Cassatt helps organizations implement in-house clouds

Cassatt社は大手のCloud Computingベンダーで、企業のデータセンター向けにさまざまなサービスを提供している業者の一つ。 

新規サービスとしてActive Profiling Serviceを開始し、顧客のデータセンターを分析し、仮想化技術の導入、エネルギー節約のための施策、などのコンサルティングサービスを提供する内容。 

 

A crew of folks from Cassatt presented Active Profiling Service, a new service offering, and Active Response 5.2, a product update for the company's orchestration and automation product. I was very interested in learning more because Cassatt has long been helping organizations discover and then make best use of their systems (industry standard systems and important midrange systems), workloads on those systems, storage systems used by those systems, networking resources being used by those systems and even has developed connections to the datacenter power and cooling equipment. (For more information please see Cassatt's Bill Coleman on Cutting Datacenter Energy Waste, Active Response - Cassatt's Take on Green Computing, or Processing virtualization and green computing). Cassatt is taking another step to make the implementation of in-house cloud computing environments straightforward for its customers.

Here's how Cassatt describes their offerings

The Cassatt software and services announced today provide organizations initial, practical steps toward realizing the benefits of cloud computing.

• The new Cassatt Active Profiling Service gives companies a head start on establishing internal clouds by tackling one of the major problems facing corporate IT – a lack of information and understanding about the assets, interrelationships, and dynamic, real-time usage patterns within data centers.
• Then, through the broadened control capabilities of Cassatt Active Response 5.2, Cassatt can help customers improve energy efficiency, application availability, and enable the best use of computing resources – across the diverse hardware, software, and virtualization technologies already running in a data center.

More details from the announcement

Cassatt Active Profiling Service:  What Is in Your Data Center?  What Is It Doing?

The new Cassatt Active Profiling Service gathers information about servers and their configurations, server usage patterns, utilization, energy consumption, server interdependencies, and other key details.  Then, Cassatt experts analyze the data to help companies make the best decisions on ways to improve data center efficiency and operations – including recommendations such as finding "orphan" or unused servers, identifying candidate servers for virtualization and consolidation, suggesting policies to save on data center energy costs, and mapping out the steps to move toward an internal cloud-style IT infrastructure that could provide utility-style computing.

Example recommendations could include using active power management technology to curb energy waste from idle servers; automating failover to provide improved application availability, regardless of platform; implementing dynamic resource repurposing to make better use of every server while preserving availability and service levels; or coupling policy-based management with resource repurposing, allowing data center infrastructure to respond quickly to changes in business demand.

Cassatt Active Response 5.2:  Dynamic Control across Diverse Environments

Cassatt also announced today broadened operating-system, virtualization, and networking support in its flagship product, Cassatt Active Response 5.2. This latest revision extends Cassatt's existing, broad operating system, virtualization, and networking support to include the IBM AIX operating system and Force10 network switches, with forthcoming support for Parallels Virtuozzo Containers OS-level server virtualization solutions.  Because of its broad support of the heterogeneous technologies in use in today's data centers, Cassatt Active Response 5.2 provides a practical way to improve real-world data center efficiency by controlling infrastructure based upon policies, while delivering the service levels required for important applications.

Cassatt Active Response enables data center managers to use policies to control and optimize the multiple diverse components of their IT infrastructure.  Cassatt Active Response can monitor and automatically provision or decommission physical and virtual server, software, and network resources as appropriate to meet the application demand.

This means that with Cassatt Active Response customers can break down the static silos of hardware and software that sit mostly idle in data centers today, over-provisioned in anticipation of the largest expected spikes in demand.  Instead, customers can pool their hardware and software into a cloud of computing resources shared across applications, and use only the amount of computing capacity needed at any one time.  This approach frees up previously unusable compute capacity, increases control, and can reduce traditional IT operations costs for data centers by as much as 50 percent, fundamentally altering the calculations for what could or should be outsourced.

Snapshot analysis

Of the competitors in the orchestration and automation segment of the overall virtualization technology market, Cassatt is one of the few that clearly understand today's datacenters are made up of a complex mix of technology and have progressively extended the reach of its products to optimize and manage more and more of that environment.

Although suppliers, such as VMware are speaking about creating an operating system for the datacenter, they're still focused solely on the industry standard systems. Cassatt, on the other hand, knows that tools that are only capable of dealing with the industry standard systems in the datacenter are ignoring the largest part of the problem datacenter managers face today.

If your organization is considering the implementation of an in-house cloud as a way to make better use of the available resources, it would be worth a few minutes to look into what Cassatt is doing.

What Do SaaS Companies Have to Prepare for 2009?

SaaS市場の今後の動向について、SaaS業界への投資が多いBessemer Venturesがプレゼンを行っている。  下記のポイントが興味深い：

 

１）  SaaS業界のValuation Multiplesは相変わらずIT業界平均の２．５〜３．０を超え、はるかに大きい数字を見せている： ６．６

 

２） 一方では、SaaS業界の株価は業界全体の低迷にあわせて、一年で６０％も落ちている現状がある。  事業の売り上げとキャッシュフローは非常に好調であるが、株価の低下をカバーするまでには至っていないのが現状

 

３） ５Cを狙え、というのが提案：

１： CMRR(Committed Monthly Recurring Revenue)：  定額収入の確保

２： Churn：  客が他業者に乗り換えないように努力する。よく研究する事。

３： Cash：  現金をとにかく消費しない事

４： CAC(Customer Acquisition Cost)： 新規顧客に対する回収計画をクリアにし、実行する。

５： CLTV(Customer Lifetime Value)：  顧客のライフサイクルをよく研究し、その価値評価をよく分析する

 

特に目新しい事はかいていないが、SaaS事業の重要なキーポイントとして、CMRR（月額の定額収入）をとにかくあげる事によって、自社のキャッシュフローのコントロールを出来るようにする事が重要である、ということが印象深い。  サービス事業ならではの定額収入を基盤とした収益構造に対する着目であり、製造業と異なる考え方でこの不安定な景気を乗り越える戦略を策定する必要性を考えさせられる。 

 

 

 

A whackload of trouble. (See, I answered my own question!)

As 2008 comes to an end you should be well on your way to planning 2009. And what a year it will be! The economy is in shambles, it's getting harder to raise capital (and it was already hard!) and customers are freezing budgets. 2009 won't be the prettiest year ever.

And SaaS (Software as a Service) vendors have to be very careful in their planning and rigorous in their execution of what will most likely be some very difficult plans. Companies will have to cut somewhere, and take a hard look at each employee, business strategies, pricing, etc. Basically: Look at everything.

Mark MacLeod includes a presentation from Bessemer Ventures in a recent blog post to show you what some top-tier venture firms are looking at for SaaS businesses. I've included it below as well:

Bessemer 5 Cs of SaaS Finance

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: software-as-a-service botteri)

SaaS Startup Focus Points

The presentation isn't very long, but here are some highlights of critical importance for early stage SaaS vendors:

• Valuations are dropping. The top SaaS vendors out there have lost considerable value recently; you can expect that your SaaS startup will be hit as well. Valuations for early stage companies are in the $1-$3M pre-money range, that's just the reality of the situation.
• Growth isn't king. Cash is king, and you'll need to keep as much of it as possible, even at the expense of growth. Cut marketing spend that's not driving great ROI. Cut sales people that are not hitting their numbers. You need to get to a month-by-month cash flow positive position as quickly as possible.
• Churn will kill you. Churn will hurt a SaaS vendor in good times; in bad times it's absolute doom. If you're not effectively renewing customers on a monthly or yearly basis you're in big, big trouble. Bessemer suggests a target under 12%. To improve your renewal rates, focus on building stronger relationships with customers. Invest in customer service, maintain an aggressive tracking policy, hold customers' hands more frequently and bend over backwards to keep customers on board. That doesn't necessarily mean slashing prices (which will kill revenue), but great customer service is critical now more than ever.
• Stay focused on what's important. R&D is great. New features are great. More capacity in hosting or more scalability are great. But none of them will necessary improve sales (at least quickly), or minimize churn - especially for early stage SaaS providers. Take a hard look at your product roadmap and only focus on the essentials and highest value features. If you don't know what they are — ask! That's part of building good relationships with customers too.
• Don't turtle. As much as you're looking for things to cut, and you're sitting in a dark office plowing through Excel spreadsheets and financial models, don't turtle and bury yourself in the sand. Get out there and make noise! Build up your presence in the market, especially when others are floundering and customer confidence in competitors is weakening. This is critical for SaaS startups — now is the time to build brand, differentiate clearly, generate PR and attract attention.

2009 will be a tough year.

But SaaS vendors can still survive and do exceedingly well through tough times. The key is to stay afloat, focus less on growth and more on efficiency, proper target metrics and existing customers (look at renewals and upsells!)

Revenue is critical. And generally SaaS companies are better at generating revenue than many others. At least it's a real business model. Look under every rock at your company. Evaluate and question everything. You will need to be more ruthless and aggressive at times, and more cautious at other times. Hold your cash but don't roll over and die. Focus on a couple key metrics and work on those metrics daily. And be ready when things turn around — which they always do; by staying lean, improving customer relationships and keying in on critical metrics, you'll be well positioned for much faster growth as soon as customers open up their purse strings again.

Google Gears Down for Tougher Times

Googleが自社の予算の引き締めを強化している、という内容の記事。

 

CFOとして新規採用したPatrick Pichette氏の方針により、同社内のコスト削減にかなりの手が入る、という話であり、特に社員に対する手厚い福利厚生サービスで知られるGoogleにとっては大きな変化になる、と想定される。 

 

データセンタインフラの事業部門もその影響を受けており、Oklahoma州に建設中であった新規データセンターも延期された、との事が発表されている。 

 

WSJ discusses the tougher times has Google gearing down.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Corporate austerity is reaching one of the most extravagant spenders of the boom years. Google Inc. has begun to tighten its belt.

For much of its 10-year history, Google spent money at a pace that was the marvel of Silicon Valley. It hired by the thousands and dished out generous perks, including three free meals a day, free doctors, ski trips and laundry facilities, and subsidized personal trainers. It let engineers spend 20% of their time pursuing pet projects. The company's goal was to develop new products that would reduce its nearly total reliance on selling ads connected to Internet searches.

The Data Center group has been effected as well.

Google used to build with abandon new data centers to house its computer servers. It figured that demand for the company's products would inevitably catch up with capacity. Mr. Pichette has made the company pay more attention to aligning its capacity with its needs, say people familiar with the matter. Google's operating committee recently decided to delay opening a new facility in Oklahoma that was planned during flusher times.

Who is Mr. Pichette?

Google recently hired a new chief financial officer, Patrick Pichette. Trained in "Six Sigma" management practices -- a rigid quality-control system designed to eliminate waste -- Mr. Pichette is looking to reduce inefficiencies and delay spending when possible.

Besides slowing things down, these times are forcing shifts in priorities.  If you are a PUE fanatic, your efficiency projects are getting more attention.  Just wait until energy prices start rising.

This messiness is about to spill into public view on two levels. Globally, diplomats are convening over the next two weeks in Poland for a climate-change conference, where the official purpose is to protect the planet and the subtext is to shift the cost to someone else. In the U.S., the same basic battle soon will heat up as President-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to push for deep cuts in U.S. emissions of global-warming gases, moves into the White House.

…

One lesson from all this is that regulatory sticks aren't likely to be enough. Financial carrots also will be important to try to convince polluters, whether companies or countries, that cleaning up their act is in their economic interest. Here again, however, those interests are being defined in narrowly local terms.

Rational Survivability: The Big Four Cloud Computing Providers: Security Compared (Part I)

規模の大きい、自社データセンターを運営しているCloud Computing大手を比較した記事。 

内容は大した事を書いていないが、セキュリティということについて、各社があまり明確な方針を持っていない、というか、お互いをあまり意識せず勝手な事を書いている、という印象が強い。 

 

今日のCloud Computingの業界では、何が出来るか、ということが主題であって、実際に運用を開始する段階で問題となってくるセキュリティやデータの保全性の問題などはどうも後回しになっているような気がする。 これはCloud Computingの顧客層がまだまだISVや小規模顧客が主体である事を示している、といえる。 

 

Cloud Computing市場でセキュリティに関する事件の一つや二つが起きれば業界は動き出すであろうが、この辺はあまり現状では米国企業に期待しない方がいいかもしれない。  むしろ日本企業としてのビジネスチャンスの領域になる可能性もあるのでは、と感じるところ。 

 

日本市場ならではのCloud Computingセキュリティソリューションとはなんであろうか？

 

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James Urquhart posted a summary a week or so ago of what he described as the "Big 4" players in Cloud Computing.  It was a slightly humorous pass at describing their approaches and offerings:

Below is a table that lists these key players, and compares their offerings from the perspective of four core defining aspects of clouds. As this is a comparison of apples to oranges to grapefruit to perhaps pastrami, it is not meant to be a ranking of the participants, nor a judgement of when to choose one over the other. Instead, what I hope to do here is to give a working sysadmin's glimpse into what these four clouds are about, and why they are each unique approaches to enterprise cloud computing in their own right.

James provided quite a bit more (serious) detail in the text below his table which I present to you here, tarted up with a column I've added and James left off titled "Security." 

It's written in the same spirit as James' original, so feel free to take this with an equally well-provisioned grain of NaCl.  I'll be adding my own perfunctory comments with a little more detail shortly: The point here is that the quantification of what "security" means in the cloud is as abstracted and varied as the platforms that provide the service.  We're essentially being asked to take for granted and trust that the underlying mechanicals are sound and secure while not knowing where or what they are.

We don't do that with our physically-tethered operating systems today, so why should we do so with virtualization platform hypervisors and the infrastructure "data center operating systems" of the cloud?  The transparency provided by dedicated infrastructure is being obscured by virtualization and the fog of the cloud.  It's a squeezing the balloon problem.

And so far as the argument goes toward suggesting that this is no different than what we deal with n terms of SaaS today, the difference between what we might define as legacy SaaS and "cloud" is that generally it's someone elses' apps and your data in the former (ye olde ASP model.) 

In the case of the "cloud," it could be a mixture of applications and data, some of which you own, some you don't and some you're simply not even aware of, perhaps running in part on your infrastructure and someone elses'.

It should be noted also that not all cloud providers (excluding those above) even own and operate the platforms they provide you service on...they, in turn, could be utilizing shared infrastructure to provide you service, so cross-pollination of service provisioning could affect portability, reliability and security.

That is why the Big4 above stand up their own multi-billion dollar data centers; they keep the architecture proprietary so you don't have to; lots of little clouds everywhere.

/Hoff

P.S. If you're involved with platform security from any of the providers above, do contact me because I'm going to be expounding upon the security "layers" of each of these providers in as much detail as I have here shortly.  I'd suggest you might be interested in assuring it's as complete and accurate as possible ;)

Capgemini and Amazon Web Services Announce Collaboration

MSPの大手、CapGemini社とAmazon Web ServicesがCloud Computingで新たな協業戦略を行う、と発表した。

CapGemini社はAWSの専門家をトレーニングし、次の3つのサービスを自社顧客層に提供する、とのこと。

１） Microsoft SharePoint In The Cloud

２） Oracle ERP In The Cloud

３） Application Development and Testing In The Cloud

AWSのインフラを使ったアプリケーションサービス事業の新たなスタイルとして今後似たような事業が現れることが想定される。  また、CapGemini社が今更AWSに対抗したデータセンタインフラを構築するのは既に遅すぎる、という判断をした、ということも類推される。  AWSがいよいよUtility Computingとしての位置づけを明確にした、という意味合いでも評価できる、と考える。 

 

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The AWS ecosystem grew again today, when Capgemini announced that they will collaborate with Amazon Web Services by forming a new Center of Excellence focused on Cloud Computing—and AWS in particular. This means that Capgemini will have a team of Amazon Web Services-trained professionals, located in North America, Europe and India, to provide a variety of services. They will initially focus on three enterprise use cases: Microsoft SharePoint in the cloud, Oracle ERP in the cloud, and Application Development and Testing in the cloud. Capgemini is headquartered in Paris, France and operates in more than 36 countries with 86,000 people in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.

Ecosystems are important. In traditional computing environments a healthy ecosystem includes ISVs, Solution Integrators, and Solution Providers—just to name a few. We're starting to see the same ecosystem form around Amazon Web Services, which not only validates the platform: it provides value to Enterprise customers who want to move their operations into the cloud.

You can read the complete press release here.

Private cloud networks are the future of corporate IT

Gartnerの予測によると、Private Cloud Computing環境が企業にとって重要な位置づけをもつ、ということ。 

 

Bechtel社のように既に自社内のデータセンタをGoogleのような環境に変えている企業も出てきている。 

 

ただ、Gartnerの他の予測と同様に、すべての企業に当てはまる話では無さそうであるし、実現にはまだ数年もかかる、と考えられている。 

 

 

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Google-like clouds all the rage, Gartner predicts

By Jon Brodkin , Network World , 11/12/2008

The future of corporate IT is in private clouds, flexible computing networks modeled after public providers such as Google and Amazon yet built and managed internally for each business's users, the analyst firm Gartner says.

Cloud computing hype centers largely around the outsourcing of IT needs to cloud services available over the Internet. While this trend is expected to accelerate, Gartner predicts it will also become standard for large companies to build their own highly automated private cloud networks in which all resources can be managed from a single point and assigned to applications or services as needed. "Our belief is the future of internal IT is very much a private cloud," says Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman."Our clients want to know 'what is Google's secret? What is Microsoft's secret?' There is huge interest in being able to get learnings from the cloud."

Bittman discussed Gartner's predictions in an interview with Network World, and will detail them again next month at the analyst firm's annual Data Center Conference in Las Vegas in a presentation titled "The Future of Infrastructure and Operations: The Engine of Cloud Computing."

While Bittman says it will take years for private clouds to develop, some early adopters are already "Google-izing" their own data centers. Bechtel, for instance, is using the software-as-a-service computing model internally to provide IT services to 30,000 users, in a project that relies heavily on server and storage virtualization. (Compare storage products.) 

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Server virtualization is key to building internal as well as external clouds, Bittman says, noting that Amazon hosts applications in Xen virtual machines. But server virtualization is only one of several necessary layers.

A meta operating system -- similar to VMware's recently developed Virtual Datacenter Operating System -- will be necessary to manage an enterprise's distributed resources as one computing pool, Bittman adds.

Specifically, the meta operating system is "a virtualization layer between applications and distributed computing resources … that utilizes distributed computing resources to perform scheduling, loading, initiating, supervising applications and error handling."

But the meta operating system only provides the muscles of a distributed environment, Bittman says. Another layer, which Gartner calls a service governor, will have to provide the brains, making decisions about where to allocate computing resources.