Latest News from Cloud News Desk

SearchCloudComputing.com’s Private Cloud e-zine

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:51:00 EDT

It’s quickly becoming clear that cloud computing offers potential solutions to on-going pricing, protection, archiving, e-discovery, bandwidth, and performance issues in the data center. However, like any new – potentially game changing – technology, it’s critical to see through the hype and industry-slant before trusting mission critical apps, data, etc. to the cloud. The Private Cloud Computing E-zine reveals the real world applications, benefits, and drawbacks of this emerging technology.

Mimecast Ranked Third Fastest Growing Technology Company in the UK

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:25:00 EDT

Mimecast on Monday announced that it ranked Number Three in the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the UK. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over five years. Mimecast grew 7579% percent during this period. Mimecast's CEO, Peter Bauer, credits the company's 7579% revenue growth over the past five years to the its ability to provide email archiving, continuity, security, discovery and policy management through a single platform and the potential of delivering those services quickly and affordably through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.

CloudApps Appoints CEO to Management Board

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:56:00 EDT

CloudApps, a provider of sustainability and carbon management solutions, announced on Thursday that Stephen Kelly has joined its board. A senior industry figure, Kelly is one of the most successful CEOs in the European technology industry. Kelly's appointment further bolsters CloudApps management team as it rapidly expands its sales and strategic partnerships. Most recently, Kelly was CEO of Micro Focus, a UK FTSE-quoted software company whose fortunes he transformed through both organic growth and seven acquisitions resulting in a tripling of revenues, a tripling in profits and a total increase of $1bn in market capitalisation. He had previously led the highly successful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company, Chordiant, where he grew revenue from zero to $75m in less than 5 years. Prior to this, Kelly spent a decade at Oracle Corporation in sales leadership roles including the European Telecoms, Financial Services and Retail sectors, where he averaged 100% revenue growth.

Bitrix Brings Enterprise 2.0 to the Cloud

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EDT

Bitrix, Inc has announced the release of Bitrix Intranet Portal / Cloud Edition - a specially-designed version of its Enterprise 2.0 software suitable for cloud deployment and rent-a-portal distribution model. This initiative enables service providers to reinforce their service portfolio and maximize profits while customers can save up to 80% of intranet implementation costs. "The cloud is a challenging distribution channel for Enterprise 2.0 solutions. Service providers are constantly looking for new ways of increasing revenues, while their customers are searching for tools to create effective internal workspaces while streamlining financial, personnel, and hardware resources. The new edition of our flagship product is a perfect fit for both sides," said Dmitry Valyanov, President of Bitrix, Inc.

Cloud Facilitators: A New Route to Market for Cloud Vendors

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:28:00 EDT

As Cloud Computing moves into the large enterprise and becomes an embedded part of IT and the business, customers are turning to a new wave of Cloud Facilitator to help guide them through Cloud-based consulting, implementation and management challenges. Cloud Facilitators like Acumen, Appirio, Astadia, Bluewolf, Cloud Sherpas, CoreMatrix, Global One, Model Metrics and Revevol (among others) provide a range of services that help clients move to the Cloud. These include business and IT consulting related to Cloud strategy, implementation and integration, custom development, and Cloudsourcing. Cloudsourcing is the key business innovation of new wave Facilitators, weaving together and innovating on partner Cloud solutions, platforms and infrastructure and charging for these services on both a project and subscription basis.

Sentrigo Partners with GoGrid to Provide Security on Cloud Platform

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:13:00 EDT

Sentrigo on Tuesday announced that Sentrigo Hedgehog Enterprise and vPatch are now available for installation on GoGrid’s cloud computing infrastructure for database audit, protection and breach prevention. By leveraging Sentrigo’s database compliance and security solutions, organizations can implement cloud computing on GoGrid while addressing concerns regarding protection of sensitive data as well as issues related to compliance audits for key industry regulations. As a greater number of applications move to cloud computing, organizations that manage their databases in virtual environments increase their risk of exposing highly-sensitive data to a broad base of internal and external attacks. Many organizations find it challenging to ensure compliance and protection when they have full control over the data within their own networks, let alone when deploying it in the cloud. Only Sentrigo’s host-based software approach monitors and audits data access from the inside of each database virtual server, allowing efficient operation in distributed, virtualized environments.

Tilera to Double Processor Cores Every Two Years for Cloud Computing

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:00:00 EDT

Tilera Corporation on Tuesday announced its plans to double the number of cores on a chip and in turn doubling the compute per-rack every two years. Today, cloud computing is restricted by legacy x86 processors that consume a lot of power while providing minimal performance improvements across generations. Tilera, not restricted by legacy cores, is working in collaboration with top cloud computing vendors and providing the highest performance-per-watt processors that dramatically reduces OPEX for datacenters and cloud computing operators. A natural fit for cloud computing workloads, Tilera's TILEPro64 processor was selected by Quanta Computer Inc. to create the world's best performance-per-watt cloud server, packing 512 cores in a 2U server under 400 watts. Next year, Tilera will bring to market the TILE-Gx family with 100 cores in 40 nm process technology, and in 2013, Tilera will offer its 200-core processor, codenamed Stratton, in 28 nm. These products will enable customers to provide 20,000 cores per-rack in 2011 and 40,000 cores per-rack by 2013.

NaviSite EVP and CTO Denis Martin to Speak at Cloud Expo Europe

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:58:00 EDT

NaviSite, Inc., a provider of cloud-enabled enterprise hosting and application management services, announced on Wednesday that its Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Denis Martin will present “Tales from the Transactional Cloud” at the Cloud Expo Europe, the 6th International Cloud Expo. Cloud Expo Europe will be held June 21-22, 2010, in Prague, Czech Republic. One of the inhibitors of wide-scale adoption of ecommerce and other transactional applications is the perception that cloud-based services are not yet transaction-capable. Transaction-based applications require an infrastructure that ensures security, dependability, and the ability to handle large volumes. In addition, e-commerce applications require proven credit card processing capabilities. In his presentation, Mr. Martin will review the requirements of transaction-capable cloud services, including real-time performance and its underlying infrastructure, multi-pronged security, and compliance capabilities that are needed to adhere to compliance standards. He will also present a case study of a company running transaction-based applications in the cloud.

SoftLayer Is a Finalist for the 2010 Red Herring 100 North America Award

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:48:00 EDT

SoftLayer Technologies, the innovative on-demand data center services provider, announced on Wednesday it has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's North America 100 award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the world North American business region. The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across North America. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

Liquid Web Adds Feature to Cloud Computing Platform

Mon, 17 May 2010 01:45:00 EDT

Managed web hosting company, Liquid Web, today announced a major new feature for their cloud computing platform Storm On Demand called "Storm Bare Metal". Storm Bare Metal is a revolutionary server technology that allows users to provision and manage private dedicated servers with powerful Cloud Hosting features. Storm Bare Metal provides all of the Cloud Hosting features that users love about Storm Servers like instant server setup, clone, resize, backups and Cloud Attached Firewalls but on your own private dedicated server wholly allocated to you! Storm Bare Metal gives users complete Hardware Transparency so they may specify the exact processor, memory and hard drive configuration that is right for their project.

It's Important to Fortify Cloud Computing Security

Wed, 12 May 2010 04:51:00 EDT

"Security is almost universally the number one concern of companies moving into cloud computing environments; however, most organizations have not yet considered the implications of using insecure software in the cloud," said Jim Reavis, Executive Director of the Cloud Security Alliance. "The Cloud Security Alliance welcomes Fortify's leadership and expertise to help us establish set guidelines and protocols for organizations to embrace software security in the cloud."

So Cloud Linux is Partnering with Canadian Web Hosting, Eh?

Wed, 12 May 2010 04:20:00 EDT

Since 1998 Canadian Web Hosting has provided leading edge hosting solutions including secure and reliable web hosting, dedicated servers, virtual private servers and enhanced mail services. Their expertise and commitment to delivering unmatched service and support is further enhanced by its new partnership with CloudLinux. Providing capabilities for increased control and stability, CloudLinux's LVE technology limits the amount of resources (CPU, I/O, memory) available to a group of processes. This innovation gives technical engineers command line control to manage the CPU and IO and ensure that each account on a shared server is allocated enough resources to run efficiently without jeopardizing the other tenants on that server.

Microsoft Keeps Pushing Azure into Cloud Computing

Sun, 02 May 2010 03:03:00 EDT

By bringing Azure--entailing a cloud OS, Microsoft SQL and .NET-based services--to the Philippines, Microsoft "creates new opportunities, not just for the Microsoft partner ecosystem in the country, but for businesses and developers to drive new revenue through the development of innovative cloud services, too," said John Bessey, Microsoft's managing director for the country. "For the last 15 years, we've been providing enterprise-class cloud-computing services to businesses, governments and consumers, and we've continued to build the infrastructure to support these services," he added. "In this computing era, solutions are experienced across a variety of platforms, including personal computers, phones and the Web. Windows Azure gives customers choice and flexibility in developing and deploying applications."

Cloud Computing Part of Europe's Digital Agenda

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:55:00 EDT

The past decade has seen a revolution in the way we communicate. An increasing number of services are going – or are being created – online, along with vast quantities of rich, multimedia content. The Digital Society that derived from this revolution is accompanied by a change in expectations. All participants – consumers, service providers, government – will expect the underlying communications infrastructure to support the demands the Digital Society will place on it. They will expect services to provide the required functionality, to be available at all times and in all places and to process and store data securely. Moreover, the service and infrastructure components will need to actively cooperate to provide the most reliable environment where services become increasingly complex, interdependent and mashed-up. It is the subject of availability that concerns us here – research into the technologies that improve the resilience of data networks and, therefore, the availability of online services.

IBM Touts Smart Biz Development for Cloud Computing

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:32:00 EDT

IBM's Smart Business Development & Test, featuring IBM Rational Software Delivery Services for Cloud Computing, allows enterprise clients to expand on internal development and test efforts with rapid access to resources through IBM's secure, scalable cloud delivery model. The average enterprise devotes up to 50 percent of its entire technology infrastructure to development and test, but typically up to 90 percent of it remains idle. IBM has seen that taking advantage of cloud computing within development and test environments can help reduce IT labor costs by 50 percent, reduce provision cycle times from weeks to minutes and improve quality, and in the process, eliminate software defects by up to 30 percent.

UK Cloud Computing Data Center is Growing

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:08:00 EDT

The Slough facility currently offers Savvis Symphony Open, its public cloud solution, which is the second cloud solution available from the Slough data centre. It complements the broad portfolio of managed and virtualised hosting, private cloud, and network services that Savvis currently provides to enterprises and the public sector. In addition, Savvis offers proximity hosting for the financial community. "Following a rise in enterprise adoption of managed hosting services in Europe, we are now experiencing increasing demand for both private and public cloud infrastructure services," said Brian Klingbeil, managing director EMEA for Savvis. "From our highly secure data centre in Slough, European customers can access some of the industry's highest levels of IT infrastructure flexibility - from colocation and managed hosting to cloud computing and network services. This breadth and depth of solutions continues to attract enterprise customers into our Slough facility," added Klingbeil. The full suite of Savvis Symphony offerings, including VPDC, is expected to be available in the UK in the third quarter of this year through the company's data centre in Slough. With Symphony VPDC, Savvis will be introducing one of the industry's first enterprise-grade VPDC solutions with multi-tiered security and Quality of Service levels.

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Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:10:00 EDT

UK Cloud Computing Data Center is Growing

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:03:00 EDT

Cloud Computing to Grow to "Billions and Billions"

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:20:00 EDT

"IDC forecasts a 2009-2013 CAGR of 26% for the worldwide cloud services market, which includes software-as-a-service offerings," explains Mary Johnston Turner, research director for enterprise system management software at IDC. "As more and more organizations implement public cloud and SaaS solutions they will need access to monitoring capabilities that provide end-to-end visibility across internally run applications and public services and can be deployed just as quickly as the services they are monitoring."

Nimsoft Delivers SaaS to the Cloud With On-Demand Unified Monitoring

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:36:00 EDT

Nimsoft, a business unit of CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA), today announced availability of Nimsoft On Demand, a Software as a Service (SaaS) Unified Monitoring™ solution that delivers the robust capabilities and benefits of IT monitoring as an on-demand solution. With Nimsoft On Demand, emerging enterprises and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can maintain visibility into their business-critical IT infrastructure—including both their internal assets and those in the cloud—without having to purchase, administer or deploy monitoring hardware and software on their own premises.

Hey! Need 10Gb of Cloud Storage? 10Tb of Bandwidth? Free? Call The Planet

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:32:00 EDT

As if the widest array and lowest prices for high-quality servers wasn’t already enough, for a limited time, we’re adding 10 terabytes (TB) of bandwidth to all dedicated servers in our U.S. data centers through the end of April. Our 10TB promotion has been exceptionally popular in the past, and to celebrate the growth of our network, we’re bringing the special back. With over 250 Gbps of transit and peering capacity, we can afford to provide our customers with gobs of premium, Tier-1 bandwidth at no additional charge.

Unisys Cloud Computing Poll Finds Customers "Ready But Cautious"

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:15:00 EDT

“Even though the poll respondents clearly see the value of cloud computing, the results indicate that they remain reluctant to relinquish control of complex enterprise applications using sensitive information,” said Colin Lacey, vice president, Solutions and Services, Unisys. “Those results echo comments we hear in conversations with clients. While they believe that cloud computing can help them improve cost management and operational efficiency, they are skeptical that the cloud infrastructure used by commodity providers can stand up to the stringent service levels that enterprise workloads require. Plus, they are often concerned about entrusting those applications to a third party without assurance that the data could be kept secure."

Microsoft Dev Tools Drive Cloud Strategy, Elop Says

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:50:00 EDT

A week after being a sponsor at the largest Cloud Computing event ever held, Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York, Microsoft kicked off its own Convergence conference in Atlanta with a renewed commitment to Cloud-based developer tools that drive the company's vision in the Cloud transformation. Convergence 2010 opened Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Business Solutions Kirill Tatarinov demonstrating how the company is delivering on its vision of the Dynamic Business by providing customer-driven advancements across Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP applications to help organizations embrace change and seize opportunities that drive enduring business success. As part of their joint keynote address, Elop and Tatarinov announced the May 2010 service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that delivers seamless integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP, new language support, portal accelerators and cloud-based developer tools that help improve business connectivity.

Microsoft SQL Server at Heart of New Cloud Computing Initiative

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:18:00 EDT

Through a simple web interface, NetDBAs turns complex workflows into point-and-click operations that can be performed by any member of an IT organization. The initial release will manage editions of Microsoft SQL Server database; future versions will add support for databases from other manufacturers. "We are excited to launch this value added solution that will automate and simplify the most time consuming and repetitive tasks typically performed by database administrators," says Todd Benjamin, vice president of Enterprise Hosting, Hostway. "With assistance from Stratavia we have harnessed high-end enterprise-class automation technology, simplified it, and deployed it in the cloud to be cost effective and versatile, solving a prevailing challenge for today's efficiency minded corporations."

Abiquo CEO Keynotes on Cloud Ecosystem on Cloud Expo's Final Day

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:58:00 EDT

The last decade saw the growth of Virtualization from its humble beginnings as a developer tool to its increasing adoption in data centers worldwide. It dramatically improved resilience, scalability, portability and utilization, and became one of the key foundations of the Cloud.

Virtual CloudSlam Keeps the Spirit Alive After Cloud Expo

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:25:00 EDT

Cloud computing is changing the fundamentals of today’s pre-dominantly on-premise hosted data centers. An increasing number of organizations are tapping into the public cloud when internal demand for resources becomes too high or when certain projects require resources beyond what an organization has available. This presentation will review virtual labs and how they can be used across private and public clouds for software development, testing, training and education, support desks, sales demos and IT operations. It will also discuss best practices and key areas for consideration including security, business model benefits, operational flexibility, user access models and organizational compliance.

CET Announces New Cloud Computing Platform

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:35:00 EDT

"Traditional IT delivery and deployment mechanisms have guaranteed that small and mid-sized companies continually have to invest in expensive, complex hardware and software systems. We built a platform that turns the traditional IT business model on its head, making the IT process more affordable, scalable, and flexible," said Hannah Smitterberg, co-founder of CET. "We manage our clients' networks, help them transition to our secure, private cloud computing environment, and deploy affordable SaaS alternatives when and where appropriate."

VirtualArk's Marty Gauvin Talks "Third-Gen Outsourcing" at Cloud Expo

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:58:00 EDT

Third Generation outsourcing is here! First Generation was "your mess for less"; Second Generation is strategic or selective sourcing, including hosting. Third Generation Outsourcing, as a result of the emergence of Cloud Computing, stands to materially revolutionize and challenge traditional outsourcing models like no previous models have. The Cloud also delivers an opportunity for the wider adoption of existing enterprise applications in a SaaS model. In this general session Marty Gauvin - Founder, President & CEO of Virtual Ark - will challenge your traditional views of outsourcing, cloud security, SaaS and adoption of public cloud services by Fortune 1000 companies globally.

Oracle's Hal Stern at Cloud Expo: "We've Moved from 'What' to 'How'"

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:07:00 EDT

He noted that the term "elasticity" is now in wide use, as integral to the architecture of Cloud Computing infrastructure. But he said there is a lot of imprecision with the term "architecture" and how it's used, especially with respect to Cloud computing. "To me, architecture means you know what the pieces are, you know how to assemble them, and most important, you know when you are done," he said. "The cloud promises immediate and limitless scale across all types of applications," he noted. "This raises practical questions about system utilization, capacity planning and performance issues related to the widespread usage of virtual servers and storage. How will the cloud mitigate requirements for applications needing real-time responsiveness, extreme transaction processing, event processing and continuous availability?" Hal also mentioned some Oracle research that, not surprisingly, found that large enterprises predominate among companies that are interested in building an internal, private cloud. "(After all), they have the most skill and capacity," he said. "(By contrast), the public cloud is largely driven by greenfield customers who don't have a data center and aren't interested in building one."

Adaptivity CEO Tony Bishop Expounds on Physics of Cloud at Cloud Expo

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:09:00 EDT

Workloads manifest the demand of the business from applications and services. These workloads have common patterns and known qualities, as do the applications and infrastructure deployment models that support them. During his keynote, Tony Bishop will describe Adaptivity’s systematic and prescriptive approach that combines Fit-for-PurposeTM infrastructure technologies and management capabilities in order to create the optimal economics, environment and autonomics needed for the business to leverage cloud services.

Cloud Expo Sponsor Amazon Web Services Takes On Cloud Debunkers

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:20:00 EDT

As the 5th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo (Cloud Expo) opens in New York City on April 19, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is tapping into the attention the event is placing on cloud computing to address some of what the company views as the more persistent myths related to the cloud. Despite being among the first to successfully and profitably implement cloud computing solutions, AWS officials said the company still has to constantly deal with questions about the reliability, security, cost, elasticity and other features of the cloud. In short, there are myths about cloud computing that persist despite increased industry adoption and thousands of successful cloud deployments. However, in an exclusive interview with eWEEK at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle, Adam Selipsky, vice president of AWS, set out to shoot down some of the myths of the cloud. Specifically, Selipsky debunked five cloud myths. "We've seen a lot of misperceptions about what cloud computing is," he said. Thus, the Cloud Computing Expo, as well as the virtual Cloud Lab and Cloud Slam events happening during the same week, provides a solid backdrop for Amazon’s myth busting. Myth 1: The Cloud Is Not Reliable Setting the tone for his argument, Selipsky first laid out the landscape. He noted that chief information officers (CIOs) in enterprise organizations have tough jobs and often are responsible for several thousand applications. They very much feel on the hook for the performance and security of these applications. And, when there are problems, they are used to walking down the hall or picking up a phone and choking their own person. There’s a certain comfort in knowing you can take some action if there is a problem. And, relinquishing that control and ability to scurry and take action is understandably difficult. However, Selipsky says there are a few things customers should consider, and more and more customers are doing so as they adopt the cloud. One key thing to consider is that AWS' operational performance is quite good. In addition, customers have full control over their data. Said Selipsky: · They own the data, not us · They choose which location to store the data and it doesn’t move unless the customer decides to move it · They can encrypt their data at rest and in motion · Regardless of whether customers choose to encrypt or not, we never look at the data Resource Library: Got Cloud? - A Practical How-To Strategy For Adopting Private Cloud Computi IBM Perspective on Cloud Computing Cloud Computing: Facts Not Fiction Practical VM Security Techniques for Internal and External Virtualized Infrastru Moreover, Selipsky said, "We have very strong data durability -- we’ve designed Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) for eleven 9’s of durability. We store multiple copies of each object across multiple locations." Selipsky also said AWS has a "Versioning" feature that allows customers to revert to the last version of any object they unintentionally delete or somehow lose due to application failure. And customers can ensure additional fault tolerant applications by deploying their applications in multiple Availability Zones or using AWS' Load Balancing and Auto Scaling features. "And, all that comes with no capex [capital expenditures] for companies, a low per unit cost where you only pay for what you consume, the ability to add or shed servers for your business (and balance sheet) in minutes, and the ability to focus engineers on unique incremental value for your business," Selipsky said. The origin of the reliability claims come from an illusion of control, he said. "People think if they can control it they have more say in how things go. It's like being in a car versus an airplane, but you're much safer in a plane." Myth 2: Security and Privacy Are Not Adequate in the Cloud Security is an end-to-end process and companies need to build security at every level of the stack, Selipsky said. Examining Amazon’s cloud, you will see that the same security isolations are employed as would be found in a traditional data center, he said. These include physical data center security, separation of the network, isolation of the server hardware, and isolation of storage. On the physical data center side, well before Amazon launched its cloud services, data centers had already become a frequently shared infrastructure. Companies realized that they could benefit by renting space in a data facility rather than building it, added Selipsky. Indeed, citing security fundamentals, Selipsky said: · Security could be maintained by providing badge-controlled access, guard stations, monitored security cameras, alarms, separate cages, and strictly audited procedures and processes. · Amazon Web Services’ data center security is identical to the best practices employed in private data facilities today. It has the added physical security advantage that customers have no need to access to the servers and networking gear inside. Because of this, access to the datacenter is even more strictly controlled than traditional rented facilities. · At the physical data center level, the Amazon cloud has equal or better isolation than could be expected from dedicated infrastructure. Regarding the network, networks long ago ceased to be isolated physical islands, Selipsky noted. As companies found the need to connect to other companies, and then the Internet, their networks became connected with public infrastructure. They used special network functionality, such as firewalls and switch configurations, to prevent bad network traffic from getting in or important traffic from leaking out. As their network traffic increasingly passed over public infrastructure, companies began using additional isolation techniques, such as Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and encryption, to maintain the security of every packet on (or leaving) their network. Amazon’s approach to networking in its cloud is the same: maintain packet-level isolation of network traffic and support industry-standard encryption. Because Amazon Web Services’ Virtual Private Cloud allows a customer to establish their own IP address space, customers can use the same tools and software infrastructure they’re already familiar with to monitor and control their cloud networks. Finally, Amazon’s scale allows significantly more investment in security policing and countermeasures than almost any large company could afford. "Our security is strong and dug in at the DNA level," Selipsky said. Meanwhile, on the hardware side, Amazon Web Services invests significantly in testing and validating the security of its virtual server and storage environment. According to Selipsky, these investments include: · We wipe the server and storage clean after customers release these resources, so there is no possibility of leaving behind important data. · Each instance has its own customer firewall to prevent intrusion from other running instances. · For those wanting even more network isolation can use Amazon VPC (which allows you to bring your own IP address space to the cloud and your instances can only be accessed via those IP addresses that only you know) · For those wanting to run on their own boxes (where no other instances are running), you can purchase extra large instances (an instance size that’s pretty typical for larger customers and workloads) where only that XL instance runs on that server. Selipsky also argued that Amazon’s scale allows significantly more investment in security policing and countermeasures than almost any large company could afford themselves. "In fact, we often find that we can improve companies’ security posture when they use AWS," he said. "Take the example lots of CIOs worry about -- the rogue server under a developer’s desk running something destructive or that the CIO doesn’t want running. Today, it’s really hard (if not impossible) for CIOs to know how many orphans there are and where they might be. With AWS, CIOs can make a single API call and see every system running in their VPC [Virtual Private Cloud]. No more hidden servers under the desk or anonymously placed servers in a rack and plugged into the corporate network. Finally, AWS is SAS-70 certified; ISO 27001 and NIST are in process, Selipsky said. Myth 3: I Can Get All the Benefits of the Cloud by Creating My Own In-house Cloud or Private Cloud "There's a lot of marketing going on about the concept of the 'private cloud,'" Selipsky said. "We think there's a bit of a misnomer here." In general, "we often see companies struggling to accurately measure the cost of infrastructure," he said. "Scale and utilization are big advantages for AWS. In our opinion, a cloud has five key characteristics: It eliminates capex; allows you to pay for what you use; provides true elastic capacity to scale up and down; allows you to move very quickly and provision servers in minutes; and allows you to offload the undifferentiated heavy lifting of infrastructure so your engineers work on differentiating problems" Moreover, Selipsky said what people are calling private clouds come with the following drawbacks, where the customer will: · Still own the capex…and they’re very expensive (big fixed investments) · Not pay for what you use · Not have true elasticity…when groups relinquish their servers, the company still owns the datacenter space and servers…and will also find that managing this supply chain will present a dilemma…will either have to significantly overprovision which is wasteful or become really expert at managing just-in-time supply-chain so there are no long waits for servers…managing a supply chain like this is really hard and takes a lot of effort and refining and keeping the status quo of long time to market is not so appealing either · Still own the headache of managing the undifferentiated heavy lifting Getting a little deeper, Selipsky added, "With a private cloud you have to manage capacity very carefully...or you or your private cloud vendor will end up over-provisioning. So you're going to have to either get very good at capacity management or you're going to wind up overpaying." And challenging the elasticity of private clouds, Selipsky said, "The cloud is shapeless. But if it has a tight box around it, it no longer feels very cloud-like." However, a key driver for AWS' offerings is the company's ability to save customers money and drive efficiency. "In virtually every case we’ve seen, we’ve been able to save people a significant amount of money," Selipsky said. Some of the reasons for this are that as AWS' business has grown dramatically over the past four years, the company has achieved enough scale to secure very low costs. Additionally, AWS has been able to aggregate hundreds of thousands of customers across every imaginable use case and various geographies to have very high utilization of its infrastructure -- how well you utilize the infrastructure is a key economic driver because if you have high utilization, you can buy less servers to serve the same load somebody with low utilization has to serve with many more servers. "In our conversations with customers we see that really good enterprises are in the 20-30 percent range on utilization -- and that’s when they’re good…many are not that strong,” Selipsky said. “The cloud allows us to have several times that utilization. Finally, it’s worth looking at Amazon’s heritage and AWS’ history. We’re a company that works hard to lower its costs so that we can pass savings back to our customers. If you look at the history of AWS, that’s exactly what we’ve done (lowering price on EC2, S3, CloudFront, and AWS bandwidth multiple times already without any competitive pressure to do so)." Myth 4: If I Can’t Move Everything at Once, the Cloud Isn’t for Me "We believe this is nearly impossible and ill-advised," Selipsky said. "We recommend picking a few apps to gain experience and comfort then build a migration plan. This is what we most often see companies doing." Moreover, added Selipsky, "Companies will be operating in hybrid environments for years to come. We see some companies putting some stuff on AWS and then keeping some stuff in-house. And I think that's fine. It's a perfectly prudent and legitimate way of proceeding." Myth 5: Cost Is the Biggest Driver of Cloud Adoption "There is a big savings in capex and cost but what we find is that one of the main drivers of adoption is that time-to-market for ideas is much faster in the cloud because it lets you focus your engineering resources on what differentiates your businesses." Overall, regarding these myths, Selipsky said he believes "a lot of this revolves around psychology and fear of change, and human beings needing to gain comfort with new things. Years ago people swore they would never put their credit card information online, But that's no longer the case. We're seeing great momentum. We're seeing, more and more, over time these barriers [to cloud adoption] are moving."

Oracle's Sarwal Warms Cloud Expo Audience with ICE

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:19:00 EDT

Enterprise IT must constantly evolve to respond to rapidly changing business requirements and new technologies. Cloud computing promises to accelerate that evolution with far-reaching, convergent principles such as self-service, pay-for-use, rapid deployment, elastic scalability and efficient management of physical and virtual environments. What are the key enabling technologies? What is the role of management systems for cloud computing? How can complex, multi-tier applications be packaged and deployed on clouds? This keynote will explore how enterprise IT can evolve to a cloud computing model, building on a foundation of grid computing, virtualization and management automation.

Cloud Computing's Best Practices for Integrating into Datacenters

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:12:00 EDT

This session will look at integrating private and public cloud technologies with the enterprise data center. It will cover current best practices and attempt to answer some common questions. What is actually available for implementing your own private cloud? What use cases make sense today for a private enterprise cloud? How best to move your existing applications into the private cloud? Forget the hype, what is really available from public cloud vendors? Are there any use cases that make sense for the public cloud? For a hybrid private/public cloud? Can they even be implemented? What can we expect in the future for private and public clouds?

Cloud Computing Integrates Next-Gen Databases

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:07:00 EDT

With every minute of uptime crucial, developers need to be able to deploy backend solutions for their Websites that house, support and access huge amounts of related data. Without it, both vendor and developer will be seeing that dreaded error message more often than not. Industry efforts to architect next generation databases that can scale massively by pairing open source databases and content management technologies with cloud-computing are underway. The door is also “opening” to a whole new world of user benefits which will be made possible by access to data - cross-cloud - in non-proprietary database. The Apache Cassandra Project and Drizzle are open alternatives to traditional databases that offer new opportunities by utilizing cloud computing to improve performance. Both are going to change the way we think about databases for the next few decades.

What Does Cloud Computing Mean for Investors?

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:59:00 EDT

As companies search for ways to eliminate costs, reduce the complexity of their IT environments, and improve efficiency in their data centers, Cloud Computing will likely continue to gain prominence. Unlike other major technology industry shifts, such as the shift from Mainframe Computing to Client Server computing, which required massive investment, the Cloud Computing paradigm requires little incremental infrastructure spend, as enterprise computing can be provisioned over the Internet.

Enomaly to Exhibit at Cloud Expo in New York, World's Largest Cloud Computing Event

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:42:00 EDT

Enomaly’s Elastic Computing Platform (ECP) is the answer for carriers and hosting providers, and their customers, who want to benefit from the power, flexibility, and economies of cloud computing. Over 15,000 companies use ECP to operate cloud computing platforms, deliver infrastructure-on-demand services to their customers and users, enjoy dynamic provisioning and scaling for their computing workloads, and experience the benefits of cloud computing for the enterprise.

Questions, Questions, Questions About Cloud Computing

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:40:00 EDT

This session will discuss a critical question that arises when considering hosting applications in the cloud: What are the attributes that attract applications to public clouds? Why implement private clouds? When is it appropriate to use both in a Hybrid Cloud approach? Can legacy applications be moved unchanged to the cloud or do they have to be re-written as Web 2.0 apps? What are the implications regarding the application data migration? How will latency change when applications are moved to the cloud? What about Identity and Access Management? How will data be secured between cloud tenants?

Data Age Looks to NaviSite for Outsourced Data Back Up & Disaster Recovery

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST

NaviSite, a provider of cloud-enabled, enterprise-class hosting, managed applications and services, and Data Age Business Systems, Inc. (Data Age), a provider of Financial Transaction Software Solutions, on Wednesday announced they have entered into an agreement in which NaviSite will provide its Data Protection and Disaster Recovery hosted service to back up all Data Age customer mission critical data as part of the Data Age Digi-Shield continuous off-site back up service.

Impetus Partners with Aster Data

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST

Impetus Technologies, a software product engineering company serving customers ranging from aggressive startups to large technology companies to develop innovative software products, has announced its partnership with Aster Data, a provider of data management and data processing platform for big data applications. Impetus is a leading technology and R&D services provider with a strong focus on High Performance Computing (HPC). With considerable experience in solving large data problems using Aster Data's technology solutions and Hadoop, Impetus' HPC 360 degree approach offers strategies to solve complex computing and big data challenges. Impetus creates proof of concepts (POCs) to assess HPC fitment and provides consultancy services for HPC optimization, tuning, and deployments on the Cloud.

Acumen Solutions Wins Contract for Cloud Computing Services

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:29:00 EST

Acumen Solutions, a business and technology consulting firm that specializes in bringing cloud computing solutions to government agencies and large enterprises, has been selected to provide a cloud-computing CRM and Project Management solution to the US Department of Health & Human Services - Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

ScaleMP’s CEO to Present at Cloud Expo East

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST

Traditional server virtualization has mainly focused on consolidation, which occurs when a physical server is partitioned to run multiple virtual or logical servers. However, using server virtualization for aggregation can result in as many or even more efficiencies, especially for compute or memory-intensive applications common in the high performance computing market. Server virtualization for aggregation is when multiple physical servers are combined so that they appear and function as a single virtual system.

ScaleUp and Xseed Collaborate to Deploy 3Tera Platform

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST

Xseed Co. and ScaleUp Technologies today announced a strategic partnership to Cceate the standards and framework for a globally connected cloud. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Xseed will leverage ScaleUp Technologies technology and development capabilities to help expand its Libra service for rapid global development. While in turn ScaleUp Technologies - headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, is taking the first steps in creating the standards & framework for a globally connected cloud, a cloud computing service aimed for global business development. In turn ScaleUp Technologies - headquartered in Hamburg, Germany - is taking the first steps in creating the standards & framework for a globally connected cloud, a cloud computing service aimed for global business development.

Cloud Leverage Debuts a Robust Enterprise Cloud Offering

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:03:00 EST

Cloud Leverage has launched enterprise-grade cloud solutions at a cost previously only available through commodity cloud offerings. At $.05 a GB per datacenter with no transfer or bandwidth charges -- Cloud Leverage offers a complete storage solution at a previously unavailable price.

Viewfinity Launches Cloud Computing Systems Management

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:05:00 EST

In a move that will reduce the cost and time companies spend on IT, Viewfinity (www.viewfinity.com) on Tuesday announced the release of version 2.5 of its cloud computing systems and privilege management solution for laptops, desktops and servers. Viewfinity’s cloud computing model offers companies a cost-effective approach to systems and privilege management. Based on its foundation in application encapsulation, the Viewfinity solution is purposely architected to provide capabilities that focus on reducing the cost and time related to IT operations and support by providing the most flexible, secure and manageable environment for in-house and mobile workforces.

Bitrix Strengthens SaaS Offering with Amazon EC2

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

Bitrix announces the availability of Bitrix Virtual Appliance 1.5 for Amazon EC2, a major release of the free virtual platform with that creates an optimal performance environment for Bitrix Intranet Portal and Bitrix Site Manager. The software underwent a number of significant improvements to deliver customers more reliability and services while using the company's CMS/EMC solutions in Amazon Web Services.

Quickoffice Unveils Connected Office Service Through Cloud Storage

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST

Quickoffice announces Quickoffice Connect, allowing on-the-go mobile users access to content anywhere, anytime. Quickoffice Connect is part of the company's vision to deliver mobile cloud services across the major mobile operating system platforms. Quickoffice partnered with multiple popular online collaboration and content management providers, including Box.net, Dropbox, Apple MobileMe and Google Docs, to deliver the most consolidated access and simplified remote management of files directly from one's smartphone. Users are able to search, preview and manage files to multiple storage services through a single, integrated, easy-to-use application.

NewBay LifeCache Powers Gateway to German Operator’s Cloud Storage Service

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:06:00 EST

NewBay, a provider of converged digital lifestyle services, is now enabling the one-click instant upload of media from subscribers’ mobile handsets to Deutsche Telekom’s Media Center – a secure online space for the storage and management of user content. NewBay LifeCache Social Networking Gateway (SNG) and LifeCache Media Upload Client have been deployed to power the upload of photos, videos and audio files to the Media Center, where they can be immediately accessed and shared anytime via PC, mobile or TV.

SkillSoft Announces Agreement on the Terms of a Recommended Acquisition

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:07:00 EST

SkillSoft, a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of on-demand e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses, on Friday announced that it has reached agreement on the terms of a recommended acquisition of the Company by a new company formed by funds sponsored by each of Berkshire Partners LLC, Advent International Corporation and Bain Capital Partners, LLC (together, the “Investor Group”). Under the terms of the recommended acquisition, SkillSoft shareholders will receive $10.80 in cash for each SkillSoft ordinary share or American Depositary Share (“ADS”), representing a 26% premium to the average closing price of SkillSoft’s ADS over the one-year period ended on February 11, 2010 and a 49% premium to the average closing price of SkillSoft’s ADS over the five-year period ended on February 11, 2010. The fully diluted equity value of the transaction is approximately $1.1 billion.

SOASTA Announces First Cloud-Based Performance Test Methodology

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:45:00 EST

SOASTA, a provider of cloud testing, has announced the release of the SOASTA Performance Test Methodology for testing web-scale systems to optimize the performance of their online applications. Despite the attention given to the poor performance and reliability of websites in the last few years, popular websites continue to slow down and even crash, often under expected traffic conditions. What happens now that companies need to respond to the unexpected peaks that come from social networking, external events or promotions, such as the Super Bowl? How can companies accurately test dynamic applications at web-scale, often running in complex infrastructures?

Rackspace Puts Microsoft SharePoint in the Cloud

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST

Rackspace Hosting on Thursday announced the launch of hosted Microsoft SharePoint, the collaboration and file sharing platform, backed by Rackspace’s 24x7x365 Fanatical Support. With the addition of hosted Microsoft SharePoint, Rackspace's suite of cloud applications now includes business-class collaboration, email and storage solutions.