In The News

In 2011, cloud computing demonstrated that it was a major driver of change in the IT industry. What will happen next year?

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From defunct tablets to scuttled software, here’s a look at 10 major products that were put out to pasture in 2011 by companies such as HP, Google and Cisco.

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VMware Inc., the California-based virtualization infrastructure arm of Hopkinton’s EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Shavlik Technologies, a cloud-based IT management software provider, according to a press release by Shavlik.

Shavlik, based in New Bright, Minn., offers a set of on-premise and SaaS-based management tools designed to help small and medium businesses manage, monitor and secure their IT environments when moving to virtual and cloud computing deployments.

The companies had previously maintained a relationship involving VMware Go, a joint SaaS-based package for the deployment and management of VMware vSphere.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal is expected to be completed this quarter.

Last month, VMware (NYSE: VMW), which is majority-owned by EMC, announced a 33 percent increase in quarterly revenue.

Cloud CIO: 5 Key Pieces of Rollout Advice

1. Standardize your offerings- Part of the inefficiency and high cost of the current mode of operating IT is the “have it your way” responsiveness of most IT organizations. Customization is the enemy of automation and efficiency, so reduce it.

2. Create pre-packaged software stacks- In addition to standardized virtual machine configurations, enriching those configurations with pre-packaged software stacks offers several benefits. First, it moves the organization toward additional standardization. When a developer can get started more quickly rather than having to spend time installing and configuring software components, he or she is more likely to develop solutions aligned with approved software stacks.

3. Integrate the new cloud environment into existing processes. Failing to provide an easy way for developers to put their cloud applications into product is, in effect, communicating that the organization is not fully committed to cloud computing. And developers are the scouts, so to speak, for application groups. If developers conclude that there is not a congenial home for their cloud applications, the application groups themselves will soon be looking elsewhere

4. Market the offering. It’s not enough to create a cloud computing environment and assume that application groups will learn about it and adopt it. IT is moving from a quasi-monopoly supplier role to one of a number of acceptable options. Gaining developer commitment and use is crucial, and repeated marketing is part of getting it.

5. Provide training. It may seem that this post has been praising developers, and, indeed, some lionize the position developers hold in the cloud computing world; however, in our experience, many, many developers do not comprehend the new application architectures required to create cloud computing applications. The same is true for operations personnel – they fail to understand how to provide just-in-time resources and to manage applications with constantly shifting topologies and highly variable loads.

Source: www.CIO.com
By: Bernard Golden
Read Full Article: http://www.cio.com/article/679070/Cloud_CIO_5_Key_Pieces_of_Rollout_Advice?page=2&taxonomyId=3112
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