迄今为止,它们的大多数工作在低调的幕后进行,但是,在上周四在IBM在洛杉矶举行的大会上,这两家公司的首席执行官做出少见的共同会面时,它们之间的密切关系旋即完全曝光。

IBM的Sam Palmisano以及谷歌的Eric Schmidt从领导力以及创新上依次赞扬了对方。他们还坚持认为,两家公司具有许多相似性,尽管谷歌这家立足硅谷的消费网络巨头与位于纽约郊外的IBM这家从事商业计算的百年老店之间存在显著差异。

Palmisano笑谈道:“我们令人厌烦,他们令人激动；我们步履蹒跚,他们举止敏捷；我们机构臃肿,他们人员精干。”然而,他表示,IBM和谷歌之间的对比是非常肤浅的,他指出,两家供应商均“根植于创造价值”并且分享“共同的技术合作。”

Schmidt透露说,IBM还处理谷歌的账户支付工作。

IBM和谷歌计划开拓它们对全球的共同技术观察以及大量的人才,以构架一个全球性网络,或者说,服务器云,消费者和企业将从中下载一切内容,从在线足球赛程到先进的工程应用资料。

“这是我们终身追求的目标,”Schmidt表示。

这个联盟怀着宏伟的雄心,当几年前Palmisano在电话中与Schmidt做了简单的交流之后就开始了。

“我们并不是寻求卖什么产品给他们,”Palmisano解释说。

这次通话导致了白板会议设备的诞生,并最终在协作努力之下,IBM和谷歌构建了它们自己的云计算,并在那年十月提交给几所顶级工程大学,包括MIT、斯坦福以及卡内基梅隆,从而开辟了一个市场。

IBM-谷歌之云对于微软来说,可能更像日益逼近的暴风雨,它运行在Linux之上,IBM早已拥抱它作为一种Windows的替代品。它还包含Xen系统虚拟化以及Apache Hadoop,它们是谷歌文件系统的开放源实现。

谷歌已经向消费者推出了若干免费的、基于云的服务,如电子邮件和存储,但是,它刚刚叩开有利的商业市场。除了安全要求以外,“在企业云与消费者云之间没有太大差异,”Schmidt在这一点上指出。

“云在商业上具有较高的价值,那是我们与IBM协作的秘密,”他补充说道。

谷歌与IBM一道令人信服地向商业和消费市场中的计算机用户提供主机产品,范围包括基本的生产率软件,如文字处理以及日历(如谷歌的Docs和IBM的Lotus Symphony套件),乃至尖端的安全性以及管理工具(通过IBM的Tivoli产品以及谷歌的Postini部门)。

当微软努力开发一种它自己的连贯网络策略之时,IBM和谷歌之间的合作伙伴关系被强化了,微软是IBM以及谷歌的共同竞争对手。

对于云计算发展趋势的回答就是,把一些应用转移至互联网之下,采取所谓的软件加服务的策略。然而,微软这个巨头的盈利仍然来自软件,这些软件要么在零售店以软件盒方式出售,要么在像戴尔这样的巨型制造商的个人电脑中预装。

微软意欲收购雅虎就是为了提升其网络存在,但是,首席执行官Steve Ballmer的侵略性战术(他最近给予雅虎三个星期的通牒要求接受收购；但是,上周末平安无事地过去了)只会造成其目标收购对象的敌意。虽然收购无法成为现实,但两家公司之间的合作关系似乎不成问题,只要现有的管理层在两家公司均在位。

与此同时,IBM和谷歌似乎准备从其学术研究成果推出云计算的产品版本。

两家公司在上周四并未就实现那个目的而做出详细的发布,但是,Schmidt和Palmisano均充满友好轻松色彩的讲话,给人留下了携手努力无疑将加速的印象。的确,他们可能已经充分地在洛杉矶大会中心向几千家由IBM业务合作伙伴构成的听众做了说明,那就是“关注这一领域。”

备注:关于“云计算”

云计算(Cloud Computing)是分布式处理(Distributed Computing)、并行处理(Parallel Computing)和网格计算(Grid Computing)的发展,或者说是这些计算机科学概念的商业实现。

云计算的基本原理是,通过使计算分布在大量的分布式计算机上,而非本地计算机或远程服务器中,企业数据中心的运行将更与互联网相似。这使得企业能够将资源切换到需要的应用上,根据需求访问计算机和存储系统。

这可是一种革命性的举措,打个比方,这就好比是从古老的单台发电机模式转向了电厂集中供电的模式。它意味着计算能力也可以作为一种商品进行流通,就像煤气、水电一样,取用方便,费用低廉。最大的不同在于,它是通过互联网进行传输的。

云计算的蓝图已经呼之欲出:在未来,只需要一台笔记本或者一个手机,就可以通过网络服务来实现我们需要的一切,甚至包括超级计算这样的任务。从这个角度而言,最终用户才是云计算的真正拥有者。

云计算的应用包含这样的一种思想,把力量联合起来,给其中的每一个成员使用。

目前,PC依然是我们日常工作生活中的核心工具——我们用PC处理文档、存储资料,通过电子邮件或U盘与他人分享信息。如果PC硬盘坏了,我们会因为资料丢失而束手无策。

而在“云计算”时代,“云”会替我们做存储和计算的工作。“云”就是计算机群,每一群包括了几十万台、甚至上百万台计算机。“云”的好处还在于,其中的计算机可以随时更新,保证“云”长生不老。Google就有好几个这样的“云”,其他IT巨头,如微软、雅虎、亚马逊(Amazon)也有或正在建设这样的“云”。

届时,我们只需要一台能上网的电脑,不需关心存储或计算发生在哪朵“云”上,但一旦有需要,我们可以在任何地点用任何设备,如电脑、手机等,快速地计算和找到这些资料。我们再也不用担心资料丢失。

云计算的说法正在广为流行,Gartner高级分析师Ben Pring评价道:“它正在成为一个大众化的词语。”但是,问题是似乎每个人对于云计算的理解各不相同。作为一个对互联网的比喻,“云”是很容易理解的。但是一旦同“计算”联系起来,它的意义就扩展了,而且开始变得模糊起来。有些分析师和公司把云计算仅仅定义为计算的升级版——基本上就是互联网上提供的众多虚拟服务器。另外一些人把云计算定义的更加宽泛,他们认为用户在防火墙保护之外消费的任何事物都处于“云”之中。

翻页查看英文原文:

Google, IBM join forces to dominate 'cloud computing'

With Microsoft and Yahoo in an icy stalemate over a proposed merger, rivals IBM and Google are ramping up efforts to jointly dominate what they believe will be the dominant software delivery model in the 21st century -- so called cloud computing.

Much of their work until now has taken place behind the scenes under a low profile, but the companies' close relationship was fully apparent Thursday when their CEOs made a rare joint appearance on stage at an IBM conference in Los Angeles.

Sam Palmisano of IBM and Google's Eric Schmidt in turn complimented each other on issues ranging from leadership to technological innovation. They also insisted that their companies share lots of similarities, despite obvious differences between a consumer Web giant that calls Silicon Valley home and a suburban New York-based centenarian of business computing.

"We're boring, they're exciting; we're slow, they're fast; we're fat, they're skinny," Palmisano joked. But the contrasts between IBM and Google are mostly skin deep, he said, noting that both vendors are "grounded in values" and share "a common technical alignment."

(IBM also processes accounts payables for Google, Schmidt revealed.)

IBM and Google plan to exploit their common technological world view and considerable talent to build a worldwide network, or cloud, of servers from which consumers and businesses will tap everything from online soccer schedules to advanced engineering applications.

"It's the story of our lifetime," said Schmidt.

The alliance, with its grand ambitions, started a couple of years ago with a simple phone call from Palmisano to Schmidt. "Sam called and wanted to know what we thought about distributed computing," said Schmidt.

"We weren't looking to sell them anything," said Palmisano.

The call led to whiteboarding sessions and ultimately a collaborative effort under which IBM and Google built a version of their cloud and in October gave it to several top engineering universities, including MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon, to poke away at.

The IBM-Google cloud, which to Microsoft might look more like an approaching thunderhead, runs on Linux, which has long been embraced by IBM as a non-Windows alternative. It also includes Xen systems virtualization and Apache Hadoop -- an open source implementation of the Google File System.

Google has already rolled out to consumers a number of free, cloud-based services such as e-mail and storage, but it's barely tapped the lucrative commercial market. With the exception of security requirements, "there's not that much difference between the enterprise cloud and the consumer cloud," Schmidt said at one point.

"The cloud has higher value in business, that's the secret to our collaboration" with IBM, he added at another.

Together, Google and IBM could conceivably supply computer users in the business and consumer markets with hosted offerings that range from basic productivity software like word processing and calendaring (such as Google Docs and IBM's Lotus Symphony suite) to sophisticated security and management tools (through IBM's Tivoli products and Google's Postini unit).

The partnership is solidifying at a time when Microsoft -- rivalry with which is another thing IBM and Google have in common -- is struggling to develop a coherent Web strategy of its own.

Its answer to the cloud trend is to move some applications to the Internet under a strategy it calls software plus services. But the bulk of Microsoft's profits still come from software that's either sold in boxes at retail stores or preinstalled on PCs by big manufacturers like Dell.

Microsoft is seeking to buy out Yahoo to bolster its Web presence, but CEO Steve Ballmer's aggressive tactics (he recently gave Yahoo a three-week deadline to accept the deal; it passed uneventfully last weekend) have only engendered hostility from his target. Should the merger fail to materialize, future partnerships between the two companies would seem out of the question as long as current management is in place on both sides.

Meanwhile, IBM and Google appear ready to kick their cloud out of its academic nest to start rolling out production versions.

The companies did not make specific announcements to that end on Thursday, but Schmidt and Palmisano, both dressed in LA-friendly lighter colors, left little doubt that their joint efforts are accelerating. Indeed, they might well have told their audience of several thousand IBM business partners at the Los Angeles Convention Center to "watch this space."