The days of diagrams showing exactly how everyone (and everything) should work together and dictating how information should flow within an organization are, in a real sense, over.…
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Why user experience and ecosystem will rule the cloud
It's easy enough to start offering a cloud platform, but doing so successfully is a lot more difficult. James Urquhart explains how Amazon Web Services, Cloud Foundry and others are capitalizing on great user experiences and great ecosystems.…
Read MoreEnough PaaS vs. IaaS: The cloud is really about Services as a Platform
Platform as a service has been hailed as the next frontier in cloud computing, but some experts are saying it's more a feature than a market. James Urquhart says PaaS versus IaaS is a moot debate, because "Services as a platform" is the real cloud model.…
Read MoreDoes OpenStack understand the value of ecosystems?
Contributor James Urquhart takes issue with recent calls for OpenStack to build its own platform as a service. Citing the commercial success of VMware and Amazon Web Services, he claims the real benefit of any platform is its community.…
Read MoreVMware and the one question that matters most in cloud marketing
James Urquhart examines the different technology concerns between developers and traditional IT buyers and how that affects their cloud-buying behavior. While VMware has a strong position right now, he argues, it might not last.…
Read MoreEnterprise cloud computing isn’t the same for every enterprise
Many vendors pushing so-called enterprise cloud computing are really targeting those businesses who develop lots of their own software. But there are a whole lot of -- maybe too many -- companies to whom that description doesn't apply.…
Read MoreDeep thinking on complex systems: A devops reading list
GigaOM contributor James Urquhart shares some of the best books, blogs and other information on the concepts of devops and complex IT systems.…
Read MoreIs your PaaS composable or contextual? (Hint: the answer matters)
In his latest post on next-generation systems design, James Urquhart discusses the different types of PaaS offerings and why it matters that some are composable and others are contextual.…
Read MoreDevops, complexity and anti-fragility in IT: Stability and resilience
James Urquhart continues his look into whether companies sacrifice stability by designing systems that value adaptability over strict top-down command and control. This is called the stability-resiliency tradeoff and, he argues, many complex systems benefit from adaptability.…
Read MoreDevops, complexity and anti-fragility in IT: Risk and anti-fragility
James Urquhart explains the concept of anti-fragility and how modern IT departments are trying to achieve through a variety of means, including the implementation of devops. However, he cautions, anti-fragility might not the answer for every system.…
Read MoreDevops, complexity and anti-fragility in IT: An introduction
James Urquhart kicks off a discussion about system resiliency by outlining the key concepts -- devops, complex adaptive systems and anti-fragility -- that affect it in the cloud computing era.…
Read MoreRethinking IT in the cloud computing era
IT departments need not go away in a computing world increasingly concerned with cloud computing and complex service-oriented systems, but they will have to change. IT has to let go of trying to control everything and focus on coordinating and enhancing things that other people control.…
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