Grazed from Datamation. Author: James Maguire.

`A private cloud ROI calculator that works for all businesses – in any stage of adoption – is essentially impossible. After all, calculating ROI of a private cloud requires weighing a remarkably complex set of variables. Furthermore, some of those variables will be so specific to your business that a single calculator could hardly contain them all. Still, a ballpark estimate can help your planning immeasurably. And any smart consultant will tell you that planning is absolutely essential to a successful cloud deployment.

Private Cloud ROI Calculator: Vendor Neutral

Our private cloud ROI calculator, part of our Private Cloud Project Center, includes a full complement of variables. Unlike many private cloud ROI calculators, ours was not created by a vendor to sell you a specific solution. We worked in conjunction with independent cloud computing experts – notably Sam Charrington – before we coded the grid of private cloud variables…

Grazed from StackDriver. Author: PR Announcement.

Google said on Wednesday that it acquired startup Stackdriver to help improve the Internet giant’s cloud computing services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Stackdriver’s technology lets developers monitor how their apps and other software services are performing as they run on cloud computing platforms including those offered by Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services and Rackspace.

Stackdriver employees, currently based in Boston, will be moving to Google’s Cambridge, Mass. offices where they will integrate the startup’s monitoring technology into Google’s Cloud Platform services. Google recently announced a big new push to get more developers using its cloud platform, which offers remote computing power and storage that can be rented rather than owned…

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

The 2014 Software as a Service and Cloud Applications University Conference is being held May 13 thru 15 in Austin, Texas. The event is organized by Softletter which tracks software industry benchmarks, metrics and information to help executives improve in-house growth and profitability. Loren Saxby, founder and president of the L.A.-based "smarter" business software firm INTLY, says Softletter is on the right track and cites SaaS Cloud Computing models as "the absolute best choice" for enterprise clients seeking to improve productivity and efficiency levels.

"Truly motivated enterprise professionals are always looking to achieve a perfect blend of cost savings, increased productivity and maximum ROI," says Saxby. "Building their internal networks around a SaaS Cloud Computing model is the best way to achieve all three – for higher levels of productivity and effciency."…

Grazed from ITBusinessEdge. Author: Editorial Staff.

During the early 1990s, visitors to a trade show clicked on a hyperlink and used the Internet to connect to over 600 servers. It was called the World Wide Web and stunned the users with the simplicity of the operation and how easy it was to get information. Of course, today we can connect to more than 690 million servers, and the Web is woven into the very fabric of our lives. It was the dawn of a new era in technology.

Which of today’s technologies are now similarly positioned to revolutionize our work and interactions? Cloud computing is signaling that we are again at the dawn of a new era, and the network will drive the way we use the cloud in much the same way as the browser transformed the Internet…

Grazed from MarketWatch. Author: PR Announcement.

Software as a Service (SaaS) security company Adallom today announced it has been selected by Information technology research and advisory firm Gartner as a "Cool Vendor in Security for Infrastructure Protection, 2014." Why Cool? According to Gartner’s report, "The Nexus of Forces — mobile, social, cloud and big data — continue to add complexity to a chief information security officer’s (CISO’s) duties, and are a driver for security and the protection of infrastructure.

The cloud’s popularity among business leaders and its expanding roster of software as a service (SaaS) applications signify that it is beyond being a game-changing technology now." Why Hot? Cloud computing and SaaS offerings are hot technology markets as companies look to shift capital expenditures to strategic business operations…

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

The Cloud Advisory Council, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to develop and enable the next-generation cloud architecture, today announced the formation of the Open BigCloud group. The Open BigCloud group will bring together industry, academia, and research communities to shape the future of open cloud computing and Big Data.

The objective of the Open BigCloud group will be to advance understanding of how the revolutionary paradigm of cloud computing can be applied at extreme scales of computing, data processing, and integration with instruments. Those issues constitute the cornerstone of future innovation and require a broad spectrum of expertise ranging across architectures, networking, devops, and software systems…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Ben Kepes.

CentriLogic, is a Toronto-based cloud computing and managed data center service provider for mid to large enterprise. But apparently mid to large enterprise isn’t enough for the company so today they’re rolling out a new IaaS service targeted at small to mid sized businesses as well as developers.

Before you cry out in incredulity that the chances of a little known vendor making any kind of dent on AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure or the other big public cloud vendors is virtually zero, take a minute to hear what the service, dubbed “Mothership” (oh dear) is all about. Mothership is served out of CentriLogic data centers in Toronto, North Carolina and the UK…

Grazed from MarketWatch. Author: PR Announcement.

Midokura, a global company focused on network virtualization, today announced plans to present, sponsor and exhibit at the OpenStack Summit, held May 12-16, 2014, in Atlanta. Midokura executives will present on OpenStack and network virtualization topics throughout the event. Midokura will also be demonstrating its highly distributed and agile network virtualization solution, MidoNet, at booth E44.

OpenStack is a global collaboration of developers and cloud computing technologists producing the open source cloud-computing platform for public and private clouds. Midokura is an active member of the OpenStack community and recognized as a top contributor to the project…

Grazed from CIOL. Author: Vibhor Mishra.

The cloud technology has been around for some time now, yet it seems that its true potential is yet to be harnessed. Cloud has changed the ownership model, providing flexibility to manage, host and execute. Over the years we have seen several industries adopt cloud to leverage its benefits. Be it cost reduction, hassle-free maintenance, unlimited storage capacity (literally), automatic software integration, flexibility, quick deployment, etc. or the fact that the entire world is embracing it, cloud is unquestionably the way forward.

On-premises solutions come with challenges such as higher cost, maintenance hassles, trained staff, licensing and upgrades. These challenges have been successfully addressed by adopting cloud computing. Companies have been adopting various services offered on cloud ranging from CRM to ERP services…

Grazed from Bandt. Author: Editorial Staff.

Global cloud computing company SalesForce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud has launched a new social media platform called Social Studio that will allow companies to synthesise and publish social media content in one place. The new platform will combine the social media listening skillset of existing SalesForce platform Radian6 with the publishing expertise of Buddy Media, all on one platform to create a one-stop shop for content marketing, engagement, publishing and analytics.

Social media administration is maturing beyond the social media ‘ninja’ operating all social media and online engagement across an entire organisation said Derek Laney, director product marketing management at SalesForce Marketing Cloud. Instead, Laney explained, each team and individual is taking on the responsibilities of social media management specific to that area of the company…