Cloud security image via Shutterstock

Cloud security, cloud development and cloud backup…the ‘cloud’ was a major hit in this week’s roundup. Find out why it was such big news on the TechTarget network.

1. Five best practices for successful cloud backup – Alyssa Wood (SearchCloudComputing)

During last week’s Amazon AWS Summit, senior technology evangelist Simone Brunozzi gave attendees a history lesson by discussing how the Italian Abbey of Monte Cassino helps to illustrate the need for the five best practices on cloud backup.

2. SugarCon conference offers guidelines for social CRM success – Jack Vaughan / Mark Brunelli (SearchCRM)

In this podcast, SearchCRM News Director Mark Brunelli talks to Jack Vaughan about his recent trip to the SugarCon Conference, in particular how organizations can launch a successful social CRM initiative.

3. Symantec 2013 Threat Report highlights rise in SMB attacks – Paul Korzeniowski (SearchSecurity)

Small businesses are under attack! That’s the major takeaway from the 2013 Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, as 31% of Internet attacks were aimed at businesses with less than 250 employees.

4. OpenStack cloud users share pros and cons – Beth Pariseau (SearchCloudComputing)

At the OpenStack Summit, several OpenStack vendors, including Bloomberg, Samsung and Best Buy discussed the benefits and problems of their deployment of the open source cloud.

5. Gartner forecasts rising interest in cloud-based security interests – Brandan Blevins (SearchCloudSecurity)

According to a recent report released by Gartner, cloud-based security systems will account for 10% of all enterprise IT security product market by 2015. The rise was driven by several factors including lack of in-house IT security staff, the need to reduce costs and compliance regulations.

Calendar image via Shutterstock

All throughout April, not a day goes by without you having the chance to attend a big IT conference. Check your schedule to see if you can attend one of April’s many events!

1. Gartner Business Process Management Summit (April 2-4, National Harbor, Maryland)

2. Cloud Connect (April 2-5, Silicon Valley, California)

3. IT Sales & Marketing Boot Camp (April 3-6, Nashville, Tennessee)

4. TechTarget: The Consumerization of IT (April 4, San Francisco, California)

5. Big Data TechCon (April 8-10, Boston, Massachusetts)

6. Ingram Micro Cloud Summit 2013 (April 8-10, Phoenix, Arizona)

7. TechTarget: The New Rules of Backup and Data Protection (April 9, Atlanta, Georgia)

8. TechTarget: Modern Infrastructure Decisions (April 11, New York, New York)

9. 2013 Spring Varnex Conference (April 14-17, Orlando, Florida)

10. Symantec Vision 2013 (April 15-18, Las Vegas, Nevada)

11. DEMO Mobile 2013 (April 17, San Francisco, California)

12. Government Enterprise Mobility Symposium (April 17-18, Washington D.C.)

13. Synnex Red White & You (April 17-19, Orlando, Florida)

14. CA World 2013 (April 21-24, Las Vegas, Nevada)

15. VTN 2013 Spring Invitational (April 21-24, Hollywood, Florida)

16. TechTarget: Desktop Virtualization 2013 Seminar (April 23, St. Louis, Missouri)

17. TechTarget: CW500 Club (April 23, London, England)

18. TechTarget: The New Rules of Backup and Data Protection (April 25, Cleveland, Ohio)

19. TechTarget: Desktop Virtualization 2013 Seminar (April 25, Houston, Texas)

20. RightScale Compute 2013 (April 25-26, San Francisco, California)

21. Midsize Enterprise Summit East 2013 (April 28-May 1, Chicago, Illinois)

22. Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit (April 29-May 1, San Diego, California)

23. Kaseya Connect (April 29-May 1, Las Vegas, Nevada)

24. Accelerate 2013: Lenovo Channel Partner Forum (April 29-May 1, Las Vegas, Nevada)

We’ll be sharing IT events each month here on the Enterprise IT Watch blog. Got an event to add to our list? Let us know via Twitter (@ITKE) or email. Going to one of these events? Share your takeaways (and photos) with us!

Cyber-security image via Shutterstock

Security, security, and more security! Yes, security is a recurring topic in this week’s roundup. Read on to see why it received so much coverage.

1. Private cloud to public cloud migration gets easier, but obstacles remain – Beth Pariseau (SearchCloudComputing)

Even though cloud migration tools are making it easier for enterprises to migrate from a private to a public cloud, Beth Pariseau says many cloud computing customers are just deciding to do it themselves.

2. KineticD urges government agencies to consider cloud backup – Andrew Burton (SearchSMBStorage)

Andrew Burton reports that KineticD, a small/medium based cloud backup provider, asked government agencies to back up their sensitive data to the cloud instead of on portable devices.

3. DoD security panel calls for new cyber-defense, offense – George Leopold (SearchSecurity)

A recent Pentagon advisory panel has recommended that the United States beef up its cyber-security defenses while building ‘an effective response’.

4. Mobile customer service holds customer frustration at bay – Cameron Kittle (SearchCRM)

Have you ever gone through the trouble of logging on to a mobile app to solve a problem but then had to call customer service anyway? Cameron Kittle says that companies can overcome this challenge with an integrated mobile contact center.

5. Bruce Schneier explains why there is no privacy on the Internet – Editorial Team (SearchSecurity)

In this video interview, security expert Bruce Schneier provides three key examples on why there is currently no privacy on the Internet, including the Mandiant APT1 report.

Twitter image via Shutterstock

Are you looking for the latest news and updates on cloud computing? We’ve compiled a list of top experts and pros from across the Twitter universe who regularly share and discuss their cloud knowledge. Ten of our favorites are listed below; follow many more through our handy Twitter list.

• Marc Benioff (@Benioff): CEO of Salesforce.com
• Adrian Cockcroft (@adrianco): Cloud Architect at Netflix
• Simon Crosby (@simoncrosby): Co-founder and CTO of Bromium, Inc
• Brian Gracely (@bgracely): Director of Tech Marketing at EMC & Cloud blogger
• Scott Guthrie (@scottgu): Vice President of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business Division
• Chris Kemp (@Kemp): Founder & CEO of Nebula
• David Linthicum (@davidlinthicum): Founder of Blue Mountain Labs
• Marten Mickos (@martenmickos): CEO of Eucalyptus
• Krishnan Subramanian (@Krishnan): Principal Analyst, Rishidot Research LLC
• Werner Vogels (@Werner): CTO at Amazon.com

Who’d we miss? Let us know in the comments about the cloud computing experts you follow on Twitter.

This infographic from NTTCOM.TV displays how cloud computing has evolved over the course of history, from its beginning to 2012. Tell us in the comments below what you think the future of the ‘cloud’ holds in store for us.

Tell us in the comments below why you think companies are resisting cloud computing.

Pinterest, Flipboard, Foursquare and Netflix were among the many sites impacted by the latest Amazon Web Services outage, but none inspired more hand-wringing than Reddit, the increasingly infamous community that some have called the “secret backbone of the Internet” (it’s often the starting point for viral content).

Where some saw nothing but bad news, the marketing team at Joyent, a competing cloud provider, recognized an opportunity. In a post on the company blog, Joyent made its pitch to Reddit, promising 99.999% uptime and a storage block that doesn’t depend on network connections to work — all of which would translate to better availability of rage comics, AMAs and Ryan Gosling memes.

The post demonstrated that Joyent knows its way around the Reddit community, but how did the notoriously skeptical Redditors respond? With a mixture of follow-up jokes, insults and, well, some serious questions about Joyent’s claims. “Nobody can guarantee they won’t let you down at some point,” said user calzoneman. Others pointed to Joyent’s much-publicized issues with honoring lifetime accounts.

And then there’s platinumbinder, whose comment may sum up the sentiment of productivity-seeking managers everywhere: “I have a feeling that reddit downtime is actually beneficial for the world, so hosting on servers that have reasonable amounts of downtime is actually a positive thing.”

It’s doubtful that Reddit will actually make any kind of switch, but you have to give points to Joyent for creativity. Right? Ok, go back to wasting time now.

Do you think this is the case? Share your thoughts in the discussion below.

For the first time, Google opened the doors to its data centers, sharing pictures and video of these massive operations. Wired’s Steven Levy was among those who got an exclusive first look at one of the data centers (a behemoth of a building in Lenoir, North Carolina), and his resulting story is a great read.

What makes these images so compelling? For the average person, it’s a chance to unravel some of the mystery behind one of the world’s most powerful companies, and a reminder that for all the talk about cloud this and cloud that, the Internet is a real, physical thing.  Most IT pros have long internalized that truth, but still relish the chance to gawk at a super-sized version of the technologies they oversee on a daily basis. These are the technologies that run much of our lives, and so we can never have too much exposure to them.

Google’s doing plenty of interesting things in its data centers, from custom-built servers to energy-saving innovations (take that, New York Times). But it’s not the only company with an intriguing server story to tell; in the new book, The Art of the Data Center, Douglas Alger showcases 18 other data centers that  demonstrate impressive processing power and creativity, interviewing the people behind these modern landmarks (there are a ton of pictures, too). In looking through the book, I was struck by the range of designs and approaches, which took into account things like geographic location (e.g., ACT’s tornado-resistant building in Iowa City) and history (the Lakeside Technology Center in a former Chicago printing plant).

The entrance to the Bahnhof data center in Stockholm. Courtesy of Bahnhof/InformIT.

All the data centers featured are beautiful in their own way, but for sheer uniqueness, I’d have to give the prize to Bahnhof’s 10,000 square-foot space in a former nuclear bunker in Stockholm, Sweden (which includes a 687-gallon saltwater fish tank and two Maybach diesel submarine engines) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, built into a gorgeous 1920s chapel. Both are powerful reminders of how the world is constantly evolving, using old spaces to meet new demands. As for what the future looks like…that picture is still a little blurry.

Want to see these data centers for yourself? We’re giving away a copy of The Art of the Data Center in our Halloween costume photo contest.

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