Grazed from InformationWeek.  Author:  John Foley.

Cloud services are proven for many business and consumer applications, but what if the problem to be solved is measuring the expansion of the universe? The U.S. Department of Energy has determined the cloud can help there too, but it won’t be cheap or easy.

The Energy Department set out two years ago to determine the feasibility of cloud computing for the kinds of CPU-intensive processing jobs done by its national laboratories, and the results of that assessment are now in. Researchers at the Argonne and Lawrence Berkeley national labs determined that cloud computing offers "many advantages," but with caveats. In a recently released report on the project, called Magellan, they point to a steep learning curve, performance and scalability shortcomings, and missing pieces in the cloud software stack, among other challenges…

Grazed from Cloud Tweaks.  Author: Sourya Biswas.

There may not be any love lost between Microsoft and Google in the cloud computing space (and elsewhere) (See: Google vs Microsoft: US Government Agrees to End Microsoft Bias  and Microsoft And Google Are At It Again); however, it would seem that Microsoft is not averse to the occasional tie-up with an IT biggie, especially one who poses no direct threat to its software supremacy.

Microsoft recently announced a global, four-year deal with HP to deliver its communications and collaboration applications via HP’s cloud services. As per the press release, the deal would include:…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Nimbula, the Cloud Operating System Company, today announced the launch of its first hands-on Cloud Computing training course, "Building and Using a Cloud with Nimbula Director". This course will teach students how to build and administer private and hybrid cloud solutions.

Nimbula Director is powerful cloud software that works out of the box and can be used to implement a number of business enabling cloud use cases, such as deploying a private cloud in minutes instead of weeks or months.

To help customers achieve immediate benefits such as reducing the time and cost to build new application or infrastructure services without sacrificing security and control, Nimbula has built an industry-first Cloud Computing training course that educates and empowers organizations to implement real world cloud computing use cases such as: how to build a scalable platform to support web or SaaS applications, how to build a zero-touch data center, how to blend Amazon EC2-like scale, agility and efficiency with customization and control, and how to give traditional IT the same capabilities as public clouds…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

IO, the leading provider of next-generation modular data center technology and services, announced today a record year for IO. Anywhere® customer deployments. The rapid growth of mobile and cloud computing combined with the unique ability to deliver an operational data center in as little as 90 days positions IO for significant growth in 2012.

IO. Anywhere deployments in 2011 spanned a broad range of industries and companies including: Allianz, Avnet, Logicalis, Photobucket, Red Cloud and Suntron. Today, IO owns and operates the largest modular data centers in the world in Edison, New Jersey and Phoenix, Arizona.

"Today’s data center is obsolete when taking modularity and the fast maturation of this market into consideration," said Jason Schafer, research manager, Tier1 Research. "If data center owners and operators are not at least exploring and considering modular components as a means for data center expansions and new builds, they are putting themselves at a significant disadvantage from a scalability, cost and possibly maintenance standpoint."…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Jeff Norman.

Surmounting the economic challenges of 2011, cloud computing emerged as a new technological force to be reckoned with. The New Year has already announced additional strength for the cloud, particularly in the mobile phone sector.

Several major tech junkets predicted cloud computing’s push into society’s cell phones and mobile devices — predictions that I did not wholeheartedly believe.

The cloud’s flagship asset of storing and updating important data in multiple locations simultaneously is simple enough to grasp. However, most major companies have failed to communicate just how simple and useful cloud computing can actually prove to be for consumers…

Grazed from Information Week.  Author: Nicole Lewis.

Recent research on cloud computing in healthcare suggests that many IT managers are reluctant to store critical patient-related data in a cloud-computing environment. With this in mind, one healthcare executive from information management firm Iron Mountain is prodding health CIOs to take a second look at the technology.

Ken Rubin, senior vice president and general manager for Iron Mountain’s healthcare division, understands that CIOs have many concerns as they develop a robust IT infrastructure that lets clinicians access data quickly, while ensuring that the system helps the organization meet its obligations under the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPPA) privacy and security rules.

Although the findings of a recent study from KLAS found that the healthcare market has seen little adoption of cloud technology for critical data such as electronic health records (EHRs), patient accounting, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, Rubin believes health IT managers can learn to appreciate the benefits of cloud computing once they begin using the technology…

Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

EcomNets is proud to sponsor the Green IT | Cloud Computing 2.0 Summit as a Gold Sponsor hosted by the Green IT Council. The venue is the Sheraton Premiere near Washington DC on April 18th, 2012. The Green IT Council is a leading Green and Sustainable IT, and cloud computing association dedicated to the energy efficient computing across the enterprise, data center, and society.

EcomNets’ commitment to reduce enterprise and data center energy consumption and TCO, while obtaining a rapid ROI, is the core reason for being a sponsor of the Green IT Summit according to EcomNets CEO, Raj Kosuri. EcomNets maintains a Green Technology at their Danville Facility in Danville, VA…

Grazed from IT World Canada.   Author: Shane Schick.

A hosting company based out of the U.K. is hoping that a data centre located in Toronto will convince Canadian businesses fearful of the U.S. Patriot Act to take a cloud computing approach to managing their IT infrastructure.

ElasticHosts this week announced an expansion of its footprint in the North American market that also included a facility in Los Angeles. The company already offered hosting services out of San Antonio, Tex. in addition to its main office in London…

Grazed from CFOWorld.  Author: Dallon Christensen.

The pace of cloud computing will only accelerate in 2012. The increasing development of information technology, and the intense focus on cost reduction, are highlighting the benefits of moving IT administration off-site. And one cloud computing expert wants CFOs to be aware of the short-term challenges and long-term benefits to organizations.

"Large enterprises must realize cloud computing will not(in all cases) provide immediate cost benefits to their organizations," Sadagopan (Sada) Singam, global vice president, cloud computing, of HCL Technologies, said in a recent interview. CEOs and CFOs “must understand how cloud computing technologies will drive long-term benefits two to three years following the initial implementation.”…

Grazed from Telecom Paper.  Author: PR Announcement.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has established a Joint Coordination Activity on cloud computing (JCA-Cloud). The work of the ITU-T Focus Group on Cloud Computing (FG Cloud) will now be progressed through a number of ITU Study Groups with the JCA acting as a mechanism to coordinate the many dimensions of the study of cloud computing.

The primary objectives of JCA-Cloud will be to allocate FG Cloud’s deliverables to study groups with associated domains of competence, and to ensure that the ITU-T standardisation work on cloud computing progresses in a well-coordinated manner across all the relevant study groups…