Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: TJ Keitt.

The online cloud-based collaboration services market is heating up. Established software vendors — think Google, Microsoft and IBM, as well as new entrants to the space — are building impressive client lists that include large enterprises across the vertical spectrum.

This isn’t just vendors trying to one-up each other — there’s a real and growing market demand for these tools. A recent Forrester survey found that more than 56% of software decision-makers are using or would use software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings to replace or complement their existing collaboration technology. Why are online collaboration services so appealing? Because SaaS gives business leaders the following three advantages:…

Grazed from ClearCi. Author: PR Announcement.

clearCi, a Fort Lauderdale-based technology startup, has officially become a finalist for four impressive categories in the 2012 UP-START Cloud Awards. The competition recognizes companies that advance cloud computing to business and technology communities around the world.

“The first round was entirely based on gaining votes from our customer base and general public,” said Emmanuel Trenche, VP of Marketing Communications at clearCi. “Going up against Microsoft, Dell and SIlicon Valley startups made us think creatively to stand out.”…

Grazed from BNA. Author: Editorial Staff.

States continue to take a checkerboard approach in determining whether sales tax applies to cloud computing, according to a panel of experts at New York University’s 31st Institute on State and Local Taxation, and only recently have buyers, more so than sellers, expressed an interest in the tax consequences of cloud computing issues.

Setting the Stage

From a technological perspective, cloud computing typically falls into three categories: (1) access to software, (2) access to platforms, and (3) access to infrastructure. Yet, according to Arthur R. Rosen, a partner at McDermott Will & Emory LLP in New York, many states will tax such access as either:…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

Storage price slashing continues as Microsoft meets cuts Google and Amazon traded last week. There’s method in this madness — lots of businesses have yet to test the cloud, and cheap storage is a way to attract those newbies. And once they’re hooked, watch out!

Okay, the analogy is imperfect, but, it is becoming clear that storage is the easiest way to get new customers into a given cloud. And, once they’re there, Amazon, Google, Microsoft can woo them with fancier (and pricier) higher-end services. The thinking is: Get them started with cheap storage, move them to compute and right on up the stack to data warehousing and analysis. Then you really have them hooked…

Grazed from NewScientist. Author: Hal Hodson.

Cloud computing is big business. Companies and individual users rent bandwidth from large cloud services to perform all manner of tasks, from hosting small websites to churning through large, computing-intensive tasks like modelling new drug compounds. But what if you could gain access to all that computing power for free?

It turns out that you can, using a loopholes in a new type of browser which taps the cloud to boost web page load speeds. Amazon’s Silk browser as well as Opera Mini and another browser called Puffin all use this trick to help render web pages on mobile devices, which can lack the computational punch to handle complex web scripts or graphics-heavy pages, for instance…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Mikael Ricknäs.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has added PowerShell to the management options for its cloud, in a move that reaches out to the Windows community. Part of Amazon’s Microsoft push is to let developers and administrators manage their AWS services in a way that’s natural to them, according to the company.

AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell provide over 550 so-called cmdlets for allowing administrators to make service calls or create scripts for automating cloud management, all from within the command line-based PowerShell environment. A cmdlet is a lightweight command that is used in PowerShell…

Grazed from BusinessWire. Author: PR Announcement.

PerspecSys Inc., the leader in cloud data security solutions for the enterprise, today announced it has been selected by TMC, a global, integrated media company, as a 2012 Cloud Computing Excellence Award winner. Presented by Cloud Computing Magazine, the Cloud Computing Excellence Awards recognize companies that have most effectively leveraged cloud computing in their efforts to bring new, differentiated offerings to market.

PerspecSys was chosen as a winner because its Cloud Data Protection Gateway eliminates two of the biggest barriers that prevent companies from embracing cloud computing: data security and data control. The PerspecSys Gateway uses a unique, patent-pending approach that features strong encryption and tokenization technologies to help enterprise and public-sector organizations secure sensitive data – keeping it on-site and within their complete control when using popular cloud applications (e.g. Oracle CRM On Demand, Salesforce.com)…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Editorial Staff.

As Web applications migrate to the cloud, where the infrastructure encourages fluid deployment, breakdowns in business flow become harder to detect and address. The good news is that Web application monitoring solutions are evolving to root out trouble even when the problems are not obvious. See if one of these solutions works for you.

In this Deep Dive, Peter Wayner explains how the new generation of monitoring systems makes it possible for website managers to keep a handle on the growing complexity of larger, more dynamic, and more distributed Web applications. With these monitoring solutions, Web teams have a fighting chance to notice the problems that can hide in the layers of features and interconnected components…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Thomas Claburn.

Social networking shouldn’t be compulsory, and yet it’s becoming an obligation. The hunger among Internet companies for data about who you are, what you do, where you go, and who you know keeps growing. They want you to share so they can earn. So they have violated Communication Neutrality: They have made mechanisms for expression into vehicles for marketing, forcing those who participate in online life to promote.

Social networking has become inescapable. Startups often require a Facebook or Twitter login. Google now requires a Google+ account to post app reviews on Google Play. And in many lines of knowledge work, including journalism, participation in these networks has become a job requirement…

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Nick Heath.

Enterprise use of cloud services continues to grow – albeit from a small base – and in 2013 analyst house Forrester says many companies will begin deployment of private clouds. As spending on cloud services and platforms picks up, the way businesses use such services will also evolve. Forrester has put together 10 ways its analysts expect attitudes surrounding cloud to change next year.

Business will get real about cloud costs

Organisations will start paying more attention to cloud costs in 2013, Forrester claims. Cloud isn’t always cheaper, it’s just likely to be cheaper if organisations follow the right use model. To get the best ROI out of cloud services and platforms organisations need to model the cost profile of applications, monitor the resources they use and adjust any deployment to balance cost against performance, according to the analysts.