Grazed from CRN. Author: Kevin McLaughlin.

vCloud Director has become VMware’s second most important product after vSphere, and it is central to the vendor’s vision of virtual data centers running entirely on software. Yet few people outside the VMware ecosystem understand what vCloud Director is and what it does. That’s a problem for VMware and a potential roadblock to its cloud computing ambitions.

With Tuesday’s launch of vCloud Suite 5.1, VMware is looking to get customers better acquainted with vCloud Director by bundling it with vSphere and its other management, security and storage products…

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Chris Preimesberger.

Intel, whose processors are firing away in 95 percent of all data centers, literally has been at the center of the data center world for generations. However, with all that power and influence in the silicon hardware sector, it has never been recognized by the general public — and Wall Street, for that matter — as the major player in the software world it is.

That non-awareness is changing. Intel, with 12,000 of its 100,100 full-time people employed in its software development and testing division, now describes itself as the fifth-largest software producer in the world. And this isn’t just about firmware; we’re talking about software applications in all forms…

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

Data storage, maintenance and access are critical components in every business today driving public and private cloud adoption. Logicalis, an international IT solutions and managed services provider, today announced enhancements to its cloud consulting and hosted services practice that will continue to help IT pros define individualized cloud paths that are tailored specifically to the needs of their businesses.

“The adoption of cloud computing promises to help organizations lower IT operational complexity, reduce IT operational costs, increase speed of IT services deployment and help IT and, therefore, business agility. But this is a complex arena,” according to Robert Mahowald, research vice president for SaaS and Cloud Services at IDC. "Data from IDC’s 2012 CloudTrack survey suggests that cloud providers need to work with their customers to design and plan thoroughly, and delineate all their underlying operational processes and systems via workshops, and then continue to provide them with guidance and consultancy as their business requirements change.”…

Grazed from BankSecurityInfo. Author: Peter Spier.

The fact of the matter is that when you and I say "cloud," we may be thinking of two very different things. Partly this stems from the adage "what’s old is new again" (welcome back, centralized computing) and partly from a lack of common definition or standards to provide a ready frame of reference.

Thankfully, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is on the case. With its release of Special Publication 800-146 [see NIST Issues Long-Awaited Cloud Guidance], the term "cloud" is defined as a service that maintains a pool of hardware resources to maximize service and minimize cost while providing a resource efficiency that permits hardware refresh without impact to its users…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC) will be holding a webinar to introduce a new whitepaper, “Security for Cloud Computing: 10 Steps to Ensure Success,” on September 18, 2012 at 11am EDT. The whitepaper itself has been published and is available for free download. Anyone interested in learning more about the “Security for Cloud Computing” whitepaper should attend this free webinar and download a free copy of the document. Visit http://www.cloud-council.org/security-pr to register and download the whitepaper.

The “Security for Cloud Computing: 10 Steps to Ensure Success” whitepaper provides a practical reference to help enterprise information technology (IT) and business decision makers as they analyze and consider the security implications of cloud computing on their business. The paper includes a list of steps, along with guidance and strategies, designed to help these decision makers evaluate and compare security offerings in key areas from different cloud providers. The paper discusses the threats, technology risks, and safeguards for cloud computing environments, and provides the insight needed to make informed IT decisions on their treatment…

Grazed from Fox Business. Author: Claes Bell.

Does every cloud have a scammy lining?

Even if you don’t know what cloud computing is, it’s likely that "the cloud" is playing an ever-increasing role in your financial life. Whether it’s a company storing your sensitive financial information on remote computers owned by a third party or you storing financial information on cloud-based money management or tax software, cloud computing means more of your key data are stored beyond your physical reach.

ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, today announced its performance monitoring software package, Applications Manager, now supports monitoring of the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud platform and applications running on the platform as well as monitoring of transactions in .NET environments. The company also introduced the Applications Manager Cloud Starter Edition for organizations looking to quickly leverage a proven, cost-effective solution for monitoring their cloud services.

With more revenue-critical applications on PaaS systems such as Windows Azure, organizations need to proactively and cost-effectively monitor the performance of their cloud-based applications to maximize uptime and to optimize capacity planning. Meanwhile, the success of .NET means that more IT departments have growing numbers of .NET applications running in both traditional and cloud environments, requiring the extension of performance monitoring to include the Microsoft framework.

As casual and core gamers increasingly rely on digital distribution to get their gaming content and experiences, CiiNOW is the first to build a world-class, innovative cloud gaming solution that is architected for scale, cost and ease of service deployment. The platform makes it easier than ever for game publishers and service providers to meet consumer demand for high-quality online multimedia services and entertainment.

Ms. Cureton will speak on the opportunities and threats on the horizon for cloud, cyber and mobile technologies during her keynote address, titled “Cloud, Mobility and Security, Oh My!” opening the conferences. On day two of the joint conferences, Ms. Meyerriecks will discuss the intelligence community’s (IC) direction with cloud and mobility in the keynote session, “Cloud Apotheosis.” Robert Carey, Principal Deputy Chief information Officer at the Department of Defense (DoD), will be presenting in conjunction with Debora Plunkett, Information Assurance Director at the National Security Agency (NSA) on the second day of the conference series. The two will discuss the current threats surrounding cloud and mobility, and suggest solutions to these problems in the session, “Security Policy Changes for Today’s Threat Environment.”