Six Types of Cloud Computing


Article Summary:
Six Types of Cloud Computing — Everyone is talking about cloud computing today, but not everyone means the same thing when they do. While there is this general idea behind the cloud – that applications or other business functions exist somewhere away from the business itself – there are many iterations that companies look to in order to actually use the technology. Cloud computing offers a variety of ways for businesses to increase their IT capacity or functionality without having to add infrastructure, personnel, and software.
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Top 10 cloud computing providers of 2011

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Cloud Computing for SMEs


It May seems surprising but the scope of cloud computing is much greater for SME industries as compared to large industries since small companies are much concerned regarding their expenditure in IT services and management as compared to large scale industries. No, it does not mean that large industries are not worried of their IT resources, but small companies are very much limited to their budget for IT spending as compare to large companies. In such a scenario, cloud computing will serve as a boon for such industries, of course security will remain a major concern.
According to a recent survey undertaken by freelancing site PeoplePerHour.com among 1,300 SMEs in the United Kingdom, it was found that as many as 74% do not use ‘Cloud’ computing. What gives greater cause for concern is that 43% of the respondents did not even know what the term “Cloud computing” means. Still majority of small companies still maintain their old age IT assets and investing heavy money to keep a pace with the growing technology and requirements. This unnecessary cost not only adversely affects their bottom line, but also hamstrings small businesses as they attempt to keep pace with an increasingly internet-based world.
The Future of SME Cloud Computing
Most industry experts predict that the global market for cloud technology will increase from its current $8 billion, to approximately $14 billion by 2014. The engine for this growth as it relates to small businesses is expected to be something referred to in cloud parlance as SaaS – Software as a Service. Solutions like Oracle, SAP and deployment environment will become more affordable and manageable with the usage of cloud computing. Best of all, cloud computing services like SaaS are available to business owners and their employees anywhere they can find an internet connection. Sales automation solutions providers such as salesforce has added tremendous value in the managing the sales across verticals. Services like DropBox provides realtime access of documents and other items while on the move and even can be shared efficiently worldwide.
Major Benefits that cloud computing brings for SMEs are:
·         Major saving in terms of Capital Expenditure. Only internet connection and PC or laptop with general configuration is required
·         The size of the IT infrastructure can be reduced or increased instantly as and when required. Quiet scalable...
·         Pay only for the services being used. Need not to maintain additional IT infrastructure which is not required very often.
·         Services can be accessed from remote location with the use of computing device and internet. No need to wait to reach office to update the data
·         Ease of implementation and management: Without the need for implementation of hardware and various other components which can take several hours.  You can be running your business in almost as much time as it takes to setup a Gmail account. Also managing the infrastructure will not be at all a matter of concern. Skill resources will be taking care of all the issues and management all the time thereby ensuring 99.99% uptime
·         World-class infrastructure: Without much investment in IT, companies will be using the world class IT infrastructure with best response time as compared to local IT infrastructure.
·         Green Computing: Protect the environment with energy efficient environment. Cloud Computing setups uses less energy than traditional data centres which is important to many in this day and age.




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Cloud Computing: Reshaping IT Industry


Companies in India will increase the adoption of cloud competing technology over the next five years. The total cloud market in India, currently at $400 million, will reach $4.5 billion by 2015. Of which private cloud adoption will dominate and account for $3.5 billion in revenues, growing at over 60 per cent, according to a study. The study, ‘private cloud landscape in India' was done by EMC Corporation, a provider of IT service and solutions, and Zinnov Management Consulting, a management consulting firm.
The study says that private cloud market will create one lakh jobs by 2015 against 10,000 now. Today, companies are under-skilled in addressing cloud computing implementations. It recommends companies to invest in competency building internally to take advantage of cloud computing technologies. The study estimates that the skilling and re-skilling market in India will grow fast as cloud computing becomes critical to IT strategies. Leading public and private educational institutions, along with IT enterprises are expected to play a key role in enhancing workforce skills to match the industry demand for cloud computing.
The growth in cloud computing market is attributed to the increased maturity of Indian enterprises towards cloud computing and the chief executive officer / chief information officer mandate for an enterprise-wide cloud strategy. It adds that with the overall environment of cloud adoption fast evolving in India, cloud computing will account for a significant share in the total IT spend of small, medium and large enterprises.
The total cloud spends as a percentage of total IT spend as such is expected to rise from 1.4 per cent in 2010 to 8.2 per cent in 2015.
The study notes that IT/ITeS, telecom, BFSI, manufacturing and government sectors will contribute nearly 78 per cent of the total cloud market, according to Pari Natarajan, Chief Executive Officer, Zinnov Management Consulting.

PRIVATE CLOUD

According to the study, there will be an increase in preference of private cloud over public cloud over the next five years. It also estimates that private cloud deployments can result in potential savings of up to 50 per cent on the IT investments on an average, when compared with a legacy IT model, with cost optimisation in areas such as telecom and networking, facilities and fabric, hardware, software, internal labour and external IT services.
Cloud computing will reshape the Indian IT market by creating new opportunities for IT vendors and driving changes in traditional IT offerings.
There is every chance that companies that are not adopting IT today and do not have major investments in data centres and server farms will directly move into the cloud model.
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India leads in cloud storage adoption


Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi recently announced survey results indicating that India is leading in cloud storage and converged system adoption in Asia Pacific. The survey results also revealed that more than 50 percent of the large Asia Pacific enterprises that participated in the survey are not anticipating or planning for the advent of “Big Data.”
The survey results are published in an HDS-sponsored IDC white paper titled “The changing face of storage: A rethink of strategy that goes beyond the data”. The survey was conducted by IDC from August to September 2011 with 150 IT executives from large enterprises in Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore. HDS commissioned the survey to better understand their storage management challenges, needs and strategies.


"There is a great potential for the information cloud because it will analyze content independently of applications or media and enable analytics of Big Data


- Kevin Eggleston, Senior Vice President and GM, Hitachi Data Systems Asia Pacific


“HDS believes that data and information must be stored, governed and managed for insight and innovation in order to drive strategic and competitive value,” said Kevin Eggleston, senior vice president and general manager, Hitachi Data Systems Asia Pacific. “Embracing the latest technologies, like cloud services, not only enables enterprises to manage data growth but also to collect and connect data to create valuable information. Our three-tiered strategy of infrastructure cloud, content cloud and information cloud uses a dynamic infrastructure and enables fluid content to gain faster and more sophisticated insight and greater value from stored data.”

The Indian market is the most mature in terms of the adoption of cloud technologies and the highest usage levels of converged systems. 50 percent of respondents in India are using or planning to use cloud storage in the next 6 to 12 months. 30 percent of respondents in India are using converged systems and 35 percent are either evaluating or planning to use such systems.

The Indian market responses indicate that the move to more advanced datacenter architectures is well underway, and the growing pains are keenly felt. Data management issues due to explosive growth and new challenges uncovered through the virtualization of the server platform dominate concerns. However, fundamental issues such as managing email growth and backup also remained high.
Other key highlights include: 
1. Having access to accurate data on a timely basis key to gain deeper business insight. About 70 percent of respondents in India stated that the demand of the business for deeper analysis outpaces the ability for their systems to ensure the data they had is relevant, timely and useful. Their data growth is outpacing their ability to effectively manage it.
2. Virtual server sprawl remains a key concern. 70 percent cited problems from virtual server sprawl, as they are unable to keep a close track of the virtual platform assets and their alignment to storage.
3. Justifying storage investments is a key challenge as budgets remain tight. 60 percent cited aligning IT costs to business budgets and growth as a main challenge to adopting their IT strategy amid current market conditions.
4. Insufficient backup window a key issue. Due to the nature of their business, 60 percent  of Indian organizations do not have enough time to back up systems.

5. Managing email is getting more difficult and expensive. 60 percent of respondents in India cited concerns over the rising costs in managing email growth.


“Data needs to be shared, compared, analyzed and visualized more holistically. Only then can data become information used for insight, trending, and leveraged proactively in anticipation of things to come,” said Eggleston. “There is a great potential for the information cloud because it will analyze content independently of applications or media and enable analytics of ‘Big Data’ to better align itself to human behavior for deeper, more relevant insight, driving innovation, advancing research, enabling better collaboration, and building more sustainable societies.”

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15 Cloud Computing Companies to Watch...


Cloud computing is spreading like wildfire. The number of enterprises moving their IT operations to the cloud is tremendously growing. Established vendors like Salesforce, Amazon and Google, including other startup firms that provide tools and services for cloud computing continues to increase and clamors for attention.
In this emerging industry, here are the lists of 15 promising cloud computing vendors based on cloud security and storage to apps and infrastructure offerings that should be on your radar screen.
Zimory
Zimory, a Berlin-based company, offers a technology suite for enterprises to transition virtual data centers into cloud-based infrastructure. The company aims to provide high-quality cloud solution while maximizing efficiency as it taps into underused resources. Zimory’s open-technology can scale up to thousands of machines and connect with multiple clouds.  The firms Carrier Grade Cloud Computing portfolio is billed to be a comprehensive solution for deploying and managing secure and scalable public, private and hybrid clouds.
Abiquo
Abiquo is one of the most promising upstarts in the cloud computing arena. It boasts of a comprehensive hypervisor support portfolio including leading vendors such as  Microsoft, Citrix, VMware and Zend. The firm offers a permission-based hierarchy that enables enterprises to forge public, private or hybrid clouds spanning data centers on- and off-premises. It provides a support system to remove vendor lock-in problem through a  drag-and-drag conversion for virtual machines from one hypervisor to another.
Standing Cloud
Standing Cloud provides enterprises with a simple proposition: “We do the sys admin so you don’t have to. Sure, you could handle Web application management. But why?” The firm provides management services on a variety of big-league cloud operators.
Standing Cloud enables users to “deploy myriad open source software solutions to IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service), but goes a step farther in letting you choose from multiple clouds,” according to Forrester analyst James Staten.
Appirio
Appirio engages itself with both the technological and consulting challenges of enterprise adoption of cloud computing. Since 2006, the firm has helped implement cloud deployments for 200 enterprise clients with some of the leading vendors, including Google, Salesforce and Amazon. Earlier this month, it has acquired VMG, a consulting firm specializing in learning programs and  cloud training.
Spanning Cloud Apps
Spanning Cloud Apps, a company specializing in backup services for Google Apps on its LinkedIn page, was founded to become the Norton Computing of the cloud computing era. The firm offers its signature Spanning Backup product for a free trial and acceptable annual subscription
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Bluelock
Bluelock is considered as a leading VMware vCloud hosting provider that offers both technology and services in the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) space. The firm’s services are tied to VMware’s virtualization technology. It delivers a tailored solution for establishing a virtual data center hosted on a public or hybrid cloud.
Skytap
Skytap, self-service cloud automation, announces the release of a new technology that claims to establish a secure hybrid cloud that connects to an on-site data center with its cloud in 10 minutes. The firm anticipates winning with a dead-simple hybrid cloud deployment solution that provides the security of the traditional data center with the scale of the cloud.
CloudOptix
CloudOptix, backed up by MeghaWare product line, is a cloud virtualization software player that offers businesses and users a way to create a private cloud from different vendors.  With the preconfigured MeghaWare Cloud Appliance’s portfolio of storage, and applications, it promised low-cost deployment in less than 15 minutes. To defang the problem of vendor lock-in, its CloudTop application, allows customers to choose among devices, apps and cloud providers.
RightScale
RightScale, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor offers a fully automated management platform for cloud computing deployments. It aims to lower the entry barriers to cloud deployments with server templates through its “cloud-ready” mechanism for connecting servers with the customer’s cloud environment.
Recently, RightScale and Zend Technologies announces their new offering that pairs RightScale’s cloud management platform with Zend’s PHP architecture and Zend Server. This technology deploys and manages Php applications in the cloud.
CloudSwitch
CloudSwitch, known as an enterprise cloud gateway, provides software in line with the policies and tools rooted in the data center with a cloud environment. It offers security for businesses that requires maintenance of in-house and cloud-based IT assets. Earlier this month, CloudSwitch conjoined with Riverbed to boost performance and security in the cloud.
Kaavo
Kaavo considers itself to be “the first and only company to deliver a solution with a top-down application-focused approach to IT resource management across public, private and hybrid clouds.”  The firm believes that its application-centric approach  is necessary for effective cloud management. Its core product, IMOD, an application management assures speeding up of server systems online, configuring middleware, and other steps to hasten the transition to a cloud-based environment.
Prolexic Technologies
Prolexic Technologies is a provider of cloud-based security technology that mitigates DDoS attacks. The firm caters to SMN, enterprise and government clients. It features proprietary mitigation and control software that helps detect and fend off DDoS attacks through pairing with a global network of “scrubbing centers.”
At the end of March, the firm received $13.9 million fund from Kennet Partners, an organization that is rumored to be helping a major electronics manufacturer guard against a DDoS attack.
Nimbula
Nimbula, founded by a management team that helped develop Amazon EC2 coins itself as a “cloud operating system company.” Recently, the firm released its flagship product, Nimbula Director 1.0 that provides management for both cloud-based resources and on-premises data centers. This Director 1.0 is also available for free download for smaller deployments up to 40 cores, and an optional-fee based annual support for larger systems.
Nasuni
Nasuni, through its partnership with cloud-computing providers offers a “cloud gateway” that searches for the best aspect of the cloud and on-premises storage. This year, its Nasuni Filer product features a “snapshot retention,” that allows IT managers to set storage and retention policies on the cloud. With this feature, managers can determine the point then a snapshot can be deleted irrevocably
NephoScale
NephoScale is one of the more recent entrants in the IaaS market. The firm’s public cloud infrastructure platform offers pay-by-the-hour servers, object-based storage, and dedicated, on-demand servers. Its signature innovation, the CloudScript, enables users to control all elements of their cloud deployment using a single, one-to-many API call.
Recently, the firm offers a free, one-year trial of a 256 MB cloud server and as much as 1 GB of storage through its Cloud Computing and Storage Starter Package. According to NephoScale President Bruce Templeton, this offering will allow start-up companies to familiarize themselves with their services without spending too much.

Reference: http://cloudtimes.org/

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Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Player: How They Stack Up


Google Music users located in the United States can employ the Android Market to purchase songs and albums, and can also upload existing Apple iTunes playlists to their accounts. And Google is placing a strong emphasis on its music sharing features.
Google Music joins a number of big players already in the online music arena, including iTunes and Spotify. Another competitor: Amazon Cloud Player, which debuted this spring and with features similar to Google's offering.
Here's a quick look at how the two stack up in terms of price, accessibility, sharing and quality.

Google vs. Amazon: Price Comparison

Google Music lets Google account holders upload as many as 20,000 songs from their personal music collections (such as iTunes), and—for now—users can host an unlimited library of music purchased from the Android Marketplace.
Purchasing music from the Android Marketplace requires a Google Wallet account—Google Wallet is the company's online payment service—and individual songs cost between 99 cents and $1.29. Google Wallet is a virtual way to store your payment cards, offers and more on your phone and online.
The Amazon Cloud Drive, and associated Cloud Player, launched last spring, and the service gives Amazon account holders 5 GB of free storage, which can hold up to 1,000 songs. The Amazon Cloud Drive can also store photos and videos.
Storage upgrades start at $20 per year for an extra 15 GB—which also qualifies users for unlimited Cloud Drive song storage—and is capped at $1,000 a year for 1,000 GB of storage. Purchasing individual songs from Amazon.com generally costs between 99 cents and $1.29, which is also inline with Apple's iTunes music store.

Google vs. Amazon: Music Accessibility and System Requirements

The Google Music player can be accessed via your computer's Web browser or a mobile application on your Android device. Compatible browsers include Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 7 and above, Firefox and Safari. JavaScript must be enabled and your browser must be running the latest version of Adobe Flash. The Google Music Manager requires Mac OS 10.5 and above, Windows XP and above or Linux.
Google Music users can also access their libraries on Android devices via the Google Music application, though the app requires Android 2.2 or above with OpenGL2.0. And Apple devices running iOS 4.0 or higher can access the Google Music player by visiting music.google.com in a Web browser.
Amazon Cloud Player is a browser-based application that supports Mac and PC computers and iPad devices. It is not optimized to run on somemobile phones or tablets, including iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Windows Mobile devices.

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In the Post-PC World, the Cloud Is the New PC


By David Hillis (@davidhillis)   Nov 15, 2011   

When Steve Jobs proclaimed that the post-PC era had arrived, most people assumed it was the mobile phone that was the cause of this transition. Yet, alongside the mobile phone, the heir apparent in the post-PC world is the cloud. Mobile is expanding the cloud, and the relationship between mobile devices and cloud computing is changing everything, from how consumers manage their information to how developers build and manage applications on the Internet.
There are a few key mobile trends that are contributing to rapid growth in cloud computing.
Content Ubiquity
According to research by Pew, 35 percent of American adults today own a smartphone. That number will soon exceed 50 percent. Consumers want all of their content on all of their devices, from desktop PCs, to smartphones, to tablets and laptops. Information needs to live in the cloud so it can be easily accessed by any device.
To address the need for content ubiquity, solutions like Apple iCloud and the Amazon Cloud have been introduced to provide native cloud-based file storage for mobile devices. However, when it comes to file storage in the cloud the clear leader is Dropbox.
Dropbox is a phenomenon. A start-up that emerged from obscurity to become the de facto service people use to store and manage their files in the cloud, Dropbox has 45 million users today and is on pace to triple that number in 2012. Dropbox already pushes more than 300 million files to the cloud every day.
The interesting question is how expectations from consumers to access content from the cloud will impact how we manage business information across organizations. The ripple effect from the mobile file cloud will result in employee expectations for cloud-based content management in the enterprise as well.
It is also changing the role of the PC. Historically personal information has lived on the personal computer. Now the cloud is becoming the place where people store their information.

Split Mode Computing

In the post-PC world, the cloud is doing more than just storing files, it is also providing the backend processing for our applications.
While smartphones are becoming increasingly powerful and high-speed 4G networks like LTE Advanced are on the way, mobile devices still struggle to handle the processing required by many types of web-based applications. Split-mode computing addresses the power gap between mobile devices and applications by pushing processing into the cloud.
A great example of split mode computing is Amazon Silk, the first cloud-accelerated web browser, introduced in the new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.
The Amazon Silk browser is groundbreaking in how it uses the Amazon EC2 cloud to accelerate web browsing. A typical web page on the Internet can require over 80 separate files delivered from many different domains. Traditional web browsers need to make multiple round trips to fetch all of these files and render the web page, each round trip adding time between when the page is requested and when it loads. Rather than processing all of these requests on the device, the Silk browser intelligently shifts the processing to the cloud where, with persistent connections to the Internet and nearly unlimited processing power, web pages and applications load much faster. Silk also predicts the content you will view next, so it is ready when you are.
The Silk browser is innovative, but I believe the impact of the split-mode computing paradigm the Silk browser demonstrates is farther reaching. Because of the challenges of mobile processing and the opportunity to accelerate computing in the cloud, software developers will look for new ways to split computing between devices and cloud-based systems like Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure. Pushing processing to the cloud is not a new thing, but with mobile and the rise of big data applications, processing in the cloud has new relevance: it is no longer just for PCs. In the post-PC world, the cloud will provide much of the processing that runs applications

Mobile Acceleration

Faster mobile doesn’t just mean shifting processing to the cloud, it means getting content closer to devices or, in industry terms, “edge caching.” This is what content delivery networks (CDNs) are built to do.
A CDN is basically a private Internet. The CDN has its own network and points of presence that span the world. While most of our web content needs to float around the twisted byways of the public Internet before reaching us, content on a CDN zips down a private autobahn until it gets to the last mile.
Despite the fact that CDNs are faster, I have not seen CDNs adopted by many content publishers beyond managing rich media and video. Mobile is changing this as well.
All of the major CDN providers, from Akamai to Limelight, are investing in mobile acceleration. CDNs now feature mobile device detection and forwarding, as well as content adaption, to optimize content for different devices and form factors.
As mobile web performance becomes a critical issue, the bottom line is that web managers will look to CDNs to deliver mobile content, shifting web delivery from servers to cloud-based networks.

Conclusion

Mobile changes the game in computing. The cloud is the new playing field. Consumers will primarily use the cloud to store and manage files and media. Software developers will build new applications and services in the cloud. Publishers will move from physical servers to cloud-based networks to deliver content.
This is no small change. It’s a tsunami. For the past 30 years, software, including web-based software, has largely been designed to run on desktop PCs. Those days are gone. The cloud is the new PC. Mobile may be the innovation that is tipping the cloud, but the post-PC era is officially the cloud era. Like any revolution, this new era ushers in change beyond what anyone anticipated or willed. Many of the changes are exciting. Some are daunting, challenging the tenants of the open Internet and personal privacy.
Steve Jobs may have envisioned the post-PC era, but now we need to live in it. It would be great to hear your ideas on how mobile is driving the cloud, and what the cloud era will look like for businesses and consumers alike.  
Editor's Note: You may also be interested in reading:
·         The Cloud: No Panacea for Enterprise Content Management…Yet
·         In the Cloud, the Roll of IT Changes
·         Shining the Spotlight on Mobile Risks and Opportunities


About the Author

David Hillis is VP of Business Development for Ingeniux Corporation, makers of Ingeniux Web CMS and Cartella Community software. Follow David on Twitter @davidhillis.
Resource
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/in-the-postpc-world-the-cloud-is-the-new-pc-013494.php

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Japan and Singapore IT firms join hands in Cloud computing!

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PwC and Cloudcor announce the winners of the inaugural UP 2010 Cloud Computing Awards


Four winning companies emerge as industry leaders in first-of-its-kind cloud computing awards 

Burlingame, CA, November 16, 2010 – Yesterday, at the UP 2010 Cloud Computing Conference, PwC US and Cloudcor, Inc. announced the four winners of the UP 2010 Cloud Computing Awards, recognizing leadership in the field. UP 2010 is a premiere cloud computing event that brings together business leaders, IT professionals and investors in a unique forum designed to showcase innovative cloud computing technologies and companies. PwC was a Platinum Sponsor for the UP 2010 Cloud Computing Conference and the Cloud Computing Awards. The opening day of the conference featured a keynote speech from PwC’s US cloud computing leader, Mike Pearl.
Out of more than 150 submissions and 25 finalists, four companies were selected as the winners of the UP 2010 Cloud Computing Awards:
  • Fastest Growing Cloud Provider Award
        ­   Audience Choice Award - Marketo
        ­   Judge's Choice Award - ServiceMesh, Inc.
  •  Efficiency in Technology Award
        ­   Audience Choice Award - Amazon Web Services
        ­   Judge's Choice Award - Amazon Web Services
  •  Most Promising UP-START Cloud Provider Award
        ­   Audience Choice Award - CloudSwitch, Inc.
        ­   Judge's Choice Award – StorSimple
  •  Overall Most Innovative Cloud Provider Award
        ­    Audience Choice Award - Pareto Networks and Salesforce.com (tie)
        ­    Judge's Choice Award - BeyondCore
“PwC is dedicated to the support and encouragement of new technologies, particularly in the field of cloud computing,” said Mike Pearl, PwC principal and US cloud computing leader. “The UP 2010 Cloud Computing Awards provide participants with an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities and earn recognition from their peers in the marketplace.  We are honored to help facilitate that process.”
Award submissions were judged by a panel of twelve members representing experts in the field and recognized leaders in technology:
  • Kerry Bailey, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Verizon
  • Dave Bartoletti, Expert Analyst, Taneja Group
  • Vinod Baya, Center for Technology & Innovation Director, PwC
  • Peter Bell, General Partner, Highland Capital Partners
  • Sheryl Chamberlain, Senior Director-Technology Alliances, EMC Corp.
  • Robert Duffner, Director-Product Management for Windows Azure, Microsoft
  • Jay Fry, VP Marketing-Cloud Computing, CA Technologies
  • Avery Lyford, Partner, Blueprint Growth Partners
  • Nitin Narkhede, General Manager-Technology Strategy & Innovation, Wipro Technologies
  • Jay Noble, Director of Cloud Computing-Americas, CSC
  • Mark Smith, CEO & EVP Research, Ventana Research
  • Glenn Soloman, Partner, GGV Capital
The 25 finalist presentations and awards ceremony were streamed in high fidelity audio and video to virtual delegates, who participated with questions and feedback on-line and in real-time as part of the hybrid-format (virtual and physical) conference.
About the PwC network
PwC firms provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients. More than 161,000 people in 154 countries in firms across the PwC network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice. See www.pwc.com for more information.
About UP 2010
UP 2010™ (15 - 19 November 2010), is the world's first truly "hybrid" cloud computing conference for business leaders, IT professionals and investors. UP 2010 is an affordable "hybrid" conference with both physical locations and full virtual deployment. Conference attendees will be able to attend in person, online or any combination of the two and will immensely benefit from thought provoking conference panels, collaborative workshops, and tutorials, which are selected to cover a range of the hottest topics in Cloud Computing.
About Cloudcor Inc.™
Cloudcor Inc. provides industry leaders and professionals insights into leading edge conferences, research, analysis and commentary, as well as providing a platform to network with leading experts in the cloud computing and IT industry. Cloudcor Inc. also offers project, implementation, and industry-focused services to support customers and business partners. Additionally, Cloudcor Inc. provides knowledge transfer to help deploy cloud computing solutions on your own, customized off-the-shelf solutions technology, delivery of a ready-to-use enterprise system, as well as a range of other services to meet your needs. Additional information about Cloudcor Inc. can be found via website at http://www.cloudcor.com.

References:

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Cloud Computing - Rights and Wrongs



Although cloud computing is the 'in' thing, it is better to know its merits and demerits before you take a flight into the cloud. Cloud computing is a big buzz word. In cloud computing, storage space, processing power, services, and software are abstracted from the users' own devices to third-party servers accessed through internet. It represents a paradigm shift in how we use information technology. Users can access their data from any location and on any device by paying cloud services provider. Built on SaaS (Software-as-Service) model, cloud computing has tremendous appeal, especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs. In the study, Future Security Challenges in Cloud Computing, published in International Journal of Multimedia Intelligence and Security, researchers enumerate merits and demerits of cloud computing. The merits include geographic independence, and redundancy in both software and hardware; cloud services can meet bursts of demand without any upgrades to the systems in your office. The demerits include security, system outages, and the technical aspects of dealing with cloud computing.


What is Right with Cloud Computing

Low Cost of Entry: With its reach and access, cloud computing is the best option for any startup. You can test your idea very quickly or scale a division of your company to the world at low cost.

Scalability: In case of businesses which show highs and lows, the firms are forced to meet every contingency. That leads to underutilization of infrastructure during lows. It makes sense then to outsource highs to a cloud computing service provider. The scalability doesn't require any hardware purchases.

Faster Decision Making: The success of every idea depends on available infrastructure. Cloud computing offers flexibility because you pay as you go. You need not make long-term commitments on infrastructure, and need not wait long periods to get the services. These advantages lead to faster and better decision making and intensify the focus on the core business.

No Capital Expenditures: The costs of cloud computing are operational rather than capital. Since the IT infrastructure needs are handled by a third-party, the costs shift from capital to operational.


What is Wrong with Cloud Computing

Security: With cloud computing, you have your data in a remote data facility without any control. Security is huge concern for firms which want to be in the cloud.

"Think of the cloud as concentrated data, assets, information, and the target profile increases dramatically in its attractiveness," says John P. Pironti, president of IP Architects. Moreover, users and service providers are not sure who is responsible for the security, each passing the buck to the other. According to end-user agreements, cloud service providers are not responsible for security as long as they make some efforts at it. It is always a huge risk to put an application that has competitive edge and advantage, and customer-sensitive information on a public cloud

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Cloud Computing - An Introduction



Let's say you're an executive at a large corporation. Your particular responsibilities include making sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn't enough -- you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require. Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It's so stressful that you find it difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.
Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you'd only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It's called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.
In a cloud computing system, there's a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user's side decrease. The only thing the user's computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing system's interface software, which can be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network takes care of the rest.
There's a good chance you've already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you've had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer -- it's on the service's computer cloud.

References:
How Stuff Works - www.howstuffworks.com

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