We started 3Tera to radically ease the way IT deploys, maintains and scales – MANAGES - applications. Our AppLogic® cloud computing platform provides the foundation of our partners’ orchestration of cloud services for public and private clouds around the world. Today, we’re taking the next step in moving toward making cloud computing mainstream by joining CA.

CA and 3Tera share a common vision for the future of cloud computing, and we are excited about the opportunities that this acquisition will create for our customers, partners and their cloud users.

This is a historic moment in Cloud Computing. The significance of this acquisition is a heck of a lot more than just a land grab in a hot space. We are confident that as a team, CA and 3Tera, will extend our leadership of the cloud computing platform market.

We are honored, given the plethora of Cloud Computing companies that have emerged in the last few years, that CA has chosen us. We really are!

It would probably be arrogant to suggest that we, in turn, chose CA. So I won’t suggest that. But the fact is, we had many options for the future and this is the one that excited us the most.

Now, there are only two kinds of people thinking about Cloud Computing: those who believe it is the future of information technology and those who are in complete denial.

I’ve been around a long time, probably longer than most of the readers of this post. During this time, I have seen three major paradigm shifts in IT.

For my first 20 years in this game, Moore’s Law was, as it always has been, and still will be for a while, in effect. Computers became exponentially more powerful, faster and cheaper. But, for those 20 years it was big central computers doing everything.

So, the first paradigm shift was away from these big centralized systems to client server or distributed systems. There were those who had the vision that inexpensive work stations and servers, connected over a network, would take on much of the load that the big central computers were processing. And there were also those who were in denial.

The second big shift was the rise of the browser and eCommerce. Some of you may be surprised that I did not say the Internet. The fact is, though, Internet technology was around for years before there was a consumer-based Internet, deployed by the government as a way to interconnect various agencies. It was known as the ArpaNet. The browser put a user friendly graphical user interface on top of it and eCommerce was born.

There were those who had a vision that the Internet would be a common way for businesses and consumers to communicate and become widely used for effecting financial transactions. And there were those who were in denial.

The third shift is Cloud Computing. Computing is pervasive. It is no longer something used and accessed by an elite few. Computing is as much a part of life as telephone, television, electricity, etc.

So, the natural evolution of computing is for it to become a utility that anyone can tap into, like other utilities, consuming only what one needs–no more, no less– but always having enough available capacity when needed.

This is Cloud Computing – the encapsulation of applications as autonomous services, abstracted from infrastructure that its users do not care about, except that it’s available and reliable when needed – services that can be available anytime, anywhere, when called upon.

There are those who believe Cloud is the future and there are those in denial.

Like distributed systems, which became pervasive when the ability to precisely manage networks of servers and work stations became available; and, like the Internet, which became pervasive when the ability to manage dynamic web sites securely with high performance; so will go Cloud Computing.

I’ve heard some compare what is going on now to the internet bubble of the ‘90s. I’ve actually heard it referred to as the Cloud bubble. The big difference between the Internet bubble and the Cloud bubble is that today’s economy doesn’t dictate the kind of crazy valuations we saw in the ‘90s (or maybe today’s economy is just more realistic than that of the Internet bubble).

But they have something very significant in common, I believe.

During the Internet bubble, everyone and his brother with a web site, from giant infrastructure companies to retailers of boutique niche products, were perceived to be the future. When the dust settled though, most couldn’t maintain their value – except for the Internet infrastructure providers, that is. It was not just anyone with an Internet presence. It was mostly those who enabled the Internet – who provided the infrastructure to deal with it – to manage it!

Just as everyone tried to stake a claim to a piece of the Internet in the ‘90s, now there are a gazillion companies with Cloud presence. When the dust settles, though, the long term value will be retained for the shareholders of the companies that provide the infrastructure, enabling capabilities and management of Cloud Computing.

CA is a management company. Their mission has always been and remains centered on the management of information technology. Their ability to adapt and manage each generation of technology has enabled them to thrive through all of these shifts.

While there are several management vendors out there, we see most figuring out how to shoehorn customers’ needs into what they already have. But tails can only wag dogs for a short period of time. The big winners will be those who adapt and evolve what they have into real, more than wannabe, Cloud Computing management.

That’s the historic statement. CA has drawn that line in the sand, and we’re thrilled to be part of it.

The leading innovator of IT management technology and the leading innovator of Cloud Computing technology are now one and the same!

Almost from the moment we brought out AppLogic a little over three years ago it was clear that the market for cloud computing would be global. More than half of all registrations have been international, and they come from all over the world; Japan, Australia, England, Spain, UAE, Nigeria, South Africa, Korea, China, Hungary, Russia - you name it.

So it comes as no surprise then, that our two of our most innovative international partners are teaming up to provide solutions. Xseed in Japan and ScaleUp in Germany are working together in creating the framework for a globally connected cloud leveraging 3tera’s AppLogic cloud computing platform. We’re looking forward to doing our part, learning from their experiences to build an even better platform for the future.

You can read a bit further on the Cloud Computing Journal http://bit.ly/ci8LYU.

We’ve crossed a very significant chasm.

What chasm is that?  You may ask. Enterprises?  Mainstream IT?  Government?  Telcos? Yes, all of those are gaining traction by the second, but we have crossed one that is far more  significant. We received an email last week that asked, “Could you please tell me about cloud computing, what it does, why does it help, and what does your company do with it?” Good question!  Why is this so significant?  It came from a fifth grader learning about Cloud Computing.

Is the world taking Cloud Computing seriously?  It better be.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders.  The fact that fifth graders and elementary school teachers are aware of Cloud Computing, and learning/teaching it, is probably the most strategic chasm that we have ever crossed and ever will.

And something even better happened as a result of this.  I thought hard of how to tell a fifth grader what the benefits of Cloud Computing are, and I came up with an answer that, in a nutshell, says it all.

Cloud Computing helps people spend more time solving the problems they need to solve, and doing the things they have to do with computing, rather than thinking about the technology.

I don’t know why, but I am still surprised when I hear the following question. What’s the difference between virtualization and Cloud? To me, it’s like asking the question – What’s the difference between a hammer and carpentry? The latter is a comprehensive craft. The former is one of many tools used by the craftsmen who practice it.

Simple – right? So why does that question occur at all?

It occurs, in my opinion, for two reasons, one right and one not so right.

The first reason is that all of the server virtualization vendors of any significance are also introducing Cloud offerings to the market. So, people are naturally associating the two (and rightfully so, just like one would associate hammers and carpentry). The difference is, though, no one thinks hammers and carpentry are the same thing.

So, the not so right reason – There are Cloud computing laggards out there who would like us to think that virtualization and Cloud are similar because they have embraced virtualization technology and do not want to appear out of step. As a result, there is a ton of noise in the market that is very hard to sort through.

So, how do I suggest one sorts through this noise?

When faced with a potential Cloud solution, ask a few questions about it.

Does it help me provision and deploy virtual machines on demand? If the answer is no, I’d ask why are you even looking at it? But if the answer is yes, just deploying VMs on demand does not a Cloud make.

Does it enable the encapsulation and on demand deployment of multiple VMs as a single entity? If rather than managing VMs, you want to manage frequently used “appliances” that are comprised of multiple VMs (e.g. a specific app server, a specific messaging system and a specific database server), can you do it? If the answer is yes, you are on your way to a real Cloud solution.

Does it enable the encapsulation and on demand deployment of whole software stacks (e.g. LAMP, Ruby on Rails, .NET, etc.)? If the answer is yes, you are certainly in the Cloud.

But, do you want more? Does it enable encapsulation and on demand deployment of entire multi-tiered apps? If yes, you have a very powerful Cloud solution.

More? Does it enable the encapsulation of the apps along with everything they need to run – network, storage, infrastructure, configurations, policies, documentation, etc., etc., etc.? If yes, then you have the most complete Cloud solution of all.

So, you might sense a theme here – Encapsulation. Yes. Encapsulation is key, but it is only half of the story. Encapsulation itself results in many benefits, especially operational cost savings and decreased time to market. But encapsulation alone does not make a Cloud. It does not create portability. It does not create the ability, by itself, to deploy anywhere, any time.

What’s the second half of the story? Abstraction. Not only do the most comprehensive Cloud solutions have to provide unlimited granularity of encapsulation, but they must completely abstract what is encapsulated from the physical resources (machines) they run on, so that they can run anytime, anywhere there are available idle resources.

In short, you do not measure a Cloud solution by how it does virtualization. You measure it by the granularity of its encapsulation capabilities and its ability to abstract VMs, stacks, apps/services and entire data centers from the physical resources they run on.

So, what is the future of virtualization and where is it going in 2010?

Virtualization is going the way of the hammer. It will be a necessary commodity for the Cloud, just like the hammer is a necessary commodity for the carpenter.

Now, before all the virtualization vendors get their shorts in a knot and start screaming at me that I am implying that all virtualization is the same, I am not. I acknowledge that some have features others do not, some outperform others, etc. But, can you tell who the best carpenter is only by knowing what brand of hammer he uses?

We had a great turn out at the Cloud Operators AppLogic Bootcamp, with a great deal of interest in another from folks for who weren’t able to attend. Therefore, we’re excited to announce the next AppLogic Bootcamp will be October 13th to 15th in Tysons Corner, Virginia. This time we’ll be focusing on building, operating, and scaling your applications in the cloud:

Day 1: Basic AppLogic for Cloud Applications
Take full advantage of the AppLogic platform to design, architect and deploy applications. It also provides an introduction to the AppLogic architecture, appliance and application template catalog. Topics include:

Day 2: Intermediate AppLogic for Cloud Applications
Learn how to monitor, scale, customize and provide fault tolerance for applications.

Day 3: Advanced AppLogic for Cloud Applications
Create custom catalog appliances and templates as well as advanced labs.

You can get more information or sign up here.

You may or may not have seen the recent press release.  Bill Coleman, IT/Silicon Valley luminary, Founder and CEO of BEA Systems, has joined 3Tera’s Advisory Board.

Yes, this alone is a great testimonial to what we have accomplished in our field.  Getting dignitaries such as Bill does not come easy.  But here’s the best part - this has a lot more than just marquee value (and I doubt that Bill would have joined us if all we wanted was marquee value).  Bill, especially since his most recent stint as Founder and CEO of Cassatt Systems, is an extremely knowledgeable visionary in the area of utility and Cloud Computing; and, data center automation.

So, Bill will be extremely valuable, reviewing and tweaking both our business plans and technology as we forge ahead to maintain our lead at enabling Cloud Computing in enterprises and service providers.

Needless to say, we are extremely happy to have Bill on Board.

I’m often asked by prospective users what level of CPU utilization AppLogic achieves. Of course, the  question is understandable given virtualization caught on as server consolidation to combat low utilization. However, this question skirts the real point. The more important issue to be solved is how much hardware is required for a given task and utilization addresses only half the equation because it assumes the code (OS, middleware, and application) are fixed. In many cases that’s been true . . .  but it shouldn’t be.

Sun’s JeOS project, Just enough Operating System, is targeting the OS in that equation. Recognizing that much of modern operating systems isn’t required in a virtualized environment, their goal is to strip out what’s not needed in a virtual appliance. The result should be a small fast OS tailored to virtual environments.

We’ve had Linux variants slimmed down for use in physical appliances for some time. I’ve used them in load balancers, switches, routers, and firewalls. IMHO, though, Sun’s onto something in trying to create a more general purpose OS tailored for vritualization. As soon as we get the next release of AppLogic out, we’ll give it a try.

To be succesful in any endeavor you have to have the right tools. That old adage remains true whether you’re building a house, flying a plane, taking a picture, writing code or running a data center. For those in the latter catagory, though, cloud computing has changed the landscape. We’ve come to depend upon vendors and applications that form standard building blocks of our infrastructure, from firewalls to web servers. AppLogic was written with this in mind, of course, which is why we built our cloud without introducing new APIs for networking and storage, so you could use a broader set of apps. Now, however, we’re going to take it a step further.

3tera today announced AppStore, the next step in our Cloudware architecture announced last year. AppStore  will extend the AppLogic appliance catalog, opening it up to ISVs who want to publish their own appliances.  When fully operational in Q3, AppStore will appear as a standard part of your AppLogic catalog, always up to date with links to support and documentation for each appliance. You’ll be able to drag and drop any appliance into your applications and AppLogic will fetch it for you from the AppStore, and automatically let the publisher know about you so you can get updates and support.

For ISVs this AppStore presents new markets for their applications in cloud computing. For users, whether they’re using AppLogic in a public cloud through one of our data center partners or in a private cloud, AppStore will provide access to cutting edge tools from trusted vendors.

The devil, as they say, is in the details. When we announced the SLA for our VPDC a few weeks ago we got great reviews for pushing the envelope and standing up to enterprise grade availability requirements, but even those writing the best reviews wanted to see the details. Well the lawyers are done, and here’s the nitty gritty detail. We’ve worked hard to keep it understandable and predictable, so users know exactly where they stand.

3Tera AppLogic VPDC Service Level Agreement (SLA)

VPDC Availability Goal

3Tera’s goal is to make each Virtual Private Data Center (”VPDC”) that you obtain from 3Tera Available 100% of the time.

Availability Measurement and Remedies

If, as a result of any Covered Event(s), a Covered VPDC is not Available at least 99.999% of the time in any full calendar month, 3Tera will issue a credit to your account. If the affected VPDC was Available at least 99.9% of that month, the credit will be 10% of the Service Fee for that VPDC for that month; otherwise it will be 25% of that fee.

3Tera will monitor the availability of each VPDC, and will automatically issue any credit that is due. In addition, you may report an instance of unavailability to 3Tera, via our helpdesk, within 30 days of the date it occurred, providing the date and approximate time period of the unavailability.
Definitions

“Service Fee”: the monthly (recurring) fee paid to 3Tera for the affected VPDC. “Service Fee” does not include the fee for any other VPDC, or for support or any other services.

“Available”: a Covered VPDC is deemed Available during any period in which its VPDC controller is able to serve network requests, as indicated by 3Tera’s monitoring system or the VPDC’s system log.

“Covered VPDC” means a VPDC that, throughout the relevant month, was: (i) covered by 3Tera’s Assured Success Plan; and (ii) running only on servers located in the United States.

“Covered VPDC” does not include: (a) a single-server VPDC (”development grid”) or (b) a VPDC that, at the time it became not Available, was not running in a configuration then recommended by 3Tera.

“Covered Event”: any action, inaction, event, cause or circumstance other than the following: (i) an act or omission of you or your customer, or of any other third party not under the control of 3Tera or the Data Center; (ii) equipment, applications or systems not owned or controlled by, or services not provided by, 3Tera or the Data Center; (iii) an act of God, war, civil unrest, flood or fire; power outage lasting longer than 12 hours; internet outage, congestion or denial of service attack; or any other cause beyond the reasonable control of 3Tera or the Data Center; (iv) scheduled maintenance (including upgrades) of hardware or software, including AppLogic; (v) unscheduled maintenance required to install an urgent security update; (vi) suspension of your account or VPDC (e.g., for non-payment) or (vii) unavailability of any of your Applications or Appliances, even if occurring after an instance of unavailability of the VPDC.

“Data Center” means a person or entity, selected by 3Tera, that provides server hosting, internet connectivity and other services in connection with the affected VPDC.

Additional Terms and Conditions

1. Each credit will be issued to your account within 30 days of the end of the month for which the credit is due. Cash refunds are not available.

2. For you to be eligible for a credit, your account must be in good standing from the first day of the month for which the credit is due, until the date the credit is issued. For example, you may not have any past due invoices, or otherwise have breached any applicable EULA or Terms of Service.

3. This document states 3Tera’s sole liability and your entire remedy for any failure to meet the VPDC Availability Goal and any VPDC downtime or unavailability.

4. 3Tera reserves the right to revise or terminate this Service Level Agreement upon 60 days notice.

(SLA rev. 1-2009-03-30)

Late last week we became aware of a group of vendors promoting an Open Cloud Manifesto from a Microsoft blog post. A great deal has already been written about the manifesto and a bit of controversy it created on ZDnet, eweek, cnet, Silicon Alley Insider, and others.

The manifesto attempts to broadly define cloud computing, the issues it can create for users, and a list of principles the supporters suggest cloud vendors should adhere to:

1. Cloud providers must work together to ensure that the challenges to cloud adoption (security, integration, portability, interoperability, governance/management, metering/monitoring) are addressed through open collaboration and the appropriate use of standards.

2. Cloud providers must not use their market position to lock customers into their particular platforms and limiting (sic) their choice of providers.

3. Cloud providers must use and adopt existing standards wherever appropriate. The IT industry has invested heavily in existing standards and standards organizations; there is no need to duplicate or reinvent them.

4. When new standards (or adjustments to existing standards) are needed, we must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid creating too many standards. We must ensure that standards promote innovation and do not inhibit it.

5. Any community effort around the open cloud should be driven by customer needs, not merely the technical needs of cloud providers, and should be tested or verified against real customer requirements.

6. Cloud-computing standards organizations, advocacy groups, and communities should work together and stay coordinated, making sure that efforts do not conflict or overlap.

In the end, the manifesto simply puts in words the guiding principles 3tera has held to for the past three and a half years. We’ve embraced numerous existing standards, used open source where possible, introduced no new APIs, worked with existing management systems, ensured data portability, made sure users have a choice of providers across the globe, posted all our docs and specs online from day one, and when invited we’ve participated in interoperability discussions. We’re pleased these values are being embraced.

However, the manifesto is not without issue. First, the major cloud service providers weren’t participants in it’s creation, which raises questions about it’s viability. Second, as pointed out in the Microsoft post, acceptance is required “as is” with no acceptance of feedback. Third, it’s unclear exactly who controls the manifesto, what it’s future is, and whether there’s a process for participation in moving it forward. For these reasons, we’re holding off on endorsing the manifesto at this time.

3tera is fully committed to open cloud computing not just in principle, but in deeds. When there’s a truly open effort to define interoperability, application and data portability, and cross-cloud integration we’ll be a full participant.