Grazed from Datamation.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Amazon Web Services has launched a new online store featuring software that users can deploy on Amazon’s cloud computing service. Called "AWS Marketplace," the store features software from 10gen, CA, Canonical, Couchbase, Check Point Software, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Zend and other vendors. It also includes popular open source applications like Drupal, MediaWiki and Wordpress. Enterprises can use the company’s 1-Click Deployment to quickly launch any application they’d like to try, and they’ll pay based on usage…

Grazed from EE Times.  Author: Sylvie Barak.

The buzz around cloud computing is oh so 2011! That’s because the latest and greatest in terms of computational advancements (or should we say "sidesteps") is a sort of biological concept "computer" based on swarms of soldier crabs.

Japanese researchers from Kobe University came up with the creepy, crawly concept after reading research from the 1980s which posited that one could theoretically build a computer using the movement of billiard balls—with a bit of Newtonian physics and an idealized, friction-free environment thrown in.

That research, by Edward Fredkin and Tommaso Toffoli, used the billiard balls’ motion as a substitute for electronic signals, with researchers looking at how the balls collided into one another or emerged from a series of gates in a predictable direction and at a certain speed…

Grazed from ITWorld.  Author: Lucas Mearian.

Just as with an Apple product launch, Google has had to do next to nothing to create buzz around its long-awaited Google Drive cloud storage service. The latest: Google Drive will launch next week.

Of course, prognosticators have predicted much the same thing numerous times in the past, predictions that turned out to be wrong.

"Frankly, Google has been out to lunch on this," said Frank Gillett, an analyst with Forrester Research. "The real question is: What took you guys so long? And have to got anything original or is this a ‘me too’ play."…

Grazed from Channel Partners.  Author:  Kelly Teal.

As cloud computing demand explodes, Cisco, EMC and VMware have joined forces to teach IT professionals how to become experts in cloud architecture, and data center and virtualization technologies. And while the training was not created specifically for the channel, resellers, managed services providers and other partners keen to earn cloud certifications still may take advantage of the curricula.

The goal is to "build thought leaders," said Alok Shrivastava, director of education services for EMC, which makes storage hardware. For that to happen, companies, including channel partner businesses, need to understand their role in the cloud, he said. To that point, he said Cisco, EMC and VMware have consolidated what they have learned – and what would take individual companies almost two years to research for themselves – into about three weeks’ worth of learning…

Grazed from ITProPortal.  Author: Stuart Andrews.

Cloud computing isn’t just about business, it’s making a big impact on games too.

With services like Spotify and Netflix changing the way we enjoy music or watch movies and TV, games look set to be the next form of entertainment to embrace the cloud. In fact, you could say that the nature of gaming almost makes it inevitable. Even before there was an Internet, Multi-User-Dungeons (MUDs) had players exploring online worlds together, while the likes of Doom, Quake and EverQuest were popularising online gaming at a time when the idea of streaming music or video over the Web would have seemed ridiculous. Games and the Internet just go together.

Yet the coming cloud revolution goes deeper than simply enabling the next World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. As with what’s happening with music and movies, cloud gaming is set to make games more immediately accessible, more convenient and more social. As with the smartphone and tablet gaming revolutions, it could see games reach an even wider audience…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing is revolutionizing business of all sizes, and it seems like every organization is in some stage of developing, implementing, or managing a cloud strategy. However, before businesses or channel partners can fully capitalize on the cloud, they need to understand it. Currently, there is a lack of informative and educational materials aimed squarely at helping technology buyers use the cloud to produce clear business results.

Today, Evolve IP attacked that problem by evolving the state of cloud information resources with the launch of the Cloud IQ blog. This new information portal aims to help technology buyers make sound decisions about the future of their IT infrastructure, applications, and security services. The blog also seeks to help partners capitalize on new revenue-generating opportunities…

Grazed from Digital ID News.  Author: Editorial Staff.

In addition to convenience, cloud computing is touted for its money saving capabilities as companies reduce software licensing costs and hardware requirements.

Identity management in the cloud isn’t as cut and dry. Standards are emerging to manage identities in the cloud but, until now, it hasn’t been a priority. The auditing and provisioning capabilities that are typical with enterprise-based ID management systems are tough to come by with cloud-based systems. “ID management is the biggest weakness we have right now,” says Tony Busseri, CEO at Route1, a digital security and ID management provider. “People have rushed to embrace a technology that’s great in concept, but they have ignored the ID management.”.

These issues exist more in the public cloud than the private cloud, Busseri explains. “The public cloud is great in terms of functionality but from a privacy standpoint you don’t know where the information is going,” he says…

Grazed from Enterprise Apps Today.  Author: Ann All.

A new study from Saugatuck Technology suggests organizations are taking a more cohesive approach to purchasing and deploying cloud-based software.

In the early years of this decade, it seemed like most companies needed cloud computing like a fish needed a bicycle – to steal a phrase from the late feminist Gloria Steinem. Now, however, a growing number of companies need the cloud like a fish needs water.

Two new studies highlight not only the inexorable advance of cloud computing, but also a growing sophistication in how companies aim to use it.

According to Gartner, global revenue from software-as-a-service will hit $14.5 billion this year, up nearly 18 percent from 2011 revenue of $12.3 billion.  That follows an increase of more than 20 percent in worldwide SaaS revenue from 2010 to 2011. Gartner is forecasting robust growth through 2015, when it expects SaaS revenue to reach $22.1 billion…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Cycle Computing provisioned a 50,000-core utility supercomputer in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud for Schroedinger and Nimbus Discovery to accelerate lead identification via virtual screening. This milestone — the largest of its kind — is Cycle Computing’s fifth massive cluster in less than two years on the heels of a 30,000 cluster in October 2011, illustrating Cycle’s continued leadership in delivering full-featured and scalable cluster deployments. Cycle Computing revealed the cluster creation during today’s opening keynote at the AWS Summit in New York City.

Schroedinger’s widely used computational docking application, Glide, performs high-throughput virtual screening of compound libraries for identification of drug discovery leads. Computing resource and time constraints traditionally limit the extent with which ligand conformations can be explored, potentially leading to false negative while the same constraints may require a less accurate level of scoring, which can lead to false positives. Tapping into Cycle’s utility supercomputing, Schroedinger ran a virtual screen in collaboration with Nimbus Discovery of 21 million compounds against a protein target. The run required 12.5 processor years and completed in less than three hours…