October 18, 2010 Off

Software-as-a-service solutions ‘to become standard’

By David
Grazed from Experian QAS.  Author: James Glass.

Enterprise architects and IT managers will see software-as-a-service solutions become more popular over the next few years, it has been said.

Gene Leganza from Forrester spoke to ZDNet to suggest that software-as-a-service is one platform for data management that will be a standard in the industry in the near future, with rapid deployment a good idea for many businesses.

October 18, 2010 Off

The mechanics of cloud computing connections

By David
Grazed from CWDN.  Author: Adrian Bridgwater.

CA Technologies used its recent appearance at VMworld 2010 Europe to hang out the flags for a new agreement to integrate its own CA IT Process Automation Manager with the VMware vCloud Application Programming Interface (API).

The integration, which according to official sources is under development using the VMware vCloud API in BlueLock’s VMware-based public cloud is intended to "enable process automation and orchestration" for providing and consuming virtual resources in the cloud.

For the record, BlueLock is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider of cloud hosting solutions.

October 18, 2010 Off

Looking Ahead to the On-Demand Cloud

By David
Grazed from IT Business Edge.  Author: Arthur Cole.

One of the chief advantages that cloud computing brings to the IT table is the concept of on-demand applications and resources. Say goodbye to the complicated provisioning and allocation of enterprise capabilities. Simply scroll through the offerings on the cloud, boot them up and get to work.

Of course, setting up a cloud does not automatically produce such a robust environment. It can still be a rather tricky dance to ensure all the links between application, data and end user are in sync and that any and all business policies and practices are being adhered to.

October 15, 2010 Off

IBM targets telcos with cloud service platform

By David
Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Jack Clark.

The IBM Cloud Service Provider Platform bundles IBM hardware, software and services to allow telecommunications firms to use their networks to deliver cloud-based services, the company said on Thursday. A core piece of software in the package is IBM’s Service Delivery Manager platform, which automates the deployment, monitoring and management of cloud IT resources, according to IBM.

"[Companies] can use [IBM Cloud Service Provider Platform] to deliver ‘as-a-service’ — offerings such as collaboration applications, customer relationship management services, data storage, backup and recovery, and industry-specific applications," IBM said in a statement.

October 15, 2010 Off

Cloud computing ‘can help tackle data management concerns’

By David
Grazed from Experian QAS.  Author: Neil Hill.

Cloud computing offerings may help IT departments tackle the various data management challenges they are facing.

According to a recent survey conducted at the Storage Networking World conference, IT professionals list issues such as constrained budgets, data preservation fears and integration worries as among their top data management challenges.

When it comes to fixing these problems, 36 per cent said hybrid cloud solutions could help to make their data centres more efficient, reports Computerworld.

October 14, 2010 Off

File servers: Windows, Linux, SAN, or cloud?

By David
Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Rick Vanover.

Way back in the day, my file sever of choice was Novell NetWare. It was a good network operating system (OS) that had a robust file system with commands that Microsoft Windows still can’t match.

However, NetWare has moved on from mainstream roles and Windows Servers are the most popular file server platform today. A lot of administrators go the Linux route for file servers, and some even use storage processors or the cloud for housing general purpose data. With all of these options, there are positives and negatives to each. Here are some thoughts for each platform–both for and against as a file server:

October 14, 2010 Off

Looking for a Defining Cloud Computing Moment

By David
Grazed from IT Business Edge.  Author: Michael Vizard.

There’s obviously a lot debate over the potential impact of cloud computing in the enterprise. And while everybody might not be working from the same definition of cloud computing, it’s interesting how many people are convinced that cloud computing is a major strategic direction for their company.