Time to rethink the PC
For as long as many people can remember, desktop PCs have been a fixture on the office desktop, right there next to the phone, stack of yellow sticky pads and vinyl-covered can full of pens.
Office automation by means of client/server computing — with the desktop PC in a starring role — started going mainstream about a quarter century ago. And from that point on, information technology managers and budgeteers in charge of buying and taking care of those desktop computers have been plotting ways to make them disappear. Or, if not that, trying to minimize the costly problems the computers create.
5 ways to ease desktop PC-induced pain
It didn’t take long after the desktop PC earned a regular seat at the enterprise technology table in the early 1990s for agency managers to realize that PCs can be a real drag. Buying, managing, backing up, fixing and securing PCs are expensive, time-consuming tasks that spawn a seemingly never-ending ordeal.
The problem must be tougher than they thought because they’re still trying to fix it. Here is a rundown of what has been working, what hasn’t and what might work in the future.
HDS applies cloud utility model to in-house storage
According to Miki Sandorfi, chief cloud strategist at Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), an important attraction of cloud computing is the idea of delivering IT on a just-in-time, pay-per-use basis. This allows the alignment of IT resources with business needs.
As a storage company, HDS naturally sees enterprise data storage as a core aspect of virtualisation and of cloud more generally. But perhaps unlike some of its competitors, the company thinks storage should be deployed or a pay-per-use basis where appropriate.
Zscaler Cloud Security Offers Secure Web Gateway Features
Zscaler’s self-named cloud security service provides organizations with security covering integrated Web, instant messaging, peer to peer, Webmail and SMTP-based e-mail, and it does so without any on-premises hardware or software installation requirements. Rather, the Zscaler service spreads its proxy and relay load across the company’s 40 data centers and presents administrators with a rich, flexible, Web-based management interface.
Microsoft, Salesforce.com Conflict Suggests Future Cloud Battles
Mobile Cloud Making Impact on Midmarket Businesses, Report Finds
Mobile cloud applications are set to make deep inroads into the small and midsize business market, according to a cloud computing research report from IT research firm AMI-Partners. The research suggested that the expansion of mobile cloud (the use of mobile applications hosted by third-party providers) is being driven by the rapid growth in the number and utility of cloud applications, and by the cost savings and relative ease of use they offer. Above and beyond application provider revenues, telcos are expected to generate additional mobile data-driven revenues as well, the report concluded.
Changing the Psychology of IT in the Era of the Cloud
Most therapists will tell you that unless the patient is committed to change, no amount of therapy is going to make any substantial difference in their lives.
Right now, IT organizations are confronted with a host of innovations, starting with virtualization right on up to cloud computing, that require a new approach to IT. The question is: How committed are IT organizations to embracing those changes?
Are Private Clouds Worth the Hassle?
Private clouds are still drawing keen interest among enterprise managers, primarily as a means to gain all the benefits of public cloud computing while retaining full control of data, applications and infrastructure.
Identity Management Shifts Toward the Cloud
As cloud computing evolves, access control is already becoming a major issue. In fact, when you ask IT organizations what their major issue is with cloud computing, some form of security is always at the top of the list.