Over the past decade, enterprise IT has watched as consumers and small businesses have taken advantage of the transformative power of cloud computing. In recent years larger organizations, attracted by its value, agility and other competitive advantages, have begun to explore the cloud as a viable enterprise computing platform. However, the time for “testing the waters” with trepidation is now behind us. It’s time to jump in with confidence.
A lot of people have been asking me why I joined CSC after 12 years running companies as a CEO, so I thought I would share my thinking. Those that know me know that I am very passionate about cloud computing. As I have blogged before, I believe that cloud is the fabric that will allow us to develop, build and deliver all the technology for the new generation of human beings that is growing up right now. Power, speed and availability are not even factors in the conversations of our youth. They are well assumed. It is expected that applications be as easy to use as a computer game.
As CSC enters a new fiscal year of growth and opportunity, I am pleased to announce my new role as vice president of Emerging Technologies and Strategic Growth Markets within our Global Sales and Marketing organization.
As part of this extended responsibility, my team and I will be responsible for CSC’s demand generation and thought leadership initiatives around emerging technologies and solutions, specifically in the areas of Trusted Cloud Services, Cybersecurity and Healthcare IT.
With cloud adoption, for our clients, we’ve been very prudent about which aspects of their IT operations should go to the cloud when. We’ve tried to be both expedient and responsible. There are some obstacles to overcome for many enterprises before they can fully exploit the advantages of cloud computing.
Microsoft just announced last week the availability of Silverlight 4, the plans for which were announced back at Microsoft’s PDC 2009 event in November. This video of Brian Boruff, then CSC’s VP of Cloud Computing and now transitioning to cloud business as VP of Emerging Markets for CSC, was filmed at the conference and also recently made its way to the internet airwaves.
In building a best-of-breed partner ecosystem of cloud computing service offerings, CSC has benefited from a strong relationship with Symantec, a global leader in security solutions. That’s the kind of partner it takes to offer Trusted Cloud Services.
Now that partnership is expanding, and CSC has announced today the extension of its current technology alliance with Symantec, an evolution in cloud services that will bring enhanced security products to businesses and governments around the world.
Pilots! We all love pilots! Not the “wild blue yonder” kind, but the sampling, experimenting, exploring, validating, try-it-on-for-size kind. And, it’s not just governments that appreciate the value of pilots. Enterprises of all kinds (public or private, supplier or consumer, large or small) have recognized the potential benefits of pilots and generally endorse them as part of larger development or acquisition models.
Whenever new products or processing methods or application innovations show up, pilots are among the first techniques chosen to examine the validity and payoff potential of that “new thing.”
So, you are going to cloud enable your infrastructure. You’re going to virtualize your servers. You’re going to use cloud mail and collaboration, save money, drive down capital costs, reduce asset management headaches and enable the “flex” your organization needs.
But what else can the cloud give you up the IT stack that was not possible before? And what do you have to do systemically to ready yourself for that opportunity (or challenge, depending on your perspective)?
Global team members from CSC Trusted Cloud Services have booked a busy schedule of upcoming cloud computing conferences and events — but that’s what it takes to keep the conversation going.
Decision-makers in search of insight to clear confusion on the implications of cloud models and solutions and how to get the most value out of transitioning their organization’s IT infrastructure and services to the cloud will do well to catch up with CSC Director of Global Security Solutions Ron Knode and VP of Cloud Computing and Emerging Markets Brian Boruff at two events this month.
Over time, cloud adoption will be driven more by the business model and the characteristic requirements of the workload, rather than about infrastructure efficiencies alone. As innovation explodes around cloud services, new solutions will emerge that support niche business issues or community requirements.
CSC is definitely trying to drive standardization in cloud computing, because it will not only improve things like interoperability of systems and portability of data, it will be central to securing the cloud.
And this is where a lot of the acronyms we’re working with come in, the various organizations and ideas such as NIST, SCAP and OMOP. Read more
Along with my colleague, Lori Salow Marshall, I’ve been working at both ends of the IT stack, so to speak — working on building out CSC Trusted Cloud Services offerings in the realm of infrastructure at the bottom, and orchestration at the top.
With cloud infrastructure, we’re trying to develop a point-click-and-buy service for virtual machines. Not every enterprise client can take advantage of this type of service from, say, Amazon or other public cloud providers of virtualization because of security or regulatory compliance mandates.
