Grazed from Talkin Cloud.  Author: Mike Vizard.

Now that Docker containers have emerged as a disruptive alternative to virtualization, the debate over where they should actually run is starting to get fierce.  As one of the earliest proponents of making use of containers in the cloud, Joyent has always made the case for running containers on physical servers; an argument it extended this week with the unfurling of a Triton Elastic Container Infrastructure cloud service for Docker containers that organizations can invoke as either a private or public cloud.

Joyent CTO Bryan Cantrill says the cloud service provider (CSP) is leveraging all the management infrastructure it originally created to manage containers in a production environment to now provide that same capability using Docker containers in a production environment in the cloud…

Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing/03252015/joyent-unleashes-trident-cloud-docker-containers

Grazed from CloudTech.  Author: James Bourne.

With everything Microsoft releases, it’s a “mobile first, cloud first” mantra which accompanies it. This is no different; the tech giant has announced the launch of the Azure App Service, a cloud service which enables developers to built web and mobile apps for any platform and any device.

The service brings together the capabilities from Azure Websites, Azure Mobile Services and Azure BizTalk Services. Microsoft aims to provide an integrated solution that streamlines development while enabling easy integration with on-premise and SaaS systems and quickly automate business processes…

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Shawn Drew.

Cloud and mobile integrations are increasingly occurring within businesses, but some challenges still remain. Midsize businesses can benefit from being acutely aware how powerful these tech paradigms can be and learn where others are falling short to carve out an advantage in a crowded marketplace.

Gartner’s View of the CIO Landscape

Gartner’s "Flipping to Digital Leadership: The 2015 CIO Agenda" study polled 2,800 CIOs from around the world regarding their current technology practices and future plans. Only nine percent of those polled reported not even considering a cloud-based SaaS solution, and that number only rises to 15 percent for IaaS. These results suggest that the public cloud is widely considered a viable option for most projects…

Grazed from SAP. Author: Susan Galer.

For many Human Resources (HR) organizations, the move to cloud-based software delivery is inevitable. Cloud is already living up to its promise at many companies, empowering HR to be more strategic and employees to be more productive. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone fully understands its benefits, or isn’t concerned about the risks inherent to change. Conversations between companies and vendors are cutting through the hype, hope and fears to discover the practical value cloud can bring.

Benefit 1: Fast access to innovation

According to David Ludlow, Group Vice President of HR Line of Business at SuccessFactors/SAP, the benefit of cloud is first and foremost about access to innovation. Unlike on-premise software, cloud delivery allows companies to provide software release updates to HR departments and employees company-wide automatically, on a regular basis throughout the year. “In cloud, you have much faster access to innovation than you could ever get in the on-premise world so customers can actually use much more effectively and easily what the vendor delivers,” said Ludlow…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Nicole Yeager.

Cloud computing or “the cloud” as most refer to it, is no longer just for tech savvy executives. Consumers and businesses alike are flocking in the masses to the improved agility, lower costs and unrivaled advantages that cloud environments provide. With the number of global consumer subscriptions to the cloud at 730 million in 2014, it is safe to say, the cloud is here to stay.

As the demand for “the cloud” continues to increase, so do the expectations and requirements for cloud capabilities. Businesses and consumers are gravitating towards products that offer the limitless mobility and functionalities that meet their lifestyle. As we discuss the universal draw towards these next key products, it’s clear that “100% cloud” has quickly become the new black…

Read more from the source @ http://www.networkworld.com/article/2901035/uc-voip/100-cloud-is-the-new-black.html

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: James Bourne.

Is more sensitive data being kept in the cloud? According to the latest report from Vormetric, in association with analyst house Ovum, 60% of US IT decision makers and 54% of respondents globally say they store sensitive data in the cloud. Yet cloud environments (47%) are more of a risk to enterprise organisations than databases (37%) and file servers (29%), while cloud and big data concerns remain “genuine” and “deep rooted” according to the study, which surveyed over 800 IT decision makers worldwide.

The numbers revealed worrying findings about why organisations were moving data into the cloud; almost half (46%) of respondents expressed concerns over ‘market pressures’ forcing them to use cloud services. In terms of key changes to increase the use of cloud services, 55% wanted encryption of data with enterprise key control on their premises; 52% wanted encryption of their organisation’s data within the service provider’s infrastructure, and 52% wanted liability terms for a data breach…

Grazed from CIO. Author: Janel Ryan.

We’ve all heard about cloud computing, but it may still seem like a foreign language to some. Because cloud computing has become a big deal (like, change the face of IT big), we thought we would provide a brief cloud computing introduction. Here are some key points you need to know about cloud computing to help your organization reap its benefits and get you back into the 21st century.

1. There are two versions of cloud to know about

There are several varieties of cloud computing services. Depending on your company’s IT needs, you might be able to use a cloud service instead of investing in new IT hardware. Two of the more popular versions of cloud offerings are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). With SaaS, the cloud service provider hosts your enterprise applications and associated data on its servers and storage systems…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Dan Kobialka.

Security remains paramount for global organizations interested in cloud computing, according to a new Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) survey. The ODCA’s fourth-annual member survey revealed that security was the top cloud adoption concern among global organizations. The survey also showed that more than 80 percent of respondents said they are using or plan to use hybrid cloud solutions at some point in the future.

Other survey results included:

• For the past three years, the number of organizations with less than 20 percent of their operations in a public cloud ranged from 79 percent to 88 percent.
• Over the past three years, there has been significant growth in private cloud implementations, with the greatest growth in organizations that have more than half of their services in private clouds…

Grazed from MSPMentor. Author: Michael Brown.

This year, it looks like IT spending is going up, and cloud-based file sharing is a big contributor. A survey of IT executives shows 43 percent of companies plan to increase their IT budget in 2015, with the average increase at 13 percent. Here is what they plan to spend their IT budgets on this year.

Cloud Computing

Cloud-based sharing and storage has seen a major increase in the past few years, but 2015 looks to be its biggest year yet. 40% of those surveyed planned to increase their spending on cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS). Companies can now really see the value in increasing their flexibility and accessibility by leveraging the cloud…

Grazed from PCTechMag. Author: Ephraim Batambuze.

Airtel yesterday announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to offer its cloud computing services to customers in India. The Cloud computing services will offer software and other facility to customers while charging them on usage basis, without requiring them to buy entire product.

Bharti Airtel’s Global Business CEO Ajay Chitkara said that they are excited to strengthen Airtel’s cloud services portfolio by adding Amazon Web Services to our growing list of cloud services providers. Under this partnership customers will get commitment from the company on a dedicated connection between their premise and AWS data centres – the facility which was not available earlier…

Read more from the source @ http://pctechmag.com/2015/03/airtel-partners-with-amazon-for-cloud-computing-services/