Grazed from MSPMentor. Author: Joe Panettieri.

LabTech Software, the remote monitoring and management (RMM) software company, is working on two specific cloud computing strategies to empower MSPs over the long haul. The first involves integrated, end-to-end cloud solutions that MSPs can offer their customers. The second involves integrated capabilities that allow MSPs to provision, monitor and bill for those services. CEO Matt Nachtrab offered MSPmentor some deeper thoughts about the strategy during a recent email exchange. I’m starting to wonder: Will LabTech and/or sister company ConnectWise emerge as a cloud aggregator — allowing MSPs to source and manage a range of third-party cloud services for customers? Here’s the update.

First, some big-picture background. The cloud aggregator industry seems to be accelerating rapidly. Most of the major IT distributors — Avnet, Ingram Micro, Tech Data and more — have cloud aggregator or cloud services strategies in place. Tech Data will update its TD Cloud initiative during a conference next week in Tampa, Fla.; and Ingram will host a cloud conference March. (Both are among our Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences of 2013.)…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

Cloud builders that use VCE Vblock as the central piece to their cloud puzzle have a new tool available in their kits. VMTurbo, which makes intelligent workload management software for cloud and virtualized environments, has managed to receive VCE Vblock Ready certification for its VMTurbo Operations Manager.

According to VMTurbo, its technology provides a cloud-scale control plane capable of continuously identifying and automating resource allocation and workload placement decisions, but it also keeps in mind technical and business constraints so it can optimize performance and maximize utilization. Now the technology is officially available for use on Vblock systems…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

Research In Motion (RIM) has let go of its cloud services company, NewBay, selling it to Synchronoss Technologies for $55.5 million in cash. The acquisition closed just after Santa’s visit to all the good, little boys and girls. The acquisition of the Dublin, Ireland-based cloud services company will give Bridgewater, New Jersey-based Synchronoss the ability to expand its global mobility platform enablement strategy considerably. The acquisition followed shortly on the heels of two C-level executive appointments at NewBay. The cloud services company appointed Tom Goguen as CEO in September and Mark Payne as CFO in October. Both were former RIM executives who now find themselves with brand new bosses. Still, this deal must have been in the works for some time.

This is a fast turnaround for RIM, which only snapped up NewBay in October 2011. RIM, which is frequently being scrutinized for its recent issues in the mobile device market, barely held onto the cloud services company for a year. Whether it just wasn’t the fit RIM execs thought it would be or it was a sale of necessity is unknown…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Christopher Tozzi.

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth is focused on JuJu, a solution for deploying cloud services. JuJu is already mature and useful, but Ubuntu developers envision expanding on it in major ways in 2013, as evidence from mailing archives and Canonical announcements.

When it comes to cloud computing — which Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has earmarked as a major focus for Canonical in 2013 — one of the Ubuntu ecosystem’s most innovative projects is JuJu, a solution for deploying cloud services. JuJu is already mature and useful, but Ubuntu developers envision expanding on it in major ways in the new year, as evidence from mailing archives and Canonical announcements reveals…

Grazed from CSO. Author: David Geer.

Automation, cost savings, and data redundancy—no wonder cloud adoption is tempting. The CISO can rest easy knowing there is no vice in moving to the cloud to reap these rewards. What may keep her up at night is not knowing how many missteps the enterprise is making in the process. Here CISOs and security buffs round up seven security sins that can undermine cloud computing’s benefits.

Failing to check IDs at the door

The only secure way to log in to the cloud is through enterprise identity management systems. Though many cloud services permit just about anyone in the organization to sign themselves up, create their own IDs and passwords without registering these with the enterprise, and then connect these credentials to personal email addresses, that does not mean that IT or the business should let it happen…

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: Editorial Staff.

The growth of cloud computing has caused a paradigm shift in all sorts of business applications, but perhaps most notably in ERP software. As noted in a previous article, cloud ERP is growing like wildfire as more and more businesses move to their ERP system to the cloud. But as cloud ERP becomes more popular, misconceptions about it also spread and it becomes more difficult to separate fact from fiction. In an effort to do just so, here are the top 3 myths about cloud ERP:

Myth #1: Cloud ERP is the same as hosted ERP

This is somewhat analogous to saying that renting a house is the same as leasing a house, which obviously is false. There are numerous differences between cloud ERP and hosted ERP involving software maintenance, network traffic, security, and statelessness…

Grazed from Yahoo News.  Author: Mayathi Nayak.

Social games publisher Zynga Inc confirmed on Monday that it has carried out 11 of the planned shutdowns of 13 game titles, with "Petville" being the latest game on which it pulled the plug.   Zynga in October said it would shut down 13 underperforming titles after warning that its revenues were slowing as gamers fled from its once-popular titles published on the Facebook platform in large numbers and sharply revised its full-year outlook.

The San Francisco-based company announced the "Petville" shutdown two weeks ago on its Facebook page. All the 11 shutdowns occurred in December.  The 11 titles shut down or closed to new players include role-playing game "Mafia Wars 2," "Vampire Wars," "ForestVille" and "FishVille."…

Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author: David Linthicum.

It’s 2013. Cloud computing is another year older. As adopters, we’re making fewer mistakes, but I suspect we’ll repeat many of the same errors from 2012.  Now is the time to work on cloud computing improvements, to set reasonable goals — and to make sure we live up to them. To that end, here are four cloud computing resolutions for 2013 I suggest we all adopt:

1. I resolve not to "cloud-wash." 2012 was another year of cloud everything. Virtually all products had some cloud spin, no matter what it was or the type of problem it solved. The truth is that cloud computing should be a specific type of technology that includes attributes such as on-demand, self-provisioned, elastic, and metered by use. By calling everything "cloud," the vendors look silly — and they sow confusion…