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 the various services and solutions in this round-up are in every case taken from the Web sites of the companies themselves. Omissions to this Top 250 list should be sent to me via Twitter (twitter.com/jg21) and I will endeavor to include them in any future revision of this newly expanded rou... (more)

Obama’s Crowdsourced Resolutions For 2009

What should be Barack Obama’s resolutions for the New Year once he takes office? He needs to look to further than his transition Website, Change.gov, where more than 74,031 people have submitted more than 53,369 questions (and counting) for his administration and voted 3,122,015 times to prioritize the questions in a Digg-like fashion. Part of his Open Government initiatives, the Open for Questions part of the site is powered by Google Moderator. (You need to sign in with a Google account to ask questions or vote). Below are ten of the top questions culled from different topic sections (economy, national security, science and technology, healthcare, etc.). Obama’s resolutions for the new year should be to answer them. 1. “What strategies other than bailouts can we employ to keep jobs in America?” (Economy) 2. “How do we unlink from our addiction to fossil fuels?” (... (more)

Microsoft’s Prince to Present at SYS-CON’s Cloud Computing Expo

Brian H. Prince, Architect Evangelist for Microsoft, will be presenting with Mike Jordan, Senior Software Architect for Ohio Department of Transportation, at SYS-CON's 2nd International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo in New York City this coming March 30-April 1, 2009. State government a hotbed of technology innovation - huh? But that's exactly right. The Ohio Dept of Transportation has harnessed extensive infrastructure (thousands of sensors, historical & police data, etc.) and cloud services to create a rich solution. Through a series of demos, this session will showcase for delegates how the Buckeye State has created a rich user experiences for residents, visitors and internal staff conducting detailed traffic analysis. In doing so, we will see how the IT team looked beyond just using cloud services, to combining with what's on premise, and then becoming a suppl... (more)

SYS-CON.TV: Cloud Computing Expo Power Panel

SYS-CON's 4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo takes place November 2-4, 2009, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. View the Conference Main Page Here ! With an ever-increasing number of companies now buying computing, storage, and networking power as they need it from the cloud, SYS-CON.TV recently invited four leading industry thought leaders to discuss how Cloud Computing brings the economics of the Web to Enterprise IT and where the move to the cloud will take the industry overall. The participants are Amazon.com VP & CTO, Werner Vogels; Rackspace CTO, John Engates; Booz Allen Hamilton Principal, Rod Fontecilla; and Sun's CTO of Global Sales & Services, Hal Stern. View SYS-CON.TV's Cloud Computing Power Panel Live from Times Square here. The participants were (left to right, after SYS-CON.TV Host Jeremy Geelan): WERNER VOGELS - VP &... (more)

CloudMASTER & CloudGURU Certification Comes to Washington, DC

The National Cloud Technologist Association is bringing the CloudMASTER & CloudGURU certification classes to the Washington Metropolitan Area in 2012. First introduced in November at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark, this continuing education program provides a solid technical background in modern web services deployment and administration. Students will learn concepts, principles, techniques, and practices needed to administer and secure a modern cloud-enabled business environment. CloudMASTER is comprised of three levels. The foundation program includes all the basics required for understanding Cloud computing services and operational management. Each of the three training modules can be completed as a stand-alone course and representing its own credential, as follows: 1.) Cloud Technologies - Module One 2.) Cloud Architecture & Design - Module... (more)

An Update On DoD’s Ambitious Joint Information Environment

By BobGourley The Department of Defense and its key Information Technology players (including DISA and leadership at OSD/DoD CIO) have done a tremendous job in keeping the community informed on a new, ambitious approach to enterprise IT in DoD called the Joint Information Environment.  They have presented at industry days, spoken at major conferences, and even made official press releases.  All that is very helpful for the community who seeks to serve these important national missions. If you are in the IT industry and believe you have capabilities that can contribute to this important national program, our first recommendation is that you start with the overview provided by DoD’s Dave DeVries in a 3 October press release. We copy that press release below for your information: Official Describes Joint Information Environment By Claudette Roulo American Forces Press S... (more)

Ready or not, software is eating the government contracting world

By Bob Gourley As readers of CTOvision you no doubt track the trends and are as aware as any of how software transforms industries, sometimes in shockingly brutal ways. I take no pleasure in telling any of you that my focus industry, the advanced technology sector around national security missions, is about to see massive, at times very harsh transformation because of this “software eats the world” megatrend. But I do take pleasure in giving advanced warning to those who should be preparing for this. We are all responsible for our own destiny even in periods of change. So I’ll provide my context and recap some of the things I believe people should be doing to accelerate smart change in enterprises and prepare for better personal futures. First, some context.  We previously articulated seven major trends we believe would be shaping 2013. They are: 1) Big Data soluti... (more)

Very Interesting, Potentially Virtuous Move By Lockheed Martin: the Silicon Valley Alliance

By Bob Gourley If you are a small business with advanced software or hardware (or both) and believe you have something the government really needs, you may want to pay close attention to this. But read to the end, I conclude with some warnings every small tech firm should consider when dealing with the big guys. For years the big government systems integrators have struggled with finding the best way to interact with partner firms, especially the great innovators and creators of new solutions (these were topics of my first corporate experience with “Six Sigma” activities at TRW and Northrop Grumman back in the last millennium, and I know all the other integrators struggle with this as well).  Just about every integrator has processes for working with small firms, but few have done so well with them as Lockheed Martin has. They seem to go the extra mile to find and h... (more)

Building Open Interoperable Cloud Infrastructure

At pennies per virtual machine-hour, the economics of cloud computing are both compelling and daunting to replicate. Whether you are building your own cloud infrastructure, building a public cloud or choosing a cloud service, there are key strategy and technology decisions that make the difference between success and failure. In his General Session next week at 12th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York [June 10-13, 2013], Intel VP & GM Jason Waxman  will share industry best practices for deploying cloud infrastructure that maximize the benefits of cloud economics, agility and interoperability. Learn how Intel is working with industry leaders to deliver open, secure and efficient cloud computing based on optimized compute, networking, storage and software technology and what are key tools and resources to help you achieve your cloud computing goals. Speaker Bio: Jason W... (more)

Call for participation: New OASIS TC – Cloud Certification Profiles

For the last couple of years I have been working extensively with different standards groups to find a way to help accelerate the intersection of open standards work and the definition of Cloud Best Practices. To this end two main groups are being developed: The Kantara Cloud ID Security group, now launched and underway, and in the process of being launched, the ‘CCP’ working group for OASIS: Cloud Certification Profiles. This actually began as the ‘PACR’ group, where it was initiated by a Government member who was looking for more specific guidance on how the public sector might increase the transparency of Cloud providers and also work around more specific direction for its adoption. This would be a Cloud Certification Profile, incorporating different standards (e.g. SAML) that they may want to verify is correctly implemented by the Cloud ... (more)

Paradigm Holdings Provides Business Update and Reports Financial Results for the Third Quarter 2008

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Paradigm Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PDHO) ("Paradigm"), a provider of comprehensive information technology and business solutions for federal government enterprises, today provided a business update for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008. Third Quarter 2008 Highlights: -- Revenues of $9.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008 -- Net loss of $0.01 per share -- Gross profit of $2.0 million -- Gross margin increased 220 basis points to 21.1% -- EBITDA of $0.3 million Peter B. LaMontagne, President and CEO, stated, "With the transition to a pure-play federal government IT services provider now behind us, we have begun to focus on the growth of our existing federal government agency client base through our newly expanded business development team in addition to recent acquisitions. The foundin... (more)