cloud computing - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• Cloud Computing Special Part 2: Cloud Control

  Beyond the hype, some companies are moving cautiously to cloud computing. Meet the experimenters.

• Special Report: Cloud Computing

  Beyond the hype, Some companies are moving cautiously to cloud computing. Meet the experimenters.

• What is Cloud Computing?

  The term cloud computing itself can be confusing, as it was coined after the establishment of one of its key components, software-as-a service (SaaS). Research group Gartner’s definition is of a style of computing where massively scalable solutions are provided as a service using Internet technologies.

• Blog: Forrester bucks wisdom on cloud computing

  A couple of weeks ago Forrester released a report on cloud computing, based upon a survey of small and large enterprises located in North America and Europe. I was particularly interested in its findings as it addressed the question of private (internal) cloud computing.

• Platform Computing tackles tech-agnostic cloud management

  Grid vendor Platform Computing has unveiled new private cloud software that aggregates servers, storage, networking tools and hypervisors to create a shared pool of physical and virtual resources.

• Want cloud success? Look for cloud failures

  CIOs looking to find a reliable cloud provider should seek one whose service has already fallen over, according to Dan Foody, vice president at Web services management provider Progress Actional.

• The pros and cons of Cloud Computing: a CIO’s view

  Cloud Computing is coming to your neighbourhood, and market competition soon will demand that you give it attention, because its likely rapid growth will bring large benefits for enterprises.

• 5 cool cloud computing research projects

  Next week's HotCloud conference on cloud computing in San Diego will boast a slew of fresh research into this hottest of IT topics. Here's a glimpse at the work to be showcased at the event (PDFs of some research papers will not be available until the week of June 15 at the <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/hotcloud09/tech/">HotCloud site</a>):

• Verizon's public cloud aimed at enterprise

  Verizon has rolled out its first cloud-computing service aimed at giving enterprise customers a secure way to host applications not only on virtual resources but also on physical, dedicated network servers.

• Defining Private Clouds, Part Two

  Private clouds are a hot topic these days, but not everyone agrees on a definition or the potential benefits.

• Defining Private Clouds, Part One

  The topic of private clouds is heating up. A private cloud is, essentially, a cloud computing capability dedicated to one organization. The term "internal cloud" is often used for this kind of functionality, but as many people point out, the term "internal cloud" conflates functionality with location. T

• Why My Company Uses Amazon's EC2 Cloud

  Running an Internet startup remains a tricky business, says link-sharing service ShareThis. During the past two years, more than 110,000 sites have added the ShareThis embedded link, allowing readers to forward articles or videos to their friends. The popularity has made the company's data requirements enormous: it handles up to 12,000 requests a second and 130 million page views every day.

• What to do if your cloud provider disappears

  Software developer Christopher Shockey saw the first signs of trouble in late 2008. A sales rep who had always represented Web application development provider Coghead was now calling on behalf of Coghead's much larger rival Salesforce.com.

• Cloud Mea Culpa: Nick Carr Was Right and I Was Wrong

  Nick Carr was right and I was wrong. Sort of, anyway.<br/>

• Large Data Set Analysis in the Cloud: Hadoop Gets a boost

  The changing nature of IT, as well as the rapid evolution of business processes, means that you'll likely face the need for an analytical tool like Hadoop in the very near future.