Grazed from ResponseSource.  Author: Peter Job.

The IT industry is being transformed by cloud computing and 2012 is predicted to be the year this technology becomes main stream as the market for public cloud computing is set to reach US$5.8 billion by 2015. But the key challenge according to Peter Job, CEO at Intergence is how to optimise and fine tune an organisation’s infrastructure to best take advantage of the new technology.

Intergence is a leading independent IT Optimisation Consultancy and one of the suppliers of the UK Government’s cloud computing procurement initiative, G-Cloud. Peter believes more work needs to be done upfront before making the journey into the cloud, he explains, “Before jumping into the cloud, organisations must take a look at their current assets and review how they can be optimised.”…

Grazed from Reuters.  Author: Olivia Oran.

Demandware Inc, the fifth cloud computing-based software company to join the IPO wave since December, is expected to see strong pricing and trading during its offering next week.

The Burlington, Massachusetts, firm, which makes software businesses use to maintain their e-commerce sites, plans to raise an estimated $74 million during its IPO under the new ticker "DWRE" on the New York Stock Exchange. It plans to offer 5.5 million shares in a range of $12.50 to $14.50.

Demandware follows a string of successful public offerings from other cloud-based technology companies; all priced within or above their expected range, and then saw their shares soar…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge.  Author: Rich Miller.

With a growing focus on harnessing renewable energy to power huge computing clouds, will data center operators get into the energy business? Or will utilities entice cloud operators to build data centers adjacent to energy hubs?

Developer Craig Harrison of Harrison Resource Corp. envisions a project that brings together the ingredients to support either scenario. Working with IDC Architects/CH2M Hill, Harrison has proposed an “energy park” on 644 acres of land near the Colorado-Wyoming border, at the intersection of key fiber, power and natural gas infrastructure…

Grazed from V3.co.uk.  Author: Daniel Robinson.

Security firm Bitdefender is the latest provider to get into the cloud computing storage market with a service that lets PC and Android users store files remotely and sync them between devices.

Available now, Bitdefender Safebox offers three tiers of service, with a free plan providing 2GB of online storage.  Users requiring more storage capacity than this can opt for a 30GB service for £24.99 per year, or a 60GB service for £54.99 per year…

Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Jonathan Gershater.

Infrastructure as a Service is one of the three delivery methods of cloud computing (the other two are Platform as a Service and Software as a Service).

Users of IaaS have the expertise to maintain operating systems and applications, but don’t wish to purchase server, storage and networking hardware and a datacenter to house the hardware. The cloud provider provides these services from a shared pool. The cloud user will then use the virtual machines to fulfill their computing requirements and may install their own operating system and will install their own applications on the virtual machines…

Grazed from TechCrunch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Virtualization startup Virtustream has raised $15 million in funding from Intel Capital, Columbia Capital, Noro-Moseley Partners, TDF and QuestMark Capital. This brings Virtustream’s total funding raised to $75 million.

Virtustream provides strategy, integration and managed services utilizing virtualization technologies, and xStream, the company’s cloud provisioning platform. xStream platform was built to address the exacting requirements of enterprise customers as they move their IT and applications to the cloud…

Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Larry Dignan.

Microsoft on Friday cut pricing on its Azure storage as you go service and its extra small compute effort.  The move comes just a few days after Amazon Web Services cut its pricing.

What’s it all mean? Cloud computing costs are falling fast for IT buyers and are already on par with electricity rates. And given that electricity rates fluctuate based on natural gas prices, season and other variables cloud computing could be cheaper…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Florence de Borja.

Software as a service and cloud computing are two terms which are quite becoming popular in the world of computing. These two concepts have a positive outcome in the industry by making use of the internet to beat the conventional computing strategies. Although both concepts have similarities, they offer different services.

Software as a service applications have no huge upfront costs and even do not require upkeep and maintenance. They are often offered for lease to business owners and are accessed remotely through web browsers connected to the internet. Business owners save money because they only pay for software they need and do not have to worry about managing renewal fees, patches, and updates which are often identified with onsite applications…

Grazed from InformationWeek.  Author: Cindy Waxer.

A recent Microsoft study predicts that nearly 14 million new jobs will be created worldwide by 2015 as a result of growing cloud computing adoption. Whether you believe that number or not, (and InformationWeek‘s Rob Preston says it’s clearly inflated,) there’s no doubt that cloud is reshaping the IT department as we know it.

While cloud computing promises to stimulate the job market, it could be a buzz kill for your marketability as an IT professional. "There’s no question cloud computing is generating a whole new breed of job seeker," says Jeff Kaplan, founder and managing director of THINKstrategies, an IT strategic consulting firm. "What this new world is about is fundamentally different than the old IT world."…

Grazed from The New York Times.  Author: Quentin Hardy.

Within two months, Hewlett-Packard will offer a large and powerful cloud computing service similar to Amazon Web Services, but with more business-oriented features, according the head of the project.

“We’re not just building a cloud for infrastructure,” said Zorawar “Biri” Singh, senior vice president and general manager of H.P.’s cloud services. “Amazon has the lead there. We have to build a platform layer, with a lot of third-party services.” Among the first software applications available as part of the Hewlett-Packard cloud, he said, will be both structured and unstructured databases, and data analytics as a service…