Grazed from MidsizeInsider.  Author: Kelly Katsanos.

Recent research shows that SMBs’ usage of cloud computing for marketing and collaboration will significantly increase within the next three years. Cloud solutions in these areas can help SMBs realize the cost reductions, scalability and flexibility necessary to sustain their businesses.

SMB Cloud Usage on the Rise

SMBs are increasingly accepting and implementing cloud services, a recent article featured in Cloud Tech revealed. A BCSG survey of 600 European participants across all stages of small business, from micro businesses to pre-startups, found that "64 percent of SMBs are already using cloud-based software, while the average number of applications in use is three." Further, according to Cloud Tech, cloud usage should increase over the next two to three years, potentially driving the average number of applications in use by SMBs from three to seven…

Grazed from CIOToday.  Author: Dan Heilman.

As it gets under way at the MGM Grand & Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, IBM’s InterConnect 2015 corporate convention will touch on cloud, mobile, DevOps, security, asset management, Internet of Things, application integration, and smarter processes. But a main area of focus is expected to be hybrid cloud technology, which gives IBM’s individual businesses a chance to discuss and demonstrate how they can better leverage each other’s technologies and capabilities. The convention runs through Thursday.

Many of the new services and software that IBM is unveiling at the Interconnect conference are designed to ease the work involved with linking the public cloud to internal operations. For instance, the company will release software to run IBM’s BlueMix platform services from within an organization’s own data centers…

Grazed from TheStreet. Author: Chris Ciaccia.

As IBM pushes its clients toward cloud computing, the software and services provider announced new investments Monday in its hybrid cloud offerings to boost revenue in a fast-expanding part of its business. "Today, we are launching a new class of cloud innovations that extend open standards capabilities for the enterprise," said IBM SVP Robert LeBlanc in a statement. "Data location across an ever growing number of clouds is an increasing concern for customers and we are unveiling new portability and developer services to make this easier to manage."

By doing so, IBM’s customers will be able to move their software, platforms and information-technology systems to the hybrid cloud, which allows clients to manage some resources internally and others on IBM’s platform. The dual cloud platform is intended to make it easier to adopt and update a client’s IT needs…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Frederic Paul.

If you still harbored any doubts that the web is now driving the future of IT, last week’s announcement that HP will offer disaggregated products for web-scale data centers via deals with Cumulus and Accton should be enough to convince you. The deal itself is hardly monumental. HP inked a pair of "partnerships that will produce a branded white box switch capable of running multiple network operating systems."

And it comes on the heels of HP’s deal with Foxconn last year to build inexpensive cloud computing servers. But as HP joins Juniper, Dell, and many others supporting the concepts behind Facebook’s Open Compute project, it’s becoming clear that the era of high-priced, proprietary networking hardware—not to mention servers—is drawing to a close…

Read more from the source @ http://www.networkworld.com/article/2887461/data-center/hp-deal-marks-milestone-for-open-source-networking-hardware.html

Grazed from RSC.org. Author: Rebecca Trager.

The White House has appointed its first chief data scientist and chief technology officer for data policy. The new post will be filled by D J Patil, who most recently served as the vice president of product at RelateIQ, a software company acquired by the California-based global cloud computing company Salesforce last year.

In his new role, Patil will assist in shaping policies and practices to help the US remain a leader in technology and innovation, foster partnerships to maximise the nation’s return on its investment in data and work to recruit the best minds in data science to join public service…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge. Author: Bill Kleyman.

OpenStack vs CloudStack is not so much of a battle as it is a push for advanced cloud management. Let’s start here: these platforms were designed as cloud computing has become an integral part for many organizations. The big push was for logical cloud-layer management that has a lot of ways to control various workloads. With that, let’s dive into the latest and greatest from both of these guys.

CloudStack: Running on hyervisors like KVN, vSphere, XenServer, and now Hyper-V, CloudStack is an open-source cloud management platform designed for creating, controlling, and deploying various cloud services. With its growing API-supported stack, CloudStack already fully supports the Amazon AWS API model…

Read more from the source @ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2015/02/23/openstack-vs-cloudstack-the-platforms-and-the-cloud-apis/

Grazed from CBC. Author: Jeff Green.

A new report on cloud storage prepared for Google by a Hamilton-based risk advisor shows that businesses need to take a truly global look to completely secure data. And in an interview with the CBC, James Arlen, director of risk and advisory services for Leviathan Security Group, says the same principles of data security companies such as Google need, apply to your personal data, too.

Arlen said the average person treats their personal memories like a digital shoe box, adding it just takes one "flood" for a catastrophic loss to occur. "The person who kept all the photos of the first four years of their child’s life on their computer and now their hard drive crashed," Arlen said. "Now your child’s photographic life begins at four."…

Grazed from YahooFinance. Author: Editorial Staff.

The Global Cloud-Enabling Technologies Market is expected to post a CAGR of 16.6 percent from 2014-2019, thanks to increased adoption of cloud-based services by enterprises, according to a new report from research firm TechNavio. The latest report by TechNavio highlights the ever-increasing adoption of cloud-based services by enterprises worldwide, which will result in innovative technologies and make the cloud environment more efficient.

Many vendors are focusing on product improvement in order to enhance cloud capabilities and remain competitive in the market. Virtualization is the most popular cloud-enabling technology, and it plays a vital role in shaping cloud datacenter operations. “Virtualization offers a more streamlined platform to optimize IT resources, making them more scalable, which indirectly decreases the cost of adopting cloud services and also simplifies the delivery of services in cloud environments,” says Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of TechNavio…

Read more from the source @ https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/increased-adoption-cloud-based-services-150500868.html

Grazed from Pymnts. Author: Editorial Staff.

By the end of 2015, Europe could change the way data is transferred across its Member States. The European Commission is knee-deep in exploring cloud computing regulations that would span the EU, but cloud technology often sparks fear of privacy breaches – especially within small businesses.

The way B2B does business in Europe could change significantly with these cloud computing rules, and the Commission will need to juggle the concerns and needs of the industry as it looks to rain the benefits of the cloud upon all businesses. At the fourth annual Think Cloud for Government Conference held earlier this month, the European Commission’s head of software, services and cloud computing Pearse O’Donohue offered an update to the Commission’s cloud regulation efforts, which raises significant concerns for Europe’s B2B industry…

Grazed from BetaNews. Author: Mihaita Bamburic.

Colder regions make great places for building data centers. Operators can leverage the colder air outside to cool those hot servers, without relying much on costly tools like air conditioners and the like. When we’re talking about thousands of servers all running in the same place, the savings are substantial. And so is the positive impact on the environment, thanks to a healthy decrease in energy requirements and emissions.

It should come as no surprise that Apple has announced Denmark and Ireland as the locations of choice for its two new European data centers. The two countries are also favored by other players in the tech industry, like Google and Microsoft. Apple’s new data centers will power online services for European customers…