Grazed from Fox Business News.  Author: Renee Schmidt.

Everyone is talking about “the cloud” these days, but most small business owners think virtualization is a one-size-fits-all service that’s more aptly suited to Fortune 500s with big IT budgets than smaller shops with limited means. The reality is far different – the growth of the cloud computing service market has created a smorgasbord of cloud options for businesses of any size and budget who want to capitalize on virtualized services in their own way.

It’s important for business owners, particularly in small or medium sized companies, to realize that the cloud doesn’t refer to one large umbrella service, but instead can be sliced up into smaller pieces that fit the unique needs of the individual business. The decision to go cloud is not all or nothing; a business can choose components of their infrastructure to put in the cloud, keeping other components in-house. By breaking it up this way, it also makes it easier for a company to transition its operations and employees and test the benefits of virtualization…

Grazed from TechTarget.  Author:   Stuart Johnston.

This past year saw a lot of frenetic activity in the cloud computing market, a good chunk of which was caused by major players such as IBM and HP that finally started to “get it.”

IBM, which has never articulated a clear, strategic direction for its dizzying array of products, got it this past April when it released its comprehensive Smart Business Cloud initiative. The company woke from its slumber to deliver a family of integrated cloud-based products.

Meanwhile, one of the earliest and most trusted cloud services purveyors — can you spell “Amazon”? — demonstrated that not only can a simple human screw up things for a whole bunch of users, but also that a lack of attention to customer service at a crucial time can affect user perceptions about the entire cloud industry…

Grazed from Digital Journal.  Author: PR Announcement.

RobotShop.com, the world’s most visited e-commerce site specializing in service robotics, announces today the launch of a new cloud computing service specifically designed for robots as well as all “smart objects.”

MyRobots is a portal where robot owners and builders can connect their robots, monitor their status, and control them. All Internet-enabled robots can be readily connected to MyRobots, thanks to the open API in place. Robots which cannot access the Internet directly can use the “MyRobots Connect,” a physical device which allows any robot capable of serial communication to be easily connected to MyRobots. The new portal will soon offer downloadable and cloud-based robotic applications and the roboticist community will have the opportunity to participate in developing their own. Developers can then sell their applications in the "Robot App Store" soon to be launched. Furthermore, all information about compatible hardware and the communication API are available on the site to allow robot owners and builders to develop applications freely. In addition, manufacturers and OEMs can use the MyRobots platform to improve the capabilities of their robotic products and provide better service to their customers. It is important to note that for an undetermined period of time, all data plans on MyRobots will be offered free of charge…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

LiveOps announced today that it has been named a finalist in the inaugural 2012 Cloud Awards program in the "Best Platform as a Service" category.

The Cloud Awards is a premier international cloud computing awards program that recognizes and celebrates industry leaders and pioneers in the field of cloud computing. The awards program is open internationally across the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Entries are accepted from organizations of any size, whether they are start-ups or established vendors.

"The organizations which have taken part in the 2012 Cloud Awards program demonstrate exactly what cloud computing has to give," said Larry Johnson, Cloud Awards organizer. "We’ve seen world-leading organizations spring up literally overnight to offer faster, more capable and cost-effective solutions than previously imagined. We’ve seen markets become so disrupted they’re unrecognizable. And we’ve seen all of this while cloud computing is still in its infancy."…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author:  Editorial Staff.

Grazed from Cloud Pro.  Author:  Jennifer Scott.

The public cloud has many benefits. The instant access to extra storage and compute helps in times of need. The pay as you go model means you only splash out for what you use. The lack of license keeps you free and easy to move your data.

But, the one thing we all worry about is an outage. It doesn’t matter how good the service is if you cannot access it and it still prevents numerous companies from putting mission critical data or applications out there.

We take a look at the top five cloud outages this year and keep our fingers crossed the offenders learn from their mistakes…

Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author: David Linthicum.

Google announced last week the end of the "experimental" availability of its high-replication data store; it’s now a "real" part of the Google App Engine SDK. This is part of a key 2012 trend: Cloud providers will rush to address cloud computing concerns from enterprise IT — including security, performance, and availability — through the addition of features taken from existing private enterprise computing environments.

In the past, many cloud providers dismissed requests that features be added to replicate what existed in enterprise data centers. Typically, they referred to traditional enterprise computing methods as overly complex, convoluted, and costly. Indeed, many even gave this criticism a name: "enterprisey."

Now, Google App Engine can replicate data across multiple data centers, and thus work around availability issues in the case of maintenance and outages that affect a single instance. This offering is a result of businesses demanding such features before they move to the public cloud…

Grazed from CIOL.  Author:  Editorial Staff.

‘Big data’ analytics, security and cloud computing will be three of the most significant drivers of technological change in 2012, according to Ovum.

The predictions for the coming year also include the growing impact of social networking platforms on enterprise collaboration strategies, convergence of selected software-as-a-service (SaaS) CRM and marketing services, and the consumerisation of IT, which looks likely to accelerate the adoption of self-selected SaaS by line-of-business owners and the deployment of mobile device management solutions to support bring-your-own-device strategies.

The independent technology analyst also expects the role of chief information officer (CIO) to continue evolving next year as it faces strong pressure to develop operational and investment models that embrace technology-led innovation from all functional units within the organisation…

Grazed from GottaBe Mobile.  Author:  Chuong Nguyen.

Beyond smartphones, mobile giants Apple and Google are working on wearable computing devices that would serve as a proxy and allow its wearers to interact with either their smartphones or with the cloud. Apple had already begun testing the waters for wearable computing technology with the iPod Nano released last year where the Cupertino, California company gave third-party accessories makers ideas for creating wrist straps so that consumers can wear the diminutive portable music player on their wrists. Google, on the other hand, is still developing concepts for its wearable computing technology.

News of Google’s foray into the wearable computing market comes by way of The New York Times, which is reporting that the Android-maker has been testing prototypes and concepts in its Google X Labs. The company also had in recent years recruited wearable computing experts from top research universities, Nokia Labs, and Apple to help it with development…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author:  Carl Eberling.

Here’s a look at ahead at what 2012 holds for cloud computing and the IT sector.

• Google and Microsoft will strongly challenge Apple‘s lead in the IT mobile market.

When deciding which platforms to support, IT administrators are challenged with balancing market share and capabilities against long-term potential. They will have to manage the devices that are chosen by the majority of their end users. While Apple iOS is currently in the IT leadership position, Google Android’s high ranking is likely a reflection of where the market will head as its sales increase and capabilities improve. Likewise, Microsoft remains a strong contender with Windows 7 (and upcoming Windows 8).

While Google and Microsoft certainly are going to battle with Apple for its lead, the reality is that IT doesn’t want to support any of them. The device of choice for IT is the one on which nobody calls them for help, so the best of these platforms will be self-service enabled. When we look back in another five years, the greatest achievement here might be the fact that IT is not nearly as involved in mobile platforms as they have been on desktops. Many people assume the paradigm tomorrow will be the same as today; but, I believe it’s going to be different…