Billy Marshall's Open Source Blog

The problem with the notion of “Windows for EC2” is that it perpetuates the broken, legacy model of tying your application to the infrastructure upon which it runs. In the legacy model, applications became artificially tied to the physical server upon which they ran, and server utilization was low because it is very difficult to run multiple applications on a single instance of a general purpose operating system.

The reason it is difficult to run multiple applications on a single instance of a general purpose operating system is because each application has unique needs which conflict or compete with the unique needs of other applications. Virtualization technology, such as that provided by VMware or Citrix with XenServer, breaks the bond of the application to a physical server by placing a layer of software, called a hypervisor, on the physical hardware beneath the operating system instances that support each application. The applications are “isolated” from one another inside virtual machines, and this isolation eliminates the conflicts.

Amazon embraces this virtualization model by using Xen to enable their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service. So what's the problem? If the OS instances are not tied to the physical servers any longer (indeed you do not even know which physical system is running your application on EC2, nor do you need to know), why am I raising a hullabaloo over a “broken model?” The reason this new model of Windows for EC2 is broken is because your application is now artificially coupled to EC2. When you begin with a Windows Amazon Machine Image (AMI), install your application on top, configure-test, configure-test, configure-test, configure-test, configure-test to get it right, and then save the tested configuration as a new AMI, the only place you can run this tested configuration of your application is on Amazon's EC2. If you want to run the application on another virtualized cloud, say maybe one provided by RackSpace, or Terremark, or GoGrid, or even your own internal virtualized cloud of systems, you have to install the application yet again, configure-test, configure-test, configure-test, configure-test, configure-test to get it right again, and then save the tested configuration on the other cloud service. Why don't we just stop the madness and admit that binding the OS to the physical infrastructure upon which it runs is a flawed approach when applications run as virtual machine images (or virtual appliances) atop a hypervisor or virtualized cloud of systems like EC2?

The reason that we are continuing the madness is because madness is all we have ever known. Everyone knows that you bind an operating system to a physical host. Operating systems are useless unless they bind to something, and until the emergence of the hypervisor as the layer that binds to the physical host, the only sensible approach for operating system distribution was to bind it to the physical host. When you buy hardware, you make it useful by installing an operating system as step one. But if the operating system that you install as step one in the new virtualized world is a hypervisor in lieu of a general purpose operating system, how do we get applications to be supported on this new type of host? Here's your answer -- what we previously knew as the general purpose operating system now needs to be transformed to just enough operating system (JeOS or “juice”) to support the application, and it should bind to the application NOT THE INFRASTRUCTURE.

Virtualization enables the separation of the application from the infrastructure upon which it runs – making possible a level of business agility and dynamicism previously unthinkable. Imagine being able to run your applications on-demand in any data-center around the world that exposes the hypervisor (any hypervisor) as the runtime environment. Privacy laws prevent an application supporting medical records in Switzerland from running in an Amazon datacenter in Belgium? No problem, run the application in Switzerland. Need to run the same application in Belgium in support of a new service being offered there next month? No problem, run it on Amazon's infrastructure in Belgium. The application has to support the covert operations associated with homeland security and it cannot be accessed via any Internet connection? No problem, provide it as a virtual appliance for the NSA to run on their private network. Just signed a strategic deal with RackSpace that provides an extraordinary level of service that Amazon is not willing to embrace at this time? No problem, shut down the instances running on EC2 and spin them up at RackSpace. All of this dynamic capability is possible without the tedious cycle of configure-test -- if we will simply bind the operating system to the application in order to free it from the infrastructure and let it fly into the clouds.

So why doesn't Microsoft simply allow Windows to become an application support infrastructure, aka JeOS, instead of a general purpose operating system that is bound to the infrastructure? Because JeOS disrupts their licensing and distribution model. Turning a ship as big as the Microsoft Windows licensing vessel might require a figurative body of water bigger than the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans combined. But if they don't find a way to turn the ship, they may find that their intransigence becomes the catalyst for ever increasing deployments of Linux and related open source technology that is unfettered by the momentum of a mighty business model. Folks with valuable .Net application assets might begin to consider technology such as Novell's mono project as a bridge to span their applications into the clouds via Linux.

I can tell you that there are lots of folks asking lots of questions about how to enable Windows applications in the “cloud.” I do not believe the answer is “Windows for EC2” plus “Windows for GoGrid” plus “Windows for RackSpace” plus “Windows for [insert your data-center cloud name here].” If Microsoft does not find a way to turn the licensing ship and embrace JeOS, the market will eventually embrace alternatives that provide the business agility that virtualization and cloud computing promises.

Billy Marshall is part of a star-studded lineup of speakers at SYS-CON's 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo. Between them, they'll be covering every aspect of the hottest IT topic for years, with not just Amazon but also IBM, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Intel, HP and a host of others all offering, using or developing high-end computing services typically described as “cloud computing” - through which massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service using Internet technologies.

Forrester Research analyst James Staten calls cloud computing "classic disruptive innovation - where the mainstream dismisses the product and small companies have time to create a real differentiated value." But there are so many offerings just now that what infrastructure architects are looking for above all is a set of organizing principles they can use to guide them in choosing between them all.

Such principles. and a host of associated topics, will be addressed in San Jose by a Top Speaker Faculty that includes:

• Dr Werner Vogels - VP & CTO, Amazon.com (Keynote)
• Mike Feinberg - Senior Vice President, Cloud Infrastructure Group, EMC
• Steve Herrod - CTO, VMware
• David Bernstein - VP & GM of Network Applications Infrastructure, Cisco
  
• Rob Weltman - Director of Grid Services, Yahoo!
  
• Peter Nickolov - President CTO, 3tera
• Kevin Haar - President & CEO, Appistry
• Songnian Zhou - Co-Founder & CEO, Platform Computing
• Patrick Harr - CEO, Nirvanix
• Gerrit Huizenga - Cloud Solutions Architect, IBM
  
• John Keagy - CEO & Co-Founder, GoGrid/ServePath
• Sajai Krishnan - CEO, ParaScale
  
• Reuven Cohen - Founder & Chief Technologist, Enomaly
• Mike Eaton - CEO, Cloudworks
• Jonathan Bryce - Founder at Mosso (Rackspace)
• Nati Shalom - CTO, GigaSpaces
• Don MacAskill - CEO & Chief Geek, SmugMug
• Billy Marshall - Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, rPath
• Dr Thorsten von Eicken - CTO & Founder, RightScale
• Jonathan Pyke - Chief Strategy Office, Cordys
  
• Jason Stowe - Founder & CEO, Cycle Computing
• David Young - Co-Founder & CEO, Joyent
  
• Dave Durkee - Founder, CEO & Technical Director, ENKI
• John Janakiraman - CTO, Skytap
• Stuart Charlton - Chief Software Architect, Elastra
• Lars Leckie, Principal, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
• Dr Rich Wolski - Professor, U.C. Santa Barbara
• Javier Soltero - Co-Founder & CEO of Hyperic
• Omer Trajman - Director of Field Engineering, Vertica Systems
  
• Rachel Chalmers - Senior Analyst, Enterprise Software, The 451 Group
  
  and with a special Cloud Bootcamp on November 20 led by
  
  
• Alan Williamson, Founder at Blog-City.com, Creator of BlueDragon
  

All breakout sessions are all listed in further detail here.



Speaker Faculty - SYS-CON's 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo


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Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities
Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities Offered on a First-Come First-Served Basis. To inquire about sponsorship and exhibit opportunities please contact Carmen Gonzalez at 201-802-3021 or by email at events(at)sys-con.com. Currently, a limited number of sponsorship and exhibition packages with multiple sponsorship discounts are available for the upcoming events.

A Who's Who of Virtualization and Cloud Computing Technology Rock Stars!
SYS-CON faculty alumni include such notable speakers as: Bret Adam (rPath), Deepak Alur (JackBe), Theo Beack (BEA Systems), Kevin Brown (Kidaro), Donato Buccella (Certeon), Bob Buffone (Nexaweb), David Christian (MindBridge), Jonathan Clark (Thinstall), Ariel Cohen (Xsigo Systems), Andrew Conte (APC), Simon Crosby (Citrix Systems), Kurt Daniels (Parallels), Sujil Das (Mellanox Technologies), Kevin Epstein (Scalent Systems), Shai Fultheim (ScaleMP), Rick German (Stoneware), Dror Gill (Ceedo), Ravi Gururaj (VMLogix), Matthew Haynos (IBM), Stephen Herrod (VMware), Arthur Hitomi (Endeavors Technologies), Gordon Jackson (DataSynapse), Peter Jensen (Thinstall), Steve Kaplan (AccessFlow), David Kleidermacher (Green Hills Software), Madhur Kohli (Levanta), Brian Korn (Scalent Systems), Gary Lamb (AccessFlow), Rich Lechner (IBM), Matt Lee (Neocleus), Victoria Livschitz (Grid Dynamics), Bob Lozano (Appistry), Peter Manca (Egenera), Andi Mann (EMA), Jerry Melnick (Marathon Technologies), Mark Milligan (VirtualLogix), Shridhar Mittal (iTKO), Hezi Moore (Reflex Security), Phil Morris (Sun Microsystems), Parviz Peiravi (Intel), Geva Perry (GigaSpaces Technologies), Harry Petty (Brocade), Stephen Pollack (PlateSpin), George Pradel (Vizioncore), Bob Quinn (3Leaf), Ben Rudolph (Parallels), Bill Scarborough (VMware), John Stetic (PlateSpin), Brian Stevens (Red Hat), Robert Steward (DataDirect), Allen Stewart (Microsoft), Butch Villafor (Egenera), Roland Wartenberg (SAP), Matt Waxman (EMC Corporation), Julian Weinstock (Desktone), Hubert Yoshida (Hitachi) and Kurt Zieglar (SIMtone).

The Most Distinguished Faculty November 19-21, 2008 -San Jose, CA
SYS-CON’s upcoming faculty includes such distinguished speakers as: Dan Avida (Opus Capital), Alex Bakman (VKernel), Michael Berman (Catbird), Ken Berryman (Symantec), Brad Brown (TUSC), Jonathan Bryce (Mosso), Donato Buccella (Certeon), Rachel Chalmers (The 451 Group), Stuart Charlton (Elastra), Reuven Cohen (Enomaly), Dave Durkee (ENKI), Mike Eaton (Cloudworks), Yakov Fain (Farata Systems), Walter Falk (IBM Global Technology Services), Mike Feinberg (EMC), Joe Fitzgerald (ManageIQ), Kyle Gabhart (Web Age Solutions), Anup K. Ghosh (Secure Command), Michel Gien (VirtualLogix), Alex Givens (UC4 Software), Dr. Robert Hagmann (Coral8), Patrick Harr (Nirvanix), Ralph James (RSSBus), John Janakiraman (Skytap), Mike Kemp (Liquid Computing), Lynn LeBlanc (FastScale), Lars Leckie (Hummer Winblad Venture Partners), Patrick Leonard (RogueWave), David Linthicum (The Linthicum Group), Paul Lipton (CA), Jay Litkey (Embotics), Bob Lozano (Appistry), Jim Mackay (iTKO LISA), Billy Marshall (rPath), Dave McCroy (Hyper9), Dwayne Melancon (Tripwire), Leslie Muller (DynamicOps), Mike Neil (Microsoft), Baldwin Ng (Microsoft), Peter Nickolov (3Tera), Gerardo Pardo-Castellote (Real-Time Innovations), Cornelius Pone (PPC), Bob Quinn (3Leaf), Sean Rhody, Jesus Rodriguez (Tellago), Michael Rowley (Active Endpoints), Nati Shalom (GigaSpaces), David Snead, Javier Soltero (Hyperic), John Suit (Fortisphere), Ratmir Timashev (Veeam), Omer Trajman (Vertica Systems), Dr. Werner Vogels (Amazon), Thorsten von Eicken (RightScale), Ed Walsh (Virtual Iron), Roland Wartenberg (SAP), John Whaley (MokaFive) Alan Williamson (Blog-City), Steve Wilson (Sun Microsystems), Rich Wolski (U.C. Santa Barbara), David Young (Joyent) and Songnian Zhou (Platform Computing).

Cloud Computing Technology Providers and Contributors in 2008-2009
The following companies are among the providers and contributors of Cloud Computing technology: 10Gen, 3Leaf, 3Tera, Absolute Performance, Accenture, Akamai, Amazon.com, Appirio, Appistry, Areti Internet, Boomi, Box.net, Canaan Partners, Cloud9 Analytics, CloudWorks, CNI Systems, CohesiveFT, CSRware, DataDirect, Dell, DNAmail, eBay, Elastra, EMC, EngineYard, Enki Consulting, Enomaly, Excelian, Flexiscale, Fortress ITX, Forum, GigaSpaces, GoGrid, Google, HP, IBM, IBRIX, Joyent, JumpBox, Layered Technologies, Level 3 Communications, Linxter, LongJump, MDV, Microsoft, Moka5 (MokaFive), Mosso, NewServers, Nirvanix, Ocarina Networks, OpSource, Panorama Software, Peer1 Networks, Pervasive Software, Platform Computing, PLX Technology, Qlayer, Rackspace, RampRate, Red Hat, RightScale, rPath, Salesforce.com, Saugatuck Technology, ServePath, Skills Matter, Skytap, SnapLogic, SOASTA, Sun Microsystems, Symphoniq, Symphony Services, Tap In Systems, Teneros, Terremark, Transitive Corporation, Univa UD, Verizon Business, Vertica, VMware, XCalibre, Zabovo.com, ZOHO and Zuora.

Virtualization Technology Providers and Contributors in 2008-2009
The following companies are among the providers and contributors of Virtualization technology: 3PAR, Accellion, Acronis, Actional, Active Endpoints, ActiveGrid, activePDF, ActiveServers, ActiveState, Actuate, Adaptec, Agile Software, AGiLiENCE, Agilysys, Akorri, AlachiSoft, Alter Logic, Altor Networks, Altova, AMD, AMDAHL, Amentra, Amyuni, anacubis, Apani, APC, Appcelerator, AppSense, AppStream, Array Networks, Ascential, Astaro, Attune Systems, Autodesk, AutoVirt, Availl, Avanade, Azul Systems, Barracuda Networks, BEA Systems, B-hive, Black Duck Software, Blackbaud, Blade Network Technologies, Blue Coat, Blue Lane, BlueArc, BlueNote Networks, BluePheonix Solutions, BMC Software, Borland, Bristol Technology, Brix Networks, BroadVision, Brocade, Burton Group, Business Objects, CA, CalAmp, Cassatt, Cast Iron Systems, Catbird, Cayenne Technologies, Ceedo Technologies, Cenzic, Certeon, CiRBA, Cisco Systems, Cision, Citrix Systems, ClearApp, ClearCube Technology, CollabNet, Compass America, Composite Software, Compugen, Compuware, Configuresoft, Continuity Software, Coraid, Courion, Coyote Point Systems, Crescendo Networks, CSC, DataCore, DataSynapse, Dell, Desktone, Digipede Technologies, Double-Take Software, Ecora Software, EDS, eG Innovations, Egenera, Elastra Corporation, Electric Cloud, Embotics, EMC Corporation, Emulex, Endeavors Technology, Enigmatic Corporation, Enterprise Management Associates, Entuity, EqualLogic, Ericom Software, ESRI, EVault, eXludus Technologies, F5 Networks, FalconStor, FastScale Technology, Foedus, Force10 Networks, Fortisphere, Forum Systems, Fujitsu, GemStone Systems, Getronics, GlassHouse, Green Hills Software, Grid Dynamics, GridGain Systems, GT Software, Hitachi, HP, Hyper9, Hyperic, IBM, ICEsoft, IGEL Technology, Illumita, ILOG, IMEX Research, Information Builders, Ingres, InstallFree, Integrien, Intel, Intellium, International Computerware, iTKO LISA, JBoss, Juniper, KACE, Kidaro, LeftHand Networks, Leostream, Lifeboat Distribution, Liquid Computing Corporation, Liquid Technology, Lynux Works, Mainline, ManageIQ, Managed Methods, ManageSoft, Marathon Technologies, McAfee, Mellanox Technologies, Microsoft, Mid-Atlantic Computers, Mindbridge Software, Mindreef, MKS, MonoSphere, Motorola, MQSoftware, mySoftIT, NASTEL, Ncomputing, NEC, Neocleus, NeoPath Networks, Neoware, NetApp, Netegrity, Neterion, Netuitive, Neverfail, Nexaweb, NextAxiom, Nimbus, Nimsoft, Niyuta, NoMachine, Novell, ONStor, Opalis Software, Open Kernel Labs, OpenSpan, OPNET Technologies, Optaros, OpTier, Oracle, Pano Logic, Parallels, Parasoft, Perforce Software, PHD Technologies, Phoenix Technologies, Phurnace Software, Pillar Data Systems, PlateSpin/Novell, Progress Software, Prolifics, ProSync Technology, Provision Networks, QLogic, Quest Software, Racemi, Raritan, Raxco Software, Red Hat, Reflex Security, Resolution Enterprises, RingCube Technologies, Riverbed Technology, Rogue Wave Software, RSA Security, Sagnet Solutions, SanDisk Corporation, SAP, SAVVIS, ScaleMP, Scalent Systems, Seanodes, Secure Command, Secure Computing, Sentillion, Shavlik Technologies, ServInt Internet Services, Silpion IT Solutions, SIMtone, Skytap, Skyway Software, Software AG, Sonasoft, SourceGear, Splunk, StackSafe, SteelEye Technology, StillSecure, StoneFly, Stonesoft, Stoneware, StoreVault, StrikeIron, STT WebOS, Sun Microsystems, SunGard, Supermicro Computer, Surgient, SWsoft, Sybase, Symantec, Systar, TBD Networks, Tenfold, TheInfoPro, Thinstall, Third Brigade, TIBCO Software, Tidal Software, Tideway Systems, TOA Solutions, TRANGO Virtual Processors, Trend Micro, Tresys Technology, Trigence, Tripwire, Ulteo, Unisys, United Devices, VaST Systems, VDIworks, VeeAm Software, Verari Systems, Verio, VeriSign, Vicom Computer Services, VirtenSys, Virtera, Virtual Iron, VirtualLogix, Virtugo Software, Virtutech, VisionCore, Vizioncore, VKernel, VMLogix, vmSight, VMware, Vordel, vThere-Sentillion, Vyatta, WaveMaker, Web Age Solutions, WSO2, Wyse Technology, XDS, XenoCode, Xiotech, xkoto, Xsigo Systems, Zenith Optemedia, Zeus Technology.