James Carlini

When it comes to procurement, any technology or service should be evaluated with a good set of criteria. Executive decisions should not be weighted solely on a single selection criterion such as price. This applies to any cloud computing service as well. The twelve criteria listed below (see Chart 1) forces executives to take a broader review of the many elements of the total cloud computing service, and not just price. Each criteria starts with an R, F, or P which makes it easy to remember the total framework for the Yardstick for Technology Procurement (RFP). Chart 1: Yardstick for Technology Procurement (RFP) RELIABILITY At what percentage of reliability is the service? 99.9% 99.99? 99.995? How is this measured? What costs are associated with increasing reliability? (Cost/Benefit Analysis) REDUNDANCY Can the system survive a major disaster or is there a single ... (more)

Cloud Computing and Precision Time Protocol (PTP)

If cloud computing is going to spread to more mission-critical type applications, it needs to get more accurate when it comes to transaction-based applications. Trying to keep everything in a structured framework is going to require a more rigorous network infrastructure that includes timing down to milliseconds, if not nanoseconds. One way to accomplish this is to use the IEEE 1588 protocol or "Precision Time Protocol" (PTP), which provides timing. In an earlier article entitled, "Cloud Transaction Synchronicity," I discussed the need for this type of capability if financial or... (more)

Cloud Transaction Synchronicity

High-Frequency Trading (HFT) and secret algorithms have become the new competitive strategy in today's global financial industry. The faster traders can turn around trades, the faster they can get in and out of quick markets and short time pockets of opportunity. Having accurate records of when a transaction occurs is critical as to processing the trade and valuating the transaction. There are many articles and white papers discussing cloud computing and shared services. New services that are being touted are things like SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service),... (more)

Cloud Computing: Beyond Best Practices

"How resilient are the cloud computing solutions being sold today?" This appears to be a question not asked often enough by those who are immediately lured by the hyped positives of the concept before there is enough data to substantiate the claims made by the vendors as well as the documentation of failures of applications. One concept that I have preached and that has held true for decades is "leading-edge organizations do not maintain their position with trailing-edge technologies." The need to constantly evaluate, assess, select and apply new technology-driven capabilities i... (more)

Cloud Computing Connectors: Beware of Counterfeits

If you are a corporate executive contemplating adding some applications in a cloud computing network, be very aware of the vendors as well as your own internal system architects and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) when they start talking about cost-effective networks, cheaper components and saving you money. What many network pseudo-experts don't know is that you don't build cheap networks. There are no "Fire Sales" on quality, especially when it comes to network infrastructures. Like anything else, you get what you pay for when it comes to buying the pieces for your network ju... (more)