To avoid besieged buses in San Francisco and Oakland, Google begins transporting employees by boat. 10 Great Google Apps Tips (Click image for larger view.) While Google sorts out the permit issues with regards to the barge-borne showroom it hopes to dock at a San Francisco pier, the corporate has launched a ferry service to hold workers between San Francisco and Redwood City, Calif., a connection point with a corporation bus path to its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google has recently come under fire for providing private buses to shuttle workers between San Francisco and Mountain View. Despite the ecological and traffic jam benefits of keeping workers out in their cars — eliminating a minimum of 45 million vehicle miles traveled and 761,000 metric a whole lot carbon annually — Google buses have drawn the ire of a few San Francisco residents for using public bus stops without compensating the town and for providing free parking that may cost private residents a $274 fine.... Read More »

Server shipments are slightly up but revenues are down within the third quarter, and Unix server sales continue to slip, says Gartner report. It’s not a very good year to be within the server business. Pity especially the poor Unix server salesperson in Europe. Gartner on Wednesday released third-quarter server market estimates that show that total worldwide shipments were up 1.9% from the prior-year quarter to only over 2.5 million units while total server revenues were down 2.1% to $12.3 billion. “The global server market remains in a comparatively weak performance mode as we go through the second one 1/2 the year,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice chairman at Gartner, in an announcement. Server revenues grew strongly within the Middle East and Africa (up 12.1%) and modestly in Canada (up 6.5%), but were flat or declined in all other regions. Europe all over again suffered the steepest declines. [ Want more at the impact of slow server sales? Read IBM Hardware Slide Drags Down Q3... Read More »

Everest Group lead analyst Jimit Arora looks at five factors that may determine successful cloud adoption inside the enterprise. Last fall I had the respect of sitting at the selection committee for the inaugural ICE (Innovation in Cloud for Enterprise) Awards, sponsored by the Cloud Connect show and Everest Group. The experience taught me how large enterprises are adopting cloud computing in ways in which are usually compelling, sometimes surprising, and infrequently breathtaking. The winner, Revlon, Inc., presented a majestic case for a way it leverages cloud to succeed in organizational transformation that reinforces competitiveness and consumer wallet share. As impressive as each individual entry was, there have been five recurring themes that emerged around the enterprise cloud adoption stories we read. While under no circumstances scientific, they reflect what enterprises themselves report as important factors within the success in their cloud deployments. 1. Identify a compelling reason to step out of the relaxation zone.We’ve examine the significance of senior management buy-in to be successful... Read More »

Business units are creating silos by bypassing IT and using public cloud services. Here’s how CIOs can create order. Many of the CIOs and technology leaders who I speak with are embracing the cloud as a core component of their IT strategy. In the beginning, lots of these leaders were hesitant in regards to the implications of cloud with the aid of security and accountability issues. However, today many have come to terms with the inevitability of the cloud. More than anyone else, business leaders are forcing the rapid movement to the cloud because they perceive that traditional IT structures are simply not consistent with the short pace of commercial change. They’ve been using public cloud services for development and storage for years a good way to bypass IT and get new business initiatives off the floor. Mutually, organizations are using software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications as opposed to on-premises software. Systems similar to Salesforce.com and Workday have gotten commonplace in companies across industries. The result is that... Read More »

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff says hiring former Oracle executive Keith Block moved the corporate “to the subsequent level” in selling to special companies. 8 Ways An SMB Makes Most Of Salesforce.com (Click image for larger view and for slideshow.) Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff had three goals for his company going into 2013, and on a type of goals — closing more deals with large customers and dealing more closely with systems integrators — Benioff says success could be attributed to the hiring of Keith Block, the previous executive VP of Oracle’s North America sales and consulting organization. Benioff worked with Block when he, too, was at Oracle, and he had tried to recruit him for no less than 10 years. “But i could not get him until [Oracle President] Mark Hurd relieved him of his duties,” Benioff told a handful of journalists following Wednesday’s Salesforce1 event in Manhattan. “i feel the largest mistake Mark Hurd ever made was letting Keith Block leave Oracle, because he’s... Read More »