cloud computing

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Cloud Naïve: Europe and the 'Bijenkorf' Megascaler - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- European organizations like SIDN claim they must outsource to US cloud providers because European providers cannot deliver their computer needs.
- European providers can deliver services but lack the automated, self-service 'cloud-native' infrastructure offered by hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, and GCP.
- The essential cloud-native services (S3, managed Kubernetes, IAM, etc.) are not adequately provided by European providers, who often misunderstand these requirements.
- European IT industry offers a catering model (custom setups) rather than the self-service model that cloud-native users expect.
- Solutions include European collaboration to create a 'Bijenkorf Megascaler'—a credible package of core cloud-native services, with government support in standards and procurement.
The cloud is not a chemical plant - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- European chemical factories are outclassed by cheaper Chinese alternatives, making local production unsustainable.
- Unlike the chemical industry, many basic cloud services from US providers are not cheaper; European providers like Leaseweb and Hetzner often offer lower costs.
- Advanced cloud services from US giants, like distributed databases, are not yet available in Europe, but most cloud services consumed are not that advanced.
- The scale of US cloud providers is massive, similar to competing with IKEA, but European cloud industry still has opportunities to remain relevant.
- Europe can catch up by adopting a cooperative approach rather than cloning US methods, but requires political will and effort.
29th August 2026: a scenario
2 months ago
- A 17-year-old teenager accidentally discovers and deploys a critical Linux kernel exploit using an AI coding agent, causing widespread cloud outages.
- The exploit targets a vulnerability similar to the real CVE-2026-31431 (CopyFail), which was found by AI after nine years of human oversight.
- AWS and Azure experience massive service disruptions, causing global failures in banking, payments, and essential services.
- Governments respond with public addresses, blaming nation-state actors, while the real cause is an unintentional exploit developed by an AI agent.
- Recovery efforts are hampered by dependency on the same cloud providers, revealing centralization risks in modern infrastructure.
- The teenager's actions are traced to a PS5 homebrew attempt, highlighting the growing power of AI tools to find critical vulnerabilities.
- The fictional scenario warns about the dangers of AI-driven exploit discovery and the fragility of centralized cloud services.
De cloud is geen paracetamolfabriek - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The event 'Digital Sovereignty: Sense or Nonsense' at Clingendael Institute discussed Europe's cloud position.
- The US cloud providers (Amazon, Google, Microsoft) offer extensive services, but European alternatives are often cheaper and viable.
- Unlike the paracetamol factory analogy, European cloud services can be cost-effective, though specific advanced services like distributed databases are lacking.
- Cloud costs often end up higher than promised due to complex pricing and expensive specific services.
- Europe still has a competitive IT industry, but urgent action is needed to avoid losing relevance to US cloud giants.
- The bulk of cloud services are within European capability, and high US prices create opportunity for European providers.
De cloud in soorten en maten - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The text outlines six levels of cloud adoption, from no cloud (own datacenter) to full Software as a Service (SaaS), each with varying degrees of control and vendor lock-in.
- Level 1: No cloud (own servers) offers maximum control but slow provisioning; Level 2: Renting servers reduces datacenter management; Level 3: Renting capacity (containers, IaaS) provides flexibility and scalability.
- Level 4: Cloud-native with limited managed services (e.g., databases) reduces the need for specialized staff but introduces some lock-in; Level 5: Advanced cloud services (AI, global databases) create strong dependency on US providers (Amazon, Google, Microsoft).
- Level 6: SaaS (e.g., MS 365) offers total convenience but extreme vendor lock-in, with almost no possibility to switch providers.
- Key insight: Lower levels (1-3) are widely available in Europe and allow switching; higher levels (4-6) are dominated by US providers and involve significant lock-in, especially for critical data.
- The text emphasizes the trade-off between control and convenience, and advises choosing lower levels for sensitive or critical business operations to avoid dependency on a single provider.
The (European) cloud ladder: from virtual server to MS 365 - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The article explains a 'cloud ladder' with six levels: no cloud, renting servers, renting capacity, limited cloud-native, full cloud-native (advanced services), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) like MS 365.
- Higher levels (SaaS, advanced services) offer more convenience but create strong vendor lock-in, especially to Amazon, Google, or Microsoft.
- Lower levels (servers, capacity) are more standardized and have European providers, reducing dependency and allowing easier switching.
- The optimal balance for many organizations is around capacity level (3-4), where control and flexibility are preserved while offloading work.
- European governments and experts advocate for staying at lower levels to avoid lock-in, while providers push higher-level solutions for profit.
- MS 365 is the ultimate example of vendor lock-in: only Microsoft provides it, and leaving is nearly impossible.
'The cloud' is not just servers. 'Going to the cloud' could also mean locking into a forever sub-contractor - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The phrase 'going to the cloud' is ambiguous: it can mean renting servers (low lock-in) or integrating proprietary cloud services (high lock-in, becoming an eternal subcontractor).
- Using basic cloud services like servers and databases is relatively safe and interchangeable, but advanced proprietary services tie the operator's intellectual property to the cloud provider, making migration difficult or impossible.
- Benefits of deep cloud integration include faster development, access to specialized services, and reduced need for infrastructure skills, but downsides include loss of ownership, eternal dependency, and loss of migration skills.
- Geopolitical risks arise when cloud providers are based in unstable or adversarial countries, making data sovereignty and long-term reliability concerns.
- Organizations should apply governance to limit dependencies on non-replaceable cloud services, either by restricting the number of such services or ensuring alternatives exist, and senior management must be involved in these decisions.
- A practical approach is to use only widely available, fungible cloud services (e.g., servers, databases) and avoid proprietary services that deeply integrate into the solution.
Verslagje nota overleg 'Wolken aan de horizon' - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Dutch parliament debated the initiative 'Wolken aan de Horizon', which aims for 30% European cloud usage by 2029.
- Supporters argue for digital sovereignty and reducing dependence on US tech giants, while critics (VVD, PVV) prefer US alliance and question costs.
- The government acknowledges urgency but remains vague on concrete goals, promising details in the upcoming National Digitalisation Strategy (NDS).
- There is no clear overview of how much the Dutch government spends on US cloud services.
- Several motions were proposed, including appointing a cloud commissioner, promoting the Eurostack, and requiring risk assessments for cloud procurement.
AWS and Microsoft are selling much more than cloud services - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Corporate customers prioritize avoiding blame, preferring vendors who take full responsibility for failures.
- Cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft excel as 'blame absorbers', offering nearly risk-free solutions by allowing customers to spend more money to fix issues.
- European cloud alternatives struggle to compete with hyperscalers because they cannot provide the same level of blame absorption or risk-free comfort.
- Success in corporate markets requires more than technical excellence; it demands a supporting ecosystem of certifications, training, and blame management.
- European providers could leverage unique selling points, such as GDPR compliance and reduced risk of US sanctions, to attract corporate clients.
Aurora DSQL: Scalable, Multi-Region OLTP
2 months ago
- Aurora DSQL is a serverless SQL database for scalable, multi-region OLTP with active-active capabilities.
- It uses a disaggregated architecture separating compute, storage, and transaction coordination into scalable services.
- The system employs multiversion concurrency control with precision timestamps for coordination-free reads and optimistic concurrency control for writes.
- Coordination is minimized, occurring only at commit time via distributed adjudicators and the Journal replication system.
- It supports elastic scaling from zero to millions of TPS while ensuring strong consistency, ACID transactions, and high availability during failures.
Performing Live Migrations of VMs
2 months ago
- Sailboxes offer a cost-effective pricing model, charging only for active resource usage per second, making long-horizon agent workflows scalable.
- Live migration technology enables Sailboxes to move VMs between hosts seamlessly, with minimal downtime, supporting ephemeral compute and load balancing.
- A network proxy handles open connections during migrations, spooling packets to maintain connectivity and providing additional features like whitelists and credential injection.
- P2P migrations use userfaultfd for efficient memory transfer, paging in data on demand and using larger memory chunks to reduce latency.
- Elastic memory consumption via virtio-mem allows Sailboxes to dynamically adjust memory usage, optimizing resource allocation and speeding up migrations.
- Sailboxes charge $0.015/vCPU-hour, significantly cheaper than competitors, with billing based solely on active usage for cost-effectiveness.
- Trade-offs include occasional latency spikes during migrations, but these are infrequent and manageable for long-horizon agents.
- Sailboxes are now generally available, with ongoing infrastructure improvements planned for fleet utilization and caching systems.
Wasmer: Fast, secure, lightweight containers based on WebAssembly
3 months ago
- Introduces WebAssembly-based container technology for secure and fast application execution across multiple platforms.
- Highlights cost-effective scaling with no overpayment for unused capacity, ensuring effortless traffic management.
- Features include seamless local-to-global deployment, millisecond startup times, built-in security via sandboxing, and flexible SDK support.

cloud computing

Cloud Naïve: Europe and the 'Bijenkorf' Megascaler - Bert Hubert's writings

The cloud is not a chemical plant - Bert Hubert's writings

29th August 2026: a scenario

De cloud is geen paracetamolfabriek - Bert Hubert's writings

De cloud in soorten en maten - Bert Hubert's writings

The (European) cloud ladder: from virtual server to MS 365 - Bert Hubert's writings

'The cloud' is not just servers. 'Going to the cloud' could also mean locking into a forever sub-contractor - Bert Hubert's writings

Verslagje nota overleg 'Wolken aan de horizon' - Bert Hubert's writings

AWS and Microsoft are selling much more than cloud services - Bert Hubert's writings

Aurora DSQL: Scalable, Multi-Region OLTP

Performing Live Migrations of VMs

Wasmer: Fast, secure, lightweight containers based on WebAssembly