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Which of these lesser known storage services is right for you?

There are so many cloud storage services vying for your business that it can be seriously tough to decide on which is best. DropBox is the poster child and flush with an infusion of $250m in venture capital. Good on flexibility and functionality but not so much on pricing. DropBox for Teams provides 1000 GB of storage, version history, admin tools and customer support starting at $795 per year for five users.

Small businesses with basic needs may get away with using Google or Microsoft. Google Drive offers five GB free, 25 GB for $2.49 per month and goes all the way up to 16 TB for $799.99 per month. The pricing is competitive and you have limited version history, the ability to share and edit files and the option to have discussions.

The problem is Google would like you to use all their services. It’s perfect …

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DoD Cloud Computing Strategy

The DoD recently released the department’s formal cloud computing strategy.

DoD Cloud Computing Strategy

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In the forward, DoD CIO Teresa Takai said that:

«The DoD Cloud Computing Strategy has been expanded to address use of commercial cloud services in the Department’s multi-provider enterprise cloud environment. Adoption and implementation of commercially provided cloud services are being rapidly accelerated with the maturing of the Federal Cloud Computing initiative, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), and release of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.»

Specific cloud computing transition steps include:

  • Foster adoption of Cloud Computing
  • Optimize Data Center Consolidation
  • Establish the DoD Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure; and
  • Deliver Cloud Services

A subsequent memo identified the Defense Information Systems Agency as the department cloud services broker.

DISA Broker Designation

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A copy of the strategy is available for download at http://www.slideshare.net/kvjacksn/findod-cloud-computing-strategy

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( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2012)



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Layer 7 At Your Service

Layer 7 has been providing solutions for more than a decade. In this time, we have gained valuable experience of how to make our industry-leading products deliver maximum benefit in critical customer environments. In particular, we’ve gained a great deal of knowledge about how to translate clients’ business needs into robust solutions that meet the functional requirements and address key non-functional areas like performance, security and operations.

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What are the 7 challenges facing federal cloud computing?

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that, while the US ‘Cloud First’ enterprise project is making tangible progress, there are seven cloud lessons for the public sector.

The report, subtitled “progress made but future cloud computing efforts should be better planned”, charts the progress of Cloud First – a federal policy which exhorts agencies to find a cloud-based IT solution whenever logistically possible.

Things appear to have moved forward since 2010, when the GAO previously warned about the difficulties associated with federal cloud management.

Back in May 2010, the accountability office found that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the White House hadn’t even developed a cloud strategy.

But it appears there is still work to be done.

Research as recently as October 2011 found that 22 out of 24 major federal agencies were either “concerned or very concerned” about security risks in the cloud …

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Random Saturday Morning Cloud Thoughts

Half a dozen random cloud thoughts on a hot and cloudless Saturday morning in Illinois

1. Mobile will end the bleeding in the media industry, as apps rather than advertising drive revenue. Online ads will be dead within five years.

2. “Cloud crash” has already replaced “computer error” as the catch-all explanation for human screw-ups. It will grow in popularity as local governments and businesses make their inevitable, yet painful move to cloud computing.

3. Amazon joins cigarette and fast-food companies as being able to blame customers for problems legitimately. But in Amazon’s case, the problem is customers don’t buy enough, rather than too much.

4. Tired of “SEO Gurus?” Well, brace yourself for the great transmogrification to “Mobile SEO Gurus.’ MoSeRoos.

5. VMware and its open-source competitors have not begun to fight. Prepare for the Gigantic Cloud Clusterfail in 2014 when organizations realize they’ve got more on-site spaghetti than ever.

6. Windows 8 will be the biggest news in mobility next year, if it makes big deals with the carriers. Can it do so in an era when it can no longer be a monopolistic bully?

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Olympic Cloud, CloudViews Unplugged, Cloud-Based EHR, and More…

IT spending is on the rise, according to this New York Times article. Recent figures published by Gartner state that IT spending will increase by 3% from 2011, more than was previously predicted. Cloud computing is one of the main contributors to the increased spending as more companies start to adopt the technology. Spending on public cloud services is predicted to rise from $91b in 2011 to $109b in 2012. Still, cloud services represent only a fraction of the $3.6 trillion that is predicted to be spent on IT in 2012.

Download the This Week in Cloud iPhone app. Now it’s even easier to get your weekly cloud news and perspectives.

Cloud News

  • IT spending is on the rise, according to this New York Times article. Recent figures published by Gartner state that IT spending will increase by 3% from 2011, more than was previously predicted. Cloud computing is one of the main contributors to the increased spending as more companies start to adopt the technology. Spending on public cloud services is predicted to rise from $91b in 2011 to $109b in 2012. Still, cloud services represent only a fraction of the $3.6 trillion that is predicted to be spent on IT in 2012.

  • The Olympics may be the perfect event to showcase the power and scalability of cloud computing, but unfortunately, that won’t be happening in London this year, according to this ZDnet blog. CIO for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, Gerry Pennell, revealed that cloud infrastructure isn’t mature enough to support the games, but he predicts that we’ll see cloud computing being utilized in future events.

  • Microsoft announced a pre-beta version of the Service Management Portal which provides a Windows Azure-like Infrastructure-as-a-Service experience for users, whether they are using Microsoft’s cloud or not, according to this GigaOM article.

  • Cloud computing may add as many as 14 million new jobs worldwide by 2015, according to this Forbes.com article.

Featured Content on Cloud Commons


Gartner Report: Cloud Sourcing: Lessons Learned from Early Adopters

Cloud offerings continue to grow in maturity and volume. CIOs look at them as an alternative in their IT value chain. Gartner recently assesses organizations that purchased cloud-based service offerings. This report by Gartner (compliments of Cloud Commons® Ecosystem) shares some early lessons from their experiences.

Feature article


Survey Says – We’re More Comfortable with Cloud, Yet Same Worries Persist

By George Hulme, Independent Writer

George Hulme

A survey released just prior to the 2012 GigaOM Structure Conference had a number of interesting results about cloud services adoption. It seems organizations are concerned about security, compliance, and cloud lock-in, but certainly not enough to curb adoption.

785 respondents including industry experts, users and vendors participated in the survey. Respondents were asked about such cloud issues as business drivers, objections, and its business impact. One potential ding of the survey is that 65 percent of respondents were vendors, and only 35 percent were classified as customers. So the results may skew heavily toward what vendors would like to see market realities to be, rather than what they are. Plus, cloud vendors are certain to be cloud champions (one would certainly hope so, anyway).

Here are a number of the headline findings from the survey I found interesting. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

  • In the July episode of CloudViews Unplugged, Andi Mann and George Watt of CA Technologies wrap up the month’s cloud news in 10 minutes. This month’s episode topics include Europe’s cloud, Oracle’s cloud, Google Coordinate and IaaS, Facebook and more!

  • Is cloud-based EHR taking the healthcare industry by storm? In this Cloud Commons blog, George Hulme discusses a recent article which declared that cloud-based EHR is having a huge impact on the health industry, but the data may not be there to back the claim.

  • Should you design your cloud for failure? In this Forbes blog, Reuven Cohen discusses the recent outage of Amazon Web Services due to a lightning storm on the east coast that brought down popular websites including Netflix, Pinterest and Instagram. Reuven suggests that businesses should rely on more than one cloud provider and an automated fail-over process to ensure business continuity.

  • A recent survey conducted by Rackspace revealed that 91% of IT decision makers think cloud computing is a positive thing, according to this ZDNet blog. The survey also revealed some of the top concerns when it comes to cloud including adding additional computing power and vendor lock-in.

MSP Corner

  • A recent report from AMI Partners reveals that US SMBs will invest $34 billion in cloud services in 2012, according to this MSPmentor article. This article takes a look out how MSPs should be positioning themselves to take advantage of the increased interest in cloud among SMBs.

  • With HostingCon just around the corner, many MSPs that are evaluating cloud services and strategies will be heading to the event in Boston, according to this Talkin’ Cloud blog. The blog also details some of the current trends for MSPs and their involvement with cloud.

Upcoming Cloud Events

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Accel Partners, Business Processes, DocuSign, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Scale Venture Partners, Venture Funding

DocuSign Gets $47.5 Million for Document Signatures Via Cloud

Image representing DocuSign as depicted in Cru...

DocuSign has secured $47.5 million in funding from premier investors, public funds, and strategic tech-industry leaders. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the funding. Accel Partners and a large, global institutional investor joined in the funding round. Comcast Ventures and SAP Ventures provided additional investment joining existing tech industry partners salesforce.com and the National Association of REALTORS®. The company will use the funds to accelerate growth of the DocuSign Global Network via increased customer-focused R&D, deeper vertical industry solutions, and faster international expansion. The company also announced that Kleiner’s Mary Meeker, a noted Internet-industry expert, has joined its board of directors.

DocuSign’s legally binding, secure, cloud-based platform helps consumers and businesses of all sizes and industries collect information and sign documents online – eliminating the hassles, costs, and lack of security in printing, faxing, scanning, and overnighting documents to capture information and signatures. Companies use DocuSign to create better customer experiences and save money by automating and streamlining their business processes.

“This financing demonstrates the value the market places on innovative technologies that drive fundamental business transformation – particularly those with immediate ROI, viral adoption, and nearly unlimited application,” said Keith Krach, chairman and CEO, DocuSign. “DocuSign empowers anyone to sign anything, anywhere, anytime.”

“DocuSign has created a compelling and rapidly growing business by re-imagining an age-old basic service – signing documents,” said Mary Meeker, general partner, Kleiner Perkins. “DocuSign’s easy-to-use eSignature platform is transforming the way documents are processed and delivered, with record speed and efficiency. This financing highlights the appeal of the eSignature Transaction Management market and the value of DocuSign’s global, viral network.”

“We’re investing in DocuSign because electronic signatures have gone from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’, and DocuSign is the clear global leader in this industry,” said Philippe Botteri, Accel Partners. “We expect DocuSign’s growth to be exponential given the viral nature of their platform and the rapid adoption of mobile devices and tablets which makes DocuSigning that much more convenient.”

Global enterprises, business departments, individual professionals and consumers are standardizing on DocuSign with 60,000 new users joining the DocuSign Global Network every business day. Today, that network includes 20 million users who have DocuSigned more than 150 million documents in 188 countries – including employees at 90% of the Fortune 500. DocuSign is used to finish business faster across nearly every industry – including financial services, insurance, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, communications, real estate, consumer goods and higher education – and every business department – including sales, procurement, HR/staffing, legal, and customer support.

DocuSign’s growing customer base of 1.4 million paying users include companies like American Airlines, AON, Ariba, Auto Insurance Specialists (AIS), Bayer, BECU, BNY Mellon, Boston Scientific, BMW Financial Services, Box, California Closets, CB Richard Ellis, CenturyLink, Cisco, Comcast, Costco, Cox, DuPont, eBay, Expedia, Extra Space Storage, Haagen-Dazs Shoppe Company, HP, IKON Financial Services, Legal & General America (Banner Life and William Penn Life Insurance), LinkedIn, Madison Capital, Medtronic, Pinney Insurance, Siemens, Sony, TD Ameritrade Institutional, Toyota, Transamerica, United Automobile Insurance Services, Wellmark, Xerox, Yahoo!, and Yamaha.

DocuSign investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Accel Partners, Comcast Ventures, SAP Ventures, Sigma+Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Frazier Technology Ventures, Ignition Partners, Second Century Ventures, WestRiver Capital LLC, salesforce.com, and the National Association of REALTORS®. To learn more about DocuSign, visit www.docusign.com.

 


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SHI International Goes Back to the Future with New Cloud Briefing Center

SHI International Corp. is going back to the future with its imaginative New York City Briefing Center, which was unveiled on Thursday at 1 Penn Plaza. The center is a futuristic office straight out of the pages of science fiction and delivers an immersive, interactive experience to give visitors a comprehensive view of SHI’s innovative cloud computing services, technologies, and capabilities.
The Briefing Center features bright white walls reminiscent of “2001: A Space Odyssey”; automatic glass doors that can transition from clear to opaque and even display images; and 3-D projectors that will put the world of traditional presentations to shame. A customizable 3-D tour of SHI’s cloud architecture creates an immersive experience from the moment visitors step through the door. It offers clients a look inside SHI’s next-generation data center and cloud solutions to help them find the best fit for their organization’s cloud computing needs.

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The cloud news categorized.