Software » Virtualization

The challenges of competing with Cloud computing providers

In discussions about cloud computing and in comments readers leave on my blog posts, I commonly get statements along the lines of "Yeah, this cloud computing stuff sounds great, but at the end of the day, you have to have an IT guy solving problems like they've always done." In personal interactions, I often hear this sentiment portrayed as, "Public cloud computing is fine for the SMB and startup market, but enterprises aren't ready to move to that model." The tone of much of this feedback is that anyone who advocates cloud computing is at best naive or at worst incapable of understanding the real details of IT.

By Bernard Golden | 27 August, 2011 03:32

Tags: cloud computing, internet

Cloud computing: A sustaining or disruptive innovation?

If you've read this blog over the past couple of years, it should be no surprise that I am a huge advocate of the theories of Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma." Christensen and his book were brought to mind this week by the cover story in Forbes about his severe health problems, his experience with the U..S healthcare system, and his prescriptions for how to fix it.

By Bernard Golden | 17 March, 2011 05:28

Tags: cloud computing, internet

Culture Clash: Office 2010 v. Google Docs

Microsoft held its official launch event this morning for Office 2010--the latest release of its dominant office productivity suite. Some of the new elements of Office 2010 make the suite more Web-enabled, while recent changes to Google Docs make it more "Office-like", setting the two up for head-to-head battle.

By Tony Bradley | 14 May, 2010 00:10

Tags: cloud computing, google docs, Microsoft Office 2010

Being personal in a centralised world

Personalisation is about more than decorating a user’s desktop, it must encompass business policy, end-to-end visibility and user introduced applications.

By Sean Walsh | 21 May, 2009 11:22

Tags: AppSense, virtual desktops

A primer on cloudbursting

The term "cloudbursting" was coined by Amazon Web Services evangelist Jeff Barr to describe the use of cloud computing to deal with overflow requests, such as those that occur during seasonal rushes to online retail sites.

By Lori MacVittie | 18 December, 2008 09:07

Tags: cloudbursting

Storing your data in their cloud

Although it may seem like your computing life is all e-mail and browsing, computer users still create files, documents, spreadsheets, boring presentations and all manner of other stored information. Which brings me to the question: Where do you store your data? And are you ready to store your data online in a service hosted by a third party provider?

By James E. Gaskin | 07 November, 2008 09:34

Tags: cloud computing

Reinventing storage virtualization

The initial approach to storage virtualization, which has been around for years, was to address it in the storage-area network because the SAN sat between the storage and servers, and would cause the least disruption to these systems. However, after nearly a decade, this approach has not taken off while server virtualization has become widely accepted. What needs to be changed to make storage virtualization as ubiquitous as server virtualization?

By Hu Yoshida | 02 October, 2008 10:26

Tags: storage virtualisation

The challenge of securing virtualization operations

I have been very interested in virtualization security since early 2004 and it now seems like it has become a mainstream topic. Most of the focus however is on securing the technology of virtualization (the hypervisor) and providing virtualized security (usually as virtual appliances). My focus nowadays is more on the operational impact of virtualized infrastructure and by extension the impact on security operations. After all, security controls (technology) are essential but without operational controls (people) they are not sufficient. So what is the operational impact of virtualization?

Real time drives database virtualization

Databases are evolving faster than ever, becoming more fluid to keep pace with an online world that's becoming virtualized at every level.

Preview: VMware Fusion 2 Beta 2

Virtualization on the Mac has never had it so good. There are several options available for running almost any x86-based operating system as a VM under Mac OS X, including Parallels, VMware Fusion, and VirtualBox. If you like the fact that Macs are less prone to problems, viruses, and spyware, but you simply have to run a few Windows applications, it's a great time to be alive.

Collaboration brings value to VAN clouds

Maybe Gartner Vice President of Research Benoit Lheureux can't say, "I've seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked," but he did sound a bit like the poet Allen Ginsberg when -- speaking about VAN (value-added network) service providers -- he said, "I saw these guys sink into the morass of the IT hell hole, and they were bleeding revenue."

Battle for the Cloud: Google vs. Microsoft

Last week I got my first close-up look at Live Mesh, Microsoft's new cloud computing-based data synchronization and device management platform. Unlike past sync solutions from Microsoft, Live Mesh maintains a master copy of your data on the software giant's own servers, enabling instant access to the latest version your files from any Internet-connected device. It's clearly a shot over Google's bow.

Did VMware sell out to EMC too soon?

Did VMware sell out to EMC too soon? I try not to mix personalities with analysis because when I do, I sometimes get into trouble. But as I try to rationalize Diane Greene's abrupt departure from VMware, and EMC CEO Joe's Tucci's role in her demise, personalities keep getting in the way. While I've met both these powerful players, I can't say that I know them. All I really have to go on is my sense of their public personas. Diane has built a huge following, is perceptive -- even visionary -- and opinionated. Joe has taken control of a franchise that was head-strong to begin with and transformed it. In my view he's even handed, but a man who is very capable of pushing back when pushed. And no doubt about it, with VMware he acquired an equally head-strong organization.

Battle of the Steves

Here's an irony: With XP's expiration date now 10 days past, you'd think Microsoft could take a deep breath, wipe the sweat off its brow, and enjoy some relative peace and quiet. Wrong. The software giant launched its Vista Compatibility Center this week -- and promptly fell on its face when the site was down for a whole day.

Get your head into this cloud

Growing up in a family with a strong work ethic, I often heard variations of the phrase "keep your head out of the clouds and your feet on the ground." To my parents, if you had your head in the clouds you were a dreamer wasting your life on fantasies and unrealistic goals. The successful were those who had their feet firmly planted on the ground of reality.

7 skills for IT fame and fortune

With the economic downturn on everyone's mind, assumptions about job security come under question, and everyone starts reexamining their skills. There are lots and lots of valuable jobs performed in IT, but some skills are valued even more highly than others. With all the upheaval we're experiencing in IT, many new skills are in high demand or rapidly increasing in value. Here are my Top 7 skills that could help you not only keep that job, but secure an even better new job, positioning you to work on the next generation of IT applications and software products in the era of Web-delivered online applications.

Going green, virtually speaking

Broadly speaking, there are two main reasons for companies to go green. The first is to reduce energy costs, thereby saving the company money. As one IT executive put it to me recently, "Green computing is all about saving greenbacks."

Microsoft Hyper-V gets a seat at the big table

Microsoft announced on Thursday that Hyper-V was released to manufacturing, and then about two seconds later the media frenzy began.

RTM edition of Microsoft Hyper-V adds speed

Last week, Microsoft released its virtualization product, Hyper-V, to manufacturing. Previously, the company had promised to make a production-supported version of Hyper-V available to Windows Server 2008 customers within 180 days of the official release of the operating system itself. By releasing Hyper-V in late June, Microsoft beat its self-imposed deadline by about a month, although delivering less than was originally promised.

Red Hat the latest proof that cloud computing is serious business

You know a technology is getting some traction when imitators jump into the game. That's the case these days with cloud computing. Just this week, Amazon added Red Hat's JBoss to its EC2 cloud computing platform, and an established hosting service -- ServePath -- jumped into the fray with a version of cloud computing called GoGrid.