Links - 08/16/2007

Convergence of Virtualization and Green Data Center Trends Could Be Perfect Timing for Microsoft (ITBusinessEdge: Kachina Dunn): Kachina notes that Microsoft may gain the most from the way the virtualization market is setting up. Combine that with the comments that Chris Kanaracus made about Microsoft's "compute cloud" strategy, and you begin to get the feeling that Mr. Softy may out-engineer its rivals in utility computing technology. I hope not, because (like VMWare) they are still obsessed with locking people into their platform. We need that utility computing portability standard!

Ozzie Reveals More Details of Cloud Development Platform (RedmondDeveloper: Chris Kanaracus): Another good breakdown of Microsoft's "PaaS" (Platform as a Service) play. Ray's comments at the end of the article give me the feeling that Google, Amazon, Salesforce.com and others are not free and clear of MSFTs influence, yet.

"We believe we are the only company with the platform DNA that's necessary to viably deliver this highly leveragable platform approach to services. And we're certainly one of the few companies that has the financial capacity to capitalize on this sea change, this services transformation."

Grid computing: Term may fade, but features will live on (ComputerWorld: Barbara DePompa): Barbara discusses the view of many that the term "grid computing" may go extinct in the face of virtualization and utility computing. My own opinion is that "grid" has actually had its definition narrowed back to its roots: grid computing platforms provide resource allocation to job-based computing processes, like batch data processing, image rendering and HPC. Utility computing is the term that applies to all "computing on demand" applications, including grid applications.

Automation and going green in the data center (NetworkWorld: NewDataCenter): Someone at NetworkWorld saw the light at Next Generation Data Center in San Francisco earlier this month. I just wanted to welcome them aboard, and invite them to explore the importance of SLAuto to both automation and green practices.