Free Server to practice opensource apps or development works from Cloud - AWS Free Usage Tier

Source: Amazon

If you badly need a server to practice some development or some hobby programming, then this is probably the best one can get in Singapore.

The terms & conditions clearly states the details, and the pricing is pretty competitive if you choose to upgrade. For myself, I wanted to give a try to OpenFlow and wondering how best I can do it with RDO. I started with a Micro (Free) but soon upgraded to M3.Medium (Western US) at 0.157 per hour. After a month, my bill came ~ eight dollars. That's less than a meal at a foodcourt in Orchard :)

Amazon does offer services from Singapore, but as I tend to travel most of time I opted for US. Also, with Fiber from home the speed is not a big challenge even from home (I've a M1 200Mbps and my speed to AWS is ~25Mbps)

Overall this is a good deal if you want to start some 'hands-on' or practice some system stuff. Finally, I wish SingTel or a local company starting such 'time based' or 'pay-per-use' model for our local needs. I am sure this is a huge untapped market which our local telco's can profit from. 

Sugarsync - Dropbox alternative

If you are looking for >2GB space given by Dropbox, you've plenty of choices. Google Drive (5GB), SkyDrie (5GB) but I bumped to this service called Sugarsync and the best part of it is the device compatibility. The experience is awesome and right now they have a deal where you forward the invitation to 20 people and you get 2GB absolutely free. Yes, that's right. You'll get it even if your freinds didn't subscribe to sugarsync.

If you need more you can upgrade to 30GB or other options and the prices are much more reasonable too. Give it a try and

Just click here.

Federal Government Strategy for Cloud Computing

The report can be downloaded here & the presentation from here

This would give a very big boost to Cloud providers and infra supporting them. If the Gov can migrate then lot of enterprises and quasi gov agencies (in US & Worldwide) will definitely consider moving to the cloud. In my opinion there is only ONE BIG CONSIDERATION. It's Security. If the agencies can develop a strategy to handle the security portion then it'll bring an enormous advantage to the public.

From Singapore context, IMO it'll take quite a lot of time before the government jumps to Cloud Infra. I don't think technically its challenging but mainly due to our innate culture of not taking the risks and fear of loosing face. So it may take few years before the private enterprises moves to Cloud.

The first major move was from singtel. If you noticed, singnet moved their e-mail services to Cloud (Google Mail). I think this saved millions of $ for singnet as basically they don't need to maintain the e-mail servers and the support systems any more. Google will be happy with the service charges + close to one million subscribers on their e-mail system and they can sell more advertisements.

I hope IDA takes the lead in reducing their cost and shows the path for large organizations and small players. End of the day the savings can be passed down to the consumer thus applying the "cheaper, better, faster" to organizations as well. :)