Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Charlie Osborne.
 

The enterprise cloud infrastructure and IT solutions firm launched the Symphony Database project last year in North America. Now, the cloud-based database platform is available to European companies.

Savvis says that the platform brings cloud computing to Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server environments without the need for long-term licensing or server provisioning. The Savvis Symphony Database can be scaled up or down depending on the size and needs of a business without interrupting operations, and comes with a performance guarantee.

In addition, the firm says that the cloud-based database platform is less expensive than standard hosted database solutions…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Derrick Harris.

IO Data Centers has raised $90 million for its suite of offerings that rethink the way data centers are built and managed. Its IO.Anywhere units are fully contained data centers in a small package, and its OS software can manage a data center from a smartphone. Building 500-square-foot modules that act like fully functional data centers is capital-intensive work, so when a company like IO Data Centers raises money, it raises a lot. On Wednesday, the company announced a $90 million round led by New World Ventures that follows a $56 million round in 2008 and a $105 million round in 2011.

IO Founder and CEO George Slessman told me during a phone call on Tuesday that the company raised the latest money in order to capitalize on a huge opportunity. One industry group estimates that companies will spend $105 billion building and managing data centers in 2012, and Slessman thinks IO can address a significant portion of that spending, especially as it relates to costs around designing, building and generally operating facilities…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Durba Sengupta.

The year 2012 is close to an end, but the world is yet to find an answer to a question which has been there for last couple of years—Can cloud computing be regulated? The need of regulation—a much talked about but unsettled question—comes up whenever a new cloud service steps into the world.

In a stage when our lifestyle is becoming controlled by smart tools and technologies, we can hardly ignore the value of cloud computing. In fact, we find it tough to imagine our daily life without the cloud technology. This ever-growing acceptance and impact of cloud computing makes the Silicon Valley consider bringing regulations to cloud hosting services. In order to define the guidelines and to control who is not complying with the regulations, a global regulatory body for the cloud is needed. Recently, the European Union took the initiative to create a regulatory body to control cloud computing. But what are the pros and cons of cloud regulations?…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Warwick Ashford.

Microsoft has announced a free tool for organisations to assess their security readiness for cloud computing. A survey commissioned by the company revealed that the top barriers to cloud adoption are concerns about the ability to deal with industry standards (61%), transparency (59%) and security concerns (44%).

“This shows companies are more concerned than they should be,” Adrienne Hall, general manager of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, told the RSA Conference Europe 2012 in London. On the flip side, the survey conducted in five regions revealed that companies that have adopted cloud are seeing security benefits, she said…

Grazed from V3.co.uk. Author: James Dohnert.

The growth of cloud computing and other emerging technology trends are changing corporate business models, according to general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz Peter Levine.

Levine contends that the growing focus of software-based technology is changing the way companies plan for growth. Taking part in a panel at BoxWorks 2012 about the growing trends in Silicon Valley Levine said that he believes that better hardware no longer means better growth. "Microsoft needs a wake up call. Cisco needs a wake up call," Levine said during the panel discussion which featured a diverse group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists…

Grazed from PRWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing has become business-as-usual for many operators, while others are being left behind due to fear of the unknown and inexperience. So, MYOB is releasing its top tips for bringing the cloud into a business.

The technology company’s national study of small and medium business managers found lack of knowledge was a key barrier to cloud usage for almost half of the 79% who said they don’t use it. The same proportion applied to those concerned about the safety and security of data in the cloud…

“Businesses of all sizes are leveraging a decade of virtualization investments to transform IT through the software-defined datacenter,” said Raghu Raghuram, executive vice president, cloud infrastructure and management, VMware. “VMware’s cloud management offerings fundamentally recast management for the cloud era, allowing customers to operate at cloud scale and begin to act as brokers of IT services to the business.”
 

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