Author: David

Grazed from PC Magazine.  Author: Christina DesMarais.

Cloud gaming and desktop computing service OnLive’s fate is in: It has been sold to an unnamed entity. The news puts to rest some rumors that had been swirling about its future.

If you’re a user of the on-demand video gaming service there’s no need to worry, at least for now. A spokesperson for OnLive CEO Steve Perlman said the company will continue to operate its OnLive Game and Desktop services during the transition and the new company is well-funded.

OnLive said in a statement that "the new company is hiring a large percentage" of its staff across all departments…

Grazed from CloudTimes.  Author: Florence de Borja.

With more and more organizations moving towards the clouds for its customization, flexibility, and agility, sad to say, large cloud computing providers are not that keen to tap the open environment because doing so will be have negative effects to their financial interests. Since Linux started some 20 years ago, there is a growing demand for openness in the IT arena.

Today, there is a growing demand for cloud computing to deliver open source cloud computing applications. OpenStack, a community for the development of open-sourced public and private clouds, is on the forefront with more than 180 organizations around the world as supporters…

Grazed from Times of India.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Big data, 3D printing, activity streams, Internet TV, Near Field Communication (NFC) payment, cloud computing and media tablets are some of the fastest-moving technologies identified in Gartner Inc.’s 2012 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies.

Gartner analysts said that these technologies have moved noticeably along the Hype Cycle since 2011, while consumerization is now expected to reach the Plateau of Productivity in two to five years, down from five to 10 years in 2011. Bring your own device (BYOD), 3D printing and social analytics are some of the technologies identified at the Peak of Inflated Expectations in this year’s Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle…

Grazed from RedOrbit.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Grazed from PC Advisor.  Author: Stephanie Overby.

Global IT services spending should reach more than $251 billion dollars this year, up 2.1 percent from 2011, according to Gartner’s latest IT outsourcing forecast. Adjusting for currency changes, that’s actually around a 4.1 percent increase in spending–about the same level of growth as the year prior, according to Gartner research director Brian Britz.

But the fastest growing segment of outsourcing–cloud computing services–is expected to nearly double from $3.4 billion in 2011 to $5 billion this year. Even more notable–infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) will contribute 38 percent of the increment outsourcing growth in 2012, compared to 8 percent in 2011. "This is reflective of how difficult the current market is for established IT outsourcing services–like data center outsourcing–and the providers of those services," Britz says. "There is definitely some displacement or substitution of cloud for what might have otherwise been delivered through more traditional outsourcing models taking place."…

Grazed from CloudTimes.  Author: Florence de Borja.

According to the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, the return on investment of cloud computing may not be able to meet expectations due to hidden costs.

In its white paper “Calculating Cloud ROI: From the Customer Perspective”, there are 5 hidden costs which everyone must be aware of before they move to the clouds:

1. There is a cost involved when an enterprise decides to house their IT services back to its premises because it will be faced with regulatory changes.
2. There is also a cost involved in mitigating cloud computing risks.
3. Some expenses may be incurred unexpectedly when systems are migrated to the clouds.
4. Due to the shift to cloud computing, there’s going to be a loss of IT knowledge which provides competitive differentiation.
5. There’s also a lock-in provision with a proprietary service or particular cloud service provider which is expected to slow down any future plans for adopting open standards-based services…

Grazed from Government Security News.  Author:   Ashish Patel.

With every day that dawns, the global technology skies are becoming more and more cloudy. However, I’m not predicting dark, stormy days ahead — far from it.

These are the cumulus clouds of computing opportunity. From the federal government to banking to healthcare, organizations and industries across the spectrum are realizing that moving their premises-based technology infrastructure to off-site, cloud-based solutions can offer real benefits.

While discussion about cloud computing has been going on in the public safety community for a few years, the idea of broad implementation has not been widely accepted. Early commercial cloud solutions were nebulous and untested, which rendered them incompatible with public safety…

Grazed from Amerisurv.  Author: Editorial Staff.

The revolution and evolution of cloud computing and other emerging new technologies impacting the practice of geospatial professionals will be presented at the 2012 MAPPS/ASPRS Joint Specialty Conference to be held October 29 through November 1 in Tampa, Florida.

Technical sessions during the conference will address the most pressing technologies and their applications including 3D, mobile mapping, cloud data management, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), lidar and the role of cloud computing with these technologies…