[sn-cg] FW: SNIA coverage from grid panel

Wed Nov 8 04:23:20 CST 2006

FYI - SNW Grid Panel article from Byte&Switch 

Vincent. 

Vincent Franceschini 

E: vincent.franceschini at hds.com <mailto:vincent.franceschini at hds.com> 

T/F:         +33 493 121 801

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Users Put Grids on the Grill 

Byte and Switch

November 01, 2006 

URL: http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=109617

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Storage Networking World (SNW) -- A panel of customers
and vendors tried to demystify grid computing today at SNW, agreeing
that grids are a productive but complicated method of managing storage. 

"If you look at two or three technologies well known for conjecture,
disagreement, and confusion as far as enterprise adoption, certainly the
storage element of grid computing fits that description," said panel
moderator, analyst Simon Robinson of The 451 Group. (See Gridding My
Teeth and Enterprises Still Not Sold on Grid.)

That point became starkly clear when the panel was asked about the
definition and misconceptions associated with grid computing. Most of
the panelists had their own versions of both. 

"The biggest misconception is worrying about the definition," added J.S.
Hurley, head of grid evaluation and implementation at the Boeing
Company. "I don't care about that. I need my problem solved." 

"The biggest misconception is that it's tied purely to one form of
computing," said Paul Strong, distinguished research scientist at eBay.
"We view our data center as one grid. Infrastructure and applications
run on it, and it's become network-centric. It's a mega-operating
system, if you will." 

Vincent Franceschini, senior director of future technologies at Hitachi
Data Systems and chairman of the SNIA grid initiative, said most
organizations need to take time to understand what a grid is before
trying to operate one. 

"The misconception is it can be easily packaged and deployed," he said.
"The truth is, it takes time to understand what a grid entails,
specifically about your own infrastructure." 

Franceschini warned that grid computing includes issues many people
don't think about, such as "resource allocation, how to best serve
applications, and software licensing."

Still, three users on the panel think grid computing is a good thing.
Strong says having a grid architecture helps eBay manage and scale a
storage environment that consists of 2 Pbytes of raw capacity and 75
volumes, and which grows by 10 Tbytes a week. He refers to eBay's grid
as a "holistic view" of the storage and network infrastructure. 

"Management of that kind of stuff is complicated and hard," he says. "We
want to move away from caring about bits and bytes and blogs. The grid
provides a common context for certifying a model to manage what we care
about: storage devices and data. It lets us think about management and
mapping data and using quality of service." 

Hurley agreed with the holistic approach. "Many of us have become global
companies, and that's changed tremendously how we look at data," he
says. "When we deal with partners, how do we let our vendors get access
to the data in real time, but make sure only the right people get
access?" 

Another admin on the panel, Chris Leonetti of Microsoft Live, says grid
is about "data portability and application portability. 

"An application should not live in one place," he says. "Most services
we support live in all eight of our data centers. If a customer wants to
deploy a new application, we move it wherever and they have no idea
where it is." 

To make grids less complicated, Strong called for the development of
standards for grid computing, especially for applications. 

"If the industry doesn't come out with standards, we'll build stuff
anyway," he says. "Some of us don't have a choice. We have problems that
are too compelling and we can't wait." 

Coming up with standards for grid can be even more complicated than
developing standards for storage. SNIA's Franceschini says it requires
collaboration between his group and the Open Grid Forum, another
standards body. 

"The grid community has been working on a set of standards that aren't
in line with what the enterprise folks are using so far," he says. "We
agree on principle, it's a matter of having the industry agree on the
next steps required." 

- Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch

------------------------------------------------- 
Jennifer Hadden 
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide 
1475 Lawrence St, Suite 302 
Denver, CO 80202 
303-634-2633 
jennifer.hadden at ogilvypr.com 

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