“It prospered strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth:
For they that taste it do rehearse
That virtue lies therein”,

George Herbert, Peace, 1633.

In this case the wide-spread subject is virtualization. This makes a computer or storage system look like many to its users. Popularity is due to the costs and power saved by not having to load up on hardware, often to meet a temporary peak demand, and the agility in fielding appropriate infrastructure and applications. Sometimes it is as easy as drawing a capacity plan and having the hypervisor and virtual machine monitor assemble the hardware emulation software automatically on hosted servers, tuning each virtual machine (VM) instance’s portion of resources such as processor instruction cycles, memory or bandwidth for proper load balancing.

The techniques sprang from time-sharing, portable OSes, and redundant storage devices. Of course, hardware was also often developed using simulation and functionality implemented in firmware. Now the bare metal can host a layer which mimics popular processor, memory, I/O, and network switch architectures so that off-the-shelf applications can run anywhere, operating system optional, and migration is easier. This is offered for servers, desktops, phones and data centers. The approach spans cloud, grid, parallel and high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Vendors include VMWare, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Cisco and many others. There are open-source versions which lower cost further if vendor support is not necessary, e.g. Xen and KVM. Hardware may also have virtualization built in as a multiplier and for compatibility to a variety of interfaces, for instance.

System management is significant since integration issues are likely and software may require licensing. A virtual machine often has to reboot when a bug causes a crash, but the rest of the VMs run intact. Version changes introduce risk. Infrastructure patches cause side-effects to virtual apps. It is possible to mix various ratios of physical and virtual components. Performance may be adversely affected by additional virtualization layers. VM sprawl makes end-to-end administration more difficult. The visibility and testing tools need improvement. Standard quality measures can still be taken, such as use cases, architectural review, and measures of functionality, usability, security, scalability and performance. Benchmarking in VMs may have time drift.

Users, developers and administrators can expect to see this topic expand as more virtual appliances are developed. Here is an example introductory Glossary.

Also see bookmarks. Tags can be combined as subtopics, e.g. taxonomy or test. A sampling of additional literature on virtualization and grid computing is shown below.

Books:

• Cloud Security and Privacy, by Tim Mather and others, 2009, 336pp, grid computing.
• Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization, by Jeanna N. Matthews and others, 2008, 624pp, grid computing.
• Virtualization for Dummies 2007 by Bernard Golden. Trends: hardware is underutilized, data centers run out of space, energy costs go through the roof, system administration costs mount.
• Practical Virtualization Solutions: Virtualization From the Trenches 2009, rough cut, by Kenneth Hess and Amy Newman 336pp.
• The Best Damn Server Virtualization Book Period by Rogier Dittner and David Rule 2007, 500pp.
• Storage Virtualization: Technologies for Simplifying Data Storage and Management, by Tom Clark 2005, 264pp, grid computing.
• The Art of Scalability: Scalable Web Architecture, Processes and Organizations for the Modern Enterprise, by Martin L. Abbott and Michael T. Fisher 2009, 500pp, grid computing
• Crimeware: Understanding New Attacks and Defenses, by Markus Jakobsson and Zulfikar Ramzan, 2008, 608pp, grid computing.
• Hadoop: The Definitive Guide, by Tom White 2009, 528pp, grid computing.

Documents

• A View of the Parallel Computing Landscape, Asanovic and others, Comm of the ACM, October 2009;
• Virtualization Trends, Option and Adoption, Achleman 2008
• Understanding Full Virtualization, Paravirtualization and Hardware Assist, vmware 2007

Cloud computing is a hot topic at the moment. GridResources is a “subject tracer” blog which seeks to bring together resources for grid, distributed, and cloud computing. Regularly updated, the blog is a recommended starting point for research in the area.

Some suggested further reading on the subject include this short introduction to cloud platforms by David Chappell.

Jump to:CoE,Products

Infosys(INFOSYS) has nailed the problem this time. [FY 2007-08 results and analysis here].

And done with an elan.It has been granted two patents on cutting edge technologies by US Patent Office. It had been a bit slow start for Infosys but nevertheless a good show till now.

GV Subramanyam, VP of SETLabs believes, that in order to stay ahead, speed of innovation, the customer focus and co-creation will hold the key, if it wants to take a lead in the next wave of its growth.

I was in Bangalore two weeks back and heard Kris Gopalakrishnan talk about the need for disruptive innovation, non-linear growth and India. I was thinking at that point, whats the use, when Infy in itself is so lethargic to innovation.

I stand corrected today.

Take a bright example of the philosophy of Infosys[fast innovation,customer attention and co creation with partners]

Google.
Its lightning fast in rolling out products with a strong end user focus and co-creation through repetitive iterations. And look at what it is.

A giant in its own right.

In order to achieve a disruptive growth, Infosys way back in 1999, set up Software Engineering and Technology Labs also known as SETLabs.
With 500 researchers on the fray, SETLabs is a busy hub developing cutting edge process frameworks,methodologies, technologies and hi-tech IP.

To further bring forward its focus on innovation, it has set up dedicated Centers of Excellence-s(CoE) which focusses on the nitty gritty details of issues regarding technologies, method to leverage them in an IT environment and then sufficiently add value to the entire process so that the innovation becomes a disruptive one.
Given the research portfolio SETLabs’ CoEs are maintaining, its hard to actually say where does the traditional core competency of Infosys ends and acquired skills start out. Which is perfectly alright, for an organization needs to have a set of finite resources to help it take on the times when a business cycle downturn comes.

Talking about Infosys CoEs, they are working extensively in the areas of:

CoE

Convergence : This CoE focusses on increasing the degree of pervasive computing in an IT organisation with products like Elixir and Nimbus to show for it, and two patents grants by USPTO is quite an impressive show by this CoE. With its interest in Wireless Sensor Networks and its wide range applications in a business, it is but a matter of time before this CoE starts delivering actual tangible business solutions for enterprises.

Grid Computing : Another big in Infosys’s vision. This CoE is striving to create an adaptive services grid in close collaboration with SOA CoE (see below) . With the underlying technolgy based on the IP of grid computing coherently serving a service oriented architecture apps and platforms, this CoE is actually trying to change the very core competency of Infosys itself. So it should not be an exaggeration, if in the coming future, clients actually ask for a total underlying computing overhaul (competency of Grid Computing CoE) with a focus on enabling a better SOA(competency of SOA CoE and Infosys as well).

Service Oriented Architecture: Focusses on developing better and value added software architectures for better service.

Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence: A huge opportunity as well as a challenge for Infosys to develop some hard hitting tangible products on this line. Extensively focusses on the hi-tec issues concerning, in and around Data Warehousing and deals with tools and ways to for effective Business Intelligence. With a consolidated market share for the existing players in the BI domain, it remains to be seen how Infosys tackles with its competitors as and when this CoE has something to show for.Also works with forecasting business cycles, trends and thought leadership and the usual business intelligence stuff.

J2EE: Plain vanilla J2EE implementations for enterprises and the esoteric technologies in and around it.

MS Technology Center: Focusses on leveraging Microsoft tech within Infosys and by its customers

Products:

ELIXIR: Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks. Allows organisations to maintain, support and control multiple applications in a single sensor network setup. And these sensors will be deployed in motes (points where measurements has to be taken) and then effectively controlled, monitored and supported by a central server running ELIXIR.

Potential Applications: Any potential business with large amounts of data to be processed coming from numerous channels in a decentralised organisation. Long story cut short: Airports, Manufacturing, Shipping etc.

NIMBUS : Context- Aware Pervasive Computing, with the ‘invisibility’ of the underlying technology and fundamental characteristics to the end user to enable seamless computing. Context Sensitive as in understanding of strengths and limitations of different devices it works with. Focusses also on Infosys proposed Task Aware Computing, Context Aware Computing, and Anytime Anywhere Computing

MANTRA: A software maintenance platform

MConnect: A middleware to create mobile applications faster

Critical Inputs from : Express Computer Online 3rd March 2008, Infosys SETLabs: Milestones in innovation

[The author takes a passionate interest in business innovation,electronics and environment. An avid blogger and technology guy, he spends most of his time studying charts or bringing up projects for his employer. When he is not blogging on markets, technology and their business issues, he spends his time conceiving and executing projects for a hi-tech electronics startup based out of South India. Mail him at sohamdas at gmail dot com. He is listening]

Nein noch nicht dann wird’s aber höchste Zeit.

1).Lass deinen Computer einfach wenn du Ihm nicht brauchst (Bildschirmschoner)zum Beispiel mit rossetta nach Protein suchen, die dann später als Medikamente Leben retten können.

Die Universität von Berkeley hat dazu ein Programm zur Verfügung gestellt (BOINC) das die ungenützt Rechen Power von deinen Normal PC nützt um so riesige Datenmengen zu verarbeiten. So ist dein Computer ein teil eines riesigen Virtuellen Super Computer der hilft so wichtige fragen zu lösen wie die suche nach wichtigen Proteien für die Medizin(rossetta).

Es gibt aber auch eine ganze reihe anderer Projekte die Du unterstützen kannst, wenn du willst kannst du deine Rechen Kraft auf mehrere Projekte aufteilen, es gibt wichtigen Projekte in Biologie und Medizin und Klimaforschung und auch für Astronomie/Physik/Chemi/Matemathik/StrateySpiele.

Ich empfehle rossetta da es nicht kommerziell ist und nach Heilmittel für Krankheiten sucht! Und einen schönen Übersicht hat nach was gerade auf deine Computer geforscht wird.

Wenn du andere Projekte unterstützen willst informiere dich vorher ob Sie deine Wünsche erfüllen, ob Sie kommerziell sind oder nicht. Es ist deine Rechenkapazität und du kannst damit machen was du willst.

Dein PC ist wichtig und kann entscheidend dazu mithelfen Leben zu retten und die Welt einbischen besser zu machen.

Mach mit und get connected.

Download unter: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

Projekte unter : http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php

2.)Sende eine Email an alle die Du kennst weiter und hilef Rechenkapazität zu gewinnen.

Auch wenn du aus welchen Gründen auch immer nicht mitmachen kannst oder willst, schick eine Email weiter es gibt viele da darausen die gernen helfen würden aber nicht einmal wissen das Sie das könne.

Hintergrund:

Ich Paulzaj@gmail.com bin selber nur zufällig auf die Seite gekommen als ich nach den Seti@home Bildschirmschoner gesucht habe und war super erfreut das ich statt außerirdische zu finden Menschen halfen kann.Ich will einfach mithelfen daß das System besser funktioniert und bin mir sicher Ihr wollt das auch.

Deine Kinder werden es Dir Danken

Suport:

Wenn du Fragen hast oder dich nicht auskennt dann helfe ich dir gerne schickt mir einfach eine email an die erste adresse da unten.

Paulzaj@gmail.com

]]> http://jumpup.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/semi-india-and-innovation/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:34:52 +0000 Soham Das http://jumpup.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/semi-india-and-innovation/

Perhaps after economics and markets, semiconductors is something which I actively fill my time with. I am not even sure if it comes second, maybe even first.

With all the knee jerking around from the government, its seemingly pointless even to talk about it. Each year surprisingly ISA [Indian Semiconductor Association] comes up with some new Frost and Sullivan report and then again government, sniffs, tastes, babbles and goes back to its stupor.

I thought I will give the new report a look, to check if its free. [And whenever those swanky business intelligence comes into play, I get mighty spooked out. For a mere 300 pages report they charge ten times in dollars. Yeah! yeah I know- 'knowledge-is-power' rhetoric]
I have shot them a mail, if I could get a sneak peek of the report, and while I wait, let me do some of my own forecasts. I will talk about three, just three, but the most lucrative three verticals in this business. Semiconductors is such a huge business, that predicting it normally leads to eating a humble pie. So let me talk about just three of those top notch domains, which I am extremely bullish on.

Reconfigurable computing is a lucrative business and I can see a huge impetus of research, development, newer business avenues and innovative ways of harnessing them, coming to foresight in India. This is not from a technology point of view but a business point of view. One problem which is continuously a pinch in the pocket is the power consumption. But again, this is a price to be paid for the reconfigurable computing. Reconfigurable computing has seen a huge tremendous growth in the whole wide world (www? ).

Even till 2000, it was just a more exotic, unwanted design solution to something which didn’t have a replacement (I am talking about ASIC). But ASIC development requires a long engineering cycle, thus bumping up the NRE.

Enter FPGA. India is currently seeing a very low activity in reconfigurable computing primarily because, lack of design impetus. One important marker, is that India will have a huge booming semiconductor industry in the coming years, come hell, heaven or devil. But this will not be an expression of the inherent cost arbitrage advantage. I don’t think Intel, AMD thinks about paying their lead designers something less to boost their profit margins. If cost arbitrage comes into play it will be just a side note on the balance sheet and not the center piece.

India is gearing up for a huge design and services industry. And when you factor in FPGA and reconfigurable computing business into it, including the soft-IP and FPGA cores into the business, I am sure it will pattern in an explosion of sorts.

FPGA business has two primary divisions. Core design services and Silicon Design, out of which core design is a huge business and India will have significant share of it in the coming years, thanks to the intellectual talent over here.

ASIC Design It wont be an understatement to say that perhaps after FPGA business, I am highly bullish on ASIC sector. More precisely embedded computing section. Consumer electronic industry is poised to grow with a YoY CAGR of anywhere between 20% to 25%.

That is the scale of growth I am talking about and embedded computing is poised to be a rockstar among this. But one potential glitch in the system is, a strong and booming embedded computing industry requires a domestic fab. And Taiwan, Korea, China, US has been the examples of these. So till, the fab is not set, effectively the entire growth ecosystem is not being fired up. But once it does, embedded electronics market riding on the wave of consumer durables, PC, laptops, defence(a huge chunk) will grow by leaps and bounds. The audio video industry alone is presently clocking a 10% CAGR with $4.5billion of revenue. And audio/video is just the tip of the embedded iceberg.

Grid Computing. I don’t know if I am right in clubbing this with semiconductors but its definitely going to be the Beatles of Indian semiconductor technology [a tongue in cheek analogy from ASICs being the rockstar]. I would have been more precise had I included chips packing in themselves ‘processing firepower’ , as the center of my attention. But no, considerable thought has gone in naming the third resurgent group as grid computing.

Let me talk about grid computing first and then I will come back to my rationale of including it here. With immensely calculation intensive and number crunching situations arising in modern researches, and even in mundane things like weather/climate prediction (which we often take for granted), computing power as a commodity has become a highly bankable resource. But attached is the high cost of deploying supercomputers and high cost of designing.So grid computing has come up to serve this. Grid computing essentially means the computing harnessed from “multiple computing clusters which act like a grid, generally not located within a single administrative domain“. And the best thing is, the business part of gird computing is what people normally call as cloud computing, which Amazon is so actively pushing around.

Now comes my rationale of including this technology as a performer in the Indian semiconductor portfolio. With the rise of the fourth fastest supercomputer being an immensely cheaply made supercomputer harnessing the power of parallelism, I can safely bet that India is a huge untapped market from the point of view of grid computing. You may be wondering what grid and what computing I am talking about, when the PC penetration is one of the lowest in the world. Yes true, and I don’t intend to say that this business can be harnessed only through idle CPU cycles off the PCs of people who are busy browsing bikinis and babes (Indians use Google to search about sex the most, says Zeitgeist). What in turn I am focusing on is, a total business ecosystem, growing to offer better, custom made grid systems, businesses with immense research focus on better routing algorithms [like Akamai, but more specialized] , design houses researching on processors which can handle network intensive communication as robustly as they can crunch numbers and so one. Or maybe even rise of specialized processors with slave-master mode. With the slave being a superbly efficient number cruncher and master being a routing optimizer. Implications of technology are many. But I can see a huge section latently wishing for it. You may wonder whom I am talking about? I know of somebody whom you can’t even imagine wishing for such computation power.Hint: Think money. [ Keep guessing, I will be letting you know about it soon]