Grazed from Emerald-Technology.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Inforgraphic covers topics such as Cloud Computing Industry Valuation, Storage Trends, Customer Profiles, Data Center Sizing, Cloud Computing Job Creation by Industry, and much more…

To view the cloud computing and datacenter infographic, visit http://emerald-technology.com/blog/cloud-computing-data-center-infographic/

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Amit Chowdhry.

Microsoft has been giving away a lot of freebies through their cloud computing storage service OneDrive lately. Last week, Microsoft gave away 100GB of free storage for two years to create a Bing Rewards account. And now Microsoft OneDrive is offering 100GB of free storage for one year to Dropbox users.

The offer is limited to current Dropbox users and the first 10 million people to redeem it. The OneDrive bonus storage is not available to customers with OneDrive for Business either. You can receive 100GB of free OneDrive storage for a year by visiting the OneDrive bonus website and logging in with your Microsoft account…

Grazed from DataCenterDynamics. Author: Hawkins Hua.

As IT infrastructure and operations have become more complex, technologies such as cloud and virtualization have been implemented to adapt to various business needs. Over the past decade, server virtualization has redefined the deployment, management and optimization of computing resources, transforming the data center into a more adaptable and efficient platform for business applications. Application loads that once ran on static, dedicated servers are now hosted in dynamic, virtualized server environments that can be scaled and shaped on demand.

While virtualization reshapes data center operations, enabling enterprises to deploy affordable, rack-based servers that can be pooled and allocated to shifting application demands, the transformation is incomplete. Network and storage assets in data centers remain tightly siloed and statically configured. Few facilities are capable of automating and orchestrating the management of pooled network and storage hardware…

Grazed from InfoSecurity. Author: Amit Cohen.

Cloud computing, with its promise of reduced CAPEX and OPEX, presents a compelling business case. In IaaS, computation resources are rented from a cloud service provider (CSP). There is no server hardware or software to purchase and maintain, and organizations benefit from reduced IT expenses and improved flexibility. Enterprises have fewer IT headaches to deal with and can focus on their core business.

However, the possibility of security breaches has made the public cloud model risky. Here’s the problem: If I can access my virtual servers remotely, anyone else can access them, too. Threats include denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, whereby a bombardment of messages takes down the virtual server; data theft, whereby sensitive data is accessed through a security breach; and hijacking, whereby intruders use your virtual server to attack third parties…

Grazed from ITBusinessEdge.  Author: Arthur Cole.

Everyone in IT is anxious to see how the cloud shakes out. When all is said and done, what will the enterprise look like when cloud computing becomes the established model for IT infrastructure?  And some are looking even farther into the future, wondering what, if anything, will come after the cloud?

To be sure, there is no shortage of predictions over how the cloud will evolve over time. IDC’s most recent assessment has hybrid infrastructure heading into 65 percent of enterprises within the year and that by 2017, 20 percent of the industry will be using the public cloud as a strategic resource. As well, more than three quarters of IaaS offerings will be redesigned, rebranded or phased out over the next two years as providers concentrate on more lucrative services higher up the stack…
 

Grazed from Imaging-Resource. Author: Gannon Burgett.

A recently published patent from Broadcom lays out the framework for a cloud-based infrastructure designed to communicate and share information with your smartphone to improve its imaging capabilities. Surface level, the groundwork laid out in the patent is straightforward – a smartphone communicates with online databases to bring in image-relevant information that can be used to better adjust settings and post-process a photograph. Where things get really interesting is when you dive into the methodology behind where the information is derived from.

The first example laid out in the patent relies on aforementioned databases, such as those provided by weather organizations, to determine the best settings and processing methods for your images. Say for example, you’re shooting outside at 5pm on a sunny day; your smartphone would be able to share its GPS location with the online weather database, and in return, the weather database would be able to send back all relevant weather information to your smartphone…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Joe McKendrick.

A new survey of 930 executives suggests that business leaders are moving as quickly as they can to cloud-based solutions, regardless of whether their IT departments are along for the ride. This apparent disconnect stems from expectations “likely rooted in the business units’ desire for more agility and their concerns that central IT is too cautious in cloud adoption — especially public cloud adoption,” the survey’s authors deduct.

However, the survey, released by Rackspace, also suggests that IT leaders are getting more comfortable with cloud, particularly its security aspects. This may spur IT leaders to get out in front of the cloud movement, and evolve into brokers and advisors to their businesses, versus simply being the people that handle the machines. At least that’s the way IT leaders see their futures unfolding…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Editorial Staff.

When you look around at the world of 2015, you’ll see many technologies that once belonged purely to science fiction: video phones, tiny handheld computers with incredible processing power, private space flights, and electric cars. There’s only one thing missing. Wasn’t the future supposed to bring us ubiquitous robots?

So far, the robotics industry has not lived up to the dreams of science fiction. That is, until now. As the prices for computing power and sensors drop, robots are starting to become more and more cost-effective. They are already hard at work in the manufacturing sector, but still we see very few robots in our day-to-day life…

Grazed from VirtualizationReview. Author: Jeffrey Schwartz.

Another supplier of hyperconvergence has arrived on the scene, hoping to get closer to realizing the promise of the entirely software-defined datacenter (SDDC). Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Springpath has come out of stealth mode, with key financial backers and founders who engineered the VMware SDDC and the company’s widely used file system.

Whether it will rise to prominence remains to be seen, but Springpath’s hyperconverged infrastructure aims to displace traditional OSes, virtual machines (VMs) and application programming models. In addition to the VMware veterans, Springpath is debuting with $34 million in backing from key investors with strong track records…

Grazed from Enterprise Irregulars.  Author: Tom Rafferty.

Apple had a couple of interesting announcements last week. The first was that they were investing $848m in a 130MW solar farm being built by First Solar in California. With this investment, Apple enters into a 25 year power purchase agreement with the solar farm, guaranteeing income for the solar farm, and securing Apple’s energy bills for the next 25 years in California.

According to First Solar this is the largest agreement in the industry to provide clean energy to a commercial end user, and it will provide enough energy for Apple to fully power its headquarters, operations and retail stores in California, with renewable energy…