Cloud Power - Operator, Vendor, and Buyer

Operator Power

It is well know that Data Centers can suck up a lot of electric energy. Being one of the largest operators, the revelation of Google's power consumption is closely scrutinized. Google uses 260 million watts continuously across the globe.

To give it more context, this is approximately the equivalent of powering 200,000 homes in the US. Alternatively, this is about a quarter of the output of a standard nuclear power plant.

Keep your hand off my Cloud

German telco, Deutsche Telekom, has recently requested a waiver for their data centers so that the US government cannot access DT (and European Cloud operators in general) client's information through the US Patriot (anti-terrorism) Act.

This will be a development worth monitoring as the Public Cloud as originally imagined may splinter into different flavors. On one hand, this is bad for growth, think what internet would have been like if it cannot operate across the globe. On the other hand, it could be an interesting commercial opportunities as markets outside of the US try to leapfrog both the technological and business innovation through separate clouds.

Where is the beef

Adrian Cockcroft's entry on "I come to use clouds, not to build them" is worth a quick read for two reasons.

One is his lucid example of what the SaaS providers really care about. Don't tell me how the component works, tell me what are the things I can do with your Cloud. This is a topic well worth remmeber for those us involved with Cloud, or any emerging technology in general. In otehr words, don't get side tracked by the "sexy" technical stuff.

Second is his observation on OpenStack. His view is exactly what it is, his view. And, I consider the negative tone on OpenStack is really a "roadmap" on what would make OpenStack a viable solution for SaaS vendors like Netflix. And, that, to echo observation #1 above, is precisely the point.

Links

What It Takes to Power Google: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38556/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-09-12

Deutsche Telekom Wants `German Cloud’ to Shield Data From U.S.: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-13/deutsche-telekom-wants-german-cloud-to-shield-data-from-u-s-.html

I come to use clouds, not to build them...: http://perfcap.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-come-to-use-clouds-not-to-build-them.html