Author: David

Grazed from International Law Office. Author: Sanjay Pritam and Peter Lumley-Savile.

More and more businesses are looking to use cloud computing to access a broad range of computer software and services. At its most basic level, ‘cloud computing’ is defined as the delivery of information technology as a service over the Internet. Cloud computing offers companies substantial cost savings and greater flexibility; but despite these obvious benefits, it also presents significant risks, particularly in relation to the security of data stored in the cloud. It is therefore important that a business considering the use of cloud computing takes appropriate steps to mitigate the dangers, both legal and commercial. A company can quickly become dependent on the ability to access the cloud and may be paralysed in the event of service interruptions.

While a number of issues should be considered in a cloud computing contract (eg, performance monitoring, interoperability and transitional arrangements), this update focuses on a contract term that often does not receive the consideration it deserves, normally to the detriment of a cloud computing customer: the force majeure clause…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Blancco, the global leader in data erasure and computer reuse solutions, is serving as a key sponsor at Cloud Security Alliance Congress 2012, November 7-8, in Orlando, Florida. At Booth 1, Blancco will highlight the critical role data erasure plays in securing cloud data. Blancco will also offer conference attendees its recently updated white paper, "Data Erasure Solutions for Data Center and Cloud Computing Security." The paper discusses how certified, auditable and automated data erasure protects information on equipment slated for reuse or retirement, while also supporting erasure of virtual machines (VMs) and logical units in active environments.

"While much focus was previously placed on pulling data into the cloud, growing attention is now given to securing this data when it exits, as when a customer changes its service provider or a data center upgrades data-rich equipment," said Markku Willgren, president of US Operations, Blancco. "As we celebrate our 15th anniversary at this security-minded event, Blancco is proud to demonstrate how we’re helping a diverse IT customer base address issues like Big Data and targeted removal of data on active systems, while streamlining implementation of erasure best practices."…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Charles Babcock.

Jonathan Bryce may have started out as implementer of the original Mosso Cloud in San Antonio that became the Rackspace Cloud. But the new executive director of the OpenStack Foundation said the OpenStack open source project is the best way to avoid getting locked into a cloud vendor’s operations.

The OpenStack project’s claim that it will continue to provide freely available software is backed up by the project’s overseeing body, the OpenStack Foundation, Bryce said in an interview on the opening day of Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday. While it is based on its Linux and Apache predecessors, Bryce said the OpenStack Foundation offers an advanced example of open source governance…

Grazed from Mellanox. Author: PR Announcement.

Mellanox® Technologies, Ltd., a leading supplier of high-performance, end-to-end interconnect solutions for data center servers and storage systems, today announced a live, interactive joint webinar with industry-leading cloud server hosting providers ProfitBricks and Atlantic.Net, Inc. on technology and ROI considerations for deploying scalable and faster cloud computing infrastructures while reducing CAPEX and OPEX. The webinar will also address several aspects of cloud computing including the main advantages of moving a business into the cloud.

What: Enhancing Cloud Providers to Deliver Revolutionary Throughput Performance and Efficiency with Mellanox InfiniBand

When: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 10:00 am Pacific Time / 1:00 pm Eastern Time Register Today …

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: John Omwamba.

News coming from the Silicon Valley is not about things tech or computers this time round. Rather, it is how robotics technology is making advances in the world of vehicles by introducing the initial autonomous models. These automated autos from Google, the largest search engine company in the world, will need no human operator at all. In fact, the earliest releases have already undergone a cumulative experimental mileage of three hundred thousand miles. Only one State in the United States has licensed the makers to introduce the autonomous models into traffic situations, while another jurisdiction has allowed them to operate within experimentation scope.

The efficacy of autonomous cars has become possible courtesy of cloud computing. For an automotive to drive on its own, it requires a horde of guiding data that must be stowed away in a server somewhere. The technology, too, must have some human overseers who get to know whether every command for the vehicle is going according to the plan. For instance, the latest brands are receiving ample tracking through video technology. This helps to ensure that they do not go off track and do return to their station at the set time…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Nicole Laskowski.

Cloud computing technology is maturing, as is the practice of storing and analyzing data there. While privacy and accessibility concerns still remain, they no longer completely eclipse features like elasticity and quick deployment. "There’s a lot of momentum for the cloud," said Tony Cosentino, vice president and research director for Ventana Research, an IT research and consulting firm based in San Ramon, Calif. "I’d expect to see a continuation of this trend in BI [business intelligence] and analytics."

The keyword is continuation. Success stories about analytics in the cloud are becoming easier to find, but barriers still exist, Cosentino said. And for one analytics business, overcoming those barriers required a shift in its culture and pricing model…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

The first version of the CloudStack open-source cloud platform carrying the Apache Foundation imprimatur is now available for download. The new “Incubating release” 4.0.0 integrates CloudBridge Amazon API support and support for Ceph and Caringo storage options. Seven months after Citrix turned the CloudStack open-source cloud project over to the Apache Foundation, the first Apache-blessed code is out.

The new 4.0.0 “incubating release” of CloudStack adds CloudBridge, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) API extension, right into the CloudStack package so that users can “turn on” Amazon S3 and EC2 support if they want. There is also a bunch of support for other third-party technologies including Ceph and Caringo storage and the Nicira network virtualization platform. The code can be downloaded from the Apache site…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

According to a CIO survey by hosting provider ElasticHosts, "83 percent of companies are frustrated with having to cut through marketing hype to find out which solutions are genuine cloud offerings and which are merely conventional hosting services with the word ‘cloud’ added to the title." Good ol’ cloud-washing in action!

Two-thirds of the survey’s respondents had been offered "cloud" services that are fixed-term, 40 percent had been offered services that weren’t elastic or scalable, and 32 percent were offered services that weren’t even self-service. (Keep in mind that a provider did this survey, so selfish interests are in play.)…

Grazed from PRNewsWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Appcore®, provider of the industry’s only complete automated cloud computing platform, and Cologix, a network-neutral colocation and interconnection provider, today announced a partnership to enable customers to deploy Appcore Onsite™ within Cologix’s 11 data centers across North America.

Cologix currently services over 550 customers across nearly every industry, ranging from carrier to managed services, media, content, financial services and enterprise businesses. Leveraging Appcore’s technology solution empowers Cologix customers to implement scalable public or private cloud environments according to their business model or cloud focus…