Grazed from TechNewsWorld.  Author: Jay Lyman.

Microsoft recently established a .Net foundation and open sourced substantial parts of the popular programming language, continuing to spread its newfound love for open source software. However, it’s another movement — devops — that may be more of a driving factor in Microsoft’s .Net move.  In establishing the independent .Net Foundation and making more key pieces of .Net open source, Microsoft was promoting collaboration and community, it said.

Many open source technologies exist for .Net, including the recently released .Net compiler platform codenamed "Roslyn."  Microsoft also highlighted the value and innovation that comes from broader community collaboration, even on its own developer tools and technologies, such as .Net…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge. Author: Yevgeniy Sverdlik.

As cloud computing permeates more and more of our lives, artists increasingly attempt to understand it and reflect it in their work. Earlier this month we highlighted a musical work by composer Matt Parker based on recordings of ambient noise he had collected inside a data center at Birmingham City University in Birmingham, England.

Another artist, Timo Arnal, has been fascinated with the visual aspects of data centers. He has produced a three-screen video installation, using material shot at Telefonica’s facility in Alcalá de Henares, Spain (just outside of Madrid). The installation is on display at Big Bang Data, an art exhibition that opened this month in Barcelona…

Grazed from InfoSecurity. Author: Editorial Staff.

In an oddly ironic endorsement of its “do it yourself” ethos, home improvement giant Lowe’s is notifying customers of a potential data compromise brought about via a third-party software vendor. Lowe’s had hired the vendor to provide a computer platform that stores compliance documentation and information about employees. Specifically, current and former drivers of Lowe’s vehicles could be affected, as well as current and former employees who access and administer the system.

The personal data in the system, which is called E-DriverFile, includes a raft of hot information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, sales IDs and other driving record information. In short, it’s essentially an identity fraud in-a-box kit…

Grazed from BizReport. Author: Kristina Knight.

The cloud is beckoning many more small and medium sized businesses to it. Plenty of space for files and data, easy access and security that still allows workers access when they are out of the office. But how do you know if the cloud – and cloud hosting partner – you’ve chosen is right?

Thinking about moving your business into the cloud? Plenty of small and medium sized businesses are pushing into the cloud, along with Fortune 500 brands; many are succeeding with the cloud but some are not. Here are ComputerSupport’s top 3 tips for SMBs moving into the cloud:..

Grazed from NYTimes. Author: Editorial Staff.

Hewlett-Packard, until recently the world’s largest technology company in terms of revenue, released tepid quarterly results on Thursday. They showed a once industry-leading computer maker continuing to limp along in a world increasingly defined by smartphones and cloud computing.

Over all, the company reported revenue of $27.3 billion, down slightly from a year earlier, though net earnings of $1.3 billion were up from $1.1 billion. The earnings met the expectations of analysts, who appeared to anticipate a spotty performance from the company, which also said it would be cutting thousands of jobs in the near term…

Grazed from ChannelPartnersOnline. Author: Matthew Toth.

In writing this, I understand that the general disdain with which the phrase “cloud computing" is treated with by IT professionals. It’s a word whose nebulous nature allows an unlimited number of definitions and henceforth, myriad solutions (infrastructure-as-a-service, disaster recovery-as-a-service and so on) carriers can claim the phrase as their own. Since this article will not define specific applications or solutions, the phrase suits the context of this article.

Technology continues to evolve at an exponential rate. Technology combines with more technology and it breeds … drumroll … more technology! So what does this mean for today’s organization that needs to stay on the cutting edge? It means that an organization needs to continually invest in the recruitment, training, retraining and retention of IT professionals…

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Jeffrey Burt.

At Cisco Live 2014, CEO John Chambers says that the cloud computing services vendor doesn’t fit in with his company’s plans. Cisco Systems has never been shy about buying a company if executives think the deal will add to the vendor’s wide range of ambitions, from security and cloud to the data center and Internet of everything. However, despite speculation in the industry, cloud provider Rackspace isn’t going to be one of those acquisitions.

Rackspace has been a pioneer in the cloud computing market and a key developer of the OpenStack technology, and it competes with such large and well-financed companies as Amazon Web Services and Google. However, as the competition has increased, Rackspace has seen its stock price fall by almost half over the past year, and in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this month, Rackspace officials said the company has hired banker Morgan Stanley to help them explore possible partnerships or sales…

Grazed from TheVarGuy. Author: Michael Cusanelli.

If you hadn’t guessed already, cloud computing is becoming an increasingly big deal as enterprise users begin to realize the cost savings and convenience of hosted virtual desktops. A new report from Research and Markets confirmed the importance of cloud computing to the industry in its Global Hosted Virtual Desktop Market 2014-2018 report, which found that the cloud computing market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 63.7 percent from 2013 to 2018.

VMware (VMW) was named as one of the essential vendors to the overall growth of the industry. Among the advantages provided with hosted management services, the report found that the rapid rate of adoption of new services is one of the major boons for cloud computing, as enterprise users are able to quickly and easily upgrade their systems virtually without the need to deploy IT admins to each of their workstations…

Grazed from TechRadar. Author: Juan Martinez.

SAP has launched a set of solutions designed to enable organizations to more quickly adopt cloud computing, the company said in a statement. The “SAP Rapid Deployment” solutions will help streamline the implementation experience with accelerated time to value at reduced costs, according to SAP.

SAP Rapid Deployment is geared toward parties interested in implementing on-premise or hybrid clouds. Rapid deployment is meant to reduce risk, improve Rapid Deployment is built for large and small cloud integrations, or deployments of multiple solutions in the cloud or on premise, SAP said…

Grazed from SFGate. Author: Thomas Lee.

Anaplan CEO Fred Laluyaux has a ready answer whenever someone asks him to describe his company’s product. "Excel on steroids," Laluyaux said. With all due respect to Laluyaux, that doesn’t quite capture it. That’s what happens when you work in a market as opaque as enterprise performance management software – souped-up code that allows companies to store, access, manage and analyze huge amounts of data.

So here’s an alternative description: Anaplan has created technology that could kill off industry giants Oracle and SAP. Think I’m exaggerating? DFJ Growth doesn’t think so, which is why the venture capital firm led a group, including Salesforce.com and Workday, that recently invested $100 million into the San Francisco startup…