Grazed from CIO.  Author: Jim Buchanan.

Cloud technology is emerging as a viable option for companies that want to cut costs, increase agility or augment their own IT resources without building out new infrastructure — or all of the above. But deciding which type of service is the best fit for your specific needs and ensuring the new cloud offerings play nice with your existing application mix is a challenge, to say the least.

More companies are running head-on into these challenges nonetheless. A study published last year by (Link: http://www.pwc.com/us/en/increasing-it-effectiveness/publications/next-generation-cloud-computing.jhtml) PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 41 percent of security and IT respondents said their organizations have already implemented cloud computing, most going with SaaS offerings…

Grazed from CIO.  Author: Thor Olavsrud.

Many organizations have now gone so far as to dip their toes into the shallow end of cloud computing, and many more are thinking about testing the waters. Other organizations have jumped into the cloud with both feet. But whether you’re wading in or fully immersed, properly vetting your cloud service providers is essential.

A recent study by IT industry association CompTIA found that even though many organizations are concerned about the security of their data in the cloud, a minority of companies perform a comprehensive review of their cloud service providers before sealing the deal…

Grazed from Computer World.  Author: Brandon Butler.

What if a cloud computing infrastructure could recognize a cyberattack, eliminate it, and never stop working while all that is being done? That’s what researchers at MIT, with help from the federal government, are investigating the feasibility of.

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to bring about a cloud infrastructure that could identify cyberattacks and heal itself from any damages.

DARPA has a number of ongoing research projects to develop more secure cloud environments…

Grazed from InformationWeek.  Author: Elizabeth Montalbano.

Since cloud computing services represents a paradigm shift from the way federal agencies historically have acquired IT systems, they have a number of new factors to consider–service-level agreements (SLAs), security and privacy among them–as they make plans to implement the cloud, according to a new report.

As part of a broad IT reform plan, the feds have adopted a "cloud first" policy requiring agencies to consider the cloud first as they plan new IT projects, which should accelerate adoption of the technology at the federal level…

Grazed from ChannelEconomics.  Author:  Larry Walsh.

It’s that time of the year again, the RSA Conference – the granddaddy of security events where anyone who’s anyone in security is in attendance. This year’s gathering will likely be dominated by next-generation firewalls, the anticipated IPO of Palo Alto Networks and mobile security. Still, cloud computing will remain a hot topic, and among the many reports that will come out of this conference, Alert Logic’s State of Cloud Security is worth a look.

Security has been the Achilles heel of cloud computing from its inception. The issue remains whether a business can truly trust a service provider with their data and applications – the crown jewels of their operations. Security history is replete with examples of businesses that had to shut down after losing their operating data or having their trade secrets compromised…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Cavium, Inc., a leading provider of semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for networking, communications, and the digital home, today announced the new NITROX(R) III XL CNN35XX-NHB adapter family that delivers unprecedented performance for secure and virtualized data center and cloud computing. The new NITROX III XL Adapter family, which is available immediately, is built using the NITROX III security processor that integrates 16 to 64 purpose-built security RISC cores with high-performance compression engines and virtualization. The adapter family includes PCI-Express Gen2 and PCI-Express Gen3 versions. This family of adapter products is being integrated into a wide range of equipment including Application Delivery Controllers, WAN Optimization Appliances, Cloud Servers, L4+ Switches, Unified Threat Management Appliances, WLAN controllers & Servers and Storage Appliances…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

HP today announced a new partner program designed to accelerate the adoption of secure cloud computing.

A major obstacle to the adoption of cloud computing is the lack of visibility into user actions. Enterprises need a single view into the use of cloud-based resources — including internal systems and the applications and services run by cloud providers.

With the HP Enterprise Security Cloud Connections partner program, HP partners can help customers view and assess enterprise-wide risks while automating compliance reporting across on-premise and cloud-based environments…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Vaultive, a provider of cloud data encryption solutions that enable organizations to leverage the economy and efficiency of cloud computing while maintaining the data security, control and compliance advantages of on-premise computing, today announced that the company has completed a $10-million funding round led by .406 Ventures, New Science Ventures and Harmony Partners. The company is currently in beta for its first product, Vaultive for Hosted Exchange, a patent-pending enterprise-class encryption solution designed to meet the specific business challenges and technological requirements of Hosted Exchange users.

Vaultive was founded in 2009 by Ben Matzkel and Maayan Tal. Initially funded by security industry luminaries, including brothers Elad and Amit Yoran, the company has been focused on research and development efforts to build an enterprise-class, seamless and flexible solution for cloud data protection…

Grazed from Information Week.  Author: Art Wittmann.

When evaluating infrastructure-as-a-service offerings, the challenge is to compare the value proposition with what you already have in your own data center. The obvious wins for IaaS include so-called cloud bursting, where you need lots of computing power for a relatively short time. Obviously, building out infrastructure for peak loads is wasteful, so wise use of an infrastructure service for demand spikes can level out your costs. That’s a no-brainer.

But that’s not the usual case, so understanding the cost benefit of IaaS is a tricky business. There have been many discussions lately of calculations that assess the incremental cost of using a system versus the cost of it just sitting idle in your data center. That incremental cost plus the baseline cost during the period of real use “feels” like the cost that should be incurred for a cloud service. Even if you paid a premium on top of that cost, you’d still be saving money, right? Well, maybe…

Grazed from ITWeb.  Author: Editorial Staff.

The global provider’s cloud offerings simplify planning, design, deployment and management of private, public and hybrid clouds. Dimension Data also introduced its Managed Cloud Platform (MCP), a global delivery platform for all its cloud services, and Dimension Data CloudControl, its cloud management system that automates provisioning, orchestration, administration and billing.

The Dimension Data Cloud Services suite is designed to address the many requirements of an organisation’s path to the cloud, whether it’s at the beginning of its usage of cloud and virtualisation, or well on its way to leveraging the benefits of self-service, hybrid cloud models. Because all Dimension Data’s Cloud Services are delivered on the same platform, it’s easier and more cost-effective to expand from one cloud model to another as the demands of the business change…