Five Best Practices for Successful Cloud Deployments and Pitfalls to Avoid

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT

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, availability and performance. The root of the problem is the fundamentally different way that cloud applications are delivered to end users and customers – the application delivery chain. Often involving a dozen or more third-party service providers spread around the world, this delivery chain is significantly more complex than in existing IT architectures, and can produce hidden and completely unforeseen interactions which result in the non-availability of applications and data. For many companies, these problems are impossible to isolate and fix using their existing data center-focused IT tools.

The Answer Is the Cloud – Now What’s the Question?

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:15:00 EDT

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.

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Five Best Practices for Successful Cloud Deployments and Pitfalls to Avoid

The Answer Is the Cloud – Now What’s the Question?