Grazed from EnterpriseTech.  Author: Timothy Prickett Morgan.

The idea behind cloud computing, as pioneer Amazon Web Services believed when it launched its first utility compute and storage products eight years ago, is to abstract away the underlying hardware and provide raw resources to programmers for applications to run on. This hardware is a competitive advantage for AWS, as it has been for its parent online retailer, and that is why AWS very rarely talks about its datacenters and systems. But with Google, Microsoft, and IBM all talking up their investments in cloud and the innovations they have come up with, Amazon has to lift the veil a bit.

The reason is simple. The Amazon online retail business may be a $70 billion behemoth, but it does not throw off a lot of cash. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is not interested in profits as much as he is about transforming the world around him, but the cloud computing business is one of the most capital intensive businesses there are in the world…

Grazed from Talkincloud.  Author: Dan Kobialka.

A new IBM Institute for Business Value survey of 750 technology executives revealed 71 percent of respondents recognized that IT infrastructure "plays an important role in enabling competitive advantage or optimizing revenue and profit."

However, the survey, titled "Continuing the IT Infrastructure Conversation: Why Building a Strong Foundation Requires More Than Technology," also showed that only 22 percent of respondents said their businesses have a well-defined enterprise IT infrastructure strategy in place.  IBM noted its most recent survey findings correspond with an IT infrastructure report that it released in July…

Grazed from MSPMentor.  Author: Michael Brown.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its final version of the US Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Volumes I and II recently. The roadmap provides international guidelines, objectives and “Priority Action Plans” for cloud computing, with the hope of improving cybersecurity for the United States’ critical infrastructure and individual organizations.

Taking into consideration over 200 comments from other nations worldwide, this document covers a wide range of relevant ideas, challenges and recommendations related to cloud management and deployment. But is there really a point in trying to impose standards and define a technology that is still at the very beginning stages of its evolution?…

Grazed from GCN. Author: William Jackson.

Cloud computing offers both unique advantages and challenges to government users. The advantages are well-advertised: Greater efficiency, economy and flexibility that can help agencies meet rapidly changing computing needs quickly and cheaply while being environmentally friendly.

Among the challenges, security is the most commonly-sited concern in moving mission-critical services or sensitive information to the cloud. To address this, a recently released roadmap from the National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends a plan to ensure cloud offerings meet government security needs while being flexible enough to adapt to the policies and requirements of multiple tenants, including foreign governments…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Mike Vizard.

One of the things about Microsoft’s (MSFT) cloud computing strategy that isn’t always fully appreciated is the enormity of the ecosystem being built around Windows services in the cloud. For example, with the recent addition of Rackspace to the number of cloud service providers running the same core Microsoft Cloud OS platform now extends to well more than 100 different companies.

Based on Windows Server 2012, the Microsoft Cloud OS platform provides a consistent set of IT services customers can invoke consistently no matter where Microsoft provides them via its Azure cloud platform or any one of more than 100 other cloud service providers. In stark contrast to that ecosystem, the cloud services from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM and others are only available via a single provider…

Graze from TechTarget. Author: Ofir Nachmani.

The market recognizes AWS and Google as the leaders in cloud computing. However, because of its range of cloud capabilities up the stack, AWS is currently leading the race. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for your company. One way to decide is to compare both clouds on price, global reach and capacity. And even then, it may be difficult to settle on AWS, Google or both.

The price/performance debate: Industry experts and research show a balance between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Compute Engine (GCE). Google’s price per hour for the same instance specifications (more or less) is lower and it provides better performance results compared to AWS…

Grazed from ITWorldCanada.

The other day I had a problem with my iPhone — a 4S, with 64GB running iOS 8.1 — so here’s my story: First, some context. I have 420 apps taking 22.78GB storage and 4,000 songs taking 7.82GB of storage on my phone, and a few miscellaneous items such as photos and calendar data. I use iTunes on my PC as an intermediary, and iCloud.

I am still waiting in line for an iPhone 6 Plus from my local cable provider. I am an IT strategy/management consultant, and my focus is currently on cloud computing and its impact on systems. I am neither a bits-and-bytes technical specialist nor am I a programmer. I do try to keep my apps up-to-date, however, and I sync and backup my iPhone frequently (sometimes daily)…

Grazed from BSMInfo. Author: Megan Williams.

Answering your clients’ needs in responsible ways means that no one can ignore the benefits that cloud computing can bring to the healthcare space. With all the benefits of flexibility, location independence, and cost-savings that cloud computing carries with it, the risks that it poses to the industry can’t be understated, especially when you consider the sheer number of regulatory violations that can occur. Thankfully, with advancements in the sector, staying HIPAA compliant while reaping the benefits of cloud computing is very much possible.

Data Collaboration

Sharing files outside of the healthcare space is simple, especially with the proliferation of services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Within healthcare’s boundaries though, HIPAA compliance can become a huge challenge, especially for business associates like VARs and other IT solutions providers. Citrix has introduced a new and helpful offering to the field…

Grazed from BusinessWeek. Author: Adam Ewing.

A decade ago, telephone pioneer Ericsson (ERIC) managed to reinvent itself as a maker of network equipment, selling pricey hardware to telecommunications companies struggling to keep up with mobile subscription growth. Suddenly, the Swedish company was more relevant than it had been since the 1920s. Now, with its biggest customers slowing the pace of their expansion or shifting more of their data crunching to the cloud, Ericsson is trying to follow.

About 40 percent of the world’s wireless calls and data move through Ericsson’s network hardware. The company, with a market valuation of $39 billion, sells to and often operates the equipment for carriers including AT&T (T) and Vodafone (VOD). Ericsson’s revenue fell in three of its past five quarters, and analysts are projecting that the company will see a third straight year with little or no sales growth…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

Microsoft (MSFT) on Thursday announced it has bought Aorato, an enterprise security solutions provider. According to Microsoft’s blog, the Israeli-based company leverages machine learning to detect suspicious activity on a company’s network. The Redmond, Washington-based software giant did not disclose the terms of the acquisition.

Tech Crunch today, however, reported that its sources put the deal at approximately $200 million in July, which is when the two companies began talking. "We are making this acquisition to give customers a new level of protection against threats through better visibility into their identity infrastructure," said Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president of Cloud and Enterprise Marketing at Microsoft, in the blog post…

Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing-mergers-and-acquisitions/microsoft-buys-security-solutions-provider-aorato-hybrid-cl