Grazed from ITWorld.  Author: Brian Proffitt.

When Google Drive was initially announced to be integrated with ChromeOS-running machines, the general consensus in the media seemed to be that this functionality was going to harbor a new age of personal cloud computing.

I, for one, am not so sure.

It is increasingly apparent that the level of hype around cloud computing has reached new and dizzying levels, and personal and business storage seems to be the latest "hot" implementation through which the Glories of Cloud are proclaimed…

Grazed from NetworkWorld.  Author: Robert Scheier.

Many enterprises are reluctant to move critical cloud applications out of their own data centers and into the public cloud due to security concerns. Yet the same automated, consistent provisioning that is essential to managing either public or private clouds (as well as to the process of thinking through a cloud deployment) can also offer the fringe benefit of improving security.

Of course, not all cloud management tools work equally well with all cloud providers, nor do they all allow customers to manage their internal and external clouds as a single unit. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers such as Amazon, for example, typically don’t allow customers to tweak the network and storage infrastructure beneath the operating system, forcing customers to trust that level of security to the vendor.

And while some customers will trust outside certifications, such as Amazon Web Services’ Level 1 compliance with PCI DSS, others will choose to stick with a private cloud within their own firewalls, or create cloud environments at an external site using their own networks and keeping storage under their control…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Research released today by Microsoft Corp. shows that small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are gaining significant IT security benefits from using the cloud, according to a new Microsoft study in five geographies.

The study shows that 35 percent of U.S. companies surveyed have experienced noticeably higher levels of security since moving to the cloud.(1) In addition, 32 percent say they spend less time worrying about the threat of cyberattacks. U.S. SMBs using the cloud also spend 32 percent less time each week managing security than companies not using the cloud. They are also five times more likely to have reduced what they spend on managing security as a percentage of overall IT budget.

"There’s a perception that security is a barrier to cloud adoption," said Adrienne Hall, general manager, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing. "Yet when companies embrace and invest in cloud services, they find the benefits far outweigh previous concerns."…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Sourya Biswas.

In the wake of the recession, bankers have got a lot of flak by betting on dodgy investments while still managing to make million-dollar bonuses. However, there’s no denying that banking, especially of the retail variety, is a necessary ingredient of society. In poorer areas of the world where retail banking services are absent, cooperative banks have sprung up to meet this need. And cloud computing is having an impact there.

Wikipedia defines cooperative banks as follows – “Like credit unions, cooperative banks are owned by their customers and follow the cooperative principle of one person, one vote. Unlike credit unions, however, cooperative banks are often regulated under both banking and cooperative legislation. They provide services such as savings and loans to non-members as well as to members, and some also participate in the wholesale markets for bonds, money and even equities.”…

Grazed from Financial-Planning.  Author: Tom Steinert-Threlkeld.

Mutual fund operators are beginning to use cloud services offered by NYSE Euronext, in its 10-month old launch of a platform for worldwide use of computing resources by financial firms.

The mutual fund operators are using the platform to develop and test applications, as well as, in one case, a laboratory for trying out an order management system, said Ken Barnes, senior vice president of the capital markets community platform in the cloud of NYSE Euronext.

He declined to name the fund complexes involved. His comments came as he discussed plans to launch an applications and services hub for its Capital Markets Community in the United Kingdom next week…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and green computing, announces immediate availability of a wide array of single processor (UP) systems and motherboards supporting Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v2 (Ivy Bridge) processor family. Supermicro’s new platforms boost system performance with upgraded PCI-E 3.0 bus speed and DDR3-1600MHz memory bandwidth. Server solutions include the high-density 3U, 8x node, MicroCloud(TM) (5037MC-H8TRF) providing cost-effective performance for cloud computing, data center and web hosting. A wide variety of other systems include server appliances for networking/embedded applications (5017C-LF, 5017C-MF, 5017C-TF); mainstream server systems with optional Supermicro Battery Backup Power (BBP(TM)) modules (PWS206B-1R) for mission-critical reliability; and gateway/security/DVR/media transcoding and broadcast solutions (5017C-MTF, 5017C-MTRF, 1017C-TF), plus server towers for small/mid-size business applications, file/storage serving, and remote desktop applications (5037C-i, 5037C-T)…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Callidus Software Inc., the leader in sales effectiveness and cloud computing, announced today that it has been selected as a finalist in the 2012 American Business Awards in the "Company of the Year – Computer Software." CallidusCloud’s Sales Effectiveness Suite was named a finalist in the "Best New Product or Service – Software – Cloud Application/Service" and "Best New Product or Service – Software – Financial Management Solution" categories, and CallidusCloud’s website was named a finalist in the "Best Website – Computer Software" category.

"We are honored to be recognized in multiple categories at the 2012 American Business Awards," said Leslie Stretch, President and CEO, CallidusCloud. "We now have the broadest family of cloud-based, social selling products that will revolutionize sales by tapping into the competitiveness inherent to sales people, while fostering a culture of cooperative, collaborative and social selling. Our products help break down legacy silos to bring sales processes together as never before to truly unlock the potential of the sales team and drive performance against business objectives. This recognition reflects the value that our solutions bring to our customers and the commitment we have made to their success. I congratulate every member of the CallidusCloud family on this fantastic achievement."…

Grazed from MarketWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Telx, a leading provider of global interconnectivity, cloud computing enablement services and data center solutions, today announced that ContinuityX Solutions, Inc. (CUSX), a unique provider of business continuity and disaster recovery services, has joined the Telx Cloud Xchange. Telx can now provide over 1,000 customers across 16 C3 Cloud Connection Center facilities direct access to ContinuityX’s comprehensive suite of disaster recovery and network management services.

"Telx has long been an industry leader in helping enterprises easily and quickly connect to entities in the cloud that meet their core business needs," said Kathy Godwin, senior vice president-operations for ContinuityX. "Their strategically-located, carrier-dense cloud connection centers provide us with optimal ability to meet all of our current and future customer’s application and infrastructure outsourcing needs, from security and disaster recovery to VoIP."…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Vaultive, a provider of cloud data encryption solutions that enable organizations to leverage the economy and efficiency of cloud computing while maintaining data security, control and compliance advantages of on-premise computing, today announced general availability of Vaultive for Hosted Exchange. Vaultive for Hosted Exchange is an enterprise-class cloud data encryption solution that enables customers to encrypt data-at-rest and data-in-use within the Hosted Microsoft(R) Exchange environment, while enterprise IT retains complete control of the encryption keys.

"Moving a vital application such as email to a cloud environment has the potential to save an enterprise a significant amount of time, resources and money, but security, data residency, privacy and regulatory compliance concerns are often barriers," said Steve Coplan, research manager for 451 Research’s Enterprise Security Practice. "In order to take advantage of the operational benefits of a cloud-based service without ceding the ability to manage access to data and emails residing on third-party infrastructure, a best practice is to require some mechanism to internally retain controls. Vaultive’s approach allows organizations to encrypt data-at-rest in the cloud, while holding the keys to decrypt the data."…