Grazed from Fortune.  Author: Kirk Kardasian.

When people talk about cloud computing, it’s usually understood that the cloud is a metaphor for groups of remote, networked servers. But when Lance Parker talks about “space computing,” he’s not taking poetic license. He means it literally: physical servers operating in outer space. Parker is the CEO of ConnectX, a startup company based in Los Angeles that’s working on a way to take corporations’ data out of the cloud and into the final frontier. If his company succeeds, it could revolutionize the way we store, transmit, and analyze information.

As metaphors go, “cloud computing” sounds nice but is misleading. Clouds are in the sky; server farms are decidedly earthbound. Clouds are aesthetic and amorphous, a Rorschach test in the atmosphere; data warehouses are boxy and don’t leave much room for interpretation. But the bigger problem with cloud computing is that, according to Parker, it’s simply unsustainable…

Grazed from MarketWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

Vaultive, the leader in cloud data encryption, today announced it has earned recognition on The Channel Company’s CRN 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors of 2015. This annual list recognizes some of the most innovative cloud companies supporting the IT channel today.

The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors honor is presented to companies based on their approach to creating innovative products, services or partner programs that have helped channel partners transform into true solution providers, ultimately helping customers take advantage of the ease of use, flexibility, scalability and savings that cloud computing offers…

Grazed from BetaNews.  Author: Lee Marsden.

The growth in high-speed internet connectivity across Europe, the increasing adoption of cloud services, the consumerization of IT and the move towards mobile working are all trends that, in theory, play to the strengths of SMBs — allowing them to compete more effectively.

The proliferation towards cloud-based services such as Skype, Google Drive and Salesforce is also making life easier for employees — allowing staff to access content from anywhere and work collaboratively. However, research of 2,500 European office-based workers recently conducted by ZyXEL, has found that while SMBs are starting to make the most of new technologies and services, there are inconsistencies with the progress being made in each country…

Grazed from Oracle.  Author: Debra Lilley.

Cloud has proven to be the adoption platform of choice for Oracle Applications customers. Companies can still implement them on-premises, but CIOs really need to think hard as to why they wouldn’t choose cloud, as the benefits are so compelling.    Here are some trends I’m seeing in relation to Oracle Cloud Applications:

Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud has been really popular, and that will continue. The simplified user interface of Oracle HCM Cloud means that users get to their information easily. Managers can take the formality out of managing talent—for instance, using a tablet to record appraisal comments whilst sitting next to an employee during a performance review rather than going back to their PC to enter them afterwards or even worse sitting behind a PC during the review…

Grazed from ITBusinessEdge.  Author: Greg Arnette.

Given the rising cloud adoption, the increased interest in data visualization tools and the rise of internal enterprise app stores, 2015 is expected to be a big year for the cloud. Cloud adoption has reached a tipping point with a majority of businesses deploying at least a portion of their processes to the cloud. Debate still surrounds whether organizations should embrace public cloud versus private cloud deployments, but businesses, as well as consumers, are becoming more and more comfortable with the technology and flexibility provided by cloud deployments.

In this slideshow, Greg Arnette, CTO and founder of Sonian, a pioneer in cloud-based archiving, provides insights on the factors he predicts will have a major impact on the cloud industry this year…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author:  Louis Columbus.

Employees would most recommend Google, Parallels, Virtustream, HubSpot, AppDirect, Mirantis, MuleSoft, Zenoss and OpenDNS to their friends looking for a job in cloud computing.

These and other insights are from an analysis completed in response to readers’ requests and questions on who the best cloud computing companies are to work for. In order to be completely impartial and fair about which vendors are included in this analysis, the latestComputer Reseller News list, The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors Of 2015 was used…

Grazed from CSO.  Author: PR Announcement.

Dimension Data, a $6.7 billion global ICT services and solutions provider, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner Inc. in the Challengers quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting (CEMH), Asia/Pacific. There were no Leaders in this year’s Magic Quadrant. The report was published Dec. 10, 2014, by analysts To Chee Eng, Arup Roy, Vincent Fu, and Kenshi Tazaki.

According to the report’s definition, “The CEMH market deals in standardised, productised hosting offerings that combine a cloud-enabled system infrastructure (CESI) platform — comprising compute, network and storage hardware — with cloud management platform software to facilitate self-service and rapid provisioning with managed services.”…

Grazed from Business2Community.  Author:  Caron Beesley.

If your agency is making the move to cloud services, it can expect cost-savings, improved service delivery, and all the great things that the cloud brings. But for procurement and purchasing officials whose practices and contracting vehicles were designed to help managers provision hardware and software, not on-demand services like the cloud, it can all cause a bit of a frenzy.

But cloud procurement isn’t as problematic as it might first appear. Here are a few quick tips and insights that can help guide you through the solicitation, award and termination phases:…

Can you improve your company’s productivity in less than 60 minutes? 

Accept and take this challenge from Unifyle to earn $50 and a chance to win an iPad! 

Grazed from TheVarGuy.  Author: Michael Cusanelli.
 

Avaya is partnering withVMware (VMW) on a new enterprise hybrid cloud service that leverages the vCloud Air platform. Avaya’s Hybrid Engagement as a Service platform is designed to enable users to bridge private and public clouds to deliver a flexible approach to implementing enterprise communications.

“This new set of cloud services from Avaya provides additional flexibility and cost efficiency to enterprise customers who want to take advantage of a public cloud model for our customer and team engagement solutions,” said Joe Manuele, vice president, SI/SP, Alliances and Cloud at Avaya, in a statement…