Articles by Alan Williamson

Cloud Computing Bootcamp Announces Special Guest Appearance

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:00:00 EST

The biggest problem we have is trying to figure out what to leave out, because we simply have too much to present. Attendees are going to get a real hands-on feel for how they can utilize the world of on-demand computing. It won't be a sit-back-and-listen day, it's a true hands-on, sleeves-rolled up full day. We will be going through all aspects of cloud management, giving you a flavor of many of the different tools and techniques out there so you can decide which one fits in with your way of working, instead of feeling there is only one route to cloud nirvana.

Is Aptana Really a Cloud?

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:00:00 EST

The line between what is considered a cloud and what is paramount to hosting is a blurry line at the best of times. What qualifies a companies offering as a cloud based product offering? That is a question that is continually debated in the cloud circles and no one has really yet to offer a real concrete reason. Setting aside all the marketing buzzwords that will get thrown in "scalability" / "on-demand" / "deploy", a cloud offering has to deliver on its hype.

Clouds Do Blow Away - Live With It

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EDT

If you were to believe the hype from the media and certain so called industry experts, you would be forgiven for thinking that cloud computing is the second coming. The answer to all our scaling and usage problems. Everything to everyone. The notion that the "cloud" is always on, or up, is a myth that is being propogated, irresponsibly, around the corridors of tech. As they say, what goes up must come down and software is no different.

"Clouds" Is a Place on the Earth

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

As the popular Belinda Carlisle song, Heaven is a place on earth, goes, while we talk about all this virtualised computing power and clouds, somewhere there is a real physical CPU doing real work somewhere on earth. In some data center your cloud application is taking up physical space, using real power, creating an impact somewhere, and flashing an LED in some network panel. We often get ahead of ourselves and talk about the unlimited cloud computing available to us, but in reality everything has limits, and cloud computing is no different.

Microsoft's Azure Bullet Points

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Microsoft have done far more than simply follow others. They have created a complete new platform that leverages much of what the likes of Amazon, Google, Sales Force, Open Social API, all are doing in their own spaces but bringing them together. While sign-ups are being accepted to test this new platform, details on pricing are not available, so we have no real way to compare how more expensive or cheaper it is going to say switch storing our data in Microsoft's Azure platform compared to say Amazon's S3 or Nirvanix. But this announcement will definitely appease the .NET developers and have them all breath a sign of relief that their favourite big brother hasn't let them down and forced them to learn python to utilize Google's App Engine.

Cloud Computing Bootcamp: Amazon Raising the Bar Again with EC2 Load Balancing

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:26:00 EDT

Amazon made a special announcement today that they have officially thrown off their "beta" tag and are in full production. What does it mean? Well to the users of their web services absolutely nothing. It will be business as usual, except now, you know it comes with an SLA. Amazon are making big strides in the world of "on demand" computing or "cloud computing". They are setting the standards to which others can only dream of reaching or matching. They have taken this opportunity to give the public at large an 'official' peak at what is coming up in the new year for EC2.

Cloud Computing Bootcamp Announced, Learn What All the Fuss Is About

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:15:00 EDT

Everywhere you look, someone somewhere is talking about clouds. Cloud this, cloud that, what on earth is all this fuss about? Well the good news, as with most technologies it's never as complicated as the marketing hype would lead you to believe. We've been working in the 'cloud' world for over 2 years now, with many a large installation under our belts. We've worked with all the major cloud providers and deploying fault tolerant solutions both within and outwith the cloud.

Cloud Computing Bootcamp: Profiling Netbeans within Amazon EC2

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EDT

It was only a matter of time before we started seeing real how-to's pop up on how we can start profiling our Java applications running deep within the cloud. When my long term friend and colleague, Kirk Pepperdine, started talking about taking his world class Java performance tuning skills out of the server room and into the clouds I was excited. He's just getting started, with this handy start-up for getting your live clouded Java applications directly profiled using Netbeans.

Updated Simple Java API class for Amazon SimpleDB

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Cloud computing is an opportunity for businesses to implement low-cost, low-power and high-efficiency systems to deliver scalable infrastructure. But moving to a cloud infrastructure is not necessarily as nice and clean as the providers would want you to think. With cloud infrastructures problems don't magically go away; they just shift: you don't have scalability or storage problems any more, but you need to constantly monitor the cloud and your application in it.

Amazon S3 and How to Calculate Your Cloud Storage Costs

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:45:00 EDT

Amazon announced today they are changing the price for their S3 data storage service. In face of current credit crunch, they are bucking the trend and making their services even cheaper, particuraly for the seriously high volume users. If you are pushing a lot traffic through Amazon S3 then you will notice a small decrease in your monthly bill come the 1st of November.

Cloud Computing Is Real and It's Changing How We in the Software World Work

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Cloud computing is real. Cloud computing is changing how we in the software world work. But it is not everything to everyone and it is definitely not the second coming that will change how we all interact on the Internet. While I respect Stephen Fry hugely, I find myself a little disappointed that he has jumped onto marketing hype and taken his legion of followers off on the wrong direction. I expected more.

Time for VMWare to Change Its Pricing Model

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:15:00 EDT

The once darling of the software industry, VMWare, is currently struggling to recover to anything close to what it was. With stock once riding high at $124 per share, it is now struggling to break the $40 barrier. VMWare rode the initial wave of the virtualization revolution, producing high quality software to allow you to run and maintain multiple operating systems on one host. They were largely uncompeted for a number of years, but now that the computing world has decided that virtualization is indeed here to stay and will shape our landscape, a number of competitors have appeared, including solutions from Microsoft.

Google Web Toolkit: Finally Java Has Been Put into JavaScript!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:15:00 EDT

For many years, Java and web developers alike have had to explain to the unwitting that JavaScript had absolutely nothing to do with Java. It was one of the great marketing gaffes of the mid-90s. They were no more alike than chalk and cheese. But in the last six months, I have had to lay down my placard and walk away from the picket line with a smile on my face and skip in my step. Finally Java has been put into JavaScript.

How to Create a Gadget for Google Desktop

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:15:00 EDT

Have you played with Google's Desktop tool? This is basically a strip on the side of your screen that lets you house small applications, called Gadgets. The tool is available for Windows, Linux and Mac so no matter your vice there is a flavour for you. There is a wide variety of Gadgets available, ranging from the usual news tickers and clocks right through to games and even being able to vote if a girl is hot or not!

As a Zimbra User I'm Not Sure If This is Good News or Not...

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:15:00 EDT

Yahoo has agreed to purchase Zimbra, the open source enterprise mail server company, for approximately $350M. As a Zimbra user, I am not sure if this is good news or not. Definitely good news for the employees, shareholders and investors for Zimbra. Although, it doesn't sound a lot of money in this day and age of startup buyouts, for a company that has very little of their own IPR, but a great packager of open source components this is quite a bit of change.

Zimbra 5 Takes a Step Closer with Beta 3

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:15:00 EDT

Another big surprise, and to the relief of many a system administrator, is that Apache Tomcat is out. Instead Jetty is the new underlying servlet engine that will make the whole thing tick. I have long ditched Tomcat in favor of Jetty; principal reasons include much faster start up time, lower memory usage and a darn sight easier to configure. I really get bored when I look at a Tomcat installation and think to myself, there is more to life than this endless directory/xml file nonsense.

VMware Virtualization for the Children

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:15:00 EDT

If you're a parent, then you'll have been through it. Your son or daughter wants to play on your computer and before you know it, you've given yourself up to the wonders of CBEEBIES and Club Penguin on MiniClip. This is all fine and dandy until they stray to another site and boom a whole bunch of popups start appearing, and various custom cursors are installed. And this is with FireFox forced as their browser! My boys have access to the internet whenever they want. If our laptops aren't being used, then are free to go on them whenever they way. Whether its playing music, watching YouTube, Skyping with their cousins, there is a whole host of things for them to experience.

Open Source Java? - Why on Earth Would I Want That?

Wed, 23 May 2007 21:00:00 EDT

This week at LinuxWorld Laurie Tolson gave reporters an update on the planned release of Java and its associated tools under an open source license. By the end of the year, javac and the hot spot compiler will be released. The precise license details haven't yet been announced yet - that is the part of the equation they are wrestling with the most since there are components within the JDK that aren't theirs to open source. Politics and licenses aside, let us look at what this means for the humble Java developer, the troops in the trenches churning out code daily.

Sun Swings and Misses Once Again with JavaFX

Sun, 13 May 2007 09:15:00 EDT

It really is our own fault; we have come to expect too much of Sun. They are like that lovable uncle we have. They have the best stories at the dinner table, but if you look around at the other adults, they are all rolling their eyes and laughing politely. They always promise they are going to show up at your major event, but and if they do arrive, it's generally very late and with the most inappropriate gift.

Installing Java ... not for the faint hearted

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:00:00 EDT

At the weekend my cousin innocently commented to me that he was having some problems with his Java installation and asked if I could have a look for him. He manages a fleet of lorries that go all over Europe and one of the tools he has is a real time tracker of where every driver and vehicle is. This is given to him via a Java applet within a management web site. It is works beautifully on his machine at work, but wanted to keep an eye on things when he was at home.

Open Source "Spying" On Open Source: The CIA Project

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 02:00:00 EDT

'Commit reporting has been done before,' Micah Dowty tells LinuxWorld Magazine's founding editor Alan Williamson in this exclusive interview at the recent Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco, 'but one of the things that makes CIA really unique is that it brings projects together into a larger community.' There are several large projects that are making use of CIA and showing their support by linking to the web interface, Dowty says. Gaim, AnhkSVN, Enlightenment, Gentoo, Adium, and Beagle are just a few of the larger projects that use CIA and link to it prominently on their web sites.

Kontek Industries Invited to the Prestigious Force Protection Equipment Demonstration at Quantico

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 13:30:00 EDT

Kontek Industries announced today that it has been selected to demonstrate its steel bollards, vehicle barriers, mobile troop housing with mortar shield roof, erectable mortar shield canopy, and .50 caliber armor-proof, blast-tested guardhouse, at the invitation-only 5th Force Protection Equipment Demonstration (FPED) at Quantico Marine Corps Base, Virginia, next week. FPED provides a venue to show state-of-the-art, commercial off-the-shelf force protection equipment to senior leaders and decision makers from the Department of Defense, federal departments, and agencies. For more information about FPED V go to: http://www.fped5.org/ .

CD Group Offers Customers New Choices with Microsoft(R) Business Solutions - Axapta(R)

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 13:00:00 EDT

CD Group, a national consulting firm providing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions to mid-market and enterprise companies, today announced it has signed an agreement with Microsoft(R) to sell Microsoft Business Solutions- Axapta(R) to clients across North America. The agreement extends CD Group's offerings to its mid-market and enterprise customers to now include the Microsoft Axapta product suite.

Presentación de Swisscom Broadcast Ltd. a través de la tecnología NetCracker

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:55:00 EDT

Analysts International to Schedule First Quarter Conference Call After Filing of S-4 Registration Statement With SEC

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:30:00 EDT

Analysts International announced today that the Company will schedule its regular quarterly conference call after the Company and Computer Horizons Corp. have filed their Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing is expected to take place in May.

Renaissance Learning, Inc. Teams Up with Sagebrush Corporation

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:01:00 EDT

Renaissance Learning(R), Inc., , a leading provider of learning information systems and school improvement programs for pre-K-12 schools, today announced a partnership with Sagebrush Corporation, which will further strengthen the distribution of its reading products. Sagebrush, a leader in providing technology, services, and educational resources to K-12 schools will distribute Renaissance Learning's reading solutions, including Accelerated Reader, STAR Reading, STAR Early Literacy, Fluent Reader, and Read Now. Renaissance reading solutions have been adopted in more than 63,000 schools.

Swisscom Broadcast Ltd. live mit NetCracker

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:00:00 EDT

KongZhong Corporation Appoints Senior Vice President of Finance

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 10:00:00 EDT

KongZhong Corporation , a leading provider of advanced second-generation (2.5G) wireless value-added services in China, announces that Mr. JP Gan has accepted an offer from the Company to be the Senior Vice President of Finance, effective May 16, 2005. Mr. Gan will report to Nick Yang, the Company's Co-founder and President, who will continue to oversee the financial department's day-to-day operations as the Company's acting Chief Financial Officer.

GoldenPalace.com lanza myCitadel

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 08:53:00 EDT

Citadel Commerce Corp, empresa líder de proceso de pagos a través de Internet, ha anunciado que GoldenPalace.com ofrece ahora myCitadel como opción de pago instantáneo en sus páginas web.

DiGi Telecommunications Selects Video Streaming Services From LogicaCMG

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:00:00 EDT

LogicaCMG today announced it has won a contract with DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi), a prepaid mobile market leader in Malaysia, to deploy Next Generation video streaming services in partnership with Nextreaming and Inphosoft.

MTS stellt neue elektromechanische Testlösung vor

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 04:05:00 EDT

ITC^DeltaCom Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 21:07:00 EDT

ITC^DeltaCom, Inc. , a leading provider of integrated communications services to customers in the southeastern United States, today announced that Richard E. Fish has been appointed the Company's Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Fish joined ITC^DeltaCom in February 2005 as Chief Administrative Officer and brings more than seventeen years of diverse financial and strategic management, business development and operational experience to the Company.

Bodog.com jetzt mit myCitadel

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 20:24:00 EDT

Citadel Commerce Corp, ein führender Internet-Zahlungsverarbeiter, gibt bekannt, dass Bodog.com jetzt myCitadel als Lösung für Sofortzahlungen auf ihren Webseiten anbietet.

WEGENER Exhibits at NAB 2005

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 20:08:00 EDT

Wegener Corporation , a leading provider of television, radio and data distribution networks worldwide, today is exhibiting their products at National Association of Broadcasters 2005 Exhibition in Las Vegas. The show runs from Monday, April 18 through Thursday, April 21, 2005.

FullTilt Solutions Reports Record Sales Results

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 18:03:00 EDT

FullTilt Solutions, Inc., a provider of Enterprise Product Information Management (PIM) software solutions that make perfect product information possible, today announced record sales growth for the quarter ending March 31, 2005. Revenue bookings increased 200% over the comparable quarter in fiscal year 2004, with major new contract wins in the consumer packaged goods, distribution, MRO and electronics markets.

Carle Foundation Hospital Improves Availability of Medical Care With Marconi's ViPr Virtual Presence System

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 17:27:00 EDT

Marconi Corporation plc

Adelphia Taps Motorola to Grow High Speed Data and Rollout New Voice Services

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 17:12:00 EDT

Motorola, Inc. has been selected by Adelphia Communications to provide the Motorola Broadband Services Router (BSR) family of products for deployment of advanced data services. This latest selection further establishes the BSR 64000 as an industry leading carrier-class CMTS/edge router and Motorola as a major supplier of Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) solutions to the top cable systems in the United States.

US LEC Corp. to Broadcast First Quarter 2005 Conference Call Live on the Internet

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 17:00:00 EDT

US LEC Corp. , a telecommunications carrier serving businesses and enterprise organizations throughout the Eastern United States, today announced it will provide an online Web simulcast and rebroadcast of its first quarter 2005 conference call on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at 1:00 pm Eastern time.

Bodog.com Launches myCitadel

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 16:05:00 EDT

Citadel Commerce Corp, a leading Internet payment processor, announces that Bodog.com is now offering myCitadel as an instant payment option on their websites.

LendingTree Settlement Services Gains Momentum by Streamlining Another Segment of the Loan Process

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 14:02:00 EDT

LendingTree Settlement Services, LLC (LTSS), which was created in 2004 through a joint venture between LendingTree, LLC and GreenLink, LLC, has gained considerable momentum in the four months since fulfilling its first order. LTSS provides real estate-secured settlement services that enable lenders and REALTORS(R) to offer consumers competitive prices on title, appraisal, flood, and closing services. This simplifies the process of closing loans by streamlining settlement activities and reducing last-minute closing emergencies.