Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Paul Korzeniowski.

When evaluating cloud computing, corporations are thinking more strategically and less tactically, according to an IDC survey of U.K.-based cloud managers. "Just about all corporations are now searching for ways to leverage cloud computing," said Juergen Urbanski, vice president of cloud architectures at Deutsche Telekom. In fact, the survey found that three quarters of corporations that responded view the cloud as a way to solve key business issues.

But the reasons why companies opt for cloud services are changing. Reducing IT costs is still a main driver, mentioned by about 40% of businesses. A few years ago, almost all respondents cited lower costs as the cloud’s No. 1 benefit. However, the focus is moving away from simply cost…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) has agreed to buy Eloqua Inc. for about $871 million to further expand into cloud computing amid competition from SAP AG and Salesforce.com Inc. Oracle said Thursday that buying Eloqua will bolster its "cloud" technology for helping companies make decisions on their marketing, sales and customer support. Cloud computing refers to the concept of making software available for anyone with an Internet-connected device, rather than installing it on company computers.

The $23.50-per-share offer is more than twice Eloqua’s initial public offering price in August and 31 percent higher than the close Wednesday. The board of Eloqua, whose Internet-based software is used in marketing and revenue-performance management, approved the deal, according to a statement…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Caitlin White.

As past years have been more about whether cloud computing will infiltrate IT or not, 2012 has been rife with thoughtful analysis of the pros and cons of cloud services. Enterprise IT has been steadfast in its data security concerns, and IT administrators have worried about job security with the introduction of cloud. But many companies are finally seeing how cloud can innovate and advance their missions and business plans.

SearchCloudComputing.com had the opportunity in 2012 to speak with experts from all walks of cloud — CEOs, cloud security directors and open source pros, among others. These eight best cloud computing Q&As put industry authorities in the hot seat for their takes on the cloud market…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Abdul Salam.

2012 has been a takeoff year for cloud computing, there have been no real major breakthroughs yet no setbacks as well, but that is not to say that the field has been asleep overall, we have seen a continued growth in terms of support and adoption including the emergence of new types of services on offer. There have been a lot of improvements in the technology and also a lot of new directions taken that we have yet to see if they will lead to success or not. Let us take a look back a whole year at the state of cloud computing so far.

Wide adoption in media and entertainment – the cloud has proven its potential for the storage and delivery of media and entertainment elements mainly because of the introduction of high speed data communication standards like 4G and LTE. It has become easier to store, retrieve, and deliver media from the cloud. We are seeing a trend in consumer adoption of services like Dropbox, Box, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Netflix and Spotify. This may also be the reason why a lot of smartphone manufacturers chose to remove the expandable memory options from their devices like Google’s Nexus 4 by LG and the Nexus 7 tablet by Asus. HTC also did not include expandable storage on their new Droid DNA…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Caitlin White.

As cloud computing makes its way from testing to production environments, discussion around the real-world details of investing in cloud intensifies. We’ve pinpointed the rising cloud computing trends for the New Year. These keyword topics may not have been the hottest of the year, but as 2012 draws to a close, interest has been heating up — signaling some of the cloud issues and themes we’ll be facing in 2013.

‘Big data analytics’

This year has established the power of crunching big data and the competitive advantages it can bring to companies. According to Gartner, and after research into Web searches, it seems that in 2013 big data’s influence will only amplify. Since many enterprises have yet to choose a side, cloud computing standards will likely be a contentious issue moving into 2013…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Joe McKendrick.

Cloud computing may introduce new processes and technology challenges, but organizations appear to be ready to handle them, a new survey suggests. An overwhelming majority of IT executives, in fact, say they’re having no problems finding the skills they need to move forward with cloud engagements. But will this confidence be sustainable as organizations move deeper into cloud?

This is one of the results of a new survey of 327 CIOs, business executives and other stakeholders, conducted by Dimensional Research and sponsored by Host Analytics. More than eight out of 10 CIOs (81%) and IT managers (81%) in the survey say they are “easily able to find employees or contractors” who can help customize Software-as-a-Service applications…

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Michael Finneran.

Cloud computing is all the rage in the IT industry, and UC is no exception. While it’s hard to find a concise market projection on the UC as a Service (UCaaS) market, there are a number of telling signs regarding its health.

For instance, UCaaS provider 8×8 saw its revenue increase 33% year-over-year. ShoreTel Sky (formerly M5) saw its revenue go up 27% while seat count increased 36%. The company is carrying a backlog worth $550,000 in revenue because it can’t keep up with installations. Broadsoft, which makes the UCaaS platform used by a number of providers including Comcast, Megapath and Verizon (which also sells Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution or HCS) saw its revenues increase by 13%…

Grazed from Asus. Author: PR Announcement.

Asustek Computer on December 19 formed a health cloud computing alliance through cooperation with Taiwan-based Show Chwan Health Care System to establish a cloud computing ecosystem for health care management. The alliance will set up three cloud platforms: personal health management, health care and medical research.

The personal health management platform will provide personal cloud storage capacity of at least 5GB for individuals to store medical records and health-related measurements such as blood pressure, blood glucose and weight, and access the information via smartphones, tablets and other terminal devices…

Grazed from SFGate. Author: Editorial Staff.

GreenButton™, the leading provider of compute intensive and integrated on-demand cloud solutions, today announced the company’s predictions for cloud computing in 2013. GreenButton has identified the top trends covering technology and business innovation to include Big Data, Cloud Bursting, Cloud Governance, On Demand and HPC computing, and License Management for ISVs.

The year 2012 has proven to be a pivotal year for cloud computing, marked by one key takeaway: adoption of cloud computing for the enterprise has finally gone mainstream. No longer hidden from plain sight, IT departments are now very upfront about their company’s use of cloud computing, resulting in legitimate cloud budgeting taking place. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Forrester Research found half of all enterprises in North America and Europe are planning to create budgets for cloud-related investments in 2013…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Fernanda Aspe.

The BYOD trend finds itself at a tech crossroads. While end users are the first to embrace it, business managers and IT administrators remain skeptical about security and compliance implications. Since the benefits of BYOD are too tempting to ignore, IT teams must implement protocols to protect against problems mobile devices can cause and to reap the full advantages of cloud computing in the enterprise.

But how can enterprise IT make two new technology forces — cloud computing and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trends — exist without disruption in companies? These frequently asked questions offer expert insight and answers to give you a better understanding of how BYOD works with cloud, how to manage mobile devices in the enterprise and how to secure enterprise data. We also provide ideas on ways to tweak your corporate program and optimize your cloud environment to ease tensions in what is becoming a BYOD world — whether IT departments want it to or not…