4 Key Ingredients for the Cloud
- by Kellsey Ruppel
It's a short week here with the US Thanksgiving Holiday. So, before 
we put on our stretch pants and get ready to belly up to the dinner 
table for turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, let's spend a little 
time this week talking about the Cloud (kind of like the feathery whipped 
goodness that tops the infamous Thanksgiving pumpkin pie!) But before we dive into the Cloud, let's do a side by side comparison of the key ingredients for each.  
    
   
     
       
         Cloud 
         Whipped Cream 
       
       
         Application Integration 
         1 cup heavy cream 
       
       
         Security 
         1/4 cup sugar 
       
       
         Virtual I/O 
         1 teaspoon vanilla 
       
       
         Storage 
         Chilled Bowl 
       
     
   
     
    
    
  It’s no secret that millions of people are connected to the Internet.
 And it also probably doesn’t come as a surprise that a lot of those 
people are connected
 on social networking sites.  Social networks have become an excellent 
platform for sharing and communication that reflects real world 
relationships and they play a major part in the everyday lives of many 
people. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ and hundreds of 
others have transformed the way we interact and communicate with one 
another.Social networks are becoming more than just an online gathering of 
friends. They are becoming a destination for ideation, e-commerce, and 
marketing. But it doesn’t just stop there. Some organizations are 
utilizing social networks internally, integrated with their business 
applications and processes and the possibility of social media and cloud
 integration is compelling.
 
  Forrester alone estimates enterprise cloud computing to grow to over $240 billion by 2020.
 It’s hard to find any current IT project today that is NOT considering 
cloud-based deployments. Security and quality of service concerns are no
 longer at the forefront; rather, it’s about focusing on the right mix 
of capabilities for the business. Cloud vs. On-Premise? Policies & 
governance models? Social in the cloud? Cloud’s increasing 
sophistication, security in applications, mobility, transaction 
processing and social capabilities make it an attractive way to manage 
information. And Oracle offers all of this through the Oracle Cloud and 
Oracle Social Network.
 
    
  Oracle Social Network
 is a secure private network that provides a broad range of social tools
 designed to capture and preserve information flowing between people, 
enterprise applications, and business processes. By connecting you with 
your most critical applications, Oracle Social Network provides 
contextual, real-time communication within and across enterprises. With 
Oracle Social Network, you and your teams have the tools you need to 
collaborate quickly and efficiently, while leveraging the organization’s
 collective expertise to make informed decisions and drive business 
forward.
    
     
    
  Oracle Social Network is available as part of a portfolio of 
application and platform services within the Oracle Cloud. Oracle Cloud 
offers self-service business applications delivered on an integrated 
development and deployment platform with tools to rapidly extend and 
create new services. Oracle Social Network is pre-integrated with the 
Fusion CRM Cloud Service and the Fusion HCM Cloud Service within the 
Oracle Cloud. If you are looking for something to watch as you veg on 
the couch in a post-turkey dinner hangover, you might consider watching 
these how-to videos! And yes, it is perfectly ok to have that 2nd piece of pie