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

MySQL is probably the most popular open source database. While there is a wealth of discussion online for MySQL database encryption,doing it right in a cloud computing environment is tricky.

The discussion here is quite long, and contains a lot of interesting details. So if you want a spoiler: it is possible to achieve true confidentiality for your MySQL database today; using the industry best practice which is split-key encryption…
 

Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

QualiSystems announced today its TestShell enterprise software framework’s compatibility for advanced testing of the cloud infrastructure, covering lab management, device provisioning and test automation. Using TestShell, cloud testers can accelerate automation and simplify the time-consuming and complex task of mimicking cloud infrastructure in the lab to assure performance and bring new services rapidly to the market.

TestShell’s advanced user-friendly features allow network, storage and test engineers to easily adapt to the dynamic cloud-computing testing environment. By offering a holistic solution that requires no programming skills, it is simpler and quicker for cloud architecture, designers and testers to accomplish set-up and testing of the infrastructure. The different cloud components that must interoperate – computing, services, storage and networking – are each tested individually and in concert to assure performance, stability, security, QoE and QoS using TestShell...

Grazed from CRN.  Author: Jack McCarthy.
 

The growth of cloud computing is forcing solution providers to rethink their business and decide how to operate in a changing market environment, a technology consultant said Tuesday.

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Piston Cloud Computing, Inc., the enterprise OpenStack company, today announced its Co-founder and CEO, Joshua McKenty will be presenting "Big Data: It’s Rocket Science" at the Enterprise Data World Conference taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, April 29 – May 3, 2012. This event will include workshops, tutorials, case studies and discussions directed toward IT professionals, big data experts, and architects dealing with data and information management.

What: Hear how NASA, via an open-source cloud computing project, developed an alternative to the costly construction of additional data centers, provided a simplified avenue for the sharing of large, complex data sets with external partners and the public, and ultimately save hundreds of staff hours, allowing its scientists to focus on mission-critical activities instead of IT infrastructure requirements…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Nebula, the cloud systems company that will enable all enterprises to easily, securely and inexpensively deploy large scale private cloud computing infrastructures, today announced that Jon Mittelhauser has joined the company’s executive team as Vice President of Engineering.

Mittelhauser is considered one of the founding fathers of the World Wide Web. He was co-author of the first widely used Web browser, NCSA Mosaic, and was a founding engineer of Netscape Communications Corporation. He was integral to building the products that made the Web a powerful business tool. As Netscape Navigator’s first product manager, Mittelhauser led the effort to make the browser a platform by integrating and creating technologies such as browser plug-ins, Java and JavaScript that today are still core to the power of the Web within the enterprise…

Grazed from ITWorld.  Author: Brandon Butler.

In a pairing of unlikely partners, Piston Cloud Computing announced it will work to support integration of VMware’s open source platform-as-a-service offering Cloud Foundry with OpenStack, the open source infrastructure-as-a-service model.

In recent weeks, the rhetoric between the open source and proprietary cloud offerings in the IaaS market has intensified. But today’s move signals a more collegial tone in the PaaS market and what one analyst calls a recognition by providers that integration across multiple clouds and between IaaS and PaaS is key for cloud adoption by end users.

Piston Cloud announced today the Cloud Provider Interface, an open source project that will allow for integration of OpenStack with Cloud Foundry. Piston Cloud leverages the open source OpenStack code to create an IaaS cloud deployment model aimed at enterprise users. Piston Cloud officials say they hope Cloud Foundry support will be available in a future release of its OS product and plan to submit Cloud Foundry as an incubator project for the full OpenStack project…

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Barb Darrow.

Private cloud computing is big among security-obsessed financial services companies and Bank of America Merrill Lynch is no exception. In a note sent out by the company this week, Brad Spiers, the senior vice president who heads up Compute Innovation for the giant financial services firm, had some insightful points to make about BofA’s use of cloud technology and cloud computing in general…

Grazed from SmartBusiness.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Executives are jumping on the outsourcing bandwagon as cloud service providers promise unlimited scalability, reduced expenditures for hardware and IT staff, and the ability to offload software and routine maintenance at a moment’s notice.

In fact, Gartner analysts predict that 35 percent of enterprise IT expenditures will be managed outside the IT department’s budget by 2015.

But overzealous executives eager to jump to the cloud may encounter security issues down the road, as the security practices of the cloud service provider are often unclear — up to and including where the data is stored. A survey by Symantec shows that only 27 percent of companies have set procedures to approve cloud applications that use sensitive or confidential information…

Grazed from BusinessWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

In the information technology world, no topic is receiving more attention than cloud computing. Unlike in the past where cloud computing was perceived as a cost-effective, flexible option for small to mid-sized companies, in 2012 cloud computing will proliferate deeper into the enterprise as more chief executives embrace and move to a cloud services model.

Even though cloud computing relies heavily on high-quality computing resources, stringent IT protocols and the latest technology advancements, the real value lies in the capability that the cloud can deliver to a project, a solution life-cycle and most importantly, an enterprise. There are very few companies that cannot achieve significant time, cost and efficiency benefits from entering the cloud; however, the key is understanding the real value that cloud services can bring to your business and how to go about getting the answers you need to make the best decision for your organization…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

ADARA Networks, provider of the most advanced commercially available Software Defined Networking (SDN) and cloud computing platforms, today announced the initial widespread commercial shipments and distributions of its software-only SDN platform to the US Commercial market, via ADARA and Tech Data’s nationwide network of value-added resellers (VARs) representing an initial 7,000 enterprises; with a significantly greater number of shipments and distributions already scheduled.

The ADARA SDN and cloud computing products were recently demonstrated at the 2012 Open Networking Summit, showcasing their commercial readiness and capabilities for industry leaders, enterprises and service providers. These shipments and distributions further demonstrate the commercial availability of the ADARA platform. While the benefits of SDN are easily envisioned in service provider networks, ADARA’s announcement underscores the immediate utility of its Full Stack Engine platform in delivering the benefits of SDN to enterprise data centers and networks of all types and scales. The ADARA Full Stack Engine and its SDN capabilities will also be displayed and highlighted at Tech Data’s Technology Solutions Center. These announcements underscored ADARA’s message at the 2012 Open Networking Summit; SDN is the future of networking and that future is now…