Following a bit of reading (turns out not enough), including an article on Cloud performance on the thebitsource ,  we concluded that our small scale development app which relies on a single MySQL server would be more than catered for by a RackSpace cloud server. We needed a small (but consistent) IO requirement and modest memory/CPU. 

The first month of service was a complete success and we began to consider migration of live systems to cloud servers; then we where suddenly hit by a dramatic IO performance drop lasting 6 hours making the instance unusable during the online day. 

( 3 Votes )
Historically the move to outsourcing was seen as the traditional method of removing entire cost lines/centres from an organisations operational budget. Very often this meant that the IT staff simply TUPE'd over to a large IT outsourcer to provide the same service, very often on the same physical hardware, whilst application licenses and contracts remained with the end user. For the first year at least the IT understanding of the business remained as did boundaries of responsibility.  So what's the difference with cloud.

With restrictions under the Data protection Act 1998 limiting the cross bordering of personal data Forrester have released a map to highlight individual country legislation and compliance with EU adequacy tests. see http://www.forrester.com/cloudprivacyheatmap

It is also worth checking out the ICO website as it clarifies the US position, (which is only deemed adequate if the recieving company has signed up to the Safe Harbor Scheme

Informatica's announcement in the India online Press  (CIOL)  of the industry first Cloud based archiving solution has got me thinking.

So Gartner has predicted that within the next 2 years 20% of all IT shops will have switched off the lights and moved IT operations to the Cloud (http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1278413). I, like many in the Industry find this timescale pretty fanciful. This isn’t because  there will be insufficient variety of “AASes” on the market to satisfy demand, every day new ventures are being released or rebranded as Cloud offerings. Nor do I believe that the “under-whelmed users” ( http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1062512) will stop the migration.

 

No. The reason I don’t believe this will come to pass has nothing to do with the future and everything to do with the past.

I have been trying find the substance behind the 'cloud' for a few months now. The following model introduced at a NetApp conference the other week really helped me get the point.

NetApp consider there to be 4 different cloud markets

 

Let’s be clear from the outset; I’ve got no axe to grind either way on the subject of cloud computing.  Like many emerging technologies and practices it will find it’s place and evolve rapidly and, as it matures and becomes part of the fabric of the IT world, no-one will give it a second thought.

During  a social gathering this weekend I was asked for advice on a new business web services based venture. The idea itself seemed sound and after bashing about cloud or not cloud we moved onto where the next steps would take them and the product development. What struck me was that whilst the original idea is solid there were 2 main pitfalls waiting for them.

The first was how they were going to measure success in a manner that made sense to prospective clients,  essentially  how are they going to measure their new customers success.