Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Robert Shaw.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, many people are asking whether cloud computing can withstand nature’s wrath. The storm took several major cloud computing companies offline, including Amazon Web Services (at least on the East Coast), and left thousands of websites and online services down for hours—and in some cases days.

Hurricane Sandy has definitely proved that the cloud is vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme weather patterns, but that hardly presages the death of cloud computing. All computers and electronic systems are equally susceptible to the same events. Millions of people lost telephone and electricity service in the wake of Hurricane Sandy (as is the case for essentially all major storms). But cloud skeptics seem to conveniently forget that even if cloud services didn’t go down, victims of natural disasters without power still wouldn’t be able to access them…

Grazed from Business Solutions. Author: Colin Jack.

It is quite easy to predict that cloud computing will remain an elevated priority for IT departments and companies in 2013. For managed service providers (MSPs) who already provide online IT service offerings, the cloud presents a way to expand offerings and increase incoming revenue. In speaking with a number of service providers, we’ve seen that offering cloud solutions can be done without a large investment of time or infrastructure by using existing virtualized assets.

There are two underlying reasons why some MSPs are successful at this and others just plod along. The first is in which services are offered and how. We have all heard the phrase, “the proof is in the pudding.”…

Grazed from Dell. Author: PR Announcement.

Dell today is announcing enhancements to its Dell Wyse PocketCloud app portfolio to help connect individuals with their professional and personal content anytime, anywhere from mobile devices or remote computers. PocketCloud Explore and PocketCloud Web provide a secure and fast way to remotely connect to users’ PCs and Macs from Android, iOS and Windows RT devices, including the Dell XPS 10 tablet, or any Web browser, enabling users to access and share any content.

Today, users are increasingly looking to gain access to their personal and professional content on a number of different devices, sometimes running on a variety of operating systems, and PocketCloud enables them to easily create a "personal cloud" to search, view, organize, and share content among mobile devices and computers. Documents, videos, photos, music, and other files are readily available on tablets and smartphones with PocketCloud Explore, or in a desktop browser with PocketCloud Web…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Editorial Staff.

Trend Micro issued a free security assessment tool designed to measure an organization’s readiness for cloud, mobile security and targeted attacks. The firm says the assessment could help company’s securely adopt cloud computing services and efficiently mitigate the risks imposed by mobile devices and targeted attacks.

The online assessment bases its security recommendations on industry size and an individual’s role in the organization. After answering 25 yes or no questions the tool provide an assessment of a company’s current security posture, provides a comparison against industry averages and offer suggestions on how to improve the enterprise’s current security practices…

Grazed from TheVarGuy. Author: Christopher Tozzi.

As clouds continue to grow, so does the need for cloud ready backup solutions. In a reflection of the potential importance of this rapidly evolving offshoot of the cloud computing revolution, data protection vendors Asigra and RestorePoint have announced a partnership to deliver disaster recovery solutions for real estate businesses. Here are the details, and what they say about cloud backup solutions more broadly.

Since many data restoration services rely centrally on the cloud, which serves as a remote location for backing up information, disaster recovery and cloud computing have gone hand in hand for a long time. But in recent years, as the cloud has assumed a more vital role in the operations of many organizations, demand has grown for data protection solutions that work as well for resources based in the cloud as they do for local data…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Rick Blaisdell.

Cloud computing technologies developed around them a complex legal and regulatory environment. There are federal, international and even state laws that impose responsibilities to both cloud computing tenants and providers. Regardless of which side your business is on, you have to consider the legal issues, especially those related to the data you collect, store and process. Different sector specific laws for cloud computing tenants and providers

To ensure you are in legal compliance, you may want to know more about American laws. In the United States, privacy and security are spread over different industry specific laws and regulations:…

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

According to Simon Wardley, a UK scientist turned technology thinker, cloud computing has passed from the "growth" stage of its development to "war," where tech giants struggle with rapid change and start-ups plant their flags on virtual battlegrounds. If war is coming, how do midsize IT make the most of it?

Throw Down the Gauntlet

A recent Silicon Republic article quotes Wardley as saying "business is little more than warfare, a catfight." He contends that in the cloud age – just like the agricultural, industrial, and information ages – there are periods of peace, war, and growth. Thanks to the commoditization of technology, the IT industry has seen a long period of peace, which Wardley describes as a form of inertia. Now, he says, "New entrants, not the incumbents, are causing the greatest level of change." War comes…

Grazed from Channelnomics. Author: Larry Walsh.

In another sign cloud computing and conventional managed services are converging, Cisco Systems Inc. today announced the consolidation of much of its channel program to encompass solution providers that sit on both sides of the services divide. The new Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Program places solution providers that deliver cloud computing services – mostly application and software-as-a-service – and MSPs that remotely monitor and manage infrastructure under the same channel umbrella.

The logic behind the move is to eliminate redundancy and confusion in the marketplace created by increasingly arbitrary monikers assigned to both types of partners, explains Arjun Lahiri, senior manager of worldwide channels at Cisco. Customers told Cisco that the differing services categories and certifications were creating more confusion. The consolidation under CMSP provides greater insights into which partners can deliver “Cisco powered” services…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that its CloudBand™ ‘carrier cloud’ management solution now supports an expanded array of popular open source cloud computing software as well as networking equipment from leading technology vendors.

Carrier cloud represents a new class of cloud services that enable communications service providers to bring the benefits of the cloud to their own networks and business operations while offering cloud services with the security, reliability and quality enterprises and consumers expect from telecommunications networks…

Grazed from GovHealthIT. Author: David Linthicum.

The default response for those charged with HIPAA security is to say ‘no’ to cloud computing. Why? Clouds are not under direct control, they are not typically up on existing and emerging healthcare regulations, and, most importantly, they are new and scary. There is a clear need, however, to rethink the role of cloud computing by those charged with HIPAA security. The efficiencies that can be gained by leveraging public, private, and hybrid clouds are just too compelling.

The trick is to understand the existing requirements, and then understand how the emerging use of cloud computing could provide compliant and secure HIPAA solutions. In many cases, leveraging cloud computing will improve upon the best practices and technology that exist today. Here are three steps to using HIPAA in the cloud:…