Author: David

Grazed from ITWeb.  Author: Gina Murphy.

Moving enterprise applications to the cloud can be a complex and daunting task. What you want to find is a cloud provider that offers a high touch engagement process from beginning to end to smooth the transition.

A high touch process ensures you can engage with various members of the deployment team through the three stages of the on-boarding process, which consists of: readiness assessment; development of a migration, transition or transformation plan; and optimization for cost and efficiency…

Grazed from DataCenterKnowledge.  Author: Colleen Miller.

In a blue-chip partnership targeting the intersection of colocation and the cloud, data center service provider Equinix and cloud computing specialist RightScale are helping customers connect private clouds with large-scale public clouds, along with access to leading cloud management tools.

RightScale and Equinix (EQIX) today announced their cloud package for corporations and service providers that both increases the speed and reliability of developing and managing automated clouds. With this partnership, the RightScale Cloud Management Platform will provide Platform Equinix customers with a comprehensive management offering for all cloud infrastructure ― including public, private and multi-cloud/hybrid clouds — managed and controlled through a single cloud service…

Grazed from ComputerWorld.  Author: Accenture.

Today, the world of information technology is somewhat akin to a jigsaw puzzle. Contemporary catchphrases like "cloud computing", "Big Data" and "service-oriented architecture" may be increasingly better understood, but they are no more than pieces of a complex puzzle and they do little to unveil the larger picture.

Nevertheless, three forces appear to be shaping the emerging image of IT…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Anthony Whitton.

Watching technology evolve is a beautiful, fascinating process. Take the telephone. The telephone initially was an improvement over the telegraph in the 1870s. It evolved into a household’s primary method of contact with the outside world and is now a personal device. Almost everyone you see out on the street has a personal device that they can use to call, email, text or even play video games. In just under 150 years, humanity witnessed a fundamental shift in the way humans communicate with one another through the persistent. A similar shift is taking place right now with cloud computing…

Grazed from CIO.  Author: Jim Buchanan.

Cloud technology is emerging as a viable option for companies that want to cut costs, increase agility or augment their own IT resources without building out new infrastructure — or all of the above. But deciding which type of service is the best fit for your specific needs and ensuring the new cloud offerings play nice with your existing application mix is a challenge, to say the least.

More companies are running head-on into these challenges nonetheless. A study published last year by (Link: http://www.pwc.com/us/en/increasing-it-effectiveness/publications/next-generation-cloud-computing.jhtml) PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 41 percent of security and IT respondents said their organizations have already implemented cloud computing, most going with SaaS offerings…

Grazed from CIO.  Author: Thor Olavsrud.

Many organizations have now gone so far as to dip their toes into the shallow end of cloud computing, and many more are thinking about testing the waters. Other organizations have jumped into the cloud with both feet. But whether you’re wading in or fully immersed, properly vetting your cloud service providers is essential.

A recent study by IT industry association CompTIA found that even though many organizations are concerned about the security of their data in the cloud, a minority of companies perform a comprehensive review of their cloud service providers before sealing the deal…

Grazed from Computer World.  Author: Brandon Butler.

What if a cloud computing infrastructure could recognize a cyberattack, eliminate it, and never stop working while all that is being done? That’s what researchers at MIT, with help from the federal government, are investigating the feasibility of.

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to bring about a cloud infrastructure that could identify cyberattacks and heal itself from any damages.

DARPA has a number of ongoing research projects to develop more secure cloud environments…

Grazed from InformationWeek.  Author: Elizabeth Montalbano.

Since cloud computing services represents a paradigm shift from the way federal agencies historically have acquired IT systems, they have a number of new factors to consider–service-level agreements (SLAs), security and privacy among them–as they make plans to implement the cloud, according to a new report.

As part of a broad IT reform plan, the feds have adopted a "cloud first" policy requiring agencies to consider the cloud first as they plan new IT projects, which should accelerate adoption of the technology at the federal level…

Grazed from ChannelEconomics.  Author:  Larry Walsh.

It’s that time of the year again, the RSA Conference – the granddaddy of security events where anyone who’s anyone in security is in attendance. This year’s gathering will likely be dominated by next-generation firewalls, the anticipated IPO of Palo Alto Networks and mobile security. Still, cloud computing will remain a hot topic, and among the many reports that will come out of this conference, Alert Logic’s State of Cloud Security is worth a look.

Security has been the Achilles heel of cloud computing from its inception. The issue remains whether a business can truly trust a service provider with their data and applications – the crown jewels of their operations. Security history is replete with examples of businesses that had to shut down after losing their operating data or having their trade secrets compromised…