Talkin' Cloud

Charlene O'Hanlon

Email charlene@ninelivesmediainc.com

Articles by Charlene O'Hanlon

VMware and DynamicOps: Cloud Automation Smarts

VMware has announced its intent to acquire cloud automation solutions vendor DynamicOps, whose technology enables provisioning and management of IT services across heterogeneous environments. Terms of the acquisition were not announced, but it's a safe bet VMware's getting a good deal no matter how much it is paying for DynamicOps. Here's why.

Avangate SkyCommerce Adds Channel Focus to Online SaaS Sales

Picture this: You’re a small, niche software vendor or SaaS provider that has a nifty product but can’t get the sales traction the big boys enjoy. You don’t have distribution relationships, and your company isn’t big enough to build and deal with the back-end systems necessary for a comprehensive sales portal. What to do?

Riverbed Expands Whitewater Cloud Services, Tools Support

As more and more data is managed and stored in the cloud, resellers are faced with the growing issue of compatibility between cloud-enabling technology and existing on-premise wares. Riverbed Technology’s latest update to its Whitewater cloud storage appliance hopes to address some of those compatibility issues through expanded support for a growing list of cloud service providers and data protection tools.

Cloupia Adds FlexPod Integration, Creates Partner Program

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider Cloupia is making plans to start shipping its Apprenda Receives $10 Million in Funding for .NET PaaS

Platform as a Service provider Apprenda is seeing some love from investors for its .NET stack, announcing it has closed a $10 million Series B funding round led by Ignition Partners. Previous investors New Enterprise Associates and High Peaks Venture Partners also participated in the funding round.

CSA Registry Strives for Security Transparency of Providers

Recognizing just how important security is to potential and current cloud services customers, the Cloud Security Alliance is launching a registry that documents the security controls of cloud computing providers.

The CSA Security, Trust and Assurance Registry (STAR) strives to “encourage transparency of practices within cloud providers,” according to the alliance. The document will be available free of charge to anyone interested in how (and how well) cloud service providers are locking down their offerings.

Hitachi, VMware Collaborate on Financial Cloud

Hitachi and VMware have paired to create a new financial cloud solution built on VMware's vSphere. The application-centric cloud platform will aid financial institutions looking to transition away from older and less-flexible technologies and into the future. Read on for the details.

Riverbed Pushes Whitewater Cloud Storage Further Downstream

The benefits of using the cloud for storage are well-known in the enterprise and in the SMB space, but SMBs traditionally have lacked the technology to enable such benefits. Riverbed Technology opened the cloud storage opportunity for both markets with its Whitewater cloud storage accelerator, and hopes its latest additions will bring those benefits even further downstream.

Tenzing: Cloud Services Delivery the Next Frontier

Software-as-a-service providers know the importance of having a good hosting provider for their applications. Ditto for e-commerce providers – both groups know their hosting provider can literally make or break their company.

Asigra: Excelling in the Cloud Backup and Recovery Space

Cloud storage backup and disaster recovery provider Asigra is turning heads in the service provider space, not only for its technology – which works with an impressive list of cloud service providers – but also for the robustness of its offerings and its MSP-friendly stance.

Cisco Survey Brings Cloud Computing's Impact Down to Earth

These days, surveys about cloud computing adoption are about as prevalent as sugar cookies at Christmastime. But a recent study by Cisco Systems is worth taking a longer look.

Cloud Computing Explained (By Kids)

Still trying to define cloud computing? The folks at Accenture had a brilliant idea: Ask the current and future users of the cloud – kids – what they think cloud computing is. Accenture captured the answers in this video, which is nothing short of brilliant. Take a look and here's some background.