Friday, May 6, 2011

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, May 06, 2011

At times it seems cloud computing has no more definition than the atmospheric phenomenon after which it is named. From Dot.Coms to Cloud Computing, What’s Old is New Again. Is cloud computing enabling the next generation of information accessibility or simply a marketing campaign devised by technology companies to peddle more of what they are already selling? The answer lies somewhere between those extremes. Much of what makes cloud computing tick—the Internet, mobile computers, networked data storage, software housed in data centers and delivered over the Web —has been available since the beginning of the dot-com era more than a decade ago. What is new, or at least more recent, is the greater variety of content that can be delivered online to a wider variety of gadgets. Read More



Some of the other interesting information on cloud computing are listed below.

Can you save money with cloud computing?

Digging deep to find out how much money you can save with cloud computing, Forrester analyst James Staten makes the following points:

  • Low costs per employee can add up. A $99 a month deal for an on-demand CRM system works if you have just five employees. For larger companies, the math gets tricky. Toss in modules and you could be looking at a hefty annual bill.
  • Infrastructure as a service can add up with usage—especially if you add other services like storage, load balancing, monitoring, content delivery and other items.
  • You still have operational costs. You still have to manage, secure, backup and recover cloud deployments. 
Cloud Computing Era Could Mean MSP Extinction

Managed Service Providers will be obsolete in years to come. The cloud will put MSP business out of the business. Companies who had infrastructure and asset management as a core feature of their business will slowly start depleting once people move to the public cloud. MSPs hoping to avoid the junk-pile of IT services can take advantage of two trends:

  • Hybrid cloud environments, where some but not all of a customer’s applications are hosted
  • Cloud consulting, which should be a no brainer for VARs that have long practiced the “trusted advisor” role. 
Three Dirty Little Cloud Secrets

Like a coin has two sides, every path breaking technology has both good and bad. Cloud computing is not left alone. Cloud also has its three dirty little secrets:

  • Some public cloud computing providers are falling and will fail.
  • Public clouds don't always save you money.
  • Using clouds can get you fired. 
10 Make or Break Questions to Ask Your Cloud Computing Vendor

Because many vendors look good on paper, you’ll want to cover the most important selection criteria to minimize your risks and increase your comfort level. How do you know which cloud vendor will match its headlines? Ask the following 10 make-or-break questions before you sign on the dotted line:

  1. The Basics
  2. Security and Availability
  3. Migration Services
  4. Integration
  5. Support Professionals
  6. Uptime Metrics and Reports
  7. Assess the Vendor’s Sales Process
  8. How is Pricing set up?
  9. Multiple Services
  10. Ask for References 

We hope these short sum-ups on cloud computing are helping you to take a more knowledgeable approach towards moving to the cloud. Stay tuned for more sum-ups on in the forthcoming weeks.

Appreciate if you can add more to this list and help our readers to keep in touch with the Cloud...


Santanu Das
Marketing Evangelist, WOLF Frameworks

NOTE: The views expressed above are purely personal and for informational purposes only. WOLF FRAMEWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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