The Cloud Transformation
Mar 07 Posted by Alex Bakker in Lens360
A new video from Saugatuck Technology analyst Mike West.
Continue reading Mike West, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, Cloud
The iPad2 and Enterprise Mobility Management
Mar 03 Posted by Alex Bakker in Lens360
Yesterday’s iPad2 announcement punctuated a flurry of tablet device announcements in recent weeks. In particular, the iPad2 update revitalizes the popular tablet with new features designed to prepare it for its first real competition in this expanding market. As we mentioned in our recent perspective (MKT-851 McNeill), the iPad has seen growing adoption among enterprise users (WSJ) who value the small tablet device for its battery life and simplicity along with a growing host of apps that make it well suited for business. And though at first glance, the iPad2 update features may in…
Continue reading Mobility, Mobility as a Service, Consumerization of IT, Mike West, iPad
Intel Thunderbolt: Why Not In The Data Center?
Feb 25 Posted by Alex Bakker in Lens360
On 24 February Intel formally released Thunderbolt, previously codenamed LightPeak, a new data transfer interface that uses the mini DisplayPort connector and touted as “the fastest way to get data in and out of your PC and peripheral devices.” The new interface makes its debut in Apple’s new MacBook Pro, which Intel says will be the first among many major consumer brands rolling out support in the coming months. Notably absent from the press release was any mention of how Thunderbolt could be applied to servers and data intensive workloads in corporate datacenters. Saugatuck sees …
Continue reading DataCenter, Thunderbolt, Intel
Hybrid Cloud Environments Attract Unproven Consulting Skills
Feb 23 Posted by Robert McNeill in Lens360
Saugatuck’s research indicates that Cloud IT consulting will rapidly grow in response to user organizations’ needs for assistance in planning for, and managing, hybrid IT environments that encompass business, IT, and other stakeholders (HR and Finance). Saugatuck has highlighted the leading Cloud consulting firms that provide consulting, implementation, development, managed services, and reseller services focused on SaaS based applications and development platforms (747MKT, “Cloud Facilitators: A New Route to Market for Cloud Vendors,” 17June2010). Our most recent Stra…
HP Acquires Vertica: Pursuit of Burgeoning Analytics Market?
Feb 18 Posted by Charlie Burns in Lens360
On Monday (14 Feb., 2011) HP announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Vertica, an analytical database provider, for an undisclosed amount. By acquiring Vertica, HP has taken a first step in what could be a strategy to move aggressively into the growing market for data warehousing and data analytics. While this acquisition does not get HP completely into the analytics game, it is a great place to start. Acquisition of Vertica enables HP to strengthen their competitive posture compared to vendors such as IBM and EMC who similarly acquired Netezza and Greenplum, respectively. I…
Does SAP Labs India Announcement Signal a Shift in Software Innovation and Influence?
Feb 11 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
We’ve been told that SAP Labs India, which already accounts for a significant portion of the software giant’s R&D, plans to develop two new, enterprise-class software products in Bangalore. These would be the first SAP offerings developed from start to finish outside of the company’s German HQ and development center, and could make SAP the first multinational software Master Brand to deliver a significant commercial offering completely “made in India.”
Time Warner Cable-NaviSite: New Directions
Feb 08 Posted by Charlie Burns in Lens360
On Tuesday 1 February, Time Warner Cable (TWC) and NaviSite announced a definitive agreement under which Time Warner Cable will acquire NaviSite.
We see this announcement as a win for TWC and a clear indication of a strategy to invest in rapidly pursuing important new offerings targeted for use by small and medium businesses. Similar to the announcement last week of Verizon’s acquisition of Terremark, this is another confirmation that the Cloud Computing market is a key propellant of future growth in the information technology sector (see “Key SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS Trends Through 2015 – Business Transformation Via the Cloud”, 834SSR, 17Jan2011).
Live from Walt Disney World and Lotusphere 2011 – It’s a Cloud World After All, Eventually
Feb 02 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
While the endlessly-repeated theme here at LS11 is “social business,” the underlying emphasis is unrelentingly Cloud IT. Every vendor exhibiting; every client presenting; every IBMer speaking; and every sideline discussion, includes the assumption of ubiquitous, Cloud-resident IT, from basic bandwidth to SaaS to IaaS to PaaS. To paraphrase Carl Jung and/or the Latin poet Erasmus, “Invoked or not invoked, Cloud is present.” This assumption is huge for IBM, its partners, and its clients/prospects. And it may raise expectations beyond what IBM can satisfy in curren…
Verizon-Terremark a Win-Win
Jan 28 Posted by Lisa Pierce in Lens360
Yesterday Verizon and Terremark announced a definitive agreement under which Verizon will acquire and operate Terremark as a wholly owned subsidiary under the leadership of Terremark’s current management team.
This announcement is a win-win for both companies, and is external confirmation that the Cloud Computing market is a key propellant of future growth in the information technology sector (see “Key SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS Trends Through 2015 – Business Transformation Via the Cloud”, 834SSR, 17Jan2011).
Dealing with Cloud Computing Sprawl
Jan 27 Posted by Robert McNeill in Lens360
Saugatuck research indicates that 65 percent or more of all NEW business application / solution deployments in the enterprise will be Cloud-based or Hybrid by 2015 (up from 15-20 percent in 2009) (SSR-834, Key SaaS, PaaS and IaaS Trends Through 2015 – Business Transformation via the Cloud, 13Jan2011). One implication is that by 2015, 25 percent or more of TOTAL enterprise IT workloads will be Cloud-based or Hybrid.
Initial Insights from Cloud Enablement Briefings
Jan 26 Posted by Charlie Burns in Lens360
Recently, Saugatuck published a piece of research that highlighted our research agenda focused on the markets for and vendors of Cloud Enablement Offerings. We defined such offerings as technologies and services that provide guidance in Cloud selection and assistance in Cloud adoption or implementation or management of a Cloud infrastructure.
Last week we began to organize formal briefings with some of the key players in this space – as Saugatuck’s research indicates that Cloud Enablement Offerings are vitally important to customers. In our view, this class of services and offerings hold the promise of reducing the time, the cost, and the exposure of moving to the Cloud (especially for mid- to large-enterprises). To help our business and IT end-user clients (who mostly tend to be large multinationals) better understand the expanding array of offerings, we have identified five categories of Cloud Enablement Offerings: 1) Consulting, 2) Brokerage, 3) Aggregation, 4) Workload Migration or Implementation, and 5) Infrastructure Implementation or Management.
Cloud Strategy 101: Be Flexible, Learn, Repeat
Jan 20 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
Recent blog posts and industry media articles have suggested that IBM, among other large, Master Brand IT providers, is “flying blind” when it comes to Cloud business strategy and execution. According to this article, “the computing giant risks squandering its IT leadership position by lacking a clear strategy in this new era of cloud computing.”
Exit Sign, or Sign of Change? Microsoft’s Muglia Mess
Jan 11 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
The announced, pending departure of Microsoft’s STB chief Bob Muglia has led many to speculate that CEO Steve Ballmer does not see Muglia as a person with enough vision to take the company into the Cloud. Some have suggested that MSFT is “failing” in its Cloud effort, specifically with its Windows Azure platform, and this led to Muglia’s impending departure. Rather than fix the blame for Muglia’s exit on Azure and the Cloud, it may be more revealing to look at the larger MSFT organizational picture. The company retains significant org and technological constructs from 1970s-era IT, and would …
Top Services Trends for 2011 and Beyond
Dec 20 Posted by Robert McNeill in Lens360
Through 2010 Saugatuck interviewed well over 100 services providers and 200 IT and business executives on their plans related to ITO and BPO adoption and how the Cloud will impact both supplier offerings and buyer preferences. These qualitative interviews, enhanced by our rich quantitative surveys conducted with research partner Bloomberg Businessweek, provide us with unique insights into market movements. With this data, Saugatuck has prepared its top predictions for the consulting, IT, and BPO services market for 2011 and beyond. Please find the top three trends out of ten we identify in ou…
SAP Influencer Summit: Catching Up to the Reality – Part II
Dec 14 Posted by Bill McNee in Lens360
However, as my father often taught me, perception is not always reality. And the Influencer Summit helped shed light on some key initiatives that the company is working. While SAPs executive leadership throughout the event stayed on message with its manta of “on premise, on demand, on device,” CTO Vishal Sikka highlighted the key pillars of innovation that the company is focusing on: 1) in-memory; 2) mobility; and 3) cloud-based consumption. As a company with over 100,000 customers, more than a third of which are deployed on its on-premise Business Suite, it is not surprising that its strategy is carefully balancing the needs to evolve and refresh the existing customer footprint, all the while pushing rapidly forward with new innovation that will make SAP relevant in the second decade of the 21st century. Find below some key takeaways from the event:
SAP Influencer Summit: Catching Up to the Reality – Part I
Dec 13 Posted by Bill McNee in Lens360
SAP has a problem. It is centered on what the brand means to its customers and to its employees, as well as to the broader ecosystem of partners, analysts and individuals that it interacts with – at a time of significant change and investment.
In support of this supposition, when I returned home from the SAP Influencer Summit (held December 7-8, 2010 in Santa Clara, CA), I reached out to a broad spectrum of industry executives in my network – asking them for some keywords that would best describe SAP. Within 90 minutes, 12 of the 30 people I had reached out to had replied. Three were software industry analysts, three were senior business executive users, two were large company CIOs, one was a early stage investor, two were legendary software vendor executives (one retired), and one was a well know business journalist. There were no competitors or individuals that would have an axe to grind.
The Ruby Cloud over Java at Dreamforce
Dec 10 Posted by Mike West in Lens360
The Dreamforce announcement of Salesforce acquiring Heroku brought Ruby on Rails into the spotlight. From the runway at the Moscone Center stage, Marc Benioff introduced the entire Heroku “family” and invited applause from the audience as over twenty Heroku development personnel stood and waved. And wave they should, as the Heroku deal was announced as approximately $212 million, net of cash acquired. Benioff went on to proclaim that Ruby in the Cloud is the future of PaaS development, though he stopped short of saying “Java is dead,” perhaps because only t…
ITIL Practitioners Set To Respond Well To Cloud Computing
Dec 07 Posted by Robert McNeill in Lens360
The market for IT services delivered from a Cloud environment is rapidly developing due to the attractions of business agility and financial flexibility. Vendors are increasingly delivering a broad range of capabilities ranging from infrastructure through applications. But is the IT organization ready to manage the procurement, provisioning, integration, support and cost management of these services? And further, are service management processes capable of adapting to hybrid / cloud environments? From deep-dive interviews with IT executives and ITIL practitioners, and extensiv…
Going Socially Conscious? Get the Message Out!
Dec 06 Posted by Robert McNeill in Lens360
Saugatuck research indicates that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly important buying criterion in business relationships. At a basic level CSR can be used as a form of marketing/reputation management. Many companies seek to elevate their brands through cause-related marketing or high profile sponsorships. Some companies may even use CSR and sustainability as a growth platform for their business, one that produces new customers and new markets. Strategic CSR that integrates stakeholders’ social and environmental motives with business outcomes can unlock share…
Dreamforce ’10: Here We Come!
Dec 02 Posted by Lee Geishecker in Lens360
Next week Salesforce holds its eighth annual Dreamforce Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA, with an estimated twenty thousand customers, prospects, and partners expected to be in attendance. Saugatuck once again will be attending the conference, spending the two and one-half days listening to keynotes, participating in analyst-only presentations, meeting one-on-one with executives, and interviewing Salesforce customers and partners. This will be Saugatuck Technology’s 5th year attending Dreamforce. As in previous years, we will be interviewing conference attendees to…
CIOs and Clouds
Dec 01 Posted by Mike West in Lens360
In the spring of 2008, we polled ten CIOs on the topic of the Cloud and what it meant to their IT and business organizations. The Cloud was still on the horizon to almost all of them, and there was a wide variety of responses and different understandings of Cloud Computing. Since then, a much clearer view of the potential of the Cloud and also a much broader understanding of Cloud technology have emerged across a multi-layered ecosystem spanning IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and Cloud Services — but not a clear view how it will impact IT and the business, as organizations transition the…
Microsoft Adds Linux Presence and Profit Through Purchase of Novell IP
Nov 23 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
As was widely reported late Monday this week, Novell Inc., holder of the SUSE Linux distribution, has agreed to be acquired by Attachmate Corp. for $2.2B. Meanwhile, CPTN – a shell/holding company organized but not owned by Microsoft – agreed to pay Novell $450 million in cash for over 880 software patents and other intellectual property rights. Thus we almost immediately began hearing rumors, and receiving emails and texts, about Microsoft buying SUSE Linux and or furthering its supposed goals of destroying open source software. Only, they didn’t. The actual deals are…
The Future of Facebook Messaging
Nov 16 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
Facebook certainly made headlines with its announcement of a centralized messaging stream manager that integrates/mashes up email, IM, SMS/text, and of course Facebook comments/”likes”/etc. We certainly do not see this as something new, or as an “email killer.” We see no reason why email as a function will go away in the predictable future, especially in business environments. And we do not see this as anything revolutionary or new. A wide variety of similar types of integrative platforms and services has existed for quite some time. In fact, on my Android phone…
CEO Insight from Vistage Conference
Nov 09 Posted by Bruce Guptill in Lens360
I just returned from the National CEO Conference put on by Vistage International in San Diego, and want to share two points regarding the participants and their thoughts about Cloud IT: First: Confidence rules among SMB CEOs. Great event, with terrific value to the participants, who were CEOs of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that represent the cross-section of the US economy. Solidly bullish on the US economy, and on their firms’ abilities to compete and succeed, they universally see opportunities and ways to get ahead. They also see the potential for things to decline, but the …
Welcome to Lens 360
Nov 09 Posted by Bill McNee in Lens360
Welcome to Lens 360, Saugatuck’s new blog launched along with our new research website! Lens 360 will deliver original and timely blog posts that focus on recent trends, events, and disruptive market forces shaping enterprise IT. If you are a business or IT professional, Lens 360 will let you tap into our deep expertise around software-as-a-service (SaaS), Cloud Infrastructure, and Social Computing, among other emerging technologies. Our goal is to provide provocative and actionable insights that will help shape our reader’s thinking and decision making – and to bu…