Cloud clout: Who are the real powers in the cloud?
Published: 18 May 2009 14:39 BST
CLOUD'S BIG FIVE: HP
HP has been a relatively low-key advocate of the cloud concept, but nonetheless the company is influential because of its presence in the datacentre and its strength at board level via its acquisition of EDS in August 2008. For the moment, the supplier is positioning itself more as a provider of enabling technology for the cloud than a cloud services provider, but it will undoubtedly follow the money as the market evolves.
How long has HP operated in the cloud space?
Its first service delivered using a cloud computing-based infrastructure was launched in 2004.
What cloud services does it provide and what is the pricing model?
HP's web-based services delivered using a cloud-computing infrastructure include its pay-as-you-go Snapfish, which provides digital photo printing services, and MagCloud, a self-publishing service to enable individuals or small businesses to print their own books and magazines. It costs $0.20 per page, plus shipping.
HP Labs is working with Intel and Yahoo to provide researchers and academics with a test bed. The aim is to enable academic institutions to test out application requirements in a cloud environment to understand the character of workloads and how they behave. HP Labs will use the findings to see whether existing technology stacks are good enough for future requirements and work out how best to develop its cloud infrastructure.
What back-end cloud infrastructure does HP have in place?
The vendor does not have specific cloud datacentres, but uses capacity in its own and EDS facilities across the world.
How does it position itself in terms of cloud computing?
Ian Brooks, HP's head of innovation and sustainable computing for the UK and Ireland, says: "Consumers and smaller companies are looking at services being provided through the public cloud and we've had offerings in that area for a while. Enterprises with complex business models, however, want the value that cloud can offer, but are not willing to go down the public internet path. So they're looking at helping them to develop flexible, easy-to-deploy architectures internally.
"We provide the underpinning technology and can either build them a 'private' cloud or offer it on a more intranet-style basis with overflow compute capabilities as well. We can also provide the enabling technology and build the infrastructure for public cloud providers as well as overflow compute capabilities too. But the cloud is a moving market so we'll move with it and see where it needs to go."
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