Category: News

Grazed from RicksCloud. Author: Rick Blaisdell.

In this post, I’ll discuss XaaS: what it is and why you might want to consider using it. First, what is XaaS? Is this just more marketing fluff? Why do we need to define yet another model to fully describe cloud services? I contest that XaaS is a legitimate term, and that it is useful to describe a new type of cloud services — those that make use of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS all neatly delivered in one package.

Such packages are intended to fully displace the delivery of a commodity IT service. My favorite example of XaaS is desktop as a service, or DaaS. In a DaaS product, a service provider might assemble it with the following:

• Servers to run Virtual Desktop Infrastructure from a provider such as Terremark (IaaS)
• An office suite such as Microsoft Office365 (SaaS)
• Patching and maintenance services
• A physical endpoint such as a Chromebook or thin client device…

Grazed from FierceGovernmentIT. Author: Dibya Sarkar.

The National Science Foundation said it’s funding academic research to develop and experiment with innovative cloud computing architectures. NSF announced Aug. 20 two $10 million projects to create cloud testbeds – one called "Chameleon" and the other, "CloudLab," according to a press release.

Cloud computing, which essentially is the use of remote servers to store, manage and process data, has gained enormous popularity in recent years due to the greater capacity, scalability, flexibility and savings it provides. Organizations can tap into new applications and services, enhance collaboration and ensure service reliability, among other benefits…

Grazed from MSPMentor. Author: Editorial Staff.

A common objection encountered by MSPs who deliver IT security services that are hosted "in the cloud" is the perception that somehow these services are more risky than on-premise solutions. For example, in multiple Gartner surveys, security is cited as the No. 1 inhibitor to the adoption of cloud-based computing.

Many IT professionals have a preconceived notion that cloud computing will be less secure than what they can deliver themselves on premises. In a recent PerspecSys survey of 130 IT security professionals, 66 percent said they still view the cloud as more difficult to secure than on-premise options…

Grazed from Baseline. Author: Dennis McCafferty.

The majority of U.S. companies recognize that the cloud will play an essential role in innovation in the very near future. Yet, most enterprises don’t have a clear cloud migration plan in place, according to a recent survey conducted by Oxford Economics for Windstream. The accompanying survey report, titled "The Path to Value in the Cloud," reveals that organizations are falling short when it comes to getting the right performance and ROI metrics in place to measure cloud-enabling success.

There are also concerns about the cloud’s impact on security, costs, platform compatibility and privacy. However, overall sentiments remain upbeat, as the cloud is expected to help increase geographic market expansion, business transformation, collaboration and other strategy drivers…

Grazed from MarketWire. Author: PR Announcement.

Hospitals and healthcare systems in need of a cost-effective, HIPAA-compliant solution for long-term archiving of healthcare data now have an alternative to on-site redundant archiving. ClearDATA Networks, Inc. today announced its new cloud-based Archive as a Service solution. It is the first offering of its kind created specifically to meet requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for archiving of healthcare data that does not need to be accessed immediately or regularly.

Healthcare organizations and medical research facilities create petabytes of confidential patient information, including patient records, lab results and images, each year. HIPAA can sometimes require a large amount of this information to be stored for up to seven years, even though it is rarely (if ever) accessed. These requirements can severely impact IT budgets as organizations pay an ever-growing price for equipment, power, cooling, floor space, backup and recovery capabilities and personnel to maintain it all. In addition, many medical research facilities still use tape to archive older data despite concerns about its reliability…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Editorial Staff.

It is not easy running a startup, but it’s getting much easier due to the availability and low cost of Cloud computing and its related services. This will inevitably mean more competition, but with the growing interest in Big Data, IoT, Cloud Computing, Wearable Technology and Clean Technology, there will be a tremendous number of options to demonstrate innovation.

The bad news is that most of the startups don’t last past the first few years as seen in the infographic provide by SurePayroll.com. However, the good news is that VC’s are out in full-force spending boatloads on new products and services. This is very good news to startups which are innovative, stick through the tough times and make smart sound business decisions…

To view infographic and read more from the source, please visit http://cloudtweaks.com/2014/08/cloud-infographic-startup-soup-hot-cold/

Grazed from CloudComputingIntelligence. Author: Editorial Staff.

XenApp and XenDesktop from Citrix now offer faster applications and greater reliability and security and claim to reduce the need for expensive SSD storage by 99% with reference architectures for Azure and a partner programme for IAAS service providers.

Citrix today announced new versions of Citrix XanApp and XenDesktop (both version7.6), the new versions which will be available in September, will have an improved user experience, improved security, instant app access, and are designed to “virtually eliminate the costs of ensuring storage performance.”…

Grazed from Phys.org.  Author: Editorial Staff.

With the sale of first its desktop PC business and now its server business to Chinese partner Lenovo, IBM has come full circle. By exiting the hardware business IBM leaves behind the low-end market it invented and returns to its roots in high performance computers, software, and a focus on the client.

Computer industry companies have to spot opportunities and ensure they change products to take advantage of shifting markets. It is an industry where leading companies can go from boom to bust in a short time, and there are many examples of those that failed to move quickly enough. The once innovative Sun Microsystems was swallowed by Oracle, the formerly cutting-edge DEC was bought by Compaq, and Compaq, instrumental in breaking open the PC market from IBM’s grip, was itself swallowed by HP. In the 1990s the world’s most popular computer games were written specifically for the 3D graphics chips from 3Dfx; just a few short years later the firm was bankrupt and snapped up by competitor Nvidia. Each had fixated on a certain product range, and failed to see the evolution of the market…

CloudComputingTech.  Author: James Bourne.

 Everyone knows that if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck – or at least we have to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae.  Thus according to the duck test if it looks and feels like a private cloud, it should be a private cloud. Yet CenturyLink aims to turn that on its head with its latest private cloud launch, which aims to offer the agility of a public cloud but with the security of a private cloud.

Isn’t this essentially a hybrid cloud? Well, yes and no. Each private cloud instance is plugged in to CenturyLink’s public cloud nodes, thus running off the same platform and providing what IDC research vice president Melanie Posey describes as “a frictionless hybrid cloud option.”…

Grazed from TalkinCloud.  Author: Lori MacVittie.

In 2011, Jocelyn DeGance Graham, founded Cloud Network of Women (CloudNOW), which focused on amplifying women’s contributions to technology with an emphasis on cloud computing. In the past three years the organization has grown in both numbers, reach and its mission. Most recently the organization branched out to sponsor a Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) program focused not just on encouraging women to enter STEM, but on mentoring and guiding them into and through a career.

Its roots in cloud computing arise from the reality that cloud computing has been a boon for women in computing technology. Its relatively low cost eliminates a significant barrier to entry for start-ups and encourages women to take the helm and make their mark on the industry…