Wharton Publishing Gone Digital

Wharton Digital Press (WDP)

I learnt the rudimentary of the publishing business from Dr. Steve Kobrin, Wharton Professor and Publisher of Wharton Press, when I was exploring the possibility of creating an Imprint. Having also worked with technologists and social scientists on ubiquitous computing's role in morphing the contemporary content consumption process, I was particularly intrigued when Wharton announced that Wharton School Publishing is now Wharton Digital Press in the London Book Fair on April 11.

Wharton Digital Press: http://wdp.wharton.upenn.edu/

Publishing as an innovation platform

With PoD, Print on Demand solutions, in the US, UK, and EU, being digital does not mean that you cannot touch a physical copy anymore. As a matter of a fact, with both physical and digital copies available, the distribution model and global reach is significantly enhanced as a result.

Beyond innovation on the distribution front, potential authors may like to find out the rates arrangement which would be different from the traditional "advance + running royalty" structure.

Basically, after talking with Steve about WDP. This looks like a really exciting platform for publishing innovation in distribution, content creation, technology, and who knows what else.

Very cool!

Why go to Cloud and How

Why Cloud Computing

These seem to be the characteristics that everyone agrees on.

For Vendors:

• Resource pooling - more efficient use of hardware resources by pooling usages together
• Self-provisioning - minimizes the amount of human-to-human hand-holding that adds to the management overhead

For Buyers:

• Highly responsive to usage demand - crank up or tone down usage in near real-time instead of month
• Measured pricing - only pay for what you use

The unique Cloud advantage that has hitherto been illusive for organizations is to have a nimble infrastructure at a lower cost at the same time. This is why new companies today are jumping on the Cloud because you no longer need to spend the first two million dollars in venture funding to build out a server farm for a demand that may or may not materialize.

Why Cloud Computing

But, what if you are a large established enterprise with millions of active users everyday. Does this automatically relegate you to the dinosaur status in the Cloud world?

Not according to Netflix.

In this (below) and other presentations by Adrian Cockcroft, Cloud Architect of Netflix, he pointed to several reasons for going to the Cloud.

1. Its subscribers and usage is growing faster than its own organic data center growth can support
2. It is planning international expansions
3. It was launching an iPhone app, a gated process which only allows for one shot in getting it right.

In short, for a 20 million active user enterprise like Netflix, Cloud offers a practical (support rapid growth in existing market), strategic (new market penetration), and technical (robust development and deployment) solution for its needs.

Migrating to Public Cloud

View more presentations from Adrian Cockcroft

A Cloudy Future

Cloud Yesterday

In late 2008, I prepared an analysis on Cloud Computing. Richard Stallman thought it was a dumb idea. Larry Ellison quipped that it was just a new phrase for Grid Computing. Marten Mickos was telling me that Cloud Computing is looking compelling. And, it was about to reach the top of the Hype Cycle according to Gartner.

Two years, many conferences, conversations, and self-branded Cloud-ification by all sorts of products and companies later...

Cloud Today

A good proxy on if a technology has staying power is the extent of enterprise adoption since that is where the real money is. Looking at some of these Cloud announcements by global telco players serving enterprise users, Cloud is here to stay.

• Alcatel-Lucent: launched solution for Applications as a Service (AaaS)
• Cisco: announced Unified Fabric, Unified Computing, and Unified Network Services for Cloud
• Fujitsu: announced Private Cloud Services
• Juniper: added focus on security for Cloud
• NEC: launched Cloud Tablet
• NTT America: launched Private Cloud service
• Orange: announced Cloud push
• SK Telecom: launched Cloud data center
• Verizon + SAP: announced SAP CRM via Verizon Cloud