Category: News

Grazed from TechWeekEurope.  Author: Duncan Macrae.

ShapeBlue, an independent global CloudStack integrator, has forged a new strategic partnership with solid-state array SolidFire to deliver next-generation storage solutions to organisations running IaaS cloud environments.  ShapeBlue historically has been storage vendor agnostic, citing a lack of clear differentiation in block storage solutions for implementing public and private cloud environments.

New partnership

With the new partnership, ShapeBlue now intends to leverage SolidFire’s full enterprise feature set including guaranteed quality of service (QoS), complete system automation and scale-out storage design to bring its customers radical increases in functionality and efficiency in delivering cloud-based services…

Grazed from TalkinCloud.  Author: Dan Kobialka.

Sophos this week announced Cloud Server Protection, a cloud-managed security
solution that is designed to help channel partners protect customer servers against cyber threats and data loss.

The U.K.-based computer security hardware and software provider said its new Cloud Server Protection solution delivers host intrusion, malware and web protection by expanding Sophos Cloud’s capabilities and giving users better visibility into the current security status of all of their managed servers via a web-based interface…

Grazed from ZDNet.  Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols.

If your office is like mine, you already have a lot of storage. Over the years, it’s probably become quite a mix of storage-area networks (SAN), network-attached storage (NAS), and servers. More recently, your staff has started to use tablets, smartphones, and Chromebooks instead of PCs for work. A cloud would make sharing your files with your mobile staff much easier So, what’s a CIO to do?

Dump all your old gear and move to a new cloud-based storage system? I don’t think so!  One possible good alternative to making the most of your existing storage infrastructure while providing a cloud-friendly, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) approach is the new ownCloud 7 Enterprise Edition…

 Grazed from WebHostReview.  Author: PR Announcement.

ProfitBricks, the price/performance leader in cloud computing IaaS, has once again raised the bar for cloud computing infrastructure and data center management by releasing a completely new version of its unique Data Center Designer.

In response to today’s increasingly complex cloud infrastructure provisioning and deployment processes, the new Data Center Designer (DCD) is a complete rewrite of ProfitBricks’ game-changing visual management tool, enabling even easier design and management of cloud computing infrastructures. Included with all ProfitBricks cloud computing Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) accounts, the new DCD further reduces design and management overhead with faster performance, streamlined tools, more intuitive visual representations and comprehensive account information…

Grazed from FastCompany.  Author: Om Malik.

The disruption that cloud computing has had on business is so profound that it’s hard to believe the concept came about only eight years ago, when Amazon announced a rudimentary on-demand storage service called S3. It took me another three years to truly understand the size and scope of the cloud, and why everyone from large technology companies to investors routinely underestimate its influence.

That’s when I asked Werner Vogels, Amazon’s chief technology officer and the public face of Amazon Web Services, "What is the cloud?" His answer has always stayed with me. The cloud, Vogels explained, is the freedom to tinker, a license to experiment…

 Grazed from MidsizeInsider.  Author: Marissa Tejada.

New research has found that public cloud computing services are set to reach outstanding levels within the next five years. The growth of the public cloud market presents a big opportunity for midsize IT.

Toppling the Market

IDC’s latest report featured in Network World found that public cloud computing spending will topple $56.6 billion this year. By 2018, the market is set to reach more than $127 billion. This five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 23 percent is calculated to be six times the overall IT market rate. The report also pointed out that public cloud will consist of more than 50 percent of the world’s software, server and storage services spending…

 Grazed from CloudTech.  Author: James Bourne.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions has announced the official launch of its Verizon Cloud Marketplace, a store for software certified to operate in the Verizon cloud.  The communications provider has been aggressive in its cloud push in recent months, and is opening up this one-stop shop with a variety of partners, including AppDynamics, Hitachi and Juniper Networks.

“The launch of Verizon Cloud Marketplace is an important milestone in the ongoing evolution of our cloud ecosystem,” said SVP cloud services Siki Giunta.  “Verizon Cloud Marketplace is all about simplifying and streamlining migration to the cloud, and enterprises using Verizon Cloud will now have access to a growing number of industry-leading cloud-based applications required to power their businesses in the digital age,” he added…

Read more from the source @ http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2014/nov/19/verizon-announces-its-cloud-marketplace-open-business/

Grazed from Network World.  Author: Brandon Butler.

Gartner IaaS Research Director Kyle Hilgendorf says one of the most common questions he gets from enterprise customers looking to go to the cloud is: AWS or Azure?  Amazon Web Services has been anointed the public IaaS cloud leader by Gartner and many others, but over the past year or so Satya Nadella’s Microsoft has made significant advancements to its public cloud platform. AWS now has competition.

AWS clearly has a lead, and a pretty sizeable one, Hilgendorf says. But, it’s a marathon, not a sprint: “The race has just begun, and it’s a very long race,” Hilgendorf said during a presentation at AWS re:Invent comparing the two providers…

Grazed from TheChannelCompany.  Author: PR Announcement.

The Channel Company today announced The NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo, the only independent, multivendor business and technology conference and exposition designed specifically for cloud integrators, developers, vendors and providers. Conference attendees will gain actionable advice, share best practices with peers, and discover hundreds of cloud solutions and new revenue streams. 

The inaugural event, themed “All Roads Lead to the Cloud,” will be held December 3-5, 2014, at the San Diego Convention Center and aligns with The Channel Company’s focus of enabling technology partnerships by helping solution providers and vendors to drive incremental revenue. For more information or to register for the event, visit www.nexgencloudcon.com…

Grazed from TechRepublic.  Author: Judith Myerson.

Risk management provides a framework to help you select security controls to protect an information system anywhere in the development life cycle on a Platform as a Service (PaaS) — it doesn’t matter whether it’s an engineering, procurement, or personnel system.

The security controls are implemented after the risks are identified, assessed, and reduced to a low level. The implementation criteria include cost effectiveness, technological efficiency, and regulation compliance. You must document the criteria in a security plan…