Cloud computing is a term that has become part of our everyday conversations. More and more businesses want to be in the cloud and are taking steps to move to more virtual environments. According to the Open Data Center Alliance, more than 40 percent of its members expect to run more than 40 percent of internal IT systems in cloud environments within two years.

Recent discussions have also focused on the types of cloud services available. Whether businesses are using services such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS), the end goal is the same: to reduce the costs of business operations. The challenge is to make sure businesses understand what each service offers and to determine which option makes the most sense for their specific cloud needs…

A recent study from IDG Enterprise conducted a study among 1,600 IT and business leaders. It revealed that majority of these companies have spent more than a third of their IT budget to Cloud Computing. Further, almost two thirds of the respondents said they will continue to increase their spending in Cloud Computing in the next couple of years.

They believe their investments now will eventually pay off either by providing the company a more efficient work system or by replacing other hardware and software recurring costs.

There is an onslaught of literature on the potential of Cloud Computing. It is also this very rich literature that makes it confusing for people to determine which is reliable and which is a baseless claim. I am just as confused as everyone…

How green is the cloud? Reading GreenBiz.com these days, you’d think it was the next big green thing. In recent weeks, for example, we’ve covered companies bringing products to the cloud, research findings on how the cloud is a “game changer” for energy managers, cloud-based tools for designers, even ethical concerns related to cloud computing.

As my colleague Matthew Wheeland noted recently: “Everyone is talking about cloud computing as the future of IT, or the future of business, or the future of commerce, or all of the above.”

How green is it? Conventional wisdom is that cloud computing — the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, in which computers access shared resources, software, and information, instead of each computer having its own — is a highly eco-efficient medium. In addition to dramatically reducing hardware and software, the cloud maximizes the utilization of all computing resources, at least in theory…

Rackspace (RAX), a leading provider of cloud computing services, plans on Monday to release a new version of its OpenStack, the open-source cloud platform it and others are promoting as a tech standard.

While many companies support OpenStack, this group does not include two of Rackspace’s biggest cloud rivals, Amazon.com (AMZN) and Citrix Systems (CTXS).

Rackspace has emerged as a fast-growing player in cloud computing services, which let companies store and access their data via the Internet, or the "cloud," reducing their hardware and overall IT spending. Rackspace’s year-over-year sales have jumped 32% in each of the past three quarters. Per-share profit has risen at least 56% in that span. And company shares are up 31% this year…

2nd Watch, Inc., a software and cloud-computing consulting company, has been recognized by Microsoft for its commitment and expertise providing cloud solutions with an invitation to join the SMB Cloud Champions Club. 2nd Watch is the only company in the Inland Northwest, and one among only three hundred in the nation, awarded the Cloud Champions Club designation. The company has also been recognized as a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate partner.

 In addition to its Microsoft Partnerships, the SMB Cloud Champions Club and the Cloud Accelerate Program further extend 2nd Watch’s resources to assist and manage client migrations to Microsoft’s Office 365 online products.  The Cloud Champions Club connects partner businesses with tools they can use to grow their cloud-based services with resources ranging from technical professionals to business and marketing funds. The Cloud Accelerate Program provides additional software and marketing benefits as well as Core Silver Competency benefits. "The Cloud Champion Club and the Cloud Accelerate partner designations are testaments to our team’s experience and drive toward saving companies money and providing a more mobile and agile product," stated 2nd Watch’s President Jeff Aden.  "Gone are the days of managing exchange on premises, and along with that are lower costs that require less maintenance."…

In the 25 years since Richard Stallman wrote the GNU General Public License, free and open source software (FOSS) have become pervasive in computing: Linux, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and more can be found in large numbers of enterprises across the globe. And open source is now increasingly undergirding cloud computing as well.

"Open source is certainly at the foundation in terms of building out cloud technologies," says Byran Che, senior director of product management at Red Hat and responsible for its cloud operations offerings, management software and Red Hat Enterprise MRG, (Red Hat’s Messaging, Real-time and Grid platform). "If you take a look at market share in the server space, as you look at traditional data centers, about 70 percent are running on the Windows platform and about 30 percent are running Linux. As you take a look at what operating systems people are choosing to build applications on in the cloud, the ratio flips completely."…

Chief Information Officers who are poised to build their next internal network have some serious decisions to make. With cloud computing and virtual machines changing the way we utilize networks and deploy solutions, the next generation of networks will be very different.

TechRepublic reports that 70 percent of enterprise organizations are already gearing up for the increased complexity that mobile devices bring to the infrastructure world. The good news is a properly built enterprise solution will serve an organization far into the future. The potential reusability and resiliency offered by virtualization means that companies would be getting a lot more for their money…

NTT Data, the service provider, has formed a business unit devoted to cloud services. It will be led by Marv Mouchawar as president and he will report directly to CEO John McCain.

Mouchawar and his team will be responsible for the overall strategy, portfolio, sales and delivery of services.

NTT Data Cloud Services is supposed to draw on the strengths and resources offered by NTT Data globally and in collaboration with the NTT Group of companies including NTT Communications, NTT DOCOMO and Dimension Data…

Iron Bow Technologies LLC, an information technology solutions provider, announced today that it has achieved the Cisco Cloud Builder designation within the Cisco Cloud Partner Program to support the expanding role of the network in deploying cloud services.

This designation recognizes Iron Bow’s competencies to consult, design, deliver and implement Cisco end-to-end cloud solutions for both government and private enterprise customers. As a Cisco designated Cloud Builder Partner, Iron Bow has met the rigorous required competencies across all cloud infrastructure components (security, networking, computing, storage and virtualization solutions), cloud management applications and a formal cloud professional services practice…