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Head in the Clouds: SaaS, PaaS, and Cloud Strategy
All cloud all the time. This blog is the source for news and views on cloud strategy, SaaS, PaaS and cloud development.
Recent Posts
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Coding Dojo bootcamp bests 4-year programs
- News Writer 08 Nov 2017 -
Rollbar snags $6 million for error monitoring
- News Writer 31 Oct 2017 -
Stack Overflow launches Microsoft AI-based chatbot
- News Writer 24 Oct 2017
Hoping to help close the cloud skills gap, the Coding Dojo bootcamp is graduating more developers than any four-year computer science program.
Error monitoring software-as-a-service provider Rollbar has secured $6 million in venture capital funding to advance its software and grow the organization.
Employing the power of the Azure cloud platform, Stack Overflow has created a Microsoft AI-based chatbot to provide developers with coding assistance.
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Is data security nothing more than wishful thinking?
- News Writer 02 Aug 2017 -
Goldilocks and API granularity
- News Writer 18 Jul 2017 -
Serverless computing is the next big thing -- and it's already here
- News Writer 08 Jun 2017 -
Forget the cloud. NASA wants your coding skills for outer space.
- News Writer 16 May 2017 -
Making error fixes after deploying cloud applications
- Features Writer 11 May 2017 -
Red Hat OpenShift.io puts the entirety of app development into your browser
- News Writer 05 May 2017 -
Microsoft snaps up Deis in latest container play
- News Writer 11 Apr 2017
It's not easy to steal 1.5 terabytes of data. Downloading that much, even to multiple destinations, takes time.
Which is better, fewer, bigger API calls or more smaller ones? It's the Goldilocks principal of API granularity.
Serverless computing can free developers from configuring and deploying virtual cloud-based servers. There are servers; they're just not yours. That adds up to speed and savings.
Remember FORTRAN? Well, of course you don't. That's why NASA is holding a contest featuring a prize purse of up to $55,000. It wants to speed up some old FORTRAN software by a factor of 10,000. ...
Cloud app developers, here's advice on for post-deployment error handling and making code error fixes.
Red Hat Summit announcements included the OpenShift.io browser-based IDE, the Container Health Index service, a tighter relationship with AWS, and on-premises containerized API management.
Deis, in its own words, "helps developers and operators build, deploy, manage, and scale their applications on top of Kubernetes." We all want to do that.
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The end is near for cloud computing. Or is it?
- News Writer 07 Mar 2017 -
Oscars flub evokes recent cloud-computing snafus
- News Writer 27 Feb 2017 -
Is 30% of your cloud spending wasted? Survey says yes.
- News Writer 15 Feb 2017 -
Is IoT turning into the Internet of Thugs?
- News Writer 30 Jan 2017 -
Why to use APIs, explained in 18 words
- News Writer 19 Jan 2017 -
Is application code walking out your door when developers jump ship?
- News Writer 03 Jan 2017 -
Have you driven embedded software, lately?
- News Writer 04 Dec 2016 -
Developers are driving the advancement of cloud culture
- News Writer 11 Nov 2016 -
Why are so few enterprises implementing automated software release management?
- News Writer 28 Oct 2016 -
Is it acceptable to write sloppy, inefficient, bloated code -- or just easy?
- News Writer 11 Oct 2016 -
It's time for developers to become experts in artificial intelligence
- News Writer 04 Oct 2016 -
Who should build tomorrow's cloud and mobile apps?
- News Writer 19 Sep 2016 -
Apple App Store gets a long-overdue scrubbing
- News Writer 01 Sep 2016 -
Ransomware is reaching for new targets. Protect thyself.
- News Writer 18 Aug 2016 -
SiriKit, iMessage open new vistas for mobile app developers
- News Writer 02 Aug 2016 -
Survey says: Be careful what you ask for
- News Writer 26 Jul 2016 -
Android fragmentation: An app developer's worst nightmare?
- News Writer 19 Jul 2016 -
It's prime time for API management
- News Writer 28 Jun 2016 -
Cloud Computing Expo raises awareness of change
- News Writer 09 Jun 2016 -
We're using cloud computing for this?
- News Writer 01 Jun 2016 -
'SAPple' -- Made from the best stuff on earth?
- News Writer 24 May 2016 -
Do APIs need a 'do unto others' golden rule?
- News Writer 09 May 2016 -
No-code, low-code tools are here to stay. Deal with it.
- News Writer 02 May 2016 -
Do you love the cloud, but for the wrong reason?
- News Writer 22 Apr 2016 -
Developers need to be aware of avoidable costs
- News Writer 15 Apr 2016 -
Could the Internet of Things morph into the Abandonment of Things?
- News Writer 06 Apr 2016 -
Nothing is 100% secure, not even an iPhone
- News Writer 29 Mar 2016 -
When multi-SaaS integration is a repeat offender
- News Writer 24 Mar 2016 -
When no one knows why an app does what it does
- News Writer 15 Mar 2016 -
Are your cloud apps' APIs secure?
- News Writer 29 Feb 2016 -
Parse shutdown: Alternatives are asking for your business
- News Writer 10 Feb 2016 -
Parse shutdown: What now?
- News Writer 03 Feb 2016 -
Walmart shakes up application lifecycle management
- News Writer 28 Jan 2016 -
Spark is overtaking MapReduce. Are you ready?
- News Writer 19 Jan 2016 -
Microsoft closes Windows 8
- News Writer 12 Jan 2016 -
Mobile devices vs. legacy software
- News Writer 11 Jan 2016 -
How many data sources in your apps? Let me count the APIs.
- News Writer 04 Jan 2016 -
Are you suffering from an IoT talent shortage?
- News Writer 29 Dec 2015 -
Gaming as a service -- GaaS
- News Writer 16 Dec 2015 -
Get the Helion out of there, now!
- News Writer 05 Dec 2015 -
The case against moving to the cloud
- Senior News & Feature Writer 02 Dec 2015 -
Ready or not, Microsoft PowerApps is here
- News Writer 30 Nov 2015 -
Oracle shows new cloud attitude at OOW 2015
- Features Writer 13 Nov 2015 -
Time to rev up Bluetooth in your cloud and mobile apps
- News Writer 13 Nov 2015 -
Why do you like the cloud?
- News Writer 03 Nov 2015 -
Azul's Zulu gets early support for upcoming Java 9
- News Writer 30 Oct 2015 -
Adobe fesses up; will fix the app it broke
- News Writer 29 Oct 2015 -
The value of Big Data is big. Really big. IBM says so.
- News Writer 28 Oct 2015 -
How ready are your apps for IoT?
- News Writer 22 Oct 2015 -
What if you build it and no one comes?
- News Writer 16 Oct 2015 -
I hope your apps are better than this
- News Writer 09 Oct 2015 -
Building cloud apps? What about the specs?
- News Writer 30 Sep 2015 -
Not exactly best practices
- News Writer 25 Sep 2015 -
What not to do in the cloud -- "Cloud Anti-Patterns"
- Senior News & Feature Writer 23 Sep 2015 -
Have you forgotten about Windows?
- News Writer 18 Sep 2015 -
What is a software engineer? Not even IBM knows
- News Writer 14 Sep 2015 -
Can your cloud apps handle interrupted transactions?
- News Writer 04 Sep 2015 -
Are your healthcare applications on FHIR?
- News Writer 27 Aug 2015 -
Microservices architecture is the future now
- News Writer 24 Aug 2015 -
IoT data: Handling a raging torrent in the cloud
- News Writer 19 Aug 2015 -
Cloud first does not mean cloud always
- News Writer 12 Aug 2015 -
Outsourcing development can ease the talent shortage
- News Writer 11 Aug 2015 -
Mobile app, mobile Web, or both?
- News Writer 31 Jul 2015 -
Data encryption: In the clear, or in the know?
- News Writer 30 Jul 2015 -
Is Shadow IT always bad?
- News Writer 23 Jul 2015 -
Get rich selling in app stores? Not so fast.
- News Writer 14 Jul 2015 -
Computer glitch? Admit it, there's no such thing
- News Writer 08 Jul 2015 -
Choose integration tools with care
- News Writer 08 Jul 2015 -
Red Hat's OpenShift Enterprise 3 PaaS gets a formal launch
- News Writer 26 Jun 2015 -
HP keeps the tools coming; this time for continuous testing
- News Writer 22 Jun 2015 -
Is mobile software really this bad?
- News Writer 17 Jun 2015 -
Incorporating security into an app starts on day one
- News Writer 14 Jun 2015 -
Monetization: It may be the real reason we built the cloud
- News Writer 12 Jun 2015 -
Cloud app functionality is not enough
- News Writer 04 Jun 2015 -
Where cloud meets Big Data: New expert advice
- Features Writer 15 May 2015 -
Rx for integration pain
- TechTarget 23 Apr 2015 -
Personality counts in building apps, says IBM Cloud VP
- Features Writer 22 Apr 2015 -
Denodo releases free data virtualization tool
- Associate Director 06 Oct 2014
The need for instantaneous information exchange makes peer mesh networks inevitable. The network latency associated with a device-to-datacenter model and the corresponding datacenter-to-device ...
Now that La La Land, er, Moonlight has won the Oscar for best picture, let's look back at some cloud computing flubs. May we all learn from our mistakes.
Survey respondents estimate that 30% of cloud spending is wasted. How in the world -- or in the cloud -- did this happen, and happen so quickly?
Hackers hold a hotel's guestroom cardkey access system for ransom. And it's not the first time. Now, the hotel reportedly is planning a return to good, old-fashioned metal keys.
18 words is all you need: "Every feature, function, and use is transmitted through APIs, which gives us the ability to grow our platform."
Departing employees routinely stuff their pockets with Sharpies and paper clips to stock their home offices. Are they walking out with application code, too?
Hardware is nothing more than software that breaks if you drop it. Even today's vehicles are essentially little more than highly complex mobile computers with seating for five and cargo space.
It's all very good for developers. You get to continually look at new technologies, new languages, and new opportunities to profoundly impact a business's operations and profitability.
Why are we breaking our necks to develop apps faster if we're not any good at shipping the code out the door?
Business cycles that demand frequent changes in application functionality make it difficult to write compact, efficient code.
If you're an applications developer, You must add AI, cognitive computing, machine learning, and analytics expertise to your skills portfolio.
It hasn't taken long -- only about a year -- for so-called no-code/low-code application development tools to go from loathed to loved. But, as someone who makes your living as a professional ...
If you're a lazy developer who hasn't invested the necessary time to keep your app up to date for changes in screen sizes and resolution, or leverage features added to iOS, you don't deserve to ...
The ubiquitous nature of the Internet of Things technology makes it a completely new fertile ground for ransomware attacks. Earlier this month, two security researchers demonstrated how a ...
At last, the forthcoming iOS 10 includes SiriKit and an API. You'll also be able to create app extensions that let users interact with your app directly within messages.
Questioning an online survey's questions might not be an app developer's job, but your logical mind is likely better-suited for finding the kinds of mistakes that could render a survey's results ...
Android fragmentation is out of control. It's a complete mess for developers and not something they should have to put up with.
APIs are becoming the backbone of many infrastructures, but IT departments often lack the means to manage, track, and secure their API portfolios. APIs are the glue between on-premises and ...
One shift we are likely to see over the next few years is that of cognitive computing, where the nature of the data dictates how it should be handled.
What we can do with technology is limited only by our imaginations. Otherwise, we might still be carrying tape cassettes or CDs. Let's look at how the cloud is being used in ways that some might ...
SAP gets access to 10 million enthusiastic developers writing for iOS. That's a lot of developers with a lot of non-traditional ideas about apps can do. Apple gets access to SAP's global enterprise ...
Ride-hailing service Uber is in an über-snit about how a handful of Harvard Business School students are using its developer API in a price-comparison mobile app. Uber, whose own app rained ...
Like it or not, no-code and low-code (I dub thee NCLC) application-development tools that allow line-of-business departments to navigate around IT's army of highly trained, expert analysts and ...
I do not subscribe to the idea that cutting costs should be the primary reason for moving to the cloud. Cloud computing is a means to an end, not a business strategy unto itself. You embrace the ...
What do developers worry about when creating an application? Performance. Data validation. Correct logic and processing. Memory use. Concise code. What they tend not to concern themselves with is ...
What should happen when the maker of an IoT product shuts down its cloud service, rendering customer-purchased hardware useless?
The FBI dropped its suit against Apple after finding a way into the iPhone that belonged to a San Bernardino terrorist. It proves, yet again, that nothing is ever completely, totally secure.
Have you found yourself having to integrate a dozen instances of the very same SaaS product -- none of which IT knew about? You're not alone.
What happens when there's a problem an app or systems software that no one anticipated? Not you, not the app owner, not QA, not ops, not anyone.
You can never prove that an application is secure; you can prove only that it is not secure. How can that be?
Rarely have I seen anything touch a nerve to the degree of Facebook's coming shutdown of the Parse mobile back-end as a service. Developers are watching out for each other, offering up ideas for ...
Were you caught off guard by Facebook's to shutter its Parse MBaaS? You're not alone. What now?
Following more than two years of development and testing, WalmartLabs is making its OneOps cloud management and application lifecycle management platform available to the open-source community. ...
There is no doubt that Spark's swift growth is coming at the expense of the MapReduce component of the Apache Hadoop software framework. So what's the allure of Spark?
Today is the day that Microsoft discontinues all support for the loathed Windows 8 operating system, and stops issuing security patches for Internet Explorer versions 8, 9, and 10. Windows 7 and ...
The move to smart devices can't be stopped. That means new opportunities for developers, especially in transaction processing and payments. But, don't lose sight of the legacy applications that ...
An app that should be seen by users as the very model of simplicity can get very complicated very fast. Are your apps similar?
What is your experience in finding qualified developer talent to work on your company's IoT, mobile, or cloud-based projects? Are you able to fill your open positions?
'Tis the yuletide season, so let's have a little fun today. Let's talk about games on the cloud. Not surprisingly, cloud gaming platforms are here. It's a GaaS. It's Gaming as a Service. You've ...
Not even two years. HP's Helion public cloud service, launched on May 6, 2014. It's being euthanized on Jan. 31, 2016. If your organization has workload and data assets in the HP cloud, they must ...
Even the most cursory glance at cloud service offerings makes you immediately see why nearly every company is there today. It's cheap, it's fast, and at the larger providers like AWS, it's even ...
Microsoft today launched Microsoft PowerApps, a major new platform that lets anyone build cross-platform mobile applications. Anyone. And for now, it's free. Love or hate it, this latest salvo in ...
Looking back at Oracle OpenWorld 2015, all one can see is clouds. “Cloud, cloud, cloud” was the conference summation by 451 Research analyst Alan Pelz-Sharpe. The interesting thing about the cloud ...
We’re seeing an increasing number of cloud and mobile apps turn to Bluetooth for beacon-based location services and other peripheral device connectivity. The number of devices using Bluetooth ...
It's easy to understand why the CFO likes cloud computing. It's almost certainly less expensive than running a traditional IT organization and infrastructure. Perhaps the HR manager likes the ...
With Oracle using this week's JavaOne conference to reaffirm its commitment to the Java platform, third-party tool maker Azul Systems debuted an early access program for Java 9 support in Zulu, its ...
In an earlier IT Knowledge Exchange blog post, I wrote about how Adobe, in an astonishingly poor effort to simplify, completely changed the import procedure in its Lightroom application, widely ...
Visit any of the TechTarget family of websites or e-publications and Big Data is everywhere. It's unavoidable. Inescapable. IT isn't about applications, it's about the data. Think of all the things ...
We all know that "things" of all kinds, limited only by your imagination, are already demanding all connectivity all the time. But, you ain't seen nothin' yet, if the predictions of those in the ...
Application development isn't easy. That's why the profession of software engineering is so valued and why talented cloud and mobile app developers -- like you -- are continually sought after. That ...
Today, let's do something different. Instead of offering up my own opinions, I'll let others hang themselves with their own words. Suffice it to say, test your software fully before shipping it ...
Whatever language(s) you happen to use for coding applications and services, there's no doubt that you are among the world's best it. You've got the skill, the talent, the insight, and the brains ...
Yesterday (Sept. 24), I attended a cloud summit seminar sponsored by the Object Management Group's Cloud Standards Customer Council. This was not about scrutinizing lines of code, but rather, an ...
Sometimes the best ideas start with a rant. At least that’s what happened to Mallika Iyer, a Cloud Foundry specialist at Pivotal who helps clients either start or expand their cloud efforts. After ...
We're all so busy reading (you) or writing (me) about developing apps for cloud and mobile platforms, it's getting pretty tough to find much in the way of Windows coverage. If you've forgotten ...
We're all aware that as cloud applications grow in importance, businesses are clamoring to hire more software engineers. They might work in mobile application development, database design and ...
When someone using your mobile cloud app begins a transaction and communications is unexpectedly lost, what happens on both the device and server sides when that break is detected? And what actions ...
As the cynics are fond of saying, the nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them. Nevertheless, if you build applications that in any way deal with healthcare, you should consider ...
Microservices are your future. Actually, they are your present -- or should be. If you're not already well-versed in microservices and containers, you're running at the back of the pack. It's time ...
As Internet of Things sensors appear in more places, it is cloud applications that must handle the data packets they generate. Depending on the use, the data could be anything from a trickle to a ...
Sitting in sessions at the Gartner Catalyst conference, one might expect to hear continual pushes to get everything into the cloud. That's just not the case. In one key session, the message was ...
At the Gartner Catalyst conference in San Diego, Stephen Wheat, chief IT architect at Emory Healthcare, Georgia's largest healthcare plan, got it right. To get cloud and mobile app development done ...
We don't hear much anymore about building applications intended to run inside a mobile device's browser. It's just not fashionable or newsworthy. These days, the tools, techniques, user ...
Data isn't safe anywhere. Pay a zillion dollars for security, and it's not going to stop the bad guys from getting in. Just ask the federal government. Or Target. Or Home Depot. Or TJX. Or Sony. Or ...
We've all seen it. That chief marketing officer wants a new report or a redesigned user experience on the company's mobile app. The guy is already fed up with an IT department and CIO he sees as ...
Working in a corporate IT department or for a software house as an application developer has its benefits, namely a regular paycheck. But, you probably want more. You dream about selling your own ...
Update on July 9: Reuters is reporting that yesterday's New York Stock Exchange computer outage was caused by a software update. According to Reuters, a spokeswoman for the NYSE said the root cause ...
No two IT infrastructures are alike. We all know it's true. Tiny differences in applications, configuration, or patch status pretty much guarantee that no two "identical" servers can ever be ...
Stand in any hallway during the Red Hat Summit in Boston this week, and you were likely to hear the c-word. Containers. And the d-word, too. Docker. Those two words seemed to get people more revved ...
It's becoming apparent that 2015 is a year in which we're being showered with cloud and mobile development tools from all sides. It seems new tools are being announced weekly. One of the companies ...
Every day, I check my iPhone to see which apps have been updated. Think of it as the latest fad in armchair spectator sports. What I see only reinforces my belief that mobile apps may look pretty, ...
I won a football at the New York Cloud Computing Expo in a session about encryption. Ask a meaty question and the speaker just might toss you a prize. My question was simple: If the only way to ...
At the Cloud Computing Expo in New York (June 9-11), there was plenty of talk about Docker, APIs, everything-as-a-service, and all manner of things technical. Yet, there was an interesting ...
You've got a huge portfolio of development tools for building and testing cloud applications. And you're probably running analytics against that mountain of big data you've kept either on-premises ...
Today, an application without data analytics is like a car without a steering wheel. It will go, but there’s no controlling its direction. The cloud and big data are infiltrating company practices, ...
Jan Stafford, Executive Editor In a 2014 survey, readers of SearchCloudApplications and its sister sites identified application and data integration as the biggest challenges in ...
“Once burnt, twice shy” is a cliché that rings true when software development teams fail to build what their target user really wants. “Too many developers and companies know that pain of a user ...
Denodo Express, a free data virtualization tool with a graphical user interface-based studio, is the latest product offered by Denodo Technologies, Inc. Denodo Express connects with and integrates ...