Virtualization and Cloud Advisor Blog

Expert analysis and advice on server virtualization technologies, deployments and management.

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Our blogger: Bernard Golden is CEO of consulting firm HyperStratus, which specializes in virtualization, cloud computing and related issues. He is also the author of "Virtualization for Dummies," the best-selling book on virtualization to date.

SaaS, APTs and Asymmetric Risk Take Spotlight at Security Threats 2012

What's your stance on SaaS? Is your perimeter as secure as you think? How can the insurance calculus on asymmetric risk illuminate your company's security exposure? CIO.com's Bernard Golden recaps the provocative discussions entertained at the Security Threat 2012 conference.

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Cloud Computing Both More Agile and Less Expensive

Are cloud services attractive because they are less expensive than traditional offerings or are IT professionals drawn by greater agility? Bernard Golden writes that it's not an either-or debate. Much like those famous 'tastes great ... less filling" beer commercials, the beauty of cloud computing lies in the beholder.

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Cloud Computing Report Card: Grading Our Predictions

In the spirit of openness and with a willingness to have his cloud prognostication grades displayed in public, CIO.com's Bernard Golden scores--and comments on--his predictions for 2011.

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Thriving in a World Where Computers Are Smarter Than We Are

From Apple's voice-activated assistant to Microsoft's gesture-based input device to IBM's computer that beat Jeopardy champs, it's clear that the capabilities of technology are moving beyond our human abilities. How can you flourish in a world where machines are smarter than humans?

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Beware Cloud Computing Advice from IT Research Firms

It's nearly 2012, and if IT research firms are telling you to consider moving low-risk applications to the cloud, it means two things: 1) You're hopelessly behind the times. 2) You need advice that's much more cutting-edge.

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The Great Cloud Computing Pricing Debate

Public cloud vs. private cloud: which model is cheaper for enterprises? In an environment where the future pricing of public cloud providers is uncertain and the reliability of internal private cloud deployments is far from guaranteed, CIOs need guidance. CIO.com blogger Bernard Golden offers four tips for determining which deployment is right for your organization.

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Cloud Computing and the Truth About SLAs

SLAs don't provide much protection against cloud-related outages, writes CIO.com blogger Bernard Golden. They merely credit customers against the cost of a service. To prevent outages, IT departments would better spend their time planning application architectures rather than duking it out with their cloud computing providers over SLAs.

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The IT Jobs Cloud Computing Will Create

Conventional wisdom maintains that cloud computing will eliminate scores of IT jobs. CIO.com's Bernard Golden explains why that argument is flawed and describes the many IT jobs that will flourish in the age of cloud computing.

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Virtual Data Centers on the Way? Poll Results

Most readers we asked are using some form of public or private cloud, and many are moving ahead with data center virtualization.

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The Threat Cloud Computing Providers Pose to Corporate IT

The biggest threat cloud computing providers present to IT organizations is that they raise the bar for IT management. If a cloud provider can get a server up in eight seconds when it takes the IT organization two weeks, IT will be seen as hopelessly ineffective--and ripe for a complete teardown.

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In this paper, Forrester Consulting examines the total economic impact and potential return on investment (ROI) realized by three Enterprise organizations as they virtualized mission-critical Oracle databases on the VMware vSphere platform. The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of VMware vSphere on their organizations.
Even though virtualization has brought positive change to enterprise IT over the last decade, some skepticism remains about how valuable virtualization can be in the way companies deliver and run business applications. Uncover the truth about how you can run your business critical applications with confi dence without sacrifi cing
availability or service quality-and at lower costs.
This IDG whitepaper highlights key findings based on the Quickpoll Survey conducted with more than 300 Enterprise and Commercial IT decision makers worldwide about the state of their virtualization of business critical applications. This paper answers such questions as: What drivers are pushing companies to extend virtualization beyond servers? and What value are they realizing? Central to the paper are key results that expose risks of the past (fears of limited ISV support, performance impact) no longer are a factor for companies moving to 80+% virtualized.
The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University deployed VMware Infrastructure which decreases costs, streamlines server deployment, and reduces energy consumption.
New study quantifies how VMware improved TCO and ROI for three companies' IT landscapes.
This IDC white paper explains how much of the Enterprise IT community is at a crossroads in extending their journey to the private cloud: Companies must virtualize their business critical applications in order to reap the benefits of cloud computing. The paper also includes two case studies and a sidebar highlighting the experiences of three enterprises with virtualizing their business-critical applications, which include Oracle and Microsoft SQL databases, SAP and enterprise Java, and a Microsoft Exchange email system.
Virtualizing business-critical applications is an essential step in your journey to the cloud. Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint, and Oracle applications, are often the backbone of business IT. The benefits of virtualizing these applications extend far beyond mere consolidation. Understanding how VMware improves quality of service and agility while reducing costs will help you make the case for taking virtualization to the next level in your company.
Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere® 5, VMware is helping customers accelerate the deployment of business-critical applications, including Exchange, SQL, SAP and Oracle.
Want to say goodbye to missed SLAs? VMware can help you virtualize mission-critical applications such as Oracle, MS Exchange and SharePoint to achieve dramatic improvements in uptime, performance and responsiveness. In this webcast, we'll discuss the key benefits of virtualizing your agency's most critical applications and Oracle databases as a necessary first step in fulfilling OMB's mandate to move IT services to the cloud. With VMware, you'll be on the way to quick, effective and full compliance.
Federal IT managers are on the forefront of realizing the benefits that a secure, easy-to-manage virtual desktop environment can provide. The key is how to deliver the end-user experience that is comparable to a physical desktop. This webcast will show how the recently released VMware View 5 environment is being used to deploy virtual desktops to provide mission-critical solutions around Disaster Recover/COOP, telework and secure mobile applications to federal organizations. View this webcast and learn how new features and benefits of the VMware View 5 environment meet the needs of Federal customers
This video webcast is designed to help those with little to no virtualization experience understand why virtualization and VMware are so important to driving down both capital and operational costs. The session will start with the introduction of the key concepts and technologies of virtualization, introduce the vSphere Hypervisor, and build up to an overview of VMware vSphere® 5, the world's most robust and complete virtualization platform. This session will also discuss new solutions such as the vSphere Storage Appliance and VMware GO that are making it easier than ever before to get started with virtualization.
The benefits of server virtualization extend far beyond infrastructure savings and server consolidation. An emerging technology trend is for IT managers worldwide to deploy virtualization to keep applications online and protect their businesses from unforeseen events.
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