Tag Archives: cloud
Storage – the backbone of the cloud. To centralize or distribute?
Cloud giants like Amazon and Google are initiating a massive push towards distributed and replicated storage solutions for cloud computing. Their assertion is that the storage backbone for the cloud should be done via replicating data across commodity type of local storage hardware. Essentially, they are talking about network based RAID across multiple local storage servers. Amidst their claims that distributed storage concepts will one day make SAN solutions obsolete, I am strangely reminded of similar claims by Intel and others regarding the future of mainframe computers when 1U pizza boxes hit the market. At the time, it was postulated that distributed processing found in these intel based machines would be preferable to the centralized compute model offered by mainframes, and inevitably would spell the end of mainframes and the concept of consolidated computing. Clearly distributed processing did not put an end to consolidated mainframe computing, as many enterprises today utilize a hybrid approach to computing. Rest assured, the distributed storage model being so heavily promoted by several cloud giants today will not spell the end of consolidated SAN storage platforms. Having said this, there are clear benefits and disadvantages to each approach that must be considered when building a storage backbone for your cloud.
Finalist at Computerworld
Back from the Computerworld conference in Dallas. I am sad to report that Cartika did not come away with the “Big Prize”. But, being the finalist, amongst this group of competitors was quite the achievement and something I am personally very proud of. I want to congratulate Sprint who took home the championship. Well done, and we look forward to seeing you next year 
Computerworld SNW Conference
Currently at the Computerworld SNW conference here at the Gaylord Texan Resort. Interesting choice of names for the resort, but, have got to say, one of the best resorts/hotels/ranch I have ever seen or stayed at. Absolutely massive facility, everything you can possibly imagine is right on site. The conference itself is going well. Several networking opportunities last night. Today the trade show floor is open and of course the awards ceremony is tomorrow. The CartikaCloud has generated quite the buzz here. Speaking with several Cloud Architects and Technicians with several very large companies, it has become apparent that what we are doing is quite unique. Our architecture is 2nd to none, our infrastructure is right there with what other Enterprises are doing – but, our day to day application of the “cloud” is completely unique. I can safely say that nobody in the world is doing what we are doing, and handling the challenges we are handling. The only company in our ballpark if I was to be objective about this would be Amazon. Now, their environment is much larger then ours, and therefore, the complexity is higher. Their technology and approach are different then ours, so, I am very curious to see how this plays out. But, what ourselves and Amazon have that is different is an unpredictable environment – and an environment where end users are loading up their own applications, their own instances, resizing whenever they like, etc.. very very unique. The traditional enterprise will run a known set of applications, will clearly know when they need to scale and by how much, etc. They face very few challenges related to resource and capacity planning, configurations and standardizations of OS installs, security, etc, etc, etc… They also have practically zero requirement for a GUI to layer over their cloud, as their cloud is simply internal use only. They do not need to permission out key administrative capabilities to a large pool of end users, etc..
Overall, very interesting conference so far. Handing out A LOT of business cards and garnering A LOT of attention for Cartika and our Cloud. It is always a nice feeling to get the sort of recognition we are getting here, especially from such large enterprise types of companies
The Cartika Control Panel Initiative
Cartika has been working on a new control panel. The purpose is to not only manage our business, but, provide this solution as a commercial option for other hosting providers and businesses who have the need to centrally manage diverse environments and specificly allocate user permissions to specific areas of their infrastructure. The solution is getting close to being production ready for all Cartika VPS, Cloud and Dedicated Hosting customers.