Author: David

Grazed from ERP Cloud News. Author: Mac Connolly.

Cloud computing is becoming more popular every year, and many are predicting that 2013 will see a real explosion in the popularity of cloud computing. While the advantages of cloud computing have been discussed at length, there are a couple of potential dangers. In particular, a cloud computing platform is only as strong as it is secure, and poor security can lead to severe problems. Fortunately, proper security protocol can help prevent many negative outcomes. Here are five security tips for those dealing with cloud computing in 2013.

1. Password security

Passwords are essential components when it comes to security in a cloud installation. Unfortunately, many people are still reckless with the passwords, which can wreak havoc in a cloud installation. Passwords for a primary server should only be known by those who need this information, and they should be changed frequently. In addition, those who access cloud servers from desktops should be taught how to create strong passwords and the importance of keeping them secret. The cloud relies on trust, and one broken password can break this trust…

Grazed from Xceedium. Author: PR Announcement.

Xceedium, Inc., the premier provider of privileged identity management for the hybrid cloud, today announced it has enhanced Xsuite® to include protection for the Amazon Web Services management APIs that advanced cloud customers use to monitor and configure their AWS environments. The latest version of Xsuite now includes a privileged API proxy–enabling access control, monitoring, and auditing for scripts and tools accessing AWS management APIs.

Xsuite’s new API Proxy extends the security and auditing capability Xsuite already provides for instances running on AWS and the AWS Management Console. With the advent of software defined infrastructure, many advanced organizations are bypassing the web-based AWS management console and automating operational tasks–utilizing AWS SDKs for Python, PHP, and others, and DevOps tools (e.g., Chef or Puppet) that call AWS’ REST-based management APIs. Xsuite now provides an extra layer of protection so AWS customers can control access, monitor, and audit exactly what scripts are doing…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

One way a cloud services provider can differentiate itself is by providing cloud applications and services targeted at a specific vertical market. Although some vertical markets may be larger than others, which dictates the potential revenue opportunities, some verticals are adopting cloud computing in a big way.

A growing vertical in the cloud space is health care. Although security concerns are still top-of-mind for IT healthcare professionals, especially as they pertain to regulatory compliance and keeping data safe from prying eyes, more healthcare organizations and businesses are turning to the cloud to fulfill their application needs…

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

SaaSMAX Corp. announced today the official commercial release of their new SaaSMAX marketplace platform. SaaSMAX, the Ultimate Value-Add SaaS Marketplace brings together channel resellers and app vendors, increasing revenues for both. SaaSMAX already has hundreds of business cloud software ("SaaS") vendors and resellers signed up and actively doing business in their SaaS marketplace and has gained the confidence and early acceptance of Channel leaders, resellers, customers, and the media. SaaSMAX has won numerous awards and recognitions including SaaSMAX Founder and CEO Dina Moskowitz’s recent induction to the prestigious CompTIA Vendor Advisory Council, the SMB 150 Award, and the CRN Top 500 Solution Providers Award.

The commercial launch kicked off with the unveiling of the new SaaS marketplace at CompTIA’s ChannelCon, with WiseSaaS search functionality that now permits site visitors to immediately start searching and discovering trusted business cloud software solutions that match their needs. Moreover, SaaSMAX provides approved Resellers with on-demand access to many SaaS Vendors’ reseller and affiliate programs…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Matt Prigge.

When most people look at migrating to the cloud, they’re primarily concerned with cost and performance. As much as we’d all like to be able to focus on critically important aspects of cloud computing such as security, availability, and data governance, the questions of how much it costs to run and whether it can keep up with the workload and provide the right features often steal the spotlight.

It’s not hard to see why this is the case. Cost and performance are constants that, if out of line with expectations, become problems immediately, whereas considerations like security and availability rise to the top of the pile only when something goes wrong. It’s also not always clear to cloud users that some aspects of operating in the cloud are still their responsibility rather than the service provider’s…

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Colin Barker.

For companies looking to take the complexity out of managing their IT infrastructure outsourcing has long been a popular option, allowing them to hand over the problem to a services company used to dealing with the intricacies of technology.

But now cloud is offering a similar deal: the ability to simplify both at the level of the application and from a budget point of view. Working out which to use — and when — will be a tricky balancing act that CIOs will have to get used to managing. Right now, as the hotter concept, cloud is generating much more excitement than traditional outsourcing — indeed, some companies are concerned that their existing outsourcing contracts are holding them back from the benefits of the cloud…

Grazed from BizTech2. Author: Editorial Staff.

Dell Services has announced that it will provide its customers a complete portfolio of services to enable development and migration of applications onto the Windows Azure platform. This collaboration expands Dell’s comprehensive suite of application services to include the leading cloud application platform from Microsoft.

Customers can now work with Dell as a single point of contact for design, delivery and ongoing management of applications hosted in the cloud on Windows Azure. This will make it quicker and easier for them to adopt Windows Azure and drive benefits such as increased speed-to-market and agility, better collaboration across organisational boundaries, more modernised application portfolios and a greater ability to manage variable demand capacity needs…

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) is accelerating its Linux on Power initiative with a new high-performance PowerLinux server as well as new software and middleware applications geared for the growing number of clients embracing big data, analytics and next generation Java applications in an open cloud environment.

The new PowerLinux 7R4 server, built on the same Power Systems platform running IBM’s Watson cognitive computing solution, can provide clients the performance required for the new business-critical and data-intensive workloads increasingly deployed in Linux environments. IBM is expanding the portfolio of software for Power Systems with the availability of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and EnterpriseDB database software, each optimized for Linux on Power…

Grazed from PR NewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

EPM Live, the leading Enterprise Work Management platform built on Microsoft™ SharePoint and part of Upland Software’s family of cloud-based project, portfolio, and work management applications, today announced that it has been named a winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Award. This program promotes the measurable business benefits delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

EPM Live’s innovative cloud-based SharePoint Project Management software is able to support both project execution level and project portfolio level customers. The application’s configurability and unique app marketplace allows it to quickly and easily meet the business needs of all departments and verticals, such as IT, Project Portfolio Management, New Product Development, Application Lifecycle Management, and Professional Services Automation. Its numerous out-of-the-box integrations allow organizations to bring all work into EPM Live for overall visibility and insight in one centralized location…

Grazed from The Verge. Author: Jacob Kastrenakes.

NASA is having some trouble making a move into the cloud. In an internal review, the space agency discovered that many of its ongoing cloud initiatives were severely lacking on security — and some had even left sensitive data at risk. Looking over five contracts that it had for cloud hosting, NASA found that "none came close" to meeting the practices it set forth for ensuring proper data security.

NASA seemingly failed to write those security procedures into its contracts with cloud hosting services, and in two cases had used those hosts to hold data that, if compromised, could have had "serious adverse effects" on the space agency. The review also found that NASA had at times moved entire systems onto public cloud servers, and did so without the appropriate internal oversight…