September 29th, 2009

Cloud Computing Picks for Business Analysts

Recently, a business analyst asked me for some cloud computing reading ideas.  His goal was to get familiar with cloud computing without drowning in technobabble or wading through near-religious rhetoric.  After sending him an email with some picks, it occurred to me that many business analysts are similarly interested.  With that, here is a selection of cloud computing reads and topics you should keep an eye on.

Cloud Computing Basics

In the basics, you are looking to learn about cloud computing components, offerings and economic value.  Because without value, there is no need to explore further.

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Tagged as: archives, business analyst, popular post, reading picks

Posted by brenda michelson at 9:53 am in Blog, fundamentals | Permalink | Comments(0)
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April 30th, 2009

Vint Cerf on Cloud Computing and the Internet

If you haven’t seen it yet, Vint Cerf published a thoughtful piece on Cloud Computing and the Internet on the Google Research blog.  In the post, Cerf compares the current stage of cloud computing "Each cloud is a system unto itself” to the state of networking in the 1960’s that led to his and Robert Kahn’s work to interconnect proprietary networks and form the internet.

While the entire post is excellent, and well worth the read, I wanted to call out the questions Cerf raises in respect to connecting the clouds, or as some refer to it, the inter-cloud.  Because as every architect knows, the right answers only arise from asking the right questions.

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Tagged as: archives, cloud computing challenges, Internet, reading picks, Vint Cerf

Posted by brenda michelson at 5:49 pm in Blog, fundamentals, interoperability & portability | Permalink | Comments(0)
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March 23rd, 2009

Cloud Watching for Enterprise Architects: Picks

As promised, here are some links that should be of interest to enterprise architects who are (or need to be) cloud watching.  And yes, I realize I’ve mixed in a leadership interview with Xerox’s Anne Mulcahy, but once you read the others, you’ll be appreciative of a leader who gets that dealing with ambiguity is a sought after, and well compensated, skill.

What SOA Can Learn from Cloud Computing and Vice Versa | David Linthicum

SOA can learn from cloud computing Service Design & Expandability. Cloud from SOA: Governance & Architecture driven. Service Design: "Those who deploy services in the cloud, such as Amazon, TheWebService, Force.com, have done a pretty good job with service design. You really have to do a good job in order to rent the darn things out. Many SOA projects have a tendency to build services that are too course-grained, too fine-grained, or just not at all well designed. The reality is that services that are not well defined and designed won’t sell well when delivered on-demand, and thus those who provide services out of the cloud – which are most major cloud computing providers – have to spend a lot of time on the design of the services, including usability and durability. I urge those who build services within their SOA, no matter the enabling technology and standards involved, look at what’s out there for rent as good examples of how services should be designed, developed, and deployed."

IBM, Sun and cloud computing | Gathering clouds | The Economist

"The economic crisis has pummelled Sun, which never really recovered from the dotcom bust. As its share price plumbed new lows, IBM’s remained relatively unscathed—a reflection of its business, which has been protected by the computer giant’s global scope and the fact that it makes most of its money from software and services.  more >>

Tagged as: Amazon, archives, David Linthicum, Economist, enterprise architects, IBM, James Governor, reading picks, Sun

Posted by brenda michelson at 8:23 pm in Blog, services architecture, software architecture | Permalink | Comments(0)
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