Need to understand cloud computing?

As the race to the clouds grows we look at a series of articles on Cloud Computing and how it could be helping your business.

Along with the BT Viewpoint YouTube channel the Viewpoint blog brings you regular articles giving you great insight into the latest technology and business practices which could really make a difference to your organisation.

Now one thing that business and IT decision makers agree on is that cloud is a hot topic, so we at BT Viewpoint have been working hard to bring you the latest insight and views on the various aspects of Cloud computing for business.

In the article 'CIO: Losing control?' Viewpoint looks at the fact that CIOs have less control than they used to not just of the IT systems their organisations use but of the data they contain.

But there's no need to panic, there article reflects on the fact that there was never a golden age when you had complete control.

Even when you owned all your organisation's computers and controlled all its data, you had to trust all sorts of individuals and organisations including Hardware, software vendors and Communication service providers.

The article discusses how when looking at opportunities in the cloud you shouldn't let the illusion that you're in control today stop you from taking advantage of the great innovations cloud solutions are offering.

In the article 'It's finally clouding over' ... guest blogger John Gillan who is Programme Director of Cloud Services at BT reflects on predictions by industry analysts Forrester that 2011 would be a 'landmark' for infrastructure-as-a-service together with saying many users will build their own private clouds which he highlights is a bit of a contradiction.

John thinks that what is more realistic is a halfway house that means enterprises don't have to sweat over security and compliance to begin with, just concentrate on getting applications up and running.

Here they enjoy cost savings from a multi-tenanted approach

In 'A window to another world' guest blogger Rosie Simmons who is Head of Super Fast Access at BT discusses how the rapid growth in adoption of tablet computers such as Apples iPad is increasing the number of us who are using cloud services.

Rosie highlights that iPads rely on feeding off the cloud - be it applications, web content and services and iTunes.

This cloud-based approach looks set to have a major impact in education, as all manner of services and applications can be shared by a large community, saving time, money and resources.

And this isn't something that only exists in some cloudy prediction of the future, Rosie shares how Norfolk County Council is using BT's Virtual Data Centre to support a single sign-on system to track 100,000 students across a number of sites.

This cloud based solution has solved the problem where children and staff previously had to log on each and every time they wanted to use a different application.

As we've said cloud is such a hot topic, with many different opinions and predictions for how this sector will develop, we at BT Viewpoint will continue to bring you the latest insight to make sure you keep ahead of the game.

Visit the BT Viewpoint blog to find out more about cloud computing:
http://www.blog.bt.com/viewpoint/index.php/category/cloud-computing/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• cloud
• cloud computing
• bt
• bt viewpoint
• business
• it
• network
• technology
• cio
• communication
• vendors