Grazed from SeekingAlpha. Author: Editorial Staff.

Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) are out at each other in a new invisible battlefield: Computer horsepower. Cloud computing has been around for quite a long time (since 1984, at least the concept) but its potential has only recently been discovered. Despite the buzz around the concept, very few people understand the underlying framework, which is ironic since most people have already used it. Simply put, cloud (another word for internet) computing is using other people’s server to run your network/application for your organization, remotely. Prime examples are Gmail and drop box. It essentially reduces the hassle and cost of the end user by outsourcing the entire IT department to the service provider; e.g. Amazon or Google.

Overview

Amazon is the pioneer, providing cloud computing services since 2004, but Google has recently caught on (began last year June). Google has the largest storage capacity in the world, which has made Amazon push harder, especially in terms of pricing. Amazon’s EC2 provides IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), outsourcing IT needs along with the hardware, while Google’s App Engine provides PaaS (Platform as a service)…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Stacey Higginbotham.

For the last six years Miguel Castillo and his team have built dozens of platforms for connected devices, from connecting garbage cans to adding informatics to solar panels. But in 2012 Castillo realized that he was sick of reinventing the wheel for each machine-to-machine project that Wairbut, his company, accepted. So he and his CTO, Alvaro Everlet, spun out a new company to build a platform of software and infrastructure so others could connect devices without having to reinvent the same wheel they had invented so many times before. They called the startup Carriots, and it’s now in the middle of raising a first round of funding.

Like Electric Imp, Carriots, a Madrid-based company, wants to make it easy for people to build out services for connected devices. Electric Imp provides the cloud service as well as an SD card with built-in connectivity. Carriots provides the cloud service, essentially a platform as a service, or PaaS, for the internet of things…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

The Cloud Security Alliance is extending its membership to a new level that serves SMBs and the cloud providers serving that small and medium business (SMB) market segment. Announced at InfoSecurity Europe in London, the CSA SMB Membership and SMB Working Group are meant to provide SMBs with guidance in cloud security.

For cloud providers, CSA plans to work with them through this new membership level and working group to help them understand the cloud security needs of SMBs. However, this kickoff of the new SMB-focused membership and working group is just the beginning, as the first step for the organization will be to create an SMB version of the CSA Guidance documents, as well as cloud security materials that can be readily consumed by SMBs, many of which likely don’t have the IT and security capabilities and knowledge base enjoyed by enterprises…

Grazed from The Register. Author: Simon Sharwood.

NetApp has approached the University of Melbourne’s Cloud Computing and Distributed Systems (CLOUDS) Laboratory, seeking collaboration around the Labs’ research specialties in federated public clouds.

The Reg has learned that senior NetApp employees from outside Australia visited the Lab last February. Now the Lab’s Director, Professor Rajkumar Buyya, has told The Reg those discussions centred on federated cloud functions in the Aneka product offered by a commercial spinout from the Lab called Manjrasoft…

Grazed from PR.com. Author: PR Announcement.

CloudAccess.com, a leader in unified security solutions from the cloud, announced the release of the latest version of CloudIDM/AM which features a unique and seamless integration between enterprise identity management and access control (single sign on/access management) from the cloud.

“We’ve taken the next evolutionary step to integrate the key capabilities of provisioning, multi-factor authentication and role-based workflow management with an advanced single sign on for SaaS and legacy applications and manage it all from the cloud,” said CloudAccess CEO Kevin Nikkhoo…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Matthew Ramsey.

As enterprises seek the best in cloud services, numerous changes are occurring in the cloud market. Picking the best each provider has to offer is not uncommon, leaving businesses with multiple services to manage. Solvedirect, an Austrian firm providing software and services for cloud systems, pioneered the ServiceGrid platform. It was designed to monitor services across multiple partners, no matter what systems the enterprise has implemented. This has caught the attention of Cisco, a world leader in network and computing systems. The corporation recently bought the cloud services management company.

What SolveDirect Adds to the Equation

The acquisition may have huge implications for the enterprise cloud computing industry. SolveDirect is known for its operational efficiency and skill set for engineering. The capacity for managing multiple services is critical. Enterprises are often tasked with managing up to 15 external IT service providers, leaving staff with an endless flow of emails, phone calls, and online interactions for support. These interactions tend to drive down efficiency, but ServiceGrid has streamlined the process to address the multi-provider IT models modern enterprise are finding themselves left to manage…

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Editorial Staff.

Global Micro Solutions has partnered with Apprenda to introduce a new platform as a service (PaaS) cloud offering, intended to help businesses build, manage and deploy next-generation cloud applications. The public PaaS provides a way for customers to scale their massive custom application portfolios, quickly and in a secure cloud environment, says JJ Milner, MD and chief cloud architect for Global Micro.

“Global Micro is the first hosting provider in South Africa to offer Azure Services for Windows,” says Milner. “The Apprenda Platform extends this infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capability with platform as a service. Global Micro is Apprenda’s exclusive delivery partner in Africa and will support the partner and customer community. Apprenda will, in turn, support Global Micro.” The service will help to maximise the productivity of development teams and increase the speed with which updates and new products can be launched…

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Johani Marais.

According to the IDC, CIOs in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region acknowledge the benefits of cloud infrastructure and nearly 47% of CIOs in Africa are already engaged in cloud strategy of some kind. Part of this trend of moving towards cloud computing is the adoption of SaaS- (software as a service) based enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, says Johani Marais, Channel Manager Africa, Epicor Software Corporation.

In the past, organisations were hesitant to keep critical data in the cloud mainly because of the sheer value of the data, which seemed so much safer kept on-site rather than in an intangible space outside of the perceived realm of control. This is why systems such CRM, HCM and sales force automation were often cloud-based, whereas manufacturing process management data was kept out of the cloud. Now, SaaS deployments are becoming more widely used than traditional hosting options, even in larger organisations that are becoming far more likely to make use of SaaS. This can be attributed to a shift in mindset caused by advances in technology and a better understanding of how cloud-based ERP works…

Grazed from MoneyLife. Author: Editorial Staff.

McAfee today announced the addition of identity and access management solutions to its Security Connected portfolio. The solutions that were previously sold and developed by Intel include McAfee Cloud Single Sign On and McAfee One Time Password. McAfee also introduced a new McAfee Identity Center of Expertise, staffed with experts in identity and cloud security to assist users with questions pertaining to identity and access management issues, such as architecture requirements and best practices.

Organizations of all sizes are moving IT operations and functions to the cloud in order to reduce costs. As businesses embrace cloud-based applications they quickly find their IT department and application administrators are overwhelmed with the problem of managing cloud-based application accounts. Many organizations are trying to use legacy identity and authentication solutions which can create security gaps and are often complicated to deploy and customize for new applications…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Editorial Staff.

U.K.-based CipherCloud on April 23 added a new feature, Cloud Data Discovery, to its cloud information protection platform. Cloud Data Discovery enables enterprises to adopt software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud applications while ensuring that their compliance policies are fully met and their business information is always protected. With the addition of the new capability in the CipherCloud platform, enterprises can now gain full granular visibility into all of the information their users are sharing across all of their cloud applications.

This is a clear-cut solution for so-called "rogue IT," in which employees use cloud apps on their own for business purposes, causing potential security issues. IT admins can keep track of all such business-relation information using this system…