Cloud Compliance Audit: Learn More On The Unified Certification Standard From The MSP Alliance I have written previously about various types of audits that are necessary to validate your cloud service. In this post, I will cover the cloud service audit that helps you pick the right cloud service provider (CSP). While it is important that customers take the initiative in checking the various guarantees offered by the vendor on their own, it is helpful to have an industry certification that verifies each of the major parameters and that backup the vendor’s claims. The Unified Certification Standard (UCS) from the
SaaS
Rumors in Cloud: What a Tangled Web We’ve Woven As our community has witnessed cloud’s rise to headliner, we have also failed to dispel certain rumors that could hinder its acceptance. Incorrect information merely hampers the progress cloud computing could make as the IT phenomenon it is. A couple ideas in particular stand out to me right now, hackneyed and trotted out too often. The first misconception: “private cloud is too pricey for rookies.” The rhetoric of public versus private colors many sectors of society: education, class, government, and onward. It holds that “public” connotes less of something provided for
Seamless Cloud Storage Solution Now Available iSpaces Offers Portal to Multiple Cloud Storage Providers iSpaces launches its new cloud storage solution today, FileSpace, offering the first and only service allowing users to seamlessly access their favorite online storage providers all together in one place. Users can simply drag and drop files between Dropbox, Box, iSpaces storage and their local hard drive from one easy to use interface. “With so many cloud storage providers available, people tend to have multiple accounts with documents in various places,” said Sunne Justice, president and co-founder of iSpaces. “FileSpace makes it infinitely easier to manage
Vroom for the VoIP: Cloud Computing is on the Line Cloud computing has now extended its reach into the telecommunications sphere. The Salt Lake Tribune recently wrote on how cloud is empowering consumers with the mobile equivalent of private branch exchanges, PBXs — essentially customized telephone service systems, whose expense typically reserves them for well-endowed businesses on the make. But as the cloud touts virtualized servers that can handle demand from anywhere worldwide, and can subsequently be made available to consumers as a regularly offered service, it has simplified the process of communicating cloud-style through our devices (cell phones, smart
The 5 Best Ways For Startups And Small Business To Leverage The Cloud The number of cloud apps targeted at small businesses and startups has exploded in the past few years. While hundreds of new cloud apps come out every month, many of the categories are still not mature enough for enterprise usage. Some applications are highly suited to the cloud (such as communication management), while other applications (such as video editing) are still more suited to the desktop. This distinction is especially important for small businesses who don’t have a big IT team to fix the issues. In this
Christmas For the Cloud Comes in June Break out your naughty-or-nice list! Bake those cookies, and pour a complementary glass of milk. Structure 2012, one of the most important gatherings of the year, nigh on holiday, for true cloud cognoscenti. And once you arrive at the event in San Francisco, being held this year from June 20-21, don’t be surprised if your eyes catch passing glances of DropBox elves or iCloud Kris Kringles. For the fifth year, the Structure cloud conference has been produced by GigaOM, the online news network heralded for its coverage of emergent technologies and the shifting
Adobe Creative Cloud: Creation On The Cloud Last week Adobe released the long-awaited CS6, which comes with Creative Cloud. Creative Cloud provides a simple subscription option ($50/month) to access Adobe’s complete Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, After Effects, Dreamweaver and Flashbuilder), which costs $2600 to buy retail. The package also includes a 20 GB free storage space for storing files. While this is not a typical SaaS model, and the applications still reside on client’s computers as in previous editions, this is a big step for Abobe, and the pricing model could be a disruptive influence in the sector. What
Taking the bull by the horns—Secure Identity, Information, and Infrastructure Continued From Part 3 Public cloud computing requires a security model that reconciles scalability and multi-tenancy with the need for trust. As enterprises move their computing environments along with their identities, information and infrastructure to the cloud, they must be willing to give up some level of control. To do that, they must be able to trust cloud systems and providers, and verify cloud processes and events. Important building blocks of trust and verification relationships include access control, data security, compliance and event management—all security elements well understood by IT departments
