Virtualisation is ideal for trying out a new operating system. Instead of installing the OS onto a live machine and potentially overwriting, or generally messing up a working OS, virtualisation leaves your current installation untouched. No worrying about a messed up MBR, freeing up space on your drives for a new partition or having to route around for drivers just to get back online. Virtualisation is a lot faster than it once was as well. […]
computing
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meshIP, LLC is please to announce the launch of two new services! meshIP was formed five years ago and has specialized in company formation, business plan development, funding and growth strategies. We are adding to our capabilities to assist small and mid-sized firms in their growth by offering hosted computing and telecommunications services. These offerings allow our clients to get out of the IT business and focus on their business. Our meshDESK service offering allows […]
Have you found yourself wondering what’s wrong with all of the marketing mavens out there in virtualization land? It seems that everything is virtualization and nothing is virtualization. Over the years, I’ve developed a tool or a model that has helped my clients better understand all of the layers of virtualization technology so that they could sort out what would be useful and what doesn’t fit in their world (or their network for that matter). […]
Despite their concerns about cloud computing security, cloud computing users aren’t taking all the steps they can to secure cloud computing, according to a recent survey of 1,200 IT pros in the U.S. The survey by CDW LLC, a national IT solution provider based in Vernon Hills, Ill., polled IT pros from a variety of industries on their companies’ use of cloud computing and found that 28% are using cloud services today. Security continues to […]
Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of small businesses surveyed by Newtek Business Services said they have never heard of cloud computing, underlining a fundamental lack of knowledge about the technology. Based on a poll of approximately 1,800 respondents, the survey found only 26 percent of those who had heard of cloud computing could describe what it was. Seventy-one percent of respondents acknowledged they do not keep their critical business files and data backed up offsite—only 29 […]
Cloud computing will become the dominate architecture for IT, according to a Colt study. The survey of 500 CIOs across UK, France, Germany, Spain and Benelux highlights that, while few businesses in Europe have company-wide implementations of cloud computing to date (16%), many believe the cloud will be their most significant IT operating method by 2014 (60%). The biggest challenge adopting cloud computing is ease of transition (58%). Quality assurance (55%), cost justification (55%) and […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Ciaran Treanor, technology director, DANU Technologies, outlines why SMEs, specifically start-ups, can significantly reduce IT spend by accessing IT resources on demand via the cloud. Treanor was one of the speakers at last week’s cloud computing event hosted by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (Ireland) at Trinity College Dublin, which aimed to inform people what the cloud has to offer start-ups and small enterprises, especially those in the non-IT space that may be […]
For the past few years, cloud computing has been hailed as the ‘silver bullet’ that will transform the way organizations manage their local and global IT applications. By placing data and software in ‘the cloud’, there is the promise of consistent, up-to-date information delivered to every user, combined with potentially huge cost savings through economies of scale. Cloud has a particular appeal to Finance Directors, with vendors selling the vision of lower cost “commodity pricing”, […]
The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in the coming year, including adoption of social media strategies, cloud computing and virtualization, as well as mobile applications and analytics tools. According to a study by IT analytics firm Info-Tech Research Group, 2011 will be the year of mass adoption for technologies the company said businesses have been slow to adopt. The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in […]
A growing number of small-business owners are expected to try cloud computing services next year, hoping to trim costs and stay up and running if disaster strikes. Cloud computing refers to any service that operates over an Internet connection, allowing immediate access from any computer or mobile device with Web access. Business owners can access software or store information—such as customer contacts, accounting data and presentations—and leave the technical maintenance to the cloud provider. As […]
This article is based on the book “Creating the Infrastructure for Cloud Computing: An Essential Handbook for IT Professionals” The virtualization models for clients are, arguably, more diverse than those for servers. For servers there are essentially two, the earlier model of static consolidation and the more recent dynamic model where virtual machines lightly bound to physical hosts can be moved around with relative ease. With virtualized clients there are also two main models, depending […]
Cloud Computing can help your business reduce costs as you don’t have to invest in hardware and other physical infrastructure, your data is stored on a secure location and you only pay for what you use – there are no licensing fees associated with cloud computing. Legal Issues associated with Cloud Computing That said, there are some important legal issues that must be taken care of before you sign-up with any of the cloud vendors […]
This time last year I took the rather brazen step of optimistically suggesting that IT spend would recover from its annus horribilis in the new year. But even with a record number of costly tech disasters around data loss and security, lessons still are not being turned into budget realities. It is apparent to me that, for a great number of organisations, recession may have technically left the building but in the world of IT […]
Cloud computing is a transformative delivery model that is changing the way technology vendors, distributors, resellers, and consumers think about, approach, and implement IT systems. What exactly “the cloud” is remains a matter of debate, because there are more than two dozen definitions for cloud computing. Further, how the cloud is applied to the conventional IT channel is relatively uncharted and may ultimately prove difficult to pin down. Escaping the cloud is almost impossible. Cloud […]
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 […]
Technological advances enabling companies to significantly cut costs have led to strong global growth in start-up activity, an American venture capital pioneer told Reuters. “In 40 years in the business, I’ve never seen such a vibrant start-up environment,” Alan Patricof, founder and managing director of Greycroft, told Reuters on a visit to Israel. He added that, in spite of the global financial crisis of the last two years, “there’s a lot of money around and […]
CSC, the American technology firm announced the results of a study that reveals a willingness within the government and IT community to be flexible around security governance to benefit from cloud computing and shared services. Results show that users are open to sharing sensitive activities in the cloud, as long as the parties involved share similar characteristics and have the same cultural approach to security. The report, titled ‘Shared Services: A perfect storm of opportunity,’ […]
The tremendous growth of the cloud computing market, despite shortcomings in some areas, is a testament to the level of pent-up frustration that exists within organizations of all sizes across nearly every industry with legacy on-premise software and systems, and the tangible benefits today’s leading cloud vendors are quickly delivering to their early adopter customers. As the year winds to an end, it is incumbent on all industry pundits to make predictions about what they […]
Even Bill Clinton is a fan of the cloud! From the New York Times: Back in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president, cell phones weighed five pounds and no one dreamed of using them to do anything besides make phone calls. Now, they’re used to connect us for more powerful causes — like raising a billion dollars for Haiti, President Clinton said at the Dreamforce 2010 conference in San Francisco Wednesday. And that’s largely […]
A short summary of the benefits of the cloud for organizations from here. A key point is to pick a professional and fully redundant supplier. meshIP has redundant systems, data centers and fully backs up your data each day. ‘Cloud computing’ sounds like a complicated idea, but if you use Flickr to store your photos, or Hotmail to keep in touch with friends and family, or stream music over Spotify, then you are, in effect, […]
The New York Times has an interesting article about hybrid clouds: If you’re tackling your company’s computing needs, you’re going to have to get your head in the clouds. But which ones? You’ve likely heard of cloud computing – shared computing resources available over the “cloud,” or the Internet. But it turns out there’s more than one way to cloud. When most people talk about the cloud, they mean a public cloud — big server […]