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Should SMEs Be Using Cloud Storage For Primary Data?

By George Crump, Processor.com on 2/9/2011

Cloud Ideal For More Than Just A Data Repository

Key Points

Cloud storage for primary data can reduce pressure on the backup and recovery process and automate much of the storage management process.
Cloud storage provides a built-in disaster recovery capability that can be ideal for the SME market that lacks the resources to equip and maintain a secondary site.
Be sure to find a cloud solution that’s specifically tuned for your applications or environment.

What if the entire storage management process could be rendered as simple as installing a cable modem? Simply connect a box to your network and then connect it to the Internet, and limitless storage that automatically manages itself is yours. This is the promise of cloud storage when used for primary data in conjunction with a cloud storage controller, a new breed of storage appliance that aims to make the experience of using the cloud much like using traditional onsite arrays but with cloud benefits.

Is this promise a reality for the SME? Can you really be using cloud storage for primary data?

Enterprise Cloud Services: The agenda

By Beth Schultz, NetworkWorld on 2/9/2011

Cloud services have the potential to deliver important business benefits to the enterprise, including cost savings, flexibility, resiliency, agility, quicker time to market, better customer service and the ability to handle unexpected spikes in demand.

However, achieving those goals isn't going to be easy. Enterprises need to have a cloud-ready, virtualized infrastructure. They need to understand the different types and styles of cloud computing. They need to navigate through a complex decision-making process in order to determine which aspects of cloud services are the right fit. Then there's negotiating and managing contracts, keeping track of SLAs, and making sure security and compliance concerns are addressed.

Using cloud computing and storage for business continuity

By Michael Miora, NetworkWorld on 2/9/2011

Your data, not your head in the clouds

Despite the widespread rejection of practical implementation of All is not lost. The secret to success in this endeavor is to make backups and disaster recovery protections a natural consequence of something else that makes computing better and more convenience. That has been the Holy Grail of the business continuity and disaster recovery planning (BC/DR) world. Unlike that mythical and unsuccessful, however, we have found the magic, we just have not fully yet realized that we found it.

Security Slideshow: Cyber Crime Trends: Cisco's 2010 Annual Security Report

By Jennifer Lawinski, CIO Insight on 2/9/2011

The volume of spam decreased last year for the first time in the history of the Internet, according to Cisco’s 2010 Annual Security Report. And, while spam may be less of a menace than it used to be, cybercriminals and hackers have taken up new targets. They’ve shifted their focus from Windows PCs to other operating systems and mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets.

Your guide to the seven types of malicious hackers

By Roger Grimes, InfoWorld.com on 2/9/2011

Knowing the difference between a spammer, a corporate spy, and a cyber warrior can better help you defend your systems

When I learned over the weekend that hackers had planted malware on a Nasdaq Web server, I wasn't exactly surprised. It's the rare company that isn't owned by hackers. Even the most well-defended organization will likely find itself under attack by outsiders.

Whether you're attacked today or tomorrow, it's important to understand the motivation and objective of your intruders -- doing so can help you devise an appropriate defense. Malicious hackers can, in fact, be broken out under some broad classifications.

10-Petaflop IBM Supercomputer Headed for Argonne National Lab

By Darryl K. Taft, eWeek.com on 2/9/2011

Argonne National Laboratory has selected a 10-petaflop IBM Blue Gene supercomputer to fuel innovation in a wide variety of scientific pursuits.

IBM has announced that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory will use IBM’s next-generation Blue Gene supercomputer to enable advances in areas such as designing ultra-efficient electric car batteries, understanding global climate change and exploring the evolution of our universe.

The 10-petaflop IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer, named “Mira,” will be operational in 2012 and available to scientists from industry, academia and government research facilities around the world, said Dave Turek, vice president of Deep Computing at IBM, in an interview with eWEEK.

VMware preps public cloud with services, connector

By Joab Jackson, ComputerWorld on 2/9/2011

Providing a vital link between internal and external clouds, VMware plans to release in March an adapter for moving virtual machines between a hosted service offering and an organization's own internal systems, the company announced Tuesday.

In addition, the company announced that three service providers -- BlueLock, Colt and Verizon -- are now offering cloud hosting services that VMware has certified to work with its vCloud software. Organizations will be able to use the connector to move their virtual workloads between their own VMware-based private clouds and these public cloud services.

Better Understanding Power Equipment

By Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com on 2/9/2011

A Look At Some Top Issues & Strategies To Know

Key Points

Understanding where to place power depends on a data center’s environment, data, and systems.
UPS use is always a temporary solution; if key systems go down, there should be a generator or an alternate site available.
Monitoring is crucial for detecting power-wasting devices and seeing trends in power usage

Like any data center technology, power equipment carries its own complexity and nuances. Understanding details such as power placement, monitoring, and proper sizing can go a long way toward keeping a data center running strong. Here are some top issues and strategies that can help enterprises stay powered up.

9 Ways Content Management is Going Mobile

By Ron Miller, Fierce Content Management on 1/25/2011

It shouldn't be a surprise that, in our increasingly mobile world, our work is finding its way onto our phones alongside our consumer content. As I wrote in this week's Editor's Corner, "Mobile Really Does Change Everything," there is a new cloud-based data connection. We expect to find our content wherever we are, regardless of the device.

Cloud computing makes users of us all

By Paul Venezia, InfoWorld.com on 1/25/2011

As we outsource more and more to cloud services, those of us in IT will be reduced to pleading on the phone just like our users

Here's yet another reason cloud computing is not a new idea: For users, corporate computing has always been a cloud. Users have applications they rely on to do their jobs; they load data to crunch on; they interact digitally with coworkers, clients, and partners -- and all of it comes from this amorphous blob known as IT. Without this stuff, most of them would have nothing to do.

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