Cloud Computing

607 posts

A football field with the word start written on it, illustrating desktop virtualization's slow start

Five Reasons For Desktop Virtualization’s Slow Start

John Glendenning, Virtual Computer’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Business Development, and I had a very interesting conversation about Desktop Virtualization in general and where his company’s product, NxTop, is enjoying a great deal of success. During that discussion we covered quite a bit of territory. We ran out of time long before we ran out of interesting topics to discuss. Here, in a nutshell, are a few of the reasons that desktop […]

Vibrant yellow wall with security cameras above parked scooters, illustrating public cloud security advantages

Cloud Computing: Top 5 Reasons Why the Public Cloud is More Secure

The biggest obstacle facing public cloud computing today is security. The major concerns include: internal and external threats, data collection, privacy and compliance. An essential part of any cloud implementation is the cloud service provider’s ability to have a secure infrastructure to protect customer data and guard against unauthorized access. Today’s public cloud is becoming more secure than on-premise computing. Cloud service providers are able to provide better security than enterprises in the following ways: […]

The White House press briefing room, illustrating the federal cloud computing strategy

White House Issues Federal Cloud Strategy

The Federal Cloud Computing Strategy seeks to accelerate federal cloud adoption by detailing benefits, outlining a deployment framework, and describing agencies’ roles and responsibilities. n advance of next week’s budget, the White House has issued a document outlining a government-wide strategy to adopt cloud computing more broadly in the federal government. The document, which outlines cloud computing’s benefits and necessary considerations, details government cloud computing case studies and outlines the roles and responsibilities of various […]

A group of people walking down a street next to tall buildings, illustrating Ireland's cloud computing opportunity

Future is in Cloud Computing, Claims Microsoft Ireland Chief

The head of Microsoft Ireland says Ireland could become a global leader in cloud computing, but only if the country seizes the initiative and gains first mover advantage over rivals. He said Ireland needed every advantage, including low corporate taxes, to compete for foreign investment. Microsoft Ireland MD Paul Rellis was addressing an audience of 120 business leaders at a Dublin Chamber of Commerce members’ briefing at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin. The US, […]

Green leaf tree under blue sky, illustrating technology for business survival

Leveraging Technology for Business Survival

In business, and in nature, it is the strong that survive. Rather than trying to coast through the down economy, consider ways to strengthen, improve, and grow your business. This will better your chances of “survival” and enhance the future of your company. Information systems streamline business operations and help you do more with less. By investing in new technologies and automating business processes, you can run your business more efficiently. It may even be […]

Shattered monitor on the floor, illustrating a Windows patch breaking VMware View

Windows Fix on Patch Tuesday ‘Breaks’ VMware Software

VMware is telling customers that two Windows 7 security patches have left the VMware View desktop virtualization client unable to access the View Connection Server, which brokers the connection between a user’s computer and a virtual desktop. This led Gartner virtualization analyst Chris Wolf to write a blog post titled “Windows 7 Update Breaks VMware View Client” that says this week’s event is “an important lesson in BYOD” deployments that let workers bring their own […]

Person balances on tightrope between rock formations, illustrating managing cloud security risks

Managing The Cloud’s Security Risks

Cloud computing is all the rage these days. CIOs seem to be diving into cloud-based solutions with reckless abandon despite the fact that a mistake in planning or execution can have career-limiting effects. So, let’s take a moment to balance the benefits against the potential security pitfalls that lie in the clouds. The really important question is, How safe is your business in the clouds? After all, cloud vendors all aim to put your stuff […]

A stack of thick folders on a white surface, illustrating cloud governance beyond security

Cloud Governance is About More Than Security

Cloud computing needs governance. Which is to say that cloud computing needs processes, policies, and procedures. In a way, this is no different from IT more broadly. But virtualization, dynamically moving workloads, and an increased reliance on third parties for many types of IT functions mean that well thought-out and documented processes, policies, and procedures tend to be more important in cloud computing than with a more static and manual environment. This has been driven […]

Ice cream cone with sprinkles, illustrating the main types of cloud computing

Cloud Computing: Four Favorite Flavors, Explained

Cloud computing is famous for being a metaphor instead of a technology, but that metaphor is increasingly hard for non-techies to understand. Many variations of cloud have emerged that have little to do with the initial vision that sparked interest— a public cloud with burst-up capability on demand. “Public cloud is not what most of our clients are talking about right now,” according to Chris Wolf, analyst for Gartner Group’s Burton Group consultancy. “Pretty much […]

Black plug in front of electric socket, illustrating the need for open cloud standards

Cloud Computing Drives Need For Open Standards

I recently looked back at some significant papers that had influenced my thinking on cloud computing as part of a review on current strategic trends. In February 2009, a paper published at the University of California, Berkeley, “Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing,” stands out as the first of many papers to drive out the issues around the promise of cloud computing and technology barriers to achieving secure elastic service. The key […]