CloudCamp is different. It discards all of the baggage of traditional conferences and crowdsources the whole thing. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your background is, if you’re interested in cloud computing you’re welcome to attend! Anyone is welcome to lead a session and anyone is welcome to attend. But it’s democratic: Attendees who aren’t interested will vote with their feet and go to another session! It’s also totally open: Attendees can and will interrupt and guide the conversation in a more helpful direction.

It sounds like anarchy, but it works. That’s why I’m delighted to attend, and why I think you should come, too! If you can attend, please drop me a line and we will meet up. If not, watch Twitter for #CloudCamp updates!

What: CloudCamp Boston

Where: Microsoft Office, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142

When: July 29th 3:00 PM – 9:00 PM

How: Register for free at EventBrite

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Boston Folks: Come to CloudCamp!
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Check out these detailed posts on cloud storage I wrote for my other blog, Enterprise Storage Strategies:

• Cloud Storage, Storage in the Cloud, and Cloudy Storage Systems
• What Makes Cloud Storage Different from Traditional SAN and NAS?

Eventually, it dawned on me: There’s a big difference between real cloudstuff and plain old stuff in the cloud!

Lots of cloud computing offerings are startlingly conventional. They’re plain-jane IT infrastructure just like we all have today: Virtual servers, storage, and databases. Strip away the management API and self-service model and Amazon EC2 and EBS looks an awful lot like the Xen-based virtual server infrastructure you might find at any old IT shop. The same goes for Rackspace’s Mosso Cloud Servers: They’re extremely similar to Rackspace’s Slicehost virtual private servers!

This isn’t all bad, of course. As I discussed with EMC’s Barry Burke last week, you can theoretically run your ERP application on EC2 without major gyrations. Try that with Microsoft Azure or Google App Engine! And the management layers, especially those from companies like RightScale, turn these run-of-the-mill parts into something really extraordinary! VMware’s vCloud concept really hammers home this evolution-not-revolution mindset.

Real cloudstuff is completely different. Comparing a Xen instance running Linux on some disk (a-la EC2) to a programmable platform like Azure is problematic. Just about the only thing they have in common (apart from the cloud name) is the fact that they’re hosted on multi-tenant servers and offered to the public on a pay-per-usage model. Cloudstuff is the IT revolution that application developers have dreamed of!

Of course, the problem with whole-cloth reinvention is that it’s slow to take hold. Although net-new apps can be built to take advantage of full-on cloud infrastructure today, it will literally be a decade before the corporate IT applications we all rely on will run there. The early adopters will be companies like Microsoft and Google, who have a vested interest in seeing the concept succeed and the development muscle to make it happen.

Then there are the bridges between today’s world and this cloudstuff future. Consider applications like Nirvanix CloudNAS and Jungle Disk: They hide the complexity of API-driven cloud storage behind the familiar face of file server or backup application. Once the data is loaded, cloud-aware applications can access it. This is where the magic happens!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | CloudStuff Versus Stuff in the Cloud
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

I’m really looking forward to joining the CloudCamp “unconference” movement, and will be heading to Columbus, Ohio, at the end of this month for my first Camp!

What’s an “unconference” like CloudCamp? As I discussed on the InfoSmack podcast, it’s a real revolution in the way tech conferences are held. Rather than herding attendees around like cattle and selling them to sponsors (who buy pricey booths and speaking slots), unconferences are user-driven. Think about the difference between a wiki or forum and a corporate web site and you’re getting the idea. When you attend a ‘Camp like this, you are invited to actively participate and even present!

End-user interaction was always the best source of information for me when I went to conferences and expos like Storage Decisions, and CloudCamp is the purest format for this. Many camps are presented in association with other conferences, planned either ahead or behind the main show to share attendees. In my eyes, unconferences are an ideal parallel to the development of business development events like the BD Event recently held in Boston.

If you’re interested in real cloud computing without the hype, why not head to the nearest CloudCamp? And if you happen to be near Columbus, Ohio on June 30, join me at CloudCamp Columbus!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Join Me At CloudCamp Columbus, June 30, 2009!
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.