According to Gartner a strategic technology is one which will significantly impact an 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 investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.

These technologies impact an organisation's long-term plans, programs and initiatives.

Marc Benioff discusses the background to the new book 'Behind the Cloud'

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Google announced today (22nd October 2009) that Jaguar Landrover have taken a 15,000 seat licence for its Apps collaboration and productivity suite.

The announcement was made at Google's Atmosphere conference in London today.

The event featured author Nicholas Carr, Werner Vogels from Amazon.com and Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff. They all had one message - the cloud provides a more efficient, flexible way to deliver services than corporate datacentres.

Larry Ellison on cloud computing, with Ed Zander at the Churchill Club

Larry's rant on the hype around cloud computing!

Until cloud computing is secure, encrypt, says storage supplier - Developers face a huge challenge in finding a transparent security system for use in cloud computing, says storage supplier Origin Storage.

Security... [Computer Weekly]

Cloud computing – the legal risks - While it is clear that the cloud has the potential to offer a great deal for end-users, there are an assortment of potential legal risks and issues that should be considered and, where possible, mitigated, writes Dan Burge, partner at Denton Wilde Sapte. [Computer Weekly]

There is evidence that 2nd and 3rd round cutting of IT budgets is jeopardising the ability of IT organisations to adequately service the business.

The current economic  climate is encouraging a review of new technologies such as cloud computing, as well as more established options such as outsourcing to meet the demand for lower costs, but these initiatives are being implemented as short-term measures.

Cloud computing is a much-hyped phrase but in reality is the convergence of several technologies. It remains to be seen if the promise of 'do more with less' can be delivered, and there are concerns regarding its place in mainstream computing in several areas including security.
 
Accenture, for example, defines cloud computing as “the dynamic provisioning of IT capabilities (hardware, software or services) from third parties over a network."