Category: News

Grazed from SciQuest. Author: Lindsay Sloan.

"It’s become the phrase du jour," says Ben Pring, former Vice President of Research at Gartner, of the term cloud computing. “The problem is tvhat everyone seems to have a different definition.” So let’s start out with the simple question: What is cloud computing? According to Oxford Dictionaries, it’s the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer. Now, instead of using a personal computer to run an application, individuals can do this from anywhere in the world.

With easy access to information, automatic software integration and fast deployment, cloud computing is here to stay and it’s growing. Companies like SciQuest, who provide products which are completely cloud-based, can provide significant advantages to their customers compared to on-premise solutions that other business automation software providers offer. As more and more organizations adapt to this technology – and get used to the cost and efficiency benefits – new trends have emerged and here are the ones we think are most noteworthy:..

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Editorial Staff.

The phrase, “it doesn’t take an Einstein” is an all-purpose IT department put-down that translates roughly as “it’s so obvious, you don’t need to be a genius to see the right decision to make.” Applied to selecting a cloud computing vendor, this principle would result in the clear understanding that people want reliable performance at a fair market price, with no hidden charges.einstein

Cloud performance has a direct impact on what you spend on compute resources, how you decide the right host for your workload, and how you choose to scale when the need arises. If a service provider offers “fastest performance” at a good price, that’s the right choice, isn’t it? You want the best performance for the money, right? It doesn’t take an Einstein to see that. Except, sometimes it does…

Grazed from SAP. Author: Michael Mischker.

When we polled business leaders at a recent SAP Business Innovation conference in Latin America on what they want and what they expect from cloud computing, the results (see infographic) were fascinating. The standout fact? Almost every single one of them believes cloud computing will have a major impact on their organizations. And they’re right.

Business issues are driven by consumer needs as well as available technology. The opportunity is for companies to shed their old skins and empower themselves by adding new services, ones that are then adopted naturally by customers to get a better, more agile and more flexible service…

Grazed from PRWeb. Author: PR Announcement.

Pandoo TEK Inc. is out to change the way people everywhere interact with their computing devices–while bringing equal access to technology for everyone. The Vancouver-based technology company introduced its flagship project, PANDOO, the world’s first way to turn any web browser into a powerful personal computer, on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo (http://igg.me/at/pandoo-os). A portion of funds raised on Indiegogo will be split with the charity Computer Aid International to support Pandoo TEK’s mission of promoting economic development through technology.

Pandoo TEK co-founder and President Michael Patellis said, "The days of being limited by your computing devices are ending. As more services migrate to the cloud, people will find it no longer matters whether they have the latest, most expensive machine. With PANDOO, we’re making the most of this transformation by building a powerful, personalized operating system on the cloud."…

Grazed from TechCentral. Author: Editorial Staff.

Johannesburg-headquartered global technology services group Dimension Data has announced it is opening three new data centres as demand from businesses for cloud computing services expands. The new data centres are based in Toronto in Canada, Auckland in New Zealand and in São Paulo in Brazil.

Dimension Data, which is owned by Japan’s NTT Corp, says the launch of the new facilities brings the total number of “managed cloud platform” locations to 13. It has multiple data centres in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and Australia. The launch of the three new facilities follows an announcement from Cisco that the giant US networking vendor will use Dimension Data’s managed cloud platform and software-as-a-service offerings to deliver a suite of midmarket cloud services to its customers and resellers…

Grazed from PCAdvisor. Author: Kate O’Flaherty.

It’s got the potential to cut costs and increase efficiency by allowing staff to work on move. Cloud computing is growing and it’s going to get bigger still. With the ability to scale and give you the clout of your bigger rivals, the technology is especially relevant to smaller firms: it makes applications such as CRM and sales management available to any company, regardless of its size. It’s also the ideal way to protect and back up your data in case it is lost or stolen. Microsoft’s latest operating system (OS), Windows 8, is the perfect platform to introduce cloud to your business. So how can smaller firms get the most out of the OS’ cloud capabilities?

Flexible devices

Small businesses are increasingly working on the move. With the help of Windows 8, alongside touchscreen devices made by manufacturers such as Dell, this is made even more efficient. Users can write a presentation on a laptop, share it using Microsoft OneDrive, and then work on it on the go via the cloud on a smartphone or tablet…

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Admire Moyo.

Cloud computing supports the iterative nature of big data analytics and allows data practitioners to focus on the data itself and how to really derive value from it. So says Willem Conradie, BI consultant at PBT Group, who notes that, among other things, Cloud computing allows for on demand analysis.

He explains that data of any type can be loaded into the cloud, analysed as needed, and when complete, the cluster can be stopped and discarded, or additional data and capacity can be added depending on the outcome of the analysis. However, he points out that if it so happens that an organisation has more technical specific requirements around its analysis, meaning that its computations will be memory intensive, the cluster can be provisioned accordingly…

Grazed from MidsizeInsider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

In 2010, technology companies began appending the term "cloud" to every news release and project announcement, hoping the hype of distributed computing models would carry over to more traditional software or even hardware projects. Now IT cloudwashing has evolved into a far more subtle science, but it is often looked down upon by technology pundits as an effort to generate profit rather than advance the cloud cause. Is this merely a cover-up, or is something bigger going on?

Just Another Coat?

A May 15 article from ZDNet examines the concept of cloudwashing, with author Larry Dignan using recent news headlines to show the practice is still in full force. He points out that many companies that rely on hardware or software sales to drive their business instead focus on recent cloud acquisitions or amalgamations of cloud products than more traditional service and maintenance contracts. The argument here is for midsize IT professionals to watch for what Dignan calls a "culture change" before businesses buy into any vendor claims of a pure cloud experience…

Grazed from CRN. Author: Steven Burke.

Solution providers said the new NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo, to be held Dec. 3 to 5 in San Diego, fills a much-needed gap for vendor-neutral content in an increasingly partisan cloud-computing marketplace. The conference, the brainchild of CRN parent company, The Channel Company, is the first partner-centric, cloud-computing conference aimed at providing vendor-neutral content developed by and for the broad swath of solution providers delivering cloud migration strategies and services for customers.

NexGen Cloud is critical, solution providers said, because it provides an independent multivendor expo in a market filled with single-threaded, vendor-focused cloud conferences. The inaugural event with the theme “All Roads Lead To The Cloud,” will be held at the San Diego Convention Center…

Grazed from BusinessWire. Author: PR Announcement.

MemSQL, the leader in real-time and historical Big Data analytics based on a distributed in-memory database, today announced it has been included in the list of "Cool Vendors in In-Memory Computing Technologies, 2014"(1) report by Gartner, Inc. According to Gartner, "In-Memory Computing (IMC) technologies support the agility and large-scale, fast data processing needed to succeed in the digital era. Application architecture leaders should master IMC architectures and technologies, or run the risk of undermining their organizations’ ability to leverage digital business opportunities."

"IMC technology is increasingly emerging as a key enabler for the digital business by empowering the agility, Web-scale processing and fast decision making needed to respond to the business challenges of the digital era," states the Gartner report. In addition, Gartner recommends that enterprises, "Don’t just consider megavendors for your IMC initiatives; small, innovative pure players often provide more cost-effective and/or more technically valid alternatives to large vendors’ offerings."…