tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post676125056742822593..comments2023-11-14T08:19:54.657+00:00Comments on DMossEsq: Cloud computing turns IT into a utility, and that's a good thing?David Mosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-17882462222669086732013-02-23T12:28:07.212+00:002013-02-23T12:28:07.212+00:00I worked for one of the big IT suppliers in the UK...I worked for one of the big IT suppliers in the UK. Cloud was being pushed at the expense of all else. One account was told it had to offer the cloud to it's customer even though when they added up the costs from the 'menu of services' it worked out more expensive that the bespoke service!<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-45526719771314806862013-02-19T01:26:04.223+00:002013-02-19T01:26:04.223+00:00See Twitter if you like from here to here.See Twitter if you like from <a href="https://twitter.com/DMossEsq/status/303497896215605248" rel="nofollow">here</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/DMossEsq/status/303616159515820033" rel="nofollow">here</a>.David Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-20412688488319620452013-02-18T18:03:25.025+00:002013-02-18T18:03:25.025+00:00David
You seem to pick and choose definitions and...David<br /><br />You seem to pick and choose definitions and analogies at will based on part of the name of a programme of work instigated by the UK Government. I have defined several times what the programme is about and how it operates but you choose to ignore the facts, not allowing them to get in the way of a good story and headline. The programme tries to enable organisations in the public sector access to a much broader range of IT, including "cloud", suppliers who may offer solutions more in line with user (public sector , citizen and business) need. GCloud does a slug of the procurement activity and assurance up front, once, for as many organisations that want to use it. The procurement and assurance done by the programme, (actually the Government Procurement Service and Pan Government Assurers), is exactly in line with conventional IT procurement and assurance rules.... again...is exactly in line with conventional procurement and assurance rules. The difference is, having done it once every organisation can reuse that work, thus saving tens of £Ms in reduced duplication. The service also makes public and visible the cost of those services and also,before long, the level of satisfaction of users, something that is currently often, even contractually, invisible.<br /><br />All this is in response to obscenely high levels of spending and low levels of service that exist at present. What would be your solution David, no really, tell us, we all want to know how to fix this and if you have a bettey3f0b9mhuwAUH3gLOavA; oauth2-token=<br />Pragma: no-cache<br />Cache-Control: no-cache<br />X-Google-GFE-Frontline-Info: vip=173.194.69.191,server_port=Chris Chantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-28955138146721011782012-10-20T14:18:47.160+01:002012-10-20T14:18:47.160+01:00'Utility computing' is a model that dates ...'Utility computing' is a model that dates back decades. The first computer system were, due to their cost, leased and organisations would but cycles on computer systems to performance their transactions. <br /><br />I do not believe it is analogous to the system we have in the UK for electricity and gas supply and I disagree with Eleanor Stewart's analogy. For one, you can have more than more computer system supplier at once. Further, systems can be engineers to easily (push buttom) migrate between suppliers. It's quite complex technology, and still somewhat in it's infancy, but unlike physical tin (server) it's a programming job, not a wiring and plumbing job. <br /><br />So, it's easy if that function has been considering in the architecture of the platform, and components that make up the system are well organisation. From what I have seen of GDS and it's members, I would expect it has been well considered and their is flexibility in their implementation of the system. <br /><br />There have also been significant changes in the role of the systems administrator in recent years. The 'devops' movement coupled with IaaS and PaaS is leading to 'Infrastructure as Code' - that is to say, all the configuration for the system can be written as a computer program. This is new. This, coupled with the rise of the use of commodity components, is nothing short of a revolution in the industry. The fact that marketers, idiot managers and other shysters label it 'Cloud' is just because they don't understand the technology involved. That is changing, slowly but surely, and GDS seem to be at the forefront of this thinking. <br /><br />But there is a disconnect. What GDS have done is provide the upper layers of the system, described how the web site works, how the operating systems they run on are configured, I would expect. But they're running on Skyscape's servers. Why Skyscape? What do they offer than Amazon, Rackspace, or the UK based Bytemark and others couldn't? If it's that, for political reasons, they need be seen to host on servers owned and run by a UK company there are plenty around with established track records. And .gov.uk is a public web site after all and they're using Google Analytics - US based -for site usage data, including which IP address requests come from and what pages they view. Further the government appear ok with the GDS proposal of using US companies to authenticate UK citizens to it's services. <br /><br />I've not doubt waffled here, but I hope what I've said make 'Cloud' computing a bit clearer and not the fad or fashion Ellison says it is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-54679405502172948332012-10-20T13:20:02.631+01:002012-10-20T13:20:02.631+01:00You say, Anonymous, that "moving gov.uk, or a...You say, Anonymous, that "moving gov.uk, or any other asset, from party A to B would be relatively straight forward and certainly _much_ cheaper and easier that 'traditional' IT of lots of servers in racks".<br /><br />I took this matter up with Eleanor Stewart, asking her to comment on how easy it is to move applications around the cloud, and <a href="http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/2012/09/18/first-iaas-purchase-completed/#comment-2029" rel="nofollow">she said</a>:<br /><br />"Your description is a very reduced version of how some quite complex technology works – akin to saying an internal combustion engine works by sucking, squeezing, banging and blowing – technically correct but missing out any subtlety about the processes involved in each action. Cloud Services do indeed allow the movement of data between servers more easily than other technologies. It would be better to liken the data in a cloud to the electricity flowing through a grid – it can be diverted and moved anywhere within the grid (or cloud), safely and securely as long as the integrity of the data, it’s security and the processes involved are maintained".David Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-30609109539119107392012-10-20T13:06:29.301+01:002012-10-20T13:06:29.301+01:00Thanks for your comments, anonymous.
The central ...Thanks for your comments, anonymous.<br /><br />The central question here is, is the utility model attractive, given as an example the events of the past few weeks in the energy sector?David Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345636878071983416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3048449668150968412.post-35438830779013121012012-10-20T12:32:21.059+01:002012-10-20T12:32:21.059+01:00Stallman's point is moot. Good management alwa...Stallman's point is moot. Good management always has contingency. GDS have some technically talented and moving gov.uk, or any other asset, from party A to B would be relatively straight forward and certainly _much_ cheaper and easier that 'traditional' IT of lots of servers in racks.<br /><br />Ellison has everything to lose from the cloud, but even Oracle are now getting into that game. The _first link_ in Google Search for Oracle Cloud links this https://cloud.oracle.com/mycloud/f?p=service:home:0 .<br /><br />Don't get bogged down by marketing crap around the 'Cloud'. Those of us in the industry hate that particular jargon as much as the next, but 'Cloud' does have some benefit in the form of IaaS and PaaS (see Wikiepedia for some good articles on the topic). Amazon Web Services enable small though large companies to delivery products and worry less about managing hardware, datacenters, backups and so on. It's economies of scale at work. And really, it is the future and is not going away, nor is it a fad or a fashion.<br /> <br />Skyscape on the other had appears to have no scale. It simply appears to be selling traditional hosting, albeit on virtualised infrastructure. Of course, the details of their operation are secret so there is no way of know if their offering consists a rack in a data-centre or a multi-site system with site to site fail over, or how they have amassed sufficient experience to provide robust, scalable infrastructure at reasonable costs, or if what they are offering is value-for-money to the tax payer.<br /><br />That the dead tree press seemingly have nothing to say (positive or negative) about Skyscape and government IT contracts in general seems odd.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com