Grazed from Talkin Clouds.  Author: Joe Panettieri.

When it comes to cloud computing data center audits, everyone seems to be jumping on the SSAE 16 bandwagon. Indeed, SSAE 16 is a relatively new audit standard that essentially replaces the aging SAS 70 standard. Scan the market and you’ll find numerous cloud computing companies and cloud services providers announcing SSAE 16 compliance since January 1, 2012. The big question: Will SSAE 16 really give customers peace of mind as they evaluate cloud data center partners?

Companies that have made SSAE 16 compliance announcements so far in January 2012 include:…

Grazed from Federal News Radio.  Author: Jason Miller.

Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel isn’t concerned about possible pushback from Congress now that agencies are in full cloud computing mode.

But VanRoekel said he’s not taking congressional buy-in for granted, especially after lawmakers forced the Army to pause and report back to them on the benefits of putting their email system in the cloud.

"It’s an opportunity for us to work with Congress, to work with the Army and the Department of Defense to think about this stuff," he said in an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio after a recent AFFIRM lunch in Washington, D.C. "I think we have a great opportunity to work with industry on evolving the cloud and cloud technology to meet the needs of a 21st century government. It’s there in large part especially in a business-model side and I think on a technology side we could really take it further. I’ve been personally working with NIST — and as an extension of that, the industry — to rethink the cloud as we know it. I think we have an opportunity to continuously improve and drive this stuff forward."…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Joe McKendrick.

For US federal government agencies, the rule is “cloud first” when looking to make new IT acquisitions. However, cloud isn’t always the best choice. The economics of cloud computing may be compelling for many front-line and transactional applications, but the costs and performance issues in applying cloud to specialized, deep analytical, or scientific environments may still be too prohibitive in many cases.

That’s the conclusion drawn in a recently issued report from the U.S. Department of Energy‘s Magellan project (“a cloud for science”), initiated two years ago to investigate the potential role of cloud computing in addressing the data-intensive computing needs of the DOE’s Office of Science…

Grazed from Windows IT Pro.   Author: Michael Dragone.

These days in the IT world, everything is about the cloud. Cloud services, cloud security, private clouds, hybrid clouds — the list goes on. It’s enough to make your head spin. For all this recent talk about cloud computing, one company has been offering a variety of cloud services for more than five years now. Amazon’s cloud offerings, known as Amazon Web Services (AWS), exist in the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category. When you work with AWS, you’re responsible for managing and maintaining your own virtual machines (VMs), including the software that you choose to run on top of them. This is in contrast to companies such as Salesforce.com, which offers Software as a Service (SaaS), or Microsoft, which offers Windows Azure as a Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Many misconceptions surround AWS in the IT community. IT pros think that AWS is a developer technology or that only VMs that run Linux can run on the service. It doesn’t help that many AWS-specific terms can be confusing. What, for example, is Elastic Block Storage (EBS)? Fortunately, getting an AWS account and a Windows Server VM running on the service is straightforward and inexpensive. In this article, I’ll go through the steps to create such a VM and connect to it via Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)…

Grazed from MSPNews.  Author: Laura Stotler.

As an enterprise IT decision maker, you can’t afford to dismiss the cloud computing model. You’ve heard all about how cloud deployments and managed services can benefit your business and take the pressures of managing and maintaining routine services away from you and your overburdened staff, enabling you to focus on maximizing profits and creating new efficiencies for your company.

There are so many variables to take into consideration when choosing to offload important business functionality to the cloud. Picking a service provider who offers the correct blend of services and solutions to meet your needs is a top priority, but pricing, service level agreements (SLAs), security, ease of management and administration/reporting are all important factors…

Grazed from Business Standard.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Microsoft is taking the fight with its cloud computing rival, VMware, to a new level, with the launch of Systems Center 2012 that includes a new pricing structure and integrates eight separate component products into one unified solution, streamlining installation and reducing the time it takes to deploy from days down to hours. The software is used with Windows and virtualisation software, letting companies turn their servers into so-called private clouds. The offering is cheaper than VMware’s competing product.

Cloud computing puts data and applications on remote servers and data centres, rather than storing it in a company’s own mainframes. Users can access the data and applications through the internet…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Rackspace Hosting, the service leader in Cloud computing, today announced it has been ranked 74 on FORTUNE magazine’s annual list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For." FORTUNE has named Rackspace as one of America’s top workplaces in four of the past five years. The full list and related stories will appear in the February 6 issue of FORTUNE, and today at fortune.com/bestcompanies.

"We are honored to once again be included among the great companies on the FORTUNE list, and are thrilled that our Fanatical Support and employee engagement got us here," said Lanham Napier, CEO of Rackspace. "Our employees — we call them Rackers — make our company great. I want to thank them for keeping the spirit of Fanatical Support alive through their commitment to our customers and to their fellow Rackers. We are determined to preserve and improve our unique company culture, even as we grow."…

Grazed from Daily Finance.  Author:  Anders Bylund.

What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago, shares of F5 Networks (NAS: FFIV) dropped like a rock on a disappointing first-quarter report. Fast-forward 52 weeks and you find the stock surging as much as 12.8%. This time, there’s not just one strong report behind the jump — but a solid series of outperformances.

F5’s non-GAAP earnings landed at $1.03 per share, 22% above the year-ago period and 2% ahead of analyst targets. That’s nothing new; the string of earnings beats actually goes back to and even beyond that dreary drop four quarters ago. In fact, you have to go back to fall 2008 to find the last time F5 merely met Street estimates rather than exceeding them…

Grazed from The Street.  Author:  PR Announcement.

Interphase Corporation (NASDAQ: INPH) announced today that its clouDevice™ desktop virtualization portfolio is now available from PBG Networks, a systems integration firm specializing in virtualization. PBG Networks has introduced a new customized version of clouDevice virtual desktop clients which is designed to serve the cloud computing needs of the K-12 education community. The PBG K12Cloud client bundles a clouDevice client with various application access, virtualization, and security services to enable school IT directors to safely and reliably employ educational applications deployed in a public or private cloud.

“By leveraging the clouDevice technology, which offers an affordable and innovative substitute for traditional desktop computers, PBG has created the K12Cloud, a cloud services solution that meets the specific needs of K-12 school systems,” said Scott Brousseau, Senior VP & CTO of PBG Networks…