Articles by Maria Spínola

Futurist – Researcher – Strategic IT Marketing And Innovation Adviser – White Paper Copywriter
http://www.twitter.com/MariaSpinola

This list is a summary of Cloud Computing news that I posted during the past week on Twitter :

- Unisys & #CloudComputing: Exclusive Q&A with Rich Marcello http://bit.ly/JmBad (via @cloudnomics) #Security & #Privacy are big concerns…

- Sun Microsystems view on #CloudComputing: http://bit.ly/1cm61n

- List of advantages of #CloudComputing http://bit.ly/X8mKB (via @CloudMarkets) ME: and list of advantages vs risks: http://bit.ly/oBwga

- How is Your Cloud Computing Provider Doing? http://bit.ly/nXWYM (via @cloudysaas)

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Cloud Computing is quite possibly the hottest, most discussed and often misunderstood concept in Information Technology (IT) today.

In short, Cloud Computing proposes to transform the way IT it’s deployed and managed, promising reduced implementation, maintenance costs and complexity, while accelerating innovation, providing faster timeto-market, and the ability to scale high-performance applications and infrastructures on demand.

But business managers know that in spite of the benefits of every new technology/business model there are also risks and issues (like for example: trust, loss of privacy, regulatory violation, data replication, coherency and erosion of integrity, application sprawl and dependencies, etc.) and that rushing things when it comes to Cloud Computing can be a very bad decision, but blowing off Cloud Computing all together because you think you can secure your own stuff better than a service provider or because many claims, made about Cloud Computing, have lead you to the point of “irrational exuberance” and unrealistic expectations, isn’t smart, either.

The goal of this White Paper is to provide a realistic perspective of the possibilities, benefits and risks of Cloud Computing; what to look for, what to avoid, and also some tips and best practices on implementation, architecture and vendor management strategies. It is important to consider all those aspects before you decide either to move (but without putting the carriage before the horse) or not to move your systems, applications, and/or data to to the “Cloud”, in a “hype free” approach.

Click here to download the White Paper (or click on the image at left side)

Thanks and please let me know how I can help you.

P.S. And of course your comments, feedback’s and thoughts are always welcome.

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I just found this nice resource about Cloud Computing (it’s owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology):
http://www.technologyreview.com/briefings/cloud/

There we can find information about Research, Companies, Key Players and Platforms – click on the Cloud Scene “blue image” and see by yourself :)

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“IBM’s experiment with group authorship for Cloud Computing interoperability is starting to pay off.
Earlier today, Doug Tidwell posted the first draft of a Cloud Computing Use Cases White Paper produced extensively via a new Google group created to help define the various use case requires. 
The white paper was also released under a Creative Commons License with the intention of remixing for use within other white papers and marketing materials.”
Source: IBM Cloud Computing Use Cases Group Releases Draft White Paper

You can review the first draft of the White Paper here

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This may sound “bizarre”, but it actually has to do with real death’s (Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson), as you can see at: http://www.elasticvapor.com/2009/06/day-cloud-died.html

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In the last days, some news were released about the location of Google Data Centers, like for example the  Google container data center tour video  and the Revealed: where Google’s data centres are around the world article

In my opinion, this kind of news are positive, but can be negative…

They are positive, because consumers can feel more save, after all they ”know” where their data is stored, the exact locations, etc., in a way we can say that  it’s like if they can “touch it”.

But, just like consumers can know where their data is stored, so can terrorists. I know that Google have backup Data Centers,etc. etc. but…

I will share some information, I tweet the Google container data center tour video with one of those programs that short and track the links, the results are the following (until now):

Total Clicks : 582
3 Major Locations
:  I will not disclosure the exact country,but it’s a country with terrorism activities and was in war very recently: 540; United States: 20; Portugal: 11

Whta’s your opinion? “it’s positive or negative to know where Google Data Centers are located?”  Thanks.

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The low cost products and services are here, either at supermarkets, airlines, holidays, automobiles, hotels, food-chains, etc., and we use them because, sometimes, we really don’t need all the features of the non low cost products and services.

In my opinion, the Cloud Computing, in a way, is the “low cost” for IT business.

Let’s take the example of Traditional CRM software versus CRM as SaaS:

  • Traditional CRM software : They earned a bad reputation by bringing with it integration and customization demands that easily spiraled out-of-control. So as a result, there was the feeling that CRM software was a huge head-heck and a huge waste of money with no practical results.
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  • CRM as SaaS: what have SaaS vendors done? they provide just-enough customization in a very easy way, and they shifted integration responsibility from the clients. So as a result CRM as SaaS is simple to use, economic and with practical results.

Or the example of infrastructure such as Amazon’s S3 and SimpleDB versus conventional enterprise counterparts (distributed file systems and relational databases) : they can’t be compared to their conventional, however they offer the basic features that everyone needs  (and also one huge advantage: vast scalability)

In other words, we can say that the use of the 80/20 rule is actually a common theme across cloud technology, and what might appear to be a limitation is actually a secret to success: it gives customers what they actually need in a very easy and cheaper way.

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