data center

With Cisco-EMC pairing, what’s up with VMware?

The HP vs. Cisco/EMC/VMware hype fight this week re-emphasized that Cisco and EMC (and its subsidiary VMware) are joined at the hip in their aggressive grab for data center share. 

Recurring rumors have Cisco giving up all pretense at some point (John Chambers: ” Ah heck, let’s just get this over with!”) and buying EMC outright. Continued »

McKinsey report brings cloud concept down to earth

The goodly researchers at McKinsey & Co. have released an analysis of the business benefits of cloud computing and have found the concept wanting for larger companies. Its findings, in a report called “Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing,” were presented at the Uptime Institute’s Lean, Clean & Green IT Symposium held in New York.

McKinsey had several recommendations for CIOs and IT executives who are puzzling about what to do with cloud computing. More than anything else, the report suggests, that instead of being distracted by building out internal clouds, IT leaders should focus on virtualizing server storage, network operations and other components of their existing IT infrastructure.

There are four big hurdles that will make it tough for enterprises to move to cloud computing, according to McKinsey.

1. Cloud computing as currently expressed is not as cost-effective as existing data center strategies.
2. Security and reliability concerns need to be addressed and applications will have to be re-architected to take advantage of the cloud model
3. Quality of service expectations need to be managed.
4. Organizations will need to adapt to a different concept of project priorities.

You can download the presentation about the report at this link and ponder some of the data for yourself, but it will definitely make a great briefing document if you’re trying to figure out how to position cloud services within your business.