David Linthicum writes in a post on InfoWorld today about "How VCs are leading us down the wrong path for cloud computing." In this, he gives three reasons for this premise, but provides little in the way of substantiation for this position. We started a twitter discussion but David suggested I respond in a post... Continue Reading →
BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management
As I’ve written about previously, there are many tools in the market for building clouds – whether private or public. There are too many, in fact, and it will be hard to see most of them still around after the next five years. BMC is in a very strong position with both enterprises and large... Continue Reading →
A Vision of the Future Cloud Data Center
A new year is often a time for reflection on the past and pondering the future. 2010 was certainly a momentous year for cloud computing. An explosion of tools for creating clouds, a global investment rush by service providers, a Federal "cloud first" policy, and more. But in the words of that famous Bachman Turner Overdrive song... Continue Reading →
The Sales Law Of Conservation
A year or so ago I was at a meeting of NETSEA (New England Technology Sales Executives Association). The topic was on B2B sales optimization - a key topic in this time of uncertainty. At one point the conversation turned to an old and true topic -- managing the mix of great, merely good, and... Continue Reading →
Cloud Core Principles – Elasticity is NOT #Cloud Computing Response
Ok, I know that this is dangerous. Randy is a very smart guy and he has a lot more experience on the public cloud side than I probably ever will. But I do feel compelled to respond to his recent "Elasticity is NOT #Cloud Computing .... Just Ask Google" post. On many of the key... Continue Reading →
If You’ve Never Used A Cloud, Can You Call Yourself An Expert?
A recurring challenge I have with a lot of enterprise vendor "cloud" solutions I get briefed on is that they seem to be designed and built without any real understanding of how and why customers are actually using the cloud today. I suspect in most cases that this results from the fact that the people... Continue Reading →
SQL In the Cloud
Despite the NoSQL hype, traditional relational databases are not going away any time soon. In fact, based on continued market evolution and development, SQL is very much alive and doing well. I won't debate the technical merits of SQL vs. NoSQL here, even if I were qualified to do so. Both approaches have their supporters, and both types of technologies can be used to build scalable applications. The simple fact is that a lot of people are still choosing to use MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server and even Oracle to build their SaaS/Web/Social Media applications. When choosing a SQL option for your cloud-based solution, there are typically three approaches as outlined here.
A Superb Company Culture
A couple of years ago I went to a reunion celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of Object Design, Inc. (now part of Progress Software). I joined ODI as an intern in 1991 while at Babson because a friend at The Weber Group (Larry Weber's PR firm from the 90's) told me I should... Continue Reading →
HP Cloud Strategy? No So Much…
At Interop this week I met with Doug Oathout, VP of Converged Infrastructure at HP. It's often been very frustrating trying to figure out if HP really has a cloud strategy and is poised to compete in this market. While nobody would claim that HP is delivering any clarity on cloud right now, it sounds like... Continue Reading →
Savvis Offers Peek at Enterprise Cloud Future
I was first briefed on the Savvis Symphony VPDC (virtual private data center) back at Cloud Expo NYC in April of this year and had intended to post about it back then, or at least when they went live in July... so much for good intentions... They are starting to market this more heavily now,... Continue Reading →