02
Sat, Nov
2 New Articles
  1. You are here:  
  2. Home
  3. Cloud
  4. Managed Services / SaaS / PaaS / IaaS
  5. Cloudy Forecast for Technology

Cloudy Forecast for Technology

Managed Services / SaaS / PaaS / IaaS
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Tech companies make cloud computing announcements underneath cloudy economic skies.

 

It's been a tough month for the economy in general and the technology sector in particular. Even Microsoft, which had not previously laid off employees, resorted to job cuts. So did AMD, EMC, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Philips, Seagate, Sprint Nextel, Sun, Texas Instruments, and Yahoo. Yet the news was not all about poor earnings and job cuts. Several of the big vendors rolled out cloud computing enhancements or new offerings. The pace of these announcements suggests a demand for cloud computing alternatives in this tough economy.

 

At its recent Lotusphere conference, IBM said it is broadening its offering of low-cost and free software. The announcement, specifically targeted to SMBs, introduced IBM Lotus Foundations Start 1.1 and a new offering, Lotus Foundations Branch Office. Lotus Foundations is IBM's hardware and software solution that helps SMBs collaborate using email, office applications, file sharing, and backup and recovery. For more discussion of Lotus Foundations, see "IBM Lotus Foundations Delivers Promise of Autonomic Computing" by my colleague Chris Smith. Also at Lotusphere, IBM unveiled LotusLive, an integrated set of social networking and collaboration services in the cloud.  LotusLive includes the ability to link on-premise solutions with LotusLive services. LotusLive can now also integrate with partner applications from the LinkedIn professional networking service, the Salesforce.com customer relationship management system, and the Skype Internet voice communication service.

 

IBM also said that IBM Lotus Symphony, IBM's free office suite, passed 3 million downloads worldwide. Symphony also comes with Foundation and the IBM Open Client Linux desktop software bundle. Also, IBM and Red Hat announced they would cooperate to move IBM Lotus clients from Windows to Linux desktops. Finally, IBM said it would acquire the assets of Outblaze, an online messaging and collaboration service that offers multilingual email and social media services to 40 million users. All of these announcements show that IBM believes that in this difficult economy, SMBs seek low-cost, easy-to-implement computing solutions.

 

Oracle announced release of Oracle CRM On Demand Release 16, its customer relationship management offering in the cloud. New in the release are advanced customization capabilities, new partner relationship management capabilities, and a hosted single-tenant standard edition. Despite the application being in the cloud, Oracle claims users can customize the user interface, process, and data layers of the solution. The release also enhances reporting capabilities and adds industry-specific functionality. While Oracle has not historically warmly embraced the concept of cloud computing, this release shows it is serious about taking on Salesforce.com in the enterprise hosted CRM arena. Especially of note are the customization features, which are often lacking in cloud-based solutions.

 

Microsoft's Kirk Gregersen, Director, Office Live Product Management and Marketing, said the company decided to converge Office Live and Windows Live into an integrated set of services at one destination. Office Live Workspace and Office Live Small Business now have 4 million subscribers, according to the company. Office Live Workspace offers online document access, sharing, and storage. Office Live Small Business provides email, e-commerce, and Web site design and hosting. Windows Live is a consumer service that includes email, online storage, people networking, instant messenger, photo sharing, and mobile access. Microsoft will provide more details on the convergence, yet the services are essentially the same, meaning there should be a thinning of repetitive services, resulting in a more cohesive Microsoft cloud computing position.

 

Meanwhile, Sun Microsystems acquired Q-layer, a cloud computing company that automates the deployment and management of both public and private clouds. Q-layer provides data center virtualization with provisioning of services such as applications, bandwidth, servers, and storage. Q-layer will be part of Sun's recently defined Cloud Computing business unit that also includes MySQL, storage services, other virtualization technologies, the Sun Modular Datacenter, and the Sun Constellation System.

 

Symantec jumped into the fray of business cloud computing with the beta release of its GoEverywhere service, a secure personal online workspace that makes applications and data accessible from any computer. Symantec offers a single login to the workspace, which provides a central spot to use office applications and access data over the Internet. Also pre-release is offline Gmail, just released in Gmail Labs. In a sort of cloud-diffusion initiative, Google creates a local cache of one's email on their computer so that when there is no connection, one can still access the messages. And rumors abound about an upcoming Google online storage service tagged Gdrive. As Google expands into SMBs with its various cloud-based offerings, it seems cognizant of the need to address customers' cloud computing concerns about not being able to access key applications if a connection is down.

 

With the economy in the dumps, SMBs are watching every dollar, and surely the technology vendors feel the pain too. Therefore, it makes sense that there is a parade of cloud-based solutions promising everything businesses might have already, but at much lower costs. However, SMBs should exert caution in any switching and perform proper cost-benefit analysis for their particular scenario. In addition, plans for transitions should strive to minimize disruption to the business. In addition, SMBs should evaluate the overall direction of the contending vendors in terms of their levels of integration, customization, and cloud-enabled features. There are definitely opportunities for SMBs to embrace the cloud, and doing so while vendors are hungry could result in investments that pay back relatively quickly.

Ron Exler

Ron Exler is a senior product manager at Arbitron, the media ratings company. Previously, he was an independent analyst and consultant. He was formerly Vice President and Research Fellow for Robert Frances Group (RFG), a provider of advisory services for information technology (IT) executives and vendors. Mr. Exler has worked with executives from some of the world's largest enterprises, so he understands how business executives make decisions. He also writes a blog (http://www.thegeofactor.com/) and was named one of the top English-language analyst bloggers by Technobabble 2.0. Mr. Exler has had more than 125 articles and technical papers published.

 

Prior to RFG, Mr. Exler worked for several enterprise software companies, including Landmark Systems (now ASG) and Intersolv (now Serena Software). He held positions in marketing, product management, research, sales support, software development, and training. He has an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and also earned a B.S. from Oregon State University.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: