cloud computing
Gifford, Geoffrey
Dear OS4B members,
How do you feel about training people how to use “cloud” based services?
This could include anything from:
- a discussion of the strategic (managers) view; or
- a lesson on the low level technical aspects of using a cloud service provider - (eg) Amazon Web Services?
Please let me know your thoughts?
Kind regards
Geoff Gifford
nti Manager
T: 08451221555
M: 07825010383
nti
Leeds Metropolitan University
Old Broadcasting House, 148 Woodhouse Lane,
Leeds LS2 9EN
Liz Cable
Reach Further offers this, as a two hour workshop/taster, and as a one day course/blended with online support for 6 weeks afterwards.
We also talk about open source, very much from a business persons point of view.
Cost savings, efficiency, accessibility etc.
Using eventbrite, highrise, liquid accounts, googleapps, etc
versus
Sugar CRM, Moodle, Open Office
It really opens peoples eyes, and they get very excited about the potential to put systems into their business that they thought they couldn't afford.
What do other people think?
Liz
Gifford, Geoffrey wrote:
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Gifford, Geoffrey
Thanks for info Liz,
I think there is definitely place for this; but I was thinking something of a more strategic overview (possibly taking the format of an event) and then training for the lower level products like Amazon Web Service and others.
In other words, rather than only talking about products within the Software as a Service Arena, I am thinking of a distillation of the various concepts including Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and then Infrastructure as a Service.
Also, discovering where there are emerging opportunities – not only for service use but also possible business opportunities for application vendors, etc.
By the way, do you ever use Salesforce as an example of a Cloud Service? It seems to be regularly referred to as a contender.
Kind regards
Geoff Gifford
nti Manager
T: 08451221555
M: 07825010383
nti
Leeds Metropolitan University
Old Broadcasting House, 148 Woodhouse Lane,
Leeds LS2 9EN
Liz Cable
Yes, this is all good too. I think an event to find out the need is good (or to establish it) like the taster week you are currently advertising.
No we don't use salesforce, it is too "salesy" for us, as we offer consultancy and ongoing partnership. So far SUGAR CRM is turning out well for us, concentrating more on tracking customer queries and project tasks. It is a well-recommended product though.
Best wishes, Liz
Neil Warnock
Just FYI we use salesforce extensively across the organisation. It does indeed track prospectsand has more of a sales focus than sugarCRM. It also has a massive number of 3rd party add ons and interfaces via appexchange and has its own saas ntegration platform - force.com. We use intacct accounts globally as a cloud service - it integrates with salesforce.com well. Just FYI
Neil
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
From: Liz Cable
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:30:49 +0000
Emma....@yorkshire-forward.com
Hello,
I have to say I’m not sure about this, after all it’s not really open source is it? I think Cloud Computing is great and there are lots of events that are starting to look at this (in fact there is an event at the Workstation in Sheffield tomorrow night with a speaker on Cloud Computing and one on Green Computing) I’m just not sure if it’s a fit for OS4B. Especially if you’re going to start talking about *paid* services such as Amazon’s offering.
If I’m not seeing the OS fit feel free to disagree with me!
Kind regards,
Emma
Emma Frost
Sector Development Executive
Digital & New Media
Blog: http://digitalyorkshire.blogspot.com/
Yorkshire Forward, Victoria House,
2
Victoria Place, Leeds, LS11 5AE
TEL 0113 394 9615 FAX 0113 243 3930
MOB 07734 488327
emma....@yorkshire-forward.com
www.digitalyorkshire.org.uk
We’re here to improve the region’s economy by:
Helping people get jobs
Developing our towns and cities
Helping businesses find new markets
In 2007-08 we created or safeguarded 25,456 jobs, assisted 35,165 people in skills, created 1,231 businesses and attracted over £1 billion in investment.
Visit our website at www.yorkshire-forward.com
From: os...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:os...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Gifford,
Geoffrey
Sent: 26 January 2009 17:20
To: os...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [os4b] Re: cloud
computing
Thanks for info Liz,
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Seb James
wrote:
>
>
>
> I have to say I’m not sure about this, after all it’s not really open
> source is it? I think Cloud Computing is great and there are lots of
> events that are starting to look at this (in fact there is an event at
> the Workstation in Sheffield tomorrow night with a speaker on Cloud
> Computing and one on Green Computing) I’m just not sure if it’s a fit
> for OS4B. Especially if you’re going to start talking about *paid*
> services such as Amazon’s offering.
>
>
>
> If I’m not seeing the OS fit feel free to disagree with me!
By way of introduction, as I've not posted before: My name is Seb James,
I'm the tech guy in a startup called WML (wmltd.co.uk), based in
Sheffield/Doncaster. Our open source angle is that we use free software
as the base on which we build our network printing appliances, which
contain both free software and proprietary programs. We also sell a thin
client (the OS is our own Linux distro). We use the same hardware for
both the network appliances and the thin client.
Of course, we also use a GNU/Linux development environment; the best IDE
on the planet!
I think Emma Frost is right to bring up this subject of the proprietary
nature of many cloud computing offerings, and this distinction should be
made clear to any event attendees.
I'd suggest that on-line application services ARE still relevant when
considering the use of open source software. While it's possible to
replace many proprietary apps such as a word processor with open source
alternatives, most businesses will find that there is some application
that they can't get, or they may just find that the open source version
of the application, while available, may be too difficult or expensive
to implement (I speak with personal experience of SQL-Ledger).
Not all cloud apps are proprietary, either; Horde/IMP for webmail is one
of many examples of free cloud software, so there is a cross-over.
I believe the availability of proprietary software, cloud-based or
local, which can be used on a predominantly free-software desktop is
essential to the future success of GNU/Linux. I don't subscribe to the
view that to countenance any sort of proprietary software usage will
lead to the ultimate failure of free software.
very best regards,
Seb James
--
William Matthew Limited
Direct Line: +44 (0)845 4580277
Neil Warnock
Neil Warnock
Luminary - An Ingres Company
Tel: +44 (0)845 371 4090
Mob: +44 (0)771 265 0291
Email: Neil.W...@luminary.co.uk
For more information on Luminary go to http://www.luminary.co.uk
Luminary Solutions Limited Registered in England No 4854134 VAT Reg No. 829 3166 13
Registered Office: Lacon House, Theobald's Road, London, WC1X 8RW
From: os...@googlegroups.com [mailto:os...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emma....@Yorkshire-Forward.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:18 AM
Davepat -Learning Light
I tend to agree with Emma that this is in danger of stretching the
remit of Os4B, but also recognise that this is a remit issue about
benefiting about providing tangible busineses benefits.
I follow Cloud through ebizQ who have set up a cloud solutions centre
which is of interest, http://www.ebizq.net/solution_center/cloud_computing
- so it certainly is a hot topic
and we follow this especally as we are Salesforce CRM users (for more
than 3 years) so can really share some experience from a company user
- business persepctive.
David
On Jan 27, 12:28 pm, "Neil Warnock" <Neil.Warn...@luminary.co.uk>
wrote:
>
> Agreed. I think this thread ilustrates a couple of problems we need to address immediately:
>
> - we need to understand what open source actually means ourselves. For example open source is not free, but it can be; Open source is not SaaS or Cloud Computing, but it can be. Open source is not Java/Perl/Python etc but it can be. Open source is not open standards but it can be. Open source is not unsupported or risky but it can be. Open source is not subscription pricing, but it can be. It's not GPL or LGPL, but it can be. Sorry to bang on - there's more but I'm getting a bit anorakish now...
>
> - we need to define clearly the objectives of this group so we can assess the value of ideas, events and initiatives. My (possibly incorrect) understanding is that we are here to educate Yorkshire & Humber business leaders and encourage the consideration of open source software in a business context.
>
> So, given my understanding, I think that to get anywhere, some debunking of myths comes pretty high on the list of priorities, alongside cost/benefit examples and case studies of businesses who have succeeded with open source. That'll get people's attention. Further, I think each of the events, seminars, breakfast briefings etc that we organise should begin with a recap of what open source actually is. There is a lot of confusion and half-truths out there.
>
> This is no easy task. Part of Luminary's business is to provide services to customers who use open source software and systems, and half the job is cutting through the misconceptions, fear, uncertainty and doubt that surrounds open source. It was a lot easier when it could be dismissed into the beard, sandals & no social skills pigeon hole!
>
> Rgds,
>
> Neil Warnock
>
> Luminary - An Ingres Company
>
> Tel: +44 (0)845 371 4090
>
> Mob: +44 (0)771 265 0291
>
>
> For more information on Luminary go tohttp://www.luminary.co.uk<http://www.luminary.co.uk/>
> Luminary Solutions Limited Registered in England No 4854134 VAT Reg No. 829 3166 13
>
> Registered Office: Lacon House, Theobald's Road, London, WC1X 8RW
>
> ________________________________
>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:18 AM
> To: os...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [os4b] Re: cloud computing
>
> Hello,
>
> I have to say I'm not sure about this, after all it's not really open source is it? I think Cloud Computing is great and there are lots of events that are starting to look at this (in fact there is an event at the Workstation in Sheffield tomorrow night with a speaker on Cloud Computing and one on Green Computing) I'm just not sure if it's a fit for OS4B. Especially if you're going to start talking about *paid* services such as Amazon's offering.
>
> If I'm not seeing the OS fit feel free to disagree with me!
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Emma
>
> Emma Frost
>
> Sector Development Executive
>
> Digital & New Media
>
> Blog:http://digitalyorkshire.blogspot.com/
>
> Yorkshire Forward, Victoria House,
> 2 Victoria Place, Leeds, LS11 5AE
> TEL 0113 394 9615 FAX 0113 243 3930
>
> MOB 07734 488327
>
> We're here to improve the region's economy by:
>
> Helping people get jobs
>
> Developing our towns and cities
>
> Helping businesses find new markets
>
> In 2007-08 we created or safeguarded 25,456 jobs, assisted 35,165 people in skills, created 1,231 businesses and attracted over £1 billion in investment.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: os...@googlegroups.com [mailto:os...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Gifford, Geoffrey
> Sent: 26 January 2009 17:20
> To: os...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [os4b] Re: cloud computing
>
> Thanks for info Liz,
>
> I think there is definitely place for this; but I was thinking something of a more strategic overview (possibly taking the format of an event) and then training for the lower level products like Amazon Web Service and others.
>
> In other words, rather than only talking about products within the Software as a Service Arena, I am thinking of a distillation of the various concepts including Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and then Infrastructure as a Service.
>
> * a lesson on the low level technical aspects of using a cloud service provider - (eg) Amazon Web Services?
Gifford, Geoffrey
This discussion is fantastic and exactly what we all came here to do.
The idea of the group is to garner your perspective, as a business, on how the OS4B project can best deploy resources in assisting Yorkshire businesses and leverage the benefits of Open Source.
In the last meeting we felt that OS4B was predicated on 4 things: Talent, Learning, Community and Business.
Therefore, the remit can be as wide or as narrow as we collectively feel appropriate, provided we look to establish and service the needs of regional business through leveraging Open Source Technologies.
With regard to cloud computing, I feel the confusion around "what it is" warrants some demystification. Thanks Dave for that link.
It may be helpful for us to find an even more "management/strategic" understanding of what cloud is. I'll have a trawl and see what I can find.
The kind of cloud computing that I think is appropriate for OS4B are the developers clouds (ie: not at Salesforce or Facebook) but rather "Platform as a Service" and "Infrastructure as a Service".
In other words, something we could install our own instance of Linux or JBoss. I believe these simply remove the need for housing your own hardware, and like anything have benefits and disadvantages.
I feel there is potential in this area for businesses to add substantial value through their own innovations.
Kind regards
Geoff Gifford
nti Manager
E: ge...@ntileeds.co.uk
T: 08451221555
M: 07825010383
W: www.ntileeds.co.uk
nti
Leeds Metropolitan University
Old Broadcasting House, 148 Woodhouse Lane,
Leeds LS2 9EN