Grazed from IT Business Edge. Author: Michael Vizard.

When it comes to cloud computing, the ultimate goal is to essentially erase the barriers between data centers in a way that allows workloads to dynamically run wherever they are best suited. We’re a long way from making that happen across heterogeneous environments. But Skytap is showing how cloud computing will evolve in a world where platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings provide a layer of abstraction that helps mask the underlying complexity of cloud computing.

At the recent VMworld 2013 conference, Skytap showed an instance of version 2 of the Cloud Foundry PaaS environment that provided a template that IT organizations could use to deploy an instance of Cloud Foundry in less than 30 seconds…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Lynn Haber.

While cloud computing has become a well-established option for IT operations, confusion persists and is hampering channel partners from fully transforming their business model, according to CompTIA’s fourth annual Trends in Cloud Computing study, which was published last month.

The CompTIA study — which polled IT and business professionals as well as IT channel companies, for about a total of 900 respondents — noted several cloud adoption trends. For starters, IT systems are increasingly cloud-based, with businesses showing a greater reliance on all three cloud models: Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Adrian Bridgwater.

The cloud computing model of service-based IT delivery has been over-hyped, over-sold and (in many respects) over-talked. This space’s next big thing is the high-performance bare metal cloud solution. But what is bare metal cloud? Who uses it? What does it do? — and how should developers code for this environment?

Organisations’ collective demands for flexibility, scalability and efficiency have driven them flocking to public cloud infrastructure services, representing (as they do) an opportunity for cutting IT costs while capitalising on technology innovations. But, just a few short years into the cloud revolution, new options have appeared in response to the stress that high-performance workloads can put on traditional public clouds…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Charles Babcock.

Cloudscaling has released its 2.5 version of its Open Cloud System, giving enterprise implementers of the private cloud an opportunity to test its network virtualization concepts, first announced last April. With Release 2.5, Cloudscaling has joined the competition between VMware and Cisco Systems to supply virtualized networking to the future software-defined data center and private-enterprise cloud. Cloudscaling is inside the OpenStack cloud software camp, but its alliance with Juniper Networks on software-defined networking puts it ahead of other participants on the SDN front.

Asked if that meant Cloudscaling was forking the OpenStack networking component, dubbed Neutron (formerly Quantum), CTO Randy Bias said no, Cloudscaling’s approach capitalized on Juniper Networks’ ability to plug SDN into the Neutron platform, using OpenStack APIs. "Neutron is an API interface to networking as a service…

Grazed from BICS. Author: PR Announcement.

BICS introduces first real crowd-sourcing model for anti-fraud processes developed through strategic partnership with cVidya. BICS, the strategic international wholesale partner to over 400 mobile operators worldwide, today announced the launch of FraudGuard, a fraud detection and prevention solution based on a crowdsourcing model, which drives shared experience and insights across the extensive BICS wholesale network. This approach creates an active community of telecoms companies which as a whole gains insights on suspicious activities reported by BICS or any of its members. The platform is delivered as a SaaS service to carriers and operators.

FraudGuard gives operators and carriers a robust means of combatting fraudulent practices in the telecoms world which can increase in effectiveness from the participatory nature of the crowd sourcing arrangement. FraudGuard is equipped with revenue analytics provided by cVidya to deliver a fully integrated solution to help carriers combat telecoms fraud. FraudGuard’s end-to-end surveillance capabilities across the network offer real-time detection and optimum coverage of a wide range of fraud types…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Elizabeth White.

SYS-CON Events announced today that Telx, leading provider of global interconnectivity, cloud enablement services and 100% Uptime SLA data center facilities, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 13th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 4-7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

Telx is a leading provider of interconnection and data center services in strategic, high-demand North American markets. With 20 datacenters supported by 100% Uptime SLAs and 24 Hour Cross Connect guarantees, Telx increases speed to market and reduces connectivity costs by providing direct connections to a community of the industry’s highest performance networks and access to 1,100+ customers, including leading telecommunications carriers, ISPs, cloud providers, content providers and enterprises…

Grazed from CloudPro. Author: Jane McCallion.

The University of Bristol’s Centre for Quantum Photonics has made quantum computing available to the general public through the cloud for the first time. The university’s QCloud initiative consists of two parts. The first is a software simulation, hosted on Google’s App Engine cloud platform, that allows anyone to perform experiments on a model of the real quantum processor housed at the Centre.

The experiments vary in their degree of complexity, from a simple two-path model with a beam splitter in the middle where users can chose to send a virtual photon down one path or the other, or indeed one down each, to much more complex models involving multiple beam splitters and rotation devices, as well as multiple paths…

Grazed from BizTech2. Author: Editorial Staff.

Worldwide spending on public IT cloud services will reach $47.4 billion in 2013 and is expected to be more than $107 billion in 2017, according to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC). Over the 2013–2017 forecast period, public IT cloud services will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.5 percent, five times that of the IT industry as a whole.

As one of the key technologies enabling the industry-wide shift to the 3rd Platform, cloud computing has played a crucial role in changing the way companies consume and use information technology. Now, there are signs that cloud services are starting to shift into a "Chapter Two" phase where the scale of cloud adoption will not only be much bigger, but also more user and solution driven. In this phase of growth, cloud and the other 3rd Platform technologies – mobile, social, and Big Data – will become even more interdependent as they continue to drive growth and innovation across all industries that depend on IT…

Grazed from ProofPoint. Author: Editorial Staff.

As organizations consider how cloud computing solutions might fit into their operations, it’s important they keep in mind the diversity of options when it comes to these emerging technologies. While the public cloud has received a great deal of attention, there are also private and hybrid systems that can assuage certain fears and provide their own particular benefits, including enhanced security.

According to Verizon’s 2013 State of the Enterprise Cloud Report, cloud computing is becoming a more popular option for many companies. Between January 2012 and June 2013, the use of cloud-based storage tools rose by 90 percent, and implementation of cloud-based memory increased by 100 percent. But why? Researchers noted that particularly when it comes to the hybrid cloud, business leaders are choosing these technologies to enhance their ability to meet various security and regulatory compliance requirements…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Ellen Messmer.

Virtustream, an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider focused on the enterprise, says the key to meeting demand for encryption in cloud services is to offer lots of options. Virtustream, a Bethesda, Md., company that launched in 2009, has integrated multiple vendor’s products in ways to support encryption of data at rest and in motion between the cloud and the customer’s on premises applications or mobile systems.

Its focus is on customers that often host large-scale ERP applications, and that include the likes of Goodyear Tires, Domino Foods and Kawasaki. One thing Virtustream has learned over time is that integrating encryption for such companies is best done as the “on-boarding” process begins to shift on-premises IT assets to the cloud…