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A strange team up looks to fuel cloud computing efforts, challenge Google

Cloud computing is a hot buzz word in the IT industry today. The basic idea behind cloud computing is that dedicated hardware and software at home locations and workstations are not cost effective and that a “cloud” of servers with hardware and software resources, pumping content to your PC is a more economical solution.

The idea, despite some snags — like privacy issues or the need for high performance in applications such as gaming — is a savvy one and is fast becoming the focus of some of the tech industry’s biggest players. According to research firm Gartner, cloud computing is the most influential IT tech since e-business.

Google has already vested heavily in cloud computing and hosting and has plans to greatly expand its offerings over the next few years. Electronics giant Microsoft is following closely in Google’s footsteps with its own efforts. Now Google’s struggling nemesis Yahoo has cloudy dreams of its own — and it’s not flying solo. Yahoo has enlisted the services of two power players in their respective markets: Intel and HP.

Initially the trio will offer six datacenters with useful applications available to pre-selected researchers. The centers will serve as a proving ground to the new technology, which still is relatively undeveloped. John Manley, director of HP’s strategic research lab states, “Cloud computing represents a new era of computing. Working at that kind of scale means there will be many unanswered questions and raise new problems for computer science. We want to create an environment that can begin to answer some of these challenges.”

He adds, “The web democratized creativity and allowed anyone to create something new and innovative. Cloud computing is the next stage for that. To my mind it is the natural evolution of the internet and if we look back in 15 years time we will be astounded by what cloud computing has allowed to happen.”

Intel, Yahoo and HP each will host one of the six centers, while the remaining three will be hosted from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, the University of Illinois, and the Steinbuch Centre for Computing in Germany. Each center will feature 1,000 to 4,000 machines, and the centers are capable of being expanded when greater capacity is needed.

Researchers for the three companies will examine how to make cloud computing more secure and reliable. They will also seek to develop more streamlined management methods, which will help cloud administrators manage their hardware and software resources, as well as user traffic.

The centers will be running by the end of this year. Gartner analyst David Mitchell Smith lauds the move, saying that it is a turning point in the adoption of cloud computing. Says Mr. Smith, “Anytime you get three companies of that stature looking to advance it, is significant. We consider cloud computing to be the next really big thing and the sky’s the limit to the services it will enable over the next ten years.”

dailytech.com