Grazed from PR NewsWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

CloudPassage Inc., the leading cloud server security company, announced today that it was selected as one of three finalists for the most promising startup category of the UP-START 2011 Cloud Awards.  The panel of judges, representing recognized leaders in technology, evaluated 350 nominations from emerging and next-generation cloud companies before selecting a shortlist of finalists.

UP-START sought disruptive and next generation Cloud Computing companies, as well as innovative stealth mode and emerging solution providers who are defining cloud technology.  CloudPassage will be among the award finalists who will present at the UP 2011 Cloud Computing Conference.  The conference will showcase the leading technology innovators in cloud computing, and provide a forum for business and technology leaders to learn more about how cloud computing can enable growth and innovation for companies across all industries…

Grazed from Information Management.  Author:  Penny Crosman.

For Tony Kerrison, the day has long passed when it made sense to question whether cloud computing had a place in financial services companies’ IT plans. Kerrison has been one of the industry’s cloud computing pioneers: In 2008 he helped create an internal cloud for data center servers at Merrill Lynch (back then it was referred to as "stateless infrastructure"). This year he took the helm of the Enterprise Cloud Leadership Council, a group of corporate technology buyers developing cloud standards for vendors.

From his perch in Amsterdam as chief technology officer at ING, he’s at it again, and along the way he is aiming to provide a path that banks in all parts of the world can follow. ING’s project involves building a large hybrid cloud that combines features of public clouds and private data centers, one it will open to other banks to use. The hybrid or shared IT infrastructure, Kerrison believes, will achieve the variable costs, scalability, flexibility, and on-demand availability offered by public cloud computing in a way that addresses the security, compliance and performance requirements banks adhere to in their internal clouds…

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: Byron Deeter.

Even as global markets struggle beneath the weight of unemployment, government paralysis, debt crises and Occupy Wall Street, one segment of the economy enjoys explosive growth with the promise of leading the recovery, one job at a time: cloud computing.

Cloud computing is no longer at the leading edge of the software world, but rather from the perspective of a growth investor, entrepreneur, or technology buyer, cloud computing IS the modern software industry. This multi-billion dollar, high-growth segment of technology now encompasses hundreds of exciting companies, covering every major segment of the software ecosystem.  At Bessemer Venture Partners, we were unable to find a single compelling visual to track the leading companies in this revolution, so we synthesized our own based on thousands of meetings over the last decade…

Grazed from Talkin’ Cloud.  Author: Joe Panettieri.

Parallels has recruited executives from Microsoft, Itron and Symantec.cloud to accelerate the company’s cloud computing and desktop virtualization push. CTO Michael Toutonghi joins from Microsoft, CFO David Arkley joins from Itron, and VP/GM Jesper Frederiksen joins from Symantec.cloud. The new recruits reinforce Parallels’ effort to chart a multi-year course from $100 million to $1 billion in annual revenues, Talkin’ Cloud believes.

Parallels is no stranger to the Microsoft campus. Parallels in 2010 hired Microsoft veteran John Zanni as VP of alliances and former Microsoft Small Business VP Birger Steen as president; Steen later ascended to the Parallels’ CEO post…

Grazed from Silicon.com.   Author: Jo Best.

While businesses are showing interest in embracing the cloud model, any wholesale enterprise adoption of cloud computing remains some way in the future.

For CIOs, particularly those in the public sector and heavily regulated industries such as banking, issues around data security have held back cloud uptake due to concerns that providers storing data overseas could see their customers running afoul of data protection legislation.

By the end of 2016 these fears will have been laid to rest, with more than half of Global 1000 companies storing sensitive customer data in the public cloud, according to research published today by analyst house Gartner…

Grazed from The New York Times.  Author: Quentin Hardy.

The International Data Corporation, whose technology analysis and predictions influence a lot of corporate purchases, foresees the creation of a new high-technology industry in the convergence of mobile devices, social networking, and cloud-based computing and data storage. As a result, the company says in a new study, many industry giants will scramble to sustain relevance, and some upstarts will achieve leadership positions or be purchased.

Frank Gens, IDC’s chief analyst, who led the study, said, “The incumbents are facing a huge transition.”

Spending on the new technologies will reach nearly $700 billion, or about 20 percent of the $3.5 trillion in hardware, software, and services spent on information technology worldwide, IDC said. As a great deal of spending in the sector goes toward maintaining older systems, such a share for relatively new technologies is surprising. Spending on the new technologies is growing six times that of traditional computer servers and personal computers, IDC said, and by 2020 will be 80 percent industry growth…

Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Robert Eve.

Cloud Computing Adoption is Accelerating
Who wouldn’t be interested in extensible functionality and computing resources at an attractive, pay-as-you-go price?

The economics of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) are just too compelling to pass up.

However, because today’s standalone cloud application may prove to be tomorrow’s integration nightmare, banking on cloud computing is not a recipe for a good night’s sleep…

Grazed from North American Press Syndicate.  Author: Editorial Staff.

In today’s economic climate, small businesses need every advantage they can find to get ahead. New technologies in the form of cloud computing are helping small businesses level the playing field against bigger competitors.

Cloud computing makes it possible for companies to access powerful software applications via the Internet for a simple monthly fee. Because the applications are delivered via the Internet, every small business can get access to the same innovations and tools that bigger competitors have been using for years. For instance, Microsoft Corp. recently launched Microsoft Office 365, which brings together the company’s familiar Microsoft Office applications with its enterprise email, videoconferencing and other collaboration and communication capabilities delivered as a subscription service…

Grazed from Computer World.  Author:  Leo King.

Deutsche Bank is set to complete the first phase of a major cloud computing overhaul aimed at improving internal application development.

The German investment bank, which has a substantial presence in the City of London, has developed an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) development platform, due to go live this month.

The aim of the new platform is to enable developers to rapidly create and deploy virtual environments, running up to 2,000 VMs at any one time. These are supported by a variety of collaboration and knowledge management systems…