Grazed from CloudComputingTech. Author: Kathy L. Grise.

The overarching theme around cloud computing is truly ubiquitous and reaches across not just the computing industry and professionals, but really touches across academia, government, and industry, plus the average, general consumer. A successful cloud implementation happens when it all functions effectively and is transparent to the user.

The user should not have to worry about the where, how, or what behind the cloud. Issues like privacy, security, reliability, and accessibility should be transparent. Naturally, the success is based upon a sound architecture(s) behind cloud computing. There are numerous pieces and parts that host, drive, and support cloud computing, ranging from its SaaS, PaaS, etc. to the basic and fundamental physical components…

Grazed from TechNet. Author: Brendon Lynch.

At Microsoft, we know that customer trust is essential to our business. People will use technology only if they can trust it, and our commitment to protecting customer data is an important element in building and maintaining that trust. The issue of who owns email is at the center of an important hearing in U.S. federal court in New York this week, at which Microsoft will argue that the U.S. government can’t force American tech companies to turn over customer emails stored exclusively in company data centers in other countries – in this case, in Dublin, Ireland.

The government argues that customer emails stored in the cloud become the business records of the cloud provider, and therefore have a lower level of legal protection than an individual’s personal communications. Microsoft believes you own your emails stored in the cloud and that they have the same privacy protection as paper letters sent by mail. You can read more on this case in an op-ed written by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel and executive vice president for legal and corporate affairs.

Grazed from Hosting.com. Author: Editorial Staff.

In our July 14th blog post, How Stable is Your Cloud Provider?, we gave examples of some “seismic shifts” occurring in the cloud computing industry today. The industry witnessed a high level of volatility in the first half of 2014 as cloud solution providers (CSPs) anxiously watched their status slip in Gartner Inc.’s Magic Quadrant for Managed Cloud Hosting, went on massive acquisition sprees, or slashed their pricing for the umpteenth time. Following are some insights into what we can expect in the second half of 2014.

1) Public, Unmanaged IaaS Providers Will Continue to Race to the Bottom

If the recent pricing moves by Google and Amazon are any indication, we can expect to see cost cutting accelerating in 2014. Last March, Google cut its prices massively, reducing the prices of on-demand, pay-as-you-go services by 30%-85%. Amazon fired back the next day with a blog post that begins with the sentence: “It is always fun to write about price reductions.” This price cut by Amazon is the 42nd since 2008, and there is no indication that they will stop anytime soon…

Grazed from Linux.com. Author: Katherine Noyes.

Orchestration can bring benefits to many parts of IT, but its potential may well be greatest of all in the highly complex world of cloud computing. While there are numerous cloud orchestration tools available today — both proprietary and open source — a new contender recently emerged that aims to provide a universal and open source solution.

Specifically, GoGrid-sponsored OpenOrchestration.org hopes to advance the open data services ecosystem with a free orchestration service, software library and community. Essentially, the effort aims to do for entire clouds what virtualization did for servers by delivering a range of complex, “full-stack” solutions. Users, in turn, can then easily deploy complex applications in a single cloud, across multiple clouds, on-premises or any combination in between…

Grazed from NetSecurity.org. Author: Ran Rothschild.

When designing your cloud architecture you may notice several differences between the cloud-computing environment and the “old world” of physical infrastructure. Two of the main differences are elasticity and dynamism, which are part of the cloud’s DNA. The fact that security-related components can be easily tested, evaluated and deployed allow many companies – both existing and newly established start-ups – to launch their solutions also or solely in the public cloud. Moreover, I argue that by combining the tools supplied by a cloud provider with external third party solutions, higher levels of security – not to mention peace of mind – are achieved.

Best-of-breed

By thoroughly evaluating your architecture, you can highlight the main areas of concern that are derived from either a business need or regulatory requirement, so that you can find the optimal security solution to fit that specific need. The optimal solution is a very personal matter as each company has their own unique sets of requirements, financial capabilities and technical expertise…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Clark Buckner.

Cloud Connect is partnering with Interop New York to bring its cloud-as-as-business-enabler programming to Interop attendees at the Javits Center this fall. Clark Buckner of TechnologyAdvice spoke with Cloud Connect conference chair Steve Wylie about how cloud is transforming enterprise IT, and about Cloud Connect’s role at Interop.

“The nature of enterprise IT is changing because of cloud computing,” said Wylie in a podcast interview. “The risk for people in IT is becoming less relevant in the business technology strategy if they don’t embrace cloud and understand how to fully leverage it to drive the business forward.”…

Grazed from GovTech. Author: Jessica Hughes.

Cloud technology can simplify many computing tasks, but solving a digital crime is not one of them. That’s why the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently issued a draft report that identifies 65 forensic science challenges in the cloud, with the aim of building a roadmap to overcoming them. The report, NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Science Challenges, collects and aggregates the problems and is the result of research from NIST’s Cloud Computing Forensic Science Working Group.

The 65 challenges reveal the magnitude of the problem that cloud computing presents, though it’s not an exhaustive list, said Martin Herman, senior adviser for forensics and IT at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "It shows that there is a lot work that needs to be done to overcome these challenges," said Herman, who co-chairs the working group…

Grazed from BSMInfo. Author: Terry Cronin.

Technology historians tell us that the idea of cloud computing dates back to at least the mid-’90s. That may be true, but the term’s more likely been in vogue since Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud hit the market 10 years later. In the years since, there’s been a steady and ever-growing migration to this model.

Still, in our business, a decade is eternity. That’s why what we should really be talking about is the next logical next step: solutions that don’t have to migrate to the cloud because they were actually born there. That’s the best way to look at virtual desktop service (VDS), or Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS)…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Dan Kobialka.

Vancouver, Canada-based endpoint management and security provider Absolute Software today unveiled Event Calling, a new alerting feature for its cloud security service. The alerting feature delivers "a proactive response to potential data breaches and security incidents," according to Absolute.

Event Calling is included in the Absolute Computrace cloud security service and allows customers to receive immediate alerts if an event they consider to be significant occurs. "[This feature] provides our customers with a policy-based approach to regulatory compliance, risk management and enterprise security…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

Bright Computing founder and CEO Matthijs van Leeuwen says his company has just closed a new $14.5 million financing round. Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and DFJ Esprit co-led the Series B funding round, with participation from Prime Ventures and existing shareholder ING Corporate Investments.

The San Jose, California-based company develops management software for clusters, grids and clouds for storage, big data and databases. The additional funds will be used to invest in the Bright Computing team, expand the company’s product line and extend its ability to serve customers, the company’s CEO said this week in a company blog post…