Category: News

Grazed from The Var Guy. Author: Christopher Tozzi.

In a nod to the need for more efficient resource management for public and private cloud computing, IBM (IBM) has unveiled a new product for its OpenStack platforms. Called the Platform Resource Scheduler, the resource provides a virtualized programmable interface for automating the allocation of cloud resources.

IBM announced the Platform Resource Scheduler Jan. 6, billing it as "a dynamic resource management tool for the private and public OpenStack cloud, which automatically allocates the right resources to the right job, balances workload demand with infrastructure supply and ensures adherence to service level agreements."…

Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Datapipe, a global provider of managed services and infrastructure for outsourced IT and cloud computing, today announced the company has been named to the Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting in Asia-Pacific" report. This Magic Quadrant helps enterprises choose managed hosting providers that can support their use cases and geographic requirements when migrating to the cloud.

A full copy of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting in Asia-Pacific can be accessed here. "Datapipe’s global reach, cloud, and managed hosting capabilities provide our clients with a trusted partner to plan, migrate and manage mission-critical IT applications," said Robb Allen, CEO of Datapipe. "Gartner’s evaluation highlights our unique ability to deliver a world-class service experience to the enterprise market in the Asia-Pacific region."…

Grazed from WhaTech. Author: Jonathan Dolby.

CloudSigma, a public cloud IaaS provider with advanced hybrid hosting solutions, today announced that it has enhanced its solid-state drive (SSD) storage offering with highly-granular, affordable snapshot management technology to improve data protection and access in the cloud. CloudSigma’s Fully Integrated Snapshot Management Technology Grants Customers Seamless and Affordable Storage Management in the Cloud

Zurich, Switzerland – January 6, 2014 – CloudSigma, a public cloud IaaS provider with advanced hybrid hosting solutions, today announced that it has enhanced its solid-state drive (SSD) storage offering with highly-granular, affordable snapshot management technology to improve data protection and access in the cloud. Now, customers can seamlessly and cost-effectively incorporate enterprise storage strategies into their cloud infrastructure while meeting complex compute requirements…

Grazed from Cignix. Author: Clint Robertson.

Cloud computing is changing the way the world does business by allowing businesses and individuals to use and share files, applications and data over the Internet. Data can now be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection, reducing the need for companies to power and maintain their own servers. This is not only more convenient, but it also cuts technology and energy costs. Whether cloud computing is used for backing up files, updating software or replacing onsite data centers, switching to the cloud is a great way for your business to become “greener.” Here are three reasons cloud computing should be part of your business’ green agenda.

The Cloud is Paperless

One of the advantages of cloud computing is that it makes data more easily stored and shared. With mobile and desktop compatible applications, remote collaboration is easier than ever, and it minimizes the need for paper notes and handouts. The paper-making process puts extreme strain on the environment, and is the fourth-largest energy-consuming industry in the United States…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

The City of Boston publicly showed its support for Google (GOOG) by sharing the city’s experience with the company in a Google blog post this morning. Bill Oates, CIO for the city of Boston, said in the post that the city is continuing to "engage and connect with constituents using mobile technology and social media.

"As a tech-savvy city, we’re always looking for the best IT tools to help our government run smarter, innovate more effectively and provide better services for our citizens," he added. Oates said the city recently migrated 76,000 email accounts "from a collection of our premise-based systems, mostly Microsoft Exchange, to Google Apps."…

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Joe Masters Emison.

This is the seventh part in a series of articles about creating my own IaaS performance benchmarking project. In the first part, I explained my methodology for testing instance types across major IaaS providers. I’ve run benchmarks for Amazon Web Services, Google Compute Engine, Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines, and Rackspace Cloud Servers. In this part, I look at SoftLayer, which was acquired by IBM last year. SoftLayer is unique among the IaaS providers I’m testing in that it has bare-metal (meaning not virtualized) pay-by-the-hour services that some industry observers think may give the company a significant edge.

As of today, there are six U.S. regions available for SoftLayer through RightScale (the cloud management service I’m using to run most of my benchmarks, as it gives me image parity): San Jose, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and three in Dallas (Dallas 1, Dallas 5, and Dallas 6). SoftLayer offers extremely configurable servers (far more so than the other major IaaS providers, which offer specific “instance types”), but RightScale has created five instance types for SoftLayer. I tested those, so I launched a total of 30 VMs through RightScale…

Grazed from FierceCIO. Author: David Weldon.

While cloud-based computing continues to dominate technology headlines, its impact on changing the IT workforce is beginning to get more attention. Specifically, the increase in outsourcing due to cloud services, and a corresponding need for more contractors. FierceCIO has reported in recent weeks on the growing ranks of IT professionals being lured to contracting and consulting firms. Part of this trend is a simple reflection of the recession and the number of IT pros who lost full time jobs in its wake.

But the number of IT pros who will switch gears from full-time traditional employers to contracting firms and consultancies will increase this year and next year due to cloud computing. As noted recently at CIO Insight, "Cloud computing is the most disruptive force in IT outsourcing today…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

Do your cloud services meet federal security requirements yet? If not, you only have another six months to get your services up to spec. The FedRAMP accreditation process isn’t an easy one, but any cloud service that doesn’t meet the strict requirements won’t meet the feds’ trust test.

The entire FedRAMP review process takes time. The simplest and fastest way to go about it, which is to work with the FedRAMP office, takes approximately 4.5 months to complete the process. If a cloud services provider goes it alone, the process can take up to six months. With only six months to deadline, that’s not a lot of time, so for those who have been holding off to become accredited, consider making a move on getting started or risk being left behind and getting left out of future federal government cloud computing deals…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Karl Flinders.

Banks are built on massive IT infrastructures that process huge volumes of data on a daily basis. The cloud’s most obvious benefits will enable banks to keep up with technology changes while reducing costs. The digitisation of services is making it difficult for banks to ignore the cloud.

But concerns over a potential loss of control, availability and data security make moving to the cloud a massive leap in a heavily regulated sector. At a recent meeting at the Financial Services Club (FS Club), Chris Skinner, chairman at the club, said the cloud is still misunderstood, despite it being a talking point in financial services for years…

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Editorial Staff.

TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, today announces from the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, new HD cloud cameras with build-in high speed Wireless AC networking. "This new line of Wireless AC cloud cameras provide consumers with more options when building their high speed Wireless AC digital network," stated Sonny Su, technology director of TRENDnet.

"This marks a significant milestone in the transition of wireless monitoring solutions to Wireless AC." Equipped with Wireless AC networking, this line of cloud cameras is not compatible with Wireless N networks. The listed cameras require the presence of a Wireless AC network, generated for example by TRENDnet’s TEW-812DRU Wireless AC router, in order to function…

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