EMC, Enomaly, Engine Yard, enStratus, F5, Global Media Solutions, GoGrid, Heroku, Hyperic, IBM, In Cloud Company SL, Juniper, LongJump, Luminis Innovation Consulting, ManualsMania, Metadot, MyCube9.com, newScale, Northwest A&F University (Shanxi, China), North Carolina State University, Nirvanix, Novell, the Object Management Group, Okuri Ventures, Open Cloud Consortium, Open-XChange, Prgmr.com, PointStar, QuadraForte, Rackspace, Rails Machine, Red Hat, Tech4Quant, Terremark Worldwide, the Hot Air Channel, the Reservoir Project, Trend Micro, RightScale, rPath, Saasmania, S3 Graphics, Soasta, Sogeti, Sun, Synapses, Technical University of Catalonia, Telefonica, the Open Group, Velneo SA, Venue Software, Veredas, VMware, Voxeo, VPS.net and Zenoss.

The Open Cloud Manifesto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

For more information: http://opencloudmanifesto.org/supporters.htm

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IBM leads IT Companies in Proclaiming “Open Cloud Manifesto”

According to David Berlind at Information Week, who live-blogged Tim O’Reilly’s keynote address at the Web 2.0 summit, the tech guru stated that “the next wave of Web 2.0 is all about sensors and ambient computing (the kind of computing that happens on our behalf while we’re away from our desks).” After looking to the future, O’Reilly had some harsh words of criticism about the status quo, obviously affected by the meltdown taking place on Wall St. while he spoke. He criticized people who are wasting their time on nonsensical and inane applications like the Facebook application designed “to allow you to throw sheep at your friends” or the iPhone app that simulates “chugging a beer”. Summarizing this trend, he stated:

“(These are) pretty depressing times in a lot of ways, and you have to conclude, if you look at the focus of a lot of what you call ‘Web 2.0,’ the relentless focus on advertising-based consumer models, lightweight applications, we may be living in somewhat of a bubble, and I’m not talking about an investment bubble. (It’s) a reality bubble.”

As the internet and Web 2.0 standards represent amazing advances in science and technology, O’Reilly suggests, developers should be working on truly meaningful applications that have the opportunity to really change the world for the better. We can only hope that this becomes one of the distinguishing characteristics of Web 2.0 in the future.

Cloud Computing & Online Collaboration:

Outside of the keynote address, many of the major new developments being announced at the event this year highlighted cloud computing and online collaboration. Moderro Technologies previewed the launch of the Xpack Web 2.0 Cloud Computer, a sleek desktop unit that is designed to push the use of remote-hosted web applications. Priced at only $395, the scaled down hardware is essentially mounted onto the LCD display, using a “Smart Application Launcher” to run office productivity software from the internet rather than the local hard drive. Also related to cloud computing and “Platform as a Service” (PaaS), Morph Labs unveiled their new Morph AppCloud environment that allows users to easily customize the software services that they need by dragging and dropping the icons of Open Source applications to create a work environment. The platform provides an opportunity for third party developers to upload their software to the site, giving users a wide range of services and programs to choose from, and uses the “widget” model to allow them to build their own unique productivity suites. Morph Cloud uses Amazon’s EC2 and S3 cloud computing hardware to power their system, and looks like a promising example of what to expect in the next generation of web services.

Site9 and Octopz were the stars presenting innovations in online collaboration at this year’s meeting. ProtoShare 2.0, launched by Site9, is geared towards enhancing “real-time collaboration on enterprise web development.” Extending Agile methods to the remote workplace, fostering improved communication, documentation, and feedback, while allowing team members to participate in multiple development projects simultaneously, it sounds a lot like a private oDesk for programming teams. Octopz also announced a new collaboration software package at the conference based on the SaS and cloud computing model:

“It enables up to five people to synchronously view and markup an unprecedented range of documents including digital media – such as video and 3D – and to communicate via built-in text, voice and video chat capabilities. Octopz uses intuitive navigation and tool icons, requires nothing more than a Flash-enabled web browser, and uses integrated SSL encryption to ensure security. In addition, Octopz can be integrated (via API, web services and Flash) with existing applications.”

Source: http://www.octopz.com/buzz/press-releases/index.cfm?i=675&y=2008

While this may not sound like much more than most people are already doing with Google Documents, Yahoo! Messenger, GotoWebinar, or WebEx, it is clear that there is a massive market for platforms that enable more efficient online collaboration, and this is following advances in outsourcing in the global marketplace.

For more information on the Web 2.0 Expo in New York, visit their website at:

http://en.oreilly.com/webexny2008/public/content/home

Or follow the Twitter feed at:

http://twitter.com/w2e_NY08

This is a post from Web Dev News, a site brought to you by Xavisys Web Development.

Cloud Computing & Online Collaboration at the Web 2.0 Expo