From Build to Scale: The Lifecycle of Microservices More and more companies are looking to microservices as an architectural pattern for breaking apart applications into more manageable pieces so that agile teams can deliver new features quicker and more effectively. What this pattern has done more than anything to date is spark organizational transformations, setting the foundation for future application development. In practice, however, there are a number of considerations to make that go beyond simply "build, ship, and run," which changes how developers and operators work together to streamline cohesive systems. Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Ivan Dwyer, head of business development at Iron.io, discussed: The behavior of different types of application workloads The role of containers from development to execution Covering the fu... (more)

Six Tips for Moving Web Services from the Lab into Action

It's relatively easy to build custom Web services. Customers are finding that it's much more difficult, however, to successfully secure and scale them in production. Six tips from Canada's largest loyalty reward program provider, a global financial services company, and Reactivity, Inc. can help you simplify Web services deployment. They're Popping Up Everywhere For one or two XML Web services, why worry about systematizing deployment? The answer is so you don't have to worry about them - or the potential security and availability lapses they can create - later. Here are three indications that your enterprise needs a robust, secure XML Web services deployment system: You're spending longer deploying XML and Web services than it took to create them. You're going back to modify services to accommodate new standards, meet security requirements, and fix interoperability ... (more)

The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing

Cloud Expo Early Bird Savings A robust ecosystem of solutions providers is emerging around cloud computing. Here, SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Journal expands its list of most active players in the fast-emerging Cloud Ecosystem, from the 'mere' 100 we identified back in January of this year, to half as many again - testimony, if any further were needed, to the fierce and continuing growth of the "Elastic IT" paradigm throughout the world of enterprise computing. Editorial note: The words in quotation marks used to describe the various services and solutions in this round-up are in every case taken from the Web sites cited. As ever we encourage software engineers, developers, IT operations managers, and new/growing companies in every case to "suck it and see" by downloading or otherwise sampling the offering in question for themselves. (Omissions to this Top 150 list sh... (more)

Industry Experts Discuss the State of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing Expo on Ulitzer "With cloud computing, price to deploy applications goes through the floor while flexibility to scale those applications goes through the ceiling!" says WaveMaker CEO Chris Keene, in this lively round-up of CEO and CTO opinions to get a sense of The State of Cloud Computing compiled and published by Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. 4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo is taking place this week at the Santa Clara Convention Center (November 2-4, 2009). Keene's take on what's driving Cloud Computing enterprise-wise is just one of several high-profile contributions. Those contributing to Geelan's impromptu survey include: RightScale CEO Michael Crandell; the Chairman & CEO of WaveMaker, Chris Keene; the CTO of GigaSpaces, Nati Shalom; Lew Cirne, Founder & CEO of New Relic; Mitchell Kertzman of Hummer Winblad Venture Partne... (more)

Opinion: Is This the #Jan25 Uprising?

First came Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution" and now we have the "#Jan25 Uprising" - the world's first revolution named for a Twitter hash tag. Calling it the "Twitter Revolution" misses the beauty of the hash tag itself, and besides what would one then call the upcoming social unrest in other Arab States? So-called "hashtag dates" are already being planned for the Arab world: Sudan #Jan30, Yemen #Feb3, Syria #Feb5, Algeria #Feb12 and Bahrain #Feb14. Photo by Arabist, via TwitPic I am not the only one who argues that "Twitter Revolution" is not the right term. Ulyses Mejias has written vehemently that "...[I]t is [absurd] to refer to events in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere as the Twitter Revolution, the Facebook Revolution, and so on." And he is right. Let me quickly just give the floor to Mejias, since he in turn is generous enough to note that things can sometime... (more)

Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Lunchtime Focus Keynote - Day 3

Cloud Expo Silicon Valley $500 Savings here! The cloud is changing the way enterprises consume IT infrastructure and applications. Networks and application deployment strategies are being re-architected to manage an increasingly hybrid network where storage, utility compute and applications are being designed to move seamlessly across private and public cloud infrastructures. In his Lunchtime Focus Keynote on November 7 at the 11th International Cloud Expo, Todd Paoletti, Vice President of Product Management at Akamai, will discuss the trends, new products and roadmap to help increase cloud adoption and business agility. Explore Cloud Expo Sponsorship & Exhibit Opportunities ! Speaker Bio: Todd Paoletti is Vice President, Product Management for Akamai's Enterprise Cloud Division; an evolving line of Enterprise and Cloud application performance, optimization and sec... (more)

Microsoft's Ballmer: "I See Nothing But Opportunity"

Steve Ballmer presented a lengthy keynote and partner session at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Minneapolis. Below is the complete transcript of the session. Steve Ballmer It is my honor, privilege, excitement, to be here with you today. For all the things I do -- and many of you have had a chance to hear this many times as I travel the world -- but everything I get to do working for Microsoft, there's one thing that's most energizing for me -- one thing, one thing -- meeting with our partners. And you say, this guy gives this line to every audience he meets with. Nooo. What's special about this group? What gets me particularly pumped up? What is particularly exciting? Our partners are a unique blend, you are, of two elements. Number one, you've made a bet on us. You believe in us, you want us to win, you need us to win. You're kind of like employees... (more)

JackBe to Exhibit at Government IT Conference & Expo

SYS-CON Events announced today that JackBe, a provider of enterprise mashup software, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 1st Annual Government IT Conference & Expo (GovITExpo), which will take place on October 6, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Enterprise Mashups deliver unprecedented information insight for better decisions and improved organizational outcomes. JackBe's Presto® Enterprise Mashup Platform enables the rapid, collaborative, user-driven creation of secure, visually rich mashups without the complexities, costs and risks of traditional information integration projects. Presto is a DoDIIS-certified Protection Level 3 (PL3) solution for government situational awareness applications. Notable customers include the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Information Systems Agency, Reed Elsevier, Random House Publishing, EMC, Thomson Re... (more)

Jill Tummler Singer, Deputy CIO of CIA, Keynotes at GovIT Expo

Enterprise Cloud Computing is a key strategy for CIOs, stated Jill Tummler Singer, Deputy CIO at the CIA, in her keynote session at the 1st Annual GovIT Expo in Washington, D.C. As the pressure mounts to meet more stringent budgets, CIOs need to find the proper balance between transforming IT and reducing costs. Enterprise cloud computing can be defined in many different ways. "Enterprise Cloud Computing makes IT faster, better, cheaper, and safer," stated Tummler Singer, "and it gives your business the agility and sustainability to survive." Can the Enterprise Cloud make infrastructure operations faster, easier, cheaper, and safer while also unleashing the transformative creativity of the workforce? There are many pressures facing CIOs today, and technology can be used to drive innovation. As the pressure mounts to meet more stringent budgets, CIOs need to find t... (more)

Cloud Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Cloud Expo on Ulitzer Brenda Michelson, Principal of Elemental Links, writes "elemental cloud computing" recently tweeted: "100k buys way more public, than private, cloud computing power" which started a short but inspiring conversation on the subject centering around the observation that "cloud is the gift that keeps on giving." That's alluding to the fact that the compute power purchased in "the cloud" is an annual expense, unlike private, cloud computing power which requires renewal at longer intervals, usually in the 3-5 year range. Still, Brenda is right at least in the short term. $100,000 purchases a lot more compute power in a public cloud computing environment than it will/would/does in a private cloud computing environment. The problem is that $100,000 in a private cloud computing environment is likely to provide more business value than would a comparable... (more)

Commentary: Sun’s Oracle Merger

Mergers & Acquisitions on Ulitzer With only the ‘you may now kiss the bride’ custom to follow, the Oracle/Sun marriage (or dare I say Sun/Oracle) is now finally complete. After months of legal wrangling which has caused nothing but embarrassment and dwindled Sun’s stature within the market sphere, reports also came out that half of Sun's 27,000 staff will be made redundant. Thus initial indications are clear that Oracle, known for its past agnosticism to open source has an eye for the merger being based on maximizing profit. In the meantime Sun’s competitors are probably smiling wryly as the delay of the merger played into their immediate interests but what threats and challenges does this partnership now pose to the once great open source vendor which did so much for developing the tech and e-commerce industry. One thing which Oracle will most probably do is addres... (more)