Cloud Computing: Microsoft CRM Embraces iPhone, iPad, Android
Microsoft announced Monday that it will embrace rival mobile platforms and browsers with a planned second-quarter service update of its Microsoft Dynamics CRM application.
"In today’s hyperconnected world, customers need to be able to access their business-critical data on the device of their choice," said Dennis Michalis, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, in a statement.
That’s not exactly new news to customers, but cross-platform support is something Microsoft has only slowly–and fairly recently–embraced as it has moved into broad cloud computing services such as Azure and Microsoft Office 365…
Cloud Computing: Easing Some Of Virtual Security’s Complexities
While virtualization and cloud computing pretty much dominate the IT world, security and compliance with IT standards are neither trivial concerns, nor going away anytime soon. But in some ways, security is easier to accomplish in virtual systems than in physical
Take the task of tracking an inventory of IT assets in a data center, for instance. Catbird, a security and compliance technology vendor, has just introduced version 5.0 of its vSecurity suite of tools for securing virtual, cloud and physical networks. One feature of the product is Automated Asset Inventory: every time a new device is attached to the network — a server, a router or a printer — the inventory feature sees it and applies the appropriate security rules to it…
Is platform-as-a-service ready to leave the station?
To date, cloud computing has been dominated by big e-mail and infrastructure providers selling commodity services. As a result, infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service have gotten most of the attention.
Platform-as-a-service could be next. Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel has identified PaaS as “the next major value set for federal cloud computing, and it also aligns closely with his Shared Services initiative to knock down stovepipe software and save money,” said Kevin Jackson, general manager of NJVC cloud services and a co-author of the white paper "Platform as a Service (PaaS). What Is It? Why Is It So Important?"
The paper attempts to clarify some of the confusion around PaaS for federal IT buyers…
The Cloud Software Companies You Need to Know About
The cloud computing industry can be a little daunting. Every week there’s a new start-up promising to be a Netflix for YouTube, or claiming to leverage the cloud for customer relationship algorithmic optimization. You know, marketing gibberish. What does it all mean? There may be a ton of companies in the cloud, but many may not survive, and a number of them are just full of hot air. Let’s take a look at a few of the most promising stocks in the sector, and try to figure out why they’ve gotten this far.
Cloudy bona fides
A company doesn’t merit being part of the cloud just because it’s got something running on the Internet. But software as a service is easy enough to define. Whenever you have to access your application through a central location, and pay ongoing license fees to the developer, that’s generally software as a service. Microsoft‘s Office suite is plain old software. Its Office 365, available through subscriptions, is software as a service. Got it? Cool. Let’s check out some other top cloud software companies, and try to figure out if they’re worth your money…
Peer Networking Key in Cloud Computing
The phenomenal growth of Cloud Computing has been driven by a number of factors. But in order for the Cloud industry to build on its initial momentum, a broader cross-section of IT and business decision-makers must become adept at taking full advantage of the rapidly expanding array of virtual resources available in the Cloud.
The whirlwind of activity surrounding Cloud alternatives over the past few years has not only spawned countless start-ups seeking fortune in the Cloud marketplace, but also attracted a myriad of established players attempting to repurpose, or ‘Cloud-wash’, their existing products and services to exploit the escalating demand for Cloud solutions.
I’ve often referred to this ‘Cloud-rush’ effect, in which a proliferation of players is frantically trying to gain mind- and market-share while customer interest and receptivity are high…
enStratus Adds Cloud Guru Bernard Golden as VP of Enterprise Solutions
enStratus announced today that Bernard Golden has joined the company as its new Vice President of Enterprise Solutions. In this new role, Bernard will help enStratus customers leverage the cloud and build best-practice operations based on the enStratus cloud management platform. Bernard brings vast experience working with CIOs around the world to incorporate new IT technologies and meet their business goals.
"Enterprises continually informed me about the challenges they face as they add public and private clouds to their IT infrastructure," commented Bernard Golden, VP of Enterprise Solutions for enStratus. "The enStratus solution brings the critical governance and automation capabilities that enterprises require across all the leading clouds. I look forward to helping our customers meet this goal and to being part of the great team at enStratus." …
Salesforce.com: A Million Cloud Apps and Counting
The battle for control of the cloud is ultimately going to be determined by the platform that wins the hearts and minds of the most application developers.
With that goal in mind, Salesforce.com is already playing host to over 1 million cloud applications that are running on its Force.com and Database.com platforms, or on the cloud computing platform managed by its Heroku subsidiary, says Byron Sebastian, CEO of Heroku.
Each of those platforms, adds Sebastian, is targeted at a specific type of application. Force.com is aimed at developers who are creating data-centric applications that are similar in nature to the customer relationship management (CRM) application that Salesforce.com markets, while the Heroku platform is designed to run custom applications that are rewritten in multiple languages. Database.com, meanwhile, gives developers who need a relational database access to a cloud service. Sebastian says Salesforce.com sees Database.com as the platform that unifies the Force.com and Heroku platforms under a common set of federated cloud services…
How to protect your IP in the cloud
Around this time last year, the cloud computing contract signings were coming fast and furious — not just for commodity work like IT management or email, but for software and infrastructure closer to the core of corporate value. Not long after that, the calls started to come in to Greg Bell, principal and the Americas service leader for information protection at KPMG.
Cloud services customers more often line of business leaders that IT executive — were panicked as they began to realize that their intellectual property (IP) was now at risk. Some, like one client who discovered that he’d potentially exposed his company’s precious formulas, had to bring the software and associated processes back in-house — at no small expense. "They quickly went through an assessment, made very aggressive movement [into cloud computing], and then had to retreat because they were not able to put the proper controls in place," says Bell…
ScienceLogic Wins 2011 Cloud Computing Excellence Award
Grazed from MarketWatch. Author: PR Announcement.
The ScienceLogic(TM) IT operations and cloud management platform has been named a 2011 Cloud Computing Excellence Award winner by global, integrated media company TMC and Cloud Computing Magazine. The ScienceLogic platform won because it gives service providers and corporations visibility into and control over their public and private cloud-based resources along with their data center infrastructures, all from the same management console.
"Recognizing leaders in the advancement of cloud computing, TMC is proud to announce ScienceLogic as a recipient of the first Cloud Computing Excellence Award," said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. "The ScienceLogic platform has demonstrated innovation as well as the ability to improve cloud management."…
Ixia Supports European Advanced Networking Test Center In First Comprehensive Data Centre Cloud Validation
Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA), the leading global provider of converged IP and wireless network test solutions, today announced its participation in the first public test of a cloud infrastructure in conjunction with EANTC and Cisco. EANTC-independently led testing that showcased Cisco’s expertise in providing the comprehensive end-to-end functionality required to deliver next-generation cloud data centres from application delivery through to core switching. The testing highlighted Ixia’s unique ability to completely characterise a complex cloud network using several of its physical and virtualised testing solutions working together.
The success of cloud computing and the online applications it enables has brought about a new paradigm of user experience and expectations. Users now expect access to a wide range of media-rich applications and services, instantly, from any location. Virtualisation makes more efficient and flexible use of data centre resources, but increases the workload and complexity of server architecture and network infrastructure, putting new and significant demands on both resources. Add to this the security concerns and the ongoing migration to IPv6 and deploying public cloud networks can be a daunting process…