Author: David

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Steve Ranger.

Despite the hype, cloud computing is still a tiny proportion of overall IT spending, although it is likely to grow fast.

According to analysts TechMarketView, the UK market for cloud computing reached £1.2bn in 2011, 38 percent higher than the previous year. The analysts expect cloud-computing revenues to grow by 35 percent each year to reach £3.9bn by 2015.

That sounds like a lot of money, until you realise this means that cloud accounted for a mere two percent of the UK software and IT services market in 2011. Rapid growth will see cloud build to nine percent of the market in 2015, however…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Derrick Harris.

AOL is taking its flexible infrastructure strategy to a whole new level of flexibility by building data centers about the size of French door refrigerators. AOL Services CTO Mike Manos wrote about the units — part of a project code-named “Nibiru” internally — in his blog on Thursday, proclaiming July 4 (the day the first one arrived) AOL’s Data Center Independence Day. If they work as planned, AOL will be able to deploy new services and infrastructure when and where needed with little more than an electrical outlet required.

The Nibiru project, he explains, is a set of “incredibly game-changing” goals for transforming the way AOL’s services division carries out the work of managing the company’s infrastructure, and the newly materialized mini data centers we’re high on the list:…

Grazed from Business Insider. Author: Julie Bort.

A lot of startup CEOs say they want to change the world. But Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo has a pretty persuasive plan for how he’s going to do it. It starts with cloud computing, and ends with a world where factories aren’t just churning out disposable widgets.

If Marc Benioff is the god of cloud software, then Tzuo is his No. 1 disciple. Tzuo was employee No. 11 at Salesforce.com and worked his way up to chief strategy officer.

With Benioff’s blessing—and some of his money—Tzuo left in 2008 to launch Zuora, a cloud startup which does for invoicing and billing what Salesforce did for sales. With Zuora, Tzuo wants to change the way big companies think about how they treat their customers…

Grazed from MarketWatch. Author: PR Announcement.

Stoneware, the leader in Unified Cloud computing, announced the availability of the first "on-demand" Classroom Management solution, which enables Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs in schools and corporations. For organizations needing to enable their students or workers to bring their devices webNetwork 6.1 combined with LanSchool 7.7 delivers the world’s first "on-demand" Classroom Management solution from the cloud.

BYOD initiatives can save organizations significant amounts of money in hardware, but without administrative rights to computers, it can also limit the tools that IT, teachers and trainers use to get their jobs done…

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Bert Markgraf.

Google has developed a network of data centers around the world to power its search, ad-serving, web mail, and application service functions. At the recent Google I/O conference, Google announced that it will start offering direct access to this infrastructure within an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) framework. The service is still in limited beta, which means only select customers can try it out for the moment. Eventually, it could offer a simple, open, and easily accessible cloud computing service that is geographically diversified to avoid outages caused by localized problems. When more mature, such a service might be attractive to midsize businesses.

network spheresAs configured, the service consists of virtual Linux machines running on the remote Google architecture. InfoWorld covered the Google I/O announcement. Google calls its service the Google Compute Engine. RightSpace CEO Michael Crandell identified three salient features:…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Karin Wilson.

As a software reseller you know that the number of enterprise software solutions being offered in a cloud environment is only getting bigger. Maintaining a product portfolio composed of only on-premise solutions is eventually going to wipe out your business. Research organizations are predicting that ‘the cloud’ will dominate every facet of the software industry; no matter how concerned customers are with security, access and customization, the Software as a Service (SaaS) market is guaranteed to grow.

Will you be the business that misses out on this opportunity?

Making the transition from marketing on-premise to marketing cloud solutions isn’t easy and won’t be accomplished overnight. What you need to keep in mind is that your customers are now in complete control. In the past prospects came to you to find out information early in the decision making process, whereas now they will be researching online and on your website, only picking up the phone when they are close to purchasing. Use the change in buying behavior to your advantage and create a website marketing cloud solutions that makes it easy for prospects to learn how you can solve their challenges…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Joe Panettieri.

Each time Google Apps faces off against Microsoft Office 365 for a big customer deployment, Google shifts the cloud conversation to price, according to several Microsoft channel partners. Instead of battling on Google’s terms, it’s time for Microsoft to more aggressively promote the value of Office 365, those channel partners say.

Price wars are nothing new in the cloud computing and cloud services market. The showdown occurs in the SaaS wars (Office 365 vs. Google Apps) and in the IaaS and PaaS wars (Microsoft Windows Azure vs. Amazon Web Services and soon, Google Compute Engine)…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Narendra S Sahoo.

In a cloud setup, the cloud computing architecture’s design is of supreme importance for optimum performance and scalability. Any slip-ups or shortcuts in the initial definition, and you are building the proverbial house on sand—with potential impact on cloud security as well. Once you have established the need for a cloud in your organization and defined its objectives and scope, the next steps involve defining the cloud computing architecture, formulating the bill of materials, and layout of the cloud.

Overestimation or underestimation at this stage can prove costly. If you estimate capacity below what you need immediately or in the near future, it could lead to an “evolutionary patch based approach” that is less than optimal. On the other hand, many an enthusiastic CIO with money to spend but very short timelines makes the mistake of overestimation—perhaps buying much more than what would be needed even three years down the line, or making the infrastructure too complex to be of any productive use…

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Admire Moyo.

The Protection of Personal Information (PPI) Bill, which will soon become law, poses complex challenges to all businesses using cloud computing services. This is according to consultancy firm Deloitte, which notes that cloud computing is a particular concern because it is more pervasive than many companies realise.

SA is set to enact the PPI Bill this year. The Bill, in its seventh version, has already been submitted to the justice minister and aims to protect personal information processed by public and private bodies.

According to Deloitte, all indications are that the Bill will be promulgated in its current state. It adds that the fact that using a cloud solution is likely to mean data will cross SA’s borders immediately introduces PPI challenges…