"It’s ironic that nowadays your average business computer user has a much more powerful computer at home than they do in the office," said David Tan, chief technology officer of CHIPS Computer Consulting, in an article for CTO Edge.

Employees "try to do many of the same things on their office computer they would do at home, and those machines are not really made for it, and support people don’t want to have to deal with that," he said.

Tan explained that the recession has placed a significant strain on IT budgets across the board, and that traditional in-house services especially have struggled to keep up and maintain relevance in a constantly advancing field.

"The problem with this is that it’s too restrictive to the users and relatively expensive to implement," Tan said.

The tech expert recommended emergent technologies as possible solutions to IT departments in a budget crunch, but who still want to remain at the cutting edge of the sector.

"Virtual desktop infrastructure has picked up where traditional server-based computing lets off and greatly improved the paradigm for desktop virtualisation.

"By allowing users to run actual desktops - albeit virtual images living on a centralised server - users have the flexibility to work the way they need to work, while IT can still properly manage and support the network."

Written by Jason Morton

According to Computing, a technology industry website, many businesses have seen the benefits of cloud computing, including the Sinclair Scott accountancy practice, located in the small Scottish village of Ayr.

One of the firm's partners, Andrew Sinclair, sang the praises of cloud technology to the website, explaining that it seemed to be a simple solution when others had seemed too complicated.

"Our older server was starting to play up and we kept delaying a replacement. Vendors were talking about things we did not understand such as virtualisation and mirrored disks, and it all seemed complicated and expensive," he said.

Sinclair cut through the tech jargon to come to the conclusion that cloud computing could be of tremendous benefit to his business.

"We thought cloud computing was the way to go, especially for guys such as me who do not really understand IT, but know what the organisation wants."

The Sinclair Scott practice then subscribed to services such as word processing, email and special accountancy software delivered through the cloud.

According to Sinclair, the benefits of the cloud were not limited to the company's finances either.

"The main reason is not really the cost saving on IT support, rather the management time taken up with dealing with these matters," he said.

Written by Jason Morton

While giving a presentation at the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards Ceremony, Chris Curran, chief technology officer of Diamond Management, conducted a quick survey of attendees via text messaging. He found that two of every five people in the crowd - which included many chief information officers and CTOs - were "totally unaware" of how other departments deployed the cloud.

Other responses included 38 per cent saying they were pushing IT to adopt cloud services for themselves, with 21 per cent looking to do so on their own.

Blogger Ann All of IT Business Edge describes this as a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which she explains could be detrimental to a company's operations.

"Users procuring cloud services on their own obviously can create unintended technological consequences, ones which could cost the company significant time and money down the road," All said.

Cloud computing is designed to allow users across businesses - and even across large geographical distances - to gain access to the same information or servers, so the approach should be more inclusive, she wrote.

"Monitoring what these folks do and why should yield insights that will help IT create more a more cohesive organisational approach to cloud computing," All said.

Written by Jason Morton
 

Entitled 'Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact,' the study found China, Brazil and India currently lead the pack in terms of users who have been afflicted by malicious campaigns against their personal information or finances. Following these countries was the United States, the highest ranked Western country.

The survey polled over 7,000 adults aged 18 years and up in over 14 countries to gather sufficient data for the report.

The researchers found that many cybercrimes occurred around sites offering illegal downloads of media, such as music and films.

"Cyber criminals are lurking in the places where people are downloading illegal content, and they are using those channels to distribute malware," explained Adam Palmer, lead cyber security advisor at Norton.

A quarter of respondents to the survey indicated they 'expected' to be victimised while online, though only half of those said they would change their browsing and internet use habits if preyed upon.

"Clearly there's a blurred line about what's ethical," said Lynn Hargrove, director of consumer solutions for Symantec Canada, a sponsor of the survey.

In addition, those who have been afflicted by cybercrime revealed that they only reported the incident in 44 per cent of cases. On a global average, cybercrimes take 28 days to resolve and cost about $334 (£217) each.

Written by Jason Morton

"In regards to business, for elements of sustainability and greening there can be massive savings, and it will bring down the scale of their overall carbon footprint," explained Paul Anderson, programme director for infrastructure outsourcing at Capgemini.

Outsourced IT solutions, such as cloud computing, have been presented as a way for companies to tighten their budgets without losing computing power. With a fixed cost of deployment followed by monthly, utility-style payments, companies can often avoid costly hardware expenditure. Additionally, software can also be accessed via the cloud, representing more savings.

However, while focus has largely centred on cost savings, these outsourced IT solutions cut back the costs and dependency on energy, which can trim the bills, but also takes a bit of pressure off the resources required to deliver electricity to servers and cooling systems.

Sustainability and green computing "will be high on the agenda because of everyone becoming more aware of the requirements," according to Anderson.

Some believe that IT can be a frontrunner in ushering in green standards across the board in business.

"IT has a fundamental role to play in enabling change and must step up to face this significant global challenge," said Alison O'Flynn of Fujitsu.


Written by Jason Morton

As more and more firms adopt the technology, uptake starts to snowball. Developers no longer feel like they're taking a chance by creating cloud-specific software and this, in turn, increases the number and variety of services available through the cloud, boosting uptake. And the cycle continues. Before you know it, businesses will be stepping over each other to virtualize their IT infrastructure and put all their data in an off-site storage facility.
Remote working, access to the latest technology and huge reductions in operating and maintenance costs are just the tip of the cloud computing iceberg. Business that adopt the technology are often won over by these well-known cloud computing advantages - and no one is denying them - but as the platform matures and the benefits solidify, it becomes clear that cloud computing has much more to offer.

One of the key benefits that the technology has is the displacement of major IT issues - such as security. In the past businesses would cram a server into a broom cupboard, invest in some in-house storage and launch a company website. All of a sudden they would realise that without the right expertise on site IT problems become extremely difficult to address. What's more, as the technology they invested in ages, they could find themselves being left behind by rivals.

Cloud computing solves the problem by taking everything out of the office and putting it in the hands of IT experts. As well as the latest server technology, constantly updated software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, the latest security patches and solid data storage policies, cloud computing service providers can also strictly monitor who has access to data - particularly useful for companies dealing with sensitive information.

David Bradshaw, the European head of SaaS market research with the International Data Corporation (IDC), summed it up when he said: "The public cloud allows organisations to displace a problem and shift it into the cloud."
He said after the initial push toward cloud integration, it would be down to a third-party IT specialist to run the system, leaving businesses to focus on their core objectives as opposed to dealing with niggling computer issues.

Security was always one of the key concerns of companies reluctant to externalise the entirety of their IT infrastructure - and it still is. But, as cloud computing technology develops and the nature of business internet use changes, security is becoming a cloud computing problem that can be easily dealt with. The addressing of security issues by third-party cloud computing operators shows two things. Firstly that cloud computing service providers are keen to assuage the fears of businesses - especially those with limited IT knowledge - but also that cloud computing looks like it is here to stay.

So with the permanence of cloud computing all but guaranteed it is a given that security will continue to improve. In fact Security-as-a-Service is starting to come into its own - particularly in internal/external communications situations. Businesses are starting to realise that email is often dealt with and routed outside of an organisation, so why can other data not be transmitted to the cloud in a similar fashion. As a result, cloud computing security is a rapidly developing area of IT that will increasingly take the load off businesses and put it on the shoulders of IT professionals.

Recent trends have seen more and more businesses looking into the cloud, adopting services which can benefit firms by lowering their dependence on in-house equipment and outsourcing maintenance to third-party vendors, where they can be billed as a utility, likened to electricity.

"Savvy CIOs now see the cloud as being an extension of their sourcing strategies," according to Chris Morris, director of research for Asia Pacific IT services at IDC.

2011 looks to be a landmark year for the private cloud, as many vendors and businesses branch out operations into it, and current providers beef up their offerings. Findings from the IDC APEJ Cloud Computing end-user survey 2010 also reinforced this opinion, reporting that respondents are looking to place more of their operations in private cloud environments, rather than the public cloud.

A third option also exists, as many firms may choose hybrid cloud offerings, where non-critical functions are carried out in the public cloud, and higher-security operations take place in the private cloud.

CIOs have just been investigating the best IT solution for them, according to Morris who said: "There are continued concerns over security, availability and performance issues."

The maturation of the technology has led to a "shifting cloud deployment model," he added.

Written by Jason Morton

Speaking to ZDNet Asia in an email interview, senior research manager for IDC Asia Pacific, Daphne Chung, said: "As attacks become more complex as well as more malicious, SMBs are also finding that they need to seek a broader, more holistic approach to security to ensure their information is safe and secure."

Chung noted that from 2008 to 2009, the number of SMBs (companies with employees totalling less than 500) using security software grew by about four per cent.

The expert also said that SMBs who have adopted security solutions have tended to favour all-inclusive solutions that are easy to deploy and to manage, as businesses may not have the in-house IT resources to maintain all their technological requirements.

This has, in turn, led to security packages being deployed in novel ways.

"With software as a service solutions coming up, SMBs are also looking at consuming security technology in that manner," Chung said.

A "multifaceted" approach to security must be taken, she added. "Awareness makes up one part of this, policy and ensuring compliance to policies is another."

Written by Jason Morton

"There is no universal right or wrong answer to the rent-or-own question," according to Douglas Menefee, CIO of Schumacher Group in Louisiana, USA. Menefee added that this allows a business to explore countless options when it comes to creating the perfect IT strategy.

As his medical company considers a relocation of its physical office, they have also been working towards solutions for information technology, including the possibility of managed colocation.

"The value proposition of colocation [is] centred on environmental conditions," he said. "Doing a colocation solution means that we are paying a premium for those services and eliminating one set of headaches."

Entrusting data storage of application deployment to third parties can lessen the pressure on in-house IT staff, as maintenance and upgrades can be administered by the vendor providing the service. Proponents argue that this presents an incentive in addition to savings on energy that would be used powering in-house data centres.

However, some applications function best in-house, according to businesses, though certain vendors also offer to assist with installing on-site servers and hardware.

"Keeping our core banking application in-house allowed the bank to achieve cost savings and the ability to deliver products and services that our customers demand and require," said Angelo Valletta, senior vice president and CIO of Sun National Bank in the US.

Written by Jason Morton

This has been welcomed by the industry, especially as other sectors have experienced a relative slowdown in hiring.

According to James Urquhart of CNET: "Within high tech itself, there is one standout opportunity for experienced, innovative people: cloud computing."

Recent figures from Gartner Research have indicated the cloud will soar to $68.3 billion (£44.3bn) in receipts this year, marking a 16.6 per cent improvement on 2009's numbers. In addition, the analysts have suggested cloud computing is well on its way to becoming a $150 billion (£97.4bn) industry by 2014.

All this aggressive expansion in the relatively new field has led to the creation of many jobs in this and related sectors, with vendors advertising scores of jobs for qualified candidates.

Urquhart said the skill sets of those being hired in the field have been continually diversifying as well, though reiterated that knowledge of the core aspects of the cloud is still essential.

"Knowledge of server, network and storage, and the application of converged infrastructures to virtualised environments - or at least the ability to understand what that means - seems to be a baseline for the large systems vendors these days."

With the increasing uses of cloud services and applications, the roles found around the fringes of the technology have grown as well, with more developers and engineers working on cloud-related projects.

Written by Jason Morton