Microsoft entices startups with Azure cloud promotional offer
Startup business incubator TechStars has forged a partnership with Microsoft intended to entice certain members of its accelerator programs around the United States to use Azure cloud computing and storage capacity.
The deal is an extension to the Microsoft BizSpark Plus program, which is a broader initiative to provide Microsoft services and technology resources to certain selected startup companies. The motivation: Get small businesses hooked on Microsoft technology early in their business development, and they are likely to stick with that technology as they grow…
How Rackspace Generates Cloud Computing Customer Loyalty
Rackspace VP of Enterprise Strategy Andrew Schroepfer says the cloud computing company has a 1 percent monthly churn rate. How did Rackspace achieve such a low customer churn and high customer retention? Schroepfer offered some insights during the CA Technologies MSP Symposium today in Miami, Fla.
Schroepfer pointed to four lessons:
- We’re a great place to work
- We have a standardized services portfolio to keep things simple.
- We’re easy to work with
- Our employees focus on jobs that involve their core strengths…
Megaupload Equals Mega Fail for Cloud Computing
The shut down of Megaupload by the U.S. government is not being perceived for what it is: a mega failure for cloud computing.
The operation, which had 50 million users, was a lot more than a pirate operation. It provided legitimate cloud-based backup, storage, and transfer functionality for plenty of people.
So now, two storage companies that hosted users’ data could begin erasing files this Thursday. I’m certain many, if not most, of the 50 million users will find out about this on Friday, when some automated function fails. When these poor saps look into the failure, they’ll be surprised to learn that their data has been unceremoniously deleted. If it was important, well then, too bad…
Companies Achieve Private Cloud Breakthrough with CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms
Cloud computing can make a variety of computing services available to companies of all sizes on an ‘as-need’ basis. It allows cloud providers to offer a range of physical resources, such as processors, data storage, applications, and platform access for developers. The result is that smaller companies can eliminate the need for physical hardware as well as the expenditures it entails.
In turn, companies receive access to massive computing and storage resources, then pay only for pro-rated computing services and usage. With that goal in mind, an increasing number of companies are also creating their own private clouds. Into this arena comes CA Technologies (News – Alert) with its latest offering: CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock…
The Open Group Releases Standards for SOA Architects, Cloud Service Providers
The Open Group recently published three standards that aid organizations that are building infrastructure-as-a-service offerings and service oriented architectures. In addition to releasing the Service Oriented Architecture Reference Architecture (SOA RA) and Service Oriented Cloud Computing Infrastructure Framework (SOCCI), the Open Group also updated their Open Group Service Integration Maturity Model (OSIMM). In concert, these standards provide expert advice in the form of best practices, questionnaires, and templates for SOA and cloud-scale infrastructure architecture.
The SOA RA is a nearly two hundred page guide that includes significant input from IBM, among other technology partners. Architects are meant to use this guide as a blueprint for assessing, designing and implementing service-oriented solutions. In essence, this standard answer the question “what is an SOA?” and provides a complete logical design of a service oriented architecture. The core of this standard focuses on nine thoroughly described layers, or capability areas, that make up a SOA solution stack…
Virtualization, Cloud Having Little Impact On Databases
Cloud computing has taken center stage over the last two years as the hot enterprise technology, but in the database realm, the public cloud and off-site hosted database services still represent too many unknown factors to truly have mass adoption. According to the co-author of the InformationWeek "State of Database Technology" report, the public cloud is so far having very little impact on enterprise databases.
Although enterprises are adopting cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM), email, enterprise content management and web hosting services, concerns and challenges related to the cloud are slowing the adoption of cloud-based databases, said David Read, CTO of Blue Slate Solutions and co-author of the report…
SOS Online Backup Brings File Sync, Sharing to Private Cloud
File storage/sync solutions such as Dropbox offer a whole new world of functionality to many users otherwise unfamiliar with the barest concept of cloud computing. But there are still many IT decisionmakers out there who just don’t trust public cloud solutions. Enter SOS Online Backup and its SOS Collaborate Private Cloud, designed to bring full file-sync and sharing capabilities into the customers’ own data center.
In addition to the aforementioned Dropbox-style file-sync and sharing features, SOS Collaborate supports open source plugins for additional file type or application data; grants administrators deep visibility into and control over customer usage; and provides a regulatory compliance audit trail for later usage, according to the press release. It can be deployed as a virtual appliance or on a physical machine behind the customer firewall…
LawLoop.com Expands the Cloud to Offer a Complete Solution for Lawyers
LawLoop.com, ( www.LawLoop.com ), the complete cloud computing solution for lawyers, today announced its official company launch at LegalTech 2012 in New York. LawLoop.com provides a cloud-based solution that reinvents the way law firms of all sizes can securely and efficiently operate, collaborate and communicate.
LawLoop.com takes cloud-based solutions to the next level with uniquely designed "Loops" to safely and cost-effectively share documents, software and information both internally and externally. LawLoop.com’s advanced networking feature uses individualized profiles and avatars to create more transparent virtual collaboration that increases firm and project productivity…
Here Come the Cloud Cartels
What kind of cartels will deliver business computing, and how should businesses respond?
Forrester, the technology research company, just released its business and technology outlook for 2020. The short version is that cloud computing will come on quicker than you think, it will be controlled by a very few companies that will fight for the right to own your data, and businesses need to think about what software they can write that will differentiate them from all the other customers of these giants.
Like a lot of these reports, Forrester has a couple of clichés (we have entered the era of individual empowerment; change is the only constant) and interesting facts that you don’t really know what to do with (there will be 22 billion connected devices in 2020; Moore’s Law dictates that the computing power of I.B.M.’s Watson will fit into a human hand by then)…
CloudPassage’s to Present on Securing the Cloud at ITEXPO East
CloudPassage™, the leading cloud server security provider, announces that Chris Brenton, cloud security architect will serve as a panelist at ITEXPO East, which takes place Jan. 31 – Feb. 3 at the Miami Convention Center. The session, “IT Risk Management: Securing the Cloud and the Enterprise,” will focus on IT risk management and security, including how to mitigate risks in a cloud computing environment.
Brenton and his fellow panelists will discuss how all organizations need to proactively ensure their IT infrastructure, systems, network, applications and data are secure and in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and best practices. Panelists will outline how securing the enterprise ensures an organization’s ability to operate, service their customers and protect its reputation in the marketplace…