Microsoft’s Biggest Client, or Just a PR Stunt? – Part II This is the concluding part of a two-part article. For the first part, please see Microsoft’s Biggest Client, or Just a PR Stunt? – Part I . There is another possibility at play here. If Microsoft manages to sell the viability of its cloud offerings to the Indian government, this freebie can actually result in paying contracts in other areas. And as we all know, governments are big spenders, even on information technology (See: How Much Can the US Government Save By Going to the Cloud?). Getting buy-in is important
Partnerships
Some Recent Cloud Computing Acquisitions – I This is the second in a continuing series on cloud computing acquisitions. You can read the first one in the series here: Some Recent Cloud Computing Acquisitions. This article covers two recent acquisitions. IBM – Platform Computing IBM seems to be on an acquisition spree as far as cloud computing is concerned. After DemandTec in December (See: Some Recent Cloud Computing Acquisitions) and Green Hat in January (See: How Does the Green Hat Acquisition Help IBM’s Cloud Strategy? ), Ontario-based Platform Computing (http://www.platform.com/) became the latest company to enter the IBM fold, also
Are The Big Players Being Hypocritical On Cloud Computing Standards? The usefulness (and necessity) of developing universal cloud computing standards has been covered in several articles (See: Cloud Computing Standards: How Important Are They? and Cloud Computing Standards – is it time? ). However, now that some concrete steps are being taken towards this goal, the industry is facing non-cooperation from several big players. Come to think of it, that’s not surprising. Consider what the big names like Amazon and Microsoft may lose out on if universal standards come into place. One, they would lose the power of vendor lock-in
TOSCA and Friends setting up Hybrid Cloud Standards In a move that reminds me a lot about the movie quote “When there’s no way out, you find a deeper way in“, TOSCA, IBM, EMC and Cisco have indicated their support for Hybrid Cloud portability standards and specifications. Following on the heels of TOSCA or Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications, the group is looking to set up another document on Cloud interoperability. This time around, the document in question will focus on making hybrid cloud services more portable and interoperable between providers. This includes drafting a template for interoperability
HP ‘Master The Cloud’ Event (Toronto) – Part 2 Here’s an interesting parallel, one somewhat removed from the busy world of cloud computing. In the world of “people,” social psychologists who specialize in generational issues are starting to refer to the most recent generation of kids coming-of-age as the Purell generation, since they are likely to be aware of every hand sanitizer bottle or station in their homes, schools, and favourite stores. This thought came to me as I observed a breakout session on cloud security at the HP Master The Cloud conference, in which the presenter discussed the principle of practicing good IT hygiene. Good IT
HP ‘Master The Cloud’ Event (Montreal) – Part 2 HP Breakout Session How to accelerate the journey to private or hybrid cloud With Chris Christianopoulos CloudStrike and CloudSystem Lead, HP Canada “You recognize the power of the cloud. Deploy new applications and services in hours instead of months. Match IT resources to demand with unprecedented efficiency. This session will explore best practices for transitioning quickly and securely, while demonstrating clear business value.” (session overview) “We’re at A, so how do we get to B? If we look at the IT world today, we’ve evolved to more complex systems… From physical IT services, to virtualized, to
HP ‘Master The Cloud’ Event (Montreal) – Part 1 It’s a cold, bright day in Montreal, Quebec, where HP has chosen to present their day long Master the Cloud event this 26th of January, 2012. Le Palais de Congrés, or Convention Centre, is packed with Canadian HP customers, vendors, press, bloggers, and staff. Promptly at 9, Dave Frederickson, VP and General Manager of Enterprise Servers and Storage Networking take the stage. Dave knows that HP can help businesses small and large to harness the capabilities of the cloud. Some may then reply, “But does HP have the credibility to do so?” Well, they have been doing
Ninefold and Rackspace Battle for Australian Startup Mind Space Last month American cloud computing service provider Rackspace, in an effort to expand its presence in the Australian market, announced a deal with early stage venture capitalists Pollenizer to offer Australian start-ups free hosting worth $2,000 a month for their first year of operations. Now, Rackspace’s Australian rival Ninefold has announced an identical scheme, also in partnership with Pollenizer and another incubator Starmate. While Rackspace’s offer had been introduced in the US much earlier as the Rackspace Startup Program (See: Why is Rackspace targeting Startups? ), it’s something new in Australia.
