Microsoft Embraces Modeling for Higher Efficiency

Microsoft has a press release on their joining the OMG Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Business Process Modeling Notification (BPMN) efforts.

Microsoft Focuses on Bringing Modeling Mainstream, Improves IT Delivery of Business Strategies

Senior Vice President Bob Muglia shares perspective on future of model-driven development and announces Microsoft’s participation in OMG.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 10, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today outlined its approach for taking modeling into mainstream industry use and announced its membership in the standards body Object Management Group™ (OMG™). Modeling is a core focus of Microsoft’s Dynamic IT strategy, the company’s long-term approach to provide customers with technology, services and best practices to enable IT and development organizations to be more strategic to the business.

Modeling often has been heralded as a means to break down technology and role silos in application development to assist IT departments in delivering more effective business strategies. However, although the promise of modeling has existed for decades, it has failed to have a mainstream impact on the way organizations develop and manage their core applications. Microsoft believes that models must evolve to be more than static diagrams defining a software system; they are a core part of daily business discussions, from organizational charts to cash flow diagrams. Implementing models as part of the design, deployment and management process would give organizations a deeper way to define and communicate across all participants and aspects involved in the application life cycle.

Modeling is a great method to develop Green Data Centers, optimizing components in an abstracted representation, making it easier to simulate interactions of components. There are a handful of companies doing this now.  One example is Skanska in data center construction. Here is a press release on Skanska’s use of Business Information Modeling.

Tekla and Vela Systems Create First Combination of Field and BIM Software for Construction Supply Chain Management

1 April 2008

Uniting 4D Building Information Modeling with RFID-Enabled Field Solution
Yields $1 Million Cost Savings at New Meadowlands Stadium 

Vela Systems, a developer of mobile field software  for the AECO (architecture, engineering, contractor and owner) industry, and Tekla Corporation, a leading building information modeling (BIM) solutions provider for the building and construction industry, today announced a joint software solution that brings dramatic new management capabilities to construction projects. The solution marries Vela’s patent-pending field administration software with Tekla’s construction management solutions. When enabled with field software and radio frequency identification (RFID), stakeholders in a construction project can manage critical-path building components and visualize the supply chain through a real-time, 4D simulation in which the fourth dimension is time. The joint Field BIM solution enables the AECO industry to feed into BIM the constantly changing status of the supply chain in the field.

Back to Microsoft, here is an explanation of why they are embracing models.

To make model-driven development a reality, Microsoft is focused on providing a model-driven platform and visual modeling tools that make it easy for all “mainstream” users, including information workers, developers, database architects, software architects, business analysts and IT professionals, to collaborate throughout the application development life cycle. By putting model-driven innovation directly into the Microsoft .NET platform, organizations will gain visibility and control over applications from end to end, ensuring that they are building systems based on the right requirements, simplifying iterative development and re-use, and resolving potential issues at a high level before they start committing resources.

“We’re building modeling in as a core part of the platform,” said Bob Muglia, senior vice president, Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. “This enables IT pros to specify their business needs and build applications that work directly from those specifications. It also brings together the different stages of the IT life cycle — connecting business analysts, who specify requirements, with system architects, who design the solution, with developers, who build the applications, and with operations experts, who deploy and maintain the applications. Ultimately, this means IT pros can innovate and respond faster to the needs of their business.”

Here is a video with Bob Muglia.

image

The good news is Microsoft is embracing an open standard modeling method.

OMG has been an international, open-membership, not-for-profit computer industry consortium since 1989. OMG’s modeling standards include the Unified Modeling Language™ (UML®) and Business Process Management Notation (BPMN™). In addition to joining the organization, Microsoft will take an active role in numerous OMG working groups to help contribute to the open industry dialogue and assist with evolution of the standards to meet mainstream customer needs. For example, Microsoft is already working with the finance working group on information models for insurance business functions related to the property and casualty industry, and will eventually look to expand those models so that they can be applied to P&C, life and reinsurance. Another early focus will be on developing specifications for converting messages across the various payments messaging standards.

“Microsoft has always been one of the driving forces in the development industry, helping to make innovation possible but also simplifying many of the most challenging aspects of the application development process,” said Dr. Richard Mark Soley, CEO at OMG. “In less than 10 years, OMG’s UML, a cornerstone of the Model Driven Architecture initiative, has been adopted by the majority of development organizations, making OMG the seminal modeling organization and supporting a broad array of vertical market standards efforts in healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government and other areas. Microsoft’s broad expertise and impact will make its membership in OMG beneficial to everyone involved.”

Imagine in the future there are models for the whole data center including the software running on the hardware.  You’ll be able to monitor the efficiency of the system, and resolve waste with automation.

BTW, one of the changes I made recently to the M3 of GreenM3 is I have added Modeling and removed Metering.  My old tag line was Monitoring, Metering, and Managing. Metering is reaching critical mass in the industry and I moved on to look at Modeling as a method to go Green.  My new tag line is Monitoring, Modeling, and Managing.

Read more

Microsoft’s Container Data Center Changing the Game

As Microsoft gets closer to bringing its Chicago Data Center container on line, and deploys more server containers than are used by they rest of world.  I started speculating on possible outcome as almost all the large server OEMs prepare containers of servers.  Here are a few thoughts on the subject.

  • In the past you bought a server, installed it in a rack.  You could buy a rack full of servers.  But, now you can buy a container full of servers all configure with the exact amount of power and cooling infrastructure required for the servers in the container.
  • A large portion of the power and cooling infrastructure have been packaged with the server container.  The server power and cooling infrastructure is now encapsulated as part of the container.
  • It should be much easier to deliver a power and cooling optimized environment for a container, than a typical white space.  Vendors can make the economic trade-offs of performance in all kinds areas to squeeze the best use of power and cooling energy.
  • Designs can be optimized for different costs data center CAPex costs and OPex costs.  And, could be part of the selection criteria.  Makes sense to pay more for a higher efficiency container if you higher power costs.
  • Microsoft’s strategy of having multiple servers OEMs bid on containers plays to this advantage.  And, is a disadvantage for Google as they would have built the container all on their own and kept the IP.  Which could explain Google’s decisions not to use containers. 
  • Google thinks they are smarter than the server OEMs. 
  • Microsoft thinks the server OEM ecosystem does a better job than they can when it comes to designing server HW, including the right power and cooling infrastructure.
  • As power and cooling CAPex and OPex continue to rise as a % of data center costs, it makes sense to focus on how to reduce CAPex and OPex. Compute will be a commodity, and costs need to be lowered.
  • Does this sound like Cloud Computing’s future? 
Read more

Cisco and IBM say Execs Want Green Data Centers

News.com has a post on  Cisco and IBM say "Execs want green data centers"

Cisco says.

"Energy costs rank right after labor costs for our customers who run large data centers," Nikhil Jayaram, Cisco's director of engineering in the mid-range router group, said while speaking on a panel about green IT.

"Cisco's now moved to a new era where we're really focusing on power. Before it was performance, performance, performance, and cost was the fourth (concern)," he said.

IBM says.

J. Antonio Carballo, a partner in IBM's venture capital group, said on the panel his investment focus is "all about energy efficiency," especially in data centers. His group teams with external investors and start-ups to focus on power and efficiency in the United States and China. He said that in China he's seeing power at the center of 100 percent of designs.

Unfortunately, this post doesn't say where the presentation was made, and there wasn't a whole lot new in the information other then these few quotes.

Read more

Cisco's Virtual Office, Reducing Tech Support for Telecommuters

Cisco has a press release for its Virtual Office virtual office. We take for granted the solution needs to perform and be secure.

The Cisco Virtual Office addresses the growing trend among mid-sized and large enterprises that have increasingly distributed workforces who need access to collaborative business applications and services outside of their corporate offices. The networking solution packages routing, switching, security, wireless, IP telephony, and policy control technology into a centrally managed office-caliber solution that provides highly secure video, voice, data and wireless service. (http://www.cisco.com/go/cvo) It is flexible, allowing employees to work in a variety of places with technology and services that are as advanced as if they were sitting at their desk in their office. This "extension" of an employee's collaborative office environment includes access to voice and video over IP communications, all protected within a highly secure networked environment.

What is different is they have included "zero-touch" setup/deployment, reducing the costs for supporting the remote workforce.

One of the solution's most valued features is its "zero-touch" setup. Automated, pre-configured setup offloads installation responsibilities from employees, most of whom are not qualified or knowledgeable enough to implement networking systems themselves. With the solution's zero-touch setup, businesses can extend their workforces to thousands of locations with the peace of mind that employee error and IT support will be minimal. As a whole, the Cisco Virtual Office consists of the following components:

    Remote site

    • Zero-touch setup of the new Cisco 881w Series Internet Services Router (ISR) and Cisco 7970G IP phone with color display. Once the Cisco 881w ISR is connected to the Internet, it "calls home" and automatically downloads a pre-defined configuration that syncs with headquarters. From there, employees can benefit from efficient, automated delivery of collaborative business applications and services. For example, wireless LAN connectivity is offered as an option to provide such features as mobile intelligent roaming.

Consider this capability as you green your data center as to how you support the remote work force as reducing travel many times will have a much larger carbon footprint impact than reducing electricity consumption.

One gallon of gas has 19 lbs of CO2. 10 kW-hr of electricity is 13.4 lbs.   You could easily save a gallon of gas in a commute, but saving 10 kW-hr is near impossible.

Read more

Google’s Floating Data Center Ability to Survive a Hurricane? Move it

DataCenterKnowledge points to ZDNet’s Larry Dignan in technical and economic discussion of Google’s floating data center.


Google’s design for floating data centers, described in a patent application, addresses many of the cost issues that make operating a data center so expensive. In Google’s concept, the ocean would provide most of the energy to power and cool the servers and equipment, while also eliminating expenses for real estate and property taxes. As Larry Dignan points out, the design addresses many of the budget-busting features of the modern data center. ”I’d call it brilliant engineering, but the financial engineering could be even more impressive,” Larry writes.

And Rich brings up a good issue of disaster survival.

Would a Google data barge be able to weather a hurricane? Or a tsunami? In the past two weeks hurricanes have struck both the Gulf and Atantic coasts of the U.S., and Hurricane Ike is on track to threaten the western Gulf later this week. At first glance, the Google data barges seem even more exposed than the data center cargo shipsproposed by IDC, which would be docked in harbors. 

The simple answer is to move it. Microsoft could also do the same thing for containers in a data center for a Tornado.  Based on conversations with Google guys who are smart and economically aware, my assumption is they made the tradeoff design decisions and designing in survivability for a Hurricane is not money well spent.

The filing also cites the mobile nature of the floating data center (and particularly the data center containers) as an advantage over traditional data centers. Google notes that “the mooring fields may be moved, such as when demand for computing or telecommunications power moves, when sea conditions change (e.g., seasonally) or when a time period for legal occupation of an area expires.”

Read more