SimpliVity thinks it’s time for a super appliance to take on many workloads now handled by multiple appliances and that’s what its OmniCube aims to do.

The beauty of a data center appliance is that it can plug right in and start working with minimal configuration and heartache. But that simplicity is undercut once companies start deploying multiple special-purpose appliances to handle different tasks — WAN optimization, deduplication, backup, etc.  SimpliVity says its OmniCube super-appliance will handle all that stuff.

“We’ve developed new stack software and an accelerator card that handles ‘hot data’ — the writes and seeks most companies run on — and put that all into a 2U box that combines server, storage, networking functionality now handled by all these other boxes,” SimpliVity CEO Doron Kempel, an EMC veteran, said in a recent interview. “We dedupe and compress all that data once and forever. Everyone else dedupes at different stages of the life cycle. Why not dedupe at inception?”…

In the foreseeable future, cloud computing will be a part of our everyday lives.  To move decisively and securely into cloud-enabled future, it is vital for banks to understand how cloud computing will impact future banking products, services and technologies.

First, customer relationships will be redefined. The most disruptive impact of cloud computing will be how it redefines the relationship between consumers and their providers of banking products and services. Cloud computing will make these services more convenient, more accessible, easier to use, and more personalized to the needs and lifestyles of individuals…

Groupon, Facebook, and Zynga are currently having difficulties since their initial public offerings. Their losses can go as much as 70%. Currently, public cloud computing companies are not affected. This is primarily because companies like NetSuite and Salesforce.com have already proven themselves since they’ve been around since late 1990s. These companies have already proven that their customers are capable of buying their products and services. These customers also know that these companies offer cloud computing applications which are packed with benefits.

Social networking companies, on the other hand, are relatively new and they have not proven themselves. The social industry goes with the highly changing times and that it’s difficult to convert the customers’ support to money. This year, companies like Bazzarvoice, Brightcove, Demandware, and ExactTarget have gone public…

How will cloud computing shake up the banking industry? The pre-crisis, high-leverage banking approach is no longer fit for purpose in the post-crisis world. For example, to successfully manage current market challenges (e.g., with liquidity, volatility and regulation), retail banks can no longer rely extensively on expensive branch-focused distribution to achieve sustainable growth. Rather, they must look to “smart size” their distribution network. In this new market context, banks will need to successfully overcome specific distribution and marketing challenges.

A powerful nexus of changing customer behavior through the use of the Web, mobile and social connectivity and emerging new technology (e.g., digital, analytics and cloud) is motivating “smart banks” to re-examine and re-engineer their business models. And, there are at least three unique business models emerging among smart banks…