Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Charles Babcock.

Is platform-as-a-service just a feature of infrastructure-as-a-service and destined to disappear? Citrix’s chief technology advocate Reuven Cohen made that argument recently, but I think it’s the other way around: Infrastructure may best be approached through a PaaS. I think there will several different platforms-as-a-service to help you launch your next-generation application on the cloud of your choice.

I say several because there’s been a debate recently about whether the successful launch of a Cloud Foundry Foundation amounted to the death knell of Red Hat’s OpenShift PaaS and the related Project Solum in OpenStack. Project Solum is suffering momentary suspended animation, as the dust settles around rival VMware/Pivotal’s announcement of a foundation for its Cloud Foundry project…

Grazed from ITProPortal. Author: Editorial Staff.

In our previous feature in this series, we looked at the network infrastructure implications of adopting cloud-based services for your company. But there are more issues than just whether the bandwidth and latency levels on your network are up to the job. Unless you implement a private cloud, your employees will be accessing services that are hosted externally. Even with a private cloud, mobile workers will be accessing this from outside the office. So the perimeter line between the internal network and the Internet will be much more porous.

You can’t outsource accountability

Implementing cloud services is often an exercise in outsourcing, and whilst you can outsource responsibility, you can’t outsource accountability. There are different levels of cloud provision, each with their own particular security needs:…

Grazed from CIOL. Author: Siddharth Mehta.

Cloud computing is more than just a buzzword. It’s a mega-trend that has become a term for the ongoing shift from in-house data centers to third-party facilities. Within that mega-trend are many smaller trends, which have brought revolution in the IT industry and its operations.

Cloud computing continues to be adopted in its various forms, it is constantly adapting to the changing needs of businesses and providers. While organizations search for a long-term strategy to combine their internal system with the cloud, providers continue to offer greater benefits…

Grazed from CRN. Author: Mark Randall.

Cloud computing services have rapidly increased in popularity over recent years – and so has the number of cloud-based products and services on the market. Providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) offer innovative, flexible, scalable and powerful cloud platforms. Here are some lessons that are relevant to any channel partner looking to capitalise on cloud demand.

New computing paradigm

A key benefit of cloud computing is the ability for organisations and consumers to ‘self-serve’. This is exceptionally powerful because it provides users with direct access and control to functionality in services such as AWS. The complexity is still there, however, so self-service can just mean it’s easier to make mistakes. Cloud surveys such as CloudCheckr’s show that many organisations are not managing their cloud environments correctly to ensure security, performance and availability. A lack of skills, experience and understanding is to blame…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Editorial Staff.

It’s been a little over seven years since AWS launched S3 and EC2. Back then it was exciting to spin up servers in just a few minutes without signing long-term contracts. But fast-forward to 2014: there are dozens of IaaS providers offering similar capabilities. The selling points — like self-service, zero CAPEX and elasticity — that once made the cloud look exciting are not as appealing anymore, and they are no longer the differentiating factors.

In the current context, selling cloud for its self-service capabilities is similar to Microsoft trying to sell the latest version of Windows only for its graphical interface. Both have become commodities with the customers taking those features for granted. So, how do new IaaS providers entering the market compete better with AWS, which is an undisputed market leader? Here are 5 tips to beat AWS on its own turf…

Grazed from PRNewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

One of the world’s leading hosted IT business management software providers and one of the most trusted names in data backup and disaster recovery announced today the availability of an integration module that gives managed service providers (MSPs) the power to simplify and streamline their business processes leveraging the StorageCraft Recover-Ability Solution and the Autotask IT Business Management Solution.

The integration module allows MSPs to easily automate their billing processes by mapping and synchronizing data from the StorageCraft MSP portal and StorageCraft Cloud Services with their Autotask IT Business Management Solution…

Grazed from TechPageOne.  Author: Blake Snow.

What they don’t know can’t hurt them.  That’s modern end-user computing in a nutshell. So long as people get their stuff (i.e. data and apps) via a familiar interface, they don’t care how it gets there or on which device it’s accessed. They just want their digital stuff “to work” and are increasingly indifferent to the branded cogs delivering it.

“The PC is no longer the sole ‘go-to’ device for personal and corporate computing,” says Jeff McNaught, a chief strategist at Dell. “We live in the multi-device era.”  That era began with “bring your own device” or BYOD, a term coined in a 2005 academic report (PDF) to reflect more open IT policies. Back then, workers just wanted to access email from their favorite consumer phone or laptop, as opposed to a company issue. Kind of a hassle for IT departments, but not that big of a deal…

Grazed from CNet.  Author: Richard Nieva.

If there was any question that the cloud storage business is a high stakes game, Google erased all doubt this week. The search giant shook up the consumer cloud world by drastically slashing its paid plans. Fifteen gigabytes of storage are still free, but 100GB are now $1.99 per month, down from $4.99. Even more impressive is the fact that you can get an entire terabyte of space for $9.99 a month, which used to be $49.99.

The move signals a clear, ruthless investment by Google. And when a giant like Google makes a push like that, it reverberates through the entire ecosystem, and the other players have no choice but to react. This isn’t the first time Google has made a change that sent other companies jumping. When it began to re-categorize emails in Gmail, at least one firm that depends on the platform noted the change in an SEC filing, under the section "Risk Factors." The comparison isn’t directly analogous, but the fairly obvious point remains. Google’s stirrings are a big deal…

Grazed from InformationWeek.  Author: Michael Steinhart.

Some of us have our feelings written all over our faces. Others may pride themselves on being inscrutable. However, when a computer is analyzing our features frame by frame, it can glean insight from even the slightest quirk.

At last week’s Sentiment Analysis Symposium in New York, Jacob Whitehill, a research scientist with Emotient, demonstrated the company’s emotion recognition products. He showed how they isolate the faces in a video stream and track their expressions, from joyful to angry to sad. "It has many commercial applications," he said…

Grazed from MSPWorld.  Author: PR Announcement.

World’s Premier Cloud Computing and Managed Services Event Will Focus on Fundamentals and Best Practice for Growth.

 Chico, CA & Orlando, FL (March 12, 2014) The International Association of Cloud and Managed Service Providers, (@MSPAlliance), has announced that this year’s MSPWorld® Spring 2014 conference agenda will predominantly feature sessions designed to help Managed Services Providers build and run better Managed Services practices as well as provide them with practical instructions on how to achieve a more strategic, efficient and profitable business. 

MSPWorld, which convenes executives and industry leaders from around the world, will take place at the Orland World Center Marriott in Orlando, FL, March 26-28, 2014 (http://www.mspalliance.com/mspworld/)…