January, 2011

Converged infrastructures promise to simplify private clouds

Just when you thought you understood private clouds, along comes converged infrastructure. You wouldn't be wrong to wonder, are they the same thing?

A private...

Offshore outsourcing: China runs the sun, will it rule the cloud too?

Gartner came out with its annual list of the top 30 countries for offshore outsourcing. Despite my complicated relationship with lists (totally sucked in and deeply skeptical), I've found the Gartner lineup an interesting window on the global economy over the years.

Public cloud computing risks must be overcome as part of IT strategy

Public cloud computing carries with it great promise and great risk. Enterprises are hesitant to get on board, despite continuous advice last year from industry experts to embrace it rather...

The enduring value of starting cheap in offshore IT outsourcing

Being the lowest-cost service provider of offshore IT outsourcing pays off in ways that go beyond being -- well, the lowest-cost IT service provider. Rock-bottom prices attract new customers, who in turn bring capital that improves the infrastructure and, in time, the quality of the outsourcer's...

When your CIO career ends, what comes next?

Ron Maillette is on his third CIO job since his retirement in 2002 from The Coca-Cola Co., where he ran IT for Coke's food service and hospitality division, its largest standalone unit. Don't tell him the CIO career is a young person's game. "Each position was as a CIO where the company...

FUD or foresight? A debate continues over risk in the public cloud

The topic of risk in the public cloud elicits a strong emotional reaction from IT executives. In response to one of my recent stories about the WikiLeaks episode, I heard from readers on both...

Whether public, private or hybrid, it’s time to get a cloud strategy

Waiting in line at a recent data center conference, I struck up a conversation with an enterprise architect at a major appliance manufacturer who said he was there with a mission: to figure out how to articulate a cloud strategy to get funding for cloud services.

Formulating a cloud...

Is the CIO job a young person’s game — and what’s considered young?

When should a CIO on the job market start lying about his or her age? Or, to put a finer point on the question, hiding one's age? For one of the headhunters I consulted on a story this week about