Beware of Cloud Computing Myths

by: Shahid N. Shah

Tuesday February 23, 2010

The cloud is being discussed everywhere today – and it’s a great offering that almost every government agency and commercial firm is at least thinking about. However, there are lots of myths and untruths about cloud computing that need to be dispelled so that executives and technical team members alike can make proper decisions. The cloud is not going to take over the world and there’s no such thing as “ubiquitous computing” yet. Shahid, an expert in networking and cloud technologies, will discuss what clouds are and aren’t and dispel some of myths and discuss real security and performance issues of the cloud. As an architect for OMB, he is also familiar with the government’s general direction on cloud computing and will share some information on what’s already available in the public domain.  This presentation is an expansion of his presentation in September 2009.  There was such substantial discussion following that presentation that this follow-on was deemed warranted.

Shahid N. Shah is the CEO of Netspective Communications, a software consultancy whose actionable advice and disciplined approach delivers custom software for in-house, outsourced, or offshore solutions. For the past 15 years Shahid has held the positions of CTO, VP of Technology, Chief Software Architect, or Enterprise Architect at large enterprises. His technology expertise includes service-oriented and event-drive architectures, Java/JEE, .NET, and agile development and his healthcare focus starts with an emphasis on e-health, EMRs, data integration, and legacy modernization.

Shahid is an expert at discovering practical technology solutions to real-world business initiatives, especially in the government, healthcare and financial services industries. His expertise includes standards development, enterprise architecture analysis and design, interoperability planning, legacy modernization, and related work. He’s worked at NIH on standards, Executive Office of the President (White House) and OMB on helping define the needs for standards, and at various commercial healthcare firms like Cardinal Health and COMSYS. In addition to working with C-Suite executives he continues to help engineering teams with architecture and development advice.

He is an influential thought leader and a winner of Federal Computer Week's coveted "Fed 100" award given to IT experts that have made a big impact in the government and runs three successful blogs. At http://shahid.shah.org he writes about architecture issues, at http://www.healthcareguy.com he provides valuable insights on how to apply technology in health care, at http://www.federalarchitect.com he advises senior federal technologists, and at http://www.hitsphere.com he gives a glimpse of the health-care IT blogosphere as an aggregator.

See the February 2010 Software SIG Announcement for details and driving directions.

6:30 PM – Networking and Pizza(*)

7:00 - 8:00 PM – Program

(*) There is no cost to attend at McLean and Silver Spring.

Locations:

Shahid is flexible regarding where he will originate his  presentation.  At this point the presentation is planned to originate at the FDA facility, with video tele-conferencing (VTC) between the below locations.  Send E-mail to ankrums@mitre.org to vote for FDA in Silver Spring or MITRE in McLean.

If you can host another location via VTC, please contact Scott Ankrum (below)

Note:  If connecting with Skype, please provide your Skype ID in the telephone field when registering.

Registration:

Registration Website: http://www.asq509.org/ht/d/DoSurvey/i/26913

You must register by noon on Monday, February 22.

If you cannot attend at any location, select telephone dial-in when you register.

To RSVP for FDA (Silver Spring), please indicate citizenship.  If not a US citizen, please provide your title, employer, and address.  Allow two business days for registration before the meeting.

Purpose

The purpose of the Software Special Interest Group is to provide software quality professionals and software professionals interested in quality with an opportunity for growth and exchange of ideas with other software professionals, and to facilitate growth in the number and expertise of the ASQ membership.

Objectives

• Arrange meetings (currently monthly) at a convenient time and place.
• Provide a diversity of speaker topics within the general heading of software quality.
• Provide knowledgeable speakers from the professional and/or academic worlds.
• Keep in touch with and respond to the professional communities desires for the meetings.
• Reach out to students, who will soon enter the software profession.
• Disseminate information about: ASQ membership, the Software Division, certification, and training opportunities.

For more information about Section 509's Software Special Interest Group Contact T. Scott Ankrum, 703-883-6127.

 Washington DC Chapter

 Data Management Association -National Capital Region

  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Washington and Northern Virginia Computer Society

National Capital Area eScanner, events calendar

 Quality Managament Association of Maryland

 Washington DC Area Software Process Improvement Network

Role Based Access Control  Presented by Ed Coyne 4/28/2009.

Building Survivable Systems  Presented by Jide Odubiyi 3/24/2009; accompanying video for slide #27.

Independent Software Verification Techniques  Presented by Brian Fitzgerald 2/24/2009. 

Service Oriented Acquisition  Presented by Chris Gunderson 12/16//2008.

DoD Enterprise Ontology Support  Presented by Glenda Hayes 11/25/2008.

Root Cause Analysis for Customer Reported Problems  Presented by Steve Rakitin 10/28/2008. 

IEEE Computer Society, Where Are We Today?  Presented by Susan K. (Kathy) Land 8/26/2008.

Fixing Software Inspections  Presented by Lew Priven and Roger Stewart 7/22/2008.

Trustworth Information Systems Program  Presented by Tom Rhodes of NIST on 6/24/2008.

SQA Sojourn ï¿½ Lessons Learned From Six Appraisals  Presented by Lenny Eng on 5/27/2008.

Applying Agile Techniques to Process Development: Lessons Learned  Presented by Nelson Perez and Ernest C. Ambrose on 3/25/2008; Part 2 on 4/22/2008.

Are You Ready for an External Audit? Presented by Carolyn Rodda Lincoln of Catapult Technology on 2/26/2008.

Added Sources of Costs in Maintaining COTS-Based Systems Presented by Betsy Clark, PhD and Brad Clark, PhD on 1/22/2008.

The Role of I V & V In The Software Development Lifecycle  Presented by Eva Freund on 11/28/07 and continued on 12/19/2007.

My Life With Bugs, Or, Why I Beleive In Combinatorial Testing  Presented by Paul E. Black, NIST, on 10/30/07.

Software Estimating on a Shoe String Presented by Mr. William D. Hart, Soft Solutions Consulting, Inc., on 9/25/07.

What's New with the CMMI (CMMI Changes from Version 1.1 to 1.2)  Presented by G. Gordon Schulmeyer, PYXIS Systems International, Inc., on 8/28/07.

Harmonization of Systems and Software Engineering Processes Presented by James W. Moore, The MITRE Corporation, on 7/24/07. 

Quality Techniques for Improving Software Project Management Presented by Richard Eng, The MITRE Corporation, on 6/26/07.

The Eclipse Process Framework  Presented by Brian Lyons, Number Six Software, on 5/22/07.

Provably Correct Software Using Coverage and Other Techniques To Improve Application Quality  Presented by Richard Jacik on 3/27/07

Being a Software Quality Professional Presented by Taz Daughtrey, James Madison University, on 1/23/07.

Managing the Risks of Risk Management Presented by John E. Moore, Ph.D., Northrup Grumman Corporation, on 11/29/06.

The Open Source Quality Paradox: How Can Code Done Bad Be So Good?  Presented by Terry Bollinger, The MITRE Corporation, on 10/25/06.

The Project Manager as Houdini - Escaping the Triple Constraint Presented by James A. Ward, Independent Consultant, on 9/19/06.

Efficient Method for Verifying Contractor Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level Presented by Carol Klinger, The MITRE Corporation, on 8/22/06.

Success at CMM Level 3 but not at Level 4 - Lessons Learned  Presented by Al Florence, The MITRE Corporation, on 6/1/06.

Mapping Assurance to the Software Engineering Process Presented by Dr. Alfred Kromholz, The MITRE Corporation, on 4/26/06.

Test Generation from UML Specifications Presented by Professor Michael A. Gray, American University, on 3/23/06.

Structured Assurance Cases: Three Common Standards Presented by T. Scott Ankrum and Alfred H. Kromholz, The MITRE Corporation, on 1/25/06.

Process Improvement and Requirements Quality Presented by Charles Yokley, MITRE Corporation, on 7/26/05.

The Proper Specification of Requirements Presented by Al Florence, MITRE Corporation, on 5/24/2005.

Cross Talk - Reduce Risks Through Proper Specification of Software Requirements Presented by Al Florence, MITRE Corporation, on 5/24/05.

Recent Results with Correctness by Construction and Spark Presented by Rod Chapman and Martin Croxford, Praxis High Integrity Systems, on 3/10/05.

Quality Improvement with Measurements Presented by Donald J. Gantzer, MITRE Corporation, on 1/25/05.

Quality Advice Concerning Requirements Presented by Dr. Ralph R. Young, Northrop Grumman Information Technology, on 11/23/04.

Unanticipated Costs and Risks Associated with Software Outsourcing Presented by Dr. Anita J. LaSalle, Kosgod School of Business, American University, on 7/27/04.

Code Analysis for Quality in High Integrity Systems Presented by Currie Colket, MITRE Corporation, on 3/23/04

EITVOX: It's Not A Miracle Drug, But It Could Be Presented by Dr. Alfred H. Kromholz, MITRE Corporation, on 11/03.

May the Force Be with You: The Role of Evidential Force in Empirical Software Engineering Presented by Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, RAND Corporation, on 7/2003.

Looking for a Good Argument: Assurance Case Frameworks Presented by Chuck Howell and Scott Ankrum, MITRE Corporation, on 5/2003.

Software Inspections for the Internet Age Presented by Tom Gilb, Result-Planning.com, on 6/18/01.

Software Standards Update Presented by John F. Murray Jr, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on 11/8/00.

International Software and Systems Engineering Standards Presented by James Moore, MITRE Corporation, on 11/8/00.

An Overview of IEEE Software Engineering Standards and Knowledge Products Presented by Paul Croll, Computer Sciences Corporation, on 11/8/00.

Software Verification and Validation Presented by Dolores Wallace, National Institute of Standards and Technology, on 6/2000.

Overview of Cleanroom Software Engineering Presented by Paul Jones, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on 5/10/00.