Author: David

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Eric Knorr.

One of the funny things about the cloud is that it’s often difficult to know what’s behind the curtain. Before IBM bought IaaS provider SoftLayer in June, we were hard-pressed to determine precisely what sort of IaaS Big Blue was offering. Yes, they had a virtual server configurator similar to Amazon’s, but the self-service stopped there: you’d tally up your config, submit it, and IBM would get back to you.

Then there was that fuss in July about the SEC investigating IBM to discover exactly how Big Blue was calculating the 70 percent increase in cloud revenue it reported for the first half of 2013 (although, to be fair, cloud-washing like this seems commonplace)…

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Larry Dignan.

The service will be lumped into Rackspace Data Service, which consists of SQL and NoSQL database offerings. The overall goal for Rackspace is to tap into big data workloads. Rackspace offers managed hosting services as well as cloud computing services and big data workloads could be a boon. Rackspace offers a cloud big data platform, a managed version and a private cloud offering.

Here’s a look at the pricing for Rackspace’s Hortonworks offering…

Read more from the source @ http://www.zdnet.com/rackspace-plots-hortonworks-apache-hadoop-services-7000022506/

Grazed from Centrify. Author: PR Announcement.

Centrify Corporation, the leader in Unified Identity Services across data center, cloud and mobile, today announced the Centrify Alliance Partner Program (CAPP), providing developers, cloud and mobile ISVs the ability to jointly develop integrated solutions leveraging Centrify’s leading Unified Identity Services to provide secure access to cloud and mobile apps for mutual customers. In addition, by formalizing its partnering efforts via CAPP, Centrify and its ISV partners such as Dropbox and Zoom are now better able to drive joint go-to-market activities.

Centrify is making this announcement from its pavilion at the Samsung Developers Conference, where it is demonstrating how ISVs and mobile application developers can leverage its cloud-based mobile authentication service that has been selected by Samsung as a built-in Zero Sign-on solution for its Samsung KNOX platform…

Grazed from CloudComputingPath. Author: Pravin Anchan.

While configuring system architecture IT professionals may not give storage the recognition and importance it deserves. In turn this could affect performance and future costs. Today enterprises realize the value of storage and go in for enterprise SAN as a cost efficient, reliable way to store and access data.

Storage can be direct attached storage, network attached storage or storage area network (SAN). SAN lies in between DAS and NAS; DAS forming the underpinnings of the storage system and NAS overlaying SAN. Enterprise SAN takes the concept a step further in the form of centralized storage under common management and security but connected to a number of computer systems to permit data sharing…

Grazed from Reuters. Author: Editorial Staff.

NTT Communications Corp said it will gain control of two U.S. cloud computing firms in takeover deals worth a combined 85.5 billion yen ($880 million), as Japanese firms ramp up efforts to improve overseas networks through acquisitions.

The unlisted long-distance and overseas calling unit of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp will buy Virtela Technology Services Inc, which provides communications services to corporations, and acquire an 80 percent stake in RagingWire Data Centers…

Grazed from Business2Technology.  Author: Brian Wallace.

Managed service providers (MSPs) are the trusted, outsourced technology companies that make small businesses thrive. MSPs have worn many hats throughout the history of technology. Today, they are leading the cloud computing charge. It’s worth taking a look at how exactly MSPs have reached this point today by exploring key points in their history.

In 1981, IBM PC launched—VisiCalc, the first computer spreadsheet program, opened a world of opportunity for CFOs and accountants. From 1984 to 1986, financial and operations departments in small businesses were the first to take advantage of PCs. In 1988, IBM PS/2 and 286/386 Revolution brought computers beyond the C level to more employees. 1995 would be a big year for MSPs as Windows 95 launched. A year later, MSPs became involved in the rise of the multimedia PC—CD-ROMs, sound cards and speakers were added to desktops. In the late 1990s, MSPs were busy as email moves down employee ranks and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) launches…

Grazed from TheConversation.  Author: Sean Cubitt.

Friction-free, weightless, immaterial: the information economy is losing all sense of gravity. The phrase “cloud computing” is completely at home in this floating world.  Like little brooks tinkling down the Big Rock Candy Mountain, film streams from the ether onto our screens. Away with clunky VHS tapes, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Today we can view content (whatever happened to “watching films”?) on any device, from home cinemas to mobile handsets, that’s connected to the cloud. We are showered with plenty from an invisible otherworld of audiovisual refreshment.

Apple’s iTunes started selling video content in 2005, adding iCloud online storage and streaming in 2011. In 2008, five of the six Hollywood film and television majors launched their own Ultraviolet service. This allows consumers to create a “locker” where they store licenses to stream and download content…

Grazed from XO Communications.  Author: Editorial Staff.

A massive surge in unstructured data creates tough challenges for IT. Businesses need more intelligent network infrastructure to support their Big Data plans…

To view infographic, visit: http://www.xo.com/resources/infographic/Manage-the-Surge-In-Unstructured-Data/

Grazed from EETimes.  Author: Jim Ballingall.

A new approach to computer R&D is being born from the rise of mobile systems and the slowing of CMOS scaling.  In 2012, several of the world’s leading computer scientists and engineers collaborated on a whitepaper that describes a strategy for computing R&D. The whitepaper sets forth several goals to be achieved by the end of this decade across the spectrum of computing scale from tiny sensors to expansive datacenters.

The goal is to improve the energy efficiency of computers by two to three orders of magnitude. Furthermore we want to realize by the end of this decade an exa-op datacenter that consumes no more than 10 megawatts…

Grazed from Sci-Tecj-Today.  Author: Editorial Staff.

NASA says new strategies will be needed to manage the ever-increasing flow of large and complex data streams from the agency’s many space missions.  Dozens of missions pour in data every day like rushing rivers — data that need to be stored, indexed and processed so spacecraft engineers, scientists and people across the globe can use the data to understand Earth and the universe beyond, the agency said.

For NASA missions, hundreds of terabytes — one terabyte is equivalent to the information printed on 50,000 trees worth of paper — are gathered every hour, creating what the technology community dubs "big data."…