June 1, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing & Big Data Future Prospects Reviewed in New Report Published at MarketPublishers.com

By David
Grazed from BusinessWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing has been generating considerable hype these days. Every participant in the data centre and IT ecosystem has been rolling out ‘cloud’ initiatives and strategies from hardware vendors, ISVs, SaaS providers, and Web 2.0 companies – start-ups and incumbents are equally active.

Cloud computing promises to transform IT infrastructure and deliver scalability, flexibility, and efficiency, as well as new services and applications that were previously unthinkable. Despite all of this activity, cloud computing remains as amorphous today as its name suggests. However, one critical trend shines through the cloud – Big Data. Indeed, it is the core driver in cloud computing, expected to define the future of IT…

June 1, 2012 Off

‘Europe two years late’ to the US cloud party – privacy, security and economic meltdown blamed

By David
Grazed from The Register.  Author: Paul Kunert.

Cloud adoption in Europe will lag the US by a minimum of two years due to concerns over data privacy, security and regulations.

Or so says abacus-stroker Gartner, which reckons that the eurozone’s economic meltdown won’t help either.

"The opportunities for cloud computing value are valid all over the world, and the same is true for some of the risks and costs," said Paolo Malinverno, a veep at Gartner.

"However, some of cloud computing’s potential risks and costs – namely security, transparency and integration – which are generally applicable worldwide, take on a different meaning in Europe," he added…

June 1, 2012 Off

Cloud Adoption in APAC is Gaining Momentum – IDC Report

By David
Grazed from Cloud Times.  Author: Saroj Kar.

Asia Pacific region including the world’s two upcoming superpower China and India are slow in adopting some form of cloud computing services despite increase in resource allocation by IT vendors to scale-up their offerings.

According to the results of IDC’s latest cloud survey, Cloud Adoption in the Asia Pacific – Retail Industry, only 19 percent of APAC retailers have started looking to adopt some practice of cloud computing services.

However, the cloud deployment is slowly gaining momentum; 32 percent of respondents say that they are evaluating cloud implementation in the next two to five years…

June 1, 2012 Off

Microsoft in talks about “Humanitarian Cloud” project

By David
Grazed from The Seattle Times.  Author:  Janet Tu.

A number of tech companies including F5 Networks, Hewlett-Packard and VMWare are participating in a pilot project launching today called the "Humanitarian Cloud."

 

The project, being presented today at the Social Innovation Summit at the United Nations Plaza in New York City, is designed to give nonprofit organizations the ability to share applications, services and IT support using cloud computing technologies. The idea is that nonprofits who participate may be able to save money on capital, hardware, software and IT support costs and allow them to access cloud apps from a variety of devices, according to the initiative’s website…

June 1, 2012 Off

ISC Cloud’12 Focuses on Use of Clouds for HPC and Big Data

By David
Grazed from Scientific Computing.  Author: PR Announcement.

On September 24 to 25, 2012, cloud computing experts from around the world will gather in Mannheim, Germany, bringing a range of experience and perspectives on how to reduce the complexity of high-performance computing and the barrier for research and development by switching to cloud computing. This year’s conference also will address the topic of Big Data.

“HPC utilization is becoming increasingly complex and a new trend emerges almost every year. There’s multicore and manycore, scaling up and out, big data, digital manufacturing and the missing middle, green computing, and HPC in the Cloud,” said ISC Cloud General Chair Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gentzsch, an international expert in HPC and Grids who now brings his expertise to the clouds. “What the end-user is really looking for is research flexibility, easy access to HPC, reduced management overhead, and possibilities to extend the existing and limited HPC infrastructure.”…

 
June 1, 2012 Off

Are Cloud Reliability, Security Still ‘Open Issues’?

By David
Grazed from Wired.  Author: Mike Barton.

In a new report, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) notes 23 “open issues” regarding the cloud computing, including computing performance, cloud reliability, economic goals, compliance and information security.

FierceGovernmentIT reports that issues highlighted in NIST Special Publication 800-146 (PDF) “are traditional distributed computing topics that have remained open for decades” but have become more relevant since the emergence of cloud computing. “Other issues appear to be unique to cloud computing,” says the document…

May 31, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: Facebook flub means digital economy is dead? Hold that thought

By David
Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Joe McKendrick.

In a recent column, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat argues that the dashed hopes of the Facebook stock offering represent a broader issue with the Internet economy itself. That technology is not delivering a new economy, but rather, a “hobbyist’s paradise,” quoting Slate’s Matthew Yglesias — “subsidized by surpluses from the old economy it was supposed to gradually replace.”

Douthat also cites statistics that show the technology sector is still but a small portion of the economy, and is suffering higher rates of unemployment than more traditional areas. Douthat says the digital economy simply isn’t a growth engine for the mainstream economy:…

 
May 31, 2012 Off

Do’s and Don’ts in Cloud Computing for Today’s Small Business

By David
Grazed from ManagementToday.  Author: Michael Norcott.

In today’s saturated market of ‘information in the air’ software, it’s surprising that when you look up in the sky, you don’t see branded clouds drifting along, offering great deals if you decide to send up your six filing cabinets of company accounts, staff records and customer files.Here is a guide for what, and what not to look for, when selecting a cloud based storage solution for a new or small to medium business:

SECURITY

Security is undoubtedly an important question, however many people do not know their triple DES (data encryption standard) from their AES (advanced encryption standard). To keep it short, most banks operate at 128-bit AES; this is considered to be acceptably secure for financial institutions. However, a few cloud companies offer 256-bit AES data encryption to demonstrate their pledge of security to you, as computing power and therefore miscreants’ abilities to attack important data is increased every 18 months to 2 years. (Thank you, Moore’s law)…

May 31, 2012 Off

Cloud & Big Data: The rise of the Data Centre

By David
Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Cloud & big data: The rise of the data centre

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0874140/Cloud–big-data-The-rise-of-the-dat…

This report explores the various technical and economic issues bound up with cloud computing and Big Data – giving readers a deeper understanding of these concepts that are the subject of so much talk today. Among the key points examined is the critical role that data centres play when implementing technical solutions. Readers will also get a detailed profile of the players, both public and private sector, who are shaping the market…

May 31, 2012 Off

Consider Cloud Computing Services Before Your Users Do

By David
Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Patrick Burke.

The longer you put off providing features and services offered in the cloud, the worse off you’ll be, according to an article in Network Computing.

The post by Define the Cloud’s Joe Onisick offers a stark take on falling behind cloud adoption:

"Every day that goes by that IT isn’t meeting the features and services offered in the cloud, users are moving there on their own. No office collaboration environment? They’re on Google Docs. No file-sharing option? They’re using Dropbox. No solid backup or recovery options for their laptops? Carbonite is handling it. Now your data is outside your corporate walls, outside your control and outside of compliance."…