25
Oct 18

InfoWorld – Serverless cloud computing: Don’t go overboard

The new cry from the big public cloud providers is ‘serverless computing for everything.’ Don’t be fooled

There are lots of big cloud shows coming up, and the core themes will be containers, devops integration, and more serverless computing services, such as databases, middleware, and dev tools.

Why the focus on serverless computing? It’s a helpful concept, where you don’t have to think about the number of resources you need to attach to a public cloud service, such as storage and compute. You just use the service, and the back-end server instances are managed for you: “magically” provisioned, used, and deprovisioned.

More of the InfoWorld article from David Linthicum


24
Oct 18

Continuity Central – Why disaster recovery should become a thing of the past

For businesses today, regardless of industry, the outage of a key IT system ranks among the most serious technology challenges they can face. In fact, the Business Continuity Institute’s 2018 Horizon Scan Report estimates that unplanned outages are the third biggest risk to businesses globally. Beyond the financial ramifications of downtime, the long-term reputational consequences are significant as customer confidence is dented. Rebuilding trust after a major IT failure can be a multi-year process.

In the 1970s when data center / centre managers first came into being, they began to understand how dependent on computers their organizations would soon become. With that in mind they instigated the notion of disaster recovery – an insurance should one or more applications, storage components, databases or network elements go offline.

More of the Continuity Central post from Patrick Smith


19
Oct 18

CloudTech – How multi-cloud business models will shape the future

Architects of the future build optimal businesses. In an automated, security conscious world, organisations must rethink their cloud strategies, embed security into application development, and embrace new work practices to stay relevant. Now is the time to plan your journey.

Shaping the future
Experts agree that, over the next five years, the multi-cloud world will be the playground for innovation, allowing organisations to launch new services and enhance advanced technologies.

A recent Foresight Factory report entitled, The Future of the Multi-Cloud (FOMC) sponsored by F5, reveals how the pace of digital transformation is already dramatically disrupting existing business models.

More of the Cloud Computing News article from Tristan Liverpool


17
Oct 18

InformationWeek – Software Delivery Depends on Infrastructure and Trust

Cloud infrastructure plays a major role in a company’s ability to execute a high performing software delivery cycle.

An advanced cloud architecture allows developers to spin instances up and down as needed and provides the bandwidth necessary to experiment and test an application or software update before pushing live.

According to a report by LogicMonitor, 58% of respondents to their survey said DevOps was somewhat/significantly driving public cloud engagement in their company, only ranking below digital transformation (63%) and IT agility (62%).

It makes sense that DevOps would be a large driver for cloud engagement. Many companies run software and applications hosted in the cloud, which serves as the main portal where they engage with their customers, whether they are internal or external.

More of the InformationWeek article from Emily Johnson


15
Oct 18

Continuity Central – Gartner Emerging Risks Report highlights the rise of talent shortage as a top concern

Gartner’s quarterly Emerging Risks Report has found that talent shortage has joined privacy regulation and cloud computing as the top three business risks that organizations are concerned about.

In a time of historically low unemployment where the supply of available workers is much lower than usual, organizations are struggling to find and retain the talent that they need to meet their strategic objectives.

At No. 3, behind accelerating privacy regulation and cloud computing, this is the first time talent shortage was named a top business risk in Gartner’s quarterly Emerging Risks Report. Cloud computing, which was ranked the No. 1 risk in 2Q18, remains a concern. Cybersecurity disclosure and the artificial intelligence (AI)/robotics skills gap round out the top five concerns among executives surveyed.

More of the Continuity Central article


08
Oct 18

InformationWeek – DevOps: From a Business and Executive Perspective

Some of the roadblocks to a successful DevOps initiative have nothing to do with technology or the IT group. Business unit leaders and executives have to get involved in the initiative as well.

Creating an environment that is capable of shifting and adapting to market demands isn’t always easy. Remember, the major goal here is to develop agility around both business and technology. DevOps is certainly a method to accomplish this task. I mentioned this in my “DevOps 101” article, but it’s worth repeating. The concept of DevOps isn’t just a single tool or platform. Rather, it truly is a shift in thinking in how you deliver services, applications, and even business capabilities into a digital market. In some ways, it’s the engine around digital transformations.

More of the InformationWeek post from Bill Kleyman


28
Sep 18

CIO.com – 8 CIO archetypes: What kind of IT leader are you?

From order taker to business leader, CIO responsibilities vary widely. Learn what role you currently play and how to break that mold in service of improved business value and career growth.

Global business disruption is quickening the evolutionary timeline of the CIO role. Market dynamicsare forcing IT leaders to extend beyond taking orders and delivering sustainable IT systems to massaging digital strategies and driving business outcomes.

More of the CIO.com slideshow from Clint Bouton


26
Sep 18

CIO.com – Agility and architecture

Agile practices are still maturing. To scale, they require an enterprise and business architecture framework in their organizations.

I seriously doubt that agile initiatives can have success in the long run if they are not supported by an enterprise and business architecture framework that can be reused and enhanced from one project to the next. Digital transformation is not about a one-time change project or about spontaneous business activities. Digitization is more about transforming many dimensions of an organization with a structured approach involving business and enterprise architecture. This article will demonstrate how architecture can ensure success of agile digital transformation initiatives.

Agile practices in organizations

Agile practices are increasingly used for the digitization of today’s organizations because business environment demands sound decision making and quick follow through to address global competition treats and rapid market disturbances. According to a 2018 survey entitled How Agile and DevOps Enable Digital Readiness and Transformation, about 80% of surveyed organizations have committed to adopting agile practices in their software development.

More of the CIO.com article from Daniel Lambert


25
Sep 18

TechTarget – What is multi-access edge computing, and how has it evolved?

Multi-access edge computing provides the processing capacity needed to support the increase of ‘things’ at the network edge. But for all its promise, MEC has challenges to face.

Multi-access edge computing is based on the principle that processing capacity at the edge of the network will provide significant application benefits in terms of responsiveness, reliability and security. Despite the increasing number of vendor options, multi-access edge computing is in its early stages, with many potential buyers in the investigation or pilot phases of deployment.

Multi-access edge computing (MEC) is a network architecture that supports compute and storage capacity at the network edge, rather than in a central data center or cloud location.

More of the TechTarget article from Lee Doyle


23
Jul 18

Cloud Computing News – The data centre of tomorrow: How the cloud impacts on data centre architectures

Enterprises that are not efficient in how they manage their infrastructure will be at a perpetual competitive disadvantage to those companies that have adopted cloud practices to drive their business.

As the enterprise world continues speeding towards complete digitization, technologies like cloud and multi-cloud are leading the charge. Yes, cloud offerings like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are changing the way enterprises consume IT resources. Having cloud-grade infrastructure at an enterprise’s fingertips opens up opportunities that simply did not exist before.

But are the effects of cloud limited to a collection of somewhat ephemeral infrastructure residing in someone else’s data centre? Or does cloud carry with it the power to change owned infrastructure as well?

More of the Cloud Computing News post from Mike Bushong