IBM, Google, Universities
Combine 'Cloud' Forces
By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
October 8, 2007; Page B7
International Business Machines Corp. and Google
Inc. said they are starting a program on college campuses to promote
computer-programming techniques for clusters of processors known as
"clouds."
In a joint telephone interview, IBM Chief Executive
Samuel Palmisano and Google CEO Eric Schmidt said each company will
spend between $20 million and $25 million for hardware, software and
services that can be used by computer-science professors and students.
So-called cloud computing -- which lately has attracted the attention of many tech giants, including Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. -- allows computers in remote data centers to run parallel, increasing their processing power.
The cloud can run many software applications and can
be accessed by many users. It promises to allow companies and
universities to share resources and not have to expand their own costly
data centers. However, the concept poses daunting questions about
security, reliability and ease of use.
In this case, IBM and Google will start by providing
some 400 computers, with plans to expand to 4,000, at a number of
locations. The computers will be accessible from six universities, led
by University of Washington in Seattle, where some of the programming
techniques were developed. The other pilot universities are Carnegie
Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford
University, University of California at Berkeley and University of
Maryland.
Mr. Palmisano
said the idea for collaboration between the two companies developed
when he and Mr. Schmidt met at Google headquarters in Mountain View,
Calif., last December. They realized they held similar views on the
future of cloud computing, which forms the basis of the computer
architecture Google uses for its popular search service.
Mr. Palmisano said scientists from each company have
expertise that will aid the project. He pointed to IBM's skills at
running data centers and managing computer security. Google provides
"complementary expertise in Web computing and massively scaled
clusters," he said.
The two men said they also shared concerns that
computer-science schools were focused on teaching students how to
program a single server and not giving them opportunities to learn
about parallel programming.
Frank Gens, an analyst with market-research concern
IDC in Framingham, Mass., said the companies also are united by a
rivalry with Microsoft, and "they'd like to influence the future of
online business before Microsoft extends its influence." IBM and Google
stressed that much of the infrastructure will be open-source programs
that are freely available, rather than proprietary software programs
such as those sold by Microsoft.
Microsoft is developing its own approach to cloud computing, as is Hewlett-Packard
Co., said executives at the companies. Microsoft hopes to use its
expertise in operating systems to develop ways to manage the large
numbers of computers used in cloud computing, executives at the
software maker said.
Mervyn Adrian, an analyst with Forrester Research in
Cambridge, Mass., said, "This is the next generation of computer
architecture, and IBM wants to get in front of it." He noted that many
students use Google applications and said that "IBM wants to leverage
that."
Google's Mr. Schmidt said "IBM doesn't get credit for
their architecture because they're held back by the image of the
mainframe." But he said IBM's expertise in running data centers and
developing software that many companies use to run their computer
infrastructures makes it "the logical leader in cloud computing."
Mr. Palmisano said the firms are trying to "take these
two sets of skills -- IBM's understanding of how enterprises use
computing and Google's understanding of massive data flows and
high-speed connections -- and we believe we can create something
significant." He jokingly characterized the project as combining
Google's young engineers and "the old fat guys" at IBM.
Write to William M. Bulkeley at bill.bulkeley@wsj.com1
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