In 2012, the PaaS space is expected to reach a critical mass and rapid growth. In mid-2011, Gartner had predicted the PaaS space to gain serious attention and cause a stir of interest that engulfs the industry. Virtual Global’s SaaS Maker continues to gain serious attention in the federal space with its open interfaces and portability across infrastructure providers. Azure and Salesforce continued to grab commercial marketshare, although the feds are becoming increasingly cautious of proprietary implementations that require infrastructure lock-in. Read more about trends for cloud computing and platform as a service in 2012…..
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Ten Hot Trends in Cloud Data for 2012 - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
It’s time to make a few predictions for 2012 in the cloud data space. 2011 was a year of adoption, during which many companies started to leverage the cloud, enjoying the economies of scale, security and ease in managing their growing data needs. Those successes promise even greater cloud adoption in 2012. With that in mind, here are 10 predictions for hot trends to watch for in the cloud data space. Hybrid data storage environments combining cloud storage with existing storage. For most companies, the notion of moving all of their data to the cloud is not fathomable. However, continuously expanding data storage needs are fueling a need for more capacity. What better way to address this need than with cloud storage? The benefits include access to a secure, limitless pool of storage capacity, no future need for upgrade or replacement and reduced capital expenses. Look for auto-tiering technologies to seamlessly combine hybrid cloud and on-premise environments in a way that operates with existing applications.
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Big Data and Cloud Computing - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
“One part of the connection between big data and cloud computing is the scale – big data implies large scale and the problem of managing large scale is similar in both. The difference is in the emphasis on the types of workloads – in big data the emphasis is on trying to keep the data local and in cloud you are looking to optimize resources,” explains Rohit Valia, Director of Enterprise Marketing at Platform Computing, in this SYS-CON.TV interview with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan at the 9th International Cloud Expo, held Nov 7-10, 2011, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
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Big Data in Telecom: The Need for Analytics - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
Networks have become a strategic asset, the life blood of organizations. Once considered a “techy thing,” networks are now mission-critical for every member of the organization – from the IT manager to the marketing VP to the CEO. An increasing number of companies now recognize the impact network quality has on the customer experience and, in turn, on the bottom line. Providing a great customer experience, every time, is vital for limiting churn and building loyalty. This has led many organizations to adopt a strong quality assurance program to test and monitor all contact center services. This is particularly important in environments that must support multi-channel and multi-service applications. The complex configurations needed to enable voice, video and data to share network resources puts a tremendous strain on bandwidth and creates problems that can be very difficult to isolate. And the proliferation of mobile devices has added an entirely new set of issues and customer behaviors.
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How Enterprise Big Data Will Affect Organizations in 2012 - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
As the new year begins, global companies face the coming year’s most prominent IT and business challenge: Big Data. The focus for IT will be to provide high performance analytics capabilities at the lowest cost, as business users need to tap into volumes of multi-structured data about their customers and markets to gain competitive advantage.
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Big Shift to Enterprise Cloud Software - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
One of the big shifts happening in the enterprise software business is the adoption of the Cloud. This is already the dominant model for the consumer Internet space (e.g. Google, Facebook). The overall myth was that large companies are so concerned about security and privacy of data that they will be reluctant to let go of running these applications in-house. Then about 3 years back, Oracle’s CEO ridiculed the cloud as vapor. But the landscape has surely changed and will change even faster going into 2012. Why do I say that? Recently SAP bought Success Factors at a very high valuation and many saw that as a desperate move to get into the Cloud. Oracle also bought RightNow in the same vain and there is a strong possibility that Oracle will acquire NetSuite in the next twelve months (NetSuite addresses mostly the SMB market). SalesForce.com (SFDC) has been growing and its valuation has gone quite high. The new entrant Workday (founded by the founders of Peoplesoft) has been doing very well. Someone said it is valued at almost $2B with yearly booking rate of $300M. Not bad for a five year old company. Workday addresses the HR space, but is moving to financial applications as well. It wants to be known as an “ERP Replacement” company, not just an “HR Company”.
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What to Expect in 2012: Cloud Computing and Open Source Software - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
In 2011, the cloud computing market continued to mature, driven by the development of enterprise-class cloud virtualization infrastructure and a strong focus on security, stability and scalability of cloud solutions. We also began to see growth in new categories of value-added cloud services such as analytics, mobile, media, and finance. Based on these 2011 findings, in 2012 we can expect the following to emerge as industry-changing trends: An increasing number of enterprises will use public cloud infrastructure for disaster recovery planning. The ongoing economic downturn will intensify enterprises’ drive to find ways to conserve in-house IT resources. Enterprises will also cut costs by improving the efficiency of their server and application infrastructures. Disaster recovery planning places a heavy cost burden on corporations because of the need to maintain a fully redundant server infrastructure, which typically involves setting up secondary data centers at one or more geographically dispersed locations. A number of established cloud service providers including Amazon AWS and Rackspace are starting to offer disaster recovery services.
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Cloud-Based Reference Architecture - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
During the past few years enterprise services have been leveraging cloud-based technologies for several reasons including scalability and automated provisioning capabilities [1, 2]. In a development / design environment, cloud platforms provide dynamic and repeatable processes for creating environments that help reduce lead times and provide cost-effective optimizing infrastructure apart from eliminating manual intervention and minimizing rework due to environment defects. In a deployment environment, the cloud leverages virtualization, distributed applications and grid-based architecture patterns. In this article, I discuss creating a reference architecture and designing financial supply chain applications so they can be enabled for cloud environments [3]. Some of the challenges faced by the financial supply chain applications include lots of integrations, innovative automated voluminous payment solutions, purchasing and distribution of financial instruments/cards, electronic invoices present/payment systems, and performance metrics for financial flow management. From a buyer’s perspective it’s more about account payments and from a seller’s perspective it’s more about accounts receivable. The biggest challenge would be multi-party payments and reconciliation of the amounts. The volumes of the financial supply chain amounts are high, particularly during seasonal events. These additional volumes make it necessary for automated provisions for demand growth that can be achieved by implementing cloud-based solutions. Data and applications of financial supply chains make the difference when using a cloud-based design. Both user response system modules and batch processing system modules in the financial supply chain require the attention of cloud-based design in terms of creating more provisions for handling high volumes of web server/application server traffic, middleware to handle volumes and at the data tier. Most of the time, financial supply chain applications are connecting multiple applications at the same time rather than one application at a time, hence the scalability issues can be handled by incorporating cloud-based techniques.
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Big Data Highlights from McKinsey: Part 2 – Production, Supply, and Logistics - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
For the second post on the McKinsey report on Big Data, we take a look at the impact of Big Data on production, supply, and logistics. When we discuss Big Data, there’s often an implicit assumption that it has to do entirely with IT functions. However, Big Data actually will have [...]
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Big Data: Taming the Beast for Competitive Advantage - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
Everyone is talking about Big Data, but when it comes to taking action, most are taking a “wait-and-see” approach, and that concerns me. Skepticism or “late-adopter” mentality is understandable — if you want to forego a low-risk, high-reward opportunity and let your competition gain the advantage. My job is to create value for my customers, and I’d hate to see anyone miss out on the opportunity presented by Big Data. The Corporate Executive Board identified three potential barriers to Big Data implementation: Information Attainability (the right information is available and easy to find) Information Usefulness (information is of good quality and is usable in format) Employee Capability (employees analyze information effectively to make good decisions)
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Big Data Highlights from McKinsey: Part 1 – Personal Location Data - Mon, 02 Jan 2012
McKinsey & Company recently released a report on the emerging future of big data. Given that so much has been written about big data in business circles, it’s very refreshing to see an study of this length. Here at CTOVision, we’ll be looking at bite-sized pieces of interest to CTOs and CIOs. Given our focus [...]
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Amazon Elastic Cloud Computer Cuts Cost of Supercomputer Access - Fri, 30 Dec 2011
Need a super computer? Amazon can oblige with hourly rentals of the worlds 42nd fastest supercomputer. – Getting compute time on a supercomputer has long been a privilege limited to physicists, scientists, medical researchers and other academic types. Researchers had to apply for time by submitting project proposals in hopes they would be deemed worthy of approval and priority access to a supercompu…
IBM and SMBs: Focus Is on Analytics, Cloud, Collaboration - Thu, 29 Dec 2011
More than half of midsize companies are planning to increase their IT budgets over the next 12 to 18 months, according to an IBM global study of more than 2,000 such companies in more than 20 countries. As a result, these companies are investing in a wide range of priorities, including analytics, cloud computing, collaboration, mobility and customer relationship solutions, IBM said. “Inside the Midmarket: A 2011 Perspective,” commissioned by IBM and conducted by KS & R, found 70 percent of midsize companies are pursuing analytics technology to better understand their customers, make better decisions and become more efficient. The study also showed a growing adoption of cloud computing among midsize firms, with two-thirds either planning or currently deploying cloud-based technologies to improve IT systems management while lowering costs. The survey of 2,112 business and IT decision-makers at midsize businesses (100-1,000 employees) spanned a variety of industries, including banking, retail, consumer products, wholesale, transportation, industrial products and insurance. Participants hailed from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Japan, China, Brazil, India, Russia, Australia, Mexico, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Poland, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. For a related article click here. – …
IBM`s Top 5 Predictions for Smarter Buildings for 2012 - Wed, 28 Dec 2011
As the world population hit 7 billion this fall and a growing number of people flock to cities, creating smarter, more sustainable cities will be critical. The first step is to create smarter buildings, the cornerstones that will lead to smarter cities. In the United States alone, buildings account for 70 percent of all energy use and 38 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. Many experts predict that buildings will be the largest consumer of energy by 2025. Smarter buildings will be able to use resources more intelligently, which will lead to reduced costs and greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately to smarter, more efficient cities. Dave Bartlett, vice president of IBMs Smarter Buildings Initiative, is working with IBMs Smarter Buildings team to help organizations, enterprises and individuals worldwide listen to the enormous amounts of data our buildings are generating. By listening to this data through embedding smarter technologies into the physical assets of an organization, building owners, facility managers and other stakeholders can analyze energy use to squeeze out inefficiencies, resulting in more green, sustainable, cost-efficient buildings, neighborhoods and cities worldwide, according to IBM. There is still much to be done as technologies continue to evolve and the urgency to create more sustainable buildings grows& an urgency illustrated by todays burgeoning smarter buildings market, which is estimated to stand at about $30 billion worldwide. As the smarter buildings market evolves over the coming year, Bartlett predicts there will be five top trends that come to fruition, with smart buildings moving toward working in unison with each other and the communities in which they reside. Bartletts predictions for the top five buildings trends in 2012 are included in this slide show. – …
OpenLogic Brings Open-Source PaaS to Rackspace - Tue, 27 Dec 2011
Cloud hosting provider Rackspace expands its open-source offerings by incorporating OpenLogic’s CloudSwing platform into its Cloud Tools program. – Open-source cloud services provider OpenLogic announced Dec. 27 it has joined the Cloud Tools program with Rackspace Hosting, enabling CloudSwing to be deployed on the Rackspace Cloud. Rackspace Cloud Tools is a showcase site for the company’s strategic partners and independent developers to wor…
Google+, Android, Chrome Top Google Products in 2011 - Tue, 27 Dec 2011
As 2011 speeds to a close, it’s time to reflect on companies’ top products or achievements for the year. Google had a solid year on many fronts, carrying on its tradition with its search engine and expanding Android to be the dominant mobile platform for smartphones. The company also launched Google+, its belated answer to Facebook’s giant social network, and continued development on its popular Chrome Web browser. We should also applaud Google for its green efforts, and for its work in sprinkling artificial intelligence into driverless cars and in powering homes via its Android@Home initiative. eWEEK walks through some of the more successful products and moves the company made in 2011. – …
10 Hot Trends in Cloud Data for 2012 - Fri, 23 Dec 2011
When 2010 came to a close, the development of new private and hybrid cloud systems was on everybody’s trending-up list. Now, as 2011 plays out, we can see that those predictions were generally correct; it was indeed a year of cloud adoption. Thousands of new clouds were architected, built and deployed during the last 12 months, and they came online in all size markets. So where is trending headed for the next 12 months? Most of the IT business prognosticators are in agreement on at least one thing: The curve for cloud-based IT purchasing is going to continue “up and to the right.” There are too many cost, deployment and monitoring benefits involved for companies to ignore this. With this as a backdrop, eWEEK presents here a few predictions for 2012 in the cloud infrastructure space. Our resource is TwinStrata CEO and co-founder Nicos Vekiarides. TwinStrata provides the CloudArray storage-area network (SAN) that comes either as a cloud service or on a commodity server and can be plugged right into a data center. CloudArray finds data stores wherever they are and integrates them. – …
Mobile, Social Networking, Big Data Drive IT Development, Investing in 2012 - Fri, 23 Dec 2011
Cloud, mobile computing, social networking and “big data” analytics are some of the top trends steering the IT industry in 2012, according to end-of-the-year conclusions from market research firms such as IDC and Gartner. Those sectors are hardly new and certainly not considered early trends anymore. Cloud computing, or computing hosted on third-party servers, keeps nibbling away at on-premises computing. Mobile computing via tablets and smartphones is overtaking desktop computing. The corresponding social networking explosion among consumers is bleeding over into the enterprise and spurring the need for increased investments in big data, the new name for business intelligence, data analytics software. Microsoft, HP, SAP, Apple, Google and Amazon are either leading or investing heavily in these markets to make sure they’re not left behind. This eWEEK slide show synthesizes Gartner’s and IDC’s predictions for 2012 here. – …
Akamai Technologies Makes Strategic Purchase of Cotendo - Fri, 23 Dec 2011
Network services operator Akamai improves its market presence and enhances its Web acceleration technology with the $268 million cash purchase of startup competitor Cotendo. – Akamai Technologies, which has made its name providing content delivery networks designed to boost Web performance for high-bandwidth uses such as video and big data, is looking to expand its market share with the purchase of competitor Cotendo. The $268 million cash purchase is Akamai’s se…
Can Independent Certs Take FUD Out of Cloud Services? - Wed, 21 Dec 2011
When it comes to picking a cloud services provider, many companies and IT departments are overcome by fear, uncertainty and doubt — FUD. Could independent cloud certifications quell those concerns? – When it comes to blazing new trails in the realm of IT, the road is often paved with a mixture of danger, luck and, most importantly, uncertainty. Nowhere is this more true than with cloud services, an ever evolving segment of technology that many enterprises are hoping provides them with reduce…
Microsoft`s Windows Azure Cloud: 8 Recent Upgrades - Mon, 19 Dec 2011
Microsoft on Dec. 12 announced several updates to the Windows Azure platform, including new open-source capabilities, SQL Azure database enhancements and a simplified Windows Azure billing and management experience. With the new open-source capabilities, customers will benefit from the first ever Windows Azure software development kit, including language libraries for Node.js and support for hosting, storage and service bus. There will also be an Apache Hadoop-based service for Windows Azure and a number of impactful usability and functional enhancements to Java capabilities. With the new SQL Azure database features, the maximum database size for SQL Azure will triple, moving from 50GB to 150GB. In addition, the database offerings include a new price cap for the largest SQL Azure databases, reducing the effective price 67 percent per gigabyte. And in enhancing the billing and management experience, Microsoft has made it such that updates will include a truly free 90-day trial period, including spending caps that simplify the sign-up process. Additionally, customers can check out the new Windows Azure Management Portal to view real-time usage and billing details. For a related article click here. – …
Tech that should be on your radar for 2012 - Thu, 29 Dec 2011
There are a variety of new technologies advancing in 2012 that you should investigate, if you aren’t already doing so, to give your small business a leg up on the competition. These recent technologies are beginning to be widely adopted and will continue to drive business forward.
Top 10 small-business tech predictions for 2012 - Mon, 26 Dec 2011
For small and midsize businesses, 2011 was an eventful year for the owners and managers tasked with technology decisions. The year’s highlights range from the arrival of new technologies such as the introduction of Intel’s Thunderbolt peripheral interface to the release ofAndroid 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich.”
Amazon’s private clouds get more advanced networking features- Thu, 22 Dec 2011
Amazon Web Services has introduced Elastic Network Interfaces, which are attached to instances in a private cloud to allow for more flexibility when configuring the system.
What Amazon has done is separate IP addresses from the instances, or virtual servers, running in a Virtual Private Cloud.
VMware 2011: The good, the bad, and the cloudy - Wed, 21 Dec 2011
VMware was a busy company in 2011. Instead of resting on its laurels, the currently crowned virtualization technology leader continued to be a mover and a shaker — although not everything went its way.
Security minefield: BYOD will bedevil IT security in 2012 - Wed, 21 Dec 2011
The rapid adoption of the newest mobile devices — especially the AppleiPhone and iPad and the Google Android-based equivalents — will be a huge disruptive force in enterprise 2012 looking ripe for disgruntled IT pros to switch jobs - Wed, 14 Dec 2011
Are you underpaid, underappreciated and overworked in your IT department? Cheer up, because 2012 looks like an opportune time for IT professionals to look for new, higher-paying jobs.
The IT job market did a 180-degree turnaround in 2011, and it is poised for continued growth in 2012, experts say.
VDI shoot-out: Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 - Wed, 14 Dec 2011
Certainly the most flexible VDI solution I’ve worked with, Citrix XenDesktop is the model of compatibility coupled with excellent capabilities. XenDesktop not only works with Citrix XenServer, but also runs on top of other vendors’ hypervisors. It supports all four virtual desktop delivery models (dedicated, pooled, streamed, offline) and remote connectivity from a wide range of client operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X, iOS, and Android.
VDI shoot-out: HDX vs. PCoIP - Wed, 14 Dec 2011
Citrix XenDesktop’s HDX and VMware View’s PCoIP offer the same basic functionality — providing video, sound, and peripheral support to remote desktop users — but they each use a different transport protocol, HDX riding TCP and PCoIP riding UDP. Most end-users won’t be interested in the TCP-versus-UDP debate, but network admins will always have an opinion, especially if their responsibilities include network monitoring, WAN optimization, or VPN support.
VDI shoot-out: VMware View 5 - Wed, 14 Dec 2011
An excellent platform for building an enterprise VDI solution, VMware View 5 takes advantage of all the features, services, and fault tolerance built into VMware’s flagship vSphere hypervisor. View allows IT to manage pools of virtual desktops, assign them to users, and define policies for VDI behavior, all from a single browser-based UI.
Introducing Windows Server 8: The InfoWorld special report - Wed, 14 Dec 2011
Hailed as one of Microsoft’s broadest, deepest releases, Windows Server 8 will replace the current version of the OS, Windows Server 2008, in 2012 about the same time the new companion desktop OS,Windows 8, is released. Microsoft has a broad set of goals to reach with this release, such as cloud compatibility and automation of routine tasks across multiple machines. The new release also benefits from Microsoft’s work building out its own Azure cloud service.
Amazon reveals best-selling gifts of 2011, record holiday for Kindle - Fri, 30 Dec 201
Amazon reveals its best-selling products of 2011, but it would seem that the Kindle was the hottest brand this holiday season.
Verizon explains 4G outages: Parsing the IT failure transparency- Fri, 30 Dec 201
Verizon’s explanation of its recent 4G outages leaves out a lot of detail that would have offered customers more transparency.
The year in review: ZDNet’s most popular posts - Thu, 29 Dec 201
Here’s a look at 2011, a year where mobile dominated both the consumer and enterprise worlds.
Beyond Amazon: E-commerce satisfaction leans to Avon, JC Penney - Wed, 28 Dec 201
Amazon leads the pack. Netflix is in a tailspin and Best Buy has a lot of catching up to do.
The year in review: SmartPlanet’s Top 10 videos of 2011 - Wed, 28 Dec 201
Here a look at Smart Planet’s 10 most popular videos, as clicked on and watched by our viewers.
McAfee predicts more high-profile, targeted attacks in 2012 - Tue, 27 Dec 201
Other major threat predictions include new hacktivist groups, spam exploiting virtual currency and digital wallets, the circulation of fake rogue certificates, and the potential for a growing “cyberwar” between governments.
Windows Phone handwringing: ‘Best’ product doesn’t (won’t) win - Tue, 27 Dec 201
The former GM of Windows Phone wonders why the mobile OS hasn’t been a hit. He missed a few reasons like timing, peer pressure and issues like Android forks the user doesn’t care about.
Salesforce VP: Social enterprise revolutionizing focus of cloud computing - Tue, 27 Dec 201
Salesforce.com’s head of platform research discusses the value of big data, the consumerization of IT, and how mobile devices should address collaboration concerns in 2012.
2011 in review: ZDNet’s top galleries - Mon, 26 Dec 201
Windows 8 screenshots and apps were in big demand in 2011.
Programming resources for kids 101 - Fri, 23 Dec 201
Scratch, Lego Mindstorm and Microsoft’s Kodu are efforts that may help stoke the programming fires in your little ones.
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