May 15, 2012 Off

Open Source Will Continue to Lead Cloud Computing

By David
Grazed from GlobalNewsWire.  Author: Editorial Staff.

The days of bloated, device-dependent, operating system dependent fat client software are over, according to Rafael Laguna, CEO, Open-Xchange, who will speak at Computerworld’s Open Source Business Conference (OSBC).

"No one is better suited than the open source community to create the future of smaller, nimble, collaborative web and mobile applications," says Laguna. "All that is needed is a device that has a browser, which also lets users switch between devices, with the same software (delivered over the Internet), as well as the same data."

His session, titled Delivering Productivity from the Open Cloud is scheduled for Tuesday, May 22 at 2 pm and OSBC is from May 21-22 in San Francisco. Open-Xchange, supplier of email and collaboration software, is a Gold sponsor of the event…

May 15, 2012 Off

Bill.com Integrates with NetSuite to Deliver Seamless Cloud-Based Financial Management

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Bill.com, the leader in integrated bill payment, online invoicing and cash flow management solutions for businesses, today announced seamless integration with NetSuite’s N -0.02% cloud computing platform. NetSuite is the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials/ERP software suites.

Bill.com’s award-winning Cash Flow Command and Control(TM) System provides NetSuite’s users with a new and easy way to automate their bill pay and workflow online. The ability to pay bills, eliminate redundant data entry, collaborate with vendors, simplify paper management and sync the entire bill payment process with NetSuite enables them to save time and get back to what matters most — their business, not their bills…

May 15, 2012 Off

Cloud computing and the ordinary web user

By David
Grazed from Daily Nation.  Author:  Esmond Shahonya.

Cloud computing technology was in yester-years considered the next big thing in the IT sphere.  Now it is here with us. Companies and individuals are using this technology in one way or another.

The number of cloud computing vendors has increased over the years as the new kid on the block takes root.  Electronics firm LG recently unveiled its cloud service that will allow consumers a taste of the technology on the company’s smart televisions, PCs, and smartphones.

The Korean technology giant is offering free 5GB per person of data storage in the cloud for those with its smart gadgets.  Users will also be able to stream content between their smartphone, television, and PC…

May 15, 2012 Off

Citigroup’s Public Bet on the Private Cloud

By David
Grazed from US News and World Report.  Author: John Sandman.

Cloud computing emerged as disruptive technologies often do—in an entrepreneurial spirit of collaboration in which resources and costs are shared. But so is data, inadvertently or not. When Citigroup embraced the cloud, the cost-saving benefits were obvious, but so was the risk to the firm’s enterprise. There was never any question about taking its cloud private.

"Facebook has more data than we do," says Antonio "Yobie" Benjamin, chief technology officer at Citigroup’s global transaction services in San Francisco. "Citi has roughly 250 million accounts. Facebook has about 900 million accounts and trillions of photos. A complaint Facebook is likely to get will be along the lines of, ‘Dude, where’s my photos?’ With us, it’s ‘Where’s my money?’" For Benjamin, that’s an essential difference…

May 15, 2012 Off

Terremark Expands North American Cloud Infrastructure Capacity

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Seeing increasingly strong enterprise demand for secure cloud computing solutions across North America, Terremark, a Verizon Company, increased its cloud infrastructure capacity by deploying a node of its Enterprise Cloud at its data center in Denver. With the introduction of a cloud node, the Denver data center joins the company’s global footprint of cloud-enabled data centers that seamlessly combine secure and agile cloud computing resources with an extended solution portfolio all within a multi-carrier, highly resilient, and secure facility.

Terremark’s cloud-enabled data center in Denver features more than 70,000 square feet of premier floor space with redundant subsystems to support the leading IT infrastructure services delivered by Terremark. These data center services are backed by service level agreements for 100 percent availability of power and cooling. As with its cloud deployments in the Network Access Points (NAPs) in the United States, Terremark provides complete transparency to customers regarding the exact location of their application workloads and delivers leading security services to support the public cloud infrastructure. Additionally, the company provides customers a compelling hybrid model for enterprise IT by enabling a seamless integration of existing IT infrastructure with Terremark’s cloud computing services through its CloudSwitch software…

May 15, 2012 Off

ISG (Information Services Group) Joins Cloud Security Alliance

By David

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Information Services Group (ISG), a leading technology insights, market intelligence and advisory services company, today announced it has joined the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) as a corporate member.

The CSA is a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations, associations and other key stakeholders dedicated to promoting best practices on security assurance within cloud computing environments and to providing education on the uses of cloud computing to help secure all other forms of computing. CSA activities include educational outreach via industry and online events and research on cloud computing security assurance issues.

"Security is obviously a critical concern for businesses exploring cloud-based service delivery options," said Steven Hall, Partner, Cloud Solutions ISG. "Our collaboration with the CSA will allow us to leverage industry knowledge and expertise in the services we provide our clients as well as to contribute to evolving standards and best practices."…

May 15, 2012 Off

Microsoft Sees Cloud As SMB Security Cure

By David
Grazed from Information Week.  Author: Thomas Claburn.

If cloud computing were marketed as a medicine, it would be a wonder drug. Its healing powers would be so great that the cautious consumer might suspect quackery.

But Microsoft insists the cloud can cure a bleeding wallet, a perennial concern among small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

The company’s Trustworthy Computing Division recently surveyed SMBs–companies with between 100 and 250 PCs, some who use cloud computing, and some who don’t–in the United States, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Among the U.S. organizations surveyed–93 cloud, 94 non-cloud–Microsoft found that SMBs relying on cloud services feel three to five times better about IT costs, IT value, and IT security than those who shun the cloud…

May 15, 2012 Off

Plextek and RedCloud complete acquisition of Iceni Mobile

By David

Grazed from BusinessWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Plextek Limited, Europe’s leading independent business, product innovation and design consultancy and RedCloud Technology Limited, a leading investor in mobile financial services in emerging markets, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Intellectual Property Rights of Iceni Mobile Ltd including the mobile payments system (the I2S platform) developed by the same team that brought the world’s most successful mobile money service, M-PESA, to market.

The acquisition signifies both Plextek’s and RedCloud’s commitment to the mobile money market. With the founding team, the companies plan to deliver the technology as a platform as a service and create a new way in which mobile money and associated services are taken to market…

May 15, 2012 Off

Singapore Telecom Breaks New Ground with Private Cloud Infrastructure for the Whole of Singapore Government

By David
Grazed from 4-Traders.  Author: Editorial Staff.

SingTel also awarded renewal of cloud services bulk tender for the supply of public cloud services

Singapore, 15 May 2012 – Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today announced that it has secured two key tenders awarded by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) to accelerate the Singapore Government’s adoption of cloud computing.

i. G-Cloud for Whole-of-Government

SingTel has been awarded a five-year tender to deploy a private cloud computing infrastructure on a whole-of-government basis. To be rolled out by the end of 2012, the G-Cloud marks the first private cloud infrastructure to be developed on such a scale to cover all government bodies in Singapore. SingTel will provide and maintain G-Cloud for an initial five years with the option for renewal of a further five years…

May 15, 2012 Off

Tap on cloud’s multiplier effect

By David

Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Jamie Yap.

Simon Choy, chief strategist at IBM Asean, said that the industry focus thus far has solely been about optimization, which include consolidation, virtualization, cost savings, and returns on investment (ROI). However, he said companies should not look at cloud migration narrowly. The executive was speaking to ZDNet Asia at the sidelines of the Cloud Asia conference here Tuesday.

Choy noted that while optimization is the necessary first step, enterprises should look to cloud to create innovative and disruptive business opportunities. In other words, they should not limit themselves to thinking how cloud can help them save money, but on how the technology can grow their businesses and generate more revenue, he explained…