Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

IBM inventors have patented a cloud computing invention that can improve quality of service for clients by enabling data to be dynamically modified, prioritized and shared across a cloud environment. As more and more companies take advantage of applications, processes and services delivered via the cloud, vendors are struggling with increased complexity and challenges associated with ensuring uninterrupted data availability.

IBM’s patented technique creates a cloud environment in which Quality of Service priorities can be modified according to real-time or expected conditions, to reduce data bottlenecks in the cloud, thereby ensuring that clients receive the level and quality of service they expect…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Ben Kepes.

The world is undergoing unprecedented change with political instability, economic turmoil, technological shifts, globalization, and the demands of a new generation of workers. Every organization, regardless of industry, must continually reassess what it does in order to survive and prosper. This revolution will have profound implications, and all organizations need to consider how the cloud and big data impact their industry.

Rather than be drowned by the feeling of impending doom, however, organizations should look to cloud computing, the promise of big data, and new approaches for research and development such as crowdfunding to remain competitive, increase efficiency, and generate new business…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Editorial Staff.

With the recent news of Heartbleed affecting millions of websites security, malware is on the minds of tech consumers more than ever. Being informed about this bug is vitally important for anyone with online accounts. In this infographic by toptenreviews, many important statistics are shown such as the infection rate in the top 10 most infected countries and the infection rate of the top 10 least infected countries. In the United States, 30 percent of households are infected by some form of malware, with viruses and Trojans being the most common types…

To view infographic and read more from the source, visit http://cloudtweaks.com/2014/04/cloud-infographic-computer-virus-facts-stats/

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Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Brandon Butler.

Amazon Web Services, one of the most popular cloud computing platforms, which hosts a large number of websites on the Internet, said this week that it has been able to mitigate the impact of the Heartbleed OpenSSL bug revealed this week. But, it because of a "shared security" model that AWS operates under, some customers can take action if they want to take extra precautions to ensure the vulnerability does not impact their operations.

In a blog post, AWS recommends that customers using the popular Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service – which provides virtual machine images – who implement OpenSSL on their own Linux images should update VMs to ensure the OpenSSL patch is in place. "As an added precaution, we recommend that you rotate any secrets or keys (e.g. your SSL certificates) that were used by the affected OpenSSL process," AWS recommends. AWS provides instructions on its blog of how to update Amazon Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu VMs…

Grazed from CloudTimes.org. Author: Saroj Kar.

How companies are adopting cloud computing and how they are addressing the changes that it entails in the management of IT resources? RightScale tries to find the answers in its RightScale 2014 State of the Cloud Survey. The survey results found that cloud adoption is picking up steam as enterprises increase both public and private cloud adoption. More interestingly, enterprises have increased the adoption of public cloud services.

Much of that credit goes to how public cloud services like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, RackSpace and others are aggressively marketing their offerings. Nearly 1,100 enterprises and small-and-mid-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed, 89 percent are using public cloud for something and the rest are planning to use in future…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Keith Tilley.

Successfully managing IT strategy is no simple task, particularly when the decision makers’ roles vary from company to company. Research findings from Gartner and Financial Executives Research Foundation, for example, found that 42 per cent of organisations said their IT division reports to the CFO, 33 per cent to the CEO, 16 per cent to the COO, 2 per cent to a chief administrative officer and 7 per cent to other officers.

So with finance frequently involved in sanctioning IT expenditure, it’s no surprise that CIOs and CFOs have often had a troubled relationship. As cloud computing starts to become part of companies’ IT strategies, what effect has this had on the CIO/CFO relationship? Do the views between the CIO and CFO remain opposing? Is this conflict holding up adoption of the technology? And what is needed for both parties to capitalise on its potential benefits? Let’s explore…

Grazed from Globe Newswire. Author: PR Announcement.

ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd. ("ChinaCache" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:CCIH), the leading total solutions provider of Internet content and application delivery services in China, today announced that it has signed a framework agreement ("agreement") with People.cn (Shanghai:603000), a large-scale information interaction platform constructed by People’s Daily, relating to ChinaCache Atecsys International Data Center ("Atecsys"), to address the cloud computing and cloud storage needs of People.cn’s growing user base.

Atecsys is a cloud infrastructure strategically located in Beijing’s tax free, custom bonded zone. The investment in Atecsys will enable People.cn to reduce long term spending on cloud infrastructure and to leverage ChinaCache’s expertise on total network solutions to assist them in the long run…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

Technology issues don’t typically stop cloud implementations. More often than not, it’s the people. Office politics, unrealistic expectations, and general stupidity are the common culprits that hinder cloud computing use at many enterprises. The vocal opponents to cloud computing we heard in 2008 are mostly quiet in 2014.

However, they are still lurking. Today, they use closed-door conversations to call the cloud into question, often for the wrong reasons. By doing so, they create a toxic culture around the use of cloud computing — or any new technologies that may prove to be innovative and helpful but threaten the status quo…

Grazed from BusinessInsider. Author: Editorial Staff.

It’s been two days since the Heartbleed bug was exposed, a security flaw so bad, security expert Bruce Schneier has called it "catastrophic." The flaw allows hackers to intercept and read website information supposed to be encrypted, like passwords and credit card info. This problem was found in the really popular security software known as OpenSSL used by many huge websites and devices.

That means Heartbleed was found in some of most popular cloud services on the Internet, like Gmail, Yahoo, Flicker, OkCupid, Tumbler and others. The good news is that those sites have been fixed, Mashable reports. More good news: hundreds of other websites are racing to get rid of the bug as we write this. 24 hours after the bug was reported, security vendor SkyHigh Networks had found 368 cloud providers that still had the bug…

Grazed from BSMInfo. Author: Megan Williams.

While migration to cloud platforms presents unique challenges for VARs working with federal agencies, it also offers business opportunities in addressing issues unique to the government sphere. What opportunities does federal migration to cloud platforms provide for you as an IT reseller?  Quite a few. Federal agencies have a long road ahead of them in their migration to cloud computing. Even after the decision to migrate is made, uncertainty looms about the best way to approach the migration for government agencies.

Challenges With Migration

As far back as 2012, the Government Accountability Office was calling for better planning of cloud migration procedures. The implementation (across seven agencies) brought the following common challenges to light…