Cloud Tech News

In some ways, everything about IT is about creating uniformity. Standard configurations. Synchronised patches. 1000 identical laptops shipped to all employees. We place a high premium on "everything being exactly the same", and for good reason.

As anyone with a vested interest in cloud computing will know, the perception of the data centre has evolved considerably, from isolated resource centres to more connected pools, helping maximise IT efficiency. Not surprisingly, with the potential available, the numbers are growing. 60% of server workloads are set to be virtualised by 2014, compared to only 12% in 2008, with total investment in data centre infrastructure growing 5% on average year on year.

Cloud, SaaS, big data, fast data, NoSQL, PaaS...while this economy cannot produce jobs, it can definitely produce jargon at the speed of light. What I wanted to know was what, then, does NoSQL give me from a business perspective?

The recent VMware Forum 2013 in London provided a platform for VMware EMEA chief technologist, Joe Baguley, to reveal how VMware is addressing the challenges of transforming IT to an as-a-service paradigm. This transformation is based on three key pillars.

Actian, the vendor formerly known as Ingres, has suddenly put itself on the map through rapid-fire acquisitions of Pervasive Software, ParAccel, and Versant Software. Actian's goal is to assemble a mini-stack that includes a data integration engine and different data platforms for different transactional and analytic use cases.

Few topics have lately drawn more hype and scrutiny than Big Data. Having originated with Internet firms, Big Data has captured enterprise attention with examples that show how organisations, from public sector to financial services firms, telcos, and media derived insights that improved customer retention, operational efficiency, and risk mitigation.

There is currently quite a buzz around the concept of advanced analytics, as organisations look to predict future outcomes more effectively, based on a detailed understanding of what has actually happened in the past rather than testing theoretical hypotheses based on statistical analysis. Put simply, the better the analysis, the better-informed decisions will be around anticipating – and responding effectively to - future demand.

Cloud computing is one of the biggest trends facing enterprise IT departments today, according to a quarter of respondents in the latest NaviSite survey. Slashed budgets was the top trend according to 31% of those surveyed, with data explosion (25%) rounding off the top three.