Is the cloud the ultimate disruptive innovation?
Grazed from Fortune. Author: Aaron Levie.
Fans of Clayton Christensen’s "Innovator’s Dilemma" will be unsurprised that the formula is still alive and well, even in 2011. Yes, apparently innovation still matters. To see the original effect in action, look no further than your desktop. How much desktop software do you generally use on a daily basis? Now, compare that to how many services you — and your company — are using in the cloud, delivered over the web. If you’re like most business people, for the past two decades you’ve been dealing with slow, painful and cumbersome applications to help run your projects, manage your customers and share files. Installations of software tend to take months, maintenance costs more than the original product price, and unexpected delays and down time result in a massive drop in productivity. But all this changes with the cloud…
Linux Labs Launches Beta Program for IaaS Cloud Computing Platform
Searchlight Solutions Ltd. (pinksheets:SLLN) today announces its subsidiary, Linux Labs International, Inc., is launching a beta program for IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) style private and hybrid clouds based on their proprietary Indigo file system and Nimbus cloud operating system. The platform provides a single interface that lets users access high performance computing infrastructure resources available in private clouds…
Telx, Hexagrid Computing Partner to Offer Private Hosted Cloud Solutions
Data center provider Telx (www.telx.com) announced on Tuesday that it has formed a strategic alliance with cloud computing solution provider Hexagrid Computing (www.hexagrid.com).
According to the press release, the relationship will enable Telx’s managed service provider and enterprise colocation customers in its 15 "cloud connection" centers to build customized cloud environments with Telx interconnection services and Hexagrid’s cloud computing platform…
Cloud Computing Firm CloudBees Names Former Oracle Executive to SVP of Products
Cloud application developer CloudBees (www.cloudbees.com) announced on Tuesday it has named former Oracle senior vice president Steven Harris the company’s senior vice president of products.
In his new role, Harris will oversee all product strategy, product management and product development activities…
CareCloud Raises $20.1 Million Series A From Intel Capital and Norwest Venture Partners
Today, the leading provider of cloud-based healthcare management solutions, CareCloud ( www.carecloud.com ) has announced Series A funding of $20.1 million, led by Intel Capital and joined by Norwest Venture Partners. The round includes an approximately $3.8 million conversion of debt to equity…
Birst Flaunts SaaS-Based BI Appliance
Birst figures it’s got the first SaaS-based BI software appliance.
The virtual appliance in Tuesday’s release of Birst 5 is supposed to deliver enterprise-class BI capabilities to customers on their premises with the agility and economics of a Software-as-a-Service architecture…
Sensible Cloud Introduces Industry’s First Comprehensive Cloud Control Solution
Sensible Cloud, the industry’s first cloud control company, today introduced sense(TM), a new solution that makes cloud computing easier, more cost-effective and transparent, ensuring that organizations have tighter governance over cloud investments. sense automatically right-sizes cloud resources in real-time, driven by customers’ business, cost and performance parameters. sense is delivered in two configurations: as a platform with a highly-customized series of cloud control applications targeted at large enterprise organizations; or through controlmycloud.com, which offers a range of hosted template-based cloud control applications tailored specifically for SMEs. In both cases, customers select or design cloud control apps that enable them to scale cloud resources up and down as necessary to meet key business requirements, minimize costs and eliminate downtime and concerns associated with cloud outages…
Autodesk Cloud Enables Access to Design Capability from Anywhere, at Anytime
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a world leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, introduced Autodesk Cloud, a collection of more than a dozen web-based capabilities, products and services that enable customers to extend their desktops with greater mobility, new viewing and sharing capabilities, and more computing power, helping them better design, visualize and simulate their ideas. In addition, Autodesk Subscription customers will now have exclusive access to cloud-based, high-performance rendering and design optimization, and enhanced collaboration capabilities. Autodesk Subscription now provides 3 GB of online storage for each seat of software on Subscription for greater access to design and engineering documents, anywhere, anytime…
Piston Cloud Launches pentOS, An Enterprise OpenStack Distribution
Piston Cloud Computing, Inc. is today emerging from stealth and introducing its new enterprise-ready cloud operating system for private clouds called pentOS. The new OS is built on OpenStack, the open source IaaS cloud computing project that now has over 1,450 contributors and 110 participating companies, including NASA, Rackspace, Citrix, Intel, Cisco, Arista Networks, Microsoft and Dell…
The Cloud’s Tipping Point
I always enjoy hearing from those of you who have come to the conclusion that Cloud computing will not work, and decided you will not be developing plans to shift your business to the Cloud.
Sometimes the analysis is sound. More often than not, it omits key variables…