Is cloud computing truly scalable and can a solution be rolled out quickly?  Microsoft’s current experience with the US Department of Agriculture strongly suggests that the answer to both parts of the question is yes. The past few months have marked a transformative time in government IT in the USA , with the State of California, the State of Minnesota, and New York City embracing cloud computing. And now that momentum is carrying into the federal sector, as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)becomes the first cabinet-level agency to move its e-mail and productivity applications to the cloud. USDA will transition 120,000 federal workers from on-premise messaging and collaboration to Microsoft’s cloud computing solution over four weeks.  The migration to the cloud is part of USDA CIO Chris Smith’s vision to consolidate disparate messaging environments ... (more)

Cloud Expo 2011 New York Expands Technical Program

Due to a record increase in the number, quality and breadth of submissions to the Conference Advisory Board, the organizers of 8th Cloud Expo (June 6-9, 2011) - Cloud Expo New York 2011 - have extended the technical program through the addition of an all-new "Telcos in the Cloud" track - to complement the already extensive selection of tracks, including "Enterprise-Level Cloud Computing," "Federal/Government Cloud Computing," "Real-World Virtualization,"Cloud Security & Performance," "The Cloud in Practice: Case Studies," and the always-popular "Hot Topics" track. Because the she... (more)

Cloud Expo, Inc. Announces Cloud Expo 2011 New York Venue

Click Here to Save $800 at Cloud Expo New York ! Cloud Expo, Inc. announced on Thursday that Cloud Expo 2011 New York, the 8th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, will take place June 6-9, 2011, at the Javits Center in New York City. Cloud Expo - International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo series is the world’s leading Cloud-focused event and is held in New York, Silicon Valley, Prague, Tokyo, and Hong-Kong. Over 900 corporate sponsors and more than 65,000 industry professionals have participated in Cloud Expo since its inception, tenfold more than all other Clo... (more)

US Treasury Moves to the Cloud

Public-facing web sites belonging to the US Treasury Department like the agency main site treasury.gov and little numbers like MyMoney.gov, TIGTA.gov, SIGTARP.gov and IRSOversightBoard.treasury.gov have moved to Amazon EC2 according to government contractor Smartronix, responsible for the migration. It's supposedly the first cabinet-level agency to follow US CIO Vivek Kundra's advisory and take to the cloud. The redesigned Treasury.gov site is supposed to be the largest SharePoint implementation in the federal government. It also uses Windows Server and SQL Server 2008, Systems Cen... (more)

The Top 250 Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem

In the run-up to the next Cloud Expo, 7th Cloud Expo (November 1–4, 2010) being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, it's time to give my earlier list a complete overhaul. Here, accordingly, is an expanded list of the most active players in the Cloud Ecosystem. I have increased it from the 'mere' 150 I identified back in January of this year, to 250, testimony – as if any were needed! – to the fierce and continuing growth of the "Elastic IT" paradigm throughout the world of enterprise computing. Editorial note: The words in quotation marks used to describe ... (more)