Gartner Banks on Platform as a Service in 2011

According to the Gartner’s latest statement, 2011 will be the year of Platform as a Service (PaaS). Gartner believes that all leading enterprise software vendors will introduce or strongly expand their PaaS service offerings and cloud-enabled application infrastructure products.

"By the end of 2011, the battle for leadership in PaaS and the key PaaS segments will engulf the software industry," said Yefim Natis, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

To make it plain, PaaS is a common reference to the layer of cloud technology architecture that contains all application infrastructure services, which are also known as "middleware" in other contexts. PaaS is the middle layer of the software stack "in the cloud". It is the technology that intermediates between the underlying system infrastructure (operating systems, networks, virtualization, storage, etc.) and overlaying application software.

Gartner also predicts that by 2015, most enterprises will have part of their run-the-business software functionally executing in the cloud, using PaaS services or technologies directly or indirectly.

Source: InformationWeek

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How to Choose the Right Cloud Computing Vendor

It has been noted by multiple advisory and analyst groups, that there's an awful lot of interest in the cloud area right now. It’s not surprising that business see benefits in the cloud services and cloud providers are in great demand. But can all companies quite deliver on the services they're promising? How to choose the right partner in the growing number of cloud providers crowding the market nowadays? You definitely want to do more than type the names of a few providers in a search engine. Selecting the right cloud services provider is a critical step to ensure that they can deliver on the promises offered by cloud computing.

Patrick Grey, president of the Prevoyance Group, and Charles King, principal analyst of Pund-IT, help to sort out the problem and give their tips and expert advice on the best way to seek a cloud computing vendor. Below are a couple of guidelines they suggest:

• Use metrics. Set benchmarks to measure good performance. Be realistic, though: 100 percent isn't always achievable, but maybe 99.9 percent is.

• Network. The best resources for choosing prospective vendors are other IT decision-makers and other vendors. "You would be well-advised to touch base with vendors you work with closely," says King. "You basically have to get out and work the networks and see what you can find."

• Make a test case. A good way to test a prospective vendor is to give them a non-essential part of your business first. And only then you can eventually move more critical pieces over.

• Consider data storage and security. Take a look at how a cloud provider's data storage, data security and security infrastructures work. How do these firms protect your data? What kind of security measures are in place?

• Use a service-level agreement. For critical, sophisticated or big projects, include a service-level agreement detailing which metrics need to be met and what penalties will ensue if they're not met.

Source: NewsChannel 5

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Cloud On Top of Outsourcing Demand in 2011

According to a recent survey conducted by the global sourcing advisory firm EquaTerra, cloud computing will largely impact the IT services marketplace in 2011. Cloud based services will dominate the market and will attract more and more contracts from growing Small to Medium Business.

Alongside growth and importance of cloud computing, other key findings of the survey include the waning demand for outsourcing in its traditional, legacy form with a focus on generic, horizontal IT and the bulk of mega-deals. IT outsourcing will continue to evolve and diversify in a more fragmented manner. Established outsourcing models are going to be replaced by more flexible ones with the following characteristics:

• Smaller in scale and scope
• Larger efforts and ambitions, pursued more incrementally
• Greater focus on more strategic activities and specific vertical industry services
• Greater focus on functional areas such as legal, research and development, and real estate and facilities management
• Greater standardization of offerings and platforms with a nascent but growing focus on cloud computing delivery models
• More realistic and tighter business cases

The business and IT service market has matured over the past five years and the outsourcing buyers and service providers with inveterate mindsets and operating models will find it challenging and even threatening to survive amid the current market changes.

Source: EquaTerra

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