Archivo de la categoría: Cloud computing

Cloud computing, Cloud Services, News Round-Up, Saas, Small Businesses, SMB, Software as a service

News Round-Up 5/5/2012: What Makes the Cloud Cool, Feds in the Cloud, 10 Things Your Cloud Contract Needs

 

There have been some exciting announcements and fascinating news articles recently regarding cloud services and service providers. Every week we will round up the most interesting topics from around the globe and consolidate them into a weekly summary.

 

Cloud Computing Gains in Federal Government

The Federal Government is warming to the speed, agility and functionality of cloud computing.

 

State companies helping Army with cloud computing

The U.S. Army has turned to cloud computing, and to Wisconsin companies, to improve its intelligence gathering in Afghanistan.

 

Saas Offering Provides Detailed Analysis of Your Software Portfolio

Are you faced with the need to do a software portfolio analysis but find the prospect daunting given the scattered nature of your operation? A new SaaS-based offering might fit the bill.

 

SaaS Business Apps Drive SMB Cloud Computing Adoption

Lots of small and medium businesses have discovered the benefits of software-as-a-service. These SaaS applications are driving cloud adoption among SMBs. 

 

Here’s What Makes The Cloud So Cool

Mike Pearl from PriceWaterhouseCooper provides a useful plan of attack for business adoption of cloud computing.

 

10 Things You Just Gotta Have in Your Cloud Contract

CFO’s guide to the wild and wooly world of cloud services in which contracts are mutable, companies come and go, and politics a continent away could materially impact your business.

 

 

Also in the news:

 

 

 

Cloud computing, cloud management

Guest Post: Cloud Management

 

By Rick Blaisdell; CTO ConnectEDU

Cloud computing has definitely revolutionised the IT industry and transformed the way in which IT Services are delivered. But finding the best way for an organization to perform common management tasks using remote services on the Internet is not that easy.

Cloud management incorporates the task of providing, managing, and monitoring applications into cloud infrastructures that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location or of the system that delivers the services. Monitoring cloud computing applications and activity into requires cloud management tools to ensure that resources are meeting SLA’s, working optimally and also not effecting systems and users that are leveraging these services.

With appropriate cloud management solutions, private users are now able to manage multiple operating systems on the same dedicated server or move the virtual servers to a shared server all from in the same cloud management solution.  Some cloud companies offer tools to manage this entire process, some will provide this solution using a combination of tools and managed services.

The three core components of cloud environment, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and finally Software as a Service (SaaS), now offer great solutions to manage cloud computing, but the management tools need to be flexible and scalable just as the cloud computing strategy of an organization should be. With the new paradigm of computing, cloud management has to:

  • continue to make cloud easier to use;
  • provide security policies for the cloud environment;
  • allow safe cloud operations and ease migrations;
  • provide for financial controls and tracking;
  • audit and reporting for compliance.

Numerous tasks and tools are necessary for cloud management. A successful cloud management strategy includes performance monitoring in terms of response times, latency, uptime and so on, security and compliance auditing and management, initiating, supervising and management of disaster recovery.

So, why is it so important to implement a cloud management strategy into an organization? By having a cloud management strategy that fits into the cloud computing resources that a company uses, it offers a faster delivery of IT services to businesses, it reduces capital and operating costs, it charges backs automatically for resource usage and reporting and it allows IT departments to monitor their service level requirements.

 

 

This post originally appeared on http://www.rickscloud.com/cloud-management/

Cloud computing, compliance, risk management

Avoid the Security Umpire Problem

Have you ever been part of a team or committee working on an initiative and found that the security or compliance person seemed to be holding up your project? They just seemed to find fault with anything and everything and just didn’t add much value to the initiative? If you are stuck with security staff that are like this all the time, that’s a bigger issue that’s not within the scope of this article to solve.  But, most of the time, it’s because this person was brought in very late in the project and a bunch of things have just been thrown at them, forcing them to make quick calls or decisions.

A common scenario is that people feel that there is no need to involve the security folks until after the team has come up with a solution.  Then the team pulls in the security or compliance folks to validate that the solution doesn’t go afoul of the organization’s security or compliance standards. Instead of a team member who can help with the security and compliance aspects of your project, you have ended up with an umpire.

Now think back to when you were a kid picking teams to play baseball.  If you had an odd number of kids then more than likely there would be one person left who would end up being the umpire. When you bring in the security or compliance team member late in the game, you may end up with someone that takes on the role of calling balls and strikes instead of being a contributing member of the team.

Avoid this situation by involving your Security and Compliance staff early on, when the team is being assembled.  Your security SMEs should be part of these conversations.  They should know the business and what the business requirements are.  They should be involved in the development of solutions.  They should know how to work within a team through the whole project lifecycle. Working this way ensures that the security SME has full context and is a respected member of the team, not a security umpire.

This is even more important when the initiative is related to virtualization or cloud. There are so many new things happening in this specific area that everyone on the team needs as much context, background, and lead time as possible so that they can work as a team to come up with solutions that make sense for the business.


Cloud computing, hybrid cloud, Private Cloud

What Should I Do about Cloud?

The word of the day is “Cloud.” Nearly every software and hardware vendor out there has a product and shiny marketing to help their customers go “to the cloud.” Every IT trade rag has seemingly unique, seemingly agnostic advice on how their audience can take advantage of cloud computing. Standards bodies have published authoritative descriptions of cloud computing models. If you’re an IT decision maker or influencer, you’re in luck! Many reputable players in the industry have published reams of information to help you on your journey to take advantage of cloud computing. Pick your poison… Public, Private, Hybrid, Community, SaaS, IaaS, PaaS… even XaaS (anything as a service!). On-premises, off-premises… or even “on-premise” if you want!

Starting with an on-premises private cloud of your own seems like a sensible choice. A cloud environment of your own, that you can keep cool and dry inside of your own datacenter. Architects can design and build it with the components of their choice, management can have the control that they’re used to, and administrators can manage it alongside every other system. Security issues can be handled deftly by your consultant or cloud-champion – after all, your cloud is internal and private!

Another perspective is to skip out on a cloud strategy, forgo some early benefits, and wait for all of the chips to fall before making any investments. This is the respectable “do nothing” alternative, and it’s a valid one.

Yet another perspective is to take a close look at cloud concepts and prepare your company to act, when appropriate. Prepare, act, appropriate time. Sounds like a strategy brewing.