Archive for May, 2010
Cloud vs OpenXML: Microsoft has a preference
Microsoft will base support for the final OpenXML standard on customer demand. The market leader at this point prefers to move its clients to cloud computing, said Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s Business Division. He considers cloud offerings a good extension of the desktop software that Microsoft currently sells. “OpenXML can be implemented for a [...]
Executive Profile: Swayne Hill of Cloud9analytics
Swayne Hill of Cloud9analytics credits his experience managing a golf course in his teens with teaching him valuable lessons in business. “In Western Canada, the golf season is four or five months. There’s a lot of intense pressure on available resources,” he said in a recent interview at his Redwood Shores offices. “It sounds kind [...]
Can Cloud Computing help improve security
Cloud computing adds security challenges, but also provides opportunities to improve security posture, according to Steve Lipner, senior director of security engineering strategy at Microsoft. In addition to traditional threats such as cross-site scripting, code injection and denial of service, cloud computing expands some of those threats and introduces others, he said. “Data privacy issues such [...]
Five cloud computing startups to watch out for
The May BizSpark event in Paris, Microsoft and technology venture capitalists had the chance to assess the upcoming wares from Europe’s brightest young hopefuls in the software development world. With cloud computing dominating the IT news headlines, surveys and analysts’ attentions, the bulk of the development houses were presenting cloud computing technology and business models. [...]
Microsoft betting that India will lead the world in Cloud Computing
NEW DELHI: Microsoft Corp sees India as the global hub for cloud computing, the concept of renting computing power that has taken the technology world by storm and in the words of the NYT, what Silicon Valley cannot seem to get its head out of. “India will not only see a surge in cloud computing [...]
Oracle’s Larry Ellison eats his words on Cloud Computing
After Ellison’s colorful rants about the cloud’s absurdity, idiocy, and nonsense, Oracle’s expanding its cloud technology, advocacy, and marketing. After all the showmanship and on-stage theatrics, it really comes down to this: Larry Ellison is allowing his company to love the cloud because orange is the new pink for Oracle. This story offers a, uh, [...]
Oracle’s Larry Ellison eats his words on Cloud Computing
After Ellison’s colorful rants about the cloud’s absurdity, idiocy, and nonsense, Oracle’s expanding its cloud technology, advocacy, and marketing. After all the showmanship and on-stage theatrics, it really comes down to this: Larry Ellison is allowing his company to love the cloud because orange is the new pink for Oracle. This story offers a, uh, [...]
BMC Software releases Cloud-Building Tool Kit
Data center management software provider BMC Software, an original partner of Cisco Systems in the Unified Computing System initiative launched in 2009, has come out with its own cloud computing management package for large enterprises. BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management, introduced on May 25, is designed to enable enterprises to make the most of their cloud [...]
Microsoft wins contract for cloud computing with University of Arizona
The University of Arizona at Tuscon – the state’s flagship university – recently announced that it has awarded Microsoft with its contract to handle the school’s planned shift to cloud computing. Starting next fall, the school’s students and faculty will use Microsoft’s Business Productivity Suite in place of their current email system. Both students and [...]
Software as a Service in Nigeria?
Cool article from the Nigerian Inquirer about software as a service from yours truly: This is the first of a multi-part series of tech articles I am writing for the Nigerian Inquirer. I would like to discuss some technology solutions that I believe would be appropriate and timely for Nigeria today. I was originally going [...]
Conversations with David Chappell about Windows Azure and Cloud Computing
Interesting new Windows Azure related video. David Gristwood engages David Chappell in conversation about Windows Azure and cloud computing, and explore which applications are great candidates for Windows Azure, and, interestingly which ones don’t, as well as discussing the differences between Infrastructure vs Platform as a Service, and the role of private vs public cloud. [...]
The two very different clouds
Here’s a great article about different types of clouds… CIO – Many new technologies have emerged in the world of IT but none is more confused and misunderstood than cloud computing. Here is another new technology paradigm that is crying out for a set of common standard definitions and a global consensus of understanding. Cloud [...]
8 Ways to Measure Cloud ROI
CIO – An initiative from The Open Group has developed a set of key considerations for how to build and measure return on investment (ROI) for cloud computing initiatives from a business perspective. By examining the benefits cloud computing offers organizations and showing the potential return it can provide from the beginning, companies may find [...]
IBM's Evolving Cloud Computing Strategy
IBM announced that it has signed a pact with Ariba, under which that company’s software for tracking spending will become available in the cloud via IBM’s Lotus subsidiary. Earlier this week, IBM announced that it is acquiring Sterling Software, a provider of e-commerce software. Earlier this month, IBM acquired Cast Iron Software to gain access [...]
IBM’s Evolving Cloud Computing Strategy
IBM announced that it has signed a pact with Ariba, under which that company’s software for tracking spending will become available in the cloud via IBM’s Lotus subsidiary. Earlier this week, IBM announced that it is acquiring Sterling Software, a provider of e-commerce software. Earlier this month, IBM acquired Cast Iron Software to gain access [...]
Google prepares the Government Cloud
Google has submitted final materials to get its cloud computing services certified for use by federal agencies, and is nearing release of its government-specific cloud, a top Google executive said Wednesday. While Google Enterprise president Dave Girouard admitted in an interview after his keynote at the Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington, D.C., that the process [...]
Bay area is tech savvy
According to the survey, Bay Ares residents are more excited by technology (78 percent of Bay Area respondents vs. 67 percent for the U.S.) and are more involved in technology innovations (60 percent Bay Area compared to 50 percent for the U.S). While only 18 percent of Americans can accurately define the cloud and cloud [...]
11 Things to Know About WPC Sessions
With a little more than a month until the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Washington, D.C., session descriptions are beginning to appear in earnest on the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal. We’ve scoured the available listings for some highlights. Steve Ballmer Keynote. The CEO is confirmed for his usual keynote. Even when Ballmer doesn’t [...]
Novell add the cloud to Novell ID manager 4
Organizations increasingly need to see who has access to which systems — whether they’re running in their own data center, at a partner site, or in the cloud. To that end, Novell has unveiled its Identity Manager 4 software, adding integration with Microsoft SharePoint and multiple cloud applications, including Salesforce.com and Google Apps, as well [...]
Six misconceptions about cloud apps
Cloud computing is all the rage in the IT industry these days, but there’s still plenty of confusion about how cloud applications work and what kind of long-term impact they will have on business technology. In this article we’ll take a look at six common misconceptions IT pros and users have about cloud apps, related [...]
Makes perfect sense – WordPress and Windows Azure integration
A free and open source plugin developed by Microsoft is the latest example of PHP and Windows Azure interoperability to come from the company, after various other offerings, including a PHP software development kit for the Cloud platform. By leveraging the plugin, customers running WordPress will be able to take advantage of the storage capacity [...]
Cloud computing for your health
Web-based Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are stepping onto the main stage as the most likely way smaller and solo physician practices will be able to adopt EHRs in a “meaningful” way, in time for the 2011 ARRA/HITECH incentive moneys. Web-based software has also been referred to as cloud-based computing, SaaS, ASP-delivered software. For the small [...]
What is a private cloud?
Despite popular belief, so-called “cloud computing” does not always involve putting your systems out on the open Internet for the world to see. In fact, the “private cloud” is gaining more and more traction as cloud computing matures. What is a private cloud? First, let’s talk about cloud computing in general. When most folks talk [...]
How Many Virtual Machines Can Run On A Single Server?
How many user desktops can run on a virtualized server? From a structural point of view, this question has a lot in common with, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Nevertheless, I did my best to answer it in the new McGraw-Hill book, Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution. As [...]
Silicon Valley deals are back
Deal-making is back in style in Silicon Valley. Driven by powerful trends in mobile devices, digital media and “cloud computing,” tech companies are acting on the urge to merge — a sign, many say, of an improving economy. SAP’s pending $5.8 billion purchase of Sybase and Hewlett-Packard’s pending $1.2 billion takeover of Palm are the [...]
Cisco buys CoreOptics
Cisco plans to acquire privately held CoreOptics, a maker of optical networking technology designed to help carriers handle an expected surge in IP traffic driven partly by the adoption of cloud computing. CoreOptics’ digital signal processing technology is intended to help service providers scale their IP networks while keeping costs down by making transmission more [...]
SAP plus Cisco plus VMware plus EMC equals cloud computing
At the ongoing SAP Sapphire NOW conference taking place in both Orlando, Florida and Frankfurt, Germany, SAP announced that it has partnered with Cisco, EMC and VMware to help promote the use of cloud computing in the business community. Through the development of advanced SaaS business applications and reliable cloud-based data centers, the companies hope [...]
Federal CIO Says Cloud Standards Needed For Government Adoption
The nation’s top technology chief called for standards around security, interoperability and data portability before the U.S. government can fully embrace cloud computing. Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, speaking Thursday at a Washington D.C. cloud computing workshop, said that for the cloud to truly take hold in the government the feds must develop standards to avoid [...]
Cloud Computing Security Today
One of the most heated debates in all of enterprise computing these days centers on the security of cloud computing. One IT camp argues that cloud computing is inherently more secure because of the ability to invest in all the policies and expertise required to make the overall IT environment secure. The other camp argues [...]
Calculating the cost of cloud computing
Figuring out the real cost of IT and the projected return on those investments has never been very easy. And with the rise of cloud computing services where pricing can change on a daily basis, it’s only going to get more difficult. To help address this issue, Digital Fuel, a provider of applications for managing [...]
