Category: News

April 26, 2013 Off

Cisco Buys SolveDirect: Cloud Service Implications for the Enterprise

By David

Grazed from Business2Community. Author: Matthew Ramsey.

As enterprises seek the best in cloud services, numerous changes are occurring in the cloud market. Picking the best each provider has to offer is not uncommon, leaving businesses with multiple services to manage. Solvedirect, an Austrian firm providing software and services for cloud systems, pioneered the ServiceGrid platform. It was designed to monitor services across multiple partners, no matter what systems the enterprise has implemented. This has caught the attention of Cisco, a world leader in network and computing systems. The corporation recently bought the cloud services management company.

What SolveDirect Adds to the Equation

The acquisition may have huge implications for the enterprise cloud computing industry. SolveDirect is known for its operational efficiency and skill set for engineering. The capacity for managing multiple services is critical. Enterprises are often tasked with managing up to 15 external IT service providers, leaving staff with an endless flow of emails, phone calls, and online interactions for support. These interactions tend to drive down efficiency, but ServiceGrid has streamlined the process to address the multi-provider IT models modern enterprise are finding themselves left to manage…

April 26, 2013 Off

Global Micro, Apprenda intro cloud PaaS

By David

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Editorial Staff.

Global Micro Solutions has partnered with Apprenda to introduce a new platform as a service (PaaS) cloud offering, intended to help businesses build, manage and deploy next-generation cloud applications. The public PaaS provides a way for customers to scale their massive custom application portfolios, quickly and in a secure cloud environment, says JJ Milner, MD and chief cloud architect for Global Micro.

“Global Micro is the first hosting provider in South Africa to offer Azure Services for Windows,” says Milner. “The Apprenda Platform extends this infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capability with platform as a service. Global Micro is Apprenda’s exclusive delivery partner in Africa and will support the partner and customer community. Apprenda will, in turn, support Global Micro.” The service will help to maximise the productivity of development teams and increase the speed with which updates and new products can be launched…

April 26, 2013 Off

Cloud computing gaining traction as benefits become irresistible

By David

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Johani Marais.

According to the IDC, CIOs in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region acknowledge the benefits of cloud infrastructure and nearly 47% of CIOs in Africa are already engaged in cloud strategy of some kind. Part of this trend of moving towards cloud computing is the adoption of SaaS- (software as a service) based enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, says Johani Marais, Channel Manager Africa, Epicor Software Corporation.

In the past, organisations were hesitant to keep critical data in the cloud mainly because of the sheer value of the data, which seemed so much safer kept on-site rather than in an intangible space outside of the perceived realm of control. This is why systems such CRM, HCM and sales force automation were often cloud-based, whereas manufacturing process management data was kept out of the cloud. Now, SaaS deployments are becoming more widely used than traditional hosting options, even in larger organisations that are becoming far more likely to make use of SaaS. This can be attributed to a shift in mindset caused by advances in technology and a better understanding of how cloud-based ERP works…

April 26, 2013 Off

McAfee Delivers Enterprise Class Security to the Cloud

By David

Grazed from MoneyLife. Author: Editorial Staff.

McAfee today announced the addition of identity and access management solutions to its Security Connected portfolio. The solutions that were previously sold and developed by Intel include McAfee Cloud Single Sign On and McAfee One Time Password. McAfee also introduced a new McAfee Identity Center of Expertise, staffed with experts in identity and cloud security to assist users with questions pertaining to identity and access management issues, such as architecture requirements and best practices.

Organizations of all sizes are moving IT operations and functions to the cloud in order to reduce costs. As businesses embrace cloud-based applications they quickly find their IT department and application administrators are overwhelmed with the problem of managing cloud-based application accounts. Many organizations are trying to use legacy identity and authentication solutions which can create security gaps and are often complicated to deploy and customize for new applications…

April 26, 2013 Off

CipherCloud Update Helps Admins Handle ‘Rogue IT’

By David

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Editorial Staff.

U.K.-based CipherCloud on April 23 added a new feature, Cloud Data Discovery, to its cloud information protection platform. Cloud Data Discovery enables enterprises to adopt software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud applications while ensuring that their compliance policies are fully met and their business information is always protected. With the addition of the new capability in the CipherCloud platform, enterprises can now gain full granular visibility into all of the information their users are sharing across all of their cloud applications.

This is a clear-cut solution for so-called "rogue IT," in which employees use cloud apps on their own for business purposes, causing potential security issues. IT admins can keep track of all such business-relation information using this system…

April 26, 2013 Off

Software AG buys LongJump for cloud PaaS

By David

Grazed from PCWorld.  Author: Chris Kanaracus.

Software AG has picked up cloud PaaS (platform-as-a-service) vendor LongJump in a bid to give small and medium-sized companies a way to rapidly develop applications with less involvement from IT. Terms of the deal, which was announced Thursday, were not disclosed.

LongJump’s platform gives users a set of models and templates for building applications, with no need to code, according to Software AG’s announcement. Applications can be deployed on public and private cloud services, as well as on premises and through mobile devices…

April 25, 2013 Off

Fusion PPT Announces Cloud Computing Architect (CCA) Certification Program

By David

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

Fusion PPT, a recognized cloud computing strategy and technology firm, announced today that the company has released its new Cloud Computing Architect (CCA) certification program. The certification is open to Information Technology professionals and experienced architects looking to solidify their skills, stand out to employers, and maximize their earning potential.

Fusion PPT’s CCA credential is the most important industry-recognized certification for cloud computing architects. Globally recognized and demanded, the CCA demonstrates that applicants have the experience, education, and competence to lead and direct complex Cloud Computing Architecture projects…

April 25, 2013 Off

Cloud Computing: Demand Grows for Social B2B Data

By David

Grazed from DestinationCRM. Author: Kelly Liyakasa.

While the social Web is the next frontier in understanding and predicting future consumer buying patterns, B2B sales and marketing are reaping benefits as well. New solutions are emerging to help companies harness the power of social identity data to add context and color to customer account records in order to improve lead generation efforts by marketing, and ultimately, shape follow-up actions made by salespeople.

"Social media gives you a whole new dimension on leads," says Amnon Mishor, cofounder and vice president of products of Leadspace, makers of a SaaS B2B social lead targeting solution. "You can understand the true story about who this person is, what [his] role is in an organization, and what [he’s] interested in."…

April 25, 2013 Off

(ISC)2 and the Cloud Security Alliance Collaborate to Create New Professional Certification for Cloud Security

By David

Grazed from RealWire. Author: PR Announcement.

(ISC)2 ("ISC-squared"), the world’s largest not-for-profit information security professional body and administrators of the CISSP®; and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, today announced they have signed an agreement to collaborate on a new professional certification for information security. The combined initiative will address a significant concern over the security of modern business systems by establishing a common global understanding of professional knowledge and best practices in the design, implementation and management of cloud computing systems.

The new credential will build on existing certifications offered by both organisations, including (ISC)²’s Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and CSA’s Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK), by examining the depth of technical knowledge required in architecting business systems, based on cloud computing…

April 24, 2013 Off

3 Tips for Using PaaS for Mobile App Innovation

By David

Grazed from Mendix. Author: Pam Baker.

The buzz on using platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for app development has been loud for a while now but it has just recently emerged as a serious reality play. Sure, a few developers have been working in PaaS, most of whom were quick to tout its benefits. Still, they were in the minority. Many developers and development managers were still kicking the PaaS tires and were not quite ready for the test drive.

But that was then and this is now: 2013 may be the year PaaS goes full bore in mobile app development, according to industry experts and enterprise development teams. “In the mobility world we call it MBaaS or Mobile Backend-as-a-Service,” explains Vishal Jain, analyst of Mobile Services at 451 Research. Technically, MBaaS is a hybrid of PaaS and middleware involving ready-made server code and APIs, explains Jain in his report. “Increasingly it is moving towards offering custom code services from the earlier out-of-box for some of the generic use-cases,” he says…