Cloud Storage Strategy: Insights, Observations, and Next Practices

Steve Lesem

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Top Stories by Steve Lesem

Forrester: Surprise! The Enterprise is Ready for Cloud Computing

Many Cloud Computing pundits have predicted that the early adopters will be largely comprised of small and mid-sized businesses. Some new data from Forrester suggests that won't be the case.   According to Forrester's Frank E. Gillett in Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong About Cloud IaaS, one out of four large companies plan to use an external provider soon, or have already employed one. Furthermore, we learn that 33 per cent of large companies plan to use a service provider for Infrastructure-as-a-Service, while just 24 per cent want to run their own "private" clouds. The question is why.  Why are large companies challenging convention and turning to external service providers? Mezeo chaiman Gray Hall answers this question on the Cloud Storage Strategy blog. ... (more)

Cloud Storage and Security Not a New Concept

Articles and blog posts associated with security and cloud computing are a daily occurrence, unless some well-publicized breach occurs in the cloud.  At that point the number of commentaries and discussions will increase exponentially, and then, over the following week, return to normal frequency.  I decided to focus on security as it relates to cloud storage, to see if something really new and different is occurring, and if overall changes need to be contemplated, as it comes to classic data security activities.  When I focused in this way, I quickly discovered that not much ha... (more)

An Introduction to Cloud Computing and Business Model Disruption

Gray Hall offers his insights about the critically important question we’re asking: how will cloud computing disrupt your business model? We start by defining a basic yet useful framework for understanding business models; this framework applies to businesses of all types and is adapted from Wikipedia . We’ll look at causes and types of disruption, keeping in mind that disruption can produce both positive and negative change. We’ll also tell you where the money is - i.e., the areas which offer the most promise in terms of business opportunity and profit. In his introductory post... (more)

Cloud Storage and The Innovator's Dilemma

Too many think of cloud storage as just another or the next type of storage.  As usual with this view, it is associated with a view that the "next" storage type is bigger, faster and cheaper.  Because each generation of storage is always bigger, faster and cheaper.  As such, proponents of this view generally believe that access via traditional approaches, like WebDAV, NFS, cifs and others, is a critical capability.  Some may even argue that Web Services APIs are not the critical differentiation of Cloud Storage.  We disagree. Cloud storage is a radical change.  It enables new app... (more)

Cloud Storage: A Business Model Toolkit for Service Providers

We have built a free Cloud Storage Toolkit for Service Providers to help them answer the question: "Should we enter the Cloud Storage marketspace?" The toolkit includes a tutorial and a spreadsheet - both of which are accessible immediately when you sign up for our Cloud Storage Strategy newsletter. [15-page tutorial] THE TUTORIAL is a 15 page document which shows you how to use the Cloud Storage: A Business Model for Service Providers spreadsheet. It explains each of the 15 variables which make up the model, step-by-step. [15-variable spreadsheet model] THE SPREADSHEET is a custo... (more)