Microsoft’s free Cloud Security Readiness Tool October 21, 2012
Posted by vbry21 in Microsoft Virtualisation blogs.Tags: Cloud, Microsoft
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We’re now being bombarded with the Cloud, and we are now wondering, “should we move to the cloud?”
This can be a worrying time, we are told that it will reduce costs, it will make our IT environment more agile, it will empower us, etc.
Wouldn’t be nice if we could get a useful assessment of our environment, and then use this information to help make the decision about moving to the cloud.
The decision to deploy cloud computing is a strategic one. Many organizations are curious to learn more about their IT environments and evaluate whether deploying cloud services is appropriate.
Well, Microsoft has provided us with a tool to help make that decision.
New Cloud Email from Microsoft August 1, 2012
Posted by vbry21 in General Stuff.Tags: Cloud, email, Microsoft
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I was talking about clouds today and we got into a conversation about Hotmail and that Hotmail, we could argue is a cloud app. The argument being we are consuming a service from a provider and we don’t really care where the data is, we can also access the data from multiple devices.
However I digress, the purpose of this blog is that Hotmail is not called Hotmail anymore it is now called outlook.com
This makes sense because the corporate mail system is called Outlook, so let’s make the cloud email also called Outlook.
I logged in today and created an email address and an account and all is working well, I’ve added the account to my iPad and iPhone.
I’ve imported all my contacts from my other web based email and social media sites.
It took 5 minutes and I’ve also bagged a usable email address, all achieved because I signed up early.
The cloud was never easier.
Go to Microsoft to find out more
A definitive definition of what is cloud computing July 24, 2012
Posted by vbry21 in General Stuff.Tags: Cloud
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I teach all about clouds, and I have the VMware definition and the Microsoft definition burned into my mind; however both companies differ in what they say a cloud is and what a cloud does, so I decided to get a definitive answer.
The best place to get an accurate answer is from a standards body and that is what I have done.
I decided to go with the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Very handy and it’s very academic.
How Microsoft use Private Clouds July 12, 2012
Posted by vbry21 in Microsoft Training.Tags: Cloud, Microsoft
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I was having my weekly search on Microsoft’s website for cloud type information and I found a little video.
The video is called How Microsoft Runs a Highly Scalable and Environmentally Friendly R&D Facility
About This Video
Microsoft IT implemented their first Private Cloud for hosting the development and test environments internally for Microsoft. Their Private Cloud infrastructure supports their internal businesses, giving them the flexibility, scale and cutting edge technology to serve some of the most important product teams.
It’s quite enlightening to see the drivers behind Microsoft’s reasoning for their private cloud. It’s only about six minutes, have a look, it may inspire you.
A free book about clouds, sponsored by Microsoft July 7, 2012
Posted by vbry21 in Microsoft Virtualisation blogs.Tags: Cloud, Microsoft
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As you may be aware, I teach virtualisation courses, or to give them their fancy name, Cloud courses.
I teach VMware and Microsoft, I had a chap on a Microsoft course and he said that his company was setting up a cloud, and I said “Nice one, what type of cloud.” He looked at me and said. “Do you know, I have no idea.”
We had a bit of discussion and we decided that what he was going to have was a Private Cloud, meaning all his services were inside his firewall. A bit more of a chat and I remembered that I had read a book sponsored by Microsoft, which talked about various different cloud types. I passed the link onto my delegate, and I’ll now pass it onto you.
Solutions for Private, Public and Hybrid Clouds
All you need to know is that a cloud is white and fluffy, except for the current weather, they’re dark and menacing and hovering over the Leeds training center, probably the same for the rest of the country. We had summer, it was a week in May.
White and Fluffy (All things virtual) 