infrastructure

32 posts

Brown cardboard boxes on white metal rack, illustrating the new IT supply chain

Cloud Computing: Optimizing the New IT Supply Chain

The market downturn gave impetus to cloud computing by forcing organizations to find new ways to press forward with IT innovation despite their constrained resources—so they could continue to improve their competitive position, boost productivity and gain actionable market insight. In other words, after years of talk about aligning IT and business, alignment has quickly become life and death. If IT can’t reduce costs while keeping a step ahead of an increasingly dynamic business climate, […]

Black truck on road during daytime, illustrating how hard moving to the cloud is

Moving to the Cloud: How Hard is it Really?

Cloud computing has long been touted as a way to help entrepreneurs conduct businesses by housing data and computer hardware over the Internet. While using the cloud is pretty straightforward, getting a cloud infrastructure in place can take some time and work. Thankfully, there are many cloud computing services companies that can help build the right infrastructure for your business to migrate data, hardware and software to the cloud. “The last thing small businesses want […]

An open notebook with lined pages and a ballpoint pen above it, illustrating cloud computing tips for 2011

Top Tips for Cloud Computing in 2011

Luxoft has predicted that cloud computing, whether used in a storage capacity or to greatly decrease carbon footprints, will experience significant growth, in both the public and private sectors over the next 12 months, specifically in the area of internet services. The following tips have been developed by Vice President of Technology Strategy at Luxoft, Vasily Suvorov, to help businesses looking to use cloud computing effectively over the next 12 months. Know where you stand […]

Man working on a computer in an office setting, illustrating IT jobs in the age of cloud

Is Your IT Job Safe in the Cloud?

Cisco is the latest company to release customer research into cloud computing trends, and only an average of 18 percent of respondents worldwide said they are using the cloud in any capacity. However, the outlook is better, as 88 percent said they planned to take up the cloud in some capacity within three years. The world is full of good intentions, of course, and surveys tend to be optimistic. That’s why companies pay to have […]

Red flowers on green grass field under white clouds and blue sky, illustrating the proliferation of cloud offerings

Let A Thousand ‘Clouds’ Bloom

Cloud computing has been making headlines and generating buzz for the past several years. Companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft have all placed big bets on public clouds, while traditional enterprise companies such as IBM, HP and EMC are pushing private clouds. The future may involve more than one cloud model, even for some of the largest and most staid corporations, but being able to juggle the advantages of each while minimizing risks such […]

Marker on calendar, illustrating cloud predictions for 2011

Cloud Computing: 2011 Predictions

CIO Magiazine has four predictions for cloud computing in 2011 here: It’s been an incredibly interesting, exciting, and tumultuous year for cloud computing. But, as the saying goes, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Next year will be one in which the pedal hits the metal, resulting in enormous acceleration for cloud computing. One way to look at it is that next year will see the coming to fruition of a number of trends and initiatives […]

A man holding a smart phone while using a laptop, illustrating businesses adopting hosted PBX

Business Turns to Hosted PBX

Businesses are rapidly switching on to the benefits a hosted private branch exchange (PBX) – or switchboard – environment. That’s according to Graeme Victor, CEO of telecommunications solutions company Du Pont Telecom, who says several organizations have already adopted the new technology that aims to expand voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP). Victor says with the growth and maturation of the data networks and the changes in the interconnect agreements, it is now possible to run a company’s […]

3D render of cloud computing concept, illustrating cloud versus hosting and managed services

True Cloud is Not Hosting or Managed Services

Great article on the difference between manages services and cloud computing: I have posted previously that there is a lot of confusion and debate about terminology and definitions of cloud. The problem of using such a broad term like “cloud computing” is that there are so many variations with the possible deployment models and when you say “cloud” it means different things to different people. Using the phrase “we are going to the cloud” can […]

Dream Big text, illustrating the size of the cloud computing opportunity

How Big is The Opportunity for Cloud Computing?

More cloud stats, this time from here: By 2011 Merrill Lynch says the cloud computing market will reach $160 billion. The number of physical servers in the World today: 50 million. By 2013, approximately 60 percent of server workloads will be virtualized By 2013 10 percent of the total number of physical servers sold will be virtualized with an average of 10 VM’s per physical server sold. At 10 VM’s per physical host that means […]

A path in a park, illustrating hybrid clouds as a path to cloud nirvana

Are Hybrid Clouds the Path to Cloud-Computing Nirvana?

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 […]