WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Sep 30, 2011

Initially adopted by large companies as a way of streamlining their IT infrastructures, cloud computing is now being embraced by growing numbers of smaller businesses around the country. Lured by the promise of lower costs, small companies are finding cloud computing can also offer improved flexibility, better security and lower risks. In its simplest form, cloud computing involves a business handing over responsibility for its IT systems to a third-party service provider. Rather than needing to worry about managing computer servers, updating software and performing data back-ups, the business "rents" the capacity it needs, accessing applications and data that sit on remote servers via the internet.



Read more to find how SMEs find brighter prospects in Cloud Computing.

Eight cloud computing risks, and how to quash them

In their latest book, Cloud Computing for Business, Dr. Chris Harding and his team of co-authors affiliated with The Open Group — a key standards body for enterprise architecture — detail some of the key risk areas that need to be looked at with any cloud project:

1. The solution may not meet its financial objectives 
2. The solution may not work in the context of the user enterprise’s organization and culture 
3. The solution may be difficult to develop due to the difficulty of integrating the cloud services involved 
4. The solution may not comply with its legal, contractual and moral obligations 
5. A disaster may occur from which the solution cannot recover 
6. System quality may be inadequate, so that it does not meet users’ needs 
7. Security may be inadequate 
8. There may be an existing lack of service orientation 

Cloud computing rewrites rules for network managers

The proliferation of cloud computing and web-based applications in the corporate environment has rewritten the ground rules of enterprise network security. Businesses have cut costs and increased efficiency by using cloud computing, such as web-based applications that replace traditional desktop functions and services that power operations and infrastructure. However, by extending functions beyond the reach of the traditional network defenses, organizations have exposed themselves to a new realm of security vulnerabilities. Experts warn that applications can be outsourced, but not risk. Further, the shift emphasizes the importance of enterprises regularly auditing network and security assets.

Some companies view cloud computing as a threat to their IT security

Research just released by Kaspersky Lab claims to show that around a quarter of companies (23%) see the cloud as a threat to their IT security. David Emm, senior security researcher with Kaspersky Lab, said there are two key factors driving development of cloud services. “The first is cost. The economies of scale that can be achieved by storing data or hosting applications in the cloud can result in significant savings for businesses”, he said. “The second is flexibility. Employees can access data from anywhere, at any time, using any device – including mobile devices. So businesses can benefit from an 'always-on' workforce. However, this research proves companies still harbor concerns about implementing cloud services”, he added.

Business meets IT in the Cloud

Saji Thoppil, GM, Wipro Infotech discussed the importance of aligning business requirements with IT by means of Cloud adoption. It is an established fact that the Cloud is one of the hottest technology trends that is being talked about across the industry and in various discussion forums. Thoppil talked of the importance of exploring and harnessing Cloud computing. According to Gartner, the Cloud is one of the top technology trends driven by technologies like mobility, video, social media & collaboration and ubiquitous computing. “Looking at all of these technologies, enterprises have to analyze if they can scale up their infrastructure to meet growing needs; you will find that there is a bottleneck here,” he noted.

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

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

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, Sep 23, 2011

Cloud computing is often referred to as a technology. However, it is actually a significant shift in the business and economic models for provisioning and consuming information technology (IT) that can lead to a significant cost savings. This cost savings can only be realized through the use of significant pooling of these “configurable computing resources” or resource pooling. According to NIST, this capability is an essential characteristic of cloud computing. Resource pooling is the ability of a cloud to serve multiple customers using a multi-tenant model with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand. Cloud computing economics depends on four customer population metrics:

1. Number of Unique Customer Sets 
2. Customer Set Duty Cycles 
3. Relative Duty Cycle Displacement 
4. Customer Set Load 

Read More



Tackling the Challenges of Securing the Cloud

By moving the focus of IT applications beyond the confines of traditional corporate infrastructures, business processes are also simplified and streamlined. Some, however, consider the technology “too risky” and question the levels of data security and transparency in the cloud, which has been accused of exposing organizations to unnecessary security risks. It cannot be taken lightly, nor can it go unchallenged.

The secret to cloud success: Get a grasp on SOA

Those IT organizations that move to cloud computing are moving to SOA (service-oriented architecture), whether they understand it or not. Private and public clouds often rely on APIs for their functionality, which are typically Web services that can be combined and recombined into solutions. The result: SOA, at its essence.

Cloud computing market is starting to look a lot like one big data center

An interesting thing has been happening on the way to the fully cloud-ified IT universe in which every company is able to call on as much computing power as it needs, of whatever kind, using whatever software, then return it to the vast, immutable ether, paying later only for what the used of this vast and magical power without being responsible for creating, training, feeding or protecting anything at all.

Cloud computing a serious contender for email services

Companies are increasingly using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud computing applications in place of traditional email platforms, it has been claimed. A new report published by Gartner has found that Google's Gmail service is beginning to rival Microsoft's platforms in companies with more than 5,000 seats for the first time. It is likely that cloud email will amount to 20 per cent of the market by the end of 2016 and more than half by 2020.

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

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

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, Sep 16, 2011

Though cloud computing is still relatively new, it’s already been advertised in so many ways that it can be difficult to know if it should be used as a tool for business or personal use. The answer is simple: it can (and should) be used for both! The Wall Street Journal recently polled a small group of their online readers to see if they were using cloud computing, and, if they did, whether they used it for business or personal purposes. Practically half of the people responded saying they used the cloud for both, with the next largest group saying they don’t use either. Perhaps it’s because they aren’t aware of the benefits…

Read More to find how you are using Cloud Computing in your business and personal lives.



Benefits of Private Cloud Computing: Compliant & Cost-Effective

When it comes to security and compliance, private cloud computing trumps the public cloud. According to a recent study by the Aberdeen Group, the private cloud saves a total of 12% combined annual cost savings over public clouds on a per-application basis. When it comes to computing costs, everything adds up fast – including personnel and training, process and technology, hardware, software, services and support.

Cloud Computing in Healthcare

As Cloud adoption in healthcare evolves, we expect a major chunk of healthcare services to move onto the Cloud, allowing healthcare players to focus on providing cost effective and efficient healthcare services, says Vishal Gupta, VP Advanced Services and Leader Healthcare Practice (East), Cisco. More and more vendors are offering healthcare solutions and services such as telemedicine, electronic medical records, medical imaging, and patient management that can be consumed or integrated by healthcare providers, payers and customers over a cloud.

Cloud: Accessibility, Availability and Scalability

As the world of industry changes, the outsourcing sector has found it increasingly important to adapt to new technologies which are continuing to drive forward new, innovative services. As such the industry is now beginning to implement cloud computing, rather than just talk about adopting cloud services, and the benefits of accessibility, availability and scalability are more evident than ever.

Cloud computing can make flexible working easier

With so many benefits of Cloud Computing for businesses and organizations, what’s there for the employees? Here is some refreshing news. Employee engagement and motivation can be dramatically improved with the adoption of cloud computing and other flexible IT technologies. According to mobile phone operator O2, the growth of cloud computing has pushed remote working up many businesses' agendas. Many companies are now offering work-from-anywhere policies as a flexible benefit and, according to Nicola Mortimer, head of ICT and business development at the telecoms operator, office based working appears to be quickly becoming a thing of the past. So Cloud is bringing good news for all - employees and employers.

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

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.


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, Sep 09, 2011

Phil Wainwright, vice-chairman of EuroCloud, noted that it is not just the larger organizations which can make the most of the benefits of the cloud, with small to medium-sized businesses having similar needs for facilities like home-working. He added that small firms are using online applications as a way of fulfilling their computing needs. "If you look at the market research that's being published now, I think in particular, the ready-made cloud applications that we call SaaS (software as a service) are certainly becoming a big element of choice for small businesses to quickly and cost effectively fulfill computing needs that they find emerging," Mr. Wainwright said.

Read More to find out Cloud Computing viable solution for small business



IT's consumerization of the workplace

As the world shifts to a post-PC era, in which non-traditional devices like mobile phones have become the primary access tools, especially in emerging economies like India, and 'IT-as-a-service' model gains momentum, applications, like say an Excel spreadsheet, can be ordered the way we order a DVD movie or an email. Companies are now working to bring consumer life experiences to the work place. Virtualization and cloud computing, which dramatically reduce the number of servers that are needed and with it the costs of building and maintaining large IT infrastructure, will help drive the consumerization of the workplace.

Cloud computing 'offers great mobility'

Businesses will find making the switch to cloud computing offers them numerous benefits across all areas of their work. Cloud computing users to only pay for services as they use them; it's a utility-based type of computing. That would be a very key aspect for reducing costs within a business. Great mobility will provide the opportunity for employees to keep up to date with work via a number of different devices while working from home or on the move.

Cloud Computing: What You Need to Know About PaaS

PaaS or Platform as a Service development offerings bring tremendous power and productivity to IT departments, along with a host of new challenges. Bernard Golden explains what CIOs need to know about this nascent segment of the cloud computing market. Cloud providers of every stripe are converging on what will be the development battleground of tomorrow—PaaS. They've clearly identified this as a crucial market—one in which the victors will enjoy huge spoils. It's also a market that will present significant challenges to users.

How 'cloud brokers' help you navigate cloud services

What's a cloud broker? Gartner defines it as "a type of cloud service provider that plays an intermediary role in cloud computing." Perhaps better put, they help you locate the best and most cost-effective cloud provider for your needs. The idea is compelling. You're looking for a storage-as-a-service provider, and instead of going to them directly, you use a broker to gather your requirements and find the best fit - in some cases, several good fits that you can use based on the best cost, availability, and performance.

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

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.

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

Job openings at WOLF: Cloud Computing, openness and much more..

We’re looking for colleagues who can join us as (1) International Sales Lead and (1) Social Media/Content Writer 


Open positions and brief job descriptions:

1. International Sales Lead (Relevant work experience: 4years, Location: Bangalore-India)

•  Understanding the Cloud Computing eco-system
•  Engaging with International prospects (Enterprise)
•  Running web-conference meetings
•  Presenting concepts, case studies and products
•  Developing ROI and TCO analysis for customers
•  Achieving sales targets QOQ
•  Developing inside sales process
•  Reporting directly to Sales Director

2. Content Writer and Social Media Executive (Relevant work Experience: 2 years, Location: Bangalore-India)

• Proof read, edit and create content.
• Create product descriptions, sales/marketing collateral.
• A creative thinker that can turn ideas and briefings into marketing messages.
• Engage and open conversations using Social media.
• Manage all aspects of our Social Media strategy- champion new ideas and initiatives.
• Work in parallel with Sales and Marketing to achieve the marketing goals.

What you can expect:

We guide every member of our team to think openly, participate in different COP’s & cross domain initiatives, nurture creative abrasion, engage in learning and relearning, challenge self limits, interact with customer communities and drive social interactions to realize their best potential. You should expect:

• Hands-on experience in Cloud Computing 
• Casual, startup environment
• Plenty of challenges 
• Lots of independence 
• Open debates & dialogues 
• Exposure to International Markets & customers

Beware of the following:

We are not managers, only a few hands-on practitioners working in a lean cloud start-up. Work is religion - goal is GOD. This role is for smart and talented individuals with content/sales/marketing/social media experience in web based technology with product background as an added advantage. This job could see you as a hands-on leader in our small Business Units in time. Sounds interesting? If you’d love to do this every day, we want you. We need you!

Please get in touch by emailing hr [at] wolfframeworks dot com and include “ISE” and “SM” somewhere in the subject. Thanks!

WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, Sep 02, 2011

Clouds are the fluffy white or grey things floating in the sky that bring rains. And these clouds hold the key to the prosperity of the Indian economy. According to the study done by leading management consulting firms, the total cloud market in India is estimated to be around US $ 400 million currently. Further, it is expected to reach a market value of US $ 4.5 billion by 2015. So what will drive this spectacular growth? SMBs who do not have legacy IT infrastructure and those who use third party, are moving to public and private cloud thereby giving a boost to the market.

Read more to find out more about scope of cloud in Indian market.













Cloud computing still weighed down by concrete set-backs

While cloud technology is constantly touted as the next big thing in IT, only 6% of companies are planning on moving to the full public cloud. Which suggests that concerns over security become even more real once applications move beyond a business’s own firewall. The fact that the private cloud is proving so popular shows just how unwilling firms are to put their crown jewels in a public cloud environment.

Security the key issue in cloud computing

Concerns over information security are the biggest barrier to businesses moving to online cloud-based computing services, says Kgomotso Kganyago, chief security advisor at Microsoft SA. As companies move to seamless computing and as more international cables land on the shores of the African continent, companies need to realize that security attacks will rise and secure their systems appropriately, he says. “The cloud is no longer a choice,” says Kganyago. Cloud computing is a “great equalizer” for small businesses and is making IT more dynamic.

Shape up before heading to the cloud

Enterprises looking to implement cloud computing typically have numerous issues that they hope the move to the cloud will magically solve. It's no surprise that many of today's IT shops face a huge number of negatives: overly complex enterprise architecture, out-of-control data sprawl, and a huge backlog of app dev work that's not being met, typically in an environment of diminishing budgets. To make cloud computing work for your enterprise, you need to drive significant changes in the existing on-premise systems before or as you move to cloud.

Fear of Change Makes Many Organizations Hesitant

A recent study by theInfoPro, a part of the 451 group, found that reluctance to accept any change is the most frequently cited reason for what holds back organizations from adopting the cloud. In fact, 52 percent of organizations said that change was the biggest roadblock. That compared to 15 percent who said that up-front costs was holding them back and another 13 percent that said that security was their main issue with the cloud. Internal change and learning are difficult for organizations to accept.

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

Don’t forget to add your comments and suggestions. I will have more around the cloud a week later.


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.