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 […]
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 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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Cloud computing revenue in the US public sector is expected to grow by 21.6 percent over the next few years, according to the latest survey by International Data Corporation (IDC). The report, entitled U.S. Public IT Cloud Services by Industry Sector: More Details on the Opportunity, shows that from 2009 to 2014 public cloud revenue in the US will grow significantly from $11.1 billion to $29.5 billion. The main areas that will employ cloud computing […]
Few technology trends have captured as much popular attention as Cloud Computing. The level of hype associated with the ‘Cloud’ hasn’t been seen since the hoopla created during the Dot.com era. As a result, there has been plenty of debate about whether the Cloud Computing phenomenon is headed to a similar demise. This quote is taken from a Seeking Alpha article by Jeffrey Kaplan, published in December 2010. Just a few weeks after Jeffrey’s comments, […]
1. Get smart Before making a move into the cloud, get educated on the principles and definitions of cloud computing, advises Johan Goossens, head of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation’s (ACT) Technology & Human Factors Branch in Norfolk, Va. “We started in the summer of 2010 with educational efforts. We got ourselves smart on the terminology, sitting down with vendor partners,” he says. 2. Know your apps “Before we got started with the cloud, we made […]
When Dataprise Inc., an IT services company, helped a customer with a desktop virtualization project last year, it found itself dealing with desktop virtualization’s dirty little secret: No one — including vendors — seems to know how to license the software. Having run a successful pilot, Dataprise’s client wanted to take the next step and deploy 700 virtual desktops, says Chris Sousa, director of infrastructure service at Dataprise. That’s when the trouble began. Like many […]
Several private clouds are now coming to market based on the Vblock technology developed by VCE, a joint venture forged by Cisco, EMC and VMWare. Last week I groaned inwardly as I saw not one, but two announcements plop into my inbox. First came Sungard’s “fully managed cloud offering”, and then a couple of days later CSC got in touch to brief me about the launch of CSC BizCloud, “the industry’s first on-premise private cloud […]
There are more than a few critics of cloud computing, even at PCWorld; I’m probably one of them. But I’ve been turning over in my mind different perspectives on the cloud. I’ve tried to set aside the views of the IT executive, who seems to dominate the debate. Instead, I’ve been thinking about what it offers lowly end-users, or for programmers who create the software. What does cloud computing mean for the rest of us? […]
Samee U. Khan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and colleagues P. Bouvry and D. Kliazovich from the University of Luxembourg have released under the General Public License Agreement a sophisticated cloud computing simulator called GreenCloud. According to Khan, the lack of detailed simulators on the market was the motivation to develop GreenCloud that allows researchers to observe, interact and measure cloud performance. There also was no provisioning for observing clouds for their energy-efficiency. […]
A report has found that many businesses are turning to cloud computing in an effort to control costs Companies are increasingly turning cloud computing to enhance productivity and increase their return on investment (ROI), according to a report from Fonality. The “2011 Small and Medium-Sized Business Communications Plans and Priorities” state-of-the-market report polled professionals considered to be on the “leading edge” of technology adoption. Respondents emphasised that cloud-based business applications or AaaS (Anything as a […]
Businesses concerned about the security of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud technology should be more worried about how they secure data themselves rather than the levels of security offered by cloud providers. A recent survey by Forrester Research found that security is the main concern about IaaS technology for 58 per cent of European technology decision-makers. And these concerns – combined with others – appear to be hampering adoption, with just two per cent […]
Last summer, Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra asked the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to help accelerate the federal government’s secure adoption of cloud computing by leading efforts to develop cloud standards and guidelines. And NIST just delivered. The agency published two new draft documents on cloud computing. The first document, NIST Definition of Cloud Computing (NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-145) defines cloud computing at least as far as the government is […]
Prada did it with Miu Miu; Dolce & Gabbana with D&G Now Verizon’s $1.4 billion purchase of Terremark applies a business model from the catwalk to cloud computing: The launch of a ‘diffusion’ line. Diffusion lines – affordable merchandise from luxury labels – are big business in fashion. Correctly marketed, they create a virtuous circle of demand between couture and main street buyers, and expand a designer’s overall revenues through direct sales and licensing deals. […]
Many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) don’t yet fully understand what software as a service (SAAS) is, how SAAS works and why SAAS makes business sense for them. In this article, I’ll discuss the evolution of software delivery models, why applications in the cloud make sense for SMBs, and the various benefits of SAAS for SMBs (including low financial risk, easy deployment and ease of access from anywhere). After reading this article, you’ll be able […]
Just five years since mobile VoIP services were first introduced, it is on the cusp of moving beyond an inexpensive alternative for making international calls to becoming an integrated component of unified social networking services, says research house In-Stat. The coming years are expected to be transformational as mobile operators and associated players work out how to respond to a forecast of nearly 139 million mobile VoIP users by 2014, say analysts. “Mobile VoIP is […]
As your organization relies more on cloud-based applications for productivity and business success, you must be increasingly vigilant against Web-borne attacks. As sensitive data now migrates between corporate data centers and cloud data centers beyond your network perimeter, you can no longer think only in terms of network security, but instead must shift focus to information security. Three overarching, interrelated trends — cloud consumption, virtualization and mobility — present themselves as key industry themes for […]
With each passing day, more and more businesses in the UK are signing up to cloud computing, the revolutionary concept which allows clients to store data and run software remotely, rather than from an in-house server or computer harddrive. The potential and possibilities of cloud computing seem considerable. But so do the risks and snags. Here we’ve outlined the top 10 risks of cloud computing today. If you can explore all these issues before deciding […]
CSO recently interviewed Gary Loveland, a principal in PricewaterhouseCooper’s advisory practice and head of the firm’s global security practice, about the latest in cloud security issues. Loveland has functioned as a data security officer and has recommended and implemented security strategies in large-scale business environments. CSO: What do you consider to be the most serious security threats related to cloud computing? Loveland: One of the most serious security threats to cloud computing is the fact […]
Cloud Computing creates great opportunities for Europe but various “legal, technical and commercial issues” need to resolved before it can be widely practiced, the EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at Davos 2011. Normally I prefer clearly defined concepts. But when it comes to cloud computing I have understood that we cannot wait for a universally agreed definition. We have to act. That is why I am really grateful for the opportunity to discuss […]
If I asked you to pick the most over-hyped technology trend of the past year, you’d probably pick either “cloud computing” or “smartphones and tablets.” Pretty much every tech publication has wall-to-wall coverage of those trends, while plenty of vendors are busily slapping “cloud” and “mobile” on a slew of products that are only vaguely so. The thing about these so-called over-hyped trends, though, is that they really aren’t. In the build up to the […]
So much digital ink, on InfoWorld and elsewhere, has been spilled analyzing cloud computing — what it is, whether it’s anything new, whether it will change IT as we know it. But a recent conversation has me thinking that cloud computing’s greatest contribution may be in the way it applies the principles of mass production to IT. Last week I spoke with Siki Giunta, vice president of cloud computing and software services at global IT […]
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Terremark immediately strengthens its role as a strategic supplier to the U.S. federal government and its position in a rapidly growing Latin American market, as well as adding key assets for the white-hot global cloud computing market. (See Verizon Taps Terremark for $1.4B.) The deal will put pressure on other global service providers — notably AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), BT Global Services and Orange Business Services […]