Category: News

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Editorial Staff.

Over the past few years, we?ve covered the importance of cloud computing in the classroom and its defining nature as something to adopt and accept moving forward. Some of our coverage has been flippant while other discussions have been more serious in nature. Nevertheless we can all agree that cloud based education will be universal and the accepted method of teachings by many in the next little while.

Massive cloud based classrooms will exist, and it will be just a matter of time before older generations start sharing stories of the good old days when classrooms were built with chalkboards and desks. In the meantime, cloud based educational services will be a hot topic for many years to come? Here is an excellent infographic provided courtesy of onlinecolleges.net…

Grazed from ThoughtsOnCloud. Author: Thiago Viola.

Can we consider cloud computing open source? Is there a cloud computing standard? How can we work with different cloud providers? An instructor from one of my MBA classes (@AnderPaulucci) referred me to the Open Cloud Manifesto site and I did a whitepaper about this subject to explain how it works. I saw what could be a great solution for the open cloud scenario.

This document is intended to initiate a conversation that will bring together the emerging cloud computing community (both cloud users and cloud providers) around a core set of principles. They believe that these core principles are rooted in the belief that cloud computing should be as open as all other IT technologies. Some key points are:…

Grazed from v3.co.uk. Author: Michael Passingham.

Cloud computing, Office 365 and the seasonal demand for the Surface tablet contributed to a strong financial quarter for Microsoft, with the firm posting profits of $6.56bn. The company posted a 14 percent revenue increase, taking $24.5bn between October and December.

The firm’s second-generation tablet device performed strongly, netting Microsoft $893m in revenue, more than double the $400m it had generated for the firm in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, revenue for the Pro versions of Microsoft’s Windows sold direct to PC makers (OEM) increased by 12 percent while non-Pro software saw a three percent decline. Microsoft said the figures were offset by continued "softness" in the global PC market…

Grazed from CloudComputingNews. Author: James Bourne.

Cloud computing services and technology is on the cusp of mass adoption by the legal industry, according to a report from LexisNexis. Nearly three quarters (72.4%) of firms surveyed said they were more likely to use the cloud this year, with adoption levels among attorneys in smaller firms hitting 40% – a number which is 10% higher than previous surveys.

This consensus is so grounded that, for the majority (38.7%) of the over 275 respondents, cloud systems will overtake on-premise in the legal profession within five years. There was also a sense in the survey that a move to the cloud was inevitable. Almost a quarter of respondents believe that their employees are already using cloud tools, without the law firm’s knowledge of approval…

Grazed from GreatResponder. Author: Maria Dehn.

This was announced by the search engine giant last week that it has added more features associated with the collaboration of data files in its cloud computing based cloud storage service called "Google Drive". One of these new features is the activity stream, which is more focused on tracking the modifications of the data files stored on the Google Drive cloud storage. This feature enables the customers in a group to track the changes made to the files stored in the Google Drive.

In a blog post, Mr. Ian Gunn, the Google Drive Interaction Designer, wrote, "This feature generates alerts to the users of the file, which has been modified since it was accessed last time on the Google Drive," "this will keep all the users in a collaborative group aware of the changes through this activity stream" he added…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Simon Withers.

You don’t need to be a business or technology expert to see that cloud computing is having a profound effect on some of our working practices. It’s hard to overestimate the significance of this culture change: just as businesses needed to evolve by the introduction of the PC or the internet, the cloud represents another decade defining shift of evolution.

Perhaps what is most interesting is that we’re seeing business ambitions start to outstrip the technology and services on offer – cloud is still in its nascent phase but we’re already visualising increasingly ambitious ways to apply the services delivered by cloud computing technology. Practices such as remote working, accessing work data from any device and allowing access to real-time data streams are only possible with cloud computing technology. And now, with mobile web usage set to outstrip desktop use in 2014 it’s clear that cloud adoption is more vital for businesses than ever before…

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Tom McShane.

We’ve all heard the benefits the cloud can bring to businesses and computing in general – it’s almost something of a broken record. But the thing about this frequently repeated statement is that it’s a one-size-fits-all phrase that doesn?t really get into the nitty gritty.  Sure, cloud computing can help big businesses and small businesses, as well as various types of consumers and professionals, but it doesn’t serve them all in the same way – the benefits differ, as do the end results of cloud adoption. In this guest post, courtesy of cloud and hosted exchange providers Giacom, we look at how it’s specifically relevant to those start-up SMBs.

Scalable Organisation & IT Setup

Imagine a central on-site server for your company – whether you?ve got 50 employees or 200, it’s an expensive setup to have. In addition to the costs of the hardware you have the complexity of updating an infrastructure as a company grows, as well as the large cost of a dedicated team of IT technicians to deal with the upkeep of your data centre…

Grazed from FederalNewsRadio. Author: Jason Miller.

In the rush to the cloud over the last three years, most agencies have tempered their desires and excitement because of security concerns. Agency chief information officers have struggled to satisfactorily answer a number of questions regarding data ownership and protection, and how do the existing cross-agency cyber initiatives fit into the cloud structure.

A new white paper by SafeGov, an industry organization promoting safe and secure cloud computing, makes 12 recommendations to help agencies move to an integrated cloud and cyber approach and away from one that is fragmented and ad hoc in many respects. Karen Evans, a co-author of the report and a former Office of Management and Budget administrator for e-government and IT, said this paper is a deeper dive into addressing the growing challenges of integrating cloud and cybersecurity…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Brandon Butler.

In lieu of launching its own public cloud lineup, storage giant EMC has decided to resell the cloud products of its VMware subsidiary, Network World has learned. Despite being one of the biggest enterprise IT companies, EMC has not been seen as a major player in the public cloud market.

However, the company now plans to resell VMware’s private, public and hybrid cloud products in an effort to take on industry giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS). VMware’s cloud products will be EMC’s preferred sales option, although EMC will continue to sell other service provider options as well…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Walter Bailey.

Lenovo has finally acquired IBM’s low-end server business, after a deal spanning over a year has finally come to a close. The final acquisition price came to $2.3 billion, making it the largest tech server acquisition by a Chinese company. IBM has been trying to shift its x86 server business for a few years now, with more companies switching to cloud computing technology from traditional server-side infrastructure. IBM is looking to invest more money in high-margin servers, which still generate impressive revenue.

Lenovo has more reason to own low-end x86 servers, given their high reputation in China, it will be easier for the company to sell their servers to Chinese companies, who are looking to nationalize their servers with the recent U.S. surveillance outbreak. Lenovo may be able to boost revenues and margins on the x86 servers if they invest heavily in China. Most Western companies are now either moving to high-end servers, their own or cloud based infrastructure, adding more benefits to the user…