Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

RightScale® Inc., a demonstrated leader in enterprise cloud portfolio management, today announced the general availability of RightScale Cloud Analytics, the first multi-cloud cost management solution that integrates with a cloud management platform to enable users to take action on insights and implement budget controls.

RightScale Cloud Analytics, first announced in beta in November 2013, is an enterprise-grade cost management solution that provides sophisticated cloud usage and cost analysis as well as forecasting and scenario planning across major public and private clouds. Cloud Analytics is part of the RightScale Cloud Portfolio Management platform, which includes Cloud Analytics, Cloud Management, and Self-Service…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge. Author: Pete Johnson.

As you may know, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Oracle can copyright the Java API and Google violated that copyright by creating software that is API compatible. This has huge impact across the entire software world, but in particular with cloud computing where the APIs are used to provision resources on demand.

This development sheds light on the desire for users to avoid lock-in and have the ability to more freely move applications between clouds, which can be done more easily with API compatibility. But it also sheds light on the alternative of an abstraction approach that frees cloud vendors to innovate beyond borders imposed by API compatibility while giving users the portability they seek…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Charles Babcock.

When it comes to judging the true cost of cloud computing, many companies try to break down the cost of running their own on-premises data center and compare that with the cost of using Amazon’s or Microsoft’s cloud. At Airbnb, Dave Augustine doesn’t really have time for all that.

The six-year-old Web company has never had its own data center. Airbnb launched its service, which matches travelers with people looking to rent out a room or other accommodation, using the Amazon cloud, and its developers still build all their applications for Amazon’s EC2. Having more than one cloud infrastructure provider, says Augustine, Airbnb’s manager of site reliability engineering, "is an interesting idea" he might look at someday — perhaps after Airbnb doubles its bookings again. As for determining his company’s return on investment on Amazon services, Augustine calls that "penny-pinching."…

Grazed from BusinessWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Haystax Technology Inc. , a developer of next-generation analytics and cloud computing solutions, today announced that it has acquired NetCentrics Corporation , a leader in cybersecurity and network management solutions for defense and federal customers. The acquisition provides immediate scale to create a single company capable of driving greater innovation and positioning itself as a premier high-tech provider, specializing in big data analytics, cloud computing, real-time threat assessment, cybersecurity and IT enterprise management for defense, intelligence and commercial markets. Together, the companies are poised to leverage a multi-billion dollar market opportunity.

With a revenue of more than $100 million, the companies will effectively address the top technology growth sectors, including cybersecurity, analytics, cloud computing, IT infrastructure modernization and secure mobility solutions. With the Haystax Technology Accelerator and NetCentrics’ OVO consulting group, the company will continue to focus on delivering next generation disruptive products and services…

Grazed from BusinessCloudNews. Author: Editorial Staff.

German software giant SAP announced plans to open its first Canadian datacentre, which is being built in Toronto, one of Canada’s largest cities. SAP Canada’s managing director Bob Elliot said the move will help the company accommodate Canadian customers looking for in-country SAP cloud solutions.

“We’re seeing a growing demand for cloud based solutions from our Canadian customers. They want to take a step into the cloud, but they’re still nervous about this new way of doing things,” Elliot said. “Our customers here range from government agencies to healthcare and financial services companies and almost all of them have strict data security requirements. They want the data housed on Canadian soil, because of confidentially issues.”…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Mike Vizard.

Concerns over privacy and data governance in the cloud have reached a new level in the wake of a Federal court ruling requiring Microsoft to turn data over to the U.S. government that it has been storing for customers in a data center located in Ireland. Because Microsoft is incorporated in the United States, Federal Judge Loretta A. Preska ruled that the U.S. government still has the power to compel Microsoft to turn over data regardless of where it is physically stored. In the wake of recent court rulings, cloud service providers (CSP) had been storing data outside of the United States on behalf of customers that did not want that data to subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The ruling by Judge Preska is clearly a blow to cloud service providers based in the United States that are trying to compete in what has become a global cloud computing market.

But as disturbing as this latest Federal ruling is to cloud service providers, it may prove to be a boon to providers of encryption technologies. IT organizations have long-resisted the use of encryption because it has been difficult to manage and created a lot of processing overhead. But the federal ruling makes it clear that the only way IT organizations can retain control over their data is if they retain control over keys used to encrypt their data…

Grazed from CIO. Author: Kenneth Corbin.

In spite of a nearly four-year-old mandate to prioritize cloud computing technologies within the federal government, that transition has been slow to take shape, with officials continuing to express concerns about how to manage cloud deployments and uncertainty about navigating the maze of commercial providers.

Gerald Chelak, director of the technical service division at the GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, says his agency is “100 percent committed to cloud” but admits that federal CIOs struggle to keep up with what he describes as “cloud service provider sprawl.” When asked in a recent panel discussion how IT workers can keep on top of an ever-expanding galaxy of service providers and products, Chelak quipped, “Spend weekends.”…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Adrian Bridgwater.

Oracle has this month introduced the Oracle-flavoured Linux 7 open source operating system. Freely distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPLv2), Oracle Linux is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and follows the RHEL7 release, which arrived this June. This distribution of Linux represents what Oracle would like to us to consider as its more open and community focused side, although of course a paid support model is available and widely adopted.

But it’s not just about whether the software is free or not; what matters today is how open it is and how the software itself is architected and used by the developers and users who come into daily contact with it. The company asserts that its latest baby is the “only major enterprise Linux distribution” that publishes all bug fixes and security errata publicly. This openness is hoped to achieve more flexibility than other commercial Linux distributions…

Grazed from SfGate. Author: David Einstein.

After last week’s item about Comcast, I was deluged with responses from readers who, like me, received a letter from the company saying we had to upgrade our cable modems in order to get the most out of our Xfinity Internet service. As I wrote in the column, my old Docsis 2 modem was delivering the Internet at the advertised rate of 25 megabits per second, and when I asked Comcast, I was told I didn’t really have to upgrade to a faster Docsis 3 model.

On Friday, I got a robocall with the same message about the need to upgrade – which I thought was odd until I learned that earlier that day, Comcast had quietly doubled the maximum speed in California for its (and my) Performance Internet plan to 50 Mbps. Knowing that my Docsis 2 modem could only handle speeds up to 38 Mbps, I bought a Docsis 3 model at Target for $70, and now I am getting the faster service…

Grazed from WhaTech. Author: Editorial Staff.

A US provider of cloud computing services has put together a handy guide on all the issues to be addressed and the questions to be answered when planning a migration to the cloud. Along the way, drawing on quotes from multiple sources and experts, the guide makes a compelling case for adopting cloud services and indeed suggests they will soon come to dominate the IT landscape.

Windstream Communications’ ‘2014 Cloud Guide, Insights for a Great Migration’, quotes Joe McKendrick, an independent researcher and speaker on IT trends and markets, saying: “Cloud computing is set to become mainstream computing, period. … The biggest news for cloud computing is that it will not be news. It’s the way we do computing today.”…