Grazed from ManufacturingGlobal. Author: Abigail Phillips.

As with any new technology, cloud computing has been through the hype cycle, with inflated expectations giving way to disillusionment and moving further along the maturity curve toward realistic, practical and beneficial solutions. However, for many organisations, whether they have taken their first steps toward the cloud or are still contemplating a move, the journey can seem like an overwhelming task. In order to leverage maximum cloud benefit, whether organisations are just starting or are well on the way, a pragmatic approach is needed for the journey to the cloud.

The need for digital transformation within organisations is one of the biggest drivers for the cloud from the perspective of the CEO, along with the desire to transform the business and enhance the customer journey. However, the IT manager and the business typically have different cloud priorities, as the IT manager is tasked with improving processes and cutting costs…

Grazed from FirstPost. Author: Editorial Staff.

Just weeks after announcing its plans to make a foray into the cloud computing market, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding said it was "on track" to open its data centre in Singapore in September. The Singapore data centre will serve customers in Southeast Asia.

Alibaba, which will invest $1 billion in the next three years into its Aliyun cloud computing arm and set up data centres in the Middle East, Singapore, Japan and Europe, hopes "to overtake Amazon (AWS division) in four years, whether that’s in customers, technology, or worldwide scale."…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Mike Vizard.

For the most part cloud service providers are generally platforms through that application developers invoke to either host their applications or access additional backend services. With that role in mind, Verizon has formed a strategic alliance with DreamFactory, a provider of an open source backend-as-a-service (BaaS) software based on REST application programming interfaces (APIs).

Rather than asking developers to master low level code to integrate with backend systems, DreamFactory enables solution providers to more easily integrate any number of backend applications and systems using a standard set of REST APIs. Dawane Young, director for platforms and applications in the Verizon Partner Solutions Group, said that partnering with DreamFactory represents a huge step forward in terms of the self-service integration capabilities Verizon will be able to provide application developers…

Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing/verizon-enlists-dreamfactory-cloud-integration

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Nicole Henderson.

Recognizing that more customers prefer to contact brands through social media rather than phone or email, Oracle (ORCL) has added more social customer service capabilities as part of updates to the latest version of its Oracle Service Cloud and Oracle Social Cloud on Monday.

Oracle said that the latest release of Oracle Service Cloud allows organizations to deliver a seamless experience between web service and community interactions with Community Self-Service, which allows customers to find an answer quickly and reduces requests to the contact center…

Grazed from ExtremeTech. Author: Todd Ogasawara.

IBM has announced two mainframe computers under the LinuxONE branding that will eventually be able to run Canonical’s popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. This latest move is part of a near-30-year history of IBM running UNIX and, later, Linux-based operating systems on its hardware products. IBM’s first UNIX-like product for its mainframes AIX/370 appeared way back in 1988. While the ability to run Ubuntu on a mainframe may have been the news that attracted attention, the announcement really has several parts.

First, there are two LinuxOne mainframe models. The LinuxONE Emperor is designed for large enterprises. IBM claims it can run up to 8,000 virtual servers, tens of thousands of containers. and 30 billion RESTful web interactions per day supporting millions of active users. The Emperor can have up to 141 processors, 10 terabytes of shared memory, and 640 dedicated I/O (input/output) processors. And IBM claims it can provide all this with a cost that’s half that of a public cloud infrastructure solution…

Grazed from BusinessCloudNews. Author: Editorial Staff.

Fujitsu and Red Hat have jointly developed a dedicated solution to simplify the creation of OpenStack private clouds. The Primeflex is a converged compute and storage combines Fujitsu’s server technology with Red Hat OpenStack and Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform software, and backed by Fujitsu’s professional services outfit.

The companies said the OpenStack-based converged offering will speed up cloud deployment. Harald Bernreuther, director global infrastructure solutions at Fujitsu said: “Primeflex for Red Hat OpenStack can underpin any organisation’s plan to transform their business model by leveraging cloud computing. By opting for an OpenStack-based solution, organisations can run new cloud-scale workloads while also optimising costs…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: David Bollero.

Schools are increasingly adopting cloud computing to take advantage of the associated flexibility and cost savings. From a budgetary standpoint, schools can achieve better value for money and improved functionality through the cloud. New pedagogical models such as the flipped classroom, which have been largely associated with massive open online courses (Moocs), are improving both teaching and learning processes.

However, this new scenario also implies substantial risks to privacy, which should be addressed to ease the transition to a digital environment. For this reason, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has introduced Europe’s first inspection of cloud computing services in education…

Read more from the source @ http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Cloud-computing-in-schools-privacy-under-threat

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: James Bourne.

Gartner has released its latest hype cycle for emerging technologies, and while the likes of autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Things sits atop the peak of inflated expectations, hybrid cloud computing is a bit further down the line heading straight for the trough of disillusionment.

The analyst house groups a bunch of technologies in three different stages and heavily influenced by its nexus of forces – mobile, social, cloud and information. Hybrid cloud comes under the digital marketing banner, whereby enterprises focus on new ways to reach consumers. Other technologies in this bucket include IoT, machine learning and gesture control…

Grazed from DigiTimes. Author: Aaron Lee.

Quanta Computer has partnered with Cisco to provide hardware- and software-integrated services to hospitals and clinics. Quanta will combine its QOCA medical platform, which it developed jointly with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with Cisco’s cloud computing solutions and the services have already been adopted by several hospitals in Taiwan and are also targeting the China market.

Quanta chairman Barry Lam pointed out that the IT industry will have a tough time in the third quarter, but Quanta is expected to see stable development in the long term thanks to its cloud computing, Internet of things (IoT) and wearable device businesses. In addition to Quanta, Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), Wistron and Qisda have all been operating in the medical electronics device sector for over 10 years…

Grazed from Datamation. Author: Jeffrey Kaplan.

The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) may be the most confusing idea conjured up by the tech industry since the advent of the ‘cloud.’ But a recent survey clearly shows that the first round of IoT deployments are already generating meaningful business results, which will encourage others to get onboard the IoT train.

I’ve been talking about IoT in this publication since the beginning of 2014, warning IT executives and other professionals to get ready for their responsibilities to dramatically change. Rather than ‘just’ being responsible for managing hardware systems and business applications, IoT puts IT in the middle of the product/service development process. It also makes IT responsible for ensuring the timely delivery and maintenance of products and services. And, as a result, IT is now directly impacted by the success or failure of new products and services in the marketplace…