January, 2011
-
Everything-As-A-Service And You
Maybe you haven’t heard yet about the idea of Everything-As-A-Service. HP has been talking about it, as has Verizon. Those two giants in particular are executing strategic initiatives in that direction, but they’re not alone, and we’re taking notice over here at Looks Cloudy. Vlad Mazek and I talked about it Friday on the Looks [...]
-
Good Enough: The Magic Words For Your Clients
Jack Loftus published this Gizmodo article this morning reporting on some consumer research conducted by Boston-based ad agency Hill Holliday on consumption patterns of streaming (cloud-based) “Connected TV” solutions like Roku and Apple TV. Hill Holiday asked families to replace their cable boxes with “Connected TV” boxes for one week and then analyzed their consumption [...]
-
Egypt, License Plates, iPads, FoxConn, and Verizon: What On Earth Is Vlad Talking About In This Week’s Weather Report Podcast?
Kate and Vlad discuss Everything-As-A-Service in this week’s Weather Report Podcast. But be warned: the conversation gets pretty unusual and meanders a bit, into the mind of The Vlad. Hope you enjoy it. Listen to the Looks Cloudy Weather Report Podcast now.
-
The Forecast, The Weather Report
Looks Cloudy Weather Report Podcast: Don’t Be A Fear Monger
HOW NOT TO SELL BUSINESS CONTINUITY SOLUTIONS Our Special Guest this week is Andrew Fisher, CEO of Myriad Technology Solutions and business continuity expert. Mr. Fisher delivers hosted and cloud-based business continuity solutions to his small business clients in a complex, unique market: Manhattan. Click on the Weather Report Podcast icon (or the link below) [...]
-
Cloudbusters, Rain Dances, Rain Makers
Another Nail in the Reseller’s Coffin? Verizon Bundles Broadband with Google Apps for Small Business
This morning Verizon announced a new program in collaboration with Google, combining Google Apps with Verizon broadband services into a bundle for small business. It’s not available everywhere yet (just in parts of 13 states), and it’s potentially competitive for anyone out there seeking to resell Google Apps or other cloud-based office productivity software to [...]
-
FedEx CIO Talks Cloud Computing: Your Job Has Never Been Easier
Rob Carter, the CIO of FedEx, was interviewed by Chris Murphy of InformationWeek last week. Here’s the full story posted this morning on informationweek.com. In his interview, Mr. Carter had a lot to say about what Cloud Computing means to him and what it means to us. Notably, he takes on those “jaded” IT Pros [...]
-
Cloud Stocks Take a Hit: Should We Be Worried?
Rich Miller of DataCenterKnowledge.com reported this morning on some “investor disappointment” that has caused stock prices of key companies tied to cloud computing to drop this week. Affected companies include F5 Networks, Rackspace Hosting, Aruba Networks, Juniper Networks, and Riverbed Technology, all seeing declines between 4.1 and 20.9 percent. Is this cause for alarm? [...]
-
Training? We don’t need no stinking training!
Yesterday I wrote about my reaction upon reviewing Apple’s Top Ten All-Time Apps list for iPhone and iPad. To sum up, it basically went like this: People will gladly spend their hard-earned money on asinine games that waste their time, but at the same time expect the truly useful stuff to be available for free. [...]
-
You Really Paid For That? Top All-Time iPhone and iPad Apps
TechCrunch reported this morning on Apple’s top ten lists of All-Time Top iPhone and iPad Apps. In a totally unsurprising result, the number 1 all time Top Free App for iPhone is…wait for it… Facebook. Shocking. The numbers 2-10 Free Apps for iPhone are pretty predictable as well (Pandora, Google Mobile App, The Weather Channel, [...]
-
New Survey Shows European Enterprise Executives Don’t Want the Cloud?
In this article from ITWeb, the results of an NTT Europe Online survey of 200 CIOs and CFOs of UK-based companies with more than 500 employees showed that over two thirds of respondents are not planning to adopt cloud computing, or are unsure of whether it will be adopted, in the near future, with nearly [...]
-
Cloudbusters, Rain Dances, The Forecast
You Can’t Lose What You Never Had: Client Loyalty In The Cloud
There’s a great line from an old Muddy Waters tune, a favorite of mine: “You can’t spend what you ain’t got and you can’t lose what you never had.” We all know that our relationships with our clients are important. Building and maintaining those relationships requires participation from across your organization: marketing, sales, technical support. [...]
-
Podcast, Rain Dances, The Weather Report
Business Continuity and Bad Weather 2011: The Looks Cloudy Weather Report Podcast
Ever wonder how others out there like you handled the madness of last week’s weather? Join Anthony Fernandez, Partner Account Manager for Own Web Now, along with Jim Ray of Neuse River Networks and Ben Schorr of Roland, Schorr & Tower, two of our Solution Providers partners, as we discuss how they’ve dealt with this [...]
-
How I Define “The Cloud”…and How I Use It
I work for Own Web Now, which is based in Orlando, Florida. I live and work in Cincinnati, Ohio. I never go to the OWN offices. That’s right, never. Because I don’t have to. I use hosted exchange email, windows live messenger, wordpress, and skype on a laptop pc, along with a hosted voip phone, [...]
-
Cloudbusters, Rain Dances, The Forecast
Hear Us Roar: The “Who Owns Customer in the Cloud?” Debate
You’ve seen a lot recently on LooksCloudy and around the channel about the unresolved question of who will ultimately control client relationships that involve third party cloud services, and we’re getting a great deal of fascinating feedback from around the channel. This morning Larry Walsh posted a summary of the argument, with snippets from recent [...]
-
The Weather Report Podcast (reposted from www.vladville.com)
Yesterday I mentioned the latest episode of The Weather Report covered the discussion about how VARs can survive in the cloud and the controversy over cloud billing. Well, you’ve flooded my inbox: What is The Weather Report? Well, a few years ago I had a wildly popular podcast called SBS Show. It had thousands upon [...]
