Tag Archives: cloud computing

How Cloud Computing and Mobility Are Changing The Hiring Process

Cloud computing might be commonplace now, but it is still revolutionizing many traditional industries. One of those sectors is the hiring and recruiting space, where cloud computing has made it easier for your company to connect with candidates.

With your recruitment management system in the cloud, you can add and view candidate profiles at any time and from anywhere with an Internet connection. This allows team members to participate in the hiring workflow from anywhere and even recruit on the go using a mobile device. Cloud computing makes finding and organizing information for making critical recruitment decisions easier and faster than ever.

Getting the most from your recruitment process now often means leveraging the cloud. Here are a few ways cloud computing can enhance your hiring:

A Remote Worker Recruitment Solution

Virtual workforces are gaining steam, and seem to be in the news everywhere you look. The outcry over Marissa Mayer’s curtailing work-from-home privileges for Yahoo employees shows the increasing importance of the virtual workforce in our professional lives.

Clearly, many experts see telecommuting as an important element of the evolving workplace. Whether your company uses telecommute days as a carrot to lure in talented candidates or your organization is completely virtual, cloud computing can present a hiring solution.

For these virtual companies, a next-gen recruitment system built for the cloud can be a good way to collaborate with the whole team, even if this team is scattered across several geographical regions. Now your workers do not have to remain in one static location to collaborate. Thanks to the cloud, your team can work together whether everyone works remotely or just on different floors of the same building.

Going Mobile

Mobile is the future and you only need to look at the numbers to see why. According to the Pew Center for Research, 87 percent of Americans own a cell phone — with 45 percent now in proud possession of a smartphone. Meanwhile, 68 percent of smartphone users visit social networks from their device. This shows how cloud computing and social recruiting can go hand-in-hand.

Thanks to cloud-based applicant tracking systems, you can now recruit from a smartphone or tablet, meaning even the busiest employer can evaluate candidates on the move. Open positions can be pushed out on the same social media channels your smartphone-obsessed candidates are checking. Plus, you can store relevant candidate profiles and notes in the cloud, making it a snap for everyone on your team to collaborate remotely.

Keeping Control

If virtual offices are trending, than social media proliferation has also turned ‘privacy’ into a buzzword. Perhaps one of the biggest concerns about cloud technology is the perceived lack of security. If your whole team can collaborate around a hire, what’s to stop someone else from seeing your proprietary information? This is why it is vitally important to keep control of your cloud-based ATS system.

Access controls work to keep your team on task, while ensuring team members only see the information they have clearance to view. For instance, someone with administrator access might be able to post a job description, while someone with an interviewer status might only be able to view candidate profiles. Whether your team is made up of internal workers or outside recruiters, strict access controls are necessary to maintain privacy and keep everyone on schedule.

Simpler Employee Referrals

It is likely only about 23 percent of your current workforce is referring talented members of their network. However, studies have found up to 60 percent of your employees would be willing to make referrals if it was made easier to do so. Obviously companies need to improve their employee referral processes, especially since a 2012 survey found referrals to be the number-one source of external hires.

By putting employee referrals in the cloud, you are making it much easier for great employees to share open positions with their networks. Social media sharing is a great way for smart employees to give your open positions a signal boost across their various social media circles.

Thanks to cloud computing, employees can now share an open job with a talented member of their network from wherever life takes them. Since referrals are now portable, employees are more likely to refer a connection from their network as soon as they can think of a talented member who might be a good fit for the position.

There’s a war for talent raging and growing companies are eager to adopt newer capabilities that help them solve critical problems while giving them an edge over the competition. Cloud computing is a great way to revamp and streamline your entire recruitment process and brings agility and efficiency to the recruitment workflow in an environment where mobility plays an increasingly important role.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/how-cloud-computing-and-mobility-are-changing-the-hiring-process-0490710

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How to create a realistic enterprise strategy for cloud computing

Cloud computing has commoditized IT infrastructure and allows companies of all sizes to be more agile and cost efficient, but heed this caution — it isn’t for everything.

In developing their strategy for cloud computing, enterprises need to keep in mind that there are applications that are terrible candidates for cloud, just as there are systems that lend themselves to the cloud. In any case, it’s worthwhile to take a look at what has value that public cloud services can bring to the enterprise, said David Linthicum, senior vice president at Cloud Technology Partners, during his Rethinking Enterprise Computing presentation at the Modern Infrastructure Decisions conference here this week.

"If you understand that this is just a platform change, it’s not so scary," he said. "We have all moved to new technology … with cloud; we are just using things we don’t own that sit on the open Internet."

In some cases, that is certainly a nerve-wracking proposition. But it makes sense in others. For example, retailers that need to scale up or down quickly or expand storage at low cost find the cloud to be a good option and should develop a strategy for cloud computing.

Many businesses use public cloud to extend their data center in that way; they add capacity or use the cloud as a backup data center, said Kris Bliesner, CEO of 2ndWatch, a Seattle-based Amazon Web Services integrator. "It can be a lot cheaper to store your archives in a cloud," he said. "[Cost] can get down to a penny a gig, which is much cheaper than tape."

Cloud has also become a good place for DevOps around the use of Platform as a Service. Also, large and highly expandable data systems work in the cloud, and cloud services make sense for new or small businesses, Linthicum said. "Most of Amazon’s business comes from small businesses," he said. "The $2 billion they made is all mom-and-pop shops that can’t afford their own IT."

Also, many companies use Software as a Service (SaaS) versions of enterprise apps, or their strategy for cloud computing is to use the cloud for high-performance computing on demand or Office automation apps, such as Office 365. Part of the appeal of SaaS is access to the latest software versions. "Being on O365 or a SaaS solution like that frees you up from the upgrade challenges," Bliesner said.

What not to put into the cloud
On the flip side, most legacy systems are poor cloud candidates, in part because they are tough to migrate to a public cloud. Systems that require a high degree of security or require a lot of regulatory control don’t belong in the cloud, either. "We use the cloud only for apps that we don’t have to worry about, security wise," said Ashish Patel, head of storage infrastructure for a financial asset management firm on the East Coast. "Things that are already public knowledge, we put in the cloud."

However, the fears around using cloud based systems typically are inaccurate, according to Linthicum. "If you think correctly about security in the cloud, it will probably be as secure as your on-premises systems," he said. "Just don’t do stupid things."

Enterprises with substandard network infrastructure shouldn’t move to the cloud either. In fact, in many cases, a move to the cloud would require a network infrastructure upgrade, Linthicum said. Very few people at the session, which had more than 100 attendees, indicated by a show of hands that they believe their network is ready for the cloud.

Also, companies shouldn’t put things into the public cloud that need to be tightly integrated with local systems and data.

And since the public cloud is a good way to circumvent infrastructure upgrade costs, enterprises that have recently made significant investments in hardware and software shouldn’t move to the cloud, Linthicum said. "If you have just made big investments, you have just eliminated the economic viability of the cloud," he said.

Building a strategy for cloud computing
Companies that want to begin their move to the cloud should put together an actionable, funded plan that includes realistic benefits and a five-year roadmap. "It is a long-term systemic change that requires support from the top," Linthicum said.

Everyone has their own approach, but there are some general guidelines. A cloud migration plan starts with understanding your business, your users and your technology. Then define your objectives while keeping security, governance and performance in mind, Linthicum said.

While many companies look to cloud as a way to reduce costs, the operational return on investment isn’t important; most of the money with cloud is made around the business agility it affords. "Business agility is the reason to leverage this technology," Linthicum said.

Source: http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/news/2240181341/How-to-create-a-realistic-enterprise-strategy-for-cloud-computing

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Cloud Computing: 4 Ways To Overcome IT Resistance

Business and IT leaders are bombarded with cloud computing hype and promotion. Yet very little is said about how the cloud affects the evolution of the IT organization itself. Enterprise cloud adoption is a transformative shift where the greatest implementation challenges are often more about people and process than technology integration.

Agents of change, especially in large enterprises, must overcome various forms of resistance. This includes organizational fiefdoms and the IT silos that evolved with them. These four organizational change strategies can help IT departments fight fear and inertia as they move to cloud computing:

IT Change Strategy #1: Use Tiger Teams To Break Down IT Fiefdoms

While no one is shocked that IT silos can hinder cloud adoption, you may be surprised how quickly you’ll encounter resistance. For example, setting up IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) offerings for your first private cloud will likely involve separate groups responsible for storage, computing, networking, platforms and security. Coordination among these groups is already difficult and you’ll quickly find that many cloud vendors have product interoperability issues that cause documentation gaps, integration problems and incompatibilities. Teams will have to escalate issues through multiple vendors, causing long delays and strains between IT fiefdoms not accustomed to relying on each other.

The key is for siloed groups to share activities across traditional boundaries. To encourage this, leading companies have created Tiger Teams: small cross-functional groups of skilled, respected and entrepreneurial-minded workers. They should be experienced enough to navigate their home departments to accomplish needed tasks, politically astute enough to marshal resources and enterprising enough to push projects to completion. And they need a strong sponsor who can provide political cover and help break through entrenched resistance.

IT Change Strategy #2: SWAT Away “Analysis Paralysis”

One large financial institution implemented a cloud strategy with an incumbent vendor that claimed to offer the right strategy and products. The firm waited too long for proof points and had vastly disappointing results. When it tried to bring in other cloud vendors, they merely added confusion to the existing failed effort – leading to analysis paralysis and the inability to decide on the proper next steps.

Unfortunately, this scenario is being played out in many large enterprises. If you can’t afford a year of paralysis, create a SWAT team.

Smaller and more discreet than a Tiger Team, a SWAT team is quietly let loose to “get something done.” It emerges only when it has a concrete working model to integrate with the IT ecosystem for evaluation. Because it runs “small, fast and dark,” a SWAT team can be easier to initiate than a Tiger Team. A SWAT team’s goal is to break the paralysis and create a tangible model that everyone can improve. Building a SWAT team is relatively cost effective, especially compared to the opportunity cost of spending a year just trying to decide what to do.

IT Change Strategy #3: Challenge Legacy Obstinacy

Many organizations cling stubbornly to legacy applications and platforms, often including proprietary applications running on no longer supported platforms. While some groups may propose porting those applications to a modern, standardized, platform and as-a-Service offering, legacy zealots may claim that’s too risky.

But there are many different techniques for cloud migration, including some require little to no re-architecture efforts. One size does not fit all when it comes to migrating applications to the cloud.

That’s critical, because the benefits of eliminating non-standard platforms and infrastructure in favor of lower cost, cloud-based service offerings are too important to ignore. Because cloud computing promises automated processes that lower costs and speed cycle times for application provisioning, maintenance, patching and updating, cloud-based IT service costs will almost certainly decrease over time. Legacy system costs, meanwhile, typically continue to creep up. Many times, simply running numbers can help overcome emotional objections to changing the legacy status quo.

IT Change Strategy #4: Challenge Habitual Inefficiency

Most organizations existing IT processes and governance approaches are the result of years of layering of systems, technologies and process exceptions. Today’s cloud initiatives present a significant new opportunity to improve process automation and implement new governance best practices. That will likely breed resistance based on the idea of, “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Don’t buy it. The process has likely been broken for years.

Part of the resistance is political, as people within the IT organization understandably worry about positions being eliminated or particular fiefdoms losing prestige and power. The misperception may also exist that automation is fraught with risk.

But the real risk lies in not doing anything.

While some positions may in fact be eliminated and other roles may change with a move to the cloud, this is far better than the alternative. Sub-optimal IT efficiency can lead to lower enterprise productivity, a loss of competitiveness, lower profits and ultimately the risk of wholesale outsourcing of IT operations.

Successful Organizational Change Management

Addressing organizational change is vital to ensure the success of enterprise cloud-computing initiatives. By incorporating the right approach and building strong arguments to overcome resistance, you can help your organization make the changes necessary for successful implementation of enterprise cloud strategies.

Source: http://readwrite.com/2013/03/21/cloud-computing-4-ways-to-overcome-it-resistance

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How to profitably develop mobile apps

Intel Developer Blog: Softtalkblog looks at how HTML5 can help increase market reach

Every now and then, I open the newspaper to discover another app and its inventor, who are both tipped for the top.

It’s always a joy to see independent developers getting exposure, and it carries that subtle lottery-like subtext: “It could be you!”. Sometimes the stories celebrate the mere creation of an app, but other times they report on an app that’s seen huge financial success. Who wouldn’t want a slice of that?

Obviously, there’s no golden formula to coming up with an app idea that resonates with everyone, but there are some ways you can maximise your profits, which is ultimately what counts. Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, as the old saying goes.

It doesn’t matter how much money you bring in: it only matters how much is left at the end of the month, and that depends on how tightly you can control costs.

For most developers, whether working in an agency or self-employed, time is their biggest expense or opportunity cost. A lot of work goes in to creating an app, but that can be considered an investment, and can be recouped as the app is tweaked for use on different platforms.

There remains the cross-platform conundrum, the challenge of how you can profitably serve a market that remains fragmented across operating systems and devices. We can’t do much about the fragmentation, but we can do a lot about how we respond to it.

Software can only be sold to people who have compatible hardware, so one way to dramatically increase your market reach is to increase the number of devices your app runs on, and HTML5 can be a big help in this regard. It runs on almost any modern personal computing device, and with minor modifications and a browser wrapper, HTML5 apps can be put into app stores relatively easily.

HTML5 can help with tomorrow’s challenges too. When a new device or operating system comes to market, it represents a gamble for app developers. As it takes off, though, those who showed faith and migrated to the platform early are rewarded with huge sales.

We’ve seen it time and again on new platforms over the last five years or more. We don’t know what the next big platform will be, but we do know that anyone who has app code in HTML5 is likely to be in a stronger position to port it across, than someone who is locked in to code that is native to a particular device.

If you have code that’s currently written in Objective-C for iOS, you can migrate it to HTML5 for use on Android, Windows and other platforms using the free Intel HTML5 App Porter Tool Beta. It automates the conversion as far as possible, so you can focus on those aspects of your app that are more unique.

When creating new apps, developers should think about future-proofing their code from the start, and plan for an app to ultimately go across multiple platforms, including perhaps some that don’t yet exist.

It is possible to port apps by rewriting them, but it’s a slow process and most developers would rather not write the same app over and over again. Having HTML5 as a base at least means that there is a core that can be ported across relatively easily, even if some custom coding is required around the edges.

HTML5 helps you make more money in two ways: it opens up new markets, and it speeds up your cross-platform app development. It’s not ideal for every kind of application, but where it is a good fit, it should be the top choice for any developer that’s serious about making money. Find out more about HTML5 at the Intel Developer Zone.

Source: http://www.develop-online.net/news/43561/How-to-profitably-develop-mobile-apps

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Cloud Computing And Banking Security

Individuals which still worry about cloud security, are those that fall under the financial institution category like banks, brokers, lenders and the like. They do not trust third party cloud computing providers and vendors, at least not with their most sensitive information and data. They might use cloud computing for some things like websites and applications that they think they can risk security with, but they would never consider parting with direct access of their financial and other similar data.

The biggest reason behind this is simpler than most would imagine as it has something to do with numbers and probability, thought they probably would not admit it is something as basic as that and would rather cite some technical issue like migration and data integrity. Those are valid points, but they are not truly even problems. With ease and security of data migration through cloning and inter-server data transfers with services like Cloud Velocity, migration is truly a no pain no worry process. The real reason as I have said is the probability of a successful attack. Government systems and financial data systems are under attack multiple times a day, and a sizeable majority of these fail at the first lines of defense. The probability of a successful attack is always real, and this probability of success increases as the number of attempts increases.

When data systems reside behind closed and secret doors, very few people will be able to access it, never mind knowing about it. However, the moment that data resides in the cloud, a sign bearing the words “Step right! Take your chance to earn millions of dollars!” goes up as well; it is inherently an invite to all attackers of all skill levels to at least try. Inevitably the success of an unscrupulous individual/s will prevail. A basic analogy would be to keeping a jar of cookies on a high table when there are a lot of kids around as opposed to keeping it out of reach and out of sight inside the cupboard.

In this case, it’s not a matter of technology but a matter of probability. No matter how advanced your security measures are men can open locks that are made by other men, it is best to keep those that try to a minimum.

Source: http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2013/02/cloud-computing-and-banking-security/

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9 top threats to cloud computing security

9 top threats to cloud computing security

Cloud computing has grabbed the spotlight at this year’s RSA Conference 2013 in San Francisco, with vendors aplenty hawking products and services that equip IT with controls to bring order to cloud chaos. But the first step is for organization to identify precisely where the greatest cloud-related threats lie.

To that end, the CSA (Cloud Security Alliance) has identified "The Notorious Nine," the top nine cloud computing threats for 2013. The report reflects the current consensus among industry experts surveyed by CSA, focusing on threats specifically related to the shared, on-demand nature of cloud computing.

First on the list is data breaches. To illustrate the potential magnitude of this threat, CSA pointed to a research paper from last November describing how a virtual machine could use side-channel timing information to extract private cryptographic keys in use by other VMs on the same server. A malicious hacker wouldn’t necessarily need to go to such lengths to pull off that sort of feat, though. If a multitenant cloud service database isn’t designed properly, a single flaw in one client’s application could allow an attacker to get at not just that client’s data, but every other clients’ data as well.

The challenge in addressing this threats of data loss and data leakage is that "the measures you put in place to mitigate one can exacerbate the other," according to the report. You could encrypt your data to reduce the impact of a breach, but if you lose your encryption key, you’ll lose your data. However, if you opt to keep offline backups of your data to reduce data loss, you increase your exposure to data breaches.

The second-greatest threat in a cloud computing environment, according to CSA, is data loss: the prospect of seeing your valuable data disappear into the ether without a trace. A malicious hacker might delete a target’s data out of spite — but then, you could lose your data to a careless cloud service provider or a disaster, such as a fire, flood, or earthquake. Compounding the challenge, encrypting your data to ward off theft can backfire if you lose your encryption key.

Data loss isn’t only problematic in terms of impacting relationships with customers, the report notes. You could also get into hot water with the feds if you’re legally required to store particular data to remain in compliance with certain laws, such as HIPAA.

The third-greatest cloud computing security risk is account or service traffic hijacking. Cloud computing adds a new threat to this landscape, according to CSA. If an attacker gains access to your credentials, he or she can eavesdrop on your activities and transactions, manipulate data, return falsified information, and redirect your clients to illegitimate sites. "Your account or services instances may become a new base for the attacker. From here, they may leverage the power of your reputation to launch subsequent attacks," according to the report. As an example, CSA pointed to an XSS attack on Amazon in 2010 that let attackers hijack credentials to the site.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-security/9-top-threats-cloud-computing-security-213428

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HP Enables Partners to Accelerate Cloud Services Delivery

HP

HP today announced two new HP Cloud Builder programs that enable partners to leverage HP Cloud Services, the company’s public cloud, to expand their cloud practices and generate new revenue opportunities.

HP also introduced three new "as a service" offerings from HP Cloud Services that provide customers with faster time to value and simplified cloud deployment.

As part of HP’s Converged Cloud strategy, the new additions to the HP Cloud Builder program enable global system integrators (GSIs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to offer their customers a hybrid delivery model across private, managed and public cloud environments. HP partners are looking for new and innovative ways to assist their customers’ move to the cloud. By adopting these programs, partners gain access to specialized personnel and training that enables them to respond faster, and drive greater profitability and innovation for their customers.

The two new HP Cloud Builder programs, unveiled at the 2013 HP Global Partner Conference, expand opportunities in the cloud for GSIs and VARs. HP’s public cloud partner program for GSIs enables them to leverage tools and capabilities to simplify the cloud transition for customers. In addition, HP announced the general availability of its public cloud partner program for VARs, which provides reward incentives to partners referring customers to HP Cloud Services.

HP public cloud partner program for global system integrators HP’s public cloud program for GSIs enables partners to provide consulting services, build applications or resell services leveraging HP Cloud Services. It provides partners with the tools to rapidly and reliably transition customers to the cloud. Program members have access to designated cloud testing environments; collaborative go-to-market opportunities; and sales, technical and support resources that expand their public cloud practices.

Deloitte Consulting LLP, a global financial services firm, and Infosys, a technology consulting and outsourcing provider, are working with HP Cloud Services and the HP partner program for GSIs to help meet the high demand among enterprise customers to leverage the public cloud. As a result, Deloitte and Infosys have the means to help their customers solve complex business problems, foster innovation and drive growth.

"HP’s public cloud partner program for GSIs provides global system integrators with access to HP Cloud Services to grow their public cloud practice," said Chris Weitz, Deloitte Consulting director and leader of Deloitte’s cloud computing practice. "Deloitte has joined HP’s public cloud partner program for GSIs to help meet the high demand among enterprises to define a cloud strategy, move to the cloud and remain competitive."

HP public cloud partner program for value-added resellers HP’s public cloud program for VARs rewards partners for referring customers to HP Cloud Services and maintaining long-term relationships with annuity-based commissions. The program helps VARs and channel partners capture new markets and attract customers through HP training, cobranding opportunities and marketing tools.

Starting summer 2013, HP will expand the program to provide financial incentives for channel partners reselling HP Cloud Services.

"By engaging with HP’s public cloud partner program for VARs, we are able to meet the needs of our customers by offering solutions that help them innovate and scale with their business," said Al Chien, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Dasher Technologies.

HP cloud services

New HP Cloud Services offerings HP has expanded its HP Cloud Services portfolio with new private beta "as a service" offerings that support a reliable application infrastructure and enable customers to achieve rapid business results:

        –  HP Cloud Monitoring helps users identify potential issues before they
            impact production with infrastructure metrics, alerts and notification
            tools.
        –  HP Cloud Load Balancer optimizes application response times and
            reduces IT management costs by distributing web traffic across
            multiple servers.
        –  HP Cloud DNS saves developers’ time and provides quick and easy access
            to a faster, reliable global DNS service by translating domain names
            to IP addresses using a global network of servers.

"Partners and organizations alike are strapped for resources, making it difficult to invest in the newest technologies for their customers," says Roger Levy, vice president, Technology and Customer Operations, Cloud Services, HP. "HP’s partner programs and service additions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to engage partners and clients in innovative technology capabilities, helping them to reach new markets, grow their customer base and, ultimately, ensure their profitability."

Availability All HP Cloud Services offerings announced today are initially available in private beta. Additional information is available at HP Cloud Matters.

Additional information about HP Cloud Services is available at hpcloud.com and the HP Cloud Matters blog. Additional information an HP Converged Cloud is available online. Up-to-the-minute information is available on Twitter at @HPCloud and @HPNews.

HP’s premier Americas client event, HP Discover, takes place June 11-13 in Las Vegas.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance, market share or competitive performance relating to products and services; any statements regarding anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the competitive pressures faced by HP’s businesses; the development and transition of new products and services and the enhancement of existing products and services to meet customer needs and respond to emerging technological trends; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the protection of HP’s intellectual property assets, including intellectual property licensed from third parties; integration and other risks associated with business combination and investment transactions; the hiring and retention of key employees; assumptions related to pension and other post-retirement costs and retirement programs; the execution, timing and results of restructuring plans, including estimates and assumptions related to the cost and the anticipated benefits of implementing those plans; the resolution of pending investigations, claims and disputes; and other risks that are described in HP’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2012. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hp-enables-partners-to-accelerate-cloud-services-delivery-2013-02-20

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Cloud computing 2.0: Where next for business?

Cloud computing has come a long way in the past 12 months. Everywhere we look, the cloud seems to be there – it’s like the industry is a film with the cloud on an overt product placement mission.

At the same time, however, for many, it perhaps feels like cloud hasn’t come far enough – once users get an appetite for technology they want the IT version of the moon on a stick. And, inevitably, they
want it yesterday.

This is putting increased pressure on already pressurised IT departments and means business and tech decision makers have to provide even more leadership and guidance then ever before.
Cloud computing has come a long way in the past 12 months. Everywhere we look, the cloud seems to be there – it’s like the industry is a film with the cloud on an overt product placement mission.
In our first IT Pro report entitled Cloud Computing in 2012, we looked at what cloud is and pondered its potential for business transformation. We went into detail on cloud ‘basics’ such as the difference between public and private clouds, IaaS vs SaaS vs PaaS and looked at where cloud was headed.

This report aims to move the story on and arm IT professionals, managers, directors and C-level executives with greater insight into not just what cloud can do for their business, but the other factors
they must consider.

How, for example, will legacy systems work in this new cloud world? It would be wrong to suggest every business, in every sector, is going to rip and replace what they’ve always had and go 100 per cent cloud.

So how can the two co-exist and what do businesses need to bear in mind and do to get there? Stephen Pritchard takes a look at this very topic.

Security and privacy continue to be major concerns and barriers when it comes to cloud adoption. Can you really trust the cloud in a crisis? Davey Winder tries to answer this question, which is far from simple.

We also run down the storage options available to businesses to help you make the right choice for your organisation.

This report also features cases studies from the Alzheimer’s Society, Cancer Research and Lamborghini so business and technology decision makers can benefit from the experience of others when it comes to the cloud.

All in all, we hope this report provides you with answers to some key questions and leaves you feeling ready to take cloud to the next level in your organisation rather than taking a step back.

Source: http://www.itpro.co.uk/cloud/19177/cloud-computing-20-where-next-business

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SaaS remains most popular form of cloud computing

Software as a service (SaaS) continues to be the top cloud service that the UK enterprises plan to use in 2013, despite newer cloud services such as datacentre as a service, database as a service or even testing and development as a service.

A majority (55%) of respondents of the TechTarget and Computer Weekly UK IT priorities survey 2013 cited SaaS as the external cloud service that they will use this year.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) was the second most popular cloud service, with around 34% of some 400 IT executives surveyed planning to use it.

In comparison, only 12% of respondents said they will use datacentre as a service and only 11% said they will use collaboration as a service.

Other cloud computing services such as testing and development and private cloud design were also cited by less than 20% of the respondents.

In addition, only 16% said they will use security as a cloud service emphasising the cloud computing security risks and concerns.

UK businesses are still very cautious about investing in cloud computing in 2013, with only 30% of IT executives planning to increase their cloud budget for 2013. This compared with 46% investing in software and 43% investing in hardware resources this year.

Among their IT objectives for 2013, 33% said they planned to expand IT to support business growth, 23% planned to automate the business more and 14% planned to maintain service levels with flat budgets.

But despite cloud being touted as the technology that can help businesses automate, support growth and cut management costs, a large majority (71%) of IT executives said they would use on-premise hardware or software deployment models for 2013.

The study also showed that server virtualisation and datacentre consolidation still topped the list of IT priorities for UK enterprises, with only 13% opting for a public cloud infrastructure deployment model.

Biggest cloud concerns
While security and reliability of data remained the top concerns for UK IT professionals when it came to cloud computing, other challenges such as reliability, lack of interoperability and problems of migrating workloads to and from the cloud also ranked high in users’ cloud concern list.

As for cloud service providers, only a slightly higher percentage of respondents (27%) picked external cloud platforms to private cloud platforms (22%).

The study also revealed that following datacentre consolidation as top IT priority, IT professionals preferred to implement policies around BYOD trends over use of cloud services. For example, nearly half (49%) said they are planning policies around allowing users to bring their own smartphones, and another 29% are looking at how to allow employees to use their tablet devices on the corporate network.

But only 12% said they are planning to implement policies around using email services such as Gmail, 13% are planning to allow employees to use Google Docs, and 16% are implementing strategies for employees to use Dropbox – all personal cloud storage services. 

Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240177830/SaaS-remains-most-popular-form-of-cloud-computing-for-UK-IT

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What Larger Enterprises will Demand from Cloud Providers

We could be undergoing a bit of a transformation in the world of cloud computing. This will happen around the new demands of larger enterprises as they move slowly onto cloud-based platforms.  Larger enterprises are simply just higher maintenance.

Most small businesses have almost no leverage at their level of spending to make demands on the major public cloud computing providers.  Larger enterprises that can toss around a bunch of cash will certainly have more buying power.  Gone will be the days when cloud computing providers did not speak with humans and put forth take-it-or-leave-it contracts.  We’re quickly moving to a point in time where cloud providers will have to show up to speak with enterprise IT in person and even negotiate contract terms.

While some providers will find this new interaction a foreign and unproductive notion, some cloud providers will embrace it as a way to find new revenue, and perhaps differentiate themselves from the other public cloud providers.  Any cloud computing provider that deals with big enterprises will be forced to adapt, or pass on that end of the market.  I don’t see them passing.

If this sounds a lot like traditional enterprise software sales, you’re right.  However, I don’t see any way around it unless larger enterprises somehow decide to behave differently than they have for the past few decades.  I suspect that won’t happen.

Source: http://pro.gigaom.com/blog/what-larger-enterprises-will-demand-from-cloud-providers/

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