Cloud computing is still more attractive to venture capitalists than it is to enterprise IT buyers, and that’s unlikely to change in 2010. As IT buyers warm to the idea and implementation of cloud computing, 2010 is going to prove to be a very big year for cloud-computing M&A as big-fish vendors like VMWare, Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle round out their cloud product portfolios with little-fish innovators.

Computing (and M&A) heads for the cloud

Some, like Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, suggest that cloud computing is simply a fad, one that attempts to solve many of the same problems that SOA, EDI, etc. already attempted to fix.

Tell that to the buyers. Gartner expects the cloud-related SaaS market to top $8 billion in 2009, which suggests that real customers paying real money.

They may not be paying enough, however, to support the mushrooming cloud vendor marketplace. Not yet.

Industry insiders are predicting a shakeout as pre-recession venture funding runs out for many of the early cloud vendors, forcing them into the arms of buyers or bankruptcy courts.

This is the inevitable separation of wheat from chaff, and it’s a very good thing for an industry that has been long on hype and short on delivery to date.

But don’t confuse the hype with vaporware. And don’t for a minute think that any of the big (or small) vendors has a complete offering yet. As IDC research director Dan Yachi posits:

Full Source ]]> http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/2010-the-year-of-cloud-computing-and-the-saas-market/feed/ 5 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/deploying-and-managing-apps-on-rackspace-cloud-video/ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/deploying-and-managing-apps-on-rackspace-cloud-video/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:35:48 +0000 cloudtweaks http://www.cloudtweaks.com/?p=297

Helpful video that I’ve come across showing you how to deploy and manage Apps on the Rackspace Cloud.

]]> http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/deploying-and-managing-apps-on-rackspace-cloud-video/feed/ 1 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/5-things-every-ceo-should-know-about-cloud-computing/ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/5-things-every-ceo-should-know-about-cloud-computing/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:51:19 +0000 cloudtweaks http://www.cloudtweaks.com/?p=291

Before you jump on the cloud computing bandwagon, there are several things you should know.

Ron Hovsepian, President and CEO of Novell, highlights five important elements in an article on Forbes.com:

• Cloud computing is good for nearly any business. it exponentially improves performance, saves costs on installing software, and is way faster than most current corporate servers.

• You can begin with a private cloud. A private cloud is one that is managed within a company’s firewall but still accessible from anywhere, and it might be a good option for those who aren’t yet comfortable with the security demands of the public cloud.

• Implement a cloud-specific security infrastructure. Cloud-computing has specific security issues that need to be tackled head-on to avoid catastrophe. If there is a breach of security, the responsibility is ultimately on you. Assessing the sensitivity of your different types of data and implementing relevant security measures are crucial for protecting yourself in the cloud.

• Integrate systems that automatically manage workload. This is crucial for maximizing the efficiency capabilities of the cloud without compromising your data. These systems need to be able to shift workload from one place to another while still maintaining the integrity of your security measures, without individual input.

• Start slowly. A gradual integration, area by area, is a good way to gain trust in the system, develop and adapt your security, and figure out how to get the most out of cloud computing.

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Some other cloud investment opportunities

3PAR (PAR); Akamai (AKAM); Cbeyond (CBEY); Compellent (CML); DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (DFT); EMC (EMC); Equinix (EQIX); Imation (IMN); Internap (INAP); Iowa Telecom (IWA); Knology (KNOL); Limelight (LLNW); NetApp (NTAP); NetScout (NTCT);

If you have been wondering where all the technology jobs are.? Cloud Computing is where they are at.

]]> http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/where-are-the-technology-jobs-cloud-computing-is-where-they-are/feed/ 1 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/top-tips-on-cloud-computing-for-small-businesses-cloudtweaks-com/ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/top-tips-on-cloud-computing-for-small-businesses-cloudtweaks-com/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:09:49 +0000 cloudtweaks http://www.cloudtweaks.com/?p=283

1. Moving to the cloud is easy: The transfer of business information into the cloud is very straightforward. There is no need to install new hardware or software as everything is run by the cloud provider.
2. Cost savings could be higher than you anticipate: Businesses that move to the cloud can make savings on many different levels – IT hardware and software expenditure is cut dramatically and fewer staff or support resources are needed for IT maintenance. Last September, analyst group IDC estimated that business can instantly reduce their IT spend by approx. 54% by moving to a cloud based solution.

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Video

IBMers speak about their clients’ issues and how IBM cloud computing solutions have helped make IT easier for their businesses. Cloud computing offers a dynamic infrastructure that makes web services immediately accessible, allowing companies to grow and to do business more quickly and at lower cost.

]]> http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/how-cloud-computing-will-make-it-easier-cloudtweaks-com/feed/ 3 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/cloud-considerations-4-tips-for-getting-started-on-amazon-ec2/ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/cloud-considerations-4-tips-for-getting-started-on-amazon-ec2/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:01:28 +0000 cloudtweaks http://www.cloudtweaks.com/?p=276

You need an environment and have decided that Amazon is the way to go. There are some things that should be considered before building your OS on, or uploading to the cloud.

1. Getting started

There are a couple of ways to get started with Amazon Cloud Hosting. You can build your own AMI ( Amazon Machine Image ) or you can modify an existing public AMI.
I am not going to give a tutorial on how to go about either of these options, that is well documented by Amazon.

Firstly you need to select your operating system, Amazon has a decent selection of supported OSs, you have the main Linux flavours that you’d want to see:

• Red Hat
• Fedora
• Ubuntu
• Debian
• Gentoo
• openSUSE

along with:

• OpenSolaris

and one token Windows version:

• Windows Server 2003

After selecting your OS see if there is a public image available of the version you would like to help you make the decision of whether to build your own.

If you want to go with a public AMI you need to decide if you can trust the provider, you can boot up an instance and check out the machine, see what is installed, ensure there is no proprietary software or at least you know the software that is installed. This should be thought about as well as the considerations to be applied to building your own AMI.

The easiest way to boot your first AMI is through the AWS Management Console. It is a fairly intuitive front end to the commands you can run when you install the EC2 tools, once you learn your way around the console, it will  give you a better insight into the tasks you need to get used to when using the command line tools.

If you want to build your own AMI then you will be in control of exactly what is installed, but you should consider the next point.

Read the Full Source Here ]]> http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/cloud-considerations-4-tips-for-getting-started-on-amazon-ec2/feed/ 1 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/top-10-cloud-computing-flashpoints-of-2009-cloudtweaks-com/ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/top-10-cloud-computing-flashpoints-of-2009-cloudtweaks-com/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:33:50 +0000 cloudtweaks http://www.cloudtweaks.com/?p=273

By Jeffrey M. Kaplan
E-Commerce Times

A brief history of SaaS and cloud computing in 2009 suggests that it has arrived as a viable mainstream business model; that the market is volatile, and missteps won’t be overlooked; that there’s still plenty of room for innovation; and that it will be a growing force to be reckoned with in 2010.

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Plenty of industry observers are already issuing their predictions for 2010, but I think it is worth taking a look back at the past year’s events to see how quickly the Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing marketplace is evolving.

So, following are 10 events that I consider bellwethers of the rapid evolution process, which could be important indicators of the future direction of the SaaS and cloud computing industry.
Wheeling and Dealing

1. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) surpasses US$1 billion in revenue. Hitting this financial milestone clearly shows that SaaS has become mainstream and is a scalable business model.

2. Xactly Acquires Centive. Despite SaaS industry growth, an inevitable market consolidation has begun with this merger of two key players in the on-demand sales Download Free eBook – The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales compensation market. Also, Salary.com buys the assets of Makana Solutions and NetSuite acquires head-to-head professional services automation (PSA) competitors OpenAir and QuickArrow.

3. LucidEra fails. The demise of one of the pioneers of the SaaS business intelligence and analytics market shows the willingness of VCs to walk away from even the most prominent SaaS players.

4. Intacct establishes alliance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and its CPA2Biz subsidiary. This partnership agreement illustrates the growing acceptance of SaaS, as the association broadcasts its endorsement of Intacct’s on-demand financial management Take the worry out of managing your enterprise applications. Click to learn how. solution as the preferred alternative to traditional financial applications to its 45,000 member CPA firms and their 350,000 SMB clients.

5. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) offers to buy Sun. Despite Larry Ellison’s rants that SaaS will never be a profitable business model, Oracle uses its proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) as a catalyst to promote its growing cloud computing capabilities.

Experiments and Validation

6. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) fortify SLAs. Faced with a steady stream of service outages, both Amazon and Google have introduced new service level agreements with more “teeth” to appease the continuing concerns of IT and business decision-makers, and to fend off the challenges of a growing number of cloud computing competitors.

7. Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) becomes a SaaS reseller. After being a showcase user of Salesforce.com solutions, Dell becomes a Salesforce.com channel partner, offering customers access to AppExchange SaaS vendors.

8. Marc Benioff Speaks at Oracle OpenWorld. Benioff’s presentation promotes the business benefits of on-demand and on-premise software integration in hybrid operating environments, recasting SaaS as a natural progression of the market rather than a revolutionary overthrow of legacy applications. (This speech may also be the preamble to an Oracle takeover of Salesforce.com.)

9. Salesforce.com unveils its social computing strategy, Chatter. Rather than simply tightening its integration with Facebook and Twitter, Salesforce.com decides to build its own enterprise-class alternative, which is met with mixed reviews at Dreamforce.

10. Gartner (NYSE: IT) identifies cloud computing the top strategic technology for 2010. There is no better lagging indicator of key industry trends than Gartner prognostications, which give them further validation and greater visibility.

Read Full Source ]]> http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/top-10-cloud-computing-flashpoints-of-2009-cloudtweaks-com/feed/ 2 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/cloud-computing-wish-list-for-2010-amazon-google-microsoft/ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2009/12/cloud-computing-wish-list-for-2010-amazon-google-microsoft/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:47:41 +0000 cloudtweaks http://www.cloudtweaks.com/?p=270

As hard as I tried I couldn’t resist the lure of doing some type of year-end/new year type cloud blog. However, I decided to forgo the route of giving you a recap of what happened this year in cloud computing or attempting to guess where the rapidly expanding and changing cloud market is going via a list of 2010 cloud predictions. Instead, I’ve decided to give you my very own 2010 cloud computing wish list. Mind you, the things on this list aren’t predictions for what’s going to happen, nor is it made up of items that have a direct tie to any particular offerings. This is simply a list of what I’m hoping to see happen in the cloud computing space over the next year.

1) Application-centric cloud platforms: This is something I wrote about earlier in the year and truly believe is necessary for adoption in the PaaS segment to continue to grow. In many PaaS offerings today, things like servers and application containers are the primary resources that users configure and provision into a cloud. In reality, these resources are many times just a means to an end, which is the hosting of applications and services. A higher level of value would be realized if users could define an application along with it characteristics and dependencies and then have a PaaS solution provision the necessary infrastructure under the covers based on the application profile. In this way, platforms are truly rendered as a service.

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