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…
Securing Cloud Data Means Recognizing Vulnerabilities
There is momentum in government now for transitioning to cloud computing. Indeed it provides many benefits: speed, agility, convenience and cost savings.
While I share the enthusiasm about the potential of cloud computing to streamline government, one issue lingers on my mind: What if the cloud providers are generally secure, but the transport of data to and from them is vulnerable?
It is true that the Internet was developed in the 1960s by the military to survive an attack. But how well protected are its pipes a half-century later? What about a decade or two or three from now, as technology evolves both for ourselves and those who wish to attack us?…
IDC Debuts Cloud Decision Framework Tool at the Cloud Leadership Forum
Worldwide public IT cloud services spending is forecast to surpass $55 billion in 2014. Yet IT leaders continue to struggle with quantifying the operational, organizational, and financial implications of their application hosting and platform decisions. To help IT decision makers to better understand their options and the associated implications as they move various enterprise workloads to the cloud, International Data Corporation (IDC) has developed a new Cloud Decision Framework Tool.
A robust tool for any IT organization wishing to more precisely evaluate its cloud computing strategy, IDC’s Cloud Decision Framework Tool officially debuted during a comprehensive, three-hour IDC analyst workshop that took place in conjunction with the IDC/IDG Cloud Leadership Forum in Santa Clara, California…
Supermicro Launches FatTwin Architecture
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and green computing, launches the FatTwin™, a high-capacity powerful new server platform based on Supermicro’s highly successful Twin Architecture. This landmark product offers a new, flexible, high-density computing solution for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Big Data and HPC applications delivering the highest performance with the most energy efficient technologies and cooling designs available on the market.
"Energy consumption is one of the greatest challenges facing Data Centers as computing demands increase exponentially around the world," said Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro. "Supermicro is addressing this growing challenge by developing new generation server technologies such as FatTwin which maximizes performance with support of up to 135W processors while eliminating costly air-conditioning and cooling methods. The innovation of FatTwin is in its high-density, airflow optimized design that integrates up to eight dual-processor nodes in a standard 4U rackmount server and operates at temperatures up to 47 degrees C. Our FatTwin platform will set new industry standards for performance and efficiency while offering lowered TCO and an accelerated return on investment."…
HP and SAP: What we need is a MASHED UP cloud
The next step in cloud computing is to mash up all the different clouds hanging about with traditional IT systems to give one big mixed-up cloud, SAP and HP both insist.
Sven Denecken, SAP AG’s VP of strategy and co-innovation cloud solutions and Christian Verstraete, chief technologist of cloud strategy at HP, were sharing their companies’ cloudy visions at the Cloud Computing World Forum yesterday and seemed to come up with pretty much the same conclusions.
The hybrid cloud – or converged cloud if you’re over at HP – is the way forward, where the stuff on your desktop at work, on the internet, in your personal Dropbox and anywhere else you can think of, is all somehow melded together into one seamless UI for employees…
The Enterprise Cloud: Are We There Yet?
A major theme of last month’s EMC World 2012 conference was accelerating access to the hybrid cloud. Although a lot of progress has been made on this front, we’re still a long way from broadly implementing full enterprise-class clouds. Is this an indictment of the whole cloud movement, or simply part of the normal course of events?
Although some might prefer the former, the more accurate answer is the latter. In fact, Joe Tucci, president and CEO of EMC, told analysts at EMC World that moving to the enterprise cloud is a 10-year project, and we’re only a quarter of the way there–and he’s absolutely right. Valuable benefits have already been achieved (such as broad adoption of server virtualization), so don’t be discouraged. Just be realistic…
T-Systems to Offer Customers VMware vCloud Datacenter Services
T-Systems join forces with VMware to provide customers with easier, quicker and more manageable access to cloud computing. The companies announced their strategic partnership today at the VMware vForum 2012 in Frankfurt.
On average enterprises have virtualized more than 50 percent of their servers, leading to sizable gains in efficiency and manageability over the past few years. That enterprises are increasingly choosing VMware’s virtualization and cloud solutions to realize these benefits speaks to the trust that customers place in VMware cloud infrastructure. Yet the promise of cloud to access IT capacity on-demand without a fixed investment is better fulfilled when a service provider offers the same quality of IT infrastructure in the cloud that enterprises are used to on-premise…
Is ROI the Right Measure of Cloud Success?
Is a positive return on investment (ROI) ever the wrong measure of success? When it comes to measuring the impact of cloud services on your organization’s bottom line; perhaps.
Here’s the deal: ROI is usually a measure of hard monetary return on the use of products or services. The soft side of ROI is almost always underplayed or ignored entirely. However, with cloud computing, stipulating that a hard-money ROI will be achieved, in the form of savings, is likely to net you more heartache than cost break.
But if ROI isn’t the best measure for cloud computing success, “What is?” The hard answer is the age-old consultant’s response: “It depends.” For simplicity’s sake, though, let’s generalize and say the answer is “value.” Value indeed is the most appropriate measure for cloud computing success…
Amazon spruces up cloud support options
Amazon is looking more like an enterprise tech vendor all the time. On Thursday, it announced spruced-up support offerings for the Amazon Web Services’ cloud. For example, all AWS customers are now automatically enrolled in the free Basic support tier and Amazon cut prices on its higher-level paid support tiers.
In late January, Amazon rolled out new premium paid support options and a Trusted Advisor service that monitors customer usage of AWS, recommending configuration changes and new services to streamline operations and close security gaps such as open ports or unprotected Amazon Machine Images.
Now AWS is renaming its tiered support from precious metals to Basic, Developer, Business and Enterprise plans. Old plans had the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum designations. The Trusted Advisor services still come with the top-tier Business and Enterprise options which now also offer new chat-based support…