Grazed from GetVOIP. Author: Reuben Yonatan.

The internet is packed with information about cloud computing. In fact, here at GetVoIP we like to think we have a valuable contribution to make in that arena. When it comes to getting a coherent, big-picture, start-to-finish view of a subject, however, sometimes it’s hard to beat a good old book. We’ve taken a look at some of the hundreds of titles on the subject that were published in 2014, and made this list of the ten best cloud computing books for SMB owners.

The vast majority of cloud computing books are aimed at developers, data scientists, and other elite technical professionals. Finding great books that can benefit those on the user end of the spectrum can be a bit of a challenge. You don’t want the information dumbed down (at least not too much!) but you don’t have the time or inclination to wade through dense passages of esoteric detail…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Esther Schindler.

Do service-level agreements (SLAs) scare you? SLAs are often (and unfortunately) misconstrued as unattainable goals levied on system owners because of fancy dreams that organizations would like to have their customers experience. But that’s not the case. In this article, I explain the basics of SLAs, and what to look for as you and your service provider design a SLA to put in place.

An SLA does just what it hints at: It defines the service being offered and agreed-to by everyone concerned. The document describing an SLA covers particulars such as the level of service that customers expect, the metrics for measuring “enoughness” of the service, and the remedial course of action in the event that the service is not met…

Grazed from ProgrammableWeb. Author: Michael Vizard.

Thanks to the proliferation of REST APIs across the enterprise and the adoption of JavaScript on both the client and server sides of applications, Oracle envisions the emergence of multiple tiers of cloud computing services across the enterprise in 2015. Suhas Uliyar, vice president of mobile strategy for Oracle, says that while Java is still preferred for integrating back-end services, various forms of JavaScript are emerging as the preferred mechanism for building both business-to-consumer and business-to-employee applications that need to run on a variety of mobile computing devices.

The challenge is finding a way to make it possible to reuse JavaScript code across multiple applications. To address that issue, the Oracle Mobile Application Framework enables developers to build JavaScript applications on top of a Java Virtual Machine. That JVM then allows the code to be shared between application development projects, says Uliyar…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Dan Kobialka.

Cloud and hybrid backup and recovery solutions provider Carbonite (CARB) today announced plans to acquire MailStore for approximately $19.8 million. Carbonite CEO Mohamad Ali said he believes acquiring MailStore, a German email archiving solutions provider for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), will help his company expand globally and improve its SMB continuity solutions portfolio.

"MailStore is a great fit for Carbonite, as both companies are committed to providing SMBs with powerful yet simple data protection solutions," he said in a prepared statement. "In addition to offering email archiving to businesses worldwide with MailStore’s existing solutions, Carbonite will integrate MailStore’s robust full-text search and indexing capabilities into our product portfolio to help our business customers better manage, understand and leverage their data."…

Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing-mergers-and-acquisitions/12152014/carbonite-acquire-mailstore-approx-198m

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

Riverbed Technology (RVBD) has been bought by private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo and Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investor department of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. The buyout is being valued at approximately $3.6 billion. The San Francisco-based company provides solutions designed to tackle issue with IT performance across wide area networks (WANs).

Riverbed’s solutions focus on CAD applications, data protection software, collboration, unified communications and more. Riverbed CEO Jerry Kennelly, who will remain with the company in the same capacity, said his company believes this acquisition "will be a winning proposition for all our stakeholders."…

Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing-mergers-and-acquisitions/12152014/riverbed-be-acquired-thoma-bravo-36b

Grazed from AmericanBanker. Author: Penny Crossman.

As bank executives continue to debate, hesitate and worry over the security issues related to using applications that connect to the cloud, their employees are using cloud-based apps by the hundreds — often without banks’ knowledge. The average bank had 844 cloud services in use throughout its network in the third quarter of this year, according to an analysis conducted by Skyhigh Networks, far higher than bank IT departments estimated.

"If you did a survey where you asked the financial services companies themselves [how many cloud services they use], the answer would be somewhere between 32 and 34, because you approved those," said Rajiv Gupta, CEO of Skyhigh, which provides cloud security software…

Grazed from WindowsITPro. Author: Sameer B.

As more cloud-based technologies become available and their security and functionality improves, more companies are moving to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for all of their enterprise applications. The use of online software for customer service has lagged slightly behind its use in other areas, but it is catching up.

According to a Forrester Research survey, at the end of last year, only 15% of companies had moved most or all of their customer service and support to the cloud. However, an additional 14% planned to add some cloud-based tools over the next two years. Customer service itself has traditionally been an area where development has been slow, but new cloud technologies are speeding innovation…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Paul Burns.

Although public infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) clouds have been widely adopted to drive IT agility and deliver new business value, confusion still exists about their defining characteristics. Many in the IT industry believe that virtualized infrastructure is a requirement for cloud computing. In truth, however, both virtualized and bare-metal infrastructures are well suited for building clouds. And both types of infrastructure enable the defining characteristics of cloud computing, including resource pooling, metered consumption, self-service, and elasticity.

The real question is how virtualized and bare-metal clouds are different, and in which cases the bare-metal option provides an advantage. CIOs and CTOs want to know which type of cloud will help them meet their strategic IT objectives. Infrastructure architects want to understand where applications will run best…

Grazed from EnterpriseInnovation. Author: Editorial Staff.

Cloud computing is no longer an issue of “if” for enterprises anymore, clearly all businesses will adopt or are adopting cloud in some shape or form as the basis for transforming their IT infrastructures into more agile and flexible organizations. Whether from government, telecoms, retail or even the highly regulated financial sectors, companies across the board are jumping on the cloud bandwagon in efforts to create a new model for IT.

According to an IDC survey conducted at the end of 2013, approximately half of the survey respondents indicated that they are planning on a private cloud strategy while the other half plan on rolling out a hybrid public and public cloud approach. "It’s going to be a very diverse and complex environment out there for a number of years," IDC Research VP Mary Johnston Turner. She added that diversity includes the use of different virtualization tools as well as underlying operating systems…

Read more from the source @ http://enterpriseinnovation.net/article/cios-discuss-transformation-around-cloud-and-open-source-1197932306

Grazed from HostReview. Author: Editorial Staff.

One of the most basic ways to explain cloud computing is that it allows computing from anywhere where there is an available internet connection. Some of the benefits of cloud computing includes enabling remote employees access the same applications they would use on their desktop computers, lower costs on IT infrastructure upgrades, and improve overall collaboration and productivity within your company.

It is estimated that billions of dollars will be invested in cloud computing technology so the trend is clear that cloud computing will only grow in popularity for the foreseeable future. But is it worth the investment for your business? Let’s take a look at he below reasons why your company definitely needs to take a look at this powerful technology…

Read more from the source @ http://www.hostreview.com/blog/141215-cloud-technology-is-it-really-worth-the-investment#ixzz3Lz2imn4w