An Architectural and Enterprise Scalability : highscalability.com

As usual while lurking on internet for the search of the knowledge, I come across a very good site highscalability.com.

In today's world of internet, scalability is ever important than before. Especially given the fact that there is growing popularity of social engineering, crowdsourcing and grid networking happening out there. And this is in addition to all those ecommerce, online games, media streaming and movie/video up/down loading and what not. :D)

Here are some definitions of Scalability:

scalability
The ability to scale to support larger or smaller volumes of data and more or less users. The ability to increase or decrease size or capability in cost-effective increments with minimal impact on the unit cost of business and the procurement of additional services.

Scalability
The ability to expand a computing solution to support large numbers of users without impacting performance.

Scalability
A term that refers to how well a hardware and software system can adapt to increased demands. For example, a scalable network system would be one that can start with just a few nodes but can easily expand to thousands of nodes. Scalability can be a very important feature because it means the entity can invest in a system with confidence they will not quickly outgrow it.

Given the fact that scalability encompasses not only hardware and software but it contains processes, performance, support for growing number of users and ultimately the "Money$". Due to that it is extremely important to understand Scalability - Architecturally as well as Enterprise wide. That is the purpose of this website High Scalability.

The website's has a get started using High Scalability link which leads to a dedicated page. This has lots of cool reasons why we need to have such site. This is a nice concept I have started seeing in some really wonderful websites and HighScalability does a great job explaining their existence. :D) This page tells what to expect, how to read , how to contribute etc.

The top navigation menu bar gives links to Home,Start Here, Ask a Question, Real Life Architectures, All Weblinks, Glossary, Jobs, Submit a Link, Advertise, Contact. While the left hand naviagation side bar allows to perform Create content,Recent posts,Useful Books,Useful Products,Useful Strategies,Useful Blogs,Useful Papers etc.

The website is simple to navigate and a great architectural resource for establishing high performing enterprise resources.

What exactly impressed me is the list of popular contents for all the time. And that list do cover lots of architectural examples from real life business and high traffic websites like Amazon.com, Twitter, Google etc. Below is a quick list for kind reference:

All time:

• YouTube Architecture


• Google Architecture


• PlentyOfFish Architecture


• Amazon Architecture


• Flickr Architecture


• Scaling Twitter: Making Twitter 10000 Percent Faster


• An Unorthodox Approach to Database Design : The Coming of the Shard

Each blog article on real life architecture contains information source, platform, architectural challenges, strategy to work around or to fulfill those challenges, performance tips/tricks and some solid examples.

Overall an excellent resource for technical architects, system administrators as well as performance tuning/optimization team resources.

Thanks to high scalability...you have made my weekend !!!

Cheers,,,

Lists : For success, To measure Success and To repeat Success

Lists are so important. They already part of our life day and night. List of daily life chores, items, tasks, bills, receipts, photos, memories and everything. That gives us an idea what we are up to, where we need to go.

I would categories list into two categories. One is list of items to-do. Another is list of items which are done/accomplished/achieved. The list of items to-do shows us what need to achieved. It allows us to remain focused and stay aligned with the goals and objectives.

The list can start in morning with various simple tasks, get each task ticked off when complete, while items will be added depending on day's progress and then remaining tasks from the list will formulate the part of next day's list. And while looking back through the time and sighting those marked lists, it will give the sense of completion, progress and accomplishment at personal level and at team level too.

Each list may have some tasks which we do not like to do et all but needs to be done. Some tasks, we like to repeat endlessly but does not fits into the life and the concept of society. And sometimes the list has tasks which are important and which we like to do. Lists are either containing one time tasks like getting married or repetitive tasks like going to office/school everyday. The lists keep running and moving forward.

The lists can be prepared on paper, online on Internet, offline on napkins or might be inside our own mind. The place does not matter as long as the lists are followed to the end, completed tasks are marked and remaining & additional items are carried forward.

I have noticed the list gives senses of having in control of what need to be done in this world where the consistent thing is the change. It allows us to look forward for sensing what need to be done in future. The completed list gives us much needed feeling of accomplishment and energy to rise for the occasion for the tasks on the list in hand.

The list for shopping keeps the needs and the wishes pretty separate. It allows to achieve the budget. It allows to bring the items which are required and are urgent.

The list for daily tasks gives the glimpse of the day ahead. Each task then can be broken into small sub lists and can be executed one after another. Or the most difficult but important task could be performed earlier while leaving the smaller task for later part of the list. This reminds me a story.

One day a father approached his family. He had a glass jar, some stones and lots of sand. He asked his family to fill in the jar with all those items. Those who filled in the sand could not get stones in. While bigger stones took almost all the space. The father shown a trick. He broke the bigger stone and pushed the smaller stone pieces down in the glass jar. Then poured sand and then remaining stones. Voila, the jar been filled and nothing remained outside. :D)

Another observation, when there is a project... anything from cleaning house to achieving certain highly sought after deliverable with certain deadline, instead of breaking it in small task list and execute it at a time, mostly tendency is to wait till last moment and try to do that in one big bite. Well, not always this leads to success.

We need lists for success, to measure success and to repeat success. Isn't that your observation ? Can you tell if list make any difference ? How you list the items/tasks?

Cheers...

sQuba, world's first swimming car

Three decades ago James Bond (then enacted by British star Roger Moore) wowed the world with a car that could 'fly' under water in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Only, it was animation and not an actual scene.

But Frank M Rinderknecht, the 52-year-old automobile visionary and boss of Swiss automaker Rinspeed, has turned a dream into reality with his 'sQuba.' Rinspeed sQuba is the most exciting thing at this year's Geneva Motor Show and is creating many a ripple.

sQuba is the world's first real submersible car that can 'move like a fish underwater'. It can dive up to 32.8 feet (10 mt) below the surface of the water and can move at a sedate 1.8 miles per hour.

The sQuba has an open cockpit for 'safety reasons' (so that people can get out easily anytime in case of an emergency). The occupants of the car have to breathe compressed air through built-in scuba masks.

sQuba is an electric car that uses rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and 3 electric motors for propulsion. It is a zero-emission car as documented by the rotating license plate in the rear. It produces no exhaust emissions.

The 'sQuba's' filling station is the water reservoir.? It is no surprise that the vehicle features powerful yet energy-saving LED lighting technology.

The first car that could drive underwater was Quandt's Amphibicar, built in 1968. Only 3,878 were produced but many are still being driven on roads.

Then Gibbs Technologies came up with Gibbs Aquada in 2004 which Virgin boss Richard Branson used to break the speed record for crossing the English Channel.
However, the sQuba seems to be the most exciting of them all.

To drive on the roads, the sQuba 'relies on a stainless coil-over suspension from KW automotive and large Pirelli tires mounted on custom-made forged light-weight wheels from AEZ with 17- and 18-inch diameters.'


Technical data

Measurements

Length ----- 3'785 mm
Width ----- 1''940 mm
Height ----- 1'117 mm
Wheelbase ----- 2?300 mm
Track front ----- 1?470 mm
Track rear ----- 1?520 mm
Ground clearance ----- 130 mm
Empty weight ----- approx. 920kg


Performances

Top speed ----- > 120 km/h
Acceleration 0-80 km/h ----- 7.1 sec
Water speed ----- > 6 km/h
Under water speed ----- > 3 km/h
Dive depth ----- 10 m

Engines

Street ----- Electric
Power output ----- max. 54 kW at 4'500 /min
Torque ----- 160 NM at 1'500 /min
Water - Stern propellers ----- Electric
Power output ----- 2 x 800 W
Diving - bow jet drives ----- Electric
Power output ----- 2 x 3.6 kW Rotinor
Batteries ----- Lithium-Ionen
Voltage ----- 6 x 48 Volt

Propulsion

Power train ----- Rear wheel drive
Gearbox ----- R - N - F
Suspension
Chassis ----- Steel
Body panels ----- Carbon Nano Tubes
Seating capacity ----- 2
Front suspension ----- Double wishbone
Rear suspension ----- Double wishbone
Dampers/springs ----- KW automotive
Steering ----- Rack & pinion

Tyres

Front tyres ----- Pirelli P Zero 205/40 R17
Front wheels ----- AEZ 7.5 x 17"
Rear tyres ----- Pirelli P Zero 225/40 R18
Rear wheels ----- AEZ 8 x 18"
Miscellaneous
Air supply ----- 1 x 15 liter + 1 x 18 liter ScubaPro
Laser scanner ----- Ibeo
Lubricants ----- Motorex

Pictures
You can enjoy the pictures here :































Video In Action
While picture is worth 1000 words, Video is 1000 times better than picture. You can enjoy live sQuba in action here: