Google is Amazon’s only real cloud threat, say observers including Cloudscaling’s Randy Bias. But under new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, that’s more likely to morph. Cloudscaling CEO Randy Bias said in a blog Wednesday that Amazon Web Services’s only real competition is Google. That can be true. Google is an important web technology company that’s invented many large-scale technologies that the enterprise desires to use today. It’s logical that enterprises would definitely turn to Google for leadership within the cloud. But then, doubts set in. Google Apps, a pivot point of Google’s outreach to the enterprise, doesn’t have many large converts. some , but not many, a minimum of not at the record. If businesses don’t cash in on this Google service, which they will initiate at no cost, how likely are enterprises to become long-term Google customers for cloud services? [Would like to see how Google is taking over Amazon in storage? See Google Compute Cloud Challenges Amazon.] After witnessing Satya Nadella’s ascension at... Read More »

IT managers must consider potentially crippling cloud outages when calculating the real cost of a cloud service. As any networking professional knows, downtime costs money. However, few know exactly what quantity of money downtime costs. Estimates, calculations, and incidentals are all open to interpretation. This creates a great deal of uncertainty. Cloud computing is a superb tool to exploit here. Many IT pros are turning to cloud-based technologies to mitigate the price of downtime. However, is the viability of a cloud migration backed by facts or according to suppositions? The assumption that cloud services can reduce downtime is founded at the belief that third-party providers deploy all types of continuity technology that every one but guarantees uptime. That belief, coupled with service-level agreements (SLAs) that make promises about limiting unscheduled interruptions in service, can provide you a feeling of security. The $64000 question becomes whether that sense of security is fake or justified — and, more importantly, whether a price may be assigned to it. To determine... Read More »

Simmer down, Net neutrality doomsayers. We will expect carriers to experiment with traffic impairment, but we are able to also expect them to fail. It was just a matter of time. The simmer surrounding the hyped “death of Net neutrality” escalated to a boil Wednesday when a blogger who works for a cloud startup claimed that Verizon is now using the chance to “wage war against Netflix” and other content providers. The blog writer, David Raphael, claimed that traffic to and from his Amazon Web Services infrastructure was much slower on his Verizon connection than it was on another carrier’s connection. Raphael said he measured performance in numerous other ways, and that through the use of the time honored rule-in/rule-out methodology, established that Verizon was the matter. Raphael said he had a talk with a Verizon customer support rep (he posted a screenshot of that chat on his blog) by which he asked point blank: “Is Verizon now limiting bandwidth to cloud providers like AWS?”... Read More »

Federal agencies are shifting clear of the 2010 Cloud-First mandate and setting foundations for using the cloud for business and mission objectives. It’s been nearly four years because the federal government launched its first public information service, Recovery.gov, within the cloud. The rapid deployment of this highly visible system in a public cloud helped kick-start the vision for the way the cloud could accelerate federal government initiatives. It also brought credibility to former Federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s Cloud-First policy to assist modernize Federal IT. Since then, many agencies, including Department of the Treasury, GSA, and the u. s. Navy, have adopted and operated public cloud-based services. These kind of initiatives have involved the migration of public-facing websites and enterprise email systems to the cloud. However, that’s starting to change. Federal agencies are shifting clear of the 2010 Cloud-First mandate, which directed agencies to adopt cloud computing in some capacity, and getting enthusiastic about using the cloud to support their business and mission objectives. [Some IT... Read More »

Oracle Cloud subscription revenue increases 25% and hardware rebounds, but Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce.com, and Workday threats loom large. Oracle put the correct face on third-quarter gains in cloud computing and hardware sales reported late Tuesday, however the increases weren’t quite enough to maintain pace with fast-growing competitors or Wall Street expectations. Oracle reported total revenues of $9.31 billion for the third quarter ended February 28, up 4% from the prior-year quarter. Profits totaled 68 cents per share. The entire performance was nearly according to the $9.36 billion in revenues and 70 cents-per-share expected by financial analysts, but shares fell in after-hours trading. The most positive news at the quarter was a 25% increase in cloud software subscription revenues and an 8% increase in hardware revenues. It was the primary growth seen in Oracle’s hardware business because it acquired Sun Microsystems nearly four years ago. Oracle executives tied the cloud gains partially to “tripple-digit” Oracle Fusion Cloud growth while the hardware rebound was attributed to a... Read More »