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."…

May 31, 2012 Off

New Data Shows Job Growth in Cloud Computing

By David
Grazed from Midsize Insider.  Author: Sharon Hurley Hall.

Research from Wanted Analytics shows significant job growth in the cloud computing sector. The figures show that more than 12,000 jobs were advertised online, which represent a 49% increase over the previous year. And the increase is even more striking compared to the job ads in this sector two years ago: A striking 275% increase over April 2010. The Wanted Analytics statistics reinforce the growing importance of the cloud to midsize and other businesses.

Digging deeper into the stats, it seems that many companies are looking for the right people to design and manage their cloud business interface. Businesses are seeking new hires for positions such as webspace cloud computing engineer, systems engineer, software engineer, network engineer, and Java developer…

May 31, 2012 Off

Shaderlight Cloud Rendering Powered by Limitless Computing Shines in Architosh AIA National Awards

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

Limitless Computing Inc., a leading provider of 3D mobile Augmented Reality, and ArtVPS Ltd, developers of Shaderlight, the interactive rendering software for Google SketchUp, today announced that its Shaderlight Cloud Rendering powered by Limitless Computing is a runner-up in the 2012 Architosh Best of Show AIA National Awards in the desktop category.

Architosh, a leading online publication devoted to Mac and iOS CAD and 3D software applications, announced its first AIA National Convention and Exposition Best of Show Awards.

"Shaderlight deserves recognition as the first cloud-based rendering solution for Google’s popular SketchUp rendering program," wrote Anthony Frausto-Robledo, publisher and editor-in-chief of Architosh.  "With this unique solution, SketchUp users can produce photo-realistic renders of their models at up to 5x speeds faster than on the desktop and up to 128x faster at animations."…

May 31, 2012 Off

Avnet Technology Solutions Debuts Dedicated Cloud Solutions Team

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc., today introduced Avnet Cloud Solutions, a dedicated team focused on off-premise cloud solutions for value-added reseller (VAR), managed service provider (MSP) and integrated software vendor (ISV) partners in the U.S. and Canada. The Avnet Cloud Solutions team is developing a portfolio of integrated and packaged offerings designed to be delivered on an annuity basis by partners, minimizing their development costs and fostering repeatability.

The focus of this portfolio is on the areas of cloud computing that are in demand among end users and best served by off-premise cloud delivery models. Initially, Avnet will provide partners with offerings in workload categories, such as productivity and collaboration; backup and disaster recovery; test and development; security; application hosting and management; remote management and monitoring; and data center as a service…

May 31, 2012 Off

Polkast 2.0 Ushers in Next Wave of Personal Cloud Computing

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Polkast, a personal cloud service that connects computers and mobile devices through a secure peer-to-peer connection, today announced Polkast 2.0, available on Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android devices. Polkast 2.0 includes several new features and a Pro subscription version. With this upgrade, Polkast enables a better solution for mobile file access than cloud storage.

Polkast delivers an evolution to the cloud model, using peer-to-peer over WiFi or Internet to optimize the way files are accessed and shared between multiple devices. Peer-to-peer allows unlimited file access without uploading and downloading via the cloud, making Polkast faster and more efficient than the triangular computer-to-cloud-to-device model…

May 31, 2012 Off

Cloud Security: Technology, Processes, Responsibility

By David
Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Gilad Parann-Nissany.

Security is one of (if not THE) top concern companies and users have with cloud computing. The issue of cloud security, however, is much more complex than simply “is the cloud secure or not”. A cloud-based application can be hosted in a secure environment, with properly encrypted data and everything, and an attacker can still get access to your information through social engineering. On the other hand, you can have the most secure password policies in the world, but if the hosting environment gets hacked, you are still going to lose your data.

Any proper solution that tries to address the cloud security issues that exist today must take into account the three sides of the security issue: technology, processes, and responsibility. Another important factor to take into account is that the details and the importance of each one of these, relative to the others, change according to where in the cloud stack we are. Building secure cloud software is very different from security at the cloud platform level, and from secure infrastructure as well…

May 31, 2012 Off

Cloud Computing: BBH Solutions, Inc. Completes SOC 2 Type I Report for Confidentiality and Security

By David
Grazed from PRWeb.  Author: PR Announcement.

BBH Solutions, Inc., a leading New York City provider of converged network and cloud computing solutions, is pleased to announce they have successfully completed a SOC 2 (Service Organization Control) Type I report relevant to confidentiality and security.

The review, conducted by independent service auditor BDO, examined the design of BBH Solutions’ controls as a service provider to meet certain criteria for security and confidentiality principles established by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). The attestation by BDO firmly demonstrates BBH Solutions’ ability to deliver trusted services to its cloud computing customers…