While the idea of saving money and streamlining IT operations on campus is very attractive, institutions need to be aware that cloud computing is still an emergent technology, with some very real concerns and weaknesses that need to be addressed.
In spite of vendor promises to get you up and running in mere hours, early adopters have learned that undertaking a cloud initiative is like tackling any other transformational IT project.
The terms cloud computing and virtualization are often--and mistakenly--used interchangeably. They are not the same.
In the second of a two-part series, CT looks at how IT professionals can make the business case for cloud computing while addressing ongoing concerns about taking their institutions into the cloud.
A new industry forecast is predicting that cloud computing will account for 33 percent of all data center traffic by 2015--triple the current percentage and about 12 times the total current volume.
Cloud initiatives appeal to many campus technology leaders because they off-load services that are seen as commodities and free IT staff to work on higher-priority projects. As with any other application or infrastructure outsourcing, though, CIOs have to weigh potential risks and trade-offs.
Microsoft has revealed that Live@edu, the company's free, hosted collaboration and communications service for education, now has more than 22 million users, a 100 percent increase in the past year.
Oracle has released its Solaris 11 operating system (OS), which the company previewed last month at the Oracle OpenWorld 2011 event in San Francisco. Solaris 11 provides built-in virtualization capabilities for OS, network, and storage resources and is designed to run enterprise applications in private, hybrid, or public clouds. Oracle described it as the first fully virtualized, cloud OS.
DAM: Academics can now curate and maintain image collections that will complement their institution’s digital assets.
Cornell University has launched an on-demand research computing service available to scientists inside and outside of the institution.