Talking Out Cloud

Pervasive DataCloud2 creates success for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Force.com!

2010-07-12T14:04:00Z

Reuven Cohen ( http://bjac.it/brPe6V ) described this morning in a couple of paragraphs ( http://bjac.it/aSDu5x ) what I have been trying to explain for the last 18 months. The Pervasive DataCloud2 is not a competitor to other clouds or Platforms as a Service, but a complementary service.

I would go a step further and say that the boutique cloud services are critical for the continued success for the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and force.com. I am sure that the guys in Seattle (both groups) and the teams in the valley ( http://bjac.it/aJqxjd ) would like to tell you that they can be everything to everyone. But they know as well as we do that is not part of their strategy. Sure, they will try to offer as much as they can in terms of variety of service, but in the end compromises will be made for the greater good of all.

Pervasive DataCloud2 and services like it add pieces ( http://bit.ly/j4n2U ) that these vendors cannot and probably should not offer as part of their platform. Can a guy like Mark Benioff really justify spending time helping a company integrate their Netsuite with an on premise SAP implementation? Hosting the service infrastructure makes perfect sense for Amazon, but should they develop the integration expertise? Should Steve Ballmer and the crew in Redmond really be in the business of analyzing an organization’s healthcare data?

I say no to all of the above, and even though they will not say it publicly, I am guessing the above list of cloud vendors know that it is a truth and fact that niche cloud services guys are a key component of their success. You are welcome guys!

Information Week on Pervasive DataCloud2

2010-05-11T13:12:00Z

Pervasive Software held its annual Metamorphosis event last week. That's where we ask 100 current customers to spend two days with 100 prospective customers. It's our concept of a "rush" for customers. We host a nice dinner, give them a comfortable place to network and let the experience of our customers speak for itself. The event is always a huge success for both parties, and this year was no exception.

For our part (DataCloud2 Team) we were one of the darlings of the party, cloud computing is everywhere and our CTO (Mike Hoskins) made it clear Pervasive is committed to integration in and around the cloud.

It always feels good when you know people are talking about you in a good way, but it is even better when they put it in writing. Charlie Babcock (Information Week) wrote a good review of where the Pervasive DataCloud2 has been and where it is going based on what he learned at the conference.

What Charlie didn't say is we (Pervasive DataCloud2 Team) have already reached the future. A few weeks ago we completed a project with MicroFinance, which leverages the Pervasive DataCloud2 in a big way. We published a great case study capturing how we used DataCloud2 services to connect several (4 in the initial phase) end points. Of particular interest is that two of the end points are located behind firewalls. Using VPN services running on the DataCloud the MIX team created tunneled connections, insuring secure access to on premise data, that allowed the integration of data to occur in the cloud environment. The VPN clients are ultra-thin and self contained and delivered using Pervasive Apollo agent technology. This means that the owner (MIX in this case) of the data can control access and authorization. Updates, when required, are small and automatic.

In addition to the VPN services we have added SFTP, SMTP and encryption services via PGP libraries for use by our growing number of partners creating integration solutions on the Pervasive DataCloud2. What we are realizing is that by leveraging the IaaS of Amazon Web Services we are able to provide a rich environment for our customers. And they are taking advantage of it as quickly as we can roll the services out.

We will be rolling out more services in the future (as Charlie says), but don't look for the future to be too far away.

Security and Cloud Computing Will Not Go Away - Address It Head First

2010-04-27T16:33:00Z

Once again David Linthicum has hit the nail on the head! The issues organizations have with security in the cloud are not going to go away. Linthicum points to a recent Harris poll that says over 50% of those polled are concerned with security of data on the cloud. Cloud vendors must address these questions, they cannot pretend that the fear and uncertainly the would be consumers of their services have.

We at Pervasive take security very serious. So much so we try to over compensate. We have been cautious rolling out our public services in an attempt to address security as our platform evolves rather than as an after thought.

Some of the steps we take to insure your data is secure...

We take the steps of securing user configuration data, all user configuration data stored on the Pervasive DataCloud2 is encrypted prior to being stored. We also provide services to our developers that allow them to encrypt data used in their applications, leveraging the PGP libraries. Since we are implemented on the Amazon Web Services platform, we "lock" the AWS firewall so that public EC2 instances cannot access the instances running as part of the DataCloud2 infrastructure. All communication between client applications (web browsers included) use https and 128 bit or higher encryption. Finally the Pervasive DataCloud receives a periodic scan from a PCI compliant scanning service to insure no vulnerabilities exist.

You can read more about the Pervasive DataCloud2 and security here.

Printing Service for Cloud Computing - "What took so long?"

2010-04-19T15:52:00Z

Google recently introduced a service that allows devices connected to the cloud, to print via local printers also connected to the cloud. There were a couple of press releases, a few Blog posts, even a flow of Tweets that went out. It seemed like news. And I suppose that it was, kind of. But those of us that have been around cloud computing had a thought that went more like this, "What took so long?" Not that this plan is easy to implement, but more that it was so obvious.

Music is on the cloud. TV is on the cloud. Integration is on the cloud. One could even say that printing on the cloud is an extension of integration on the cloud. (That makes me wonder why I don't think of it before Google.) The truth is I expect to see these kind of services pop up all over the cloud this year. Now that the cloud is so capable, starting to be trusted, and devices are being connected at a staggering rate, the same last mile that existed in the on premises enterprise world for the last 25 years, will now become a factor in the cloud world.

Building clouds services will become central to proliferating the cloud even further into businesses around the globe and as such one of the most profitable sectors in cloud computing. And platforms that allow agnostic services deliver will become critical to that world. Pervasive DataCloud2 is at the core of this growth.

What will the next set of cloud services be? Who knows, but it's safe to say they're coming, by the hundreds, maybe thousands. Many of them will be non-eventful, like Google's printing service. But we think the opportunity to build and deploy cloud services is still in its infancy, and offers ISV's a new channel for some very creative development.

If you have an idea we would love to help by prioviding ther elastice platform that allows fast development and deployment.

Pervasive DataCloud2 Spring 2010 Release Available

2010-04-06T14:13:00Z

Spring has sprung in Austin. Texas and the Pervasive DataCloud team members have been busy over the winter. In addition to their normal tasks of maintaining the Pervasive DataCloud, they delivered the Spring 2010 release on March 20, 2010.

Lets take a closer look at each feature, I'll also provide a link for each so you can dive down into the real details.

Execution Real Time Feedback

All the processes that run on the Pervasive DataCloud2 are designed as a work flow process. In other words, the process starts on step X and completes on step n, depending on the flow. The new Real Time Feedback feature allows you to know at which step your execution is on, what the status of your execution is, along with details that are provided by the Pervasive Process Engine.

For detailed information on how to use this very powerful feedback feature see the API BLOG entry at: http://bit.ly/RealTimeAPI

Windows AMI

Until the Spring 2010 release all Pervasive DataCloud2 executions were performed on LINUX engines, with Spring 2010 you have the option of running the same executions in a Windows environment. If you have COM or .NET libraries you wish to use in your process, then they may be deployed with your solution and executed in the same secure space as your process. This means all that work you have for a Win OS can be leveraged instantly on the Pervasive DataCloud.

For more details on getting access to these Windows instances, please contact your Account Executive.

http://cloud.pervasive.com/Pages/ContactUs.aspx

New Amazon Based Design AMI

DataCloud2 now allows you to Design your processes using your own Amazon account. For our development customers, this means all you pay for Pervasive for is use of the design environment, which may be purchased in increments as small as 1 day! You own the AMI and resulting EC2 instance, which means you pay Amazon rates for your design environment. With the use of the Pervasive Design Manager, users can design their process, and deploy them to DataCloud2 with ease.

Please see http://bit.ly/DesignManAMI for documentation on the Pervasive Design Manager.

Reporting API

This API allows you to report on your DataCloud2 CPU usage and bandwidth consumption. As cloud computing continues to move forward, so will the utility billing model. The new reporting API allows developers who build solutions on the DataCloud to query for usage data. They may use that data for their own statistics, or they may parlay that information into billing information for their customers.

See the API forum entry for more information: http://bit.ly/ReportAPI

Activity Dashboard

This new feature, available by login in at https://datacloud2.pervasive.com/ , will show you a dashboard view of your information in DataCloud2. You can monitor the number of executions, as well as a summary for bandwidth consumption and number of CPU hours used for the last 30 days. You can view a sneak peak here...

Cloud Computing Starts to Focus

2010-03-19T15:48:00Z

David Linthicum this week reported from Cloud Connect that Cloud Computing is coming into focus around three items,. He listed them as terminology, standards and last but not least security.

Couldn't agree more on the definitions (I blogged about the confusion a few weeks ago), but my opinion is the lexicon will take a while to settle down. I think this is more of an industry that generally agrees on their terms, but have now found themselves in a kind of gray area. My experience with engineers and scientist are they do not like the gray. Doesn't mean they can change it, just means they don't like it. I think the terms will take a while to shake out.

Standards is another area where time will heal all. We can't have standards until we have had time to standardize. Inklings of standards are already beginning. My gut tells me there are several earth shattering events that we have yet seen around cloud computing that will make some of what we think today, obsolete and take with them the idea of what we think should be the standard.

Finally, security. I have read a few encouraging posts on this in the past month. People are beginning to realize that data in the cloud can be protected. Not only that, they are realizing that data has been in the cloud for a really long time, and it has been generally safe all that time. Think about how many purchases you have made on line. Think about how rare a breech of that data occurs. It happens, but employees walking out with data from nuclear research labs on a hard drive and leaving it in a bar happens too. Every bit of data is at risk, its how much process and protection you put around it that counts, not necessarily where it is kept that defines the amount of risk.

Cloud Computing Predicitons - Survival of the Fittiest?

2010-03-09T17:50:00Z

This week Cloud Ave. has a list of 10 great predictions for this year as they relate to cloud computing. Great predictions and they all mean the same thing; the interest in cloud computing is growing, and the need for tools, platforms and providers is growing accordingly. But also noted in the article is that this year is the year of cloud planning, resulting in another prediciton, a Darwinian slimming to the fittest providers. David Linthicum made the same implication on Cloud Computing.

My bet is that among those who emerge will be a strong data services provider.

I think our Pervasive DataCloud2 could be that platform and of course Pervasive will be that provider. I have several reasons behind my logic. First I do not believe that the major infrastructure providers will deliver the niche type services that cloud consumers will demand. We have also already seen that platforms like Salesforce.com are focused on combining data with their own applications.

This leave a distinct gap on the cloud, one that we are happy to fill.

Cloud Data Challenges Require New Cloud Data Answers

2010-02-23T19:40:00Z

Congratulations Twitter team! 50 Million Tweets! That’s a lot of data. You would think it would be an issue for the folks at Twitter to take care of all that data. Actually they seem to have moved past their issues. I for one have not seen the "fail whale" in some time. At the very least I have not seen him as frequently. There was a time when they struggled to keep their heads above water and the whale in the water. Remember SXSW 2007?

All this data highlights a point, data on the cloud is growing, and FAST! And it is different than anything we experienced in the past.

For people who work with that data it means we cannot approach it the manner we approached it last year, or even last month. We need to think in new terms, relative to what is actually happening on the cloud. Huge data volumes, but not all the time.

Look at these charts. The first one is the volume of Tweets during the Super Bowl against time. The next one is the volume of Tweets against time for the last few years. Two deductions can be drawn, the volume is huge and growing, but it is not linear during the day or events.

In the old days when asked to process that data, we would have provisioned just enough static servers to handle the peak load and written off the “at rest time” as the cost of doing business. We can’t afford to do that today.

Cloud infrastructure is available and should be leveraged. I have seen vendor after vendor throw their software “stack” from last year on an image in the cloud and call it scalable. Really? Ask them to explain their "scalable infrastructure". Ask them if you had 1TB of data arrive over a 2 hour time span could they scale and process it without manual intervention? If they say yes, ask them to prove it...

If you have varying volumes of data that are growing, and/or a varying demand to process that data in real time, on-demand or in even in batches on the cloud, then ask those questions and make that vendor stand behind it.

…it will be too late if you find out during data crunch time.

The “as a Service” Argument in Cloud Computing

2010-02-22T02:06:00Z

I have been called argumentative at times although I like to think of it as being controversial. I will also say I like a good discussion as much as the next deliberator, however, there is a debate raging in the cloud space that I just don’t get.

The basic question in the battle field is what vendor service(s)is classified as either Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service(PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS). In our world we look at it like this; The Pervasive DataCloud2, an example of PaaS, it sits on Amazon Web Services, what I consider to be IaaS, and provides services to IaaS, PaaS, as well as SaaS.

I could be wrong, but come on folks, does it really matter what label is on the vendor? If they have a service that fits your need, will you not buy it because they (or more likely some analyst) labeled it incorrectly? Check out the latest thread on the Google Cloud Computing Group .

This argument is gaining in size and seemingly in importance to rival what “size of government”, “amount of taxes” and “the national debt” already own in the political circles of this country.

I am pretty sure if my electric company changed their classification from an utility to a Electricity as a Service (EaaS) I would not stop using the current that comes out the end of their wires. I am also sure that someone will take offense to my simplification of this description, but if you do, please help me by explaining the importance while you’re complaining.

Software to Cloud Service

2010-02-10T21:17:00Z

Adobe announced their migration of their Life Cycle application to the AWS cloud. They didn’t just copy the old application, they migrated the idea into a new service. The key word is service, software as a service, but a service none the less. (I wonder if we should start calling electricity utility as a service UaaS).

Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) are realizing that simply cutting and pasting their old apps onto instances of VM’s in the cloud does not make a company a cloud software company. More thought and consideration must be put into the application, and while pieces of the intellectual property can be used, some work is required to leverage the goodness of the cloud..

There is a distinct difference between a cloud service and software that can be leveraged on virtual instances. Be very careful of the latter, it probably does not scale or take advantage of the things you moved to the cloud for in the first place.

True cloud services should and do take advantage of the cloud. They expand and contract like the cloud. They are available for use anywhere, and they can be leveraged from any cloud. Be sure to ask is an ISV's software meets these requirements BEFORE you sign up for a cloud service that is not a service at all, but simply repackaged client server code.

Computing Cloud Price War Breaks Out!

2010-02-04T15:01:00Z

This is one war we can all be happy to see start. Microsoft and Amazon have fired some warning shots in the past few months, but yesterday Amazon sent a clear message to Redmond that this is a war and they are ready to fight.

That’s awesome for us the consumers. Regardless of where they finally drive the price, we can have some sense of confidence that the money we pay for cloud computing cycles and storage are now being driven by the forces of a fair market. Adam Smith would be proud today, because the market is at work balancing itself without the intervention of outside forces.

Only time will tell how this plays out, but my guess is that prices for cloud computing will move slightly lower over the course of the next 6 months. At some point it will stabilize around 10 to 20% lower than we see today in certain cases. It is unlikely that we will see prices take on the Moore’s Law effect some have associated with the cloud phenomenon.

The short message is, if you were worried you were going to get price-jacked at the entry ramp to the cloud, you can set that fear aside.

On a closing note I have a prediction that we will see someone attempt to produce a clearing house for cloud purchasing. Hiding the complexity of finding the lowest price, farming simple jobs to cloud based computing for that day, week or month. It will resemble a stock exchange or hedge fund implementation for cloud computing resources. Think of it, a company built around the idea of leveraging future prices based on market events and predictions. Oh yea, they tried that with energy didn’t they, it was called Enron…

Don't bring your junk (dirty data) to the Computing Cloud

2010-02-03T15:11:00Z

I decided to clean out our garage over the weekend. As I sorted through the now outdated lawn sprinklers (we have a sprinkler system at our current address) and light bulbs that worked in fixtures on previous porches, it occurred to me we moved a bunch of junk into my new house. The news is we have lived at this address for 8 years. I sure do wish I had taken the opportunity to go through this stuff when we moved. What this means is I have been picking it up, moving it out of the way, to find what I was really seeking, for eight years! What a waste of time.

The scenario above repeats itself all over the world every day. But it is not limited to urban dwellers and garages. As organizations move their data into the cloud, the potential for the same “garage full of junk” exists. Dirty data files that organizations have struggled with for years are now being transferred, in bulk, to the cloud. And just like our garage full of junk, those organizations will continue to stumble over them for years to come.

I would suggest that organizations transferring data into the cloud, plan an effort to identify and clean their dirty data before the move. Using profiling tools and customer data services that are positioned “inline” with the flow of data coming from your on-premise data stores to the cloud is not just a good idea, it is a strategic advantage over anyone you compete with. Regardless of how you move the data (bulk file transfer or migration and transformation services running on Pervasive DataCloud2) take the time to go through your junk! Leverage a data service to profile and then even remediate your data.

Otherwise plan to spend your Saturday like my last one, sifting through junk!

Action Items for Security in the Cloud

2010-02-01T14:26:00Z

Cloud computing is growing and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future, just Google Cloud Computing Growth to confirm.

But is it growing as fast as it can? Probably not.

Security continues to be the number one concern, simply Google Cloud Computing Security to confirm.

There are many issues in any discussion about cloud computing and security, but this article in ComputerWorld caught my eye this morning: http://bit.ly/SecurCompWorld. Elisabeth Horwitt captures some right now action items that cloud consumers can exercise to help insure their cloud effort is more secure.

Computing Cloud without Web Services?

2010-01-18T15:10:00Z

Yahoo announced January 11, 2010 they plan to turn off their Shopping API. Yahoo took so much heat that they had to expand on the basis of their decision further 4 days later.
Users may get permission from PriceGrabber who will evidently run the API for Yahoo, but the service which was free will now cost.

I could care less about Yahoo and their Shopping API, although there are some developers who are pissed. But what does alarm me is the idea that a corporation as impactful as Yahoo is can simply say “we aren’t interested in providing that service any longer”. This is like turning off the lights, says TechCrunch!

I know a shopping API, especially Yahoo’s, is not the same as electrical service, but maybe it should be.

I get Yahoos reasoning, but what recourse do the developers that built a sound business around this API have? Are they at the mercy of the API owner? I am not lobbying for government intervention, but there should be some avenue of recourse.

Cloud services will continue to increase in number, at some point those who publish them should have some level of responsibility.

Cloud Computing Data Services? I am glad you asked!

2010-01-07T23:26:00Z

The Pervasive DataCloud has been running since March 2007 , and it has supported API access since October 2009. Even though it’s been around a while, I still get asked, “Why would I use the DataCloud?”

Good question! I’ll answer it with a question of my own, “Where else can you find robust, elastic, multi-tenant, secure data services on the cloud?”

Of course, the first answer is always, “I can roll them myself.” Classic build versus buy. OK, build away, but you should evaluate off the shelf first. The team here at Pervasive knows what it takes to build a platform of this caliber. If a partner of ours thinks they can get the same or better efficiency and competitive advantage out of a different model on the cloud, we would not only encourage them, but even help them.

Once the build option has been considered, the next most popular response is naming one of the more familiar Platforms as a Service (PaaS) clouds. Again, good choice, but we’re talking about data services here, not a mission-specific Web application or add-on. A data services platform must support things like multi-threaded, multi-core programming models, process design, data integration models, and data profiling operations that work in conjunction with the PaaS data generated. Most if not all of these prominent platforms are not designed to deliver that type of core data processing.

As demand grows for cloud based data services, the portfolio of offerings on Pervasive DataCloud2 will grow as well. The proliferation of “ready available” services will make the platform even more attractive as a home for data services. Imagine all the different variations of data services that could be combined and leveraged by you and /or your customers.

We are just starting to see the power and widespread adoption of data services in the hybrid cloud model. We on the Pervasive DataCloud2 team are looking forward to being a very big part of it! Hopefully we will see you there as well.