Last week, we released a new version of GoGrid which includes new RAM Hour and Bandwidth Pricing Plans, included larger volume discounts. Further details of this released covered in this post are:

• New RAM Hour and Bandwidth Pricing Plans
• New Linux & Windows Base Images
• Behind-the-scenes Performance Improvements

Read on for more details.

New RAM Hour and Bandwidth Pricing Plans

With this release, we are also making some changes (for the better) on our pricing plans. Coupled with this, we have now made it even easier to upgrade (or downgrade) your plans from within the GoGrid portal.

These new plans are listed below:

Server RAM Hours

* Annual pre-payment are still billed overage at the standard rate on a monthly basis.

Transfer

To access this new section of the portal, simply go to the My Account tab and select the Billing Tab.

Within that page, you now have the ability to view all of the pricing options available for changing:

Within that section, you will see you current RAM and Data Transfer Plans, which include the monthly charge and details of that plan.

To change either plan, simply click on the green Select button next to the plan that you want. After that, you will be walked through a series of screens to finalize your selection:

As you can see above, there are two options available when you upgrade to a Pre-Paid plan, paying Monthly or paying Yearly. Do note that doing a Yearly plan will save you about 33% over a monthly plan.

Once you agree to the new Terms of Service and click the Confirm button, your upgrade will be sent to our team. Note that orders are reviewed and processed quickly, however, it is not an immediate process and could take 1 business day to complete.

The process for Data Transfer Plan upgrades (or downgrades) are the same as with the RAM Upgrade/Downgrade process. If you have questions about which plan or combination of plans works best for you, please contact a GoGrid Sales Representative.

New Windows and Linux Base Images

With this release we have also added support for the following new base images:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 (32 & 64-bit images)
• CentOS 5.3 Linux (32 & 64-bit images)
• Windows 2003 SP2/R2 (32 & 64-bit images)

Another change that you may see as you view the currently available images is the fact that there are fewer overall images. We have made the decision to focus our image support on root operating systems, and less on “stacks” that are essentially add-ons to the base system. So, you will see that various images that had stacks have been End of Lifed (EOL).

But, since you have full administrative and root access to any image that you deploy within GoGrid, you can install these stacks or any applications or code that you see fit. We believe that by focusing on root operating systems, we can provide a richer base infrastructure and leave the customizations to you. However, as our Partner program continues to grow, you will see many more images appear with a variety of great functions and features.

Other Improvements

We have made other “under the hood” improvements to GoGrid in general. Most important of these, multiple server deployment speeds have dramatically increased, allowing you to quickly scale out multiple servers in sequence.

If you have any questions about this release or other GoGrid features, please contact a member of our Sales organization or leave a comment on this post.

Yesterday GoGrid and EdgeCast Networks jointly announced the availability of the GoGrid CDN (Content Delivery Network). With the GoGrid CDN (currently in beta), GoGrid customers can scale their web presence as well as accelerate the delivery of web content using the GoGrid CDN global infrastructure.

What is unique about the GoGrid CDN (powered by EdgeCast Networks) is that it is a pay-as-you-go service with no contracts or usage requirements. Also, the CDN boasts 16 Points-of-Presence (PoPs) on 4 continents. There is no need to set up specific zones as your coverage is truly global. More details can be found on the GoGrid CDN page.

Webinar

GoGrid will be conducting a webinar about the new CDN to answer any questions you may have. Details are:

DATE: December 3rd, 2009
TIME: 1:00pm to 2:00pm PST (4:00pm to 5:00pm EST)
REGISTRATION: Registration signup form

We encourage you to bring any and all questions to this informative webinar.

Press Release

GoGrid issued the following Press Release on November 9, 2009:

Cloud Provider GoGrid, and EdgeCast Networks Release Zero-Commitment, On-Demand Cloud Infrastructure with CDN Capabilities

EdgeCast’s content delivery network (CDN) pairing with GoGrid’s cloud infrastructure hosting service offers many best-of-class features for infrastructure hosting and content streaming.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 9, 2009 -  GoGrid, a leading Cloud Computing Infrastructure Hosting provider, and EdgeCast Networks, the superior, cost-effective rich media content delivery network (CDN), have announced a technology partnership which includes the release of a CDN coupled with Cloud Infrastructure Hosting. This on-demand service allows customers to scale their web presence and accelerate the delivery of web-content using a global content delivery infrastructure.

With the GoGrid CDN, powered by EdgeCast, users enjoy the qualities inherent to the Cloud, along with the advantages of a distributed global network. The new integrated service offers pay-as-you-go pricing, no contracts and no minimum usage requirements.

A CDN ensures that content is immediately available around the world, especially during periods of high demand. When used in conjunction with GoGrid cloud hosting, infrastructure can be scaled immediately to meet demand.

“EdgeCast now gives GoGrid customers a best-in-class solution for on-demand CDN services,” said John Keagy, CEO and co-founder of GoGrid. “From start-up to enterprise, all GoGrid customers can now easily expand existing architecture and deploy additional content delivery services without any huge capital expenses or long-term commitments. It is a real win-win!”

Using a utility pricing model, the GoGrid CDN ensures that customers’ content is quickly and easily distributed throughout the network consisting of 16 points of presence (POPs) on 4 continents. The GoGrid CDN features include:

• Website acceleration – faster page load times for your website
• Large object download service – for software, videos, games, music, podcasts and movies – the best way to provide delivery of downloads
• On-demand video streaming – Flash and Windows
• Live video streaming – Flash and Windows
• Security – all of the important security features needed for online business including SSL delivery and Token-based Authentication
• Cname support – disguise the GoGrid CDN URL with a customized URL
• Advanced reporting – the most comprehensive reporting and analytics suite in the industry – over 60 reports to help improve and optimize website performance – view bandwidth consumption, breakdowns of downloads by media type, geography, file type and popularity
• Real-time reporting – view usage statistics on a real-time dashboard

Additionally, with the GoGrid CDN powered by EdgeCast, customers enjoy the most flexible service offering available in the Cloud Computing marketplace with control panels, “instant-on” service, best-in-class reporting and a full service Global CDN product.

“Many of our customers experience sudden surges in demand for their content, and without the ability to scale quickly, that can be crippling,” said James Segil, president of EdgeCast Networks.  “Our relationship with GoGrid gives customers the peace of mind of knowing that, on a moment’s notice, the sky is the limit for their digital assets – whether they need processing power, edge storage, or lightning-fast delivery to any city in the world.”

GoGrid Cloud Infrastructure Hosting with CDN services are available immediately as a beta offering. Customers can learn more by visiting the GoGrid site.

About EdgeCast Networks, Inc. – http://www.edgecast.com

EdgeCast offers a superior, cost-effective global content delivery service that gives customers and partners competitive advantage in the delivery of digital media.  EdgeCast’s world-class content delivery platform provides customers the cost benefits and flexibility of controlling their own content delivery network while freeing them from capital investments and operational hassles.  To learn more, visit www.edgecast.com.

About GoGrid – http://www.gogrid.com

GoGrid is a leading Cloud Infrastructure Hosting provider that delivers true “Control in the Cloud™”. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, IT professionals and SaaS vendors to create, deploy, and control free f5 load balanced cloud servers and complex hosted virtual server networks with full root access and administrative server control which includes personal server images (known as MyGSIs). GoGrid server instances maintain the industry standard specifications with no requirement to learn and adapt to proprietary standards. Bringing up servers and server networks takes minutes via a unique, award winning web control panel or GoGrid’s API. GoGrid delivers portal controlled servers for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, SQL Server, and ASP.NET, as well as multiple Linux server operating systems like RHEL and CentOS. GoGrid gives users the control of a familiar datacenter environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud, a “cloudcenter.” To learn more, visit www.gogrid.com.

A similar release was issued by EdgeCast which is available here.

I had the pleasure of not only attending the Cloud Computing Expo in Santa Clara, CA this week, staffing the booth and generally enjoying talking to a wide range of developers, technologists, vendors, partners and others, but I also was able to do a couple of interviews with Peter Silva, Technical Marketing Manager of f5 Networks. If you don’t already know, free f5 load balancing has been built in to GoGrid since its launch in March 2008.

Below are pair of interviews that appear here as well as on the f5 DevCentral site. We hope you enjoy them!

First is the one with Peter as “interviewer” (also available at f5 DevCentral):

Then the one where I interview Peter about the Expo:

Do you have questions for either Peter or me about Cloud Computing, f5 Networks or GoGrid? If you do, feel free to leave a comment on this blog, or you can send a tweet to Peter (@psilvas) or me (@hightechdad).

I came across an interesting article in the CNN Tech section of CNN titled “A trip into the secret, online ‘cloud’” written by John Sutter. The article itself, takes a unique approach as the author “searches” for his data in the “cloud.” As Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOm points out, the goal of the article is to “explain cloud computing to the masses” however, she continues by saying that the premise behind the CNN article is not quite on target. The example that is given in the article is that of uploading a picture to an image sharing site like Flickr or Picasa, and that once you do that, you just “started using Cloud Computing.”

The problem that I have been having with mainstream media is that now putting stuff “into the cloud” seems to be synonymous with “using Cloud Computing.” It is not. Simply uploading data or files to a service that stores it is just that, storing data on someone’s server. Cloud Computing is much more, especially when you factor in the different types of Cloud Computing layers (Infrastructure – like GoGrid or AWS, Platform – like Google App Engine or Force.com, or Software – like SalesForce). Some would say, myself included, that Gmail is a type of Cloud Application, however I’m starting to view SaaS or Cloud Applications almost in a class of their own since the boundaries or somewhat blurred and the characteristics of Cloud Computing (on-demand, scalable, utility billing, elastic, self-service and even virtualized) might not be fully present with the SaaS space. That is a different topic entirely.

While the author, John Sutter, of the CNN article brings up some good points, he is obviously frustrated by the lack of visibility within the cloud and of the vendors that provide Cloud Services of one sort or another. I personally extend an open invitation to John to visit the GoGrid offices where he can fully explore our offering (yes, we too will have to put some things under NDA or “off the record” but we are always fairly forthcoming on our direction and thought-leadership in the Cloud Computing space).

Back to the title of this article. John’s story on the CNN site opens with the following video called “Cloud Computing Explained” and discusses, in a friendly format, how his picture travels into the Cloud. Its a somewhat good attempt at explaining how “the cloud” works, but misses much of the true benefits and features of Cloud Computing. Watch it below and read on.

Over a year ago, I conceived and scripted a video ALSO called “Cloud Computing Explained.” It was produced in-house with our web development team and simply uploaded to YouTube without any real hype. As of this writing, it has over 100,000 views, a 5-star rating (almost 300 ratings) and over 150 (mainly positive) comments about it. Of course, we took the approach of explaining the Cloud Infrastructure layer, because that is what GoGrid provides, Cloud Infrastructure Hosting as a Service.

So, now that you have both videos side-by-side, take a look at their similarities and differences.

What do you think? Concept copy? Style copy? (Obviously we want to give a big hat tip to the Common Craft folks who produce stellar video explanations.) But come on, CNN, I would hope that you would be a bit more original AND dive a bit deeper into the true meaning of Cloud Computing.

I would love your feedback!

Sys-Con’s 4th International Cloud Computing Expo is next Mon-Weds (11/2/09-11/4/09) and GoGrid is exhibiting there. Come join the thousands of registered users who will be attending this event at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA  as it promises to be information-packed about the Cloud and all of its benefits.

Keynote speakers are:

• Richard Marcello (President, Systems & Technology, Unisys) – “The Time is Right for Enterprise Cloud Computing”
• Shelton Shugar (SVP Cloud Computing, Yahoo) – “Accelerating Innovation with Cloud Computing”
• Richard Sarwal (VP of Development for Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle) – “Cloud Computing and the Enterprise”

There will also be a Cloud Computing Bootcamp led by Alan Williamson. I attended a few of the bootcamp sessions last year and these were among the most packed rooms of the conference.

The conference consists of the keynotes (listed above) as well as 7 tracks with a large assortment of speakers. Each speaker track is compartmentalized by category:

• Enterprise-Class Cloud Computing
• Management, Testing, Security & Interoperability
• IaaS, Cloud Platforms, Cloud Storage
• Hot Topics
• RIAs in the Cloud, SOA in the Cloud
• Server, Desktop & Storage Virtualization
• Management, Performance, Security & Compliance

Registration

Since GoGrid is a sponsor of this event, we have some free invites available to our users and reader. To register, simply go HERE and use our special coupon code “gogridexpo” (case sensitive) to register for a complimentary pass. After entering the code, simply click on “Click Here to Register!” and you will be all set for the show.

GoGrid will have staff members available to talk about our various Cloud Infrastructure offerings including MyGSIs (personal server images), Hybrid Hosting (what we call “Cloud Connect” which enables Cloud front-end infrastructures to connect to dedicated, physical back-end architectures via a private connection), Partner announcements, new features and a variety of other things. People who drop by the GoGrid booth will receive high-value GoGrid credits (new accounts only) that can be used to spin up a variety of cloud architectures in minutes.

If you would like to set up a one-on-one meeting at the conference, either drop by the GoGrid booth (during expo hours) or you can contact either GoGrid, Paul Lancaster or Michael Sheehan via Twitter for real-time, on-site communications. Our Twitter accounts are:

• GoGrid – http://twitter.com/GoGrid
• Paul Lancaster – http://twitter.com/PaulLancaster
• Michael Sheehan – http://twitter.com/HighTechDad

We hope to see you there.

GoGrid is “suping up” its CPU architecture. Within the next few months, we will be rolling out new infrastructure using next-generation Intel microarchitecture, specifically the Nehalem 5500 line. Recently, we have been running a series of internal tests as we evaluate Intel’s new multi-core performance as enabled within these CPU chipsets.

Nehalem & GoGrid

I spent some time with Telemachus Luu, GoGrid’s Director of Business Strategy, and a senior-level GoGrid cloud architect in order to better understand what this means to GoGrid and its customers. I won’t bore you with overly technical details, if you do have any technical questions about the Nehalem processor or how GoGrid will be using it, please feel free to leave a comment on this post.

There are three main items that were outlined to me, specifically:

1. Increased Memory Bandwidth – For GoGrid users who have larger Virtual Machines that are processing a great deal of data (e.g., financial analysis or large database queries), those users will see a definite benefit with better memory handling.
2. HyperThreading – By utilizing HyperThreading, GoGrid is able to provide a better ratio of CPU processing elements (in the form of cores or threads) to our customers. This means that under heavy VM CPU loads, the scheduling latency improves.
3. Extended Paging Tables (EPT) – By using Extended Paging Tables and architecting appropriately, some of the critical memory management work that would have been done in the software layer can now be largely performed within the hardware itself.

However, in my discussions, I also picked up some other interesting tech tidbits that make a lot of sense. For example, there is a definite advantage of using the HT/Virtual Cores of the Nehalem processor versus just throwing in other older chipsets. You can, for example, get 30% “more” out of a virtualized core that uses only 5% more silicon than you can by simply adding more physical CPUs. Also, you can pack more cores (physical and virtual) within a server using the Nehalem than you could with the previous generation Intel chipsets.

Want More Info about the Nehalem?

Intel has provided a very nice Flash demonstration of the new benefits of the Nehalem chipset. (Click on the picture below to launch the demo.)

Regardless, moving GoGrid to the Nehalem Microarchitecture makes good business and technology sense from our perspective, and GoGrid users will see a performance bump for those VMs deployed on Nehalem GoGrid nodes.

GoGrid is pleased to be a sponsor of this year’s FailCon 2009 which is a 1 day conference where you can find out how NOT to be one of those nine companies that fail when starting up. FailCon is a forum where you can ask those questions you were always afraid to ask, and the people giving the answers are successful founders, investors, designers and developers. GoGrid is offering a 25% discount on tickets to FailCon so read on!

It’s not easy being an entrepreneur and it is practically impossible to be a SUCCESSFUL one. In fact, having some battle scars from a failure or two will make your next endeavor more successful (hopefully). Have you had a #FAIL tag assigned to your brand? You probably can be a speaker or an expert at FailCon. But the goal of the conference is to help you move beyond the failure and on to the next success!

Some of the questions that will be discussed at FailCon are (from the FailCon site):

• What variables do VCs watch for to preemptively prevent a company going under?
• How do you financially prepare for the possibility of failure: legally, fiscally, and in your team?
• What have some of the leading executives today learned from their past experiences?
• What are you watching out for with the current social web and rising companies?
• How do you layoff or fire an employee or partner?
• How do you save a failing company?
• How do you recover from a failed product or marketing campaign?
• Early team communication and where it can break down.
• What ruins viral campaigns.
• How investors handle failing companies.
• How to handle a client if your service fails to deliver.
• Classic UI and design mistakes.
• Common online marketing mistakes.

Speakers include:

• Kevin Barenblat; CEO and Co-Founder, Context Optional
• Lane Becker; President and Co-Founder, GetSatisfaction
• Diana Benedikt; Strategic Advisor, Venture Insight
• Michael Burke; President and Co-founder, Appssavvy
• Larry Chiang; Self Employed
• Christine Herron; Principal, First Round Capital
• David Hornik; Partner, August Capital
• Craig Jacoby; Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish
• Sandy Jen; Co-Founder and VP of Engineering, Meebo
• Lynne Johnson; Senior Editor, Fast Company
• Max Levchin; Founder and CEO, Slide
• Phil Libin; Founder and CEO, Evernote
• Vinay Mahagaokar; Director of Product, RockYou
• Eric Marcoullier; Co-Founder, Gnip
• Dave McClure; Master, 500hats
• Thor Muller; CTO and Co-Founder, GetSatisfaction
• Mark Pincus; CEO and Founder, Zynga
• Scott Rafer; CEO, Lookery
• Adeo Ressi; Founder, TheFunded.com
• Brandon Schauer; Experience Design Director, Adaptive Path
• Seth Sternberg; CEO and Co-Founder, Meebo
• Kavin Stewart; CEO and Co-Founder, LOLapps
• Jonathan Teo; Partner, Benchmark
• Jessica Vascellaro; Tech Reporter, Wall Street Journal
• Max Ventilla; Zoo Director, Aardvark

Using the Cloud Will Make Your Investors Happy!

One thing that many investors actually are looking for now is how wisely you spend your money on IT. And this is actually where Cloud Computing (from GoGrid) would make them happy as you convert CapEx to OpEx. You don’t have to spend gobs of (their) cash on hardware that may not be used in the future (if your startup fails). GoGrid has lots of experience helping startups and we can definitely get you moving down that road to success!

The Details

WHEN: October 27th, 2009
WHERE: Kabuki Hotel, San Francisco (map link)
TIME: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM (Pacific)
HOW MUCH: Online Rate – $259.00 & Students – $50.00 … but WAIT, GoGrid is offering you a 25% discount if you click here!
WHAT DO I GET: Full conference pass, admission to all Main Stage, Workshop & Demo talks, breakfast/snacks/beverages, free wifi, SWAG, networking time & much more

GoGrid will have a table at the show so be sure to come by and get a GoGrid credit on new accounts or chat with us about many of our exciting new features, partners and announcements.

After FailCon, we will also be sponsoring the FailCon After Party (SFBeta) so be sure to save some energy for that event! Tickets for that event can be purchased here. But, if you are a FailCon attendee, you get into SFBeta for free! Otherwise, purchase online for $15 or $25 at the door.

Hope to see you at both events!

Where will the sky end? Not with the Clouds, that is for sure. CloudCamp, the virtual “unconference” that has been held physically in various locations around the globe is trying something different…doing it in the Cloud! Just like previous CloudCamp formats, this “cloud-based” CloudCamp will be a free and open place for the introduction and advancement of Cloud Computing. Details can be found here.

CloudCamp in the Cloud will be on Thursday, October 22, 2009 from 12:00 to 3pm Eastern Standard Time. Details below:

• REGISTER – Attending CloudCamp in the Cloud is free, fun and informative. Register now at http://bit.ly/UKbc1.
• PRESENT – CloudCamp in the Cloud encourages community presentations. If you have a cloud-related topic to discuss, visit the topics page to submit a proposal.
• SPONSOR – CloudCamp depends on corporate sponsors who provide financial assistance and other valuable donations. Current CloudCamp in the Cloud sponsors include Citrix, Enomaly and Appistry. If you would like to sponsor CloudCamp in the Cloud, please contact Reuven Cohen.
• ORGANIZE – CloudCamp is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization. If you’d like to help facilitate CloudCamp in the Cloud, letting us know about your interest by emailing cloudcamp@googlegroups.com.
• SPREAD THE WORD – Help share the news about CloudCamp in the Cloud, by retweeting this announcement (hashtag: #cloudcamp), blogging about the event, and linking to the main information page.

Also, be sure to follow CloudCamp on Twitter.

The current agenda (always in a state of flux) is as follows:

11:30am – 12:00pm – Sign in and registration (Main Room)
12:00pm – 12:15pm – Introductions & Overview (Main Room)
12:15pm – 1:00pm – Lightning Talks (Main Room)
1:00pm – 1:30pm Unpanel Choosen by attendee’s of CloudCamp in the Cloud (Main Room)
1:30pm – 2:15 Break Out Sessions

• Main Room Topics (Topic Suggestions)
• Second Room Topics (Topic Suggestions)
• Third Room Topics (Topic Suggestions)

2:15pm – 3:00 Second Break Out Sessions

• Main Room Topics (Topic Suggestions)
• Second Room Topics (Topic Suggestions)
• Third Room Topics (Topic Suggestions)

3:00pm – 3:30pm CloudCamp Wrap up (Main Room)

GoGrid has been a long time supporter of the CloudCamp initiative and will be actively participating in this event. Please be sure to join us and other Cloud pundits at this unique “unconference!”

Over the past few days, I have seen a lot of articles, tweets and commentary about how the recent failure within Danger (who was purchased by Microsoft about a year ago) of data for the T-Mobile Sidekick was “the Cloud’s fault,” and this really bothered me. As Microsoft is poised to do something with the Danger brand (”Project Pink“) as well as soon release their Cloud Computing Platform called Azure, this could not have come at a worse time for them. There is obviously a lot of attention being paid to the cell phone market place as the Android platform is trying to make a positioning move to attempt to dethrone Apple’s iPhone. The Danger (now Microsoft) Sidekick was a device that provided great functionality “back in the day” (I actually went through quite a few generations of Sidekicks – from the B&W version up to a few color ones a few years ago). The Sidekick has a tiny market share and the user demographic is really much younger (e.g., teens) than the iPhone/Android/Blackberry crowd.

Last week, the Danger data network started experiencing some degradation of service where users were unable to access their data. A quick side note about the Sidekick, unlike other data-containing cellphones, the Sidekick stores all of the data (contacts, appointments, pictures, etc.) in a network datastore and not within the device itself. Most users rely solely on this service and don’t back up their data to a local computer. Other “smarter” phones like the Blackberry and iPhone rely on data synchronization with a physical computer or an Exchange Server to reliably back up their data. In my opinion, this is where the failure of the Sidekick started – single remote source of data only.

Details on the data issue are still being revealed (recently, there is a discussion about “dogfooding” or even “sabotage” where Microsoft may have wanted to replace the existing technology with their own – I will let the conspiracy theory experts battle that one out) but my understanding is that Microsoft wanted to upgrade the SAN (Storage Area Network) that powered the Sidekick data network and contracted with Hitachi to get the job done. Unfortunately for reasons unknown, no backup of the data was performed prior to this upgrade attempt (Failure #2). The upgrade of the SAN proceeded without a backup in place and the data was “destroyed” resulting in thousands of Sidekick users stuck without their data. As of this writing, some users have actually been able to recover data (e.g., if they didn’t power off their device or if they did a “reverse sync” from their Sidekick back to the Danger servers – I don’t have details on this so please don’t try anything without doing any research first).

This brings me back to the title of this post: this fiasco is NOT a failure of Cloud Computing, it is simply a failure of not following standard IT practices, ones that even an average computer user knows. Back up your data, your servers and your infrastructure regularly and store it securely in different locations.

It is somewhat understandable (and unfortunate) that mainstream media and even the tech community jump so quickly to the conclusion that the Cloud is at fault here. Cloud Computing is relatively new and as with any new technology or service, people are looking for any and all holes therein. The same could be said about the launch of eCommerce back in the mid-1990’s. There were failures, fraud and other issues associated with it and the naysayers were quick to point out only the negatives of the movement. Today, people use eCommerce for everything and could not live without it (there are still issues with fraud and security but the technology has evolved and stabilized). Cloud Computing is now going through a similar hype-cycle and we are in the phase where many are adopting and using it wholeheartedly but others are sitting in wait, hoping for some sort of a failure to point out the disadvantages of it.

With recent Gmail failures, users were quick to blame the Cloud. Gmail is a great example of a SaaS application (which many, including me, call a “Cloud Application”). However, Gmail has been around longer than the term “Cloud Computing” so have we simply compartmentalized it into a Cloud Application category? It is not a huge issue if we have. However, what DOES bother me is when a failure happens therein and people simply say “oh, it’s the Cloud’s fault”. Sorry, but what would we have said if a similar failure happened 4 years ago? “Oh, it’s a failure of SaaS” and “SaaS is evil”?

Let’s face it, hardware fails. It is not bulletproof. Power outages happen. Generators don’t turn on. Code has bugs (after all, to err is human and hardware and software are created by humans). We know this as facts and there is no way to avoid it. What you CAN do is work to minimize your risk, downtime and disruptions by following standard IT practices. And, you can even use the Cloud as a means to help your achieve reliability, stability and uptime.

Here is a list of 5 things you might want to consider part of your IT “Best Practices”:

1. Backups – Back up often. Set up automatic as well as manual backup procedures. Store your data locally AND somewhere completely geographically distinct from your infrastructure. On GoGrid, for example, you have persistent storage within your VM. That can be 1 place for a backup to reside. But also use Cloud Storage (which is a redundant SAN-like device) to store other backups. Lastly, and I always recommend this to any GoGrid users (or anyone who has a website or web-application for that matter), have a 3rd party backup solution. There are many out there, some are free, and some cost. Remember that you really do need pay a premium in order to ensure reliability and dependability.
2. Redundancy – Physical servers AND virtualized servers do encounter issues. You would never put all of your eggs in one basket so why do it with your infrastructure! You should ensure that you set up a “high availability” (HA) infrastructure where you have 2 (or more) of everything, whether they be all active or as hot or warm standbys. That way, if something fails, you can use the other hardware (virtualized or physical) to minimize disruption. I participated in the writing/testing of this article (”How to Set Up a Load Balanced and Redundant LAMP Web Application on GoGrid“) on our GoGrid wiki which is a great starting point for setting up an HA environment.
3. Failovers – Unfortunately, having a failover environment comes at a premium as well. Most people, unless they are hugely successful, decide to put off setting up a Disaster Recovery (DR) environment due to costs and the time it takes to do so. That is, until their primary site goes down for hours or days (hey T-Mobile/Microsoft…what happened here?), then DR suddenly moves to the top of the list. GoGrid, for example, has partnered with Stratonomic to provide DR solutions that won’t break the bank and provides you with some definite peace of mind.
4. “Hybrid Hosting” – One of the unique and market-first offerings that GoGrid provides is “Cloud Connect” which is the ability to connect cloud front-end infrastructure with physical back-end infrastructure. The advantage of this might not be immediately apparent to many users, however, as a “best practice” sometimes you need to think “outside the box” whether that box is physical or virtual. By setting up your front-end environment using the cloud (scalable, dynamic, elastic, etc.), you can optimize your web server environment for traffic and redundancy. Using physical boxes in the backend allows you to have additional services (like managed backups or security enhancements), thus making your infrastructure more secure and reliable.
5. Due Diligence – Regardless of your infrastructure, datacenter or hosting environment, take some time right now to figure out your IT strategy and Best Practices. Have you covered the 4 points listed above? The Cloud might not be the end-all solution for you but it does provide an alternative to traditional methodologies and practices. If you are only in the Cloud, think about putting some of your data or services on physical hardware or backing it up to a remote location. If you are using purely physical servers, you might want to think of using the Cloud as a failover or secondary site. One way or another, look to diversify your infrastructure.

Failures will happen, Cloud or not. My hope, however, is that before people start blaming Cloud Computing for issues that are obviously NOT actually related to the Cloud, they sit back and think about what they are saying. It’s easy nowadays to find a scapegoat and to blame something that is relatively new. In my opinion, by not fully understanding the complexity of the issues and immediately jumping to conclusions, users actually are doing themselves a disservice and come off sounding inexperienced or lacking full knowledge or even the entire picture. The Cloud is not a crutch, nor a panacea for all things IT. It is, however, a viable option or strategy that IT professionals should seriously consider when evaluating their offerings and re-architecting their solutions for resiliency.

GigaSpaces and GoGrid have been strategic partners for quite a while. This week, we jointly announced a new technology partnership aimed at offering Java and .NET as a PaaS solution. To further explain our combined solution, there is a webinar slotted for October 14th where Guy Nirpaz (EVP of R&D at GigaSpaces) and Paul Lancaster (Business Development Manager at GoGrid). The webinar will specifically address integration between GigaSpaces XAP and GoGrid.

Webinar Date: October 14, 2009
Time: 9:00AM PDT
Registration: Online

The following press release was sent out today which goes into some detail about this new exciting offering:

GoGrid & GigaSpaces Join Forces to Create an Enterprise-grade PaaS Offering for Java and .NET

Enterprises benefit from the economics of the public cloud using an application-rich, scalable, SLA-backed Platform-as-a-Service as if it were local

San Francisco – October 8, 2009 – GoGrid, the Cloud Infrastructure Hosting service from ServePath Dedicated Hosting, and GigaSpaces Technologies, developer of the industry-leading, cloud-enabled eXtreme Application Platform (XAP), announce a strategic technology partnership that provides the most robust Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering for Java and .NET available. The combination of GoGrid’s secured, hardened, scalable, and customizable environment with XAP’s power, interoperability, and elasticity provides a first-of-its-kind, enterprise-grade public cloud offering customers can rely on to deliver all of their mission-critical applications.

The partners’ proven strengths create a reliable, high-speed and scalable infrastructure in the cloud for the most demanding requirements. Currently, GoGrid is leveraging its 10+ years of experience in enterprise-level data center hosting, applying its understanding of uptime, security, and service level agreements to the public cloud offering. Meanwhile, GigaSpaces ensures that its Fortune 500 production customers enjoy enterprise-grade extreme transaction processing for high-throughput, low-latency applications based on Java, .NET, C and C++. GoGrid also provides customers with the ability to create and store customer images (MyGSIs), a key differentiator for enterprise customers over other public cloud offerings as well as Hybrid Hosting solutions that privately connect cloud front-ends with dedicated back-end infrastructures.

GoGrid’s standard, fully customizable Windows and Linux cloud servers leverage GigaSpaces’ support of Windows/.Net, Java, Linux, VMWare and Xen. This provides smooth operation regardless of application language or environment by the use of XAP’s middleware services such as data grid, messaging and parallel processing (map/reduce), which are designed to enable scaling of services on-demand.

“Our partnership with GigaSpaces allows us to create a public cloud using Java and .Net-compatible high-speed application processing that works synergistically with our existing infrastructure,” says John Keagy, Founder and CEO of ServePath, the parent company of GoGrid. “GoGrid customers will now be able to seamlessly leverage the GoGrid public cloud for on-demand capacity scaling by using GigaSpaces’ SLA-based management capabilities.”

XAP’s architecture enables organizations to flexibly move between their data centers and the cloud or use both simultaneously, offering a clear migration path from a hosted or on-premise environment to the public cloud. Therefore, ServePath customers will be able to leverage the GoGrid public cloud for processing overflow, reducing over provisioning and costs. In addition, ServePath customers can keep their proprietary data on the server farm while leveraging the GoGrid public cloud to scale the web tier components of any application.

“Adding the GoGrid/ServePath infrastructure to our supported environments increases our customers’ flexibility to manage their data processing,” says Zeev Bikowsky, GigaSpaces CEO. “GoGrid’s enterprise-grade cloud capabilities provide a great opportunity for further IT efficiency and cost savings for XAP’s .Net customers, providing an exceptionally flexible run-time environment on the cloud.”

For a preview of the GoGrid-XAP offering and for more details, visit the GigaSpaces partner page on the GoGrid site and plan to attend our webinar about the joint offering on October 14, 2009 9 a.m. PT.

About GoGrid
GoGrid is a leading Cloud Infrastructure Hosting provider that delivers true “Control in the Cloud™”. GoGrid enables system administrators, developers, IT professionals and SaaS (Software as a Service) vendors to create, deploy, and control load balanced cloud servers and complex hosted virtual server networks with full root access and administrative server control, now including personal service images (known as MyGSIs). GoGrid server instances maintain the industry standard specifications with no requirement to learn and adapt to proprietary standards. Bringing up servers and server networks takes minutes via a unique web control panel or GoGrid’s award winning API. GoGrid delivers portal controlled servers for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, SQL Server, and ASP.NET. GoGrid also hosts multiple open-source server operating systems including several Linux operating systems (Red Hat Enterprise and CentOS. Free f5 hardware load balancing and other features are included to give users the control of a familiar datacenter environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud, a “cloudcenter.” GoGrid won LinuxWorld Expo’s 2008 Best of Show award. For more information, please visit http://www.GoGrid.com, our blog at http://blog.gogrid.com, or our wiki at http://wiki.gogrid.com.

About GigaSpaces
GigaSpaces Technologies is a leading provider of a new generation of application platforms for Java and .Net environments that offer an alternative to traditional application servers. Its flagship product, XAP 7.0, is an enterprise-grade application server for deploying and scaling distributed applications under any requirement.

GigaSpaces customers depending on our reliability and millisecond latency include many of the Fortune 100 companies, the world’s top investment banks, financial exchanges, telecommunications carriers, Web-commerce companies, online gaming companies, and Internet media organizations. GigaSpaces was founded in 2000 and has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
For more information, please visit http://www.gigaspaces.com, our blog at http://blog.gigaspaces.com or our public relations team:

K2 Strategic Innovations
Amy Kenigsberg
amy@k2-si.com
+972 9 794 1681 (GMT +2)
U.S. +1 913 440 4072 (ET +7)

This release is also available online.