NAS(Network attached Storage) 분야 대표 주자인 넷앱이 클라우드 컴퓨팅(Cloud Computing) 분야에서 새로운 전기를 마련하기 위해 분주하다. SAN(Storage Attached Storage) 업체들의 기세에 눌려있다가 클라우드 컴퓨팅이 부상하면서 비용 효율성과 확장성, 고가용성, 통합 스토리지 관리 분야에서 자사가 가진 경쟁력을 십분 발휘할 수 있다는 입장이다.
시장 판도가 NAS 업체에게 유리하게 조성되고 있다는 것이다. 넷앱은 기존 제품을 업그레이드 하면서 ITaaS(IT as a Service)를 구현하려는 기업들에게 한 발 더 다가서려고 한다.
로저 앤더슨(Roger Anderson) 넷앱 부사장은 “넷앱의 클라우드 강점은 크게 세가지로 요약할 수 있는데 강력한 유연성과 뛰어난 효율성, 증명된 전문성이 그것”이라고 전했다.
먼저 상시 제공되는 데이터 모빌리티나 멀티테넌시 기능 등으로 강력한 유연성을 제공한다. 안전한 멀티 테넌시(Secure multi-tenancy) 기능으로 동일 인프라 내에서 다른 기업이나 비즈니스에 따라 각기 다른 클라이언트를 위한 안전하고 분리/독립된 서비스 관리를 제공할 수 있어, 다양한 클라우드 솔루션을 구축해 사용하는 고객들이라도 넷앱 단일 통합 스토리지 아키텍처에서 데이터 관리가 포괄적으로 가능하다.
그는 “특히 T-시스템스와 같은 고객의 경우 넷앱 솔루션을 통해 ITaaS 모델을 통해 ‘다이나믹 서비스’를 제공하고 있다”면서 “이 경우 넷앱의 데이터 모션(Data Motion) 과 멀티스토어(MultiStore) 기능을 활용해 24시간 항시 제공되는 서비스 환경을 유지하고 있다”고 설명했다.
넷앱은 전문성을 특히 강조했다. 이미 다년간의 경험을 확보하고 있다는 것이다. 넷앱은 ITaaS(ITaaS) 솔루션 모델에 대한 많은 경험과 이 분야 선구자인 텔스트라(Telstra), 티-시스템스(T-systems), 스프린트(Sprint)와 같은 고객을 보유하고 있다. 또한 2004년 텔스트라 구축 당시 18개월 걸렸던 구축 기간이 2년만에 6개월로 단축될 정도로 노하우를 가지고 있다.
EMC와의 차별화 요소도 밝혔다. 로저 부사장은 “넷앱에서 직접 클라우드를 구축해 서비스 하지 않을 예정이며, 클라우드 서비스 기업 고객과 직접 경쟁하지는 않는다는 전략이다. 이는 벤더에서 자체의 클라우드를 구성해 고객에게 서비스함으로써 클라우드 서비스 기업과도 경쟁하겠다는 타사의 전략과는 대비된다”고 말했다. EMC를 겨냥한 것.
넷앱은 이런 행보를 구체적으로 실현하기 위한 제품과 협력도 강화했다. 넷앱은 자사의 클라우드 컴퓨팅 환경을 지원하는 운영체제(OS) 성격의 데이타 온탭(Data ONTAP 8)과 멀티테넌시(Multi-tenancy) 보안과 데이터 모션, 넷앱 다이내믹 데이터센터(NDDC) 등 새로운 기술과 솔루션도 발표했다.
넷앱측은 데이타 온탭 8이 서비스 중단 없는 데이터 이동성과 확장 가능한 아키텍처, 멀티 페타바이트 구축을 지원하기 위한 64비트 스토리지 결합 등을 포함하며 가상화(Virtualizaiton)과 공유 인프라스트럭처 환경에 최적화된 검증 받은 강력한 클라우드 기능을 제공한다고 전했다. 특히 이번 제품은 HDD나 메모리와 같은 자원을 투입해 성능을 올리는 스케일 업(Scale-up)이나 클러스터링 소프트웨어를 사용해 수많은 장비를 지속적으로 연동해 규모를 확장하는 스케일 아웃(Scale-out) 기능을 모두 활용할 수 있다.
넷앱의 데이터 모션(Data Motion)과 멀티스토어(MultiStore) 기능은 바로 데이터 이동성과 멀티 테넌시 기능을 제공하는 넷앱의 제품들이다. 멀티테넌시는 SaaS(Software as a Service)와 ASP를 가르는 가장 큰 특징으로 A고객과 B고객이 서로 다른 물리적인 자원을 통해 서비스를 받는 것이 아니라 하나의 물리적인 자원을 공유해서 사용토록 한 것이다.
넷앱은 안전한 멀티 테넌시(Secure multi-tenancy) 기능으로 동일 인프라 내에서 다른 기업이나 비즈니스에 따라 각기 다른 클라이언트를 위한 안전하고 분리/독립된 서비스 관리를 제공할 수 있어, 다양한 클라우드 솔루션을 구축해 사용하는 고객들이라도 넷앱 단일 통합 스토리지 아키텍처에서 데이터 관리가 포괄적으로 가능하다.
제휴도 강화했다. 넷앱은 EMC와 긴밀한 협력을 단행하고 있는 시스코, VMware와도 손을 잡았다. 넷앱은 이들과 협력, 가상화 환경의 모든 분야에 보안 멀티 테넌시(multi-tenancy) 솔루션을 발표했다. 이 솔루션은 기업 내외부 클라우드 인프라스트럭처를 보유한 고객이나 클라우드 서비스 제공업체들이 공유된 가상화 데이터 스토리지, 네트워크 패브릭과 단일 엔드 투 엔드(End-to-End) 개체(entity)로서의 서버들을 안전하게 분리해 사용할 수 있도록 해준다. 이를 통해 고객들은 같은 인프라스트럭처 내의 다중 테넌트 구축을 통해 위험을 줄이는 것은 물론 비용 절감과 비즈니스 유연성 향상이 가능하다.
넷앱은 시스코와 VM웨어와 함께 기존의 입증된 기술과 솔루션을 기반으로 하는 SOI(Service Oriented Infrastructure)도 출시했다. 엔드 투 엔드 보안 멀티 사용 솔루션은 멀티스토어(MultiStore)와 최근 발표된 데이터 모션(Data Motion), 시스코 넥서스(Cisco Nexus)와 단일 플랫폼 컴퓨팅(Unified Computing) 제품군, VMeware의 v쉴드 존(vShield Zone) 기술과 넷앱 통합 스토리지 플랫폼을 통합한 솔루션으로 하나의 아키텍처에서 모든 데이터를 처음부터 끝까지 안전하게 분리해주는 SOI 제공이 가능하다.
넷앱은 아키텍처적인 접근, 매니지먼트 프레임워크, 딜리버리 방법을 정의하는 NDDC(넷앱 다이내믹 데이터 센터) 방법론을 적용해 고객들이 클라우드 컴퓨팅 서비스를 제공할 수 있는 데이터센터를 구축할 수 있을 것으로 자신하고 있다.
넷앱이 강력한 대형 업체들의 견제를 뚫고 클라우드 컴퓨팅이라는 새로운 기회를 잡고 넷앱이 비상할 수 있을지 주목된다.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Cloud Computing from IBM – Technology and Practice
Peter Hedges is Asia/Pacific Sales leader for Systemx/BladeTechnology from IBM, he presented at todays IBM Insight Forum 2009 around the emergence of new business models based on cloud computing. He presented a keynote first given by Jinzy Zhu, executive of IBM cloud labs for the AsiaPac region.
His presentation was an introduction (from an IBM perspective) into what cloud computing means for the industry, and how we design, build and implement it.
Hedges gave a historical perspective of the development of cloud computing, starting with grid computing in the 1980’s, moving on to utility computing in the 90’s through to Software as a Service in the early 2000’s (although it has to be said that he used SaaS and ASP interchangeable, many of us in the SaaS evangelist space would argue that point) culminating in true cloud computing as we’ve known it in the past few years.
Cloud computing, in Hedges (and IBMs) view can drive multiple benefits;
New intelligence
Smart work
Dynamic infrastructure
Greening IT
At an individual level cloud computing brings new ways to use hardware and software (and by extension the common point where they meet)and give them enterprise level service at a lower price point.
For enterprise cloud computing can deliver accelerated business innovation, service orientated datacenters and cost effectiveness while for Government it can bring services transformation and green computing.
Cloud Computing Characteristics
Elasticity – both up and down, paying only for the computing capacity we need at any one time
Rapid dynamic provisioning
Flexible pricing
Advanced virtualization
The future
Three co-existing delivery models says Hedges – traditional enterprise IT, private clouds and public clouds. He also detailed a hybrid approach with bulk processing occurring on private clouds and burst processing on public clouds. He detailed various on-ramps to cloud computing services;
IaaS for enterprise IT provision
PaaS as a development platform
SaaS for end user application needs
Cost savings with cloud computing will come from;
Low utilization versus full utilization
Manual operations versus embedded service management
Lengthy approval process versus automated self service
Hedges detailed an internal study IBM had performed over an internal IT project where moving to a cloud based delivery method gave them decreased cost and decreased time to market. The numbers he was talking about where impressive, but as always they are specific to a particular use case and context.
Hedges articulated an interesting axiom;
Without a strategy cloud computing can be a threat to the CIO and IT team. With a strategy, cloud computing is a huge opportunity for the CIO
A five part process to move to cloud based services
Look at the IT roadmap
Look at the architecture
Look at the IT portfolio and value assessment
Decide on a private/public/hybrid mix
Implement
IBM has nine cloud labs around the world – in Ireland, China, South Africa, Vietnam, USA, India, Korea, Brazil and Japan and is pushing hard focusing on developing IP in the cloud computing space.
Personally it’s interesting to see big blue investing heavily in the cloud, I’m keen to see them introduce new products and services that leverage what is, if us evangelists are right, the way of the future.
His presentation was an introduction (from an IBM perspective) into what cloud computing means for the industry, and how we design, build and implement it.
Hedges gave a historical perspective of the development of cloud computing, starting with grid computing in the 1980’s, moving on to utility computing in the 90’s through to Software as a Service in the early 2000’s (although it has to be said that he used SaaS and ASP interchangeable, many of us in the SaaS evangelist space would argue that point) culminating in true cloud computing as we’ve known it in the past few years.
Cloud computing, in Hedges (and IBMs) view can drive multiple benefits;
New intelligence
Smart work
Dynamic infrastructure
Greening IT
At an individual level cloud computing brings new ways to use hardware and software (and by extension the common point where they meet)and give them enterprise level service at a lower price point.
For enterprise cloud computing can deliver accelerated business innovation, service orientated datacenters and cost effectiveness while for Government it can bring services transformation and green computing.
Cloud Computing Characteristics
Elasticity – both up and down, paying only for the computing capacity we need at any one time
Rapid dynamic provisioning
Flexible pricing
Advanced virtualization
The future
Three co-existing delivery models says Hedges – traditional enterprise IT, private clouds and public clouds. He also detailed a hybrid approach with bulk processing occurring on private clouds and burst processing on public clouds. He detailed various on-ramps to cloud computing services;
IaaS for enterprise IT provision
PaaS as a development platform
SaaS for end user application needs
Cost savings with cloud computing will come from;
Low utilization versus full utilization
Manual operations versus embedded service management
Lengthy approval process versus automated self service
Hedges detailed an internal study IBM had performed over an internal IT project where moving to a cloud based delivery method gave them decreased cost and decreased time to market. The numbers he was talking about where impressive, but as always they are specific to a particular use case and context.
Hedges articulated an interesting axiom;
Without a strategy cloud computing can be a threat to the CIO and IT team. With a strategy, cloud computing is a huge opportunity for the CIO
A five part process to move to cloud based services
Look at the IT roadmap
Look at the architecture
Look at the IT portfolio and value assessment
Decide on a private/public/hybrid mix
Implement
IBM has nine cloud labs around the world – in Ireland, China, South Africa, Vietnam, USA, India, Korea, Brazil and Japan and is pushing hard focusing on developing IP in the cloud computing space.
Personally it’s interesting to see big blue investing heavily in the cloud, I’m keen to see them introduce new products and services that leverage what is, if us evangelists are right, the way of the future.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
What Does Cloud Computing Actually Cost? An Analysis of the Top Vendors
By Dion Hinchcliffe on August 22, 2009 12:03 PM 1 Vote 0 Votes
While reports vary these days on the exact level of demand for cloud computing by businesses, it's clear that there is fairly broad general interest if the features and cost are right and the risks are reasonable. In the short term, the organizations looking for effective new business strategies in the downturn are finding that cost is a compelling argument for cloud computing, especially for transitioning non-critical IT operations or to inexpensively harness cloud computing for resource intensive but low-risk tasks like software testing.
The real question for many IT departments is whether the cost of transition to an external compute cloud will be low enough to benefit from any medium-term savings. That process might be costly enough in itself to delay any significant ROI by outsourcing to the cloud. However, as we'll see below, there's now some indication that leading cloud computing vendors like Amazon are realizing that the current cost incentive just might not be enough, particularly for enterprises ready to commit for longer terms. As Microsoft gets ready to launch Azure and Google App Engine gets serious about the enterprise, expect pricing models to get even more competitive.
Compute Cloud Pricing for Amazon, Azure, and Google
Earlier this week Amazon lowered the costs of their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) reserved instances for organizations prepared for sign up for 1 to 3 year terms of usage (and who presumably understand their ceiling on steady state compute capacity.) This brings the cost of a continuously available cloud computing instance down by 30% to as little as 4.3 cents an hour (or a 3.0 cents/hour simple rate):
* - The Effective Hourly Rate is computed based on full-time (24x7) usage.
Note that this is just for computing power and some scratch storage. Dedicated long-term storage requires a separate cloud computing service such as S3 and other features as well, so this is just a comparison of raw core compute power. Back of the envelope calculations says that a cloud data center of 100 servers could be operated around the clock on EC2 for well under $5 an hour, or just under $38,000 a year all in (servers, power, cooling, facilities, basic operations), an impressive number. Note that Amazon's EC2 regular pricing for on-demand instances remains at $0.10/hour for Unix/Linux and $0.125 for Windows instances. It's worth noting that Amazon does not offer reserved instances for Windows.
For those planning their cloud usage, you can use Amazon's handy cloud services calculator to run your own scenarios.
Compare this with the pricing recently announced for Microsoft Azure:
Note that this makes Microsoft a hair cheaper (by $0.005/hour) than Amazon for Windows instances for the time being. When Azure launches, Microsoft says it will offer subscriptions that "provide payment predictability and price discounts that reflect levels of usage commitment." At that point, Microsoft will likely be much cheaper than Amazon for Windows instances, the latter whose commitment to Windows in the cloud seems fairly uncertain at the moment. On the other hand, you can't run Unix/Linux on Microsoft's cloud at all and that's not likely to change. Interestingly, both Amazon and Microsoft offer 3 and a half nines of service level availability (99.95%), making comparing the service prices even easier.
The last of the big three clouds is Google App Engine (GAE) and it has the exact same pricing as Amazon's EC2 for on-demand instances or $0.10/CPU hour. GAE is fairly restrictive in terms of what it will run in its cloud, supporting only Java and Python applications at this time, but it's also free for production use to a ceiling of 6.5 CPU hours per day and one daily gigabyte of transfer.
Conclusion: 5 Lessons From Today's Cloud Computing Value Propositions
Taking a look at all this, I've come away with five conclusions about the top providers of cloud computing today given their current pricing and feature sets:
Amazon is currently the lowest cost cloud computing option overall. At least for production applications that need more than 6.5 hours of CPU/day, otherwise GAE is technically cheaper because it's free until this usage level. Amazon's current pricing advantage is entirely due to its reserved instances model. It's also the provider with the most experience right now and this makes it the one to beat with low prices + maturity. However, expect subscriptions from Azure to give it a run for its money when Microsoft's cloud platform formally launches in a few months (probably November).
Windows costs at least 20% more to run in the cloud. Both Microsoft and Amazon offer almost identical pricing for Windows instances while Google App Engine is not even a player in Windows compute clouds. There are undoubtedly cheaper offerings from smaller clouds but they are less likely to be suitable for enterprise use, though certainly there are exceptions.
Subscriptions will be one of the lock-in models for cloud computing. Pre-pay for your cloud to get the most value and you'll get great prices. But you'll be committed to providers for years potentially without a way to leave without stranded investments.
Better elasticity does not confer major price advantages. GAE is one of the most granular of the cloud computing services, only requiring for you to pay for what you actually use (for example, you have to commit to at least an hour of compute time at a time from Amazon) but does not provide a major cost advantage for large applications.
You can't pay more for better uptime and existing SLAs are not sufficient for important business systems. It's unclear why, given open questions about cloud reliability, why no vendors will offer differentiated service where enterprises can pay more for a better SLA. The best you can get right now is also the worst, or 99.95% uptime. This is about 4 hours of expected but unscheduled downtime a year. For business critical applications, this is still too much. This will end up being an opportunity for other vendors entering the space though I expect the Big 3 listed here will improve their SLAs over time as they mature.
I'm hoping to cover additional cloud computing providers and their pricing/value propositions more here this fall to round out our understanding of the competitive advantages that their cost models can provide businesses. In the meantime, expect few changes from the big players until after Azure launches and limited ones from the smaller players, which often use services such as EC2 to provide their own offerings. As Andrew McAfee recently pointed out, the transition to new economic models is long but usually inevitable and cloud computing is no exception.
What are your experiences with cloud compute pricing? How did it affect your decision to switch (or not) from internal infrastructure to the cloud? Please leave your comments below.
While reports vary these days on the exact level of demand for cloud computing by businesses, it's clear that there is fairly broad general interest if the features and cost are right and the risks are reasonable. In the short term, the organizations looking for effective new business strategies in the downturn are finding that cost is a compelling argument for cloud computing, especially for transitioning non-critical IT operations or to inexpensively harness cloud computing for resource intensive but low-risk tasks like software testing.
The real question for many IT departments is whether the cost of transition to an external compute cloud will be low enough to benefit from any medium-term savings. That process might be costly enough in itself to delay any significant ROI by outsourcing to the cloud. However, as we'll see below, there's now some indication that leading cloud computing vendors like Amazon are realizing that the current cost incentive just might not be enough, particularly for enterprises ready to commit for longer terms. As Microsoft gets ready to launch Azure and Google App Engine gets serious about the enterprise, expect pricing models to get even more competitive.
Compute Cloud Pricing for Amazon, Azure, and Google
Earlier this week Amazon lowered the costs of their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) reserved instances for organizations prepared for sign up for 1 to 3 year terms of usage (and who presumably understand their ceiling on steady state compute capacity.) This brings the cost of a continuously available cloud computing instance down by 30% to as little as 4.3 cents an hour (or a 3.0 cents/hour simple rate):
* - The Effective Hourly Rate is computed based on full-time (24x7) usage.
Note that this is just for computing power and some scratch storage. Dedicated long-term storage requires a separate cloud computing service such as S3 and other features as well, so this is just a comparison of raw core compute power. Back of the envelope calculations says that a cloud data center of 100 servers could be operated around the clock on EC2 for well under $5 an hour, or just under $38,000 a year all in (servers, power, cooling, facilities, basic operations), an impressive number. Note that Amazon's EC2 regular pricing for on-demand instances remains at $0.10/hour for Unix/Linux and $0.125 for Windows instances. It's worth noting that Amazon does not offer reserved instances for Windows.
For those planning their cloud usage, you can use Amazon's handy cloud services calculator to run your own scenarios.
Compare this with the pricing recently announced for Microsoft Azure:
Note that this makes Microsoft a hair cheaper (by $0.005/hour) than Amazon for Windows instances for the time being. When Azure launches, Microsoft says it will offer subscriptions that "provide payment predictability and price discounts that reflect levels of usage commitment." At that point, Microsoft will likely be much cheaper than Amazon for Windows instances, the latter whose commitment to Windows in the cloud seems fairly uncertain at the moment. On the other hand, you can't run Unix/Linux on Microsoft's cloud at all and that's not likely to change. Interestingly, both Amazon and Microsoft offer 3 and a half nines of service level availability (99.95%), making comparing the service prices even easier.
The last of the big three clouds is Google App Engine (GAE) and it has the exact same pricing as Amazon's EC2 for on-demand instances or $0.10/CPU hour. GAE is fairly restrictive in terms of what it will run in its cloud, supporting only Java and Python applications at this time, but it's also free for production use to a ceiling of 6.5 CPU hours per day and one daily gigabyte of transfer.
Conclusion: 5 Lessons From Today's Cloud Computing Value Propositions
Taking a look at all this, I've come away with five conclusions about the top providers of cloud computing today given their current pricing and feature sets:
Amazon is currently the lowest cost cloud computing option overall. At least for production applications that need more than 6.5 hours of CPU/day, otherwise GAE is technically cheaper because it's free until this usage level. Amazon's current pricing advantage is entirely due to its reserved instances model. It's also the provider with the most experience right now and this makes it the one to beat with low prices + maturity. However, expect subscriptions from Azure to give it a run for its money when Microsoft's cloud platform formally launches in a few months (probably November).
Windows costs at least 20% more to run in the cloud. Both Microsoft and Amazon offer almost identical pricing for Windows instances while Google App Engine is not even a player in Windows compute clouds. There are undoubtedly cheaper offerings from smaller clouds but they are less likely to be suitable for enterprise use, though certainly there are exceptions.
Subscriptions will be one of the lock-in models for cloud computing. Pre-pay for your cloud to get the most value and you'll get great prices. But you'll be committed to providers for years potentially without a way to leave without stranded investments.
Better elasticity does not confer major price advantages. GAE is one of the most granular of the cloud computing services, only requiring for you to pay for what you actually use (for example, you have to commit to at least an hour of compute time at a time from Amazon) but does not provide a major cost advantage for large applications.
You can't pay more for better uptime and existing SLAs are not sufficient for important business systems. It's unclear why, given open questions about cloud reliability, why no vendors will offer differentiated service where enterprises can pay more for a better SLA. The best you can get right now is also the worst, or 99.95% uptime. This is about 4 hours of expected but unscheduled downtime a year. For business critical applications, this is still too much. This will end up being an opportunity for other vendors entering the space though I expect the Big 3 listed here will improve their SLAs over time as they mature.
I'm hoping to cover additional cloud computing providers and their pricing/value propositions more here this fall to round out our understanding of the competitive advantages that their cost models can provide businesses. In the meantime, expect few changes from the big players until after Azure launches and limited ones from the smaller players, which often use services such as EC2 to provide their own offerings. As Andrew McAfee recently pointed out, the transition to new economic models is long but usually inevitable and cloud computing is no exception.
What are your experiences with cloud compute pricing? How did it affect your decision to switch (or not) from internal infrastructure to the cloud? Please leave your comments below.
Grid computing, the new commodity
Grid computing, the new commodity
24 August 2009 ICT Results
European researchers have created a platform for trading computing resources that allows the selling and buying of standardised computing resources. In the process, they could make computing a utility like electricity.
Grids are not new. They have been around for quite a while, made famous by the SETI@HOME network, a charitable effort where ordinary computer users ‘volunteered’ their unused computer processing power to analyse signals from space. SETI hoped to find patterns in the signals revealing extraterrestrial intelligence.
That aim may not been achieved, but the effort brought the power of grid computing to the attention of the general public. Still this is not news.
What is new, is that the EU-funded GridEcon project has created a commodity market platform that enables users to bid on available computing capacity, or put out a tender for a specific computing time slot.
This spot and future market mechanism is enabled by a computing platform developed by the GridEcon project.
A big idea
This is a big idea. It is true that organisations can already rent ‘cloud’ computing capacity from companies like Amazon, HP and others, but they generally only offer their spare capacity.
The beauty of GridEcon's platform is that it is open – users can buy and sell computing capacity on their own terms. And buyers can also be sellers. If a company has a large computer park it can offer its spare capacity, but if it has a temporary need for much greater capacity it can bid for it on the marketplace.
GridEcon built a virtual trading floor for computing resources, a platform for validating new market-based services, published extensive studies on the economics and mechanics of computing resource marketplaces, and generated a buzz around the concept.
The project has just completed its work, and already it is receiving queries from companies interested in launching the world's first open marketplace for computing capacity as a commercial venture.
The platform
The platform is GridEcon's second key result. It consists of a marketplace, the interface and a fundamental market mechanism, which focuses on spots (or bids for immediate capacity) and future markets, where capacity is required at some later date. It comprises a set of prototype implementations of market-based services.
Underlying this is the workflow engine, middleware that routes inputs from the marketplace to the components that execute the task. "One of our key goals with the platform was to make it easy to use and set up," explains Prof. Dr Jörn Altmann, technical director of the GridEcon project.
"So this workflow engine hides the underlying complexity of the system, because we did not want the user to have to deal with that."
Various services complete the system; some integral to its operation, like the execution engine and the monitoring and history services; and some as stand-alone services that significantly increase the value of the platform, like capacity planning and an insurance broker.
GridEcon designed and tested one market mechanism, but if a company wants to develop some other market mechanism, then they can easily plug new functionality into the platform. It means GridEcon is enormously flexible and could be used for a wide variety of potential market types. The platform is available under open source license terms and the entire code is available at the GridEcon website.
The project is really on top of the real needs faced by users. "We started developing a fixed price quotation broker, which can give users an indication of price at a future date as a backbone for their bidding on the futures market,” explains Sonja Klingert, project coordinator at the International University in Germany.
A couple of months into that work, she tells ICT Results, Amazon brought out some ‘futures’ functionality on their Elastic Computer Cloud platform, EC2. “It was encouraging, because it showed we were going in the right direction," she concludes.
Commercial future?
"Our role was to build the platform and test it – and the results of our testing phase were indeed positive with respect to functionality and response times. But it is there for somebody else to turn it into a commercial venture,” notes Klingert.
“We are making the website more attractive to business people, so they can see its potential and go live with it."
Some consortium partners have been approached by people interested in creating a business around this paradigm, and the number of visitors looking at the website rose dramatically at the beginning of the year, and that trend is increasing.
The platform is the most visible of the project's results, but the consortium also produced an astonishing amount of research on the mechanisms, market types, pricing issues and economics of cloud computing.
Gold dust
It is perhaps a little less tangible, but the team's original research represents a thorough and profound review of the market potential of grid- and cloud computing, and as such it represents commercial gold dust.
One paper, the ‘Taxonomy of Grid Business Models’, systematically outlines all the various roles and services in grid computing, revealing 17 commercial niches that companies could occupy.
And it is just one of two-dozen papers produced by the consortium. The team gathered all the key texts in a 150-page book, which is freely available to download from their website.
Finally, the project organised a series of workshops around the topic of grid computing marketplaces and the economics of cloud computing.
In all, the work of the GridEcon project represents an all-points effort to establish successful and open grid computing markets, and it has the potential to revolutionise the use of computing resources in small- and medium-sized enterprises.
The GridEcon project received funding from the ICT strand of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for research.
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&BrowsingType=Features&ID=90835
24 August 2009 ICT Results
European researchers have created a platform for trading computing resources that allows the selling and buying of standardised computing resources. In the process, they could make computing a utility like electricity.
Grids are not new. They have been around for quite a while, made famous by the SETI@HOME network, a charitable effort where ordinary computer users ‘volunteered’ their unused computer processing power to analyse signals from space. SETI hoped to find patterns in the signals revealing extraterrestrial intelligence.
That aim may not been achieved, but the effort brought the power of grid computing to the attention of the general public. Still this is not news.
What is new, is that the EU-funded GridEcon project has created a commodity market platform that enables users to bid on available computing capacity, or put out a tender for a specific computing time slot.
This spot and future market mechanism is enabled by a computing platform developed by the GridEcon project.
A big idea
This is a big idea. It is true that organisations can already rent ‘cloud’ computing capacity from companies like Amazon, HP and others, but they generally only offer their spare capacity.
The beauty of GridEcon's platform is that it is open – users can buy and sell computing capacity on their own terms. And buyers can also be sellers. If a company has a large computer park it can offer its spare capacity, but if it has a temporary need for much greater capacity it can bid for it on the marketplace.
GridEcon built a virtual trading floor for computing resources, a platform for validating new market-based services, published extensive studies on the economics and mechanics of computing resource marketplaces, and generated a buzz around the concept.
The project has just completed its work, and already it is receiving queries from companies interested in launching the world's first open marketplace for computing capacity as a commercial venture.
The platform
The platform is GridEcon's second key result. It consists of a marketplace, the interface and a fundamental market mechanism, which focuses on spots (or bids for immediate capacity) and future markets, where capacity is required at some later date. It comprises a set of prototype implementations of market-based services.
Underlying this is the workflow engine, middleware that routes inputs from the marketplace to the components that execute the task. "One of our key goals with the platform was to make it easy to use and set up," explains Prof. Dr Jörn Altmann, technical director of the GridEcon project.
"So this workflow engine hides the underlying complexity of the system, because we did not want the user to have to deal with that."
Various services complete the system; some integral to its operation, like the execution engine and the monitoring and history services; and some as stand-alone services that significantly increase the value of the platform, like capacity planning and an insurance broker.
GridEcon designed and tested one market mechanism, but if a company wants to develop some other market mechanism, then they can easily plug new functionality into the platform. It means GridEcon is enormously flexible and could be used for a wide variety of potential market types. The platform is available under open source license terms and the entire code is available at the GridEcon website.
The project is really on top of the real needs faced by users. "We started developing a fixed price quotation broker, which can give users an indication of price at a future date as a backbone for their bidding on the futures market,” explains Sonja Klingert, project coordinator at the International University in Germany.
A couple of months into that work, she tells ICT Results, Amazon brought out some ‘futures’ functionality on their Elastic Computer Cloud platform, EC2. “It was encouraging, because it showed we were going in the right direction," she concludes.
Commercial future?
"Our role was to build the platform and test it – and the results of our testing phase were indeed positive with respect to functionality and response times. But it is there for somebody else to turn it into a commercial venture,” notes Klingert.
“We are making the website more attractive to business people, so they can see its potential and go live with it."
Some consortium partners have been approached by people interested in creating a business around this paradigm, and the number of visitors looking at the website rose dramatically at the beginning of the year, and that trend is increasing.
The platform is the most visible of the project's results, but the consortium also produced an astonishing amount of research on the mechanisms, market types, pricing issues and economics of cloud computing.
Gold dust
It is perhaps a little less tangible, but the team's original research represents a thorough and profound review of the market potential of grid- and cloud computing, and as such it represents commercial gold dust.
One paper, the ‘Taxonomy of Grid Business Models’, systematically outlines all the various roles and services in grid computing, revealing 17 commercial niches that companies could occupy.
And it is just one of two-dozen papers produced by the consortium. The team gathered all the key texts in a 150-page book, which is freely available to download from their website.
Finally, the project organised a series of workshops around the topic of grid computing marketplaces and the economics of cloud computing.
In all, the work of the GridEcon project represents an all-points effort to establish successful and open grid computing markets, and it has the potential to revolutionise the use of computing resources in small- and medium-sized enterprises.
The GridEcon project received funding from the ICT strand of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for research.
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&BrowsingType=Features&ID=90835
SK C&C, 그린 IT사업 본격 추진
클라우드컴퓨팅·그린데이터센터 등 발굴
2009년 08월 24일 (월) 09:10:51 이광재 기자 voxpop@computertimes.co.kr
SKC&C(대표 김신배 부회장, www.skcc.co.kr)가 그린 데이터센터, 클라우드 컴퓨팅 등 IT서비스 업계의 화두인 그린 IT 사업을 본격화하기로 했다.
SK C&C는 모든 IT서비스 사업에 있어 시스템의 가상화 및 통합화를 비롯한 IT장비의 에너지 효율화, IT를 활용한 에너지 효율화, 그린 IT 기술 지원을 위한 그린 IT 아키텍처 표준 수립 및 적용에 나선다.
클라우드 컴퓨팅 사업의 경우 시장 진입을 위한 비즈니스 포지션닝을 어떻게 설정할 지를 검토 중에 있으며 사업 추진 역량을 내재화하는 데도 주력하고 있다고 SK C&C는 전했다.
SK C&C는 이에 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 구성하는 가상화, 유틸리티 컴퓨팅, 그리드 컴퓨팅, 웹 2.0 등 주요 기술요소에 대한 사업적, 기술적 검토를 통해 비즈니스 모델을 확정하고 사업화가 가능한 클라우드 서비스 아이템을 발굴한다는 계획이다.
또한 파일럿 클라우드 시스템을 사내에 구축하고 당사 업무를 적용해 실제 운영비용 효율화에 대한 검증을 추진함으로써 이를 기반으로 2010년부터 본격적인 클라우드 컴퓨팅 사업에 나설 예정이다.
SK C&C는 그린 IT 아키텍처 정립 및 적용 일환으로 ‘데이터센터 그린화’도 추진키로 했다. 데이터센터 그린화를 위해 냉각 효율 향상, 전력 효율 향상, 에너지 사용 관리, 친환경 빌딩화 등 4개 과제를 도출하고 과제별 실행에 나섰다.
SK C&C는 이미 2008년부터 냉각 효율 향상을 위해 전산실 냉기 손실 및 설비 효율성 대한 점검을 실시해 교체주기에 도달한 설비부터 단계적으로 고효율 저전력 장비로 대체하는 작업을 진행 중이며 냉기 손실 최소화 및 열기 유입 차단에 필요한 이중마루 케이블 구멍(Hole) 차단 및 단열 필름 시공 등 다양한 개선 활동을 수행하고 있다고 설명했다.
또한 전력 효율 향상을 위해 외부 공기의 온도가 전산실 온도 보다 낮을 경우 외부의 공기를 직접 도입해 냉각에 사용할 수 있도록 하는 첨단의 외기 냉각 시스템의 도입을 검토하고 있다는 것.
SK C&C는 단계별 전력사용 관리 세분화 및 자동화를 추진해 랙(Rack/선반) 단위의 전력 사용 관리에서부터 서버 및 스토리지 단위, 나아가 애플리케이션(사용 프로그램) 단위까지의 전력 사용 추적을 통해 불필요한 전력 사용을 억제 시킨다는 계획이다.
이외에 데이터센터 내·외부 조명 또한 전력 사용량이 적은 LED로의 순차적 교체 등 친환경 빌딩화 작업을 추진하고 있다.
이를 통해 SK C&C는 데이터센터 소비 전력의 약 15%가 절감돼 년간 총 3742MWh의 전력과 온실가스(CO2) 1570톤이 줄어들 것으로 예상하고 있다.
SK C&C 관계자는 “1570톤의 온실가스 감축은 잣나무 묘목 50만 그루를 심는 효과와 맞먹는다(온실가스 감축 1톤당 323그루 효과)”고 설명했다.
2009년 08월 24일 (월) 09:10:51 이광재 기자 voxpop@computertimes.co.kr
SKC&C(대표 김신배 부회장, www.skcc.co.kr)가 그린 데이터센터, 클라우드 컴퓨팅 등 IT서비스 업계의 화두인 그린 IT 사업을 본격화하기로 했다.
SK C&C는 모든 IT서비스 사업에 있어 시스템의 가상화 및 통합화를 비롯한 IT장비의 에너지 효율화, IT를 활용한 에너지 효율화, 그린 IT 기술 지원을 위한 그린 IT 아키텍처 표준 수립 및 적용에 나선다.
클라우드 컴퓨팅 사업의 경우 시장 진입을 위한 비즈니스 포지션닝을 어떻게 설정할 지를 검토 중에 있으며 사업 추진 역량을 내재화하는 데도 주력하고 있다고 SK C&C는 전했다.
SK C&C는 이에 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 구성하는 가상화, 유틸리티 컴퓨팅, 그리드 컴퓨팅, 웹 2.0 등 주요 기술요소에 대한 사업적, 기술적 검토를 통해 비즈니스 모델을 확정하고 사업화가 가능한 클라우드 서비스 아이템을 발굴한다는 계획이다.
또한 파일럿 클라우드 시스템을 사내에 구축하고 당사 업무를 적용해 실제 운영비용 효율화에 대한 검증을 추진함으로써 이를 기반으로 2010년부터 본격적인 클라우드 컴퓨팅 사업에 나설 예정이다.
SK C&C는 그린 IT 아키텍처 정립 및 적용 일환으로 ‘데이터센터 그린화’도 추진키로 했다. 데이터센터 그린화를 위해 냉각 효율 향상, 전력 효율 향상, 에너지 사용 관리, 친환경 빌딩화 등 4개 과제를 도출하고 과제별 실행에 나섰다.
SK C&C는 이미 2008년부터 냉각 효율 향상을 위해 전산실 냉기 손실 및 설비 효율성 대한 점검을 실시해 교체주기에 도달한 설비부터 단계적으로 고효율 저전력 장비로 대체하는 작업을 진행 중이며 냉기 손실 최소화 및 열기 유입 차단에 필요한 이중마루 케이블 구멍(Hole) 차단 및 단열 필름 시공 등 다양한 개선 활동을 수행하고 있다고 설명했다.
또한 전력 효율 향상을 위해 외부 공기의 온도가 전산실 온도 보다 낮을 경우 외부의 공기를 직접 도입해 냉각에 사용할 수 있도록 하는 첨단의 외기 냉각 시스템의 도입을 검토하고 있다는 것.
SK C&C는 단계별 전력사용 관리 세분화 및 자동화를 추진해 랙(Rack/선반) 단위의 전력 사용 관리에서부터 서버 및 스토리지 단위, 나아가 애플리케이션(사용 프로그램) 단위까지의 전력 사용 추적을 통해 불필요한 전력 사용을 억제 시킨다는 계획이다.
이외에 데이터센터 내·외부 조명 또한 전력 사용량이 적은 LED로의 순차적 교체 등 친환경 빌딩화 작업을 추진하고 있다.
이를 통해 SK C&C는 데이터센터 소비 전력의 약 15%가 절감돼 년간 총 3742MWh의 전력과 온실가스(CO2) 1570톤이 줄어들 것으로 예상하고 있다.
SK C&C 관계자는 “1570톤의 온실가스 감축은 잣나무 묘목 50만 그루를 심는 효과와 맞먹는다(온실가스 감축 1톤당 323그루 효과)”고 설명했다.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Stress tests rain on Amazon's cloud
By Brett Winterford
Aug 20, 2009 12:02 PM
Tags: amazon | EC2 | Google | AppLogic | Microsoft | Azure | UNSW | NICTA | Liu
Availability an issue for Amazon EC2, Google AppEngine and Microsoft Azure.
Stress tests conducted by Sydney-based researchers have revealed that the infrastructure-on-demand services offered by Amazon, Google and Microsoft suffer from regular performance and availability issues.
The team of researchers, led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and in collaboration with researchers at NICTA (National ICT Australia) and the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), have spent seven months stress testing Amazon's EC2, Google's AppEngine and Microsoft's Azure cloud computing services.
The analysis simulated 2000 concurrent users connecting to services from each of the three providers, with researchers measuring response times and other performance metrics.
Anna Liu, Associate Professor in services engineering at the UNSW School of Computer Science told iTnews she was excited by Cloud Computing as it could potentially enable organisations to "outsource a certain amount of their risks and costs and tap into new economies of scale."
"We saw a lot of hype and confusion, and decided to lead a team of researchers and actually get our hands dirty with this stuff," she said. "We put these services to a stress test to see if these cloud platforms really perform the way their vendors say they do."
The research found some merit to vendors' claims of "perceived infinite scalability."
"With a simulation of 2000 concurrent users, we watched the cloud services scale up and respond dynamically to that demand," Liu said.
But researchers also found that the three platforms delivered wildly variable performance results as Amazon, Google and Microsoft trialled, added and dropped new features.
Response times on the service also varied by a factor of twenty depending on the time of day the services were accessed, she said.
The response times collated in Sydney were tested against measurement instruments loaded onto the cloud platform to isolate whether delays were attributable to the service itself or the latency involved with accessing US-based data centres from Australia.
Liu said the study revealed which of the three cloud infrastructures were suited to particular applications.
"Using Google AppEngine, none of your data processing tasks can last any longer than thirty seconds, or it throws an exception back at you," she said.
"This is very consistent with the Google business model - they want to enable simple web applications to thrive on the Internet. AppEngine is there to enable the rapid development of simple web applications that don't include intense compute at the back end."
Amazon's EC2, by contrast, provided "base cloud computing support" with value-added services supplied by third parties.
Microsoft, Liu said, has the enterprise and the ISV firmly in its sights with the Azure platform.
"Microsoft is looking to support the transformation or migration of in-premise apps with the cloud."
Liu, a former Microsoft employee, said that while Azure is limited to the .Net development platform, adapters are being released for Java and PHP among others.
Liu said all three services lack the monitoring tools large organisations require to check on whether the platform is meeting service level agreements.
"None of the platforms have the kind of monitoring required to have a reasonable conversation about performance," she said. "They provide some level of monitoring, but what little there is caters for developers, not business users. And while Amazon provides a dashboard of how much it is costing you so far, for example, there is nothing in terms of forecasts about what it will cost you in the future.
Liu will present the findings and offer developers advice on how to build robust applications to withstand the cloud's limitations at the Australian Architecture Forum in Sydney on Monday, August 24.
Aug 20, 2009 12:02 PM
Tags: amazon | EC2 | Google | AppLogic | Microsoft | Azure | UNSW | NICTA | Liu
Availability an issue for Amazon EC2, Google AppEngine and Microsoft Azure.
Stress tests conducted by Sydney-based researchers have revealed that the infrastructure-on-demand services offered by Amazon, Google and Microsoft suffer from regular performance and availability issues.
The team of researchers, led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and in collaboration with researchers at NICTA (National ICT Australia) and the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), have spent seven months stress testing Amazon's EC2, Google's AppEngine and Microsoft's Azure cloud computing services.
The analysis simulated 2000 concurrent users connecting to services from each of the three providers, with researchers measuring response times and other performance metrics.
Anna Liu, Associate Professor in services engineering at the UNSW School of Computer Science told iTnews she was excited by Cloud Computing as it could potentially enable organisations to "outsource a certain amount of their risks and costs and tap into new economies of scale."
"We saw a lot of hype and confusion, and decided to lead a team of researchers and actually get our hands dirty with this stuff," she said. "We put these services to a stress test to see if these cloud platforms really perform the way their vendors say they do."
The research found some merit to vendors' claims of "perceived infinite scalability."
"With a simulation of 2000 concurrent users, we watched the cloud services scale up and respond dynamically to that demand," Liu said.
But researchers also found that the three platforms delivered wildly variable performance results as Amazon, Google and Microsoft trialled, added and dropped new features.
Response times on the service also varied by a factor of twenty depending on the time of day the services were accessed, she said.
The response times collated in Sydney were tested against measurement instruments loaded onto the cloud platform to isolate whether delays were attributable to the service itself or the latency involved with accessing US-based data centres from Australia.
Liu said the study revealed which of the three cloud infrastructures were suited to particular applications.
"Using Google AppEngine, none of your data processing tasks can last any longer than thirty seconds, or it throws an exception back at you," she said.
"This is very consistent with the Google business model - they want to enable simple web applications to thrive on the Internet. AppEngine is there to enable the rapid development of simple web applications that don't include intense compute at the back end."
Amazon's EC2, by contrast, provided "base cloud computing support" with value-added services supplied by third parties.
Microsoft, Liu said, has the enterprise and the ISV firmly in its sights with the Azure platform.
"Microsoft is looking to support the transformation or migration of in-premise apps with the cloud."
Liu, a former Microsoft employee, said that while Azure is limited to the .Net development platform, adapters are being released for Java and PHP among others.
Liu said all three services lack the monitoring tools large organisations require to check on whether the platform is meeting service level agreements.
"None of the platforms have the kind of monitoring required to have a reasonable conversation about performance," she said. "They provide some level of monitoring, but what little there is caters for developers, not business users. And while Amazon provides a dashboard of how much it is costing you so far, for example, there is nothing in terms of forecasts about what it will cost you in the future.
Liu will present the findings and offer developers advice on how to build robust applications to withstand the cloud's limitations at the Australian Architecture Forum in Sydney on Monday, August 24.
클라우드 컴퓨팅은 IT 트렌드의 종합판
클라우드 컴퓨팅이 화제다. 최근 주요 IT 전문가들과 시장 분석가들은 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 가장 주목받는 기술 분야로 꼽고 있다. 기업 업무 환경이 웹으로의 편입을 거스를 수 없었듯이 클라우드 컴퓨팅 역시 거스를 수 없는 시대의 흐름으로 자리잡아갈 모양이다.
하지만 예전부터 IT분야에는 유난히 유행어가 많아서 이번에도 또 하나의 유행어가 등장한게 아니냐는 의혹의 눈길도 있다. 클라우드 컴퓨팅의 범위가 워낙 넓다보니 하드웨어 벤더, 솔루션 업체, 통신 업체 등에서 각자의 시각에 따라 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 해석하고 마케팅에 활용하기 때문에 혼란을 부채질하는 효과도 있을 것이다.
사실 클라우드 컴퓨팅은 전혀 새로운 기술이나 개념이 아니다. 쓰는 만큼 과금이 된다는 측면에서 유틸리티 컴퓨팅과, 빌려쓴다는 개념에서 ASP 혹은 SaaS와, 어디서든 접근이 가능하다는 측면에서는 유비쿼터스 컴퓨팅 등 기존에 화두가 되었던 개념과 맞닿아 있다. 남는 자원들을 하나로 묶어서 활용한다는 측면에서 그리드 및 가상화 기술이 필요하기도 하다.
이처럼 클라우드 컴퓨팅은 지난 10여년간 회자되고 도입됐던 IT 빅 트렌드의 종합판이라고 할 수 있다. 클라우드 컴퓨팅 개념의 광범위성에 따른 혼란을 최소화하기 위해서는 개별 서비스에 대해 설명할 때에 서비스 분야를 명확하게 정의하는 것이 필요하다. 즉 서비스 대상에 따른 프라이빗 또는 퍼블릭 클라우드로서의 구분, 그리고 서비스 계층에 따른 Iaas, PaaS, SaaS 등의 세부적인 영역을 명확하게 하면 용어로 인한 혼란을 최소화할 수 있을 것이다.
10여년간 화두가 돼온 기술들의 장점들이 모이다보니 기대가 크지만 급히 먹다 보면 체하기 마련이다. 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 거부할 이유가 없다면 시행착오 없이 성공적으로 가는 길을 알고 갈 필요가 있다.
클라우드 컴퓨팅은 하드웨어와 소프트웨어가 결합된 표준화된 인프라로서의 의미가 크기 때문에 특정 기술 이슈나 일시적 유행이 아니라 패러다임 전환의 관점에서 고려되어야 한다. 따라서 서비스나 솔루션을 적용하기 위해서는 이를 제공하는 업체가 얼마나 오랜 준비를 해왔는지 확인해볼 필요가 있다.
기존에 개별적으로 할당되던 자원을 가상화하여 여러 서비스에서 효율적으로 공유하기 위해서는 충분한 경험과 많은 노하우가 필요한데, 그렇지 못한 경우도 더러 목격했기 때문이다. 혹 기존에 다른 이름으로 불리던 기술이나 서비스를 포장만 클라우드 컴퓨팅으로 바꿔 기업을 유혹하고 있지는 않는지도 꼼꼼히 따져봐야 한다.
IDC에서 제공되는 퍼블릭 클라우드를 활용하는 경우 서비스 제공 업체가 충분한 인프라를 갖고 있는지, 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 위해 축적된 기술과 운영 노하우가 어느 정도인지도 체크해봐야 할 점이다. 단순히 새로운 기술이나 솔루션을 만드는 것과, 이를 서비스로서 안정적으로 운영하는 것은 매우 큰 차이가 있다. 새로운 개념의 서비스가 출시되어 상용화 수준으로 안정화되기 위해서는 최소 1년 이상의 기간이 필요함을 명심해야 한다.
보이지 않는 자원에 대한 의심을 거둬야 할 필요도 있다. 이미 가상화 기술을 통해 기업들의 인식이 어느 정도 궤도에 올라와 있기는 하지만, 제공받는 서비스가 가상의 공간에 있다는 것을 여전히 불안해 하는 기업들도 있다. 10년 전 IDC 서비스 초기에 IDC로의 서버 이전에 가졌던 불안과 거부감을 생각하면 당연한 반응이며, 서비스 제공자가 안정적인 운영을 통해 고객의 의구심을 해소해야 한다.
클라우드 컴퓨팅 서비스나 솔루션을 공급하는 업체가 보안에 대해 어느 정도 보장해 주는지 확인도 필요하다. 서비스가 중단되거나 정보가 훼손되는 일이 없도록 하기 위해 어떤 보안 기술과 정책을 갖고 있는지, 혹은 만약의 사태 발생시 어디까지 책임을 질 수 있는지 등을 점검하길 바란다. 보안은 클라우드 컴퓨팅 서비스와 기술을 제공하는 업계 전반적으로 더욱 보완하고 강화해야 하는 중요 이슈이다.
해외에는 아마존이나 구글 등 인터넷 서비스 업체와 AT&T, 버라이존 등의 통신업체가 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 경쟁적으로 제공하고 있으며 많은 기업들이 클라우드 컴퓨팅의 도입을 통해 성공적인 IT 효율화를 실현하고 있다. 우리나라에서도 이미 수 년 전부터 KT에서 인터넷 컴퓨팅 서비스인 ICS를 통해 클라우드 스토리지 서비스를 제공하고 있다.
이 서비스를 이용하는 인터넷 서비스 기업의 수는 30개를 넘어섰고, 사용자 데이터 규모도 2페타바이트(1000TB)에 달한다. 이 정도면 아시아 최대 규모로서, 인터넷 인프라를 선도해 온 우리나라의 위상으로서도 자연스럽다. 아직 클라우드 컴퓨팅이 상용 서비스 수준에서 운영되는 사례를 찾아보기 힘든 상황에서, KT ICS는 클라우드 컴퓨팅에 대해 관심을 갖고 있는 기업들이라면 한번 정도는 눈여겨 볼만한 참고 모델이 될 것으로 생각된다.
from http://www.ciobiz.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=939
하지만 예전부터 IT분야에는 유난히 유행어가 많아서 이번에도 또 하나의 유행어가 등장한게 아니냐는 의혹의 눈길도 있다. 클라우드 컴퓨팅의 범위가 워낙 넓다보니 하드웨어 벤더, 솔루션 업체, 통신 업체 등에서 각자의 시각에 따라 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 해석하고 마케팅에 활용하기 때문에 혼란을 부채질하는 효과도 있을 것이다.
사실 클라우드 컴퓨팅은 전혀 새로운 기술이나 개념이 아니다. 쓰는 만큼 과금이 된다는 측면에서 유틸리티 컴퓨팅과, 빌려쓴다는 개념에서 ASP 혹은 SaaS와, 어디서든 접근이 가능하다는 측면에서는 유비쿼터스 컴퓨팅 등 기존에 화두가 되었던 개념과 맞닿아 있다. 남는 자원들을 하나로 묶어서 활용한다는 측면에서 그리드 및 가상화 기술이 필요하기도 하다.
이처럼 클라우드 컴퓨팅은 지난 10여년간 회자되고 도입됐던 IT 빅 트렌드의 종합판이라고 할 수 있다. 클라우드 컴퓨팅 개념의 광범위성에 따른 혼란을 최소화하기 위해서는 개별 서비스에 대해 설명할 때에 서비스 분야를 명확하게 정의하는 것이 필요하다. 즉 서비스 대상에 따른 프라이빗 또는 퍼블릭 클라우드로서의 구분, 그리고 서비스 계층에 따른 Iaas, PaaS, SaaS 등의 세부적인 영역을 명확하게 하면 용어로 인한 혼란을 최소화할 수 있을 것이다.
10여년간 화두가 돼온 기술들의 장점들이 모이다보니 기대가 크지만 급히 먹다 보면 체하기 마련이다. 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 거부할 이유가 없다면 시행착오 없이 성공적으로 가는 길을 알고 갈 필요가 있다.
클라우드 컴퓨팅은 하드웨어와 소프트웨어가 결합된 표준화된 인프라로서의 의미가 크기 때문에 특정 기술 이슈나 일시적 유행이 아니라 패러다임 전환의 관점에서 고려되어야 한다. 따라서 서비스나 솔루션을 적용하기 위해서는 이를 제공하는 업체가 얼마나 오랜 준비를 해왔는지 확인해볼 필요가 있다.
기존에 개별적으로 할당되던 자원을 가상화하여 여러 서비스에서 효율적으로 공유하기 위해서는 충분한 경험과 많은 노하우가 필요한데, 그렇지 못한 경우도 더러 목격했기 때문이다. 혹 기존에 다른 이름으로 불리던 기술이나 서비스를 포장만 클라우드 컴퓨팅으로 바꿔 기업을 유혹하고 있지는 않는지도 꼼꼼히 따져봐야 한다.
IDC에서 제공되는 퍼블릭 클라우드를 활용하는 경우 서비스 제공 업체가 충분한 인프라를 갖고 있는지, 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 위해 축적된 기술과 운영 노하우가 어느 정도인지도 체크해봐야 할 점이다. 단순히 새로운 기술이나 솔루션을 만드는 것과, 이를 서비스로서 안정적으로 운영하는 것은 매우 큰 차이가 있다. 새로운 개념의 서비스가 출시되어 상용화 수준으로 안정화되기 위해서는 최소 1년 이상의 기간이 필요함을 명심해야 한다.
보이지 않는 자원에 대한 의심을 거둬야 할 필요도 있다. 이미 가상화 기술을 통해 기업들의 인식이 어느 정도 궤도에 올라와 있기는 하지만, 제공받는 서비스가 가상의 공간에 있다는 것을 여전히 불안해 하는 기업들도 있다. 10년 전 IDC 서비스 초기에 IDC로의 서버 이전에 가졌던 불안과 거부감을 생각하면 당연한 반응이며, 서비스 제공자가 안정적인 운영을 통해 고객의 의구심을 해소해야 한다.
클라우드 컴퓨팅 서비스나 솔루션을 공급하는 업체가 보안에 대해 어느 정도 보장해 주는지 확인도 필요하다. 서비스가 중단되거나 정보가 훼손되는 일이 없도록 하기 위해 어떤 보안 기술과 정책을 갖고 있는지, 혹은 만약의 사태 발생시 어디까지 책임을 질 수 있는지 등을 점검하길 바란다. 보안은 클라우드 컴퓨팅 서비스와 기술을 제공하는 업계 전반적으로 더욱 보완하고 강화해야 하는 중요 이슈이다.
해외에는 아마존이나 구글 등 인터넷 서비스 업체와 AT&T, 버라이존 등의 통신업체가 클라우드 컴퓨팅을 경쟁적으로 제공하고 있으며 많은 기업들이 클라우드 컴퓨팅의 도입을 통해 성공적인 IT 효율화를 실현하고 있다. 우리나라에서도 이미 수 년 전부터 KT에서 인터넷 컴퓨팅 서비스인 ICS를 통해 클라우드 스토리지 서비스를 제공하고 있다.
이 서비스를 이용하는 인터넷 서비스 기업의 수는 30개를 넘어섰고, 사용자 데이터 규모도 2페타바이트(1000TB)에 달한다. 이 정도면 아시아 최대 규모로서, 인터넷 인프라를 선도해 온 우리나라의 위상으로서도 자연스럽다. 아직 클라우드 컴퓨팅이 상용 서비스 수준에서 운영되는 사례를 찾아보기 힘든 상황에서, KT ICS는 클라우드 컴퓨팅에 대해 관심을 갖고 있는 기업들이라면 한번 정도는 눈여겨 볼만한 참고 모델이 될 것으로 생각된다.
from http://www.ciobiz.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=939