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Amazon’s SimpleDB another brick in the Super Platform

As I wrote about previously (here and here), the move to the Super Platform in the cloud continues in grand style.

In the same way that no business has its own electric generator any longer, so it will come to pass that no business will have its own servers. They will plug into a super platform in the cloud, just like they plug into the electric grid and pay by the sip.

Amazon’s SimpleDB is the latest addition to the Super Platform stack, adding incredibly powerful database capability.

So the components of a Super Platform are starting to become clear. To be complete, it appears that a Super Platform needs to include the following:

1. A database, like SimpleDB or Google’s BigTable.
2. Storage, like Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).
3. A processing environment, like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).
4. A simple, standard protocol for accessing the Super Platforms technology, like the Google Data APIs and Amazon’s Web Services.
5. A built-in, flexible payment system so users can pay for the applications they are using on the Super Platform, like Amazon Payment Services and Google Checkout.
6. A built-in ad capability to facilitate an ad-supported application monetization model.
7. Fully integrated generic services, including email, docs and spreadsheets, wikis, social networking, etc. Only Google provides this currently.

UPDATE: Just got my new Businessweek in the mail. Timely!

Google and the wisdom of clouds

The rise of the Super Platform

Several recent news stories are good indications that the battle of the Super Platforms is starting to heat up in a very big way.

This includes news that IBM is going to be offering a hosted service for applications a la Salesforce AppXchange; news of Amazon’s Dynamo (an “incrementally scalable, highly-available key-value storage system”); and Yahoo’s recent purchase by Yahoo of Zimbra.

The Super Platform will be as revolutionary as the the electric grid a hundred years ago. As Nick Carr points out:

“At the start of the last century, the great engineering project was the creation of an electric grid that could deliver power to millions of users with a reliability and an efficiency that were previously unthinkable. Today’s great engineering project, of which Amazon’s Dynamo is but one manifestation, is to build a computing grid that can achieve similar breakthroughs in the processing and delivery of information.”

Just how quickly we are getting to the era of the Super Platform and what its impact will be like is illustrated by this Small Business Trends article titled “Google Apps: The Sleeping Giant?”:

“It seems incredible, but just over a year ago most businesses had to pay for their email…. I’m not sure I can express how significant this is for a small business trying to manage an email server. In a simple gesture, Google is alleviating a huge strain that small businesses can feel on a mission critical system… “

But the Super Platform doesn’t only apply to small businesses. It applies equally well to Fortune 100 enterprises.

So what does a complete Super Platform look like? Seems to me, a Super Platform needs to provide the following key services:

• A complete infrastructure for running applications, like Salesforce AppXchange. Two interesting decisions for the platforms to make: (1) do you provide a platform programming language with built-in service access like Salesforce APEX, or do you allow any programming language with a slew of API’s, like Google?; and (2) do you allow application programs to run on your infrastructure like Salesforce, or do programs run on their own servers, like Google and Facebook?
• A database engine, like Google’s Big Table.
• Commodity services like collaboration, calendars, documents, wikis, social networking, video, search, etc. that can be easily folded in to any application.

So which companies will succeed in building a Super Platform? Google and Amazon have the right infrastructure, obviously the primary prerequisite for success. Others who have a shot include IBM and Yahoo. Possibly SAP. Probably not Oracle (there is little in it for them, so they will try milk the old model forever). Microsoft has the same problem as Oracle - they completely lose their installed base and competitive advantage on a Super Platform, but they will no doubt try (but their success is certainly not guaranteed - think search). Distant possibilities include Facebook and Salesforce.

The age of the Super Platform is upon us. It’s just a matter of time before everyone gets to choose which platform they are going to be on. Kinda like the days when you had to choose an operating system: Windows vs. OS/2, anyone?

(Also see Amy Wohl’s post on this subject).