This post was written by Mulah Johnson
Terremark WorldWide Inc. is rolling out a cloud computing service, accelerating a trend in which servers and storage are being provided over the Web. Terremark has a slightly different take on cloud computing than rival Amazon, which offers separate services for storage and servers, and lets customers buy as many or as few computing resources as they want. With Terremark, customers purchase a dedicated pool of processing, memory and storage, billed in a lump sum, and can scale up on the fly as needed. The “cloud” is a mix of servers, storage and virtualization software from HP, IBM, Cisco, VMware and 3Par.
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Despite recent outages at online retailer Amazon.com, technology experts feel that the outlook for cloud computing is bright. Google executive, Rishi Chandra, said that the company is going after enterprise business in part because organizations are ready to embrace cloud computing. The reliability of services such as Gmail and ubiquitous access to broadband Internet have led to the rising interest in cloud computing, Chandra added. Gmail, Google’s free Web-based e-mail service, is a basic example of cloud computing. In Gmail, users access the application and data via the Web rather than from a local e-mail server and messages are saved in the cloud, so to speak, and not on a user’s laptop or desktop PC. However, one of the biggest hurdles that the technology must overcome is enabling users to access data and applications when the Internet is not available. To address this issue, Google has recently begun to offer off-line versions of its Google Apps.
MODERRO Technologies has announced a turnkey web-centric cloud computer called Xpack. MODERRO is targeting the Xpack Internet Computer for use in public terminals, kiosks and libraries, education and training facilities, as well as private and government offices ready to migrate to cloud computing. The Xpack Internet Computer is an integrated (hardware, operating system, and web management) solution for the cloud desktop. It features a clean and friendly user interface and operating system that was written by MODERRO specifically for interacting with web-based applications.
DocuSign has announced the release of DocuSign Connect for Salesforce, unveiled last week at the Dreamforce ‘08 Conference sponsored by Salesforce.com. Specifically designed for Salesforce.com users, DocuSign Connect for Salesforce is a suite of on-demand services providing integration between DocuSign’s enterprise-class electronic signature and online contract execution product and the Salesforce platform. It’s being pitched as a tool for organizations “looking to shorten their sales cycles.” The newly-unveiled Lead Management Suite is comprised of PowerDialer, JabberDog and ResponsePop for Salesforce.com.
Storage firm EMC has joined the Daoli Trusted Infrastructure Project which conducts research into “trust and assurance” in cloud computing environments. The team’s research will focus on cloud computing, trusted computing and virtualization. The issue of trust in cloud computing environments is becoming important as enterprises put applications, data and customer information in computing environments outside their local control. The research will explore a variety of techniques that could be applied to secure the underlying physical location as well as broadly shared resources.
Q-layer announced the Q-layer Delegation Manager, a solution that turns virtual server environments into a true cloud computing platform. The Q-layer Delegation Manager enables fast browser-based provisioning of data center assets for helpdesk, technical end-users and non- technical end-users, with integrated credit-based charge-back capabilities, reporting and easy to use flash-based management controls. A quote from the piece
A financial services software company, Derivix(R), has announced the launch of its new real-time Portfolio Risk system. The product facilitates buy- and sell-side firms to visualize real-time options market dynamics and underlying risk exposures to manage and successfully navigate today’s highly volatile markets. The product will be available by early 2009. The company has leveraged cloud computing, which uses virtual servers and resources delivered via the Internet as a service. The novel solution is also a more cost-effect alternative.
Salesforce.com will be expanding its cloud computing services, allowing its customers to build external websites more easily. The new service, which will be known as Force.com Sites, will be launched by the company at its Dreamforce user conference in San Francisco. Kendall Collins, senior vice president, product marketing, Salesforce.com stated that while infrastructure services of the company were expanding, it hoped to prevent the complexity brought into cloud computing by companies like Microsoft.