<html> <body> <h1>NoDatacenter: chronicles of the post-cloud</h1> <p>Friends call me Si Yan Ge (4 eyes). I have been using Internet since 1989 and the Web since 1993. I have been developing software since 1981. I now run a company.</p> <p>Internet as we know it today has become undoubtfully more practical for everyday life than what it was back in 1989. Cloud Computing further cut costs by eliminating the need for end users to own and configure their servers in order to access Internet services. However, it suffers from growing plagues: <a href="http://iwgcr.org/availability-ranking-of-world-cloud-computing-2012-update/">lack of resiliency</a>, <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/1999/168184/DG-4-JOIN_ET%281999%29168184_EN.pdf">lack of trade secret</a>, <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/the-danger-the-coming-big-cloud-monopolies-114">lack of competition</a> and <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/greenpeace-report-cloud-and-internet-use-sucks-energy-emits-co2.html">CO2 emissions</a>.</p> <p>Both plagues originate in the same place: the data centers.</p> <p>If we could eliminate data centers from digital business models, plagues of Cloud Computing could be cured for the great benefits of our economies.</p> <p>This chronicle will teach you how.</p> <h2>A bit of theory</h2> <p><b>Intelligent End Points</b>. What makes <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet">Internet</a> resilient is the idea of placing network intelligence at the end-points. End-points are in particular reponsible of <i>reliable delivery of data, rather than the network itself</i>.</p> <p><b>Zero Marginal Cost</b>. What makes a small company able to compete with a bigger one without requiring a lot if capital is its ability to distribute products or services to millions of users at zero marginal cost. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source">Open Source</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux">Linux</a> in particular are typical examples of how zero marginal cost business models can defeat a large coporation in less than 10 years.</p> <p><b>Zero Knowledge</b>. What makes a computer system able to protect trade secrets is the combination of cryptography and system architectures that keep no knowledge of how users access it.</p> <p><b>Zero Emission</b>. What eliminates CO2 emisions is either to turnoff computer device or to reuse their all thermal power to heat households.</p> <p>The table bellow compares cloud and post-cloud.</p> <table border="1" align="center"> <tr> <td> </td> <td>Cloud </td> <td>Ideal Post Cloud </td> <td>Resilient Computing </td> <td>Offline HTML5 Apps </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Intelligent End Points </td> <td>No </td> <td>Yes </td> <td>Yes </td> <td>Yes </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zero Marginal Cost </td> <td>No </td> <td>Yes </td> <td>Possible </td> <td>Yes </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zero Knowledge </td> <td>Difficult </td> <td>Yes </td> <td>Yes </td> <td>Yes </td> <tr> <td>Zero Emisson </td> <td>No </td> <td>Yes </td> <td>Possible </td> <td>Yes </td> </tr> </table> <h2>Post Cloud 1: Resilient Computing</h2> <p>Resilient Computing solves the lack of resiliency of Cloud Computing by decentralizing servers and placing them in homes or in offices. It uses the same kind of technologies as Cloud Compuuting to automate provisionning, billing, etc. Resilient Computing is compatible with most legacy applications. Its adoption does not require migration effort.</p> <p>Resilient Computing can also solve in theory other problems found in cloud computing. However, due to current lack of support in the industry (consumer electronics, telecommunication), zero marginal cost can not be reached. This currently limits its adoption to niche markets: mission critical applications, government, high performance computing.</p> <p>Resilient Computing requires modern routing technology in order to circumvent connectivity incidents that frequently occur between telecommunictaion companies.</p> <p>Timeline:</p> <ul> <li> <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/596689/ViFiB_Wants_You_to_Host_Cloud_Computing_At_Home">VIFIB</a> introduces resilient computing (June 2010) as a safer, cheaper alternative to cloud computing that can also heat homes. VIFIB relies on <a href="http://community.slapos.org">SlapOS</a> open source technology. VIFIB is now used to deploy mission critical ERP systems for <a href="http://www.cio-online.com/actualites/lire-bipetgo-lance-sa-vente-en-ligne-avec-un-module-dedie-dans-le-cloud-5422-page-1.html">French highways</a>. </li> <li> <a href="http://www.qarnot-computing.com/">Qarnot Computing</a> introduces servers that act as electric heaters for households (November 2010). Qarnot provides a platform to allocate high performance computing tasks on its servers. </li> <li> <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=150265">Microsoft Research</a> publishes a research paper by Jie Liu (2011). This paper explains that by placing servers in homes, homes could be heated by the heat of servers. </li> <li> <a href="http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/re6stnet.git?js=1">re6st</a> overaly network (2012). re6st provides stable connectivity between servers located in different homes, offices or datacenters. Routing and service level agreement (SLA) is handled by the end-points that form an IPv6 peer-to-peer public network. It was adopted by <a href="http://community.slapos.org">SlapOS</a>. </li> </ul> <h2>Post Cloud 2: Offline HTML5 Apps</h2> <p>With <a href="http://diveintohtml5.info/offline.html">Offline HTML5 Apps</a>, instead of eliminating data centers by moving servers to homes, the idea is to eliminate data centers by eliminating servers. This approach requires to redevelop all applications in a very different way, which can be costly even though migration tools exist. </p> <p>However, Offline HTML5 Apps can leverage Zero Marginal Cost business models to accelerate their adoption. Considering the growing importance of HTML5 in mobile device (phones, tablets) and the growing importance of Javascript in enteprise computing, Offline HTML5 Apps are probably the appropriate approach for the long term whereas resilient computing satisfies short term needs and niche markets.</p> <p>Timeline:</p> <ul> <li> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5">HTML5 first proposal</a> (2008) introduces key concepts that will lead to offline apps. </li> <li> <a href="http://www.ung-project.org/project/ungdoc">UNG is Not Google</a> (2010) proves that it is possible to redevelop a clone of Google Docs as a pure client side application that no longer requires a server. </li> <li> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebRTC">WebRTC</a> (2011) provides the bases for browser-to-browser networking. </li> <li> <a href="http://bellard.org/jslinux/">LinuxJS</a> (2011) proves that Javascript is fast enough to emulate a PC and opens the way to resilient computing that uses web browsers as servers </li> <li> <a href="http://j-io.org/">JIO</a> (2011) provides an abstraction to access local and remote content in offline HTML5 apps. </li> <li> <a href="">???</a> (2013) Chrome Web browser is able to act as a generic server that can listen on a socket. </li> <li> <a href="http://ozan.io/p/">P</a> (2013) provides a resilient overlay network based on WebRTC </li> <li> <a href="http://www.benjamincburns.com/2013/11/10/jor1k-ethmac-support.html">jor1k ethmac</a> network virtualization in Javascript opens the possibility to implement IP stack in Javascript. </li> <li> <a href="http://www.officejs.com">OfficeJS</a> (2013) introduced at Tech Crunch Shanghai is the first platform independent appstore of HTML5 apps. </li> </ul> <h2>Recommendations</h2> <p>(soon)</p> <h2>About this page</h2> <p>This page is hosted in a private home using a micro-server. Content is brought to you by a proxy cache hosted by <a href="http://aliyun.com/">Aliyun</a>. </p> <h2>References</h2> <p><a href="http://iwgcr.org/availability-ranking-of-world-cloud-computing-2012-update">Availability Ranking of World Cloud Computing – June 2013 Update</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-glaser/america-as-economic-spy-n_b_4190948.html">America as Economic Spy: NSA's Mission Is Self-Aggrandizement, Not Fighting Terrorism</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/1999/168184/DG-4-JOIN_ET%281999%29168184_EN.pdf">DEVELOPMENT OF SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY AND RISK OF ABUSE OF ECONOMIC INFORMATION</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/the-danger-the-coming-big-cloud-monopolies-114">The danger of the coming 'big cloud' monopolies</a></p> <p><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/greenpeace-report-cloud-and-internet-use-sucks-energy-emits-co2.html">Cloud computing and Internet use suck energy, emit CO2, says Greenpeace - See more at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/greenpeace-report-cloud-and-internet-use-sucks-energy-emits-co2.html#sthash.6L2fXMjc.dpuf</a></p> <p><a href="https://github.com/redecentralize/alternative-internet">Alternative Internet</a></p> <p><a href=""></a></p> <p><a href=""></a></p> <p><a href=""></a></p> <p><a href=""></a></p> </body> </html>