Stories about: Open Group

Oracle has updated its Unix-based operating system Solaris, adding some features that would make the OS more suitable for running cloud deployments, as well as integrating it more tightly with other Oracle products, the company announced Wednesday.

A ‘service’, of course, is an abstraction of the underlying functions, systems and policies used to deliver business outcomes. Service-centred IT therefore reflects the need for clarity and commonality of vision between business executives, the CIO, and the enterprise architects (EAs) and other operational staff charged with actually delivering that vision.

Two years ago, when the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) announced a standards-building effort for cloud computing, most people involved in cloud computing didn't even have a common definition of cloud computing. Now there are so many categories of cloud computing and so many competing standards that users have a good chance of finding a standard that matches a particular need, but not much chance of moving among them easily, says James Staten, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Bringing the next generation of enterprise architects up to speed won't be an easy task. While most experts agree that the job is a critical one, given the corporate emphasis building business infrastructure in the most technically efficient way, training these future experts has proven difficult. 

The Jericho Forum, which advocates improving e-commerce security through knowledge that network perimeters are fading, says organizations need to ask themselves and their vendors tougher questions.

Not too long ago, IT organizations turned to service-oriented architecture primarily as a way to integrate enterprise applications. But now large companies are using SOA to create components that can be combined and reused as services across multiple applications.

There's no doubt that cloud computing is dominating today's IT conversation among C-level security executives. Whether they're lured by its compelling cost savings or its perceived advantages, security leaders are probing the capabilities and restrictions of the cloud. At the same time, security and compliance concerns remain issues holding large enterprises back from capitalizing on the cloud's benefits.

Not too long ago, IT organizations turned to service-oriented architecture (SOA) primarily as a way to integrate enterprise applications. But now large companies are using SOA to create components that can be combined and reused as services across multiple applications.

There is no doubt that cloud computing is dominating today's IT conversation among C-level security executives. Whether it's due to the compelling cost saving possibilities in a tough economy, or because of perceived advantages in provisioning flexibility, auto-scaling, and on-demand computing, CSOs are probing the capabilities, costs and restrictions of the cloud. At the same time, security and compliance concerns are at the forefront of issues potentially holding large enterprises back from capitalizing on the benefits that cloud computing has to offer.

The Open Group is forming a new cloud computing committee that brings vendors and end-user organizations together to develop a common understanding about how cloud services should be deployed safely and effectively.