Hybrid Cloud

November 29, 2016

CLOUD

A Resilient Cloud Strategy: Standardize or Diversify?

3 min read

Over the past few years, I have seen IT organizations adopt cloud in very different ways. Some organizations prefer to standardize their cloud infrastructure to drive efficiencies in their data centers. As a result, they eventually reduce the number of suppliers across their entire IT value chain. Conversely, other organizations adopt a ‘best of breed’ […]

November 1, 2016

CLOUD

Are You Part of the 3% Who Have Optimized Cloud Strategies?

1 min read

Change is essential if you want your business to be able to meet the evolving needs of your customers. To succeed, you need to be able to innovate faster than your competitors. At the same time, however, rapid change and rising complexity can disrupt your operations and slow your business down. The cloud offers organizations […]

October 31, 2016

CLOUD

Metapod is now Cisco Metacloud™

2 min read

I’ve learned more about trademark rules in the last year than I probably ever wanted to. I’ll explain. About two years ago, Cisco acquired Metacloud, the company I worked for, along with a team of brilliant engineers, product managers, marketers, and operations folks. As we worked through the integration process, we learned that while our […]

October 31, 2016

DATA CENTER

Reduce Risk with Subscription

1 min read

The software market has changed radically over the last three or four years.  So have software license models.  Big Data, cloud and mobile have forced changes.  One of the most significant is the sun setting of the standard – the perpetual license. Perpetual licenses redirect scarce resources to negotiate pricing.  For both you and the […]

October 24, 2016

DATA CENTER

Monday Morning Sure Looks Fine

1 min read

You’re the head of IT facing the start of another week.   Another set of challenges.  Application teams going around IT.   Business teams expecting near-instant service.  Your company is growing fast.  Way beyond your ability to plan — let alone respond. You may think this is far-fetched.  I speak with a lot of customers and this […]

October 12, 2016

CLOUD

Building resilient applications with Cisco Metacloud

3 min read

This post walks through the models for building resilient applications on OpenStack infrastructure with Cisco Metacloud, OpenStack Orchestration, and configuration management tools like Ansible. Agile Infrastructure, Some Background In 2001, when a group of software developers discussed a growing trend of lightweight methods for producing software, they decided to group those together and write a […]

September 27, 2016

CLOUD

Cloud is Going Mainstream, But…Which Cloud?

2 min read

The numbers are in. According to a 2016 IDC study – spanning over 6,100 organizations and 31 countries – the ‘second wave of cloud adoption’ continues to advance with almost 68% of organizations using some form of cloud. Private cloud deployments remain an essential part of the mix: 54% of organizations surveyed are in fact adopting […]

September 22, 2016

DATA CENTER

Transform Your Business Engine

1 min read

IT is caught in a perfect storm of far-reaching changes.  It’s all about the user experience.  It is NOT about IT technology. Getting out of this storm takes transformation.  Transformation requires automation.  You can fight it and risk falling behind.  Or begin your automation journey.  Studies[1] indicate adopting automation delivers value back to the organization.   […]

September 21, 2016

CLOUD

Cloud Going Mainstream: “Getting Ready for the Second Wave” of Cloud Value

3 min read

Read the guest blog post from Robert Mahowald, IDC Group Vice President, about the second wave of cloud adoption and value.