November 30, 2011 Off

HPCC Systems tunes big data platform for AWS

By David
Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Derrick Harris.

HPCC Systems, the division of LexisNexis that’s pushing a big-data processing-and-delivery platform, has tuned its software to run on Amazon’s cloud computing platform. Interested developers can now experiment with the open source software without having to wrangle physical servers for that purpose, which brings HPCC one step closer to establishing itself as a viable alternative to the uber-popular Hadoop framework.

When I last spoke with HPCC Systems CTO Armando Escalante in September, he explained that although he thinks his company will have little trouble attracting risk-averse large enterprise and government customers, it will be tougher to establish a developer ecosystem similar to what Hadoop has built. As good as HPCC might be — and at least some analysts are starting to sing its praises — having a vibrant community goes a long way…

November 30, 2011 Off

Think of cloud computing like a power grid

By David
Grazed from The Royal Gazzette.  Author: Alex Wright.

We’ve all heard about it, but what is exactly is cloud computing and how can it benefit us as a home and business user?

One of the most important applications for the cloud is backing up data an issue which was brought to the fore following the fire which broke out at HWP earlier this year destroying all of the company’s records.

The term cloud refers to data storage and software applications delivered over the internet, providing a greater level of security, access and control of that information.

Sam Sena, head of professional services at Logic Communications, said that the best way to describe the new phenomenon that already touches a lot of our lives is to think of an analogy of the power grid…

November 30, 2011 Off

HP Targets Cloud Providers With New Certifications, Wares

By David
Grazed from CRN.  Author: Andrew R. Hickey.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) launched a suite of new cloud computing certifications to give partners and customers the stamp of approval that they have the chops to design and deploy a cloud environment.

The new certifications, which HP added to its HP ExpertONE Converged Infrastructure certification portfolio at HP Discovery in Vienna, cover cloud areas like business alignment, infrastructure, software and provisioning, said Rebekah Harvey, director of learning product management, certification and learning at HP. They focus on HP CloudSystem, the tech giant’s integrated and open platform for building and managing services across private, public and cloud environments.

First, HP unveiled the HP Accredited Solutions Expert (ASE) Cloud Architect certification, which enables certification holders to architect a spectrum of cloud services, wither public private or hybrid, Harvey said…

November 30, 2011 Off

PATRIOT Act clouds U.S. tech edge

By David
Grazed from Politico.  Author: David Saleh Rauf.

Cloud computing is a gold mine for the U.S. tech industry, but American firms are encountering resistance from an unexpected enemy overseas: the PATRIOT Act.

The Sept. 11-era law was supposed to help the intelligence community gather data on suspected terrorists. But competitors overseas are using it as a way to discourage foreign countries from signing on with U.S. cloud computing providers like Google and Microsoft: Put your data on a U.S.-based cloud, they warn, and you may just put it in the hands of the U.S. government…

November 29, 2011 Off

Microsoft Talks Office 365 Cloud Momentum

By David
Grazed from Windows IT Pro.  Author: Paul Thurrott.

Microsoft on Tuesday announced the first major service update for its Office 365 cloud computing service and touted its early successes, especially with small businesses.  Additionally, Office 365 is now available in another 22 markets.

"We are seeing really positive momentum for Office 365," Microsoft Office Division president Kurt DulBene said. "Customers are adopting Office 365 eight times faster than our previous service, and the solution is on track to become one of our fastest-growing offers in Microsoft history."

Microsoft says that the service is seeing particular success with small businesses: Currently, over 90 percent of Office 365 subscribers are small businesses with 50 or fewer employees…

November 29, 2011 Off

Cloud Computing: Facilities Work Order Management as a Service

By David
Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author:  Srinivasan Sundara Rajan.

SaaS / BpaaS Adoption
This is the continuation of my series of articles on Industry SaaS . This term ‘Industry SaaS’ can be used interchangeably with BpaaS (Business Process as a Service). However, the term ‘Industry SaaS’ meaning Software as a Service meant for a specific industry need is stressed for wider attention, as the term BpaaS has yet to mature with a clear definition.

Facilities Job/Work Order Management
Most large manufacturing enterprises will have a facilities division that is responsible for various infrastructure jobs within the enterprise whether in the office space or in plants or warehouses. Typical activities conducted by the facilities department are like building a new room inside the premises or fixing an existing infrastructure.

Most of the work done by the facilities department is termed as jobs and most enterprises have a job management system to track these jobs for completion and report on them. This application is generally referred to as Facilities Job Management application. The term ‘Job’ & ‘Work Order’ are used interchangeably in this context…

November 29, 2011 Off

Using the Cloud to Enable Next-Generation Enterprise Mobility Solutions

By David
Grazed from Sys Con Media.   Author: Jesus Rodriguez.

Mobile computing has drastically impacted the social, commercial and even philosophical aspects of our society. Seeing the explosion of mobile applications in the consumer world, companies can’t avoid dreaming about revolutionizing their businesses with the presence of mobile applications. The ability of extending business capabilities to mobile devices leads the priority list of most CIOs. However, the path to enterprise mobility goes beyond building sporadic applications for specific line of business systems. Companies embarking on the enterprise mobility journey need cohesive strategies for important mobile infrastructure aspects such as device management, identity, security, and monitoring, that are required to provide a true enterprise mobility experience.

The good news is that, as an industry, we have been addressing those challenges for a few years through platforms such as Research in Motion (RIM) enterprise server. The bad news is that the RIM model has severe limitations when adapted to modern mobile technologies. The good news is that we have various modern solutions to address those challenges. The bad news is that the solutions might seem a bit radical at first. The good news is that today’s solution to enterprise mobility has been proven for years in the consumer world…

November 29, 2011 Off

Cloud Computing: Massive Facebook IPO Apparently on the Runway

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

Facebook is thinking of going public in the spring and raising $10 billion – a record amount for a high-tech or Internet IPO or pretty much any other IPO – on an estimated valuation of more than $100 billion, according to both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal’s anonymous sources.

Apple, now the most valuable high-tech company, currently has a market cap of around $349.57 billion.

Facebook could put in its papers to IPO before of the end of the year. The Journal says it is talking to the SEC about the timing of the filing and suggests the IPO could come off sometime between April and July…

November 29, 2011 Off

A guide to cloud formations – SaaS

By David
Grazed from Computing.  Author:  Derek Du Preez.

The cloud computing market has been driven by the considerable uptake of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, which have allowed enterprises to develop a new IT model that requires minimal capital investment in infrastructure. However, despite the SaaS market’s relative maturity, there is still a lack of clarity when it comes to defining and distinguishing between SaaS offerings.

“Trying to define SaaS is still controversial,” says Laurent Lachal, an analyst at Ovum. “SaaS is application functionality, delivered through a browser and packaged with data storage. It’s quite simple. However, it is diced and sliced in so many different ways,” he adds…

November 29, 2011 Off

Cisco Global Cloud Index Projects Cloud Traffic to Grow 12-Fold by 2015; Cloud to Be 51 Percent of Data Center Workloads by 2014

By David
Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

In the inaugural Cisco(R) Global Cloud Index (2010 – 2015) issued today, Cisco /quotes/zigman/20039/quotes/nls/csco CSCO -0.06% estimates global cloud computing traffic will grow 12-fold from 130 exabytes to reach a total of 1.6 zettabytes annually by 2015, a 66 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). One zettabyte is equal to a sextillion bytes or a trillion gigabytes — 1.6 zettabytes is approximately equivalent to:
 
        —  22 trillion hours of streaming music.
        —  5 trillion hours of business Web conferencing with a webcam.
        —  1.6 trillion hours of online high-definition (HD) video streaming…