Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Kevin Fogarty.

During the past decade, nearly everything in the tech world has gone virtual: Servers, applications, desktops, data centers, even jobs–at least to the tens of thousands of contractors doing full-time work at part-time pay with no benefits.

The one exception to the rule that virtual is better than physical is the one thing on which all the other advances in virtualization, cloud computing and job-creation avoidance depend: the network. At least, that’s according to John Chambers, CEO of the company with the most to lose from any wholesale separation of the value of a network from the underlying hardware that makes it possible.

High-quality, high-speed, reliable, secure, multi-functional networks require both good hardware and good software, Chambers told investors and analysts on Cisco’s earnings call this week (transcript via SeekingAlpha)…

Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Vision Solutions, Inc., the world’s leading provider of information availability software and services for Windows, Linux, IBM Power Systems and Cloud Computing markets, today announced a seminar on August 22nd, 2012 at the Cloud Computing World Forum, Latin America 2012 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The seminar will address data security in the cloud and how companies can protect their investment at the Cloud Computing World Forum, August 22-23.

Storing data in the cloud eliminates the need for organizations to build and maintain their own data centers, however, ensuring that data is protected and available when it’s needed is a critical assumption in the IT plan. Renato Hirata, Regional Systems Architect for Vision Solutions, will discuss:…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Lori Kozlowski.

Making a dent in the Internet and generally doing stuff before everyone else makes you a pioneer. A term often reserved for the curious prospectors and miners, who settled the West.

Cloud computing has become a red-hot field in recent years, as the idea of “the cloud” has matured. One Los Angeles-based company has quietly seen steady and astronomical success in this sector, as they attempted web-only approaches to the Internet long before the notion became popular.

Cornerstone On Demand provides workplace solutions and talent management software (essentially software that helps companies with training, recruiting, and performance). They began doing this far before the term “talent management” became common…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

European cloud adoption has happened slower than in the U.S., but there are signs that it’s about to rapidly accelerate. At Structure:Europe, cloud luminaries will talk about how they see this change unfolding and what’s motivating it. Hint: It’s not just about saving money.

There’s a ton of cloud opportunity in Europe — the question is how fast it will come to fruition and what’s driving it…

Grazed from Business Solutions. Author: Andrew Hay.

Customers have always looked to their vendors, be they VARs, MSPs or ISVs, to distill the challenges of migrating to a computing architecture. This continues to be true with regards to cloud – perhaps one of the most misunderstood and confusing architectures to arrive since the introduction of the personal computer to replace aging mainframe technology.

Extending security beyond traditional on-premises perimeter controls, adhering to regulatory compliance mandates and revising policies and procedures to encompass a platform owned by a third-party (not to mention shared with other customers) are but a few of the concerns customers wrestle with when thinking about making the jump to cloud…

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Gery Menegaz.

Anyone reading about the Cloud has heard the common dangerous assumption that the Patriot Act gives the government unprecedented access to your data. The misconception is that the level of access that the government has in the cloud is beyond what they would have if the data were hosted elsewhere.

Recently the European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding, “spearheaded and vigorously advocated for the Commission’s proposals to update and modernize the privacy framework in Europe through a detailed new Regulation.”…