November 5, 2012 Off

Newvem brings Amazon cloud metrics to the iPad

By David

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

Newvem is bringing its Amazon Web Services analytics to CIOs and IT managers via a shiny new iOS app that will let CIOs use their beloved iPads and iPhones to keep tabs on Amazon cloud services in use.

There are at least two things CIOs want. They want to use their iPads to do their jobs and they really want to get a grip on what’s going on in their companies’ Amazon cloud deployments. Now, Newvem — one of a flock of startups that help customers better manage their Amazon services — hopes to capture that audience with a new native iOS app. Newvem says its new Cloud Smart Meter – used in conjunction with Newvem Analytics on the back end — will help customers visualize how their AWS costs are trending, assess risks and assets. Newvem uses the customer’s AWS credentials to get a view of what’s really happening inside the customer’s Amazon cloud…

November 5, 2012 Off

IT security fails to keep pace with the rise of cloud computing

By David

Grazed from SiliconRepublic. Author: John Kennedy.

In the past year, 85pc of organisations have seen an increase in cyberattacks and while the cloud continues to be one of the main drivers of business model innovation, security measures are not keeping pace. According to the Ernst & Young Global Information Security Survey 2012 of 1,850 CIOs and CISOs in 64 countries, the number of organisations using cloud technology has doubled in the last two years.

However, 38pc of global and 37pc of Irish organisations have not taken any additional measures to mitigate the risks, such as stronger oversight on the contract management process for cloud providers or the use of encryption techniques. The survey also suggests that cloud computing uptake in Ireland is different in character to elsewhere – one in five global organisations cited hybrid cloud (public and private) in current use, whereas no Irish respondents indicated this was the case…

November 5, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: AMD launches 6300-series ‘Piledriver’ Opteron processors

By David

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

AMD has released a new range of Opteron processors, a mix of quad-core, 8-core, 12-core and 16-core parts ranging in clock speeds from 2.3 GHz to 3.5 GHz. According to the data released by AMD, these new processors will offer a 37 percent ‘uplift’ compared to the 6200-series. The processors all feature AMD’s second-generation modular core architecture codenamed "Piledriver" that allows for higher performance, and better price/performance, than the 6200-series.

All processors are manufactured using 32-nanometer architecture and feature a Socket G34 1944-pin LGA. They all have 16 MB L3 cache, four HyperTransport links, 2MB of L2 cache per core, and a quad-channel memory controller that supports RAM up to DDR3-1600…

November 5, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: Red Hat targets China for R&D

By David

Grazed from China Daily. Author: Tuo Yannen.

Red Hat Inc, the No 1 Linux developer in the United States, is considering investing more in its research and development and sales team in China, said the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Whitehurst. In its fiscal year 2012, Red Hat’s revenue exceeded $1 billion. The company wants to reach $3 billion in the next five years. An exhibition focused on the cloud computing industry in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The sector is booming in China. [Photo/China Daily]

In order to fulfill this goal, the US-based open-source software company said it will place greater emphasis on the Chinese market, where IT spending and cloud computing technology are booming. "The open-source Linux system is the hero behind the scene. Most of the stock exchange market systems are based on the Linux system," said Whitehurst…

November 4, 2012 Off

Real Business Value in 30 Days With Cloud Consulting

By David
Grazed from Business2Community.  Author: Matthew Ramsey.

Cloud computing has created new opportunities to improve business processes through the use of technology. From freeing up resources, to letting employees use their preferred personal devices for work, to lowering your technology operating costs, operating from the cloud lets you remain focused on your core business objectives.

There are many ways cloud computing can drive business value. A respected cloud consultant can help you implement best practices for utilizing the cloud for your specific needs, your customers, and your overall operational structure.

So how can cloud computing create real business value?…

November 4, 2012 Off

Gartner: Public cloud services are both cannibalizing and stimulating demand for external IT services spending

By David
Grazed from InformationWeek.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Public cloud services are simultaneously cannibalizing and stimulating demand for external IT services spending, according to Gartner, Inc. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) adoption — the most basic and fundamental form of cloud computing service — has expanded beyond development and test use cases.

"Public cloud adoption is accelerating and public cloud services do, and will, cannibalize IT services spending in the coming years, most notably in the data center," said Bryan Britz, Research Director, Gartner. "At the same time, public cloud adoption offers service providers the opportunity to accelerate externalization of spending for the non-public cloud workloads and IT operations and service management responsibilities in tandem with clients pursuing a public cloud initiative."…

November 4, 2012 Off

This week in cloud: More outages, fewer data centers

By David
Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Barb Darrow.

By 2016, there will be fewer data centers but those that are built will be much bigger, according to IDC research. Cedexis launches tool to help AWS customers route computing loads around Amazon EC2 regions to mitigate service problems.

Superstorm Sandy made itself felt big time in data centers in New York, New Jersey and surrounding areas last week,  sparking concerns about the impact of climate change on data center deployment plans and the power grid…

November 4, 2012 Off

Top 10: why your cloud is only as good as your network

By David
Grazed from AME Info.  Author: Saad Kahn.

Revenue from cloud computing products and services are due to increase from around $20bn to almost $150bn by 2020 – a total of 8% for all technology spend, according to research by Bain & Company. Their study, titled The Five Faces of the Cloud indicates that the Middle East needs a better network to the cloud.

1 – Your cloud workload will evolve as applications change

Today you are running Software as a Service (SaaS), or infrastructure applications that stay resident in the provider cloud, often locked behind semi-proprietary architectures. This is a logical first implementation that’s common to most technology roll-outs. The next step is also predictable – a turn to a more open architecture with standards in place for APIs and management tools…

November 3, 2012 Off

5 ways to profit from your cloud

By David
Grazed from VentureBeat.  Author: Zev Laderman.

There’s more to cloud analytics than just saving costs.  When companies really know how to take advantage of cloud computing to increase profit and margin, they have the opportunity to achieve real cloud “nirvana.” The cloud can become a natural extension of their data center.  Here are five ways cloud usage analytics contribute to a company’s bottom line:

Scaling and meeting demand

If clouds are able to scale on the fly to meet unforeseen or variable demand, companies can capture additional revenue that otherwise would not have been achievable. When demand flattens, or – as we have witnessed over the last few years with the global recession – often fluctuates or declines, it is critical to immediately scale back infrastructure and reduce costs to ensure the highest possible profit margin from new levels of demand…

November 2, 2012 Off

Salesforce.com Cloud Apps Spread to UK Govt

By David

Grazed from ExecutiveBiz. Author: David J. Barton.

Cloud computing company Salesforce.com is joining the U.K. government’s G-cloud framework, the company has announced. As a result, U.K. public sector organizations can now purchase Salesforce cloud applications from the G-Cloud CloudStore. G-Cloud is a catalogued list of suppliers of approved cloud technologies which U.K. government agencies can access online.

According to the announcement, it is meant to simplify the cloud procurement process and provide easy access to approved technologies as the U.K. public sector looks to revolutionize a broad range of services in both local and central government…