Grazed from Forbes. Author: Edward Newman.

One of the things we can expect to see a lot more of in the future is the concept of Big Data for Infrastructure. By that I mean the intersection of cloud infrastructure and cloud services and Big Data capability and functionality. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for environments to have over 1000 virtual machines.

Going forward, it’s going to be increasingly more important to having a solid understanding of the performance, functionality and capacity of the resources that are deployed in our data centers. We will need to figure out how to characterize these resources, both for data centers we own as well as those in public clouds that the business is interested in…

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

SADA Systems, a privately-held global leader in providing cloud computing and strategic IT solutions, ranks among the world’s Top 100 Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), according to Nine Lives Media’s third-annual Talkin’ Cloud 100 report. The Top 100 CSPs generated more than $15.7 billion in combined cloud services revenues in 2012, up nearly 37 percent, according to the report, which is available now by visiting http://www.talkincloud.com/tc100.

In addition to honoring SADA Systems, this year’s Talkin’ Cloud 100 report profiles:

— Cloud Services Providers: CSPs offer SaaS (software as a service), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and/or PaaS (platform as a service) to partners/customers.

— Cloud Services Brokerages: CSBs, or cloud brokers, recommend and resell multiple cloud services to customers, and often integrate those services…

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

GreenPages-LogicsOne, a leading systems integrator and cloud services company, announced today that it has partnered with Cirrity for secure and compliant cloud services. The first Cirrity service to be offered through the new partnership is vStream™, a Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) managed solution that automates real-time disaster recovery (DR) to the cloud.

"Managed Services offerings from GreenPages-LogicsOne streamline and accelerate organizations’ adoption of virtualization and cloud computing," said Chris Ward, Chief Technology Officer, GreenPages-LogicsOne. "As companies move toward this virtual environment, the need for security and compliance in the cloud has never been greater. Cirrity brings that element to our best-in-class portfolio of solutions. Our consulting and technology expertise make it possible to leverage the vStream solution to address compliance, sandbox testing, migration and scheduled DR testing."…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Michael Goodenough.

The video gaming industry is one of the most dynamic sectors in entertainment. As new features and functionality come online to evolve the game experience, the industry has intersected with another rapidly advancing IT sector: cloud computing.

Cloud momentum has been picking up since at least 2010, when for the first time in history gamers purchased more PC video games online than at retail stores. While PCs still ruled the download market at this time, the rise of mobile and tablet devices has usurped PCs as the main alternative to gaming consoles. For mobile content to thrive, it needs the cloud…

Grazed from LegalTechnology. Author: Jobst Elster.

Last month, we attended LegalTech New York for the 14th year, and while many hot topics have dominated the headlines in years past, in 2013 it’s all about big data. Per our pre-show LegalTech agenda word cloud, big data was a main focus of the conference content agenda, surprising since it was a ‘no-show’ in previous LegalTech programs. What’s the big deal with big data? Why now? Who really cares?

In search of answers to these questions, we spent a good amount of time sitting in on ARMA’s big data sessions, interviewing big data panelists and vendors, and participating in related social media conversation. With that as the backdrop, here is our top 10 list of LegalTech big data facts and musings:…

Grazed from ERP Cloud News. Author: Mac Connolly.

Cloud computing is becoming more popular every year, and many are predicting that 2013 will see a real explosion in the popularity of cloud computing. While the advantages of cloud computing have been discussed at length, there are a couple of potential dangers. In particular, a cloud computing platform is only as strong as it is secure, and poor security can lead to severe problems. Fortunately, proper security protocol can help prevent many negative outcomes. Here are five security tips for those dealing with cloud computing in 2013.

1. Password security

Passwords are essential components when it comes to security in a cloud installation. Unfortunately, many people are still reckless with the passwords, which can wreak havoc in a cloud installation. Passwords for a primary server should only be known by those who need this information, and they should be changed frequently. In addition, those who access cloud servers from desktops should be taught how to create strong passwords and the importance of keeping them secret. The cloud relies on trust, and one broken password can break this trust…

Grazed from Xceedium. Author: PR Announcement.

Xceedium, Inc., the premier provider of privileged identity management for the hybrid cloud, today announced it has enhanced Xsuite® to include protection for the Amazon Web Services management APIs that advanced cloud customers use to monitor and configure their AWS environments. The latest version of Xsuite now includes a privileged API proxy–enabling access control, monitoring, and auditing for scripts and tools accessing AWS management APIs.

Xsuite’s new API Proxy extends the security and auditing capability Xsuite already provides for instances running on AWS and the AWS Management Console. With the advent of software defined infrastructure, many advanced organizations are bypassing the web-based AWS management console and automating operational tasks–utilizing AWS SDKs for Python, PHP, and others, and DevOps tools (e.g., Chef or Puppet) that call AWS’ REST-based management APIs. Xsuite now provides an extra layer of protection so AWS customers can control access, monitor, and audit exactly what scripts are doing…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

One way a cloud services provider can differentiate itself is by providing cloud applications and services targeted at a specific vertical market. Although some vertical markets may be larger than others, which dictates the potential revenue opportunities, some verticals are adopting cloud computing in a big way.

A growing vertical in the cloud space is health care. Although security concerns are still top-of-mind for IT healthcare professionals, especially as they pertain to regulatory compliance and keeping data safe from prying eyes, more healthcare organizations and businesses are turning to the cloud to fulfill their application needs…

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

SaaSMAX Corp. announced today the official commercial release of their new SaaSMAX marketplace platform. SaaSMAX, the Ultimate Value-Add SaaS Marketplace brings together channel resellers and app vendors, increasing revenues for both. SaaSMAX already has hundreds of business cloud software ("SaaS") vendors and resellers signed up and actively doing business in their SaaS marketplace and has gained the confidence and early acceptance of Channel leaders, resellers, customers, and the media. SaaSMAX has won numerous awards and recognitions including SaaSMAX Founder and CEO Dina Moskowitz’s recent induction to the prestigious CompTIA Vendor Advisory Council, the SMB 150 Award, and the CRN Top 500 Solution Providers Award.

The commercial launch kicked off with the unveiling of the new SaaS marketplace at CompTIA’s ChannelCon, with WiseSaaS search functionality that now permits site visitors to immediately start searching and discovering trusted business cloud software solutions that match their needs. Moreover, SaaSMAX provides approved Resellers with on-demand access to many SaaS Vendors’ reseller and affiliate programs…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Matt Prigge.

When most people look at migrating to the cloud, they’re primarily concerned with cost and performance. As much as we’d all like to be able to focus on critically important aspects of cloud computing such as security, availability, and data governance, the questions of how much it costs to run and whether it can keep up with the workload and provide the right features often steal the spotlight.

It’s not hard to see why this is the case. Cost and performance are constants that, if out of line with expectations, become problems immediately, whereas considerations like security and availability rise to the top of the pile only when something goes wrong. It’s also not always clear to cloud users that some aspects of operating in the cloud are still their responsibility rather than the service provider’s…