Dilip Tinnelvelly

After a spate of recent acquisition announcements from IBM like DemandTec Inc., Emptoris Inc. and Curam Software Ltd, the IT services giant continues to stay in mode with yet another one. IBM has just said that it is acquiring software quality improvement and cloud testing company Green Hat, which is headquartered in London, England, and Wilmington, Delaware, for an undisclosed amount. Green Hat's application virtualization technology helps developers conduct testing on a software application by leveraging the cloud as a virtual test environment instead of the traditional method of running simulation testing by physically constructing a full-blown testing lab composed of both hardware and software. This becomes more relevant in the context of the current explosion in the mobile applications market for smartphones and tablets. These applications require shorter deve... (more)

Cloud Computing Poised to Escalate

A recent report from analyst firm Forrester called "Sizing the Cloud" indicates that cloud computing business will continue to play a significant role in the overall growth of the tech industry. The report predicts that cloud computing encompassing both public and private sectors will grow from $40.7bn in 2011 to more than $241bn in 2020. The momentum in the market should continue to see acceleration and reach a peak in 2014, after which significant commoditization, price deterioration, and margin pressure will trigger a natural decline. But overall, by 2020, the report pegs the ... (more)

Business Analytics Identified as Key Near-Term Technology Growth Area

IBM developerWorks surveyed over 4,000 IT professionals from 93 countries and 25 industries about their views on critical and evolving technology trends with a focus on business analytics, mobile computing, cloud computing, and social business. The ability to gather information is far outpacing organizations' ability to use it effectively, something that the companies call "Hitting the Data wall" - when the amount of data needed to make optimal decisions and carry on operations overwhelms a firm's technology and infrastructure. Not surprisingly with businesses struggling everyda... (more)

Novell and Red Hat: Taking Linux to the Cloud

Open Source Journal on Ulitzer It is interesting to see how Open source rivals Red Hat and Novell have transferred their Linux warfare to the cloud. As both companies seek to use their open source history to advantage on the web platform by spouting standard mantras about avoiding vendor lock-ins and low cost, they have also taken different approaches on other counts when taking their cloud services to market. Red Hat is full of idealistic enthusiasm about innovation, progress and being open through and through. It has always been a vociferous proponent of open standards and Ope... (more)

Cloud Education Key to Dispelling Consumer Haziness

TheInfoPro, a division of The 451 Group, has released the results of a cloud computing services study. Fifty-two percent of the cloud decision-makers interviewed were of the view that internal change and learning were the main stumbling blocks to cloud adoption. This according to the analyst company brings to light a "pent up demand " for cloud advisory services as consumers are confused by the rapid changes that are brought about by cloud adoption. Other cloud roadblocks included up-front cost (15%) and security (13%). This confusion with regard to cloud computing is magnified w... (more)