Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Crystal Bedell.

As organizations move beyond their initial Software as a Service (SaaS) deployments, they’re recognizing the increasing need to integrate data and processes between the public cloud and their on-premises databases and applications. In fact, according to a study by 451 Research, a New York City-based analyst organization, migration and integration together make up the second-largest cloud computing pain point cited by IT decision makers, behind only security. Not surprisingly, a variety of vendors have moved in to address the challenge of the cloud integration process.

"It’s still early in this market, just like it’s still early in cloud computing," said Bernard Golden, senior director of the cloud computing enterprise solutions group at Dell. "But there’s take-up of these solutions." While it’s still a nascent market, it’s one that he expects to grow a lot…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Janel Ryan.

The great IT debate about how best to leverage the benefits of cloud computing continues. Is it better to own or rent? The answer is, “it depends” on what you’re evaluating and your specific requirements. Rent to own furniture…I’ll save you the trouble. Don’t do it. With Cloud, businesses like yours need to look at what is the best fit for you – it is economics as well as strategic focus. And if you’re doing your homework right, it’s not a simple process.

Not only is it difficult to accurately quantify the true cost of cloud infrastructure from a provider versus building it yourself, you also need to assess your reasons for buying cloud. Most don’t make the move to cloud for anticipated savings. Most move for business reasons such as agility, scale, or simply “getting it done faster.” According to some stats, over 46% see cost savings as one of the benefits of cloud computing, while 43% see efficiency as a benefit…

Grazed from BusinessWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Technology Marketing Corp’s. Cloud Computing Magazine has honored Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. ININ +1.32% with a 2013 Cloud Computing Excellence Award. Interactive Intelligence, a global provider of software and services designed to improve the customer experience, received the award for its cloud communications offering, Interactive Intelligence CaaS(SM). Interactive Intelligence CaaS(SM) gives mid-size to large organizations secure and reliable access to a wide range of contact center, unified communications, and business process automation applications, all built on best-practices for cloud computing.

"Interactive Intelligence saw the future of the cloud several years ago," said TMC Group Editorial Director Erik Linask. "Its execution speaks for itself. Last year the vendor reported an increase in cloud-based orders of 123 percent over the previous year. Its customers are clearly embracing the security, reliability, breadth of functionality, and flexibility that Interactive Intelligence CaaS(SM) offers."…

Grazed from ITProPortal. Author: Ashish Thusoo.

A recent Gartner report places big data at the peak of inflated expectations in a hype cycle of emerging technologies. While big data is experiencing the height of its buzz, cloud computing, on the other hand, appears to have slumped into the "trough of disillusionment," according to Gartner.

The graph strikingly plots how big data is still on a rise, as indicated by the report, while cloud computing has peaked and fallen in interest. This places decision makers in the difficult position of either investing in big data and risking resources on an emerging trend, or ignoring the trend and potentially being left behind. The example of cloud computing demonstrates that hype can, and often does, precede a paradigm shift in an industry. Time has shown that while betting on the cloud was risky, it ultimately gave a first-mover advantage to the risk-takers…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Joe Masters Emison.

Several months ago, I said that Netflix’s push to drive the adoption of its open-source cloud-management toolkit, NetflixOSS, had the potential to "ruin cloud computing." Part of my argument revolved around the Netflix Aminator tool, which facilities the creation of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). While Aminator may be a good choice for Netflix, I argued that it encourages exactly the wrong habits for the majority of companies trying to deploy applications in the cloud.

After many long discussions about that initial article, I believe there is still significant confusion about how one should best use AMIs (or the equivalent from other public cloud providers), and so I am dedicating this column to what I call "the baking debate."…

Grazed from BusinessWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Quest, a technology management company, today announced it has been named Company of the Year in the Cloud Elite category of the 2013 Solution Provider 500 list, sponsored by The Channel Company’s CRN. The Solution Provider 500 awards span eight categories including Cloud Elite, and recognize those Solution Provider 500 companies that have evolved and thrived in today’s cloud and services driven IT era. Quest ranked 161 on the 2013 SP500 list, up from 192 last year, and received the Company of the Year Cloud Elite award at the 2013 Best of Breed Conference in Tampa, FL which recognizes the nation’s top IT solution providers.

Quest was recognized as a leader in the Cloud category for providing customers with a full spectrum of cloud solutions and services, whether in public, private or hybrid cloud environments. “Our main focus is ‘How can we help?’”, said Tim Burke, Quest President and CEO. “We begin by engaging our customer to determine their overall business objectives and identifying technology capabilities that the customer requires. We’ve been providing cloud and managed services for over a decade and we’re greatly honored by this recognition.”…

Grazed from ComputerWorld. Author: Juan Carlos Perez.

When Google Apps arrived in 2006, it stood on the cutting edge of web-hosted email and collaboration suites for businesses, a bold pioneer clearing a path in the new, wild frontier of enterprise cloud computing. Seven years later, complacency has diluted that innovative spirit, and Google Apps now trails competing suites from IBM, Cisco and Microsoft in areas like enterprise social networking (ESN) and unified communications (UC).

Although Google improves Apps continually, the suite’s main draw remains its Gmail component, as has been the case from the beginning. But, is cloud email still enough to attract prospective customers and retain existing ones? Is Google leaving Apps vulnerable to rivals by taking its time boosting its ESN and UC capabilities?…

Grazed from CloudComputingPath. Author: Pravin Anchan.

Accounting based on clouds has inherent advantages like offering access from anywhere at any time and collaboration. Needs of small andSMBs On Cloud medium business enterprises vary according to the nature of their business and what is good for one may not be good for the other. The most expensive or fully featured one is not necessary if inexpensive cloud based accounting software will serve the purpose. Take a look at some of the cloud based accounting software for SMBs.

Intuit, Sage and QuickBooks have been on the scene since ages and have cloud based offerings but these are expensive. You may want to consider cloud based accounting software that helps you get the job done without leaving you light in the pocket…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu accused Microsoft (MSFT) this week in a blog post of having an "oxygen supply problem," claiming that "Microsoft Office has long been the de-facto monopoly." "That is the nice thing about facing a monopoly in an adjacent market – every player other than the monopoly would win if they get a non-zero share of a massively shrunk market," he said.

"If the $20 billion market shrinks to $2 billion, we at Zoho would celebrate it, as long as we can hope to get a share of that shrunken market." Vembu clarified his comments with us in an interview by pointing to how companies can still innovate the office suite market through research and development (R&D) with smaller revenue…

Grazed from NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

AURA a global provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software, has announced the creation and launch of its sound Cloud Computing structure. This will enable any type of organization, public or private, to undertake BPM implementation projects through the AuraPortal suite without the usual structure and investment concerns inherent in such projects, and with the software licenses included in the service. The idea of the Cloud is simple: It consists of adopting for the computing services the same model used in utilities services.

In the same way that an electricity user simply plugs in a cable to obtain power supply without bothering whatsoever about the cost and knowledge required to build and manage power plants and distribution grids, a company will be able to manage its processes with the AuraPortal BPM suite by simply connecting to Internet from any browser; and what is more, this allows complete mobility as AuraPortal can be accessed from any tablet or smartphone, without having to think about hardware or software requirements…