Roger Strukhoff

As I wrote yesterday, I'll be returning to the United States late this week, after spending most of my time over the past three years in Asia. From my base in the Philippines, I've covered cloud computing and related developments throughout Southeast Asia and China, with the occasional opportunity to cover India, Japan, and South Korea. Now I'll be setting up close to Chicago, with frequent trips to the San Francisco Bay Area, and planning to visit Asia when possible. I noted yesterday that most businesspeople are students of America to some degree. The notion's been seconded by a few fellow tweeters and some email I received. Still a Student Magnet Is this study warranted? Is the US still the technology leader, the land of opportunity, the place to be? It seems the country's been in a psychological funk since 9/11 and the two wars launched in its wake. Realistically... (more)

Drool, Britannia? Is the UK Failing the Cloud?

A new study found that 60 percent of UK businesses do not use any type of cloud computing. Furthermore, 20 percent of them "suspect they will sidestep cloud computing all together," according to the report, which was conduced by IDC on behalf of the British hosting provider Fasthosts. About one in four companies surveyed said a lack of cloud expertise was a primary concern for them. Contrast this with recent research known as the Cloud Maturity Index conducted by Forrester Research on behalf VMware: 64 percent of respondents in Malaysia said they have deployed or are actively pl... (more)

Goodbye for Now: From Asia Back to the US

I'll be returning to the United States late this week, after spending most of my time over the past three years in Asia. From my base in the Philippines, I've covered cloud computing and related developments throughout Southeast Asia and China, with the occasional opportunity to cover India, Japan, and South Korea. Now I'll be setting up close to Chicago, with frequent visits to the San Francisco Bay Area. What have I learned during my time in Asia? Are we truly in the early decades of the "Asian Century"? Where does the US fit into the mix these days? I'll try to answer these a... (more)

SOPA Seems Dead; Now What?

It looks like the SOPA bill, known formally as HR 3261 is dead now that President Obama has come out against it. As I write this, support among its sponsors, and of its twin PIPA (aka Senate 968), is on the wane. The day-long blackout by certain sites, and the publicity surrounding it, seems to have had a profound effect. But we all know we're trapped in a series Freddy Krueger movies. These bills will be back, no doubt shortly after the 2012 election. The strength of their venom will depend on the election results. To me, there were two nefarious aspects to SOPA - turning tradit... (more)

The "Why" of Expanding Cloud & Big Data Definitions

My father would tell me that during his time in the U.S. Navy, "we weren't encouraged to ask why we had to do something." Creating and enforcing a strict command-and-control policy is critical in getting a military organization to function. Too often, this mindset permeates companies as well. Even in its milder forms, it often leads to groupthink and/or a passive-aggressive "acceptance" designed to stall rather than implement corporate initiatives. The Big Topics Thus we come to Cloud Computing and Big Data initiatives, both of which will no doubt be in evidence in the majority o... (more)