WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, July 29, 2011

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. 

Read more to find out how Cloud is reshaping the IT Market

4 reasons why cloud computing is efficient

The Carbon Disclosure Project released a report that found that cloud computing may save large companies $12.3 billion a year in energy costs by 2020, also avoiding 85.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions. WSP Environment & Energy found that companies could realize per-transaction emission reductions of 95 percent on average by moving to the cloud. Jonathan Koomey has explored four reasons why cloud computing is generally far more energy efficient than using in-house data centers.

• Economies of scale 
• Diversity and aggregation 
• Flexibility 
• Ability to sidestep organizational issues instead of having to address them head-on 

Challenges of cloud computing in healthcare integration

Despite widespread adoption of cloud-based solutions by most industries, the healthcare industry has been slow to embrace cloud computing. While this slow adoption is partially due to concerns about safeguarding confidential patient information and compliance with key regulations such as HIPAA, many healthcare IT departments are simply burdened with outdated legacy systems and feel overwhelmed with the prospect of supporting yet another standard or protocol. If these obstacles can be overcome, cloud computing solutions can bring tremendous benefits to healthcare organizations as well as help them improve patient care and reduce overall healthcare costs.

The Role of Partners In The Cloud Cannot Be Undermined

As per the APAC survey by EMC and IDC, about 56 percent of CIOs in India believe that the private cloud can change the IT funding model. There is significant scope for the private cloud as it offers businesses increased agility and responsiveness to changing priorities, better use of data center real estate, and consolidation and simplification of IT budgets. Such transformations are bound to be met with skepticism, apprehension and low confidence by customers initially. It is here that channel partners have to be fully committed to build the knowledge and skill base around cloud computing technologies and the prevalent market, speak the vendor’s language accurately, and pass on the confidence to the customer. The role of the channel partner in the cloud computing era cannot be undermined. The channel also has to realize that in addition to selling cloud computing products there will be ample opportunities to offer services as well.

Cloud Hosting – Infrastructure as a Service

The benefits of IaaS within a cloud environment are so significant they are almost self-evident. The elimination of infrastructure investment is a primary driver that can result in substantial capital expense savings. On-going upgrades and asset related outlays are virtually eliminated since these services are included in package pricing. Staffing costs can be significantly reduced, and in some cases, entire departments can be eliminated. For companies with sizable investments in existing data centers, build-outs can be delayed or avoided altogether.

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.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, July 22, 2011

The cloud computing shift has taken a next step, and businesses now are ready to stand before the next phase: making the decision and moving to the cloud. Choosing the right partner, making the decision of investing time and money of moving to the cloud are the next steps for these organizations to realize how much ready they are. A lot of companies operate in highly regulated industries that will make the move to cloud computing a challenge – here, for example, keeping these systems in-house or opting for a hosted private cloud solution as opposed to public cloud computing are better options.

Read More to find out what would be the checklist when considering the cloud. 

Internal Change & Learning are the Biggest Roadblocks in Moving to Cloud Based IT Infrastructures

TheInfoPro, a division of leading analyst and data company The 451 Group, today released an in-depth Cloud Study that outlines the key market factors relating to cloud services growth. Key highlights from TheInfoPro Cloud Study include:

• 52% said that internal change and learning was the leading roadblock to cloud project success. Pointing to possible pent up demand for advisory services, as users struggle with the change brought on by the cloud. Other project roadblocks included up-front cost (15%) and security (13%). 
• Cost reduction (68%) is the leading justification for implementing cloud services followed by increased flexibility/scalability (24%) and reduced complexity (21%), also key drivers toward the cloud. 
• A majority (75%), of respondents said that they have virtualized their cloud servers. However, few have currently implemented the core management, automation and orchestration functionality, which are all cornerstones to the enablement of truly flexible, agile and cost effective internal cloud solutions. 

Cloud on call: Should you go with a Telco for Cloud?

According to Gartner analyst, Rolf Jester, the investment by telecommunications companies in Cloud is based purely on a strategy to grow the business into new areas as the traditional fixed line business continues to decline. However, it’s also an attempt to capitalize on in-house expertise. “They’ve recognized that what they are good at in a technical sense is managing large infrastructure; it’s an asset intensive business model that a Telco has as well as an automated service delivery model,” Jester said.

Cloud Computing: Growing 4x Faster Than Other Segments of IT Market

IDC is forecasting a scorching annual growth rate of 27.6 percent for Cloud Computing over the next four years. That means that today’s $21.5 billion Cloud Computing market will grow to $72.9 billion by 2015. That is four times faster than other segments of the worldwide IT market. The IDC study also finds that Cloud Computing is the central component of a revolution now occurring in IT.

Beat the challenges of testing the cloud

Service availability, service assurance and service insurance are the three biggest challenges of testing the cloud. If enterprises customers are to adopt cloud services rather than maintaining local installations, they must be convinced that they can access the services and data that they need whenever they need them without experiencing undue delays with assured SLA and efficiency in terms of cost, scalability and power.


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.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, July 15, 2011

Cloud computing represents a more efficient way for enterprises to procure, consume and manage information technology (IT) resources and applications. Many companies across a broad range of industries have embraced the "cloud" to meet temporary capacity requirements, control costs, address seasonal computing demands, reduced cycle time to implement new systems, launch new services or expand into new markets. Many are taking a conservative and opportunistic approach to cloud computing. Oddly enough, manufacturers have been slower in making the transition to cloud computing despite the fact that the sector led the way in collaboration and exchanges. Over the past 15 years, manufacturers have gone to great lengths to IT-enable their global supply chains by facilitating enterprise connectivity between suppliers and customers. When it comes to cloud computing, however, many are concerned with securing business-critical infrastructure, applications and sensitive corporate data.

Read more about cloud security in a manufacturing industry

5 things to consider before embracing cloud computing

Cloud computing has been building buzz for a while now and is fast becoming the rage. But for all the hype, there are a lot of questions – about its effectiveness and whether it’s right for entrepreneurs. I won’t claim to have all the answers, but here are five things to consider before you begin relying on the cloud.

• Outages 
• Speed 
• Privacy / Security 
• Compatibility 
• Switching platforms 

Costing the cloud: Make the money add up

A basic understanding of the economics driving cloud computing is important, especially given the difficulties in properly costing and comparing the many options open to company IT providers. An initial look at the economics of cloud computing doesn't make its logic clear. Cloud providers use the same basic components as any other large-scale IT system — much the same servers, storage and networks — but have the additional expenses of running their company and are at the end of internet connectivity that doesn't come for free.

Clearing Up 'The Cloud'

Shifting to the cloud may seem overwhelming, but the reality is that the technologies are largely based on traditional network concepts. Although a slight mindset shift may be needed, many of the traditional solutions for managing internal network and infrastructure are incorporated in cloud computing. By implementing the proper monitoring tools, organizations have an opportunity to cut costs and increase efficiency.

Greener, cheaper Cloud not far away

Uncertainty over the electricity-based costs associated with Cloud computing could be a thing of the past thanks to breakthrough research from Swinburne University. Using mathematical algorithms and the results of pulsar survey simulations, the University has begun developing more cost-effective Cloud computing models for IT departments. The project's leader, Professor John Grundy, said the research was initially based on the electricity usage of large scale telescopes; however the next stage will involve applying potential energy savings to business applications.

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.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, July 08, 2011

The cloud has been the most hyped technology in recent times. Vendors have often touted a variety of clouds—public, private and the hybrid—as the panacea for all existing business computing problems. While opportunities in the private cloud for channel partners are largely seen as systems integration, reselling or consulting opportunities (which are not very different from the usual large server-storage or network deployment contracts), opportunities presented by the public cloud are a bit fuzzy as of now. The primary reason for this vagueness is that while pricing models of public cloud vendors are transparent, it’s not so for the revenue-sharing opportunities for channel partners. Also, since cloud itself is a new business paradigm, channel partners are also being forced to rethink about their go-to-market strategies.

Find out more about the Cloud Landscape… 

The Rise of the Cloud in the Age of the App

The intersection of cloud and mobile computing means the next generation of software will be available everywhere, but getting there won't be easy. Although relatively new technology, cloud implementations have been quickly adopted on the Web, and spurred innovation by coinciding with the proliferation of mobile and tablet devices. We are moving away from software that exists on our hard drives to applications that exist both in the cloud and in our pockets. The future of software is in “everywhere apps” that aren’t tied to a single device, but rather to the end user - available on any platform the user prefers. We no longer expect to go to the software - we expect the software to come to us.

7 ways cloud computing could be even greener

1. Make sure the data center is using power generated by renewable energy sources or that it uses “free cooling” methods. 
2. Look for modular data center approaches. 
3. Get yourself more energy-efficient power and cooling systems. 
4. Think converged. 
5. Virtualize and automate. 
6. Measure and manage. 
7. Set goals and strive for them. 

Indian companies are adopting cloud-computing

With government spending on technology driving need for IT services, cloud computing is expected to take off in a big way. Research firm IDC expects the cloud computing market in India to grow at a CAGR of 40 per cent by 2014, from an estimated $66 million in 2009. Gartner's rival Zinnov estimates the cloud computing market in India to reach $1.08 billion by 2015, a ten-fold increase from the existing $110 million market.

Cloud will be main platform by 2014, say IT leaders

The majority of chief information officers across Europe believe the cloud will provide their main IT operating channel by 2014, according to research. While few businesses said they have company-wide implementations of cloud computing to date (16 percent), many enterprises believe the cloud will be their most significant IT operating method by 2014 (60 percent).

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.

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, July 01, 2011

Cloud computing and collaboration are a match made in heaven, yet someone must have forgotten to pay the matchmaker because the union is taking its time getting consummated. Strong web-based collaborative tools, such as SharePoint, have been around for a decade or so, but many organizations still stick with what’s comfortable and rely solely on email. Email is the go-to collaboration tool for knowledge workers, despite the fact that it is only one piece of what can be a highly efficient overall cloud strategy. Why, then, is email still the primary means of collaboration? Here are four main reasons: 1) it’s convenient, 2) it’s easy, 3) everyone uses it – all the time – and 4) it still works.


   Read More

10 best cloud backup strategies for biz continuity

1. Address specific business needs 
2. Conduct TCO analysis 
3. Test before provisioning 
4. Encrypt backup data 
5. Follow governance and compliance rules 
6. Bulk data import process governance 
7. Backup locally and remotely 
8. Backup locally to ensure public accessibility 
9. Engage multiple vendors 
10. Ensure data interoperability 

Cost, scalability are primary drivers for cloud usage

Despite plenty of vendor hype, most enterprises use cloud computing services sparingly. However, Gartner analysts say crucial steps must be taken today to avoid serious cloud computing security problems when adoption rates rise in the near future. During a presentation at the 2011 Gartner Security & Risk Management summit, Gartner Vice President and Distinguished Analyst John Pescatore told attendees that even though most industry observers believe enterprise cloud computing adoption is on the rise, Gartner’s research has found public cloud computing use is limited to Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. Proving his point, Pescatore informally polled the audience of several hundred attendees, and roughly half acknowledged use of commercial cloud services, but only a few hands went up when asked whether their organizations used platform or infrastructure services, or other hybrid models.

Scalability and backup recovery key to virtualization

A significant majority (66%) of companies list performance degradation as a somewhat or extremely large factor in their hesitation over placing business-critical applications into a private cloud. That's among key findings from a survey by Symantec among 3,700 IT managers in 35 countries, entitled 'Virtualisation and Evolution to the Cloud'. Symantec's white paper argues that, while virtualisation and cloud computing can help streamline operations and save money, sacrificing performance is clearly not an option.

Resolving cloud application migration issues

A good deal of time and money in the IT industry has been spent on trying to make applications portable. Not surprising, the goal around migrating applications among clouds is to somehow make applications more cloud-portable. This can be done in at least three ways:

1. Architect applications to increase cloud portability. 
2. Develop open standards for clouds. 
3. Find tools that move applications around clouds without requiring changes. 

Most of today's large, old monolithic applications are not portable and must be rebuilt in order to fit the target environment. There are other applications that require special hardware, reducing their portability, and even many of the newer applications being built today are not very portable, certainly not cloud portable.

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.