Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

MGI Research, LLC announced today the general availability of MGI Cloud30TM Index data. “Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most dominant and disruptive trends in technology. It is one of the key tools in transforming enterprise IT and is the underlying enabler of both social networking and mobile computing”, said Igor Stenmark, Managing Director of MGI Research. "While it is unclear if cloud computing will deliver on all of its promises, the reality is that no technology project is undertaken today without evaluating the use of cloud computing.

The MGI Cloud30TM Index is intended to be the most accurate proxy of the financial impact of cloud computing – whatever direction it takes”, Mr. Stenmark continued. The current data for MGI Cloud30TM Index indicates that over the past three years, the cloud computing trend generated a distinct and above average impact in financial markets. The MGI Cloud30TM Index is comprised of shares of thirty US-listed companies that have the most direct exposure to cloud computing. Today’s announcement makes the MGI Cloud 30 Index historical data generally available.

For data access, licensing information, details on index components, methodology and weights, refer to http://www.mgiresearch.com. or contact MGI Research at +1 (888) 801-3644 or via email: mgicloud30@mgiresearch.com.

Grazed from TechCrunch.  Author:  David Strom.

Do you ever encounter delays in loading web-based applications and get impatient? Resulting from poor network latency, or how fast data is transferred from one location to another, these delays are frustrating to as end users, but are far more costly to Internet businesses that depend on lightning-quick web experiences for their customers. With the proliferation of cloud computing placing added demands on Internet speed and connectivity, latency is becoming a more critical concern for everyone, from the end user to the enterprise.

Pre-Internet, latency was characterized by the number of router hops between you and your application, and the delay that packets took to get from source to destination. For the most part, your corporation owned all of the intervening routers, so network delays remained fairly consistent and predictable. As businesses migrate and deploy more and more applications to the cloud, the issue of latency is becoming increasingly complex. In order to leverage cloud computing as a true business enabler, it is critical that organizations learn how to manage and reduce latency…

Grazed from CloudVentures.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Recently the USA Government announced a Digital Government strategy.

Our new white paper ‘GovCloud 2.0′ describes how Government Cloud Computing can provide an accelerating platform for implementing this policy, covering topics such as:

• Business Transformation – Harnessing social media and collective intelligence models to reinvent government to be more collaborative.

• Procurement Frameworks – Cloud procurement best practices, such as the UK’s G-Cloud…

Grazed from SciCasts.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Salk researchers have reported a how-to secret for biologists: code for Amazon Cloud that significantly reduces the time necessary to process data-intensive microscopic images.  The method promises to speed research into the underlying causes of disease by making single-molecule microscopy of practical use for more laboratories.

 "This is an extremely cost-effective way for labs to process super-resolution images," says Hu Cang, Salk assistant professor in the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and coauthor of the paper. "Depending on the size of the data set, it can save over a week’s worth of time."…

Grazed from Business2Community.  Author: Matthew Ramsey.

While migrating to the cloud is ultimately intended to reduce costs and make it easier to run your business, not following the right steps at first can lead to the exact opposite. Ultimately, it is the risk of downtime, security of your data, and objectives of the cloud service vendor in question as your enterprise nurtures this ongoing relationship. A Statement of Work (SOW) should be developed from the start, with a focus on objectives, tasks, and deliverables. The SOW should also cover details on project management in a fixed price model.

A vendor often presents a special deal if an organization like yours signs a contract immediately. Signing a proposal is not the same as signing an SOW, as most proposals simply outline the services to be offered. These also do not break down the cost of services or list acceptable performance criteria. A proposal is just a legally binding contract, which could put your organization at risk if the services do not meet the qualifications for quality and consistency….

Grazed from Technorati.  Author: Geoff Simon.

Early Friday, Wisconsin based Widen Enterprises announced that its cloud-based digital asset management solution (DAM), Media Collective, will be adopted by WAGO Corporation, a German company that manufactures components for electrical connection technology and electronic components for decentralized automation technology. And the automotive industry isn’t the only one choosing to use cloud-based DAM solutions. From marketing, software, governments, and food industries, companies of all kinds are realizing the benefits of a more centralized digital media library.

Media Collective, which offers cloud-based asset management solutions, offers a centralized media library that companies like WAGO can use to manage all their digital media needs. In total, WAGO has over 18,000 individual products, each one with numerous images and other digital media attached to them…

Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author: Chris Kanaracus.

SAP’s burgeoning portfolio of cloud-based applications has prompted it to make some changes to its PartnerEdge program.  More than 500 partners who have relationships with SuccessFactors, the cloud HCM (human capital management) vendor SAP finished acquiring last year, will be added to the program during the course of 2013, SAP said this week.

Partners "now have the opportunity to tackle the fast-growing cloud market and offer best-of-breed cloud solutions and suites to their installed base customers and prospects," SAP said in a statement. SAP is also trying to make life easier for partners on the contractual side of things. A single deal will allow partners to sell all of SAP’s cloud offerings, rather than requiring separate agreements for each one, according to the statement…

Grazed from The Ottawa Citizen.  Author: Ian Macleod.

American spies can snoop through Canadians’ computer data — including that of political organizations and without warrants — if the data resides within popular U.S. cloud computing services, says a former Microsoft executive.

In a report commissioned by the European Parliament, former Microsoft chief privacy adviser Caspar Bowden reveals, “it is lawful in the U.S. to conduct purely political surveillance on foreigners’ data accessible in U.S. clouds,” operated by U.S. firms such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and others.  One sweeping provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes the targeting of, “foreign-based political organization(s)… or foreign territory that relates to… conduct of the foreign affairs of the United States.”…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge. Author: Bill Kleyman.

As the data center continues to become an integral part of any organization, administrators are working hard to find ways to be as resilient as ever. The data center environment is a lot more complex now with many moving parts – all of which are vital to the efficiency foundation of an infrastructure. With cloud computing, more users, and an increase in data – the challenge has become disaster recovery and business continuity. All distributed systems have to be checked and the data points must all be monitored. In working with these more complex data centers, many administrators are turning to the cloud and virtualization to help them create a more robust DR plan.

The reality is this: a well-planned out cloud and virtualization solution can truly help any organization create a more agile environment. There are inherent benefits to working with specific types of cloud models and virtualization platforms. A large part of IT is creativity – that’s why using new types of technologies can help reduce management costs and keep an environment running longer…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

A new survey from Brocade finds the role of the CIO is changing, apparently driven by cloud computing. The survey of 100 CIOs from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa finds that half expect cloud adoption to take less time than required to deal with IT infrastructure issues, such as email and storage.

Moreover, one-third of the CIOs report that cloud computing is already in their enterprises — and IT had nothing to do with it. Finally, about 70 percent stated that cloud computing services are here to stay, and they would adopt more in the years to come. We’ve known for some time that cloud computing is showing up in all enterprises, with or without CIO approval. Although shortsighted CIOs push back hard on those who use cloud services such as Dropbox or Google Apps, CIOs who "get it" are using this interest in cloud computing to move in more productive and innovative directions…