Cloud Storm Chasers : trends

This Week in Cloud, May 16, 2013: The rogue cloud crackdown, IT departments are the new CSPs, Cloud failure points

Derek Stevens — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:50:00 GMT

Cloud News

A survey by PMG reveals that companies are starting to crackdown on employees' use of rogue cloud services, according to this Forbes article. Compliance and security concerns are leading the drive to tougher restrictions on services like DropBox, Skype, and social media sites.
A new survey by InformationWeek reveals that 40% of companies are now using cloud services and 51% of organizations cite security defects in cloud technology as a top risk, according to this InformationWeek article. The study also revealed that adoption of SaaS was down 8% since last year.
3Tcloud, a China-based cloud service provider, has installed more than 6,000 cloud terminal devices in schools across the city of Zhuji, according to this ZDnet article. The company has installed the devices in 118 schools and plans to start expanding beyond Zhuji.

Featured Content

In this episode of CloudViews Unplugged, Andi Mann and George Watt of CA Technologies discuss the growth of Microsoft Azure, the EPA's move to cloud, seven misconceptions of cloud, international cloud computing stories and more!

Featured Article

Know Your Cloud Failure Points

By David Strom, Independent Writer

Part of securing your cloud-based apps is in understanding where the failure points are and how to recover from them. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because clouds can get complex as bits and pieces of various servers and links are added. What starts out as a simple web server turns into a database or two running atop of a series of application servers. And if more than one programmer is working on this configuration, knowing what VMs are dependent on others and how to restart particular services in the appropriate order isn't always obvious.

There is a solution. Take a look at how Netflix has attacked this problem. They test their large Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure continually with what they call "Chaos Monkey." Last year two engineers from Netflix, Cory Bennett and Ariel Tseitlin, blogged about their invention and how they deliberately tried to fail at their jobs. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

Are IT departments becoming cloud service providers? In this Forbes blog, Joe McKendrick discusses a new survey which reveals that large companies are starting to view their IT department as providers of private cloud services.
Should retailers start making the move to cloud? In this Wired blog, Vish Ganapathy discusses how a move to the cloud could help brick-and-mortar shops improve their business and relationship with customers.
Should the HR department worry about employees using the cloud? In this InfoWorld article, David Linthicum details why HR should stop worrying about the cloud and instead focus on how to make employees more productive.

Trend Watch

Can big data really do everything its proponents say it can? In this Foreign Policy blog, Kate Crawford discusses the issue of "dirty-data" and how algorithms can be biased.
Can DevOps drive better collaboration and communication between operations and development? In this Talking Innovation podcast, Lonne Jaffee explains why IT leaders and CIOs need DevOps on their radar.

CA World 2013!

The Smart Enterprise team spent time at CA World 2013 capturing key stories, major announcements, and interviews with thought leaders on the show floor. View the coverage on Smart Enterprise.

Upcoming Cloud Events

CTIA 2013: May 21-23, Las Vegas, NV
Cloud East: May 24, Cambridge, UK
Cloud Expo: June 10-13, New York, NY

This Week in Cloud, May 9, 2013: U.K. issues cloud-first policy, Dell acquires Enstratius, OpenStack's growing pains

Derek Stevens — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:15:00 GMT

Cloud News

The U.K. government announced that it plans to formally adopt a cloud-first policy, according to this InformationWeek article. As part of the cloud-first policy, government agencies will be required to evaluate cloud solutions to meet their IT needs before considering other options.
Dell announced that it is purchasing Enstratius, a cloud computing startup that provides tools and dashboards for private and hybrid clouds, according to this GigaOM article.
Adobe announced that it will not be offering the next edition of its Creative Suite on disks and instead focus on selling its software to customers via its Creative Cloud, which allows users to keep up to date with the latest software and backup their files to the cloud for a monthly fee, according to this InformationWeek article.
A new Kickstarter project aims to help users connect to the cloud when they're without power or an internet connection with the BRCK, a portable wi-fi router and mobile modem, according to this Quartz article.

Featured Content

Video: CloudViews Unplugged

Featured Article

Mobility Trends Demand CIOs Become Chief Experience Officers

By George Watt, CA Technologies

Recently, while thinking about several of the technology trends impacting mobility and mobile computing, my thoughts again turned to the one trend that I believe is driving all of the others. This trend has the potential to dramatically change the role of IT and IT leaders.

In order to better understand the overarching trend, first consider some of the most important trends impacting mobility: multichannel apps, app atomization, multi-persona, and context awareness and sensing. Those are but a few of the key technology trends impacting mobility and mobile computing. There are a host of others, such as open data that are making mobile applications even more powerful and valuable. Not to mention the advances in the mobile devices themselves. We really have moved past "feature rich mobile phones" and now have powerful mobile computing platforms which happen to be capable of placing a phone call. Though, to return to my original question, what does this mean? What do these things have in common? Read the full article.

Cloud Views

Is cloud computing revolutionizing the manufacturing industry? In this Forbes blog, Louis Columbus discusses why manufacturing companies are moving to the cloud and describes 10 ways in which cloud computing is revolutionizing the industry.
Is OpenStack experiencing growing pains? In this Cloud Storm Chasers blog, Marvin Waschke discusses the recent news of OpenStack members questioning the standard's interoperability and why interoperability is so difficult to achieve.

Trend Watch

Is allowing BYOD (bring your own device) right for your organization? In this Forbes blog, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes discusses how BYOD is shifting the corporate policy, how to determine if BYOD is right for your organization, and what to do after you've determined to move forward with a BYOD policy.
Is social media changing the way we live our lives? In this Innovation Today blog, Jacob Lamm discusses the movie Disconnect and analyzes the way the film portrays a generation that has grown up with social media at their fingertips.

CA World 2013!

The Smart Enterprise team spent time at CA World 2013 capturing key stories, major announcements, and interviews with thought leaders on the show floor. View the coverage on Smart Enterprise.

Upcoming Cloud Events

RICON East: May 13-14, New York, NY
CTIA 2013: May 21-23, Las Vegas, NV
Cloud East: May 24, Cambridge, UK

This Week in Cloud, May 3, 2013: AWS Certification Program, CloudStore 300% sales increase, 25% of companies in cloud

Derek Stevens — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Cloud News

Amazon announced a new certification program that's intended to show a person's ability to write specifications, build, run and manage an AWS implementation, according to this GigaOM article. The certification program is targeted toward solutions architects, SysOps administrators, and developers.
In March, the U.K. Government's CloudStore increased sales by 300% over the previous month, according to this InformationWeek article. The increase in sales could be a good sign for the CloudStore which has only shown modest results since its launch.
A new survey by RightScale reveals that 25% of companies are "heavily into cloud computing," according to this Forbes article. The survey also revealed that many companies are interested in a multi-cloud approach.

Featured Content

Smart Enterprise Magazine: Absolutely, Positively Innovative

This Smart Enterprise article profiles how the shipping giant Federal Express is two years into a modernization of its IT operations that includes moving to a private cloud to provide on-demand technology services for the business. Download the free iPad app or read the online edition of Smart Enterprise.

Featured Article

The Successful Mobile Enterprise

By Lonne Jaffe, CA Technologies

There are almost seven billion people in the world, and there are already about six billion mobile phone subscriptions. Analysts are predicting that over a billion advanced smartphones and tablets are going to be purchased worldwide next year alone.

Almost every conversation I have with senior business and technology leaders involves mobility as at least one of their key focus areas. In many cases mobile technology is quickly becoming or has already become the primary way that an enterprise interacts with its customers, partners, and employees. As a result, a substantial portion of the major capital investments in software and hardware that enterprises are making today are being driven primarily by their need to create a first class mobile technology experience. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

Is cloud computing changing the role of IT? In this JourneytotheCloud blog, John Dixon wraps up the last #CloudViews tweetchat on cloud and the changing role of IT.
Are cloud computing misconceptions holding you back? In this Business2Community article, Amy Short outlines 7 common misconceptions that may be holding your organization back from cloud, including it's a fad, it's not secure, it's costly and complicated, and more.

Trend Watch

A new Gartner report predicts that 50% of companies will require BYOD (bring your own device) by 2017, according to this PCWorld article.
What are the do's and don'ts of a BYOD policy? In this CIO.com blog, Matt Karlyn details the key elements of a good BYOD policy.

CA World 2013!

The Smart Enterprise team just returned from CA World 2013 where they were writing blogs, live tweeting, and shooting interviews and booth walkthroughs. You can view the coverage on Smart Enterprise.

Upcoming Cloud Events

Interop 2013: May 6-10, Las Vegas, NV
RICON East: May 13-14, New York, NY
CTIA 2013: May 21-23, Las Vegas, NV
Cloud East: May 24, Cambridge, UK

This Week in Cloud, April 26, 2013: AWS S3 reaches 2 trillion objects, CA Technologies acquires Layer 7 & Nolio, CSA cloud membership for SMBs

Derek Stevens — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:05:00 GMT

CA World 2013!

The Smart Enterprise team just returned from CA World 2013 where they were writing blogs, live tweeting, and shooting interviews and booth walkthroughs. You can view the coverage on Smart Enterprise.

Cloud News

Amazon announced this week that there are currently two trillion objects now stored in S3, according to this CloudTech article. Jeff Barr, AWS chief evangelist, stated that it took six years for AWS to reach one trillion objects in S3 and one year to double that number.
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced a new membership level and working groups to educate SMBs on best practices for cloud computing, according to this press release.
Magnasoft Northstar, an Indian startup, announced a new cloud computing solution that aims to ensure the safety of children when they are traveling to and from school, according to this InformationWeek.in article. The solution, which runs on AWS, tracks school buses and vans, notifies parents of bus arrivals, and allows parents to remotely view their children on the bus.

Featured Content

Smart Enterprise Magazine: Absolutely, Positively Innovative

Featured Article

Mobile, DevOps, Cloud: CA Wagers Its Technology Future on Disruptive Trends

By Denise Dubie, CA Technologies

"Don't forget to challenge us," Peter Griffiths, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions and Technology Group at CA Technologies, told attendees of his technology keynote at CA World '13. "We love working and helping you to innovate."

With some 38 years of managing and securing customer environments from the mainframe to distributed computing to the cloud and now mobile under its belt, Griffiths emphasized CA's intention to take its expertise further. He used the Monday morning keynote (watch a replay here) to introduce: enhanced cloud security, service desk capabilities and mobile device management; the acquisition of two companies (Nolio and Layer 7 Technologies) featuring capabilities that will further the company's DevOps and cloud strategies, respectively; and a comprehensive look at the aforementioned DevOps capabilities and opportunities. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

Will the OpenStack Foundation start cracking down on service providers that don't stick to the OpenStack standards? In this InfoWorld blog, David Linthicum discusses how large organizations may want to add their own proprietary API extensions and go outside of the standard.
Are businesses or hackers more drawn to cloud? In this DarkReading article, Michael Cobb discusses how the features of cloud computing that make it so attractive to businesses also make it attractive to hackers.

Trend Watch

Watch the video replays from CA World 2013 which includes a keynote by Sir Richard Branson and the Luminaries Live! program, which features 10 IT luminaries each given 5 minutes to share how IT trends like big data, social media, and cloud are changing the world.
CA Technologies announced that it will acquire Layer 7, an API management and security company, and Nolio, an application automation company, according to this ZDnet article.

Upcoming Cloud Events

AWS Summit US 2013: April 30, San Francisco, CA
Interop 2013: May 6-10, Las Vegas, NV
RICON East: May 13-14, New York, NY

This Week in Cloud, April 18, 2013: Cloud-based security market to reach $4.2B by 2016, Cloud TCO analysis

Derek Stevens — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:30:00 GMT

CloudViews Unplugged!

In the latest episode of CloudViews Unplugged, Andi Mann and George Watt of CA Technologies discuss the hard truths of cloud computing, cloud tax laws, robots leveraging the cloud to complete complex tasks and more.

Cloud News

Gartner predicts that the cloud-based security market will grow to $4.2 billion by 2016, according to this ZDNet article. The growth will be driven by businesses looking to reduce IT security related expenses by moving security products from on-premise to the cloud.
A new study reveals that small and medium businesses in Australia that have moved to the cloud were 106% more likely to expect increased revenues than businesses that didn't move to the cloud, according to this The West Australian article.
The retail store Woolworths will soon shift its 26,000 employees over to Google Apps, according to this ITNews.au article. They will begin using Google's mail, calendar and instant messaging services in a move that Woolworths' CIO, Dan Beecham, believes will improve collaboration and productivity.

Featured Content

Smart Enterprise Magazine: Absolutely, Positively Innovative

Featured Article

The Importance of Intangibles in Cloud TCO Analysis

By Ravi Rajagopal, CA Technologies

In my last post, I discussed how the cloud changes the economic value of IT, and revealed a new model to understanding TCO and ROI. That's the only way an organization today can make rational decisions about IT investments.

One of the most popular cases for adopting the cloud is that it promotes organizational agility. Once you go cloud, the argument holds, the organization can now do things it never could do before, or can do established things much faster. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

Is cloud computing changing the role of IT? Join us in the next @CloudCommons #CloudViews tweetchat on cloud computing and the changing role of IT. You can preview the questions and download the calendar invite on Smart Enterprise.
What's the best way to boost cloud security? In this CloudTweaks blog, Michael Ventimiglia discusses five ways that you can boost your cloud's security, including proper monitoring, familiarity with the system, encryption, checklists, and automation.
What's driving cloud adoption? In this GigaOM blog, Barb Darrow discusses the reason for the growth in cloud adoption and the gap between why buyers actually move to cloud and what vendors think is driving adoption.

Trend Watch

Are trends like cloud computing, mobility, and the Internet of Things shifting how data is secured? In this Journey to the Cloud blog, Andi Mann discusses how new IT trends demand a shift in the way we think about and secure data.
What mobility predictions should CIOs be on the lookout for? In this ITWorld Canada blog, Nestor Arellano shares four mobility predictions that could have an impact on IT in the near future. The list includes more personal devices in the workplace, on-demand mobile virtualization, HTML 5 enterprise apps, and identity-based mobile services.

Upcoming Cloud Events

AWS Summit UK 2013: April 23, London, UK
CA World 2013: April 21-24, Las Vegas, NV
AWS Summit US 2013: April 30, San Francisco, CA
Interop 2013: May 6-10, Las Vegas, NV