ElasticVapor

Obama Signs Open Data Executive Order: U.S. Government Data To Be Made Freely Available

Thu, 09 May 2013 17:27:01 +0000

Interesting news out of The White House this this morning announcing an Open Data Executive Order signed by President Obama. Along with the order is an accompanying Open Data Policy released by the Office of and Budget and Office of Science and Technology The order states that “going forward, newly generated government data shall be made [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

The Art Of Reinvention: SAP Puts Its Weight Behind A Better, Faster And Stronger Cloud Computing Strategy

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:07:08 +0000

When many think of , the first thing that comes to mind is an extremely large, profitable, yet expensive, software company. And, for the most part, they would be right. But a growing group of up-starts are attempting to disrupt ’s business model by offering faster, cheaper and more flexible options. Recently has taken notice [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

New Zealand Government Announces That Software Will No Longer Be Patentable

Thu, 09 May 2013 02:51:52 +0000

In a bill passed earlier today, the Government of New Zealand announced that software in the country will no longer be patentable. New Zealand’s largest IT representative body, the Institute of IT Professionals, expressed relief and said the decision removed a major barrier to software-led innovation. The policy was passed in a Supplementary Order Paper, which [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Dell Acquistion Of Cloud Pioneer Enstratius Highlights The Growing Importance Of Cloud APIs

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:46:05 +0000

(Update: The original title of this post incorrectly named the firm “Entratius”, Enstratius is the correct name) It’s been a busy morning, first came the news that Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital together with GIC Special Investments and Insight Venture Partners will acquire all outstanding BMC common stock for $46.25 per share in cash, or approximately $6.9 [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

New App Allows Anyone To Create Musical Scores By Humming Or Singing, No Instruments Required

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:47:59 +0000

What happens when a fiddle playing professor at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music and expert in music cognition and a bass playing computer engineer get together? In Sweden, the answer is a ground-breaking new music App. Every now and again I stumble upon a new App that impresses me, I admit that lately this [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Cloud Computing at the Hotel California, Check-in and Never Leave!

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:58:34 +0000

Last thing I remember, I was running for the door I had to find the passage back to the place I was before “Relax, ” said the night man, “We are programmed to receive. You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!” (Play the song below) The lyrics of the iconic [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Google Glass: The Next Step in Computer Evolution AND Maybe Even Human Evolution?

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:08:28 +0000

Out of the corner of your eye a new car catches your attention. You ask yourself: “Ok, Glass, what model of car?” In your head you hear, Glass: “a 2013 BMW 750i.” You: “Ok Glass, how much?” Glass: “$127,186 pre-owned, available at a BMW dealership 1.5 km away.” You are then guided directly to the [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Accenture’s Cloud Business Already at $1 Billion-a-year, Aims to Become Industry’s Cloud Broker

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:19:47 +0000

I was just reading an interesting post over at Information Age which outlines ’s ambitious plan to position itself as the IT industry’s “cloud broker.” The strategy is part of a broader plan that sees the consulting company investing upwards of $400 million in new cloud computing capabilities. According to the story, the Cloud Platform will [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

With Recent Intel and CA Acquisitions, The Cloud API Market is On Fire

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:42:06 +0000

It’s been a busy few weeks in the cloud API space with a fury of acquisitions. First came news the was reportedly acquiring Mashery, a 125 person firm for about $180 million, then came news of ’s intent to acquire Layer 7 Technologies. On top of those stories came news that MuleSoft had acquired ProgrammableWeb, a company that pioneered [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Cloud Interoperability and The Battle For The Open Cloud

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:38:12 +0000

Cloud interoperability and portability seems to be a hot topic these days. This topic is one that I have a bit of experience with. Back in 2008, I had the fortune, or possibly misfortune, of starting one of the first groups dedicated to the discussion of Cloud interoperability, aptly titled, “The Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum”. [...]

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Digital Provocateur: My Latest Forbes Posts

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Here is a summary of my latest Forbes.com Posts. You an read my "Digital Provocateur" column here. 13 Steps For Raising a Fortune in Start-up FundingWith news this morning that Box has raised an astounding $125 million in venture funding, it seems that there’s never been a better time to raise capital for a start-up. Although for many aspiring entrepreneurs, the journey still remains a mystery. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Krish Ramakrishnan, the Co-Founder and Chief [...]Top Technology Job Trends of 2012 Include Social Media, HTML5, jQuery, Hadoop and PaaSFrom an absolute percentage point of view, unsurprisingly Social Media is the clear winner with more than 1.5% of all job postings containing the term. More surprising is the...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Tune into “The SMB recipe for success in the cloud” Google+ Hangout and be entered to win a Dell Vostro 3550 laptop!

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:29:00 +0000

A quick note to let everyone know I'll be hosting a Google+ Hangout with Dell on June 7th from noon to 1:00PM CDT. The focus of the event will be on businesses moving into “the cloud.” But what does that really mean? As the cloud has become more ubiquitous, its meaning and value to small and medium businesses often seems more unclear. Join me, Dell and Trend Micro to clarify this topic of “the cloud” in a live Google+ Hnagout titled “The SMB Recipe for Success in the Cloud”. I'll be joined by fellow cloud experts Matthew Mikell and Bob Leck of Dell and TJ Alldridge of Trend Micro. During this one-hour Google+ Hangout, these panelists will be sharing their wisdom and recommendations, helping small and medium businesses...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

The Rise of The Vertical Cloud

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:43:00 +0000

While some are happy to debate definitions of cloud computing, I prefer to focus on the characteristics that make successful companies, successful. Lately there seems to have been a shift from the anything for anyone cloud to the industry or vertically focused cloud. Adding to this is today's piece of news from Zynga who announced what they describe as "the beta release of Zynga.com, a new service enabling third party developers to create and publish games on the Zynga Platform." Yes, that company that brought you farmville is now going to be a cloud service provider enabling a whole new crop of game companies, which I can only assume they will acquire when the time is right. So why is this news important? It's another great example of a trend in the...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

The Cloud Backbone – Infrastructure: Digital Nibbles Podcast episode 008

Reuven Cohen — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:10:00 +0000

I'm hosting solo this week and our guests are Ben Kepes from Diversity Limited and Reza Malekzadeh from Nimbula. Ben chats about the infrastructure and tech industry in New Zealand and how that ties to the opportunity in emerging markets while Reza tackles a discussion of the open source model and where the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) industry is heading. You can find Ben on Twitter @BenKepes Show Timeline: 0:00: Reuven updates us on his travels in Korea and covers the News of the Week 10:13: Interview with Ben Kepes from Diversity Limited 24:57: Interview with Reza Malekzadeh from Nimbula 35:21: Wrap up Twitter Me @ruv | Get Linkedin |Virtustream | Get Linkedin |Contact Reuven | Disclosure Policy

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

#DigitalNibbles On The Road: Cloud Computing in China with Intel's Billy Cox

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:14:00 +0000

{EAV:ef925dab0038f2b1} Chatting with Intel's Billy Cox outside Olympic Park in Beijing. We discuss the cloud computing marketing in China. Twitter Me @ruv | Get Linkedin |Virtustream | Get Linkedin |Contact Reuven | Disclosure Policy

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

A Venture Into The Business of Business in the People's Republic of China

Reuven Cohen — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:34:00 +0000

View from my Hotel in ShanghaiMy Asian adventure continues. This time I'm writing from Shanghai. Like many of my trips to the region, I've learned more in a few days than you could in a lifetime of studying the Chinese IT business scene from afar. At this point that fact that I've build and sold a Chinese joint venture puts me in a rather unique position to describe the business landscape in China like no other. Not just from a purely academic one but from a practical one. One that allowed me to experience the full lifecycle of a Chinese JV. In my case, this lifecycle went from concept, to funding to sale within 16 months and included a cast of characters ranging from senior party members, international funders and business partners. To say business in...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

IT's the Cloud Eco-system that Matters Most

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Just catching up on some of my cloud news this morning and read an interesting PR release from the CloudStack team over at Citrix. Generally the news was less interesting than a couple small tidbits from the actual press release. In it, they stated that CloudStack has "hundreds of production clouds, collectively generating more than $1 billion in cloud revenue." Yes, you head correctly, $1,000,000,000 in collective cloud revenue. It is impressive to say the least. But what I really think they're saying is that their "eco-system" is monetizing like crazy. Although I have no proof, it does make you wonder. An eco-system is why people choose to build applications for a certain platform, for example Apple over let's say Android, or AWS over Azure...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Going Global: Data Sovereignty in the Cloud

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:26:00 +0000

View from my Hotel in SeoulAs I sit here in downtown Seoul waiting for my various meeting (including with the Canadian Embassy). I am reminded, thanks to a great post in the UK's Guardian by Ben Kepes, on the importance of Geography when it comes to cloud computing. The post is very timely in part, because of the recent campaign by some in our industry to downplay the importance of the geo-political aspects of where and how information is handled. In the article Kepes says "The thing limiting uptake of some of these solutions is a requirement, be it regulated or merely perceptional, is that data needs to be stored domestically. In relation to the connection between filesharing services and the risks introduced by US legislation such as the Patriot...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

The World Wide Cloud of Things

Reuven Cohen — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:20:00 +0000

I've been asked to present on the topic of "Internet of Things and The Cloud" at an upcoming conference in Shanghai next month. As you can probably tell, I can pretty well BS myself out of any situation, I do admit this one has made me pause. What are we talking about when use the term "Internet" of things? Are we talking about the Internet as a architecture, a network, as a or as "uniquely identifiable objects (things) and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure". Then I ask are we talking about "the cloud" as a metaphor for the Internet or are we talking about cloud computing as a structure for getting something done using remote Internet centric computing resources? Are we talking both? I think we're talking both. It seems pretty...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Yes, Professional Services are Important for Cloud Providers

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:47:00 +0000

I keep reading these stories about how various cloud service providers are building up their consulting practices around cloud computing mostly to address the enterprise market (see my previous post for some thoughts on that subject). These articles mostly read like it's a surprising realization. Today's post comes via our friends at GigaOM, I'm actually a little surprised to see this type of marketing piece from them, but that's besides the point. Let me get to the point. Of course professional services are important. These services are in many cases the most important part of the the decision process for businesses looking at utilizing cloud products. If you're going to implement an SAP platform (as a traditional example) you're most likely...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

All The Best Apps Are On My Phone

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:10:00 +0000

Last night I had a nice chat with my Mom (@mcuniverse) who with her various blogs, websites and gadgets is by all means someone way ahead of the technology curve for her generation. Yet even as a "Computer Buff" she still describes herself as a late adopter of technology. Beside being my Mother and the person who first introduced me to technology, she's a great sounding board when it comes to insights into the technology adoption curve of the boomer generation. Back to the discussion ~ during it occurred to us that back in the day, (late 1980s) all the best apps were distributed via shareware or freeware specifically for the MS DOS and later Windows PCs. Fast forward 20 years, all the best apps are for, as she said are for "phones". She feels like she's missing...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

The @ruv Instagram Photo Gallery

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:30:00 +0000

Talking 'Mission Critical' Enterprise Clouds

Reuven Cohen — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:47:00 +0000

I'll tell you one thing, since joining Virtustream a few weeks ago I've heard a certain phrase thrown around a lot, one the I admit I have long avoided when discussing cloud computing. The term is "Enterprise Cloud" and it's at the heart of our strategy. Hey we even call our cloud an "enterprise cloud platform". So what makes this more enterprise than others cloud platforms and more importantly why does it even matter? First let's look at the broader market, it's true the largest players are moving to the cloud, generally speaking this has been a lower level entry point. A kind of ground up approach to IT where the developer with a particular need goes out and finds a solution to his or her problem set. More recently the term "Shadow IT" has been used...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

New ruv Blog Design ~ Hard Wood

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Studio @ Liberty Village TorontoLet me start by saying if you're using an old browser and the site looks like crap, upgrade your browser now or view the mobile version. Please don't comment it's broken in IE6 or something stupid like that. Cause I don't care... Nah, Just kidding, let me know if you see any problems. In designing this the new version of my site, I was inspired by my new studio located in Toronto's Liberty Village (see my pic). The office itself is an old converted factory full of exposed brick and wood with a smoking fast internet connection, a mix of the old with the new. Kind of like my new design. For this design, i dusted off my photoshop and CSS skillz using some the latest tricks such as drop shadows for the text. Here's how I did it...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

On the Road: Interview with EMC's JP Morgenthal

Reuven Cohen — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

While on the road at CloudCamp DC, I had the opportunity to interview long time friend and cloud expert JP Morgenthal (Principal Solutions Architect from EMC). We talked Clouds, Hybrid, Federation, SaaS and the rise of PaaS, moving toward a services based architecture/economy. Twitter Me @ruv | Get Linkedin |Virtustream | Get Linkedin |Contact Reuven | Disclosure Policy

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

This Weeks @DigitalNibbles: Cyborg Anthropology with Amber Case

Reuven Cohen — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:23:00 +0000

I'll admit it, one of the best parts of doing the Digital Nibbles podcast series is getting to meet new and interesting folks. A lot of the these people are brought to the show via my co-host @techallyson a.k.a Allyson Klein who also moonlights as a Marketing Director at Intel. (j/k) Our upcoming show on Wednesday is going to be a great one with featuring a Amber Case who is a self described Cyborg Anthropologist.. what? Yes, someone who studies Cyberanthropology, What is that you ask? Well, I had no idea either so I went to the "trusty" Wikipedia page which stated it as. "a subbranch of sociocultural anthropology that deals with cybernetic systems, the culturally informed interrelationships between human beings and technologies. These interrelationships...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Big Bucks for Virtustream & Webinar

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:53:00 +0000

We're on a roll, Virtustream has secured an additional $15 million dollars in venture capital funding, bringing our total equity raised to $75 million to date. We'll be using the funds to further accelerate Virtustream's growth, accelerate development of our xStream cloud solution, expand our geographic coverage and support the rapid growth in the cloud market. A little background, The xStream platform was purpose built to address the exacting requirements of enterprise customers as they move their IT and applications to the cloud. xStream delivers secure enterprise class clouds, with application level SLAs, supporting multiple hypervisors and is the industry's first cloud solution to use ‘µVM' (See - A Kilowatt for the Cloud?) It’ technology...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

µVM - A Kilowatt for the Cloud?

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:24:00 +0000

It's been interesting getting settled into a new company, specially one that's not mine. From expense reports to new platforms and new systems to learn, I'm actually quite enjoying the change of pace and scenery. Over the last couple of weeks a big part of my job has been getting a feel for our Virtustream technology and platforms. One of the more interesting descriptions I keep hearing is our "µVM" (micro VM) tech, the basis for how our cloud is measured, metered, and billed. First of all let me start out with the term. Micro (μ) is a prefix that comes from the Greek μικρός (mikrós), meaning "small". It's also a prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10-6 (one millionth). So its ideal when talking about a unit of cloud measurement, at...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Reviving The Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum (CCIF)

Reuven Cohen — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:15:00 +0000

It's been two years since for a variety factors we decided to stop posting to the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum. Over that time, a lot has changed within the industry, as well as in my personal life (two kids) and professional life (Enomaly sold). The cloud has gone from a fringe concept to a mainstream phenomenon. A phenomenon that can be seen in almost every part of information technology today. We've seen open to data center alliances to open server specifications to open stacks, to say the least, the need for "open" has propagated far and wide. But alas, there is still no uniform access for a truly interoperable cloud. A single stack, hardware specification or alliance has yet to result in any global interoperability among cloud services. Over the...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Condo Computing (Own the base - Rent the Spike)

Reuven Cohen — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:33:00 +0000

There's a long standing joke in the cloud space. One that can be summed up as "All your bases R belong to your cloud provider" a play on the pre-internet meme “all your bases are belong to us” The mantra is one of not only lock-in but one that has become a fundamental cloud business premise based upon what has become a central requirement of a complete and total migration to the cloud. One that assumes a binary choice must be made when deciding to use cloud centric services. But the reality is the choice is one that must take a wholistic view of many loosely coupled parts both local and remote. An aggregated (hybrid) approach that understands that key metrics are constantly changing and baseline capacity requirements are no longer as simple as mine or...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Intel's #DigitalNibbles Livecast - Pilot Episode

Reuven Cohen — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:49:00 +0000

I'm happy to announce the new Intel #DigitalNibbles livecast with @techallyson & myself is launching Jan 4th. In this our pilot episode Allyson and I talk with Raejeanne Skillern from Intel about the company's perspective on the cloud and where cloud computing will take us. John Kenevey from Facebook also stops by to talk about the Open Compute Project and transforming the data center. Listen to our pilot episode. Twitter Me @ruv | Get Linkedin |Virtustream | Get Linkedin |Contact Reuven | Disclosure Policy

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Virtustream Acquires Enomaly, Inc

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:26:00 +0000

Toronto, Ontario, Canada—December 15, 2011— We are happy to announce today that Enomaly Inc., has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Virtustream, Inc., a leading global cloud solutions provider. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close in Q1 of 2012. Virtustream owns and operates its own data centers in the U.S. and U.K., and has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, London and Dublin. Virtusteam clients include some of the worlds largest and most successful firms including Domino Foods and Yum Brands. “Cloud computing is evolving quickly and we believe Virtustream to be among the fasting growing and best positioned for the massive opportunity within the enterprise cloud...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Reuven Cohen Added as TechStars Cloud Mentor

Reuven Cohen — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:41:00 +0000

I'm happy to announce that I've agreed to pitch in as a TechStars Mentor for their new Cloud accelerator program. For those of you unfamiliar with TechStars, it's the #1 startup accelerator in the world. Not to mention one of the most selective – although thousands of companies apply each year, they only take about ten companies per program. This gives them a selection rate lower than most Ivy League schools, so you have to be among the best of the best to be in TechStar. TechStars Cloud is a vertically-focused accelerator that funds companies focused exclusively on cloud computing and cloud infrastructure. For me, the more exciting aspect of the TechStars Cloud program is that it's specifically targeting cloud infrastructure startups exclusively....

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Talking about The China Cloud

Reuven Cohen — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Reuven Cohen is the founder of Enomaly, a cloud services provider. He is also one of the original CloudCamp founders. He travels more than most people I know. And a lot of that travel is to China and the Asia Pacific region. He is one of the first cloud people to start doing business in China and the Asia Pacific region. Original link http://ruv.net/a/zi Twitter Me @ruv | Get Linkedin |Virtustream | Get Linkedin |Contact Reuven | Disclosure Policy

[Visit my site for the complete story.]

Announcing SpotCloud for OpenStack

Reuven Cohen — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:38:00 +0000

SpotCloud, the world's best place to buy & sell cloud computing capacity, is happy to announce support for the OpenStack platform. The open source SpotCloud OpenStack Connector is available for immediate use as a free Apache-licensed download (http://dl.enomaly.com/spotcloudopenstack). The SpotCloud OpenStack Connector provides an easy and effective way for service providers deploying OpenStack based clouds to sell cloud computing capacity through the global SpotCloud market. This release represents another step in opening up the SpotCloud market with support for the widest range of cloud services. The SpotCloud market is open to all buyers of cloud computing services through www.spotcloud.com, offering the world’s best pricing and...

[Visit my site for the complete story.]