BlueLock

Hybrid Hosting Solutions will be hot in 2010

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 by Alicia Gaba

The hybrid cloud computing model has and will continue to gain traction as we move into 2010. Recently, there has been a decent amount of buzz around the topic. Hybrid cloud computing has been listed in many top prediction lists for 2010, including this one which claims to expect hybrid hosting to be the rule, not the exception.

Technology writer Michael Sheehan told Web 2.0 Journal that he believed 2010 would see the market for hybrid solutions, which combine aspects of private servers with public clouds, become more mature. However, he also noted his uncertainty regarding which types of hybrid cloud solutions would make the biggest splash.

"Whether this be the combination of physical and cloud environments or, cloud bursting, or private and public clouds working congruently, there will definitely be a blurring of lines between what hosting is," he said.

Well, no matter which combination of cloud hosting solutions edges to the top, my prediction is that there won't be an all-out winner, but that each variety will solve problems for its own market. Thankfully, BlueLock will be able to serve each variety: those who want to combine physical and virtual, private clouds and public clouds, or a combination of all four.

Contact us today if you'd like to learn more about our hybrid cloud hosting solutions.

Downtime or not, Cloud will still be on top.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

"The cloud" is still in its youth, maybe adolescence, so its easy to point fingers and scream when an outage occurs. Just recently, Amazon Web Services had an outage in its Northern Virginia data center due to the failure of a power supply in an "availability zone" as well as a second failure of a component in the redundant system. Outages happen, so it shouldn't have been as big of a shock as it was made out to be.

However, when companies are beginning to outsource data center operations, they have high expectations, which is why zero failure is a good standard for providers to aim at in the clouds. The fact is, all internal systems fail too, but there is no one to point the finger at. When real people and real technology is involved, outages will occur. I strongly feel that the cloud, outages or not, will have higher up-time and availability than most, if not all, internal systems. High-profile clients, sensitive data and the fear of hundreds of clients yelling and screaming is enough motivation for any infrastructure as a service provider to architect a bullet-proof cloud.

At BlueLock, we like happy clients, that's why we promise 99.99% up-time and push every day to make our cloud bigger, better and stronger.

SaaS Virtualization Innovation

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 by Matt Hunckler

SaaS virtualization is creating an ocean entrepreneurial opportunities, where small, nimble businesses can create real value by making creating more efficient ways of doing things.

One thing that James Urquhart points out in his Wisdom of Clouds blog post is that there is still a lot of opporutnity in the SaaS virtualization realm. Businesses that currently use enterprise apps need experts who can transition them to more robust and reliable SaaS apps. There is certainly plenty of room for experts like these to create value, while collecting strategic consulting and referral fees.

As more and more companies take on SaaS apps to manage their business processes, the need for consolidation will increase. Imagine the ability to pay for your campany's blogging platform, accounting system, email marketing platform, and CRM tool -- all on one bill. Now wouldn't that be nice? Urquart rightly points out that SaaS meter consolidatoin could craete a level of convenience for which some companies would be willing to pay.

It will be interesting to see how enrepreneurial companies take advantage of the small pockets of opoprtunity in the SaaS industry next year. It's hard to say which ideas will win, be you can be certain that speed and agility in deploying new business models will be key ingredients to success in SaaS virtualization innovation.

The three things every IT leader should know about cloud computing

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

If by now, moving into 2010, you are an IT leader and are still confused with all of this cloud computing stuff, rest assured you are probably not alone. This brings us to this new top five list to help acclimate everyone to to basics of what you should know about the cloud computing market.

Cloud Computing can in fact enhance performance.

Cloud Computing is designed to increase utilization of computing resources in way that traditional data centers and traditional hosting cannot. Corporate servers run at about 15% of their capacity, whereas by pooling those resources the servers can reach as much as 80% capacity. Also, the cloud eliminates the licensing fees and upfront capital costs associated with IT hardware and software. As with most outsourcing models, cloud computing is no different, it frees up resources, specifically those needed to support the infrastructure. With lowered support costs, those resources can then be focused on more strategic IT iniatives that have a bigger impact on the bottom line.

The Private Cloud is the hot spot for cloud computing beginners.

Many organizations who want to realize the benefits of cloud computing but still want the comfort of having their infrastructure at their own facility will build a private cloud in their data center. These in-house environments that manage workloads using cloud methods are managed within the company's own firewall. They offer the benefits and agility of better resource utilization without the security concerns of having sensitive data residing outside the organization's perimeter. Once you achieve a level of comfort with the cloud and can see how your applications perform, you will be better able to gain access to the advantages of hybrid and/or public cloud computing. BlueLock offers the BlueLock Box, a private cloud that can be installed at your facility or ours. Yes, that's right, your place or ours. What a nice and easy way to head to the clouds.

Security is a two-way street in the Cloud.

Just because the cloud you choose is secure doesn't mean your applications are secure, and vice versa. The issue of security in the cloud is a unique one in which both sides of the coin matter equally. The organization embracing cloud computing needs to have the correct compliance infrastructure in place to mitigate risks associated with everything from securing corporate data to managing who has access to it, when it's accessed and if it's being transferred from the cloud to other environments. The service provider must do the same.

Private Cloud Solution in Higher Education

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

BlueLock provided a cloud computing solution to Marian University as their aging hardware began putting a toll on IT efficiency within the organization. Marian University needed the comfort of a virtual disaster recovery solution, greater uptime and better computing capabilities. BlueLock's private cloud solution was able to meet those goals with virtualization storage, copmute stability and flexible growth capabilities without a large upfront investment.

With the BlueLock Box, essentially a private cloud solution, Marian replicates their systems from their LeftHand SAN to BlueLock's LeftHand SAN, allowing them to "talk" to each other in cases when Marian University needs more compute or storage space. Watch this video to hear more about Marian's success with BlueLock.

TechTarget vCloud Express Review

Thursday, December 10, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

Jason Langone did a recent review of the five official VMware vCloud Express providers. Langone is a tried and true user of Amazon EC2, and therefore was somewhat skeptical of vCloud Express (although he's a VMware expert and a fan of most all of their products).

When vCloud Express was announced at VMworld 2009 in September, it was was showcased as a portal that will allow for cloud-based virtual machines to be easily configured from a virtual hardware perspective. What's the big deal? Well, there are millions of VMware users who can now extend their existing virtual infrastructures into a hosted and secured VMware cloud. That's a big deal.

Langone tested all five vCloud Express cloud computing providers, including BlueLock.

His intent was to test ease of setting up an account, total time to have an instance running, basic input/output (I/O) metrics and overall user experience while using AWS Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) to measure against.

Find out how BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II fared here.

Read the original post about his review here.

Top 5 Cloud Computing Predictions 2010

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

Because we needed another "top" list, I'd love to go through David Linthicum's latest list, "Top 5 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2010."

Prediction #1: The rise of cloud computing standards

The whole theme of standards and interoperability was a big topic in 2009, but those discussions were very conceptual, and not really actionable. Some organizations waited on the wayside before adopting a cloud computing solution because standards and interoperability would prevent them from experiencing vendor lock-in. On that note, some have said that BlueLock was a bad name choice because it has a connotation that we would "lock" our clients in. I like to think that BlueLock would make someone think of security, but I guess not. However, our cloud uses VMware virtualization technology, so you can take your VMware stuff and take it wherever you like (as long as it stays VMware) if you decide you aren't a big fan of us. No vendor-lockin here. Back to topic - I can already tell from listening in on some strategic meetings here that interoperability will take on a large role this year for us. I can only guess that we aren't the only cloud computing provider with that on our mind.

Prediction #2: First Major Cloud Computing Outages

This one is only a matter of time. Stuff happens in the cloud. The cloud still involves real people and of course, real technology. Although outages will happen, your provider should make sure that there is a sufficient backup plan in order that will help alleviate those pains. And of course, the second a "big" provider has a "big" mishap, all aim will go to the cloud. However, Linthicum reminds us, "Despite the outages, cloud computing providers will maintain an uptime record that far exceeds that of most on-premise systems, but you won't hear about that in the technology press."

Prediction #3: Microsoft will be relevant in the cloud

Most businesses run Microsoft, so to say that Microsoft will not become a larger cloud player would be silly. Now that they've finally got going on the cloud front, we'll see just how much of an impact they'll make, but we're sure to see them make some sort of splash. However, "Google will continue to dominate small to medium-sized businesses, using its free ad-driven model for delivery of Google Docs and Gmail, with a few larger enterprise deals thrown in."

Prediction #4: Rapid Consolidation of Existing Providers

As cloud computing continues to grow, many of the successful providers will want to expand even more, which will involve buying up the smaller guys. Hence, there will be less small providers and more big - consolidation.

Prediction #5: Rise of Cloud Computing Startups

As if 2009 didn't see enough, there will be more in 2010 as the technology leaves the stage of early adoption and reaches the masses. As consolidation occurs (see prediction #4), market value will increase and more VC-backed startups will sprout up. Think you've seen a lot of "as a services" this year? It won't be the end of it.

Read David's original post here.

Do you have a prediction for the cloud in 2010?

Communities Accelerate Cloud Computing

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 by Matt Hunckler

While reading a cool blog post on cloud computing communities by Reuven Cohen, creator of the Elastic Vapor blog, I was reminded of some of the reasons I love getting together with like-minded people:

Communities are fun.
What's could be better than hanging out with a bunch of folks with with common interests to eat, drink, and toss around ideas? At meetups, you're bound to meet at least a handful of interesting and inspiring people. It's fun to see things from new perspectives, challenge others, and allow others to challenge you.

Two (or more!) heads are better than one.
Simply put, there's power in numbers. Collaborating, brainstorming, and innovating are all natural byproducts of getting smart people toegther in the same space -- whether that space is physical or virtual. Platforms like Wordpress and Joomla are excellent examples of the power of collaboration, and how communities can work together to create something much more powerful than could have come from an individual or team.

Communities are everywhere
Whether cloud computing communities congregate in person -- like at CloudCamp -- or online, finding cloud computing communities is simple.

Don't know where to start? You might find these helpful:

Hope to meet you out there.

IT to go "strategic" in 2010

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

A recent survey of business leaders, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Accenture, revealed what those IT and business leaders are discussing in their closed-door budget meetings. The results hint at one thing when it comes to IT: strategy.

These IT and business leaders are the same people who worked to slash their IT expenses in 2009. They may now be looking at IT as a strategic tool to reduce other business expenses, increase revenues and provide other kinds of value to the business. Will this strategy correlate to the top IT strategies for 2010?

Accenture’s research shows that strategic areas for IT spending in 2010 will include server virtualization and consolidation, business analytics and intelligence, and more customer self-service e-business automation projects. These are all good steps towards building a lean mean fighting IT machine.

Many are faithful that 2010 will bring about a recovery. Most companies are approaching 2010 with conservative optimism in light of that "faith." With lean IT that does its job, many companies could be in a good position to ride that recovery fruitfully.

What is your company planning to do in 2010 to make IT work better and harder?

Is your company planning to bring virtualization and/or cloud computing into their IT mix?

Infrastructure as a Service: BlueLock Looking Back

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

This infrastructure as a service video was produced almost three years ago now, but the fundamentals of who BlueLock wanted to be and what we provided then hasn't changed too dramatically. It's still all about BlueLock's three C's of cloud computing:

Capacity
Continuity
Compliance

Our vision three years ago was spot on. Hear what our leaders had to said then about their vision of infrastructure as a service (what has now become more widely known as cloud computing hosting), because it's what we continue to do today.

Click here to view more of our cloud computing videos.

Are Cloud Vendors Really Ignoring Consumer's Concerns?

Monday, December 7, 2009 by Brian Wolff

Recently, a few articles have popped up with the accusation that cloud computing vendors and providers are ignoring IT pros' concerns.

Carl Brooks recently quoted: "The results of a new Forrester Research survey show that while awareness around cloud computing has grown by leaps and bounds, the concerns of potential adopters remain the same. But apparently vendors and cloud promoters didn't get the memo."

A Forrester survey entitled "State Of Emerging SMB Hardware: 2009 To 2010" questioned around 3,000 business respondents. Roughly 51% of those respondents named uncertainty about security in cloud environments the biggest obstacle to adoption.

The concepts of cloud computing and its many benefits and advantages are becoming widespread knowledge, but the accusation is that cloud computing service providers are not doing enough to alleviate concerns around security, namely by providing specifics about how they are securing data.

Let's be frank here, BlueLock is not going to give away our "secret sauce" about how exactly we go about securing our clients' data, but I can tell you that we are completely open with the security vendors we have chosen (IBM ISS, CheckPoint, and we've got a great relationship with Shavlik Technologies).

We have clients with PCI compliance needs, clients with HIPAA requirements and more. While we aren't out shouting about our security, rest assured, we wouldn't have three successful years of providing IaaS cloud computing behind our belts without it. Not with our clients, that's for sure.

One of the biggest reasons most providers are not out there telling security stories is because no one wants to make their data center a target. Clients with high security needs won't talk about their story either, for the most part, because they don't want people to know where their data is or how its being protected (because that would make them a target too). So just because providers aren't making a bunch of noise about cloud security doesn't mean we aren't doing anything about it. Every decision BlueLock makes when it comes to our cloud architecture comes down to a question of security. If our clients aren't secure they aren't happy and we are no longer providing a valuable service as their trusted partner.

If you've got questions about how we can secure your data, contact our sales team at info@bluelock.com.

Read about the secure and compliant environment we built for Right On Interactive here.

To see a full list of BlueLock's technology partners, go here.

Read Carl Brooks' original post.

Asia shows room for growth in cloud computing market

Monday, December 7, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

A recent study shows that the awareness of cloud computing in Asia is still relatively low at 46%. That means over half of the survey respondents answered that they were not familiar with the concept of cloud computing. This sound to me like half of Asia has never even heard of cloud computing!

So what does that mean for the market of cloud computing? There is room for a lot of global growth. While currently over two-thirds of the respondents say that cloud computing is "not relevant" to their businesses, I have a feeling that as the benefits of virtualization and cloud computing become more apparent, those thoughts will change, especially in a country where 95% of organizations are aware of or using Software as a Service.

“Cloud computing is the next phase in the delivery and consumption of IT-enabled services and a major evolutionary step in the maturing of the IT industry,” said Michael Barnes, vice president.. “It provides an opportunity for organisations in Asia Pacific to leapfrog competitors in other regions. We expect organisations across Asia Pacific to embrace Cloud Computing as a way to drive greater standardisation at the IT infrastructure level while simultaneously lowering the resources required to leverage technology solutions for business benefits,” Barnes added.

BlueLock's Partner Intel Demonstrates Experimental Cloud Computing Processor

Friday, December 4, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

Wednesday, Intel demonstrated an experimental processor that applies the principles of cloud computing. Intel was involved with the launch of BlueLock vCloud Express back in September, so we're excited to hear about the continued advances in their cloud computing technologies.

The new processor, a 48-core processor has 10 to 20 times the processing engines contained within the most popular Intel chips and consumes the same amount of energy as two household light bulbs.

The developer community refers to the chip as a cloud computing chip because the design is similar to the organization of cloud datacenters with the linking of processing cores through a high-speed network.

Intel Lab Head and Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner quotes, "With a chip like this, you could imagine a cloud datacenter of the future which will be an order of magnitude more energy efficient than what exists today, saving significant resources on space and power costs."

As a leading infrastructure-as-a-service provider, BlueLock gets excited to hear about these new advances in cloud computing technology. As the market continues to grow and mature, it will be technology like this that will push "the cloud" to greater heights. Keep up the great work Intel!

Advantages of Cloud Computing Meetups

Thursday, December 3, 2009 by Matt Hunckler

All schmoozing and business-card-swaping aside, there are some fantastic advantages of attending cloud computing conventions and expos. I've found meetups like Cloud Camps, ITEC, TechPoint Summits, and Cloud Users Groups to be a fuel source for both professional and personal growth.

Assimilation of knowledge through osmosis is simple.
There are usually tons of super-smart people at events like those listed above. Whether these people are cloud computing providers, vmware virtual server specialists, or others utilizing a cloud computing platform; just standing b and listening in on conversations can be a learning experience. Be curious, pay attention, and ask questions.

Networking -- the interpersonal relationships kind -- reaps rewards.
Meet some new people, nd expand your network. How can you help event attendees? I always make it a goal to make at least three connections that don't immediately benefit me in any way. While you should never help someone with the intent to gain something in return, the law of reciprocity always pays dividends.

Fluency increases competency.
The simple repetition of explaining the advantages of cloud computing has helped me build a certain level of confidence and competence around the benefits of virtualization, vmware hoted environments, and SaaS irtualization. Join in the conversation and learn to talk the talk. The act of speaking about cloud computing platforms, helps to organize thoughts, enhance comprehension, and vet new ideas.

Bottom line: get out of the office and learn somthing from somebody -- including yourself. Find the next cloud computing meetup in your area. Hope to see you there.

Indiana University Jumping in the Clouds: Lands $1.5M Grant

Thursday, December 3, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

This news warms my heart. As an Indiana University Bloomington grad and now working for a leading Infrastructure as a Service provider (cloud provider) I'm ecstatic to hear that my alma mater is heading to the clouds in a big way. Let's not be foolish to think that IU has been out of the cloud party completely, the IU School of Informatics is on top of their game. But now, with the news of a grant specifically dedicated to cloud computing, IU should be making some big leaps in the arena.

Indiana University has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a software infrastructure and use cloud computing for a variety of life sciences and genomics data applications, IU said today.

"This research is potentially path-breaking," Peter Cherbas, a professor of biology and director of the IU Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, said in a statement.

"Cloud computing approaches are likely to change the nature of our national research computing infrastructure in the coming years," said Principal Investigator Geoffrey Fox, director of the Digital Science Center and associate dean of research and graduate studies in the IU School of Informatics and Computing. "These technologies hold significant promise in the life sciences and medical sciences as they offer the potential for greater computational power and faster speeds at a lower cost, and in a way that is easier for scientists to use than traditional grid computing approaches."

"Contemporary DNA sequencing machines are churning out data at rates that would have been unimaginable to biologists just a few years ago,” he added. “To use these data — to turn data into some kind of understanding — will demand good tools for using the Cloud and those tools will impact genomics projects worldwide.”

Ahhh...the joys and economics of cloud computing. This is what its all about - churning lots of data at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time. Click here to learn more about how we do just this for our clients.

Click here to read the news release about IU's Cloud Computing grant.

Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010: Cloud Computing on Top

Thursday, December 3, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

Its no surprise to hear cloud computing tops another top ten list, but this is a good one.

The news alert reports that "Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt."

This year “cloud computing” bumped “virtualization” for the number one spot on Gartner’s top 10 strategic technologies list. It should be noted that Gartner’s report is referring to virtualized computing environments (i.e. VMware, etc.) within the organization, as opposed to the virtualization that is inherent to cloud-based services delivered via the public Internet.

Another recent report on private clouds acknowledged that companies will more than likely spend more money on internal (or private clouds) cloud computing environments than with public cloud providers. BlueLock fits in well with this mix because with our private cloud offering we are able to deploy a private/internal cloud within your organization, but the technology allows for the private cloud to connect to the BlueLock public cloud environment for spillover or other needs.

Here is the full list of the top strategies from 2009 and for 2010:

Gartner’s top 10 strategic technologies for 2009 were:

1. Virtualization
2. Cloud computing
3. Servers (beyond blades)
4. Web oriented architectures
5. Enterprise mashups
6. Specialized systems
7. Social software / networking
8. Unified communications
9. Business intelligence
10. Green IT

The research firm’s top 10 strategic technologies for 2010 include:

1. Cloud computing
2. Advanced analytics
3. Client computing
4. IT for green
5. Reshaping the data center
6. Social computing
7. Security
8. Flash memory
9. Virtualization
10. Mobile applications

To find out more about BlueLock's public cloud and private cloud solutions contact us here.

To read the original release, click here.

BlueLock Launches BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II Program

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

New integrated solution enables users to take advantage of a high availability,
truly scalable storage solution in the Cloud

(Indianapolis, IN – December 1, 2009) - Indianapolis-based BlueLock, provider of cloud computing and managed IT services, announces its second round of Beta testing with BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II. BlueLock was one of only five cloud computing hosting providers chosen by VMware to provide VMware vCloud Express services since its launch in September 2009.

BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II is a Compute-as-a-Service solution designed to support transient workloads by providing a high level of elasticity for faster turnaround time and future workload federation. BlueLock vCloud Express will compete with services such as Amazon EC2 and Windows Azure.

“BlueLock vCloud Express Beta I was an instant success,” said Pat O’Day, CTO, BlueLock. “We filled up our Beta I slots in less than two months. With the feedback we garnered from those early users we’ve been able to make some major changes and the offering will continue to get better as we prepare to launch the public offering early in 2010.”

BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II is a reliable, on-demand infrastructure solution that ensures compatibility with internal VMware environments and with VMware Virtualized™ services worldwide. The technology allows users to create virtual machines as needed and add compute capacity via an online interface. The beta services are currently free, but the public offering in the future will include a pay-as-you-go payment structure where users pay only for the compute and storage space they use.

BlueLock vCloud Express Beta II is available immediately. For additional information, visit http://vcloudexpress.bluelock.com.

VIDEO: What is BlueLock vCloud Express and how can it help you?

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 by Brian Wolff

Hear from David Davis (VCP, vExpert, CCIE of www.VMwareVideos.com) about his take on the BlueLock vCloud Express cloud computing solution.

BlueLock vCloud Express launched its Beta I program early in September. Since then we've launched Beta II (today, actually) and we're excited to get our official public BlueLock vCloud Express offering out in early 2010.

To learn more about BlueLock vCloud Express click here.

Cloud Computing on Fertile Ground

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

Have you looked around at the cloud computing conversations on Twitter lately? Chances are that might be how you landed here. From cloud organizations to users to developers and even among people who aren't really sure what cloud computing is, conversations are flowing.

Want to know how to install a server on a certain platform? A little searching in the blogoshpere or twitosphere will get you the information you need.

What's this mean for the cloud computing world? That its not going away.

James Urquhart quotes:

"If you are wondering if cloud computing is a fad, the evidence to the contrary is all around you. I heartily recommend that you really listen to what is being said, understand how the cloud is being used, and seriously evaluate how this disruptive model will change your projects, your organization, and even your career. Clearly, there are many technologists who already have."

Cyber Black Friday Shopping & the Cloud

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Alicia Gaba

Cyber Black Friday is right around the corner - the infamous day that gives those of us who hate long lines and packed malls a much better alternative - online shopping exclusives.
Online shopping should give buyers the ease and convenience they're looking for, but in the wake of a huge rush of traffic, sometimes it just doesn't work that way (just like when you're out in the brick and mortar shops). Why? Because even today many e-commerce sites aren't built with hosting in place that allows for the site to expand and scale based on the amount of traffic coming to the site. The advantage of cloud computing is that websites are able to scale on demand, depending on the amoung of traffic it is experiencing, and they pay for that increase in infrastructure as they go.  So for instance, they only pay for the spikes as they happen, rather than all year long like with traditional hosting solutions.

A couple tips for e-commerce sites on Cyber Black Friday from BlueLock:

- Take an inventory of the amount of traffic increases you've seen in past years on Cyber Black Friday. Are you paying for the infrastructure necessary to handle that spike all year long? If so, its time to switch to the cloud.

- If you're an e-commerce site, you most likely need to be PCI compliant with whichever hosting solution you choose. Did you hesitate to realize the benefits of cloud computing because PCI compliance wasn't available? Look at your options again. BlueLock has many clients in our secured PCI compliant cloud.

Cloud computing continues to gain popularity, and with that more options, advances and opportunities will arise. E-commerce sites are prime targets for cloud computing simply because they will see immediate benefit from switching to the cloud due to the peaks and valleys they see each year around the holidays. What company wouldn't want to save all excess IT costs to put towards something else that will increase their bottom line?

Now to the shopper's bottom line...

CyberBlackFriday.com already has exclusive Black Friday coupons available and hundreds more will go live on November 27th.

Tips for shopping on Cyber Black Friday from cyberblackfriday.com:

    * Some brick and mortar stores will have exclusive online only specials not available in stores.

    * The US has three different time zones, each an hour apart. If an online store also has brick and mortar stores, the online store will usually operate in the time zone of the company's headquarters. Depending on where you are, an online store's 12:01AM may arrive early or late.

    * You could stay up late to wait for Cyber Black Friday specials to go live but instead enjoy time with your family, wake up early on Friday and get all your Christmas shopping done from your computer.

    * Shopping early ensures getting items in stock and free shipping with guaranteed Christmas delivery.