For a concept that seems so surreal, cloud computing is surprisingly ubiquitous. It is almost impossible to surf the internet without interacting with it in one form or another. Webmail services such as Google’s Gmail and Microsoft’s Hotmail are a well-known example of cloud computing at work, as are streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube. You’ve probably bumped into the concept at your workplace in the form of Microsoft’s Office 365 and Google Apps. […]
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18 posts
Rule 1: The cloud rides on the network, so the network must be able to keep up Companies that move applications and data to cloud, or perhaps build new systems on cloud-based platforms, often don’t consider the network infrastructure. When relying on systems that are connected via the network, the network is everything. Slow networks mean slow systems and poor performance. Rule 2: Applications not optimized for cloud-based platforms rarely perform well Many enterprise IT […]
Cloud computing offers businesses the opportunity to outsource their IT services, reducing both time and cost efficiently. This is highly attractive, as businesses do not need to understand the devices they are using, but do companies really understand the implications of outsourcing their business services to a cloud computing service? Cloud computing is the next stage in the Internet’s evolution, providing the means through which everything can be delivered as a service, wherever and whenever […]
In my last post, I talked about the IT side of the “shadow IT” problem that cloud computing has created for companies all over the world. Cloud computing has enabled end-users to remove IT departments from the decision process when hiring solutions, especially software solutions, and also to keep these same IT departments out of the loop by using cloud-based applications that can be accessed through the browser, without any kind of installation or IT […]
After a long wait, Windows 8 is finally here. The new operating system from Microsoft, features a number of business-friendly features that would be compelling for enterprise users and administrators. According to industry estimates, nearly half of the Indian organisations use Windows XP platform today, and as the OS reaches end of life in a year-and-a-half, analysts believe it will result in a demand uptick for newer platforms such as Windows 7 and 8. Hence, […]
CIOs are worried: cloud computing is being used as a way for businesses to dodge the IT department and get services delivered more quickly. But as well as giving the CIO sleepless nights, this attempt to side-step the IT department is causing additional cost and complexity along the way. I recently wrote about how cloud computing deployments are kicking off without the CIO’s knowledge, and only coming to light when sys admins put their expenses […]
One of the main reasons for deploying desktop virtualization is the security advantages it can provide, such as keeping sensitive data off the endpoint, according to Citrix. And Citrix is practicing what it preaches at its Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., headquarters where employees, for example, use the Citrix virtualization product Citrix Receiver for smartphones and tablets. Citrix Receiver brings full-fledged desktop apps to smartphones and tablets “It’s required to access some systems such as SAP,” says […]
You are not alone if you are confused about cloud computing – recent research has shown that nearly half of those not using cloud computing don’t know what it means. Whether you are worried about security or how you would access your data without internet access read on and see my answers to the common questions which people ask me about cloud computing. 1. Is there a difference between ‘The Cloud’ and ‘Cloud Computing’? Isn’t […]
Telefonica and Verizon will become the first operators to offer Android phones running VMware’s mobile hypervisor, the companies announced on Wednesday at the VMworld 2011 Europe conference in Copenhagen. VMware has previously said that Verizon would offer the service, without disclosing details about timing, but this is the first time Telefonica has said it plans to offer phones with the hypervisor. Users of phones with the VMware product will find two profiles on their devices: […]
If two technology trends were ever made for each other, at least in vendor marketing materials and generically simple diagrams of IT infrastructure, they are the consumerization of IT and desktop virtualization. Analysts who study desktop virtualization say many of its use cases fit neatly into problem areas that their client companies face, such as the consumerization of IT. End users who insist on using non-standard or unapproved computing devices, such as tablets and iOS […]
Two recent events reminded us this spring that cloud computing infrastructures are vulnerable to the same genetic IT flaw that plagues traditional data center operations: everything fails, sooner or later. The failure modes of cloud vs. traditional data center architectures may differ in nature and frequency, but the threat is the same – outages, downtime, lost revenues and damaged customer trust. Ironically, these same recent events also highlight how cloud infrastructures, when managed correctly, actually […]
As companies glom onto cloud computing, stateless computing is likely to emerge as a core tenant within the cloud and one that can deliver cost savings, predicted the chief technology architect for Merrill Lynch. LinuxWorld But to get to the state of stateless computing, companies will need to change the way they view their hardware needs and how they store and access the information, said Jeffrey Birnbaum of Merrill Lynch, who served as a keynote […]
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 […]
Even a business operating in the clouds needs someone on the ground. In Alaska, Nate Gates is aiming to be what he called that “local throat to choke.” Gates founded Cloud 49 in July after four years as chief information officer for Chenga Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation, and his preliminary expectations have been exceeded as state companies explore and embrace cloud computing technology. “We thought it would be a slow road the first […]
As the dominant IT paradigm continues to shift, companies need to manage critical components of the migration. Companies still face plenty of questions regarding cloud computing. Increasingly, however, the dominant question is not whether to do it, but how intensely. In fact, given the pace at which companies are offloading at least part of their IT infrastructure to public clouds (generally defined as third-party services that host computing workloads in multi-tenant data centers), those that […]
Cloud Adopters Embrace Cloud For Both Innovation and Legacy Optimization Once thought to be the answer to deployment options for just the SMB market, early cloud adopters proved otherwise. Stereotypes about industry, size of company, geographies, and roles no longer hold back adoption. Cloud adoption at all 4 layers of the cloud passed the tipping points in 2010 as a key business and technology strategy (see Figure 1). For 2011, we can expect users to: […]
Many companies may have e-mail, virus scanning or CRM running as a service over the internet, but most organizations are only just starting out when it comes to cloud computing, according to Microsoft. The software giant’s lists ways the nascent cloud market will change in the next few years. Cloud-centric hardware Servers, microprocessors and client devices will evolve as purpose-built systems to address the new paradigm of cloud computing. For example, diskless laptops that store […]