Grazed from VentureBeat. Author: Editorial Staff.

The advance of cloud computing has significantly simplified the life of modern start-ups by offering all the necessary technical resources without wasting time on maintenance. This model is indeed effective. But is it possible to create an equally effective business model to offer professional “cloud” development team’s services?

Having analyzed the most common problems faced by business owners engaging offshore service providers to tackle their web development projects, QuartSoft Corp., a technological partner for many start-ups with an office headquarter in Silicon Valley highlights a few major complaints:…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

The empire strikes back: Amazon Web Services adds the Oracle database — actually the whole RDS lineup — to its free usage tier. Anyone who doesn’t see Oracle’s new Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Amazon Web Services as potential competitors should probably look again.

Within a day of Oracle unveiling its all-Oracle Cloud plan, Amazon Web Services announced a “free taste” of Oracle’s database on its own cloud. Sort of.

On Monday, Amazon added its Relational Database Service (RDS) to its Free Usage Tier, according to the AWS blog. That means new customers can try out MySQL, the Oracle database or Microsoft SQL Server for free. Usage is restricted to a small “MicroDB” instance and one really important caveat is that Oracle database users have to bring their already bought-and-paid-for licence to the table. But the underlying Amazon infrastructure usage is free. More details are here…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Eric Goldman.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has introduced a new bill, the “Cloud Computing Act of 2012” (S.3569), that purports to “ improve the enforcement of criminal and civil law with respect to cloud computing.” Given its introduction so close to the election, it’s doubtful this bill will go anywhere. Still, it provides an excellent case study of how even well-meaning legislators can botch Internet regulation.

What the Bill Does

From its 1980s origins as a law restricting hacking into government computers, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has morphed into a general-purpose federal law against trespassing on anyone else’s computers. With that breadth, the CFAA extends to a wide variety of activities, ranging from data scraping (see, e.g., EF Cultural Travel v. Explorica) to fake profiles (see, e.g., the Lori Drew prosecution related to Megan Meier’s death) to ex-employees walking out the door with competitively sensitive information (see, e.g., US v. Nosal and WEC v. Miller)…

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Sharon Hurley Hall.

Business adoption of cloud computing is happening fast. This sector alone is predicted to outpace growth in the overall IT industry fivefold. But this brings challenges for hardware and software vendors and for the IT administrators who are using their products, says Antone Gonsalves in ReadWriteWeb. The IDC research he quotes suggests that by 2016 companies will spend $100 billion on cloud services, an annualized growth rate of 26 percent. And the SaaS market will be a huge chunk of that, accounting for 60 percent of the public cloud by 2016.

New Models for Vendors

Both software and hardware vendors will need new revenue models in this new cloud-based business environment, and that could bring benefits for IT administrators at midsize businesses. Software vendors will have to broaden their offerings beyond the Fortune 5000 to target a wider range of customers. That may lower the entry point for IT administrators looking to get into cloud services at an affordable price. (And they WILL have to get in. A Washington Technology article points out that cloud computing is no longer an optional extra, but a must-have in business.) Within the hardware business, providers that now target IT departments directly will shift to supplying the companies providing cloud services. Those companies will ramp up demand as cloud business becomes more widespread…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

With more software vendors fielding their own cloud storage capabilities, Box continues to beef up enterprise security and perks for its offering. New features include two-step authentication, company-wide search for admins, and content scanning, the company said.

When it comes to cloud storage for the enterprise, security and manageability are key – for compliance reasons, IT departments need to know who is storing what. That’s the impetus behind new features Box is rolling out this week and will showcase next week at its Boxworks event…

Grazed from ReadWriteWeb. Author: Brian Proffitt.

If you think Larry Ellison’s re-definition of cloud computing was confusing, get ready for a compete replacement of the term. If some companies get their way, "cloud computing" may be dissipating rapidly.

Of course, it’s not like the phrase has a close connection with the public to start with. Even prominent members of the technology community have issues with it, if Ellison’s marketing-spiel is any indication. A recent national survey by Wakefield Research, commissioned by Citrix, showed that most respondents believe the cloud is related to weather, while some referred to pillows, drugs and toilet paper…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

The two companies were already working together on mPulse when they decided a deal was in order. The new product aims to give mobile and web developers a real-time look at how their apps are perfroming in the field, said SOASTA CEO Tom Lounibos.

SOASTA, the startup that made its name in cloud-based load testing, is buying LogNormal, which measures the performance of mobile and web applications. The acquisition, SOASTA’s first, is scheduled to be announced Tuesday at the same time SOASTA unveils mPulse, a new product that incorporates LogNormal technologies…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Advantest Corporation today announced that it has established a new subsidiary to conduct sales of its CloudTestingTM Service, which provides test solutions utilizing IT and cloud computing technology.

Fusing cutting-edge test technology with cloud computing, Advantest’s new CloudTestingTM Service represents a new concept in semiconductor test: on-demand test solutions tailored precisely to customer needs. The establishment of Cloud Testing Service, Inc. creates a framework for the Advantest Group to provide this new service promptly and flexibly, at a highly competitive price point. The new subsidiary was incorporated on October 1, 2012 and officially launched sales of CloudTestingTM Service today…