This article first appeared on Information Week, and was written by George Crump.

In our last entry we discussed different ways that you can move data into the cloud, something I call onramps. In theory the ability now exists to put all your data types on a cloud storage platform, but is that the right choice for your business? How do you determine which data you should put in the cloud?

The answer, like almost everything else in I.T., is it depends. It depends on what your key internal storage challenges are and what the internal resistance to using an external service might be. Notice that not included in that discussion is what is the size of your company, the amount of IT resources you have nor the amount of data that you have. While I find that it is often assumed that cloud storage is for small business owners only, there are cloud storage solutions for businesses of all sizes including large enterprises.

The first area to examine is how much data is being accessed on a moment by moment basis. As you may have noticed from the discussion in our last entry there is an onramp or cloud gateway for almost every data type now, ranging from backups to primary block storage. The moment by moment change rate plus the data type will determine how large the local gateway cache will need to be and how often data will need to be recalled from the cloud. The total size of the data set is for the most part irrelevant, other than the GB cost to store it but that cost should be relatively static. The movement of data from your local cache from the cloud will be what delays an application. The more often that data can be served from local cache either through smart caching algorithms or large cache space the better. Also several cloud storage providers charge extra for the transfer out of the cloud back to local storage, so it can lead to a surprise on your bill. Since most onramps or gateways give you a choice of provider it makes sense to know what the hidden extras are from each provider.

The impact of restoring data back from the cloud and its potential extra costs is one of the reasons that backup and archive data have been so popular. The transfer is almost always one way; upload. Also most big recoveries can happen from the local cache and don't need the data stored on the cloud. The backup copy in the cloud mostly serves as a long term retention area. As you move into using cloud storage for primary data the transfer issues become a bit more thorny. The easiest data set use case to deal with is the file share use case. Most files on a file server are only active for a few days and then become dormant. This is an ideal use case for cloud storage, let the older files migrate to the cloud. Even if they do need to be recalled from cloud storage later only a single user is typically impacted by the delay in access, and a single file access is relatively fast.

Databases become a bit more tricky. Here look for applications that have a small portion of the application that is accessed on a regular basis. Microsoft SharePoint is a good example of a "ready for cloud now" data set and potentially some mail systems that store attachments and messages as discrete files. In the near future don't rule out busy transaction oriented databases. As the developers of these platforms embrace the availability of cloud storage they can build in ways to auto-segment off tier sections of data so that it can be stored on different storage types automatically and the cloud could be one of those types.

Comment (0)

This article first appeared on BrightHub.com, and was written by Bruce Tyson.

Thin client notebooks are powerful alternatives to traditional computers that can improve the effectiveness of a mobile workforce, enhance corporate security, and improve the utilization of IT dollars as part of a thin computing infrastructure.

What is a Thin Client?

In ways resembling dumb terminals from decades gone by, thin clients have no inherent processing power: they primarily receive inputs and display outputs from applications running on server computers. They are sometimes referred to as PC over IP technology since the traditional computer functions are performed remotely. The client display presents the operating system and application interface and its keyboard and mouse send inputs to the system.

A simple way to characterize a thin client is by their lack of physical storage. They are stateless "dumb" devices that rely on host servers for administration, configuration, storage, and infrastructure. Thin client computers uses Remote Desktop Protocols (RDP) to access network services and configuration information so their capabilities are determined by user credentials.

Thin Computing

Modern thin clients can be used to perform routine computing operations with speeds that make them difficult to distinguish from "fat" clients. Thin clients engage host servers through client software such as VMware View, Microsoft Windows Terminal Server, Citrix XenApp and XenServer, and Unix/Linux and run applications on the host using inputs transmitted from the client.

Thin computing can fill virtually any role as traditional computing, provided network access is available. Call centers, accounting roles, CRM, and CAD are just a few roles that thin computing can support.

Thin Client Laptops

Thin client laptops take advantage of the thin computing model, only in a portable configuration. With high speed wireless LANs in place and high speed 3G and 4G wireless data connections through cellular networks, a thin client laptop is something that only in recent years has become feasible.

Most commonly available thin client laptops come equipped with a ROM-based embedded operating system such as Windows Embedded. This operating system provides essential services to the thin client, enabling it to set up connections to a server host. Once connected, the capabilities of the thin client reflect those configured for it on the host.

An example of a thin client notebook computer is the Dell E5400X Safebook. Like most thin client laptops, this model comes with an embedded operating system and is equipped with end point security and built in wireless networking.

Applications for Thin Client Laptops

Because thin client notebooks are very lightweight and have very long battery life, they are ideal for mobile employees working inside and outside the corporate environment. Since applications and data are hosted on the corporate host, problems such as insufficient disk space are eliminated. When mobile employees need access to a new software package installed, the installation is performed at the corporate office rather than mailing CDs to a remote location. Centralized control of software resources also facilitates corporate compliance with licensing requirements.

Thin Client Notebooks and Security

Proprietary information and access to corporate networks is routinely compromised by the mobile workforce. Laptops left in taxi cabs, airports, buses, hotel rooms, and rental cars often fall into the hands of people looking for information to sell, not to mention the laptop computers that are stolen for their resale value alone. Thin client laptops can solve the majority of the security problems associated with hardware, network, and data vulnerability.

Since the thin client laptop relies on network storage, important product, customer, and vendor information is not lost when the computer is lost or stolen. Without appropriate credentials, the thin client notebook cannot access any information within the enterprise, nor can it be used to access corporate network services. Basically, when a thin client falls out of the control of the corporation, corporate information remains secure.

Corporate espionage involves more than stealing resources from a competing company: it means that people within the organization can retrieve corporate information for personal or competing use. Thin clients help keep corporate information secure because there is no convenient way to transfer corporate data to a storage device. Since all data transactions are managed through centralized servers, an audit trail exists that can detect unauthorized data access and transmission, giving management the opportunity to react quickly to internal abuses.

Finally, with computing processes hosted by the corporate network, security policies for all thin clients can be implemented at the host. This means that antivirus, malware, and other threats encountered online will always be met by appropriate response. In other words, companies implementing thin client notebooks don't have to worry about a user disabling virus scanners or allowing virus signatures to expire.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Thin computing is a green technology because of its low energy demand. By powering only essential hardware, the savings in electrical costs for a company with one hundred computers can exceed $6,000 annually. Thin client laptops have the additional benefit of extended battery life that can power devices for an entire work day on a single charge.

A study published by IDC revealed that switching to thin computing can reduce hardware and software costs by as much as 40%. Additionally, overall IT operating costs can be reduced by nearly a third. The study also found that outlays for computer hardware and support can also be reduced by significant margins by implementing thin computing.

Thin computing brings with it increased productivity that helps make it even more profitable to business. Studies have shown that fewer support, maintenance, and repair issues help make IT staffers more than 50% more productive than those in traditionally equipped departments. Meanwhile, the increased uptime and reduced support issues combine to make mobile users more productive with thin client laptops, adding even more to the corporate bottom line.

Thin clients have a lower acquisition cost, a lower maintenance cost, and a lower incidental cost. Because the devices have fewer parts, there is less to break. Also, thin clients save money by combating obsolescence. Since the processing power is hosted on remote servers, whenever those servers are updated with new software, every thin client is automatically up to date. This saves hardware costs because thin clients won't have to be replaced with every advent of new technology. No more tossing laptops every year or two only to replace them with new ones that too will become obsolete. Direct and indirect cost savings resulting from the use of thin client notebooks make the technology a "must" for consideration.

Comment (0)

This article first appeared on InformationWeek.com, and was written by Charles Babcock.

Around the breakfast table at VMworld, attendees from places like Calgary, Little Rock and
Charleston, S.C., remarked on how Ubuntu, Microsoft and Red Hat were barely visible at the
show this year. Microsoft had a little booth I never succeeded in spotting; Red Hat had a 10-by-
10 on the perimeter. It all suddenly seemed so obvious.

Microsoft, Red Hat and Ubuntu are all operating system vendors heavily invested in some other
form of virtualization than VMware's. And they're all wary of VMware's widening ambitions
and description of a future operating system for the data center, based on its own virtualization
layer. Microsoft prefers to talk about Hyper-V and its management component, Virtual Machine
Manager in Systems Center. Red Hat is sticking to its open source guns and going with KVM.
Ubuntu also packages up KVM and Xen.

What makes the operating system vendors nervous is that VMware CEO Paul Maritz talks as
if the operating system has become irrelevant. Maritz Tuesday gave a straight forward talk on
how the next phase of VMware's product line will help generate a more flexible data center.
Afterward at a meeting with the press, he sounded more combative. In the past innovation has
occurred at the operating system level, he said. (Maritz should know. When he was at Microsoft,
he oversaw the development and launch of Windows 95, Windows NT and Windows 2000.)

"Now innovation is occurring below and above the operating system, at the virtualization
layer and in applications," he said. There hasn't been any real innovation at the operating
system level in many years, he added. Operating systems "aren't going to disappear," he said.
They're "just one of several components" being managed by the hypervisor and its virtual
machine management infrastructure.

These perceptions, if correct, are disruptive to operating system-based business models.
Microsoft itself has an ongoing commitment to virtualization in the operating system rather than
concentrating on it as a separate management layer. Microsoft can line up many resources behind
that approach and tie virtual machine operation into its Azure cloud services. But it knows it
needs more time to build out all the functionality that VMware is talking about.

That may explain why on Aug. 31 it took out a full page ad in USA Today--distributed in hotels
around the Moscone Center--urging customers not to sign three-year contracts with VMware.
The ad warned VMware customers: "...signing up for a three-year virtualization commitment
may lock you into a vendor that cannot provide you with the breadth of technology, flexibility or
scale that you'll need to build a complete cloud computing environment," said the ad signed by
Brad Anderson, corporate VP for servers and tools.
"Microsoft warning about vendor lock-in is a severe case of the pot calling the kettle black,"
responded Maritz that day at VMworld.

Indeed, Microsoft may sense the same thing that VMware does: virtualization is yielding new

vantage points through which the future of the data center may be managed, if not controlled.
Microsoft is nervous because it knows a thing or two about chokepoints.

Microsoft is also leery of VMware's push to help developers produce applications for the future
data center architecture, described this year as the "private cloud." If VMware moves into a
position where it is the trusted provider of tools to cloud developers -- it's taking a giant step
in that direction with its SpringSource unit -- that's a threat to Microsoft's predominance on
another front. Given enough time, Microsoft will match up its .Net and Visual Studio with its
Azure cloud infrastructure. But there's a large part of the developer universe not yet committed to
Azure.

SpringSource and its Spring Framework addresses much of the non-Microsoft world. Spring
produces lightweight Java applications that compile to a standard byte code that runs in a Java
virtual machine. Likewise, the .Net language, C#, produces applications that compile to a byte
code that runs in .Net's Common Language Infrastructure. Microsoft's ability to do this exists in
the public arena through the Mono's project's ability to reproduce that byte code. The byte codes
are close together in that both are based on a shared ANSI standard antecedent.

It's conceivable that in less than three year's time, the Spring Framework will allow .Net
programmers to use Spring to produce applications for VMware clouds, and such a capability
could seriously impact Microsoft's hold on a key asset, its own developer base. It would prefer
that .Net developers be directed only toward Azure and the many options it plans for cloud
computing there.

So it's a different VMware that came out for VMworld this year. The show started six years
ago with 1,400 attendees. In this, its seventh edition, 17,021 showed up. And a brassier, more
confident VMware showed up as well.

That was evident in the short film that preceded Maritz' remarks on Tuesday. Much of what the
VMware brass had to say had to do with moving the virtualized part of the data center toward
cloud computing. The film short attempted to solicit the meaning of the cloud from an oracle,
who looked a lot like the female oracle in the movie, The Matrix. The scene suddenly shifted
to a round office tower like the type found at Oracle's campus in Redwood Shores. The camera
panned up to the top where, barely visible in the cloud descending over it, was the name Oracle.
A voice over made a dismissive remark about cloud computing, as if it was quoting from a Larry
Ellison's script. The audience laughed. No one is invested in dissing the cloud any more.

Wait a minute. Oracle wants to be a virtualization vendor, doesn't it? But virtualization leads to
the cloud. Oh, we didn't think about that. Oh. I guess we better come up with a cloud strategy.

VMware in the past has gone out of its way to sound like a good partner and a supplier of a base
technology that will fit into the big guy's shops. Now it sounds like it's willing to crowd the big
guys on their own turf. And I'm at a loss to see what is going to stop it from doing so.

Comment (0)