Target Corp. recently implemented virtualization technologies by Microsoft to run business-critical applications for all 1,755 stores. Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V was added to help deploy and manage applications more quickly, eliminating 8,650 physical servers. Microsoft System Center was integrated to manage and patch endpoints. With these technologies, Target’s IT department has greater agility and economies of scale. “Target’s investment in Hyper-V is a result of the strong technology partnership between our two companies,” says […]
Cloud Computing
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The desktop computer remains a fixture in just about every business – a fixture that still needs to be maintained, secured and eventually, refreshed. At the same time, the pressures to provide more flexible, cost-effective access to corporate systems is leading organisations to look at mobile and cloud computing desktop alternatives. So why are we still talking about desktops? Simply swapping old desktop hardware for new without looking at the latest technology options may miss […]
In less than a decade, the global mobile Internet has emerged as a phenomenon that directly impacts the lives of 1 out of every 8 persons living on the planet. As businesses of all types scramble to prepare for the unstoppable wave of mobile commerce unleashed by this socio-economic revolution, the need for strengthening mobile security has never been greater. The mobile device market reached a critical inflection point at the start of 2011: For […]
The tech world has no shortage of jargon. But one term in particular has businesses small and large scratching their heads: What is cloud computing? Businesses know they’re headed there, but where are they going? Many of them are already there, even if they don’t realize it. Some of the most basic Web tasks are based in the cloud — a generic term that basically means tapping into online-based services. Common tasks like e-mail, social […]
Earlier this year, the Wikibon community held a Peer Incite to discuss the realities of Desktop Virtualization. What we found was that while desktop virtualization is seeing significant growth, it tends to be strongest in certain vertical niches and the ecosystem is highly fragmented. As Michael Keen of Lakeside Software says, one of the biggest challenges is mapping out a customer’s environment and finding the places where Here Be Dragons which can be the downfall […]
Some businesses are looking at the global reach of the Internet and cloud computing as a way to extend a new form of disaster assistance — one business offering service to a company in an affected area as a way to help it keep its processes running. In cloud operations, it is expected that multiple copies of a data set will be created and kept in synch. Three is the magic number for Cassandra, MongoDB, […]
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion and Microsoft are teaming up around a cloud computing strategy through which the two tech titans integrate cloud services and solutions. RIM said Thursday that cloud computing has always been a major component of its BlackBerry business, whether it’s real-time push, security or the backend architecture and RIM’s 2011 BlackBerry Product roadmap will focus heavily on the cloud. “Cloud has been our business for years,” Alec Taylor, RIM’s vice president of […]
A key U.S. Senate committee approved legislation that would authorize state governments to impose hefty taxes on Internet phone services. The Senate Committee on Commerce on Thursday rewrote a bill that originally was intended to shield the fledging voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) industry from state regulation. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., had intended his legislation to reserve that authority to the Federal Communications Commission. His bill initially said that no state or local government “may […]
There is no shortage of hype about cloud services, both positive and negative, but it is often difficult for potential customers to do an objective cost / benefit analysis. In addition to promising productivity and business process benefits, cloud computing can be very attractive to cut rapidly both capital and operating expenditure. There may, however, be unanticipated costs and risks in a move to online hosting of key data and applications. Perhaps surprisingly, and despite […]
The shift to cloud computing is well past the tipping point. Incumbents like Microsoft, IBM and Cisco are all dumping wheelbarrows full of money into their cloud efforts. Even the once-constant cloud skeptic, Larry Ellison, is now on board – albeit reluctantly – and behemoths in the making like Salesforce.com have the cloud to thank for their rise. Moreover, every time a research firm studies adoption patterns or asks the IT community about their future […]