Has cloud computing come of age?
Cloud computing is a much bandied about term and yet a much misunderstood word.
But every company, large or small, wants to be part of the cloud that has been defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
Part of the confusion around the term arises from such technical jargon while the rest stems from the complexity of the technology. Cloud computing essentially allows a user with just a screen, keyboard and Internet connection to work from anywhere without needing to worry about software upgrades and the like…
Rackspace ranked 12th in the UK’s Great Place to Work list
Rackspace Hosting, the service leader in cloud computing, today announced it has been ranked 12th at this year’s Great Place to Work awards during a ceremony in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
In recognition of the company’s investments in creating a winning workplace, Rackspace’s 12th position ranking on the ‘Large Company list’ is the firm’s eighth successive appearance at these prestigious annual awards.
"Cloud computing is sometimes perceived to be an invisible service that happens somewhere between a company’s server room and its internet pipe connection. As such, I am resolutely proud to say that we continue to put the human side of our service first and foremost, both in terms of what our customers see and in terms of how we work to serve our own employees in a culture that champions people, skills and job satisfaction from the start," said Taylor Rhodes, Rackspace Managing Director, International…
How the cloud will change IT and finance from foes into friends
The CIO and the CFO are often cast as in opposition – the finance brain versus the techie.
But cloud computing is about to bridge that gulf according to David Goulden, CFO at storage and cloud infrastructure provider EMC, by providing them with a common language to discuss business issues.
As organisations shift to accessing the majority of services from the hybrid cloud, a mixture of private and public cloud, CFOs are gaining insight into IT spending they never had before, argues Goulden…
Tax Issues In Cloud Computing
Today, taking advantage of computing power has moved toward the subscription model away from the self-management and acquisition model. Through the subscription model, a business enterprise needs to tap into the skills of third-party managers in order to take advantage of the latest tools. The continuous evolution of cloud computing has provided many benefits to business, but it has also affected some of the present tax rules. Through cloud computing, accountants can access information and software anywhere, but location is an important consideration as regards taxation. Thus, there are challenges faced by cloud computing when it comes to tax regulations.
Cloud computing allows a user to access software and information through the Internet. Servers are no longer maintained and operated by a single company but are outsourced to third-party vendors who have a pool of more experienced and qualified IT personnel to deal with server problems. Because of this setup, a business can concentrate on growing the business rather than being tied down by server maintenance. Any device that can connect to the Internet can be used by a user to access software and information. This kind of setup can also bring down internal expenditure and IT costs…
SAP takes HR solutions to the cloud
SAP has announced a series of initiatives to become a major supplier of cloud computing, a move that incorporates a large set of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solutions into SAP products, Cloud Times reports.
The company announced four lines of cloud-based business solutions to manage personnel, money, customers and suppliers, together seamlessly integrated into enterprise resource planning (ERP) business software…
IBM`s New Cloud Offering Bolsters Smarter Commerce Strategy
IBM has announced new software designed to improve data sharing and automate marketing and supply chain processes in the cloud, part of an ongoing effort to build on its cloud computing strategy.
At its Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Madrid, IBM announced new cloud software to help marketers improve customer service, increase marketing effectiveness and reduce operational costs. The new offerings leverage IBM’s cloud expertise and cloud collaboration networks to accelerate the flow of business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions by automating and synchronising supply and demand engines…
Straddling the Cloud with in-depth understanding
Cloud computing offers a host of advantages to business enterprises, a few being – improved agility, reduced capital and operating expenditure and faster time to market. No wonder that a lot of organizations are looking at going the cloud computing way.
Cloud computing is also increasingly being seen by organizations as an integral part of their IT evolution; a crucial step that will equip them with greater agility and responsiveness to business demands along with a much improved quality of service.
However, before organizations undertake the momentous journey towards cloud computing – whether a private cloud for internal stakeholders or a public cloud for external customers – they may want to take a closer look some of the important aspects of the subject…
UCC pioneers data science course
UCC is set to become a leader in data science by pioneering the world’s first suite of degree courses in the emerging discipline — which is key to unlocking the benefits of cloud computing.
It is expected the courses will attract students from all over the world to Cork, with leading global technology players such as EMC putting their expertise and tech capital behind the initiative.
EMC — which employs 2,700 people in Ireland and 50,000 around the world — has already partnered with CIT to introduce the world’s first cloud computing master’s degree.
EMC Ireland managing director Bob Savage has confirmed the company is at the preliminary stage of finalising details of the new degree programmes, which he expects will lead to EMC personnel from around the world coming to Cork to study the courses…
Survey shows SMEs Benefit From Cloud Computing and Mobile Processing
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are always looking for automation and technologies to improve their business operation in the most cost effective way possible, especially to save operational cost. In house software solutions and network infrastructure historically have been one such solution to help them accomplish this.
However, these technologies were out of reach for SMEs due to cost constraints and necessary staffs required to monitor and administer these applications. That all changed with the advent of cloud based solutions and applications, which provide cost effective and easily accessible way to incorporate more powerful and more reliable hardware and software programs into their operations…
Cloud Computing: The tablet revolution is both benefiting from and inspiring technological innovation
There are several enterprise trends converging that are of particular interest to me at the moment. The first is that the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend is accelerating cloud computing–specifically virtualization–for many corporations.
IT departments are finding this to be quite convenient for them since they only have to manage the server side software and hardware while their key applications are virtualized and secured on any hardware employees bring in the front door…