One of the challenges of evaluating cloud computing and the use of hosted desktops in the small business enterprise is understanding not only the business case ROI, but the operational impact. Here are 30 questions to assist you in thinking through the issues associated with deploying hosted desktops. First some definitions: VDI, Virtual Desktop infrastructure = Dedicated Virtual Desktop (hosted desktop) There are two kinds of VDI: server-hosted and client-side. A Server-Hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure […]
strategy
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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 […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to move 600,000 of its employees to a cloud-based email and collaboration system in a comprehensive migration project it’s calling the “Big 4.” The department is looking for a contractor to help it migrate its entire backend email system — comprised of Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint servers, an e-mail archive system, BlackBerry software, and storage and back-up systems — to a hosted cloud environment, according to a request […]
The three dominant cloud computing models — Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) — are changing fast, as cloud providers reach up and down the stack to offer as close to a one-stop shop as possible. To understand how these cloud computing models are evolving and converging, it helps to know the history, said Jeffrey Kaplan, managing director of ThinkStrategies Inc., a consultancy in Wellesley, […]
Cloud computing needs governance. Which is to say that cloud computing needs processes, policies, and procedures. In a way, this is no different from IT more broadly. But virtualization, dynamically moving workloads, and an increased reliance on third parties for many types of IT functions mean that well thought-out and documented processes, policies, and procedures tend to be more important in cloud computing than with a more static and manual environment. This has been driven […]
I recently looked back at some significant papers that had influenced my thinking on cloud computing as part of a review on current strategic trends. In February 2009, a paper published at the University of California, Berkeley, “Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing,” stands out as the first of many papers to drive out the issues around the promise of cloud computing and technology barriers to achieving secure elastic service. The key […]
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 […]
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Terremark immediately strengthens its role as a strategic supplier to the U.S. federal government and its position in a rapidly growing Latin American market, as well as adding key assets for the white-hot global cloud computing market. (See Verizon Taps Terremark for $1.4B.) The deal will put pressure on other global service providers — notably AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), BT Global Services and Orange Business Services […]
Internal departments buying their own IT may force the hand of the CIO into making an early move to the cloud. But that shift will alter the traditional role of the CIO forever, says Steven Salmon. Over the next few years, cloud computing is set to transform the way CIOs operate. More organisations will turn to cloud products such as software as a service (SaaS), which will continue to mature. Driving the increased uptake is […]
One of the issues we focus on in conversations with companies evaluating moving to cloud computing is the importance — and challenge — of capacity planning in a cloud environment. The bottom line is that cloud computing is going to make capacity planning much more difficult for CIOs who intend to maintain all or most of their company’s computing in internal data centers. Moreover, utilization becomes a highly risk-associated topic as utilization risk is shifted […]