Grazed from BusinessDay. Author: Ben Uzor Jr.

Microsoft Corporation says it is contributing significantly to the development of Nigeria’s Small Medium Enterprise (SME) sector through the provision of cloud-based technologies specifically designed to enhance enterprise productivity and efficiency.

Industry analysts told Business Day at the launch of the solution in Lagos, weekend that Microsoft was finally stepping into the small-business cloud-computing segment with the company executives claiming downright that the internet is the one and only future for Microsoft. Branded as Office 365, the service costs $6 per user per month, and is Microsoft’s Web-based version of its franchise Office product…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

Yes, cloud adoption in Europe hasn’t happened at as fast as in the US. But despite the difficult economy, there’s considerable interest in cloud on the continent. The market bears watching and here are 5 things you should know about it.

Most of what we hear about cloud computing in Europe tends to fixate on the notion that cloud adoption there lags that in the US by one to three years. That may be generally true, but it’s still a simplistic analysis. Despite the economic mess over there, IDC predicts a 30 percent compound annual growth rate for cloud deployments between 2011 and 2016 compared to an 18.5 percent CAGR for the US during that period. Not too shabby…

Grazed from NASDAQ. Author: Kristin Jones.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) has agreed to acquire social-recruiting company SelectMinds as the software giant continues to expand its footprint in the cloud. Oracle, which didn’t disclose the terms of its deal, has been on an acquisition spree lately, targeting companies in the cloud-computing sphere.

SelectMinds offers companies ways to recruit employees, distribute job opportunities, and manage corporate alumni relationships through a cloud-based social network. The deal is expected to complement Oracle’s cloud recruiting, performance management and human capital management offerings…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Beth Pariseau.

Skeptics still question cloud computing’s value, reliability and security, but users who have taken the cloud plunge say those on the sidelines are missing out. This long-running debate over cloud benefits and challenges shows no signs of stopping, even as cloud computing growth increases in a number of enterprises.

“There are legitimate security and compliance concerns to be sure,” said Christopher Wolf, partner at Hogan Lovells US LLP, a law firm based in Washington, D.C. that represents cloud providers and cloud services users. “But most of them are manageable.”…

National IT infrastructure and cloud solutions provider Peak 10 Inc. today announced it has enhanced its recovery cloud service, substantially overhauling its scope, processes and technology to help customers restore services in the event of a site failure ― quickly, securely and regardless of where their production environment is housed. 

The Peak 10 Recovery Cloud now incorporates technologies that allow customers to securely replicate production systems to a cost-saving, multi-tenant environment, without changing their existing environment or underlying storage platform. A full cadre of managed security services can be layered on top of infrastructure and DR (disaster recovery) services. The solution ensures maximum data protection within the multi-tenant environment, through segmentation of customer information, data and network.

Grazed from VMWare. Author: PR Announcement.

It’s official: The VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 is now generally available in three editions – Standard, Advanced and Enterprise. The VMware vCloud Suite is licensed per processor with no core, vRAM or number of VM limits with prices starting at $4,995 per processor.

Why all the excitement? The VMware vCloud Suite is a complete, integrated cloud infrastructure solution that simplifies IT operations while delivering the best SLAs for all applications. It helps realize the agility, efficiency and intelligent operations management of cloud computing. We think it’s pretty exciting – and we are investing in our partners to help bring this technology to market…

Grazed from The Washington Business Journal. Author: Editorial Staff.

Under a contract with Lockheed Martin Corp., the Environmental Protection Agency will move to a cloud-based email by early 2013, Nextgov reports. The EPA said in a statement Sept. 14 that officials expect the Microsoft-based email and collaboration system to save about $12 million over four years.

The federal government expects to ultimately save about $5 billion annually by moving about one-fourth of its information technology to cloud computing. The contract with Lockheed Martin is valued at $9.8 million.

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Joe Panettieri.

How do you take a massive on-premises software company and refocus it on cloud computing? Perhaps that question is best directed toward Sven Denecken, VP of strategy and head of co-innovation for SAP’s Cloud Solutions.

Denecken points to market research suggesting 75 percent of new enterprise IT spending will involve cloud or hybrid solutions by 2016. “SaaS and PaaS partners can and will build atop that,” Denecken predicted in a conversation with Talkin’ Cloud…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Archana Venkatraman.

The number of first-time users of cloud computing services in the UK has increased by 27% from last year, according to research from the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF). But the CIF survey showed that, while the rate of adoption has accelerated, concerns over cloud computing security issues remain high.

The study of 250 UK IT decision-makers in private and public sector organisations, conducted by Vanson Bourne, found 61% of companies are using a cloud-based service, compared with just 48% in 2011. It also revealed a growing maturity among users with more organisations demanding to trial services before they buy them. More than half (59%) of respondents said they conducted a pilot study before signing the supplier…

Grazed from The Hill. Author: Jennifer Martinez.

A new trade coalition dedicated to representing the voice of the Internet infrastructure industry — including cloud computing providers, domain registrars and Web hosting companies — launched Monday.

The Internet Infrastructure Coalition, or i2Coalition for short, will represent Internet infrastructure companies’ views on public policy matters and advocate for policies that will support the continued growth of the industry. The i2Coalition has 42 inaugural members, including cloud computing company Rackspace and Web hosting provider ServInt…