Cloud Computing

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

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:45:00 EST

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) just four months 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... 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 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 4 Keynote Speaker Profile: Jill T. Singer - NRO

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

With Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (9th Cloud Expo) now in its final day, Thursday November 10 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, here's who is round off the four-day event in our keynote hall this morning...none other than the CIO of the National Reconnaissance Office, Jill T. Singer.

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

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: James Weir - UShareSoft

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:45:00 EST

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: Mark Skilton - Capgemini

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:00:00 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 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 Day 1 Keynote Speaker Profile: Tyler Jewell - Oracle

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:45:00 EST

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: Dave Linthicum - Blue Mountain Labs

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:15:00 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: Bart Copeland - ActiveState

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:15:00 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: Jason Lieblich - Exoprise Systems

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:30:00 EST

Cloud Expo Speaker Profile: Peter Coffee - Salesforce.com

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:15:00 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: Scott Chasin - McAfee

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:30:00 EST

Enterprise Cloud Computing: Why You’re Expecting Too Much from the Cloud

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:15:00 EDT

Cloud computing has so much potential – and has been the subject of so much hype – that it seems to some like a panacea. Information security will no longer be an issue; storage will be limitless; processing power will be immense; and total cost-efficiency will finally become a reality. Much of the promise of the cloud is true, but not all of it – especially for enterprises. The fact is, enterprise clouds must serve organizations. And organizations are messy. People, policies and conflicting priorities can threaten any major business initiative. Cloud implementations are no exception. IT folks, for example, often insist on total control. As the business entity held most accountable for enterprise cloud initiatives, IT is justifiably concerned with operational success. However, the result is often cloud applications with no flexibility, tools without autonomy, and functionality without ease of use.

Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: What Happens When the Service Desk Goes Away?

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Cloud management brings many advantages to providing IaaS. Some of the key value propositions are self-services and faster provisioning times. Many companies are ready to adopt the technology but are not ready to adopt the business process changes to fulfill the value proposition of private cloud and cloud management. In his session at the 9th International Cloud Expo, David Piontek, VP of Support and Services at Abiquo, will look at how to build process change management into your cloud deployment. He will cover the challenges customers experience with business process change when implementing a private cloud and what prevents these customers from gaining additional value from a private cloud.

Security and Cloud Computing

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:30:00 EDT

Security remains the number one obstacle to adoption of cloud computing for businesses and federal agencies. Regardless of the deployment model selected--private, public, community, or hybrid—conquering security concerns is required for cloud computing to achieve its full potential as the next generation of IT architecture. This collective representation of senior cyber leadership views from more than two dozen private, federal, academic, and other institutions associated with the AFCEA Cyber Committee centers on three focus areas: visibility, collaboration, and workforce enrichment.

The Top 100 Bloggers on Cloud Computing

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:15:00 EDT

Ever since I first published here my tentative list of Top 50 Bloggers on Cloud Computing it became clear that an expansion would be needed before too long. Thanks to community feedback via my Twitter account (@jg21) here goes with an expanded roster, listed as before in alphabetical order since I am making no attempt at this stage to rank the various blogs, merely to map - and celebrate - their existence.

Leading C-Suite Perspectives Upcoming at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:30:00 EDT

What does the CIO of the National Reconnaissance Office have in common with the CEOs of Abiquo, Apprenda, Tier3, OutSystems and OpSource, the Co-Founder & CTO of Dell Boomi, the CTOs of Rackspace, rPath, Compuware, BMC, NextIO, SoftLayer, SOASoftware, Gale Technologies, CiRBA and UShareSoft, and the Chief Cloud Executive at VMware? Answer: all are members of the distinguished Speaker Faculty of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley, due to take place November 7-10, 2011, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA - the heart of Silicon Valley.

Taking the Pulse of Cloud Computing, Fall 2011

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:45:00 EDT

The markets may be melting, but Cloud Computing continues to attract headlines, VC dollars, M&A activity, and more. So let's take a quick look at what's being said, written, and done about the Cloud...now that we have reached Fall 2011.

An A-Z of Cloud Computing at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:00:00 EDT

An alphabetical selection of some of the many themes & topics to be discussed at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley (9th Cloud Expo) - being held November 7-10, 2011, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. The markets may still be melting, but Cloud Expo is definitely coming of age!

Thar Be Danger in That PaaS

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:15:00 EDT

There's a lot of momentum behind moving to Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for delivery of applications on the cloud, but is there enough maturity in PaaS to deploy a mission-critical application? Here's a story regarding one loyalty program provider that offers his customers SaaS solutions. This SaaS provider deployed his platform on a PaaS that offered SQL Server and ASP.NET services. The SaaS has been operating perfectly for months handling the needs of his clientele, but unexplainably stopped working midday on a Saturday—a busy retail time period. While the PaaS provider supposedly offered 24x7 support, they responded only to the first support ticket with a single response, “we really can't identify problems within your application.” The developers did what they could to discern the problem, but all their research pointed to something changing on the server. Upon hearing this, I had a bevy of thoughts regarding the maturity of PaaS.

Govt. Consolidation is "Cloud First" in Action

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:02:00 EDT

Sitting in Asia, thousands of miles from the US, alters ones perspective of the world and what's going on in it. China looms over everything here – as an exporter, investor, and when battling over resources. Yet the US remains by far the most influential country in the world when it decides to be. Thus the word of widespread datacenter consolidation by the US Government – apparently one of Federal CIO Vivek Kundra's final achievements as part of his “Cloud First” strategy – has reached here and should be taken seriously. Characterized in mainstream media reports as datacenter “closings,” with some expected pushback from local congressmen, the plan seems to be a sweeping consolidation that will save the federal government $3 billion a year in operating costs, according to a report in The New York Times. The US federal government has a consolidated IT budget of $80 billion per year – I compare that to the $30 billion federal budget of the entire government of the Philippines – making it the world's largest IT customer. This amount is the entire national IT spend of the six major ASEAN nations (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam). Not the amount spend by their governments – the entire IT spend of the countries as a whole. The Times reported that 195 centers will be closed by the end of this year, another 178 next year, and a total of 800 by 2014. That will leave 1,200 in service. “Cloud First” in Action Kundra articulated the Cloud First strategy earlier this year. It envisions 25% of Federal IT migrating to the cloud by mid-2012 – election season. Initial steps have included migrating 21 email systems in the Dept. of Agriculture and an SaaS-based recruiting serrvice by the US Army. On a related note, I encountered an article by James Powell, in which he interviewed a Sendmail exec who spoke of migrating almost one million mailboxes in 100 systems to a single cloud service across 15 federal agencies. The exec identified email and low-risk services such as informational websites are prime low-hanging fruit. But cost isn't everything, as the exec also mentioned applications that are elastic in demand as prime cloud candidates. This matters in Asia because the United States still can serve as an exemplar to the world. Would it be that its politicians and citizens realized this more often. Government leaders (and for that matter, business leaders) here, watching the highly sophisticated, yet sprawling, IT infrastructure within the US Federal government migrating to the cloud to save money and to become more agile, will now have a great case study and proofs-of-concept to embark on their own initiatives.

Cloud Expo Silicon Valley Call for Papers Deadline September 16

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:45:00 EDT

The September 16 deadline for the Call for Papers for the 9th International Cloud Expo, to be held November 7-10, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, is fast approaching. As enterprises in ever-increasing numbers start to evaluate cloud computing, many are assessing which applications can run in public clouds, which should run in a private cloud, and how to ensure that applications will be portable from one to another. Since there will be many different kinds of clouds, another issue is what kind of cloud resources should you use? How easy will it be to migrate to a public or private cloud, and how easy will it be to move between them? If you entrust your data to a Cloud Computing vendor, how will the vendor secure your data and segregate it from that of other customers? Will they encrypt the data both in motion and at rest? What key management policies will they employ? What access control will they enforce for the application and physical security? What third-party groups will audit their security? What compliance or other certifications do they possess? What is their disaster recovery plan and how does data security figure into those plans? What visibility do you have into the process? What is their network topology? Are they consistent with best practice tiered networking?

Singapore Government Announces Private "G-Cloud"

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:15:00 EDT

The Singapore government has announced plans to build the “Central G-Cloud,” described as a private government cloud to be used anywhere within the government “where security and governance requirements cannot be met by public clouds,” according to James Kang, an official with the Chief Information Office of Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA). Kang describes the G-Cloud as a “time next step in the journey toward a new platform that will be more agile and more resilient” than the Singapore government's current infrastructure. Specifications call for it to be built with two security tiers (a medium assurance zone and a high assurance zone), and to provide a gateway to SingPass, the country’s single sign-on identity for e-government services. Kang added that the government is investigating whether existing agency cloud structures will be able to interoperate and share resources with the new G-Cloud. The government will start accepting formal vendor proposals by the end of the year.

Will Vivek Kundra’s Departure Have a Negative Effect on Green IT in Gov?

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EDT

I wonder how much Vivek Kundra's departure will slow down the government's innovation, which is already too slow! I may be able to understand Vivek's frustration with the Federal Government. He is responsible for Data.gov. His plans to consolidate over 800 federal data centers, the Federal Cloud Strategy, and his legacy of the "25 Point Plan" are stuff of legend. I mean how long does it take to steer the course of an aircraft carrier? The federal government is a huge ship that moves very slow. Vivek's a pretty young guy, so he may not know that it takes a while to move large federal agencies within the beltway, or maybe he does and he's too impatient to see it through. Nevertheless, he did a great job as the nation's first CIO. Saving a 3 billion dollars with the IT Dashboard, while serving the President of the United States is no shabby undertaking. My fear is that the government will return to the status quo. This position requires extreme technical intelligence, business practicality, and fiscal activism. My hope is that Richard Spires, CIO of the Department of Homeland Security ensures that the next CIO sticks with the plan. The last thing we need is the beltway shuffle with these innovative initiatives.

Is Cloud Computing for Real?

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:15:00 EDT

In October 2009, Enterprise Cloud Computing was considered bleeding edge technology by many but there was something that seemed different about its value potential and adoption rate. For CIOs, it seemed a chance to provision affordable infrastructure quickly, alleviating delays to mission critical deliveries. Federal CIOs interest in Enterprise Cloud Computing was limited to innovators and early adopters. Two years later, where does Enterprise Cloud Computing stand? Is it for real?