Category: News

Grazed from FT. Author: Richard Waters.

Microsoft on Thursday suffered a setback in a case testing the cross-border reach of law enforcement in the cloud computing era, after it was ordered to hand US authorities a user’s email held in a datacentre in Ireland. The decision, if it stands, represents a further reversal for the US internet industry in the wake of the Snowden revelations about widespread surveillance by the National Security Agency, according to legal experts.

“For technology companies that store data outside the US, it’s a hugely important case,” said Craig Newman, Managing Partner of New York law firm Richards Kibbe & Orbe. “It really opens up a Pandora’s box in terms of seeking information outside the US.” Microsoft, which had fought the order, immediately said that it would appeal. Its resistance has already won the backing of Brussels, which earlier this year questioned whether the US attempt to access email held overseas breached international law…

Read more from the source @ http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0649c042-18e6-11e4-933e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz395FbLhbS

Grazed from BSMinfo. Author: John Humphreys.

With its ability to provide infrastructure access, make applications more affordable, eliminate implementation cost and complexity and increase speed, the cloud is becoming the primary delivery platform for businesses. While many look at the cloud as a state-of-the-art marvel, managed services providers (MSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) who are losing customers to this new proposition are feeling differently about the benefits of the cloud.

But rather than approaching the cloud as a threat, the reseller channel community should be looking at the cloud as a business opportunity. By reexamining business models and rethinking how to deliver IT services going forward, MSPs and ISVs will find that there is plenty of room for intermediaries in the cloud…

Grazed from Hollywood Reporter. Author: Etan Vlessing.

Shaw Communications is expanding its data center business by acquiring Colorado-based ViaWest for $1.2 billion. The bid by the western Canadian cable giant for a bigger slice of cloud revenues, unveiled on Thursday, will see ViaWest continue to operate as a subsidiary of Calgary-based Shaw.

The Canadian company will acquire a 100 percent interest in the privately-held ViaWest from Oak Hill Capital Partners and other shareholders. ViaWest provides data center and cloud technology services in the U.S. market. Shaw is following other North American cable and telco rivals in building out their data center businesses…

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

As cloud computing continues to penetrate into mainstream technology, consumers are taking advantage of the capability to access data at will. Simply because data is stored in the "cloud" does not mean it is immune to bottlenecks that impact performance, scalability, and security. In order to limit these bottlenecks, cloud-based services also require a backend database management system (DBMS) that not only maintain these loads, but can ensure top of the line performance, scalability, and security.

Altibase is renowned for solving the dilemma that plagues the database management world: the inevitable decision between speed and scalability. Further, with other in-memory database vendors, data integrity is always a concern because of the volatile nature of RAM. Altibase has no such limitations. Altibase’s hybrid database, ALTIBASE HDB, offers extreme flexibility by combining an In-Memory database with a disk-resident database in a single unified database…

Grazed from CloudWedge. Author: Editorial Staff.

In June 4, 2013, Salesforce chairman and CEO, Mark Benioff called it, a “historic day for cloud computing.” This was the date that Salesforce entered into an agreement to acquire the ExactTarget Marketing Cloud company for $2.5 billion. Benioff further stated, “Our whole industry is changing. Mobile and social have entered the cloud.[ExactTarget] has been along on the ride with Salesforce and we saw in them a perfect partnership. I’ve never been more inspired and motivated about what we can do to automate CRM.”

In April of 2013, Gartner released their Magic Quadrant analysis of how CRM companies performed in lead management. Salesforce.com was labeled a serious competitor despite the fact that it fell behind some of its competitors with regard to turnkey solutions and lead management. In addition, ExactTarget Marketing Cloud was called a visionary…

Grazed from CIOToday. Author: Dan Heilman.

In a flurry of recent activity, Oracle has announced a slew of new products and updates aimed at enterprise database users, e-business Relevant Products/Services owners, open-source enthusiasts, and marketing professionals. The latest announcements revolve around Oracle Database 12c, Oracle Project Procurement, Oracle Linux 7, and Oracle Data Cloud.

The new products come at a time when the Redwood City, California-based company seems poised for growth. Oracle opened a new cloud Relevant Products/Services computing Relevant Products/Services technology center Relevant Products/Services in Seattle this week that will be home to 100 of its cloud engineers. Oracle also is trying to buy Maryland-based hospitality technology maker Micros Systems, but has met resistance from that company’s shareholders…

Grazed from TheVarGuy. Author: ChristopherTozzi.

The Linux Foundation has extended its partner network further this week with the addition of BearingPoint GmbH, Daynix, Linaro Limited and Systena, who will add to the open source consortium’s strengths in cloud computing, Internet of Things technology, Linux-based embedded automotive computers and more.

As the official announcement details, each of these new members of the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit consortium focused on promoting Linux and open source software, will help to expand the organization’s reach to several industries and segments of the channel across the world. Perhaps the most interesting part of the news, however, is that surrounding Linaro, which focuses on developing open source software for ARM devices…

Grazed from CloudComputingTech. Author: Kathy L. Grise.

The overarching theme around cloud computing is truly ubiquitous and reaches across not just the computing industry and professionals, but really touches across academia, government, and industry, plus the average, general consumer. A successful cloud implementation happens when it all functions effectively and is transparent to the user.

The user should not have to worry about the where, how, or what behind the cloud. Issues like privacy, security, reliability, and accessibility should be transparent. Naturally, the success is based upon a sound architecture(s) behind cloud computing. There are numerous pieces and parts that host, drive, and support cloud computing, ranging from its SaaS, PaaS, etc. to the basic and fundamental physical components…

Grazed from TechNet. Author: Brendon Lynch.

At Microsoft, we know that customer trust is essential to our business. People will use technology only if they can trust it, and our commitment to protecting customer data is an important element in building and maintaining that trust. The issue of who owns email is at the center of an important hearing in U.S. federal court in New York this week, at which Microsoft will argue that the U.S. government can’t force American tech companies to turn over customer emails stored exclusively in company data centers in other countries – in this case, in Dublin, Ireland.

The government argues that customer emails stored in the cloud become the business records of the cloud provider, and therefore have a lower level of legal protection than an individual’s personal communications. Microsoft believes you own your emails stored in the cloud and that they have the same privacy protection as paper letters sent by mail. You can read more on this case in an op-ed written by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel and executive vice president for legal and corporate affairs.

Grazed from Hosting.com. Author: Editorial Staff.

In our July 14th blog post, How Stable is Your Cloud Provider?, we gave examples of some “seismic shifts” occurring in the cloud computing industry today. The industry witnessed a high level of volatility in the first half of 2014 as cloud solution providers (CSPs) anxiously watched their status slip in Gartner Inc.’s Magic Quadrant for Managed Cloud Hosting, went on massive acquisition sprees, or slashed their pricing for the umpteenth time. Following are some insights into what we can expect in the second half of 2014.

1) Public, Unmanaged IaaS Providers Will Continue to Race to the Bottom

If the recent pricing moves by Google and Amazon are any indication, we can expect to see cost cutting accelerating in 2014. Last March, Google cut its prices massively, reducing the prices of on-demand, pay-as-you-go services by 30%-85%. Amazon fired back the next day with a blog post that begins with the sentence: “It is always fun to write about price reductions.” This price cut by Amazon is the 42nd since 2008, and there is no indication that they will stop anytime soon…