Cloud Computing: Risks vs Benefits – Part 1 “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Mark Twain (1835-1910), noted American author and humorist. By quoting the most famous American author on how statistics are often used to bolster unreasonable arguments, I may have showed my hand prematurely, but here are a few figures that do give one cause for thought: on the average, over the last decade more than 40,000 people have been killed annually in automobile accidents in the United States. Now, this may give the impression that road travel is dangerous, and, if
cloud computing service providers
What’s In It For Me? – The Key Question Companies Ask of Cloud Computing “What’s in it for me? I’ve got to ask, If it’s only more tears Then I’ll have to pass. If you’ll open up Then I can see, Deep in your heart What’s in it for me?” – John Berry, American country singer and songwriter. The key to selling anything – a product, a service, an idea – is the ability to convincingly answer the one question every customer has on his or her or its (if you are selling to an organization or company) mind –
What Bromium’s Funding Means for Cloud Security What can prompt three experienced professionals in the IT industry – former CTO and SVP of engineering at Phoenix Technologies Gaurav Banga, former CTO of the Data Center & Cloud Division of Citrix Simon Crosby, and former VP of advanced products in the Virtualization and Management Division at Citrix Ian Pratt – to abandon established careers and get together to form a new company? More importantly, what can prompt three experienced venture capitalist funds – Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners – to invest $9.2 million in the aforementioned company? The
How India Stands to Gain from Cloud Computing “The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of traditions…” – Mark Twain (1835-1910), legendary American author and humorist. For many, India is still the land of
Are Cloud Computing Service Providers Shirking Responsibility On Security? Former American President Harry S. Truman famously had a sign on his desk at the Oval Office with the phrase, “The Buck Stops Here!” It signified that it was the President who had to make the hard decisions and bear responsibility for them; he could not pass it on to someone else, being at the head of command. Unfortunately, it seems that cloud computing service providers believe in a completely different ideology. For them, it’s passing the buck that has become an established norm, especially regarding security. While the recent outage
Breakout Quarter for Cloud Computing Stocks Some time back I had discussed the possibility of cloud computing stocks being valued more than they are worth (See: Are Cloud Computing Stocks Overvalued?). While, personally speaking, I believe that cloud computing stocks have more solidity than their vaporous counterparts during the Dotcom Bubble, I did recommend caution. Perhaps this quarter will be a good time to examine the fundamentals of cloud computing stocks, considering they have had the best time in the markets in recent times. A lot of the exuberance was fueled by consolidation in the space, with some bigger companies
Microsoft Study Says 40% of SMBs to Go On Cloud within 3 Years Microsoft, a major player in cloud computing with its Azure platform, released its global “SMB Cloud Adoption Study 2011” last week. The study was conducted to investigate the impact of cloud computing on small and medium businesses (SMBs), and the results are quite encouraging. The study, conducted in conjunction with market research firm Edge Strategies, polled 3,258 SMBs with 250 or fewer employees in 16 countries – Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. and
Looking Back at Joe Weinman’s 10 Laws of Cloudonomics Back in September 2008, Joe Weinman, Strategic Solutions Sales VP for AT&T Global Business Services, came up with a new term “Cloudonomics” to describe the economic effects of cloud computing. At that time, cloud computing hadn’t entered the popular lexicon and his definition went a long way towards popularizing the technology. During this time, Weinman also came up with what he called “The 10 Laws of Cloudonomics.” Now, two and a half years later when cloud computing has somewhat matured as a technology, it will be interesting to look back at
