Just a few years ago, consumer back-up services like Carbonite, Mozy and SugarSync seemed poised to dominate the home computing market by offering peace of mind and easy remote access to stored media files for a low, and often flat, monthly price. Now, these companies are retooling their services to reflect a rapidly changing game while agile competitors like Amazon Web services entice users with 5 free gigabytes of online storage, a free cloud computing tier offering set amounts of free bandwidth and processing per month, and totally elastic cloud computing that is charged per usage. Amazon aims to make the barrier to entry virtually non-existent so that users become comfortable with their services and begin to use them more frequently.

In order to stay current, Carbonite has undergone a massive transformation, bringing all their customer support services back to the US from India to increase the quality of their user experience. In addition to expanding their back-up services Home edition to include support for video files and automatic full-system back-ups, Carbonite now offers back-up and restore support for external hard-drives and the ability to initiate system recoveries via e-mail. Known as HomePlus and HomePremier, the two new tiers of service will cost $99 and $149 per year, respectively.

Meanwhile, Apple is vying to enter the consumer cloud market in a big way with iCloud, which features their familiar brand of intuitive and streamlined software. Meant to simplify media access for users across all of their devices, iCloud is built into applications and the latest Mac operating system to make new data purchases, as well as users’ music, movie and picture collections instantly available on all synced devices.

Users with home desktops, office computers, iPhones and iPads will have access to a personal cloud that serves their data wherever they go. Launching in conjunction with iCloud is iMatch, a new service that allows you to supplement your personal music cloud with songs and albums you haven’t purchased from iTunes. For $24.99 per year, users will be able to make their entire music collection available across all their devices regardless of where it originally came from. In making all purchases available everywhere and easy to access, Apple hopes to increase media sales through iTunes and compel users to upgrade their online storage, which starts at 10GB for $20 per year and climbs to $100 per year for 50GB.

Microsoft is taking a different approach to monetizing cloud storage with SkyDrive, a quieter entry that appeared in 2007. SkyDrive gives users 25GB of storage space for free, and makes its money entirely off of on-site advertising. Although many cloud based back-up services offer a nominal amount of storage for free, SkyDrive’s free offering is considerable and might do the trick for users looking to store documents. Movie buffs look elsewhere. The catch is that no file can be larger than 50MB.

Box.net is a cloud based back-up service that particularly aims to court professionals who collaborate online. In addition to standard storage and recovery features, Box.net users have access to content collaboration features that make sharing even large files snappy and simple. Instead of attempting to attach files via e-mail, that may or may not survive their recipient’s company firewall, Box.net users can push their large files online and simply e-mail a private link to collaborators. This makes videos and presentations instantly available to multiple users.

Box.net service comes with mobile support for today’s popular smart phones and it integrates with popular business suites like Google Apps. Box.net’s personal service is free, and grants anyone up to 50GB of space for files as large as 1GB each. The next tier allows 3-500 users access to up to 1000GB of content and raises the individual file size limit to 2GB each for only $15 per user per month. Box.net’s personal service could be seen as a promotional tool to increase awareness of its solid and reasonably priced business tiers.

The number of cloud based backup options are growing and each entrant seems more feature-rich than the last. While it seems certain that cloud back-ups are here to stay, individual companies that don’t keep pace with the rapidly changing industry might not be.

This is a guest post by Mike Jackness from OnlineStorage.com, a website dedicated to ensuring that you are an informed consumer of online backup and online storage services

Related posts:

• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 4, 2009 – Is Cloud Computing Behind the Twitter Hack?
• June 4, 2009 – Mezeo Takes Part in Cloud Storage Gathering
• April 21, 2009 – The Crave Behind Cloud Hosting
• April 15, 2009 – Netmagic Launches Cloud Computing Solutions
• January 20, 2012 – Data Backup and Recovery Solutions
• December 2, 2011 – Is Cloud Computing Worth It for Your Business?

The cloud, though, introduces such a here-there-everywhere-nowhere dynamic that it’s very easy to get lost in the idea.  By looking at it this way we are not just discussing a problem in beginner comprehension.  It’s becoming noticed by many in the IT world that this technology is developing far faster than our ability to handle the breadth of its implications.

Collaborating under a cloud

This has resulted in a sudden explosion of organizations, working groups, and companies frantically working together to create some sort of cloud standards that will keep it from devolving into a giant mess of incompatible, insecure and expensive alternatives.  Here’s a quick summary of who the major players and movements are right now:

• Open Data Center Alliance – Probably the largest of these organizations despite only just having passed its 1^st birthday, the Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) just recently published a suggested listed of cloud computing requirements.  It has among its 280 members leaders in both the corporate and user-driven IT world.  When Wall Street heavyweights like BMW, JPMorgan Chase and the Walt Disney Company join forces with respected IT organizations like Dell and Red Hat, you know that they’re working on something big.
• Cloud Security Alliance – Working with the ODCA is the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). Born from a call to action in 2008, the CSA is jam-packed with major business and IT organizations.  Its goal is to develop a consistent, accepted set of cloud security standards.
• Cloud Standards Customer Council – This organization works to be the middle man between standard-setting organizations and “end users”, which in this case means companies that are seeking to adopt these technologies.  It lists more than 100 corporate members, including Lockheed Martin and Citigroup.
• OpenStack – OpenStack is a community-supported cloud-based operating system.  It is currently in use by over 100 companies.  The open-source (hence the name) OpenStack project was founded by RackSpace and NASA.
• Open Cloud Initiative – This is a newer organization, announced a few months ago at the OSCON 2011 Open Source Convention.  They appear to be reacting to problems they see in the way that cloud computing currently works with open-source standards, though it was not clear from their web site exactly what problems they were trying to address.
• Cloud Standards Wiki – Finally, it doesn’t get much more open than an organization whose main page is a wiki.  The Cloud Standards Wiki is a place for all organizations doing work in this area to post their information and collaborate further.  You can find information here about other organizations such as the Distributed Management Task Force, the Open Grid Forum, and the Object Management Group.

What are they trying to do?

So what exactly are all of these groups trying to standardize?  Here’s a quick rundown:

• Security – This is the mother of all cloud problems.  No technical terms are required here for you to see the problem: bits is going to be flying all over the place.  Without a hardened set of standards, networks could become minefields of security weaknesses.  Worse still is the potential in a cloud for a security breach to branch out like wildfire.
• Interoperability – Quickly shared information and application use is going to require coordination of data and security protocols.  It’ll be easy for cloud breakdowns or just inefficiencies to occur because parts of it are not setup to handle the communication standards of some of its other components.
• Manageability – The existence of a cloud-based architecture is going to require a more sophisticated level of management created above it, both in technical and human forms.  One study suggests that without some constructive coordination, the IT industry might spend $2 trillion in developing the management necessary to handle these changes just in the years 2010-2015 alone.
• Cost and efficiency – Those $2 trillion in R&D will be passed on to you.  Nobody wants that.  Soon there are going to be more internet ready devices in the world than people (maybe you’re surprised that there aren’t already).  While this is not so much a standardization issue, high transition costs might significantly hamper all of the attempts at advancements in the above listed problems, creating a nasty vicious cycle of cloud chaos.

So what does this mean to me?

The main people who want to keep a close eye on these developments are web site owners.  If you have no interest in the web other than watching some movies and posting on Facebook, then you’re pretty much just along for the ride anyway.  Of course, don’t let this stop you from being careful at all times no matter what you do.

If you are hosting a website, then the main thing that you’ll want to do is just exercise caution when it comes to setting up an account with a cloud host.  None of the above problems necessarily mean that any one host you pick is going to be unreliable.  But when it comes to the cloud, we’re all in very (pardon the pun) foggy, uncharted territory here.  If there is only a few dollars difference between using a cloud and using, say, a VPS (virtual private server), you may want to consider going for the latter for sake of simplicity.  It may be more expensive, but you’re buying a bit of clarity with it.

If you do decide to purchase a cloud-based hosting account, it’s going to probably get to a point soon where web hosts will be advertising the types of standards that their cloud services run by.  If they don’t, ask.  No one host can possibly keep up with the rate at which this technology is advancing.  A responsible host will fall back on the combined research of organizations like the above.  If your host is actually a member of one of them, all the better.

In the end, what this means is to hang onto your hat.  Cloud computing is something quite exciting.  Nothing in this world is exciting, however, without at least a little sense of danger.

Related posts:

• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• August 4, 2009 – Is Cloud Computing Behind the Twitter Hack?
• April 21, 2009 – The Crave Behind Cloud Hosting
• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• December 2, 2011 – Is Cloud Computing Worth It for Your Business?
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• October 5, 2011 – A Look at Common Cloud Hosting Lingo, Part One
• August 24, 2011 – What Small Business Owners Should Know About Cloud Hosting
• May 19, 2011 – HP Awarded NASA Cloud Hosting Contract

A large part of the problem in accurately describing cloud computing is that there are many different definitions that are all technically correct. It is application deployment, decentralized office applications, customer service management solutions, storage and much more. Today, I want to focus on the three most popular uses of cloud computing: Cloud Storage, Cloud Hosting, and Software as a Service.

Cloud Storage

This is really a simple idea that can be made complex when you put too much thought into it. At the end of the day, cloud storage is off site backups and storage that can be accessed from any computer or cellular with an Internet connection. It lets the user share large multimedia files across several locations with several people at the same time, all without needing a laptop or a flash drive. Most cloud storage services also allow for multiple users to access the account, such as in cloud services like AVG’s LiveKive which assigns a separate file sharing link to whomever you wish to share with.  The link accesses only the files that the administrator designates. Some of the most popular cloud storage services are:

Amazon Cloud | http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/

This Amazon product allows you to store your documents and applications as well as e-books bought in Kindle format.  It also allows you to upload your music to their service and no matter how much music there is, you have unlimited space that does not go against your quota for photos, movies, documents and other file types.

DropBox | http://www.dropbox.com/

DropBox allows you to upload your files to their service through a downloaded client that will allow you to simply drop files into a folder that it then synchronizes with your files online.  It also allows for sharing by creating folders that get shared with specified users through their email.

AVG LiveKive | http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-livekive

AVG is well known for their virus and firewall software, and now they’ve entered the cloud storage game by offering their service as a backup solution.  LiveKive also allows you to have your backed-up data shared between authorized users and devices.

Having an off-site non-physical backup location is an attractive option for those who worry about their external drives falling to their death when a cat runs across their desk. In order to make the most use of cloud storage and be certain of your backup integrity, a recommendation of on and off site storage and redundancy is recommenced by experts.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is fast becoming the web hosting solution of choice, especially with e-commerce merchants. Instead of being limited by the space and utilities of a physical web server, those who use the cloud to host their shops and take payments and orders through it find that they can scale their server space to meet their needs without paying for unnecessary utilities or running out of space and having to make the hard decision of which items and services need to be cut from their enterprise.

Cloud hosting can save businesses the expense of not having to negotiate higher bandwidth caps or purchasing new software and hardware in order to keep up with the flow of traffic that their site produces, since most pricing schemes are per-use. More and more hosting companies are moving towards this form of hosting in order to expand upon their current infrastructures and to offer their clients more competitive pricing.

Software as a Service

Here we come to one of the newest but most well known implementations of cloud computing. Software as a Service (SaaS) is an invaluable service for companies who have employees who need their information at a moment’s notice and on the go. SaaS involves the access of applications by users at any time from any location.

One excellent example of SaaS is Salesforce, the ever popular customer management program. It keeps track of all contacts and sales pipelines as well as customer service inquiries so that, no matter where you are, you can reach the information at your fingertips through laptop, desktop, tablet or cell phone. The information is kept in an organized fashion and each installation of Salesforce is customized to the client’s needs so there is very little bloating that makes similar traditional programs so annoying to use and complex to understand. It also allows for far better oversight for employees who spend a lot of time away from the office.

Other similar software would include the Google Docs suit and Microsoft Office 365 where individuals can create accounts and store their documents, spreadsheets, .pdf files and more on the cloud and edit them whenever they desire, from any location. Also, these services offer options for collaboration and sharing at different levels of security. A document can either be only visible to others or they can have read/write access. At the top of the access list, the user can read and write as well as delete and invite others to share and assign privileges. These types of software are becoming more popular as more companies and other organizations take their enterprises to the cloud, working with a population that is spread out all over the city, if not the world.

The Future of Cloud Computing

These are only some of the uses that cloud technology currently supports. When it comes to the future, it is obvious that this will become the way of life for those who rely on vast amounts of data and require portability across systems and devices. Cloud services offer a less expensive and far more versatile experience for users to work with their information and to provide services for others on short notice. Also, it decentralizes data storage which will assist the users in feeling far more secure about their data and give one more tool against corrupted hard drives and other accidents of nature. As time goes on, it is certain that the cloud will become integrated with just about every type of activity that takes place on the Internet.

Related posts:

• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 4, 2009 – Is Cloud Computing Behind the Twitter Hack?
• June 4, 2009 – Mezeo Takes Part in Cloud Storage Gathering
• April 21, 2009 – The Crave Behind Cloud Hosting
• April 15, 2009 – Netmagic Launches Cloud Computing Solutions
• January 20, 2012 – Data Backup and Recovery Solutions
• December 2, 2011 – Is Cloud Computing Worth It for Your Business?

Now and then, though, we see something that reminds us that we can take a step back and look at some bigger picture.  We typically refer to this as a “sign of the times.”  In browsing there some recent tech news I caught up with some of the newest information about the latest product from Amazon, the Kindle Fire.  In reading the early reviews of this device, I realized that this is a great example of this phenomenon.  The Kindle Fire is the coalescence of many modern web trends all shoved into a single new device.

Here’s a rundown of this new toy’s features, and why it’s a good reflection of the World Wide Web, circa 2011.

It’s a tablet.  Stop there.

When was the last time there was a new desktop PC that was released to such fanfare that it took the tech world by storm?   I honestly can’t remember myself.   More get released than we can keep track of, and they all draw collective shrugs, even as we continue to gobble them up.

When a new portable device of almost any kind is released now, though, it’s like watching a old-style carnival where crowds rush back and forth in swarms between new attractions.  Then what follows from it is a scrambling of analysis and IT reshuffling, as the rules for how things were done before get altered by the specifications of this new interface.

Web browsers as integrated components of E-commerce

 Gone, it’s starting to seem, are the days of web browsers simply existing to allow users of all platforms to browse all web sites with the greatest of ease.  Former love affairs like Netscape and then Mozilla existed because of programmers who looked at the browsers that came before them and saw how they could make them better.

Such is not the case with Amazon Silk, the browser built into the Kindle Fire’s Android-based operating system.  Programmed into it are features specifically designed to work with Amazon, or its Kindle, or both.  In fact, at least as of right now, Silk exists only on the Kindle Fire.  However, some commentators have found reason to believe that this might be a test run.  If the Silk gets a strong enough reception, it’s reasonable to believe that Amazon might use this as a launching pad to get this browser into other more popular operating systems.

It’s important to recognize what this means, if so.  It means that a retailer is using the technology of a new device to push a new browser to devices outside of it: a new browser that, in turn, was created to drive more customers their way.  So you might someday be on FaceBook, mention a movie, and get a free trial download suggested to you by Silk on your PC because of this device designed to get people to buy more books.

To try to put this into perspective, this would be like Walmart, instead of making you want to shop there more, designing cars that are specifically engineered to make driving to their store easier, and then that technology making it into cars that had nothing to do with Walmart in the first place.  Some might argue that Microsoft already pulled this trick with their Internet Explorer.  It’s not a bad example but Amazon being a non-IT-based (i.e. “old economy”) company at its core, this analogy doesn’t match up that well.

The cloud eats everything!

There’s more.  Silk is designed to be what Amazon calls a “split browser.”  What they mean by this is that some of the browser’s more processor-intensive functions get farmed out to Amazon’s Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2).   Amazon’s EC2 isn’t entirely new, with 5 years of development behind it, and Amazon has already integrated this technology into other facets of their business.

Putting it directly into their new browser, however, represents one of the most invisible forms of cloud computing yet.  This may seem little, but it quietly signifies that we’ve crossed a threshold in how we handle even the most basic computing tasks.  The immediate reason for the development is that, by sending out computing tasks that take some muscle, your device can cut down on the amount of processor time per request, and thus extend its battery life.

Here is the larger point.  As cloud technology integrates itself into our computing world on continually smaller computational task levels, computing devices and their associated programming languages are going to have to increasingly take into account the possibility that the requests they are serving are not local.  This signifies a whole lot of seismic information technology changes, not the least of which is the potential for a whole new generation of security issues.  This might be why one user described the Silk as being about as “secure as a bathroom stall without a door”.

Spending money to make money – the next generation

Still, that probably won’t stop those lining up to buy it given the Fire’s aggressively low price of $199 per unit.  This blows away a lot of the related devices that consumers might choose this over.

There is something important to note in this low price, though: it’s lower than the manufacturing cost by about $50.  Amazon is outright expecting to lose money on each Fire sold.  In turn, they’re expecting to gain that much more from the extra sales of digital media that this new tablet will push.

It shouldn’t take an economic genius to divine all sorts of fascinating conclusions from this bold marketing play.  Here’s the most obvious one we get out of it.  This is the strongest proof yet that the move towards making digitally downloadable media a viable long-term economic model, which was the point of the original Kindle in the first place, has proven successful.  Amazon couldn’t have made such a daring move as this without a room full of number crunchers displaying charts that showed just how much they were sure they’d recoup.  This makes the release of both the original Kindle and the Fire a major event in the piracy/intellectual property wars, itself another important modern battlefield.

A sign … but of what?

Before we betray too much excitement here, let’s be clear and state that we can’t tell just yet where this is all going.  Especially with the huge price gamble that Amazon has taken with this device, it’s not impossible that, before all is said and done, the Kindle Fire will go the way of New Coke.  Amidst the excitement for it are a lot of valid concerns, and we’ll have to see how they play out.

The Kindle Fire is a fascinating new development to watch, largely because it highlights where much of our web and E-commerce development is going.  The great thing about signposts, though, is that they only tell you where you’re going.  They don’t tell you what it’s going to look like when you get there.

Related posts:

• December 1, 2011 – Kindle Fire vs. Nook Reader
• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• September 25, 2011 – Linux and E-Commerce: The Top 5 Best Hosts for Two Long-term Trends
• September 16, 2011 – Flash Sales – Serious New Trend or Flash in the Pan?
• September 6, 2011 – E-commerce and Social Media: No Longer Oil and Water
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 24, 2011 – What Small Business Owners Should Know About Cloud Hosting

Ease of Use

The hosting type allows for the functionality of an internal information technology department without requiring the technical knowledge and capital costs. Also, cloud hosting allows for usage to be adjusted based on need which significantly reduces costs. Another advantage is the redundancy and backup features that typically offer unlimited storage and triple redundancy.

Remote Access

Additionally, users can run all applications, databases and servers using remote access. It is as simple as logging in from a computer with a username and password and having access to all aspects of the server. Therefore, users can concentrate on the core aspects of their business without needed to manage information technology issues. The largest cloud providers include Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services.

Practicality

Selecting cloud hosting is the best option currently available on the market as it is extremely practical. For all types of websites: business and personal, cloud computing provides the most flexibility and is the perfect choice for beginners that do not wish to invest their time in the learning the logistics of web hosting. Furthermore, for startups on a budget, you only pay for what you use.

Adjustable Monthly Plans

Your sales will surely increase as cloud hosting permits the maximum amount of traffic which adjusts your plan as traffic is reduced. Therefore, you will have as much freedom due to flexibility as you desire.

Controlling Resource Utilization

The greatest demand of the web hosting customer is having the ability to control the utilization because billing is calculated specifically on what you have used. Although cloud hosting may end up being slightly more expensive than shared, you will not be limited in the amount of customization, flexibility and utilization.

Cloud hosting is an excellent method of increasing sales and saving money due to the flexibility allotted by the web hosting type. Many large and small businesses are making the switch as they see the many benefits to cloud hosting technology.

Related posts:

• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• August 4, 2009 – Is Cloud Computing Behind the Twitter Hack?
• April 21, 2009 – The Crave Behind Cloud Hosting
• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• December 2, 2011 – Is Cloud Computing Worth It for Your Business?
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• October 5, 2011 – A Look at Common Cloud Hosting Lingo, Part One
• August 24, 2011 – What Small Business Owners Should Know About Cloud Hosting
• November 16, 2010 – Is Cloud VPS Hosting Right for Novice Webmasters?

Amazon Web Services

Despite Amazon’s recent outage, the company continues to offer attractive cloud storage features tailored for small businesses. Amazon is a top choice for small business ventures because customers are not required to purchase hardware. Instead, users pay a small fee each month to access Amazon’s infrastructure in a cloud computing environment.  Customers have the ability to order computing services and storage on an as-needed basis to meet individual hosting needs. Amazon places computing power in the control of the customers as they can add or remove processing power and storage space in real time as well as delivering several layers of security to protect valuable data. Amazon is a great pay-as-you-grow cloud hosting option.

Office 365

Microsoft just recently threw its proverbial hat into the cloud ring introducing Office 365. Small business owners opting for Office 365 have access to all of MS Office’s applications without the need to install the actual software on computers or servers.  Users are granted access to documents, contacts, e-mail, and calendars to devices connected to the Internet. Office 365 is available for a very affordable $6 per month.  It’s best suited for small businesses employing less than 25 employees and don’t have an IT employee on staff.  In addition to the 25 GB mailbox, users benefit from the ability to edit documents and spreadsheets simultaneously.  Additionally, users have access to PC-to-PC audio, instant messaging, and video calls.

Google Apps

Google also offers cloud storage services designed for small business owners. Google is a bit more established than Microsoft, offering cloud apps now for over a year. Google’s cloud services are very similar to Microsoft’s cloud plan.  Users  are granted customized e-mail addresses, calendar, mobile e-mail, IM access, Google Sites, Google Docs, spam filtering, 24/7 customer support and 99.9% guaranteed uptime.  Google’s cloud services are available for an affordable $5 per month.

Apple’s iCloud

Although not currently available as Apple is scheduled to unveil iCloud in Fall 2011.  Apple’s iCloud is best described as “an online hard drive on steroids”.   iCloud will offer users a vast array of features such as storing music, photos, apps, documents and other data online.  Additionally, it will deliver services wireless to laptops, iPad, or smartphones.  Similar to Microsoft and Google, iCloud will grant access to e-mails, calendars, and contacts as well as allowing multiple users to edit documents simultaneously.

Dropbox.com

Finally, a newcomer to the cloud industry, Dropbox is a cloud storage service provider to watch. Dropbox allows users to store important files on the provider’s secure website, easily accessible via Windows, Linux, Mac, iPad, Android/BlackBerry phones, and iPhone. Other attractive features include the fact the service is free for 2 GB of storage space, $9.99/month for 50 GB of storage, and $19.99/month for 100 GB of storage.  Dropbox also works without the need to be connected to the Internet.  Furthermore, users can opt to transfer part of a huge file or manually set bandwidth limits to prevent crashing servers. Like the previous providers, users can also work simultaneously on documents.

Web hosting news and updates delivered to your Twitter — follow WebHostGeeks!

Related posts:

• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• August 4, 2009 – Is Cloud Computing Behind the Twitter Hack?
• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 24, 2011 – What Small Business Owners Should Know About Cloud Hosting
• April 21, 2009 – The Crave Behind Cloud Hosting
• December 2, 2011 – Is Cloud Computing Worth It for Your Business?
• October 14, 2011 – How the Kindle Fire is a Catch-all Reflection of Current Web Trends
• October 5, 2011 – A Look at Common Cloud Hosting Lingo, Part One

Unfortunately, when attempting to create a website, the number of choices can become an issue. Once the site is functional, most webmasters have used a CMS and third party payment vendor. In many instances, some additional functionality is ignored.

Luckily, a new system has been developed to combine the many different aspects of a website. Entitled, “INZU”, the software is acomprehensive solution that will easily meet the changing requirements of small/medium businesses. Also, INZU is cloud-based so developers are not required to learn a CMS templating language. The information is accessed through an easy-to-use API that makes code for all developers easy to understand.

First established as a payment provider for digital downloads almost four years ago, the system has developed to regularly incorporate new features. Toward the end of 2008, the first attempts to create a cloud system were introduced through the availability of production information. Next, mail orders were available through the basic API. The success of the initial system proved that INZU customers with their own shop had great success.

In 2010, beta testing on the system was complete and the CMS was introduced in 2011 to a wide audience. Along with the CMS were new features and add-ons for the software. The concept of a cloud-based CMS is new to the industry but offers several advantages over installed systems including:

• No updating
• No installation
• No programmatic templating
• Availability of multiple access points for information
• Works well with current CMS systems
• Small site footprint

The site owner can easily make changes by logging into the CMS Admin Suite on inzu.net. From here, the owner can add new products, manipulate galleries and images, create site templates and so much more. Additional features included in the CMS software include the tagging of entries, SQL style calls and a versatile articles section.

The development of this software is going to greatly assist website owners and eCommerce retailers by providing a high level of convenience at a low cost. Stop by the INZU website today to learn more about this content management system bundle.

Related posts:

• June 4, 2010 – Gutensite: A Free CMS
• May 7, 2010 – The Value of Content Management Systems and Site Design
• April 9, 2010 – Customizing Your Content Management System
• October 24, 2008 – The Wonderful of Mambo
• September 15, 2011 – Alternative’s to WordPress – Other Content Management Systems do Exist
• September 2, 2011 – When to Transition to a Content Management System
• July 27, 2011 – Establishing a Strong Content Management System Strategy
• July 11, 2011 – Integration between MailChimp and Orchard CMS
• July 5, 2011 – The Solution to Web Content Management Systems
• June 17, 2011 – DVR System Integrated with a CMS

The Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance continues to heavily promote the best practices with regards to providing security assurance within the cloud computing environment. Within the Alliance, there are a variety of experts from different disciplines with the objectives of promoting understanding of the technology, promoting independent research into best practices and launching awareness campaigns.

Furthermore, this organization provides education of the benefits and uses of cloud computing to secure the numerous other forms of computing available. A press released by Symplified unveiled that the company’s technical team is highly-regarded in the industry for its innovative vision and leadership with regards to identity management. Furthermore, they were the pioneers of the first on-demand trust fabric that secures the adoption of cloud computing.

The Current Status

Currently, the organization’s access management trust for the cloud is over 1 million seats and continues to be the largest provider of identity protection services for the Amazon EC2 platform.

About the Management Team

The management team holds a variety of patents for web identity and developed the AuthXML specification which was submitted to OASIS to assist with the launch of the identity standard. Symplified plans to share its identity expertise with cloud IAM while collaborating with CSA to increase cloud security.

About Symplified

Symplified helped to create and establish the web access management market as well as the SAML identity federation standard from the foundation to what you see today. Therefore, the company continues to make these critical contributions to ensure cloud security standards are developed. Since 2007, Symplified has been delivering cloud security solutions and is excited about bringing their years of experience to the Cloud Security Alliance.

With the continued development of cloud computing, it is vital for best practices standards to be developed to protect customers, operators and website owners. It appears as if Symplified has a plan to conduct such a task. With the help of this organization, the web hosting community will have a secure cloud hosting environment to protect their customers and visitors

Related posts:

• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• October 14, 2011 – How the Kindle Fire is a Catch-all Reflection of Current Web Trends
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• August 22, 2011 – The Newest Member of the Cloud Security Alliance
• July 13, 2011 – A Bundle of Content Management System, Cloud Computing and eCommerce
• December 3, 2009 – Cloud Computing the Focus of Next Year’s Parallels Summit
• November 4, 2009 – Introduction to SaaS Hosting

Ms. Posey stated that with so much emphasis on cloud computing and its implications for those in the IT world, the Parallels Summit 2010 will serve as the ideal forum for tracking global trends and collaboration among some of the most important players in the industry.

SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby is also scheduled to join in what is becoming an impressive lineup of speakers.  He intends to specifically address questions posed by those in the industry in addition to providing insight into developing a high-growth hosting firm.  Attendees of the Parallels Summit can submit their questions to Crosby via email at summit_questions@parallels.com

Mr. Crosby said the Parallels Summit is one of the most significant events to attend, stating that it provides access to the most qualified delegates in the hosting industry and often acts as the starting point for many important relationships.  Crosby noted that he is looking forward to an interactive session and encourages attendees to submit their questions early.

Other speakers that have been confirmed for the Parallels Summit include Antonio Piraino, Senior Analyst of Managed Hosting and Cloud Infrastructure Services at Tier 1 Research, and Warren Adelman, CEO and President at GoDaddy.com.  The Summit will also prominently feature Serguei Beloussov, Parallels Chairman and CEO, as well as Jack Zubarev, President of Parallels Service Provider Worldwide.

Microsoft and Verisign are among the platinum sponsors for the exclusive event, while Intel and Unison are gold sponsors.  Silver sponsors for the fifth annual Parallels Summit include AMD, e-pages, InterNex and Tucows.

The Parallels Summit 2010 will be hosted in the Fontainebleau community of Miami Beach from February 22-24.  Registration is free for all Parallels clients, partners, invited guests and other industry delegates.  An international conference, the event will provide a comprehensive blueprint of how the IT industry can leverage Parallels technology to deploy new cloud solutions, devise strategies to enhance and extend the market value of their services, and create new up-selling and cross-selling strategies that drive in increased revenues.

About Parallels

Founded in 1999, Parallels is a global leader in automation and virtualization software technology.  Its solutions optimize computing for businesses, cloud service providers and consumers across all major hardware, operating systems, and virtualization platforms.  Parallels is one of the fastest growing companies in the IT field with more than 700 staff members throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

Related posts:

• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• November 15, 2011 – The Resurgence of Apache
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• October 14, 2011 – How the Kindle Fire is a Catch-all Reflection of Current Web Trends
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• September 1, 2011 – SharePoint’s Affect on Information Management
• July 13, 2011 – A Bundle of Content Management System, Cloud Computing and eCommerce
• June 9, 2011 – Government Decides to Move Email to Microsoft Exchange

What is SaaS?

Software-as-a-Service or SaaS, is a revolutionary delivery model that is changing the way software providers market and sell their products.  While many vendors are familiar with the concept of hosting applications and serving them via the web, few truly understand the elements that are required to successfully implement and offer quality SaaS services.

The Importance of the SaaS Hosting Provider

The SaaS hosting provider is the key to obtaining a hosted application structure that meets your specific needs.  A quality host is a firm that has the knowledge and technology to run a standard global infrastructure along with an extensive set of development capabilities and cloud platforms to ensure the fast, affordable and reliable deployment of your applications.  They will also provide top-notch consultative services to aid in the positive growth and success of your solution.  As with any type of hosted IT service, the provider you choose can either make or break your experience.

When and How to find a Reputable Provider?

So, how do you know if you require SaaS hosting?  Better yet, how do you go about finding a reliable service?  We will conclude this article by providing some information to help you decide when it is time to hand your application needs over to an outsourced company and also how to find the best SaaS hosting solution for your specific requirements.

Cloud computing has made it easier and more affordable than ever to develop, distribute and manage software applications.  However, vendors who want to implement this model need to make it a priority to build a delivery model capable of meeting the availability requirements of their customers while ensuring a highest level of security.  This is the only way customers can obtain a solution that provides the reliable, enterprise-class infrastructure needed to support their hosted application needs.  To meet this demand, many software vendors and individuals turn to SaaS hosting.

When looking for an SaaS hosting provider to distribute and maintain your applications, make sure the firm has a solid reputation in the industry for successfully running an SaaS hosted service.  You also need to ascertain that the company is able to satisfy your unique requirements.  This goes for planning, capacity, compliance and the seamless incorporation of any technologies your hosted applications may be require in the future.  To put it simple, SaaS should be something the hosting provider specializes in, not just an offering packaged beside their other products to capitalize on the cloud computing phenomenon.  Combine this with top-notch support, and you have yourself a winning solution.

Related posts:

• May 9, 2010 – Potential Security Issues with SaaS
• December 19, 2011 – Cloud Backup & Online Storage Services
• November 19, 2011 – The Future of Cloud Computing – Where it’s Going, and What it Means for You
• October 29, 2011 – Future Uses and Growth of Cloud Computing
• October 14, 2011 – How the Kindle Fire is a Catch-all Reflection of Current Web Trends
• September 2, 2011 – Saving Money and Increasing Sales with the Cloud
• August 31, 2011 – Top 5 Cloud Storage Service Providers
• August 23, 2011 – The Newest Way to build eCommerce Solutions
• July 13, 2011 – A Bundle of Content Management System, Cloud Computing and eCommerce
• April 18, 2011 – Newest Member of the Cloud Security Alliance