Grazed from Ars Technica.   Author: Sean Gallagher.

While there are plenty of technical and functional concerns that have slowed adoption of public cloud computing and software-as-a-service, American companies trying to sell their cloud services outside the US or to large multinational organizations have another handicap to overcome: the USA PATRIOT Act. European, Asian, and Canadian data privacy rules and concern about US surveillance of data crossing international boundaries have even been used to market European data centers’ services. Today, ComputerWeekly reported that BAE Systems had ditched Microsoft Office 365 over PATRIOT Act concerns, because Microsoft could not guarantee the company’s data wouldn’t leave Europe.

Microsoft’s managing director in the UK, Gordon Frazer, made that admission in June at the Office 365 launch in London. After researching the PATRIOT act, Microsoft found that regardless of where data was stored, it could not ensure that data would not be turned over to the US government as the result of a National Security Letter or other government request, because the company is governed by US law…

Grazed from CloudPro.  Author:  Davey Winder.

Talking at the launch of the Generation Cloud report recently, Fabio Torlini – vice president of cloud at report sponsors Rackspace – said businesses have a great opportunity to "shape consumer understanding of cloud computing and build trust."

Although the report was concerned with consumer attitudes towards cloud technologies, it did reveal a number of things that every business, from the smallest end of the SME scale to the largest international corporate, needs to take on board.

For example, 69 per cent of those asked did not trust their cloud service providers, and the biggest concerns were around security, privacy and transparency. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? And if it doesn’t, oh boy are you in trouble. These are exactly the kinds of issues that should be at the very forefront of any cloud adoption strategy, right at the top of your cloud agenda and carved in stone before you even consider going live…

Grazed from Continuity Central.  Author: Editorial Staff.

In a speech to the GSMA Europe ‘Privacy in the Cloud: Data Protection and Security in Cloud Computing’ conference, Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, warned businesses that data protection and privacy must be taken extremely seriously when building and using cloud computing systems.

Reding told delegates that next month she will propose a new European data protection and privacy law which will clarify and reinforce European regulation in this area. At the same time coordination between national data protection watchdogs will be strengthened so that both the existing and new rules will be enforced consistently…

Grazed from HostReview.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Cloud computing is one of the most promising technologies in the modern day world. Several companies have already popped in the cloud market and achieved desired goals they planned for their business’s expansion. To add more to cloud’s importance in the growing IT industry let us check on some of its uses and benefits that it offers to its users.

Use No. 1

Cloud Follows Pay for What you Use Model
This particular characteristic of cloud focus on the fact that cloud computing and managed cloud services are truly cost-effective. This means users will have to pay only for the amount of service used by them. This way, money spent on improving business through cloud doesn’t prove to be expensive. SMBs are benefited the most with such a type of facility that cloud offers…

Grazed from Pro Bono News.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Cloud computing has emerged as the decade’s biggest shift in the way organisations use Information Technology according to a report to the Federal Government – and Not for Profit organisations have been urged to get on board.

Australia’s IT sector can be a global leader in developing cloud computing to drive innovation and national productivity gains, a report from an information technology (IT) industry advisory body has told the Federal Government.

And a local IT experts say cloud computing can benefit a Not for Profit organisation’s productivity and systems…

Grazed from GeekWire.  Author: John Cook.

Ignition Partners continues to pump dollars into cloud computing startups — most of them which happen to be based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The latest example is Iron.io, a San Francisco company that today announced $1.4 million in venture funding from Ignition, Baseline Ventures, Cloud Capital Partners, Citrix Systems and others.

Iron.io is the maker of IronWorker and IronMQ, the latter service which launched today and coordinates messages and event flow between cloud apps and systems.

“With IronMQ and IronWorker, we’re offloading the challenges of maintaining what ends up becoming pretty complex systems,” said Iron.io CEO Chad Arimura. “The funding we’ve received from our investors will help us to continue expanding our cloud application services for developers that are easy-to-use, durable and deliver ironclad value.”…

Grazed from VatorNews.  Author: Krystal Peak.

Bessemer Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures, investors from Twilio’s Series B funding, return to lead the start-up’s $17 million Series C fundig announced Wednesday — bringing the total company funding to just over $32.5 million.

The San Francisco-based cloud communications company, with big clients such as eBay, Salesforce, Hulu, Intuit and LinkedIn, has been aiding developers that want to add SMS, voice, and VoIP functionality to their apps.

Twilio is currently preparing to to roll out its services in 20 more European countries using the new round of funding…

Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author:  Pat Romanski.

iWave Software, a provider of storage and cloud automation solutions, on Tuesday introduced iWave Storage Director 1.5, a storage automation platform for companies to develop and operate cloud-based storage services on demand using their existing storage infrastructures. By automating the tasks associated with provisioning, reclamation and remediation for storage, iWave Software closes the gap between expanding storage requirements and a lack of available and affordable IT resources.

According to Brent Rhymes, CEO of iWave Software "automation is essential if we are to traverse the gap between IT staff and storage capabilities and the demands of data growth. Storage Director users bridge this storage automation gap and significantly increase productivity."…

Grazed from ITWorld.  Author:  JR Raphael.

For many of us, the cloud has changed the way we work and play. Thanks to well-known services like Gmail, Dropbox, Facebook and Instapaper, practically our whole lives — photos, documents, contacts and more — are online. So isn’t it time to take control?

A little tweaking can turn the cloud into a more powerful and personalized place. All it takes is a few simple browser add-ons and other tools to unlock the full potential of the Web’s most popular services.

Here, in no particular order, are 10 essential tools to help you make the most of your cloud experience. In this story, we’re focusing on tools you would use on your computer itself, either through a Web browser or with software you download and install, rather than mobile apps you would use on a smartphone or tablet. That said, however, some of these tools do offer a mobile component as well…