IaaS Will Count for a Third of IT Resources in 2014

About 77 percent of enterprises respondents surveyed by PwC have a plan to adopt some form of cloud computing, and 64 percent said some type of cloud, including private and public, would be the best way to manage IT infrastructure in three years.


Precisely what that means for would-be providers is not quite so clear, though. 


PwC surveyed 489 business executives in an effort to understand the real state of data center management, and the results suggest both increases in traditional data center operations, "private" cloud operations and some increase in public cloud activities. But there will be a huge decline in use of traditional data center services managed by service providers. 


Traditional IT outsourcing service providers are about to see their business models and customer value propositions disrupted. 


But the essence of cloud computing is a move towards highly standardized racks of commodity servers and a software environment that together make for a highly efficient use of resources. Who needs to outsource to a third party when such capabilities are available?

"We have seen major technology shifts in the data center in the past," says David Stuckey, PwC's US leader of its data center infrastructure practice. "These shifts in reality have just added to the mix in the data center, increasing complexity and cost."

Cloud computing, when done right, has the potential to actually replace, and not just augment, legacy environments while adding value by reducing costs and increasing agility," says Stuckey. 

Private cloud is infrastructure operated solely for a single organization, whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally.^[43]

They have attracted criticism because users "still have to buy, build, and manage them" and thus do not benefit from lower up-front capital costs and less hands-on management,^[44] essentially "[lacking] the economic model that makes cloud computing such an intriguing concept".

IaaS Will Count for a Third of IT Resources in 2014

Can Google Apps Save a Business Money?

Many enterprises would have a really hard time quantifying the benefits from cloud applications, hosted applications or software as a service.

Google claims it can help businesses quantify how much they can save by switching to Google Apps. Smaller organizations might buy the logic.

What Google Could Do with Gizmo5

Google has bought Gizmo5, an IP communications firm with a deep understanding of Session Initiation Protocol, which has been adopted globally by communications firms as the protocol for handling IP-based communications including voice, video and messaging.

That of course means Google could do lots of things. The "grabber" headline might be that Google now wants to "out-Skype" Skype by introducing a feature-rich calling service able to communicate with standard telephone devices, but also allow all sorts of rich and affordable features for IP-enabled devices on broadband networks.

According to that logic, Google might be readying a disruptive global calling service aimed either at Skype or at the global tier one telecom providers, either mobile or fixed.

But Google has other options as well. Those options might make as compelling headlines, but could make virtually any Google application more compelling.

In any of a number of scenarios, Google might be looking at anything but becoming a challenger to traditional telecom services, and maybe not even a direct challenger to Skype. The value of SIP is that it can "communications enable" virtually any Web application.

It could add voice communications, video or audio conferencing, messaging or other message and call handling features to any other Web-based application. As eBay once described the upside when buying Skype, voice communications could be added to any potential eBay transaction.

That didn't materialize, but the point is that SIP will be easy to integrate with Web applications and global IP communications in the way communications service providers are used to providing it.

In the perhaps more likely scenario, Google would work to embed rich communications into any number of its applications. In its mobile search efforts, Google would be able to create a location-based search experience that included one click calling, for example.

The same would be true for its mapping and turn-by-turn communications feature for Android mobile devices.

SIP could help Google embed live communcations links in Google Docs, or Wave, allowing real time communications to be a simple one-click feature of collaboration.

The point is that Google likely is not looking at anything so pedestrian as a "Skype killer." Embedded voice, messaging and video communications might be a very attractive feature for any advertiser using any Google application as an ad venue.

In any of these scenarios, Gizmo5 brings Google, and Google Voice, the ability to embed communications in nearly every application. It is the mass market equivalent of "communications enabled business processes" in the enterprise space.

Sure, Google might leverage the Skype style communications to enhance Google Voice. But it seems unlikely to me to stop there. As VoIP proponents always have argued, the real value lies not in free or cheap calling, but in changing the nature of the communications experience. In all likelihood, Google is thinking that way.

Telco of the Future is a Software Company

"The telco of the next five years has to be a software company," says John Lazar, MetaSwitch CEO. That statement is rich with implications for business strategy, organization, investment and priorities, but must at least incorporate the ability to "create and tear down" whole applications, service or features very rapidly, without labor-intensive physical processes. That's why MetaSwitch believes in IP Multimedia Subsystem.

The meaning does not extend as far as the notion that access networks and a range of services related to voice, data and video services will be unnecessary. What Lazar means is that since nobody really can predict what the killer app of the future is, providers simply must have the ability to react quickly when users suggest demand exists for any application that benefits from network access.  

And the access and services platform has to transcend silos. "You have to innovate quickly and build links between things," says Lazar. "Things you don't expect will stick," he notes, reminding people that  "nobody predicted SMS (text messaing) would be the huge success it hsa turned out to be."

But addressing both the current recessionary climate, which has nearly everybody reacting caustiously, Lazar also warned that some "people are not thinking ambitiously enough." There are opportunities to be seized, but action is necessary. And Lazar predicts innovators will do well in this recession.

There are constraints, to be sure. "Damn the dollars, full speed ahead" may not be a strategy many firms can embrace. But keep in mind: when somebody, or a company, says "something can't be done," you have to translate.

What the speaker means is that "I, or my organization, for a host of very-real reasons, cannot do it." That is different than saying something really cannot be done.

Other speakers may well say "something is possible, and can be done," because they do not have barriers of one sort or another that prevent them from doing something others say "cannot be done."

Over the next five years, people will do things that "cannot be done." They will be done for one simple reason. Despite a host of reasons why one contestant says something "cannot be done," others will operate without those constraints.

Thomas Howe to Head Jaduka

Jaduka has promised "big news" at eComm, and one would have to say that some of that news already is leaking out. Consultant Thomas Howe has shut down his consulting business and now is the new Jaduka CEO.

NetworkIP, Jaduka's parent, clearly has decided that it cannot get the traction or valuation it seeks without a recognizable name at the top of its executive ranks.

I believe people refer to this as "street cred."

Software-Based Telecom (Video in 5 Parts)

Voice has for decades been a "service" sold by the "the line" or as an "application" created by a premises switch. Now voice also is a feature of instant messaging, Web sites, enterprise applications and email. As a result, there now are multiple business models, revenue streams and applications that use the "voice" feature. This panel will examine some of the ways this is happening, and what it means for traditional providers of voice services.

Gary Kim, Editor-in-Chief, IP Business

Rodrigue Ullens, Co-founder & CEO, Voxbone

Trevor Baca, VP, Software Engineering, jaduka

Michael Veys, COO, JAJAH

Eric Reiher, Founder & CTO, Mobivox

Click on "Related Article" at the bottom of this post for the first of five parts. Click "Watch in HD" if you have the bandwidth. 

Has the Web Killed Enterprise Intranets?

Between emerging social networking tools and Web browser front ends, it is conceivable that the need for enterprise "intranets" is not so urgent anymore. As the Internet was seen as an external network, intranets were supposed to make internal data bases, information and communication available to enterprise associates.

But email, instant messaging, texting, mobile phones, Saleforce.com and other Web-based tools arguably not allow organizations to do those things without building dedicated intranets.

Instead, we've flipped everything inside out. The big movement now is towards software architectures that allow internal resources to be exposed to users with access to Web browsers.

Low Awareness of Google Apps?

In a recent survey, NPD asked PC users whether they had heard about online, browser-based office productivity applications like Google Docs & Spreadsheets or other similar Web-based apps.

About 94 percent say they never have heard of Web-based productivity suites. About half of one percent have substituted Web-based productivity suites for desktop software such as Microsoft Office.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets perhaps is the most visible of the Web-based suites. But apparently a long ways from being a mainstream application.

Amazon SimpleDB: Boost for Cloud Computing

Amazon now offers SimpleDB, a Web service for running queries on structured data in real time. This service works in close conjunction with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), collectively providing the ability to store, process and query data sets in the cloud.

Traditionally, this type of functionality has been accomplished with a clustered relational database that requires a sizable upfront investment. In contrast, Amazon SimpleDB is easy to use and provides the core functionality of a database--real-time lookup and simple querying of structured data--without the operational complexity.

Amazon SimpleDB automatically indexes data and provides a simple API for storage and access.

Amazon SimpleDB provides streamlined access to the lookup and query functions that traditionally are achieved using a relational database cluster, while leaving out other complex, often-unused database operations.

Amazon SimpleDB allows easy scaling of applications as well. For the Beta release, a single domain is limited in size to 10 gigabytes and 100 domains. Over time these limits may be raised, Amazon says.

The service runs within Amazon's high-availability data centers and fully indexed user data is stored redundantly across multiple servers and data centers.

Amazon SimpleDB is designed to integrate easily with other web-scale services such as Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3. For example, developers can run their applications in Amazon EC2 and store their data objects in Amazon S3. Amazon SimpleDB can then be used to query the object metadata from within the application in Amazon EC2 and return pointers to the objects stored in Amazon S3.

Developers and users pay only for what they use; there are no minimum fees.

Machine use costs $0.14 per Amazon SimpleDB Machine Hour consumed. Data transfer in
$0.10 per gigabyte. Data transfer out varies based on volume. Costs are $0.18 per GB for the first 10 TB per month; $0.16 per GB for the next 40 TB and $0.13 per GB over 50 TB.

Structured data storage costs $1.50 per GB-month.

The point is that it is becoming easier by the day to create, store and execute applications based entirely "in the cloud," without ownership or lease of data facilities, access pipes or servers to support those apps. At some point, highly-distributed workforces or end user bases will find it congenial in the extreme to support remote users with services always available through a standard Web browser, with the latest version, with no need for loading updates, patches or extensions.

As software becomes a service, computing infrastructure also is becoming a utility or service as well.

Channel Embraces SaaS

An IDC survey of members of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners suggests high expectations for software as a service.

IDC says 76 percent of solution providers who responded believe that SAAS will dramatically impact the partnering landscape, and more than 70 percent of solution providers view it as an opportunity. Solution providers believe that the most profitable opportunities related to SAAS will be in the area of deployment and implementation services.

But solution providers are also looking forward to the recurring revenue opportunity that comes with the SAAS business model.

SAP, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and IBM are among the application providers expected to be active in 2008.

Ribbit!

Ribbit has unveiled a new platform for developing telephony services and integrating them with Web apps, as well as what it says is a new business model as well.

The company says it has a 600-plus developer community and already can be integrated with salesforce.com.

"The world doesn't need another phone company," says Ted Griggs, co-founder and CEO at Ribbit. "What it needs is new kind of phone company, one that liberates voice from its current confines -- devices, plans and business models -- and more readily integrates into the workflow of our professional and personal lives."

At the core of Ribbit's technology offering is an open platform that enables developers to bridge the worlds of traditional telephony and the Web. The Ribbit SmartSwitch, evolved from a Lucent-tested CLASS 5 softswitch, and open Flash/Flex-based application programming interface will enable non-telephony developers to quickly build innovative, rich voice applications and integrate them into Web sites, communities and applications, Ribbit says.

By connecting voice from any Flash-enabled browser to the PSTN (public switched telephone network) and new VoIP (voice over IP) networks, over 750 million computers become the next generation of phones with developers deciding how they work, the company says.

With an assortment of back-office and service delivery infrastructure, the platform also enables developers to not only build services, but sell them as well.

In the first quarter of 2008, the Ribbit for Salesforce workflow integration will be available for salesforce.com customers via the AppExchange.

In the first quarter of 2008, Ribbit will open its service to consumers. Also in the first quarter, the company will sell commercial and enterprise packages. Both the consumer, small, medium and enterprise markets will be areas of focus for Ribbit.

Ribbit is another example of the growing "voice is a mashup" trend, where communications and voice simply are integrated with applications.

IT Staffing Crisis: Managed Services Opportunity

With only an estimated five million new workers entering a workforce in which twenty-five million will retire over the next twelve years, IT shops are facing an obvious personnel crisis, argue researchers at Ovum. "North American IT shops may well be facing a staffing perfect storm," says Tom Kucharvy, Ovum SVP.

Do the math: Lose 25 million; gain five million, for a net loss of 20 million IT personnel. Assuming technology and software continues to be more important in the future than in the past, it seems rather obvious that enterprise, small business and consumer technology support has to change, and change dramatically.

So is it not reasonable to assume that technology has to be made easier to use; support has to be virtualized (not delivered on site, by a technician)and software has to be delivered as a service?

Two big challenges are certain, Ovum argues. "The impending mass retirement of baby boomers will deplete staff and starve many companies of critical skills."

"Meanwhile, a shortage of replacements due to a smaller crop of college graduates and a dramatic decline in students planning to enter IT-related fields will compound the problem.

"Fundamentally reassessing the skills that will be needed over the next five to ten years rather than attempting to duplicate or replace current skills is the first strategic step companies must take immediately to address the issue," says Kucharvy.

Mobility, SaaS, Laszlo, Google, et al

As work and workers become more mobile, enterprises are starting to use more Web-delivered applications. As that starts to happen, Web-based desktops and productivity suites are going to make more sense. Enter Laszlo and the Laszlo Webtop, referred to as a Web 2.0 Desktop. Laszlo Webtop has developed bundled solutions for three target markets: service providers, enterprises and developers.

Laszlo Webtop for Service Providers comes bundled with Laszlo Mail and Contacts and supports customized Web portals. Laszlo Webtop for Enterprises comes bundled with Contacts and optional Laszlo Mail.

Meanwhile, the Laszlo Webtop SDK for Developers offering is a software development kit allowing developers build their own Webtop solutions compliant with the Webtop.

This just makes sense. If one is going to build a distributed applications architecture assuming broadband access, then assuming a Web-based desktop also makes sense.

More Enterprise Moves for Google

Google now is any tier one communications service provider's biggest fear, stated or unstated, and it mostly is stated. So Google's acquisition of Postini won't help clam any such fears. Google gains instant access to Postini’s client base of more than 35,000 businesses including many large businesses.

Postini will help Google further refine its "software as a service" architecture for critical business applications, moving Google further into the business services and software space.

Postini has offered managed email security services to corporate customers since 1999.