The use of cloud computing isn't in the plans for the Stack Exchange network of sites? Steve Jones thinks they have a pretty cool reason not to use the cloud and he thinks you ought to have a similar view at work.  Read more...

Is the cloud secure? How can you be sure? Steve Jones talks a little about some ways you can try to check on your cloud provider.  Read more...

The cloud changes the way that we can administer and deploy changes to our systems. Steve Jones highlights an interesting idea, and hopes we get similar techniques applied to databases in the cloud.  Read more...

I'd like to hear the thoughts of DBAs out there on Windows and SQL Azure, and the prospects of moving applications and databases into the clouds. How many DBAs work for companies that have done it or are seriously considering it? What are the deepest concerns?  Read more...

The cloud should bring with it lower costs, and better efficiency, but that's not necessarily the way things are. Microsoft has a great internal project that costs out the cloud for their departments, and this would be a great addition to the public or private clouds.  Read more...

This guide outlines the major considerations that must be taken into account when onboarding Microsoft® SQL Server® environments into a private cloud infrastructure.There is a strong trend in IT to virtualize servers whenever possible, driven by:1. Standardization2. Manageability3. IT agility and efficiency4. Consolidating servers reduces hardware, energy, and datacenter space utilization costs5. Virtualized environments allow new Disaster Recovery strategiesThe Hyper-V™ role in Windows Server® 2008 R2 provides a robust and cost-effective virtualization foundation to deliver these scenarios.However, there is significant risk in virtualizing SQL Server environments without giving careful consideration to the workloads being virtualized and the requirements of the server applications running on a Hyper-V environment.   Read more...

Research firm The 451 Group coins "NewSQL" to categorize a new breed of database designed for distributed environments -- like the cloud.   Read more...

Platform as a service, a new way of looking at applications. It's analogous to SAAS and IAAS, which can improve the efficiency of the software purchase or the hardware acquisition process. Steve Jones notes that this is something he'd like to see for database platforms.  Read more...

Steve Jones thinks that security will be one of the biggest impediments to the adoption of cloud computing might be the security issues and hacking targets it provides.  Read more...

Steve Jones likes the cloud, but doesn't necessarily trust it. After a recent Hotmail outage, he outlines a potential issue that he sees with cloud computing.  Read more...

Today we have a guest editorial from Andy Warren looking at the future of cloud computing and SQL Server.  Read more...

Microsoft is working to certify vendors to build private clouds, which Steve Jones thinks is a great idea.  Read more...

Crunching data or having access to vast amounts of data is crucial for many applications.   Read more...

Most business applications you write probably utilize some kind of relational database. And, as a .NET developer, the chances are that database is Microsoft SQL Server. This article walks you through migrating your SQL Server database applications to the cloud with SQL Azure.  Read more...

This week Steve talks about cloud computing, and the fact that a lot of what the cloud does is no big deal. But it can be helpful to IT professionals.  Read more...

Will DBAs need to perform more complex financial analysis of the options they consider when building and tuning software systems? Steve Jones thinks it might be a skill needed in cloud computing.  Read more...

Cloud computing is becoming more and more prevalent in technology. However most people think of a public cloud on the Internet. Steve Jones says a private cloud might be a better idea for many companies.  Read more...

There has been a lot of talk about moving to cloud based computing, and cloud based services. Steve Jones comments on what this might mean today.  Read more...

Phil Factor believes that there will have to be further compromises between the pioneers of The Cloud and the regulators, before companies feel safe in entrusting their financial data to such an abstract service, seemingly 'remote from sand and iron'.  Read more...

The cornucopia of products for handling distributed data in the cloud includes everything from lightweight key-value stores to industrial-strength databases  Read more...