Cloud Computing

Cloud Expo New York: Industry-Leading CxOs to Present June 11-14

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

What do the CTOs of the CIA and the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the CIO of the National Reconnaissance Office have in common with the CEOs of Eucalyptus, GoGrid, ActiveState, Appcara, OpSource and Nortonworks, the CTOs of Rackspace, SoftLayer, SOA Software and AppZero, the Founder & General Manager of Dell Boomi, the VP of Big Data & Streams at IBM and the Chief Strategy Officer at Pacific Controls? Answer: all are shortly to present breakout sessions as members of the distinguished Speaker Faculty of Cloud Expo New York, taking place June 11-14, 2012, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Treb Ryan – OpSource

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:45:00 EDT

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) now just three weeks away, what better time to start introducing you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference...

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Bart Copeland – ActiveState

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:15:00 EDT

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) now just three weeks away, what better time to introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Jill T. Singer – NRO

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:00:00 EDT

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) now just three weeks away, what better time to introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from June 11 through June 14 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing and Big Data, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT, side by side with the exploding use of enterprise Big Data – processed in the Cloud – to drive value for businesses...?

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Dave Asprey – Trend Micro

Sun, 20 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) just over three weeks away, what better time to introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from June 11 through June 14 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing and Big Data, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT, side by side with the exploding use of enterprise Big Data – processed in the Cloud – to drive value for businesses...? We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from Nov 7 through Nov 10 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

Cloud Leadership to the Next Level

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

Some Cloud leaders have declared victory by leveraging the Cloud for infrastructure or software services and using the utility based, on demand capabilities. However, leaders can explore and realize higher levels of reuse and sharing by identifying specific processes that can be transitioned to the Cloud. Moving entire processes into the Cloud is a higher level of abstraction and will have a tremendous impact on the management and utilization of technology services. Planning and execution for the Cloud should assess and transition such processes to realize the benefits of rapid provisioning and deployment. Dynamic shared processes for the Cloud have to be designed at a higher level by the vendors and they have to be customizable so that multiple consumers can leverage them. Such processes in the cloud are a conglomeration of building blocks that consist of specific services that can be sequenced. The consumer does not have to provision systems or servers and hence the ability to deploy full processes; not just software, infrastructure or platforms can lead to significant cost savings and reduce long term total cost of ownership. Specialized processes that need to be transitioned to the Cloud are good candidates for this transition, examples are back end processes, reporting, authentication etc. Due to the utility based aspect of the Cloud, these processes can be adjusted as needed based on on-going monitoring and can support rapid deployments.

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: James Weir – UShareSoft

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:30:00 EDT

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) now only four weeks away, what better time to introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from June 11 through June 14 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing and Big Data, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT, side by side with the exploding use of enterprise Big Data – processed in the Cloud – to drive value for businesses...?

Chief Executives and the Cloud - Leadership for the New Frontier

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:30:00 EDT

Cloud facilitates a new generation of technology and related impacts that have never been seen before. With utility computing and on demand capabilities, many organizations want to jump on the bandwagon as soon as possible. As the Chief Executive, there are some tough decisions to be made. There will be people in your organization who say that Cloud is the best thing that happened since the emergence of the internet. Others will paint a picture of gloom and doom by citing issues such as security, privacy, control over data etc. Cloud can enhance productivity by providing the infrastructure or application platforms and related tools to respond to customer needs quickly, giving organizations an edge over others that have not assessed such mechanisms, and the on-demand capabilities can lead to efficient utilization of resources. Cloud also facilitates mobility services since such services are available at a cheaper cost to the enterprise.

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Ajay Budhraja – U.S. Dept. of Justice

Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Cloud-Based Collaboration Services in Asia-Pacific Gov

Fri, 11 May 2012 06:30:00 EDT

Government agencies are reportedly one of the primary benefactors of managed cloud services. According to the results from a recent market study by IDC, IT decision-makers across the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) found that 59 percent of public sector respondents are confident in the ability of their internal IT departments to deploy private cloud environments.

However, IDC Government Insights cautions that high levels of private cloud adoption may not bode well for a collaborative and citizen-engaging government and preemptive measures should be taken for collaboration to take place across organizational boundaries. More insights can be found in the IDC report entitled, "Cloud Computing for Government: a View from Asia-Pacific."

Frank Levering, Research Manager for IDC said, "An efficient and productive internal IT department is definitely a good to have in any organization, private or public. However, a department that is highly confident in running its own private cloud environment may run the risk of not reaching out to other internal departments to collaborate on cloud opportunities."

To counter this possibility, IDC recommends that whenever possible, governments should consider cloud-based collaboration services rather than independent private cloud solutions.

Although governments will initially be seeking cloud-based solutions to deliver cost advantages and better manage resources, eventually, cloud implementations need to be about inter-department collaborations and citizen relationship management in order to reap the full benefits of its capabilities to deliver optimal citizen services.

This is particularly important for key initiatives like data classification for security purposes; if agencies do not align their security levels, it would prove to be a massive obstacle for future joint efforts.

A positive sign is that governments across the region are growing to recognize the need for collaboration within the cloud space. There is already a significant installed base of collaborative applications in the cloud and the numbers will grow significantly in the next 12 months.

To optimize the benefits of cloud services, IDC offers recommendations to governments:

Evaluate all aspects of cloud computing. Read everything you can get your hands on. Most suppliers will have recognized that the key to their long-term success is their short-term role as an educator. Since security is a big concern, develop security profiles for all suppliers being considered.
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) first, then cloud. The right SOA needs to be in place to facilitate a smooth connection to external cloud services. Government agencies needing to build a robust SOA require a plan that tackles the transition in bite-size pieces while solidifying long-term migration to the shared services architecture. Remove the key barriers to cloud computing.
Challenges like security concerns and decentralized data storage will be blocking issues until they are acknowledged and appropriately addressed. Many of the more complex scenarios, like customer/citizen relationship management and inter-department collaboration will depend on a government's ability to get the basics right.
Know your current environment. An inventory of the current environment should provide a good indication of whether systems contain sensitive data, including taxpayers' personally identifiable information and/or mission-critical data and (legacy) applications. This will provide an excellent start to planning for cloud services adoption.

Cloud Service Brokers – ITaaS Best Practices

Thu, 10 May 2012 06:00:00 EDT

The headline theme of our upcoming events, both the GovCloud 2.0 webinar and the Drummond Reportworkshop and white paper, is the role of Cloud Service Brokers and how they will enable the transition to ITaaS – IT as a Service. The second part of our webinar will focus on the emerging concept of ‘Cloud Service [...]

Microsoft GovCloud 2.0

Thu, 10 May 2012 04:45:00 EDT

We’ve just published our first main ‘Solution Guide’, a complete snapshot of how Cloud is applied in one specific area, in this case the Microsoft portfolio. MicrosoftCloud.biz is intended as a channel marketing tool to envelop all aspects of the Microsoft Cloud supply chain, ranging from in-house Private Cloud through Azure hosting and Office 365. [...]

Public GovCloud Computing – Assessing the Requirements

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

As more and more large enterprises start to make public adoptions of cloud and service providers figuring out the role they play in the market, one of the biggest potential cloud adopters has been watching and looking for signs that the market can support one of the most public facing cloud deployments. Yes, Governments have [...]

Aquilent Gives Federal Agencies Affordable, Strategic Cloud Options

Wed, 09 May 2012 01:00:00 EDT

“Aquilent is thrilled to have the opportunity to offer the AWS GovCloud (US) Region through the GSA IT-70 Schedule,” stated Aquilent CEO, David Fout, as Aquilent announced that it has added Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud (US) Region to its GSA Information Technology Schedule-70. “At this point, every agency should have a cloud strategy in place. Regardless of the stage, Aquilent isuniquely qualified to offer a full spectrum of services to support the government’s cloud needs,” Fout added.

Multi Community Cloud Services - Moving Beyond the Community Cloud

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:00:00 EDT

Community cloud services are services that are shared by multiple members of a community. They centralize the functions and can provide specific mission requirements. The mission requirements can be related to specific policies and compliance. Community clouds leverage the benefits of a public cloud but can satisfy specific requirements. These are perfect for communities with specific focus areas such as performance, auditing or policies that need to be applied across the community. A major benefit of community clouds is that many organizations can come together and pitch in for the cost of the cloud. This sharing results in significant savings compared to each organization setting up and supporting their own services. Community cloud is a term that is discussed a lot, but I have a new term for the cloud that combines multiple communities together, "Multi community cloud". Multi Community cloud services span across communities with similar functions and interests. For example, payment cloud services can be used by multiple communities (such as banking, finance, insurance etc) to make payments to individuals and companies, this would fall under multi community cloud services. These services have to be broad enough to encompass the functions of the multiple communities. With the rapid growth of the community cloud, multi community clouds will evolve to a higher level as communities identify and realize the benefits of leveraging many similar capabilities, even though some policies may be different.

Cloud Transition - Assess Then Fly into the Clouds

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:45:00 EDT

There is great excitement about the cloud; however, it is important to conduct a full assessment as part of the Cloud Transition. It is very important to decide which applications will be moving to the cloud based on factors such as alignment with business requirements, cost savings, level of effort, available resources, benefits of the new solution, risks etc to determine business and functional benefits. Architecture and security aspects need to be thoroughly assessed, and factors such as interoperability, reliability, portability, storage, data transfer, sensitivity of data have to be evaluated. The initial and projected cost implications for services have to be monitored regularly since services that are cost effective initially may end up being more expensive down the road as more users are brought on board. As part of the assessment of cloud vendors, technology and cost aspects need to be looked into carefully and expectations should be documented in the service level agreements.

FedRAMP Releases Updated Security Assessment Plan Templates

Tue, 08 May 2012 04:50:00 EDT

Last week the GSA FedRAMP Program Office released the latest version of the cloud computing Security Assessment Plan (SAR) template. This document is the most recent step toward the Federal governments goal of establishing FedRAMP initial operating Capability by June 2012. The Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for Cloud Service Providers (CSP).

Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Dave Linthicum – Blue Mountain Labs

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:00:00 EDT

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) now five weeks away, what better time to introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from June 11 through June 14 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing and Big Data, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT, side by side with the exploding use of enterprise Big Data – processed in the Cloud – to drive value for businesses...?

Looking for the Right Answers in the Clouds at Cloud Expo New York

Sat, 05 May 2012 08:30:00 EDT

The age of Big Data is here. Organizations are no longer challenged to find enough data to answer the pertinent questions required for success in today’s dynamic business environment. Rather, companies are struggling to keep pace with the enormous volumes of data invading their organizations – leaving some wondering what can we do to “connect the dots” from the data that is buried in our IT systems. Cloud Computing offers federal agencies, companies, and communities new solutions for consuming, storing, processing, and analyzing Big Data to find the right answers needed to accomplish the mission, gain competitive advantage, and collaborate in more meaningful ways. In their session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Jill Tummler Singer, CIO for the National Reconnaissance Office, and Jamie Dos Santos, President & CEO, Terremark Federal Group, will share perspectives on the Big Data challenge and how organizations can look in the clouds to discover the right answers. This session will feature collective results from a recent AFCEA International Cyber Committee white paper.

Enterprise Cloud Governance - Plug & Play for Cloud Services Is Not Enough

Fri, 04 May 2012 06:30:00 EDT

Policies and procedures for Cloud solutions and services should be established as part of Enterprise Cloud Giovernance. Plug and Play for Cloud Services is not enough! Enterprise Cloud Governance is the specification of policies and procedures for Cloud solutions and services for the organization. Many organizations struggle with having silos of Clouds without a coherent approach for Governance. It is very tempting for departments or groups to go and buy new services and try to plug them and then play to see how they works. If specific services have their own individual policies and procedures, this can lead to problems due to lack of centralized management. Without proper alignment with Enterprise Architecture and Security, this can lead to a spaghetti-like conglomeration of Cloud services without proper attention to interoperability and service management. With Enterprise level solutions that leverage hybrid services, the situation can quickly spin out of control. It is extremely important to have a strategy and vision in place to address important elements such as policy management, service management, interactions between applications and data, availability, performance and control related to services.

A–Z of Cloud Computing & Big Data: Cloud Expo 2012 New York

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EDT

Only ten weeks to go! Time for an alphabetical summary of the many leading-edge themes & topics to be discussed at Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) - being held June 11-14, 2012, at the Javits Convention Center in New York City and co-located with Big Data Expo 2012 New York (1st Big Data Expo). There is truly no bigger or better event on earth that allows you to play catch-up via so many different technical and strategy sessions devoted to Enterprise IT's two fastest-growing trends - Cloud Computing & Big Data - under one roof.

G-Cloud Update From VMware

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EDT

Last year on our Open Government webinar Andy MacLeod of Cisco presented on G-Cloud, the UK program to adopt Government Cloud Computing, providing an initial basis for our G-Cloud section in GovCloud.info. (Join our GovCloud Linkedin networking group here).

Hybrid SaaS – Platform for Software as a Service in the Public Sector

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EDT

I wasn’t able to attend and present at the recent OMG conference on public sector Cloud Computing, however I will still be uploading my sides so they’ll be available shortly. The others are available here for download. As you’ll see it was a powerful mix of speakers from around the world reporting on where each [...]

Cloud Computing Vital to U.S. Economic Growth and Competitiveness: NSF

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:45:00 EST

The Arlington, Virginia-based National Science Foundation has just released its "Report on Support for Cloud Computing" - in response to the America Competes Reauthorization Act of 2010, Section 524. It is an absolute must-read for all concerned with current and future research projects in Cloud Computing.

Europe's IT Commissioner Announces European Cloud Partnership Initiative

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:00 EST

"The cloud has the capacity to make lives easier for many of us, including the smallest of businesses. But to achieve that requires us to take many different policy areas and really test them to make sure they are as cloud-compatible as they can be." Writing in her official capacity as Europe's Commissioner for the Internet - and therefore as Czarina of the 'Digital Agenda' of the European Union - Commissioner Neelie Kroes has just announced a brand new initiative on cloud computing – the European Cloud Partnership.

An Inconvenient Truth of the NIST Definition of Cloud Computing

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:15:00 EST

For many IT professionals, cloud computing is confusing. And this article points out some of the ambiguities embedded in the NIST definition of cloud computing. Amid the many benefits of having the NIST SP 800-145 as a tool to facilitate the understanding, the classification and some definitions of the four deployment models are redundant and inconsistent. Particularly, the definition of "community cloud" is a redundant of that of a private cloud, the deployment models are defined with 2 set of criteria, and "hybrid cloud" is a confusing, ambiguous, and extraneous term. SP 800-145 is the de facto standard in IT industry of describing what cloud computing is with five essential characteristics, three delivery methods, and four deployment models. The five essential characteristics well specify the qualifications and expected behaviors of an object qualified with the term, cloud. The three delivery methods signify the essence of cloud computing centered on the concept of a "service."

Building GovCloud Services, Part 1 – Product Model

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EST

One of our primary focus and service areas is ‘GovCloud’ – Government Cloud Computing. In a nutshell this means building new Cloud services in line with the best practice models from NIST, the primary source of defining Cloud Computing reference architectures, comprised of the following main parts: Business Use Cases Product Model Cloud Identity Apps … Continue reading »

Cloud Expo Takeaways: Cloud Policy and Governance is the Missing Link

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:00:00 EST

With 9th Cloud Expo at Silicon Valley's Santa Clara Convention Center now finished, Cloud Computing Journal asked a variety of industry stakeholders what their Top Three takeaways were from the event, now that the many thousands of delegates are back at their desks and their companies, leveraging the knowledge and the insights that they gained through the extensive technical/strategic program and the huge number of booths on the Expo floor.

9th International Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo Silicon Valley – Photo Album

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:15:00 EST

9th International Cloud Expo, held on November 7 - 10, 2011, in Santa Clara, CA, attracted more than 120 sponsors and exhibitors with over 7,000 registered delegates and four content-packed days with a rich array of sessions about the business and technical value of cloud computing led by exceptional speakers from every sector of the cloud computing ecosystem.

Cloud Expo Takeaways: Private Cloud is Growing Market in the Business Cycle

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:15:00 EST

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend To All Our Cloud Expo Friends!

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

As we head into Thanksgiving Weekend, we bring a brief round-up of some of the many follow-up comments we have been receiving since November's 9th Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, CA. Thanks for your thanks, and see you on the other side...when the countdown steadily begins to New York's mega-event: 10th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York (June 11-14).

Cloud Expo Takeaways: Cloud Confusion Still Exists

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:45:00 EST

The Future of Cloud Computing: Industry Predictions for 2012

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:00:00 EST

With 9th Cloud Expo - Cloud Expo Silicon Valley - in full swing at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California, what's being said about the future landscape of cloud computing? In this round-up we asked a variety of members of the cloud computing ecosystem, from CIOs to independent consultants to marketeers...here are their views on what's in store in 2012. Listed as one of the Top 100 Bloggers in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem, Peter joined Salesforce in 2007 after 18 years as a senior contributor to the enterprise IT journals eWEEK and PC Week. Based in the Los Angeles area, he works with IT professionals and ISVs to build a global community based on Force.com: the salesforce.com Platform Cloud.

Cloud Expo Day 3 Keynote Speaker Profile: Willie Tejada - Akamai

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:30:00 EST

With Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (9th Cloud Expo) in full swing at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let's continue introducing you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the conference...starting with today's keynote speaker (Nov 9), Willie Tejada. We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from Nov 7 through Nov 10 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

9th Cloud Expo | Speaker Faculty A–Z

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

With Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (9th Cloud Expo) beginning its final two days at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let's remind you in greater detail about all the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

The Cloud Computing Wave Hits Silicon Valley

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:30:00 EST

The doors open today on 9th Cloud Expo - Cloud Expo Silicon Valley - the biggest event in the world-beating Cloud Expo series to date, with more members of the cloud computing ecosystem gathered than anyone has ever seen before in one place, to play catch-up with Internet technology's most compelling alternative to running all applications within a traditional corporate data center.

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: Rich Wolski - Eucalyptus Systems

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST

With Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (9th Cloud Expo) starting today Monday November 7 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let's introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from Nov 7 through Nov 10 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: Mark Worsey - GoGrid

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:30:00 EST

With Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (9th Cloud Expo) starting today Monday November 7 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let's introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the conference... We have technical and strategy sessions for you dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: Vijay Sarathy - Red Hat

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: James Thomason - Gale Technologies

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:45:00 EST