The document summarizes key differences in technology infrastructure between 1995 and the present day. It notes that in 1995, developers had to build full technology stacks themselves as computer hardware was expensive and took a long time to deploy. Programming languages and frameworks were less mature then compared to now. The document then discusses how cloud computing (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS) have changed the technology landscape by reducing costs and deployment times while increasing flexibility and scalability. It emphasizes choosing the right data storage solution based on factors like data consistency needs and read/write volumes. The document concludes by discussing agile development practices.

1. Infrastructure of the Social Highway
Creators of
Khan Klatt, VP of Technology, Salad Labs, Inc.

2. #emmecon
http://i.khan.org/emmecon-khan

3. Agenda
Adding Value
Technology Then & Now
A Deeper Dive
Technology
Process
People
Parting Thoughts
Photo Credit:
cafeconlecheporfavor @ Flickr

4. The good news is that more than ever,
value accrues to those that show up,
those that make a difference,
those that do work that matters.
-Seth Godin
Photo Credit:
eat more toast@ Flickr

5. Key Differences between now & 1995
1. You had to do the full stack, or at least huge part of it.
2. Computer hardware was expensive
3. Huge lead times to order, receive, install and deploy.
4. Programming languages, architectures and frameworks were not as mature
and not as capable.
Photo Credit:
jacksnell707 @ Flickr

6. full stack

7. Logarithmic Scale! Storage vs.
Memory/CPU
Magnitude
Time (Years)

8. full stack revisited
SaaS = Software as a Service
PaaS = Platform as a Service
IaaS = Infrastructure as a Service
Photo Credit:
captpiper @ Flickr

9. expensive revisited
A Few Thoughts on the Cloud (IaaS)
Benefits: Detriments:
• Speed • Less Control
• Cost • Costly at large scale
• Flexibility • Lower Performance
• Scalability
• Elasticity
Photo Credit:
paul-vallejo @ Flickr

10. “I Meant To Do That!”
Photo Credit:
estherase @ Flickr

11. If all you’ve got is a hammer…
Ask yourself:
What classes of data do you have?
How consistent does it have to be?
How available does it have to be?
How up-to-date does it have to be?
What’s the breakdown of reads to writes?
What’s your tolerance for operations and DBA overhead?
What’s your tolerance for engineering and development overhead?
How much scalability do you need?
Photo Credit:
m2w2 @ Flickr

12. Scalability & The Art of Engine
Maintenance at 20,000 feet
As the size and transaction volume of the database grows linearly,
response times tend to grow logarithmically.

13. Typically (but not always) linear growth tends to be fairly
flat, meaning logarithmic scale is expensive.
Cost
Scale

14. Consider the Graph…
Photo Credit:
iconolith @ Flickr

15. Putting It All Together
Web Server
(nginex)
Application Cache
Web Server
(memcached)
(apache)
Application Server
(JVM, Ruby on Rails, Symfony)
Batch Processing & Machine Learning
(Hadoop, MapReduce, Mahout)
Data Persistence
(ACID, BASE, or Graph)
Photo Credit:
maynard @ Flickr

16. Sprint, Don’t Walk, to Agile*
“The chemistry-building manager takes pains to divide the work into pieces and makes sure
that each piece has some substantive demonstration of its own completion.
Such a manager may contrive to deliver a product in twenty versions, even though two are
sufficient for upper management and the user. It may even be necessary to conceal some of
these interim versions from the client, and build them only for internal confirmation and
satisfaction.
Each new version is an opportunity for closure. Team members get warmed up as the moment
approaches, they sprint near the very end. They get a high from success. It suffuses them with
renewed energy for the next step. It makes them feel closer together.”
Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, PeopleWare, 1987
* Unless you are literally going to Mars! Photo Credit:
lowercolumbiacollege @ Flickr

17. VP of Technology at Salad Labs, Inc.
http://www.saladlabs.com
http://www.popsalad.com
Personal Contact:
• Twitter: @khanklatt
• Blog: http://www.khan.org Creators of
• LinkedIn: khanklatt
Photo Credit:
vernhart @ Flickr