Grazed from ZDnet. Author: Gery Menegaz.

For all the enormous, color-coded, multi-tabbed spreadsheets, and the number crunching, and the analysis, it has been suggested that much of today’s strategic planning is contaminated by bias, judgement and opinion. And it most definitely is not scientific.

The authors, in the article Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy, suggest that there is a correlation between the size of the spreadsheet – with larger being better – and the comfort level that executives have in their process…

Citrix today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Beetil, a privately-held cloud-based service desk technology provider. Beetil helps technical support professionals provide exceptional customer assistance and streamline technology costs through the delivery of easy-to-use, yet powerful incident tracking, end user self-service, configuration, change management and release management functionality.

The acquisition enables Citrix to expand the capabilities of its market-leading, cloud-based support product line, Citrix GoToAssist, with the addition of an integrated IT service desk solution. As a result, Citrix has the ability to offer support professionals an essential set of cloud-based services from a single platform for remote support, monitoring and service desk management.

Nasuni, a provider of enterprise storage to large, distributed organizations, today announced the addition of mobile access from Apple and Android devices. End-users can now access their corporate files with the simplicity and convenience that they’ve come to expect through their use of consumer-oriented cloud storage services, while providing enterprise IT with the security, integration and control required to safeguard mission-critical information and systems.

“Enterprise IT no longer needs to fear that their end users will circumvent existing security policies in order to access their files from mobile devices,” said Andres Rodriguez, CEO of Nasuni. “The challenge for IT is to deliver convenient access to data without jeopardizing security. Mobile access needs to be an extension to the existing storage and security infrastructure. It should be a feature of the infrastructure rather than another application IT has to manage. We are extending the capabilities of our storage controllers to handle mobile devices. Our goal with this release is to delight the end-users while not asking IT to change their security perimeter.”

Nexenta Systems, the leading supplier of enterprise-class OpenStorage solutions, and Cirracore, a leading supplier of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions, today announced that they will jointly demonstrate Cirracore’s Enterprise Private Cloud Appliance integrated with NexentaStor storage software at the 2012 Intel Developer Forum, Nexenta Booth #118, taking place September 11-13, 2012.

The Cirracore Enterprise Private Cloud Appliance is a platform built upon the Intel® Modular Server that businesses trust to handle critical computing needs while maintaining regulatory and governance compliance. Cirracore offers a robust cloud platform as a service in a secure, redundant, and carrier-neutral environment that offers fast, secure network access to the world’s top performing Tier I carriers. Built upon ZFS technology, NexentaStor combines with Cirracore’s Private Cloud Appliance to provide an elastic compute and storage model with no upfront capital requirements. NexentaStor, which is optimized for the Intel Xeon E5 Server Platform, allows OEMs and VARs within the Intel/Nexenta ecosystem to deliver the ideal storage platform for compute density with maximum I/O capacity for ultra-scalable, cloud- and virtualization-optimized storage solutions. VMware vCloud Director provides a simple Web interface to manage and configure virtual servers bundled with graphical analytics and performance monitoring software.

Only a standardized approach to the cloud-delivered service environment will enable a breakthrough in interoperable seamless service integration into devices, warns global networking standards group, the UPnP Forum. This announcement comes during the IBC in Amsterdam, where a focus is being placed on the pioneering applications and technologies that are driving the future of device interoperability.

"Currently there is a real lack of standards for cloud service delivery and combined with the proliferation of next-generation services, many users are left flipping between a multitude of applications or frustrated at the lack of support on their platforms. The lack of certified standards makes it difficult, if not impossible, for manufacturers to innovate the user experience and provide seamless services to the end consumer," says UPnP Forum President and Chairman, Dr. Alan Messer.

Combining Sony’s IPELA Camera technology with NLSS Cloud Services from Next Level and EMC Iomega, Isilon, VNX, and VNXe storage technologies will allow cameras to automatically configure over the network and connect to the cloud for additional mobility, security and video storage options.

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Vyatta, the leader in software-based networking for virtual and cloud environments, today announced its enterprise-class virtual networking and security solution is providing the software for NS Solutions Corporation’s newest cloud service, Advanced Business Space on Network (absonne) datacenter.

NS Solutions is a leading IT solution provider in Japan operating a utility computing service called absonne. NS Solutions provides integrated solutions that address customer needs for both business applications and systems platforms, offering end-to-end solutions including system consulting, planning, design, development, operation and maintenance, as well as outsourcing services. NS Solutions is adept at providing multi-vendor and mission-critical systems solutions as well as incorporating best-of-breed products and technologies to address customer needs…

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

Together, big data, cloud computing, and APIs are reshaping how companies are developing, delivering and managing applications. WSO2 Founder and CEO Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana will examine their impact in his keynote presentation at the Sixteenth IEEE International EDOC Conference in Beijing. The EDOC 2012 enterprise computing event will be held September 10-14, 2012 at the Unisplendour International Centre in Beijing, China.

Dr. Weerawarana will present his keynote, “The Coming Application Revolution,” on Thursday, September 13, 2012. In his talk, he will explore how the application landscape is rapidly shifting in the wake of big data, cloud computing, and the expanded role of APIs, and he will examine the need for a new range of technologies for rapidly building managed applications. Additionally, he will discuss how a solution lies in a confluence of technologies from scalable platforms as a service to API management to consistent, integrated identity management…

Grazed from PCWorld. Author: Agam Shah.

Intel on Monday said it is developing high-performance server chips that in the future will serve up faster results from cloud services or data-intensive applications like analytics, all while cutting electricity bills in data centers.

The chip maker will integrate a converged fabric controller inside future server chips, which will make server communication faster while helping data centers operate at peak efficiency, said Raj Hazra, vice president of the Intel Architecture Group. Fabric virtualizes I/O and ties together storage and networking in data centers, and an integrated controller will provide a wider pipe to scale performance across distributed computing environments…