Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Steve Ranger.

Companies are forgetting about their data protection responsibilities when they shift data into the cloud, according to the UK’s privacy watchdog. As cloud computing slowly moves into the mainstream, more and more personal data is being moved out of companies’ own datacentres and into the cloud, which means the data could potentially reside on servers anywhere on the planet.

But the UK has strict rules around how data can be processed, and UK data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is concerned that many businesses do not realise they remain responsible for how the data is looked after, even after handing it over to a cloud provider. ICO technology policy advisor Dr Simon Rice said the law on outsourcing data is very clear…

Grazed from DataCenter Dynamics. Author: Jason Rabbetts.

Industry analyst Gartner, recently reported that cloud computing is the fastest-growing segment of the IT outsourcing market, with an expected growth of 49% in 2012. Cloud sets the stage for a new approach to IT management that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they’ll acquire or deliver IT services, outside the constraints of traditional software and hardware architecture and licensing models.

There is also an automatic assumption that adopting the Cloud will reduce costs compared to running a traditional IT estate within the business. For some CIOs migrating to the Cloud, however, it can deliver a nasty shock as costs escalate. We call this ` Cloud Cost Creep`…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Brandon Butler.

Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is a blossoming area of DR and cloud computing. But because it’s in its early days, many customers may not know exactly what to look for when shopping around.

Gartner’s DR expert John Morency has a variety of tips for customers looking for the right questions to ask their provider. Here are some:

What to look for from your provider

-Provider’s standing in the market, its portfolio of services and financial stability.

-Service-Level Agreement: Is it customized or generic?…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Walter Bailey.

Monitoring and evaluation in cloud computing are essential processes. They determine whether a company’s applications on the cloud are effective, safe, and efficient. They also help eliminate failures in cloud computing’s functions, ensuring that business processes are not negatively affected or vulnerable.

So far, several providers have developed different cloud monitoring tools. In many instances, the intention is to create benchmarks for functions. These tools are also utilized to detect bottlenecks in cloud applications. Even then, whether these monitoring applications deliver the desired results to buyers and businesses remains to be seen…

Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.

Mimecast, which bills itself as a unified email specialist, has $62 million in new Series C funding from private equity firm Insight Venture Partners. The UK-based company plans to build more applications that tap into customers’ unstructured data and boost its presence in North America.

Mimecast which has built a business around archiving and securing Exchange Server email for law firms and other businesses, now has $62 million in fresh Series C funding to build new applications atop its cloud platform…

Grazed from Readify. Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing is a very popular phrase that is used extensively, yet a lot of people struggle to be able to define what it is. According to Gartner:

“Cloud is a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-related capabilities are provided as a service to external customers using Internet technologies. This is a very deliberate choice of words and can be broken down further by looking at the five attributes of cloud computing as identified by Gartner: http://www.whatech.com.au/technology-releases/windows-8-development/11500-whitepaper-cloud-and-windows-azure-introduction.

For more information about Readify’s Windows 8 Development services, call +61 3 9600 2339 or 1300 666 274 (within Australia) or visit the Web site at http://www.readify.net/

Grazed from China Daily. Author: Editorial Staff.

Huawei, China’s leading global information and communications technology solutions provider showcased its latest Cloud Computing and Business Support System solutions Wednesday in Jakarta, in a bid to further enhance its commitment to the growing number of Indonesian customers.

"As cloud computing continues to make dramatic impacts on business and everyday life in general, Huawei is increasingly committed to developing our solutions to further enhance business and quality of life value to our end users." said Vincent Li, CEO of Huawei Indonesia…

Grazed from Bloomberg. Author: Aoife White.

European Union regulators will urge government agencies in the EU to use cloud-computing services to reduce costs, according to a European Commission strategy for cloud computing published today.

Public agencies in the EU, the bloc’s biggest buyer of information technology services, and cloud-computing suppliers will work together on common procurement requirements to ensure that services meet governments’ needs, the commission said…

Email Discovery for the Cloud

Grazed from TheServerSide. Author: Jason Tee.

There’s no arguing the fact that development cycles in the mobile application development world are incredibly short. So it’s no surprise to discover that development teams who are intent on getting their mobile applications to market quickly are relying heavily on a variety of cloud-based technologies. Here are five of the most effective ways that mobile projects are finding success by taking advantage of the cloud:

1. Hosting services

Amazon and their Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering through their EC2 platform largely pioneered the idea of the cloud, so it should come as no surprise that many organizations are handing off the job of application hosting to their EC2 service. But of course, Amazon is only one of the many players in this growing field, and in many cases, IaaS plays like EC2 are being pushed aside in deference to various Software as a Service (SaaS) plays, where clients surrender a certain amount of control over their operating system and runtime environment for the promise of fewer configuration issues and a lower administrative overhead. It’s probably the most tried-and-true way of leveraging the cloud, and as such, more and more mobile applications are taking advantage of cloud-based hosting services…