Down on the server farm | Economist.com 05/23/2008
Posted by thaadsma in web.add a comment
Fascinating to see the new building boom for data centers around the world. A new article at Economist.com, Down on the server farm gives a good overview of the issues, investments and the players.
Here’s a rendering of one such proposed underground data archiving facilty being built in Iceland:
Power?
Geothermal.
Cooling?
Not an issue in Iceland.
Lawn care?
Not an issue in Iceland.
More press release detail at HDS: Press Releases> Hitachi and Data Íslandia Launch the World’s Most Environmentally Friendly Outsourced Data Archiving Service
High Performance Computing is Flying High | eWeek 05/23/2008
Posted by thaadsma in Linux, SUN, SaaS, development, ibm, microsoft, web.add a comment
“The swift rise of cloud computing—applications made available as on-demand services for enterprises and consumers over the Web—is now requiring HPC and “super” storage at all levels, Platform Computing founder and CEO Songnian Zhou told an audience of several hundred IT managers and developers here at Platform Global Conference, held May 19-21.
Platform Computing makes specialized management software for HPC data centers serving sectors such as the financial market, earth science, oil and gas exploration, health care, and government and military installations.
“Current data centers, most of them built more than 10 years ago, are costly to run and not very efficient in using power resources,” Zhou said. “What IT managers and CIOs need when they are looking to upgrade are agile, scalable, more powerful, more cost-effective servers and storage systems that use more automation, share resources, use less power and run on commodity hardware.
“Yet these new systems must be able to deliver powerful Web services 24/7. This is what HPC brings to the table.”"
Lots more stats and numbers at the origianl article: Why HPC Is Flying High
Web 2.0 Can Give Consumers More Control over Health Care | eWeek.com 05/05/2008
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Web 2.0 Can Give Consumers More Control over Health Care
We’re seeing more and more activity in the Consumer-driven healthcare movement, and a lot of what Flock says in this article points to real value in applying this kind of technology to health care:
“Web 2.0 features like product and service ratings, information search, social communities, and tools are a natural evolution of health care technology, Flock said, and represent a new business paradigm that companies and institutions will have to adopt in order to remain competitive and relevant.
“The social relevance factor is a moving target, especially in health care, because it’s in such an early stage,” Flock said. The key is successfully reaching out to partners, customers and consumers, he said, and Flock cited HealthVault as one way Microsoft was reaching health care consumers.”
Smarter electric grid key to saving power | Fox News 05/04/2008
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“
These little tweaks add up nicely for another person testing the Milton system, Marian Rakusan. He’s saved at least $300 on utility bills since the program began in September. Tsapoitis and his wife, Lisa, aren’t certain of their savings but say their 2,400-square-foot home has lower energy bills than a friend’s 1,800-square-footer.
This alone is not revolutionary, because programmable thermostats and other “smart home” controls let people craft similar resource-saving plans. The big change here is the combination of these controls with that blinking amber light on the switch _ where the grid talks back.
Milton’s local gas and electricity retailer, Direct Energy, will set those amber dots blinking in an emergency. It might happen a few times in a summer month. Maybe there will be congestion in Ontario’s overtaxed transmission network. Perhaps a power plant will be down for maintenance. Or rapacious air conditioners will overwhelm electric capacity.
Whatever the cause, at that moment, this section of the grid needs a reduction in demand, fast, or else outages loom.”
Place your television ads with Google TV Ads (!) | Inside AdWords : Google 05/01/2008
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Inside AdWords: Place ads on television with Google TV Ads
Cool! But I think we’ll start to see more YouTube-grade commercials on commercial TV from here on out.
On second thought: could they possibly be worse than our local auto dealer ads? ;^)
“We’d like to introduce Google TV Ads, a flexible, all-digital system for easily and efficiently buying more accountable and measurable TV advertising. The program, which has been an invitation-only beta test since June 2007, is now available to all US-based advertisers…
…How does it work?
First, you’ll need a TV commercial. If you don’t have one yet, check out Google’s Ad Creation Marketplace, where you can connect with industry professionals who provide script writing, editing, production, and voice-over talent at an affordable package cost. It’s free to search for specialists and send them requests for project bids, and you aren’t under any obligation to work with them until you accept a bid. To celebrate our launch, for a limited time Google will cover the cost of creating your TV ad through our Ad Creation Marketplace, up to $2,000. Learn more about this special offer.”
McKinsey surveys software landscape | Rough Type: Nicholas Carrs Blog 05/01/2008
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Rough Type: Nicholas Carrs Blog: McKinsey surveys the new software landscape
Softwares new battle lines are now becoming visible, report the consultants: “These trends – the growing acceptance of SaaS and SaaS platforms – are likely to create a tremendous battle between the largest software vendors and the newer SaaS providers. While each of these players has an advantage at one end of the spectrum large vendors such as IBM, Oracle, SAP and Microsoft do best in large enterprises, while SaaS “incumbents” such as Salesforce, NetSuite and RightNow are more in favor with small businesses, the real battle is in the mid-market space.
