Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 68: Falling Through the Cloud?

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The reliability of the cloud is something that is discussed whenever there is a major outage of any kind. WordPress.com’s outage this past week took down sites like TechCrunch, GigaOM and over 10.2M other blogs. Media Temple (a place Tim and Steve host sites at) has consistent issues with slowness on their Grid Service and database calls (sometimes reeeeeally slow). All of our increasing reliance on the cloud is becoming more and more important as we shift our computing online.

We also discuss the Flash and iPad/iPhone controversy, Comcast bandwidth metering, upcoming events and more.

This Week’s Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Graeme Thickins (Phil Wilson is off this week)
Music by The Birdinumnums and the tune is “Thirteen Steps”. From the podsafe music network Music Alley.

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The Podcast

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Discussed during the show:

MN Tech Rocks – Last Night Was Proof

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If you weren’t at Minnedemo last night, well, you ain’t….  Seriously, for those few of you players in our Internet/IT community who weren’t there, you missed a damn good one.  I tweeted as I left about 10:30 pm (okay, I admit I tweet from my car) that I thought it was the best ever.  There was an energy that was not to be denied!  I’m including a few pix here — admittedly blurry as I swung a beer in my other hand. (Most are after the jump.)  It was some 300 people shoulder-to-shoulder in an art gallery talking about tech, great new startups coming on in Minnesota, with lots of new relationships being formed, old friendships and contacts being renewed, partnerships being discussed — and, yes, investment opportunities, too.  And that was just the schmoozing part! 

There were lots of live demos going on in the theater adjoining, if you could squeeze yourself in there:

1. ArtsApp – like Monster.com for artists to submit multimedia (Dejen Tesfagiorgis)
2. ReliaCloud – a cloud computing platform that allows people to build scalable computing infrastructure on demand (Jason Baker, VISI)
3. Pedal Brain – advanced cycle computer based on the iPhone platform combined with web-based data analysis (Matt Bauer)
…  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 63: A Conversation on Cloud Computing

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Talk about cloud computing is on the lips of people from startups to enterprise to the government, and Minnesota has a world-class thought leader right here in our midst. The Minnov8 Gang chatted with George Reese about his perspectives, books, upcoming events, and what he thinks about software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and how API’s fit in to this whole shebang.

Hosts: This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Midnight Music Quartet and the tune is, “Sweet Lorraine”.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00:22 — 34.8MB)

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About George Reese (@GeorgeReese):  George Reese is the founder of two Minneapolis-based companies, enStratus Networks LLC (maker of high-end cloud infrastructure management tools) and Valtira LLC (maker of the Valtira Online Marketing Platform). Over the past 15 years, George has authored a number of technology books, including MySQL Pocket Reference, Database Programming with JDBC and Java, Java Database Best Practices, and Cloud Application Architectures.

Throughout the Internet era, George has spent his career building enterprise tools for developers and delivering solutions to the marketing domain. He was an influential force in the evolution of online gaming through the creation of a number of Open Source MUD libraries and he created the first JDBC driver in 1996—the Open Source mSQL-JDBC. Most recently, George has been involved in the development of systems to support the deployment of transactional web applications in the cloud.

George holds a BA in Philosophy from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois. He currently lives in Minnesota with his wife Monique and his daughters Kyra and Lindsey.

Discussed during the show notes:


Twin Cities Firm Joins Ranks of Public Cloud Computing Providers

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Though the likes of cloud industry leaders Amazon Web Services and Rackpace may not yet have noticed, a Minnesota company has been quietly trying to do them one better. VISI, Minnesota’s largest data center services and managed hosting provider, formally announced on December 17 a public beta of its ReliaCloud cloud computing service, whereby any business can now apply to try it out — whether it’s located here in Minnesota or anywhere.

The first offering, dubbed “Cloud Servers,” allows business users to establish an account online. They can then quickly and easily set up one or more computer servers that run in one of  VISI’s data centers and are accessible to them and their users “in the cloud” — meaning via any Internet browser anywhere in the world.  Customers of the service thereby avoid the expense and work of having to purchase and maintain their own computers servers at their own site.  “It’s a pay-as-you-go model,” said Gary Elfert, director of marketing at VISI, which is headquartered in Eden Prairie and has its original data center in downtown St. Paul. The pricing model for these Cloud Servers is by the hour, starting at 5 cents.

Why would anyone be crazy enough to enter a market that is already dominated by notable heavyweights like Amazon?  “Though there are some large players already in the public cloud computing marketplace, it’s still a nascent business, and a rapidly growing one,” said Antonio Piraino, Research Director at Tier 1 Research, in VISI’s press announcement.  “There’s certainly room for a competitive offering such as ReliaCloud.” His firm has projected that cloud computing services will be a $1-billion market in 2011. …  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 61: Mobile & the Groovy Kids

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Today’s show covers mobile developments for certain, but we also talk about several other things like yesterday’s Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP), venture capital in Minnesota, cloud computing initiatives by Visi, and much more.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Straight 8’s and the tune is, “Ann Bowman”

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:08 — 32.6MB)

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Discussed during the show:

 

Visi Launches ‘ReliaCloud’ Services to Packed House

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ReliaCloud-logoGot a nickel? Then you have a server for an hour, my friend. Visi.com, Minnesota’s largest Internet services/hosting firm unveiled on Wednesday morning its all-new brand of cloud computing services, dubbed “ReliaCloud,” with pricing starting at 5 cents per hour for its first offering, called “Cloud Server.” The breakfast seminar, “CloudVision,” was held at The Metropolitan in St. Louis Park, and was sold-out, with more than 200 IT and business executives attending. (Tweets are archived at the hashtag #cloudvision, including my own.)

CloudVison-crowd+stageThe seminar featured talks by Mike Sowada, CEO of Visi, shown here on stage. (Photo courtesy of Charles Robinson.) Visi is the state’s largest Internet services and hosting firm, with data centers in both St. Paul and Eden Prairie.  A talk followed entitled “Cloud Computing as a Business Advantage” by Chris Howard, a VP at analyst/research firm Burton Group.  Jason Baker, CTO of Visi, wrapped up the event by presenting the first details of his firm’s new ReliaCloud offering, which included a live, online demo by product manager Johnny Hatch that came off flawlessly. I captured a few of the key slides for you… …  [Read More…]

Our Head In The Cloud: Minnov8 Talks With Chris Howard

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Visi hosted Cloud Vision 2009 at the Metropolitan this past Wednesday and invited Minnov8 along. It was an event tailored to the IT community they serve and was the chance for them to introduce attendees to their soon to launch cloud product called ReliaCloud. Minnov8 colleague Graeme Thickins has posted a complete look at ReliaCloud, so look for that here.

Along with the demo and pitch Visi featured a presentation on Cloud Computing as a Business Advantage by Burton Group VP, Chris Howard. Chris took some time to talk about opportunities, concerns, and even the multiple definitions of “the cloud.”

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktP0i143B4

The slide deck of the presentation is available now from Visi.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 51: Cloud and the Crowd

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cloud-crowdHosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is out in San Diego gearing up for DEMO Fall ’09 and he’ll be liveblogging it here). Music by Excellent Adventure from Music Alley, purveyor of podsafe tunes.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 45:06 — 26.2MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events with Minnov8 Media Coverage:

VC Ann Winblad on Cloud Computing

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annwinbladAnn Winblad, a well-known and respected software industry entrepreneur and technology leader (and Minnesota bred entrepreneur!), is the co-founder and a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. In 1976, following a stint as a systems programmer at the Federal Reserve Bank, Ann co-founded Open Systems, Inc. with a $500 investment, and turned it into a top selling accounting software company; eventually sold for over $15 million.

As a sidenote, I worked for a company called Clothier-Herold Co in the early 1980’s on the side of the firm that represented this little company called “Apple Computer.” The other side of the rep business sold Visicorp (Visicalc, etc.), Microsoft (which, upon going public, I thought would never make it) and a bunch of PC-oriented lines of product. In addition, our firm represented Open Systems, though none of us ever met Ann at the time.

A strategy consultant for prestigious clients such as IBM, Microsoft, Price Waterhouse, and numerous start-ups, Ann has co-authored the book Object-Oriented Software and has written articles for numerous publications. Ann received a BA in mathematics and in business administration from the College of St. Catherine, and an MA in education and international economics from the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), which also subsequently awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Laws. She currently serves as a director of Voltage Security, Krillion, Mulesource and Star Analytics, a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Thomas www.stthomas.edu, and co-chair of SD Forum www.sdforum.org.

In this Idea Projects video, Ann talks about cloud computing and how by moving technology from location-based servers to a virtual environment, with expanded if not universal access, the opportunities for innovation increase exponentially. As a software funder she sees a trend towards 100% presence on any device at any time.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip3kgMKvyIw

U.S. Home Broadband Adoption Hits 63%

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pewReaders of Minnov8 are skewed toward those highly interested or involved in internet and web-centric technology and services. As such, the latest findings of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project will be of significant interest.

These findings illustrate a departure from the stagnation in home high-speed adoption rates that had prevailed from December, 2007 through December, 2008. During that period, Project surveys found that home broadband penetration remained in a narrow range between 54% and 57%.

The greatest growth in broadband adoption in the past year has taken place among population subgroups which have below average usage rates. Among them:

  • Senior citizens: Broadband usage among adults ages 65 or older grew from 19% in May, 2008 to 30% in April, 2009.
  • Low-income Americans: Two groups of low-income Americans saw strong broadband growth from 2008 to 2009.
    • Respondents living in households whose annual household income is $20,000 or less, saw broadband adoption grow from 25% in 2008 to 35% in 2009.
    • Respondents living in households whose annual incomes are between $20,000 and $30,000 annually experienced a growth in broadband penetration from 42% to 53%.

Overall, respondents reporting that they live in homes with annual household incomes below $30,000 experienced a 34% growth in home broadband adoption from 2008 to 2009.

  • High-school graduates: Among adults whose highest level of educational attainment is a high school degree, broadband adoption grew from 40% in 2008 to 52% in 2009.
  • Older baby boomers: Among adults ages 50-64, broadband usage increased from 50% in 2008 to 61% in 2009.
  • Rural Americans: Adults living in rural America had home high-speed usage grow from 38% in 2008 to 46% in 2009.

The Pew Internet Project’s April 2009 survey interviewed 2,253 Americans, with 561 interviewed on their cell phones.

As I read the report, it was clear that this acceleration in broadband adoption is, in my view, being driven by a number of variables: economic downturn causing a seeking of alternatives, efficiency and cost savings; friends, family and colleagues online (many using social media) creating compelling reasons for others to connect; and a continuing growth of online services in news, information, entertainment and more.

All that said, the important thing to Minnesota innovators is that people are increasingly online at home and participating, and that’s important to all of us in the internet and web innovation space!