Grazed from WSJ. Author: Clint Boulton.

Incumbent technology vendors, including Oracle Corp., SAP SE, and Microsoft Corp., have become better at supporting new cloud computing and analytics technology, but their payment and functionality options remain rooted in an earlier age, CIOs say. “These big tech companies must move much faster than they have before and they’re struggling to catch up,” said Stuart Appley, CIO of Shorenstein Realty Services LP. ”But at least their headed in the right direction.”

Pressured by startups, big information-technology sellers are scrambling to offer cloud software, mobile applications and advanced data-analysis tools, the Wall Street Journal’s Shira Ovide noted Sunday. Although CIOs say they are encouraged that the vendors are engaging in the shift, they say the vendors are showing signs of growing pains along the way…

Read more from the source @ http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/01/05/big-vendors-must-move-much-faster-on-cloud-features-pricing-models-cios-say/

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Dan Kobialka.

New research suggests that cloud computing, mobile technologies and virtualization tools will help the federal IT market grow over the next few years. Conducted by TechNavio, the study revealed that this market will expand at a 1.67 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2014 and 2019.

"The federal information technology [sector] has evolved rapidly to provide a new platform with the advances in virtualization technology, cloud computing and mobile devices to enhance IT infrastructure and security aspects," TechNavio said. "Such developments offer opportunities to increase the value and accessibility of government resources and encourage greater internal and external collaboration…

Grazed from TechCrunch. Author: Ron Miller.

I spent a good good part of my weekend clearing my office of a couple of decades of accumulated software. As I discarded dozens of 3.5 floppies and CDs, and recycled piles of boxes and documentation — the flotsam and jetsam of an earlier computing age — I realized just how much easier computing is in 2015.

Not all that long ago, there were no app stores and software came in paper boxes. Upgrades didn’t happen automatically or with the simple click of a button. Instead, every couple of years, people paid hefty fees for the latest and greatest advancements in computing, and everyone had to experience the pain of installing new software for themselves, and trust me, it was often a mind-numbing process…

Grazed from FederalTimes. Author: Kirk Kern.

Cloud deployments by federal agencies have been accelerating, albeit slowly. IDC Government Insights forecasts that US agencies will spend approximately $3 billion on cloud projects in FY2014, a healthy $800 million jump from what had been predicted in 2013. There are several reasons that agencies are turning to cloud deployments, including improved agility, reduced IT complexity and IT spend, and greater collaboration.

Yet it is increasingly clear that obstacles are capping broader adoption of cloud services. federal budget officials predict federal cloud spending for FY2015 will come in at $2.9 billion, indicating that cloud migrations will continue to move forward, but that agencies are gently pumping the brakes as opposed to gunning the engine…

Grazed from MidsizeInsider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

Right now, there are no hard-and-fast rules governing ideal cloud computing standards. To address this issue, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is drafting a guide to help businesses choose the best cloud for their needs, and it wants public opinion on what metrics matter most. How will this push for improved standards impact cloud service providers?

Confusion Abounds

With no set standards for cloud computing, businesses often face an uphill battle when it comes to finding the right combination of price and performance. According to a press release from NIST, "Different organizations and groups often use the same cloud computing terms with slightly different, or even contradictory meanings, leading to confusion among cloud service providers, customer and carriers…

Grazed from ChannelPartnersOnline. Author: Kelly Teal.

As cloud computing, big data and mobility services grow more popular, you can bet that you, Mr./Ms. MSP, will see an increase in business, and it’s time to plan accordingly. MarketsandMarkets makes this prediction in a new report devoted to the indirect channel, noting that MSPs will see demand soar between 2015 and 2019 – by how much, however, the research firm did not say.

What is clear is that MSPs and the partners they team with, including VARs, ISVs and systems integrators, all stand to profit, as long as they offer vendor-neutral services and cater to customers’ specific needs, MarketsandMarkets said. That good news – albeit not new news – for MSPs and their associates comes as many enterprises and SMBs don’t want to take on the hassle of understanding, procuring and overseeing the technology that drives their organizations…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Lori MacVittie.

DevOps, it seems, is popping up everywhere. Sometimes it isn’t called out as DevOps, but when you read the details, it certainly sounds like DevOps. The drivers of software-defined data center (SDDC) was clearly one of those "DevOps by any other name" moments, as was a recent KPMG report on cloud in which "successful cloud" strategies included the avoidance of silos:

"Avoid silos. Cloud transformations succeed when organizations are able to embed change into every aspect of the business. As such, silos hamper transformation. In contrast, collaboration powers it. For example, business and IT professionals should work side by side as cloud is adopted into the enterprise."…

Grazed from TMC. Author: PR Announcement.

The potential benefits of Big Data for an organisation’s efficiency and bottom-line will be a particular focus of the upcoming GCC BIG DATA SUMMIT – taking place in Dubai during March 2015.

Regional public and private sector organisations already implementing Big Data solutions have signed up to present case studies of their experiences in generating growth from emerging analytics technologies. They consist of international and local thought-leaders from the telecommunications, airline, energy, utilities, healthcare, banking and retail industries.

The Summit’s Speaker panel accordingly includes senior representatives of Etisalat, Injazat Data Systems, DU Telecoms, Halliburton, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Gulf Air, ADWEA, Emirates Group, Etihad Airways, Daman Health Insurance and Mobily. This senior-management-only GCC forum has been designed for CEO and COO level participants – just as much as for CTOs and CIOs. It will take place at Dubai’s Address Marina Hotel from March 8-10…

Grazed from Cloudify. Author: Tamir Korem.

Nowadays, if you’re a huge technology company and you’re not venturing into the cloud, you’re living in the past. So it’s not surprising that many companies are investing heavily in cloud across the board. This is also true for IBM, that decided in 2013 to acquire SoftLayer for approximately $2B, like many others such as HP who invested just as largely in their Helion play, and this is only one example of many.

SoftLayer, which was at that time, the world’s largest privately held cloud computing infrastructure provider, served thousands of customers. Today SoftLayer (under the auspices of IBM) maintains a global cloud infrastructure platform spanning 16 data centers (and counting…) all over the world, and only intends to expand this reach to serve their strategic plans and penetration into the cloud market…

Grazed from GCN. Author: William Jackson.

Two powerful trends will shape the government cybersecurity agenda in the coming year, say security experts, but they have more to do with how government security is managed than what technologies will better defend agency systems.

First, cybersecurity will increasingly be integrated from the start into the platforms and software being acquired and developed by agencies. This means that perimeter defenses – already abandoned to the realm of what is necessary but inadequate – will receive less attention as cybersecurity becomes more integrated into the government infrastructure.

Also, cybersecurity will no longer be considered the exclusive province of the CISO or the CSO, but will become a professional requirement for everyone responsible for IT services to the agency. “As a security vendor, we are ending up in conversations with the IT shop,” rather than just the security shop, said Ken Ammon, chief strategy officer for Xceedium, an identity management company. “Next year will be the year of convergence.”…