Grazed from GreenTechMedia.  Author:  Jeff St. John.

For years, Verizon has been working on expanding from its traditional role as utility industry telecommunications provider to enabling a broader, deeper set of smart grid services. That work ranges from its 2011 partnership with eMeter, now part of Siemens, to host its meter data management (MDM) and analytics on Verizon’s cloud computing platform, to using the same IT expertise for building energy management and utility customer engagement.

Now, Verizon is plotting a new step on that path — becoming an end-to-end smart grid solutions provider. The telco giant is now central manager of a utility-scale smart meter and MDM deployment, Ernie Lewis, industry partner with Verizon’s global energy and utility practice, told me in an interview earlier this month…

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Derrick Harris.

The conventional wisdom is that Europe is a few years behind the United States in cloud adoption, but interest in cloud deployment remains sky high. That perception was borne out by panelists and attendees at last week’s Structure:Europe event and other reports that show cloud adoption growing despite PRISM-generated concerns over data privacy, which have yet to be sorted out.

Last week, Viviane Reding, VP of the European Commission and the EU’s Commissioner for Justice, called for a single data privacy law to cover the entire European Union. Currently, some European countries — Germany and Switzerland, for example — have more iron-clad data sovereignty rules than others.  According to a statement outlining the proposal, the proposed regulation is:…

Grazed from FierceEnterpriseCommunications.  Author: David Weldon.

The Google search results say it all:

… Nirvanix is Closing–Call the Pros at Savvis Today

… Nirvanix Out of Business? Try Egnyte Enterprise Cloud Storage

… CloudBerry Explorer Allows Moving Data Off of Nirvanix

… Nirvanix cloud collapse seen as a canary in the coal mine for IaaS

… After Nirvanix: How to assess the right cloud provider for you

Clearly, the smell of blood is in the water. With the sudden word that Nirvanix is closing up shop, a host of other cloud service providers are hoping to cash in and grab Nirvanix’s retreating customers.   Last week, San Jose, Calif.-based Nirvanix caught the industry by surprise when it announced it was shutting down its cloud services. It told customers to immediately seek a new cloud service provider to host their data and to put no more data on its servers in the meantime…

Grazed from InstructionalTechTalk.  Author: Jeff Herb.

One of the most frequently heard buzz terms in business-related technology for the past year or two has been “cloud computing.” By now, most of us understand the basic concept: cloud storage gives you a safe, secure, and in some cases nearly unlimited means of storing digital data online, without depending on personal hardware or private data centers. The implementation of this sort of service in major businesses is plain to understand. But how can a cloud computing network aid with the digital needs of a school district or classroom environment?

For a particularly large school, or for an entire district or region under the same management, a high capability cloud service provider can provide storage and organization for all involved. Sharefile is one such service that could be ideal in this situation, due to its high volume capability and easy implementation. To begin with, this particular cloud provider has a service package specifically geared toward the education industry, providing cloud storage in addition to the encrypted, secure transfer of files up to 10 GB in size…

Grazed from TheVar Guy.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Oracle (ORCL) and Microsoft (MSFT) are poised to update their cloud computing partnership at OpenWorld 2013. Announcements are set for the next few days, The VAR Guy has confirmed. What’s on tap? Here are answers… and speculation.

As you may recall, Oracle and Microsoft announced a cloud relationship ealier this year. At OpenWorld 2013, it’s safe to expect the two technology giants to further explain how Oracle’s database, middleware and Java can run in the Windows Azure cloud. Also, watch for the two companies to further describe how Oracle applications run run more efficiently on Windows Server and Hyper-V…

Grazed from Christian Science Monitor.  Author: Leslie Meredith.

Cloud computing, or using remote Internet servers to store data, may be one of the most misunderstood terms in our country today.  A recent survey reveals the depth of misconception swirling around the simple term "cloud" — people say they don’t use cloud computing when almost all of them do, and they just can’t shake the association with weather. The problem may not be with understanding the technology, but simply a case of choosing the wrong name.

What’s in a name? TechNewsDaily turned to naming consultant Adam King of Sun Valley, Idaho, who named Spike TV, an action-packed cable channel geared toward men. He was not surprised at the confusion swirling around the meaning of "the cloud."…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Sean Michael Kerner.

The open-source OpenStack cloud platform is a rapidly growing effort that is driving increasing demand for skilled professionals who know what it’s all it about. To that end, the OpenStack Foundation this week officially announced the OpenStack Training Marketplace to help meet the demand for skilled IT professionals.  In 2012, a number of companies emerged that began to offer some basic training on OpenStack, Jonathan Bryce, executive director of the OpenStack Foundation, told eWEEK.

OpenStack, which was born in 2010 when NASA joined with Rackspace to formally launch the project, now has the support of many of the world’s leading IT vendors, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, Cisco and AT&T, among others.   "There is now a huge demand for OpenStack expertise, so what we want to do is to try and put in place some standards for OpenStack education and training," Bryce said…

Grazed from BusinessWeek.  Author: Aaron Ricadela.

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison, whose sailing team is trailing Emirates Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup yacht race, is also facing headwinds in cloud-computing and business applications.

To combat that, the world’s biggest database-software provider is unveiling new products targeting customers of SAP AG (SAP) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM:US) at the company’s OpenWorld customer conference in San Francisco next week. They include a high-end computer system that can tackle more data-processing jobs using fast memory chips…

Grazed from DifferenceBetween.info.  Author: Editorial Staff.

There is no precise definition to explain cloud computing. However, it is referred to as a model that provides an on-line network access to a shared pool of resources. Cloud computing is based on TCP/IP model and it is used to define a new class of computing that is based on network technology. Cloud computing takes place over the internet. It comprises of a collection of integrated and networked hardware, software and internet infrastructure.

These infrastructures are used to provide various services to the users. One of the biggest advantage of using cloud computing is that it hides the complexity and details of underlying infrastructure, and thus users can easily avail the services through simple graphical interfaces. These systems are virtually managed and often distributed…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Lisa Wirthman.

Should lawyers entrust client confidentiality to cloud computing?  The American Bar Association (ABA) says there’s a legitimate business argument to be made for using subscription-based legal software that stores certain data on a vendor’s servers but also cite ethical concerns over whether attorneys should hand over sensitive data to a third party.  And opinions vary over who has the ultimate responsibility to safeguard client confidentiality – cloud providers or users?

The Case for the Cloud

Attorneys use legal software for tasks such as case management, billing, document assembly and trial presentation. In a profession notorious for long hours, the ability to access legal software over the Internet from multiple computing platforms and devices makes it easier for attorneys to continue working while at home or on the road, says the ABA…