Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Darryl K. Taft.

IBM aims to make cloud environments more efficient and scalable with a new job scheduling system that the company refers to as "air traffic controllers."
IBM researchers have come up with a method of deploying what the company refers to as digital "air traffic controllers” to help make the cloud computing environment more efficient and more scalable.  The new invention helps manage how resources are used and work is done within a cloud by distributing control throughout the interconnected systems, reducing bottlenecks and increasing efficiency.

The IBM Research-built cloud computing invention, U.S. Patent #8645745: Distributed Job Scheduling in a Multi-Nodal Environment, was originally designed to help manage resources in high-performance computing systems used for government and academic research. These systems consist of hundreds or thousands of computing resources that are connected to perform complex tasks where demands for system resources can rise and fall dynamically—similar to the model for cloud computing, IBM said…

Grazed from Upstart.  Author:  Lauren K. Ohnesorge.

Tim Whitehurst, the CEO of open-source software developer Red Hat, is more than the guy who brought a tech giant to downtown Raleigh.  He’s an entrepreneur-advising, cloud-computing evangelist who once aspired to be a pro football player.  Whitehurst, a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education enthusiast, took the time to give us our own education into what makes him tick.

What led you to a career in technology?

I’ve always been interested in technology. My first job was when I was 16 and worked as a part-time computer programmer for a stockbroker in Columbus, Ga. I had been interested in computers for a couple of years at that point. In fact, I can remember that my prized possession was a Kaypro II with 64K RAM and dual floppies…

Grazed from BroadGroup.  Author: Event Announcement.

The programme for this European summit is designed to provide a proactive, solution-oriented approach to the legal and regulatory challenges cloud presents for enterprises. It could actively drive policy change.

Assessing the overall challenges and problems format and content of the programme is framed to encourage debate between the key stakeholders. The debate is geared towards delivering possible solutions to current legal and regulatory blockers.

Within the one-day format, the scope of the content focuses on the enterprise, rather than consumers although inevitably, some commercial elements will seep in – such as those surrounding issues of liability…

Grazed from SanJose Mercury News.  Author: Heather Somerville.

The wild ride of hundred-million-dollar investments and soaring initial public offerings that opened the year for the technology industry has stalled thanks to the recent gyrations on Wall Street, forcing big-name software companies, most recently cloud storage startup Box, to rethink their market debuts.

The reluctance to go public is the latest sign that the tech sector is cooling off — which some experts say is a healthy change from the irrational levels of investments and off-the-chart valuations over the last year or more that sparked fears of a bubble.  "We need a slowdown," said Stamos Venios, co-founder and managing director of San Francisco startup venture fund Data Elite. "Things are a bit over-hyped."…

Grazed from BusinessInsider.  Author: Julie Bort.

No question about it: cloud computing is changing the world. It’s the invisible part of your smartphone and tablet, the part that holds your apps and files, and lets you work from anywhere.  IBM estimates that 85% of new software today is being built for the cloud and that one-quarter of the world’s apps will be available on the cloud by 2016.

By 2017, enterprises are expected to be spending $235 billion on the cloud, predicts market research firm IHS.  All thanks to many people at tech companies, big and small…

To view the list, visit  http://www.businessinsider.com/most-important-people-in-cloud-computing-2014-4?op=1

Grazed from RedmondMag.  Author: Jeffrey Swartz.

One day running your own datacenter will be as rare as producing electricity on-site. While IT pros have heard this refrain for decades, that day remains way out into the future. Still, it’s now possible to run an enterprise without having any servers, storage, networks or software on-site. Indeed, it’s now rare for most startups to build large datacenters. Now they turn right to the cloud for most of their IT when launching new businesses. Yet very few — if any — established enterprises have shut down their datacenters and even the most progressive of enterprises don’t plan to anytime soon.

Even so, that journey has begun. Anywhere you turn enterprise IT is rapidly moving toward cloud architectures based on software-defined datacenters (SDDCs). Though still lacking in true convergence and automation, many of the pieces are now available to let enterprises build scale-out, or elastic, infrastructures and platforms…

Grazed from EUKHost.  Author: Asher Ross.

t is recognised that Cloud Computing is the main driving force for the future ICT. Many IT organisations  have predicted that spending on cloud services results in the secure deployment of services. But as the cloud revolution continues, companies must consider how they will update their ICT infrastructure to prepare for this growth.

There are already many companies that have realised the benefits of ICT infrastructure hosting in Cloud data centres. The ecosystem that is generated in data centres is ideal for those services in the cloud as it provides the opportunity to grow according to demand fluctuation and the necessary electrical power, connectivity and security necessary to ensure reliable performance and continuous availability…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Jeffrey Burt.

Hewlett-Packard officials want to make it easier and more cost-effective for enterprises to build data centers.  The giant tech vendor is unveiling its HP Facility-as-a-Service (FaaS) offering that essentially lets organizations avoid the millions of dollars in upfront capital costs associated with building new data centers and instead spread those costs out over a number of years.

The service gives businesses another option when deciding on a data center strategy, and enables them to keep control of their infrastructure rather than opt for a cloud or co-location solution, according to Rick Einhorn, vice president of technology services data center consulting at HP.  "It takes out most of the initial capital expenditure and drives it into an operational expenditure," Einhorn told eWEEK…

Grazed from NetworkSupportServicesBlog.  Author: Editorial Staff.

In recent times, cloud computing is considered as a major solution for storage of large amounts of data. Clouds are being used for the purpose of high data storage. With an increase and widening of companies that make use of Information Technology, it is difficult to maintain a physical device where data can be stored. Thus, companies are now making use of cloud computing that helps them store the data in a safe and secure place. A number of IT Support service providers now own clouds and lease storage space to different companies. Let us now see how cloud storage is actually done.

Cloud storage is expected to be available and durable no matter what the physical conditions of a system might be. It is a virtual storage system that allows you to store your data without using the physical memory. The size of a cloud storage may range anywhere between a few bytes up to a few petabytes…

Grazed from Protiviti.  Author: Editorial Staff.

As cloud service providers mature, and expand and refine their offerings, it is increasingly difficult for many organizations not to at least consider moving certain functions to the cloud. Cost-reduction opportunities, scalability, flexibility and elasticity are just some of the potential benefits of such a move. However, companies looking to shift their information technology (IT) assets to a cloud model (public, private or hybrid) often are not fully informed, or simply are unaware, of the range of risks and limitations of cloud computing.

Most organizations do have security concerns about the cloud. Leadership, especially from IT, may worry that data will be less safe if hosted by a third party, instead of internally or in a “steel cage” by a local co-location provider. The fear of losing control of and visibility into IT systems is a key reason why many organizations decide to delay or cancel cloud conversions, particularly large commitments to the cloud…