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James Urquhart

Manager, Cloud Computing & Virtualized Data Centers Marketing at Cisco Systems, Inc
James Urquhart manages cloud computing and data center virtualization marketing for the Data Center Solutions group at Cisco. One of the most respected subject matter experts on the cloud, he is also the author of the popular CNET Blog, The Wisdom of Clouds. Mr Urquhart is a seasoned field technologist with almost 20 years of experience in distributed systems development and deployment, focusing on service-oriented architectures, cloud computing, and virtualization.

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Article: Cloud "Devops," and "Shadow IT"
March 17 2011

There is a growing gap between the culture and practices of organizations that have embraced cloud as a primary IT model, and those that are trying to fit the cloud into their existing practices. The former has become very development and application driven, while the latter remains focused on infrastructure and data center operations models.


Article: Capacity Aggregation: Cloud's Great Experiment
March 03 2011

There is a facet to the cloud story that is very exciting right now: innovation on the core technical and operational models that form the basis of distributed computing. Cloud has made new ways of acquiring and consuming infrastructure, platforms, and applications readily available to an increasingly broad market of potential users. The financial model makes failure much cheaper and the ease of access and experimentation makes cloud a new tool for technologists trying to solve new problems that weren't possible before.


Article: Cloud Computing's Killer Applications
February 14 2011

James steps back through the three application areas that he thinks are the most impactful for cloud computing.


Article: “Compute Efficiency” and Cloud Computing
January 25 2011

Energy analogies abound with respect to cloud computing and its effect on enterprise IT operations and economics. Nick Carr's "The Big Switch" laid out the case for why computing will be subject to many of the same forces as the electricity market was. While this analogy isn't perfect, there are often interesting parallels that are worth exploring.


Article: Go To' Clouds of the Future, Part 2
January 06 2011

In part 1 of this two-part series, I highlighted my thoughts on why the long-term future of the cloud, at least for consumer and small business, belongs to integrated "one-stop" cloud suites, and why Microsoft and Google are the two companies best positioned for this opportunity. The truth is that several potential competitors could overtake either - or both- companies. Here are some of my favorites, and a few that should be contenders but really aren't, at this point.


Article: 'Go To' Clouds of the Future, Part 1
January 03 2011

I am often asked which companies I think will be the most dominant names in IT 10 years from now, thanks to cloud computing. My answer often surprises those who ask; not because the two companies I believe will be the most recognized names in cloud-based IT services aren't considered players today, but rather because of why I believe they will be so recognized. In this, the first of two posts exploring the companies that can best exploit the cloud model, I'll identify those two companies and explain why they best fit the needs of a large percentage of IT service customers.


Article: Cloud Security is Dependent on the Law
November 22 2010

Lately there has been some intersting claims of the superiority of public clouds over privately managed forms of IT, including private cloud environments. Regardless of the technical and organizational realities, there is one element that is completely out of control of both the customer and cloud provider that makes public cloud an increased risk: the law. Ignoring this means you are not completely evaluating the "security" of potential deployment environments.


Article: Are IT Vendors Missing the Point of Cloud?
November 09 2010

What was striking to me last week was how many vendors were pitching "here's how to replicate in the cloud what you do in your existing data center environment today". The pitches generally relied on terminology that most existing IT professionals are comfortable with; things like "CPU utilization" or "WAAN optimization" or "VM management."


Article: IT Operations in a Cloudy World
September 22 2010

Cloud Computing and data center virtualization are both changing the way IT operations are organized, and the toolsets sought to automate operations tasks. Recent conversations with a variety of cloud practitioners have reemphasized this. Here are some of the changes coming to the operations space, and why those changes are important when considering your future or your product's future.


Video: OSCON 2010: Panel Discussion Open Source and the Cloud
August 23 2010

Contributors: James Urquhart & Marten Mickos
Panelists include: Rick Clark - Rackspace Cloud, Neil Levine - Canonical, Marten Mickos - Eucalyptus Systems, and James Urquhart - Cisco Systems, Inc


Video: OSCON 2010: The Journey So Far
August 23 2010

The Cloud Manager at Cisco Systems discusses the past five years of cloud computing.


Article: The future cloud should fend for itself
August 22 2010

It is fascinating the ways in which the world of computing can be made easier, thus creating opportunity for new complexities - usually in the form of new computing technologies. It's happened with programming languages, software architectures, computer networks, data center design, and systems virtualization. However, nothing has raised the bar on that concept like IT automation.


Article: Hedge your bets in cloud computing
July 31 2010

Debates flare up all the time about what is the "right" way to consume cloud computing. Public cloud providers push for ditching your data center in favor of pay-per-use services delivered over the network. Many hardware vendors claim that the enterprise's road to cloud computing is through the operation of private clouds. Which argument do you buy? How should you plan to deploy and operate your IT resources over the next 3, 5, even 10 years? Possibly you should consider not choosing at all. There are so many variables that no one can predict how the transition to cloud computing will take place.


Article: The intersection of open source and cloud computing
June 28 2010

Cloud computing and open-source software have been intertwined since the early days of the cloud. Vendors such as Amazon.com, SugarCRM, Rackspace, and many others, utilized open-source choices for everything from virtualization to data stores to user interfaces.


Podcast: Overcast Show - The LAMP Cloud
June 22 2010

Contributors: James Urquhart & Geva Perry
In this show James and Geva talk with Krishnan Subramanian of CloudAve about the LAMP Cloud. Geva started the conversation in a GigaOm post, Who Will Build the LAMP Cloud?, and James responded with, Does Cloud Computing Need LAMP?. In an indirectly related post, Krish wrote about the Relevance of Open Source in a Cloud Based World. Now they discuss whether it makes sense, who needs it, and what's the role of open source software in the world of cloud computing? They also discuss the adoption of Platform-as-a-Service and more.


Article: Does Cloud Computing Need LAMP?
May 24 2010

The LAMP stack is a collection of open-source technologies commonly integrated to create a platform capable of supporting a wide variety of Web applications. In response to a blog post on "Who will build the LAMP cloud?" the questions arises if cloud computing really needs LAMP when you consider the new alternatives.


Article: Understanding the Cloud and DevOps: Part 3
April 02 2010

Cloud Computing has brought many changes to IT operations, and there are new organizations and technologies that operations professionals need to understand to embrace those changes. The term DevOps is intended to represent the shift from reactionary, process-centric operations, to a more strategic, agile, and automated approach. This three part series explores the concepts of the new DevOps Designers. Part 3: Here are some responses and feedback from the cloud community on the case, outlined in the first two parts, for why cloud computing is driving an application focus in operations instead of a server focus. Also, why that application focus forces a change in the core responsibilities of IT operations personnel, respectively.


Article: Understanding the Cloud and DevOps: Part 2
March 27 2010

Cloud Computing has brought many changes to IT operations, and there are new organizations and technologies that operations professionals need to understand to embrace those changes. The term DevOps is intended to represent the shift from reactionary, process-centric operations, to a more strategic, agile, and automated approach. This three part series explores the concepts of the new DevOps Designers. Part 2: A look at specific changes and why an application focus means automation is critical to IT operations. Also, how that brings development and operations closer together than ever before.


Article: Understanding the Cloud and Devops: Part 1
March 25 2010

Cloud Computing has brought many changes to IT operations, and there are new organizations and technologies that operations professionals need to understand to embrace those changes. The term Devops is intended to represent the shift from reactionary, process-centric operations, to a more strategic, agile, and automated approach. This three-part series explores the concepts of the new DevOps Designers. Cloud Computing has brought many changes to IT operations, and there are new organizations and technologies that operations professionals need to understand to embrace those changes. Part 1: To understand what really drives the need for more agile operations platforms, let's begin with observations of the effect that virtualization and cloud computing has on IT operations.


Podcast: Cloud Computing and Commodity
March 05 2010

James Urquhart and Dave Linthicum talk about Cloud Computing as a commodity, and how this may play out as Cloud Computing providers mature.


Article: The Cloud Cannot Ignore Geopolitics
March 02 2010

Cloud computing is an operational model, not a technology: the critical fact underpins so many of the challenges and advantages that cloud computing models place upon distributed applications. In Cloud Computing, "virtual" geography and "physical" geography are both extremely important, and it is up to us to keep the two aligned. There are many reasons to consider "location" and "borders" in cloud computing. Unfortunately, how governments perceive those concepts versus how networks do can be at odds.


Article: Cloud Computing and Commodity
February 17 2010

Understanding Commodization and Commodification and how they apply to cloud computing.


Article: Payload Descriptor For Cloud Computing: An Update
January 27 2010

Without a universal way to describe and evaluate payloads, a liquid marketplace for cloud capabilities may not be possible without significant changes to the design of applications, data center infrastructure, and the Internet itself. Here is a much better proposal for what is needed to allow for simpler real-time selection of cloud infrastructure.


Article: Does the Fourth Amendment Cover The Cloud?
January 19 2010

One of the biggest issues facing individuals and corporations choosing to adopt public cloud computing is the relative lack of clarity with respect to legal rights over data stored online. However, a recent note written for the Minnesota Law Review gives a thorough outline of where we stand with respect to the application of Fourth Amendment law to Internet computing.


Article: Understanding Infrastructure 2.0
January 15 2010

As we move into an era of data center virtualization and cloud computing, spreadsheets just don't cut it anymore. Logging into switches one by one, or even executing a manual update to a set of switches at once isn't fast and agile enough to react to the changing needs of an automated application and server infrastructure. We need to take a systems view of our entire infrastructure, and build our automation around the end-to-end architecture of that system.


Article: Cloud Computing's Green Paradox
January 07 2010

The increased efficiency of the hardware components in most cloud data centers and the increased utilization of these components mean that we are almost certainly doing more work per unit of energy consumed than before. However, how do we know the actual savings to the environment until its actually measured.


Article: Application Packaging for Cloud Computing: A Proposal
January 05 2010

Here is a vision of what software packaging architectures in cloud computing environments may look like. Specifically, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings, and the enabling infrastructure that will handle application deployment to these services in the future. How they may possibly evolve to make deployment and operations as easy as possible.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Focus on PaaS
December 11 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva catch up on some of the latest developments in cloud computing, with a particular emphasis on Platform-as-a-Service. Some of the companies, products and technologies mentioned include: Amazon, Salesforce.com, Engine Yard, Heroku, Canonical, Eucalyptus, Chef, Sauce Labs and Microsoft Azure.


Article: Practice Overtaking Theory in Cloud Computing
November 30 2009

While there are still plenty of critical and complex problems to solve, and many implications of this disruptive operations model that have yet to be understood, we've entered a new phase in the evolution of cloud adoption. Real work now exceeds theory when it comes to both new online content and work produced.


Article: Five Competitive Differentiators for Cloud Services
November 16 2009

Cloud Computing providers have a difficult marketing challenge. No matter what service model or deployment model a provider is delivering, they must differentiate their service while meeting the commodity needs of as many customers as possible. Here is a list of five categories of competitive differentiations for Cloud Computing. If your looking to acquire cloud services, these are elements to help you evaluate any service, if you're selling these services, consider this an outline for your nest requirements document.


Article: Cloud Computing and the Big Rethink: Part 5
October 19 2009

Cloud Computing will change the way server software is packaged, with an emphasis in lean "just enough" systems software. This means that the big, all-purpose operating system of the past will either change dramatically or disappear altogether, as the need for a "handle all corners" systems infrastructure is redistributed both up and down the execution stack. In this series James discusses why the operating system, along with most server, network, and storage virtualization is a stop-gap measure as we move to a cloud experience centered on the application user and developer. Part 5: A vision of what the cloud of the future may look like when the evolution or demise of the operating system and virtual server is complete.


Article: Cloud Computing and the Big Rethink: Part 4
October 13 2009

Cloud Computing will change the way server software is packaged, with an emphasis in lean "just enough" systems software. This means that the big, all-purpose operating system of the past will either change dramatically or disappear altogether, as the need for a "handle all corners" systems infrastructure is redistributed both up and down the execution stack. In this series James discusses why the operating system, along with most server, network, and storage virtualization is a stop-gap measure as we move to a cloud experience centered on the application user and developer. Part 4: Considering the role of the business users themselves in rethinking enterprise architecture.


Article: Cloud Computing and the Big Rethink: Part 3
October 07 2009

Cloud Computing will change the way server software is packaged, with an emphasis in lean "just enough" systems software. This means that the big, all-purpose operating system of the past will either change dramatically or disappear altogether, as the need for a "handle all corners" systems infrastructure is redistributed both up and down the execution stack. In this series James discusses why the operating system, along with most server, network, and storage virtualization is a stop-gap measure as we move to a cloud experience centered on the application user and developer. Part 3: A look at things from the software layers down, getting into more detail about why applications will be created differently for the cloud than they were for servers.


Article: Cloud Computing and the Big Rethink: Part 2
October 01 2009

Cloud Computing will change the way server software is packaged, with an emphasis in lean "just enough" systems software. This means that the big, all-purpose operating system of the past will either change dramatically or disappear altogether, as the need for a "handle all corners" systems infrastructure is redistributed both up and down the execution stack. In this series James discusses why the operating system, along with most server, network, and storage virtualization is a stop-gap measure as we move to a cloud experience centered on the application user and developer. Part 2: An exploration of why cloud computing drives infrastructure toward homogeneity (at least within the data center) and why that is the bane of server virtualization


Article: Cloud Computing and the Big Rethink: Part 1
September 29 2009

Cloud Computing will change the way server software is packaged, with an emphasis in lean "just enough" systems software. This means that the big, all-purpose operating system of the past will either change dramatically or disappear altogether, as the need for a "handle all corners" systems infrastructure is redistributed both up and down the execution stack. In this series James discusses why the operating system, along with most server, network, and storage virtualization is a stop-gap measure as we move to a cloud experience centered on the application user and developer. Part 1: A response to Chris Hoff's post on the operating system and the need for the virtual machine in a cloud-centric world. James adds his own take and discusses how cloud computing will affect software architecture and why IT operations professionals need to understand that their roles and responsibilities are changing.


Article: Five Ways that Apps.gov is a Trendsetter
September 18 2009

Apps.gov, a federal government initiative out of the General Services Administration, demonstrates several concepts that have been the dream of many private enterprise IT departments for some time, but have been successfully executed by very few. Here are the five trends that Apps.gov demonstrates, and why you should pay attention.


Video: Clarifying Clouds: What's the Right Approach for Your Business?
September 04 2009

Many companies are rapidly evolving toward cloud computing, though from different starting points and not without debate as to the best direction or computing model. While internal and external clouds are based on the ownership of where the computing resources reside, two other cloud types, public and private, have more to do with control point of the cloud applications and resources. Here is a high-level breakdown on the distinctions between internal and external vs private and public clouds, and some of the benefits.


Video: James Urquhart on Cloud Computing
August 12 2009

Dells Cloud Computing Evangelist, Barton George, talks to James Urquhart at CloudWorld. They discuss how the conversation has changed from "What is Cloud" to questions of how to replicate some of the recent Cloud success stories. James gives examples of how businesses are reacting to cloud computing and where the biggest interest is coming from. They also discusses how the Cloud has lowered the VC capital that start-ups require to get set up and going, how internal IT needs to start realizing they are no longer delivering a product but a service, how regulatory and industry standards will be what dictates the speed of the clouds evolution and not technology, and much more.


Video: Mainstream Meanings for the Cloud
August 12 2009

Contributors: Joe Weinman , Sam Charrington , Timothy Chou & James Urquhart
Standardization, Simplification, and Jumping in Headfirst At the CloudWorld event in San Francisco, panelists question whether cloud computing, quickly gaining mainstream adoption, could replace system ownership entirely. The Panel was moderated by Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies and the panelists included Joe Weinman of AT&T Business Solutions, Sam Charrington of Appistry, James Urquhart of Cisco Systems and the CNET Blog Network, and Timothy Chou of Ming Holdings.


Video: Cloud Computing from Amazon to the Intercloud
May 29 2009

Cloud Computing from Amazon to the Intercloud


Video: The Future of Enterprise Cloud Computing
May 19 2009

Technology Strategist for Cisco's Data Center Solutions Group, James Urquhart, discusses the future of enterprise IT in light of the increasing influence of Cloud Computing technologies and Services.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Matt Asay on Open Source & The Cloud
May 11 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva talk to Matt Asay, VP of Business Development at Alfresco and Author of the blog The Open Road: The Business and Politics of Open Source on CNET. Matt discusses the multiple roles open source software can and does play in the cloud. He explains why he believes cloud will help open source companies monetize their technologies and talks about the influence the open source movement may have on cloud computing.


Article: Exploring Cloud Interoperability, Part 3
May 07 2009

Researching the interoperability standards of Cloud Computing management is the next step in an accelerating effort to unify the cloud. Everyone is getting involved, from virtualization vendors to public cloud providers to the major enterprise IT systems vendors.


Article: Exploring Cloud Interoperability, Part 2
May 07 2009

Researching the interoperability standards of Cloud Computing management is the next step in an accelerating effort to unify the cloud. Everyone is getting involved, from virtualization vendors to public cloud providers to the major enterprise IT systems vendors.


Article: Exploring Cloud Interoperability, Part 1
May 04 2009

Researching the interoperability standards of Cloud Computing management is the next step in an accelerating effort to unify the cloud. Everyone is getting involved, from virtualization vendors to public cloud providers to the major enterprise IT systems vendors.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Alex Barnett, Intuit
April 08 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva talk to Alex Barnett, Manager of the Developer Relations Group for the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) and the Intuit Developer Network (IDN). They discuss Intuit's activity in the cloud, including Quickbase, Quickbooks Online and other products they have moved to a Software-as-a-Service model. They cover the stack provided by Intuit including their Database-as-a-Service and the tools for developing Flex applications, made available through Intuit's partnership with Adobe. They also talk about the Open Cloud Manifesto and its approach to cloud interoperability and portability and more.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Manifestogate
March 20 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva discuss events around the release of the Open Cloud Manifesto.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Christopher Hoff, Cloud Security Expert
March 14 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva talk to Christopher Hoff the renowned information security expert. Chris talks about some of the myths and misconceptions about security in the cloud and addresses the claim that cloud providers are better at securing your data than you are, and the benefits and shortcomings of security in the cloud. They also talk about the different models of cloud computing, specific challanges and solutions for PCI-compliance in the cloud, and security issues associated with multi-tenant architecture and virtualization.


Article: Has Cloud Computing Lost Its VC Luster?
March 05 2009

Venture Capitalists of late have been approached with start-up pitches assigning Cloud to everything from hardware to downloadable software clients. It seems that just about every pitch tese days is for cloud computing, and the folks with the money are getting a bit weary of it. A big part of the problem is the unresolved definition of cloud computing.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Javier Soltero
February 26 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva talk to Javier Soltero, CEO and Co-Founder of Hyperic. They discuss Hyperic cloud products and projects including a technology that allows easily instrumenting Java, Hadoop and Memcached applications and exposing the data to CollectD. Javier also talks about his blog post about how cloud environment developers are required to address operational issues, such as monitoring and management. He then explains how application monitoring and management requirements are different in cloud computing, and why traditional tools wont cut it in the cloud.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Randy Bias and Michael Sheehan
February 05 2009

Contributors: Geva Perry , James Urquhart , Randy Bias & Michael Sheehan
James and Geva are back with Randy and Michael of GoGrid. They talk about the destinction between a Cloudcenter and Infrastructure Web Services, and the different approach GoGrid is taking to cloud computing compared to Amazon Web Services. They also discuss Cloud Computing Standards and what is the correct approach for achieving them and more.


Article: Cloud Computing Addresses Two Wholly Different Market Needs
December 30 2008

Scale-Out and Enterprise clouds serve different purposes, often for completely different audiences, and enterprise IT organizations would do better to focus their efforts on the specific facet of cloud computing that applies to a given project.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Lew Tucker
December 11 2008

Contributors: Geva Perry , James Urquhart & Lew Tucker
James, Geva and Lew discuss Platform-as-a-Service lessons learned from AppExchange and the network effect, implementing internal clouds at large enterprises, and Sun's role in cloud computing and relevant compute, storage and software assets it has, such as Project Caroline, Sun Grid Engine, Solaris and More.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Greg Ness
November 26 2008

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva talk to Greg Ness the Sr Director at Infoblox and Author of the Archemedius.net blog. Greg discusses Infrastructure 2.0: the concept that new IT environments such as virtualization and clouds require a new approach to infrastructure that embraces dynamic and automated systems. He also talks about his view on the need for a new approach to networking and other aspects of the infrastructure.


Podcast: Overcast Show: John Willis
November 20 2008

Contributors: Geva Perry , James Urquhart & John Willis
James and Geva are joined by John Willis, one of the leading bloggers and podcasters on cloud computing. They discuss some of the basic cloud computing elements, including, what is a cloud? Platform-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service, Hybrid Clouds and Cloud Bursting. They also talk about whether or not the analogy between electric utilities and cloud computing is a valid one and where the two may differ.


Podcast: Overcast Show: Cloud Computing Anouncements
November 04 2008

Contributors: Geva Perry & James Urquhart
James and Geva talk about Force.com and the relationship between Salesforce and Amazon Web Services. They also discuss the cooperation between RightScale and the open Source EUCALYPTUS project.


Article: Three Debates that will Benefit Cloud Computing
July 09 2008

Cloud computing is one of those operations models that has already started to disrupt the way in which everyone consumes software. It is also starting to have an effect on the way in which people and organizations consume hardware. The tension created by disagreement and debate in the cloud computing marketplace is spurring entrepreneurs, vendors, and even individuals to become innovative. Here are the three most important examples of how disagreement is driving technology road maps industrywide.


Article: Lawyers Shine Light on Real Cloud Concerns
June 20 2008

Lawyers are finding the uncertain legal and regulatory terrain of cloud computing fertile ground for new legal analysis and business. The gap between the cloud and the current state of legislation is serious. Here are a few examples of some of the issues and advancements in the cloud legal discussions.


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The Wisdom of Clouds, a CNET Tech blog by James Urquhart, covers cloud computing, virtualization, SaaS, data centers, and much more.		 subscribe
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