Steps to Secure Data In the Cloud Cloud computing and storage security is often one of the main stumbling blocks cited by those who’d like to reap the benefits of moving to the cloud, but believe they cannot. Data security is extremely important, but for many enterprises and markets, there can be no compromise in security. For those businesses, the idea of compromising security, even just a bit, in return for the vast benefits of going to the cloud were not possible. Data security in the cloud is not impossible. Many industries that were previously unable to use cloud services
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Microsoft Steps Up to the Ring with Windows Azure in Direct Competition with Amazon Web Service The land of Infrastructure -as-a-service (IaaS) shook a little bit more this week as another titan rose in competition for the enterprise’s bustling pot of gold. Microsoft has finally delivered their promised revamp on the Windows Azure services which also serves as a direct reply to the already in-motion Amazon Web Service (AWS). AWS, with its long head start dominates the IaaS market with an estimated $1.8 billion in revenues for cloud services alone in 2012. It is projected to skyrocket to $20 billion by 2020
Cloud Computing Is Getting Cheaper, The Beauty Of Competition The biggest selling point of cloud computing is its affordability and accessibility to small and medium organizations; it can even be free for personal use. This means that anyone can harness the power of cloud computing to little or no cost. Google, Amazon and other players within that space offer free versions of their services but for more functions and resource capacity, the pay-per-use model takes over. The barrier of entry on the cloud is steadily decreasing. On the 4th of April, Google announced that the Google Compute Engine (GCE) cloud service, an on-demand VM service
Heroes Of The Cloud – Part 6 (Google and VMware) If there is one company that defines the growth and importance of the Internet, the company would have to be Google. Google did not invent everything that it does on the ‘net, and to be sure, some of the things that the company is attempting to do are in arenas where Google is playing catch-up. There is no denying that in Google’s core business, search, they are still the “go-to” application for most users. Google’s power and influence make them a contender in almost any field they choose to operate
Heroes Of The Cloud – Part 2 Cloudscaling As Cloud Computing becomes more prominent and influential, a few voices rise to the top to define what it means to operate in a Cloud environment. One of the most respected and influential of these voices is Cloudscaling co-founder and CTO, Randy Bias. Bias is a recognized expert in IT Infrastructure and one of the leading innovators in the implementation of GoGrid’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model. GoGrid had launched the beta version public cloud in 2008 and is currently a leading host of Windows/Linux virtual machines. Bias built one of
Why Agentless Security Is The Future Of Private Cloud Protection As technology continues to evolve, new terminology is introduced into mainstream culture. If you’ve never heard of agentless security before, you are not alone. Agentless security is a new, dynamic security solution that harnesses the power of cloud technology to monitor computers and smart devices without the aid of a physical agent or deployable monitoring protocol. There are a growing number of applications for agentless security, starting with virtual server environments where installing an agent is not feasible, and continuing into the public cloud arena. More recently, installation of agentless security has
Key Differences Between Server and Desktop Online Storage Many people are saying that 2013 will be the “break-out” year for cloud storage. A number of factors are pushing online data storage offerings – including file sharing, backup, archiving and more – beyond the consumer and small business market and into big business datacenters. Below, I’d like to highlight some of the key differences which set server and desktop/laptop online backup and storage services apart, in hopes that this might give you some insight into how the space has developed and evolved over the years. Desktop Online Backup In the past, most work
Disaster Recovery In The Cloud, Or DRaaS: Revisited The idea of offering Disaster Recovery services has been around as long as SunGard or IBM BCRS (Business Continuity & Resiliency Services). Disclaimer: I worked for the company that became IBM Information Protection Services in 2008, a part of BCRS. It seems inevitable that Cloud Computing and Cloud Storage should have an impact on the kinds of solutions that small, medium and large companies would find attractive and would fit their requirements. Those cloud-based DR services are not taking the world by storm, however. Why is that? Cloud infrastructure seems perfectly suited for economical
