Grazed from Experts-Exchange.  Author: Jenn Prentice.

While it once looked like a promising way to save Barnes and Noble’s struggling brick and mortar stores, the company’s Nook tablet division suffered a nearly 35% loss last quarter and looks to be dying out. Rather than do away with the hardware altogether, however, Barnes and Noble is looking to sell its Nook tablet division–and rumor has it Microsoft is first in line to buy.

On this week’s podcast, Gary and Jenn talk with Experts Exchange senior site administrator Jason Levine about what a Nook buyout might mean for both Barnes and Noble and Microsoft and what the struggling bookstore can do–if anything–to stay in business.  Also on this week’s podcast, Gary interviews RightScale CEO Michael Crandell about how the future of cloud computing and how cloud management services are revolutionizing our world…

Grazed from Reuters.  Author: Noel Randewich.

Software companies Oracle and NetSuite announced an alliance to deliver cloud-based services to mid-size business customers, the third tie-up unveiled this week by Oracle as it pushes further into services delivered over the Internet.

The agreement will focus on integrating Oracle’s software for human resources with NetSuite’s services for enterprise resource planning and will be aimed at mid-size companies, Oracle and NetSuite said.  "You shouldn’t think of this as a date. You should think of this as us continuing to integrate our products closer and closer together," Oracle President Mark Hurd told analysts and reporters on a conference call. "Think of this almost as rolling thunder as opposed to an event."…

Egenera, a leader in converged infrastructure and cloud management, today announced the next major release of its cloud management software, PAN Cloud Director 2.0, which features integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Adding Amazon Web Services to the PAN Cloud Director service catalog and portal provides a first of its kind cloud experience for users as it enables them to build IT solutions that span public and private clouds, and can also consist of a mix of virtualized and physical servers. The capability to design, build and manage hybrid cloud environments from within a single management interface is unique to Egenera and the integration with Amazon Web Services is a key milestone in delivering on Egenera’s vision for simplifying and unifying cloud management.

As organizations look to a hybrid cloud model, cloud operators need the ability to allocate the right kind of resource for each workload, based on criteria such as performance, security, high availability and cost. Amazon Web Services is the first of many public clouds that will be accessible through PAN Cloud Director to provide the greatest user flexibility.

Metacloud, Inc., which delivers the industry’s first on-premise, private cloud as a service, today announced it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round. Canaan Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Storm Ventures and AME Cloud Ventures.

The financing will be used to accelerate the company’s growth, pace of innovation and global expansion to meet the rapid demand for Metacloud’s Carbon|OS OpenStack-based private cloud solution.

Parallels (www.parallels.com), a leading hosting and cloud services enablement provider, today announced the availability of Parallels Plesk Panel 11.5 and Parallels Web Presence Builder 11.5, the newest versions of the company’s control panel and presence builder software. Building on the success of Parallels Plesk Panel 11, the fastest growing hosting control panel product in company history, Parallels Plesk Panel 11.5 further enables hosting providers to grow their businesses with rich hosting plans and to use innovative technologies to provide the most intuitive experience for customers. Parallels Web Presence Builder 11.5 further helps hosting providers attract new customers and differentiate their offerings with more advanced tools to convert active prospects into buyers.

Parallels Plesk Panel 11.5

Grazed from Defense Systems.  Author: John Edwards.

The Defense Department’s long-term IT strategy calls for storing and distributing virtually all data, even its most sensitive information, in the cloud. In January, the agency reported that it is fully committed to shifting to a cloud computing environment, citing cost, efficiency and user accessibility benefits.

The CIA is already on the path to secure cloud services. After attempting to build a private cloud, the agency and other intelligence organizations opted to turn to commercial sources and awarded a contract to Amazon Web Services in late January. IBM protested the award to the Government Accountability Office, and GAO ruled in IBM’s favor. Negotiations to determine the final resolution are still under way, but observers expect the CIA to continue its migration to a cloud-based system…

Grazed from Talkin Cloud.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Shakespeare declared, “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” He might be right about the flower, but in the cloud-sphere, I’m not so sure the same principle applies.  Lately, I’ve talked to many of my colleagues who are offering public or private cloud services. The thing that struck me was the variety of ways they are presenting these services to their customers. Some use “cloud” while others refer to “hosted” or “off-site” or “centralized” or “as-a-service” or … the list goes on.

If cloud is such a hot trend, why aren’t we shouting “CLOUD” from the mountaintops?

Is it because people don’t like the cloud? That doesn’t seem to be the case. CompTIA’s Third Annual Trends in Cloud Computing report (July 2012) reported that 85 percent of respondents feel “more” or “significantly more” positive about cloud computing compared to the previous year…

Grazed from CSRWire.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Increased use of cloud computing services will reduce the dependence on energy and help reduce global environmental damage with savings of over US$2.2 billion (€1.65 billion) and is 95% more efficient where 1 tonne of greenhouse gas (GHG) created by cloud leads to 20 tonnes abatted from customers according to the findings of a study released today by a research team from Harvard University, Imperial College and Reading University, sponsored by Microsoft Europe and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).

The study claims that 11.2 TWh less energy will be consumed annually by the time 80% of public and private organisations in the countries studied opt to provide cloud-based email, customer relationship management and groupware solutions to their staff, beyond current levels of adoption. This translates to 75% of the energy consumed by the Capital Region of Brussels or 25% of the energy consumed by London. It is equivalent to abating 4.5 mega tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually or taking 1.7+ million cars off the road. 60 per cent of these potential savings relate to small or micro-sized firms…