Grazed from PC World.  Author: Yardena Arar.

The move to cloud computing isn’t just for businesses. At CES, home network giants D-Link and Netgear are showing a range of equipment that leverage cloud services to give consumers more access to and control over home networks–and network content–from mobile devices.

D-Link cloud routerCloud features don’t have to cost much. D-Link’s $40 Cloud Router (DIR 605L) lets you use the free MyDLink iOS or Android app to check up on what’s using your network, what sites they’re browsing, and whether a firmware update is available; you can also block unauthorized Wi-Fi users. The Cloud Router is a basic, two-antenna 802.11n router operating on the 2.4GHz band only and delivers top speeds of 300 megabits per second; it’s available now…

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

Brocade Communications Systems, which has tried to get bought at least twice before, is entertaining bids according to Reuters, which explains why its stock was up 8% Monday.

The wire service heard from nameless knowledgeable sources that Brocade has gotten "first-round bids from a handful of potential buyers."

The switch maker has reportedly had Qatalyst Partners out looking for a leveraged buyout and Qatalyst is famous for bringing home juicy deals. However, Brocade is apparently no easy sell. According to Bloomberg Qatalyst has been looking for two years. Meanwhile, Dell bought Force 10 and HP bought 3Com. Reuters says Qatalyst was brought back in in November…

Grazed from CIO.  Author: Bernard Golden.

A year ago I laid out my predictions for cloud computing in 2011. In the spirit of honesty and willingness to display my errors in public, I thought it would be useful to recap those predictions, grade them, comment on them and review an exciting, tumultuous year.

Below are my five predictions for cloud service providers and five for end users, followed by comments and a grade for each one.

Cloud Service Providers Predictions…

Grazed from IT World.  Author: Nancy Gohring.

AT&T became the first U.S. telecom service provider to join OpenStack, the organization that has developed an open-source cloud software stack.

Having a major carrier like AT&T backing OpenStack will help drive the project forward, Jim Curry, chief stacker at OpenStack, said. He spoke on Monday at the AT&T Developers Summit at CES in Las Vegas.

AT&T last year began talking about offering new cloud services for enterprises. In addition to throwing its support behind OpenStack, on Monday the operator also launched new cloud services geared toward mobile developers. Cloud Architect, which will become available in the "coming weeks," will allow developers to set up public and private compute instances on dedicated or shared computing resources. Developers will be able to scale apps quickly and order up new services via an online service portal…

Grazed from IT Business Edge.  Author: Sadagopan Singam.

Cloud computing has cast a shadow over the IT landscape in the past several years, sparking as much confusion as genuine interest. But despite the buzzword du jour feel of the topic, most people now agree that cloud computing is more than just a new IT delivery model and instead represents a sweeping transformation of IT. For CIOs, it can be a significant career enhancer, enabling them to drastically decrease costs and improve IT services for their organizations.

With more and more enterprises planning to transition IT to the cloud, there’s a daunting task facing every CIO who must decide what, when and how to invest in cloud infrastructures and how to leverage opportunities created by transforming their processes and the associated systems. The key challenges include appropriate opportunity selection, choosing the right cloud solution framework, ROI/benefit assessment, resource management and change management…

Grazed from Government Computer News.  Author: Rutrell Yasin.

Federal agencies looking to move IT services to the cloud have yet another option.

 

CSC has unveiled a cloud computing platform designed primarily for federal agencies, which provides infrastructure-as-a-service offerings.

Built using National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines, the CSC CloudCompute for Government will offer other cloud services in the future. The multitenant community cloud can respond rapidly to changing requirements at a fraction of the cost of a private cloud or a traditional data center, CSC officials said…

Grazed from iHotDesk.  Author: Editorial Staff.

The days of having to install, update and manage single product software for anti-virus protection and security could soon be over thanks to new developments in cloud computing.

John Dunn, security editor of Techworld, believes that security monitoring in real time using a cloud-based system is likely to soon become the norm for both individuals and companies in the not so distant future.

However, he points out that some large online security product manufacturers have been a little slow in working towards producing a suitable cloud-based anti-virus system…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

independenceIT(TM) (iIT), provider of the complete cloud workspace, today announced that it has received THINKstrategies’ Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Award. THINKstrategies is the leading strategic consulting company focused on the business implications of the on-demand services and uses its BoSS award program to promote the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

"In today’s challenging business climate, businesses are seeking ways to better leverage technology and business applications without adding more IT staff," stated Jeffrey M. Kaplan, Managing Director of THINKstrategies, and the founder of the SaaS Showplace, which is now a part of the new Cloud Computing Showplace. "independenceIT delivers a cost-effective, Cloud-based IT management solution which enables businesses to scale their operations without adding unnecessary management costs."…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Shenick Network Systems, provider of per-flow IP communication test and performance measurement solutions, today announced that it is leading the market with an IP test and measurement solution that can operate in a multi-hypervisor environment. Shenick’s diversifEye(TM) Virtual Machine (VM), a virtual, per-flow test solution for cloud computing environments, gives service providers and network equipment manufacturers the ability to emulate and analyze real-time IP traffic in cloud environments for multiple hypervisors right down to each individual application flow.

Shenick is bringing the benefits of testing the virtualization of key network infrastructure in the cloud, ensuring that data migration works properly in both crisis and everyday data migration scenarios. For companies that deploy networks in virtualized environments they need to have the ability to test with opensource hypervisors as well as fully supported vendor hypervisors. The end result is virtualized network performance that is more reliable with greater visibility of issues in virtual IP networks…