Business benefits of cloud computing need to be explored

13 Jun 2009

The IT industry is on the verge of a major transformation and the business benefits of moving to cloud infrastructure in terms of cost savings, efficiency and the environment need to be promoted.

Yesterday, IT infrastructure provider Novosco, storage giant EMC and leading communications technology provider Cisco hosted a virtual data centre briefing at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.

The briefing focused on the benefits of IT virtualisation, such as server consolidation, cost savings and desktop/application centralisation. While these benefits have always been widely known, more and more businesses are now realising the future operational advantages that a virtual IT infrastructure, including the move to a cloud infrastructure, has to offer.

Essentially, cloud computing is the delivery of applications/files (anything from storage to email and CRM), over the internet.

“Cloud computing has long been a buzz word within the IT industry, but until now its true implementation has not been possible,” said Patrick McAliskey, managing director of Novosco. 

“With a reputation for delivering industry firsts and working alongside our technology partners, VMware, EMC and Cisco, we are set to transform the IT industry once again,” McAliskey said.

During the briefing, VMware released its new vSphere 4 product, which is the leading platform for building cloud infrastructures. Novosco technical staff supplemented this with a LIVE vSphere demo.

EMC also discussed virtualised storage and Cisco presented virtualised networking.

The briefing was attended by around 140 delegates, including organisations such as Belfast Trust, Belfast International Airport, and Progressive Building Society.

By John Kennedy

Pictured:John Stone, CTO, Cisco; Patrick McAliskey, managing director, Novosco; Jimmy Kehoe, partner manager, VMware; Brendan Crossey, territory manager, EMC

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com