The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) has launched a competition to find the best cloud computing practices and will award a cash prize of $10,000 for the winning entry.

The ODCA was formed by 70 business members, including BMW, Shell, UBS and Deutsche Bank, in October 2010. The membership has now grown to more than 280 companies with a collective annual IT spend in excess of $100bn…

There is no doubt that Cloud Computing has fundamentally changed IT like no other development in the last decade. It represents the new standard for all future technologies. The idea is to avoid the costs of maintaining software and hardware on your own and instead rent it from "the Cloud". An example of a huge success in Cloud Computing is Google Mail, where you no longer need your own mail server or software licenses, as required with a service like Microsoft Exchange Server. Google Mail offers mail services from the Cloud and is accessible from every computer on the internet…

As one of the handful of VoIP players that survived the market shakeout by offering managed and hosted services to SMBs, 8×8 Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT) is now seeing the telecom industry rush headlong in its direction, designing cloud-based services for SMBs and enterprises…

Cloud computing is touted as a "green " technology, but this claim fails to take into consideration the full environmental impact of the scalable resource. The energy savings a school can experience by reducing its hardware can be significant, but other environmental factors such as the e-waste disposal  and the sources of energy used by data centers contracted by the schools must also be addressed if the traditional green claims are declared valid…

The Business Cloud Summit, December 5, 2011, is dedicated to providing content that enables our delegates to choose and deliver Cloud solutions effectively and efficiently within their organisations. The agenda is devised and led by editorial professionals and analysts to ensure that the conference subject matter and discussions are in touch with the latest developments in the marketplace and that meet the real world end user’s needs…

Racemi, a provider of server imaging technology to automate data center operations and facilitate migrations to cloud computing, has announced that it has hired a new vice president of engineering.

Scott Mewett brings nearly 20 years of experience in software development, which includes more than a decade of experience in the design, implementation and management of enterprise class software and services…

Skytap, the leading provider of self-service cloud automation solutions, today announced it was selected by TechTarget’s SearchServerVirtualization as a "Best of VMworld 2011" award winner in the public and hybrid cloud computing technologies category.

The "Best of VMworld" awards program recognizes outstanding cloud computing and virtualization products and solutions released in the last 12 months. A team of expert judges, consisting of editors, independent analysts, users and consultants, evaluated nominations based on innovation, performance, ease of integration into environment, ease of use and manageability, functionality, value, and how the nominated technology fills a market gap…