Cloud vision

Looking for results? Look at the Cloud

Cloud Vision — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:52:00 GMT

It is fascinating to watch the trajectory of technologies. Some, like mobile banking, make a false start before staging a spectacular comeback; others such as social technologies hit the ground running and never look back, whilst others like the Itanium...

The ties that bind: How strong is the glue that holds your cloud together?

Cloud Vision — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:30:00 GMT

The 'glue' that makes cloud applications a reality is Web APIs, aka Web Services. The performance of any cloud application is dependent on these data sharing standards. But if you aren’t monitoring them, your Web/cloud application and the customers that...

Performance: The Cloud's Achilles Heel?

Cloud Vision — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:50:09 GMT

Think about all the steps in a hypothetical ‘digital value chain’. An order comes in through a branch office or shop. HQ is queried for customer account data. Then a third party or stock management department is queried on availability...

US PATRIOT Act - Can UK cloud customers use US cloud providers?

Cloud Vision — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:47:45 GMT

There's much fear, uncertainty and doubt about whether EU cloud users can or should use services from US cloud computing providers, in light of the oft-expressed concern that US providers could be forced to hand over data to US law...

Cloud computing and EU data protection law: Part Two

Cloud Vision — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:48:51 GMT

Part one covered how the EU Data Protection Directive may apply to non-European Economic Area (EEA) cloud users or cloud service providers.This part summarises how EEA cloud users are affected by the Directive's requirement that EEA countries must prohibit transfers of 'personal data' outside the...

What exactly is MFT in the cloud?

Cloud Vision — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:28:13 GMT

Companies everywhere are experiencing greater demands for the secure transfer of Big Data, and at the same time, the availability of cloud computing for securely sharing document has grown exponentially. This in turn has pushed managed file transfer (MFT) in...

Using log management to unlock private cloud security

Cloud Vision — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:36:32 GMT

We have established that log management is the key to visibility in the cloud. It can help IT departments to understand what is happening inside their cloud infrastructure, drawing back the veil normally associated with cloud deployments. But integrating log...

Mapping security in the private cloud

Cloud Vision — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:32:12 GMT

In my last blog post, I identified some subtle but important security problems facing organisations deploying private cloud technology. In this, the second of a three-post series, I’ll explain how to tackle those problems. We have shown how IT departments...

The private cloud security problem

Cloud Vision — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:22:30 GMT

Cloud computing brings unquestionable benefits, but amid all of the congratulatory rhetoric, it is important to understand the dangers so that we can prepare for them. In this series of three blog posts, I’ll explain those dangers, and create a...

Transition to cloud - The journey

Cloud Vision — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:43:31 GMT

The concept of cloud is now heard in almost every board room, forum or CIO/CTO’s weekly agenda. Whilst cloud makes an impressive proposition in terms of return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO), the main challenge faced...

Cloud infrastructure security is the issue

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:57:27 GMT

Physical Security. Facilities should be hardened with climate control, and fire prevention and suppression systems, uninterruptable power supplies, and have round-the-clock onsite security personnel. Look for a provider that offers biometric capabilities, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, for...

Weighing up the cost of the Cloud

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:40:46 GMT

Organisations need more education about the real costs of cloud computing. There are, of course, significant benefits with cloud - speed of implementation and increased flexibility, for example. But there is also too much hype and with it important issues...

Bringing enterprise SLAs into the cloud era

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:39:14 GMT

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) have been a staple of the enterprise IT industry for the past couple of decades. However, in this burgeoning era of cloud computing, the SLA approaches of old are in danger of becoming obsolete. The real...

Three myths clouding CIO judgment

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:29:24 GMT

For today's CIO, the perceived barriers to cloud computing remain security, regulation and compliance. The danger that data loss poses to brand equity, customer trust and share price is just the same whether data is stored in a cloud computing...

European clouds - the virtual journeys

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:14:14 GMT

Though the concept of "cloud computing" is not new, it is undisputable that it has captured the imagination of the IT industry and will play a large part in the ICT domain over the next 10 years or more. Particularly...

Cloud computing service or a mirage of hot air?

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:24:51 GMT

The term cloud computing has become a constant fixture in the media - and indeed in the boardroom. It seems that you can’t have a conversation in IT without the term coming up at least once. The reasons for this...

Office 365: Weighing up the Pros and Cons

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:33:10 GMT

Everyone’s talking about Microsoft’s Office 365, so what’s all the fuss about? Essentially, Microsoft are offering a web-based suite of software and services that provides an impressive array of enterprise level functionality at commodity level pricing. But as with anything...

The benefits of the cloud for performance testing

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:13:01 GMT

Companies all around the world rely on business applications to execute critical transactions all day, every day. There’s no such thing as a normal day, unusually high demands such as promotional or seasonal trading can be a regular occurrence, making...

Back to the future: Success in the cloud

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:00:00 GMT

A survey of 800 CIOs across Europe we recently commissioned has uncovered a seemingly ambivalent attitude towards calculating the return on investment (ROI) of the Cloud. Only one third (31%) of the IT leaders we spoke to believed that they...

Cloud computing and EU data protection law

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:00:40 GMT

This article considers some international aspects of the EU Data Protection Directive as it affects cloud computing. This Directive, which extends to the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), regulates the automated processing of personal data....

LTE: Will it be as disappointing as 3G?

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:25:58 GMT

When you read the specs LTE, now being simply called ‘4G’ (incorrectly) by the mobile providers, is the mobile network answer to “Life the Universe and Everything”. With its super high speeds and very low (10ms) Latency it certainly...

Gaining Clarity in the Cloud

Cloud Vision — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:09:15 GMT

Such is the exponential rate of growth in cloud services, and so enthusiastic are vendors of all shapes and sizes to investigate the cost savings and adopt cloud technology, that the lines appear blurred as to what actually constitutes a...

Law enforcement agencies access rights to your cloud data

Cloud Vision — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:03:36 GMT

This article considers how law enforcement agencies (LEAs) may obtain cloud data for investigations and prosecutions, under EU/international legal rules, particularly the Council of Europe's Cybercrime Convention (which aims to foster international cooperation against cybercrime). Parties must pass certain laws...

Your SaaS provider and a "dirty little secret"

Cloud Vision — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:22:46 GMT

In amongst the SLA’s from your SaaS provider, guaranteeing you 99.99% availability hides a dirty little secret. You’re going to receive service from them over a public network i.e. a network that neither you nor they control. Strangely, outage is...

Cloud billing: Tearing up the revenue model

Cloud Vision — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:18:59 GMT

What else can the cloud do for us? As all merchants experience the digital explosion, it’s time to ask what more could be outsourced there. One easy place to start is billing. You would expect me to say that, since...