Category: News

December 10, 2013 Off

Cloud Computing: From Servers to SaaS

By David

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Marissa Tejada.

Servers will increasingly be shipped to cloud service providers, a new survey by IDC finds, as cloud computing creates a shift in how servers are being used in today’s business world. This trend shows that more businesses are choosing to migrate to the cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS).

Shipments for the Cloud

According to InfoWorld, IDC predicts that up to 30 percent of all servers that will be shipped in 2014 will be shipped to cloud services providers. Within four years, that number will increase to 45 percent. Part of the reason for this is that IT professionals are aiming to lessen the amount of servers that they manage. Other reasons include increased implementation of SaaS and virtualization technologies and plans by firms for data center consolidation. Businesses are getting rid of certain servers to acquire denser servers that can handle larger amounts of data…

December 10, 2013 Off

The Changing Face of Disaster Recovery in the Age of Cloud Computing

By David

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Jiten Patil.

Disaster Recovery (DR) has typically only been used by organizations for applications deemed to be mission critical. This was because organizations didn’t want to incur the expense associated with DR for less important applications. Today, because of cloud computing, many organizations are considering the use of DR for as many applications as is essential for the business. DR in the cloud is relatively a new concept still and, like many technology trends we’ve seen so far, there’s a lot of hype and misinterpretation out there.

Multiple schools of thought exist on whether or not to implement DR in the cloud. Today, cloud-based DR has shaken up traditional legacy approaches and presents a persuasive alternative. Some organizations see cloud as a part of their DR plan, and for some, the cloud has become the de-facto DR plan…

December 10, 2013 Off

In Cloud Computing, It’s the Era of Convergence

By David

Grazed from OpenMarkets. Author: Ari Studnitzer.

Today, I am on a panel at the Bloomberg Enterprise Technology Conference in London to talk about all recent developments ushering in the next generation of financial technology. It probably won’t surprise many to hear that we are living and benefiting from an era of convergence – from network access to data to digitization to cloud computing. Convergence has become the new black. With a desire for increased transparency and risk management, we are experiencing the convergence of OTC with common clearing and Trade (Swap Data) Repositories along with Swap Execution Facilities and the increased trading of standardized products.

Convergence is the name in cloud computing where advancements in compute, storage, and network are converging to enable new capabilities, decrease cost, and introduce scale previously thought unimaginable. Mobility is furthering that convergence with access from anywhere enabled itself from a convergence of voice, network, compute, and software. Just as cloud and mobile computing are enabling new business models and driving innovation, convergence in the financial industry is creating similar opportunities and new drivers for technology innovation…

December 10, 2013 Off

Jeda Networks Wins 2013 UP-START Cloud Awards for Best Cloud Storage Solution

By David

Grazed from Jeda Networks. Author: PR Announcement.

Jeda Networks (www.jedanetworks.com) today announced that it has been named winner of the 2013 UP-START Cloud Award for the category "Best Cloud Storage Solution." The company was recognized for its flagship Fabric Network Controller (FNC), a Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approach to storage that solves the cost, complexity and scalability issues inherent in many of today’s storage networks. The UP-START Awards are part of the UP Cloud Computing Conference and honor disruptive, next-generation cloud computing companies who are defining key elements of cloud technology.

Jeda Networks was selected from ten other companies by cloud industry experts during a two-stage open vote on the Up Cloud Computing Conference website and LinkedIn. Conference attendees accounted for the third and final round of voting, selecting the most outstanding cloud solution as measured by technical innovation, marketability and likelihood to be a market leader…

December 10, 2013 Off

Business Implications for Cloud Information Protection

By David

Grazed from SysCon Media. Author: Paige Leidig.

For some organizations, cloud computing can be a hard sell, even before you come to the question of how to handle cloud-computing security. Public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, encryption, tokenization, data residency, privacy regulations – all are factors involved and the perceived effort can sometimes seem to overshadow the benefits. But just as cloud computing comes with a slew of demonstrated business benefits, so does effective cloud computing security. Included below are three specific benefits to implementing a cloud computing security system…

1. Regulatory compliance prevents costly fines.

One of the most common reasons enterprises have for investing in cloud computing security is, of course, regulatory compliance. Heavily regulated industries like finance and health care – industries that handle the most sensitive personal information – must remain in compliance with relevant regional, national, and international laws, as well as with industry-specific standards. Failure to do so can come with a high price. In fact, banks that fail to comply with the PCI DSS requirements, for example, may face fines of anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 per month, costs that tend to get passed downstream, resulting in higher costs for all, according to the PCI Compliance Guide’s FAQ…

December 10, 2013 Off

CloudPassage Halo App Integrates with Splunk Enterprise

By David

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.

A new application from CloudPassage combines the cloud infrastructure security firm’s Halo event data with correlation and analysis from Splunk Enterprise 6 to monitor security events on both public and private cloud servers. CloudPassage Halo App for Splunk Enterprise was designed for users of both CloudPassage and Splunk to collect 80 unique security event types across cloud infrastructures, and then analyze and correlate the data with other machine data indexed within Splunk Enterprise.

According to the two companies, the new app enables end users to create unique dashboards for insights that come from pairing Halo’s "massive event data" with Splunk Enterprise’s ability correlate and analyze data. Additionally, the application provides the ability to geo-locate user login attempts and cloud computing instances on any cloud provider for additional insight and control into cloud infrastructure services…

December 10, 2013 Off

Best cloud computing service provider winner: Amazon Web Services

By David

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Editorial Staff.

Just say the words "public cloud" and those in IT likely think of Amazon Web Services. And that was certainly the case in the Modern Infrastructure Impact Awards, with Amazon Web Services public cloud winning the Best Cloud Service Provider category. Since AWS entered the public cloud arena, it has continued to gain momentum — first with startups and one-off development projects, then gaining more widespread acceptance within the enterprise. "We’re currently using Amazon Web Services for a national website," noted one voter.

As the cloud market continues to grow, enterprises are faced with several choices for cloud service providers. How do IT pros decide which cloud platform to deploy? And how do cloud service providers differentiate themselves in a sea of options? Often, it comes down to cost…

December 10, 2013 Off

Cloud-ier days inevitable for banks

By David

Grazed from FierceFinanceIT. Author: Jim Kim.

Are we moving toward a day when banks will be forced to do everything in the cloud? That is a long ways in the future, given privacy regulations and the like. But it is fair to say that the sheer economics of cloud computing have led banks to embrace cloud-based initiatives across the board. Bank Systems & Technology looks at four areas that appear ripe for cloud approaches: payments, document management, platforms and analytics.

Payments certainly seem a good fit, even if bank executives do not know it. "As banks tentatively look to move more functions to hosted environments, perhaps one of the most natural to bring to the cloud is payments," the article states. "After all, notes Celent senior analyst Gareth Lodge, banks are already doing some payments processing in the cloud, even if they don’t realize it…

December 10, 2013 Off

Is Your Password Safe On The Cloud?

By David

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: InstantCheckMate.

In the modern world of Internet connectivity, cloud computing, online banking, social networking, personal privacy and information security is essentially dependent upon password protection. Passwords are the crucial barrier that safeguards the personal information contained in the perhaps dozens of accounts that we interact with every day from theft and exploitation.

In particular, with the advent of cloud computing technology, password security becomes even more important as individuals store more and more information on virtual server networks. Despite the many advantages offered by cloud computing, the system remains vulnerable to security threats…

December 10, 2013 Off

Cloud computing heading for brownouts, warns Cisco engineer

By David

Grazed from Computing.co.uk. Author: Graeme Burton.

The cloud computing industry is heading for a future of brownouts amid widespread power shortages. That is the warning of a senior Cisco engineer, who points out that major new data centres currently planned by Amazon, Google and others will have the equivalent power consumption of cities of 500,000 people.

Dave Ward, chief technologist of engineering at Cisco Systems, says that today major data centres consume between 40 and 50 megawatts (MW), but by 2020 the biggest data centres will be drawing as much as 120MW. Ward told EE Times that while advances in silicon photonics could reduce the need for such large data centres, generating the energy to power all the servers required by cloud computing by the end of the decade "will be one of the most important questions for getting to 2020"…