The most popular online storage use case nowadays is the combination of web interface, desktop clients from PC and Mac, mobile clients, together with team folders support and peer-to-peer file sharing. Many online storage services do this. The market niche is how to provide the functionality, while giving customers full control of the whole infrastructure stack from the bottom to the top.
Can the Cloud Move to the Mainstream in Health Care?
Imagine Jim, who’s had a CT scan and then is diagnosed with a stroke at the hospital. Although the on-call neurologist is at another hospital, and outside the hospital system, he accesses Jim’s radiology images on his mobile device, in real time. Upon review, the doctor learns that Jim had an aneurysm months before. He’s able to call a neurosurgery colleague who is making rounds at the same hospital and they review Jim’s images together on a laptop and tablet using cloud-based technology.
The cloud allows these two doctors to begin an assessment on Jim before ever examining him, thus improving efficiency and possibly saving his life. When Dr. Smith meets with Jim he examines him and then discusses a treatment plan. He uses his tablet to visually explain the radiology images and he’s able to make the abstract 2D CT images more real by using 3D imagery to help show Jim what has happened to him.
The private cloud strikes back
Having read JP Rangaswami’s argument against private clouds (and the obvious promoting of his version of cloud) I have only to say that he’s looking for oranges in an apple tree. His entire premise is based on the idea that enterprises are wholly concerned with cost and sharing risk when that can’t be farther from the truth.
Yes, cost is indeed a factor, as is sharing risk, but a bigger and more important factor facing the enterprise today is agility and flexibility…something that monolithic leviathan-like enterprise IT systems of today definitely are not.
He then jumps from cost to social enterprise as if there is a causal relationship there when, in fact, they are two separate discussions. I don’t doubt that if you are a consumer (not just customer) facing organization, it’s best to get on that social enterprise bandwagon, but if your main …
Cloud SOA – Cloud as ‘Overlay Architecture’
A common topic when discussing Cloud is that it’s only about migrating your existing apps ‘into the Cloud’, when actually a more likely and productive scenario is keeping your legacy where it is and instead using the Cloud as an “overlay architecture“. Indeed rather than always thinking in terms of ‘moving our app into the […]
Public or Private Cloud: Which Is Best for Application Marketplaces?
Cloud computing offers almost limitless possibilities for innovation and growth. It also provides fodder for endless debates about the pros and cons of hosted and on-premise software deployments.
In one corner, you have the advocates of hosting software in the public cloud who argue that it offers better flexibility and scalability. In the other corner, you have proponents of private, on-premise deployments who counter that this approach is more secure and offers greater control.
The growing popularity of cloud service marketplaces – application stores that offer a range of cloud-based software and services – is adding a new dimension to these familiar arguments. Which type of deployment, public or private cloud, is best for marketplaces like these?
It’s an important question, since deciding where to host an application store can impact the entire ecosystem for cloud-based solutions, from the big-name brands that operate marketplaces, to developers who create applications to sell in them, to the end-user customers who come to rely on these solutions.
Cloud Encryption Best Practices
Cloud encryption keeps coming up as one of the hottest topics for enterprises migrating to the cloud. IT departments are constantly pushed to cut costs and utilize compute resources more efficiently, hence cloud computing is the natural evolution, yet at the same enterprises cannot compromise on cloud security, and cloud encryption should be considered high on the list as it segregates and “hides” your data from other virtual entities hosted on the same physical cloud infrastructure.
What’s my cloud provider’s encryption approach?
Cloud data security and cloud encryption comes in many forms and shapes. While some cloud providers will provide the encryption service, some will provide a “shopping list” of cloud encryption companies, and others will provide both. But which one is best for your needs?
The Value of an End-to-End Cloud Computing Operating System
“The productization of Big Data will be an interesting trend to track, and I think we’ll start to see some significant investment in this area over the coming months,” noted Scott Sneddon, Vyatta’s Director of Cloud Solutions, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “We at Vyatta think this trend is exciting,” Sneddon continued, “because these kinds of new ventures will always need powerful and creative networking and security solutions.”
Cloud Computing Journal: Agree or disagree? – “While the IT savings aspect is compelling, the strongest benefit of cloud computing is how it enhances business agility.”
Scott Sneddon: Whether you’re a mature company or an emerging business, time-to-market is critical to success. Rapid deployment of network infrastructure or a new product line always requires capital. The companies that win always optimize their cash flow and keep plenty of it on hand to seize opportunities. That opportunity could be a critical executive hire, an undervalued target acquisition or a necessary engineering build-out. Either way, cloud computing when executed correctly can directly impact how nimble companies can react to market opportunities.
Cloud Computing: Panzura Raises $15 Million C Round
Panzura and its global cloud storage solutions have gotten a $15 million C round led by Opus Capital.
Existing investors Matrix Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures, the investment arm of the world’s third-largest oil conglomerate, also kicked in. Opus general partner Carl Showalter will get a board seat.
The new round of funding brings the company’s total backing to $33 million.
Panzura says it will use the new money to establish an international sales presence and scale its US-based marketing, sales and engineering. The company also plans to expand its channel ecosystem and explore joint development projects with its strategic partners, which currently include HP, Google, Rackspace and EMC.
OpenNebula for Large-Scale Cloud Deployments
One of the main design principles in OpenNebula focuses on enabling large scale deployments. In this type of deployment it is usually the case that we have to deal with large number of physical hosts, with the intention of running a large number of virtual machines. This is important since many of the OpenNebula users run large scale deployments with tens of thousands of virtual machines.
The scalability of the virtual infrastructure manager is, without a doubt, a keystone when a large-scale cloud deployment is at stake. The ability to handle a large number of resources, keeping track of them and staying responsive is essential, for that very reason the OpenNebula project has put a lot of effort to make the central component of OpenNebula, the core daemon, as stable and robust a possible.
ShoreTels Cloud Division Announces Unified Communications for iOS, Android, Blackberry
ShoreTel today announced the release of ShoreTel Mobility for customers of ShoreTel’s M5 cloud division. The solution extends the voice and unified communications (UC) applications businesses love to the smartphone. The initial launch will support iPhones and subsequent releases over the summer will add support for other smartphone and tablet devices including Android and Blackberry. Users are able to leverage a single converged device for both business and personal communications, and access deskphone and UC capabilities on their iPhone without having to learn a new interface.
In addition to offering users a dual persona, ensuring easy separation of personal and business identities on a single mobile device, ShoreTel Mobility automatically and securely selects the best available network – Wi-Fi or cellular – without any action by the user. The solution is available to ShoreTel’s Cloud Division clients for a monthly fee per user.
“I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the ShoreTel Mobility application. I’ve been wanting this for 4 years now and I’m glad that M5, as part of ShoreTel, will be one of the first in the market. I have no doubt that true corporate mobility will improve productivity for our remote and traveling employees,” said Derek Stewart, Finance and Operations manager at Foursquare.
“The way people work has changed. Instead of fighting the trends of mobility and bring-your- own-device, we are empowering our clients to embrace them by extending our cloud phone system capabilities to the device that users love the most – their own,” said Dan Hoffman, ShoreTel Cloud Division President. “The solution represents a win-win, giving our customers the ease of using the device that is already in their pocket and giving the enterprise a way to reduce costs, while maintaining a consistent corporate identity and caller experience.”
Users enjoy the following benefits:
- Identity – Business calls to and from any ShoreTel Mobility
user are made using their business phone number, not their personal
mobile number. This means corporate identity is maintained and the
company, not the employee, owns the contact relationship. Employees no
longer need to reveal personal mobile phone numbers and can instantly
tell if an incoming call to the mobile device is personal or work
related. - Convenience – Users can leverage all of the benefits of the M5
cloud business-phone system that they enjoy when using a deskphone
including: transferring calls to other employees and utilizing
four-digit dialing. Coaching tools such as barge and whisper are
available to management. - Metrics – Mobile calls are no longer omitted from the phone
system’s business intelligence. Records for business calls made to and
from the mobile device are included along with deskphone calls, giving
management true visibility into employee performance and the health of
the business. - Network Flexibility – ShoreTel Mobility can significantly
reduce direct dial and international roaming charges on the smartphone
by utilizing software that switches networks automatically,
intelligently and securely between wireless and cellular for the best
available coverage at any given moment.
For more information about ShoreTel Mobility in the cloud, the M5 Unified Communications Suite, or other products, please visit www.m5.net.
