Grazed from Computer Technology Review.  Author: Oliver Moazzezi.

Cloud adoption is quickly gaining traction. A 2010 Forrester Survey found that 45 percent of European companies plan to adopt cloud-based IT services and it’s no surprise, as the benefits abound. Citing key advantages such as reduced costs and improved business efficiency, cloud computing also provides companies with inexpensive access to IT experience that they might not have in-house.

But despite companies embracing hosted cloud infrastructure and service, they are all too aware of potential pitfalls – one of the largest being data security. Because hosted services often store data in locations that are external to customers’ operations, IT managers realize that they are depending on the hosted providers’ in-house security capabilities to protect their data. This causes concern when dealing with high value data, such as financial information and customer contact details…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Nebula co-founder and VP of Engineering Devin Carlen and Principal Engineer Joe Heck have been elected to lead two of the six core OpenStack(TM) projects. Engineers from Rackspace and Nicira were elected to lead the other four core projects.

"Nebula’s expanding technical leadership will ensure that OpenStack continues to be the most innovative cloud computing platform," said Chris C. Kemp, Nebula CEO and co-founder of the OpenStack project…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Clint Boulton.

In a megamerger of cloud software service providers, Cloud Sherpas and GlobalOne have joined forces to combine their expertise in installing and supporting Google Apps and Salesforce.com applications.

Cloud Sherpas counts itself as among the first Google Enterprise partners, migrating over 1.5 million workers to the Google Apps cloud, spanning over 1,500 customers.

GlobalOne helps new Salesforce.com customers integrate, install and configure Web-based software into legacy, on-premise ERP and CRM apps. GlobalOne has crafted custom solutions on Force.com, mobile apps, and enabled B2B collaboration on Salesforce.com’s Chatter app…

Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Scala, Inc. today unveiled Scala Advanced Analytics, a cloud computing-based predictive analytics application for retailers which transforms market data and live third-party data streams into marketing messages that positively impact buying behavior. Advanced Analytics helps retailers know what their customers want to buy before the customers do and encourages them to make purchases through point-of-sale digital signage.

Scala Advanced Analytics’ capabilities enable retailers to leverage data they already own to predict and deliver optimum sales messages to in-store customers with digital signage…

Grazed from BSN.  Author: Theo Valich.

One of biggest news coming out of the first day of GDC 2012 is a new venture by co-founders of 3Dlabs. Numecent is exiting the stealth mode in a big way – by launching a revolutionary cloud service. The company originates from 1999 by Osman Kent, the co-founder and CEO of 3Dlabs. Osman is mostly known as one of the fathers of the GPU and OpenGL. After he sold 3Dlabs to Creative Technology, Osman focused on Numecent.

The magnitude of this announcement is much greater than the two earthquakes that hit San Francisco this morning, since we’re finally seeing a birth of cloud service that wants to simplify the life for the consumers, rather than tying them in proprietary software licenses…

Grazed from Wired.  Author: Todd Neilson.

Cloud computing is without a doubt is one of the biggest innovations to ever hit the technology industry. While the basis of what is “cloud” has been around for years, the term and its effect are gaining significant traction. In some ways I find it nauseating, but at the same time I am in awe at the many technology service companies and managed services providers that are not strategically playing out what is happening all around them, and are thus denying that it will have any effect on their future. I am also in awe at the businesses and executives that are not treating cloud computing as a strategy to improve their company. In this article I will talk about Technology Innovation, Internet Availability, and The Generation Factor; and how their continued commoditization will contribute to create great opportunities for some, and dangers for others…

Grazed from TechWorld.  Author: Sophie Curtis.

Cloud computing growth will be driven by the proliferation of cloud brokerages, offering packages of cloud services from a selection of different providers and adding value through managed access or enhanced security.

This is the view of Ken O’Hagan, chief technology officer of HP Software for the UK and Ireland. O’Hagen told Techworld that the cloud brokerage model is going to become a new market segment, with brokers offering highly transactional systems comprising applications, web and database services…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Centrix Software, a leading provider of enterprise workspace computing solutions, today announced a new release of Centrix WorkSpace Universal, a workspace delivery platform that provides unified access to applications, desktops and content from any device and any location.

Part of the Centrix WorkSpace suite, Centrix WorkSpace Universal 5.3 provides a platform for unifying application service delivery in private cloud and hybrid computing environments. The release of WorkSpace Universal 5.3 brings new features for supporting the compliant use of software-as-a-service applications and dynamic application provisioning in private cloud environments. New features announced today include:..

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Iomega Corporation is making cloud storage even more practical and easy for service providers to offer to small and medium businesses (SMBs), remote offices and distributed enterprises.

New capabilities with Iomega network storage solutions now enable SMB customers and others to seamlessly store data in EMC Atmos-powered clouds.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced new integration between Iomega network storage solutions and EMC® Atmos(TM), making cloud computing a reality for smaller organizations and others by extending EMC Atmos cloud-based data protection and sharing to Iomega’s network storage product offerings. The new integration gives SMBs, remote offices and distributed enterprises easy access to any Atmos powered cloud around the world…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Sourya Biswas.

One of the best ways to encourage sales is through specialized partnership programs, and IT companies have long employed this strategy to promote their traditional offerings. Now they have started similar initiatives for their cloud computing services as well.

While some companies have tried to get buy-in from end-consumers, even going to the extent of offering services for free (See: Ninefold and Rackspace Battle for Australian Startup Mind Space and Why is Rackspace targeting Startups?), others have started targeting their channel partners, all in the hope of grabbing larger shares of the expanding cloud computing pie…