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  • 1

    The challenges of competing with Cloud computing providers

    In discussions about cloud computing and in comments readers leave on my blog posts, I commonly get statements along the lines of "Yeah, this cloud computing stuff sounds great, but at the end of the day, you have to have an IT guy solving problems like they've always done." In personal interactions, I often hear this sentiment portrayed as, "Public cloud computing is fine for the SMB and startup market, but enterprises aren't ready to move to that model." The tone of much of this feedback is that anyone who advocates cloud computing is at best naive or at worst incapable of understanding the real details of IT.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 27 Aug. 11 03:32

  • Patriot Act, not products, ups Cloud risks for CIOs

    The global release of Microsoft’s Office 365 last week has raised a simple, sobering thought about dealing with US Cloud providers – they are subject to the US Patriot Act and the data they manage may be accessed by the US government regardless of where it is stored around the world. Before CIOs shun Cloud services altogether, let’s put the news in context.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 04 July 11 11:39
  • 10

    Ubuntu's marketing kick: Is Canonical the next Apple?

    Another six months has passed and another version of Ubuntu Linux has been released, right? Wrong. Ubuntu 11.04 ‘Natty Narwhal’ arrived today and so did a new marketing direction from its parent company and principle sponsor, Canonical. And its flavour has a hint of Apple.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 29 April 11 14:20
  • 2

    Total cost of ownership is only part of the SaaS picture

    For me TCO is only part of the picture, using this measure in isolation can lead you to make suboptimal purchasing decisions. This is written with my experience of Salesforce front of mind, however this can apply to most SaaS providers.

    Written by Andy Pattinson • 14 April 11 15:54

  • Cloud computing: A sustaining or disruptive innovation?

    If you've read this blog over the past couple of years, it should be no surprise that I am a huge advocate of the theories of Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma." Christensen and his book were brought to mind this week by the cover story in Forbes about his severe health problems, his experience with the U..S healthcare system, and his prescriptions for how to fix it.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 17 March 11 05:28

  • IT trends and their legal disruptors

    If nothing else will cause CIOs insomnia in 2011 it will be the potential disruptive effects of legal issues that walk hand in hand with this year's IT trends. Most of the lists of trends look the same and there are those that will be proved to be over hyped. One thing that is certain after Wikileaks, Facebook privacy issues and an ever growing cloud on the horizon, it will be a busy year in the courts.

    Written by Robert Todd • 16 Feb. 11 16:53
  • 3

    Cloud computing - the next industrial revolution

    The term ‘Cloud computing’ continues to receive a lot of attention from the media and within the IT industry there is perpetual debate on definitions and from vendors a relentless succession of press releases on their latest cloud offerings.

    Written by Scott Stewart • 25 Oct. 10 12:34

  • The cloud three years on

    Last year was a break-out one for cloud computing, with a great deal of attention paid to it benefits as many new providers came to market and many more businesses pursued it as a realistic option. 2010 has offered more of the same, with most interest focused on two key areas: Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Of these, SaaS has traditionally been the most popular, with web-based software services – including sales and CRM applications – a natural fit for the cloud model.

    Written by Dave Stevens • 01 Oct. 10 11:27

  • The cloud issue you really can't ignore

    Maybe it's time to rethink the cloud. Yeah, I know -- at this point, most IT shops haven't thought through the cloud the first time. But Microsoft's recent troubles keeping its cloud services available to users shine a harsh light on the issue of cloud availability and reliability.

    Written by Frank Hayes • 27 Sept. 10 20:08
  • 6

    Five reasons Australian email belongs in the cloud

    If your company or organisation is not currently considering migrating its email systems onto a cloud computing platform, you're in danger of being left behind. That's the conclusion I have reached after six months of closely following the Australian technology sector's growing fascination with cloud computing, in all its variants and according to all the different definitions.

    Written by Renai LeMay • 30 Aug. 10 09:24

  • Pre-Packaged Private Cloud: 4 Questions to Ask

    IT professionals have the basic ingredients to cook up their own cloud-like infrastructure-but there's no recipe, and many ingredients don't combine well. Especially as infrastructure innovation evolves in a way that doesn't necessarily deliver better efficiency and instead, drives up complexity. Yet, the most common answer infrastructure and operations professionals recently told Forrester that what motivates server virtualization adoption was the need for greater efficiency and sharing of the IT infrastructure. Over the years, vendors have tried to accommodate this need, but have often provided solutions that left too much of the burden on their customers-until now. Recent integrated solutions take a big step toward delivering complete virtual infrastructures that just might solve some of the major issues IT professional face.

    Written by James Staten • 17 June 10 04:39

  • Cloud Computing: The Dangers of Irrational Economics

    This weekend saw the publication by Joe Weinman, coiner of the term "Cloudonomics," of a blog post called "Lazy, Hazy, Crazy: The 10 Laws of Behavioral Cloudonomics". Joe has published a great deal analyzing the economics of cloud computing, much of which illustrates that cloud computing can provide significant financial benefits. But this latest post is a must-read, because its implications are crucial to every IT organization.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 10 June 10 05:43

  • Cloud Computing in Moscow: From Russia With Love

    I had the privilege of keynoting a data center conference in Moscow this week, speaking on the topic of what cloud computing means to the data center of the future. This is the largest data center conference in Russia, and attracts a mix of internal data center facilities executives as well as hosting providers. The conference was extremely well-attended, with record numbers of people registering.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 03 June 10 06:50

  • Cloud Integration Triggers Familiar Headaches

    There is a wary sense of deja vu among CIOs when the talk turns to cloud. Having bought a boatload of half-baked products over the years, experienced technology leaders are not easily impressed by the Next Big Thing.

    Written by Maryfran Johnson • 18 May 10 04:33

  • Cloud TCO, Private Clouds and Cloudwashing

    I attended Interop last week for the first time to participate in its cloud computing track (I spoke on cloud computing total cost of ownership). Several things stood out for me:

    Written by Bernard Golden • 06 May 10 04:10

  • Cloud Computing: It's the Economics Stupid

    The question of costs associated with cloud computing continue to be controversial. You may recognize in this blog's title, an homage to the motto of Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential campaign: "It's the Economy, Stupid." The motto referred to the decision by the Clinton campaign to focus relentlessly on how the U.S. economy was doing in 1992, sidestepping other issues and always, always circling back to the economic outlook for the US. I was reminded of this by some recent discussions on Twitter that discussed the importance of economics in terms of cloud adoption.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 29 April 10 03:16
  • 1

    Cloud exposes the true cost of IT

    If they haven't already done so, it won't be long before most CIOs will be undertaking analysis of the potential financial benefits to their organizations of adopting a cloud computing strategy. You might think the discussion on cloud will focus on security and performance, but from first-hand experience the discussion will very quickly focus on the financials and the total cost of ownership.

    Written by Scott Stewart • 06 April 10 09:44
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