The CCN has now started a Meet Ups group to organize a regular schedule of networking sessions for entrepreneurs and corporate users to learn more about Cloud Computing.
The first of these is Efrem Habteselassie, Founder of one of Canada’s most exciting Cloud start-ups, Cloud Search Portal.
As the name suggests the venture demonstrates the fundamental value of the Cloud – A hosted version of very powerful software so that you can access it in an on demand, utility manner, harnessing the benefits without having to be troubled with the challenges of installing and managing it all yourself.
In this case the powerful software is Search technology, like that of Google, but in this case based on the Microsoft Sharepoint FAST system.
Step-by-Step: Build Linux VMs in the Cloud with Windows Azure
The Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering supports running Windows virtual machines and Linux virtual machines in the Cloud. In this article, I provide step-by-step guidance for running a new Linux virtual machine in the cloud using our Windows Azure platform.
Windows Azure runs Linux VMs as a first-class citizen on our cloud platform, with support in the Preview offering for four common Linux distributions.
If the standard Linux platform images don’t meet your exact needs, there’s several options for leveraging or customizing other images for Windows Azure VMs …
The Extended Enterprise: Taking Your App Delivery Strategy to the Cloud
The cloud is changing the way enterprises consume IT infrastructure and applications. Networks and application deployment strategies are being re-architected to manage an increasingly hybrid network where storage, utility compute and applications are being designed to move seamlessly across private and public cloud infrastructures.
In this Lunchtime Focus Keynote at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley, Todd Paoletti, Akamai’s Vice President of Product Management, discussed how the trends, new products and roadmaps will help increase cloud adoption and business agility.
Hosted Communication and Collaboration is the fastest-growing cloud service in Europe and North Africa
By, John Zanni, Vice President Service Provider Marketing and Alliances, Parallels
Parallels just recently released the first research on cloud adoption at small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Europe and Northern Africa (EUNA). We saw a diverse mix of cloud service opportunities in the SMB marketplace, ranging from replacing companies’ in-house IT solutions, to acquiring new adopters who currently have no in-house solution, to upselling current customers to more advanced services.
For the major hosted services—hosted infrastructure, web presence, hosted communication and collaboration, and business applications— Parallels estimates the 2012 EUNA SMB to grow from $12.6B USD in 2012 to $29.4B USD in 2015, representing a year-over-year growth rate of 33%.
Use of hosted communication and collaboration services is still small across all EUNA countries, but it’s the fastest-growing of all cloud-service categories.
Although more than 50% of SMBs in developed countries with mature cloud services are using hosted email, the vast majority are using free options: only 10% to 20% of them are using hosted premium email. In the remaining EUNA countries, fewer than 50% of SMBs are using hosted email of any sort—and, again, only 10% to 20% of them are paying for the premium option. Nonetheless, there is ample opportunity in this market, with our research showing that up to 50% of those currently not using hosted premium email are considering adding the service in the near future.
We suggest two main strategies for expanding the current low usage of hosted premium email:
Encourage adoption among micro and small SMBs using in-house email servers.
Our research found that around 10% to 15% of micro SMBs and more than 20% of small SMBs in developed EUNA countries are using in-house email servers. This is an expensive and complicated solution for small companies, particularly those without dedicated IT staff. And since, depending on the specific country, anywhere from 20% to 50% of SMBs with in-house email servers are either definitely planning to switch to hosted premium email over the next three years or are considering doing so, these SMBs represent a sizable opportunity.
Upsell small and medium SMBs currently using free email
Another opportunity lies in upselling the cloud expanders currently using free email, whether from a hosting service provider, an ISP, or a provider like Google. (We consider SMBs that upgrade from free hosted email to hosted premium email to be cloud expanders, even though their current use of the cloud service is free.) Upselling these SMBs to hosted premium email should be easy—particularly for small and medium SMBs—since they can benefit both from this service’s team collaboration aspects and from a “pay-per-seat” pricing model. These SMBs represent a significant opportunity, as our research shows that over 30% of small and medium SMBs currently using free hosted email are either planning to add hosted premium email in the next three years or considering doing so.
There are already more than a dozen hosting companies from all over the world such as LuxCloud (www.luxcloud.com), Blacknight Solutions (www.blacknight.com), Irish Domains Ltd. (www.irishdomains.com), Ovaleye (www.ovaleye.com), PacHosting (www.pachosting.com), ReadySpace (www.readyspace.com) and Triple Cloud (www.ccc.co.il) that are using Parallels’ products to provide their customers with Open-Xchange´s email and collaboration software as hosted service.
Contact a Parallels or Open-Xchange representative today to understand how this trend can improve your business right now!
How to Get the Security of a Private Cloud Via a Public Cloud Deployment
Recently, McKinsey & Company released an article entitled Protecting information in the cloud which discussed the increased use of cloud computing by enterprises of a variety of sizes and industries and the benefits and risks cloud usage entails. The article recognizes that many organizations are already using cloud applications and realizing the efficiency and cost benefits and, in fact, most are looking to increase their usage of the cloud in 2013 and beyond in both private and public environments. But there are issues that are inhibiting adoption, such as risks associated with data security and concerns around privacy and compliance.
The McKinsey article rightly points out that allowing perceived risks to bar further adoption of the cloud is not a realistic option for most organizations, given the many compelling benefits offered. Enterprises must determine ways to embrace the cloud while also being able to satisfy important questions concerning security, compliance and regulatory protection that are hampering aggressive movement to the cloud.
CloudBerry Introduces Smart Restore for Amazon Glacier
CloudBerry Lab today released CloudBerry Explorer v. 3.7.2 an application that allows users to manage files in Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier just as if they were on their local computers.
In the new release CloudBerry Explorer allows users controlling the restore cost in Amazon Glacier that is charged based on the peak usage per hour in a given month. Smart Restore functionality enables users to specify peak retrieval rate to keep the cost on the required level and to run the restore process in the background.
The new version also comes with the ability to display Amazon Glacier storage using the Folder View to make it easier for PC users to work with the storage.
Smart Restore and Folder View features are available in both versions of CloudBerry Explorer: Freeware and PRO.
Freeware version offers basic storage management capabilities such as browsing, creating, and deleting files, folders, buckets and vaults and uploading content from your PC to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier storage and vice versa. CloudBerry Explorer Freeware is available for download at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/
PRO version offers some advanced features over Freeware version. It costs $39.99 per license.
Integrating customer service and the cloud
The cloud is commonly envisaged as a utilitarian service, enabling those companies using it, to experience ease of access to data in various accounts, homogenisation of such accounts, the external management of servers, negating the need for expensive hardware, and so on.
This utilitarian approach has, broadly speaking, meant that some cloud services lose a certain personal element with their clients.
The cloud has been associated with a lack of customer service, with some of the large providers simply erecting web pages and FAQs to tackle customer problems. It is often very difficult to phone up and talk to a human being.
For a fair few businesses, customer service is something which takes a back seat.
However, so long as dissatisfied customers reject bad customer service, such offenders will invariably lose business or be bought up by companies which do regard customer satisfaction as paramount.
The cloud’s growth was …
Consumer knowledge of cloud still vague, says new survey
With the analysts predicting cloud computing to rise and rise in 2013, it can be refreshing to get a consumer perspective on how they use the cloud and their overall knowledge of it.
Yet the signs don’t appear to be good – a new survey from UK-based hosting group Webfusion has revealed that two thirds of UK consumers don’t have a clear view of what the cloud entails.
Webfusion polled over 1,000 people, with their findings giving little credence to a consumer shift in cloud perception.
When asked the question ‘when it comes to computers, do you understand what ‘cloud’ means?’, just over a third (33.8%) related most closely to the response ‘yes, I have a clear understanding’. 28.5% emphatically said ‘no!’ whilst 18.3% agreed with the response ‘I have some understanding’.
Not particularly good signs there and the response was similar when concerning understanding …
Thirty-One Days of Servers in the Cloud |The Complete Series
If you’re interested in the full list of articles in our “31 Days of Servers in the Cloud” Windows Azure Virtual Machines and IaaS series…
“I’m interested in the links to the full series, Kevin.”
I was just getting to that. Anyway… here it is. ENJOY!
“Hey Kevin.. How come the list isn’t complete?”
Because the month isn’t over yet. Keep watching my blog every day for the latest article.
Five Key ROI Considerations When Adopting IT Enterprise Software
Corporations around the globe rely on having highly efficient IT networks, and introducing a new piece of enterprise software into the mix will have a far-reaching impact on the entire organization. The decision to purchase and implement new business IT software is not one to enter into lightly. The process may be convoluted because it may affect many different parts of the business and can be difficult to manage without a dedicated workforce focusing solely on software implementation and integration. This article will present a set of recommended cost/benefit criteria that should be considered when evaluating, implementing and measuring the ROI of implementing new IT management systems.