Where Will VDI Be in Five Years’ Time?

VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) has long been predicted to be a growth area. This year, the technology has started to edge towards adoption in newer segments, segments in which it has not had significant traction in the past. But will this continue to be the case? Is VDI the computing environment of the future, or …

TCO of the Cloud

What is the total cost of ownership, TCO, of the cloud? When we think of the cloud, we think of using applications in the cloud such as Salesforce, Box.net, and others. We may even consider using security as a service tool such as Zscaler and others. In some cases we also think of placing our own workloads in the cloud using Amazon and other tools. The real question that comes to mind is the TCO of the cloud? Not now, but long term.

My Take on the Small Business Virtualization Market

My colleague, Edward, wrote a post on Small Business Virtualization and I wanted to write a followup on my take of the small business market. For me, when I think of small business, I am really thinking of the mom and pop business that you can find everywhere. In fact, according to the United States Census Bureau post on small business sizes most only have a few employees and would not have a datacenter or server farms. Here is the breakdown of the numbers.

Securing the Hybrid Cloud

The secure hybrid cloud encompasses a complex environment with a complex set of security requirements spanning the data center (or data closet), end user computing devices, and various cloud services. The entry point to the entire hybrid cloud is some form of End User Computing device whether that is a smart phone, tablet, laptop, or even a desktop computer. Once you enter the hybrid cloud, you may be taken to a cloud service or to your data center. The goal is to understand how the data flows through out this environment in order to properly secure it and therefore secure the hybrid cloud, but since it is a complex environment, we need a simpler way to view this environment.

Vegas as a Service

Recently when I was in Las Vegas for HP Discover I realized that the Venetian/Palazo complex is really a cloud: Vegas as a Service. IT could learn alot from Las Vegas actually and I think that each hotel complex is a private cloud and that taken together the strip is one big cloud. Granted it is a cloud that has a single purpose, but has all the earmarks of a good cloud.