Is the Cloud Nickel-and-Diming You? Cloud’s popularity of late is currently riding on a wave that undulates with the thrill of the financial benefits users stand to gain. Many applications grounded in cloud computing are offered a la carte and ready at a single mouse click from a user. These values of customization and accessibility have rendered cloud such a valuable hit for businesses and personal users alike. Nevertheless, the use of cloud computing technology doesn’t necessarily translate into an IT platform that slashes a business’ financial burden with a bang. Nor does using the cloud mean that users will
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Planning For Hybrid Cloud Management Even with all the hype that cloud computing is bringing to the field like Software/Platform/Infrastructure-as-a-service and the cost savings that they bring, the hybrid cloud approach is still gaining traction. This approach combines the effective use of both private and public cloud environments. But in truth, building a bridge between the two that would effectively show the strengths of both applications will be very challenging. Analysts are predicting that private cloud implementations will increase in the year 2012 and because of that, the hybrid cloud approach will also grow in popularity. Organizations that are planning
Tech Child’s Play: Is the Cloud Still a Kid? A new Information Week article, penned by well-respected expert Art Wittman, condemns cloud computing as a horny youngster still in the grips of puberty. Perhaps Wittman doesn’t attack the cloud so colorfully. But he solidly argues that, in terms of how IT people commit to its use the popular technology, cloud suffers from growing pains. Wittman reveals the results of a survey to IT organizations, asking them, “’What are your company’s plans for cloud computing?’… Two-thirds of [them] either have decided the cloud isn’t for them or have yet to pull the
Is Nicira a Game-changer? Maybe. Harbinger? Definitely While Nicira’s Network Virtualization Platform (NVP) has been out since February 9th, little more has been said about it’s game-changing properties, especially where it involves Cloud Computing. Networking has always been the hardware bottleneck that no one has actually overcome in Cloud Computing, but according to Nicira this is no longer an issue. However, rather than be the giant-killing game-changer, I can’t help but feel that it is more of a harbinger of things to come than the next up-and-coming giant. At little more than 10 or so days from its last announcement,
Ready For My Closeup, Mr. DeMille: the Cloud and Stardom The marriage of technology and celebrity has produced several happy unions throughout the history of popular culture. The most recent affair features a delightfully polygamous relationship between directors John “Titanic” Cameron and Martin “Mean Streets” Scorsese with the resurgence of 3-D film. After Cameron’s all-time hit of “Avatar,” the latter prestigious auteur answered with “Hugo,” a three-dimensional love letter of a film to cinema itself. Both pop-out-of-the-screen projects have attracted Oscar buzz. Buzzing around Tinseltown as of late is a new appreciation of cloud computing, and its potential contribution to
Reactions to the Amazon Cloud Outage and the Company’s Explanation The last two weeks have been the most difficult for cloud computing in general and Amazon Web Services in particular. The outage that left several online businesses non-functioning just before Easter. The cloud has led to many analysis and debates. When Amazon finally came out with an apology and an explanation a week after the incident, it gave rise to further speculation and comments, and also taught some valuable lessons to providers and consumers alike (See: Lessons from the Amazon Cloud Outage). For example, questions still remain as to the
A big question mark for cloud adopters Due to service levels or the lack thereof, organizations are hesitant to move to the cloud. Vendors clear the air on SLAs for the cloud We are currently at a stage where the IT world has seen its share of conferences, presentations, and in some cases actual adoption of what can be described the current favorite newsmaker, cloud computing. Some organizations have already moved to the cloud in some way or the other. While for others who are contemplating whether or not to deliver their IT from the cloud, Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
