Cloud Computing News & Articles

Socialtext has been adding and adding to its enterprise social platform since it launched v5.0 in September. This year it looks set to maintain that momentum and has already announced a partnership with NetDocuments.

Organizations and enterprises that bank on Amazon S3 services for their cloud storage needs might find themselves paying up to 13.5% less starting this February, as Amazon announces price cuts for S3, promising a "significant reduction" in storage costs.

The latest vendor to take its solutions to the cloud is eZ Systems, which has recently announced a partnership with cloud solutions provider Ixonos, to move eZ’s flagship Publish platform to the cloud.

CRM is nothing really unless it can adapt to business users’ changing marketplace. Microsoft, since the release of Dynamics CRM online last year, committed itself to providing agile CRM and preparing companies for the release by flagging changes 90 days in advance. It has now flagged that it is making Dynamics CRM mobile.

As a follow up to my previous post, here are my third and fourth predictions for what 2012 holds for collaboration:

It’s no secret that I am a fan of the era of the empowered employee. Ever since I was introduced to the concept in 2010 at a Forrester conference, I’ve supported the notion that the groundswell of employee innovation was an important milestone and an imperative part of social business, now and as it evolves. So when a copy of Forrester’s new report, To Thrive in the Empowered Era You’ll Need Software, Software Everywhere, landed in my inbox, I was excited to read through it.

We said earlier in the week that we couldn’t talk about Alfresco 4 until today. Well, it’s today now and we can talk a little bit about this latest release, although only a little bit because it really is enormous. With it, Alfresco pushes its open content management platform firmly into the mobile and social space.

Lucid Imagination released its new search-as-a-service platform, LucidWorks Cloud. The cloud-based product reduces the effort and time required for companies to adopt enterprise search.

Due to growing impatience with customer service hotlines (i.e. the near impossibility of getting a voice on the line), most people now prefer to reach help centers through new media, utilizing email, Facebook and even Twitter to assert their complaints. As a means of consolidating these multidimensional grievances, SalesForce.com has created a central hub called Desk.com, where service agents are hit all at once and can manage their replies. The product launched this week, and incidentally, in promotion, the company gave away 1,000 free burritos. Complaining has never been easier or more satisfying. 

The hard part of selling isn't the actual sale. Any good salesperson will tell you it's the monotonus data entry and admin tasks that get in the way of productivity. Now, online selling platform maker SalesCrunch said it has integrated its next-generation meeting application CrunchConnect into Salesforce.com, with the promise to "...radically reduce the tedious data entry associated with customer relationship management." 

Two weeks ago, the Internet fought back against legislation aimed at limiting its freedoms. Thanks to a widespread Internet blackout, SOPA and PIPA legislation has been tabled for now. While it feels great to know that for now, our Internet freedoms have remained untouched, it’s important to pay attention to what may come next.

After hinting at the affair for over a year, BlackBerry Business Cloud Service for Microsoft Office 365 was revealed to the world this week. A much needed move for the once primo of smartphones -- arguably losing steam to its Apple contender -- the new package deal forms a joint and efficient union between the two companies, making mobile offices all the more proficient, and even more reason to stay permanently attached.

It's been described as the "Wild West of Cloud Computing" -- no slick "urban" services like Amazon provides, but HP is in beta with its cloud services, and the time is ripe to make your land grab with free real estate (for now) hosted by the world's second-largest PC maker, looking to move into Web services in a big way.

 The latest release of ownCloud, the young open source file, sync and share project, includes new features and improved stability.

Since it was founded in 2008 in Ontario, Igloo has grown steadily in North America and the EMEA. Its growth has been aided by the confluence of cloud computing, social media, and mobile technologies. And this year, it's set to grow again and has raised C$ 5 million to push growth.