Dec 04 2012
Wow – it has been a while since I blogged! I guess that I have been busy!
Anyway, I read with interest that Eircom has done a deal with Amazon whereby the former with resell the latter’s cloud computing services. For more details see Eircom signs cloud services deal with AWS.
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Oct 27 2012
This is really impressive visual insight into Google‘s data centres – Google Data Centres.
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Jul 05 2012
Imagine a world where a single company buys radio spectrum licenses, and then rolls-out infrastructure, to create a radio access network (RAN). Imagine that this company then sells this service to mobile phone network operators, who can use it with no capital costs! I call this concept RAN-as-a-Service (RaaS)!
It seems that this idea is becoming more of a reality! Vodafone and Telefónica/O2 are sharing radio resources in the UK according to Vodafone and O2 deal could save around £100m per year, and Vodafone and Three are following suit in Ireland according to Vodafone and 3 in Irish network sharing deal.
Remember – you read about RaaS here first!
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Feb 29 2012
I read an interesting article about the differences between mobile wallets and digital wallets today – Mobile Payments: Life Is More Secure In The Cloud. I was not aware of the distinction!
There was one argument that I did not agree with:
Look at it this way: if your phone gets stolen and all your financial information is on the device, and the thief began making transactions, it would almost be impossible to tell if it was really you. With the cloud approach your account is constantly being monitored. So, for example, if a transaction is made by you in San Francisco on your desktop computer, then 10 minutes later one is made in Paris on your phone, it will immediately be clear that something’s wrong.
The author argues that the digital wallet is more secure, because it is easy to detect the fraudulent transaction being made in diverse locations. I would argue that such fraudulent transaction are inherently impossible with a mobile wallet.
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Sep 15 2011
It is great to hear some positive news in a week that seemed full of bad news – VMware is to create 250 new jobs in Ireland over the next three years. See Cork to get 250 new technology jobs for more details.
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Aug 10 2011
Unbelievable – Dublin lightning strike zaps Amazon, Microsoft data centres! Surely, having and testing a UPS is really basic data centre management!
This says an awful amount about the data centre in question, and it is yet another self-inflicted blow to Cloud Computing.
Jun 15 2011
I came across this concise summary of the differences between Google‘s Cloud Computing approach and Apple‘s Cloud Computing approach: Apple cloud vs. Google cloud: The philosophical differences.
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May 31 2011
I heard a review of the papers on the radio this morning that referenced this article: ‘Cloud’ postgrad course a world first. In summary, CIT is to run some third and fourth level taught courses focusing specifically on Cloud Computing. For more details see Cloud Computing @ Cork Institute of Technology.
I think this is a really great idea for two reasons:
I bet the other institutions are regretting that they did not think of this first! To me, the key issue should be that all courses are sufficiently fresh and up-to-date to allow successful students to go into any area that is currently in demand!
The unfortunate thing for CIT was that the homepage of its website contained no mention of these courses at the time :| It does now – see CIT partners with EMC to deliver world’s first degree in Cloud Computing :o
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May 30 2011
I just read that Marketo is to setup in Dublin, and in the process create 125 new jobs. See Silicon Valley cloud player Marketo creates 125 jobs in Dublin. It is great news, although from what I have read I do not think that it is really a true cloud computing player.
The other thing that concerned me was the following motivation in coming to Dublin:
Phil Fernandez, president and CEO of Marketo, explained the company selected Ireland because it needed a European hub with a large talent pool of skilled people.
I really hope that Marketo does not experience the same problems as many other companies here are experiencing (for example, see Demonware boss warns of skills gap in Irish computer science courses in the media this morning).
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Apr 22 2011
OK – I admit that the title of this blog post is a bit dramatic! I am of course referring to the fact that Amazon‘s cloud infrastructure was out for several hours yesterday. See Amazon fault takes down websites or Amazon cloud sinks, smothers Web 2.0 darlings.
It is a pity really, because this is the sort of incident that moving into the cloud is supposed to prevent! As somebody I know who deals with Amazon said:
Amazon keep promising us 100% reliability, because “Telcos’ five 9s are so yesterday”!
Yes – this has effected his companies cloud strategy!
