Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Dirk-Peter Van Leeuwen.

If there was any lingering doubt, it appears the cloud is truly here. Many organizations around the world have adopted or are taking steps to adopt cloud computing, with Gartner predicting that nearly half of all large companies will be using hybrid cloud within the next three years.

With benefits such as efficiency, cost-effectiveness and scalability well advertised, this rise in uptake is hardly surprising. As with any other major organization-wide implementation projects, however, adopting the cloud is no walk in the park – and enterprises need to take steps to enjoy a smooth and seamless migration…

Grazed from BRW. Author: Mark Randall.

Many studies have shown that Australian businesses are increasingly adopting cloud computing, with a large proportion of the systems and applications that we use day-to-day migrating to the cloud. As IT becomes an integral part of each business function, it’s increasingly important for non-IT professionals to gain a top-level understanding of technical terms, in order to better execute their own responsibilities.

If your business is considering moving to the cloud, one of the biggest challenges that you will face is your ability to understand all the terms that cloud vendors and “techies” throw around. Below are some of the most commonly used cloud terms, starting with Amazon’s most popular Compute, Storage and Database offerings in the Cloud, followed by some other generic, but seemingly confusing terms…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

As organizations look to take advantage of the emergence of cloud, analytics and mobile technologies, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that this trend is driving interest in IBM systems in geographies around the world. In fact, a recent IBM study illustrates that four technologies – Big Data and Analytics, Cloud, Mobile and Social – are no longer just buzzwords but have become key ingredients of enterprise software development and IT infrastructures. Seventy percent of enterprises are now using Big Data and Analytics, Cloud, Mobile and Social and 75 percent of enterprise decision makers now consider these technologies as strategically important to their organizations, up from 66 percent in 2012. [1]

"IT infrastructure is crucial to meet the demands of clients in this new era of computing," said Stephen Leonard, General Manager, Sales, IBM Systems & Technology Group. "A new generation of IBM systems is helping clients modernize their IT environments for emerging big data, cloud computing, mobile and social technologies. Clients are migrating from non-IBM systems to infrastructures based on these IBM systems and the results they are seeing demonstrate that the right infrastructure does matter."…

Grazed from NetApp. Author: PR Announcement.

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced it is extending its more than a decade-long alliance with VMware to help customers transition to an IT future that is increasingly software defined and embraces cloud computing. As a leader in software-defined storage (SDS), NetApp is forging a deeper technology relationship with VMware to accelerate modern software-defined data center deployments as a foundational step to the hybrid cloud.

At VMworld® 2014, NetApp was announced as a key design partner for VMware Virtual Volumes, the new storage architecture for software-defined data center approaches. Additionally, NetApp and VMware continue their commitment to working together on application deployment and accelerating cloud desktop deployment. The companies are partnering on development with VMware Horizon® to help enterprises move applications and desktops to the cloud, and by doing so delivering them as a managed service to customers, enabling total cost reduction of desktop ownership…

Graxed from ScientificComputing. Author: Editorial Staff.

Cloud computing is not only the latest revolution in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) world, but a key enhancer of innovation and economic development. Within the framework of the project CLOUDS, Madrid-based researchers have made crucial scientific advances in the state-of-the-art of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is an emerging paradigm for distributed computing systems whose goal is to offer software as a service over the Internet. The CLOUDS research project, in which IMDEA Networks has participated, has focused on advancing the state-of-the-art of this technology trend, one that is revolutionizing computing and the way in which users and network providers interact online…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Lori MacVittie.

Two separate surveys were recently revealed on the topic of cloud. One, from Exoprise, examined adoption rates primarily across software as a service (SaaS). The other, from Intermedia, examined rogue access in the cloud. When considering the two together, they paint a somewhat disturbing picture that presents considerable risk to organizations adopting SaaS.

Exoprise found, not unsurprisingly, a heft adoption of cloud in the SaaS market. In fact, it found that nearly 75 percent of respondents indicated their organizations uses or plans to use software as a service. That’s unsurprisingly given that most of the applications-turned-cloud being adopted are those easiest to commoditize — productivity, customer relationship Management (CRM), and Sales Force Automation (SFA). Microsoft Office 365 dominated adoption, with nearly 40 percent of all respondents, compared to around 23 percent citing Salesforce.com usage…

Grazed from BusinessInsider. Author: Julie Bort.

Google employs 450 full-time engineers to stop hackers and other snoopers from breaking into its data centers and cloud services. And today, Google published a report card of sorts on how well they are doing in those matters. The new report explains how Google’s cloud computing services work and why they are safe (Edward Snowden be darned).

For instance, Google’s cloud uses something called "perfect forward security," a special way to use encryption designed to thwart snoopers like, say, the NSA. The report is actually the result of a third-party audit done by Ernst & Young, Google security director Eran Feigenbaum told Business Insider. It’s part of a certification Google has earned that verifies its cloud is secure (known as the ISO 27001 certificate)…

Grazed from CBROnline. Author: Amy-jo Crowley.

Cisco has joined forces with LG to develop technology related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing systems. The networking firm said it had chosen LG CNS, a subsidiary of the South Korean electronics giant, as its first local business partner in efforts to identify business opportunities in the Korean market.

Chong Kyung-won, GM and VP of Cisco Korea, told The Korea Times: "Cisco believes the cloud computing market has huge growth potential. We’ve been consistent in providing standardised and qualified cloud and managed services to our partner companies.
"We hope the partnership with LG CNS lays the groundwork for shared growth with more Korean partners in those segments."…

Grazed from GovTech. Author: Jessica Hughes.

The risk of a data breach in the cloud is multiplying and is now costlier and happens more frequently, according to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute. But this phenomenon, which is dubbed the cloud multiplier effect, can be mitigated by a strengthened security posture, according to Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute.

"It’s funny, I’m a big believer in the cloud," Ponemon said. "I like cloud and I think cloud [has] improved quite a bit from a security perspective." Cloud computing is not necessarily less secure, Ponemon said, but that is the perception among many of the study’s respondents who view on-premises data breach as easier to control and less costly as a result…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that SoftLayer, an IBM Company, plans to launch its first Australian data center in Melbourne in September. It will be the latest of 15 new data centers that IBM plans to open as part of a $1.2 billion dollar global investment to strengthen and extend its cloud services in Asia Pacific and around the world. The new onshore SoftLayer data center will meet Australian organizations’ demands for secure, in-country enterprise-grade IBM cloud services that can deliver hybrid, private and public cloud environments.

The Melbourne data center offers the full portfolio of SoftLayer’s cloud services to include bare metal and virtual servers, storage, and networking, all in one integrated platform. Replicating the design of other SoftLayer data centers around the globe, the Melbourne facility will have capacity for more than 15,000 physical servers…