Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Rick Blaisdell.

Cloud technology has created new opportunities and job roles. In order to be ready for them, we must enhance our current skills set to include cloud computing. The worldwide demand for implementing cloud infrastructure by governments, enterprises and educational institutions is a call for IT professionals to attend trainings and courses, in order to get better educated in this technology.

As the need for the development of cloud computing standards became apparent, major companies have launched cloud computing certification programs. These certification programs include cloud-focused training programs targeting service providers or vendors, operations professionals in the enterprise, as well as systems integrators who are trained to navigate, deploy and operate cloud platforms…

Grazed from Science Codex. Author: Editorial Staff.

A new-cloud based operating system for all kinds of computer is being developed by researchers in China. Details of the TransOS system are reported in a forthcoming special issue of the International Journal of Cloud Computing. Computer users are familiar to different degrees with the operating system that gets their machines up and running, whether that is the Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, ChromeOS or other operating system. The OS handles the links between hardware, the CPU, memory, hard drive, peripherals such as printers and cameras as well as the components that connect the computer to the Internet, critically it also allows the user to run the various bits of software and applications they need, such as their email programs, web browsers, word processors, spreadsheets and games.

While, operating systems seem firmly entrenched in the personal computer and their files, documents, movies, sounds and images, sit deep within the hard drive. Traditionally, software too is stored on the same hard drive for quick access to the programs a user needs at any given time. However, there is a growing movement that is taking the applications off the personal hard drive and putting them "in the cloud". The user connects to the Internet and "runs" the software as and when needed from a cloud server, perhaps even storing their files in the cloud too. This has numerous advantages for the user. First, the software can be kept up to date automatically without their intervention. Secondly, the software is independent of the hardware and operating system and so can be run from almost any computer with an Internet connection. Thirdly, if the user files are also in the cloud, then they can access and use their files anywhere in the world with a network connection and at any time…

Grazed from v3.co.uk. Author: Daniel Robinson.

VMware chief executive Pat Gelsinger kicked off his first VMworld in Europe by re-iterating the company’s strategy to deliver on the software-defined datacentre and radically reshape the way its customers operate their IT services. Announcing key updates to the firm’s recently launched vCloud Suite, Gelsinger said that the IT industry was entering a phase of fundamental change, driven by cloud computing.

"Cloud is so disruptive as it changes everything about the way we operate the datacentre," he said, adding that IT departments have to make the transition from being reactive to a proactive state. "The goal is to make IT a platform for innovation rather than just about providing services," Gelsinger said…

Grazed from Datamation. Author: Cynthia Harvey.

On Tuesday, IBM made two announcements related to its enterprise products and services. First, the company has expanded its PureSystems line with solutions for big data, transactions and operational analytics. Second, Big Blue will team with AT&T to enable more secure cloud computing.

IBM’s new PureSystems offerings are called PureData System for Transactions, PureData System for Analytics and the PureData System for Operational Analytics. Writing for Forbes, Tom Groenfeldt explained, "IBM calls PureSystems expert integrated systems; other companies refer to similar systems as engineered. In any event, the concept seems relatively simple and overdue — the company manufactures the system and delivers specific types of computing power rather than leaving a client to buy the pieces for do-it-yourself assembly. It’s the difference between buying a car and having UPS deliver a series of crates with parts from a variety of suppliers. It’s an update of that adage about what clients want — they don’t want a server or a SAN, they want answers."…

Grazed from The New York Times. Author: Quentin Hardy.

For all the freedom promised by cloud computing, businesses may be really looking at less choice and more constraint than ever before. Whether that happens is the technology industry’s next great battleground.

On one side are large incumbent tech providers like Oracle and Hewlett-Packard, who already have broad portfolios of technology and deep corporate relationships after years of selling products. On the other are younger companies, whose products and services were built for cloud computing and thus may offer more innovative approaches…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

Zenoss will use its new-found cash to staff up its international operations, better support global partners, and improve the real-time analytics of its IT monitoring system, said CEO Bill Karpovich. Zenoss, which competes with offerings from computer giants IBM, CA, and HP to monitor IT regardless of how it’s deployed, just closed $25 million in Series C funding which will help it staff up its international presence, said Zenoss CEO Bill Karpovich.

The funding round was led by new investor Summit Partners with additional contributions from Grotech Ventures, Intersouth Partners and Boulder Ventures. It brings total funding to date to $45 million…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

Cloud computing is, at its core, a new take on an old model (timesharing) for consuming IT resources, but for many enterprises, it requires a new architecture based on services rather than apps. As cloud computing evolves, we’ll become more accustomed to viewing our tech needs through the prism of services, but right now, it’s a departure for many in enterprise IT as they move from single monolithic applications to collections of widely distributed services, cloud and otherwise.

Most cloud-based systems are sets of services hosted in remote sites, mixed and matched with internal systems to form a business application. Thus, the best way to measure utilization of cloud computing resources is to count services, not applications…

Grazed from ITWire. Author: Stuart Conner.

At a recent IDC seminar on cloud computing Chris Morris, associate vice president, cloud technologies and services with IDC Asia Pacific, gave IDC’s perspective on how the growth of cloud computing would impact the skills mix in the IT departments of enterprises.

The skills mix, he said, would shift from technical experts to manage in-house IT resources to those with a stronger emphasis on management skills to handle relationships with service providers as the trend to shift IT into the domain of cloud based service providers gathers momentum…

Grazed from LifeHacker. Author: Angus Kidman.

Cloud computing promises us flexible and reliable service delivery based on charging for what we use, but that’s a model which mainframe computing has been using for decades. How will the use of mainframes evolve in the future? The comparison between clouds and mainframes isn’t a new one. Sendmail inventor Eric Allman made the point at Linux.conf.au 2011: “Cloud computing is a return to centralised administration. You are handing the keys back to people in those glass rooms.” But not all the people in glass rooms ever left.

BMC Software’s recent global survey of mainframe users emphasises two key points: mainframes aren’t going anywhere soon, but they’re not generally being used for new tasks. Within ANZ, growing use of mainframes is largely driven by existing applications; 91 per cent of regional respondents to the survey said that this was the main reason for the growth in MIPS (millions of instructions per second, the standard measure of mainframe performance). Key priorities for change include reducing costs and improving disaster recovery. We already know that reducing costs on mainframes is a priority. Beyond that, the big switch has been that the data produced from mainframes is often used to deliver information to consumers accessing (for example) bank accounts via smart phones, rather than simply feeding into corporate systems…

Grazed from The Boston Globe. Author: Kevin J. O’Brien.

AT&T and International Business Machines planned to announce Tuesday that they are teaming up to sell cloud computing services over a mutually owned, private global network to win new business customers reluctant to send sensitive data over the Internet.

The two companies said the effort would combine AT&T’s secured telecommunications network for business customers with IBM’s global network of data centers into a private system where corporate data could be processed remotely, but never travel over the Internet. International Data Corp., a research firm, forecasts that global sales of cloud computing services will more than double from $40 billion this year to $100 billion by 2016…