Author: Amy Larsen DeCarlo

As Principal Analyst for Security and Data Center Services at Current Analysis, Amy assesses the managed IT services sector, with an emphasis on security and data center solutions delivered through the cloud including on demand application and managed storage offerings.

How Open Is OpenStack?

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • As the OpenStack Summit kicks off this week, the latest release, dubbed ‘Grizzly,’ is attracting notice for its impressive new feature list, which includes new support for VMware and Microsoft hypervisors as well as support for software-defined networking (SDN) implementations from Big Switch, Brocade and others.
  • However, if history teaches us anything, it is that individual vendor and provider implementations of the open source cloud platform may be sufficiently different from one another to eliminate the non-proprietary advantage that OpenStack claims.

In its relatively brief history, OpenStack has made remarkable gains.  Now in its seventh release, the open source cloud solution launched by Rackspace and NASA in 2010 boasts a veritable industry who’s who list of hundreds of developer contributors, including IT heavyweights such as Cisco, Dell, and Red Hat which have helped extend the cloud operating system’s feature set and capabilities to include support for VMware ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors, compatibility with SDN implementations from a number of vendors, and more integrated security functionality.  The new features, along with a series of recent announcements of support for the open source infrastructure solution from providers such as IBM (and more organizations including Bloomberg and PayPal running OpenStack in production), highlight just how hot the cloud operating system is right now.  Continue reading “How Open Is OpenStack?” →

VMware’s Hybrid Cloud Challenge

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • VMware revealed what many suspected at a meeting of institutional investors: the company will enter the cloud fray with its own vCloud Hybrid Cloud Service later in 2013.
  • The offer promises what others have not quite been able to deliver yet: a seamless path between private on-premises clouds and hosted public offers.  However, big questions remain about what VMware will deliver – and how.

Depending upon your point of view, VMware’s official announcement of its intent to launch its own hybrid cloud offer could be either a game-changer for the cloud or a muddled effort from VMware to stay relevant in what continues to be a fast-changing segment.  VMware’s decision to introduce its own cloud service represents an unwelcome distraction from the company’s recent focus on a return to the fundamentals.  What is clear from the (limited) details VMware provided in the announcement and the immediate, almost always passionate reaction to the company’s plan to provide a hybrid offer is that no matter how many competing hypervisors and cloud platforms emerge, the vendor remains a significant force in virtualization and the cloud.  Continue reading “VMware’s Hybrid Cloud Challenge” →

Healthcare Inches Into the Cloud

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • Recent research on cloud use conducted by IT provider CDW found that just 35% of the healthcare IT professionals surveyed are either implementing or supporting cloud deployments today.
  • Worries about security are keeping some health organizations on the sidelines; however, organizations in the industry are becoming increasingly receptive to the model, based at least in part on experience with on-demand storage and other services for personal use.

As adroit as the healthcare sector is when it comes to applying advanced medical technologies to improve diagnostics, treatments, and ultimately patient outcomes, the industry has a more awkward relationship with information technology in general and collaboration solutions in particular.  Though healthcare providers have often invested heavily in communications systems to streamline the information sharing process, many of these often proprietary implementations have fallen far short of expectations.  We can chalk some of the lackluster results to privacy and compliance issues that mandate organizations maintain tight control over information; however, there are also process and even cultural obstructions that are getting in the way of progress. Continue reading “Healthcare Inches Into the Cloud” →

RSA 2013: Innovating for Better Risk Management

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • Even with IT budgets extremely tight, security remains a funding priority for the enterprise in the face of a virulent threat environment, as was clear from the crowds at this year’s RSA Security Conference.
  • Security challenges associated with BYOD, virtualization, application layer attacks and the skills gap are driving organizations to focus on identifying vulnerabilities and prioritizing assets for better risk management.

Where there is a will, there seems to always be a way when it comes to IT security breaches.  At times, it seems as if the IT security industry and hackers are running on parallel tracks when it comes to innovating to prevent and launch attacks, with tenacious hackers too often getting the upper hand.  Yet, as the high attendance figures (approximately 24,000) at this year’s RSA Security Conference in San Francisco show, the enterprise is hardly ready to give up the fight.  Instead, vendors and managed security service providers (MSSPs) alike are continuing to come up with more advanced mechanisms to find and fix vulnerabilities and better mitigate risk to prevent exploits. Continue reading “RSA 2013: Innovating for Better Risk Management” →

The Bamital Botnet Bust Takes an Interesting Turn

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • Microsoft and Symantec disclosed that they have successfully (they believe) shut down the Bamital botnet, which was netting at least $1 million a year for the perpetrators.
  • The companies went beyond the usual legal and technical responses, employing the botnet’s own mechanisms to inform targeted users that their systems had been infected to carry out so-called ‘click fraud.’

Where there is a will, there always seems to be a way when it comes to hackers using new techniques and variations on old methods to breach systems for their own gain.  This is what makes the IT security discipline as relentlessly frustrating as it is endlessly challenging.  No matter how innovative IT security technologies become and practices evolve, determined cybercriminals seem to be finding new ways to penetrate even the best enterprise defenses.  Continue reading “The Bamital Botnet Bust Takes an Interesting Turn” →

Disruption (and Progress) in the Cloud, Continued

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
  • Amy Larsen DeCarlo
    Amy Larsen DeCarlo

    One of the bigger benefits promised by the cloud is cost-effective access to the latest and greatest technology, often including compute-intensive services that were out of reach for all but the largest enterprises.

  • Providers are now delivering some advanced services through the cloud including analytics and ERP applications.  The migration to the cloud, and away from a conventional consumption model, is having a profound impact on the hardware suppliers and the competitive playing field.  How will this shake up effect service delivery and customer choice?

In the traditional client/server computing model that dominated the market for so many years, organizations relied on a Cap-Ex-centered approach to IT consumption where their individual technology pursuits were tied directly to often tight hardware budgets and procurement cycles.  New application upgrades were linked to long term licensing agreements and sometimes lengthy hardware depreciation time tables. This could push some often ambitious processing-intensive projects well into the future or even outside the realm of possibility. Continue reading “Disruption (and Progress) in the Cloud, Continued” →

In the Line of Fire: The Press Gets Hacked

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • Press organizations, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, strongly suspect that Chinese hackers infiltrated their networks looking for information on news sources and research.
  • These attacks – and private sector incidents – underscore the increasing prominence of politically, ideologically, and revenge-driven attacks in the threat environments.

2013 is starting where 2012 left off, with ideologically and politically motivated attacks making headlines, and in the case of a few recent high-profile breaches, making the news outlets that write those headlines extremely anxious.  The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and a number of other press organizations have publicized their own battles against what they suspect are politically backed hackers which have successfully breached their networks in search of data gathered on sources that exposed government scandals.  Though its government has denied any involvement, China specifically has been named for the role that attackers, suspected to be/accused of acting on its behalf, have played on hacking into journalist’s files in search of information used in articles on corruption and other political issues in China. Continue reading “In the Line of Fire: The Press Gets Hacked” →

Taking Cloud to Both Ends of the Spectrum

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • As enterprises embrace the cloud for broader use, providers are responding in kind with improved functionality and more services options aimed at customers at either end of the market spectrum (i.e., large enterprises and entry-level users).
  • Is there a risk these solutions will leave out the bulk of customers in the middle?

A new year means a new set of predictions for what is to come in the months ahead for IT.  Front and center in most prognostications are projections about 2013 being a big year for the cloud.  You won’t hear any arguments to the contrary here, as all signs point to broader market acceptance of and demand for cloud services.  At the same time, cloud providers are stepping up their portfolios with better features, simpler ordering and provisioning, and new pricing models that match the needs of a more diverse prospect pool.  Continue reading “Taking Cloud to Both Ends of the Spectrum” →

Edging Toward the Cloud Future

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • While the majority of public and private sector organizations are employing cloud services to support at least a percentage of their IT needs, more conventional approaches to technology still dominate.
  • Although questions about service stability, security, and compliance remain, maturing delivery models and some promising partnerships could signify the start of a more productive phase in cloud computing.

It is the season to take stock of the year gone by and look forward to the one ahead, trying to anticipate what is on the horizon.  With respect to the cloud, we have seen both forward momentum and some unfortunate backsliding.  Arguments and challenges remain around all of the issues that have been the steepest obstacles to entry: stability, security, compliance, complexity, and to some extent, cost.  Outages, breaches, the lack of common standards for effective security, and hesitation over the difficulty and expense of migrating legacy application workloads into an on-demand environment are keeping some organizations on the sidelines – at least for now.  Continue reading “Edging Toward the Cloud Future” →

Brokering a Better Cloud Position for the Enterprise

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Cloud Enable
Amy Larsen DeCarlo
Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • With the emphasis on cost competitiveness and transparency, distinguishing features can quickly fall away in the cloud.
  • Some providers respond by stepping up to strategic roles as chief advocates for their clients, aggregating services and supplying mechanisms to streamline provisioning and management.

In an environment where providers trumpet similar pricing models and comparable feature sets based on technology from common vendors, it can be hard to distinguish one cloud service from another. Enterprise IT decision-makers tend to select providers that have earned their trust through work in other projects. However, there is still room for rival providers to compete for new accounts by offering a compelling solution. The most savvy of these service providers recognize that a change as inherently complex a change as the move to the cloud presents opportunities for them to position themselves as  strategic partners in guiding clients through this transition. Continue reading “Brokering a Better Cloud Position for the Enterprise” →