Grazed from CFOWorld. Author: Editorial Staff.

SafeNet, Inc., a global leader in data protection, today announced that it will be demonstrating ProtectV, an encryption solution that has achieved VMware Ready status, as part of its participation at the VMware vForum2012 event in Sydney from 14-15 November. While efficiency, automation and availability are key benefits of virtualisation and cloud computing, many organisations cannot take full advantage of these because of concerns about regulated data and security risks. By demonstrating ProtectV at vForum2012, SafeNet aims to overcome these concerns.

“What’s stopping organisations from trying to fully virtualise is the same issue stopping them from fully investing in cloud infrastructures – regulated data,” said Vince Lee, Regional Director, Australia & New Zealand for SafeNet. “In the physical datacentre, you had a red rack with a lock on it and you knew exactly where all your regulated data was and who could access it. You put that data into a virtual machine or the cloud and suddenly it’s fuzzy. Where is that data exactly? And who has access to it?”…

Which cloud do I choose?

Grazed from GigaOM.  Author: James Urquhart.

Nick Carr famously wrote about the lack of differentiation that IT brings to the business in his 2004 book Does IT Matter?. His argument was essentially that as computing is more and more expected in business, the things IT does for the business provide less and less differentiation. That means that each business owning its own information technology makes less and less sense…

Grazed from HealthCare IT News.  Author: Benjamin Harris.

With all the talk about switching from data centers to cloud-based computing, it seems like the cloud is an etherial magic bullet for every problem that healthcare IT might face, from reduced costs to improved flexibility. Not so fast, says Steve Jacobs, president of Velocity Data Centers, a firm that provides private cloud solutions.

While "there are some definite business advantages to operating in a cloud IT environment, the risks are very real and concerning," says Jacobs. For all of the pros of cloud-based solutions floating around, he points out that some of the cons can be big nails in the coffin for any organization that relies as much on data as healthcare does.

Here are four reasons providers should consider delaying making the jump to the cloud…

Grazed from VentureBeat.  Author: Garrett McCullum.

CloudBeat 2012 is right around the corner, and we’re confident it’s going to be the cloud event of the year. Here’s why:  It’s unlikely that any single player will dominate the cloud computing market in the foreseeable future. So more and more enterprise IT leaders are taking a pragmatic, creative approach and adopting a wide range of solutions.

CloudBeat is unlike other cloud events because it puts those customers (the companies that are adopting cloud solutions) front and center to share their experiences and insights on what’s working and what’s not…

Grazed from Investor’s Business Daily.  Author: Donna Howell.

Clouds will be the new norm, security firm Symantec (SYMC) says. They can make handling data easier and sometimes cheaper.  But given that safe use of cloud computing can be sometimes lacking, Symantec — the largest company in IBD’s Computer-Security industry group — this week fleshed out a strategy to develop more protections.

Using resources distributed across the Internet and different networks will become so prevalent that the term "cloud" may go away, predicts Dave Elliott, a senior marketing manager in Symantec’s cloud unit…