Posts Tagged ‘cloud computing’
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
 By 2020, large U.S. companies that use cloud computing can achieve annual energy savings of $12.3 billion and annual carbon reductions equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil – enough to power 5.7 million cars for one year.
This is according to a new study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), “Cloud Computing: The IT Solution for the 21st Century,” conducted by independent analyst research firm Verdantix and sponsored by AT&T.
According to the study, companies plan to accelerate their adoption of cloud computing from 10 percent to 69 percent of their information technology spend by 2020.
The report finds that a company that adopts cloud computing(3) can reduce its energy consumption, lower its carbon emissions and decrease its capital expenditure on IT resources while improving operational efficiency.
Stuart Neumann, Senior Manager at Verdantix, commented: “The study also analyzed the business impacts of transferring an essential business application—human resources— to the cloud and shows such an investment could give a payback in under one year.”
In addition to a predicted aggregate, annual carbon reduction of 85.7 million metric tons by large U.S. companies, cloud computing can:
- Help users avoid costly up-front capital investments in infrastructure
- Improve time-to-market as a new server can be created or brought online in minutes
- Provide greater flexibility as clouds allow firms to pay for excess capacity only when they need it
- Avoid the continual maintenance of excess capacity needed to handle spikes
- Improve automation that helps drive process efficiencies
“The study results make a powerful case for businesses to continue to explore and adopt secure and flexible cloud computing solutions,” said John Potter, Vice President, As-a-Service Solutions, AT&T.
Andrew Winston, leading expert on sustainable business and author of Green to Gold and Green Recovery, said: “Finding providers and partners that can take some of your energy-using operations to scale, and manage them in a shared capacity, is good for both business’ carbon footprint and its bottom line.”
The study suggests that significant non-monetary benefits can be achieved with cloud computing, including business process efficiency and increased organizational flexibility. Paul Stemmler from Citigroup commented: “Carbon reduction is one driver, but not the primary driver. The primary driver is time to market. Developers used to take 45 days to get new servers, but in the internal cloud infrastructure that we operate in our own private network, it takes just a couple of minutes.”
Verdantix conducted in-depth interviews with multi-national firms—including Aviva, Boeing, Citigroup and Juniper Networks— in diverse sectors. All study participants had adopted cloud services for at least two years. Many of the firms interviewed reported cost savings as a primary motivator, with anticipated cost reductions as high as 40 – 50 percent.
This study follows the release of a recent paper, “Building a 21st Century Communications Economy.” Tying these studies together, Dickinson commented: “The communications economy of the 21st century has the potential to generate more economic value with less environmental impact, and ICT companies will lead the way.”
The full cloud computing report can be downloaded at www.cdproject.net/en-US/WhatWeDo/Pages/Cloud-Computing.aspx.
Tags: AT&T, Carbon Disclosure Project, cloud computing, Cloud Computing: The IT Solution for the 21st Century, energy savings
Posted in Cloud, Energy, IT | Comments Off
Friday, July 15th, 2011
 There has been little good news about the economy lately, particularly on the jobs front. New In-Stat research, however, shows that Enterprise business spending on IT and telecom services, which include cloud computing, wireless, wireline voice, wireline data, and business IP/VoIP, will move in a positive direction in 2011, increasing a healthy 6 percent over 2010.
“There will be positive growth across all 20 verticals with education and healthcare and social services leading the surge with growth of 10 percent and 9 percent respectively,” says Greg Potter, Analyst. “These increases in spending are across all product groups except wireline voice which will decline by about half a percent.”
Additional data includes:
- Enterprise spending on public cloud computing services is set to expand 139% from 2010 to 2011.
- Enterprise spending on wireless data is set to approach $17 billion in 2015.
- Enterprise spending in the healthcare sector on wireline data will approach 2 billion in 2014.
- Enterprise spending on wireline voice will remain flat, with traditional TDM services continuing their decline, only reaching $3.4 billion in 2011.
The In-Stat research, Enterprise Markets for Telecom Services: Wireline Voice, Wireline Data, Wireless, Cloud Computing, and VoIP in 20 Verticals provides forecasts of US business telecom spending for the 2010-2015 period with detailed segmentation by product category, size of business, corporate liable spending, individual liable spending, and vertical market.
Tags: cloud computing, In-Stat, IT spending 2011, Report, telecom, VoIP, wireless, wireline data
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
 Personal computers, once the hallmark of efficiency and corporate growth, have become so complex that enterprises and consumers alike are seeking alternatives, says Wyse Technology, which sells cloud client computing solutions and enterprise client devices.
As PC market growth continues to decline, with 2011 worldwide PC shipments now expected to grow by only 4.2 percent, enterprises and consumers are purchasing a whole host of connected devices that offer greater mobility and ease of use, combined with lower maintenance and complexity. As cloud computing and virtualization continue to take hold with businesses and consumers, it begs the need for a simpler endpoint device.
Based on its own market growth and global momentum, Wyse believes that endpoint device is increasingly a thin, zero or cloud PC client.
“PCs haven’t quite gone the way of the typewriter yet, but the writing is on the wall. Cloud computing and virtualization have removed the need for complexity at the endpoint, and thin, zero and cloud PC clients have rushed to the breach,” according to Jeff McNaught, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Wyse Technology.
“Today, 90 percent of individuals are accessing their computing infrastructure via PCs and 10 percent (and growing) are accessing via a widely dispersed combination of virtual desktops, cloud PCs, zero clients and more. In less than 10 years, I expect that ratio to be reversed.”
The Pew Internet in American Life Project says in its recent study of device adoption marked the first time that laptop computers were as popular as desktop computers among U.S. adults. In November of last year, desktop ownership outpaced laptop ownership by 8 percentage points, 61 percent to 53 percent.
This changing pattern is the result of both a steady decline in the popularity of desktops and a steady increase in the popularity of laptops over time. Laptops have already overtaken desktops in popularity among adults under age 30, and appear poised to do the same among older adults.
For those of us work in cyberspace on a daily basis, mobile devices let us take our office anywhere. But I am attached to my desktop for work. Dual monitors, six gigs of RAM, a full-sized keyboard and direct connection to my modem provide speed, efficiency and comfort just not possible with a laptop, netbook, tablet or other mobile device. I feel the way about my desktop set-up that people in the National Rifle Association feel about guns.
Tags: are desktops going extinct?, cloud computing, cloud PC clients, desktops vs. mobile, PC market shrinking, thin clients, Wyse
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
 A survey conducted by Symantec on 3,700 information technology managers in 35 countries, entitled “Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud” revealed key points in what benefits businesses expect from implementing a virtual strategy.
While there were many findings, some specific findings also showed two-thirds of enterprises list performance degradation as a somewhat/extremely large factor in their hesitation to place business-critical applications into a private cloud.
An excerpt from the Symantec whitepaper stated performance can be a factor that either drives virtualization or inhibits it. While virtualization/cloud computing can help streamline operations and save money, sacrificing performance is not an option.
Any gains in other areas will be negated if customers and employees are unable to work within a fast, secure environment that provides maximum uptime.
Among organizations that have implemented storage virtualization, 84 percent of respondents stated that one of their goals in doing so was to improve storage performance or speed. In contrast, two-thirds of enterprises list performance degradation as a somewhat/extremely large factor in their hesitation to place business-critical applications into a private cloud.
One key question in the survey asked how important the following goals were at the time of implementing server virtualisation and showed the following:
- 88% said somewhat/completely important to improve the
scalability of our servers
- 87% said somewhat/completely important to reduce expenses
- 85% said somewhat/completely important to improve up-time and
availability
- 83% said somewhat/completely important to improve recovery
readiness
- 83% said somewhat/completely important to improve server speed
This hesitancy to fully implement a virtual environment is very much highlighted in another survey which was published in a whitepaper sponsored by EMC and carried out in conjunction with Computing.
- 5% have virtualised 96-100% of their IT infrastructure
- 17% have virtualised 70-95% of their IT infrastructure
- 16% have virtualised 50-69% of their IT infrastructure
- 21% have virtualised 30-49% of their IT infrastructure
- 16% have virtualised 10-29% of their IT infrastructure
- 10% have virtualised 10% of their IT infrastructure
- 15% have virtualised none of their IT infrastructure
The above statistics show that companies are only gradually going to a virtual environment, and by doing so hope to reduce expenses, improve scalability, improve performance and increase disaster recovery preparedness.
Tags: cloud computing, reasons firms hesitate to put critical apps in the cloud, survey, Symantec, virtualization, white paper
Posted in Cloud, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
 SAN FRANCISCO – Companies can’t resist the lure of cloud services – but in their rush to save time and money, many are neglecting such bread-and-butter fundamentals as integration, security, connectivity, monitoring, continuity planning and long-term staffing. This shortsightedness makes them vulnerable to potential failure.
Those findings are part of InformationWeek Analytics latest research report: State of Cloud 2011: Time for Process Maturation.
Findings include:
- The number of companies using cloud services increased from 18% in February 2009 to 30% in October 2010, according to the 2011 InformationWeek Analytics State of Cloud Computing Survey; that’s a leap of 67%.
- Another 13% of respondents say they plan to use cloud services within 12 months.
- Only 29% of firms using or planning to use the cloud have evaluated its impact on their existing architectures.
- Just 20% of those polled say they monitor cloud applications and throughput.
- 40% say they don’t have any monitoring program in place for cloud services.
“The up-front cost savings and speed to market you get from the cloud make it extremely tempting,” says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Analytics. “And that’s great – you should take advantage of it. But first you have to put some processes in place so cloud services – and responsibility for those services – are integrated into your existing set-up. Cloud applications must be monitored and measured just like any other application,” she adds.
InformationWeek Analytics is a subscription-based service, offering peer-based technology research.
Tags: cloud computing, InformationWeek analytics, Report
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Monday, January 17th, 2011
 WASHINGTON, DC – Virtustream, a company selling managed and cloud services, has added $9.75 million to its A round, bringing its total to $49,350,000, according to an amended filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cloud computing has been a rainmaker for managed services firms and this considerable round for Virtustream is more evidence that the virtualization trend is not slowing down. We recently spoke to an Atlanta firm that helps guide companies into cloud computing that says VCs are knocking on its doors and they are already profitable.
Intel Capital, Noro-Moseley Partners, and TDFunds were lead investors in the Virtustream financing reported earlier.
The round began with $25 million in commitments led by Virginia based Columbia Capital and Miami based Blue Lagoon Capital in September 2009. (see: Virtustream beams in $25M financing).
“Virtualization technologies play a crucial role in allowing businesses to fully leverage the enterprise cloud,” said Bryan Wolf, , managing director at Intel Capital, when the company closed the round at $40 million in May 2010.
Virtustream said then that the funding will be used to support the continued development of its infrastructure and the expansion of the xStream cloud computing platform. Introduced in March.
The company says the xStream platform increases operational efficiency and improves business continuity, typically delivering a 40-60 percent ROI without employee headcount reduction.
“Virtustream is on track with our plans for introducing new cloud computing offerings to market and expanding our data center footprint; we are very encouraged by the positive reception we are receiving from customers in the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Kevin Reid, CEO at Virtustream in May.
Tags: Bryan Wolf, cloud computing, Intel Capital, Kevin Reid, managed services, Noro Moseley Partners, Virtustream
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Money, Potomac, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Monday, December 13th, 2010
 FRAMINGHAM, MA – In 2011, and certainly beyond, research and analysis organization IDC expects these technologies – cloud services, mobile computing, and social networking – to mature and coalesce into a new mainstream platform for both the IT industry and the industries it serves.
“In 2011, we expect to see these transformative technologies make the critical transition from early adopter status to early mainstream adoption,” said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC.
“As a result, we’ll see the IT industry revolving more and more around the build-out and adoption of this next dominant platform, characterized by mobility, cloud-based application and service delivery, and value-generating overlays of social business and pervasive analytics. In addition to creating new markets and opportunities, this restructuring will overthrow nearly every assumption about who the industry’s leaders will be and how they establish and maintain leadership.”
The platform transition will be fueled by another solid year of recovery in IT spending.
IDC forecasts worldwide IT spending will be $1.6 trillion in 2011, an increase of 5.7% over 2010. While hardware spending will remain strong (7.8% year-over-year growth), the industry will depend to a larger extent on improvements in software spending (5.3% growth) and related project-based services spending (3.5% growth), as well as gains in outsourcing (4% growth). Worldwide IT spending will also benefit from the accelerated recovery in emerging markets, which will generate more than half of all net new IT spending worldwide in 2011.
Spending on public IT cloud services will grow at more than five times the rate of the IT industry in 2011, up 30% from 2010, as organizations move a wider range of business applications into the cloud. Small and medium-sized business cloud use will surge in 2011, with adoption of some cloud resources topping 33% among U.S. midsize firms by year’s end.
Meanwhile, the more nascent private cloud model will continue to evolve as infrastructure, software, and service providers collaborate on a range of new offerings and solutions. Meanwhile, the vendor battle for two cloud “power positions” will be joined to determine on whose cloud platform will solutions be deployed, and who will provide coherent IT management across multiple public clouds, customers’ private clouds, and their legacy IT environments.
Mobile computing – on a variety of devices and through a range of new applications – will continue to explode in 2011, forming another critical plank in the new industry platform. IDC expects shipments of app-capable, non-PC mobile devices (smartphones, media tablets, etc.) will outnumber PC shipments within the next 18 months – and there will be no looking back.
While vendors with a PC heritage will scramble to secure their position in this rapidly expanding market, another battle will be taking place for dominance in the mobile apps market. The level of activity in this market will be staggering, with IDC expecting nearly 25 billion mobile apps to be downloaded in 2011, up from just over 10 billion in 2010. Over time, the still-emerging apps ecosystems promise to fundamentally restructure the channels for all digital content and services to consumers.
Social business software
Meanwhile, social business software has gained significant momentum in the enterprise over the past 18 months and this trend is expected to continue with IDC forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 38% through 2014. In a sure sign that social business has hit the mainstream, IDC expects 2011 to be a year of consolidation as the major software vendors acquire social software providers to jump-start or increase their social business footprint. Meanwhile, the use of social platforms by small and medium-sized businesses will accelerate, with more than 40% of SMBs using social networks for promotional purposes by the year’s end.
As the new mainstream IT platform coalesces in the months ahead, IDC expects it to lay a foundation for IT vendors to support, and profit from, a variety of “intelligent industry” transformations. In retail, mobility and social networking are rapidly changing consumers’ shopping experience as they bring their smartphones into the store for on-site price comparisons and product recommendations.
In financial services, mobility and the cloud are bringing mobile banking and payments closer to reality. In the healthcare industry, IDC expects 14% of adult Americans to use a mobile health application in 2011.
“What really distinguishes the year ahead is that these disruptive technologies are finally being integrated with each other – cloud with mobile, mobile with social networking, social networking with ‘big data’ and real-time analytics,” added Gens. “As a result, these once-emerging technologies can no longer be invested in, or managed, as sandbox efforts around the edges of the market. Instead, they are rapidly becoming the market itself and must be addressed accordingly.”
IDC’s predictions for 2011 are presented in full detail in the report, IDC Predictions 2011: Welcome to the New Mainstream (Doc #225878).
Tags: 2011 predictions, cloud computing, IDC, IT spending recovery, mobile, social networking
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
 ATLANTA – Endgame Systems, which sells cybersecurity services, has raised a $29 million first round from Bessemer Ventures, Columbia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers(KPCB), and TechOperators. David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners and Arun Gupta of Columbia Capital join the board.
With the funding, the company has launched its ipTrust cloud-based botnet and malwre detection service. It says ipTrust distills hundreds of terabytes of security events into usable intelligence and information, helping companies quickly assess the security of their systems without depending on access to internal network traffic, or requiring any hardware or software installation.
Tracking botnets across the Internet is an ambitious undertaking,” saidDavid Cowan, a partner of Bessemer and the co-founder of VeriSign. “Based on their experience leading ISS X-Force, the preeminent security research group in the industry for many years, this is probably the one team in the world that can pull it off.”
Tracking botnets across the Internet is an ambitious undertaking,” said David Cowan, a partner of Bessemer and the co-founder of VeriSign. “Based on their experience leading ISS X-Force, the preeminent security research group in the industry for many years, this is probably the one team in the world that can pull it off.”
There should be a considerable market for this. Over 280,000 organizations and more than 250 million IP addresses have been infected with botnets, worms, viruses and other malware threats. The most dangerous of these infections are designed to harvest a network for malicious use, or to access private data. While attacks are becoming smarter every day, so are tools that organizations can use to protect themselves.
We’re glad to see a number of Southeast companies taking innovative approaches to battling malware and botnets. They’re a scourge that can affect us all.
Tags: Atlanta, Bessemer Ventures, botnet, cloud computing, Colubia Capital, Endgame Systems, financing, ipTrust, KPCB, malware, Security, TechOperators
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, Security | Comments Off
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
 RALEIGH, NC – Cloud computing and virtualization firm rPath has raised a $7 million equity round from four investors, according to a regulatory filing. The Raleigh-based company sells applications to automate software system construction, deployment and maintenance across physical, virtual and cloud environments.
The company’s chief marketing officer, Jake Sorofman, has contributed occasional viewpoint pieces to TechJournal South and other media (see: Rising from the IT Muck).
The company disclosed the raise in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has between $1 million and $5 million in revenue, according to the filing.
Talking to CIOs in advance of Tech Media’s upcoming Internet Summit, which includes a CIO Roundtable event, we hear that many firms have turned to cloud computing and virtualization technologies to do more with fewer resources during the economic downturn. Once cautioned, however, that cloud computing is not necessarily inexpensive itself.
The “cloud” does let smaller firms access more advanced applications once available only to the largest players, somewhat leveling the playing field in terms of IT.
Email TJS editor/writer Allan Maurer: Allan at Techjournalsouth dot com.
Tags: cloud computing, financing, Internet Summit, Jake Sorofman, NC, Raleigh, rPath, virtualization
Posted in Carolinas, IT, Money, North Carolina | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
 Jeff Spalding By Allan Maurer
RALEIGH, NC – Many Chief Information Officers have faced pressures to keep delivering value to their businesses from an IT standpoint despite the availability of fewer resources in an recessionary environment. “As always,” says Jeff Spalding Peak 10 executive vice president of market operations, “IT organizations are under pressure to deliver results to the business in a timely manner and within budget.”
How they are doing that is a question Spalding will ask them at the CIO Roundtable at the upcoming Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC, Nov. 17-18. Spalding is one of more than 100 Internet and digital media thought leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists participating.
Spalding says he plans to discuss “If their business has been impacted positively or negatively as they come out of this recessionary period and what does it mean from an IT standpoint? How has it changed their priorities? How are you delivering value?”
Cut costs but get better value?
Some have turned to technology such as cloud computing or Software as a Service or, says Spalding, “Variations that give them the ability to speed deployment to market or integrate with a merged company. Some businesses reduced staff, so they need a more efficient level of technology.”
It is, says Spalding, “That infamous question: how do I reduce my spend and get better dollar value?”
Many capital constrained smaller businesses turn to the cloud or SaaS solutions to do that he says.
Larger businesses often have to take a somewhat different approach that allows them to integrate any new technology with legacy applications and maintain their security and privacy. “Most large businesses have a substantial investment in their current technology,” Spalding notes. So, they take a hybrid approach, integrating their server environments with cloud and SaaS deployments.
During the recession and its aftermath, a good many firms have looked at outsourcing non core business processes.
Some turn to managed services
That means many turn to managed services such as those Peak 10 and other data center providers offer. They’re moving their server operations out of closets or fairly large separate areas into data centers.
We once worked for an NC firm that had its servers in a corner of the supply room. We had to call in our IT guy if anything went wrong, needed updating or something had to be changed. It tended to be disruptive and distracted us from getting our jobs done.
Spalding did not mention this, but that’s one reason data center companies, including Peak 10 and others, have been expanding steadily in the last several years. Outsourcing a server environment to them removes a lot of IT problems from security and patch management to disaster recovery and data backup over to a firm where that is the core competency.
Spalding brings considerable business savvy to the CIO Roundtable at the Internet Summit. He has 25 years of sales, operations and leadership experience. He spent much of his career at IBM and rapidly moved up the sales management ranks to assume the position as North America’s Business Unit Executive. Prior to joining Peak 10, he was the head of sales for Osprey Systems, a SAP, e-commerce consulting and software firm.
He is responsible for sales, marketing, managed services, product management, strategic partnerships, market operations and the P&L for Peak 10.
Tags: CIOs, cloud computing, Internet Summit, Jeff Spalding, NC, Peak 10, Raleigh, SaaS
Posted in Carolinas, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
 Mark Rostick By Allan Maurer
RALEIGH, NC – Good venture investing can be counter-cyclical and a bit counter-intuitive, says Mark Rostick, director of East Coast investments for Intel Capital. That’s why Intel continues to invest even in downturns. “If you have the capital, it’s a good time to invest when the market slumps. It creates opportunities. You hope the value of those investments then rise with the tide when the economy comes back.”
That situation also gives companies a time to mature before they have to ramp up sales, he adds.
He recalls that one of the great industrial titans once remarked that when his shoeshine guy gave him stock tips, it was time to get out of the market. “If you invest at the top of the market when everything is crazy, you don’t always make the best returns.”
Rostick is one of more than 50 Internet experts, thought leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists slated to participate in Digital East in Tysons Corner, VA, Oct. 18.
Social networking over hyped
Rostick covers all areas of investment focus for Intel with particular interest in internet, semiconductor, wireless and communications opportunities. “Outside of making good investments, we invest in stuff that’s complementary to our products,” he says, “mostly in software and products.” Anything that increases computer or server use, which would in turn increase use of Intel products, such as cloud computing, fits the bill.
Social networking, however, may be a bit overhyped, he notes, and green tech, while it gets a lot of attention, poses some risk. “We made a few investments there (in green tech). He sees a big opportunity in the development of sensors and monitors that network factories and buildings in the machine to machine sector.
Intel also spends a good bit of time looking at consumer Internet opportunities. “Location-based services have been a dream for a long time,” but recent developments are driving more interest in those, he says.
Mobile device management opportunities
Mobile device management is another area where Rostick says he sees “a lot of opportunity,” as do the proliferation of devices.
“When I get on a plane, I see people with their Kindle or their iPad or iPhone out. One of the big stories is just the proliferation of those devices as broadband becomes available everywhere. Everyone thought, “Gee, I’ll trade in one device for another,’ but I’m seeing just more of them, not replacement devices.”
Delivery of apps across those devices is another potentially profitable arena for Intel investments. “We see a lot of opportunities in software platforms that span those devices,” he says.
There is also little doubt that apps moving to the cloud presents another big opportunity. “It’s a shift in the way work is done in computing and anytime there is a big shift we spend a lot of time there,” says Rostick.
Rostick, who lives in Raleigh, NC, says he wants to be sure people know that Intel is active in the Southeast. “We are active in the region and in the market looking for investments.”
To contact TechJournal South Editor & Writer Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tags: cloud computing, Digital East, green tech, Intel Capital, Intel investments, Mark Rostick, social networking
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, North Carolina, Potomac, Virginia | Comments Off
Monday, June 28th, 2010
 Janna Anderson By 2020, most computer users will carry powerful pocket-sized computing devices that connect to networks using data and applications in the cloud rather than on the device, Robert Cannon, senior cousel for Internet law at the Federal Communications Commission told the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.
Cannon responded to a Pew study that surveyed about 900 Internet and technology experts that found 72 percent believe future technology users will do business on shared mobile platforms and smart phones rather than desktops in coming years.
Some experts in this survey said that for many individuals the switch to mostly cloud-based work has already occurred, especially through the use of browsers and social networking applications.
They point out that many people today are primarily using smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers to network with remote servers and carry out tasks such as working in Google Docs, following web-based RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, uploading photos to Flickr and videos to YouTube, doing remote banking, buying, selling and rating items at Amazon.com, visiting with friends on Facebook, updating their Twitter accounts and blogging on WordPress.
“It’s obvious that people are enthusiastically embracing the ideal of ambient intelligence — being able to share and access data and create things anywhere, anytime,” said Janna Anderson, an associate professor at Elon University’s School of Communications and the report’s author.
Anderson pointed out, though, that the shift requires overcoming obstacles such as security and privacy concerns and limited broadband spectrum.
The desktop will survive
Among the other observations made by those taking the survey were: large businesses are far less likely to put most of their work “in the cloud” anytime soon because of control and security issue
This does not mean, however, that most of these experts think the desktop computer will disappear soon. The majority sees a hybrid life in the next decade, as some computing functions move towards the cloud and others remain based on personal computers.
Some survey participants said they expect that a more sophisticated desktop-cloud hybrid will be people’s primary interface with information. They predicted the desktop and individual, private networks will be able to provide most of the same conveniences as the cloud but with better functionality, overall efficiency, and speed.
Among the defenses for a continuing domination of the desktop, many said that small, portable devices have limited appeal as a user interface and they are less than ideal for doing work.
The Web-based survey was conducted with Elon’s Imagining the Internet Center. It is the fourth of five reports this year.
Previously on TechJournal South:
The Future Internet
Contact Tech Journal South Editor and writer Allan Maurer:
Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tags: cloud computing, FCC, Imaginging the Internet, Janna Anderson, Pew study
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, North Carolina, Studies, surveys, reports, Viewpoint | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
 ATLANTA – CDC Software Corp. (Nasdaq:CDCS), a hybrid enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud deployments, has acquired Chicago-based Information Development Consultants, Inc. (iDC), a cloud-based software as a service enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution provider for the state and local government and not-for-profit markets.
Financial details were not disclosed.
This marks the latest acquisition in CDC Software’s SaaS roll-up strategy to significantly expand the market footprint of its CDC gomembers cloud-based enterprise software solution.
The iDC solution will be integrated into the CDC gomembers enterprise product line and will help expand its solution into the state and local government markets.
Tags: Acquisitions, Atlanta, cloud computing, IT, SaaS
Posted in Acquisitions, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
 SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MFST) is suing Salesforce.com, (NYSE: CRM), alleging that the customer relationship management company and software-as-a-service (SaaS) pioneer infringed on nine of its patents.
SEC filings suggest this has been an ongoing battle.
Microsoft says Salesforce.com used its technology in its menu, toolbars, graphic interface and the way it grabs software from remote computers.
Whenever we write about a cloud computing company or one with an SaaS product, they inevitably mention Salesforce.com as a model.
Microsoft actually sells a competing CRM product called Dynamics.
Microsoft filed the suit in federal court in Seattle.
For more details see: Microsoft Corp v Salesforce.com Inc; case number 2:10-cv-00825, in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle.
Tags: cloud computing, customer relationship management software, Microsoft, Microsoft sues Salesforce.com, SaaS, Salesforce.com
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Legal | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
 ATLANTA, DURHAM, NC, MELBOURNE, FL – Mergers and acquisitions across the Southeast are once again proceeding as if the recession is indeed over.
Harris buying SignaCert
Melbourne-Florida-based Harris Corp., which sells IT and communications services, says it is acquiring Oregon-based SignaCert, which makes IT compliance software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Harris will run the SignaCert business via its DC-based cyber division. SignaCert sells tools that inhibit viruses and malware by only allowing approved software to be used. It raised $8 million in venture backing in 2009 from Arlington-based In-Q-Tel.
CDC Software acquires TradeBeam
Atlanta and Shanghai-based CDC Software Corp. (Nasdaq:CDCS, a hybrid enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud deployments, has acquired San Mateo, Calif.-based TradeBeam, a provider of on-demand software as a service (SaaS) supply chain visibility and global trade management solutions.
CDC Software and TradeBeam share several common customers, and TradeBeam represents CDC Software’s largest SaaS acquisition to date. This acquisition also represents CDC Software’s latest move in expanding its growing portfolio of cloud-based solutions.
Canon U.S.A. acquires NC-based Tereck Office Solutions
Canon U.S.A. Inc., which sells advanced digital imaging and software solutions, has acquired the assets of Tereck Office Solutions, Inc., based in Durham, North Carolina. It will now be a new, wholly-owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A. No financial details were disclosed.
The North Carolina-based Tereck is an independent value-added reseller of document imaging and print solutions, including imaging hardware and software, printer fleet and facilities management services.
Tags: acquistions, Atlanta, cloud computing, DC, Florida, Hardware, IT, NC
Posted in Acquisitions, Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
 SEATTLE – Microsoft rolled out the new 2010 version of Microsoft Office to businesses today (May 12) and it will be available to consumers in June. One major change in the new edition: it is adding free Web versions of Word and other popular applications.
Microsoft derives a significant chunk of its revenue and operating income (29 percent and 51 percent respectively) from office, so it has been slow to compete with Google office-like word processing, spreadsheet and other programs offered free online.
Google and others offer their products in the cloud–they don’t require downloads, drive space, updates, or additional licenses. They’re free to individual users and cheap for businesses. Forester research says 4 percent of companies are using Google Apps.
About 81 percent use MS Office 2007.
The online cloud versions of the Office programs will not have all the features of the desktop products, but many Office users have complained that Microsoft’s desktop version has grown bloated and overloaded with features that are seldom required by many users.
Businesses and other users may find the new free online versions of the Microsoft programs useful, however, since they will be compatible with desktop versions of the software many businesses use.
The online versions also allow several people to collaborate on documents at the same time, a feature also available in Google apps.
The new MS Office suite also adds features to Outlook so that it can import information from a user’s social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and others.
Tags: cloud computing, Google apps, Microsoft Office 2010
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Monday, May 3rd, 2010
WASHINGTON, DC &BETHESDA, MD – Virtualization is a hot commodity on the IT front. Virtustream, which sells cloud and managed services, has closed its A round at about $40 million, with its latest funding coming from Intel Capital, Noro-Moseley Partners, and TDFunds.
The round began with $25 million in commitments led by Virginia based Columbia Capital and Miami based Blue Lagoon Capital in September 2009. (see: Virtustream beams in $25M financing).
“Virtualization technologies play a crucial role in allowing businesses to fully leverage the enterprise cloud,” said Bryan Wolf, , managing director at Intel Capital.
The funding will be used to support the continued development of Virtustream’s infrastructure and the expansion of the xStream cloud computing platform. Introduced in March.
The company says the xStream platform increases operational efficiency and improves business continuity, typically delivering a 40-60 percent ROI without employee headcount reduction.
“Virtustream is on track with our plans for introducing new cloud computing offerings to market and expanding our data center footprint; we are very encouraged by the positive reception we are receiving from customers in the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Kevin Reid, CEO at Virtustream.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the privately held company also has offices in London, Dublin and the Channel Islands.
Tags: A round, cloud computing, DC, financing, managed services, Maryland, Virtustream, virutalization
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Monday, May 3rd, 2010
By Daniel Milburn
 Daniel Milburn A Consonus customer, a large information services developer and provider, spent years considering various cloud computing models and their permutations. The customer first examined three of the four cloud computing deployment models — private, community, public, and hybrid — then evaluated four different management options: in-house, hosted, managed, and managed/hosted.
What cloud computing model and management option did they choose? Well, let’s first look at the benefits and challenges of the three cloud models they considered.
Public Clouds
Public clouds offer the ability to avoid large capital expenditures while reducing operating expenses associated with managing a large assortment of compute, storage, data center, and bandwidth resources. However, the public cloud limits flexibility when it comes to security, performance tuning, audit compliance, and service levels.
Private Clouds
As a general rule, private clouds require a substantial capital expenditure which, these days, is hard for most companies to justify. But if you can overcome that obstacle, there are a number of advantages to this model, including flexibility, audit support, security control, performance tuning, plus the ability to allocate resources to higher priority applications thus maximizing the capabilities of your infrastructure. With those benefits come the burden of hiring and staffing storage, network, systems, and data center experts, plus dealing with licensing issues, handling system issues at 2AM, replacing failed components, troubleshooting integration issues, and planning and budgeting for future needs.
Hybrid Clouds
Hybrid models allow you to leverage the advantages of both public and private clouds by placing the more common, less regulated applications and services into the public cloud while keeping legacy, or performance sensitive applications in a federated private cloud. Several service providers offer this kind of functionality.
Back to the customer: Due to capital expenditure challenges, they decided against building a private cloud. And the expense of high-bandwidth (10Gbps+) network connections meant that a public cloud was not viable for their needs. So they opted to go with a hybrid cloud model that enabled them to reduce overhead related to data protection and disaster recovery, yet offered the capacity to deal with their demanding compute and data transfer volumes.
The bottom line is this: The cloud model you choose depends on your business requirements and how you can effectively balance the four main decision drivers: risk, cost, timing and resources. If you are not sure what makes the most sense for your business, contact a service provider like Consonus for help in finding the right solution — one that fits your organization’s unique requirements. The options are there. It’s your choice to make. Choose wisely.
Daniel Milburn brings 20 years of IT solutions experience in the areas of information security, systems architecture, network design, application development, and strategic planning. At Consonus, Daniel has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Hosting and Infrastructure Services since 2007.
 This guest post is sponsored by Consonus.
Tags: cloud computing, Consonus, Daniel Milburn, how do you choose
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Monday, May 3rd, 2010
 John Hallet, new CEO at Cloud Sherpas By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA, GA—Cloud Sherpas, which guides companies into Google’s cloud applications, has raised a $1 million led by Hallett Capital, the personal investment firm owned by the company’s new CEO, John Hallett. Hallett tells us the funding round included a handful of angel investors and was oversubscribed.
“The company turned profitable in Janurary and didn’t need a lot of capital,” says Hallet. “We’re investing for growth. My sense is that we’ll raise a larger round this fall at a higher valuation.”
The company raised $170,000 friends and family round in 2009 and a total of about $300,000 prior to this financing.
Hallett replaces Michael Cohn remains as vice president of marketing and product management.
Under Cohn’s leadership, Cloud Sherpas helped hundreds of enterprise employees migrate to Google apps though its SherpaTools product.
Hallett, who took the reins at Cloud Sherpas just last week, tells us he has been working with startups and looking at deals in Atlanta. The CEO of Atlanta’s Vocalocity, on which Hallet is a board member, introduced him to Cloud Sherpas, initially as an investment opportunity.
“I had been doing consulting and board work, trying to find something like this,” Hallett says. “It was exciting enough that I decided to jump in full time and put some blood, sweat and tears into it.
“When I did my assessment, I looked at the opportunity here and realized it’s likely to be highly successful if we’re scrappy and everyone is creative. The economics of moving to the cloud is compelling for companies. The economics of moving to Google’s cloud just for email is enough for many companies, but then they see all the other Google apps.”
Those include access to the collaboration tool, Google docs, the Wiki Internet app, and Google sites.
Hallett says the company’s SherpaTools “Make Google apps better. It enhances the experience of managing data with Google apps.”
The 16 employee company expects to move more people to full time status, raising its head count by nine or ten people in the next couple of months, Hallet says.
One of the advantages of the company’s technology, Hallett says, is that a lot of the work can be done virtually. “We’ll visit the client at kickoff, but a lot of the migration can be done remotely. We’ll be looking to put regional sales people in place. We can have a solid national footprint from our regional location.”
Over 1,800 organizations representing more than 500,000 employees now use Cloud Sherpas’ products and services. Customers span every geographic region and vertical market including manufacturing, retail, state and local government, real estate, healthcare and other companies.
Previously on TechJournal South:
Tags: Atlanta, cloud computing, Cloud Sherpas, financing, Google apps, Hallett Capital, John Hallett
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Friday, April 30th, 2010
 WASHINGTON, DC –A majority of U.S. citizens are unaware of how their online data is stored and who secures it, according to a Business Software Alliance (BSA) survey.
Approximately one in five U.S. citizens said they were unaware of whether their personal or corporate data is being held “in the cloud,” and 60 percent said they did not know what “in the cloud” means.
In addition, BSA’s findings show U.S. citizens are unsure who should be responsible for protecting sensitive, online data.
With more businesses, organizations, individuals and governments choosing to store data online – a concept known as “cloud computing” – new cyber crime threats are emerging and cybersecurity is escalating in priority.
Robert Holleyman, president & CEO of BSA said, “What this survey tells us is that there is a lag in the general public’s understanding of the emerging cloud environment and how it impacts their data – and a lack of consensus on who is responsible for securing the cloud.”
BSA will unveiled a comprehensive Global Cybersecurity Framework to assist countries in crafting effective national policies and laws to thwart cybersecurity threats at the CyberSecurity conference in Washington this week where it revealed the survey results.
TechJournal South begins a month-long focus on cloud-computing starting next week.
Tags: Business Software Alliance, cloud computing, DC, Security, surveys
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