Zenny's Weekly Cloud Links #32 - API, Cloud Prenup, Hyper-V, Cloud SLA, Storage, CIO

Every Friday we like to highlight some of our favorite posts on Cloud Computing, service orientated infrastructure, DevOps, and anything else that grabbed our attention over the week. Here are some great articles from the week of October 24th that are worth taking a look at. Enjoy!

The Web of APIs = the Web of the Future by Drew Bartkiewicz

In the words of one Business of API presenter, "we are future-proofing our business with a data access model that allows us to diversify and grow in a digital future that is often hard to predict." Like few previous fads of the Internet's evolution, APIs are here to stay, with Gartner predicting this year that over 75% of the Fortune 1000 will have open API' by 2014.

Wooed by the Cloud? Before You Cheat, Get a Prenup by Loraine Lawson

...IT buyers want out — some even have SaaS “mistresses” on the side. “But in the end these customers stick around and complain like someone that has been married three years and one upgrade cycle too long,” he observed. “For these enterprises, a move to the cloud is a way — if not THE ONLY way — to ditch the legacy applications that feel like shackles.”

The Cloud Looks Frothy - Buy Infrastructure Instead by Dana Blakenhorn

Clouds are important because they have immense capacity (any service can use the whole set-up when needed), because they're far more efficient than other enterprise set-ups, and because over time they mimic the dependability and robustness of the Internet itself. A cloud isn't just a data center. It's a structure under which you can run many data centers, sharing programs and functions as needed, breaking through capacity barriers without having to buy new hardware.

IT’s Big Five trends – are we asking the right questions? by Christine Wolff

Dion Hinchcliffe’s article – How IT can evolve to meet the Big Five... discusses whether IT departments will take the “big leap” to address the deeply transformational nature of the way their internal customers consume and capitalise on trends such as mobile, social, cloud, consumerisation, and big data. That’s an issue most of us confront daily, but are we asking the right questions?

Microsoft claims Hyper-V will leapfrog VMware by Julie Bort

After years of playing catch-up to VMware the upcoming version of Hyper-V is wowing the Microsoft faithful with unique new features -- and gaining the attention of VMware users, too, one consultant says. After years of playing catch-up to VMware the upcoming version of Hyper-V is wowing the Microsoft faithful with unique new features -- and gaining the attention of VMware users, too, one consultant says.

Is Now the Right Time for Data Virtualization? by Robert Eve

Wayne Eckerson, Director of Research at TechTarget and former head of research for TDWI... now believes "that data virtualization is the key to creating an agile, cost-effective data management infrastructure.  In fact, data architects should first design and deploy a data virtualization layer prior to building any data management or delivery artifacts."

States Tax Cloud Computing Services by David Rosenbaum

As the cloud-computing market grows, revenue-starved states are looking to grab a piece of the action by expanding the definition of nexus.

UBM Channel CEO: Changing Business Models Is Key To Success In Cloud Computing Services Era by Steven Burke

[Research] shows the cloud computing services adoption is accelerating with approximately $2 billion in cloud computing services expected to be sold in 2012. What's more, Faletra said, those customers adopting cloud computing services are growing at a faster rate than those sticking with the old school on premise IT solutions.

How to Determine How Much Your Cloud Costs by Rick Blaisdell

Because I am a long term supporter of cloud computing, and I try to spread the idea that moving to the cloud will help any company lower costs and better leverage resources, I am often asked, how much the cloud actually costs. People fear that the initial investment and their ongoing expenses will be difficult to be amortized in time and are wondering overall if the cloud investment is worth it.

Facebook to build server farm on edge of Arctic Circle by Richard Orange

Facebook is to build a multi-million 'mini town' on the edge of the Arctic circle to house all its computer servers, which would us as much electricity as a town of 50,000 people.

The Cloud SLA as a Living Document by Rich Miller

Many data center and hosting providers offer “100 percent uptime.” Since it’s difficult to guarantee uptime, what they’re usually offering is a service level agreement (SLA) that stipulates penalties in the event of an outage. Are SLAs as effective as they should be? And are they any different in the cloud than in the data center?

And a few honorable mentions:

• Zenoss Open Source IT Management: Disrupting IBM, HP, CA & BMC? by Nicholas Mukhar
• Has eBay Caught the Apple Bug? by Haydn Shaughnessy
• An Era of Great Enterprise Storage Change by Mike Vizard
• Federal CIO outlines reforms to cut spending, adapt innovation By Nicole Blake Johnson