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CIO Guide to Cloud Computing

April 8, 2010
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As with any new IT buzzword, IT leaders must figure out what is really new and what is an old concept with a new name. Many argue that cloud computing is a truly new concept while others explain it as clever packaging of outsourcing, web accessible tools and a few pricing models. What is clear is that it has taken us by storm and promises to simplify large chunks of IT budgets across infrastructure and ...

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Shared Services
Diamond’s 2010 Business Design Survey

March 23, 2010

This is the first of a 3-part series on shared services co-authored with Paul Blase Ayn Rand Would Have Shared More Services, Why Doesn’t Your Company? We all learned that it’s good to share – so why don’t companies share more, when there is more value to be had?  Imagine if the architects of the last plane you flew used 20 different blueprints for each section of the plane – each not integrating with the ...

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Why Cloud Computing Has Legs

February 2, 2010

For those who have been around IT for a while, the cloud computing wave has many of the same characteristics of any other fad: huge vendor investment, scads of new start-ups, a lot of media coverage and a few high-profile cases that you hear about over and over.  After talking this through with Diamond’s CEO Adam Gutstein and our colleague John Sviokla, I think there is one thing that makes the cloud phenomenon different.  It ...

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Public Cloud Adoption – Where Are You?

October 7, 2009

by Chris Curran, Nalneesh Gaur and Rob Warren In distilling perspectives from our clients for two upcoming events on cloud computing (Diamond Exchange, InfoWorld), we have developed an informal categorization that captures where companies are in adopting public cloud computing offerings.  “Not Interested/Not Applicable” could have been an option for our list but we don’t know anyone not at least looking into applying the cloud. Our clients fall into one of six categories in their ...

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5 Questions to Explore True Cloud Costs

September 24, 2009

A compelling cost proposition is just the ante for providers of cloud computing services.  When considering costs for cloud services, it’s tempting to look only at the cost per drink.  However, as cloud offerings become more sophisticated and more robust enterprise and industry applications become available, the cost of the hosted service will become much less important and replaced by discussions we in the enterprise IT management realm are already very familiar with concerning people, ...

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Is the Cloud a Key to Sustainability?

May 20, 2009

The MIT Industrial Liaison Program holds an annual conference for its sponsors focused on technology and telecommunications.  This year’s event had excellent breadth, featuring Esther Dyson, the CTO of Blue State Digital (developers of Obama’s online social media platform), the director of MIT’s game development lab in Singapore and several others.  The one presentation that really got me thinking was by the IT Energy Coordinator for MIT’s own infrastructure, Laxmi Rao. Her presentation centered on ...

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Is the Open Source Conversation Dead?

May 15, 2009

One of my partners was asked by the Chief Information Officer of a major financial services organization for some help thinking through his open source strategy.  Honestly, the open source conversation has not come up much lately. Is open source in the enterprise a dead issue? Have companies already tapped into the open source apps and tools and exhausted the options?  Or, maybe consideration of open source software is fully integrated into companies’ software selection ...

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The OpenCloud is Hazy

March 31, 2009

The Open Cloud Manifesto effort is admirable.  It seems like a lofty goal but one centered on making this cloud thing better for all (ok, maybe not the vendors).  It also shows most of the major old school players in support – although Dell is not on the list.  As far as the newer players – Google, Amazon, Yahoo – cue the crickets.  However, before they get some serious traction, the Manifesto authors (who are they, ...

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