Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Ryan Huang.

Recognizing vulnerabilities in existing facilities before embarking on a cloud computing deployment offers an opportunity for potential cloud computing adopters to fortify critical systems. This is done primarily through the optimization of the end-to-end infrastructure with fault-tolerant systems – including power, precision cooling and infrastructure management – to sustain the highest possible levels of availability and service while reducing operating costs and management complexity, according to Emerson Network Power. The most significant opportunities for facility optimization can be divided into three key areas:

• Employing a High-Density System Configuration
• Optimizing the Power Architecture for High Availability
• Managing Complexities through Infrastructure Management
  

Grazed from CRN.  Author: Sholto Macpherson.

Is cloud computing forcing distributors out of the market? In my column last month, Danny Smith from Express Online hinted as much as he discussed the challenge of finding a role for disties in the new world order.  But some refuse to believe that the cloud only represents a threat. Scott Frew, CEO of Distribution Central, jumped onto LinkedIn to tell me, “Just wanted to say I completely disagree with the article on cloud killing ED. I normally let these things go but I thought it needed some balance on this one.”

I put in a call to Frew and he pointed out the upside in cloud computing – strong growth in networks and hybrid systems. It’s not all talk either: for the year to 30 June, DC broke through the $250 million mark, while Q1 2013 was its most profitable quarter ever…

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Barb Darrow.

Last week, IBM and Microsoft put themselves front and center to prove that they can both capitalize on their tech legacy while pushing beyond it in the era of web-scale cloud.  On Wednesday, IBM showed some progress on its plan to reinvigorate its Power chip architecture. The company showed off a Tyan-built white box server running firmware and an OS by foundation partners IBM, Google, and Canonical.

Google’s participation was the highlight when IBM announced the foundation in August– its presence gives IBM’s Power architecture some web-scale credibility although, as far as I can tell Google has not committed to actually using Power-based servers…

Grazed from Inquirer.net.  Author: Vanessa B. Hidalgo.

More businesses are migrating to cloud services to streamline their business processes.  The shift is attributed to more businesses—large, small and medium entrepreneurs—taking a step back from the conventional means of managing their day-to-day operations into more sophisticated and accessible platforms.

“The Internet via the cloud offers a unique view. A more organized system to manage an entire business from just one platform. We deliver solutions via the cloud. It is cost-effective and quick to deploy,” says Jan Alvin Pabellon, NetSuite’s principal product manager for the Asia-Pacific and Japan…

Grazed from TheBostonHerald.  Author: Jordan Graham.

Aereo’s landmark Internet broadcast Supreme Court case is casting a pall over venture funding for the cloud computing industry, experts are warning.  “The mere existence of this will make it much harder to raise funding, because the risks have gone up,” said Michael Davies, chairman and founder of Endeavor Partners, a Cambridge consulting firm for technology companies.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard the case in which Aereo defends its right to grab television broadcast signals and stream TV through the cloud to users for a small fee of about $8 a month — and without paying retransmission fees. Aereo, run by founder and CEO Chet Kanojia, contends its antennas are no different than old-fashioned rabbit ears and its service constitutes what is legally known as a “private performance.” Broadcasters contend the business is offering a “public performance” and the company is violating copyright…

Grazed from DaytonaNetworks.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Some say putting your business data in the cloud is no riskier than putting your money in a bank.  At first sight, there are similarities, but a closer look reveals significant differences. You are not  particularly concerned that your money will be lost if the bank is robbed or destroyed by fire  because the bank and the government guarantee your money.

It doesn’t matter if the very same cash you lodged in the bank yesterday is stolen today since one dollar bill is much the same as another. Your cloud data is not like money for two important reasons: First, most of the data is unique and irreplaceable – one piece of data is not the same as another; second, much of your data is confidential – customer records, financial information, new product development plans, etc. – and its value depends on it being kept strictly private…

Grazed from PRNewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

CloudeAssurance, Inc. an eFortresses company is proud to announce that it’s founder Taiye Lambo will be presenting one of its most valuable research efforts entitled "Cloud Security Benchmark: Top 10 Cloud Service Providers Q1 2014" at the First Open Government Data Forum 2014.

The Emirates Identity Authority, the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) are jointly conducting this first Open Government Data Forum 2014 from 28-29 April 2014 at Ritz Carlton Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).This unique event coincides with CloudeAssurance launching a new online course for the recently released NIST Cybersecurity Framework Version 1.0 mandated by President Barack Obama…

Grazed from LinkedIn.  Author: Reza Rahimi.

mobile computing is expanding beyond the traditional approach on voice and data delivery to encompass new classes of rich mobile applications and technologies such as location based services, mobile social networks, crowd computing, sensory based applications and wearable technologies to name a few.

These classes of mobile applications and technologies have quantitative and qualitative criteria of growing importance like efficiency and performance, scalability, privacy and reliability. Due to the resource limitation of mobile devices, cloud computing could be a good potential candidate to solve these problems…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Eric Lundquist.

I attended the Bloomberg Enterprise Technology Summit this week, which was the same week that Apple, VMware, Microsoft and Amazon issued robust quarterly financial reports. You might not think the conference and earnings reports are linked, but the trends discussed at the conference are already showing up in the vendor’s numbers.

So what were the trends? Certainly, cloud computing was a big topic. But cloud computing is not new and the question is now what happens after the cloud frenzy?   The characteristics of cloud computing:  capacity on demand and Internet standards as the basis for communicating were evident in the financial sphere and the conference floor…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge.  Author: Rich Miller.

Apple has provided the first look inside its data centers in a series of media interviews designed to promote its use of green energy. In interviews with Wired and The Today Show, Apple Vice President of Environmental Initiative Lisa Jackson has shown off the massive solar power arrays that power the company’s data centers in Reno, Nevada and Maiden, North Carolina.

The NBC video includes a brief look inside the Maiden data center, where correspondent Anne Thompson walks through the hot aisle of a row of servers. The aisle is contained, with end doors and clear ceiling panels, and Jackson says the temperature is about 103 degrees…