SaaS
Is Cloud an Adopted Brother of Virtualization or Not?
Sep 2nd
Is Cloud an Adopted Brother of Virtualization or Not?
By Nimantha (CloudTweaks)
Cloud computing came into the lime light very recently and became an instant hit among lot of people, especially CTO’s of different enterprises. Virtualization, the close friend of cloud computing was there for a longer period of time, but with the emergence of cloud, it was given the step mothers treatment. Still it didn’t die from our minds because Cloud and Virtualization did stick together most of the time rather than not. So then the argument began, Does Cloud and Virtualization does carry the same concept or is it different? Let’s figure it out.
What is Virtualization ?
The word virtualization defines of allowing multiplicity of access points from a single outlet. As an example, we can simply take interrelated personal computers that can each be accessed from whatever remote location. What it actually implies is that it will be using the internet to carry out activities that were previously done offline. In other words, the management or the CTO has decided that his organization would like to take control of the activities of that activity by going online rather than offline. Virtualization therefore always associates with technological development.
The best part of Virtualization is that the central command unit will be able to supervise the activities of outpost computers. This element is one which delights managers but it also causes some concern from civil liberties groups regarding their privacy.
What is Cloud Computing?
Well, here is the point where everyone gets confused. It is true that cloud computing utilizes the same basic principles as virtualization, but it involves the provision of externally managed IT services via hosted software, which allows IT systems to be managed from very remote locations where data is accessed and manipulated via a server.
As an example, lets say that there is a company in USA which wishes to reduce the budget they allocate for in-house developments, so what they decide to do is to totally outsource their IT developments to a company in India.
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Sony Challenges Apple ITunes with New Cloud Based Digital Service.
Sep 2nd
Sony Challenges Apple ITunes with New Cloud Based Digital Service.
Sony has made an announcement at the at the IFA conference in Berlin. They have announced that they will be competing with Apple iTunes by offering an 
unlimited cloud-based music service which will be accessible through the PS3 and other cloud connected mobile devices. This new service will be powered by Qriocity and be available later this year and is the 1st major step by anyone looking to challenge iTunes for the digital music download market.
“We are excited to offer our customers high quality, cloud-based entertainment experiences across many of Sony’s network-enabled devices,” said Kazuo Hirai, President of Networked Products & Services Group, Sony Corporation. “Services ‘powered by Qriocity’ will revolutionize the way that users play, listen, watch, share, communicate, learn, discover and create their digital entertainment content.”
Stay tuned for future developments…
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Save $100 and join CloudTweaks at All About Mobile
Sep 1st
Save $100 and join CloudTweaks at All About Mobile, the ISV conference for mobile business, produced by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and taking place November 16-17, 2010 in San Jose, California.
ISVs large and small have already begun to transition software and cloud-based applications for use on mobile devices. In fact, in today’s marketplace, we ALL need to have a mobile strategy, which is why we are proud to support this unique industry conference and hope to see you there!
To take advantage of our $100 discount, enter promotional code PRMCTWE when you register online here. (Note: this discount is valid off the individual SIIA non-member rate only and does not apply to current attendees.)
You’ll save even more with early-bird rates through October 18.
All About Mobile features a robust conference agenda with keynotes from Microsoft and Sprint. And you’ll network with top executives from ISVs, carriers, platform providers, and infrastructure providers — along with the industry’s leading analysts, venture capitalists and media — all gathering to explore, debate and discuss the mobile movement.
For details, visit www.AllAboutMobile.net
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10 Hot Cloud Reseller Partner Programs
Sep 1st
10 Hot Cloud Reseller Partner Programs
Here is a list of 10 Hot Cloud Computing Reseller Programs on the internet. If we missed you don’t worry about it I’m sure we’ll hear from you. You can expect this list to be updated regularly. so if you have a program that you believe is worthy of a mention, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.
Google Apps
The Google Apps Authorized Reseller Program offers IT solution providers the ability to take Google Apps – a cloud-based suite of email, calendar, IM, and collaboration tools – to new and existing customers. Watch the Quick Tour video. 
As one of the global leaders in SaaS, Google Apps has experienced accelerating adoption with thousands of businesses signing up daily and over 2 million companies already using this solution to improve their business with better messaging and collaboration tools. Hear why more and more companies are going Google.
SoftLayer Cloud
The SoftLayer Reseller Program provides qualified hosting resellers with exceptional benefits as well as confidence that they are delivering their end customers a service with the highest performance and reliability. With SoftLayer, “value-adding” hosting resellers can better fulfill their end customer’s needs and grow their own services on demand.
The program gives resellers non-exclusive rights to offer standard SoftLayer services as well as products not sold directly under the SoftLayer name brand. Resellers receive generous volume discounts on dedicated server and upgrade purchases, setup fees and more. Resellers also receive preferred services, including a customized customer portal and auto-provisioned server delivery within 2 to 4 hours on components in stock.
RedHat Cloud Partner Program
A Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider offers a trusted destination for Red Hat customers, ISVs, and partners to use Red Hat technologies in public clouds, and meets rigorous testing and certification requirements to ensure the delivery of a safe, scalable, supported, and consistent environment for enterprise cloud deployments.
Through the Certified Cloud Provider Program, Red Hat has established the industry’s first program to certify that vendors have tested the cloud and have support processes in place to quickly resolve problems should they occur.
OpSource Reseller Program
OpSource’s Distribution Partners provide systems integration and outsourced solutions that include cloud or managed hosting. These partners resell OpSource solutions. Distribution Partners, including systems integrators, MSPs and VARs must be generate more revenue from services rather than rely on decreasing margins on hardware and software. Cloud computing represents an opportunity to translate expertise in infrastructure, network and software solutions into cloud hosting services revenue.
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Cloudtweaks VMWorld 2010 Updates and Agenda Report
Sep 1st
VMWorld 2010 Update By Malick
If you are not connected with the cloud, your individual mind would be a dumb terminal. Welcome to the VMWorld 2010!
VIRTUAL ROADS. ACTUAL CLOUDS: The statement ends as: Together we’ll travel from Virtual Roads to Actual Roads. Come engage. Leave enlightened. A true global event! 85 Countries represented in the audience. 17000 Attendees! And VMware announcing their Hybrid Cloud Computing Data Center! And claiming that already 4000 VMs (Virtual Machines) are created every hour! It is no secret that virtualization is the underlying driver of cloud computing. There is no cloud computing without virtualization! Well, one may say that virtualization is not the only enabler of cloud computing, but still, it is the key enabler. And VMWare is the pioneer in Virtualization. In the evolution of Information Technology, virtualization is a disrupting force.
Way back in 2004 itself, Gartner predicted that virtualisation will be the most disruptive technology in a decade
And this disruptive technology made cloud computing a reality. And cloud computing is promising a better IT environment today.
More >
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Confessions of a Cloudaholic
Aug 31st
Confessions of a Cloudaholic – Life in the Cloud
By Nimantha De Silva of CloudTweaks – Aug 31st, 2010
The script is written, actors are ready, it’s time to say ACTION, but hold on, this time it is not about a film, it is just about unveiling the script of Challenges faced in Cloud Computing. This article purely focuses on challenges faced on cloud computing along with how it’s architecture is made of and its key characteristics to make it so special. A real confession is about to make and lets follow it.
Introduction
Cloud computing, from its evolve itself has become a major talking point. There were wide spread consensus among many industrial observers to check whether it is ready for noticeable deployment in the year 2010. So before digging deep into cloud, lets figure out what cloud computing is defined for. Even though it was introduced sometime back, it can still be identified as in the emerging stage, so there are many definitions based on several releases, but the most appropriate according to my view is the definition given by Wikipedia saying “Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and a delivery model for IT services based on Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the internet”. With the introduction itself, this topic was subjected towards many discussions, arguments, reviews, etc… Many expressed their ideas over this new born kid, but it was not to stop it but to make it much better. From that time onwards, cloud did grow and overcame many obstacles, but it is not finished yet. There are a certain set of challenges which needs to be addressed. The challenges which came into limelight along with the boom of the cloud are as follows:
- Who has given rights to access the information that organizations are putting on these external cloud application and systems servers?
- What and how does an organization’s compliance posture for applicable laws, regulations, standards, contracts and policies change when business, and sometimes even customer and employee, information is stored in the clouds?
- How long does information put into the clouds stay in those clouds?
- Do the clouds have retention policies?
- Can information be permanently and completed removed from the clouds once it is put there?
- Are there any logs generated to show how that cloudy information is accessed, copied, modified and otherwise used by anyone else?
- Can all necessary information in clouds be easily retrieved during e-discovery activities? If so, what are the related costs involved in it?
Even though cloud has not reached its peak yet, there are certain level of growth in cloud usage from the year 2008 to 2010, mainly due to its change of architecture. Lets figure out how the architecture is built to make cloud look more clearer than earlier.
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Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share in 3Q 2010
Aug 31st
Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share
Article by: Ray DePena with Cloud Expo
Image Credit to incomingit.com
It has certainly been an exciting week in the Cloudsphere with Dell and HP battling it out over 3PAR. It’s clear who is on Dell and HP’s radar, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of 2010 Cloud acquisitions as the segment continues to consolidate.
Its been almost 2 quarters since the last report, though the BTC Logic team has done an excellent job in their Top Ten Cloud Companies in 2Q10 Report to pick up the slack. CRN released The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors list joining the The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing, 85 Cloud Computing Vendors Shaping the Emerging Cloud, 50 of The Biggest and Best Cloud Computing Companies, The VAR Guy’s SaaS 20 Index, and even Congress has gotten into the Cloud game – Congress Holds Hearing on Cloud Computing.
With that M&A activity as background, here are my rankings for the Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share in 3Q 2010.
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Cloud Computing Job Trends Worldwide
Aug 27th
Cloud Computing Job Trends Worldwide
Cloud Computing Employment Growth in the US
Many people fear that because of cloud computing, people will lose jobs in particular those involved in IT. Yes, there will be jobs lost but people need to realize that cloud computing will open up an influx of new ones. These same IT people better learn to adapt as sitting on the sidelines waiting for the world to go back to traditional IT models will do them no good. Companies will adopt cloud computing and so shall IT professionals.
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Advantages of SaaS (Software as a Service)
Aug 26th
SaaS Applications
credit to saasblogs for image
Nowadays software-as-a service (SaaS) is the most promising development in marketing and business world. Despite the increasing popularity and market share of SaaS, traditional in-house software vendors still seem to be resisting this concept.
However, as time moves on and individuals grasp a better understanding of Cloud Services the number of firms are adopting. Almost all types of business applications such as: CRM, Inventor, Accounting, Marketing and Project Management to name a few are now SaaS based.
Reasons behind the success of SaaS:
Vendor’s Responsibility
SaaS providers are responsible for managing and maintaining both the software and hardware components of the application. The network issues such as data redundancy, data backup and recovery are also planned and managed by the vendors. They upgrade the software on regular intervals.
Economic
Ownership
Since SaaS vendors charge a set price per user per month, the firms don’t have to pay extra money for modules they don’t even use. It literally removes the maintenance, end user support, and administration costs of the software. The implementation and customization costs of SaaS are also lower than the traditional software. All this results in a very low total cost of ownership (TCO).
Scalability
Hosted software, another term for SaaS offers you more scalability in using the software. By utilizing SaaS you are free to use as much or as little part of any software as you need. This gives you easy and economical access to many programs.
Regular Upgrading
SaaS Vendors regularly upgrade their software, so that the users don’t have to put any effort into installing and upgrading the applications.
Easy Access
A major advantage of SaaS is it can easily and quickly be accessed from anywhere with a web browser. This gives users a great facility even when they are at home or in another country. They can access real time synchronized applications from Laptops and Smart Phones.
By CloudTweaks
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First Mobile Cloud Platform for the Enterprise
Aug 24th
Model Metrics Introduces the First Mobile Cloud Platform for the Enterprise
Next Generation 2GO Cloud Platform Decreases Time to Market for Enterprise-Ready Mobile Applications Leveraging Adobe, Amazon Web Services, Google and Salesforce.com Technologies; Announces Expanded Support for Adobe AIR on Android
CHICAGO, IL–(Marketwire – August 24, 2010) – Model Metrics, the leader in cloud computing services for the enterprise, today introduced the first mobile cloud platform for the enterprise, enabling business users to take critical business functionality with them, wherever they go. Based on the company’s 1,300 plus custom, mobile and mutli-cloud deployments including Crescent Healthcare and Elkay Manufacturing, Model Metrics 2GO Cloud Platform leverages the industry’s leading cloud technologies from Amazon Web Services, Google and salesforce.com to deliver enterprise-class mobile solutions with expanded device support, including Android and any device running Adobe® AIR®, HTML5 or iOS.
Mobilizing the Cloud
Model Metrics 2GO Cloud Platform was developed to address customer demand for enterprise-class mobile cloud solutions that are scalable, highly customizable and easy to implement in order to make cloud computing work for mobile workforces and to support today’s trend of more business interactions taking place on mobile devices. According to Juniper Research, the mobile cloud computing market is expected to reach $9.5 billion by 2014, with the majority of this growth being driven by businesses (ABI Research: ‘Mobile Cloud Computing’ the Next Big Thing, Juniper Research: $9.5 billion by 2014).
The 2GO Cloud Platform:
- Designed for field representatives and other mobile workers who need a mobile and/or offline solution delivered quickly to simplify everyday tasks and enable productivity while on the go. Users experience seamless performance whether on or offline and see an immediate impact to their productivity with streamlined clickstreams and usability.
- Decreases time to market for customized mobile cloud solutions with pre-built functionality that meets 80% of business needs out of the box, and is significantly more cost-effective than solutions developed from scratch.
- Provides enterprises with multiple device options including Android tablets and smart phones, iPhones and iPads, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and traditional tablet PCs enabled by Adobe Flash® Builder™ for Force.com, HTML5 and Salesforce Mobile.
New to Model Metrics 2GO Cloud Platform
- New modular architecture that enables enterprises to pick and choose functionality from a series of pre-built, mobile-enabled components to rapidly build and deploy mobile applications that meet their specific business needs.
- Additional device support includes a tested, pre-release version for Android devices utilizing Adobe AIR, with a general availability release expected at the end of 2010. Android device functionality includes advanced business functions such as bar code scanning integrated with Salesforce CRM out of the box.
- In addition to life sciences, pre-packaged solutions now available for consumer goods and retail leveraging multiple 2GO Cloud Platform modules to improve field sales and service execution and enabling clienteling. Includes order entry and bar code scanning, advanced signature capture and call routing.
