Increase efficiency while saving money with “on-demand” computing The biggest game-changing force in business since the creation of the Internet, cloud computing simplifies and lowers the cost of operations while providing flexibility and power you never dreamed possible. Make your strategic move now, with Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution!
"
Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution is an important work that captures the concepts and technological advances fueling the rapid adoption of cloud computing today. It illuminates how specific core technologies have led to the emergence of those patterns as the foundation for the next generation of IT-managed infrastructure."
—Rich Wolski, Chief Technology Officer and cofounder of Eucalyptus Systems, Inc., and Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara “Explains in marvelously plain English how clouds will change our world. . . . If the potential of cloud computing doesn’t excite you now, it will after you read this book. Buy a copy and put it on your CEO’s desk. Babcock explains it all.”
—Paul Gillin, bestselling author of The New Influencers “A valuable primer and handbook. It will help you master the technology and follow the story as innovators craft the future of cloud computing.”
—Ted schadler, VP and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc., and coauthor of Empowered “This readable, thought-provoking book will be especially useful to business professionals and practitioners.”
Choice magazine About the Book Everyday business as we know it is poised for a monumental shift, courtesy of cloud computing—the biggest game-changer since the creation of the Internet itself. There’s no doubt about it: If you want to compete in the future, you must begin educating yourself about cloud computing now.
From
InformationWeek editor Charles Babcock, a leading authority on the business benefits and pitfalls of cloud computing,
Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution provides the tools every manager needs to create a new business strategy that harnesses all the power cloud computing has to offer.
Cloud computing is the equivalent of renting time on a computing infrastructure over the Internet, rather than building your own from the ground up. Access to the cloud is growing quickly, and the benefits are undeniable. Those who begin incorporating cloud computing into their business strategy will enjoy:
- Dramatic Cost Savings: The cloud makes available innovative technologies that would otherwise be too expensive.
- Ubiquitous Access: Employees can access the server power they need anytime, anywhere, and send it the program they want to run.
- Unprecedented Agility: Business processes and business infrastructures can be altered quicker than ever.
- Steady Traffic Flow: Even during peak loads, systems in the cloud can overcome bottlenecks and expand to meet the user’s needs.
Working on the cloud, your analysts, business intelligence experts, and researchers can access large-scale, high-speed, highly reliable systems while paying only for short-term use.
You didn’t set up your own electrical grid to power your computers. Why pay big money to use them when you don’t have to? The cloud is on the horizon, and it’s looming larger by the day. Learn how to take full advantage of it with
Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution.
Customer Reviews & Comments
Drawing on his extensive experience in the IT world and his position as "editor-at-large" of the well respected InformationWeek, author Charles Babcock aims to offer "..the first book to provide practical cloud computing understanding and strategy for business".
So does the book meet/exceed the promise made?
Based around a promising synopsis the book begins with a solid foundation in the chapter layout and topics to be covered which include the potential pitfalls of adopting cloud technology.
The author provides his own thoughts on what cloud computing actually is (a subject of some intense debate even now) - although the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s formal definition is included as one of the book's appendices and it is clear the writer understands that whilst flexibility is one of cloud computing's main attributes it also contributes to people's confusion..
In answer to those that might argue that cloud computing is simply the latest buzz word based around pre-existing technologies - such as traditional mainframe computing, whilst acknowledging the contributions of what has gone before the author argues that although this is true to an extent it is the way these and emerging technologies have been combined and refined - virtualization in particular as well as a number of cultural changes that truly is leading to a paradigm shift.
Indeed, whilst an understanding of the machinations behind the cloud may be considered unimportant if not to a degree desirable for the majority of service consumers it is critical for those that wish to take full advantage of the opportunities it presents such as CIO's/IT professionals and progressive business managers and it is this audience I feel the book is most appropriate for. It tackles the hype commonly associated with the subject matter head on and the chapter entitled "Overcoming Resistance to the Cloud" covers the main issues with a focus on vendor lock-in all using an easy to read, conversational tone.
The author is clearly an advocate of the cloud, but presents his case without vendor bias whilst referencing the main players in the field as appropriate and concludes by means of a glimpse of the potential that current and future implementations may provide that although cloud based computing at present could be considered a disruptive technology it may provide the most intoxicating blank sheet of "paper" on which the future will be written.
Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution: How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Can't Afford to Be Left Behind
