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How Green is Your Cloud Provider?

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Watch the latest edition of CloudViews Unplugged – a monthly video blog analyzing the top cloud news stories.

Cloud News

  • Rackspace will offer a production version of their OpenStack open-source cloud platform beginning on May 1st, according to this GigaOM blog. Rackspace and NASA launched the OpenStack cloud project in 2010 and since then, HP, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Red Hat and others have contributed to the project.
  • Is the cloud really green? A recent report by Greenpeace suggests that it depends on who your cloud provider is and the way in which they are consuming electricity. According to this NPR blog, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon Web Services all rely heavily on coal, while Google, Yahoo, and Facebook continue to move toward renewable resources for their clouds.
  • Microsoft announced its largest cloud deal to date with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), according to this InformationWeek article. Microsoft will provide online service and software to 7.5 million students and professors maintained by the AICTE.
  • As an alternative to Vblock, EMC announced an all-in-one private cloud system this week, according to this PCWorld article. The VSPEX platform gives channel partners the ability to offer enterprises custom systems with applications that meet their customer’s needs.
  • The media and entertainment industry has taken the bull by the horns when it comes to cloud computing. At the conference for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Las Vegas, technology vendors are showcasing their cloud-based solutions that radically change the delivery and sharing of video content. Read more about what Forrester Research reported on the demand for cloud services in the media industry in this ZDNet article.

Featured Content on Cloud Commons

Gartner Report: Top Five Trends for Private Cloud

Through year-end 2012, a significant number of pilot and production deployments of private cloud services will emerge, and hybrid cloud capability will become a major requirement. The market for cloud management platforms will expand greatly, but a number of vendors will be acquired or will exit the market. Outsourcing will become a mainstream alternative to internally deployed private clouds. This report by Gartner (compliments of Cloud Commons), examines the top five trends for private cloud and offers recommendations for your business based on those trends.

Feature article

Private Cloud ROI – More Examples Wanted

By George Hulme, Independent Writer

We’ve discussed the potential benefits of private cloud a number of times. Organizations have talked about the ability to maintain full control and transparency over their systems that they believe is necessary to attain the level of security that they want.

Sometimes, as was the case with game maker Zynga, their private cloud helps them to reach the level of business agility that they need. However, we’re also starting to hear more about how private clouds can also be more cost effective, especially when done by organizations that have the people with the right skills and experience in place. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

  • Is the future of cloud open-source? In this PCWorld blog, Thor Olavsrud details observations from Red Hat’s Bryan Che on why many companies are choosing open-source cloud.
  • The war wages on between open-source and proprietary cloud. In this ITWorld blog, Brandon Butler comments on a recent blog post by VMWare that defends the benefits of their private cloud and takes a jab at the open-source solutions available in the market.
  • Want to learn how the Cloud Commons® Ecosystem can help build your business? This white paper on Cloud Commons outlines how solution providers leverage the ecosystem to engage prospects, create compelling cloud services offerings, and bring them to market.

MSP Corner

  • Are MSPs becoming a little too comfortable with cloud? In this MSPmentor blog, Joe Panettieri suggests that while MSPs are enjoying huge growth from cloud, they should be keeping their eyes open for new cloud opportunities.
  • PEER 1 Hosting announced the deployment of Nimsoft Unified Manager this week in order to provide its customers with monitoring capabilities, according to this article at the WHIR.
  • Will price competition from large companies lead to the extinction of lifestyle MSPs? In this MSPmentor article, Jessica Davis examines the current MSP market and the impact that cloud is having on the industry. 

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