That’s right! Cloud Camp is coming to Chicago!  What?! When?! Where? Who, whatomfg?!@? (And Yes, this is a FREE Event – Thanks to our sponsors who ponied up the cash! :))

Well, let’s lay out the details.. Yes, this is indeed the (un)conference Cloud Camp, which is ever so popular world wide!

CloudCamp is an unconference where early adopters of Cloud Computing technologies exchange ideas. With the rapid change occurring in the industry, we need a place where we can meet to share our experiences, challenges and solutions. At CloudCamp, you are encouraged to share your thoughts in several open discussions, as we strive for the advancement of Cloud Computing. End users, IT professionals and vendors are all encouraged to participate.

Okay, now that you have a fairly decent idea of WHAT it is, let’s cover the good and raw details!   The schedule below is likely to change as it gets finalized, but what I can guarantee is that Friday evening there will be an Executive round table and panel, which will be moderated and also open to questions from the audience and Twitter (I’ll be monitoring it on a hash tag I’ve yet to define..)  I’ll also do what I can to ensure we have one or more uStream live feeds which have made Cloud Camp so popular and successful in the past!

CloudCamp Executive Panel Event

Friday March 5th starts at 4:30PM
Agenda
•    4:30PM – 5:30PM Registration, Happy Hour & Networking
•    5:30PM – 6:00PM Break
•    6:00PM – 7:00PM Panel of Experts consisting of local corporate executives, industry experts and professors addressing how Cloud Computing is impacting their organizations and the business climate at large
•    7:00PM onwards – Social Networking Continues at a local Establishment

CloudCamp Chicago
Saturday March 6th starts at 12PM
Agenda
•    12PM – 1PM – CloudCamp Networking and Registration
•    1:00PM – 5:30PM – CloudCamp Un-Conference
o    1:00 – 1:30 – Lightning Talks (5 minutes each)
o    1:30 – 2:00 – Un-Panel to Select Topics
o    2:00 – 3:00 – Topic Breakout Sessions
o    5:00 – 5:15 – Reconvene and Share Takeaways with all Attendees
o    5:15 – 5:30 – Wrap-Up and Calls to Action
•    5:30PM onwards – Social Networking Event

Being that this event will consist of two days, (Friday evening Round Table, and Saturday all day adventure) there are two separate registration links so you can choose which is more fitting for you.    So if you’re more business focused and want to strategize around Cloud Friday may be a better fit for you, but if you’re deeply technical and don’t care about the business, it’s all Saturday!

However, many of you are like me, and care about both sides of the coin and will register accordingly.  I’m not just saying that because I’m helping organize, coordinate and more the event.. It’s also because I am focused on both sides of the house, as it were :)  So good times if you want to meet me I’ll be there in either case!

Register: CloudCamp Executive Panel, Mar 5, 2010

Register: CloudCamp Chicago, Mar 6, 2010

And for all other general purpose information, feel free to visit the CloudCamp Chicago portal page.

This event will be hosted at the ITA – I’ve attended numerous events here in the past, it’s a nice facility and definitely worth a visit!

Illinois Technology Association (ITA)
200 S. Wacker Drive, 15th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606

So, I look forward to seeing you there, and if you’re attending entirely online (like I have a tendency to do for other CloudCamp events, be sure to follow me on Twitter @cxi and I’ll be live-tweeting from the event and sharing live video from multiple sources!)  Thanks, and get out there and register before all the slots fill up!

Today was the big day! The launch of the Virtual Computing Environment coalition, also known as the VCE Initiative!

CNN Broke the news as far as the link to the Webinar would go, with announcements being made by:
John Chambers, chairman and CEO for Cisco
Joe Tucci, chairman and CEO for EMC Corp
Paul Maritz, president and CEO for VMware

There has been a lot of chatter about this, over the weekend and even moreso leading into this announcement, with some highlights:

The launch of Privatecloud.com is only the beginning in the mass of places to find out information and content on this amazing initative.

VCE Beats out IBM with Melbourne IT

Cisco and EMC, Together with VMware, Form Coalition to Accelerate Pervasive Virtualization and Private Cloud Infrastructures

In unveiling the Virtual Computing Environment coalition, Cisco and EMC also introduced Acadia, a joint venture focused on accelerating customer build-outs of private cloud infrastructures through an end-to-end enablement of service providers and large enterprise customers. Acadia’s unique “build, operate, transfer” model for delivering the Vblock architecture, addressing people, process and technology, will offer customers further choice, flexibility and cost advantages as they seek to virtualize their IT infrastructures and evolve to private cloud environments. In addition to Cisco and EMC as the lead investors, the build-out of Acadia’s expanded capabilities in 2010 has also been capitalized by investments from VMware and Intel. Because the Vblock architecture relies heavily on Intel Xeon® processors and other Intel data center technology, Intel will join the Acadia effort as a minority investor to facilitate and accelerate customer adoption of the latest Intel technology for servers, storage, and networking.

Cisco, EMC, and VMware join hands and plunge into cloud: Acadia, the power of three

In fact, many partners – both systems integrators, and service providers have all started lining up behind Vblocks.    Here are just a few examples:

Most of the vCloud Express launch partners are using the VCE coalition, and want to move forward with a formal Vblock model.   Examples are Terremark, Alphawest, Savvis, Orange and SunGard. (Thanks for this Chad!)

Virtual Compute Environment – an insider’s take.

Virtual Compute Environment – Vblock Partner Ecosystem

Virtual Compute Announcement – Integrated Sales/Service/Support

Virtual Compute Environment – Solutions Venture and Investment

Virtual Compute Environment – Technology Innovations

Also, looks like there is some Twitter presence too! So, represent! @privatecloudcom

Today, is quite an exciting day, and while all of this is high level, I’d be glad to go into much more depth about this – something I’m sure many of those linked and referenced here can say and do the same.   This is not intended to be a tutorial, but an advisory of what’s new, where to go, and I’ll have separate blog posts to go into the details :) It’s an exciting day! :)

That’s right! If I ran into you (Hey Developers!) at TechEd I likely harassed you about this contest running from new CloudApp() !

While I am in no way affiliated with newCloudApp() I for one like to see people use their talents to win cold hard cash! Oh, and have some fun in the process!    So what is the plan?

What Is It?

new CloudApp() is a US-based developer challenge for .NET & PHP developers creating cloud applications or services (hereafter “application”) on the Azure™ Services Platform. Have your application judged by industry leadersOm Malik and Michael Cote and share your cloud coding skills with other developers. Grand Prize Winners will be announced at Structure 09 and featured on azure.com.

Register and submit your application now!

When?

• April 30:  Contest Open
• June 18:Submission deadline
• June 19:Community voting starts
• June 25:.NET & PHP category winners announced @ Structure 09
• June 29:Community voting ends
• June 30:Community winner announced

What Could I Win?*

Winning submissions will:

• Be featured on www.azure.com as well as at major Microsoft events
• Be featured in a video interview on Channel 9
• Be announced at Structure 09
• Receive cash ($):
  • NET App Category winner: $5,000 VISA gift card
  • PHP App Category winner: $5,000 VISA gift card
  • Community winner: $2,500 VISA gift card

So, seriously, step up! If you’ve never written an app for the Cloud before, now is the time when there is money on the table! MONEY ON THE TABLE? WHERE, SIGNZ ME UPS! err… Damn lolcatz!    But seriously.. if this is your bag, as it were, no better time than the present for peer acceptance and pocketbook love!   Check it out, and doooo it! :)

If a cloud falls from the sky and it is in pre-release tech preview, will anyone notice?

Apparently, the answer is a resounding Yes.

(Repost from Microsoft Cloud has an Azureism)

This past weekend, the Microsoft Cloud Computing Platform “Windows Azure” appeared to have gotten caught up in the currents of a storm.  And like many storms, it’s not understood what happened, why it was down and after 22 hours was able to be recovered from.    Not exactly the feeling that many within the Cloud community are feeling as a great success, though in Microsoft’s defense – they are in Pre-Tech Preview, and while there is no worse time for something like this to happen; it is equally no better time as it’s not a fully released “product” yet.

Fortunately during this situation there was complete transparency of what was going on communicated by Steve Marx.

This is a very sore point for Microsofties with the MIX conference this week, but nonetheless this is indicative of past Microsoft Performance, so it is not as if it brings any shock or feelings of strangeness.   For anyone with a history of solid Microsoft Performance, it tends to involve pretty severe hiccups before settling into a hearty solid nesting period where it’s hard to penetrate or get an upper hand on it.

For those not familiar with the Microsoft Azure Services Platform, here is a breakdown:

Other links on this subject:

Azure Services Outage 3/13/2009 – A Brief History

22-Hour Outage for Windows Azure

Microsoft Azure Goes Dark For 22 Hours

Wow, Seattle is a long walk from Chicago, so I wasn’t able to attend!

But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be involved!

However in hind-sight I do want to be able to catch up on the resources, and I know others will, so here is a listing of some resources which were available and accessible for the CloudCamp Seattle event!

For those of you who are on Twitter, there was definitely some activity out there on the Tweetosphere!  Lots of activity on the hashtag #cloudcamp which was actively hit up by these folks as well. – @DanielleMORRILL @SecureSun @krishnan @mediaphyter @bmw

Special thanks to @DanielleMORRILL and @bmw for the live feed and moderation as well :)

The links! The links!  Some must visit links are…

Video Feed from the back of the room (This has direct links to the video :))

A similar feed on that was found here

Danielle Morrill’s live feed during Cloud Camps

Special thanks to  :)

And ofcourse, :)