Cloud Computing
Essays

Summarize the economics and current conditions in the industry, and describe the strategies for HP.

Given the exponential increase in data being generated across enterprise, social networking and legacy IT systems, the need for ensuring a consistent set of frameworks and objectives are used to bring relevance to this data is critical. The tendency of "boil the ocean" of data through Big Data initiatives including Hadoop, an open source analytics platform, have recently emerged as one viable alternative (McKendrick, 2012). Yet too often being able to take in literally terabytes of data and analyze it is of limited use without a consistent, strategic framework to make use of it (Rogers, 2011). Too many IT organizations are falling victim to speeding up mediocre reporting and analysis processes without first thinking about how to bring greater value into their strategic initiatives with the data (Daly, 2011). The answer to this dilemma isn't found in more technology; it's found in creating a more effective strategic framework to bring meaning into the data (Kalpic, Bernus, 2006).

Business-to-Business (B2B) Trends and Analysis

This paper addresses the issue of cloud computing. The only source used is a government policy document that conveys information on cloud computing from the standpoint of reforming federal information technology. The "cloud first" policy discussed here will, allegedly, help the federal government move toward standardization and adoption of cloud computing.

¶ … centre can be described as a "…computer system's most important and vulnerable component" (What is a Data Center?). In simple terms, a data center is a physical area which houses and contains the computer networks…

The need for computer capacity evaluation and continual monitoring is even more important when an enterprise is transferring its computing power to cloud-based systems. This transition from on-premise to cloud-based computing introduces exponentially greater levels of variables and performance issues that can have an immediate and significant effect on any enterprises' ability to perform even the most fundamental IT tasks (Read, 2010). Computing power transitioned to the cloud must be done with a deliberate strategy of ensuring a high degree of scalability, security, and a clear strategy of single- versus multitenancy, or the allocation of specific dedicated memory and processor resources for specific tasks (Rasin, 2010). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate those areas of cloud-based systems' computing resources and define how enterprises can safeguard their enterprise applications and performance over the long-term.

Anonymous Hackers Target U.S. Security Think Tank. (2011). Newsday. Retrieved from: http://Www.newsday.com/business/technology/anonymous-hackers-target-us-security-think-tank-1.3411610

The compelling economics of cloud computing are leading enterprises to question their long-held assumptions that the annual maintenance fees they are paying for on-premise editions of their ERP are justified. In addition, these same economics of cloud computing are making it possible for entire divisions of an enterprise to be up and running within weeks instead of months or years, on cloud-based ERP platforms (Banerjea, 2011). The economics of cloud computing are also re-ordering the financial landscape of enterprise software, putting line-of-business leaders in a more direct and influential role relative to the purchase of enterprise software (Gill, 2011). All of these factors taken together form the catalyst of how migrating to standardized ERP systems delivered via cloud computing are changing how enterprises evaluate, implement and value software. Migrating Standardized ERP Systems To A Cloud Computing Environment At the most fundamental architectural level of migrating standardized ERP systems to a cloud computing environment are the evaluation, planning and implementation of process and system integration throughout a company. For a standardized ERP system to be effective in a cloud computing environment, there must be integration in place to legacy databases, potentially secondary ERP systems already implemented and in use, in addition to pricing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems as well (Yoo, 2011). All of these systems need to be orchestrated with the cloud-based ERP system to ensure this new system can immediately deliver valuable information, insightful analysis and useful data based on the company's activities(Armbrust, Fox, Griffith, Joseph, et.al., 2010). Once this foundation ahs been created that provides for the cloud-based ERP system to be effectively used across the enterprise due to its integration, the most critical manufacturing, supply chain, and customer management processes need to be defined and then integrated to the new system. The most common areas where a standardized ERP system will typically be used is in streamlining the supply chain management, pricing and distributed order management functions of a business (Symonds, 2012). These three functions are essential for the successful operation of a manufacturing-centric business, which is where the majority of cloud-based ERP systems are being delivered today (Creeger, 2009). These three core areas of supply chain management, distributed order management and pricing also form the foundation of advanced financial reporting systems, which provide enterprises choosing to deploy these systems with greater visibility into their transaction workflows and their relative efficiency (Gill, 2011).

Microsoft has always vigorously protected its patents and sought out legal defense against competing technologies and businesses that threatened its core business model. In 2006, Microsoft mounted a comprehensive and…

The core competency of EMC Corporation is the research and development, selling, implementing and supporting of their virtualization technologies incouding IT infrastructure systems and platforms. EMC's depth of expertise in virtualization and infrastructure technologies has made the company one of the leading providers of cloud computing platforms, one of the fastest-growing segments of the enterprise computing industry today (Horsburgh, 2003). EMC has structured their business into two major categories incouding EMC information infrastructure and VMWare virtual infrastructure, which provides the company the ability to better serve its global base of customers (McCarthy, Capuanuo, Picotte, 2002). The information infrastructure business is comprised of three different segments including information storage, information intelligence group and the RSA information security group. The VMWare virtual infrastructure group is a stand-alone business unit as it is focused on the rapidly changing cloud computing market \(EMC Investor Relations, 2012). EMC reports that their information infrastructure business generates on average 81% of total revenues and the VMWare virtual infrastructure business, 19% (EMC Investor Relations, 2012). The significance of understanding core competencies is that when they are taken together, the complete competitive advantage of a business can better to seen from the vantage point of the industry they compete in. Analyzing core competencies of EMC for example shows how successful the company is in quickly translating research and development (R&D) into virtualization systems and platforms that enable greater performance of cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications (EMC Investor Relations, 2012). These two areas are revolutionizing the economics of enterprise software, and EMC is ideally positioned to benefit from this shift in IT spending. Analyzing a company's core competencies can also provide insights into their core competencies relative to competitors as well. Analysis of core competencies can provide a very accurate analysis of the core culture of a company, providing insights into hwo they react to threats and attempt top transform weakness into strengths (Tucker, 2001). The central areas of the EMC business model that contribute most to their core competency include their exceptionally rapid processes in place to translate R&D spending and investment into completed products, a business model oriented towards enriching resellers while also quantifying the proven performance gains as a result of using their products, and strong financial management of their revenue streams and costs (EMC Investor Relations, 2012). These components that comprise the core competency of EMC also directly impact the products and services delivered, as EMC has been able to deliver two to three product generations ahead of its competitors on key virtualization technologies (EMC Investor Relations, 2012). This has made the internal culture of the company very fast-paced even for a high technology company, and also greatly increased the efficiency of the knowledge acquisition processes in the company. EMC deliberately chose an organizational structure for its support of highly collaborative processes that span hardware and software development teams. EMC is also relies on a series of internal reviews that bring together hardware, software and systems teams to the common objective of creating a unified, highly reliable system component or entire platform that will best meet the requirements of their enterprise customers (EMC Investor Relations, 2012). The knowledge acquisition process within EMC is based on creating cross-functional teams that can bring in specific hardware, software and systems engineering expertise on an as-needed basis to further assist with the development of new products (EMC Investor Relations, 2012). The greatest innovations EMC has designed and launched all come from their discussions with customers about future IT infrastructure needs, which are increasingly reflecting a cloud-based focus (Horsburgh, 2003). The ability of companies to create competitive advantage as part of their core competency is critical to long-term profitable growth and financially strong performance over the long-term (Atuahene-Gima, Wei, 2011).