Grazed from Smart Data Collective. Author: Gadi Yedwab.

Data stored in SaaS applications is often inaccessible to BI tools. This is a major headache to early adopters of SaaS applications. With on-premise applications, IT departments can bypass the application and access data directly from the underlying database. With multi-tenant SaaS applications, such direct database access is not available because the database is shared with other customers.

Understanding the Problem
Ideally, all data access should go through the application. There are some very compelling reasons to go through the application:…

Grazed from InforTrend. Author: PR Announcement.

Infortrend Corporation today announced the new EonStor DS G7i Series’ dedication to mission-critical Tier III data centers. The G7i SAN storage solution delivers high-availability RAID storage to SMBs and enterprises whose business operations heavily depend on the reliability of their IT environments, such as companies who generate their revenue through online business models. Providers of cloud services and software as a service (SaaS) place heavy emphasis on the security and dependability of their storage, which is why their IT departments rely on the 99.982% availability of Tier III data centers, as opposed to Tier I and Tier II options, which have numerous points of failure and require shutdowns for maintenance.

The EonStor DS G7i Series is designed specifically to match the needs of aggressive and complex applications housed in Tier III data centers. VMware VAAI-Ready and boasting high-availability product design features such as RAID controllers, CacheSafe technology, and hot-swappable components ensure that stored data is safe in the event of an untimely power outage or drive failure. The "scale as you grow" flexibility of the G7i series allows companies to scale up to 240 disk drives through high-density expansion enclosures, including Infortrend’s 4U/48-bay JBOD…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

Where are the majority of software publishers focusing their efforts in the next year? They may just be following Adobe’s (NASDAQ:ABDE) lead this week as it pulled the plug on the packaged software version of its creative suite. A recent study by SafeNet, Inc. and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) revealed that 75 percent of software publishers plan to offer at least some of their product portfolios as a service by the end of 2013. What’s the common driver for software publishers to offer cloud-based services? We’ll reveal the answer, along with other key findings from the report.

Even though more than one-third of software publishers have yet to offer cloud-based services, those 75 percent who do have plans to offer part of their portfolios as a service within the next year say they are hoping to reduce operational costs associated with product delivery, activation and support. The study revealed that 65 percent of software publishers are offering all or a portion of their portfolios as a cloud service. Cloud services, on average, comprise 24 percent of a company’s software portfolio…

Grazed from Channel Partners. Author: Khali Henderson.

Dell Software announced Tuesday a new release of Dell Boomi AtomSphere, its cloud integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) solution, which now includes API management capabilities, and support for Integration Packs and process libraries. Dell Boomi AtomSphere enables customer to connect any combination of cloud and on-remises applications without software, appliances or coding.

"We’ve inverted the classic integration approach," said Chris McNabb, general manager for Dell Boomi, explaining that traditionally integration centralizes messaging in a data center by connecting all the enterprise assets via middleware on a hardware stack. "We’ve done the exact opposite. What we have centralized is where configure and how you configure your processes and build them out and define them, … and, how you managed and administer them. We put that in a central cloud location."…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Wiqar Chaudry.

New breakthroughs in cloud-based data management empower databases with the necessary elasticity they need to be truly responsive to the ebbs and tides of supply and demand. Cloud computing allows all capital assets – computing power, memory and storage for example – to be exchanged at the best price, giving everyone the best value for their money. Like any free market, it will only deliver its full benefits to buyers and sellers if the right conditions are available. There can be no barriers to entry, and assets in the cloud must be capable of free movement.

Unfortunately, the unsuitability of traditional relational database management systems (RDBMS) has created such a blockage. Their lack of elasticity or liquidity demobilizes computing resources. However, new developments in cloud database technology (like database bursting and hibernating functions) show how the database component can have the necessary fluidity to bring cloud-computing closer to ‘perfect market’ conditions and begin to deliver its full benefits…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

The new Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certification Program is a response to organizations screaming for some way to both validate and train employees on the use of AWS public cloud technology. Indeed, AWS Certifications help to recognize the skills, knowledge, and expertise in the AWS public cloud platform. To earn an AWS Certification, individuals must demonstrate their proficiency in a particular area by passing an AWS Certification Exam — akin to getting your driver’s license but instead of road signs, you’re tested on API error messages.

This is much like past certification exams from Microsoft, Novell, and Cisco. I’d go so far as to say that those with AWS Certifications are poised to earn decent money, considering the large number of AWS jobs chasing after a limited pool of candidates these days…

Grazed from TechCentral. Author: Editorial Staff.

Platform as a service (PaaS) is sort of the like the red-headed stepchild between the two, providing an application development and hosting platform in the cloud. PaaS in many ways combines elements of infrastructure and software as a service. But recently, Gartner researcher John Rymer, who closely tracks the PaaS market, says the lines between IaaS, SaaS and PaaS are beginning to blur.

Some of the leading IaaS companies, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), are adding PaaS-like features to their offerings. AWS has made it easier to deploy and scale applications in its cloud through services like its recently released OpsWorks, as well as Elastic Beanstalk and CloudFront, for example. SaaS pioneer Salesforce.com, meanwhile, is making a big push to promote its integrated PaaS offerings, Force.com and Heroku…

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Darryl K. Taft.

IBM announced it has been awarded a 10-year $123 million contract by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to replace the agency’s 50-year-old legacy human resources application with a new system delivered in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.

IBM will deliver what it refers to as a first-of-its-kind private-sector HR technology solution for the U.S. federal government. IBM has been selected as the HR Line of Business (LOB) Shared Services Center (SSC) provider for the VA and will build, operate and maintain a new HR system to be deployed across the enterprise to deliver a standardized and interoperable human resources experience.

Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Opsview, a leading IT monitoring vendor, has released new research indicating that 64% percent of those questioned identified virtualization as the primary focus for investment in 2013. The Opsview study also identified IT monitoring (55%) and private clouds (46%) as among their top initiatives for 2013.

The key trends from the study include:

• VMware continues to dominate the virtualization space with over 54% of respondents choosing them as their preferred vendor. However, Microsoft’s market share is growing steadily with over 18%.
• Almost a quarter of respondents claimed that more than 75% of their entire IT infrastructure is now virtualized.
• Only 12% of those surveyed admitted to using Xen and KVM…

Grazed from ITBusiness. Author: Francis Moran.

Adobe Systems Inc. is going all-in on a software as a service (SaaS) business model for its suite of heavy-lifting creative tools, announcing today at its Max conference in Los Angeles that it is replacing its nearly 10-year-old Creative Suite with a greatly expanded version of Creative Cloud, the subscription product it first unveiled about a year ago.

The updated Creative Cloud offering amalgamates Adobe’s full collection of more than 30 tools and services, including the company’s flagship products Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver, making them all available through a small-business-friendly monthly subscription starting at about $50, with individual apps available for as little as about $20 per month…