Author: David

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Editorial Staff.

Rumors keep swirling about for the next-generation of video game consoles.

What sort of specs will the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 have? How will these systems compare to the current-gen consoles? To gaming PCs? And how will cloud-computing figure in to the next generation of games, both in terms of processing power and distribution?

There’s no clear or certain answer to any of this, and likely won’t be for some time…

Grazed from HealthTech Zone. Author: Deborah Hirsch.

For a long time, healthcare organizations shied away from cloud computing, rightfully worried about privacy issues and security when confidential data was stored and managed on the Web.

But all that seems to have dissolved. A recent report by Dallas-based research firm MarketsandMarkets predicts the market will grow to $5.4 billion worldwide by 2017, according to a story by James Ritchie. In 2011, market penetration for cloud computing in healthcare was apparently 4 percent, representing only a $1.7-billion market.

Cloud computing allows organizations to rely on remote machines owned by another firm for software and data storage via a Web-based service for such functions as electronic medical records and for back-office functions, including billing and payroll, according to the study…

Grazed from IT Business Edge. Author: Michael Vizard.

As the presidential campaign gets into full swing in advance of the November election, there’s obviously a lot of focus on the employment outlook. While the accuracy of the numbers that the Department of Labor posts are dubious at best, there’s no doubt that the employment picture could be better. A lot of factors go into determining what the employment picture actually winds up being. But one factor that a lot of folks don’t seem to be appreciating is the role IT and cloud computing are about to play in reshaping in the economy.

While most of the employment chatter these days about cloud computing centers around the impact this shift will have on people working inside IT, the reality is that the impact on people working outside of IT is going to be exponentially greater. Once a company starts moving IT into a third-party data center, it’s only a matter of time before entire business processes start heading in that same direction. Once business process outsourcing starts to occur in volume, it becomes apparent pretty quickly that one smaller group of people in the cloud can automate a process or task that used to be performed by 10 times as many people working in 10 different companies. As that trend continues, it’s not like those jobs moved somewhere and will come back one day; they just simply disappeared into the cloud…

Grazed from IT Business Edge. Author: Arthur Cole.

Now that enterprises are becoming more comfortable with the cloud computing model for basic applications like backup and recovery, attention is starting to shift toward some of the more advanced possibilities.

Key among them is Infrastructure-as-a-Service, which promises not only software and operating instances on-demand, but entire data environments. While a number of high-profile services are up and running (most of the time, anyway) the question remains how close we are from making the transition from ad hoc service-based infrastructure to full utility computing.

At the moment, implementing a working IaaS architecture is a bit more complicated than switching the lights on. Hardware and software integration, network pathways, usage and governance policies and a range of other items generally mark the "to-do" list when it comes to establishing cloud infrastructure. However, it seems the process is becoming more streamlined, particularly as enterprises transition to more cloud-like architecture within their own data centers…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Maureen O’Gara.

Microsoft is buying Perceptive Pixel Inc. (PPI), which makes large-scale, multi-touch displays, a new hardware line for the software giant.

Terms were not disclosed. 3M is understood to be an investor in PPI.

Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft’s Office Division, said in a statement Monday that "PPI’s large touch displays, when combined with hardware from our OEMs, will become powerful Windows 8-based PCs and open new possibilities for productivity and collaboration."…

Grazed from MarketWatch. Author: Steven D. Jones.

Cloud computing is lifting the cloud over software mergers.

Recently SAP AG SAP -1.15% bid $4.3 billion for Ariba Inc. ARBA -0.08% , a manager of online purchasing networks. A day after that announcement, Oracle Corp. ORCL -0.31% said it was buying privately held Vitrue Inc., a maker of cloud-based social marketing software, for an undisclosed sum. A couple of weeks later, Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.93% announced it would acquire social networking provider Yammer Inc. for $1.2 billion.

Even cloud companies are buying cloud companies. Salesforce.com Inc. CRM -3.34% announced it would purchase Buddy Media Inc. for $689 million. The company makes software that manages ad campaigns on social media such as Facebook FB +1.58% , Twitter and YouTube…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Clive Longbottom.

The advantages of private cloud services are plentiful. But so are its hurdles. Understanding its promises and problems right at the beginning is crucial to use cloud effectively. Otherwise, IT is just replacing one chaotic infrastructure with another.

Cloud computing services may be less fuzzy now for some IT pros who have worked out what it actually means and how it could work for them. But, for many, cloud computing is still a confusing term because of the conflicting messages from vendors, users and analysts. Your best bet is to learn all you can about private cloud services and its problems.

The promise of private cloud is reasonably simple: It has to do with moving from a one-application-per-physical-server (OAPPS) approach to a shared-resources model. This means that IT will be investing in fewer servers, storage systems and network equipment, and will improve business flexibility by reducing functional redundancy…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

The database category hasn’t been all that exciting over the past 20 years, with market leaders Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Sybase (now SAP trading off incremental updates every year or so. But that period of stasis ended with the advent of cloud computing, open source software and big data — a perfect storm that reinvigorated the field.

Now NuoDB, a new-look database company that seeks to take advantage of that convergence is taking in $10 million in Series B funding, led by Morgenthaler Ventures with additional contributions from existing backers Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Longworth Venture Partners. The company also added database pioneer Gary Morgenthaler, a partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, to its board, joining another database luminary, Hummer Winblad partner Mitchell Kertzman…

Grazed from PC Advisor. Author: Ben Dyer.

Cloud computing is currently one of the most talked about topics for many business, for a large percentage of whom it is the perfect solution. For a startup, low costs and simple entry are appealing features – while large corporates have the clout to mould cloud services to their will. However there is a third, multi-million pound market for which the cloud may not suit. Visit: Business Advisor.

For mid-market online companies, though, all that glitters definitely isn’t gold. The cloud can become a nightmare for security, data privacy and more – and many are returning to standalone self-hosted solutions to bring control back into their own hands.

The complexities of choosing a cloud provider are numerous – issues such as security management, attack response and recovery, system availability and performance, the vendor’s financial stability and its ability to comply with the law all need to be considered. But should your business even be thinking about moving to the cloud at all?…

Grazed from RenewableEnergyWorld.com. Author: Richard Baillie.

Cloud computing, where software is delivered as a service to end users over the internet, is currently receiving a lot of attention. The term describes data-processing operations that are outsourced to server farms, instead of being powered on-site. These range from websites and remotely hosted networks, to digital storage space and individual documents.

Such are the developments, that software delivered over the web looks very similar to software operating on a personal computer, and is accessible from any computer in the world. Consequently, some IT sector analysts are predicting the death of the personal computer while others believe it will simply become another device to access the on-line world. Increasingly, the engine of the IT sector is composed of large-scale data servers that are driving the cloud-computing revolution forward. With regard to energy, cloud computing should result in lower costs for users and fewer greenhouse gas emissions by streamlining information-crunching into single facilities on speedy machines…