Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is growing rapidly, and by 2016 will represent the bulk of new IT spending, according to leading research firms. The availability of hybrid cloud models is giving IT decision makers many more options to drive down IT costs, increase agility, deliver elastic scalability and enable service-centric IT. These new models also present new challenges for the IT organization. For example: How does an organization deliver on the speed required for new cloud models? How does the IT team ensure data protection when data crosses between different cloud environments? How do you enable service-centric models and charge appropriately for usage? The list of questions can seem as endless as the cloud itself. We will answer many of them in this section.

The Role of Flash Storage in the Private Cloud

The performance requirements of cloud computing environments are stretching the physical limits of traditional rotating hard disk drives (HDDs). Because rotating HDDs rely upon mechanical operations to perform their tasks, they are running up against limitations in handling the random input/output operations-per-second (IOPS) demanded by highly virtualized production environments, of which cloud computing is a leading example. Continue Reading

Four Steps to Ensuring Data Protection in the Hybrid Cloud

Data protection is one of the biggest concerns for IT and business leaders in moving to a hybrid cloud model. In a hybrid cloud, information is typically under control of the enterprise and a public cloud supplier at various points in its lifecycle. That means the business must put in the proper protections and backup for data when it is in motion, in process and at rest. It must also ensure that public cloud suppliers have the proper protections in place as well. Continue Reading