There is a question we need to ask. It is a question which might end up annoying some people in the Cloud industry however it is one which we need to ask. Was the Cloud designed to be this way? This is to say, was the Cloud designed as terminology meant to distract everyday consumers from what really goes on in the world of data centers? Was the Cloud designed as a distraction? Cloud Education For the past two years, we have dedicated this space to one thing above the rest: explaining, highlighting and educating consumers on how the Cloud works and more importantly, how Cloud solutions can work for you. We have done this because here at Solar VPS, we firmly believe the more you know about how the Cloud works and how Cloud services can positively impact your business, the more prone you will be to investing in said Cloud services. And yet, on another level, we have dedicated this space to explaining Cloud and IT concepts because we know, just as other providers know, the more the public understands about the Cloud, the more the public will demand better IT solutions from providers. The more you know, the more you push for higher level services. This stated, we have something to admit. For all the effort we have put into educating our readers and consumers concerning Cloud services, we have the feeling that we have failed. For all the information we have presented and created, we have the feeling that the marketing effort behind the Cloud was never meant to be educational. We have the feeling, the marketing behind the Cloud, for the most part, has been designed to mislead the consumer. Much like the first rule of magic, the marketing behind the Cloud has been nothing more than a purposeful distraction designed to make the viewer look one way to mask the truth. All said, the marketing behind the Cloud has been everything but simple. Is the Cloud Battle Over? Published on January 15, 2014 in InformationWeek, Reuven Cohen hits on this very subject. “There’s been a renewed debate recently over the various layers of Cloud Computing stacks. At stake is a fight for Cloud Computing market share and mind share — and possibly, the future of Cloud platforms.” “Beyond a small group of technologists, Cloud Computing remains largely a mystery for most people. Ironically, I believe that’s the point of the Cloud: To act as an abstraction of the complexity found in more traditional data centers and application hosting infrastructures.” That sentiment bears repeating: “Beyond a small group of technologists, Cloud Computing remains largely a mystery for most people. Ironically, I believe that’s the point of the Cloud: To act as an abstraction of the complexity found in more traditional data centers and application hosting infrastructures.” To act as an abstraction of the complexity found in more traditional data centers and application hosting infrastructures. Another way of saying this: the Cloud is meant to distract … Continue
Monthly Archives: January 2014
How to Save Money While Doing Green IT
There have been a flurry of “green cloud” announcements recently, and that got us thinking about the relationship between green IT and saving money. Green is also the color of money, after all, and companies are discovering that reducing data center costs leads to substantial green benefits. The cloud takes cost reduction and green even further.
In the first announcement, IBM continues to innovate in cloud and in green, and it has patented technology for distributing compute workloads for cloud computing in a way that reduces power consumption. I’d liken it to a load balancer, but instead of trying to reduce response times, they’re trying to reduce power utilization overall. Now, it’s really interesting because this is not just a green initiative but it is also a cost-savings opportunity for cloud service providers.
Power consumption is a major cost driver for cloud service providers. Often, it’s pay-as-you go for storage, for compute, even for bandwidth. But no cloud provider is really charging for power utilization. This is a way for cloud service providers to reduce their sunk cost and improve their margins without having to charge the customers more. It’s green, but it’s also green for your wallet.
OpenText Buys GXS
OpenText Corporation has announced that it has completed its acquisition of GXS Group, Inc. (GXS), expanding OpenText’s leadership in EIM by combining OpenText’s Information Exchange portfolio with GXS’s cloud-based business-to-business integration services and managed services.
“I am delighted to welcome GXS customers, partners, trading community and employees to OpenText,” said OpenText CEO Mark J. Barrenechea. “We are committed to leading Enterprise Information Management with the market’s best products and cloud-based services. Our combined cloud will now manage over 16 billion transactions per year, approximately 600,000 trading partners and 40,000 customers.”
Migrate Oracle Database from HP-UX to Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Mission-critical functions at the heart of your business – such as order entry, finance, human resources, customer relationship management, and enterprise resource planning – frequently depend on “always-on” and scalable Oracle Database functionality. In the past, many businesses have selected HP-UX/Itanium systems as the backbone of an Oracle Database infrastructure because they could supply the throughput and availability needed for key database workloads.
The life cycle of an HP-UX/Itanium infrastructure for Oracle Database, however, is rapidly coming to an end. On July 1, 2013, Oracle announced the availability of Oracle Database 12c. Because cloud deployments are the projected direction for IT services, Oracle Database 12c follows a multi-tenant architecture that facilitates cloud delivery of database services. It seeks to simplify database management tasks by managing multiple co-located databases as one, while simultaneously enabling data isolation and database resource prioritization. Changes to existing Oracle database tables and applications are not required. However, Oracle supports this new release only on Solaris, Windows, and Linux® operating systems – and not on HP-UX. This means that current HP-UX customers must migrate to a different platform to take advantage of Oracle Database 12c and its ability to ease the transition to a database service cloud.
Mobile Expert Interview: Yuval Scarlat on Cloud Mobility
I had the privilege of interviewing the CEO of Capriza, Yuval Scarlat, last week. We discussed a wide range of topics such as cloud mobility, MADPs, MBaaS, mobile strategies and why he thought the market needed another mobile solutions vendor.
On a side note, I think Capriza’s website design is very effective. Enjoy!
Cloud Security Checklist: Make Sure Your Data Is Safe
Recent reports of a massive data breach affecting popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo have many companies rethinking security practices and wondering how to protect vital data. If your company uses cloud services to conduct business and manage data or is contemplating a hosting partnership, it’s natural to wonder if your service provider is taking all the steps necessary to keep your confidential information secure.
It’s an important issue: Cloud resources are becoming a must-have service for businesses since they offer scalability without requiring a massive investment in hardware. But before choosing a cloud service provider, it’s crucial to make sure the company can deliver the security your business needs. Here are some questions to keep in mind when making an evaluation.
Cloud accounting uptake lower than expected, survey finds
Only a quarter of CFOs are planning to move into cloud accounting in the next five years, according to a survey from chartered accountant firm William Buck.
The survey, which covered CFOs in Australia and New Zealand, painted a cautious picture of cloud adoption among the accountancy sector. 12% of firms currently use cloud accounting, with a huge 64% saying they’re not looking at moving into the cloud by 2018.
“While the cloud accounting media drum has been beating for some time, many CFOs are still cautious about the new technology and are hesitant to move away from the tools that they have been using for decades,” the William Buck report notes.
Education on the benefits of cloud accounting is therefore key, according to the report.
The primary benefits of cloud accounting are increased flexibility, streamlined workflow and reduced software expenses, as the CFOs surveyed pointed out.
Other areas …
Mobile Expert Interview: Yuval Scarlat on Cloud Mobility
I had the privilege of interviewing the CEO of Capriza, Yuval Scarlat, last week. We discussed a wide range of topics such as cloud mobility, MADPs, MBaaS, mobile strategies and why he thought the market needed another mobile solutions vendor.
On a side note, I think Capriza’s website design is very effective. Enjoy!
Getting Started with Windows Azure IaaS
Introducing the concept of cloud computing into your existing environments can seem to be a daunting task. Cloud computing is the next generation of computing and taking your first step into the cloud can be revolutionary for you and your company. The question you need to ask yourself is where to start? What are some of the low risk workloads that I can test the cloud with? More important, which cloud do you use as there are many different forms of clouds to choose from that could benefit your business. In this article we will take a look at some of the common clouds in today’s computing world, and then we will focus in on using infrastructure as a service, as this probably provides the easiest entry point into the cloud.
Was the Cloud Designed to Be This Way?
There is a question we need to ask. It is a question which might end up annoying some people in the Cloud industry however it is one which we need to ask. Was the Cloud designed to be this way? This is to say, was the Cloud designed as terminology meant to distract everyday consumers from what really goes on in the world of data centers? Was the Cloud designed as a distraction? Cloud Education For the past two years, we have dedicated this space to one thing above the rest: explaining, highlighting and educating consumers on how the Cloud works and more importantly, how Cloud solutions can work for you. We have done this because here at Solar VPS, we firmly believe the more you know about how the Cloud works and how Cloud services can positively impact your business, the more prone you will be to investing in said Cloud services. And yet, on another level, we have dedicated this space to explaining Cloud and IT concepts because we know, just as other providers know, the more the public understands about the Cloud, the more the public will demand better IT solutions from providers. The more you know, the more you push for higher level services. This stated, we have something to admit. For all the effort we have put into educating our readers and consumers concerning Cloud services, we have the feeling that we have failed. For all the information we have presented and created, we have the feeling that the marketing effort behind the Cloud was never meant to be educational. We have the feeling, the marketing behind the Cloud, for the most part, has been designed to mislead the consumer. Much like the first rule of magic, the marketing behind the Cloud has been nothing more than a purposeful distraction designed to make the viewer look one way to mask the truth. All said, the marketing behind the Cloud has been everything but simple. Is the Cloud Battle Over? Published on January 15, 2014 in InformationWeek, Reuven Cohen hits on this very subject. “There’s been a renewed debate recently over the various layers of Cloud Computing stacks. At stake is a fight for Cloud Computing market share and mind share — and possibly, the future of Cloud platforms.” “Beyond a small group of technologists, Cloud Computing remains largely a mystery for most people. Ironically, I believe that’s the point of the Cloud: To act as an abstraction of the complexity found in more traditional data centers and application hosting infrastructures.” That sentiment bears repeating: “Beyond a small group of technologists, Cloud Computing remains largely a mystery for most people. Ironically, I believe that’s the point of the Cloud: To act as an abstraction of the complexity found in more traditional data centers and application hosting infrastructures.” To act as an abstraction of the complexity found in more traditional data centers and application hosting infrastructures. Another way of saying this: the Cloud is meant to distract … Continue