Sun Microsystems, the networking technologies leader and IDC, the marke intelligence company, recently organised a seminar to discuss benefits and challenges of open source along with related technologies.

The first Open Source and Cloud Computing Conference took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 11, with a second conference set to take place in Egypt on June 2.

The conferences are particularly designed for senior IT and line-of-business managers as well as CIOs responsible for evaluating and making purchasing decisions in the areas of on-demand infrastructure and software services.

The conference engaged in discussing key issues at the heart of open source and cloud computing, including what the two technologies meant for businesses and how organizations could begin using and benefiting from the technology.

Several Sun experts addressed professionals on topics such as achieving high-performance in uncertain times, and preparing for the enterprise cloud.

“Cloud computing is not fluff — it's the future of IT. It’s what is shaping the IT marketplace and is the way forward for businesses in the region,” said Deena Habib, marketing manager, Middle East & North Africa, Sun Microsystems.

“Sun will be a vital force in the ongoing development of cloud computing. Sun innovates key technologies that are critical to cloud deployments, including efficient servers and storage systems, enterprise-class operating systems, virtualization technologies, and a wealth of software platforms and tools.”

“Cloud computing is all about efficiency. During tough times such as this, Cloud computing is being considered by increasingly more businesses, because it provides a way to deploy and access everything from single systems up to massive amounts of IT resources, on demand, in real time, at an affordable cost. Cloud computing makes it possible for companies to convert IT costs from capital expense to operating expense through technologies such as virtualization,” added Habib.

According to IDC, spending on IT cloud services will grow almost three-fold over the next five years. IDC also expects the cloud adoption trend to be amplified by the current financial crisis. The cloud model offers a much cheaper way for businesses to acquire and use IT, and in an economic downturn, the appeal of that cost advantage will be greatly magnified.

Cloud computing creates compelling new economic models for IT service delivery. It offloads overburdened IT infrastructure, temporarily or permanently, and allow for experimenting with new software tools without having to purchase them.

Sun’s winning open cloud initiative, offers an extensive portfolio of products and services and fosters open communities and partner ecosystems. – TradeArabia News Service