Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author Mike Gault.

The traditional "protect the perimeter" model of enterprise data security, one where layers of security are added around enterprise data, access to which is limited to trusted insiders, clearly has challenges in a cloud computing model when outsiders (the folks running the cloud) have access to all your data and can monitor everything that you do in their environment.

The solution is not, as some would tell you in the security profession, better certification of cloud providers and external vetting of the human operators. Certification has a role but the ultimate answer will be the invention of technologies that completely remove the need for trusting the human operators.

There is a historical precedent for this. In a previous era longshoremen who handled cargo at ports (outsourced storage and compute) had a series of certifications on their security that were manually audited by government officials. Eventually, containerization and automation of ports made those certifications irrelevant, solving the problem using technology and dramatically increasing the amount and speed of international trade…

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Editorial Staff.

As SaaS, cloud computing, collaboration tools and other technologies continue to take root in the enterprise, so has the need for IT administrators to take control of the network’s inbound quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities.

"Inbound QoS is a part of the toolkit you need … increasingly, we’re seeing traffic from multiple locations terminating in something other than the data center," said Joe Skorupa, a vice president and distinguished analyst, data center convergence at Gartner Inc. "The receiving end needs to be able to manage the multiple endpoints that are sending to it.

"This many-to-many traffic model frankly is pretty new. It’s around unified communications and multipoint videoconferencing; it’s about new forms of collaboration software."…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Carolyn Duffy Marsan.

DeepField Networks, an Ann Arbor, Mich., startup, is coming out of stealth mode Tuesday to announce an analytics tool that maps the traffic patterns, application performance and cost structure of networks for cloud computing companies, content providers and carriers.

The venture-funded firm was created by veteran entrepreneurs including Craig Labovitz, a founder of Arbor Networks, which provides distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection services to carriers and enterprises.

Founded in fall 2011, DeepField Networks has 19 employees and a handful of initial customers. The company received $1.5 million in early-stage financing from DFJ Mercury and RPM Ventures. Asked where the startup gets its name, Labovitz explains: "Studying the insanely complex and expanding structure of the cloud/Internet across millions of sites and tens of thousands of data centers around the world often felt similar to the incredible exploration and discoveries coming from the Hubble Telescope [and its DeepField images]."…

Grazed from CFO. Author: Rob Livingstone.

As the cloud carnival slowly makes its way through town, organizations (fortunately) are becoming increasingly aware of many of the pitfalls associated with the adoption of non-trivial, enterprise cloud computing solutions. Oft-cited risks include data privacy, uptime reliability, security, total cost of ownership, vendor lock-in, and jurisdictional jeopardy (the potential violation of rules and regulations that apply when your data, especially customer data, crosses borders).

Well, there’s another risk.

Under cover of darkness, and most likely already thriving in your organization, are Shadow IT departments. These arise when users and department heads go it alone, provisioning and deploying IT systems (most often cloud services) that are sourced externally and funded from local discretionary budgets without the involvement of the IT department or even the knowledge of the CFO…

Grazed from Talkin Cloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

Kognitio and Xtremeinsights are the latest companies partnering to tackle the challenge of Big Data management in the cloud with Hadoop. The two companies plan to integrate their respective offerings to help customers gain greater insights from Big Data.

Kognitio is a PaaS cloud computing player that is trying to drive the convergence of Big Data and cloud computing. Working with a network of channel partners, the company’s key technology in the cloud is the Kognitio Cloud platform, which provides in-memory analytics of business data. Xtremeinsights fills a similar role in the market with Hadoop-based approach to providing professional services for advanced analytics with Big Data…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Elizabeth White.

Savvis and Ciber have entered into an agreement under which Savvis will purchase certain assets of Ciber’s global IT Outsourcing (ITO) business for $7 million in cash at the time of closing, plus additional future consideration in the form of a cash earn-out payment based on results through December 2013.

According to Jim Ousley, CEO of Savvis and president of CenturyLink’s Enterprise Markets Group, "The acquisition of Ciber’s global ITO business will complement Savvis’ existing ITO assets by expanding the organization’s capabilities for application management services and help desk support."

The assets include client and vendor relationships, infrastructure, technology and facilities spanning several countries. In addition, Savvis expects to hire the approximately 750 people who currently support Ciber’s global ITO business…

Grazed from New York Times. Author: Quentin Hardy.

Two of the buzziest competitors in cloud computing are settling into coexistence — and maybe figuring out ways to take on the giant in the market, Amazon.com.
Aaron Levie, the chief executive of Box.David Paul Morris/Bloomberg NewsAaron Levie, the chief executive of Box.

The online data storage company Box announced on Tuesday that it was getting $125 million in new financing, which the company’s chief executive, Aaron Levie, says will be used to expand internationally and invest in consultants for big corporate clients. General Atlantic, a large private equity firm, is contributing $100 million of the investment. Gary Reiner, the former chief information officer of General Electric and now an operating partner with General Atlantic, will join Box’s board. Mr. Reiner is also on the board of Hewlett-Packard…

Grazed from Wall Street Journal. Author: Editorial Staff.

A computing lighthouse for over two decades, the Midwest-based KiZAN is a proven business solutions integrator and trusted Microsoft partner. Robert Steele, KiZAN’s co-chair and managing partner, says 95 percent of the information technology solutions offered by the company and chosen by its clients, come from Microsoft.

No wonder, then, that KiZAN is positioned to ride the cloud computing wave.

“Our cloud business has grown from basically having no cloud practice to being one of our main offerings when we talk to customers about solutions,” said Bill Rieger, KiZAN’s principal go-to-market architect…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Jamie Brenzel.

In the first quarter of 2012, FEMA reported 12 natural disasters throughout the country, including tornadoes, flooding, mudslides and severe storms from Florida to Alaska. The threats to your data are limitless – natural disasters, fires, water damage, equipment theft and hardware failure to name just a few. In the event of a disaster, if you don’t have access to an offsite copy of your data, or if you are unable to replicate it, the chances are it will be gone forever.

Deciding on the Right Provider Should Be No Different Than Buying a Car
Many businesses are opting to move their data to the cloud, citing benefits in time savings/automation, cost, security and access; however, some SMBs still maintain reservations about keeping their valuable data offsite and beyond their control. A recent Information Week Report indicated that only 23 percent of business technology professionals use cloud computing services as part of their application and data recovery strategies. Many others are confused by the number of online cloud backup companies and "free storage" offerings that are flooding the market; while others are concerned about those data storage companies who have proven to be "fly-by-night" entities that are here today, gone tomorrow…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Pete Chadwick.

Agility, flexibility and customization. They’re the “big three” buzzwords companies cite to justify their investments in cloud computing. But while today’s leading cloud players have the best technological interests in mind, financial interests are prohibiting them from delivering an open environment for cloud computing.

Open source, particularly Linux, has based itself upon these three benefits since its inception. And after 20 years of Linux success, we’re at a historical inflection point when openness is not only accepted, it is demanded. First the operating system and then virtualized environments – where in each case, after an initial wave of proprietary options came an emergence – and then acceptance – of open source solutions. And now, history is repeating itself yet again with cloud computing, as projects like OpenStack, a community software project to build private and public clouds, have burst out this year with the backing of thousands of developers and technological minds. OpenStack now has the support of over 180 public and private organizations worldwide…