Improvements in hardware, software, and networking have combined with the secular trend toward outsourcing to usher in the era of cloud computing. The economies of scale offered by remote data centers managed by third parties allow enterprises to offload or outsource some or all of their computing and storage workloads. Cloud adoption is particularly cost-effective for smaller and midsize users that lack the capital, manpower, or expertise to build and maintain their own data centers. […]
PaaS
22 posts
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. […]
Frost & Sullivan, an IT analysis and consulting firm, predicts that the platform as a service market will be the next area of keen competition for cloud innovators, as the infrastructure- and software-as-a-service spaces have been commoditized. The platform-as-a-service space will be the next battleground for cloud service providers, as the infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service markets face commoditization, according to a study by Frost & Sullivan. Frost & Sullivan’s new “Asia-Pacific Platform as a Service Market […]
Platform as a service (PaaS) is a core layer of the cloud computing architecture, and its evolution will affect the future of most users and vendors in enterprise software markets, according to Gartner. “With large and growing vendor investment in PaaS, the market is on the cusp of several years of strategic growth, leading to innovation and likely breakthroughs in technology and business use of all of cloud computing,” said Yefim Natis, vice president and […]
When you talk to a bona fide Cloud supplier they talk in the straight-forward, clear and non-technical way about the business benefits of Cloud computing. However, in the same way that two hundred jumbo jets landing safely at Heathrow is not news but one jumbo jet crashing is news, Cloud makes the headlines when it fails and for those who over-complicate it. Cloud computing provides organisations with an alternative way of obtaining IT services and […]
How does security apply to Cloud Computing? In this article, we address this question by listing the five top security challenges for Cloud Computing, and examine some of the solutions to ensure secure Cloud Computing. Organizations and enterprises are increasingly considering Cloud Computing to save money and to increase efficiency. However, while the benefits of Cloud Computing are clear, most organizations continue to be concerned about the associated security implications. Due to the shared nature […]
As an observer of the information technology and Internet industries for several decades, I watch with great amusement as new buzzwords surface for old IT concepts. I was rewarded not too long ago, when the term “cloud computing” appeared on the scene. The technology concept behind cloud computing has been around for more than 50 years, and the legal issues are equally old. Those concerns remain unchanged, despite the new buzzwords. Dartmouth Time-Sharing – 1964 […]
Before spacecraft are blasted off into space, the astronauts that travel in them, mission-control personnel, and other key staff undergo specialised education and training, launch procedures are verified and rehearsed, and policies are drawn up so that everyone is clear about their roles. Organisations wanting to move into the cloud computing space need to employ similar rigour. Although cloud service technology is easily available and is a potential business game-changer, it is best for enterprises […]
Cloud computing and SaaS have gained considerable momentum over the last few years. Although companies are adopting cloud and SaaS technology, there is great confusion over the applications in which cloud can serve an organization. Organizations are left with endless questions about security, infrastructure options, scalability, administration and business agility. While application programming interfaces (APIs) have improved from many vendors, going cloud does not eliminate the need for integration and/or middleware. Some smart platform-as-a-service (PaaS) […]
While some concerns remain about data security and application uptime, there’s significant movement within the retail industry toward cloud-based solutions that can be delivered on an on-demand basis, and it’s easy to see why. Unlike many other technologies that retailers have had to adapt to meet their business needs, it’s as if cloud computing was designed specifically with the cost-conscious, data-deluged retail enterprise in mind. For retail CIOs seeking a quick ROI payback from any […]