The data interoperability challenge for cloud computing

Cloud computing won’t have as much value unless we get the data-integration mechanisms right

In a recent InfoWorld article by Paul Krill, Vint Cerf, who is a co-designer of the Internet’s TCP/IP standards and widely considered a father of the Internet, spoke about the the need for data portability standards for cloud computing. “There are different clouds from companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Google, but a lack of interoperability between them,” Cerf explained at a session of the Churchill Club business and technology organization in Menlo Park, Calif.

Interoperability has not been a huge focus around the quickly emerging cloud computing space. Other than “we support interoperability” statements from the larger cloud computing providers, there is not a detailed plan to be seen. I’ve brought it up several times at cloud user group meetings, with clients, and at vendor briefings, and I often feel like I’m the kid in class who reminds the teacher to assign homework.

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Data interoperability is not that hard. You’re dealing with a few key concepts, such as semantic interoperability, or the way that data is defined and stored on one cloud versus another. Also, you need to consider the notions of transformation and translation, so the data appears native when it arrives at the target cloud, or clouds, from the source cloud (or clouds). Don’t forget to add data governance and data security to the mix; you’ll need those as well.

There has been some talk of concepts such as the Intercloud, or a data exchange system running between major cloud computing providers. Also, a few cloud standards organizations, such as the Open Cloud Consortium, are looking to drive some interoperability standards, including a group working on standards and interoperability for “large data clouds.”

So how do we get down the path to data interoperability for the clouds? Don’t create yet another standards organization to look at this by committee. They take too long, and this is something that’s needed in 2010 to drive cloud computing adoption. Instead, the larger cloud computing providers should focus on this behind the scenes and create a working standard enabling technology to solve the data interoperability problem. If the larger providers are all on the same page, believe me, the smaller providers will quickly follow.

This article, “The data interoperability challenge for cloud computing,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments on cloud computing at InfoWorld.com.

cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. Part of the larger Azure Services Platform, Windows Azure is a platform for running Windows applications and storing data in the cloud.

cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. To deploy a new solution, most of your time and energy is spent on defining the right infrastructure, hardware and software, to put together to create that solution, Cloud computing allows people to share resources to solve new problems. cloud computing users can avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use.

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Informatica Debuts Cloud Computing Integration Tools

One of the biggest technical obstacles in the world of cloud computing is integrating cloud applications with each other and with on-premise systems. Data integration software developer Informatica released a package of software tools the company said can help businesses overcome those hurdles.

 

For Informatica’s channel partners and systems integration allies, the new cloud 9 toolset offers a means of building customized data integration software for customers and assembling data integration links that can be reused in multiple deployments, said Darren Cunningham, senior marketing director for Informatica’s on-demand products.

As more businesses adopt Software-as-a-Service applications and other cloud computing technologies, they find themselves wrestling with the problem of how to link those applications with their existing IT systems. Informatica, a longtime player in the data integration arena, is a natural to fill that role, company executives argue. A number of younger companies are also jumping into the on-demand data integration space, including Boomi and Cast Iron.

Informatica Cloud 9 includes a multitenant, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) data integration system that developers and systems integrator partners can use to build and reuse custom data integration services and run them in the cloud, according to the company. Business users can configure data rules or run data mappings built by IT using Informatica Cloud Services for data integration.

Cloud 9 incorporates Informatica’s Cloud Services Winter ’09 release of purpose-built Software-as-a-Service data integration applications for nontechnical users. It also provides Address Quality Cloud services based on technology Informatica acquired when it bought AddressDoctor in June. A new sandbox feature includes data synchronization and replication capabilities for software development and testing projects.

The package also includes new and expanded offerings through Amazon’s Elastic cloud computing (EC2) service. The new Informatica Data Quality cloud Edition, which runs on Amazon EC2, offers data quality services such as profiling, cleansing and matching. Informatica Cloud 9 also supports the recently released Amazon Relational Database Service.

Earlier this month Informatica unveiled Informatica 9, a new release of its core data integration software that’s the foundation for the new cloud computing offering.

The Informatica Cloud Platform is currently available as a beta with the final release scheduled for December priced at $1,000 per month. The Data Quality Cloud Edition is available on Amazon EC2 as a beta with the production release set for next year’s first quarter. The Informatica Address Quality cloud services are available today with pricing based on transaction volumes.

On ChannelWeb, Rick Whiting Writes, Informatica Debuts Cloud Computing Integration Tools, November 26, 2009

 

 

 

 

A .NET Cloud Computing Applications Versatilist:

The .NET Cloud Computing Applications Versatilist candidate would be someone who:

1. Has one or more technical specialties (e.g. application programming, Designing, composing and consuming Services from and in .NET Applications).
2. Has at least a general knowledge of software development lifecycle.
3. Has at least a general knowledge of the business domain in which they work.

 

The Versatilist program for .NET Cloud Computing Applications Professional will enhance and empower the candidate with the following skills:

1. Knowledge of the different cloud computing platforms
2. Understanding the concept of SaaS
3. Identifying the benefits and scenarios where cloud computing will be applicable
4. Detailed understanding of the Cloud Computing platform from Microsoft – Azure Services Platform
5. Designing, implementing and deploying a solution in the cloud using Azure platform
6. Creating Service Bus and workflow applications using .NET Services
7. Using the SQL Database in the cloud with SQL Data Services
8. Creating Live Mesh applications with Live Services

 

Ozzie, Muglia and the Microsoft cloud

LOS ANGELES – Porting an on-premise application to the cloud is not as easy as flipping a switch, according to Microsoft’s Bob Muglia. But the company will work with developers to help them adopt successful cloud development patterns.

SD Times sat down with Muglia, vice president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business unit, and Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software architect, at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. Topics ranged from how Microsoft can make cloud application development easier, to how it will leverage the cloud for development and testing in Visual Studio, and whether Silverlight was part of the open Web.

When asked how Microsoft would help its customers understand how to comply with regulations and data privacy laws that could prohibit moving data to the cloud, Ozzie emphasized that Microsoft has experience working in different countries throughout the world, and that it could parley those experiences to guide its customers.

Microsoft had to modify Windows Messenger features in different countries at the behest of regulators, but it still managed to ship its software, Muglia added.

Additionally, Microsoft has data centers located throughout the world to give customers that are located in countries with restrictive regulations the ability to use Windows Azure within their borders, Muglia said.

Ozzie said that he expected that laws will become less restrictive over time, because governments themselves have an interest in using cloud computing. Encryption is a model of how laws were adapted to changing technology, he added. “It’s as if they don’t know that encryption exists,” he quipped.

When asked about how Azure fits into development and testing, Muglia confirmed that Microsoft intends to integrate Azure into Visual Studio for provisioning test environments.

Microsoft will provide preconfigured virtual machines for Windows and; more customization (such as changing system configurations) will be added over time, he said.

That integration could represent another click up in level of “coopetition” with Hewlett-Packard, said Forrester principal analyst Jeffrey Hammond.

Lastly, Muglia and Ozzie were insistent that Silverlight was part of the open Web. They pointed to Mono Moonlight as an example of that, and they noted that Microsoft has licensed associated intellectual property, including Windows Media codecs, to open-source developers.

Mono project lead Miguel de Icaza said that he wanted Microsoft to go a step further by contributing technology to ECMA International. Muglia responded by saying that Microsoft was trying to balance standards with its ability to rapidly innovate the Silverlight platform.

Ozzie also gave a nuanced explanation about how Silverlight is meant to help developers leverage existing application and tool investments on the Web, and it was complementary to (and not meant to suppress) HTML 5. The draft specification of HTML 5 includes a framework for building Web applications.

In a follow-up conversation regarding the cloud, Jamin Spitzer, director of platform strategy for Microsoft, said that “Developers need to have a realistic sense of what changes and what stays the same by moving to an instance-based IaaS cloud.” Microsoft announced an IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) offering for Azure at PDC.

The “true promise” of cloud computing is fully realized through transforming applications for the cloud, he added, saying that developers needed to identify the core set of functional capabilities required for specific application scenarios, and then choose the right deployment location to best satisfy those capabilities, whether that is on premises or on the computing. Some workloads should stay on premises if moving to the cloud does not justify future cost savings, or if data needs to remain behind the firewall, he admitted.

cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. Part of the larger Azure Services Platform, Windows Azure is a platform for running Windows applications and storing data in the cloud.

cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. To deploy a new solution, most of your time and energy is spent on defining the right infrastructure, hardware and software, to put together to create that solution, cloud computing allows people to share resources to solve new problems. cloud computing users can avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use.