Cloud management dashboards need a rear view mirror
On the geological time scale of data we can see various plateau marking points along the way. First the Earth cooled, then the dinosaurs came… and then we started to build databases and data centres, which eventually evolved into their preferred niche habitat existing as virtualised hosted resources delivered via computing-as-a-service solutions.
So the cloud happened and it was there and it was good.
Actually, it was good, but it could have been better, said the vendors. It could have been more optimised, more managed and more automated. We could have had a world where clouds could be (wait for it) “provisioned for interoperable orchestration” so that applications and their data could be controlled like obedient children perhaps…
Mobile Computing and Cloud: Made for Each Other
Grazed from CFO.com. Author: David Owens.
It’s no secret: companies large and small are scrambling for growth. And as businesspeople turn over every last stone in that quest, they can’t afford to spend all their time chasing down information. They need their information to catch up to them. Operational agility is key, and it’s rooted in the ability to communicate and collaborate with anyone, anytime, anywhere.
That requires mobile technology — smartphones, tablets, laptops — and companies are busy supplying it. In a research report published this past March, titled “Uncrossing the Wires: Starting — and Sustaining — the Conversation on Technology Value,” CFO Research asked both CFOs and IT executives what technologies would be most important for their companies’ success within the next three years. Nine out of 10 (89%) answered mobility, the use of mobile devices…
Qualcomm 2net Cloud Platform to Connect Independa Remote-Monitoring Sensors
Grazed from eWeek. Author: Brian T. Horowitz.
Qualcomm Life’s 2net platform will bring interoperability to Independa’s line of Artemis sensors, allowing seniors to send vital data to the cloud.
With cloud computing, tech vendors are looking to keep seniors independent yet wirelessly connected to health-monitoring devices. On June 14, Independa announced it will integrate its Artemis system of sensors that monitor patients’ vital signs with Qualcomm Life’s 2net cloud-based remote-monitoring platform.
Seniors will be able to transmit data from sensors on scales, blood pressure cuffs and glucometers to 2net, where doctors will monitor the readings…
Security Threats Loom Even for Cloud-Free Businesses
Grazed from CIOInsight. Author: Editorial Staff.
The COO of the Cloud Security Alliance warned attendees of a cloud computing conference that businesses are mistaken if they say they don t use the cloud because individual employees may be doing it on their own.
There’s a lot that businesses still have to ask their cloud service providers before signing up for service, especially about how secure their cloud environment is, the chief operations officer of the Cloud Security Alliance said at a cloud conference here.
John Howie explained the security risks associated with cloud computing and the ways businesses can protect themselves and their data at the Cloud Leadership Forum held June 13 and 14. Howie warned that some cloud providers actually turn around and have customer workloads managed by yet another cloud provider. He also warned against using free consumer-grade cloud services for enterprise-grade computing…
Will Amazon outage ding cloud confidence?
A significant Amazon Web Services outage, which took down popular sites including Heroku for hours late Thursday, shows the risk of putting too many loads in one data center. While this outage occurred in Amazon’s cloud, it wasn’t just a cloud-specific problem. It shows that building in redundancy is critical — whether your app runs in your own data center or in someone else’s cloud.
In short, AWS users should make sure their workloads run across AWS regions to prevent future snafus.
As Om reported earlier, Amazon attributed the failure to a power outage affecting its U.S. East data center in Virginia. That makes sense, US East is Amazon’s oldest and biggest data center. It suffered another major outage in April 2011 and was also beset by performance problems as Amazon rebooted thousands of EC2 instances in December…
Does Oracle Have The Most Comprehensive Cloud On Planet Earth?
The reasoning behind the question posed in the title to this article is the claim made by Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison. In a presentation to introduce his company’s latest suite of cloud computing services (See: Things All Cloudy: Oracle Takes The Inevitable Plunge), the maverick entrepreneur made the claim that, in his opinion, Oracle has “the most comprehensive cloud on planet Earth.”
Let’s take a step back and review Oracle’s journey on the cloud. Looking at Oracle today, it’s hard to believe that once Ellison had this to say about cloud computing – “What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?” However, a lot has changed over the last year and a half…
Chrome OS reviewed: The final verdict on Google’s cloud platform
Grazed from ComputerWeek. Author: JR Raphael.
Today, I’ll get my head out of the cloud.
Chrome OS ReviewI’ve spent the past two weeks, you see, using Google’s Chrome OS. I called it my Chrome OS experiment: I wanted to dive in head first and experience what it was like to live completely in Google’s cloud-centric world.
I used a combination of the new Samsung Chromebook (Series 5 550) and the new Samsung Chromebox for the bulk of my computing needs, both in the office and out. Day by day, I detailed different parts of my journey — ranging from my thoughts on the hardware to my impressions of Google’s reimagined software and what it’s really like to work with Chrome OS offline…
‘Cloud era is built on a completely different set of assumptions’
Sameer Dholakia, Group VP and GM, Cloud Platforms Group, Citrix Systems shares the company’s vision and strategy for powering cloud services.
Please share Citrix’s vision for powering cloud services.
The cloud era is built on a completely different set of assumptions than past generations of IT — in fact, many of the exceptions from the PC era now represent the norm in the cloud era. This is forcing enterprise IT organizations to re-evaluate IT strategies, causing them to search for lower costs, greater capacity and improved agility. Our vision for powering cloud services starts at the front of the private cloud with a single point of control that unifies the provisioning and security of Windows, web, SaaS and mobile apps through an enterprise storefront. At the back of the private cloud, a bridge to public clouds transparently enables infinite data center capacity. The third element of our cloud services focus is to enable the building of Amazon-style clouds — from bare metal servers, storage and networks to high-level software services…
Cloud providers aren’t selling the real value of the cloud
I hear this pitch all the time: "Cloud computing provides the shortest time to deploy or time to market because there is no need to purchase and configure hardware and software." That makes sense.
However, the value that comes from speedy deployments is often lost in the process that occurs in most Global 2000 companies as they allocate resources, understand compliance, and deal with security. The advantage of not purchasing hardware and software is significantly diminished, considering the amount of work required to move or create a system wherever it may be sourced. The cloud providers are emphasizing a small advantage of the cloud…
e-Signlive: Next Generation Cloud-Based Electronic Document Signing
The cloud continues to be a medium wherein software development is pushing the boundaries of end-user application consumption and experience. Not so long ago, no doubt we all remember that most software resided locally on one’s personal computer and network printing and file sharing we about the only "cloud" consumable applications on the network. Oh, alright, email too. But not much else…
Now, we find that all manner of software is either being developed from the ground up as "cloud consumable", or it is being retrofitted to accomodate this new and exciting paradigm.
One such application is eletronic document signing, otherwise known as e-signing. Not to be confused with certificate signing, e-signing is simply a means to allow organizations, technology partners, and service providers a transparent way of digitally approving electronic documents without the need for actual handwritten signatures…