Category: News

Grazed from IT Business Edge. Author: Arthor Cole.

Two salient facts are emerging about enterprise infrastructure as the second decade of the 21st Century unfolds. One is that cloud computing will usher in new levels of dynamism and flexibility that will both drive performance and lower costs. The other is that mainframes will continue to support significant portions of the data environment at most large organizations.

While these two architectures are not mutually exclusive, it does pose a conundrum of sorts: How will mainframe users resolve the differences between aging big iron platforms and the fast-paced culture of the cloud?

Although predictions of the mainframe’s imminent demise are as old as, well, the rack-based server, it is clear now that top-tier organizations’ commitment to the technology is solid. BMC Software recently issued a survey indicating that 93 percent of current users expect mainframe capacity to hold steady or even grow over the next few years. The plan, at least, is to continually tweak their current mainframe platforms to accommodate both the cloud and mobile computing as these two technologies continue to reshape the overall enterprise landscape…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Rick Watson.

Cloud computing has fronted the expansion of the personal computer. Microsoft’s Bill Gates envisioned the personalization of the computer over 20 years ago, and these dreams have been surpassed. The desire to expand the utility of personal computing has brought to light the need for control of data sharing. Outsourcing of hardware resources is a fairly new area in computing. Normally termed as cloud computing, data sharing has fronted a novel catalogue of legal implications, with most jurisdictions seeking to control the power wielded by providers of such services.

These jurisdictions are actually justified in their cause, owing to the growing tendency for cloud computing to replace onsite data storage. What will become of individuals who are not able to handle the required expertise in managing the data stored in the cloud? Is there any conflict of interest when it comes to cloud computing? Do onshore and offshore data centers offers analogous services?…

Grazed from equities.com. Author: Editorial Staff.

Network operator commitment to the cloud phenomenon has reached startling new levels, with investment set to top last year’s record US$13.5 billion*.

This focus and the issues, market challenges and the potential of the cloud computing space, will all be highlighted and debated during the three day Broadband Cloud Summit as part of October’s flagship industry event, the Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam.

Almost half of the 185 operators selling cloud services today are in Europe. In the first half of 2012, European operators have already outstripped their operator peers in pace of cloud service launch – accounting for 55% of all new services brought to market…

Grazed from PCWorld. Author: Chris Kanaracus.

Oracle’s emphasis on cloud computing isn’t going to wane anytime soon. To the contrary, on Thursday the vendor held the first in nearly 100 Cloud Builder Summit events scheduled for locations across the globe between now and December.

Attendees will learn how they can build an "enterprise cloud environment" in just two hours using Oracle’s technology, according to the events’ website.

The limited information available suggests that the focus will be on private clouds built with products like Oracle’s Exadata and Exalogic "engineered systems," as well as its Enterprise Manager 12c software for management and orchestration…

Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Clive Longbottom.

Fear of cloud security risks has been around for as long as cloud computing technology itself. While high-profile cloud outages and data theft further make IT professionals sceptical, securing the cloud need not be taxing. Here’s a clue: Make data the centre of your attention, not the technology.

Moving IT to the cloud brings advantages such as flexibility and scalability, but its security risks are a major reason why potential customers are hesitant to adopt it. The benefits of cloud computing are plentiful. It makes for effective working across complex value chains — from the organisation to its suppliers and on to their suppliers and from the organisation to its customers and then on to their customers…

Grazed from TechTarge. Author: Michael Poulin.

Application interoperability is the issue that’s keeping my company from adopting SaaS applications. It doesn’t look like SaaS vendors can offer real-time interoperability between our apps in private clouds and SaaS apps. What approaches could we take internally to achieve private-public cloud app interoperability? Are there any standards?

Interoperability in cloud computing has the same problems as interoperability between homegrown applications and commercial software, or between different commercial software. These problems in the cloud are widely recognized but standards bodies turned to them only recently. The world of cloud is a bit wilder than the world of applications because clouds currently offer an opportunity for cloud providers to lock in new, and not technically savvy, business customers…

Grazed from CRN. Author: Chad Berndston.

Marc Benioff, the oft-outspoken co-founder and CEO of Salesforce.com, is among two new appointees to Cisco (NSDQ:CSCO)’s board of directors, the networking titan confirmed Thursday.

Benioff and Dr. Kristina M. Johnson, CEO of Enduring Hydro and the former Undersecretary of Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy, are part of Cisco’s board as of Aug. 1, expanding its membership to 14 seats.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Marc and Kristina to Cisco’s board of directors," John Chambers, Cisco’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "Marc has changed the face of technology through his bold ideas around cloud computing and the social enterprise. Kristina brings an unmatched expertise in science and technology, which will help guide Cisco as we continue to innovate and transform our customers’ experience."…

Grazed from ComputerWorld. Author: Mary Brandel.

When Donald Roper found himself in the job market earlier this year, he quickly learned how high the bar had been raised in his profession.

A senior systems administrator with 28 years in IT, an MBA and seven certifications to his name — including one in virtualization — he discovered that wasn’t always enough.

"A number of times, I’d go for an interview, and they’d ask, ‘Do you have Citrix?’" recounts Roper. "I’d say, ‘No — I thought you were looking for a virtualization person.’ And they’d say, ‘Oh yes, you have to have that, too.’ Nowadays, they want you to have everything."…

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.

These days, I’m running into more than a few innovative enterprises looking to stand up their own cloud computing services or APIs for consumption outside of the business. In essence, enterprises are becoming cloud computing providers.

Enterprises are standing up cloud services in support of new business opportunities, such as better supply chain integration, better customer service, or even the ability to charge a subscription fee for access to bits and pieces of their existing information systems that may be of value to outside users. In doing so, they may also gain a client list that includes partners, customers, or even unknown users leveraging these services for a fee…