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WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, May 25, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:14:00 +0000

We're too nervous about moving to cloud: are we making everything too complicated? Numbers thrown up from industry surveys continue to suggest, as in the case of the one conducted by hosted services provider Rise recently, that organisations are more than willing to embrace the cloud. Apparently some two thirds said that they were looking to migrate to the cloud within a two year timeframe.

Source: CloudPro

Perhaps we need to stop thinking in terms of X-as-a-Service models, leave behind the whole public/private deployment debate, and as cloud evangelists admit that 'the cloud' will be something entirely different for each and every organisation migrating to it. Read More

SMB cloud market has room to grow

In an effort to improve data quality and management, organizations are leveraging cloud computing and hosting services with increasing frequency. According to a report by J.D. Power and Associates, roughly 18 percent of business data customers are using remote services, up from only 12 percent in 2011. "While traditional data services offer a suite, or package of services, employing cloud-based services like [Software-as-a-Service] provides businesses the opportunity to view data as a commoditized service, where the differentiation among providers is primarily based on price, bandwidth and reliability," J.D. Power and Associates telecommunications director Frank Perazzini said.

Interest in cloud computing peaking

As far as buzz words in technology go, cloud computing has been one of the most hyped phrases of the past couple of years. According to Google Insights, this over-exposure may have caused interest in cloud computing to peak, Forbes reported. "The level of web search interest is sitting roughly at July 2010 levels and dropping fast," according to the news source. "Although its forecast does show an uptick for the coming months, which to me seems unlikely given the trend over the last year. Keep in mind this particular stat says nothing of revenue or venture funding, it purely shows web search interest. But it’s an interesting metric none the less."

Networking as the Next Great Opportunity for the Channel in the Cloud

The history of computing can be defined by the movement of bottleneck around the data center. Every time a bottleneck appears a massive opportunity emerges for the channel. The next great bottleneck is going to be the networking layer in the cloud. A recent survey of 1,300 IT professionals conducted by Cisco finds that the one of biggest inhibitors to cloud computing adoption is the readiness of the network According to Inbar Lasser-Raab, senior marketing director for the Cisco Services Routing Technology Group, a majority of organizations that intend to make use of cloud computing on any serious level are probably going to wind up upgrading their networks, which given the number of IT professionals that said they would be making more significant use of the cloud in 2012 may be happening sooner than later.

Brief Overview On Cloud Computing Model IaaS Cloud
Infrastructure-as-a-Service or IaaS is a groundwork through which organizations can implement equipment in the form of components, serves, storage place area space etc at pay-per-use support. Moreover, IaaS is a department of thinking handling that has gathered attention among the entrepreneurs mostly with the fantastic purpose to make their organization circumstances more arranged and in connect with the ongoing efficient activities of organizations.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, May 18, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:36:00 +0000

Are we there yet? Think of cloud computing as a continuum that stretches all the way from one-off projects — that is, companies simply moving some IT assets to the cloud to gain cost savings — all the way up to a game-changer that strategically leverages online resources to open up new markets or ways of doing business. Consider these 5 essential questions to ask to assess how far along you are on the journey to becoming a strategic cloud business:

How service oriented are we?
Are we capable of managing a variety of clouds?
Do we have an information strategy?
Do we have a cloud governance strategy?
How is policy management across our clouds addressed?

Photo: NASA

Read more to find out the answers to these questions.

Cloud computing slugs it out with legacy

Adoption of cloud computing has reached a tipping point - but don’t expect legacy systems to disappear for at least two more decades according to Paul Daugherty, chief technology architect of Accenture. Speaking at the SuiteWorld conference in San Francisco Mr Daugherty said that Accenture, which is a systems integration partner with NetSuite, has now completed 1,700 cloud projects. “We initially saw interest in solving very specific issues. Now there are broader roadmaps for cloud,” he said.

A new dawn for cloud computing

The knock on Amazon Web Services and other IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers is that they're not reliable enough for enterprise-class workloads. And even with recent price drops, it's cheaper over the long haul to buy and run your own infrastructure. I'm not going to attempt any in-depth cost comparisons since so much depends on the workloads in question and granular provider pricing for various sevices. But I'm pretty convinced that reliability concerns about cloud computing are going the way of cloud security worries: If you know what you're doing, in most cases the public cloud is probably at parity or better with the risk posed by your own infrastructure (ultrahardened, mission-critical workloads excepted).

Cloud Computing Key to Fighting Data Loss

Disaster recovery is a major stumbling block for businesses, but cloud computing technology can help, a CA survey suggests. The amount of data created and held by companies is increasing exponentially, and keeping it safe continues to be a major cause for concern. At the same time, cloud computing, rather than remaining a theoretical concept, is now a reality for many organizations. Data loss continues to be a huge problem for companies across North America that are looking to cloud-based platforms for a solution, according to a survey commissioned by CA Technologies, “Insights: Data Protection and the Cloud.”

Cloud Computing and Mobile Processing Saves Small Business

Cloud computing, put broadly, is a term used to describe any service available on the internet. More specifically, cloud computing refers to a hosting environment that leverages pooled computing resources by way of virtualization. Cloud computing takes existing physical servers and creates virtualized servers to exist on top of them. The virtual servers leverage the computing power of the entire infrastructure without necessarily being dependent on any given hardware. This makes the servers more powerful and more reliable.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, May 11, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:54:00 +0000

The cloud-computing industry is fast 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. There are 6 Signs of a maturing Cloud Computing industry to look out for:

The Appearance of Niches
Transformation of Traditional Models
The Death of Traditional Models
Commoditization Begins
Players Multiply Like Rabbits
The Bottom Falls Out

Source: Wired Cloudline

Read More

Public-sector cloud computing: The good, the bad and the ugly

When the second-in-command of one of the most technologically advanced states in the country slams public-sector computing - publicly - it's a resounding wake-up call. "Don't underestimate how far local, state and federal government is behind [in computing]," said California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom at a tech conference in Silicon Valley earlier this year. "We have to wake up to the new reality." The new reality Newsom was referring to is cloud computing -- a versatile way for government agencies of all sizes to solve a variety of technological issues relating to cost, human resources and the ability to respond quickly to constituents' needs. Many government agencies are doing just that - albeit in limited areas, such as email and data center consolidation.

Cloud computing is hard and takes a long time

Cisco Systems has surveyed more than 1,300 IT professionals to determine the top priorities and challenges they face when migrating applications and information to the cloud. Guess what? It's harder, and it takes longer than many thought. Of course, these surveys have a tendency to be self-serving, so it's no surprise that this one concludes that your networks need upgrading before you can move to the cloud. After all, the survey was sponsored by a networking company. But putting aside the obvious self-promotion, the broader conclusions confirm what many of us have suspected for some time and what anyone considering a cloud migration must understand: It's not easy. Cloud computing is a challenge that takes longer than most organizations have budgeted.

Governance Meets Cloud: Top Misconceptions

While cloud computing takes some IT responsibilities off of your plate, governance isn't one of them. Experts say you still need to do the heavy lifting to ensure strong security and access policies. The biggest fact that organizations building out cloud environments don't understand about governance in the new world of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is that, despite the handoff of certain IT functions, the responsibility around governance still remains at home. Within the structure of traditional IT, companies could skirt some of the real governance challenges by clamping down on certain deployment scenarios and keeping anything questionable within the four walls and security controls of internal IT. That's not so easy with a true cloud environment, which mixes it up between private and public clouds, ultimately with applications running between the two, depending on demand and use case.

Cloud, Data Analytics Top IT Priorities for Businesses

A Deloitte survey of midmarket businesses found they are interested in leveraging technology to improve business efficiency. Midsize businesses are looking to specific IT investments to boost their businesses, and the larger the organization, the more likely it is to cite technology as having the greatest potential to increase productivity, according to the findings of a new survey of midmarket companies by Deloitte. The study shows cloud computing emerging as an investment priority. When asked what types of investments companies were likely to make in technology, 40 of the respondents cited cloud computing. That's close to automation of business processes (46 percent) and data analytics (41 percent).

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, May 04, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:44:00 +0000

A big selling point for cloud computing is what's become known as cloud bursting. What this means is the ability to move spikes in demand for computing resources into the cloud, rather than having to build infrastructure to cope with peak loads. You only pay for what you need, in other words. It's a bit like having an alternative supplier for commuter trains in the rush hour although -- if the analogy will stretch this far -- having to go to an alternative station to catch one. This of course lies at the heart of the promise of cloud computing: enabling the agile enterprise, bringing flexibility and so on. But what does it actually mean? And is it really as simple as it sounds?

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Apr 27, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:19:00 +0000

Greenpeace activists are nothing if not determined. If the cause calls for it, they'll break out the rappelling gear and get down to action—as they did last Thursday at Amazon's headquarters in South Lake Union, hoisting an 800-square-foot cloud-shaped banner to protest the dirty energy that Greenpeace says Amazon and Microsoft use to power their cloud-computing services. The banner read: "Amazon, Microsoft: How Clean Is Your Cloud?" Cloud computing means using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data. Every time you upload a picture, song, video, or anything else, that digital information has to be stored somewhere, and cloud-computing data centers—typically giant buildings with massive computer servers that require loads of electricity to operate—are where it all goes.

Source: Seattle Weekly

Read more to find why Greenpeace activists say Cloud Computing equals Acid Rain

Cloud Computing- Redefining Technology

There is no denying the fact that the cloud computing technology has revolutionized the technology when it comes to provision of service, because Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a metered service over a network.

CIOs' Cloud Strategy Must Include Public Cloud

A year ago, when discussing an organization's cloud strategy, I heard a consistent theme that "our focus is on creating a private cloud." Sometimes stated, sometimes unstated or sometimes said under an executive's breath was the objective of curtailing developer use of public cloud computing. The target of that objective most commonly was Amazon Web Services.

Why taking business to the cloud makes so much sense

2012 will be the year when we see most businesses shifting to the cloud model. While cloud computing has been around for a long time, it’s only until recently that organisations have started realising the benefit of cloud-based computing. Small and emerging businesses have a lot to gain from this approach as it lowers a lot of expenditure and manpower needed to run and maintain data back-ups, thereby allowing businesses to concentrate on growing and expanding into new markets. Here are some of the key reasons why you should consider moving your business data to the cloud.

4 Keys To Hybrid Cloud Planning

Amidst all the hype surrounding cloud computing, the hybrid cloud approach-- the blending of both private and public cloud environments--is gaining traction. But the reality of building a bridge that effectively leverages the strengths of both architectures is ending up to be a greater challenge than many anticipated.

With an eye towards the more complex hybrid cloud as the end goal, experts say companies need to consider the following factors as part of their deployment roadmap.

Understand your IT architecture and application needs
Be realistic about the integration challenges that lie ahead
Factor management tools into the equation
Ramp up organizational skill sets

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Apr 20, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:39:00 +0000

With many businesses venturing into the relatively young world of cloud computing, the question has arisen: “Could cloud computing be a viable way to save significant money on energy costs?” The answer to this question, as addressed by CDW’s fourth annual Energy Efficient IT Report, seems to be a tentative yet hopeful, “Well, it certainly could be.” The report, which drew from the results of a 760-person survey, in various positions in non-profit, corporate, school, and government sectors, relayed that 62 percent of those asked thought that cloud computing was indeed an energy-efficient solution for data consolidation.

Source: Cleantechnica

Check out how Cloud Computing leads to possible Green solution for businesses

India 19th in cloud computing readiness

Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global non-profit IT alliance, today ranked India 19th among 24 nations in its preparedness for cloud computing implementation. With an overall score of 50, though India is ahead of BRICS nations China (47.5) and Brazil (35.1), it ranked below advanced economies like Japan (83.3), Australia (79.2) and the US (78.6). Cloud computing refers to a pay-per-use model of computing where applications and software are accessed over the Internet and not owned by users. It helps IT companies to save huge costs as they do not have to invest heavily in IT infrastructure.

Cloud computing will change IT industry

Cloud computing is a model for delivering IT services in which resources are retrieved from the Internet through web-based tools and applications. This does not require any external server or software. Just like the Yahoo email, Gmail etc. that require an Internet connection instead of any software or a server. According to this new technology, the email management software or server is all on the cloud i.e. internet and is totally managed by the cloud service provider i.e. Yahoo or Google.

Cloud computing in the real world

There are clouds in the forecast, in Boston and everywhere else. A host of press reports suggest that Google Inc. will next week launch a new product called Drive, a free “cloud storage’’ service that’ll let you stash five gigabytes of data online, and access it anywhere through any Internet-connected device. It’s welcome news, but a bit late. More than 50 million people worldwide already use a similar service called Dropbox. There are many more cloud storage offerings, too. SugarSync, Microsoft Corp.’s SkyDrive, and a new offering called Cubby, from Woburn-based LogMeIn Inc., to name only a few of the more appealing ones that I have tried.

Increasing business efficiency through cloud computing

Few businesses are required to be as dynamic as those providing services around major events – a challenge that specialist event agency iLUKA knows only too well. Although the company, based in Hampton Wick in Surrey, has 115 full-time employees, its head count swells significantly in the run-up to a big date on its calendar, when its workforce could multiply tenfold as temporary staff are brought in. During its 20 years in business, iLUKA has provided hospitality and associated services for sponsors including some the biggest household names at the most prestigious global sporting events. More recently it has branched out from global athletics tournaments to include major football meetings including the Fifa World Cup.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Apr 13, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:55:00 +0000

In November of 2011, Andrew McAfee published an article in the Harvard Business Review: What Every CEO Needs to Know about the Cloud. McAfee is Principal Research Scientist and Associate Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business. He writes that cloud computing is “. . . a sea change – a deep and permanent shift in how computing power is generated and consumed. It’s as inevitable and irreversible as the shift from steam to electric power in manufacturing, which was gaining momentum in America about a century ago.” But, after discussing a number of its benefits to business–individual productivity, group collaboration, information insights and application development–McAfee points out that the shift to cloud computing has been slow. He cites a 2011 survey by InformationWeek that found that less that 30% of respondents had analyzed the impact of cloud to their business, as well as a prediction by the research firm Gartner that while cloud computing will continue to grow at almost 20 percent a year, it will account for less than 5 percent of totally IT spending in 2015.

Check out the Complex Transition to the Cloud

What makes a cloud a cloud? 5 defining characterstics

Let's step through these of these concepts individually. First, "broad network access." Access to resources in the cloud is available over multiple device types. This not only includes the most common devices (laptops, workstations, etc.) but also this includes mobile phones, thin clients and so on. Contrast "broad network access" with access to compute and network resources during the mainframe era. Compute resources forty years ago were scarce and costly. Usage was limited based on priority and criticality of workloads in order to conserve those resources. Similarly, network resources were also scarce. Internet Protocol (IP) based networks were not in prevalent usage back then, consequently high-bandwidth, low-latency networks did not exist.

What's your cloud contingency plan?

Do you live in the cloud but keep one foot on the ground? If you tend to jump between computers and other devices during the day, you'll love the flexibility of cloud computing. If your documents and other important data is stored in the cloud, you can grab any device and pick up working where you left off. Cloud services are great if you don't want to stay chained to your desk, but they also double as a handy business continuity and disaster recovery tool. Should disaster strike your home or office, you can keep working elsewhere while you sort out your problems. Whether it's fire, flood, theft or coffee in the keyboard, your data is safe and sound. Many people don't think about backups and disaster recovery until it's too late, so cloud computing could save the day.

Navigating through SaaS and Cloud Computing Software

If you ask anyone about the hottest technology trends of the year, no doubt one of the answers will be SaaS and cloud computing. It’s everywhere – from basic eMail access to sharing pictures, to the security watchdog in your computer. Software as a service or otherwise known as SaaS eliminates running software from your own server. Your data is stored online and the software provider handles updates. Not only does it make sense – it’s cheaper, easier and smarter.

How the cloud democratizes and complicates disaster recovery

Cloud computing is slowly upending the disaster recovery market. Only a few years ago, disaster recovery meant one of two things: For large organizations, it necessitated huge capital investments; for the mid-market on down, it meant backing up only the most important data to tape and shuffling it off to a secure location. Actually, there's a third thing. For many organizations, even today, disaster recovery (DR) means doing the bare minimum, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Apr 06, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:07:00 +0000

Sure, cloud computing offers benefits to companies of all sizes. But the clouds' advantages apply even more dramatically the smaller and newer your company. At the same time, the standard objections to cloud computing matter less to small companies than to large ones. On the plus side, the cloud's economies of scale naturally make a bigger difference when your company is too small to generate similar savings and capabilities on its own. And on the flip side, many of the issues blamed on the cloud in large enterprises - security, integration, compliance and so on - often cause fewer problems in small companies that can't properly deal with them anyway.

Check out the 8 Reasons Why Cloud Computing is Even Better for Small Businesses

Cloud Computing: Bigger and Better - But Still Flawed

What's more real, cloud computing or unicorns? Given the hype surrounding the cloud, perhaps unicorns are a less fanciful notion. Ask network administrators and CIOs, and cloud computing, so far, has not lived up to expectations -- it's slow, it has troubles housing huge enterprise critical data, and it is perceived as insecure. A key reason is that many historic clouds achieved their cost savings by using "older technology," said Jared Wray, CTO at cloud provider Tier 3. And "they have not excelled at network performance," he added, mainly for technical reasons.

Gartner Outlines 5 Cloud Computing Trends that will Affect One's Cloud Strategy

According to Gartner Inc., continual monitoring of cloud computing trends, with regular updates to the enterprise's cloud strategy, will be essential to avoid costly mistakes or miss market opportunities over the next few years. Although the potential for cloud computing is significant, the breadth and depth of the impact, as well as the level of adoption over time, are uncertain and will require frequent review.

Cloud computing gets more complicated, govvies say

The move to the cloud is not longer in question but that doesn't make the technology a one-size fits all solution. In some ways, the decision to move to the cloud has gotten more complicated as federal CIOs learn about the nuances of cloud computing. For example, in the early days of the cloud, it was a question of go or no-go. Now agencies must decide which model is most appropriate for them: private (government only), public (commercially available) or hybrid. And that decision depends on the specifics of an agency’s application, said David McClure, associate administrator of the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.

Security dampens use of cloud computing

Most organisations now have a cloud computing adoption strategy, according to a PwC survey, yet security concerns are holding many back from fully embracing the technology. The survey, which was conducted amongst chief information officers and IT directors at a recent PwC forum, found that three-quarters of respondents had a cloud strategy. However, many of those said they were using cloud for non-critical systems only, while 20 per cent said they were taking a “wait-and-see” approach.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Mar 30, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:33:00 +0000

The cloud lets companies make huge savings on computing, but there is an initial outlay that might put many off. In today's fast-paced business environment, every company is looking for ways to accelerate its rate of business and to respond quickly to shifting market demands and opportunities. Technology plays a crucial role in speeding up business processes. It is no longer acceptable to delay a major company initiative for months so the IT department can spec out, purchase, test, set-up, and provision new systems. By utilising the cloud, companies can scale their infrastructure depending on demand, lower the capital expenditure on infrastructure and software, and reduce the maintenance costs for their IT architecture, allowing them more time to focus on innovation and other business critical tasks.

Find out how the cloud is a business model changer

Cloud Computing Impacts on Facility Management

Exafort's CEO Arun Kanchi talks about Cloud Computing Impacts on Facility Management in a panel discussion organized by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Silicon Valley Chapter at NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA. "Cloud computing is not a job eliminator, it is a job creator," said Arun Kanchi, CEO of Exafort. According to a recent study by analyst firm IDC, Cloud Computing will potentially generate at least 14 million new jobs across the globe within the next three years.

Cloud Computing: Leading From The Front

Cloud computing refers to a convergence of technologies and trends that are making IT infrastructures and resource intensive applications more modular, and more consumable. The cloud offers business enterprises the opportunity to consolidate their IT operations and adopt virtualization technologies that lead to eliminate capital expenditure, better utilization of resources, instant access to the latest technology at all times, greater innovation, speedy deployment cycles and lower administrative costs.

Cloud Computing: Are We Ready?

Every business needs to make sure that all of its employees have the right hardware and software required to do their jobs efficiently. Hence whenever a company hires a new employee, it needs to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require to perform their tasks.

CIOs plan to increase cloud spending

Six out of 10 U.S. companies already have at least one application in the cloud, and 71% expect to increase spending on cloud services in the next 12 months, according to a recent IDG Enterprise survey of 554 IT professionals, including 357 heads of IT. Most respondents (64%) agreed with the statement that cloud computing will mean higher costs in the short term, but will save money in the long term.

Barr Snyderwine, CIO of Hargrove, an events management company, says using the public cloud is his way of keeping costs down. The company is using an online collaboration tool for document sharing because "it's so cheap I can't say no," he says. "We are probably saving money in the long run on the [business] continuity side."

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Mar 23, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:48:00 +0000

Is cloud computing the secret weapon that can relieve many of the common customer service complaints? Consider this: You’re a systems administrator who’s received a request for a new application server for a hot proof-of-concept project for a client. You fail to realize the customer marked the request urgent, so you acknowledge their request and it is added to your queue. The customer is impatient, since they have no idea what’s going on. You explain that you will get to this request ASAP. Later, your manager calls to explain the customer called demanding the request be completed ASAP. Now you realize the request is urgent and you must reprioritize.

Find out how moving to the cloud help restore customer satisfaction

Cloud computing - time to get on with it?

Nearly four years ago, IT research company IDC described cloud computing as being in first gear. Today, says Chris Morris, IDC's Asia-Pacific head of cloud computing analysis, the cloud is here and organisations should "get over it and get on with it". If that sounds like more of the hype that abounds in a sector that is never stuck for a new trend, Morris says cloud computing's arrival can be seen in hardware sales. "Cloud service providers are responsible for a growing proportion of equipment sales," he says, as they build new data centres to cater for cloud customers.

Cloud Computing is New Wall Street Boom Says NIA

After years of rumors about cloud computing going mainstream around the world, the cloud computing boom is now finally here. The National Inflation Association believes that by the year 2013, cloud computing could become a bigger boom on Wall Street than the dot-com boom was in the year 2000. Cloud computing is currently a $74 billion industry that accounts for 3% of global IT spending, but in 2013 cloud computing is expected to become a $150 billion market.

CIOs' Love-Hate Relationship with the Cloud Revealed

A new report out of Saugatuck Technology confirms a dramatic shift in cloud computing intentions over the past one or two years. “Buying and deployment patterns have shifted rapidly toward a near full embrace of the cloud, from the more tactical and point solution-focused initiatives not long ago,” writes Bill McNee, author of the report. The consultancy recently conducted in-depth interviews with a dozen large enterprise CIOs and CTOs with $1 billion-plus companies. The CIOs see themselves as now entering a “crisis of opportunity” and innovation, McNee observes, brought about by the revolution in service delivery, shaped not only by cloud, but also fueled by the drive toward mobility, advanced analytics, and social business. What this calls for is “a new mission for IT, with a new set of roles, responsibilities and skills required for success.”

Networking In The Cloud

Foundations of network design apply to networks composed of tangible components or the virtualized infrastructure that extends corporate data centers to the cloud. I find that the networking aspects of cloud computing are frequently overlooked or addressed as an afterthought. In this article, I'll share my thoughts and experiences on data center/cloud integration and discuss the network ramifications of some services to the cloud.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Mar 16, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:43:00 +0000

"Information technology is changing so fast that innovations and the addition of more vendors with improved products and services occurs continuously," said Joe Brown, president of Accelera Solutions. "It's just naive to think that a single group of providers can cover the whole range of cloud and related applications." Information technology leaders in the U.S. government have been promoting cloud technologies for more than a year. In December 2010, the federal chief information officer launched an IT reform plan that required agencies to start adopting cloud technologies. At the time, some agencies had already implemented cloud solutions, and since then many others have initiated cloud programs.

Check out how the cloud computing paradigm shift is bigger than it

Cloud computing interoperability forum looks for new life

The founder of the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum is working to revive the organization, which fizzled in 2010. Even though the group has been defunct for a couple of years, it still counts 1,300 people on its mailing list and 3,000 in its LinkedIn group, said Reuven Cohen, who first kicked off the forum in 2008. Cohen's company Enomaly, which offered software for building public clouds and the SpotCloud marketplace for on-demand computing, was purchased by Virtustream late last year. Since he proposed reviving the organization on his blog and on Google+ Monday morning, he's gotten "dozens" of emails from people supporting the idea, Cohen said.

Cloud computing might be the next big jobs generator

Cloud computing has the potential to become a greater generator of jobs in the U.S. than the Internet was in its early years, a new study says. In addition to creating very large business opportunities and hundreds of thousands of new jobs, cloud services could also save U.S. businesses billions of dollars. The driving forces are the proliferation of mobile devices, swelling social media usage and the emergence of "Big Data," the study found.

Cloud enthusiasts worry about data security

IT professionals at companies around the world are all in for cloud computing, but they still worry about the risks the technology may present to their organizations, according to a new survey. The study shows that top challenges to adoption of cloud computing include security, compliance issues, bandwidth capacity and a lack of interoperability with existing applications.

Talent pool not big enough to meet skyrocketing cloud computing job demand

The number of job postings in the cloud computing industry is growing so rapidly that there aren't enough qualified workers available to fill the positions, according to an analysis of hiring trends by Wanted Analytics. There were 5,000 jobs posted online related to cloud technology, a 92% increase from the same month last year and a more than four times increase compared to 2010. "With the demand for cloud skills growing so quickly, the gap between hiring demand and talent supply across the United States is getting larger and causing more difficulties in sourcing candidates," the report said.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Mar 09, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:15:00 +0000

The National Institute of Standards and Technology published its 16th and final definition of cloud in September. A great resource for government agencies, but businesses may need something more strategic and less tactical. What is cloud computing again? Dave Linthicum revisited this question, observing that many people are referencing the cloud definition established at the US federal government level, by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST admits that it has published no less than 16 updates to the definition, with its final definition published in September 2011. In short, NIST defines cloud this way:

“Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”

Read more to find out what Dave goes on saying…

Cloud computing market ‘is maturing’

Businesses that are trying to save money are increasingly switching to cloud computing, analysts have noted. According to international research group Gartner, the cloud market is maturing because the technology appeals to "budget-minded executives" in particular. Indeed, the organisation said that by offloading some IT functions to cloud providers, businesses have been able to reduce their operational costs.

Cloud computing could help public health agencies connect with providers

Public health agencies should consider using cloud-based platforms to connect with healthcare providers both directly and through health information exchanges, Noam H. Arzt, president of HLN Consulting in San Diego, said in a Government Health IT article. Cloud computing offers flexibility, scalability, technical support and enhanced security, Arzt noted. Moreover, he said, the total cost of ownership can be quite competitive with that of traditional onsite solutions.

Cloud computing trends, cloud strategy begins to emerge

“People talk a lot about the cloud. It's kind of become the buzz word in the industry. People will talk about one flavor of cloud; they'll talk about another flavor of cloud. The word cloud has become really, really annoying because then some other marketing person has another spin on cloud,” says James Gosling, the father of Java, poking fun of the fact that the term itself seems to have taken on all sorts of different meanings, in different contexts, from different people.

Cloud computing and why educational sectors need to modernize

Cloud computing has been one of the hottest trends today. Basically, in the world of business, cloud computing has been seen as something that is highly beneficial. In fact, to say that it is beneficial is largely an underestimation. After all, modern day businesses will not be able to compete and they will not be able to keep up with the dynamism of the world if they do not make use of the latest in digital and internet technology which includes cloud computing.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Mar 02, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:58:00 +0000

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have access to greater computing power than ever before thanks to cloud computing. This remote computing power - provided by a third party, usually over the internet using a web browser, and often without a contract - is transforming the way SMEs use IT and even do business. Cloud computing is lowering the barrier to entry into business for some SMEs, and helping speed up exploitation of new opportunities for others. It is democratising IT and enabling many SMEs to act like, and appear to be, organisations of much greater size and scope. In these ways, with SMEs the growth engine for many countries, cloud computing has the potential to have a positive impact on industries and economies alike.

Read More about how small businesses harness the power of cloud computing

SMEs can reduce computing costs, achieve greater speed

Cloud Computing has emerged as a new area in IT and is at the top of the mind for every chief information officer (CIO) today. SMEs that contribute to one-third of IT investment (as per EMCZinnov study 2012) find Cloud Computing as the most appealing IT feature. As per the EMC-Zinnov study, the Cloud Computing market in India is estimated at around $400 million and is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2015 driven by SMEs that constitute the backbone of Indian economy.

How cloud computing is forcing it evolution

Two of the presentations at the Cloud Connect conference addressed how organizations are transforming data centers as a result of the need for scale and density. Ron Vokoun, a construction executive with Mortenson Construction, a company that builds data centers, began by noting that the projects his firm is taking on are quickly shifting toward larger data centers. Mortenson is seeing small and medium-size enterprises leaving the business of owning and operating data centers, preferring to leverage collocated and cloud environments, leaving the responsibility for managing the facility to some other entity. The typical project size his firm sees has doubled or quadrupled, with 20,000 square feet the typical minimum.

Cloud Computing and SaaS: Information Technology Evolving

Information technology is very important in higher education. There are just many advantages of the IT that we cannot just ignore. For example, IT allows learners to actually explore the world in the safety of their classrooms. With IT facilities, the teacher can bring the world to the classroom and bring the classroom to the world. IT, as a matter of fact, is also supposed to mean less consumption on the part of the education institutions (Hignite et al., 2010). How is IT supposed to do this? Well, IT is largely capable of making sure that learners and teachers can access applications through the internet. With this, it is thought that educational institutions can reduce or cut their educational spending. However, we now know that they are wrong.

Cloud Computing Market for SMBs in Asia-Pacific (Excl. Japan) to Reach US$16.5B in 2012

Small and medium businesses (SMBs, companies with less than 1000 employees) in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) will invest US$16.5 billion in cloud computing solutions, according to the latest research conducted by AMI-Partners. These companies will continue to leverage cloud technologies as a major enabler for their future growth and innovation strategy.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Feb 24, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:23:00 +0000

The cloud is one of those amorphous technologies that get trotted out as the answer to all of our woes, usually by people who don't think all that deeply about IT and its challenges. We hate to puncture anyone's bubble with a dose of reality, but at a macro level, adoption of all public cloud services except software as a service is going pretty darned slow. For the past five years as part of our annual cloud survey, InformationWeek Reports has asked a simple question: What are your company's plans for cloud computing? The response we watch most closely is: We're receiving services today from a cloud provider. In 2008, 16% of survey respondents chose that option. In 2009, it was 21%, then 22% in 2010. It jumped to 31% last year, and to 33% this year.

Read More about cloud computing and its adolescence

Is The Cloud Finally Catching Up With Mighty Oracle?

Oracle for years has seemed impervious to cloud computing. First Larry Ellison dismissed it. Then he sort of touted it, his version at least. But all along, Oracle was growing nicely. The industry chatter didn’t seem to matter. Big companies buy big software systems.

Something changed this winter.

Oracle’s software license sales limped up just 2% in December, and the company blamed customer budget cuts and fears over the European debt crisis. Sales to Europe, Africa and the Middle East make up a third of Oracle’s revenues. The stock took an instant 8% hit, but perhaps more tellingly is 22% off its May 2011 high. Investors appear to be signalling that Oracle‘s recent woes are due to more than just stingy customers. Could it be true that big, hulking IT organizations are changing buying patterns?

Interest in cloud computing growing

About 60% of the respondents of a Microsoft survey in Qatar expressed interest in learning about the “private cloud” and the benefits it could bring to businesses in the country. The survey has indicated that almost two-thirds of Qatar’s IT professionals are looking to the private cloud as a future focus area. The survey involved some 109 participants at the Microsoft Open Door event held in Doha recently.

The event gathered together IT professionals in an effort to allow them to experience new solutions, and support technologically enabled economic development in what is fast becoming one of the fastest growing markets in the region. Microsoft Gulf General Manager Samer Abu Latif and Microsoft Qatar Country Manager Naim Yazbeck in their keynote speeches delivered valuable insights into the vision for the company in Qatar and the region.

Cloudburst for SMEs

Cloud computing has captured the attention of organisations across the globe, as a technology that allows lower operational expenses and on-demand scalability. In India it has been the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have seen an increased adoption of cloud computing; and the reasons are obvious. Take the case of Zenga Media, a company in the mobile television services space. The company has not only been able to manage cost better on hardware but has also been able to manage its human resources better.

Six principles for effective cloud computing

The growing shift to cloud computing can deliver significant value—but most enterprises have little knowledge of the perils of transferring IT decision making away from technology specialists to business unit leaders. Eliminating oversight and governance from cloud computing decisions can create significant risk to organizations, effectively undermining any benefits of moving to the cloud and, at the same time, potentially creating serious issues for organizations.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing are helping you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming week.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Feb 17, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:23:00 +0000

A convergence of cloud computing trends will create new business models for Australian businesses in 2012, according to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. The firm has three converging predictions for the year ahead: cloud computing will finally become mainstream; the rise in cloud services will drive mobile computing; and the pervasive nature of social networking plus the need to manage online reputations will see social media widely integrated into business activities. These three trends will combine to force an inversion of the traditional model of IT in business. Usually, IT simply responds to business needs, providing the tools that the business needs to achieve its goals. But in 2012, ICT developments will drive business process change and, in some instances, create new business models.

Read More to find out how Cloud Computing will create new business models in 2012.

Cloud computing market hot, but how hot? Estimates are all over the map

There are reports that the dean of Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is very interested in cloud computing services, and may invest up to $100 million in the market this year. Bloomberg quotes partner Matt Murphy as indicating the VC firm’s partners “have talked about it, and are intrigued by the idea…. Companies’ comfort level and willingness to adopt the cloud is hitting an acceleration point. Now’s the most interesting time in the last 10 years to be investing in enterprise-based companies.”

How cloud computing will change everything

There's been a lot of talk about "the cloud" when it comes to technology and IT in the past few years. It's a revolution as big as the advent of the microprocessor and just as relevant as the desktop computer. The cloud is quickly changing businesses as we know them, forcing them to reboot how they think about their consumers in this ever-connected world. We're not just talking about everything from owning data centres to your accounting software to your email server, but the products and services that are being sold. If the cloud isn't on your business's mind, rest assured that it should be, and that it will (once again) change everything.

Cloud Computing Can Drive Business Innovation

Cloud computing is assumed to be an IT staff initiative at most businesses. But business strategists at IBM have concluded that it needs to be a top management priority. Too many companies are experimenting lightly with cloud computing. They're using it to tweak existing operations, as opposed to thinking about how it could revise or re-invent the fundamental way they sell their goods and services, said Saul Berman, global strategy consulting leader in IBM's global technology services.

Multitenancy & Cloud Computing Platforms: Four Big Problems

It feels a little blasphemous to type this while Cloud Connect, the cloud industry’s premier conference, takes place just 30 miles away. But sometimes when you see a balloon rising from all of the hot air filling it, you gotta take aim with the BB gun and pop it. As most of you know, multitenancy is the term describing when a single instance of software serves dozens or hundreds of users/customers at the same time. Anyone can see how much more efficient this is versus the old server hosting model, where the ratio of server:customer is 1:1. Even using today’s Red Hat-type virtualization, each server can cram fewer users/customers onto itself than a true multitenant service.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2012 helped you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Feb 10, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Lower trading volumes and less than stellar profits mean that Wall Street firms are looking to cut costs, so the adoption of third-party cloud-based applications and services is expected to accelerate this year. Scivantage runs a retail online-trading portal and professional trading and tax applications in a private cloud. Joe Stensland, SVP and managing director of Scivantage, told Wall Street Technology that, “We deliver the application with a private cloud and allocate the resources needed for each client deployment so they don’t have to bring in resources and infrastructure, While the interest in cloud services is moving up the list of priorities at large firms that have become cost-conscious, according to Stensland, “Midrange firms have become even more interested in the cloud’s pay-for-what-you-eat philosophy.” The cloud helps firms’ ability to cope with capacity planning. Financial firms have to be prepared for sudden bursts, but don’t want to incur the costs unless they need it. But they have “burst-ready” capacity—which is more critical than before due to increasing market volatility. Concerns about privacy and security mean that some firms refuse to let client data leave the facility. But some firms are migrating to private clouds managed outside their data centers.

Read More to find out what experts have to say

Peer Networking Key in Cloud Computing

The phenomenal growth of Cloud Computing has been driven by a number of factors. But in order for the Cloud industry to build on its initial momentum, a broader cross-section of IT and business decision-makers must become adept at taking full advantage of the rapidly expanding array of virtual resources available in the Cloud. The whirlwind of activity surrounding Cloud alternatives over the past few years has not only spawned countless start-ups seeking fortune in the Cloud marketplace, but also attracted a myriad of established players attempting to repurpose, or ‘Cloud-wash’, their existing products and services to exploit the escalating demand for Cloud solutions.

Cloud computing, apps power jobs growth in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is creating jobs and wealth for highly skilled workers but may be leaving some residents behind as employment closes in on Pre-Great Recession levels, according to a report released Tuesday.
The 2012 Silicon Valley Index found job growth in the high-tech hub far outpaced America as a whole last year. The region added 42,000 jobs, a jump of nearly 4 percent, compared with a nationwide increase of little more than 1 percent.

Cloud Users Need to Know What They're Buying

How much cloud is too much? That's the question a handful of companies are attempting to answer for enterprise users of cloud computing services. It's no secret that cloud vendors are taking advantage of their solutions' virtual nature to sell customers more capacity than their applications may require. In some cases, cloud vendors have bypassed IT and worked with less tech-savvy business customers in order to get away with this. Sometimes the fault for over provisioned clouds rests squarely with users who've chosen their own way around IT. "Today’s cloud services can easily be acquired by corporate end-users and strategic business units in an unauthorized and ad-hoc fashion ('the consumerization of IT') and can quickly become very costly unless properly managed," states Jeff Kaplan of consultancy THINKstrategies in an email today.

Are you taking the right approach to cloud?

Today’s SMB operates in a highly competitive and increasingly technology driven market. Operational efficiency is naturally a high priority for small and medium businesses to stay ahead and emerging technologies like cloud and virtualization have a crucial role in determining the same. Cloud computing in particular, offers many advantages in terms of flexibility, agility and on-demand resources that can give organizations a real competitive edge. Cloud as a cost effective technology also fits in comfortably within the strained IT budgets of the SMBs.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2012 helped you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Feb 03, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:34:00 +0000

Forrester, the technology research company, just released its business and technology outlook for 2020. The short version is that cloud computing will come on quicker than you think, it will be controlled by a very few companies that will fight for the right to own your data, and businesses need to think about what software they can write that will differentiate them from all the other customers of these giants. Like a lot of these reports, Forrester has a couple of clichés (we have entered the era of individual empowerment; change is the only constant) and interesting facts that you don’t really know what to do with (there will be 22 billion connected devices in 2020; Moore’s Law dictates that the computing power of I.B.M.’s Watson will fit into a human hand by then).

The substance of the report, however, is plain: cloud and mobile computing combined will rapidly improve, dislodging many incumbents in enterprise computing, and vastly empowering a few others, becoming what Forrester calls “computing cartels” that control millions of servers in data centers around the globe. These cartels, the report says, will include Amazon, Cisco Systems, Google, I.B.M., Microsoft, Oracle and a few competitors. Like most of these reports, it does not name losers, though Hewlett-Packard and Dell were among those noticeably absent.

Read More about Cloud Cartels

Hybrid cloud computing can benefit businesses

Businesses that employ security consultants are among some of the organisations that can benefit from using cloud computing in their everyday operations. Peter Job, founder and chief executive officer of Intergence Systems, believes that businesses should consider adopting a hybrid cloud data management system. However, regardless of the advantages of cloud computing, he accepted that some people remained sceptical, which suggests he thinks that there are some concerns over data protection. "But where people are less worried is the whole issue of private cloud," he expanded.

Cloud computing looks to be future of disaster management

Our generation thrives on the ability to instantly share what's new on social networks in real-time. This coincides with a growing percentage of people who depend on their smart phones, PDAs and iPads. Although the bulk of what we use this technology for is often considered to be unnecessary, it could play a vital role in the aftermath of a disaster. That is why NDSU's Juan Li, assistant professor of computer science, and Samee U. Khan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, felt compelled to find a way to make this possible. Together they developed a cloud computing disaster management system that would help communities more easily share information in the wake of a calamity. "Natural and manmade disasters require effective and efficient management of massive amounts of data and coordination of wide varieties of people and organizations. This is where our system comes into play," Li said in a recent press release.

Cloud computing, a power tool for economic growth

Despite being an important tool for economic growth and job creation, cloud computing services remain under-exploited by public administrations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is why the European Commission will present a strategy on the matter by the summer of 2012. The aim is to put in place an EU framework that promotes the use of cloud computing services. The task is not an easy one in that this technology facilitates data circulation – a field that is particularly sensitive.

Cloud vs. virtualization

Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on the cloud. But will this kill virtualisation? Many companies, which are turning to cloud computing, will find the need to manage their cloud space becoming more important. Most of these companies rely on both public and private clouds. The impact in India could be higher than in developed countries, if one goes by a research study conducted by IDC in November 2011. According to the study, less than half of end-users across Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) will complete their private cloud projects by 2014. The respondents of the IDC survey felt this was because of lack of experience in building these systems and because of higher-than-expected upfront investment requirements. IDC says that consequently an increased number of enterprises will make a detour to public cloud services. This, in turn, will result in the management of the hybrid cloud being more pronounced in countries like India.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2012 helped you to take a knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Jan 27, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:16:00 +0000

Gartner has identified the drivers for the adoption of SaaS and cloud offerings for BI, analytics and performance management. Nearly one-third of organisations either already use or plan to use cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings to augment their core business intelligence (BI) functions, according to a report from IT research firm Gartner. According to a survey of 1,364 IT managers and business users of BI platforms in the fourth quarter of 2011, only 17 percent of organisations have replaced or plan to replace parts of their core BI functions with cloud or SaaS offerings. However, almost a third (27 percent) already use, or plan to use, cloud or SaaS options to augment their BI capabilities for specific lines of business or subject areas in the next 12 months.

Read More to see how Cloud and SaaS benefits bolster business intelligence market

The cloud is forked

Enterprises are adopting two types of cloud. One is less risky but inherently flawed. The other offers greater rewards but very few so far have succeeded with it. There’s a huge variety of different definitions of cloud floating around. Some are just plain wrong, while others are only valid in specific circumstances — cloud strategies that are right for certain organisations at certain times aren’t necessarily right for others (or even for the same organisation later on in its evolution). It’s tough for any enterprise decision-maker to figure out the right path.

Cloud computing: Clearer skies ahead?

Most times, you won’t even know it’s there. But then, that is the beauty of cloud computing – you just concentrate on your core competency and stop worrying about the operating system, the traffic your IT system or website faces or about resources lying waste. This is especially true for a place and market such as India, where the IT literacy is low, but growing. How companies will manage to leverage the numbers to their advantage is the question. Not just that, start-ups and smaller companies also stand to gain through cloud computing since it helps them do away with a significant amount of investments on IT infrastructure and resources.

Cloud computing and social media: electronic discovery considerations and best practices

Social media platforms are a subset of a larger category of applications referred to as cloud computing. Cloud computing encompasses various platforms that users can access over the Internet, in which the storage of data is diffused across a potentially large number of sites. Examples of cloud computing include free web-based applications like email accounts and document sharing provided by Google, as well as more complex cloud computing systems that are used by companies who are looking to reduce IT management and maintenance costs by using third-party service providers.

Cloud computing – still gathering

Cloud computing did not see a landslide of adoption in 2011, but concrete examples of cloud in action are now abundant. Cloud computing has unquestionably been the most discussed topic in the IT sector during the past few years. By the start of 2011, IT professionals were beginning to wonder where the concrete examples of cloud supposed benefits were. Unfortunately, cloud computing is such a vague term that covers such a broad range of services and systems that satisfactorily tracking adoption can be difficult. The analyst companies all continued to predict steep adoption curves in future. In May, for example, Forrester Research predicted that the global cloud computing market will grow from an estimated $40.7 billion in 2011 to $241 billion in 2020.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2012 helped you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Jan 20, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:46:00 +0000

Recent research on cloud computing in healthcare suggests that many IT managers are reluctant to store critical patient-related data in a cloud-computing environment. With this in mind, one healthcare executive from information management firm Iron Mountain is prodding health CIOs to take a second look at the technology. Ken Rubin, senior vice president and general manager for Iron Mountain's healthcare division, understands that CIOs have many concerns as they develop a robust IT infrastructure that lets clinicians access data quickly, while ensuring that the system helps the organization meet its obligations under the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPPA) privacy and security rules.

Read More to find why Health IT managers are reluctant to use cloud computing for data storage.

Cloud Computing – Myth and Reality

Myths:

Businesses move to the cloud to save money.
The migration to the cloud is delayed or held back by security fears
Adoption of the cloud would result in fewer IT employees, some (very few) going as far as to say it could spell the end of enterprise IT.

Reality:

Cutting costs – the survey finds that “82 percent of all organizations saved money on their last cloud adoption project”. Of course, the amounts saved varied, but the majority of adopters reported savings.
The security issues seem to be overstated as well, as the survey finds that “Data security concerns do not change significantly after adopting cloud”, with only 25% of organizations manifesting more concerns following migration.
Concerning the the end of Enterprise IT scenario, I think the survey findings were the most surprising: “Only 14 percent of companies downsized their IT departments after adopting cloud while 20 percent of organizations hired more cloud experts.” So it seems like the fears are unfounded.

Are ‘Cloud Hubs’ the Way of the Future?

The pressure of moving government applications into a cloud-computing environment is rapidly building as government agencies look to cut IT costs. According to a new report, the concept of “regional community cloud hubs” among government entities will greatly change the way state and local government procure cloud services.

Dispelling the Cloud's Myths

The pace of cloud computing will only accelerate in 2012. The increasing development of information technology, and the intense focus on cost reduction, are highlighting the benefits of moving IT administration off-site. And one cloud computing expert wants CFOs to be aware of the short-term challenges and long-term benefits to organizations.

Transparency crucial for cloud computing adoption

As cloud computing transparency increases, more firms will take advantage of data centre hosting, it has been suggested. John Engates, chief technology officer of Rackspace, said some companies are still reluctant to place their data in the hands of a third-party vendor. This is because they are "a little bit uncertain" around what regulations or legislative rules could apply to them, he noted. "For us, the way around that has been full transparency, making sure that customers are well aware of what we do with the data, who touches the data, and where the data actually resides," he stated. Businesses need to know that their confidential information is secure in data cabinets and server racks if it is being stored by a cloud computing provider.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2011 helped you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Jan 13, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:32:00 +0000

It’s no surprise that many cloud experts predict that mobile cloud computing will become increasingly important in 2012. Given the numbers of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices shipped every day, more and more users are relying on the cloud as the main driver for satisfying their computing needs, whether it is data storage, applications or infrastructure. These factors contribute heavily to the increasing mobile cloud emphasis. It is however not due only to increasing availability of smartphones and tablets, but also standards and cloud services that support remote data access, storage and apps.

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Cloud guarantees bright outlook

Cloud computing is gaining ground in commercial and government circles; only last month, the Cabinet Office had to extend the deadline for suppliers to join the government's G-Cloud framework because of high demand. Organisations moving to the cloud – where IT services are delivered remotely using an internet connection – are doing so because the shared infrastructure is cheaper and more flexible than conventional forms of technology.

Cloud Computing – A Look Back to Basics

There has been much talk about the cloud and about how it can help businesses and how cloud computing is one of the top technologies of the future. Although, at this point it is probably more appropriate to say cloud computing is the present and the future. But starting with the name, cloud computing, and also looking at the vast majority of articles written about the cloud, one may think that it is an incorporeal thing, floating out there somewhere and providing services. The truth is, cloud computing as it is today has been made possible by technological advances in the data center industry. Yes, data center, a term slightly less glamorous than cloud computing, that lays at the foundation of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing Skills in Demand, Even Among Non-IT Positions

Cloud computing skills are now in great demand — but not just among information technology professionals. A new analysis of national help-wanted ads finds cloud computing is now entering the job descriptions of a range of non-IT positions, including marketing managers, sales managers, customer service representatives, and even cargo and freight agents.

The Social Impact of Cloud

The cloud computing benefit most often cited is IT’s reduced cost of ownership, because a company can convert fixed IT costs into variable spend for 60-80% of the budget that is used to “keep the lights on.” The total cost of IT as a percent of revenue is reduced, and that savings can be re-invested to grow the business. While the IT savings is compelling, the strongest benefit of cloud computing is how it enhances business agility – especially how the cloud can help launch entirely new businesses with little to no up-front capital.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2011 helped you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Jan 06, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:12:00 +0000

The Cloud has evolved a lot in the past 1 year. Only a few years ago cloud didn’t even exist and now in 2012 the Cloud phenomenon is going to reach new heights. The top trends of Cloud Computing in 2012 are:

The move to platforms
The move out to public clouds
The advent of big data
Spikiness
Consumer expectations come back to roost
Here comes one really messy leak
Disaster recovery and scaling are the new drivers
An SLA detente
The rise of real brokerages
Inception, the brain in the vat, and hardware
What can't I put in the cloud?
Infrastructure, code, and data are intertwined

Read more to see how these top trends in Cloud Computing is going to effect 2012.

The bandwidth risk in cloud computing

Security concerns continue to dampen enterprise eagerness to move applications to the cloud, but there is another cloud computing risk that could bring down doom if not anticipated: bandwidth bottlenecks. For an in-depth look at this less-discussed risk, see an article by Sandra Gittlen at Computerworld.

InterContinental Hotels Group has moved storage and in-house mobile phone applications to cloud services in recent years. The measure has saved money and improved customer service, leading to a current project migrating the room reservation system to the cloud. Despite the positive experience, IHG CIO Tom Conophy is quite clear that a successful cloud implementation requires careful attention to bandwidth needs.

Huge cloud computing data breach waiting to happen

This year promises to be one that will be remembered as the year that outsourcing to the cloud gained significant momentum. But it could also be the year that cyber-attackers target the cloud and send shockwaves through corporations by causing a huge cloud security breach. Security is a major concern for businesses putting their systems in the cloud, but these fears don't appear to be stopping cloud computing in its tracks. Ok private clouds are being taken up by big firms that are unwilling to move to public clouds, but they could themselves be the subject of a major breach.

Get to the private cloud: Change people, process, technology

For most enterprises, focusing on the private cloud seems the most logical starting point as all uncertainty, doubt and risk is contained within the corporate data center. But on this path to the private cloud, as we transform the data center from its traditional form to a more dynamic one that provides services to customers, is it really a question of technology? The major roadblocks are people, process and technology in the path of a successful private cloud initiative.

Indian CIOs' cloud concerns

Concerns over data security and privacy and an immature ecosystem are likely to stunt the growth of cloud computing in India. Despite the obvious benefits of lower capital expenditure and quicker rollout of new products and services, chief information officers (CIOs) are hesitant to make full-scale investments in the new technology.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2011 helped you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das

Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Dec 30, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:30:00 +0000

With 2011 dawning on us, we bring you our last weekly Cloud sum-up for this year. Looking back on 2011, what stands out most of all is that the cloud became mainstream. Cloud computing even got its own Gartner hype cycle, and while some aspects of the technology are still deemed to be in the early wave of the cycle, others are far beyond any hype. Indeed, SaaS is so well established today that Gartner positions it firmly on the ’slope of enlightment’, well on the way to achieving productive enterprise adoption.

Read More to find out how Cloud has been in 2011 and a short insight to 2012

Flexibility makes cloud computing more appealing

Flexibility is one of the key benefits of cloud computing, allowing businesses to adapt quickly and easily to unexpected challenges. According to the founder of cloudonomics.com, Joe Weinman, increasing capacity fourfold at the drop of a hat is now possible with the pay-as-you-go service model offered by cloud computing providers. Speaking to PC World, Mr Weinman said: "Let's say you're a retailer who 11 months out of the year might be able to use their own data centre to do things. For one month [you might want] to be able to double or triple or quadruple capacity."

How Cloud Computing is Changing Many Job Descriptions

Just as cloud computing is a game-changer for many companies, it is also changing the nature of jobs – not only within the information technology department, but in other parts of the enterprise as well. For senior-level executives, especially chief information officers, the changes reflect the more strategic role IT plays in the direction of businesses. For the business, it introduces more reliable and predictable supporting technology.

Cloud computing issues have a familiar ring to them

eWeek’s Howard Cohen reports that cloud adoption is running into some problems in enterprises, and the tone of these issues has a familiar ring to them. He quotes Greg Onoprijenko, president of e-ternity Business Continuity Consultants: “Education is always a big one, because people in general are still trying to wrap themselves up on cloud. They don’t know what they don’t know, so we’re spending a lot of time educating customers on just exactly what it means because there’s still a lot of confusion around what cloud is.”

IT pros will take a harder look at cloud computing in 2012

Despite slow adoption by enterprise IT in the years since cloud computing emerged, 2012 may turn out to be the year when cloud technologies finally begin to gain parity with more traditional data center staples such as virtualization and tape libraries. TechTarget's 2012 IT Priorities Survey found that a growing number of enterprises -- some 24.1% -- plan to grow their expenditures for cloud services over the next year. In fact, 27% of respondents said that cloud computing initiatives were viewed with high importance at their companies. Another 53% rated the importance of their cloud projects as medium.

We hope these short sum-ups on Cloud Computing in 2011 helped you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming year.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later. For Now Wish all my readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year, 2012
Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Aditya) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Before the clock strikes '12, we're going to steal a moment to wish our partners, customers, friends and well-wishers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012.

2011 was an exciting year for WOLF from start to finish, filled with customers/partners, great ideas and exciting challenges. With every passing year we realize the endless opportunities that the Cloud presents and new ways that it helps us solve the unique challenges of our customers.

So here's looking forward to 2012!

Thanks again and Best wishes,
WOLF Frameworks Team

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Dec 23, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:58:00 +0000

Cloud computing has drawn a great deal of attention as a way to reduce IT costs in healthcare. But are the companies that offer cloud computing well-prepared to meet the HIPAA privacy and security requirements? As hospitals and clinics alike consider their options for adding new applications in a hurry, on a tight budget or lacking necessary resources, many are considering the cloud computing option. With the HITECH EHR incentive payment program kicking into high gear, organizations are feeling pressure to devise ways to roll out new systems quickly so they can earn the maximum payments from Medicare and Medicaid.

Read more to find out about the Key Security Issues of Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Top 10: Private Cloud FAQs

10 of the most common questions about building the private cloud by using Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (VMM 2012):

How is the private cloud different from the public cloud?
Isn't cloud computing, and especially the private cloud, really just the same as virtualization?
How do you build the private cloud for Windows Server and its applications?
What makes up a private cloud built with VMM 2012?
Is a service the same thing as a VM?
What is the Fabric?
Can a VMM 2012 private cloud use other virtualization platforms besides Hyper-V?
So what gives the private cloud self-service capabilities?
When is VMM 2012 due to be released?
Is VMM 2012 the only product that can build the private cloud?

Cloud computing 'could have many advantages'

Cloud computing solutions can provide many advantages to businesses, but those implementing the service must carefully consider the security aspects of the systems. This is according to one expert who suggested that, like other advanced technologies, cloud computing will rise in popularity as more and more companies realise the benefits, but the trend will also impact on the need to work harder on the quality and safety of software. Phil Codd, managing director and chief markets officer for northern Europe, India and South Africa at Software Quality Systems, said that security and performance are critical to the nature of virtualisation. "Cloud computing can provide tremendous advantages to an organisation and there are additional considerations such as performance testing [and] security testing, as well as the need to ensure consistent functionality," Mr Codd commented.

Cloud Computing Integration – Challenges and Solutions

Often referred to as the ‘ugly part” of cloud computing. Integration plays a crucial role if you want to deliver cloud based solutions to your business. Outlining a cloud strategy could be a time consuming and difficult process, but the planning part must also take into account the fact that the on – premises resources and infrastructure a company has must be coordinated with the applications to be hosted in the cloud.

Cloud Computing: Forecasting First Steps of Adoption

While the fast path to cloud computing varies, it looks like many enterprises, as well as consumers, were already on the way before they really knew what cloud computing meant. Consumers who have been using online services for more than a decade may have become confused when popular software providers such as Microsoft started declaring “to the cloud” in reference to just about every imaginable online service. The typical consumer computer user didn’t realize they were using what is now called cloud services.

We hope these short sum-ups on cloud computing will help you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming weeks.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later. That's all for now. Wish all readers a Merry Christmas.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Dec 16, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Santanu Das) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:47:00 +0000

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in the Cloud has been covered multiple times and there have been many articles written on the topic, but still there is confusion about the importance of SLAs. Most people require a blueprint for architects and contractors to start building a new home and similarly would expect a new car to come with a warranty. An SLA serves as both the blueprint and warranty for cloud computing. There is an article written for Educause Quarterly by Thomas J. Trappler called “If It’s in the Cloud, Get it on Paper: Cloud Computing Contract Issues”.

Read more to find out what he recommends in his paper.

10 Ways Cloud Computing Will Disrupt our Businesses in 2012

If anything, 2011 should be remembered as the “Year of the Cloud.” The past year was an energizing one in terms of the advancement of cloud computing. The cloud approach was adopted by many organizations, and most vendors have now gotten into the game as well. What will 2012 bring?

Take a look ahead:

“Cloud” will begin to fade as a differentiating term — because it will just be the way we do things
Many businesses will follow the federal government’s example of a “cloud-first” policy
Pressure will grow to demonstrate cloud ROI
Private clouds will proliferate faster than public clouds
Private cloud will elevate IT’s role in the business
IT departments will both act as facilitators and competitors to public cloud providers
Lines between service providers and consumers will blur – on many cases, companies will be both
Public clouds will increasingly be seen as more secure than on-premises systems
Economic growth will accelerate as more businesses are formed in the cloud
Cloud will disrupt the outsourcing model

Security, compliance often lacking in cloud computing strategy

Despite enthusiasm surrounding setting a cloud computing strategy, IT professionals lack confidence in their organizations’ abilities to secure cloud solutions and keep them compliant, a new SearchCompliance.com survey finds. Only a third of survey respondents said they were confident that their cloud solutions were adequately secure and in compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. Another 22% said their solutions weren’t secure or compliant. Perhaps most disconcerting? Close to half (45%) weren’t sure, meaning two thirds of respondents either do not know if their cloud solutions are secure, or are absolutely certain they are not.

Any business can use cloud computing

All businesses, not just technology companies, can use cloud-based services, said Rakesh Hegde, founder and CEO, Rezopia, a U.S.-based cloud technology provider for travel companies. The company provides cloud-based end-to-end travel reservation, contracts, operations, and distribution management system for packaged travel providers. Delivering a talk on “Recent trends in IT in the U.S.”, organised by Mangalore Management Association at the SDM College of Business Management, here on Wednesday, Mr. Hegde, an alumnus of SDM institutions, said that cloud-based services enabled businesses to focus on their core strengths by helping them do the peripheral tasks.

Cloud computing: Technology’s next big thing

Cloud computing means different things to different people. As a consumer, I am using a service from a cloud that someone else is running and paying for this service based on my consumption. Meanwhile, as a provider, a cloud provides efficient, cost effective IT services to clients, and makes the provider a broker of services. The importance of cloud computing to businesses is that it is about accessing and providing services instantly and cost-effectively, whereas years ago, the same would have required high startup costs and lengthy periods of time. Cloud computing solves this issues for businesses due to its low barrier of entry and elasticity.

We hope these short sum-ups on cloud computing will help you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming weeks.

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.