One issue relative to cloud computing that keeps critics well fed is the degree to which expectations and realities of the technology all too often don’t sync. Add to the mix a large degree of expected hype around buzzy marketing concepts, and what companies expect going into switching to cloud and what they get can feel problematically let-down-ish.

So what does the internet think?

Facebook surprisingly chimed in with some of the most rapid responses.

The NSA scandal made an appearance, as did security in the “failing expectations” corner of the arena.

PRISM aside, security is still a chief concern for many IT departments. However, cloud security is also a nuanced issue, not a catchall concept.

For instance, any industry dealing with client information, proprietary personal information, patient health records, or those who does not want their infrastructure hacked (which should include …

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s keynote speech at the Oracle OpenWorld event this year had heavy billing.

And rightly so; the software giant was going to announce its in-memory database, and we were going to be told just how far ahead of the competition it was.

Oracle announced two primary products; the in-memory Oracle 12c database, and a new server, the M6-32 Big Memory Machine, which includes 32 TB of memory. Ellison said that, with the new database, data will fly around at “ungodly speeds”.

Ellison’s keynotes, of course, are always newsworthy events, from the product launches and big claims to the trash talk of competitors.

Yet the expected barbs didn’t come, apart from one slide where Ellison noted Oracle’s new server, the M6-32 Big Memory Machine, had twice the bandwidth and memory of IBM whilst being three times cheaper.

IBM has complained about the veracity of …

Rik Turner, Senior Analyst, Financial Services Technology

NYSE Technologies, the technology products and services arm of the New York Stock Exchange, is teaming with UK software developer First Derivatives to launch “Tick As A Service,” an offering that will enable firms carrying out backtesting on algorithms and compliance checking to access large volumes of historical tick data directly from its facilities.

Payment is currently by monthly subscription rather than on a pay-per-use basis, and the data is presently stored separately for each customer, but the plan is to move to a central store, which suggests on-demand payment will become possible.

Ovum sees the launch as a further sign of the advance of cloud in the financial markets and recommends that companies with large-scale backtesting or compliance workloads consider the new service.

Data-as-a-service helps reduce capex on hardware and management

The partnership with First Derivatives is designed to enable companies that …

By Nigel Beighton, VP of Technology, International, Rackspace

Choosing a cloud service provider is an important decision for any organisation. Cloud computing plays a central role in many businesses – from startups and SMBs to global companies – and usually involves entrusting service providers with mission-critical data and applications.

To assess potential providers and make the right choice, conducting due diligence across the following areas is essential.

Financials: As the recent closure of Nirvanix shows, it’s crucial to check a prospective provider’s financial position: past, present and future. If they are to be trusted with your data, they need to demonstrate that they have been, and should remain, financially sound.

So look for evidence of financial stability and growth over time; ask them about their financial prospects. Running a data centre requires major ongoing investment of capital, not to mention the substantial labour costs and operational budget. Are they in …

By David Linthicum

Continuing our discussion from my last blog in July, perhaps it’s helpful to drive deeper into security approaches and technology for use within clouds that serve the healthcare vertical.  We’ll start by focusing on the fundamentals of cloud security for healthcare.  However, some of this is transferable to other verticals as well.

First fundamental: Understand the data that will reside in the cloud

Healthcare data has something in common.  It’s dangerous to manage, unless you know exactly what you’re dealing with.

As we migrate health data to the cloud, it’s important to understand the data that will reside in the cloud-based systems, in terms of compliance and security requirements.  This means understanding what is PII data, and what is not, as well as dealing with specific security requirements around encryption.  This includes data in flight, and at rest.

Second fundamental:  Identity-based security …

Enterprise-level cloud storage provider Nirvanix has unexpectedly announced it is shutting down effective September 30, with customers frantically searching for another place to store their data by then.

Several sources have reported the news, with the Wall Street Journal claiming that the storage provider had lost its latest round of funding, and had run out of money to continue operating.

The Twittersphere was varied as the community took the news in:

The initial reaction from a lot of the press was pessimistic: what if people can’t trust the cloud?

Yet Ian Moyse, director at cloud CRM provider Workbooks, believes differently.

“Cloud, like any market, will have winners and losers, and customers need to do diligence on their provider, which should include off boarding – meaning how easy it is to get your data back in a useable format and move elsewhere should you choose or need,” he said.

“Good cloud …

Tony Baer, Principal Analyst, Software – Enterprise Solutions

IBM’s latest Big Data enhancements for its InfoSphere integration and governance product portfolio promote an emerging approach to reconcile Big Data with master data management (MDM). IBM’s official terminology is “building confidence” in Big Data. The innovation is a probabilistic approach based on the idea that when ensuring the validity and sanctity of Big Data, “perfect is the enemy of good.”

This is very much in line with our recommendations on managing Big Data sets where the actual lineage of the data may not be known with the same degree of certainty as internally generated data.

Highlights of IBM’s announcements include new “2-click” provisioning of data, information governance dashboards covering policy compliance status, integration with IBM’s existing data lifecycle management tools, enhanced data-masking capabilities, and a new “Big Match” MDM integration capability allowing ingested data to inherit policies associated …

By Eoin Jennings, general manager hosting services, Easynet Global Services

A little learning is a dangerous thing, scribed poet Alexander Pope in 1711, possibly to distract his wife from improving her bible studies knowledge or honing her counterpoint skills.

Three hundred years later and whilst most of us no longer frown upon a lady flashing her ankles nor rush to join a harpsichord recital, never could the statement be truer.

Smartphones and tablets have brought about the collision of the worlds of IT and telecoms, and are responsible for us all knowing a little bit about IT. 

If we can find ‘Settings’ on our iPhones, we can find ‘Control Panel’ in windows or ‘Internet Options’ in Explorer, delve in and make the changes we want, removing the need for the IT helpdesk – blissfully unaware that we’re putting our organisation at risk. In businesses across the globe, CIOs are breaking …

Consumers need to be made more aware of what they’re purchasing in a cloud solution, according to the latest research paper.

The team of researchers, including IBM and Google, published their findings in a paper entitled ‘Verifying Cloud Services: Present and Future’, and aimed for this to be an education for cloud customers – punters need to examine “in breadth, rather in depth”, how a CSP performs.

The researchers put this down to a series of issues which need answering: is the service running the right software? Is the service doing what it is supposed to? How efficient is the service? Does it comply with security policies, if any?

Of course, this comes down to the niggling matter of SLAs. A CSP puts down an SLA, intending to give the client an idea of availability and performance. Yet the researchers say this isn’t always the case.

The paper argues …

Due to its sheer size and economic power, China has the potential to be a huge cloud computing market.

But there are many obstacles to overcome. A new report examines these problems and the relationship between China and the US, whilst a big Chinese telco has announced overseas cloud expansion. Where now for China and the cloud?

A report released earlier this month on behalf of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) has warned of potential security concerns if the US consumer market for Chinese cloud computing services grows.

The paper, prepared by Defense Group Incorporated, noted in particular the inherent risks of collaboration between foreign firms and Chinese companies offering cloud services, jeopardising the foreign partner’s information security.

Yet the report is quick to ensure the security problems of public clouds aren’t used as a brush to tar China unnecessarily.

“If Chinese public cloud infrastructure …