The cloud has many benefits, but when it comes to application development, how does the cloud help enterprises and development teams create custom software and applications that end users actually care about? Using real world examples from Adobe, Herff Jones and Navy Federal Credit Union, this session will highlight the advantages cloud computing provides for quickly developing custom software and applications with compelling user experiences.
In their general session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Anthony Franco, president of EffectiveUI, and Ken Guiberson, CTO of EffectiveUI, will explore:
Using the flexible nature of cloud computing to rapidly design and deploy integrated enterprise applications
Leveraging the cloud for a highly visible and transparent development process
Using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to create a hybrid cloud

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VMware hypervisors of the ESX family (3.x, 4.x and 5.0) are fully, out-of-the box supported by the latest versions of OpenNebula(3.0+). If you have a server farm based on any of the ESX versions, then you can make use of OpenNebula to better manage your physical (and virtual) resources in order to build a private cloud and provide virtualized environments. OpenNebula is the most powerful open-source alternative to VMware datacenter and cloud suite, delivering enterprise-class functionality, stability and scalability with broader platform support and integration capabilities.

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Enthusiastic startup communities continue to emerge in the Philippines. Last fall, I reported on an event known as “Startup Weekend Manila.” Now a vibrant event has concluded in Cebu City, the country’s second-largest metro area.
Startup Weekend Cebu produced some 20 software ideas over the course of 54 hours, at an event hosted by the University of the Philippines Cebu. The first-place team demonstrated a mobile app called “WaitKnowMore,” which addresses the problem of insanely long waiting lines in the Philippines; no doubt the idea could be useful in many other places as well.
A mobile cooking app from a team called Luto.co, Codetoki, a web app that helps IT students make themselves attractive to employers, and an app called Digital Lifeline were other high finishers at the event.
Judges included technologists, executives, and entrepreneurs from the Philippines and beyond.
The guileless enthusiasm shown by participants at these events are a refreshing change from the hardboiled cynicism that has crept into Silicon Valley. There’s no talk of monetizing eyeballs, invasion of privacy as a benefit, or of massive IPOs.
Just rooms-full of mostly young people, with a few greyhairs thrown in to season the menudo. One of the challenges these fledgling entrepreneurs face is learning how to present their ideas forcefully and succinctly in a culture that tilts strongly toward showing humility and talking things through thoroughly.

When’s the Harvest?
Will any of these ideas bear fruit? Is The Next Big Thing lurking in this developing tropical ecosystem? Not for a mere writer to judge, but it’s important to note that two prominent Philippine entrepreneurs, Dado Banatao and Winston Damarillo held a follow-up event known as the Entrepreneurship Camp, the first of its kind in the Philippines.
Dado is currently with Tallwood Venture Capital, and is best-known for as a co-founder of Chips & Technologies and S3 Graphics. Winston is founder of Morphlabs and Exist, companies he founded after selling Gluecode to IBM in 2005.
Dado is also Chair of PhilDev and Winston founder of DevCon, two organizations that promote technological entrepreneurship and leadership in the Philippines. “We believe that truly sustainable economic development can only be realized when we have achieved a critical mass of Entrepreneurs in the country,” Dado said at the Cebu event. Winston echoed those remarks, noting, “It is important that we provide a pathway for our technologists and engineers to become entrepreneurs,”
Dado and Winston are now working on a larger event, called “Silicon Valley Comes to the Philippines,” scheduled for October of this year. I’ll stay in touch with them about this – my hope is that the local development communities can continue to grow, and even take its place among the major technology regions of the world, while retaining its infectious enthusiasm and charm.

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Most technology companies – especially Software companies do marketing all wrong. They make marketing all about «them». I call it «me-me-me» marketing.
Marketing for technology should be about «the customer» – and how to make the customer successful.
There are a few examples of software technology marketing done right – and one of them is Zendesk with their «Customer Hero Tour». Zuora is also high on my list.
Zendesk has set the bar for technology companies on the most critical marketing «best practice» of all.

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As the role of cloud computing is growing around the globe, many CIOs and other senior IT decision makers are facing challenges with their existing network infrastructure — to support the migration of their business applications to the cloud. A new international study by Cisco Systems revealed the ongoing challenges associated with public or private cloud deployments.
These latest research findings provide insight into the current state of cloud service adoption and the chasm between IT expectations and network realities. The survey also examines the experiences of IT professionals regarding the level of difficulty and time required to update their networks and migrate their applications to the cloud.

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Major changes have taken place in the network in the past 15 years. The type of data that users are passing across the pipes is significantly different in size and composition. And, the coming “data explosion” promises to put even the most robust networks to the test.
When you add in technologies like virtualization and the need to access cloud computing solutions reliably, it’s no wonder that the network sometimes falls behind the times.
If you want to modernize your data center’s network, here are some guiding facts and principles you need to consider.

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«We’re giving customers running SAP solutions an easy, low-risk way to take advantage of all the benefits of the cloud in a way that fits seamlessly into their existing IT environments,” said Kevin Jones, vice president, Dell Services, as Dell Services announced the first offers in its new Dell Cloud suite for SAP solutions, further enriching Dell’s portfolio in support of SAP solutions.

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