Last Week (Plus) in the Cloud: Breaking Through the Bubble

This week we’d like to share three recent news stories that bring cloud computing out of the buzzword bubble and into real-world context, including cloud technology's broad environmental and economic implications.

Why the Cloud Will Bring the App Store Revolution to Enterprise IT (Wired – Cloudline)

CloudExpo kicked off this Monday in Santa Clara and Jon Stokes, editor for Wired’s Cloudline blog, has been keeping track of the latest in cloud IT news. In the article above, Jon shares his two biggest impressions from the conference: rapid cloud technology adoption among small businesses, and the evolution of enterprise IT toward an “app- and service-centric” experience for both end users and IT departments. Jon predicts that the future of IT lies in the creation and maintenance of user apps and services. And that’s where Okta comes in.

Cloud Computing Can Reduce Carbon Emissions By Half, Report Says (Reuters)

Earlier this week here on the blog we talked about DocuSign – a cloud-based e-signature service that has saved over 60,000 trees. One of the reasons why we love DocuSign is that it demonstrates how cloud companies are making significant, measurable impact on the world. According to Reuters, a recent report by the Carbon Disclosure Project shows that cloud computing can help reduce a company’s carbon emissions by as much as 50 percent. For companies with annual revenue of over $1 billion, this is the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil per year.

Feds Aim To Speed Cloud Adoption With New Roadmap (Information Week)

As part of the federal government’s “cloud first” strategy, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has put together a cloud roadmap to help federal agencies move over $20 billion of IT technology to the cloud. Major emphases include standardizing cloud vocabulary and developing a cloud computing taxonomy. The ultimate goal? Cut costs in an attempt to balance the national budget.