Reluctant SMB Market Left Behind?

A certain famous Beatle is letting go. According to CNET, Paul McCartney and MPL Communications, his own media company, has partnered with HP to archive his personal media library hosted by HP. McCartney’s library is supported by HP’s Converged Infrastructure solution, a system of storage, servers and networking, resting on a private cloud in HP’s datacenters. Though MPL Communications and McCartney may be a ringing celebrity endorsement for HP, other SMBs are not quick to jump on board with the public cloud. In a recent survey, the research firm In-Stat reported that 70% of the SMBs who are using cloud storage are coupling it with an on-site storage unit. Hence, they are not truly leveraging the cloud.

The innovator/laggards dichotomy is applicable here. Since cloud is still a relatively new concept, most firms are wary of the “bugs” – performance, security, control, etc. Thus, they want to wait until the technology is more mature. Reluctant SMBs are removing themselves from the innovators and early adopter category and placing themselves squarely in the position of being late majority or laggards.

One way to mitigate these worries (and to not get left behind) is to engage in a private cloud or a hybrid – a combination of a public and private cloud – to meet SMBs’ infrastructure needs. Nonetheless, the costs of a private cloud deployment can be outside an SMB’s budget. While public cloud has security and performance implications, private and hybrid clouds are equipped with financial barriers.

When will SMBs be ready to let go and migrate to a public cloud? Despite the reports, adoption may be sooner than expected. Cloud security providers are working around the clock to develop best in class solutions for prospects. Additionally, Intel’s unveiling of AppUp, a hybrid cloud solution aimed at SMBs, is an example of how major players are actively engaged in pushing SMBs to the cloud.

It’s just a matter of time before most firms will be ready to let go – like Paul did, of over one million personal photos, videos and music clips.

This article originated from http://wiredre.com which I recommend to any IT professional interested in the latest industry trends.

Chris Borowski

Leadership Lessons

I found this Forbes article appealing in analogy and usage of truisms. It was worth the time to be sure.

Computech 24/7 Helping the SMB Conquer the Cloud

It has been the dream at Computech to provide consistent and reliable data storage and application delivery to small/medium sized businesses in the Coachella Valley. After well over a year of studies and obtaining necessary demographic metrics, it has been determined the Eastern Riverside County as a whole has a substantial deficiency with regard to data centers VS the number of small to medium sized businesses. A ratio of 1283:1 exists and this number continues to become more disparate as new businesses continue to amass in Riverside County.

Over the last few years, virtualization has been successful at helping companies reduce the number of physical servers leading to savings in space and power consumption. However, there is one area where consolidation has been elusive: network monitoring, analysis and security infrastructure. In modern data centers, ensuring reliable and secure operation is a must, which in turn requires an array of network appliances dedicated to monitoring network performance and usage as well as providing security. This infrastructure is no longer optional, but a prerequisite, especially as data traffic increases and more services are consolidated into larger private clouds. This will be part of the primary mission at Computech.|

New technology developments now make it possible to consolidate network appliances using some of the same principles and technologies that were used to consolidate application servers, including intelligent adapters and intelligent data distribution mechanisms. The solution enables Computech to further reduce their data center footprint, saving not only on capital expenses by eliminating appliance hardware but ongoing operational expenses associated with managing the devices.

“Improving a data center starts with a proper understanding of the business model and the business architecture that is being used and not by a simple roll out of the newest technology.” To meet the business and technology needs of a data center an architecture development method is wanted. To take an architecture approach in constructing a data center you first have to start with a proper comprehension of the business model that is being used …then you can formulate the business architecture and finally you can start with designing the IT architecture and defining a technical design and finding appropriate products.