SQL seems to be somewhat old fashioned when it comes to scalable databases in
the cloud. Non-relational databases (also called NoSQL) seem to take over in
most data storage fields. But why do those databases seem to be more popular
than the "classic" relational databases? Is it due to the fact that
professors at universities "tortured" us with relational databases and
therefore reduced our interest - the interest of the "new" generation for
relational databases? Or are there some hard facts that tell us why
relational databases are somewhat out of date?
I was at a user group meeting in Austria, Vienna, one month ago where I
talked about NoSQL databases. The topic seemed to be of interest to a lot of
people. However, we sat together for about four hours (my talk was planned
for one hour only) discussing NoSQL versus SQL. I decided to summarize some
of the ideas in a... (more)
To understand Windows Azure and the Azure Services Platform, it's necessary
to understand how the Microsoft Datacenters work. This article provides an
overview of how Microsoft Designs their datacenters and why the Generation 4
Datacenters are so revolutionary.
The Building of Datacenters
Microsoft has been building data centers for a long time. One of the
best-known services Microsoft offers is Windows Update, which delivers
updates as part of their content delivery network all over the world. But
this is not the only product Microsoft's Datacenters are famous for. Other
import... (more)
I've done a Windows Azure Series together with Mario Szpusta, Software
Architect Evangelist at Microsoft Austria on Windows Azure. The Series is in
German and I decided to bring it to Cloud Computing Journal. I will modify
some of the articles to bring them up-to-date. This series will cover about
15 articles that will be published once a week.
What Is Windows Azure?
Windows Azure is Microsoft's Platform as a Service offering for Cloud
Computing. There are three major fields in Windows Azure. Figure 1 provides
an overview of the platform.
Figure 1
The three fields are Windows A... (more)
1. We will face the challenge to new Software Architectures
Cloud Computing Platforms such as Windows Azure, Amazon EC2 and Google
AppEngine give us a lot of options to built great software on top of these
plattforms. The main challenge we face is that current Software Architectures
might not be ready for these challenges. We need to rethink how we built our
software in terms of elasticity and scalability.
2. Microsoft will present Windows 8 with huge Cloud Support
Microsoft will soon present Windows 8. Cloud Computing will be integrated in
the system and the new OS will focus on th... (more)
I had the opportunity to talk to Mark Raskino, Vice President at Gartner, at
the "UT Messa" in Reykjavik (Iceland). Mark is one of the authors of the book
Mastering the Gartner Hype-Cycle. At the conference, Mark gave the keynote,
and I presented a talk on Cloud Computing. This interview is about how to
Master the Gartner Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing. This interview represents
Mark's opinion, not the opinion of his employer Gartner.
Mario Meir-Huber: We currently have the IT trend "Cloud Computing" and it's
interesting to compare this trend to the "Cloud." Where would you see th... (more)
Mario Meir-Huber studied Information Systems at the University of Linz. He worked in the IT sector for some years before founding CodeForce, an IT consulting and services company together with Andreas Aschauer. Since the advent of Cloud Computing, he has been passionate about this technology. He talks about Cloud Computing at various international events and conferences and writes for industry-leading magazines on cloud computing. He is Cloud Computing expert in various independent IT organizations and wrote a book on Cloud Computing covering all topics of the Cloud. You can follow Mario on Twitter (@mario_mh) or read his Blog at http://cloudvane.wordpress.com.
Amit Gupta
Tim Ober
Stefano Bellasio
Ben Johnson
Ben McCormack
Colin Ritchie
Mario Blandini
Vaibhaw Pandey
Slavik Markovich
