Grazed from The Guardian.  Author: Sade Laja.

The government’s @G_Cloud_UK Twitter account acknowledged the problems yesterday, tweeting just before midday: "We know there’s still issues with #cloudstore + @mcraddock is working v hard w Gov E-Marketplace team to fix it- will update when fixed."

At about 3:30pm on the same day it tweeted that there was a system error affecting public access and that hosting provider Procserve was working to resolve the problems. Finally this morning before 10am, the G-Cloud team tweeted to say the issues had been resolved…

Grazed from CIO Forum.  Author: Adrian Bridgwater.

We can probably all agree that the cloud computing service-based model of application delivery has received more than its fair share of hype, over-embellished hyperbole and hyper-cross-talk in the last few years. Surely now then we have come to a new plateau in cloud, i.e., the time for real-world usage, implementation and deployment.

What does the "real cloud" mean?

The real cloud is located in a place where we start actually using the hosted virtualized environments that are available to us so that "working applications" move to the cloud. That would be working applications – as opposed to the cloud merely and simply being viewed as a test and development environment…

Grazed from Wired.  Author: Richard Northing.

One of the most compelling aspects of cloud computing is its elasticity. With cloud provisioning models such as SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, organizations can scale up capacity to support business growth and/or temporary spikes in demand much more easily than they can with traditional IT architectures.  They can also scale down capacity when business slows and/or spikes are over.

Just as important in an uncertain and unstable global economy, the cloud mitigates the risk of being locked into fixed IT costs in the vent of a business downturn. So even if the business continues to grow, the rental model offered by the cloud still feels more prudent than the capital model…

Grazed from EETimes.  Author: Rick Merritt.

The Metro Ethernet Forum has started technical work on standards to support cloud computing and software-defined networking over carrier-grade Ethernet. First fruits from the work that started about three months ago are expected before the end of 2013.

The project will define new dynamic response capabilities for Ethernet. The work initially was motivated by the trend toward cloud computing, but more recently also has started to consider the implications of the trend to software-defined networking (SDN), said Kevin Vachon, chief operating officer of MEF.

Specifically, the effort aims to define ways users can ask for and get on an ad hoc basis the kinds of Ethernet services they need from carriers when using cloud computing services. “When you are setting up and operating cloud services, there are some issues not well addressed” in today’s Carrier Ethernet products, said Ben Mack-Crane one of the technical editors working on the project…

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Derrick Harris.

Performance benchmarks for computing systems might make for good television — there’s always plenty of heated debate, talk of world records and  sometimes even a little ethical drama — but in the end there’s not a lot of substance.

More often than not, they’re conducted on highly optimized systems running workloads that don’t necessarily mirror what anyone actually runs in production. If the results in question come from vendors rather than third parties, there’s a good chance they’ve only been published because the vendor was able to achieve the desired result. Thinking your experience will be equally as fast is like watching a fishing show on television and then hitting the water expecting bite after bite…

Grazed from SNW Europe.  Author: PR Announcement
 

SNW Europe, Datacenter Technologies and Virtualization World conferences are set to continue building on the past success of their three co-located events with a strong line-up of sponsors and speakers at this year’s events.

The conferences, which will be held under the banner ‘Powering the Cloud’ at Congress Frankfurt on 30th and 31st October 2012, will feature presentations by industry experts, demonstrations of new products and information on the latest technology developments. Delegates will be offered the chance to take a datacentre tour in Frankfurt as part of the programme for the Datacenter Technologies conference.

With a choice of over 130 conference sessions, the programme contains dedicated real-life case study tracks with speakers from across Europe focused on education and information. The conferences, aimed at a broad spectrum of end user professionals such as resellers, consultants and distributors with a focus on IT, will in addition offer the opportunity to attend practical hands-on-labs on new technologies. Training sessions will be organised by qSkills.

Grazed from Eucalyptus Systems.  Author: PR Announcement
 

Grazed from Parallels.  Author: PR Announcement

Parallels, a hosting and cloud services enablement leader, today announced its partners have grown their Microsoft Hosted Exchange seats by 47 percent year-over-year, demonstrating that service providers can get to the cloud and grow with Parallels combination of software, ecosystem and expertise. Parallels Automation is now enabling the delivery of Microsoft-hosted applications and other services for hundreds of service providers worldwide, including AppRiver, BlackNight, Charter Communications, Cobweb, Dualtec/Nomer, Insight, KT, KPN, LuxCloud, Outsourcery, Portugal Telecom (PT), SKB Kontur, SoftCom, STAR, TDC, TMNet, UOL Diveo and UPC.

"The ongoing growth in hosted business e-mail services based on Microsoft Exchange Server demonstrates why Parallels and its partners are important as Microsoft continues to build its network of hosting providers and reselling partners," said Sara Radicati, CEO of The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm. The firm’s report on "Hosted Email Market, 2011-2015" forecasts that worldwide revenues from basic mailboxes in the hosted business e-mail segment is expected to grow to nearly $3.6 billion by year-end 2015, representing an average annual growth rate of 17 percent since 2011.