Grazed from The Var Guy. Author: Christopher Tozzi.

Rackspace (RAX), the server and cloud hosting vendor with a strong investment in OpenStack and other open source cloud technologies, continues to expand its educational initiatives around the open cloud. This week, it launches a new network operations class as a part of the curriculum at the Open Cloud Academy, a key part of the company’s efforts to train the next generation of IT professionals for the cloud.

The class, which begins Aug. 5, is an eight-week training program that grants certifications for network administrators, network operators and network engineers. It’s the newest addition to the lineup of professional training options available at the Open Cloud Academy, which also offers instruction in Linux system administration, software development and cyber security…

Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

CoreMatrix, a leading cloud computing consulting company, today announced that the retail industry is adopting cloud solutions to reduce infrastructure and computing costs as well as to engage consumers on social networks and gain a 360-degree view of their customers.

Many retailers have already embraced cloud computing, as evidenced by associates at brick & mortar stores using tablet computers to better serve customers and the increasing appearance of in-store kiosks enabling customers to access online product reviews and recommendations. In addition, cloud-based social log-in tools and other conveniences offer consumers an easier online shopping and buying experience…

Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Skytap, Inc., the leading provider of self-service cloud automation solutions, today announced that their resident cloud computing experts will be sponsoring and providing demonstrations at upcoming industry events in August and September, including Agile 2013, VMworld, and STARWEST. In addition, Brian White, vice president of products at Skytap, will be giving a feature presentation at CAMP IT in the Chicago area on September 25, providing insight into how an organization can choose between a public, private, or hybrid cloud computing solution.

Agile 2013 When: Mon. August 5 to Fri. August 9 Where: The Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center, Nashville, TN Description: Agile 2013, the leading Agile development and testing conference, gives attendees unrivaled insight into the latest innovations and trends, including updates on Agile approaches, methods, technologies, tools, leadership principles, management philosophies, and processes. Conference attendees will also be kept up to date with the most recent in policies, theories and research. Stop by the Skytap booth or the Skytap sponsored beer garden for a look at how organizations can use cloud computing solutions to further accelerate their agile development and testing cycles through scalable, flexible infrastructure…

Grazed from TechNewsWorld. Author: Ed Moyle.

By now, most organizations have adopted cloud. Increased and widespread adoption as well as expansion of existing deployments are reflected in surveys such as the 2013 Future of Cloud Computing Survey from North Bridge Venture Partners and GigaOm. This suggests that if you’re a technology pro and your organization is like most, you’ve already spent considerable time addressing how to field cloud in a secure way.

As critical as it is to ensure initial secure cloud adoption, it’s important that organizations understand it’s a first step along a longer path. After the push to deploy securely has come and gone, there will still be longer-term activities that remain to ensure that a system stays secure. It’s with this longer "stretch" of maintenance and support that many organizations struggle…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Michelle Simpson.

If you need to back up the files that you have in your computer, you may want to make use of the power of the internet to store and back up your data. With cloud storage service providers such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Mega, it is now easier than ever to have a digital storage on the internet. Although you still have the option to use traditional means of backing up files using CDs, hard drives and flash disks, there are several conveniences offered by cloud storage solution that you may want to benefit from. Here are several advantages to using cloud storage solutions:

You Get Storage Space that Grows with You Needs
Unlike with directly using hardware for storing your data, the capacity of your cloud storage can be easily adjusted depending on your needs. You can choose a storage allocation according to the amount and type of files that you intend to store online. If you only need to store some of your PDF documents, you only need a small storage space which may not even necessitate you paying for the service. This is because most cloud service storage providers offer free storage space for their users…

Grazed from ITPro. Author: Simon Brew.

It’s brought cloud storage to the masses, but is Dropbox a lifesaver or a threat? Simon Brew has been taking a look… For IT departments, the problem used to be external files brought in to the workplace from home on a floppy disk. Then there was the rise of the USB memory stick. These devices had a habit of housing not only Powerpoint presentations that had been sweated over into a business environment, but also a veritable collection of nasties that may have assembled on said worker’s computer.

It was a scary time, and it’s hard to find an IT manager who doesn’t still break out in a cold sweat when a USB key is produced. However, the USB pen drive appears to have had its day, thanks to the rise of cloud services, like Dropbox…

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Joe McKendrick.

Eight out of 10 enterprise Software-as-a-Service buyers will not be happy with the contracts they sign. And there’s good reason for that. That’s the prediction from Gartner analyst Alexa Bona, who chides the current state of contracts, which all too often "have ambiguous terms regarding the maintenance of data confidentiality, data integrity and recovery after a data loss incident."

Bona outlines three options enterprise cloud buyers need to exercise every time they cut a cloud agreement:

Bring in third-party verification. SaaS contracts should "allow for an annual security audit and certification by a third party, with an option to terminate the agreement in the event of a security breach if the provider fails on any material measure," Bona advises…

Grazed from ComputerWorld. AuthorL Jonathan Hassell.

Microsoft execs are fond of the term "people-centric IT" — it’s their way of saying that workers are using whatever devices they want to, and are using them at home, on the train, in a hotel, on the beach, while skiing…. You get the idea. But IT needs a way to at least make sure this explosion of user choice does not put corporate data at risk.

Four of the features in Windows Server 2012 R2 are meant to bridge the gap between yesterday’s world, where users have a corporate-issued laptop and a BlackBerry, and today’s new BYOD environment, where users bring their own phones to work, use their personal tablets, work from a variety of locations and generally have a varied approach to how they engage with computer resources…

Grazed from CloudPro. Author: Jane McCallion.

Microsoft has fired up its anti-Google campaign again, this time taking aim at the search giant’s document creation and collaboration Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering, Google Docs. In a new advert, Microsoft urges customers – both potential and actual – not to “gamble with Google Docs”, claiming the service is unable to conserve formatting from Office documents.

Google Docs is presented as a disreputable croupier in a casino who will give the gambler a dice key ring, if he is able to retain the original formatting from a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. If not, the croupier will take the gambler’s wallet, credibility and chances of a job promotion. Despite the advice of his friend, the gambler decides to take the bet and the advert ends with him losing then passing out…

Grazed from PRWeb.  Author: PR Announcement.

In its latest “next generation” leap to service the global business community, industry innovator xTuple takes on both proprietary and open source software with its Cloud 2.0 service and a new evaluation methodology, hosted in the Cloud.  Responding to community requests for a superior user experience, xTuple Cloud 2.0 servers are geo-located around the globe for a triple-fold improvement in connections.

“Cloud 2.0 is a significant achievement, made possible by the efforts of many, many people over the past months,” said BC Wilson, director of product strategy. “And, for the first time, this opens the door for anyone to obtain a trial of the Mobile Web application on-demand.”…