When you purchase a car, you obviously think a lot about its performance before you buy. How much horsepower does it have? Is the car safe? How does it handle? Is the gas mileage going to break the bank or will you be saving the environment? Is the vehicle flexible enough to meet all your needs or just suitable for one activity like off-roading?

When you think about cloud computing, specifically cloud infrastructure, performance matters as well. And there are many factors to consider when shopping for a cloud provider or partner. How’s their VM performance? Does their network provide multiple high-bandwidth pipes to support your network-hungry application or service? Are there any I/O bottlenecks? If your website comes under heavy load, can you burst to support it and then scale back when demand subsides?

These are important considerations. Would you want a car that has no acceleration when getting on a highway? Probably not. That’s the same reason you wouldn’t want a cloud that is over-subscribed or doesn’t have the architecture to support your business needs.

Speaking of “performance,” this is our third year sponsoring the Under the Radar (UTR) conference and marks the second year that our CMO, Jeffrey Samuels, being a judge there. This year, Jeff will be on the panel for the Performance Monitoring session. Here are the companies presenting in this session:

• Fabric Engine – lets developers write high-performance application using dynamic languages
• Iron.io – provides elastic products for cloud messaging and background processing
• Sumo Logic – gives real-time Big Data and IT insights of log intelligence and analytics
• Tracelytics – provides insights into the performance of web applications

Tuning your application or infrastructure for the best performance possible is a critical check-box when moving into production. And monitoring how everything performs once it’s released is another. One quick and easy way to get a jump-start on these two items is to choose a cloud provider with a reputation as a solid performer. As the Technology Evangelist of GoGrid, I’m particularly proud of our performance over the past years. We’ve been independently benchmarked as providing market-leading I/O performance and also lead the pack in uptime from an SLA standpoint. Our network availability and performance remain unparalleled. And we craft unique infrastructure solutions to ensure performance is there when you need it, whether it’s with a completely public cloud solution, a hybrid infrastructure (mixture of cloud and physical servers), or a private cloud instance. And our recently announced Big Data solution couples performance with the scalability that developers, analytics firms, advertisers, and social media companies are demanding.

I look forward to seeing the innovations companies are presenting at UTR this year, and can’t wait to meet many of you personally. Best of luck to all the presenters. May you truly “perform!”

In Part 1 of this Big Data series, I provided a background on the origins of Big Data.

But What is Big Data?

The problem with using the term “Big Data” is that it’s used in a lot of different ways. One definition is that Big Data is any data set that is too large for on-hand data management tools. According to Martin Wattenberg, a scientist at IBM, “The real yardstick … is how it [Big Data] compares with a natural human limit, like the sum total of all the words that you’ll hear in your lifetime.” Collecting that data is a solvable problem, but making sense of it, (particularly in real time), is the challenge that technology tries to solve. This new type of technology is often listed under the title of “NoSQL” and includes distributed databases that are a departure from relational databases like Oracle and MySQL. These are systems that are specifically designed to be able to parallelize compute, distribute data, and create fault tolerance on a large cluster of servers. Some examples of NoSQL projects and software are: Hadoop, Cassandra, MongoDB, Riak and Membase.

The techniques vary, but there is a definite distinction between SQL relational databases and their NoSQL brethren. Most notably, NoSQL systems share the following characteristics:

• Do not use SQL as their primary query language
• May not require fixed table schemas
• May not give full ACID guarantees (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability)
• Scale horizontally

Because of the lack of ACID, NoSQL is used when performance and real-time results are more important than consistency. For example, if a company wants to update their website in real time based on an analysis of the behaviors of a particular user interaction with the site, they will most likely turn to NoSQL to solve this use case.

However, this does not mean that relational databases are going away. In fact, it is likely that in larger implementations, NoSQL and SQL will function together. Just as NoSQL was designed to solve a particular use case, so do relational databases solve theirs. Relational databases excel at organizing structured data and is the standard for serving up ad-hoc analytics and business intelligence reporting. In fact, Apache Hadoop even has a separate project called Sqoop that is designed to link Hadoop with structured data stores. Most likely, those who implement NoSQL will maintain their relational databases for legacy systems and for reporting off of their NosQL clusters.

Big Data and the Cloud

The early adopters of Big Data were small web companies that grew to much larger companies with capital budgets that could be invested into dedicated data centers. However, with the incredible increase in the amount of data generated, collected, and analyzed, smaller companies can take advantage of the cloud and off-load the hardware management to those vendors. Two traits that many of these NoSQL solutions have in common make them a seemingly natural fit for the cloud: One is that the nodes are distributed, and the second is that they run on commodity hardware. The cloud is designed for horizontal scaling and often built on low-cost, commodity hardware, especially at the infrastructure-as-service (IaaS) layer, where customers simply need infrastructure and have the application expertise to build and configure their own Big Data application (whether it is with Hadoop, Cassandra, or any number of products).

Given what most users are trying to achieve with Big Data applications – large-scale data sets, large-scale analysis, often in real-time – performance is a key factor. Ideally, users will want a hybrid implementation that combines both virtual and dedicated servers. This gives maximum flexibility that balances the elastic, scalable nature of virtual machines with the single-tenancy of dedicated servers. Big Data projects don’t happen in a vacuum: while a NoSQL database can leverage dedicated servers, the app or web servers that present the results of the analysis to end users can easily be added to as many virtual machines as needed to meet demand. In addition, using the cloud means that users won’t need to invest in expensive equipment, pay for power and connectivity, or hire additional resources to maintain hardware. Users simply need to pay for the infrastructure that they need and have the ability to scale over time. The ability to scale up or down to match demand (and to only pay for the infrastructure that you use) is one of the values of using the cloud for Big Data.

With whatever solution that you select, you should also take into account the nature of the application and where you will want to house the processing and the output. The amount of data you collect, analyze and present will only increase over time. The advantage will go to companies that can collect and analyze this data quickly and efficiently, allowing them to react instantly to customer sentiment and to changing trends in the ever-quickening pace of business. Make sure to select the right infrastructure vendor who can match your performance criteria and has capacity to grow with you as your data and application needs increase to match the demands of your business.

From February 13-16, 2012, in Santa Clara, CA, GoGrid sponsored Cloud Connect 2012, an expo devoted to educating professional seeking to learn more about the benefits of Cloud Computing. We have been a long time sponsor of this show and each year it seems to get better, not only from the caliber of content being presented, but also in terms of the level of expertise on cloud computing that attendees profess.

As I attend many of these conferences as a sponsor, exhibitor and interested party, I have seen a great evolution not only of knowledge and education but also in the cloud services being presented by various companies at the show. A few years ago, it was all about “what is cloud” and how do we define it. The past years have allowed us to really fine-tune the definition and really move beyond this to rolling up the sleeves and implementing cloud solutions. I’m definitely encouraged by the progress of companies with their cloud innovations and the individuals looking to capitalize on this influx of knowledge.

Talking with customers and prospects looking for or implementing cloud infrastructure solutions gives and insight into what is working in the cloud and what people are really looking for. For example, a few years ago, we introduced the concept of Hybrid Hosting – the ability to mix and match virtual and physical servers within the same architecture, all managed through a single pane of glass, so to speak. In fact, many of our recent Case Studies show that hybrid environments are really the reason why these companies turned to GoGrid for their cloud solution.

GoGrid Customer Presentation – Microgroove

At the show, one GoGrid customer, Microgroove, presented their decision-making process and implementation strategies on moving their music platform to our cloud. It was an interesting journey for them as they did have to do some tests on other clouds only provided completely virtualized environment that simply did not meet their requirements. In the coming days, we will post a video of their presentation but if you are interested in reading about their case study, you can download it here.

We have compiled a list of new GoGrid customer success stories that you may find interesting. These stories can be downloaded here.

The full PowerPoint presentation can be viewed below:

A Hybrid Hosting Primer

David Michael, a Solutions Architect here at GoGrid, also gave a presentation on the benefits and use cases of our hybrid hosting model in the Demo Theater of the Cloud Connect show. To a captive and interested audience, David walked through things to consider and the advantages that companies can benefit from by using a hybrid hosting scenario.

The full presentation is shown below.

Listening to You

While presenting success stories and best practices is always helpful, it’s also important to listen to and answer questions about GoGrid and the services that we provide. That is where I personally find it important to be an active exhibitor, staffing our booth. A while back, we developed this concept of the “Cloud Fingerprint” – essentially that your business and infrastructure needs are unique and the cloud partner your choose should be adaptable and flexible enough to meet those needs. We believe that it is important for not just the sales and marketing teams to be at these shows, but also representatives from all departments at GoGrid. On-site, we had executives from Engineering, Support and even Human Resources as well (yes, we are hiring) gathering their own perspectives of the show and what people are looking for in a cloud provider.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Cocktails”

Lastly, GoGrid also sponsored a party at Cloud Connect 2012. With everyone’s mind swirling with cloudy thoughts, it was important to relax, be social and have a gathering place to literally blow off some steam. Below are a few pictures from the Party (also be sure to view the Cloud Connect Flickr set that has more pictures from the party – towards the end of the set).

If you did attend Cloud Connect 2012, we hope that you found it educational and rewarding and allowed you to build up your set of cloud resources and tools. If you didn’t, we hope that you can attend next year.

GoGrid is one of the Platinum Sponsors of this week’s Cloud Connect 2012 conference and Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The event promises to be a memorable one for cloud newcomers as well as those of us trying to keep up with the blazing pace of cloud innovation.

This year, we’re particularly excited to be focusing on GoGrid’s hybrid infrastructure solution, which we think combines the best of both the physical and virtual worlds. We believe that your company is unique, and your infrastructure should be, too. Stop by our booth 709 to find out what your unique “cloud fingerprint” looks like. Chances are it’s a flavor of our hybrid solution.

Presentations

Maybe you’re wondering whether to keep your dedicated servers or move to the cloud. What if you could have it all? Join one of our solutions architects as he walks through real-life examples of how hybrid hosting can improve your business’s infrastructure: Tuesday, Feb. 14, 3:35 – 3:55pm in the Cloud Solutions Theater on the Expo Floor. Here’s the presentation description: “Different businesses have different infrastructure needs. And the choices of clouds, colocation, or dedicated services can be daunting if not confusing. So why choose just one when GoGrid’s hybrid architecture (a union of the best of virtual and physical) provides options for both flexibility and growth? Physical hardware provides guaranteed, dedicated, high performance coupled with an assurance of strict data control and security, while cloud architecture scales when your business demands it. Learn the secrets of hybrid hosting and how it can improve your business’s infrastructure in this 20-minute walk-through.”

Then on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1:15 – 2:15pm (Grand Ballroom H), learn how Microgroove is creating a high-performance, cost-effective cloud environment for the music industry with GoGrid. The title says it all: “Performance Matters, Especially in the Music Industry – Global Hybrid Infrastructure Makes Artists Sing.” Here’s an overview: Learn first hand how Microgroove leveraged physical and virtual infrastructure components in creating a high-performance, cost-effective cloud environment for the music industry. One that easily supported their need for cloud scalability coupled with the permanence and single-tenancy of dedicated servers — a hybrid solution not found in commodity clouds. Microgroove’s technology platform running on GoGrid is powering hundreds of popular artists’ sites from Snoop Dogg to Yani as well as an eCommerce site of 1.5 million+ SKUs.

We’ll also be holding several short presentations at the GoGrid booth. Topics include:

• Cloud 101 in less than 10 minutes
• Hybrid Hosting in less than 10 minutes
• Hosted Private Cloud in less than 10 minutes

Be sure to drop by for these quick primers on cloud computing.

GoGrid-Sponsored Reception

And don’t forget to drop by “Cloudy with a Chance of Cocktails,” the GoGrid party on Wednesday from 6 – 8pm in the Hyatt Mezzanine. Register now and beat the rush! This party is open to all Cloud Connect attendees but, space is limited, so act now.

Everybody Loves Free Stuff!

Lastly, Cloud Connect attendees can participate in the GoGrid Cloud Scavenger Hunt, where one lucky person will win an iPad 2. Stop by the GoGrid booth (709) for details. We’ll also be giving away various GoGrid goodies, including a Mystic Pyramid to help predict your future –- a perfect complement to our Cloud Pyramid!

Register for the Expo

To make sure you don’t miss out, we’d like you to be our guest at the Expo; just complete the online registration form and mark your calendar. Hope to see you there!

Cloud Expo Europe 2012 is now over, and according to everyone we spoke to, it was an unqualified success. As I mentioned in my last post, GoGrid was proud to announce the opening of its new Amsterdam-based European HQ and data center at the show. The recurring themes we heard included cloud security, the evolution of cloud services, the desire for more cloud education, and where the market is going next. A common theme from visitors to our booth was hybrid hosting and how to secure a business’s cloud infrastructure. They were also very interested in hearing about the success EMEA customers like Condé Nast are having using GoGrid.

Here are some photo highlights of the show:

An overview of the busy Expo floor.

Some of the meetings at GoGrid’s booth.

GoGrid’s Rupert Tagnipes shares Martini Media’s multi-data-center story.

GoGrid staff members celebrate the company’s EMEA launch.

To learn more about how our new EMEA data center can help your business, read the post about our new VIP Program.