Grazed from InfoBoom.  Author: Douglas Bonderud.

Cloud computing is making broad strides across the technology industry as more small and midsize businesses (SMBs) find benefit in having their data stored off-site and in getting infrastructure, software, and even platforms delivered on demand. While the concept of the cloud is not new–Hotmail was one of the first widely adopted pieces of software-as-a-service (SaaS) back in 1997–what is new is the way the cloud is being sold. According to providers, this technology is naturally energy-efficient, inherently a "green cloud" that can save on energy expenditures. But is this the real deal or just greenwashing hype?

What’s Behind the Cloud Curtain?

A recent article at Enterprise Irregulars discusses a presentation given by Tom Raftery, in which he argues that cloud computing is not as green as SMBs are led to believe. While the technology expands on the data center concept that’s been around since the 1960s and certainly improves on its efficiency, Raftery’s contention is that very few providers are "chasing the moon" (i.e., actually making sure they take advantage of things like low-cost power at night or moving their services from data center to data center as power rates fluctuate across the globe and over the course of a day)…

Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Maureen O’Gara.

LG Electronics Thursday became the latest Android and Chrome OS peddler to bow to Microsoft’s patent claims and sign a "patent agreement" that Microsoft said "provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for LG’s tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome OS Platform."

Usually Microsoft brags that it’s getting paid for privilege. This time it didn’t a word about royalties, merely noting that the "contents of the agreement have not been disclosed," describing the deal as expanding on a pre-existing agreement. That license covered Linux and, as FOSS Patents points out, Android is a Linux fork. So, the new arrangement is assumed to be royalty-bearing…

Grazed from Cloud Computing World Forum.  Author: PR Announcement.
 

The deployment of cloud services and new IT technologies is set to rise dramatically across the African continent this year.
 

That’s the verdict of a number of industry professionals and analysts across the globe, and something that has led one of the sector’s leading event series into holding their first trade show on African soil – the Cloud Computing World Forum Africa, to take place in Johannesburg, on 8^th May 2012.

Grazed from CIOL.  Author: Pankaj Maru.

Being a computing innovation company, Intel has one of the largest internal IT infrastructure spread across its organization and facilities globally.

In addition to its 82,500 employes, including 6,300 IT employees, the company has 91 data centres, 75,000 servers spread over 4,58,000 square feet area, more than 1,05,000 computing devices and over 14,000 hand held devices, of which 90 per cent is employee owned.

With increasing number of headcounts and ever growing demand for IT and computing resources, Intel had no other choice but to consolidate its internal IT requirements that would help addressing annual IT budgets as well as overall operational costs…

Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Retail Anywhere, a leading provider of point of sale and retail management systems for midsize retailers, today announced the general availability of its Retail Anywhere POS SuiteApp built using the NetSuite SuiteCloud Computing Platform. The Retail Anywhere POS SuiteApp, combined with NetSuite’s cloud computing business management suite, unlocks a comprehensive, multi-channel retail management solution for retailers.

NetSuite’s SuiteCloud is a comprehensive offering of cloud-based products, development tools, and services designed to help customers and commercial software developers take advantage of the significant economic benefits of cloud computing. The complete SuiteCloud includes NetSuite’s multi-tenant, always-on SaaS infrastructure and the NetSuite Business Suite of applications which cover accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and Ecommerce…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

DeskStream Inc., a leading provider of desktop virtualisation software, has today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a prominent Northern Irish start-up in the cloud computing and virtualisation software space. DeskStream, with development centres in California, U.S.A., and Hyderabad, India, will acquire Belfast-based start-up, WorldDesk Ltd. The deal was announced at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The financial terms of the deal, which will close in the first quarter of 2012, have not been disclosed but the acquisition will see DeskStream adopt the WorldDesk name and branding with immediate effect.

With the acquisition of WorldDesk, DeskStream will take control of a unique cloud-based workspace delivery platform prototype built on Dropbox but is capable of being extended to leverage other cloud storage providers. DeskStream will also add customer support services, marketing expertise and additional software development capabilities. The deal will see the employees of WorldDesk, including co-founders Jonathan Chesney and Claire Moore, join DeskStream. WorldDesk, founded in 2010, will continue to be based in Belfast…