Amazon Launching "Cloud TV"

Next Thursday, Amazon.com will open a new TV show and movie store called Amazon Video on Demand. Amazon customers will be able to purchase from an initial collection of about 40,000 videos and TV show episodes, and watch over a stream. Here's an interesting New York Times piece quote on the product from Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president for digital media:

For the first time, this is drop dead simple. Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can’t help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button.

You may think big deal - I can do the same things in iTunes. Well.... actually iTunes requires you to download the content to your device before you can watch it. The new Amazon product is different because the customer will have the option of watching over a stream - much like a pay-per-view system from your cable provider. Here's more from the Times piece:

To make the new service more enticing, the first two minutes of all movies and TV shows will begin playing for users on Amazon.com immediately when they visit a title’s product page on the digital video store.

It will also let users buy a TV show or movie without actually downloading the video file to the PC’s hard drive. Amazon will store each customer’s selection in what it calls “Your Video Library.” Customers can then watch that show or movie whenever they return to Amazon, even if it is from a different computer or device, a solution that neatly gets around studio concerns about piracy.

Amazon has also reached an agreement with Sony to put Amazon Video on Demand on the Sony Bravia Internet Video link for high definition TV's. The Sony system currently requires a $300 external box but it is anticipated Sony will integrate this functionality into future Bravia sets.

What does all this mean? Let's look at an example - say I'm on my lunch break sitting outside on a nice day surfing the Amazon Video on demand website using my WiFi connected iPhone. Let's also say I'm a fan of the Battlestar Galactica TV show and decide I want to purchase one of the episodes. With a few clicks I've made the purchase (I'm guessing $1.99 per episode) and the video is placed in my Amazon Video Library - I can access this library from any web connected device. I can immediately start watching the episode in my iPhone web browser and later in the evening I can continue watching the episode on my home desktop computer and on my new Sony Bravia TV. I've purchased the episode so it stays in my library - I can watch it over and over again if I want.

As I continue to purchase, my entire collection content is stored online in "the cloud" and accessible from any device with a high-speed Internet connection. I like the concept and will be giving this a try next week.

Seven Risks of Cloud Computing

Networld Word has a good summary of a June 2008 study done by Gartner titled “Assessing the Security Risks of Cloud Computing.” Gartner defines cloud computing as a type of computing in which “massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered ‘as a service’ to external customers using Internet technologies.”

Wikipedia has a more detailed definition of cloud computing:

Cloud computing refers to computing resources being accessed which are typically owned and operated by a third-party provider on a consolidated basis in Data Center locations. Consumers of cloud computing services purchase computing capacity on-demand and are not concerned with the underlying technologies used to achieve the increase in server capability.

The most common cloud computing platforms include Amazon’s EC2 service and Google’s Google App Engine.

I've become a pretty big fan of Google Docs which is a cloud application - it's what I use to type up my blogs and lots of other content. It's convenient because I can access my documents from just about any device connected to the Internet. I also don't have to worry about backing my content up, having a computer stolen with my work on it, etc. However, I've always been a little concerned about storing anything with personal information on a server anyone can try and access from anywhere in the world. There are other concerns too - here's the Gartner list as reported by Networld World:

1. Privileged user access. Sensitive data processed outside the enterprise brings with it an inherent level of risk, because outsourced services bypass the “physical, logical and personnel controls” IT shops exert over in-house programs.
2. Regulatory compliance. Customers are ultimately responsible for the security and integrity of their own data, even when it is held by a service provider. Traditional service providers are subjected to external audits and security certifications.
3. Data location. When you use the cloud, you probably won’t know exactly where your data is hosted. In fact, you might not even know what country it will be stored in.
4. Data segregation. Data in the cloud is typically in a shared environment alongside data from other customers. Encryption is effective but isn’t a cure-all.
5. Recovery. Even if you don’t know where your data is, a cloud provider should tell you what will happen to your data and service in case of a disaster.
6. Investigative support. Investigating inappropriate or illegal activity may be impossible in cloud computing.
7. Long-term viability. Ideally, your cloud computing provider will never go broke or get acquired and swallowed up by a larger company.

You can read the full Network World article titled "Gartner: Seven cloud-computing security risks" here.