Is this your dev machine:
For so long developers have harbored a secret envy of anyone who was able to carry a slinky ultra-portable or one of the newer Ultra-Books. Having to resort to showing off with the extreme laptop specs.
I got to witness first hand as one of the Go2Cloud developers ended up in a spec showdown with another dev at a recent event. It started out like an old game of Trump Cards, except as it turned out, the Go2Cloud developer was holding the “Blackbird” card and calling “Speed”, a sure fire win!
How did he get this right? What dev machine does he use? It must cost a fortune! Well, it doesn’t cost a fortune but it does include Petabytes of storage, Terabytes of RAM and enough processor power to launch a space shuttle (if they still had any launches planned that is).
No prizes for guessing that the Go2Cloud developer in question does all his development work in the Cloud. Mentioning I was writing this post, he offered the following as the top reasons why he devs in the Cloud:
- On Demand
Instant on capability means dev machines are spun up only when required.
- Dynamic scale
Dynamically scale resources as and when required (e.g. increasing performance ahead of a customer demo or when compiling)
- Multi server environment simulation
The ability to simulate deployment of a solution across multiple servers, simulating a VLAN or across internet connection.
- Server side processing on enterprise grade hardware
Dramatically reducing the costs of developers primary hardware requirements since processing is done server side (FYI, our developers all run Macbook Air’s and iPads)
- Current state cloning and replication
Ability to rapidly clone an entire server configuration or state for reuse (e.g. future requirements of the same base set-up or cloning ahead of deploying a “fix” or a change)
- Instant off
Instantly shut down development environments (and therefore the cost) once they have served their purpose. Either delete the drives, or simply pay for storage per GB only (R1,32 per GB per month ex vat)
- Accurate project job costing
Accurate costing for development resources allocated to a specific developer, customer or project, allowing for granular project job costing. This may be passed on directly to the customers directly if required.
- Capital cost redirection
No capital outlay for large equipment which may not always be at capacity, freeing up capital for other key initiatives.
- Software licensing management
Accurate management of software licensing to ensure compliance as well as re-use once a development environment is complete
- Location independence
Allow developers to work from anywhere, anytime with just an internet connection and no additional security risks.
- Client POC, Test and Prod environments
Move from development to demo to POC for customers within the same environment (no need to rely on the customers internal infrastructure). Even move to test and prod environment within a single cloud solution. As above, staging and dev environments are easily created.
The list of reasons carried on for some time, with the developer highlighting other benefits such as not having to manage the infrastructure ongoing and summing up with …
“01000111 01101111 00110010 01000011 01101100 01101111 01110101 01100100 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01010111 01001001 01001110 00100001”Which apparently means “Go2Cloud for the WIN”. If you would like to experience dev in the Cloud, sign up for a free trial here.