Posts Tagged ‘Cloud Computing’
Cloud Computing – is Availability Meaningless?
September 16, 2008
In thinking about the advantages of cloud computing – the growing number of data sources which can be mashed up into new applications, one must consider availability of these services. This article poses the question of whether the traditional measures of availability, five 9′s, is outmoded. If the primary data sources like Google maps and others have significant reliability, do the applications themselves have reliable hosting and application stability to provide this kind of availability?
Share and Enjoy
Personal Cloud
September 12, 2008
This post on the concept of a personal cloud focuses on the integration of the iPhone, Google tools and the cloud. How about a personal cloud for managing health? In his presentation on Google Health at HIMSS in February, Eric Schmidt envisioned storing health information, including all the xrays taken this year in the Cloud so that they would be accessible from anywhere. Interesting concept.
First, Google Health should be available via the iPhone. Next, the clound should allow connection to your data and health information and tools from anywhere and on any device.
Finally, the personal cloud must be secure.
Also mentioned is an Mac program called Getting Things Done. Check out the Wikipedia entry.
Share and Enjoy
The Petabyte Age
June 24, 2008
The latest issue of Wired magazine includes a series of articles lead by the editor Chris Anderson’s article, “The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete.” In Wired‘s usually controversial approach to topics, he leads off with the quote, “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” In the petabyte age, we move from local storage to storage in the cloud and “information is not a matter of simple three- and four-dimensional taxonomy and order but of dimensionally agnostic statistics.”
He cites one medical example, he cites Craig Vetner who “went from sequencing individual organisms to sequencing entire ecosystems.” He proposes that “We can analyze the data without hypotheses about what it might show.”
Do these rash statements have relevance to health care? Much of health care information of interest to researchers are in secure databases such as EMRs. However, these are moving to the Cloud via RHIOs and initiatives like Google Health. Some research centers have placed data online and invited others to analyze. I think that there are huge amounts of data in health care that will come available for researchers in the next few years but it may not replace traditional randomized clinical trials.
Share and Enjoy
Cloud Computing – Many definitions
March 21, 2008
In this post, titled “Cloud Computing: Watch Out IT, It’s Raining Jargon“, the author explores the range of definitions depending on who’s talking – Google, Amazon or others.
But generally, the cloud is out there an growing.
Eric Schmidt referred to the cloud in his announcement about Google Health – storing his xrays in the cloud – let’s hope its a secure one.
