Green utility cloud computing

<chortle>

I couldn't resist - everyone seems to be doing it, and I figured that if I were going to jump in, I might as well make a big ol' splash :)

Don't worry, though, I'm not going to muddy the waters with yet another definition of what "cloud" computing is, or extol the virtues of how our software is "green", or agile, or non of the above. Instead I think that I'd like to come out and state for the record that NONE of these high-hit-rate buzz words, or their corresponding concepts, will flourish in your grand-daddy's data center. None. Nil. Zip. Nada.

Oh sure, everyone in the software infrastructure world is going to have an environment saving, agility increasing, cost reducing green utility cloud for SOA and SaaS computing, and some of of these are going to be quite elegant. And some will be very innovative. And useful. Likely they will all be expensive because, well, green utility cloud computing just isn't cheap, not for all the money you get to save. But as long as IT and the data center continue to manage infrastructure in the same old way they have for the past gazillion years, none of these green utility cloud computing solutions is going to bear the kind of fruit that the buzz-doctors are chattering about.

Why?

Resource allocation. That's why.

Until organizations take an active position in correcting their resource allocation model, they just won't be able to have that shiny new green utility cloud.

So what's the problem with your allocation model?

It's static (and manual), that's the problem. Only it doesn't look like a problem because everyone is doing it. It's the way it's always been done. Static allocation is the reason that infrastructure utilization is so low, and ironically, why virtualization has become so popular. I say ironically because all you're doing with virtualization is creating more resources - increasing the supply - only to turn around and statically allocate them - just like you always do. Yes, I know, you're driving utilization and reducing the amount of physical servers, which is all great news until you've gone and statically allocated all of those virtual resources. Then what? You've got idle virtual resources, a lot more management and complexity, and you are still looking for more resources because you have more demand, more applications, and increased qualities of service.

The solution is to make your allocation dynamic (and automated) - that's the easy part. The tough part is the fundamental - paradigm - shift that must take place in order to deliver dynamic, automated, demand-based allocation of resources to the applications that need them, when they need them, only for as long as they are in need, and all based on priority. It's tough because it means changing the way you do business today. It means that IT needs to become a Quality of Service provider, not a caretaker of someone else's servers. It means that the LBUs no longer get to say how many servers they need, instead they pay for a consistent quality of service, and leave the allocation of resources to accommodate their requested QoS to the folks in the data center.

It means change is necessary if you want your very own green utility cloud.

Change is good.

Tags: green, utility, cloud, resource allocation, grid