Grazed from WhaTech. Author: Ed Rooney.

With all the talk about cloud computing, many businesses leaders are left wondering which approach is best to ensure moving to the cloud results in a successful outcome. Like anything that involves change, a prudent strategy from the outset will reduce the risk and this is no different for cloud adoption.

There is no shortage of promises made by cloud providers. Benefits like agility, speed to market and cost reduction are common talking points during cloud presentations. With the benefits of the cloud model well defined, the biggest challenge for many organisations is how to change from delivering on-premise IT to a cloud alternative…

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Shawn Drew.

The public cloud, and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solutions in particular, may have developed a proven track record over the past few years, but that has not led to universal business adoption as some had predicted. All that could be about to change, however, in light of a new survey that shows more and more businesses are ready to take the plunge into the cloud. IT managers at midsize businesses need to be cognizant of this fact in order to keep their departments up to date and their companies a step ahead of the competition.

Cloud Computing and IaaS Are Mainstream

The new research comes from a survey taken by Riverbed at Amazon’s AWS re:Invent 2013 conference held in November. The 122 participants, all responsible for IT management or application development, were asked a number of questions regarding their company’s current cloud situation…

Grazed from GreatResponder. Author: Maria Dehn.

The CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff announced one of the most ambitious cloud computing based platform of the company last week. He unleashed the innovative and highly capable cloud platform during the IT event of the company “Dreamforce” in San Franscisco. He termed the platform as the most promising, futuristic and ideal for the integrated approach for customers to experience the internet of customers on a single platform.

Explaining the features and capabilities of this cloud platform, Benioff said, “This platform is very suitable for the developers for mobile, social and cloud applications – and we have strived to provide the best way to interact with the customers the way they deserve to be interacted.” He further said that mobile applications are a bit difficult to build but this new generation platform makes it more convenient for the developers. He further pointed out that they have assessed the way to connect with the customers very delicately and developed this platform as a complete and consolidated solution to connect the customers entirely new way…

Zadara Storage, provider of enterprise-class private cloud storage by the hour, today announced that it has further expanded North American channel availability of its award-winning Virtual Private Storage Array (VPSA) enterprise Storage as a Service (STaaS) offering by naming two new members of its Zadara Integration Partner Program (ZIPP). Capella Telecommunications Inc., a value-added reseller to Canada’s telecommunications industry, and SoftNet Solutions, a solutions provider specializing in high performance enterprise computing applications, will be able to provide their customers with the option of accessing data center-grade SAN and NAS features to support Tier 1 primary storage for low latency, high IOPS applications – affordably, with a monthly payment option, and without the downsides of traditional enterprise storage.

Grazed from The Washington Post. Author: Mohana Ravindranath.

Since its founding in 1969, chip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, has produced the chips powering machines from IBM’s PCs in the 1980’s to Microsoft’s recently released Xbox One. Today AMD is eager to branch out into cloud services, as business begins to expand beyond desktop computing. In October, Verizon selected AMD’s microprocessor to power some of its Internet-based cloud computing and cloud storage offerings.

In a conversation with The Washington Post, AMD chief executive Rory Read discussed how cloud computing creates opportunities for the company in both consumer and government markets. When data was stored on local servers, AMD was focused on how to process and display it on one particular device, Read said. “Now with the cloud, you have to be able to set all of that graphics and display [on any device].”…

Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Document Capture Technologies (OTCQB: DCMT), an innovator in cloud-based document management and productivity solutions for small businesses, today launched a fax service that allows documents to be sent from a computer, tablet or smartphone with an Internet connection. SimpleScan now turns a smart phone or desktop scanner into a virtual fax machine that transmits digitized documents to any fax number.

"Eliminate the time, cost and hassle of faxing documents on the go," said Karl Etzel, COO, Document Capture Technologies. "The inclusion of fax in SimpleScan Connect’s suite of document management services is one more way we enable small business productivity and efficiency, especially for those who send faxes infrequently."…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

Revenue generated from public cloud is estimated to grow to upwards of $107 billion by 2017, but according to the head honchos at Flexiant, there’s an apathy running through the services provider world. Although plenty of services providers have caught the cloud bug already, Flexiant’s leaders noted in a discussion with Talkin’ Cloud that many still don’t "get" the cloud and how they fit into the market.

Flexiant focuses on helping services providers with orchestration software they can use to run a public cloud and increase revenue, but George Knox, Flexiant’s CEO, said many firms don’t yet understand the mindset of deploying and selling cloud services. That lack of understanding crosses all types of services providers—from managed services providers to telcos…

Grazed from V3.co.uk. Author: Daniel Robinson.

Akamai Technologies has announced its intention to acquire security firm Prolexic Technologies in order to offer customers using its cloud platform protection against cyber attack from the internet. The acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of 2014, will see Akamai purchase all of the outstanding equity of Prolexic in exchange for a cash payment of approximately $370 million. The buyout is subject to the usual conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Akamai, which operates a cloud-based content delivery network with a global presence, said the move will enable it to provide customers with a comprehensive portfolio of security solutions to defend their web and IP infrastructure against application-layer, network-layer and data centre attacks…

Grazed from HostReview. Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing is the most effective means for small, medium and large enterprises in reducing their IT cost. Not only does it eliminate most of the infrastructure CapEx because it eliminates the need to buy servers any more, even the total operating cost of running the infrastructure is significantly lower. The benefits apply both to start-ups and to established organizations. Had it not been for the Cloud, Instagram could never have gone from zero to 100 million active users in less than 18 months; the infrastructure scale-up challenges, not to mention the capital investment in hardware, would have curtailed such growth to a minor percentage of what actually transpired.

Thus Cloud Computing is undoubtedly a great boon for companies everywhere, and, therefore, a boost for the world economy. In a recent interview with bodHOST’s CEO Probal DasGupta, he recalled the Instagram growth, and its $1 billion acquisition by FaceBook; and, compared it to the mere $35 million paid by Yahoo for a similar service, Flickr, in 2005. One factor that might have played in Instagram’s favor was access to more advanced Cloud technology…

Grazed from Computing.co.uk. Author: Danny Palmer.

Replacing all instances of the word "cloud" with "somebody else’s computer" might make organisations stop and think about the security implications of cloud computing. That’s according to computer security expert Graham Cluley. He believes the "trendy" use of the word "cloud" has been responsible for a certain carelessness by organisations as they ship their data off to cloud providers without properly considering how sensitive data could be vulnerable if stored this way, especially if it isn’t encrypted.

"You need to encrypt your data. Nobody used to use the word cloud – we all used to say "internet" but now it’s trendy to say cloud," Cluley told Computing. "I’d like to suggest a new phrase so that every time we say cloud we say ‘somebody else’s computer’."  Thinking about it in those terms, Cluley argued, would logically lead to IT professionals thinking a little harder about where and how they store data, especially if it is of a sensitive nature…