Cloud computing and the looming global privacy battle
A grave threat is said to be stalking Europe. No, it isn’t the financial crisis and the potential demise of the euro. It’s the “rapacious” U.S. approach to privacy — which portends, for those engaged in the development of cloud architecture, a coming “clash” of privacy laws.
According to Viviane Reding, the European Union’s justice commissioner, cloud-based companies that collect personal data are violating fundamental human rights. “We . . . believe that companies who direct their services to European consumers should be subject to EU data protection laws. Otherwise, they should not be able to do business on our internal market,” Reding wrote in November. “This also applies to social networks with users in the EU. We have to make sure that they comply with EU law and that EU law is enforced, even if it is based in a third country and even if its data are stored in a ‘cloud.’ ”…
Software Developers Get SaaS-y with Expanded Software-as-a-Service Platform
Grazed from Virtuon. Author: PR Announcement.
Virtuon announced today it has expanded its virtual application service to support MAC, iPad and Android devices. The software distribution platform allows software publishers to put their applications immediately in the cloud as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering with no development or rewrite effort.
Virtuon’s service platform expedites the porting process for developers, as all they have to do is load their application in Virtuon’s service. “This is the fast-track to supporting the iPad and other contemporary devices,” said Forrest Blair, CEO of Virtuon. “Porting and conversion costs have been eliminated, and at the same time the entire software distribution and support system is streamlined.” SaaS applications offer tight control over which version of an application users have access to, as well as user activity and product performance are very visible. Installation and support issues are significantly reduced.
Cloudscaling wants to make OpenStack webscale
Cloud computing consultancy Cloudscaling is realigning its business around the open-source OpenStack framework, and it has a message for the world: If you want to use open-source software but operate like Amazon Web Services, we’re your man. The company, which has helped build public clouds for the likes of Korea Telecom and Internap, is putting its consulting muscle behind a new OpenStack-based software platform that is built with webscale in mind.
For the uninitiated, OpenStack is a set of open-source cloud-computing building blocks currently being developed and used by a large number of IT heavyweights. Founded as an open source project in July 2010 by Rackspace and NASA, OpenStack members now include Cisco, HP, Dell, Citrix and dozens more vendors. Many are already selling or in the midst of creating software and/or services based on the technology…
Why Canada lags in cloud computing
Two years ago, Cadillac Fairview Corp. looked to the cloud and liked what it saw. In search of a cheaper way to manage its e-mail environment, the Toronto-based commercial real estate giant settled on Google Inc.’s Gmail.
Cadillac Fairview has run services like payroll through outside providers for at least 15 years, says senior vice-president and CIO Scot Adams. But the past half-decade has seen an explosion of affordable cloud-based applications for business. Through their powerful networks and data servers, Google, Microsoft Corp. and can replace in-house technology services, ranging from e-mail to computing platforms…
OnApp appoints Carsten Sjoerup as CTO
OnApp has announced the appointment of Carsten Sjoerup as Chief Technology Officer. OnApp cloud software enables hosting companies and service providers to create their own next-generation cloud services, so they can compete with cloud providers such as AWS. As CTO, Carsten will lead OnApp’s development teams in the UK, Malaysia and Ukraine.
Carsten has more than 15 years’ experience in senior software development, architect and management roles, with a more recent focus on cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS). He was previously Vice President of research and development at GROUP Business Software AG as well as CTO of its cloud division. Prior to that he held other senior management positions in software development…
Mobility cloud services add value to mobile service plans
Mobile phone providers are beginning to add numerous cloud services to the lineup of basic service plans. Not so long ago, mobile phone service plans would provide a number, but not much else. Fast forward 2012… Now it’s not at all uncommon to have a whole list of value-added services that either come as a default provision, or as pay-for modules that can be turned on for a nominal monthly service fee.
Examples of such services are cloud storage, content sharing, social networking plugins, cloud gaming, and the list goes on…
ServiceMesh to Moderate Speaking Track and Present at Cloud Connect 2012
WHAT: ServiceMesh, provider of market-leading enterprise cloud platforms for Global 2000 companies, will present enterprise cloud best practices and moderate the Private Cloud track at Cloud Connect 2012, February 13-16, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. ServiceMesh representatives will be available at booth #422 to deliver live demonstrations of the ServiceMesh Agility Platform, the industry’s most comprehensive policy-based governance, security and lifecycle management solution to unlock the business value of cloud computing by dramatically reducing the costs, risks, and time-to-market for delivery of IT services.
ServiceMesh vice president of strategy Dave Roberts will present a session titled "Applications at Scale." This presentation will discuss key methods and technologies necessary to support today’s massively scalable applications in cloud environments. Mr. Roberts is also the moderator and track chair for the Private Cloud Track, which focuses on hybrid and private cloud architectures and their impact on infrastructure, network, and storage decisions…
GreenQloud Selects Verne Global’s Data Centre Campus for Commercial Roll-out of its Truly Green Public Compute Cloud
Verne Global, an innovative, UK-based developer of power conscious data centre campuses, today announced that GreenQloud®, the world’s first truly green public compute cloud, is basing its hosting service from the Verne Global data centre campus in Iceland. GreenQloud, established in 2010, offers hosting and storage for the European and North American markets and can act a single hub for both markets.
"GreenQloud’s mission is to promote and sell easy to use, competitively priced, carbon neutral, cloud computing services to SMBs, SaaS providers, PaaS providers, enterprises, the public sector and high performance computing users," said Eirikur Hrafnsson, co-founder and CEO of GreenQloud. "We will also let our customers see their live energy metrics and carbon savings so they can report these results as part of their own sustainability programmes."…
Virtustream Completes Acquisition of Enomaly, Inc.
Virtustream, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise cloud solutions, today announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Enomaly, Inc., an early innovator in cloud and pioneer in cloud exchanges. The integration of Enomaly and its software capabilities will further enhance Virtustream’s enterprise class cloud solutions, enabling customers to benefit from the dramatic operational advantages and cost savings of cloud computing.
Virtustream will continue to support Enomaly’s existing products, including its ECP public cloud software and SpotCloud, a cloud exchange offering a marketplace and cloud-to-cloud federation. Both ECP and SpotCloud will be enhanced further with additional security. In 2012, Virtustream will also integrate additional public cloud functionality and cloud exchange capabilities into xStream, Virtustream’s enterprise cloud solution. In addition, with the acquisition of Enomaly, Virtustream continues to expand its global presence by adding distribution in China and a cloud software development center in Canada…
FBI insists cloud providers meet strict security requirements
Large enterprises continue to have reservations about the security of cloud computing, and apparently the FBI does too. The agency made it clear this week that any cloud providers who want to do business with U.S. law enforcement agencies must abide by its Criminal Justice Information Systems security requirements–which is a very high bar, reports Jaikumar Vijayan at Computerworld.
"The FBI remains committed to using technology in its information-sharing processes, but not at the sacrifice of the security of the information with which it has been entrusted," Stephen Fischer Jr., a spokesman for the FBI’s CJIS division, told Computerworld…