little bits of code and data everywhere

If you have been following the cloud trend, with virtualization, programmable stacks, sdn, message based orchestration etc.., this bit of news http://www.lightreading.com/software-defined-networking/rumor-google-to-add-sdn-smarts-to-android/240155256 may not seem like  anything new, just another trend.

However, if you dig deeper into this, you’ll notice that the result of adding networking / sdn smarts to android actually has much deeper connotations. This first paves the way for running android in the datacenter servers. With SDN and orchestrated spin-up, spin-down of android vms in the datacenter, you could run in split seconds or minutes thousands of these in the datacenters. And if you’re an android phone/tablet user, you will know that this operating system is quite capable of running any kind of application.

One minute detail that may be easily overlooked is the fact that the entire android operating system comprises of most of the code run in the Dalvik virtual machine, with few bits and pieces running on a custom linux kernel.Now, if most of the SDN pieces being talked about in the article is actually added to the VM portion of android, then what you end up with is a fully programmable container for code and data. That container could be serialized and shipped via network to any platform that can run the dalvik vm and run again…

This brings up a whole new connotation to the “cloud” paradigm. It’s a cloud that’s going to be raining runnable bits of code and data everywhere. The possibilities, if this is where it’s heading, is actually endless..

Comments welcome as always.

 

why #openstack matters or it’s the ecosystem, stupid!

There’s a lot of buzz lately in the industry around cloud stacks and how to build and manage them. Openstack, cloudstack, tosca, EC2, google compute, openshift, cloudfoundry, heroku, cloudbees etc..

Notice I clubbed IaaS and PaaS stacks together.

To me, what stands out from the rest is openstack.

Openstack is now proving to be a workable and replicable solution for standing up a managed IaaS cloud stack in real world situations. You could argue that cloudstack is the same way and amazon, GC have already proven it.

The reason openstack stands out is because it reminds me of the linux phenomenon 20+ years ago. The community believes in it. And the community is willing to put forth blood and toil to expand the reach of openstack.

As a result, openstack today, is not just an IaaS management framework anymore. It’s an ecosystem of “service” enablers all tied by a thread of common interest – commoditizing information systems – via common apis, common component architecture model, opensource roots, modularity etc.

What comes out of that is an ecosystem of pluggable components bound by interfaces and  a scaleable architectural principle for the components.

That’s a breeding ground for explosive growth and exponential uptake of any technology.

And just because it’s opensource does not mean there’s no money to be made. Examples abound. VCs salivate!

It’s the ecosystem that openstack enables. You can’t say that for cloudstack, or google compute. You could argue about EC2.. but that’s just because they were first on the ground and cheap (not sure for how long)

And the ecosystem will start to go up the stack, you’re already seeing ties to cloudfoundry and openshift. Heroku probably has to watch out.

It’s easy to counter a company or a group of people. It is very hard to counter a movement .. and that’s what openstack is turning out to be.

I know this is a loaded post, and mostly opinions.. I’ll take the flak and take comments.