Last year saw Cloud computing dominating IT headlines. It crossed the chasm from early adopter deployments into the mainstream. This focussed new attention on Cloud computing, and spurred action by IT departments in organizations – public and private. The Cloud entered 2010 on a strong wind. Organizations of all sizes are discovering the cost, space and management benefits that moving applications to the Cloud will deliver. Though the Cloud is still seen by many as a relatively immature technology, industry watchers and experts are predicting that 2010 will be a Cloud computing year.

Some Analysts say that 2010 will be the year of planning for the cloud. During this time, customers, vendors, resellers and integrators will need to stop thinking about how we have done things in the past and begin to think about how we can do things differently with the resources that are being made available to us. The biggest risk we see in the adoption of the cloud is the people continuing to rebuild or recreate what they do today in the cloud, vs. changing the way we do things to adopt new ways of processing data.

EMC
With its Atmos and Atmos onLine offerings, EMC is evangelizing its approach to the cloud to deliver scalability, elasticity and cost savings by building, virtualizing and deploying services and applications. Atmos onLine is a cloud storage service built on Atmos, EMC's policy-based information management platform. EMC Atmos onLine provides Cloud Optimized Storage, or COS, capabilities for moving and managing large amounts of data with reliable service levels and in a secure fashion.

For advancing Convergence of Server and Storage Virtualization: The acquisition of VMware will play a key role in EMC's strategy to help customers lower their costs and simplify their operations by deploying virtualization technologies across their heterogeneous IT infrastructure to create a single pool of available storage and computing resources.

VMware, EMC and Intel join forces to secure Cloud Computing Environment

RSA, a security division of EMC, has unveiled a shared vision with Intel and VMware for building a secure, transparent and accountable infrastructure for business-critical Cloud services.

RSA, Intel, VMware and GRC experts from Archer Technologies have demonstrated a vision for a trusted cloud infrastructure that delivers operational benefits for organizations and service providers running private clouds.

The new concept provides greater visibility into actual conditions within the bottom-most layers of the cloud; finer controls to enforce differentiated policies in private clouds; and streamlined compliance by providing automated processes for collecting, analyzing and reporting infrastructure-level activities and events.

The foundation for the new computing infrastructure is a hardware root of trust derived from Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT), which authenticates every step of the boot sequence, from verifying hardware configurations and initializing the BIOS to launching the hypervisor.

Once launched, the VMware virtualization environment collects data from both the hardware and virtual layers and feeds a continuous, raw data stream to the RSA enVision Security Information and Event Management platform. The RSA enVision is engineered to analyze events coming through the virtualization layer to identify incidents and conditions affecting security and compliance.

VMware
VMware, the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop through the datacenter to the cloud, recently, announced the launch of the VMware Center of Excellence (CoE) in Bangalore. This will provide organizations of all sizes with a simulated experience of rich virtualization and cloud computing benefits, thereby accelerating the exploratory stage of their inevitable journey to a new era of IT. The Center will be equipped with labs and replicas of infrastructure, enabling customers and partners to see VMware solutions at work in true-to-life business scenarios. The Center will showcase new and prototype VMware virtualization and cloud offerings, enabling customers to plan their IT architecture to best effect.

IBM
When it comes to the cloud, IBM immediately comes to mind. Its Smart Business cloud services and solutions are the case in point. With its combination of services and systems, which comprises public and private clouds and cloud-based versions of some of IBM's most popular applications, IBM is looking to the cloud for everything from analytics and software and services delivery to services such as storage management and cloud-based e-mail, scheduling and contact information.

Under a deal inked recently by IBM and Linux vendor Red Hat, the latter would be supplying IBM with the underlying virtualization technology for IBM’s new cloud. Last June, IBM launched three cloud system models: IBM Smart Business Test Cloud, a private cloud behind the client's firewall, with hardware, software and services supplied by IBM; Smart Business Development & Test and Smart Business Application Development & Test, which use Rational Software Delivery Services on IBM's existing global cloud system; and IBM CloudBurst, a preintegrated set of hardware, storage, virtualization and networking options, with a built-in service management system.

Novell
Novell is looking to the cloud to tie together all things IT. It is combining products like Moblin, a cloud-centric desktop OS developed by Novell and Intel; the SUSE Appliance Program, a program for ISVs to build software appliances and receive go-to-market support; Novell Cloud Security Service; and PlateSpin Workload Management Solutions for IT managers.

Citrix
Citrix Cloud Center (C3) ties together virtualization and networking products, arming cloud providers with a virtual infrastructure platform for hosted cloud services. The service, which is available on a monthly, usage-based pricing model and support mode, is an architecture comprising five key components: a platform powered by Citrix XenServer; applications and desktop services via Citrix XenApp; delivery powered by Citrix NetScaler; a bridge using Citrix Repeater; and orchestration through Citrix Workflow Studio.

F5 Networking
The global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), F5 Networking has recently announced on how large enterprises are implementing cloud computing. The study reveals that among large enterprises, cloud computing is gaining critical mass, with more than 80 per cent of respondents at least in trial stages for public and private cloud computing deployments. Additionally, despite the maturing rate of adoption of cloud computing among enterprises, the study shows that there is a considerable confusion and concern around the definition of cloud computing.

BT and Cisco
BT and Cisco have deepened their longstanding collaboration by a breakthrough in unified communications (UC), with the launch of a global "cloud" based IPT solution from BT's Onevoice UCC portfolio.  Together, the two companies are launching a scalable, business-grade, global hosted IP Telephony service, which allows businesses to dramatically reduce upfront investment costs whilst accelerating the adoption of UC on a global scale.  BT is engaging closely with Cisco Services to build the underlying virtualized infrastructure for service delivery. The hosted IP telephony service represents the world's first global offering based on Cisco Hosted UC services as the platform for collaborative voice communications.

Intel
Intel Labs has created an experimental “Single-chip Cloud Computer” (SCC), a research microprocessor containing the most Intel Architecture cores ever integrated on a silicon CPU chip – 48 cores. It incorporates technologies intended to scale multi-core processors to 100 cores and beyond, such as an on-chip network, advanced power management technologies and support for “message-passing”.

This represents the latest achievement from Intel’s Tera-scale Computing Research Programme. The research was co-led by Intel Labs Bangalore, India, Intel Labs Braunschweig, Germany and Intel Labs researchers in the United States.

Google, Microsoft is planning to go big on cloud computing this year. Among other things, it will release its Office Web applications, which are lightweight versions of its Office applications that run in a browser.

Trend Micro has linked up with Wipro Technologies to develop next-generation virtualization security systems for datacenter users, most notably those operating in public or private cloud networks. According to Trend Micro, the linkup will allow major companies and operators to create cloud computing systems that are highly secure, but as cost-efficient as possible.Trend Micro says it will work with Wipro to provide joint virtualized datacenter security, as well as datacenter consolidation technologies based on its own products, as well as those of third parties.

MICROSOFT
In a bid to consolidate itself in the cloud space, Microsoft India has unveiled its end-to-end offering for customers, partners and developers in India. In continuation of its efforts, Microsoft also took this opportunity to announce commercially the Windows Azure Platform, an Internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft’s datacenters. The Azure Platform from Microsoft will be available as PaaS (Platform as a Service).

Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company, unveiled Spring '10 – the company's 31st generation release with new features across the Sales Cloud 2.  Spring '10 will also debut an entirely new user interface for salesforce.com. The new UI will maintain the same award-winning functionality, but will have an updated look and feel, making it even easier for users to find what they are looking for. Salesforce.com delivers three seasonal releases a year with its real-time cloud infrastructure, ensuring that all of salesforce.com's 67,900 customers can leverage the latest cloud computing innovations to run and grow their businesses and Salesforce.com to Deliver Real-Time Success to the Enterprise.

Cloud is the answer “The benefits of cloud computing – improved business agility, the convenience of self-service and reduced equipment costs – are well documented, but they can only be reached with a comprehensive management strategy that reduces risk and drives compliance,” says Rajesh Janey, President, NetApp India & SAARC. “NetApp has worked closely with leading technology vendors to provide customers with the solutions and infrastructure they need to enable the cloud.” NetApp has recently teamed with Asigra, a leading provider of cloud backup/recovery software, to provide service providers with a design guide that helps them quickly and efficiently deploy BRaaS solutions. Asigra Cloud Backup software runs on the NetApp SOI, combining the scalability, security, and pay-as-you-go capabilities of Asigra with the unified, high-performance, and flexible storage solutions of NetApp. The result is a single, proven BRaaS solution that allows service providers to meet their customers' demanding service-level agreements and reduce costs. Network and storage applications vendor NetApp supports the critical technologies required by cloud computing, including secure multi-tenancy, advanced automation, data mobility, always-on infrastructure, and integrated data protection. “Using technologies from NetApp as a key element of a business’s cloud computing infrastructure helps lower  IT and business costs, increase productivity, and innovate faster to stay ahead of their competition,” says Janey.     NetApp has recently announced the availability of Data ONTAP 8 and other new data management and storage solutions intended to be used in cloud environments. The vendor says that the rolling out of the cloud-aimed solutions comes as a response to the global market shift towards a model of IT delivered as a service and the changing way that IT managers are now looking at their datacenters and infrastructure. The new solutions built on the cloud capabilities of the ONTAP platform with enhanced functionality for virtualized and shared infrastructure environments, including non-disruptive data mobility, dynamic growth through scale-out architecture, and 64-bit storage aggregates to support multi-petabyte deployments. In addition to that, the vendor has announced an array of new of products, solutions and services intended to “empower the cloud”. From an IT standpoint, cloud computing promises to deliver elastic scalability, pay-as-you-grow efficiency, and a predictable cost structure, while at the same time improving access to data. On the business side, this translates into an ability to turn capital expenses into operating expenses and increase productivity and innovation, all while reducing IT expenses and business costs.  NetApp’s Data ONTAP is the foundation for all storage capabilities required for cloud computing. The unified, virtualized architecture of today’s Data ONTAP continues to evolve to provide an efficient scale-out architecture with elastic scalability, transparent data movement to enable an always-on infrastructure, full integration with virtualization solutions, and even greater self-service data management and automation capabilities. The next major release, Data ONTAP 8, focusses on delivering the technologies that are critical in a shared infrastructure to existing NetApp platforms by enhancing current capabilities and adding new ones. NetApp  and Microsoft have announced a new three-year pact that will improve the technical integration between the two companies' cloud computing, virtualization and data storage and management applications. In addition to the product collaboration efforts, they will also extend their joint sales and marketing programmes in support of new and existing software applications. The partnership will include collaboration and integration of all virtualization infrastructure applications running on Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Systems Center and NetApp storage systems. Representative from both companies will also appear together at various events with channel partners and system integrators to promote new software offerings.