New Book ‘Together in the Cloud’ Offers Insight into Online Business Management
Professionals and business managers interested in learning more about the benefits of cloud computing should check out the new book by Robert J. Chandler, "Together in the Cloud," which was releasedin late April. Chandler is the CEO of technology company Cloud9 Real Time and a long-time proponent of web-based business management technologies.
In "Together in the Cloud," Chandler offers dynamic insight into how businesses can implement and utilize Cloud technologies, and bridge the gap between users and Information Technology. Essentially a “How To” guide for transition and guidance, the book is designed to help readers work more efficiently and profitably, by collaborating in the Cloud.
“’Together in the Cloud’ was a real labor of love for me," says Chandler. "I see the disconnects that business owners and Accounting Professionals have on understanding how the Cloud will work for them. The advancements that this industry has made in the last several years are astounding, and I really believe educating is the first step to success in the Cloud.”…
Cloud Computing: New IBM Delivery Center Opens in Costa Rica
IBM IBM -0.17% officially opened today its new Costa Rica Delivery Center, in America Free Zone, Heredia. IBM will invest US$300 million over 10 years, and intends to employ up to 1,000 people by 2014. The new center will provide high-value services for clients around the world, reaffirming Costa Rica’s position as a strategic services hub for IBM. The facility will support clients in the areas of IT security, data storage, business analytics, cloud computing, and other services in demand by IBM clients.
The new center will provide cloud infrastructure support and management, to help clients simplify and enhance operational efficiency. Cloud computing provides clients with the ability to reduce their IT infrastructure costs, have a standardized, virtualized platform, and enhance their process automation. Additionally, the center will provide technology capabilities that can anticipate and help prevent fraud and IT hacker attempts.
IBM IT experts will support global clients with service management, data storage services, automating data backup and providing support for a variety of storage platforms and tools. Business analytics capabilities will help clients analyze complex data and enable smarter decision-making…
‘Security as a service’ may be federal future
In the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, a forum for congressional staffers on cloud computing brought together representatives of rival firms, including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Salesforce, SAP, and Savvis.
The vendors avoided one-upmanship and obvious sales pitches, and generally stayed true to the forum’s purpose, which was to provide an overview of cloud computing. It was organized by the TechAmerica Foundation, the research arm of the IT industry group.
But one of the speakers, Nick Combs, the CTO of EMC’s federal division was tough on some cloud-activities in government as well as the security offered by some vendors. He offered frank observations and recommendations…
6 Signs of a Maturing Cloud-Computing Industry
Grazed from Wired. Author: Todd Neilson.
I am continually surprised at how fast the cloud-computing industry is maturing and growing. There is news every day of radical advances in IT delivery through the cloud. Every industry goes through phases and growth pains until they reach maturation. Here are six phases currently in progress in the maturity of the cloud-computing industry.
The Appearance of Niches — One of the signs that an industry is maturing is when you start seeing the development of niche products and services for that industry. About a month ago I was at a conference for technology solution providers put on by an industry association. One of the reasons I like going to these shows is to see what new providers appear. At this conference, what intrigued me the most was not the full-service cloud providers, but instead niche cloud vendors offering various products. The biggest niche seems to be in the security segment. There were a couple of vendors of cloud-based authentication technology, cloud-based wireless routing management and technology, cloud-based VPN management and dumbed-down firewalls managed in the cloud and many more…
Google CIO Ben Fried Says Cloud Tipping Point Is At Hand
The economics of cloud computing are driving down the cost structure of business so far and so fast that it’s scary, Google CIO Ben Fried says.
“It deeply disturbed me … in 2006, 2007 consumer companies were forcing efficiencies on a scale never seen before,” Fried said Thursday during remarks at the Bloomberg Link Enterprise Technology Summit in New York.
At the time, Fried was working in the technology group at investment bank Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director of application infrastructure, in charge of software development, electronic commerce and knowledge worker productivity. In 2008, he left the bank and headed to Google, which was at the heart of the disruption that was emanating from the consumer market and beginning to spread through the business world…
KineticD’s KineticCloud Receives Information Technology Industry’s 2012 World’s Best Award for Cloud Computing/SaaS
KineticD™, known for its cloud backup and data recovery services for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), today announced that Network Products Guide, industry’s leading technology research and advisory guide, has named KineticCloud™ Backup a winner of the 7th Annual 2012 Hot Companies and Best Products Awards for Cloud Computing/SaaS. These industry and peer recognitions from Network Products Guide are the world’s premier information technology awards honoring achievements and recognitions in every facet of the IT industry. Winners from all over the world were honored in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 during the 7th annual dinner and presentations.
KineticCloud Backup provides SMBs with the latest data backup and recovery technology. Specifically designed to ensure optimized data protection for PCs, Macs, servers and databases, KineticCloud completely automates tedious administrative tasks by simplifying management of backup software and schedules across all systems and business locations…
Oracle Fusion: A Win for Cloud Computing?
The Oracle Fusion Applications suite is available in two versions, hosted (and thus in the cloud) and on-site. So far, Fusion customers are showing a marked preference for the hosted version. Their experience may offer insights to IT managers at midsize firms in choosing between cloud or on-site options.
For all of the debate about cloud computing, the primary argument in favor of the cloud is that it provides greater simplicity and convenience to the user, including midsize business users. Oracle’s decision to offer Fusion in both cloud and on-site versions offers an unusually direct comparison of the two approaches…
HP Stands Up to Amazon With Live Open Source Cloud
HP’s original plan was to build a cloud service using technology developed inside its very own HP Labs. But then Biri Singh arrived.
Zorawar “Biri” Singh was once the vice president of cloud computing at IBM, and he parachuted into HP in May of last year, grabbing control of the company’s new Cloud Services group, which was already developing an online service along the lines of Amazon EC2 — a service that provides instant access to virtual servers and other computing resources for building, testing, and deploying large software applications. HP’s service was already under construction using proprietary HP Labs technology, but not long after Singh’s arrival, it was moved to OpenStack, the Linux of cloud computing…
Achieve Cloud Economics for Operations and Services
Cloud computing has reached an inflection point for enterprises — a comprehensive strategy for its use is now required. Until now, most companies had adopted cloud services in an ad hoc fashion, driven mostly by business leaders and developers looking to deliver new systems of engagement they felt could not be delivered by corporate IT — or in the time frame required. These ad hoc experiences prove that cloud solutions are now ready to be strategic resources in enterprise business technology portfolios. Only CIOs can help the business strike the right balance between the agility, efficiency, security, compliance, and integration that’s required for a successful cloud strategy.
This research introduces our Playbook approach to our cloud research, describing how to execute an enterprise cloud strategy from vision to planning to implementation through to ongoing optimization. It is the Executive Overview to our Playbook on achieving cloud economics, setting the context for 12 reports by Forrester analysts that address each major phase of the transformation…
HP expands cloud computing services beta
Preparing for its entry into the market for IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), Hewlett-Packard on Thursday launched a second beta program of cloud computing services it plans to offer commercially.
The company’s HP Cloud Compute, HP Cloud Object Storage, and HP Cloud Content Delivery Network services can now all be accessed by the public. All the services will be offered on an hourly pay-as-you-go model. This beta program expands upon a smaller, free beta portfolio of cloud services offered by the company last September.
The company will be marketing these services for organizations that want to run large-scale Web services from the cloud. HP Cloud Compute offers virtual servers. HP Cloud Object Storage offers object-based storage, and the HP Cloud Content Delivery Network provides a globally distributed caching layer to speed the delivery of services…