Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: John Savageau.

Normally, when we think of technical-related training, images of rooms loaded with switches, routers, and servers might come to mind.    Cloud computing is different.  In reality, cloud computing is not a technology, but rather a framework employing a variety of technologies – most notably virtualization, to solve business problems or enable opportunities.  From our own practice, the majority of cloud training students represent non-technical careers and positions. Our training does follow the CompTIA Cloud Essentials course criterion, and is not a technical course, so the non-technical student trend should not come as any big surprise. 

What does come as a surprise is how enthusiastically our students dig into the topic.  Whether business unit managers, accounting and finance, sales staff, or executives, all students come into class convinced they need to know about cloud computing as an essential part of their future career progression, or even at times to ensure their career survival…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author:  Chris Preimesberger.

The significance of secure data sharing could not be more important within the overall IT industry. Security remains the single most important question mark that still causes doubt about cloud computing, especially in regulated verticals such as financials, government and science.   For an increasing number of enterprises, private clouds and new-generation security are the best ways to handle data- and file-sharing.

A recent survey Palmer Research and eWEEK publisher QuinStreet’s reported that 65 percent of respondents currently use or plan to use a private cloud deployment model for internal purposes or for application inside value chains. Thirty-six percent of respondents say they are now running a private cloud, with 29 percent planning to use a private cloud. Those are big numbers at this early stage, and there are good reasons for them…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Joe McKendrick.

Cloud computing means more than cheaper and better-run IT resources. It means new ways of doing business, many of which have yet to be discovered. But some solid examples of cloud-enabled transformation are now surfacing.  Recently, research firm Saugatuck Technology reached out to 53 very senior IT and business leaders using social media tools to gauge how important and impactful cloud (and related technologies such as mobile, social, big data, advanced analytics and sensors) are in driving business innovation.

In a part quantitative, part qualitative study, executives provided views on technologies paving the way for business innovation. About 75% of the respondents are CIOs or CTOs, and more than two-thirds in companies with greater than $1 billion in revenue…

Grazed from Mashable.  Author: Christina Warren.

In the past, one of the primary concerns about the cloud was reliability — could you count on it to be available when you need it? Today, most major cloud offerings are at least as reliable as any other solution. Instead, we’ve seen concerns shift to the "security" of data stored on the cloud. (Thanks a lot, NSA.)  Whether or not you can "trust" the cloud often depends completely on what you are doing and what type of service you are using.

When we talk about the cloud, we’re usually talking about a few different things. First and most commonly, we have consumer or business facing cloud-based applications and services. The most popular example here is something like Dropbox or Google Docs. Rather than running an application off of your computer, you run an instance — usually in a web app (but you can do it using mobile too) directly from the Internet…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Louis Columbus.

Gaining insights into cloud computing hiring trends is invaluable to understanding the competitive landscape and direction of new application and platform development.  It’s also invaluable for any company looking to recruit cloud computing professionals.  For qualified job seekers, staying on top of these trends can and does lead to well-timed career moves, higher salaries and greater chances for professional growth.

Real-time business intelligence of the talent marketplace is a fascinating area to track.  Wanted Analytics is a leader in this field, and their analytics applications and advanced data sets are used for competitive analysis, sourcing new hires, analyzing employment and economic trends, and lead generation.  I’ve never worked for Wanted Analytics and they’re not a client…

Grazed from PRWeb.  Author: PR Announcement.

KVH Co. Ltd., Asia’s leading information delivery platform, and Zadara™ Storage, Inc., an award-winning provider of enterprise-class private cloud storage by the hour, today announced the two companies are working together to deliver Zadara’s Enterprise Storage-as-a-Service to KVH and Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers in Japan, building on the strength of the AWS cloud platform and demonstrating KVH’s commitment to continuously enhancing its growing ecosystem of solution providers within its infrastructure services. This service will be available from 17th September, 2013.

As today’s enterprises are facing the challenges of rapidly increasing data volumes, enterprise-grade storage solutions are still proving to involve high hardware costs in cases of storage expansion, as well as high human resource costs for maintenance and operation. The Zadara Storage Enterprise Storage-as-a-Service offering, Virtual Private Storage Array™ (VPSA™), is designed to address enterprise needs, such as volume-sharing, NAS and dedicated spindles, by providing a highly scalable and cost-efficient cloud storage solution that can be delivered by the hour, allowing for scaling of capacity and performance up or down on-demand, and permitting unprecedented user self-service provisioning and administrative control under completely private environments…

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Mary Shacklett.

The beauty of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is its ability to provide IT resources to companies as they need them. This gives data center managers the option of not having to spend hard dollars for resources that might stand idle 80 percent of the time at the same time that it turns processing and storage into commodities that can be ordered whenever they’re needed.

But there are inherent risks in this thinking—beginning with the fact that IaaS “commodity shopping” is not as clearcut as picking up whatever happens to be on special in a given week. Who you select for your IaaS services matters—and the decision you make should consider more than price. Here are six items that should be on your IaaS “checklist” when you go looking for an IaaS provider:…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Joe Panettieri.

VMware (VMW) vCloud Hybrid Service appears set to support such Linux distributions as SUSE, Ubuntu and CentOS. Somewhat similarly, Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Azure supports SUSE, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and CentOS. Noticeably absent from the Microsoft and VMware cloud lists: Red Hat’s (RHT) Enterprise Linux. That’s a big mistake as all three companies seek to promote complete, flexible cloud solutions to VARs, MSPs and cloud integrators. First, let’s focus on the positive. VMware, Microsoft and Red Hat each have compelling cloud strategies.

• VMware: With vCloud Hybrid Service, VMware says customers can easily shift certified vSphere applications from on-premises data centers to VMware’s cloud — and vice-versa. With such a massive installed base of virtualized customers, VMware’s pitch should be attractive to small, midsize and large organizations…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Leading Cloud Provider and Technology Integrator, MicroTech, made a major statement at this week’s ITEXPO in Las Vegas, Nevada which is the world’s largest and best-attended communications and technology tradeshow. Education, innovation, and networking professionals from across the entire IT community saw the debut of MicroTech’s newest Cloud Solution – the MicroKloud.

Cloud4SMB, which is part of the ITEXPO, is where MicroTech President & CEO, Tony Jimenez, unveiled his company’s newest innovative solution, the MicroKloud. Part of MicroTech’s family of cloud computing solutions, the MicroKloud is the cornerstone of MicroTech’s many initiatives to simplify customers’ transition to the cloud. With a focus on agility, scalability, and security, this cost effective, private-hybrid cloud is a next-generation solution. The MicroKloud appliance is a new innovative solution that provides an on-premise private-hybrid cloud in one compact affordable package…

Graze from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Awesome Cloud Services has announced the results of a recent case study with technology provider BCG Systems who partnered with Awesome Cloud Services to provide a comprehensive cloud-based solution to one of BCG Systems’ Georgia-based clients, thus enabling the client to become a more agile organization.

Like many small to medium-sized businesses, BCG Systems’ client had no onsite IT team. BCG Systems turned to Awesome Cloud Services to provide a comprehensive cloud-based solution that included day-to-day production through cloud servers and a business-continuity deployment. In partnering with Awesome Cloud Services, BCG Systems was able to deliver an all-inclusive cloud solution that enabled their client to reduce expenses and focus more of their time on running their business, delivering them not only on-demand access, but piece of mind as well.

BCG Systems was able to provide their client with various benefits that come from utilizing cloud services, including reduced capital expenditures, increased business agility, improvements in performance and on-demand access to their system.