Author: David

Lockheed Martin UK has been selected by the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom (U.K.) to provide G-Cloud IT services across the full complement of Government departments and organizations.

Under the framework agreement, Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions, the corporation’s business area that provides cloud computing solutions, will offer a wide range of services including cloud strategy and integration services; cloud security services; mission centric services; green IT and energy optimization services; cloud brokering services; virtualization consulting; assessments for Oracle virtualization and virtual desktop as a service assessments…

As data center managers move more resources to the cloud, maintaining unified management of IT service delivery across data center, cloud computing, and virtualized environments is crucial. During AFCOM’s Data Center World on Tuesday, March 20, ScienceLogic^™ Inc. CEO David Link will present how to centrally monitor and manage disparate IT systems.

He will highlight tools, strategies and applications to consider when migrating legacy data center resources to the cloud, while maintaining a comprehensive view of performance and data across the infrastructure…

Meru Networks, Inc., a pioneer in 802.11n wireless enterprise networking, today announced a set of new Meru WLAN solutions that can be deployed on-premise, within virtualized private cloud environments, or as subscription-based, hosted applications. Meru’s new line of Virtual Mobility Controllers are VMware-based virtual appliances that operate on standard x86 computing platforms in datacenter or private cloud environments. Meru’s E(z)RF services and the Meru Identity Manager guest access products are also now available as virtual, hosted solutions.

The new solutions improve efficiency and datacenter utilization while giving IT unprecedented choice and control with deployment options that meet their individual needs and give them flexibility as they deal with the flood of devices in the enterprise…

Cloud computing is a rapidly growing opportunity as more businesses look to augment or replace their legacy systems with virtualized private clouds or third-party delivered application and infrastructure services. By some estimates, cloud computing sales will range between $150 billion and $200 billion by 2020.

Despite the rapidly gathering cloud computing opportunities, the channel remains relatively disengaged from the cloud. A new report by the Cloud & Technology Transformation Alliance (CTTA) finds most solution provider cloud practices are immature and underperforming from a revenue perspective…

Mobility and cloud computing are changing the way organizations work, and Microsoft is eagerly trying to establish itself in both areas. But some partners feel Microsoft’s rigid desktop virtualization licensing terms, which make it difficult for cloud service providers to sell its products, are slowing its progress.

Last week, Microsoft announced that OnLive, a cloud service provider that offers a Windows 7 desktop-as-a-service with Office apps, is violating its licensing terms. At the same time, Joe Matz, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Worldwide Licensing and Pricing group, said Microsoft’s licensing terms are designed to "provide clarity and consistency for our partners."…

XPERTECHS, Baltimore’s leading provider of outsourced IT solutions, today announced it has ended Beta testing and added cloud computing to its service offerings to help local businesses take advantage of the benefits of this powerful new computing model.

“We are very pleased to be offering cloud services,” said Michael Mellott, President of XPERTECHS. “Instead of building and maintaining expensive IT systems on premise, businesses will now have the option of simply plugging into whatever IT resources they need, and only having to pay for what they use on a monthly basis. The cloud computing model is similar to the way businesses now consume and pay for electricity. After Beta testing for several months, XPERTECHS has on-boarded several clients in a full production mode.”…

With increasing acceptance of cloud computing by enterprise users comes increasing bandwidth needs, says a survey by Network Instruments (News – Alert), a provider of information and network management.

“While IT teams embrace cloud services and video conferencing as a way to increase cost savings and business flexibility, these technologies introduce new components and environments which make ensuring positive end-user experience all the more challenging,” Brad Reinboldt, senior product manager of Network Instruments said. “The reported lack of monitoring tools, quality metrics, and visibility create serious obstacles that prevent IT from effectively managing performance and jeopardize costly technology investments.”…

Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company, today announced its global Cloudforce Social Enterprise Tour, which kicks off in San Francisco on March 15th. Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff will deliver the keynote on the rise of the social enterprise at Cloudforce San Francisco, the largest Cloudforce ever, at Moscone West. More than 17,000 people are expected to register to learn how their companies can join the social enterprise revolution through social, mobile and open cloud computing. 3,000 developers are expected to register for the co-located Cloudstock, the industry’s first social enterprise developer event, to get hands-on and code the next generation of social enterprise apps.

 Free registration to attend in person is available at www.fb.me/salesforce or watch the keynote online and join the conversation with Salesforce Live! beginning at 8:30 a.m. PT at www.facebook.com/salesforce …

The cloud could suffer the same kind of collapses that plague the financial system, according to an analysis of the unrecognised risks of cloud computing.  The cloud is essentially a metaphor for a network of computers in which computational tasks and resources can be shared. 

The big idea here is that users simply rent the computing power, the storage or an application for as long as they need it without having to invest in the infrastructure behind it.   That makes computing cheaper, easier and more efficient…