Grazed from The Guardian.  Author: Lei Wangyun.

An enterprise can opt for either the traditional model or a cloud model to deliver IT services. Under the traditional model, the enterprise first purchases hardware such as servers and storage devices, leases network bandwidth, and perhaps builds a data center. The enterprise then purchases licenses for operating system software and the software applications needed for delivering the required functionality. Of course, professional IT staff must be engaged to maintain the hardware and software. As the business grows and customers require new functionality, new hardware and software must be provided and software customized, while ensuring the interoperability between the old and new hardware and software. This process must be repeated whenever capacity is expanded or a new functional module is added.

Cloud computing changes this completely…

Grazed from The Guardian.  Author: Dr. Nino Vidovic.

SMBs require both software-based and traditional hardware-based services, such as computing, connectivity, security and voice, provided via a plethora of in-house, networked hardware. But, as desktop functions transition to powerful mobile devices, and connectivity becomes ubiquitous, in-house boxes are nearing obsolescence. Their utility has diminished in a cloud-enabled world, as they contribute to office cost, complexity and clutter; there is now an emerging alternative.

Opportunity is knocking

There is enormous opportunity in delivering IT services to the small and medium business/enterprise (up to 500 employees) market. Huawei has estimated there to be 150 million small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the world, with their total IT spending easily exceeding USD500 billion in 2011. Exploiting this is difficult because the SMB environment is rapidly churning. The SMB market is the ultimate trial & error environment for business models and technology vendors. Many SMBs are replaced by new ones within three years. However, SMBs have been largely ignored by IT vendors because there is little a multimillion dollar business and a ten-person startup have in common. Existing IT technology is far too complex and costly for most SMBs, both in terms of staff and equipment. Only 10 million SMBs use IT in any meaningful way; a roughly 8% penetration rate…

Grazed from The Guardian.  Author: Liu Zhonglin.

High-speed Internet, Web 2.0, and information explosion have facilitated the beginning of the cloud-computing era. As all kinds of cloud devices and cloud services emerge, the cloud-computing data centre has become the foundation for promoting ICT convergence and deploying cloud services. Market transformations are creating demands to build cloud-computing data centres.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the traditional DC infrastructure to meet the elastic demands brought about by cloud computing and virtualization technology, as they (traditional DC) cannot address the capacity expansion pressures caused by rapid business development to enterprises and governments…

Grazed from The Guardian.  Author: Dr. Fang Bingxing.

Cloud computing is reshaping the computing and Internet landscape. With breakthroughs made in relevant service and business models, cloud computing will inevitably expand its role as a backbone for IT services. As a revolutionary concept, its technological realization is set to change the way people work and live.

Key elements of cloud computing

Cloud computing involves three key elements, namely, resource pooling, capability supply, and the service model. As a process, the cloud provider concentrates a mass of resources and seamlessly provides them for users. These three elements are described below:…

Grazed from China Daily.  Author: Shen Jingting.

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the nation’s second-biggest telecom operator by subscriber numbers, announced on Thursday it had started offering cloud-based services to enterprise customers, a move that will help diversify its revenue sources.

Grazed from Computer Technology Review.  Author: Olen Pepple.

Cloud computing is now part of the business vernacular, a term that circulates freely amongst companies and executives alike. But cloud computing also risks becoming a meaningless expression: an overused term that signifies different – and often conflicting – things to a variety of organizations. Think, instead, of the literal and figurative connections between clouds, those tiny droplets of condensed water that band together to form something greater, and the Cloud, which can provide value for businesses that want to maximize the power of technology. Educating ourselves about these similarities (and differences) is essential because we need a better working definition of the benefits – and limits – associated with cloud computing.

 

This emphasis starts with understanding the needs of organizations, where the need for certain services – such as data storage, analytics and process support – does not square with the costs of procuring and/or upgrading and maintaining new infrastructure and software. In that situation, companies will outsource these services to vendors. In turn, vendors typically provide these services through an on-demand, Internet-based model. And, by grouping these organizations together, vendors can – through economies of scale – aggregate expenses, deliver specific services and still make a profit…

Grazed from ITWire.  Author: Beverely Head.

Adoption of cloud computing has reached a tipping point  – but don’t expect legacy systems to disappear for at least two more decades according to Paul Daugherty, chief technology architect of Accenture.

Speaking at the SuiteWorld conference in San Francisco Mr Daugherty said that Accenture, which is a systems integration partner with NetSuite, has now completed 1,700 cloud projects. “We initially saw interest in solving very specific issues. Now there are broader roadmaps for cloud,” he said.

The three key drivers to enterprises adopting cloud computing was that it was seen as an antidote for complexity, offered lower cost and faster rollouts, he said…

Grazed from the Cloud Computing World Forum

Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Paula Rooney.

“Enterprise-class” or “cloud class?” Enterprises are now looking to public cloud providers to figure out how to build the best hybrid cloud. At InterOp recently, executives from Rackspace, Terremark and NetScout were happy to offer up a list of to-do’s in this complicated process.