How can organizations use enterprise/private cloud capabilities and Big Data analytics to improve information-sharing?
In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Ira A. (Gus) Hunt, Chief Technology Officer for the Chief Information Officer in the CIA, will discuss how the Intelligence Community has been using enterprise/private cloud capabilities and Big Data analytics to improve information-sharing across the entire community.
RightScale Coupon Code ▸ rightscaleVIPgold Offer as Cloud Expo Sponsor
As a Bronze Sponsor of Cloud Expo New York, RightScale is offering special passes to SYS-CON’s 10th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 11–14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
RightScale Inc. is the leader in cloud computing management. Founded in 2006, the company offers fully automated cloud management that enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business-critical applications across multiple clouds with complete control and portability. To date, thousands of deployments and more than three million servers have been launched with RightScale cloud management for leading organizations such as PBS, Harvard University, Zynga and Sling Media.
Cloud Computing: Windstream Brings Communications Services to Las Vegas
Windstream Corp. announced on Wednesday the expansion of its full suite of advanced network communications and technology solutions to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas businesses have a new choice for essential voice and data services including VoIP, SIP trunking, MPLS, and dedicated high-speed Internet. Windstream also offers managed services, cloud computing, disaster recovery, and networking services designed to help businesses increase productivity and improve operational costs.
“Customers like to have choices when it comes to customized network solutions,” said Norm Kirch, regional director for Windstream in Las Vegas. “With more than 450,000 business customers nationwide, we have extensive experience working with companies of all sizes to provide them with the customized solutions they need to run their businesses as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”
Akamai Coupon Code ▸ akamaiVIPgold Special Offer as Cloud Expo Sponsor
As a Gold Sponsor of Cloud Expo New York, Akamai is offering special passes to SYS-CON’s 10th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 11–14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
Akamai is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company’s solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud.
Cloud Computing: Trends in the Hyperconnected World at Cloud Expo New York
Cloud computing has gained momentum and is increasingly being embraced by enterprises of all sizes. But the cloud itself is often its own worst enemy as performance, reliability, and the lack of enterprise-level capabilities have led to obstacles in growth and adoption of this still promising infrastructure methodology. This is only exacerbated by an increasingly mobile and global world, one that is plagued with security concerns.
In his Lunchtime Focus Keynote at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Neil Cohen, Akamai’s VP of Enterprise Application Products, will discuss the challenges you face in the cloud, and how you can leverage both public and hybrid cloud infrastructures without sacrificing security or control.
What Does GRC and Las Vegas Have to Do with IT?
In the spirit of leaving Las Vegas I started thinking about the transformation of Las Vegas from a desert oasis created by organized crime to a billion-dollar industry. How did big business and Wall St. push the mob out of Vegas? Movies and television shows, such as Casino, Goodfellas, and the Sopranos illustrate a side of organized crime that few rarely ever witness or have witnessed. Las Vegas was created by organized crime to service their syndicate with money laundering, prostitution, entertainment and schmoozing services. It worked splendidly; until it didn’t. Something changed and it created a landslide that eventually saw Vegas’ founders ousted and replaced with a larger, more powerful and adept landlord—mega-corporations. How they accomplished this is a lesson that clearly should be noted by IT.
Believe it or not, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) was the tool of choice in ousting organized crime from Vegas. Big business and government made it an inhospitable environment for crime syndicates to operate; at least with regard to gaming and hoteling. The first step was to foster transparency upon the casinos. Long suspected for ‘rigging’ of games, local and federal government initiatives pushed for regulation and compliance for gaming. This had the impact of reducing the ill-gotten gains for organized crime, while lowering the risk for gamblers since the odds were considerably greater in their favor without the magnetic roulette ball or aces tucked under the blackjack table.
Cloud Computing: Symform Announces Sponsorship of Cloud Expo New York
Symform, a revolutionary cloud storage and backup service, on Wednesday announced that it will be speaking, sponsoring and exhibiting at the upcoming cloud and high-tech industry event Cloud Expo New York.
On Monday, June 11 at 5:45 p.m. ET Symform execs Praerit Garg and Margaret Dawson will speak on “The Distributed and Decentralized Cloud.” Dawson is also a featured speaker at the Cloud Boot Camp, where she is speaking on “Extending Your Existing Infrastructure and Data to the Cloud” with Pavan Pant, Director of Product Management at CloudSwitch, Terremark, on Thursday, June 14 at 8:00 a.m. ET. Finally, Symform is sponsoring and presenting a lightening talk at the unconference Cloud Camp Tuesday, June 12.
Data Center Fabric for Cloud Computing at Cloud Expo New York
Enterprise IT organizations want to deploy a virtualized data center fabric that will provide the foundation for agile private cloud computing. Getting there does not have to be difficult, but it does require a new approach to data center infrastructure design – an approach that is non-disruptive, vendor-agnostic, and very adaptable to changing business requirements.
In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Bruce Fingles, Chief Information Officer and VP of Product Quality at Xsigo, will look at the limitations of traditional thinking, and show how extending the power of virtualization can help maximize performance, minimize complexity, and empower IT organizations with an agile data center fabric.
GoGrid’s Private Cloud Computing Solution Powers Business Services
GoGrid on Wednesday announced its Private Cloud infrastructure solution is powering a new network management application for Orange Business Services, the France Telecom-Orange branch dedicated specifically to business-to-business services.
“We’re excited to work with Orange Business Service as they cloud-enable this important infrastructure monitoring service for their customers,” said Jeffrey Samuels, CMO, GoGrid. “GoGrid’s Private Cloud was an ideal solution for their requirements because it provides true cloud-computing capabilities that can scale as needed and offer the requisite control and flexibility.”
There is Only One Cloud-Computing Myth
The only cloud-computing myth is that there are cloud-computing myths.
Instead, there are many articles about cloud myths, an endless parade of strawman arguments put out by writers, analysts, and marketers that lectures us on why we’re so stupid to believe the “myths” that cloud is inexpensive, is easy to deploy and maintain, that it automatically reduces costs, etc.
Anyone who’s ever written a line of code or approved an enterprise IT contract knows there are no simple solutions and no universal solvents in their world. Never have been and never will be.
However, there are many powerful arguments in favor of enteprises migrating some of their apps and processes to the cloud, and there is a separate consumer-cloud industry that allowed me to listen to Igor Presnyakov rip through AC/DC’s “All Night Long” and Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing” on my Android phone last night.
I thank Google for the latter opportunity, even as the company remains as enigmatic as Mona Lisa about what’s going on behind the scenes.
It’s too bad Google is not one of our great sharers, because the enterprise IT shops of the world could no doubt learn a lot more about cloud computing from watching Google at work than it can from using Google Apps.
But enough whining. Each organization needs to find its own cloud, and this should be a rigorous, perhaps time-consuming process. Discussion of particular cloud strategies and vendors should come at the end of this process. First, figure out what you want to do and why.
A nice cost analysis is helpful, of course, but my brain starts to seize up when the term “ROI” is put into play. At this point, it becomes a contest to game the system and produce an ROI forecast that will have a false advertising of direct impacts of the technology on the company’s business. When used to justify technology, ROI and its sinister cousin, TCO, are the enemies of business success.
A nice thing about cloud is that the heated political and religious debates over Open Source have been (mostly) replaced by practical arguments over which specific product, framework, or architecture provides the best option for a particular initiative. If discussion of cloud should come at the end of the overall decision-making process, discussion of Open Source should come at the end of that discussion.
Don’t try to transform the organization overnight. This will happen on its own as more and more cloud floats into the enterprise. And don’t believe in the myth that there are cloud myths. There aren’t; only more wondrous technology that needs to be examined carefully as you continue the eternal quest to keep things as unscrewed up as possible in your organization.