Cloud Computing: Amazon Rival Rackspace Evokes Dot-Com Era Deal
Grazed from Bloomberg. Author: Editorial Staff.
Rackspace Hosting Inc. (RAX) is tempting buyers that covet a foothold in the cloud to tackle the largest U.S. Internet takeover since the dot-com bubble.
Rackspace has more than tripled since its 2008 initial public offering as it evolved into Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s biggest competitor in cloud computing, which allows businesses to save money on data centers by storing information on remote servers and accessing it via the Web. While the $6.1 billion company has a higher valuation relative to earnings than almost two-thirds of Internet software and e-commerce firms, it’s less than half as expensive as Amazon, according to data compiled by Bloomberg…
Enterprises to cloud: Ready or not, here we come
The number of diehards who resist the notion of running business apps in the cloud is dwindling. More than a third of end users polled recently feel that the cloud is safe for mission-critical applications, according to new research.
The 2012 Future of Cloud Survey, sponsored by North Bridge Venture Partners, shows acceptance of cloud computing for important business workloads is growing — the overall percentage of respondents feeling comfortable with this notion was actually 50 percent, but that figure included tech vendors as well as end users and since most vendors have a vested interest in cloud computing, that may skew the numbers. According to last year’s survey, in which North Bridge did not separate out the two types of respondents, just 13 percent of the aggregate respondents were comfortable with the cloud model…
Cloud creating ‘trickle-down’ effect for employees at all levels
Cloud computing is becoming less hype and just part of the norm as more business employees learn to trust it and depend on it for difficult workloads.
As GigaOM Structure 2012 unfolds in San Francisco today, GigaOM Pro has published a new report analyzing several sectors of the current cloud market about which business and IT leaders should know more.
In Cloud computing infrastructure: 2012 and beyond, GigaOM analysts discussed new developments in chip and hardware architectures, more energy efficient data centers, regulatory concerns and simplifying data analytics…
FortaTrust’s Latest Offering Enables Private Cloud Computing for as little as US$59 per month.
Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.
FortaTrust, a leading provider of dedicated and cloud computing services is pleased to announce its latest Dedicated Server offering based on SGI Rackable Servers. “This offering is designed to allow our customers to build private cloud services at costs that emphasizes the maximum possible profit in relation to end-user services”, said Chris Rivera, FortaTrust’s Director of Product Development.
The latest dedicated server offering is highlighted by several new packages:
X8a Package. A Rackable 1U Dual Quad-Core Opteron Processor with 8GB RAM, 500GB Storage, and 10TB of traffic with a monthly price of US$59.95.
C16a Package. A Rackable 1U Dual Quad-Core Opteron Processor with 16GB RAM, 1TB Storage, and 20TB of traffic with a monthly price of US$119.95
C32a Package. A Rackable 1U Dual Quad-Core Opteron Processor with 32GB RAM, 2TB Storage, and 20TB of traffic with a monthly price of US$219.95…
IBM supercomputer claims the lead on Top 500 list
Grazed from GigaOM. Author: Barb Darrow.
We’re number 1! The U.S. (well IBM anyway) has taken the top slot of the semi-annual Top 500 biggest super computer list.
Sequoia, an IBM BlueGene/Q System using 1,572,864 processor cores, scored 16.32 petaflop/s on the Linpack Benchmark, the yardstick used to measure such things. The incumbent top dog, Fujitsu’s “K Computer” in Kobe, Japan, came in second with a 10.51 Pflop/s score using 705,024 SPARC64 processing cores. Another IBM BlueGene/Q system called Mira, which scored 8.15 petaflop/s using 786,432 cores, was ranked third. (See chart for the top ten or here’s the complete list.)…
How Countries Tax Cloud Computing Services
KPMG has created an online resource regarding taxing of cloud computing services by tax authorities in various countries. Called as Country Perspective on Taxing the Cloud, the online resource aims to aid providers and users of cloud services in planning their activities and operations as well as work in order gain tax benefits from the cloud computing technology. As an online tool, member firms of KPMG around the world provide insights on how cloud computing services are analyzed by tax authorities all over the world. The tax provisions of each country are examined and interpreted so that potential cloud computing taxes can be generated in order to help the public.
KPMG has studied tax provisions of the United States of America, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Indonesia, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. Other countries will be included in the resource as these countries come up with clearer tax treatments for cloud computing transactions…
Public or Private Cloud: Which Is Best for Application Marketplaces?
Cloud computing offers almost limitless possibilities for innovation and growth. It also provides fodder for endless debates about the pros and cons of hosted and on-premise software deployments.
In one corner, you have the advocates of hosting software in the public cloud who argue that it offers better flexibility and scalability. In the other corner, you have proponents of private, on-premise deployments who counter that this approach is more secure and offers greater control.
The growing popularity of cloud service marketplaces – application stores that offer a range of cloud-based software and services – is adding a new dimension to these familiar arguments. Which type of deployment, public or private cloud, is best for marketplaces like these?…
ShoreTel Jumps Into Cloud UC for Mobile Devices
Grazed from Network Computing. Author: Lee H. Badman.
Cloud-based VoIP and unified communications for the mobile space are both accurately described as growth markets. Though adoption rates may not quite be blistering, cloud UC is gaining traction as ShoreTel throws its offering into the mix.
ShoreTel is a well-established VoIP player that has made a couple of strategic acquisitions. Buying Agito last year gave the premise-centric ShoreTel platforms a mobility-minded boost, and the recent purchase of M5 Networks provided a well-respected anchor in cloud-based VoIP. This brings us to today’s news about the next big thing from ShoreTel, which combines compelling elements of all parts of the business. At the same time, what’s not quite in the ShoreTel announcement is also significant…
Turbulence pushing banks into the cloud
We all know that the old business model for investment banking technology doesn’t work and this is driving bank technology departments everywhere to cut costs. However I was struck by a recent special report in The Economist which outlines that, while investment banks are shrinking, their retail arms (Citibank, HSBC, Santander, etc.) are growing due to changes in technology. The key trends they found were:
- Improved services through standardized technology
- Data mining which allows better tailoring of products to customer needs
- Mobile banking
Oracle’s Shift To Cloud, Rivaling Salesforce.com, Gains Traction
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), the No. 1 database developer, reported full-year revenue rose 4 percent to $37.2 billion – with revenue from the Cloud, or Internet-based computing, reaching a record $1 billion.
That’s one reason why full-year net income jumped 17 percent to $9.98 billion, or $1.96 a share for the 12 months ended May 31. It could be why shares of the Redwood Shores, Calif., software behemoth rose as much as 6 percent Tuesday to $28.75, before easing back to close at $27.96, up 84 cents.
"The development of Oracle Cloud is strategic to increasing the size and profitability of Oracle’s software business," said CEO Larry Ellison, 67, the third-richest American on the Forbes list who owns 22.5 percent of the company…