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

Grazed from WhaTech. Author: Editorial Staff.

Cloud computing, says Gartner, “is uniquely susceptible to the perils of myths due to the nature, confusion and hype surrounding it.” This is not good. “These myths slow things down, impede innovation and induce fear, thus distracting from real progress, innovation and outcomes.”

True enough, myths tend to do that, but I’d suggest there is nothing unique about cloud’s ability to attract myths. Any new technology development creates confusion and hype, and hence myth. Gartner has listed 10 of what it says are “some of the most dangerous and misleading cloud myths.” Some of these I would agree are well established, thus damaging the image and impeding the uptake of cloud and inhibiting organisations from enjoying the full benefits of cloud…

Grazed from InvestCorrectly.  Author: James Vrionis.

Inventors at International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) have put together a patented technique that takes advantage of analytics to increase the performance of cloud computing services and reduces their associated costs. This is done by moving workloads around, in the same cloud center or a distant one, based on an automated analysis which optimizes use of cloud resources. The automated analysis allows workloads to run in the cloud in the most efficient way possible.

IBM’s newest invention is able to automatically take cloud computing resources from different cloud centers, which allows clients to optimize their service performance and lower costs by reducing the amount of manual intervention needed in order to properly allocate software, hardware, and services on the cloud. The automated technique used by IBM is also beneficial for the end-user, as it gives them more control over where their cloud workloads will run…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Adrian Bridgwater.

The “market” for system- and network-level technologies has become (or at least needs to become) more comprehensible to many business managers in a world where we understand that cloud and managed and/or virtualized computing services are increasingly driving our IT functions. CEOs who might have never heard the term Application Delivery Controller, load balancer or log file now have a chance to grasp the new back-end jive-talk and develop an appreciation for the provenance and health of the technology inside their firms’ operational guts.

Piggy in the middleware

Network engineers at Cisco know that the holiday season is approaching, but haven’t let the forthcoming revelry stop them from releasing the “alpha” of Snort 3.0 this late into December. Snort (yes, they do use a piggy for the logo) is an open source Intrusion Prevention/Detection System (IPS or IDS, depending on which way you swing) capable of real-time traffic analysis and packet logging…

Grazed from CTOVision.  Author: Bob Gourley.

Reporting by Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley in Bloomberg is shedding new light on a destructive attack against an oil pipeline that caused a massive explosion in Refahiye Turkey in 2008. The event occurred six years ago, but information is just coming out indicating the cyber attack component of this event.

Robertson and Riley’s reports indicate that the pipeline was fitted with sensors and cameras to monitor all 1099 miles of the pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, but the blast did not trigger a single distress signal. They also did not trigger the massive explosion and continuing combustion in eastern Turkey…

Grazed from NYTimes.  Author: Mark Scott.

FROM their glass-fronted office parks and start-up lofts in Silicon Valley, American tech companies oversee ever-expanding global empires.

Google has a bigger slice of the online search market in Europe than it does at home, where rivals like Microsoft still give it a run for its money. More than 80 percent of Facebook’s 1.3 billion users live outside the United States, with Brazil and India among the social network’s most important markets. And Apple, which generates roughly 60 percent of its revenue overseas, now sells more iPhones and iPads in Shanghai and St. Petersburg than it does in San Diego…

Grazed from NetworkWorld.  Author: Mark Gibbs.

Drones are on the verge of becoming everyday service vehicles that will shuttle small items and eventually large ones between warehouses, retailers, and consumers as well as monitor traffic and agricultural operations, deliver pizza, survey building sites, execute search and rescue, …  the list of possible uses is huge.

All of these operations will be done at the local level initially but within a few years you can expect to see drones performing cross country flights for things like surveying and deliveries as a matter or routine. All we’re waiting for is the Federal Aviation Authority to get its act together and issues rules for the commercial use of drones (this is expected to occur in 2015)…