WOLF Weekly Cloud Sum-up, March 22, 2013

It’s that time of year again. You know what I mean, the weather is starting to get warmer, people are starting to venture out and most importantly, the spring conference circuit is in full bloom. Yet underneath this façade is an unspeakable truth. That of the annual PR migration, where flocks of unoriginal, formulaic press releases hit bloggers inboxes.

In my ever so brief review of this years crop, I’ve come to a stark realization. Most cloud computing startups are doomed. They are doomed for a number of reasons, but never the less, they are doomed.

Here’s why…

Cloud computing: what exactly is on offer?

It’s easy to be bamboozled by the chatter about the benefits of cloud solutions for business and what’s available. Deciding on the right mix of cloud versus having your own dedicated infrastructure is even more daunting. So what exactly is on offer? At one end of the scale you have software-as-a-service, which allows businesses to use a provider’s cloud-based applications, such as web-based email systems. At the other end there is infrastructure-as-a-service, where companies outsource their entire operations, including servers and networks to a provider on a pay-per-usage basis.

Cloud Computing: 4 Ways To Overcome IT Resistance

Business and IT leaders are bombarded with cloud computing hype and promotion. Yet very little is said about how the cloud affects the evolution of the IT organization itself. Enterprise cloud adoption is a transformative shift where the greatest implementation challenges are often more about people and process than technology integration. Agents of change, especially in large enterprises, must overcome various forms of resistance. This includes organizational fiefdoms and the IT silos that evolved with them.

Google Drive hit by three outages this week

Google Drive, the cloud storage and applications suite used by millions at home and at work, has suffered three service interruptions this week, making it impossible at times for affected users to access their files and applications. As logged in the official Google Apps Status site, the first incident happened on Monday, and was an outage that lasted about three hours and affected 33 percent of Google Drive user requests. Affected users got error messages, long load times and timeouts, according to an incident report posted on Wednesday.

Amazon Is Building the CIA’s New Cloud Computing System

The CIA has reportedly signed a massive cloud computing deal with Amazon, worth up to $600 million over the next 10 years. FCW reports that its sources have told it Amazon will build a private cloud infrastructure for the CIA, to help it "keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner not possible under the CIA's previous cloud efforts". Both Amazon and the CIA have declined to comment ion the matter, according to FCW. However, the CIA's Central Intelligence Agency Chief Information Officer, Jeanne Tisinger, recently told an audience at the Northern Virginia Technology Council that the agency was hoping to leverage the commercial sector's innovation cycle.

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.