Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Zack Whittaker.

Amazon remains the only US internet giant in the Fortune 500 that has not yet released a report detailing how many demands for data it receives from the US government. Although people are starting to notice, the retail and cloud giant has no public plans to address these concerns. Word first spread last week when the ACLU’s Christopher Soghoian, who’s spent years publicly denouncing companies for poor privacy practices, told attendees at a Seattle town hall event that he’s "hit a wall with Amazon," adding that it’s "just really difficult to reach people there."

Almost every major internet company issues on a bi-annual basis a report of how many demands for data it receives from the US government (and others). In the wake of the PRISM surveillance scandal, where nine tech companies were accused of being complicit in NSA surveillance, the tech industry wanted more transparency…

Grazed from TopTechNews. Author: Jeremy C. Owens.

Oracle’s sales came in lighter than analysts expected in Tuesday’s earnings report, but the Redwood City software Relevant Products/Services giant showed off continuing gains in cloud Relevant Products/Services software, and founder Larry Ellison predicted stronger cloud sales than industry leader Salesforce this year.

Oracle earned $2.5 billion, or 56 cents a share, on sales of $9.3 billion; after adjusting for certain one-time expenses, Oracle claimed profits of 68 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Oracle to report adjusted earnings of 68 cents a share on $9.46 billion in revenues…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Jon Oltsik.

I just read a good Wall Street Journal blog by Ben DiPietro titled, Speed of Tech Change a Threat to Cybersecurity. His main point is that while organizations are adopting new technologies like cloud computing, mobile computing, and applications based upon the Internet of Things (IoT), they continue to address cybersecurity risks, controls, and oversight with legacy tools and processes.

This creates a mismatch where cyber-adversaries have a distinct offensive advantage over a potpourri of assorted legacy enterprise security defenses. I couldn’t agree more Ben but it may be worse than you think as this discrepancy has been going on for years. In a 2012 research survey, ESG asked security professionals to describe the impact of numerous new IT initiatives on infosec operations and management at their organizations (note: I am an ESG employee). The research indicated that:…

Read more from the source @ http://www.networkworld.com/article/2899086/cisco-subnet/the-increasing-cybersecurity-attack-surface.html

Grazed from ChannelPro. Author: Mark Samuels.

The great benefit of the public cloud is the ability to scale resources up and down in response to business demand. The great downside is the perceived security risk – the financial and reputational costs of an information leak mean many organisations are reticent about a full move on-demand.

There is, however, another way. The hybrid cloud offers an alternative for executives who are looking to gain more flexibility than is offered through a private cloud initiative, but without the risk sometimes associated to a full public installation. In a hybrid cloud, an organisation provides and manages some resources in-house and has others provided externally…

Grazed from MidsizeInsider. Author: Kelley Katsanos.

Increased productivity and cost reductions are the most-valued cloud computing benefits, according to a recent global study of 1,000 senior IT decision-makers conducted by Tata Communications. "The cloud has lived up to industry hype," according to eWeek. Eighty-three percent of organizations have realized additional cloud computing benefits that they did not initially expect, such as increased productivity and cost reductions. Though these cloud benefits have been consistently touted, midsize firms should also consider the cloud for data storage and streamlining processes to reap additional rewards.

Cloud for Data Storage

"By 2024, off-premises storage will have overtaken on-premises alternatives," eWeek reports. Further, the study shows that in 10 years, 58 percent of organizations will have their data stored in the cloud, as compared to 28 percent today. Midsize firms with limited resources may find it difficult to ensure consistent, on-premises data security and processes…

Grazed from RedmondMag. Author: Jeffrey Schwartz.

Microsoft’s next desktop operating system will be available this summer, the company announced on Tuesday, a surprising change from the fall timeline forecasted by Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner back in December. Microsoft announced the unexpectedly early delivery date at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), taking place in Shenzhen, China, this week. In a blog post announcing the new release timeframe, Terry Myerson, executive vice president for the Windows platform group at Microsoft, said Windows 10 will be available in 190 countries and 111 languages when it launches.

The new summer timeframe is a wide window, giving Microsoft anywhere between June 21 and Sept. 20 to launch Windows 10. The expedited release may suggest that Microsoft doesn’t want to miss this year’s back-to-school season, a time when many students buy new systems. If that’s the case, Windows 10 will need to be released in June or July, rather than late September…

Read more from the source @ http://rcpmag.com/articles/2015/03/18/windows-10-will-arrive-summer.aspx

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Thomas LaRock.

Many database administrators and other IT pros fear cloud adoption, but setting aside emotions and understanding how cloud computing impacts your infrastructure is key to overcoming your anxiety. Humans fear the unknown and other things that make us feel less safe and secure. The darkness of a bedroom at night is a good example.

No matter how old you are, the fear that something may be under your bed likely gets you once in a while. Don’t believe me? Try this tonight: Lay on top of your bed, let your leg dangle off the side, and then try not thinking about what’s not under your bed. You’ll see what I mean…

Grazed from MSPMentor.net. Author: Michael Brown.

Even as more organizations adopt cloud solutions, other organizations are resistant to the idea. With the benefits of using cloud tools and cloud-based file sharing already well-documented, what is holding these organizations back? And how can managed service providers (MSPs) alleviate concerns?

A recent report from CloudTweaks.com suggests that there isn’t so much a single reason why organizations are hesitant to adopt cloud solutions, but, rather, an over-arching fear. Many companies still don’t really understand cloud computing, and instead focus on outdated perceptions of how the cloud can negatively impact a company…

Grazed from BusinessWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Today, March 17, Microsoft disclosed that the former Vice President & Principal Analyst at Forrester Research: James Staten, was elected as chief strategist for its Cloud & Enterprise group. Staten will report to Corporate VP and Cloud Chief Scott Guthrie. As stated in his LinkedIn profile, James Staten is a veteran in the market, with over 30 years experience in marketing, business development and corporate strategy with large tech companies and start ups.

At Forrester, his main focus was to track, trend and forecast the technology evolutions and usage trends of data center and server technologies. His main areas of concentration were Cloud Computing & Adaptive Intelligence (collaborative business intelligence). According to one of his tweets, the cloud forecaster is not going to relocate to Redmond, where he was living while at Forrester, he will instead remain based in Silicon Valley where he is going to create connections between the cloud and other Microsoft products, focused on improving the Azure cloud business.

Grazed from BusinessStandard. Author: Shivani Shinde Nadhe.

With three data centres being set up by Microsoft in India the Redmond-based company is expected to have a leg-up in having a bigger pie of the Indian cloud computing business. Microsoft globally has spent over $4.5 billion to set up 19 data centres (DCs) across the globe as it accelerates its strategy to be a Mobile First, Cloud First company.

In the last 12 months the company has expanded its DCs from eight countries to 19. These includes in countries like Australia, Japan, China and India. In India, many believe, that this will allow Microsoft to target the government sector which so far has been vary of adopting to public cloud from third party players…