[CAnet - news] How web services are transforming university e-mail and cyber-infrastructure

For more information on this item please visit my blog at 
http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com/
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[Some excerpts from Charlie Catlett's blog and article in the Economist --
BSA]

http://teragrid.typepad.com/whiteboard/2006/12/commodity_tech_.html

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8450071

http://asuutoblog.net/2006/10/16/like-technology-from-an-advanced-alien-cult
ure%25e2%2580%25a6/



An interesting piece with the subtitle Consumer Technologies are Invading
Corporate Computing in The Economist - about commodity technologies and
services moving in on the corporate data centers.  In the article is a nice
example talking about Arizona State University "outsourcing" email to Google
(students get to keep their asu.edu addresses).   

One of the advantages cited with respect to using web services/applications
is that users "already know how to use web-based software, and thus do not
need training."  This is one of the motivations behind the TeraGrid Science
Gateways program as well.  But the use of commercial services for
"commodity" functions is an even deeper change to the way we traditionally
provide high-performance computing to our user community. 

One of the reasons I've been pushing TeraGrid to explore commercial services
is nicely put in this article:  "In the past, innovation was driven by the
military or corporate markets. But now the consumer market, with its vast
economies of scale and appetite for novelty, leads the way."   If we
leverage what these companies are doing and figure out how to help our
"customers" use our services in an integrated way with those commercial
services then we will be able to concentrate our expertise much more
effectively.


[From the Economist] 



IN OCTOBER, shortly after taking over as head of information technology (IT)
at Arizona State University, Adrian Sannier gave the nod to his contact at
Google, the internet giant known for its search engine, and with one flick
of the proverbial switch 65,000 students had new e-mail accounts. Unlike the
university's old system, which stores e-mails on its own server computers,
the new accounts reside on Gmail, Google's free web-based service. Mr
Sannier is not forcing anybody to change but has found that the students,
many of whom were already using Gmail for their private e-mail, have been
voluntarily migrating to the new service at a rate of 300 an hour.
Crucially, they can take their "asu.edu" e-mail addresses with them.

The service, part of a bundle called "Google Apps for Your Domain" that also
includes instant messaging (IM) and a web-based calendar, has not even been
officially launched yet. Using Google's services has several advantages for
companies. Most employees already know how to use web-based software, and
thus do not need training. They can access the services through any web
browser, regardless of what kind of computer (or telephone) they use. Like
the consumer service, the corporate product is free. 

For Mr Sannier, however, a bigger reason than money for switching from
traditional software to web-based alternatives has to do with the pace and
trajectory of technological change. Using the new Google service, for
instance, students can share calendars, which they could not easily do
before. Soon Google will integrate its online word processor and spreadsheet
software into the service, so that students and teachers can share
coursework. Eventually, Google may add blogs and wikis-it has bought firms
with these technologies. Mr Sannier says it is "absolutely inconceivable"
that he and his staff could roll out improvements at this speed in the
traditional way-by buying software and installing it on the university's own
computers.

Mr Sannier is ahead of his time because most IT bosses, especially at large
organisations, tend to be sceptical of consumer technologies and often ban
them outright. Employees, in return, tend to ignore their IT departments.
Many young people, for instance, use services such as Skype to send instant
messages or make free calls while in the office. FaceTime, a Californian
firm that specialises in making such consumer applications safe for
companies, found in a recent survey that more than half of employees in
their 20s and 30s admitted to installing such software over the objections
of IT staff. 

 "I have a staff of about 30 people dedicated to security," says Mr Sannier.
"Google has an army; all of their business fails if they are unable to
preserve security and privacy." Google's Mr Girouard says a similar
evolution in trust occurred when people reluctantly accepted that their
money was safer in a bank than under a mattress.

Big companies will probably keep "mission critical" systems in-house. But as
everything else migrates to web-based services, software will increasingly
resemble the web technologies of the consumer market, says Mr Benioff. Those
enterprise firms, such as his own, that follow the lead of consumer-oriented
websites will do well in this environment, he argues.

Security concerns, Mr Benioff implies with a wink, are red herrings thrown
by ageing IT bosses trying to justify their salaries. They will, after all,
be out of a job if companies no longer maintain their own big data centres.
Mr Sannier agrees. The old IT bosses "can't possibly embrace this idea
unless they're getting ready to retire," as his own predecessor did after
decades in the job. But at 45, Mr Sannier believes the trend is inevitable,
and his job requires him to get on top of it.


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