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Posts tagged with cloud

11.0919Chrome OS, next generation Thin Client

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First came utility computing, and then cloud computing. Both are essentially the same thing, "cloud computing" being more a 2nd generation version of it - made this concept popular, with the innovations of companies like Amazon.

There was a nice article about Chrome OS. You guys all know that we're big Sun fans. So, we couldn't help but wonder that the Chrome OS could very much indeed be a 2nd generation thin client that could make popular what Sun Ray and other thin clients failed to do.

Sun Ray is great and we love it so much that we've recently been offering it in as hosted service. But it does fail in some aspects. The big one being, multimedia. Things like flash and video streaming just don't work well in a thin client running over the Internet cloud - the processing required is off loaded to a remote server (which adds extra network latencies). Here's how a Sun Ray works, notice also the extra network hop:

Sun Thin Client Hardware <-> Sun Ray Server <-> Internet

Sun Ray does offer great stability (running on stable Unix environment), security (nothing is stored on the thin client), and scalability (the Sun Ray server can be upgraded as needed). All data is stored on the redundant Sun Ray server in a data center. The other benefit to a Sun Ray is that the hardware uses very little power and can be in service for "decades". No need to replace or upgrade the thin client hardware, ever! This is great for enterprises. That's what Sun Ray's have been designed for.

Sun's thin client now also has a software thin client, which now makes it more like this:

Thin Client (Software on Windows) <-> Sun Ray Server <-> Internet

But that is essentially the same as the thin client hardware solution. Media is still slow. You also need an OS to run the software on (Windows/Mac licensing), so that drives up cost.

Conventional Desktops

Conventional desktops also aren't that cheap. Think viruses, electricity charges, and software maintenance. On the other hand, it is a lot faster for media, since there are less hops to get to the remote site/server. However, all data is stored on the local system, it can be prone to data loss through disk failures. To illustrate this:

Netbook/Desktop (Windows/Mac) <-> Internet site/server

Chrome OS on a Netbook

Now, let's get back to the subject of Chrome OS (a browser masked like an OS). How it solves the above problems, for consumers like you and me. So, a Chrome OS is more like:

Netbook (Chrome OS) <-> Internet site/server

What is different here is that, the OS talks to the hardware direct (at least, that's what our impression is). The media processing is also done on the Netbook, where there is plenty of CPU power. However, just like the Sun Ray, the data is stored out on the Internet. So, the Chrome OS is very much a hybrid of the two types of desktop systems. Unlike other thin client solutions, you also run a "free" OS, no longer tied to Windows.

With sufficient applications on the Chrome OS, this could become very popular. While the Sun Ray is a great idea, it just doesn't scale to today's Internet 2.0 applications and web sites. Sun Ray is great for enterprises (for now...) but poor as a consumer media device. Chrome OS could potentially fill that gap. Of course, Sun Ray wasn't meant as a consumer device.

Conclusion

Companies can and do become rich making consumer devices (e.g. iPod + Apple). If only Sun could've invented a next generation version of a Sun Ray hardware that is similar to Chrome OS/Netbook, and works well in a consumer or Internet/WAN environment (again, think media performance), that would be cool.

So, the big question is, now that cloud computing is taking off (amongst businesses), could Chrome OS be a handy tool in the enterprise as well or is Sun Ray still the best in that segment?

03.0914Google Pricing doesn't last

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This is the 2nd time that we've personally been affected by Google change in its pricing structure. Just not good. Google does note in that blog about new features, but we don't know what those features will be. Hopefully, it'll be recurring payments. But why change the pricing structure before releasing the features? That would just turn away anyone considering Google Checkout for its lower costs, since as Michael mentions, doesn't offer any advantage over PayPal.



Google's Postini (mail filtering service) used to be $3/year/user. Now its $12/year/user. 400% increase in pricing. I seem to recall Google Apps hosting service has also undergone some kind of pricing restructuring. We haven't used that service, so we don't know for sure.



In all of the cases, Google never mentioned about the pricing changes before hand. I am sure their reasoning is that the rate increase is to cover the extra costs of its service. But, isn't this vendor lock-in? Simple case of, sell super low, so people start using it, and jack up the price later. It takes money and effort to integrate Google services into our own infrastructure. So, when we hear that Google is increasing its pricing, we have no choice but to comply.



What if they charge 4 or 5 percent for the checkout transactions? Just something to think about when using these Cloud services, especially a giant like Google.

08.0805Cloud computing concerns

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We've come across a good article on Cloud computing and what to watch out for. Have a look here.

We would like to add to this and ask, if there are problems or you are in need of support, how easy is it to get these Cloud computing providers to help? Do they just provide a email address or do they have a phone number you can talk to?

Do you need to tailor your application to make it work with the Cloud? Doesn't that mean you have to spend more development cycles to use the Cloud? You also can't move from one Cloud provider to another without changing your code.

What about compatibility issues? Say, you use a database cloud that is on mysql 5.0 and then they decide to upgrade to 5.1, how will your application behave? The Cloud is meant for general purposes, not tailored to your specific needs.

Given these concerns in the article and mentioned above, we are still not convinced Cloud computing is the best thing.

Using a Solaris VPS from Entic.net works just as well as those cloud computing products. These are Solaris zones based and hence are semi-managed. We take care of the OS specific patch updates, which are automatically rolled out to your own server because of the loopback file system inside Solaris zones. As for the application file system, that is delegated to you. You can upgrade to mysql 5.1, or not.

If you are seeing a lot of growth and you need a bigger server, it is easy for us to deploy new servers and then do a zone migration to a bigger server. Isn't that what Cloud computing also promise? You also should not throw hardware at problems. Almost all the time, a mysql database can be optimized with better Table schema and better SQL queries.

The Cloud computing is meant to be easy to use, where the technical stuff is hidden from you. You just use the service. You don't know how it all works. Clouds of course have its benefits, otherwise the Cloud wouldn't be a big deal now. Tread with caution.

Solaris VPS (virtual servers) zones from Entic.net are somewhere between a Cloud and a server you run in-house, in your data center. We believe this solution is better then a full blown Cloud. Our Solaris VPS offers flexibility and the full control if you need. Oh, and you can pick up the phone and talk to us. You do not have to wait in line to talk to someone in Tier 1 support from India. We can setup all the technical details.

Try out a virtual server from Entic.net, and if it doesn't suit your needs, give the Cloud a try! Its easier to go from a virtual server to a Cloud than it is to go from a Cloud to a dedicated/virtual server.

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