June 4, 2012 Off

How to keep cloud projects agile, simple

By David

Grazed from ITWorld.  Author: David Taber.

Now it’s time to work on an issue that underlies all of those problematic behaviors: saying "Yes" too often.

Saying "No" will keep a project on track and your credibility intact. (Image courtesy of Zazzle.com.

Of course this is heresy. User-centered design is at the core of good UI. It would be political suicide for IT to say "No" to powerful users. IT engineering exists to serve the business, not order it around.

All those statements are true. But so is this: Saying "Yes" when the answer really needs to be "No" is an invitation to a project failure. Improper expectations don’t just hurt budgets and schedules. They damage credibility-and, in the end, they force you to expend resources when you shouldn’t have to…

June 4, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: Network Janitors

By David
Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: James Carlini.

If Cloud Computing is going to be part of the critical network infrastructure of an enterprise, senior executives better realize that no technology runs by itself. You need people that are very skilled in all aspects of planning, designing, implementing and managing these systems. There are dynamic people and there are also caretakers that can only do minimum maintenance on systems.

The idea that you can run Cloud Computing applications with a bare minimum of skilled people is a nice sales pitch, but in reality organizations better make sure they have skills on staff or skills readily available in times of emergencies as well as day-to-day operations…

June 4, 2012 Off

Cloud computing vendor lock-in: Avoiding security pitfalls

By David
Grazed from TechTarget.  Author: Ed Boyle.

Most of us already know from personal experience that changing from one service provider to another can be challenging.  Think about, for example, the level of frustration you may have experienced in the past changing your telephone company,  Internet provider or cell phone service.  The process of ending a service provider relationship is always likely to be rockier than other interactions you have with them — that’s a natural consequence of business dynamics. 

Let’s face it, a service provider isn’t usually inclined to provide a seamless process for sending business to competitors.  But what customers may not realize is that less-scrupulous service providers can — and actively do — build in roadblocks with the specific intent of locking in customers.   Meaning, they make the process of transitioning more difficult by design to help increase customer retention (i.e., “stickiness”)…

June 4, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: CGI Selected to Deliver Emerging Technology Solutions Thru the U.S. Government-Wide Contract Vehicle, CIO-SP3

By David
Grazed from MarketWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) has awarded CGI Federal Inc. (CGI), a wholly-owned U.S. operating subsidiary of CGI Group Inc. (NYSE:GIB)(TSX:GIB.A), a prime position on the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ), multiple-award contract for the Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3). The ten-year ID/IQ has a program ceiling of US$20 billion.

Under the vehicle, CGI will deliver a range of technology services and solutions to federal health organizations, federal civilian agencies, and the Department of Defense across 10 task areas. Services include, but are not limited to: CIO support, outsourcing, systems integration, software development, data center consolidation, health IT, cloud computing, mobile solutions, and cybersecurity…

June 4, 2012 Off

Moving to the Cloud and Need to Protect Sensitive Financial Data?

By David
Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Liz McMillan.

Among small and mid-size businesses, the refrain is increasingly familiar: “We’re responsible for sensitive financial data, and our customers trust us to protect it at all times. We want to move to the cloud but have concerns about the risks in handing this data off to another company. If we make the switch, how can we be certain our data will be protected?”

According to Adam Stern of Infinitely Virtual, a leading provider of virtual server cloud computing services for growing companies, the rationale for migrating to the cloud is sound, the questions are valid, and the answers are becoming ever more straightforward…

June 4, 2012 Off

Mirantis to Discuss Continuous Deployment for OpenStack

By David
Grazed from PR Web.  Author: PR Announcement.

Jason Venner, senior director at Mirantis, a leader in engineering services for OpenStack™ Cloud, will be a featured speaker at Cloud Computing Expo East 2012, on June 14 in New York.

Venner, who has worked with organizations such as NASA, Dell, and Cisco on a variety of OpenStack system integration projects, will share his experience and approach by discussing DevOps for Application Infrastructure. The talk will focus on continuous deployment at the infrastructure layer as it relates to OpenStack Cloud.

OpenStack is one of the most popular open source platform for building private and public clouds. The number of code commits and the engineering velocity of this project is matched by no other technology adoption in history. While OpenStack is merely two years old, there have been six production releases of it. Those who opted to deploy an OpenStack-based cloud a year ago are now likely running production workloads on a version of OpenStack that is three releases behind…

June 4, 2012 Off

Appcara Debuts Its AppStack R2 Platform, A Dynamic Application Layer Above the Cloud for Enterprise Applications

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Appcara, maker of cloud application lifecycle solutions, announced a major new version of its AppStack(R) application and portability platform that helps enterprises and service providers accelerate complex applications into the cloud and deliver new application-based revenue sources. Incorporating a real time Dynamic Application Environment layer that eliminates the need for server templates or scripting, AppStack Release 2 changes the rules of cloud computing. With AppStack 2, enterprises and service providers gain exceptionally fast time-to-market for key business applications — maximizing time, knowledge and profitability.

While cloud deployments are common for simple web apps, the $385 billion enterprise application market remains the province of on-premises data centers, in large part because IT staffs lack the tools required to truly govern VMware, Citrix, or other private and hybrid applications running on Amazon Web Services, Citrix CloudStack or VMware vCloud. While cloud app management solutions exist, they require deep technical knowledge of application stacks, and a lot of manual, error-prone effort to use…

June 4, 2012 Off

Technology Integration Group Aims To Whet China’s Cloud Appetite

By David
Grazed from CRN.  Author: Kevin McLaughlin.

For centuries, China has excelled at designing and building large-scale infrastructure. Now, in its eagerness to become a cloud-computing powerhouse, the country is building data centers with an eye on the future.

Yet, much of China’s data center infrastructure is underutilized due to a lack of killer cloud applications, and local software development expertise is not easy to find. And this classic technology chicken-and-egg scenario is preventing the Chinese cloud-computing market from taking off.

Technology Integration Group, San Diego, Calif., has a plan for stimulating cloud application development. If it works, it just might jump-start China’s long awaited cloud revolution…

June 4, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: Salesforce.com Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Buddy Media

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Salesforce.com [NYSE: CRM], the enterprise cloud computing ( http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/ ) company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Buddy Media, the world’s leading social media marketing platform, for approximately $689 million payable in cash and salesforce.com equity. The transaction is expected to be completed during salesforce.com’s fiscal third quarter ending October 31, 2012, and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Comments on the News

"Salesforce.com now has the number one players in social listening and marketing – Radian6 and Buddy Media," said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. "With CMOs surpassing CIOs in spend on technology within the next five years, our Marketing Cloud leadership will allow us to capitalize on this massive opportunity."…

June 4, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: Amplidata Defines Big Data Best Practices at Cloud Expo

By David

 

Grazed from Sys Con Media.   Author: Pat Romanski.

Amplidata, an innovator in optimized object-based storage technology, will define best practices for storing Big Unstructured Data at Cloud Expo next week in New York City, on June 11- 14.

Big Data has come a long way to encompass a variety of subsets, including the fast growing Big Unstructured Data domain, where Big Entertainment, Big Science, and many other Big Demands are quickly overwhelming enterprise data stores…