SensorLogic

What is your Cloud strategy?

sensorlogicblog — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:03:18 +0000

9XPCWM6XKSPP – When I was working as a management consultant in 1998, almost all of my client CEOs wanted help formulating their ‘Internet strategy’. The Internet certainly impacted every one of those companies, but it didn’t make them all Internet companies. Some tried very hard to force a fit and a number of them simply put .com at the end of their name or an “i-” or an “e-” at the beginning of their names. I witnessed dozens of heated debates about the impact that such semantic gymnastics would have on valuations.

In hindsight we realize that the Internet was transformative for those who helped build it and for those who successfully leverage it for information and communications. Today as the third chapter in the Internet’s history is being written, it is about the Internet becoming a platform for the creation and delivery of applications as services, or Cloud Computing. And just as they did 10 years ago, technology executives, investors and even IT professionals are asking the question du jour, “What’s your Cloud strategy?”

As someone who actually got a degree in Philosophy, my head has been in the clouds for almost 30 years. Now I’m finally making a living at it and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s going on all around us.

I won’t be bashful about sharing my opines and enthusiasm about this IT revolution but I actually want to offer two notes of caution to those scratching their heads as they look to the Cloud. First, many traditional applications work well delivered as a service through the Internet, but not all. Carefully evaluate the pros and cons before making the leap.

Second, not all SaaS offerings are created equal. Just because an application is delivered as a service over the Web doesn’t mean that has the features, reliability, availability, scale, security and performance you expect. Cloud computing delivers on its promise only if you get all that at a fraction of the cost that you would otherwise pay if you deployed traditional software. Essentially, beware of the wolves in SaaS clothing.

Michael Campbell, CEO

What do you mean by…Cloud Computing, Paas, Saas?

sensorlogicblog — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:05:08 +0000

One of my “take-aways” from “CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009” earlier this month is the reminder of my own previous experience, that terms like “Cloud Computing,” “Platform as a Service (PaaS)” and “Software as a Service (SaaS)” often mean many (different) things to many people. Business managers responsible for asset management and utilization come at this from an entirely different perspective than technologists, and questions beginning with “What do you mean by….” Come up early and frequently in any discussion of asset tracking and monitoring solutions. There is a plethora of resources available on the internet to help bound or clarify these questions. Here are a (very) few which represent a wide variety of perspectives and contain a lot of interesting and useful information:

Wikipedia: Not the resource of interest for technologists, this is a quick and succinct source of info for those unfamiliar with the technology and terminology of Cloud Computing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cloud_computing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_as_a_Service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_Service

Salesforce.com: A pioneer in Cloud Computing platforms, most notably for CRM and related business services applications, Salesforce.com is a great source of easy reading about the relevance and value of Cloud Computing, PaaS and SaaS for business applications. This link includes a terrific, short video that is worth watching.

http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing

Virtually all technology industry analysts cover Cloud Computing in their reports, webinars and blogs – usually focused on the needs of enterprise class and midsized businesses. This link takes you to a downloadable PowerPoint slide deck used by Forrester in a webinar on Cloud Computing that they held on February 3 of this year. The presentation is focused on enterprise businesses but includes information of all sizes of businesses.

http://www.forrester.com/imagesV2/uplmisc/CloudComputingWebinarSlideDeck.pdf

Media companies also provide a variety of information sources about Cloud Computing throughout the internet. I have included links to just a couple of these.
GigaOm Network is a business media company – have multiple blogs. Site launched in 2006 by veteran technology journalist Om Malik. Their cloud blog covers all types of current new and discussions in the broad area of cloud computing.

http://gigaom.com/topic/the-cloud

Blogger Phil Wainwright’s “Software as Services” blog, ZDNet, covers cloud computing, including SaaS and PaaS. Phil has authored analyst reports on current trends in software-as-services.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/SaaS

Vickie Malis, SensorLogic Marketing

CTIA and the “Killer App Playground”

sensorlogicblog — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:09:41 +0000

I have just returned from CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009 where we announced and exhibited Cirrus™ 2.0 Platform as a Service (PaaS) for asset tracking and monitoring. Eager to hear what was being said about Cloud Computing at the event, I found those conversations in two places, the educational program and in our booth.

The “Hosting Solutions in the Cloud” panel discussion of the educational program spoke to the carrier centric audience about benefits and drawbacks of using a Cloud Computing model for network management and data processing. Stephen Zitnick of Interop Technologies addressed the question of “Why a hosted environment (for wireless communications)?” and “Why now?” Stephens aptly emphasized the value of Cloud Computing in introducing new services and new technologies quickly, allowing ROI models to “work quicker.” He also emphasized the ease of transition between legacy and next generation technologies afforded by use of a Cloud Computing hosted model.

Ken Lee of Oracle described Cloud Computing as the “next generation service delivery platform.” Lee addressed the question of “What is the next killer app?” by stating “It’s not the killer app – it’s about having the next killer playground that will enable others to develop killer applications.” This is the conversation that interested the folks visiting our booth!

Folks that we talked to were interested in getting asset tracking and monitoring, and other LBS applications, to market quickly, simply and with minimal up-front costs. What seemed to grab their attention was how our Cirrus Platform as a Service (PaaS) used Cloud Computing technology to create the “killer playground” for asset tracking and monitoring application development, deployment and management. So what does a “killer playground” for these applications look like?

Our conversations with Solution Providers and in-house developers of enterprise-class asset tracking and monitoring applications tell us that this “killer playground” is a robust, multitenant platform/environment that enables them to create applications quickly and efficiently, without re-creating the proverbial wheel. They don’t want to purchase or maintain additional hardware or software. Their “killer playground” would help them to quickly develop, customize, deploy and integrate. It is device, network and application agnostic – providing security, high reliability and availability. As their application evolves, this platform must enable multiple application views and scenarios; incorporate multiple types of devices, wireless carriers, and technologies (in multiple countries); and multiple communications and security protocols. A “killer playground” is big thinking!

Visitors to our booth were extremely positive about our new Cirrus platform, and the apparent ability to allow them to rapidly build, deploy and manage hosted asset tracking and monitoring applications. Our booth traffic was brisk and the conversations lively. We will be following up with many of these folks now that the show is over.

Vickie Malis, SensorLogic Marketing