Author Archives: Maria Spínola

About Maria Spínola

Futurist - Researcher - Strategic IT Marketing And Innovation Adviser - White Paper Copywriter

In your opinion, it’s positive or negative to know where Google Data Centers are located?

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In the last days, some news were released about the location of Google Data Centers, like for example the  Google container data center tour video  and the Revealed: where Google’s data centres are around the world article

In my opinion, this kind of news are positive, but can be negative…

They are positive , because consumers can feel more save, after all they ”know” where their data is stored, the exact locations, etc., in a way we can say that  it’s like if they can “touch it”.

But, just like consumers can know where their data is stored, so can terrorists. I know that Google have backup Data Centers,etc. etc. but…

I will share some information, I tweet the Google container data center tour video with one of those programs that short and track the links, the results are the following (until now):

Total Clicks  : 582
3 Major Locations :  I will not disclosure the exact country , but it’s a country with terrorism activities  and was in war very recently:  540 ; United States: 20; Portugal: 11

Whta’s your opinion? “it’s positive or negative to know where Google Data Centers are located?”  Thanks.

Cloud Computing: The “low cost” arrived to IT business?

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The low cost products and services are here, either at supermarkets, airlines, holidays, automobiles, hotels, food-chains, etc., and we use them because, sometimes, we really don’t need all the features of the non low cost products and services.

In my opinion, the Cloud Computing, in a way, is the “low cost” for IT business.

Let’s take the example of  Traditional CRM software versus CRM as SaaS :

  • Traditional CRM software : They earned a bad reputation by bringing with it integration and customization demands that easily spiraled out-of-control. So as a result, there was the feeling that CRM software was a huge head-heck and a huge waste of money with no practical results .

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  • CRM as SaaS: what have SaaS vendors done? they provide just-enough customization in a very easy way, and they shifted integration responsibility from the clients. So as a result CRM as SaaS is simple to use, economic and with practical results.

Or the example of infrastructure such as Amazon’s S3 and SimpleDB versus conventional enterprise counterparts ( distributed file systems and relational databases ) : they can’t be compared to their conventional, however t hey offer the basic features that everyone needs   (and also one huge advantage: vast scalability)

In other words, we can say that the use of the 80/20 rule is actually a common theme across cloud technology, and what might appear to be a limitation is actually a secret to success : it gives customers what they actually need in a very easy and cheaper way.

Posted in CloudViews , short-thoughts , User Experiences | Tagged amazon , CRM , IaaS , low cost , SaaS | Leave a reply

“Give me some confidence” …

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For the majority of  companies, the possibility of buying computational power, disk storage, collaboration, application development resources, programs, etc. on demand is very compelling. After all we can say that Cloud Computing is: No Hardware, No Software, Don’t Hire No One …

But until the major Cloud Computing providers don’t answer in a very clear way, to the legitimate questions entreprises have about security, scalability, performance, availability, reliability, etc . (either at infrastructure level, platform level and service level) we can say that we have a “barrier” between entreprises and Cloud Computing , and that “barrier” needs to be addressed, so that entreprises can feel “total” confidence in Cloud Computing.

Here are some of those concerns that need clear answers:

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