Grazed from NationalLawReview. Author: Christine M. Wahr and Sarah T. Hogan.

In today’s world, it seems that virtually every business is using or offering some degree of online services. If you’re involved in making technology purchasing decisions for your business, you likely receive numerous requests related to purchasing hosted services, though the nuances of what a hosted service is and the particular legal considerations such a purchase raises may still be hazy concepts. If this resonates with you, you are not alone – even the most tech-savvy users can be left confused in this ever-evolving industry. To assist you in responding rapidly to these requests, we have pulled together a two-part series containing a quick reference guide of basics and top 5 considerations for purchasers of hosted solutions. Welcome to part 1 of this series, Hosting 101: The Basics.

What is a hosted service? The term “hosted service” is used to refer to a product or service powered by information technology resources that you do not own or control. Users are provided with access to the product or service without the need to purchase and maintain the necessary software,hardware, server space and other logistical and technical resources. You may run into hosted services that are provided on a dedicated server owned by the provider, but today, more often than not, hosted services are provided via the cloud...

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

Jelastic, Inc., the first company to deliver Platform-as-Infrastructure, has been profiled in a new 451 Research report: "Jelastic eyes opportunity in converged IaaS and PaaS". The report describes a key cloud trend, the convergence of the current technologies of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and describes Jelastic's strategy and product portfolio. The 451 Research report also provides some key insights into enterprise strategies as they undertake the migration to cloud including:

• Enterprise IT departments are intent on functioning like hosting service providers.
• Enterprises have a growing appetite for PaaS.
• Whereas PaaS adoption was previously being driven by the polyglot programming trend, a new important driver is IaaS-PaaS integration...

Grazed from ITWorld. Author: Joab Jackson.

As it rolled out tools and features for coders at its Build developer conference Thursday, Microsoft showed that it is ready to embrace technologies and platforms not invented within its walls. Rather than relying solely on internal tools, the Azure cloud services platform has incorporated a number of non-Microsoft technologies, including popular open source tools such as the Chef and Puppet configuration management software, the OAuth authorization standard, and the Hadoop data processing platform.

The company has also taken steps to incorporate open source into its product roadmaps, by releasing the code for its new compiler and setting up a foundation for managing open source .Net projects. "Clearly Microsoft's message is its support of multi-platform. It will take any part of your stack, it doesn't have to be just Microsoft software," said Al Hilwa, IDC research program director for software development. "This is good for Microsoft and good for the ecosystem."...

Grazed from PCAdvisor.  Author: Zafar Anjum.

Microsoft Azure is now generally available for all customers in China, making it the first global public cloud provider to have comprehensive cloud operations in China, Microsoft China announced today.  Operated by 21Vianet, Microsoft Azure provides fully functional services to cloud customers in China, and is already leading the market with over 3,000 customers, including CNTV, LineKong, GMW.cn, and Coca-Cola China, the software vendor said in a statement.

"Cloud computing is a strategic, growing industry in Shanghai that is playing a significant leading role in economic transformation and long-term sustainable development. Shanghai has a long-standing relationship with Microsoft, which has resulted in many contributions to local economic development and innovation," said Zhiqin Rong, the general secretary of Shanghai Municipal Commission Of Economy and Informatization...

Grazed from BusinessBee.  Author: Alexia Chianis.

Cloud computing is no longer reserved for Fortune 500 companies. Its popularity has skyrocketed in among small business owners who are reaching to the Cloud to boost productivity, support their emerging virtual workplace and gain access to the latest computing technology. As a bonus, Cloud services deliver the scalability the small business IT guru craves, and a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing structure that will please number crunchers.

There are many benefits of moving to the Cloud, but if you’re just getting started with Cloud computing you may find the slew of terms that accompany it make your head dizzy. If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur who wants to sort out what Cloud computing terms are all about, you’ve come to the right place...

Grazed from BoxFreeIT. Author: Aimy Chen.

Large companies new to cloud computing favoured cloud services that provided more business value than just cost savings, strong security and customer support, technology research firm Ovum reported. “The conversation is now about how cloud can more precisely prove its business value once actually implemented within an enterprise – beyond providing near-term return on investment (ROI) and cost savings,” said the “2014 Trends to Watch: Cloud Services” Ovum report.

Vendors needed to collaborate with clients about a mix of in-house resource development and outsourced services in other areas. For example, a business might use public cloud storage for archived data and in-house storage for operational files. Enterprises contacted in the survey indicated they were considering moving more quickly to invest in infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service (IaaS and SaaS)...

Grazed from CIOL. Author: Editorial Staff.

The global PaaS market is estimated to grow from $1.28 billion in 2013 to $6.94 billion in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.54 per cent in this period, according to the recent study done by MarketsandMarkets. PaaS has been the smallest market among the cloud computing segments. But now the trend is experiencing a drift where PaaS market is growing faster in terms of revenue.

Though PaaS market is not as huge as IaaS and SaaS which are the other two segments in cloud computing, the proportion of this market is very significant. Also many small players specializing in providing PaaS solutions have emerged and made the market so dynamic and competitive. This trend has benefited most of the application users and has increased the demand for PaaS on various sectors...

Grazed from ADTMag. Author: John K. Waters.

Java Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider CloudBees is partnering with broadband and wireless services provider Verizon to offer a version of its platform on the new Verizon Cloud, the two companies announced. Verizon unveiled its cloud computing and storage platform in October 2013, inviting interested companies to sign up through the Verizon Enterprise Solutions Web site.

Now in public beta, the Verizon Cloud comprises an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform, a cloud compute service (Verizon Cloud Compute), and an object-based storage service (Verizon Cloud Storage). The platform is being developed for the enterprise, but will be "nimble enough to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses, individual IT departments, and software developers," the company says...

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

CloudBees, Inc. , the Enterprise Platform as a Service (PaaS) innovation leader, today announced an agreement with Verizon Enterprise Solutions to make the CloudBees PaaS available on the new Verizon Cloud .

This agreement is part of Verizon’s ongoing strategy to add enterprise-class services to Verizon Cloud, the company’s new cloud computing and cloud storage platform, creating an ecosystem of enterprise technologies in the cloud...

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Pedro Hernandez.

In oddly fitting timing, Microsoft announced on Jan. 16 that its Windows Azure cloud platform has been validated to conform to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS 2.0), credit card industry policies and requirements that govern how merchant IT systems handle sensitive payment information.

"The PCI DSS is the global standard that any organization of any size must adhere to in order to accept payment cards, and to store, process, and/or transmit cardholder data," wrote Windows Azure General Manager Steven Martin in a company blog post. He added that his company's cloud "delivers a compliant framework" that enables customers to run their "own secure and compliant applications."...