Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author: David Marshall
 

Grazed from NextGov.  Author: Bob Brewin.

The Air Force said it will consider commercial cloud computing services for 1 million users of its unclassified networks as they shift from desktop computers to dumb terminals.

The Air Force Space Command, which manages the service’s networks, announced early last month it was considering the move to thin or zero clients to cut operations and maintenance costs and improve security.

Desktop computers store files and applications on local hard drives while thin clients and zero clients access applications stored on remote servers. Zero clients consist of a keyboard, mouse and monitor with no local processing power, while thin clients have some built-in processing power to support rich graphics displays and multimedia applications…

Grazed from Smart Business.  Author: Bill Cramer.

Service providers are touting the benefits of cloud computing, and more and more businesses are moving to the cloud. But beyond the benefits, there are also dangers, and companies should consult with an attorney to ensure that the language in the contract will protect them, says Bill Cramer, senior counsel at Dykema Gossett PLLC.

“Service providers like to emphasize the potential financial benefits by saying that inside every cloud is a silver lining,” says Cramer. “However, inside some clouds, there is golf-ball-sized hail. When you give up your computing needs to a third party, you give up control and expose yourself to potential liability.”…

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Barb Darrow.

A new list of cloud computing trends shows just how nervous the growing use of cloud services makes IT departments.

It’s easy to see why. IT staffs used to hold the keys to the kingdom — controlling what applications and data ran where and on what devices. That’s all changed — a lot — with the consumerization of IT and the advent of compute power that in-house developers can spin up on Amazon Web Services and pay for out of petty cash — without IT approval. Ditto the departmental use of easy-to-expense software-as-a-service applications. All of that erodes the power of IT folks.

Gartner, the big researcher, says it’s high time for IT to grab the bull by the horns, according to a list of 5 cloud computing trends released Monday…

Grazed from GreenTechMedia.  Author: Jeff St. John.

Grazed from CIOZone.  Author: Tom Sloan.

Cloud Computing and SaaS in general have been widely embraced by many US based organizations over the last decade.  Increasingly, the U.S. continues to represent the greatest opportunity for SaaS going forward.

SaaS has become a common delivery model for most business applications, including accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), management information systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), content management (CM) and service desk management. SaaS  today has been incorporated into the strategy of all leading enterprise software companies…

Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Kjel Hanson.

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

General Dynamics has been awarded two contracts by the United States Army to develop and implement fixed and mobile cloud computing capacity for the Area Processing Centers Army Private Cloud (APC2) initiative. These five-year, multiple-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts have a combined potential value of $249.8 million to all awardees.

Under the fixed Suite of APC2, General Dynamics will establish a secure, reliable and cost-efficient managed service cloud computing platform. Under the mobile Suite of APC2, General Dynamics will provide a mobile data center solution to meet urgent Army needs in contingency operations or where rapid or temporary computing is critical. In addition to providing strategic cloud computing direction, General Dynamics will manage network connectivity, information assurance, certification and accreditation, application migration, private cloud operations and maintenance and related aspects of the supply chain. The company will incorporate its field-proven design to deliver reliable, secure and transportable mobile data centers suitable for harsh conditions and remote locations…

Grazed from Computer World.  Author: Chris Poelker.

As I travel around the country meeting with IT professionals and attending or speaking at industry events, I am amazed by how many different versions there are of "cloud computing."

As the guy who wrote the Storage Area Networks for Dummies book, I have decided to take a stand and make known my simple view of what cloud computing really means to IT folks.

In this blog, let’s first start with the official geek version as a baseline. (My next post will provide insight into the actual financial and technology characterization.)

NIST definition of cloud computing:

The formal definition of cloud computing comes from the smart folks who make standards for a living.  The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) definition contained within special publications number 800-145 states, "Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models." …

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

IDG Enterprise — the media company comprising CFOworld, CIO, CIO Executive Council, Computerworld, CSO, DEMO, InfoWorld, ITworld and Network World — releases the results from the 2012 Cloud Computing survey examining cloud computing implementation, usage, investment plans and vendor requirements.

The survey, completed by more than 1,650 IT and security decision-makers from a range of industries, highlights the growth in cloud computing investments, demonstrating the value cloud computing provides to organizations. Respondents state that 34% of their current IT budget is allocated to cloud computing solutions and more than half (63%) expect to increase spending in the next 12 months. On average, organizations will increase cloud computing spending by 16%…