Grazed from MSPMentor.net.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Last week, we shared some bold 2014 predictions for the cloud-based file sharing space courtesy of Ted Hulsy of eFolder. Among them, that MSPs would begin to block consumer-grade file sharing services; that the need to scale to thousands of users would become a priority, as well as the growing importance of multi-tenant admin features. Give it a read if you haven’t already.

Tis the season for bold predictions of course, and the folks over at the Sky High Networks recently got into the action as well. In their latest post, they highlighted 11 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2014, and two predictions in particular caught our attention. Those predictions:…

Grazed from BroadwayWorld.  Author: Editorial Staff.

The idea of the ComZetta service is to create a remote computer using cloud technology which stores an operating system, applications, documents, photos and protects the user from data loss due to hardware failure or theft. Access to a cloud computer is possible with any device in any location and the performance does not depend on technical possibilities of the equipment.

The data that are stored on a virtual disc can be read on a notebook, tablet or smartphone. There is only one condition: access to the Internet. Such a solution allows for remote and flexible work with no limits. For example, you can start your project at home on your desktop computer and carry on while traveling using your tablet…

Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Heather Clancy.

Once upon a time SHI International was one of the biggest U.S. resellers of computer hardware and on-premises software. It was founded back in 1989, and its name actually is an acronym for Software-Hardware.

With more than $5 billion in annual revenue and at least 2,400 employees, SHI is still among the top 10 corporate VARs represent the usual enterprise IT suspects. But like many over long-time members of the technology distribution channel, it is dramatically stepping up its services and capabilities focused on cloud and mobile application delivery…

Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author: David Linthicum.

Good CIOs don’t blame vendors for their problems. After all, they’re the ones who validate the technology, build the larger plan, and understand the market forces. When failures occur, these CIOs look at their own organizations.  Cloud computing brought to light a lot more technologies for IT to complain about. In some cases, CIOs now in production with cloud platforms are finding that their expectations aren’t being met.

Indeed, a recent CIO Australia article reports on discussions at a panel of government CIOs at a recent cloud conference. The reporter discovered that "everyone’s talking about cloud computing, but some government CIOs are still not convinced, arguing that the market is still immature — with one saying that some vendors are simply ‘repackaging’ outsourcing services."…

Grazed from Technorati.  Author: Kevin McCafee.

For those of us living in the more general realm of technology, terms like SMM, CRM, and even SEO only begin to scratch the surface of our periphery. In this fast paced information age, simple acronyms easily fade into a broad background of ever growing terminologies that often have a lot more relevance to our daily lives than we think. So what do all of these terms have in common? Simplicity.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a good point of reference. With 70 percent of the world’s Internet browsers using Google as their window to the online world, this should be four letter word essentially dictates the modern business world. Whether you are developing an e-commerce platform or just have a local business listing, there are various ways to boost your SEO, namely increasing the number and quality of inbound links to your site, a simple practice known as link building…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Beth Pariseau.

The next big wave of cloud computing may favor Software as a Service benefits over basic cloud infrastructure, at least if one professional staffing services firm has its way. Sean Perry, chief information officer for Menlo Park, Calif.-based Robert Half International Inc., a heavy user of Amazon Web Services for cloud infrastructure, is looking to deploy more Software as a Service (SaaS) products. SearchCloudComputing caught up with him to reflect on 2013 and hear his cloud computing predictions for 2014. What cloud computing projects did you work on this year? What were the benefits of those projects?

Sean Perry: There were three types of projects that we executed in 2013 related to the cloud.

The first type was projects that positioned systems for easier migration to the cloud in the future. These were very pragmatic projects where some type of upgrade or other work was already planned, and we took advantage of the opportunity to change the underlying technology infrastructure to support future migration to the cloud. This had incremental benefits, in that the newer technologies performed much better. [It also gave] us the opportunity to move [development and test] environments to the cloud and out of our data center…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Joab Jackson.

IBM has reached into its software portfolio to provide a more sophisticated scheduler for the OpenStack deployments it builds for its customers. "You don’t want a cloud user to feel like their application is not performing as advertised," said Jay Muelhoefer, IBM’s strategy director for the new Platform Resource Scheduler. The Platform Resource Scheduler was originally developed by Platform Computing, which IBM purchased in 2012.

Platform Computing’s scheduler, originally called Platform Load Sharing Facility (LSF), found a home in many financial analysis systems, high performance computing (HPC) environments and in a number of grid computing deployments. Within an OpenStack deployment, the Platform Resource Scheduler can choose the most appropriate server in which to place a new virtual machine based on policies crafted by the administrator…

Grazed from Chicago Tribune. Author: Aurindom Mukherjee.

Oracle Corp, the world’s No. 2 business software maker, said it would buy web-based marketing software maker Responsys Inc for about $1.39 billion to bolster its cloud computing offerings. Oracle, led by billionaire Larry Ellison, has been focusing on cloud software to fend off competition from nimbler rivals such as Salesforce.com and Workday Inc, which offer web-based products at prices that often undercut Oracle.

Four-decade-old Oracle, which came late to cloud computing, has created sales teams targeting specific cloud competitors and is trying to be a one-stop shop for operating systems, databases and software programs over the Web. Responsys makes cloud-based software that businesses use to manage their marketing campaigns across e-mail, mobile and the Internet. Its customers include LinkedIn, Southwest Airlines, and United Healthcare…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Bright Computing, the leading vendor-independent provider of management solutions for clusters and clouds, is now a supporting organization of the OpenStack Foundation. The goal of Bright’s OpenStack initiative is to simplify the task of deploying and managing private clouds based on the OpenStack platform.

OpenStack is an open source cloud platform that enables service providers, enterprises, government agencies, and academic institutions to implement cloud computing solutions. It is used in industries that range from telecommunications to SaaS and eCommerce to finance and healthcare…

Grazed from ITBusiness.ca. Author: Editorial Staff.

I recently spoke with the CEO of the Canadian Cloud Council, Robert Hart, to get his perspective on The Cloud Factory conference. Robert has a unique vantage point of cloud computing in Canada. On April 9 and 10, 2014 senior executives from many of the most respected organizations will be in Banff, Alta. sharing their insights on the state of cloud computing globally and discussing the opportunities and risks for Canadian organizations.

What is the state of cloud computing in Canada today?

Robert Hart: We are past the discussion in terms of “if’” Canadians are interested in cloud computing – we are. It is now a matter of adding real practical value in terms of what cloud computing can do for a business, how IT organizations can develop cloud computing and build business cases internally to get more support for greater adoption and greater investment in cloud computing. And, how Canadians can come together to build an interesting ecosystem that’s going to allow Canadian innovation…