Author: David

Grazed from eWeek.  Author:  Nathan Eddy.

As businesses get ready to capitalize on emerging technology trends in 2012, cloud computing remains at the top of many companies’ lists: Fifty percent of respondents to a recent Unisys (NYSE: UIS) online poll said cloud computing is their top IT investment priority for 2012. This is the second straight year respondents to a Unisys poll named cloud as the chief priority for IT investments in the coming year.

In a similar poll conducted in December 2010 and January 2011, 44 percent of 262 respondents said cloud computing topped their IT priority list for 2011. The more recent poll, which drew 300 responses, was conducted on the company’s Website in September and October 2011. Other respondents to the poll listed cyber-security (21 percent), mobile/social computing (21 percent) and big data (8 percent) as their top 2012 IT priorities…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing continues to transform the way business is done. Through the power of the cloud and Telsist Communications the $10 billion and growing video surveillance industry is experiencing this transformation with video surveillance as a service (VSaaS). VSaaS is an IT solution routed through the cloud for greater efficiencies with more features and flexibility. This solution radically alters the landscape of the on-site DVR/NVR and analog camera dominated video surveillance market.

Telsist Communications is a cloud ready data center located in Montreal, Canada whose focus is to deliver comprehensive managed IT services. Partnered with VideoCells of Israel, Telsist is equipped to offer cloud-based managed video surveillance to its growing list of professional managed IT services. This VSaaS solution eliminates the need for on-site DVR/NVR as the video is transferred, hosted and stored at Telsist…

Grazed from CRN.  Author: Andrew R. Hickey.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) Enterprise Services and Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) have joined forces to offer global public and private cloud services, a four-year deal that will offer packaged bundles of HP and Microsoft gear and through which HP will resell Microsoft Office 365.

The two tech titans said Thursday that the goal of the pact is to bring customers into the cloud and help them make the shift from capital IT expenses to operational expenses.

For private cloud deployments, HP will offer Microsoft cloud productivity applications like Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 as a service from HP data centers as part of its HP Enterprise Cloud Services-Messaging, HP Enterprise Cloud Services-Collaboration and HP Enterprise Cloud Services-Real-Time Collaboration.

For public cloud, Microsoft will offer Microsoft Office 365 and other collaboration and productivity tools…

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

IBM said Thursday morning that it was buying DemandTec for $13.20 a share, close to 57% premium.

Big Blue will ante up roughly $440 million, net of DemandTec’s cash on hand, to take over the cloud-based ISV for its 10-month-old Smarter Commerce initiative. IBM estimates the market opportunity for Smarter Commerce at $20 billion in software alone.

By running different customer buying scenarios, DemandTec’s subscription-based price, promotion, merchandising and marketing analytics are supposed to help users define their best price points and product mix based on customer buying trends both online and in stores…

Grazed from InfoBoom.  Author: Shawn Drew.

Technology giant CSC just released its latest Cloud Usage Index, a survey that looks at the current state of cloud computing. Not only divulging simply interesting facts, the survey found that cloud adoption is being hastened by the desire to access information through multiple devices, marking a clear shift from results of earlier cloud-adoption surveys.

Cloud Usage Index

The survey was performed by independent research firm TNS using funding from CSC and asked 3,645 IT decision makers from companies around the world about their current and upcoming cloud-computing situation. The survey results are now available as either a write-up or infographic, at the CSC website…

Grazed from InfoWorld.  Author: David Linthicum.

Capacity management is all about creating a plan assuring the business there will be just enough volume (servers, storage, network, and so on) for critical applications and data when needed. This means creating complex performance and power models to make sure you’re neither spending too much nor too little money on IT infrastructure.

But what changes for capacity management in the emerging world of cloud computing? A few things come to mind…

Grazed from Ars Technica.   Author: Sean Gallagher.

While there are plenty of technical and functional concerns that have slowed adoption of public cloud computing and software-as-a-service, American companies trying to sell their cloud services outside the US or to large multinational organizations have another handicap to overcome: the USA PATRIOT Act. European, Asian, and Canadian data privacy rules and concern about US surveillance of data crossing international boundaries have even been used to market European data centers’ services. Today, ComputerWeekly reported that BAE Systems had ditched Microsoft Office 365 over PATRIOT Act concerns, because Microsoft could not guarantee the company’s data wouldn’t leave Europe.

Microsoft’s managing director in the UK, Gordon Frazer, made that admission in June at the Office 365 launch in London. After researching the PATRIOT act, Microsoft found that regardless of where data was stored, it could not ensure that data would not be turned over to the US government as the result of a National Security Letter or other government request, because the company is governed by US law…

Grazed from CloudPro.  Author:  Davey Winder.

Talking at the launch of the Generation Cloud report recently, Fabio Torlini – vice president of cloud at report sponsors Rackspace – said businesses have a great opportunity to "shape consumer understanding of cloud computing and build trust."

Although the report was concerned with consumer attitudes towards cloud technologies, it did reveal a number of things that every business, from the smallest end of the SME scale to the largest international corporate, needs to take on board.

For example, 69 per cent of those asked did not trust their cloud service providers, and the biggest concerns were around security, privacy and transparency. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? And if it doesn’t, oh boy are you in trouble. These are exactly the kinds of issues that should be at the very forefront of any cloud adoption strategy, right at the top of your cloud agenda and carved in stone before you even consider going live…