Computers-Plus

The cloud is clearly where it’s at when it comes to apps, data storage, and even productivity software. Google Apps has been in on this game for some time, and now the traditional business software giant Microsoft is ready to get into the market.

At long last, Office 365, now emerged from private beta, migrates the old familiar Microsoft Office applications to the web. The software juggernaut expects to leverage the legion of office workers already accustomed to the MS Office environment. For example, users of Office 365 can create, edit, and share web-based apps for Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. I

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EMC is developing technology to track and verify the location of virtual machines in cloud networks, potentially solving one of the key sticking points preventing customers from using the cloud.

Because of FISMA, the Federal Information Security Management Act, customers who put sensitive data in cloud services need guarantees that VMs stay within the country, says Chad Sakac, vice president of the VMware technology alliance at EMC. This is a problem for a cloud provider like Terremark, an EMC partner, which operates data centers in multiple continents and uses live migration technology to move virtual machines, potentially from one country to another, he says.

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The “private cloud” is a popular phrase in IT these days, but often a meaningless one, with tech vendors slapping the label on any old product that happens to make an existing IT function slightly more efficient.

Logically, a private cloud should act just like a public cloud service – such as Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud – but exist entirely within an enterprise’s firewall. Few “private cloud” products actually recreate the functionality of a public cloud, but a new contender in the market called “Nimbula” has a product that, at the very least, can be called a private cloud without causing eyes to roll.

Greatest tech arguments: Public vs. P

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