Business Technology and People

Cloud semantics and Ground-Level observations

Posted on April 14, 2010 | 1 Comment

I am commenting every once and a while on SOA and Cloud discussions at ebizQ forums. Recently I noticed a growing sensitivity to semantics – Private vs. Public Cloud, Web vs. Cloud, Web 3.0…

This prompted me to post here a couple of recent comments I made on the Cloud Computing forum

How much “Cloud” are “Private Clouds”?

I do not think that Cloud is about semantics, but rather about practice and reality within a concept. My personal experience shows that Enterprises are indeed implementing “Cloud Architecture” solutions which are substituting fat Client-Server implementations, but mostly using the traditional business model (perpetual ownership and in-house or hosted location) – when it concerns core and customized solutions. Cloud based infrastructure and applications delivered as a service and on-demand are indeed still limited to “commodity solutions” – collaboration, CRM, etc…

I described a couple of cases in The Extended Enterprise – from vision to reality with Rich Internet Application technology, and I find a consensus with many industry analysts that these types of implementations are well part of what they observe as Cloud implementations. I do not care much about how it is named, and if people prefer to reserve “Cloud” for a more restrictive checklisted definition that’s fine with me – but what I describe above is a very tangible reality of an application architecture that leverages internet based technologies – hosting resources, communications and clients.

Is “Web” distinct from “Cloud”?

I must admit that I do not understand very well the distinction between Web and Cloud. For me, Cloud is an integral part of the Web, relating to several aspects of it – in particular architecture and ubiquitous access to hardware and software resources. So they are converged already.

I perceive the Cloud “phenomenon” as firming up the business nature of the Web on the IT side, paving the way for Enterprises to exploit the Web not only for communication related aspects (from email to ecommerce and marketing) but also for the deployment of core applications. I am presently involved in such a project that brings the notion of “play list” to a composite application for financial brokers and portfolio managers in a global financial institution, incorporating most of the “bells and whistles” of Web2.0 user experience and a hybrid Cloud and Legacy backend. That is what I consider as Convergence – but the main converging domains here are Web and traditional Enterprise IT.

In my opinion, semantics are necessary for a meaningful communication, but let’s not overdo it. And how do you see it?

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Posted in Computing and IT, Mindshare, Opinions & Comments

Tagged Cloud, Cloud Computing, Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise RIA, Private Cloud, Web 2.0, Web3.0

A reality check on “citizen development”

Posted on March 25, 2010 | 1 Comment

The topic of Citizen Development recently received a lot of attention – the latest coming from new Gartner report and from ebizQ forums. So I’d like to revisit it.

The temptation of “citizen” application development dates back to the prehistory of the PC – the introduction of micro computers and products such as Framework and dBase. That was the time when we entered the market with Magic Software, and I supported the thesis that 4GL’s enable line of business experts to directly implement business applications shortcutting much of the traditional development and programming process. Reality proved otherwise, showing that such easy to use tools actually amplify lack of IT skills, which sometimes led to very unhappy endings. We revised our approach very fast to target system analysts rather than LOB professionals, and observed amazing results – very small teams providing very rich and comprehensive applications (an example in More about Enterprise RIA in practice).

Nowadays, I believe that citizen development can be effective provided the following combination: easy and intuitive assembly and composition tools with adequately enforced governance, and a professionally developed collection of services (building blocks). A good example of such a mix is Convertigo.com, which evolved from Programmatic Integration to Enterprise Mashup’s and now to SOA backend enablement (targeted at IT professionals via an Eclipse based studio) and Front-End composition (targeted at citizen developers with Convertigo’s own Composer as well as other popular composition tools).

What do you think about Citizen Development?

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Posted in Computing and IT, Mindshare, Opinions & Comments

Tagged 4GL, Agile Development, Application Development, Convertigo, dBase, Magic Software, Mashup, SOA

The Extended Enterprise – from vision to reality with Rich Internet Application technology

Posted on February 24, 2010 | 3 Comments

In the past year I wrote frequently about the manner in which enterprises approach Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s) and Cloud Architecture. I’m happy to see now tangible evidence of this. During the last couple of weeks I received several case descriptions of productive systems, and I’d like to share a couple of particularly interesting cases. For some reason, the more interesting stories come from the Netherlands – I did not figure out yet what’s behind this, but the first RIA example that I described in “More about Enterprise RIA in practice” also originated in that country.

The “Flower Shop” solution is an Enterprise RIA coming from a joint venture of Extendas (ISV specialising in eCommerce solutions) and Van Delft International (one of the leading suppliers of cut flowers in the Netherlands and award winning early adopter of mobile software technology). This application spans the entire supply chain from the FloraHolland exchange through the flower trader (such as Van Delft) to the flower shop. This is an Enterprise Class application, requiring a rich user interaction and transactional capability that is beyond browser based applications. Implemented with uniPaaS, the application is available simply via a URL and login credentials. It is presently being rolled out and is expected to be used by some 1500 flower shops, streamlining the short-lived flower trade, accelerating logistics and reducing overhead.

Another amazing customer of Magic Software is the VanDrie Group, the World’s largest veal producer. VanDrie already had a browser based application, VealVision, providing the full historical details about your piece of Schnitzel from the farmer to the supermarket. This has been now replaced by a fully interactive RIA, enabling each party in the supply chain to feed the system directly – streamlining the short-lived veal trade, accelerating logistics and reducing overhead…

As Redmonk analyst Michael Coté commented on these stories, Enterprise RIA’s bring the “boring back-office applications” to the Web era and the usability level which the millennial generation expects from IT. They also remind us the Cloud Computing is not only infrastructure on demand, but has a far reaching business impact and that its adopters already gain a lot from it.

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Posted in Computing and IT, Mindshare

Tagged Application Platforms, Cloud, Enterprise RIA, Extendas, FloraHolland, ISV, Magic Software, Michael Coté, RedMonk, RIA, uniPaaS, Van Delft, VanDrie, VealVision

Renewable energy and hydrogen – what’s the effective cost of energy?

Posted on February 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

We have seen in my previous post about hydrogen two main factors that can facilitate the supply and competitiveness of Hydrogen – H2 production, and H2 Storage and Transportation.

At present it takes about 1.5 times energy to produce H2 – meaning that we have to invest 1.5kW in order to obtain 1kW worth of H2. I suspect that the energy investment in obtaining 1kW of Coal or other fossil fuel is not less (in particular when you consider the cost of their being non-renwable). I did some research and found an interesting study by Prof Risto Tarjanne – Competitive Comparison of Electricity Production Alternatives – I copy here the relevant graphic.

What this implies is that Nuclear electricity cost is about 2.4€ç/kWh (3.6$ç), and that instead of wasting power during off-peak hours, we can cleanly produce large amounts of hydrogen from water using electrical energy. But given that the boiling point of hydrogen is cryogenic – at about minus 252.87 °C – it is very difficult and expensive to store it as is. One of the main challenges of the hydrogen economy is to find a way to store H2 in a similar density to that of fossil fuel.

Let’s conclude this post by stating that it should be possible to produce hydrogen without CO2 emissions at an energy cost of about 3.6€ç/kWh, or €1.2 per Kg of emission free hydrogen. In the next post, I’ll tackle the storage and transportation issue.

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Posted in CleanTech, Mindshare

Tagged CleanTech, Electricity, H2, Hydrogen, Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Storage, Renewable Energy

More about Cloud Architecture and Serious Business

Posted on February 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

An interesting discussion is developing on ebizQ whether Cloud Computing Too Embryonic to Use for Serious Business Purposes. It shows a consensus that we have to look at the meaning of Cloud Computing in the Enterprise context.

I tend to distinguish between the infrastructure and the software architecture that can support the delivery of enterprise applications in the Cloud (to power users over the web), and the acquisition of such infrastructure and software on a per-use (or other non perpetual) basis.

My personal experience shows that Enterprises are indeed implementing “Cloud Architecture” solutions which are substituting fat Client-Server implementations, but mostly using the traditional business model (perpetual ownership and in-house or hosted location) – when it concerns core and customized solutions. Cloud based infrastructure and applications delivered as a service and on-demand are indeed still limited to “commodity solutions” – collaboration, CRM, etc…

I have described a nice example of these a few months ago (the Segway story and their uniPaaS solution). I’d like to hear more if you have similar or contradictory experiences and observations.

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Posted in Computing and IT, Opinions & Comments

Tagged Cloud, Cloud Architecture, Cloud Computing, Enterprise RIA, Magic Software, SaaS, Segway, uniPaaS

Renewable energy and hydrogen – what’s bringing them together?

Posted on February 4, 2010 | 3 Comments

I have been studying recently the hydrogen economy, and I’d like to share the insight I gained.

Taking a different look at energy, we should consider all forms of fuel as energy carriers and all forms of fuel production (whether mining, drilling, via nuclear reaction or solar/wind etc…) as primary energy sources.

Presently, most of our primary energy sources are non renewable, and most of our energy carriers deliver their energy while polluting the environment. What we want for tomorrow is renewable primary energy sources and non-polluting energy carriers, all at a consumer cost similar to the present.

Renewable primary energy sources are usually of a stationary nature – nuclear plants, wind turbines, solar farms or biogas plants. As long as we can directly produce electricity and transport it over wires to stationary consumers (such as households) we’re fine. However, much of the energy we consume is in a mobile setting – automotive and various devices. For these applications, as well as for isolated off-grid location, we need an easily transportable, non-polluting and renewable energy carrier. There is a broad consensus that Hydrogen can be such a carrier, provided we find ways to harness it.

Hydrogen (H2) can be cleanly produced from water with electricity generated by a renewable primary energy source, and when consumed it releases energy while producing clean water. In terms of energy content it is also very attractive: 1Kg of H2 contains the equivalent of 33kWh – compared to about 11kWh contained in the equivalent amount of Diesel fuel – and compared to 0.3kWh in 1Kg of a top battery.

I’ll expand on the practical aspects of hydrogen production, storage and transportation in a subsequent post.

In the meantime, I’m keen to learn about your view on the futur of energy.

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Posted in CleanTech, Mindshare

Tagged Clean Energy, CleanTech, Electrical cars, Energy, Hydrogen, Nuclear Power, Renewable Energy

The Impact of Social Computing

Posted on December 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

I came across one of those “Columbus Egg” postings which I found excellent, motivating enough to add this post. My trigger is a post by Gartner analyst Anthony Bradley about the realities of Social Media, and I would like to expand on this.

There’s a long dated debate about the limit between private and public life, and about media transgression in the lives of public figures. This got a dramatic exposure with the tragic death of Princess Diana. The internet and the new social sites give anyone access to the world, to the point of redefining the meaning of fundamental social terms (what does the word “Friend” mean nowadays?). People use social networking sites, blogging and messaging to gain exposure and develop (consciously or unconsciously) a personal brand. They are not always attentive to the “Pandora Box” effect, that what they publish is out there in the public domain. It reminds me of the venerable arrest warning “anything you say could be used against you”. As Anthony rightly points out, “No matter where you fall on the question of personal privacy, this is the way of the world and it is unlikely to change because there are too many people who feel that if you sell your persona then all your behavior is fair game. And certainly the demand for scandalous information is strong”.

Another related challenge is the impact of social computing on the enterprise. Businesses spend a very significant percentage of their income to carefully manage branding and communications. A press release that is less and a page often incurs more that an entire day of human labor until it hits the wire. In contrast, most of the content published in social media is essentially ad-hoc and often reflects temporal sentiments. We see more and more frequently situations where the personal brand of an employee becomes significant, and when that employee is also a visible figure in an enterprise it might challenge the communication effort of that enterprise and impact its brand.

How do you reconcile then privacy rights and professional limitations? The Internet gives private persons enormous potential power, and with power comes responsibility. If a person wants to play in the branding and exposure Enterprise league, then he/she should also accept the consequences, and realize that just as Facebook changed the meaning of “Friend” so did the social computing phenomena change the meaning and boundaries of “Privacy”.

I take this opportunity to wish you a happy festive season and a prosperous new year.

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Posted in Mindshare, Opinions & Comments

A new way to gain awareness through Gartner’s MQs?

Posted on November 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

I just read in Network World about a law suit by ZL Technologies against Gartner, concerning ZL’s placement by Gartner as niche player in an MQ report. The law suit was dismissed by the judge on all accounts, but he gave ZL 30 days to come up with more arguments – an opportunity which, they announced, they were going to take advantage of.

I asked myself what might be the motivation for a company, of which I have so far never heard of, to engage in a legal battle that it has very probably no chance of winning? And on the ground that they objectively rate a better positioning in the report? Why go through the cost and hassle? Unless, the exposure obtained via this method of communication is much more cost effective than other exposure alternatives…

Indeed, I doubt that they would have gotten this kind of exposure in NetworkWorld and Google as a result of their mere Gartner MQ presence. And what if they would invest in sponsoring one of Gartner’s relevant events? I did that a few times at great expense, but did not rate a Google alert and NetworkWorld coverage. What if this law suit costs significantly less than alternative ways of achieving Gartner related visibility? In such a case it would pay further dividends to go for another round in the court and get another round of media attention.

Even though the business climate remains challenging, I sincerely hope that this phenomenon remains an exception and that companies focus on bringing more added value with their offerings rather than try to gain advantage by picking upon distortions and weak spots in our system.

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Posted in Mindshare, Opinions & Comments

Tagged Branding, Gartner, Marketing, Network World

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Business Technology and People

A reality check on “citizen development”

Renewable energy and hydrogen – what’s the effective cost of energy?

Renewable energy and hydrogen – what’s bringing them together?

The Impact of Social Computing

A new way to gain awareness through Gartner’s MQs?

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