A quarter of enterprise are using or planning to use tablet computers, according to a report from Forrester which surveyed over 2,000 executives across Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US. However, devices brought into the enterprise by staff are unlikely to be well catered for, as Forrester found that just two per cent support random or rogue devices, while 17 per cent are already trialling their own choice of model. This is likely […]
Cloud
144 posts
Cloud computing has been a key enabling factor in the latest generation of web startups, letting them start with small amounts of capital and scale quickly in response to demand. Startups don’t care about a lot of the factors that slow adoption of cloud computing. New startups don’t own anything yet, so they don’t have a legacy investment in physical infrastructure. They also don’t have IT departments, who often have a stake in the old […]
Amazon doesn’t have paperwork from the music industry approving its new cloud music service. Does it need it? “Not at all!” says the e-commerce giant. “Maybe?” Says the music industry. Adding: “We sure we wish they would have asked.” We’re probably going to dive deeper into the legal intricacies of music licensing and cloud storage in the next couple days. For now, we can say that: * Lots of people think a version of cloud-based […]
A few years ago, the IT world was focused on public cloud computing. In 2010, after IT directors expressed concerns over public cloud security issues, the focus shifted to private clouds. And now, because everyone wants operational flexibility, hybrid clouds are at the top of the wish list. Several recent cloud surveys confirm these high levels of interest in hybrid cloud. A Unisys survey in January 2011 indicated that 21% of IT organizations are focusing […]
If you’ve read anything about the phenomenon of Big Data, then you probably picture armies of servers chugging some form of the Hadoop ecosystem to crunch mountains of information streaming from internal corporate transactions, emails, instant messages, and Web logs or external social media interactions and public information. Sounds expensive, right? Not necessarily. Thanks to cloud computing, freely available tools, and limitless free data, you can do major league Big Data analysis for a C-note. […]
If you came here for the article with the title, “Is the Cloud Really Just the Return of Mainframe Computing?’, unfortunately, it has been removed at the request of the publisher of the website from which it was obtained. Asking me to remove it was within their rights, but I believe it was a shortsighted decision based on old media ideas about the copyright “protection” of assets and the imagined potential loss of ad revenue. […]
It may sound like a PR ploy, but “cloud computing” truly is a different way of using technology resources, and more firms are adopting it. If your head hasn’t been lost up in the cirrus or cumulus, you’ve probably heard of cloud computing over the last few years. “The cloud” has figured prominently in President Obama’s technology initiatives, in the business plans of familiar tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft, and even in […]
GSA assistant commissioner Mary Davie tries to dispel cloud computing ‘myths’ and says a phased deployment strategy will raise the chances for successful projects. Moving to the cloud is easier, more cost-effective, and safer than many federal IT pros realize, according to the assistant commissioner of the General Services Administration. In light of the federal mandate for agencies to embrace cloud computing, GSA’s Mary Davie tried to debunk some of the myths about cloud computing […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
IT professionals looking to place data in the Cloud should be aware of three major risks, including data leakage, the loss of visibility or control of the data, and unauthorised access to data, according to global services firm Ernst and Young. The firm’s senior manager, Pieter Danhieux, told attendees of IDC’s Cloud for Business Conference 2011 that while Cloud service providers are often talking about scalability, availability, cost reductions, efficiency and effectiveness, they had not […]
Cloud computing adoption is being driven by the desire to innovate rather than save money. That was the message sent out during IBM’s Pulse 2011 event this week in Las Vegas as the man in charge of the cloud for Lockheed Martin and Big Blue’s cloud champion talked up the benefits on offer. Cloud computing marks a turning point in the “industrialisation” of the IT industry, according to Ric Telford, Tivoli’s vice president of autonomic […]
Want to know if your organization has the right characteristics and culture to successfully adopt cloud computing? I recently ran across a new cloud computing study that might provide the answer. “Our approach was to try to look into the future and determine what capabilities and kinds of organizations are necessary for a successful migration to the cloud,” co-author Arun Sundararajan told me. Sundararajan (associate professor of Information, Operations and Management Services at the NYU […]
CFOs have high hopes for cloud computing, even though they don’t appear to know much about it. Such are the findings from two recent surveys conducted by CFO. Asked about their current use of cloud-computing services, a majority of senior finance executives either have no plans to pursue it in the short term, or are doing so very tentatively. Nearly a third admit that they aren’t even sure what “cloud computing” really means. Yet, when […]
iTunes music streaming has been rumored for a long while, but has never actually surfaced… But if you read between the lines of two pieces of news at the moment, it seems the time is finally ripe. Apple settles record industry nerves We think, from previous inside information leaks, that one of the big hold-ups to a streaming iTunes music service was the recording industry–it had been caught on the hop when Apple revolutionized the […]
VMware, a provider of virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions, announced the launch of its mobile virtualization solution that is expected to offer a personal as well as separate secure profile for work applications on a single Android phone. The virtualization software was demonstrated on LG Optimus Black at the Mobile World Congress. VMware is currently working with LG to pre-load the software. The company will start the trials of the software by the middle of […]
Here’s the scenario: Your IT team writes a web service, and part of its WSDL interface includes a hash algorithm the team came up with on their own. You publish the API and your business partners use your clever little hash in integrating with across cloud services. Years later, you get a letter from a lawyer from a town in Texas you’ve never heard of, claiming you’ve infringed on a patent you never heard of. […]
Store tactical military data on distributed servers, accessible through networked computers or mobile devices? Ask most officers about cloud computing and they’ll look at you patronizingly and say: Yes, Google Docs is nice, but it’s not secure enough for our secrets. (I write from experience.) But Darpa’s new budget shows that it wants the military all the way up into the cloud, and plans to set up mobile wireless hotspots so troops can reach the […]
Traditional telephony may be replaced by newer technology due to an increase in the use of voice over IP (VoIP) in businesses. Sales of VoIP phones are mainly to businesses, according to In-Stat. Norm Bogen, vice-president of digital entertainment research at the firm, says the technology allows telephone systems to be used for “more advanced communications.” However consumers IP phones have yet to reach the consumer market. Apart from technology roll-outs from service providers and […]
Like many disruptive, evolving technologies, cloud computing is going through a phase characterized by opposites: hype and exaggeration on one side, and fear and skepticism on the other. How do you determine what’s really going to work for your organization? Separating the myths from the facts of cloud computing is a good place to start. Let’s take a look at the top 10 cloud computing myths as we see them, and the realities behind those […]
Cloud computing (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) has already proved its value to some businesses and specific applications. It provides a way to deploy and access massive amounts of IT resources, on demand, in real time. It drives better utilization of data center resources, reducing capital expenditures and operating expenses. Most important, it provides the scalability and agility to adapt to changing business needs. However, challenges remain with the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud computing deployment model. For enterprises that have […]
Search engine giant Google has gone into overdrive in promoting its Google Apps cloud based enterprise suite with adverts in various prominent magazines including The Economist. Google’s recent Google Apps ad in The Economist reflects the company’s determination to push its productivity suite ahead of Microsoft Office, The Register reports. The four page ad claims that every day 3000 businesses are shifting to Google’s platform with over 3 million businesses adopting Google Apps since its […]
The growing adoption of cloud computing, social media and mobile devices is putting security professionals under intense pressure. This is according to a study by industry analysts Frost & Sullivan. Based on the responses of 2,400 security professionals working in Europe, the study warns that skilled workers are being stretched too thinly across organisations. A significant number of respondents also reported that cloud, social and mobile technologies are being deployed without security in mind. “In […]
For years we’ve heard cloud computing vendors pushing the message that cloud computing will reduce IT expenditure. It’s not a surprising tactic, as vendors often aim their pitches at the area most important to organizations: expenditure. But, as Knowledge Center analyst Ben Kepes discusses here, by focusing only on the cost side of the equation, we miss so much of what cloud computing can truly offer. I recently wrote a paper looking at the economics […]
When it comes to enterprise computing environments, the skies are getting increasingly cloudy–and dealing with that will mean covering up with flexible, dynamic security. This was the message of Art Coviello, executive chairman of EMC’s RSA security division, during his keynote at the RSA Conference today, in San Francisco. Last year, he told the audience, his speech was about the promise of the cloud–the assertion that it’s possible to achieve security and do it better. […]
Key factors that organisations must consider before moving across to a cloud computing model. The hype surrounding cloud computing is expected to reach unprecedented levels over the next few years. According to recent research by analyst Gartner, CIOs view the cloud as their top technology priority for 2011 and it expects the number of organisations using on-demand computing to rise to 43% within four years. Despite being lured by the prospect of achieving significant cost […]
The benefits of cloud services are often cited. They’re low-cost. They’re scalable. They’re permanently state-of-the-art. However, at least with traditional IT outsourcing, the customer can negotiate a balanced, even a customer-friendly contract. Cloud customers usually have little option but to accept standard T&Cs. It is a utility model, where multiple users each buy a slice of the same pre-existing service. Providers tend to have the “take it or leave it” mentality of a gas or […]