NAS with E = NASE

What is NASE?
It's a storage system for Smart Grid- "Network Attached Storage for Energy"

Note:I confess that I didn't invent this acronym. I read some where in the web and got interested.

I am working in the cloud storage for last 3 years and understood the market potential of mapping web layer on top of storage. The cloud storage enables the cut-through communication for any web tiers, all the way from browsers to talk to storage systems.

Similarly, NASE may do the same for Smart Grid. Why do I think so? If you look at the diagram below(click on it to see it clearly) illustrating the information sharing across various players & components, you will see the complexity of the Smart Grid and the need for a new storage system.

What is the information sharing challenge in Smart Grid?
The current electricity is one-way communication. The very basic of Smart Grid is to enable 2-way communication. So we can't simply map this Smart Grid information sharing on top of the current producer-consumer storage systems because the current storage is designed for 1-way communication. Simply, Smart Grid will demand producer/consumer - consumer/producer storage systems.

So, What is NASE?
All I can say now is that it's no longer about simply moving the bits in one direction but in 2 directions with "intelligence" embedded in it.

VC Investment Around USA

The picture (click on it) is from a report by 'National Venture Capital Association' about the distribution of VC $ across the nation.

We all know that Silicon Valley is #1 now but the question is about the future.

The high cost of doing business in bayarea, increasing competition from other regions and remote work using broadband are some of the factors that will challenge silicon valley in the next decade.

Pl click on the image to get the full view.

Browser as Desktop

I was thinking about this (old) topic for a while and finally got a chance to write about it.

This is not a new topic. It was discussed in late 90's. We even discussed about Yahoo as desktop. We all moved fwd and not much discussion in recent times about it. IMO, the time has come to think (seriously) about this topic again.

Why now?
[1] Web is ubiquitous
[2] cloud computing

Ok. Why desktop as the browser?
The common man usage of computer today is changed upside down-
[a] Primary use: Web( Browser, Email client)
[b] Secondary use: Local applications like office, photo/video editing software.

But today's deskop OS(Windows, Mac) is designed for [b] and [a] is constrained with today's browsers.(IE, FireFox, Safari)

What is the constraint?
Today's browser enables only 1/4th of full potential of web. The reason is that it can only do HTTP Get and HTTP Post.(other HTTP methods are not implemented) Then we need plug-ins like Adobe Flash, JavaScript to get richness. (audio, video, 3D)

This is a broken model at the client side to get the full experience of web! We don't have the full HTTP browser, No web push, No richness, No offline access, No storage, Less secure, etc...

It's a conflict usage model from HIE(Human Interface Engineering) perspective. In fact, I would argue that today's desktop is fundamentally broken for web usage.

The current desktop OS(Mac & Windows) is designed in 80's with focus on running local applications. Now we are in 2009 and need to think about making browser as the new X-Window system.

What is "browser as desktop"? How do we design it?
Here are some of my thoughts and I don't say that this list is accurate / complete but as a start.

Step-0: Login
The user should be able to choose a list of cloud providers like Google, MSN, including local login and login with credentials. Let's say, we choose Google.

Step-1: Web Icons
After my Google login, what I see in the desktop is set of "web icons" that comes from my Google bookmark. The examples of web icons are Gmail, Google calender, Google maps, Google docs, Facebook, Twitter, etc...It's basically my daily use of web bookmarks on the desktop.
I click on them to access it.

Step-2: Local Desktop
I have another desktop as local and can switch to it any time for using lcoal apps like office tools, photo/video editing sw, etc....

Step-3: X-Window System
Browser is the new X-Window system and it's boots with OS. We get rich experience, access to local storage for disconnected web and "web push" from the back end cloud provider for subscriptions.

Step-4: Plug-ins
I don't have to worry about plug-ins and their incompatibility.

Step-5: Security.
I can create a VPN with my cloud provider to create a specialized channel for my secure access to banks, 401(k) accounts, for any e-commerce transaction where I have to put my credit card or other sensitive information. (cloud providers can charge for it)

Step-6:Mobile desktop
I can switch my desktop easily between various devices and also carry with me where ever I go...

Summary:
Basically browser is the new X-Window system and runs native with OS with web icons on the desktop.

The question here is that who can/will build such an OS? Google is top on the list followed by Microsoft and Apple. Who knows, a startup can also do it if a strong technical founding team gets a good VC. It's not impossible but need resource & time. This is my dream to see a Web OS.

Real time Video Over Web (VoW)

This is an interesting space which I was tracking since 2000. I wanted to blog about it but some how couldn't able to find that time to write it...The reason that now I am blogging is because of the T20 worldcup cricket match, which just concluded recently in UK. It may sound strange but there is a close relation between cricket & VoW!

I am going to write a little lengthy blog, so I am going to use my programing style to write it in Step by Step.

Step-1: CNET Tech Videos
As a passionate technologist, I watched most of the tech video clips in CNET. I particularly was interested in then my CEO Scott McNealy, Bill Gates, Carly Fiorina, Larry Ellision and few others because of their great ability to articulate technology/products and some times their sense of humor.

Problem: Short video clips instead of full videos.

Step-2: YouTube
Like everyone, it created my video interest beyond high-tech. The 2 notable one's are the cricket match highlights + some tamil movie clipings. I still had the full video problem.

Step-3: Proliferation of video sites and blogs
This solved my problem of full videos. But my expectation has gone up and was looking for real time videos.

Step-4: Paid Services
I haven't watched live cricket matches more than 10 years or so and as the VoW evolved, I was kind of curious to explore it on the web...found a website to watch the 2007 cricket worldcup matches. I payed $75 and quality was not bad. Indian cricket team exited in the early rounds and I lost interest in continue to watch. But my family watched some matches.

The end result was my $2k Sony Vaio laptop hard disk crashed for good. I then realised the "heat problems" with VoW.

So, paid service + loss of Sony Vaio laptop = lose of interest in real time VoW(again).

Step-5: YouTube & Desktop
We have a decent workstation at home and recently it is experiencing the heat problem + automatic shutdown. The reason is too many YouTube videos + other static videos. I think this may also crash any time. The thermal issue again...

Step-6:T20 Worldcup Cricket Final
My family is in India. Its a Sunday AM. My former colleague mentioned about a FREE Live website to watch cricket in Facebook. So, I turn on the desktop and watched the complete match live w/ NO PROBLEM!

At the end of the match, I said VoW = WOW!

The reason for my high quality, un-interupted no buffering live match experience was because of a P2P open source software called "SopCast". This time there was no commercial company and no fancy products for this live cricket video. I was really surprised and very satisfied.

But, still the heat problem is there in the client side desktop. I can see the fast spinning of fan and I wouldn't watch this match live on my personal MacBook!

Summary:
As you can see, the reason for my interest was mostly as a consumer of video but of course some technical interest too. IMO, at least after watching the cricket match live w/ no problem, real time VoW is reality. Most of the key issues of network, streaming, presentation and storage is solved. Or at least it looks like it works reasonably well w/o major issues.

They key issue is the heat/thermal problem in the desktops & laptops that need to be solved.

What do you guys think about the real time VoW & issues?

"India: A Glimpse of Past & Present"

I came across a nice presentation about past & present of India. The author has done a nice job of putting together this presentation. I came across this presentation in B.V.J's LinkedIn profile.

Click here for the Google link and enjoy it. I am not sure who is the author of the presentation...It reminds me that don't forget to put your name & email id in the presentations.

Useful Spam

I don't delete spam with out looking at the subject/name, just to make sure that there is no false positive. Today I saw a real spam message in my personal email with the subject as-

"Never Give up your dreams of!"

and it forced to me read the message. The message is,

"Believing in the Future is not delivered to the moments of crisis. It is to head up and continue their struggle in search of better times. It is not ever quit!"

I spend a minute to think about it and this is a useful spam!

State of Economy

It was a very busy last few months for me and wanted to blog about few things...but never got time to write. I was reading a blog and came across:

"bad 2009 and a weak 2010 and maybe a better 2011".

I agree with the above statement. I remember all the talks about V, U shape recoveries after dot-com burst but it took 2001-2003(3 years) to recover it. That was just one sector crash. Now the complete economy is in toilet. The question is how long it will take? 3 years or 5 years or 10 years?

I am not an economist but I agree with the above statement- 3 years. IMO, it doesn't matter whether it's a single sector crash or multi-sector crash, recovery takes time and it's the same.