Richard Stone

In Lewis Carroll's classic story "Through the Looking Glass," Humpty Dumpty remarked: "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." It seems that the same principle applies to almost any industry expert and IT vendor when they talk about Cloud Computing. So, in an effort not to fall into the same trap as Humpty Dumpty, let's start with the obvious first question: What exactly is Cloud Computing? The most authoritative definition is from the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), the U.S. federal technology agency that works with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards. The latest version of the "NIST Definition of Cloud Computing" is available online, but it can be summarized as shown in Figure 1. What's driving Cloud Computing today? As the world gradually pulls itself out of recessio... (more)

Five Best Practices for Successful Cloud Deployments and Pitfalls to Avoid

Cloud computing represents a compelling new way of providing business agility, flexibility and time-to-value. But companies are learning the hard way that deploying cloud-based applications without considering the unique characteristics of the cloud is resulting in user frustration, low adoption rates, reduced revenue and ultimately failure to achieve the predicted ROI. The reality is that the cloud presents new challenges and imposes new rules for application architects, IT professionals and line-of-business managers in many different areas such as end-user experience, availabili... (more)