Grazed from TheNextWeb. Author: Ian Gotts.

It seems like the whole world is moving to the cloud for all IT applications. Whilst this is not true, there is a danger of the herd mentality. This article considers the different aspects that should be taken into account before launching into the clouds. Much of the material is taken from a book by the author of this article called Thinking of… Buying Cloud Computing? Ask the Smart Questions.

The book offers 90 pages of questions that act as a comprehensive list of all the issues that need to be considered. Sadly, it provides no answers – it cannot, as every client situation is different. It is never what may be described as a “fun read”. But what is does do is make sure that all the questions that should be answered are asked. It also gives insights into the impact of every question guiding the reader to the right answer…

Grazzed from CloudTweaks. Author: Jim McCann.

Putting the power of big data into the hands of small businesses can help them to achieve improved results in sales and marketing and in providing the products their customers want most. A number of factors have come together to allow the democratization of big data analytics and to provide a practical option for small business owners and administrators in managing their enterprises more effectively.

Big Data and the Corporate Cloud

One of the most important elements in the new big data paradigm is the increasing availability of cloud storage and applications for smaller business operations. Cloud computing systems allow remote storage of and access to corporate data through secure login technologies. In general practice, the cloud allows staff members to perform work and access data at any time and from anywhere with a secured Internet connection…

Grazed from USA Today. Author: Rajiv Gupta.

The digital universe containing our photos, videos, movies, banking data, health data, tax statements and more is doubling roughly every two years. Securing this data is a concern. The proportion of sensitive data in the digital universe that requires protection is growing faster than the universe itself. What’s more, by 2020 nearly 40% of the information in the digital universe will be touched by cloud computing providers.

As we collectively put more and more business as well as personal data in the cloud, we expect cloud providers to fully secure the data. However, that’s rarely the case today. Hardly a day goes by without headlines about another significant data breach. Cloud providers must adopt a defense-in-depth strategy for data security. This means using layers of security technologies and business practices to make sure that data is protected in multiple ways. A good cloud security plan starts with data encryption but certainly doesn’t end there. In fact, there are five keys to cloud data security…

Grazed from USA Today. Author: Chip Bayers.

When we want to convey uncertainty or confusion, we often lean on words and phrases that make us sound like TV weathercasters — our outlook is hazy, it is obscured by mist, it is lost in the fog. Which makes it curious that vast swaths of the technology world these days are obsessed with marketing themselves as savvy about "cloud computing" — because nothing is cloudier than what the phrase itself means, or which companies are best poised to exploit it.

For example, last week’s enormous Dreamforce conference might have lead you to believe that cloud computing is all about what conference sponsor Salesforce.com provides: "software as a service." Beneath all of CEO Marc Benioff’s antic hype about a "third wave of computing" what the awkwardly-acronymed SaaS is about, in the end, is merely converting the inherently boring business software market from sales to rentals…

Grazed from FutureGov. Author: Medha Basu.

The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) has recommended that the European Union (EU) develop a unified strategy for government cloud in order to enable member countries to securely deploy government clouds. The report recognises that public sector organisations are increasingly switching to cloud computing, and government clouds can simplify citizen interactions by reducing information processing time, lowering cost of government services and enhancing citizen data security.

However, cloud adoption in the European government sector has been very heterogeneous. ENISA recommends that member states develop a framework to mitigate loss of data control and a regulatory framework to address concerns regarding the physical location of data in the cloud…

Grazed from VentureBeat.  Author: Event Announcement.

Interest in data science has exploded in 2013. Organizations have realized that data science and data analytics represent perhaps the biggest opportunity to drive dramatic change and opportunity in their businesses today. And with the speed at which data science is evolving, they are working hard to not only understand the potential and inspire their teams—but to make smart bets on people, technology and vision.

VentureBeat’s DataBeat 2013, to be held on December 4-5, in Redwood City, California, is moving past the current obsession with “Big Data” and making its own bet on data science by presenting the Data Science Summit 2013, a renowned third year event exploring the biggest challenges and opportunities in data science.

Grazed from Cerebral Research.  Author: Event Announcement.

Big Data is high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective and innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making for achieving business success.

Traditionally, Enterprise Mobility initiatives focused on voice communications and email access – In the ever changing futuristic dynamic Indian business landscape – With smart business users demanding access to corporate data anytime, anywhere, mobility devices and solutions will become integral components of the overall technology strategy.

The Big Data & Enterprise Mobility Exposition, to be held in Mumbai, on February 7, 2014, will offer a world class platform for understanding the business value proposition of Big Data & Mobility and how Big Data technology and Mobility solutions will help businesses to fuel growth and productivity in India markets for achieving business success…

Grazed from Cerebral Research.  Author: Event Announcement.

The increasing volume and sophistication of cyber threats–including targeting phishing scams, data theft, and other online vulnerabilities demand that we remain vigilant about securing our systems and information.

Thousands of infected web pages are being discovered every day. Hundreds of millions of records have been involved in data breaches. New attack methods are launched continuously. These are just a few examples of the threats facing us, and they highlight the importance of information security as a necessary approach to protecting data and systems.

The Next Generation Cyber Threats Exposition, to be held in New Delhi on January 17, 2014, will bring together the entire eco-system under one roof to understand the next generation of cyber attacks and how can we prevent our networking infrastructure more secure in order to cope with further financial loses…

Grazed from Business Standard.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Smartphones will soon be able to predict a consumer’s next move, their next purchase or interpret actions based on what it knows, according to information technology research and advisory company Gartner Inc. This insight will be performed based on an individual’s data gathered using cognisant computing, the next step in personal cloud computing.

"Smartphones are becoming smarter, and will be smarter than you by 2017. If there is heavy traffic, it will wake you up early for a meeting with your boss, or simply send an apology if it is a meeting with your colleague. The smartphone will gather contextual information from its calendar, its sensors, the user’s location and personal data," Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said in a release…

Grazed from CloudComputingInsights.  Author: Internap.

Cloud computing may be a popular topic among IT professionals, but they’re not jumping into it full-force. According to a recent survey of more than 7000 people, more than half say that security is their top concern when it comes to transitioning to the cloud.

This infographic from Internap and Alertlogic highlights the top security threats in the cloud. It also compares on-premise risk to off-premise risks, and provides a list of security questions to ask your service provider.

View the infographic and read more details @ http://www.cloudcomputinginsights.com/security/cloud-security-perception-vs-reality-infographic/?mode=featured