On 30 – 31 March 2009, at Weston Manor, Oxford a group of senior IT architects from across the industry met to consider the coming ‘Cloud’. What it is, what it means for business and the software profession and what has Microsoft been up to in the cloud. Access a snapshot of these discussions through 2 short videos: | 1. Cloud Computing - What it means to the user | 2. Cloud Computing – What Microsoft is doing |
Datacentres: Propping up the UK Economy Lead members of the Intellect UKCDO (UK Council of Datacentre Operators) Working Group presented the draft report on the state of the data centre industry. The report seeks to: clarify the complex structure of the data centre industry; explain the vital role played by the industry in supporting both the public and private sector; highlight some of the problems facing developers, owner operators, and energy providers, and the solutions that exist; and prepare stakeholders for the future needs and demands of the industry. Its primary aim being to open up the debate between industry and government. For more information on the UK Council of Data Centre Operators For more information on Intellect Microsoft Online Services - current and future state Peter King, Office Server Group Manager of the Microsoft Business Division provided a detailed review of the current state of Microsoft Online Services and the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), he provided details the current offering and where this strategy is headed. As of Friday 24th April, BPOS is now commercially available in the UK and across Europe offering hosted Exchange, Sharepoint, Live meeting and Communication Server for start-ups through to large enterprise organisations. For more details see BPOS Overview Playing Cloud Bingo! Jon Collins, Managing Director of Freeform Dynamics gave an account of where we are in cloud maturity – not very far according to Jon, but with much potential and therefore it’s something to watch closely, things are moving fast and the impact could be significant, just make sure you do your due diligence and check your chute before you decide to jump from the plane! Click here to see the deck Buying, building and sharing your cloud? The Cloud can mean many things to many people, but really they all just boil down to three types of cloud, public, private and shared ... or do they? Mark Powell, Chief Architect, Zurich Financial Services presented his view on buying, building or sharing your cloud. Click here to view the presentation slides Preparing for the Cloud Easyjet have long made use of hosted services so the cloud looks pretty straight forward. However, it quickly affects how one looks at IT strategy and software development as a whole in terms of consuming cloud services. Andy Caddy, Head of Enterprise Architecture at Easyjet gave an account of life at Easyjet as the prepare to embrace the cloud. Click here to view the presentation slides The Cloud: the BIG CIO Question So what is the cloud? Can we put a definition together that cuts through all this fluff and hype? What's out there today and what can we expect tomorrow? What does cloud mean to the enterprise? What are the key opportunities and challenges? Is cloud the great white hope or is there the rumble of thunder ahead? A moderated discussion took place to try and demystify the cloud and identify what it means to enterprise organisations. The mind map generated from the session below provides some clues as to where the answers might lie. Click here to view the mind map Global Foundation Services: next generation data centres GFS manages all of Microsoft’s online activities from MSN, Live through to BPOS and the emerging cloud platform Azure. So what does a mega-scale data centre look like? In what way are its problems the same as the average DC and how do they differ? What is the roadmap and strategy for GFS and can we really envisage the ideal of Green IT through this type of approach? John Dwyer, International Area Data Centre Manager at Microsoft gave the group an insight into what Microsoft as in store. Click here to see the presentation slides Azure Services Platform update Windows Azure and the Microsoft Azure Platform represents Microsoft’s first major step into the worl of cloud computing at the building-block or developer level. James Connard, Senior Director, Azure Services, .NET, and Visual Studio Evangelism and Matt Rogers, Senior Field Marketing Manager of Microsoft Corp made the journey over to meet the group and provide an overview and update of the new platform and the immediate roadmap. Key areas that are still NDA were shared including that of the all important SLA and pricing models. Click here to see the presentation slides Participating Organisations: AstraZeneca PLC, Atos Origin, Avanade, Bank of America, BP, British Energy, Carbonflame, Centrica, Clifford Chance, Conchango, Easyjet, EDS, Freeform Dynamics, Logica CMG, Nationwide, Royal Mail, Solidsoft, Solidsoft, SunGardps, Unisys, Zurich |