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Micro Focus' SilkPerformer CloudBurst Service lets businesses to load-test Internet-facing web applications for performance and scalability.

By --> Daniel P. Dern
InformationWeek
July 9, 2010 11:25 AM

" /> For companies looking to load-test their Internet-facing applications, Micro Focus, a provider of enterprise application modernization, testing and management solutions, recently announced their SilkPerformer CloudBurst service.

Based on Micro Focus' Enterprise Cloud Services, SilkPerformer CloudBurst lets testers create and emulate Internet-based virtual users and do peak-load performance testing, without needing to buy, rent or otherwise provision and manage a complicated infrastructure of test machines.

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According to Steven Dykstra, product marketing director for Micro Focus, "We already offer a load testing product, SilkPerformer, which you usually use on-premise. SilkPerformer CloudBurst extends this to provide a load testing service from the cloud. Few companies are likely to have the hardware inventory and geographical reach to do this kind of testing on their own, especially hardware they may only use sporadically."

"We can emulate users from any browsers, since the various browsers do behave differently, and other web clients," says Dykstra. However, Dykstra points out, SilkPerformer CloudBurst is not providing usability testing. "To validate whether the application works, you'd use Micro Focus' SilkCentral Test Manager, our functional testing software."

Understand the threats posed by the Web, email and IM applications Ensure 360-Degree Border Security

Enterprise-class uses for SilkPerformer Cloudburst might include government agencies with big web sites, retailers with period surges of online shoppers, SaaS-based tax return processors.

SilkPerformer CloudBurst is also relevant for small-to-midsized businesses, Dykstra notes, e.g., testing for tens of thousands of users, or even a thousand. "The service is very granular, and our Virtual User Protection means you only pay just for what you use." For example, according to Dykstra, if a company is prepared to test for up to 10,000 virtual users, but the test is halted at, say, 3,000 users because the application fails or starts getting errors, "You only pay for those you have used."

The goals of the load testing, says Dykstra, are to see response versus load, whether there are problems as the number of users scales, and where these problems are. Unlike end-user-only load testers, Micro Focus also monitors and analyzes activity on the other end. "You need to understand what effect the load is having on the application and on the hardware," says Dykstra. "We monitor the servers -- CPU, whether processing queues are becoming a bottleneck, and we also monitor the application, the executing code, and provide you insight into the slow points and bottlenecks in the code's processing. So if you see that the transactions are slow, you can drill down and see where. For example, if you had a load-balanced four-server farm for the application, you want to make sure that when you put the application under load, the farm will handle it. You could add hardware, or tune the application to be more efficient."

For working with Web 2.0 applications, Micro Focus SilkPerformer CloudBurst also includes Browser Driven Load Testing, which, according to the company, "cuts scripting and script maintenance time in half and more accurately emulates end user loads on Web 2.0 applications."

Available now, SilkPerformer CloudBurst is priced is based on a pay-as-you-go, consumption-based pricing model. SilkPerformer CloudBurst can also be used with the on-premise SilkPerformer, for testing internally as well as externally.

Once your agency has completed the business case for deploying a private cloud, how do you actually move ahead with your data center transformation? In this InformationWeek Government Webcast, we'll explore steps to get you there. It happens Aug. 11. Register now.

So how will that application behave when served up int he cloud?

If our Gov't is leading the charge in the cloud, is it really secure? If not secure enough today, how soon before it's secure enough?

IBM has acquired Cast Iron Systems, the #1 SaaS & Cloud Integration Company. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Cast Iron has completed thousands of customer integrations around the world since 2001. The acquisition enhances IBM's business integration software portfolio, which leads the industry in marketshare. With Cast Iron, IBM clients are enabled with fast and flexible SaaS and Cloud application integration in days and empowered with access to today's SaaS and Cloud-based applications with simple integration into existing applications and processes. Further, Cast Iron provides the lowest cost and highest returns on investments in Cloud and SaaS models.

In today's competitive global business environment, companies are recognizing the need to reduce complexity and cost. To do so, many organizations are using a software as a service (SaaS) model through cloud computing. Analysts estimate that by 2013, worldwide SaaS revenue will grow to $16 billion. The challenge businesses face in reaping the full potential of SaaS is integration — making new cloud-based applications work with the disparate systems running in their data centers. In the past, this involved time-consuming and resource draining coding work.

IBM is already known for industry-leading application integration capabilities for both on-premise and business to business applications. With the addition of Cast Iron Systems to its software portfolio, IBM is able to offer clients a complete platform to integrate cloud applications from leading providers including salesforce.com, Amazon, NetSuite and ADP with on-premise applications, such as SAP and JD Edwards. Using Cast Iron's hundreds of pre-built templates, expensive custom coding can be eliminated, allowing cloud integrations to be completed in the space of days, rather than weeks or longer. These results can be achieved using a physical appliance, a virtual appliance or a cloud service with attractive entry and pay-as-you-go pricing.

"The integration challenges Cast Iron is tackling are crucial to clients who are looking to adopt alternative delivery models to manage their businesses. The combination of IBM and Cast Iron will make it easy for clients to integrate business applications, no matter where those applications reside." Craig Hayman
General Manager
IBM WebSphere

"Through IBM, we can bring Cast Iron's capabilities as the world's leading provider of cloud integration software and services to a global customer set. Companies around the world will now gain access to our technologies through IBM’s global reach and its vast network of partners. As part of IBM, we will be able to offer clients a broader set of software, services and hardware to support their cloud and other IT initiatives." Ken Comée,
President & CEO
Cast Iron Systems

"As an early investor in Cast Iron, we've had the pleasure of partnering with an extremely talented and driven executive management team to help build the number one leader in the cloud integration market. Today's acquisition is particularly synergistic with IBM’s cloud computing strategy as Cast Iron has demonstrated continuous quarterly growth during differing capital markets, and enterprise customers rely heavily on Cast Iron to solve their cloud integration needs and maximize their investment in cloud applications and platforms. We are extremely pleased with the strategic value that IBM has placed on the company and we congratulate the entire Cast Iron team for building such a successful business." Promod Haque,
Managing Partner,
Norwest Venture Partners

"We are thrilled for the entire team at Cast Iron. It was a privilege for Sequoia Capital to provide the Founders of Cast Iron with $275,000 in seed financing and house them in our offices for the better part of 2002. It was from those humble beginnings and a vision for the 'application router' that Ken Comée and his team doggedly built the company into the dominant provider for connecting legacy enterprise applications to the cloud. With IBM's leadership and vast customer relationships, Cast Iron can now work on a global scale." Mark Kvamme,
Partner,
Sequoia Capital

Together, IBM and Cast Iron Systems will drive tremendous business value and the adoption of SaaS & Cloud supporting today's dynamic business networks. Read the full press release announcing this acquisition.

Nice advance for IBM's cloud strategy and, I expect, a hit to HP's Cast Iron Partnership!

At the NetSuite SuiteCloud conference this morning, NetSuite VP of Channel Sales Craig West and Senior VP Worldwide Sales Marc Huffman (pictured) described four keys to the company’s cloud-centric channel partner strategy. Here’s what West and Huffman had to say, and a reality check for VARs that are sorting out their cloud strategies.

West claimed the SuiteCloud conference here in San Francisco is likely the largest, SaaS-centric business conference for channel partners. It’s difficult to confirm that claim, but there are several hundred partners here. And they’re all plugging into NetSuite’s cloud.

Some of the attendees, in fact, are former Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Great Plains partners. “We owe the biggest debt of gratitude to Microsoft because they make it so easy [to poke fun at Microsoft," quipped West, following a video that attacked Microsoft's hosting strategy.

The conversation then shifted to NetSuite's channel efforts. "We're known as a direct sales organization, but i want you to know that we're evolving," added Hufman. "We can't flip the switch overnight. But it's a clear priority for us. We've been at this for 10 years and we're looking at our distribution efforts in every region."

Four Claims Worth Nothing

Huffman pointed to four key themes for VARs and partners attending the conference.

1. Year of channel: The real cloud and the channel are coming together, Huffman asserted. "Over the next 6 to 12 months, this will accelerate [exponentially]. If you’re an old-school reseller… you’re finished. But the annuity model presents new opportunities for you.”

2. Doubling down on channel: NetSuite has grown its channel sales and development team by 40%, Huffman said. NetSuite has also launched channel-exclusive coverage models in Asia Pacific. And the company is beta testing vertical lead-sharing programs in such areas as Quebec, Canada.

In many regions, NetSuite continues to promote direct and indirect sales, but Huffman assured partners that the models would continue to evolve.

Separately, NetSuite has launched an OpenAir enablement effort to promote PSA (Professional Services Automation) software to customers, Huffman said. More details on that later today.

3. All about customer success: NetSuite has internal employees assisting VARs with customer retention and renewals, Huffman noted. “NetSuite doesn’t have any interest in competing with you for your clients,” said Huffman. “If you have concerns contact Craig [West] or track me down.”

4. SuiteCloud platform opens new opportunities. Evan Goldberg, founder and CTO, described how NetSuite continues to evolve its SuiteCloud platform to ensure it’s more and more customizable. Goldberg’s statements reinforce comments from CEO Zach Nelson, who claimed yesterday that NetSuite SaaS is more customizable than traditional on-premises software.

Goldberg told partners to keep an eye on SuiteFlow (Business process customization without code). It offers point-and-click business process customization; enforce business rules without a line of code; and SuiteScript in a visual interface.

Next up, stay tuned for details about NetSuite’s Tiramisu effort.

Reality Check

Whether or not you partner with NetSuite, the company has a point: Cloud applications really have gained critical mass. Channel partners that don’t sort out their SaaS strategies really will face intense pricing pressures in the years ahead.

Still, the NetSuite conference really highlighted the need for VARs to develop application-level SaaS expertise. It’s not enough to switch on a SaaS application. Channel partners need to know how to customize those applications for customers.

How much money can VARs actually make from SaaS applications? The VAR Guy will continue to explore that question in the days ahead.

Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Newsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center; and follow The VAR Guy via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; Twitter and VARtweet.

Read More About This Topic

• NetSuite CEO Attacks Three SaaS and Cloud Myths
• Six Channel Blog Entries The VAR Guy Didn’t Write: April 9
• Preview: NetSuite SuiteCloud Partner Conference
• Can Sophisticated Partners Really Cash In On SaaS?
• Zoho Responds to Google Apps Reseller Program

A perspective on the role of the channel in the cloud.

When we demonstrated Google Chrome OS last Fall, a few folks asked us how it would handle printing. Today we wanted to give developers a little more insight into our approach for printing from Chrome OS and other web-connected platforms.

While the emergence of cloud and mobile computing has provided users with access to information and personal documents from virtually any device, today’s printers still require installing drivers which makes printing impossible from most of these new devices. Developing and maintaining print subsystems for every combination of hardware and operating system-- from desktops to netbooks to mobile devices -- simply isn't feasible.

Check out the rest of the story here http://blog.chromium.org/2010/04/new-approach-to-printing.html

← Cloud Computing Inquiries at Gartner

Cloud Computing: Through a Glass, Darkly

February 9th, 2010 · 5 Comments

Do cloud computing providers understand customer requirements? Do customers understand their requirements? No and no, and this is a problem.

Today, most cloud computing providers offer one-size-fits-all services – with few options or service level alternatives. As the market matures, there will be thousands of providers, each trying to differentiate by focusing on specific market needs, and offering service level alternatives and options to attract specific types of customers.

This sounds great, except service providers don’t really know what options the market needs, and perhaps more importantly, potential customers don’t always understand their service level requirements.

Service providers will figure this out by experimenting, and making adjustments as they go. Some of these adjustments will be hard and expensive to make (and retrofit). Some providers will simply fail. The customers will figure this all out by getting burned.

No doubt, there are many service needs that can be fulfilled just fine by one-size-fits-all services – go for it. But the next stage of cloud computing use – more varied, business-critical services – will require something more.

A key to success for cloud computing is getting the interface right, and getting the service requirements right. The interface defines the service offering in detail for the customer, and the service options link directly to automation behind the interface. Building this automation isn’t easy – and many providers will focus on specific market needs rather then create a huge array of options. If success requires new options, that means new automation, and that might require fundamental architecture changes. Providers who guess right on market requirements before they build their service offering will have a definite advantage over those who need to make a (perhaps costly) mid-course correction.

Enterprise IT organizations building private cloud services will have a different issue. Do they limit their offerings to their service catalog alone, or do they allow exceptions and special requests – which will add overhead and cost? A key to their success is spending time early in the design process understanding current and future enterprise requirements, and ensuring their architecture gives them enough flexibility to adjust as needed. Bottom line – understand your customer and their service needs, first!

But the real danger is to cloud computing customers – especially those bypassing enterprise IT to use an apparently attractive cloud service. In most cases, they’re used to an enterprise IT provider who reacts to custom requests and changes in requirements. There is someone to talk to. There are often implicit “service level” requirements that enterprise IT handles without the customer even knowing – like disaster recovery, security, regulatory compliance, availability, legal requirements/risk. Enterprise IT often over-provisions services for users – giving them more than they asked for. Don’t expect that from a cloud service provider. Failure to understand your own requirements might lead you to choose the wrong provider, increase your costs, or any number of scarier problems. Bottom line, fully understand your service level needs before you take the leap.

Even if enterprises don’t expect to use many cloud services for years, now is the time to start re-shaping the relationship between IT and the business. Build rich, detailed service level agreements. Make explicit those things that are provided implicitly. Prepare for the time when external cloud service providers will be a viable choice. A center of competency for cloudsourcing within the enterprise (or outside service broker help) is a good idea.

Thanks to Doug Savage for allowing me to use his excellent cartoon – if you’ve got a minute, take a look at his site – very funny stuff!

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5 responses so far ↓

• 1 uberVU - social comments // Feb 10, 2010 at 8:54 am

  Social comments and analytics for this post…

  This post was mentioned on Twitter by ToshioMatsudaE: [Gartner] Cloud Computing: Through a Glass, Darkly: Do cloud computing providers understand customer requirements?… http://bit.ly/90D3hl…

• 2 Martin Reti // Feb 11, 2010 at 11:44 am

  congrats! This is a fine and clear summation of the various hinderances cloud computing has to overcome in the business area, especially for enterprise customers (MNCs).
  Those customers will demand the services they know from their traditional outsourcing partners or internal IT departments.
  An original one size fits all cloud approach won´t help those customers – in most cases. I wonder how much will be left of this original cloud features when assigned to real business (perhaps business critical) purposes.
  I assume providers have to combine traditional outsourcing achievements and the opportunities of the cloud era to find an adequate fusion of both worlds that fits to enterprise customers´ demands.

• 3 Martin Reti // Feb 11, 2010 at 11:45 am

  p.s.: I also like this cartoon

• 4 Steve // Feb 16, 2010 at 11:03 am

  Thanks for the article. Good points and I enjoyed the comic. There are a few cloud providers offering custom solutions though, Carpathia Hosting for example. Come 2/23 there will be a big announcement that will support this claim even more.

• 5 Balakrishna Narasimhan // Feb 16, 2010 at 9:55 pm

  Tom, great point about how companies need to clearly define their service requirements and understand how they can best work with cloud service providers. We think that enterprises, especially medium-to-large companies need to work with a new class of partners to make the most of the cloud. This new class of providers, of which we are one, will focus on smoothing the path to the cloud. Our objective is to help enterprises with the entire lifecycle of cloud adoption – from building a business-case driven roadmap to the cloud, to migration services, to custom development services, to on-going support services, to products that connect and extend cloud applications. As you point out, the combination of a comprehensive set of solutions that abstract away the complexity of managing cloud platforms is what is needed to drive enterprise cloud adoption. This is exactly what we aspire as companies move toward an increasingly “cloudsourced” IT environment. (more here http://blog.appirio.com/2009/09/cloudsourcing-where-cloud-computing.html)

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From the outside, HP's newest data center looks like a massive, well-secured loading dock, devoid of logos and surrounded by a robust barbed-wired fence in a nondescript industrial park.

Inside a green data center

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The low-profile approach is intentional, as HP's Wynyard center is intended to hold the most valuable asset for many companies: their data. HP will use the data center to compete with companies such as IBM for IT services and management contracts, a growing source of revenue that requires secure data centers.

HP is hoping several of the environmentally friendly design features of the 360,000-square-foot Wynyard facility will push it ahead. It is HP's most energy efficient data center that it has built, said Maurice Julian, U.K. facilities project director. Half of the facility is now complete, comprising four data halls, with room to create four more data halls as demand dictates.

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The data center was originally started by IT outsourcer EDS, which was then acquired by HP for US$13.9 billion in May 2008. The building sits in a blustery and chilly area about eight miles west of the North Sea in the northeast of England. It is entirely air-cooled: HP has built eight 2.1-meter stainless steel and plastic intake fans to draw cool air.

The air runs through a massive bank of modular filters to remove dust and other contaminants before it circulates in a massive cavity, called a plenum, below its data center halls.

The air is forced up though the floor and runs over the front of server racks before being exhausted. The system keeps the hall at a constant 24C (75.2F). When it is cold outside, some of the exhausted heat is recirculated with the outside air to maintain the right temperature.

In Billingham, the outside temperature only rises above 24C for about 20 hours a year, but the facility still needed traditional chillers for those occasions, Julian said. To run a closed system, data center operators can close the louvers that let in outside air.

"It's an ideal climate for this type of solution," Julian said. "We're moving large volumes of air at a low speed."

Installing chillers in addition to building the natural air cooling added about 6 percent to the cost of building the data center, Julian said. The extra cost should be recouped in as few as two years due to the power savings.

Power is one of the highest costs for a data center. A facility's efficiency is measured in PUE, or Power Usage Effectiveness, which is a ratio that compares the total power used by a facility to the power used by its equipment.

Running at a full load, HP has calculated that the Wynyard facility has a 1.2 PUE, meaning that for every 1.2 watts of electricity used by the data center, 1 watt is used to power IT equipment, the rest being used for cooling and other facility needs.

Julian said each of the four data halls actually have a 1.16 PUE on their own, but that increases slightly to take into account electricity consumption in other areas, such as the 20,000-square foot office facilities.

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Between Gmail, Google Docs, Zoho, Facebook, Basecamp, Flickr, Twitter and countless other applications, much of our data now sits in the cloud. But few people ever stop to think about where that data is stored or how it might be accessed or used. So who exactly does own your data and who has access to it? And how much privacy can you expect?

These questions get all the more complex because many web application providers are using cloud services from the likes of Amazon and Google, which means data doesn’t necessarily sit on the app provider’s servers. Additionally, there is an increased use of APIs to facilitate greater interoperability among web apps, meaning that your data may be used in many ways that you don’t expect. How can you learn more about the rights you have to your data, as well as the rights others have to it? GigaOM Pro (subscription required) this week has a great report by Simon Mackie that tackles these questions. The report delves into two main issues:

Data Privacy. When it comes to the U.S., the Fourth Amendment states that people should “be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…” But web-hosted applications and cloud services are too new for the courts to have been able to provide far-reaching guidance on data privacy online. Issues related to data privacy get even more complex when data is stored outside of the country. Some cloud services, such as Amazon’s, let you choose the region in which you want your data stored; and some, such as Google’s, don’t.

Data Security. There are any number of threats to your data online. Your application or service provider could go belly up, you could fall prey to hackers or you could simply be locked out of your account. The good news is that data portability and security policies are being scrutinized closely by several organizations, and there are steps you can take to reduce your vulnerability in the could.

For much more on these and other issues pertaining to your data and the cloud, see Simon’s full report.

For companies protective of their IT operations and data, wholesale public cloud computing adoption can be a difficult pill to swallow. But cloud momentum is too strong a trend to ignore. Enter the hybrid cloud — a panacea of sorts, enabling companies to maintain a mix of on-premise and off-premise cloud computing resources, both public and private, managed through a common framework to simplify operations. This concept has steadily gathered steam over the last year and a half, and now appears poised to capture the minds, and wallets, of corporations in 2010.

First, let’s take a look at the reasons leading corporations to consider hybrid clouds, then the means for them to get there. Data security and control are most frequently mentioned as the drivers for corporations to own and manage a portion of their infrastructure. Most corporations have longstanding cultural biases toward keeping core IT assets in-house that are unlikely to change anytime soon.

That said, companies also want to take advantage of public cloud resources. One reason hybrid clouds are proliferating is to enable “cloudbursting,” or the ability to seamlessly and automatically grow workloads into public cloud resources for a period of time, and then decommission them once the heavy loads subside. For industries such as finance and health care, compliance regulations limit the number of public cloud offerings they can use, forcing some of their infrastructure to remain in-house.

Simple negotiating leverage will lead companies not to put all of their eggs in one public cloud basket, and maintaining private infrastructure provides one way to control, although not necessarily minimize, infrastructure costs. Also, the demands of a typical enterprise do not have the wide load swings of web applications, and in the cases where resource demand can be forecasted, owning infrastructure as a financed capital expense can be more advantageous than high monthly operating expenses.

The hybrid cloud market is being addressed by large technology vendors as well as open-source software projects in what might be classified as the ultimate battle between lock-in and unlock. On the large vendor side, VMware has been busy enabling both enterprises and service providers with a range of virtualization tools to deliver migration of virtual machines between on-premise and off-premise infrastructures. The company’s vCloud Express initiative allows service providers to offer infrastructure as a service offerings for enterprises while maintaining compatibility with internal VMware deployments.

More on The Cloud

• Who Exactly Owns Your Data in the Cloud? Tech Insider
• Elastra Makes Its Cloud Even Greener Tech Insider
• Google Docs Ratchets Up Flexibility With Files Tech Insider
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HP recently announced three offerings aimed at companies using both physical on-premise and cloud servers, including HP Operations Orchestration for provisioning, HP Cloud Assure for cost control, and HP Communications as a Service for service providers to offer small businesses on-demand solutions.

Microsoft has focused its Azure cloud platform on enterprises that can use the same Windows and .NET development frameworks on services internally and on the cloud. See our posts “Microsoft Azure Walks a Thin Blue Line” and “Will Microsoft Drive Cloud Revenues in 2010?” Even Amazon has started to reach towards hybrid deployment models with its Virtual Private Cloud service positioned as “a secure and seamless bridge between a company’s existing IT infrastructure and the AWS cloud.”

Approaching the market from another direction is a set of companies and open-source software projects that provide on-premise and public cloud integration. Eucalyptus is perhaps the best known in this category and provides open-source software infrastructure for on-premise cloud computing. Eucalyptus includes the ability to work within VMware environments and provision resources to Amazon Web Services.

Open Nebula, an open-source project out of the Distributed Systems Architecture Group at the Complutense University of Madrid, creates a new virtualization layer that “supports the dynamic execution of multi-tier services on a distributed infrastructure consisting of both data center resources and remote cloud resources.” And Nimbus, focused primarily on the scientific community, also provides a virtualization framework to help manage cloud deployments for infrastructure as a service.

The good news for enterprises considering hybrid cloud computing deployments is the range of options on the table. From the fully integrated end-to-end solutions like VMware or Azure, to the open-source solutions that provide more choice, the time is right to jump in and benefit from the cost savings, flexibility, and technology advances delivered by hybrid clouds.

Virtualization and private cloud trends, value propositions, obstacles, risk mitigation, and vendor selection are key topics in this December 2009 EMC interview with Frank Gens, IDC’s senior vice president and chief analyst*.

Read more

* IDC Analyst Connection sponsored by EMC, Virtualization and Private Clouds: Trends and Directions, Doc#IDC_863, Dec 2009.

The investigation should raise some concerns with the enterprise community. Such an investigation could cover aspects of Internet communications that have been in use for years.

How would the FTC distinguish between the rights of the consumer and businesses that also use cloud computing services? What regulations would drift into the enterprise sector?

Any service provider could be viewed as part of the investigation under such a broad umbrella. The obvious parties would include Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Rackspace and the other large cloud computing services.

SaaS is a form of cloud computing. That could mean a company like NetSuite, Zoho or Salesforce.com would have a stake in the outcome of such an investigation.

According toThe Hill, the investigation surfaced in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In the filing, The FTC recognizes the cost savings of cloud computing but has concerns about information being stored remotely:

"However, the storage of data on remote computers may also raise privacy and security concerns for consumers," wrote David Vladeck, who helms the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau.

This statement is puzzling. People have been storing their data remotely since the early 1990s on services that predate the social networks.

The intent of the inquiry is to protect consumers privacy. But the repercussions of such a broad investigation will also have reverberations throughout the enterprise community if the inquiry is not narrowed.

According to The Hill, the FTC is holding a roundtable Jan. 28 to focus on privacy protections. It will include specific discussions about cloud computing, identity management, mobile computing and social networking.