Taking Advantage of Public and Private Clouds Requires the Right Cloud Management Software
Cloud computing is just a few years old, but already has given rise to two separate approaches and architectures; one public, like Amazon’s Web services, the other private, usually inside a corporate data center. Computer users assigned to business units are attracted to the direct access and easy provisioning of the public cloud, since servers can be up and running in a few minutes. IT organizations, on the other hand, value the security and control they associate with private clouds, and worry about the proliferation of public cloud instances and its potential impact on corporate data and security policies. It’s a familiar tug-of-war.
Software-as-a-service ‘can benefit insurance companies’
Software-as-a-service solutions can help the work of insurance companies.
This is according to an article from Predictive Communications published on IT Web, which laid out some of the "compelling" arguments in favour of businesses involved in this sector making use of the technology.
"Insurance companies of all sizes can benefit from access to best-practice solutions at an affordable cost, which means even smaller insurers can benefit from enterprise-class system excellence," the report said.
Google cloud storage misses an opportunity
Google has launched new cloud data storage options for its Google Apps customers. Storing terabytes of docs and data online has its advantages, but there are also some key issues with the new Google storage offering.
Placing a Premium on Cloud Computing Performance
As cloud computing services gain more momentum, the question that many IT organizations are starting to ask is not when they will embrace the concept, but rather who to go with. After all, cloud computing is a nascent market where the volume of compute cycles available from suppliers already exceeds the available demand.
Software-as-a-service model ‘suits print service providers’
Print service providers are among the companies which can benefit from the use of software-as-a-service solutions.
This is according to a recent article from MPS Connect, which has been examined on the ZD Net website.
It noted businesses working in the sector who opt to invest in software-as-a-service technologies can build on their efforts to support clients with value-added communications.
"As print service providers build out their products and services, high-quality and reasonably-priced software-as-a-service solutions are available," the report said.
Slowly but Surely, Federal Agencies Move to the Cloud
In December, U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra revealed his 18-month, 25-point plan to move federal agencies toward cloud computing. Cloud computing will increase productivity and efficiency while saving the government billions of dollars, the argument goes. And it makes sense if he can convince agency IT pros that the security risks associated with operating in the cloud aren’t as bad as they’re imagining.
The 2011 Service Elite
Culled from an industry that abounds with outstanding service deployments, the following stories represent our fab four. In winnowing our nominations, we necessarily omitted noteworthy deployments, and readily acknowledge that. But we stand by the service achievements of the four winners. Each is striking for different reasons, and the quartet cuts across the corporate spectrum—from IT management and telecom, to vision care, and energy.
One of our winners exploited the cloud computing rage to drive up customer uptake by 50 percent and get through an earthquake that caused an evacuation of the contact center.
M&A activity ‘helping to drive cloud computing uptake’
Merger and acquisition (M&A) deals are helping more companies to consider making use of cloud computing.
Jim Reavis, co-founder and executive director of the Cloud Security Alliance, explained to the Search Security website that this is a noticeable trend at the moment.
IT executives within companies that have just completed an M&A agreement are frequently turning to cloud computing in order to meet the new demands that come with such an upheaval.
HP integrates 3PAR into storage
HP has announced the integration of 3PAR’s storage technology into the storage and network stack of its converged infrastructure portfolio, which it says will support customers’ adoption of cloud computing.
The company has combined the 3PAR Utility Storage platform with HP CloudSystem, which it said will equip businesses with a storage system that it is “perfect” for all types of cloud – public, private and hybrid. It also centralises servers, storage and network management.
SAP launching Salesforce.com rival
At the CeBIT show, SAP will show off an upcoming application called Sales OnDemand that could be a potential rival to the likes of Salesforce.com and Microsoft CRM Online.
Sales OnDemand is part of a series of on-demand applications SAP is positioning as extensions to its on-premises ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. The strategy aims to preserve lucrative revenue streams from on-premises software while serving the needs of those same customers, who want to innovate their IT operations through SaaS (software as a service).