Author: David

April 6, 2011 Off

Cloud computing clients ‘benefiting from Salesforce.com updates’

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

Salesforce.com customers who have cloud computing solutions from the company are benefiting from the regular updates it makes to its products.

This is according to Steve Fisher, executive vice president of technology for Salesforce.com, who explained upgrades to the core software behind the applications allow clients to focus on improving their own business rather than worrying about whether their IT systems are up to date.

"Every four months we are introducing major new functionality," he stated in comments reported by the Wall Street Journal.

April 5, 2011 Off

A Call for the Separation of IT Church and Business State

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

Slowly but surely a line is being drawn between IT infrastructures and the business processes that depend on them. In effect, this line is an attempt to provide some demarcation between what should be the IT church and the business state.

The reason that it is in everyone’s best interest to create this new line of demarcation is because back in the 90s, when packaged applications were all the rage, business processes became embedded in our enterprise applications. That sounded like a good idea at the time, but like most good ideas, it was taken to an extreme, resulting in another instance of too much of a good thing gone bad.

April 5, 2011 Off

IEEE aims to drive cloud computing standards

By David
Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author:  Mikael Ricknäs.

Standards organization IEEE has decided to get involved in cloud computing, starting with two development projects related to cloud interoperability, it said on Monday.

The current state of cloud computing is comparable to the nascent Internet, according to IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Cloud computing is primed for explosive growth, but "without a flexible, common framework for interoperability, innovation could become stifled, leaving [users] with a siloed ecosystem," the organization warns in a statement.

April 5, 2011 Off

Seven in 10 businesses worried about managing cloud

By David
Grazed from ComputerWorld.  Author:  Leo King.

Seventy one percent of businesses are concerned about managing cloud computing, according to a survey.

The companies are worried about the potential complexity of controlling a software as a service setup, the survey found. Additionally, over half of IT directors said they feared they would lose control of infrastructure if they shifted systems to the cloud.

Nevertheless, the research demonstrated changing perceptions around the usefulness of cloud computing, and around the best ways to set it up.

April 4, 2011 Off

Cloud contracts stalled by existing support & maintenance

By David
Grazed from Computer Weekly.  Author: Cliff Saran.

A survey of 200 IT directors within large enterprise organisations has found that IT directors are worried about the potential management headaches of cloud computing.

The Vanson Bourne survey commissioned by 2e2 reported that 71% of IT directors are concerned about the potential management complexity cloud services will bring.

Current maintenance, support and managed service contracts act as a barrier to moving IT services into the cloud among 57% of IT directors surveyed. Such contracts would lead to delays in them deploying some cloud services.

April 4, 2011 Off

It’s a Long Road to a Secure Cloud

By David
Grazed from Virtual Strategy Magazine.  Author: Phil Lieberman.

When it comes to cloud computing, the security and compliance landscape is riddled with pitfalls and continues to shift. During the recent RSA Conference in San Francisco this viewpoint seemed to dominate the conversations between IT professionals, industry analysts and others who study the security industry. The RSA conference hosted more than 30 sessions and presentations dealing with cloud security – signaling a real hunger for reliable information on this topic.

My opinion is that cloud security, particularly public cloud security, is wholly inadequate.

April 4, 2011 Off

Public cloud vs. private cloud: Why not both?

By David
Grazed from Network World.  Author: Beth Schultz.

As cloud computing moves from hype to reality, certain broad trends and best practices are emerging when it comes to the public cloud vs. private cloud deployment debate.

Anecdotally and from surveys, it’s becoming clear that most enterprises are first looking to the private cloud as a way to play with cloud tools and concepts in the safety of their own secure sandbox.

Tech Debate: Cloud: Public or private?