Grazed from The VarGuy. Author: elliot Markowitz.

Technology worlds are colliding, causing the Perfect Storm for organizations that aren’t prepared and creating tremendous opportunities for solution providers that are. Data is being generated at a breakneck pace and organizations are in dire need of storage, access and security solutions. Much of this data-generation is coming from the communications and easy sharing of information on mobile devices.

That is only going to increase moving forward and, as a result, businesses are turning to cloud computing to meet their needs. This intersection of mobile device usage, management and integration with the adoption of cloud computing is putting solution providers in the catbird seat. In fact, many managed service providers already have begun transitioning their business models for this new opportunity by reinventing themselves, focusing on the user experience rather than server monitoring, and have learned how to upsell services in the era of cloud and mobility…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Joab Jackson.

This week, at its annual Discover user conference, Hewlett-Packard put cloud computing and big data on the top of the agenda, capitalizing on the heavy work it has been doing with these technologies. Recently, the company unified its cloud services under the Helion brand name, using the open-source OpenStack as a foundation.

The company continues to work on its software stack for big-data processing, called HAVEn (Hadoop, Autonomy, Vertica, enterprise security, apps). The company also plans to launch an online magazine, called Matter, designed to help top executives understand how best to drive business value through technology…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Jon Roskill.

It may just sound like semantics, but there is a real difference between something that was “built for” versus “adapted to.” Would you rather buy a house that was “designed for” energy efficiency or one that was “adapted to” be energy efficient?technology “Built for” describes a software product that engineers designed from the ground up to utilize and incorporate the features of cloud computing technology.

“Adapted to” implies a software product wasn’t specifically designed with cloud computing in mind, but rather a company made its older, legacy solution “compatible “ with the cloud. This is an important distinction for several reasons. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s definition of cloud computing identifies “five essential characteristics“:…

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Eric Lundquist.

Hewlett-Packard held press briefings on two new initiatives as the company’s Discover conference drew toward a close this week. One briefing highlighted an HP Labs project aimed at reinventing enterprise computer architecture. The other briefing highlighted how HP is going "all in" on OpenStack. The OpenStack press briefing was the more important one.

OpenStack, a community-developed, open enterprise computing stack, represents a first chance for startups anxious to sell into the enterprise and a second chance for established vendors anxious to find their footing in an era when cloud computing is becoming the central computing engine for enterprises…

Grazed from MidsizeInsider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

Partly cloudy: That’s the "sweet spot" for many midsize companies. Mixing local and off-site services produces a sunny kind of optimism, and why not? Providers have been singing the praises of agility and flexibility for the last five years, and many have delivered on their promises. According to a recent Ponemon Institute study, however, the public cloud forecast looks grim — are torrential rains coming for IT security?

Triple Threat

A June 5 Top Tech News article takes a look at the recent Ponemon report, "Data Breach: The Cloud Multiplier Effect." The title itself is ominous enough, and the results aren’t much more encouraging. The research firm asked 613 IT and security professionals to estimate the chances of a breach targeting 100,000 or more consumer records. Not only did respondents feel that cloud services were less secure, but they also put a number to that feeling: They believed that adding one percent more cloud services meant a three percent higher breach chance; in other words, using the cloud could triple a midsize company’s risk to lose millions of dollars…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CK Arlotta.

CloudLock on Thursday announced its acquisition of Innovode, the cloud-based file security company known for Innovode Armor — an integrated encryption solution for Google Drive. The financial terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed, but the Waltham, Massachusetts-based cloud information security provider said it has acquired Innovode’s technology and hired key team members as part of the transaction.

To further accelerate its product innovation and introduce additional expertise, CloudLock will work Innovode’s technology into its current offerings, the company said. In a letter to customers, Innovode said the deal will further implement its "cloud security vision within CloudLock’s cloud service portfolio":…

Grazed from ITWorldCanada. Author: Andrew Brooks.

With the release of SQL Server 2014 earlier this year, Microsoft Corp. marked another milestone in its vaunted plan to plunge into cloud computing. SQL Server 2014 found a favourable response in early reviews, with commentators noting its cloud features as well as its incorporation of major data centre technologies like in-memory databases, enhanced backup and high availability features. The InfoWorld Test Center reviewers gave the release a 9.5 score out of ten.

Now InfoWorld has published a reflection on the significance of the new version. J. Peter Bruzzese starts by describing SQL Server 2014 as a “worthwhile upgrade” that pushes SQL further into the cloud. Bruzzese points out that it “brings in cutting-edge data center technologies such as in-memory databases pioneered by SAP’s HANA and recently adopted by big companies like Oracle.”…

Grazed from LinuxInsider. Author: Katherine Noyes.

Red Hat on Tuesday rolled out Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the latest major release of the company’s flagship Linux platform, six months after the software’s beta version made its debut. Among the key new features included in the release are KVM virtualization technology, an improved installation experience, Active Directory/Identity Management integration, and Linux containers as a key application packaging and delivery technology.

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 redefines the enterprise OS because we deliver new tools and technical support to allow *enterprises* to take advantage of Linux containers," Mark Coggin, Red Hat’s senior director of platform product marketing, told LinuxInsider. "This includes distribution of Docker and all of the other features required for namespace isolation, resource management, security and process management," he added…

Grazed from MarketWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

GoodData, the leader in cloud business intelligence, today announced that it earned first place for cloud business intelligence functionality in the 2014 Wisdom of Crowds® Cloud Business Intelligence Market Study. GoodData was rated above 22 other BI vendors for its feature functionality and architecture.

Scores were based on feature functionality including advanced visualization, personalized dashboards, end-user self-service, interactive analysis, in-memory support, data integration and embedded BI as well as architectural functionality including public and private cloud, multi-tenancy, cloud application connections and more. The report found that Cloud BI importance showed visible gains year over year since 2012 in all positive levels of importance, reflected in a rising mean measurement of sentiment…

Grazed from HuffingtonPost. Author: Phil Simon.

There’s no one right way to launch products and services today, a point that I make in The Age of the Platform. Consider the two vastly different approaches that two iconic companies took to achieve equally impressive results. As Brad Stone writes in The Everything Store, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos stressed the importance of getting big fast from the get-go.

He astutely recognized that the Internet in 1994 was effectively a land grab. If his company established strong relationships with its customers, many would have a hard time switching. I’d argue that he was right. One can hardly quibble with Bezos’ results over the last 20 years. Contrast that strategy with Mark Zuckerberg’s much more measured approach at Facebook…