Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

It’s a new year. We’ll soon have a new president in the White House, tax returns due in four months, and a bunch of resolutions that we’ll have failed to keep by February. But there is one more thing to do. Most enterprises have spent the last few years determining the what of cloud computing: What is it? What does it do for you? What does it cost?

By what dates do your applications need to be in the cloud? They’re all good questions to answer, but now in 2017 it’s time to get to work — that is, to move from the what to the how. As part of that move to the how of cloud computing, enterprises need to take care of a few points in planning:…

Read more from the source @ http://www.infoworld.com/article/3152871/cloud-computing/planning-is-over-its-time-to-actually-move-to-the-cloud.html

Grazed from ITProPortal. Author: Tony Connor.

In our final instalment of this three-part A to Z series of terms you might commonly hear associated with the Cloud, we will take you through the letters S to Z. Our previous instalments have included a wide range of terms, from DevOps and Elastic computing to Operating system and Redundancy, and if you’d like to go back through and see the terms we have covered off already, you can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. With just a few more terms left to explain for you, we now pick up where we left off with the letter S.

S is for SaaS

Software as a Service, sometimes referred to as “on-demand software”, is a type of software which is hosted centrally “in the cloud” and paid for using a subscription, a so-called pay-as-you-go model. Users can access the services via any internet enabled device with a web browser and as a bulk of the processing occurs in the cloud, the end-users do not need high-end equipment…

Read more from the source @ http://www.itproportal.com/features/a-to-z-of-the-cloud-part-three/

Grazed from CIOReview. Author: Scott Fenton.

In speaking with a number of companies, I am surprised at how many have not adopted a Cloud First strategy. In many cases, I find the organization either does not understand the benefits, both business and financial, or are simply risk averse. These can range from a fear of losing control of your applications and data, to losing your staff.

I totally understand their concern. Disruption to your business applications and platform could have devastating consequences. On the flip side however, the benefits far outweigh the risks. As a CIO, I had not purchased an on premise application in years, only Cloud solutions. Below, I have outlined five benefits of a Cloud First strategy, and five pitfalls to avoid…

Read more from the source @ http://avaya.cioreview.com/cioviewpoint/cloud-first-are-we-there-yet-nid-23553-cid-90.html

Grazed from StarOnline. Author: Matt Day.

In a Seattle-area conference room earlier this year, Washington state’s two largest employers started sketching out the future. In a daylong series of meetings at Microsoft’s campus, engineers from the software company knocked heads and keyboards with their counterparts at Boeing. The goal: tapping in to Microsoft’s Azure, the software maker’s network of on-demand computing power, to build a new generation of software.

Boeing for years has made tools, from paper navigational aids to maintenance software, that help its aerospace customers fly and take care of their planes. An engineer with a record book and a manual knows roughly when to replace a part. But an engineer equipped with software that can help make sense of decades of maintenance data could do a more precise job, the thinking goes, improving aircraft maintenance and fuel consumption. Boeing is hoping to build web-based variants of its aviation analytics tools on Microsoft’s Azure…

CloudRecover Backup solution powered by Asigra is now available for existing and new customers

Adding Asigra to the portfolio will add more value for customers and partners that are looking for a secure backup and recovery solution. Organisations demanding flexibility with fast access to data and scalable backup solutions now have access to CloudRecover’s enhanced managed service across multiple devices and platforms.

How It Works

Bezlio uses a secure, token-based system through an encrypted cloud-based communication network to connect the data that sits behind your firewall, inside of your private network, with any trusted mobile device across the Internet.  Administrators can control which users are permitted to connect and the data they can read and edit. 

Grazed from GeekWire. Author: Dan Richman.

Here’s a no-brainer: 2017 will be a big year for the cloud. Cloud computing is an innovation rivaling the advent of client-server, the PC or the internet, and it’s going to enjoy continued vigorous growth in the new year. But private data centers aren’t going away. Though the essential balance of power within the public-cloud world won’t change much, competition may favor companies that best serve the organizations straddling private data centers and the public cloud — which is to say, most of them. Here are some of the key cloud trends to watch this year:

Revenue will rise sharply for the big public-cloud providers.

Forrester is predicting that revenue from public-cloud services, combined with software as a service, will grow at a compounded annual rate of 22 percent between 2015 and 2020, reaching $236 billion. VC firm North Bridge estimated that public-cloud spending alone will grow to $522 billion in 2026, from $75 billion in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent…

Grazed from MMSOnline. Author: James Brown.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is no longer only a promise. With common data definitions for metalcutting machines specified in the MTConnect standard, we now have a way to easily collect large amounts of data regardless of the machine manufacturer. Development of the IIoT brings with it new requirements to control, monitor and analyze these massive amounts of data, and convert them into actionable business intelligence in real time. So, in addition to connecting machines with a standard language, manufacturers need provisions for local computing and secure networking.

Major networking equipment suppliers are releasing hardware designed for long-term reliability in data collection and security under factory conditions. Advanced switches and other components now enable manufacturers to collect data for both local and cloud computing environments. This provides a more customizable approach to security, data storage and analysis…

Read more from the source @ http://www.mmsonline.com/columns/what-it-takes-to-connect

The leading players have adopted competitive strategies such as acquisition, product launch and agreement in order to strengthen their market presence. For instance, in 2015, Sailpoint Technologies, Inc. acquired Whitebox Security, which would help the company to manage unstructured data. In 2014, IBM acquired two IAM firms, Lighthouse Security Group and CrossIdeas to expand and enhance its identity and access management (IAM) offerings.

Cloud Identity Access Management (IAM) Market report, published by Allied Market Research, forecasts that the global market is expected to garner $2.8 Billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 26.2% during the forecast period 2015 – 2020. Multi factor authentication service is expected to witness fastest growth, at a CAGR of 30.5% from 2015 to 2020. North America was the highest revenue generating region in 2014 for cloud IAM, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific.