Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service that provides extremely fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability.

ENGADGET: Amazon's Q1 2012 earnings: net income down 35 percent to $130 million, net sales at $13.18 billion

In his book The Art of Leading: 3 Principles for Predictable Performance Improvement, he boils the solution down to three essential steps every leader can use.

FORBES: Overcoming Fear: The 3 Step Process

But costs matter just as much, because they are the one aspect of investment performance that is entirely predictable.

FORBES: Peekaboo!

Also, they are--unlike gains and losses--one aspect of your performance that is somewhat predictable and therefore subject to your control.

FORBES: They Spend Your Money

"For whatever reason, there's a predictable pattern where September has bad performance, " says Steven DeSanctis a strategist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch's equity research team.

WSJ: Is the 'September Swoon' for Real?

Continue to develop appropriate targets and clearly predictable incentives for Railtrack to improve its performance on punctuality, cancellations and track condition.

BBC: Watchdog attacks rail regulator

Former captain Will Carling is the latest to home in on the lack of tries, branding England "static and predictable" despite a more passionate, determined performance against New Zealand.

BBC: Martin Johnson's England job is secure - RFU chief

In the cloud, the performance of all of these components is not predictable because the underlying infrastructure in the cloud is shared.

FORBES: How to Build a Reliable Cloud for Legacy Apps

As the practices of the regulatory agencies have become lax and predictable, the ability of money managers, including mutual fund managers, to manipulate information regarding their operations and performance has grown.

FORBES: Hidden Crimes; Too Many Secrets: How Money Managers Hide Illegalities From Investors (August 1, 2000)