Grazed from WSJ. Author: PR Announcement.

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Orange Business Services, a major communications service provider that offers cloud infrastructure services, have formed an alliance to support large enterprises with their cloud strategy and the transformation of their infrastructure and applications to cloud-based models. This alliance will begin by targeting French businesses before approaching companies in other European countries where Accenture does not have existing alliances with other providers.

The alliance was formed to provide large enterprises with end-to-end cloud services that will help them to simplify the management of their IT infrastructure and increase their market flexibility, while keeping development costs under control. Under the alliance, Accenture and Orange Business Services will collaborate to support their clients by helping large enterprises to:…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Dennis Junk.

Whether it’s big government or big corporations you fear may be encroaching on our right to privacy, you should have no trouble these days finding news to fuel your suspicions. If, on the other hand, you happen to run a business, you probably find clear-eyed assessments of the risks and benefits of things like cloud computing, Big Data, and the various emerging business intelligence technologies are really hard to come by.

Is the data you store in the cloud secure? The honest answer is that no data is ever perfectly secure—look what happened to Target. Any data connected to the internet is hackable, so unless you’re going to try to conduct business completely offline you just have to accept some degree of risk. Some tech experts even insist that the cloud is more secure than on-premises databases for many of the same reasons that money in the bank is more secure than cash in the mattress. Still, we’re just beginning to appreciate the possibilities of cloud computing, and the unfamiliarity is enough to make a lot of us uneasy…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Lindsey LaManna.

By now, we’ve all heard about the cloud and the numerous benefits of cloud computing, but how are companies really using the cloud? Working with SAP, Oxford Economics surveyed 200 senior business and IT executives to find out. Respondents to the survey were highly diversified, representing various industry segments including banking, capital markets, consumer products, retail and telecommunications, as well as multiple countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UK and US.

What they found is that companies are investing heavily in the cloud, with 95% using cloud technology. Companies are moving more and more business functions into the cloud, and making the cloud into a truly strategic option. As more and more functions (HR, finance, etc.) adopt cloud technologies, the barriers between executives disappear—clouds of information merge…

Grazed from ITWorld. Author: Joab Jackson.

Potentially helping developers more quickly build cross-platform applications, Microsoft is releasing as open source its WinJS JavaScript library for building Windows-styled controls. Now that the library is open source, developers can use it to build and design Windows-like Web applications for other browsers and platforms, including Chrome, Firefox, Android, and iOS.

Such cross-platform capability could save developers time by eliminating the need to code the same app multiple times for non-Windows platforms and browsers other than Internet Explorer, according to the company. While the name "WinJS" may imply that it is a Microsoft version of JavaScript, it is in fact a collection of JavaScript tools for enabling advanced components and user interface controls, which minimize the changes developers have to make for using these features across different devices…

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Eric Lundquist.

Interop is one of the last independent technology trade shows since many of the current crop of IT conferences has fallen into the morass of self-congratulatory vendor specific events. The conference piece of the exhibition has morphed along with the tech industry itself as cloud computing, mobility and big data have reshaped the corporate IT.

This year’s event reflected those changes and highlighted some of the big trends continuing to sweep through the networking segment, which after all, was the show’s original focus. Here are some of the top trends. Everyone loves software-defined networking—whatever that is. Swearing fealty to software defined networking is now an essential part of every vendor’s pitch…

Grazed from TechDirt. Author: Editorial Staff.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about how the Aereo case, which will be heard by the Supreme Court in a few weeks, is likely to have a huge impact on the future of cloud computing, and went into detail to explain why. The primary issue is that, under copyright law, what Aereo is doing is effectively indistinguishable from what most cloud computing services do. However, a number of folks who really seem to dislike Aereo continually insist that the case will have no impact whatsoever on cloud computing. Variety’s Todd Spangler recently wrote a typical version of this argument, basically waving off the issue based on the idea that Aereo more or less feels different from Dropbox. But that fundamentally ignores the actual copyright issues at stake.

Matt Schruers has a blog post up at the Project Disco blog pointing out why this "cloud denialism" by the anti-Aereo crowd is both dangerous and misleading. It includes the money line that a bunch of folks have been quoting: "The only unifying characteristic I’ve discerned among the deniers is that none of them are actually in the business of providing cloud services."…

Grazed from TheVarGuy. Author: Michael Cusanelli.

Novell has put the finishing touches on its GroupWise 2014 collaboration platform, with the latest version of the company’s legacy software touting several new features that cater to mobile workforces and more web-based management and productivity tools. The technology, which has been in beta for the past 10 months, is scheduled to release this week.

The newest version includes Active Directory support to address evolving customer infrastructures, the company noted, as well as a new web-based administration console. According to Novell, GroupWise 2014’s ability to handle multiple administrators and advanced querying help separate it from competitors such as Microsoft’s (MSFT) Exchange and Outlook or Google Gmail…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Brandon Butler.

Interop, one of the premier shows for networking each year, kicked off its general session on Wednesday proclaiming that a new era of IT is upon the world, led by a mobile revolution and supported by cloud computing. And more change is on the way as software-defined networking quickly matures into a platform for enterprises to seriously consider. Keynote panelists from Cisco, HP, Dell Citrix and Deloitte all spoke about the changes that are shaping the IT industry today and how practitioners can get their hands around these mega-trends.

Mobile: It’s here

Larry Quinlan, the global CIO of $32 billion international consulting firm Deloitte, spoke about how in this new era, IT leaders need to inspire their workforce to embrace these changes. It’s about creating a culture of passion for technology, he says. This can be done in a number of ways, but he said the key is to ensure that IT shops are not seen as enablers and inhibitors to technology…

Grazed from WallStreetJournal. Author: Spencer E. Ante.

OpenStack, a kind of operating system for computer rooms, is emerging as an increasingly important piece of software. A move by Ericsson stands to provide another big push. The Swedish giant has signed a deal with a startup called Mirantis to use OpenStack as the software foundation for its telecommunications network, internal data centers and cloud computing services that Ericsson will offer its customers.

Ericsson declined to comment on the financial terms. But a person familiar with the matter said the software licensing deal extends for five years and has an estimated value of $30 million. Industry participants believe the deal with Mirantis is the largest to date for OpenStack, which has become a key weapon in the battle among cloud services that are taking over many company computing functions…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Editorial Staff.

You’d almost think Apple rival Samsung underwrote the upcoming movie "Sex Tape" when you see the just released NSFW trailer. A couple, played by Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, have their life turned upside down after they record a sex tape that then spreads through iCloud to a bunch of iPads they’ve given as gifts to family, friends and even the mailman.

Yes, a cloud gaffe even more embarrassing than all those industry cloud outages. Segel in the movie describes his wife’s idea to record themselves having intimate relations as "your best idea ever." Until it isn’t. Apparently he was supposed to erase their X-rated film. In one scene, the video is shown syncing via Jay’s cloud account over a happy, shiny family photo on their iPad…