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 […]
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 […]
About 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies surveyed recently said they expect 15 percent or more of their applications to move to the cloud in the near future, Sarah Friar, managing director at Goldman Sachs, said Wednesday at ITSEF. That shift has even affected Goldman Sachs, “where we’re probably the most paranoid about letting go of these things,” she said. Cloud computing, mobile computing and social networking are reshaping the face of the information security […]
Frank Modruson has a thing for better, faster, cheaper. As CIO of business and IT service provider Accenture, that’s what he wants to deliver to his internal customers and what they in turn promise to their clients. “I’m a big believer in technology and a big believer that technology helps the business in a lot of ways,” Modruson says. “But it needs to be better, faster or cheaper. If you hit all three, it starts […]
Governor Rick Perry has announced the state is investing $2.45 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) in the Virtual Computing Environment Company (VCE) for the creation of a corporate headquarters in Richardson, near Dallas. The Governor made the announcement while he gave the keynote address at the Richardson Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting. This investment is expected to create at least 434 local jobs and generate an estimated $35 million in capital investment. “Communities […]
Many IT departments have put off public cloud deployments in favor of private cloud virtualization projects under the guise of security concerns — but new findings show that these private cloud deployments may be no more secure than their public counterparts. That’s good news for managed service providers with the right security chops and infrastructure to support cloud deployments, some managed services experts say. Conducted by Unisphere Research on behalf of security vendor AppSec, the […]
David Fearon looks at the basic justifications for cloud computing in life at the sharp end of business. I’ll be covering some of the ins and outs of practical cloud deployments in later posts, but for this first one I wanted to make some points from my latest experiences starting up a small business project. From those experiences I can tell you it’s entirely possible to run an independent venture on a very small budget, […]
Desktop Virtualization Two cups and a piece of string won’t cut it in a virtual world. If you are virtualising your desktops, your network must be able to cope with the additional traffic load, and resilient enough to support users who require access to their desktops at all times. How can you ensure it measures up? A poorly configured network can lead to poor response times and service drop-outs. It can also worsen the bootstorm […]
The American dream is in peril from the confluence of sky rocketing deficits, high unemployment, and the ticking time bomb of an aging baby boomer generation, with its coincident increase in the burden of entitlements as a percentage of GDP. For the first time, the next generation of Americans, our grandchildren, risk having a lower standard of living than we enjoyed. It is not a problem that can be remedied with tax increases and budget […]
IT organisations are turning to public cloud computing services when they come to launch mobile applications designed for multiple devices. According to Mike Vizard, a columnist for IT Business Edge, there is a growing market for these apps, with the cloud being viewed by many as a good system for hosting them. “Because no one is actually sure how well or how popular a new mobile application is going to be, a lot of IT […]
An IT manager in Tokyo, Appirio’s Jason Park is accustomed to feeling the ground shake from time to time, but it was soon apparent to him that Friday’s Sendai earthquake was a big one. “Helicopter news footage on TV showed waves crushing cars, plowing through farms, and overturning buildings and houses,” Park wrote. “The northern areas of Japan are a mess, especially the eastern coastal regions. Disturbing…” From the 39th floor of a new office […]
More medium-sized companies are investing in the cloud, according to a report commissioned by IBM. Cloud computing was a priority for 70 per cent of businesses surveyed, which said they were either planning or currently deploying cloud-based technologies to improve their IT systems. The report found that medium-sized businesses are increasingly shifting emphasis from cost control to growth, with 62 per cent of businesses surveyed reporting that they expect their IT budgets to increase over […]
Viruses and computer hacking have become common terms we all hear regularly in news reports and online. And while the concept of a virus is easy to understand, mainly because we are all taught how biological viruses work in our own body, it’s difficult to understand exactly what is going on during an attack inside your PC. What we need is a realistic visualization of exactly what is happening as an attack happens, and how […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) expects to save 40% over the next five years by switching its financial management application to a cloud computing vendor — a sign of the massive savings to come from the U.S. federal government’s shift to the software-as-a-service model. The EEOC ran a competitive bid and chose Global Computer Enterprises (GCE) of Reston, Va., to provide Oracle’s Financials Release 12 software in a cloud-based delivery model. The five-year contract […]
New Zealand was already set to be the land of cloud computing, but the Christchurch earthquake should boost that process further. As businesses recover from the havoc the quake wreaked, it is becoming clear who fared best. Those who stored their data offsite were least affected, and cloud computing was shown to be good for data recovery. Analysts say that, given this, the quake will send firms to the cloud, especially since it makes it […]
A spike in attacks against IP PBXs that started last fall shows no signs of abating, spawning speculation that those responsible have tapped into botnets and cloud computing resources to carry out their illegal activities. According to separate security reports from Cisco and Sipera’s Viper Lab research arm, the exploits are carried out using techniques that lend themselves to the interpretation that the attackers are tapping into broad resources that make their work more effective. […]
Cloud computing in Dallas ranked high in a recent survey of over than 2,000 SMB and enterprise IT decision-makers. Microsoft named some of the country’s top “cloud-friendly” U.S. cities as a result of the survey. In the findings, IT decision makers nationwide discussed how they are adopting and using cloud computing. Dallas ranked third among the most cloud-ready cities for large companies. Of IT decision makers, 46 percent believe the cloud is an engine of […]
Steve Ballmer, pacing the stage at the CERAweek energy conference in Houston Wednesday night, touted cloud computing as the wave of the future. He pushed Microsoft’s Kinect system for its Xbox 360 console. He brought an actor on stage to demonstrate how Kinect’s sensors register the body motions of its users without the need for a handheld device like Nintendo’s Wii and showed how friends using Kinect can interact with each other in cloud-based cyberspace. […]
Virtualization – not quite the nirvana it was promised to be. We expected exponentially better efficiency, higher availability and huge savings for IT budgets. However, now that the honeymoon is over, most organizations feel slighted. Not only have the promised benefits never been realized, but IT organizations also have been saddled with ever-increasing user demand and out-of-control costs – not to mention virtual sprawl, vendor lock-in and high provisioning effort. With all of these issues, […]
In my last cloud computing commentary in this space, I described how a growing number of organizations of all sizes are recognizing the potential benefits of Cloud Computing and are beginning to consider their options. Now, the question is: who will help you sort through the myriad of choices and capitalize on the rapidly expanding Cloud alternatives? As I outlined in my previous column, the Cloud Computing marketplace is generally divided into three stratas – […]
Researchers propose using hacker tactics to secure cloud computing systems. Handing sensitive data over to a cloud computing provider makes many companies skittish. But new software, called HomeAlone, could help them come to terms with using such services. Cloud computing can save companies money by providing inexpensive, flexible storage and processing resources that are managed for them. All the same, many companies remain hesitant to turn their data over to a third party. Cloud computing […]
While both large and small companies are investing aggressively in cloud backup and recovery solutions, in the next two years the greatest growth in cloud-based managed services will come from SMBs. Today 5 percent of SMBs surveyed employ backup-as-a-service, remote backup or online backup services from a managed service provider and 38 percent plan to employ them in two years – a growth rate of 660 percent. Market Driven by Multiple Needs Three factors contribute […]