Jeff Jaffe’s Blog

In my last posting, I outlined the significance of cloud computing and Novell’s architecture to provide infrastructure for the cloud. Herein I will provide some detail for the piece called connecting to the cloud via devices enabled by Moblin.

Novell’s Cloud Architecture

To reprise our cloud architecture, we discussed five key elements.

• Connect
• Secure
• Manage
• Develop
• Collaborate

Connecting to the Cloud

Everything will connect to the cloud. Every client will need services from the cloud and every server will interact with the compute cloud. So when we talk about connecting to the cloud, we are not referring to a unique new communications protocol or specialized device.

Rather, we are focused on the operating environment for a device whose primary function is to access services from the network; the Web; or the compute cloud. That is why we refer to Moblin as the key component for connecting to the cloud.

The cloud introduces the need for a new family of devices to be used by consumers and enterprise users alike. These devices have as their primary role to connect to these services. Some of these devices are more capable—approaching PC class in nature, others are strict communicators.

Intel has taken the lead in designing the operating environment most suited for these devices. Logically, they are leveraging Linux since key ingredients such as openness and low cost are critical. Intel’s variation of Linux—Moblin—further optimizes for devices whose primary role is connectivity. Optimization helps drive lower power chip sets and small screen sizes. It allows simplification of the user interface since it is not a general desktop.

Travel in Asia—Feel the Excitement

I spent the last two weeks in Asia—Taiwan, China, and India—and being in a different part of the world focused my attention on the value of cloud computing. You can see the potential. Powerful communicators / computers will open up computing to a new class of users. In these new “segments”—people will get their first introduction to computing via services from the cloud. In our industry, every time that we open up computers to a new class of users it drives change in our system design. Thus, desktop Linux will succeed in this new environment because it can flex to this design point.

No wonder that it was at Computex in Taipei earlier this month that Moblin made such a big hit.

Novell and Moblin

Novell has announced that we will support a SUSE version of Moblin and make it available on netbooks. We announced our Taiwan laboratory in May and followed it up with our Computex demo in June. We are contributing to Moblin and leveraging it. Moblin is a key infrastructure for cloud computing where Novell will play a large role as part of our cloud infrastructure strategy.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:21 am and is filed under General, Linux Operating Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.