GigaOm Research held a webinar on IT infrastructure marketplaces and the impact of utility computing. Paul Miller moderated a panel that included: David Linthicum, SVP at Cloud Technology Partners Jo Maitland, Cloud Research Director, GigaOm Rob Bissett, VP Product Management, 6fusion It was an open dialogue that covered a range of topics in the emerging arena of IaaS marketplaces, including: Why do we need a market for IaaS? How markets succeed… and fail Comparing apples, oranges, and straight bananas How do we get there?

1. View a recording of this webinar at:
http://www.6fusion.com/2013/05/24/iaas-marketplaces-the-impact-of-utility-c

2. Agenda for today’s webinar
• Introductions
• A message from 6fusion
• Why do we need a market for IaaS?
• How markets succeed… and fail
• Apples, oranges, and straight bananas
• How do we get there?
• Q&A

3. Today’s moderator and panelists
Paul Miller – GigaOM Research Analyst &
Founder, Cloud of Data
David Linthicum – GigaOM Research Analyst
& SVP, Cloud Technology Partners
Jo Maitland – Research Director, Cloud,
GigaOM Research
Rob Bissett – VP of Product Management,
6fusion

4. 6fusion – Corporate Overview
• Global Headquarters: Raleigh, NC
• Company Background:
– 2003 - VMware practice within MSP
– 2008 – IP spun off & incorporated
• Investors: Intersouth Partners & Grotech Ventures
– $14M raised to date
www.6fusion.com
“This ability to compare and contrast the true cost and value of different
computing solutions is a compelling piece of utility computing’s
promise. Assigning a single metric (such as 6fusion’s WAC) to
available computing resources and different tasks means that
accurately managing resources and considering the cost of
competing solutions is possible.”
Source: GigaOM October 2012; Metered IT: the path to utility computing

5. Connecting IT Infrastructure Buyers and Sellers
Infrastructure
Marketplace
IT Operations
Supplier 6
Supplier 5
Supplier 4
Supplier 3
Supplier 2
Supplier 1
Billing
Reporting
Provisioning
Tagging
Metering
Integration
6fusion’s
SaaS platform connects
buyers and sellers
of IT infrastructure
https://console.6fusion.com
METERING

6. Why do we need a market for IaaS?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19478438@N00/2301640973/

7. Why do we need a market for IaaS?
• Doesn’t basic price competition between
providers like Amazon, Rackspace and Google
effectively give us a market today?
• What do providers gain from something more
structured?
• What do customers gain from something more
structured?
• Do any of these markets exist today?

8. How markets succeed… and fail
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49749040@N04/6191480170/

9. How markets succeed… and fail
• How do other markets and exchanges work?
– Supply & demand
– A shared concept of the unit of trade
– Scale
– Regulation?
– Friction?
• Futures and Hedges and Shorts… and
Speculation
– Are these an essential part of a market or an added benefit?
– How might they work for compute resources?

10. Apples, oranges, & straight bananas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93416311@N00/2655909941/

11. Apples, oranges, and straight bananas
• How essential is a shared method of
measurement?
– 6fusion’s Workload Allocation Cube (WAC), etc
– How many shared methods of measurement can a single market
support?
– Could different markets use different measurements?
– How do we measure the right things, the right way?
– A ton (or tonne!) of coal is obviously and tangibly a ton (or tonne) of
coal. What is a gigaom of compute, and can I check it before I consume
it?
– Do we need a shared unit of compute? What would that even mean?

12. How do we get there?
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cosmographia_Northern_Europe_1482.jpg

13. How do we get there?
• How do we get from our current state to a future
in which compute is routinely and
understandably bought and sold?
• How many exchanges are interested or needed?
• How many vendors are interested or needed?
• How much consensus is there on models?
• How many customers do we need to be viable, and what does
their demand have to look like?
• Will it work without Amazon?
• How long will this take?
• Will anything be better, or will a few traders just make some
money?

14. 14
Questions

15. Thank you!