The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC) has published a new whitepaper, Cloud Customer Architecture for API Management, that describes the architecture elements and capabilities of an effective API Management Platform. The architectural capabilities described in the document can be used to instantiate an API runtime and management environment using private, public or hybrid cloud deployment models. The new reference architecture is available for download here: http://www.cloud-council.org/deliverables/cloud-customer-architecture-for-api-management.htm

An Application Programming Interface or "API" is useful because it exposes a business’ defined assets, data, or services for public consumption. APIs allow companies to open up data and services to external third party developers, business partners, and internal departments within their organization to create innovative channel applications. The reuse of core business assets enables digital transformation. An effective API management Platform will provide a layer of controlled and secure self-service access to the APIs.

Last week at Domopalooza 17, Domo’s annual user conference, Domo announced Mr. Roboto, a new set of capabilities in the Domo platform that leverages machine learning algorithms, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, to power more advanced insights, recommendations and alerts for business decision makers across the enterprise.

As the world’s first advanced intelligence platform to be fully integrated into The Business Cloud, Mr. Roboto is uniquely positioned to provide a more holistic analysis of what’s happening across the business than any other machine learning or predictive engine available.

Domo is the first platform to bring together an organization’s people with massive amounts of business data from across the organization. Mr. Roboto takes advantage of this convergence and will be the first to leverage social patterns happening in The Business Cloud, to deliver deeper insights.

Grazed from SkyKick

SkyKick (www.skykick.com), a global provider of cloud management software for information technology (IT) solution partners, today announced that SkyKick Cloud Backup and SkyKick Migration Suites are now compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. The certifications, which come at no additional cost to existing SkyKick products, provide additional assurance that sensitive customer data is being handled securely around the globe.

"We take data security and privacy very seriously, and our products have always been in line with important regulations. However, the HIPAA and Privacy Shield certifications eliminate the overhead of outside compliance management and provides our partners significant peace of mind," said Brad Younge, SkyKick co-founder and CTO. "The number of SkyKick IT partners managing cloud deployments in healthcare and in Europe has grown tremendously over the past year, and we’re working hard to make it even easier for them to handle sensitive data."

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Janakiram MSV.

The cloud as we know it is going through a massive transformation. What started as an on-demand subscription service for consuming compute, storage, and the network is no more the same. The compute component of the cloud has become table stakes for the vendors in the infrastructure business. Spinning up virtual machines, adding storage, and configuring a network is no more exciting for veteran users. The cloud in its latest avatar is emerging as a data-centric, intelligent platform ready to deal with the next generation of applications and workloads.

At the front and center of this emerging intelligent cloud is Machine Learning (ML), which is undoubtedly the most disruptive technology of this decade. The rise of powerful computing environments based on GPUs and FPGA combined with cheaper but equally powerful storage backed by SSDs made it possible to store and process massive datasets…

Grazed from CrescentVale. Author: Matthew McGuire.

Amazon Web Services have announced today a new customer service known as Amazon Connect. The platform will allow businesses to provide call centers for their customers to interact with one-on-one. Customers engage with products and services on a wide range of different platforms. Amazon Web Services is using their cloud computing technology to enhance the user experience for customers that prefer to speak with customer service representatives over the phone.

Startups and smaller businesses will have more difficulty being able to provide engaging customer support, as well as developing and delivering products. This platform will help companies, even larger companies, provide better customer support…

Read more from the source @ http://crescentvale.com/2017/03/amazon-connect-offers-customer-support-businesses-cloud-computing/

Cloud adoption is gaining momentum among financial institutions, and BCU is at the forefront of this emerging trend for online services. BCU is now working with Armor, The First Totally Secure Cloud Company, to provide data protection and compliance for Microsoft Azure instances with Armor Anywhere. This managed security solution aligns with PCI 3.2 compliance standards and is designed for hybrid cloud environments to help address shared responsibility for public cloud workloads.

"While the financial sector has among the most stringent compliance and regulatory standards, it remains under constant assault by sophisticated cyber attacks," said Jared Day, president, Armor. "BCU is a trailblazer in cloud adoption and will be able to extend IT resources while applying the latest security and compliance controls to keep members safe. Aligning with a visionary organization that realizes the benefits of the cloud, but understands that security requires specialized expertise and solutions, presents an exciting opportunity for Armor."

Grazed from CSO. Author: Editorial Staff.

I’m not comfortable with the large migration of business applications and security solutions to the cloud. It is clear that large cloud providers have excellent infrastructures – but I’m not comfortable yet. Many firms are heavily investing in cloud security solutions. About three or four years ago there was a discussion about the use of cloud solutions to gain functionality that cannot be grown internally in a reasonable period of time.

But, that was then. Now the move to the cloud for midsize firms appears to be rapidly underway. Firms are deploying cloud or partial-cloud solutions for multiple IT solutions. This can create a new problem; what if one solution needs to access data within another solution’s cloud? For example: a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool in a public cloud can collect data from multiple public clouds and analyze it…

Read more from the source @ http://www.csoonline.com/article/3184210/cloud-computing/problems-that-arise-with-cloud-to-cloud-interactions.html