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This Week in Cloud, January 10, 2013: Amazon AWS revenue, New EU cloud strategy, Cloud computing’s Achilles' heel. And more…

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Watch the latest episode of CloudViews Unplugged – Andi Mann and George Watt of CA Technologies take a look at the best cloud predictions for 2013.

Cloud News

  • Amazon Web Services is expected to have revenue of $3.8 billion in 2013, according to this ZDNet article, and could be worth $19 billion to $30 billion if it were a standalone company.

  • The European Commission announced a new cloud computing strategy for the European Union. According to this Cloud Tech article, if the strategy is successful it will facilitate the use of the cloud across the EU both in the state and private sector.

  • The HIPAA privacy and security rules will soon be modified to apply to all business associates, including cloud vendors that have access to patient data, according to this GovInfo Security article. This will help ensure patient data is safeguarded by bringing cloud services under direct regulations of HIPAA.

Feature Article

The Lynchpin to Transforming Security from an Inhibitor to an Enabler of Enterprise Cloud

By Mike Denning, CA Technologies

Mike Denning

CA Technologies customer surveys and studies consistently find security remains IT’s top concern about the cloud. IT professionals intuitively see and fear the risks involved in moving to the cloud, with its associated loss of control over the physical environment, processes, policies, and people.

This lack of confidence in cloud security has been, and continues to be, a major inhibitor to enterprise cloud adoption and the potential benefits. That can change, however, if the security focus is changed from data to identity. By putting identity first, you achieve a profound shift in security posture that can transform security from an inhibitor to an enabler of enterprise cloud adoption. Read the full article.

Cloud Views

  • Is customer service the Achilles' heel of cloud computing? In this InfoWorld blog, David Linthicum explains why public cloud providers will be forced to step up their customer service in order to serve the enterprise market.

  • Your legacy apps may be impacting your cloud benefits, according to this ComputerWorld blog. It discusses why moving your weighty legacy apps, such as those used for billing, claims and inventory management, may help you achieve compelling cloud benefits.

  • Are all clouds created equal? In this GigaOM blog, Stacey Higginbotham outlines the four types of cloud computing and how they differ. These include Enterprise, Webscale, Cloud, and HPC and Data.

Trend Watch

  • Will big data help drive IT spending? This InfoWorld blog reports that Gartner is estimating IT spending will hit $3.7 trillion this year and $3.8 trillion by 2014, fueled by big data and other information management initiatives.

  • IDC estimates that the big data market will grow revenue at 31.7 percent a year until it hits $23.8 billion in 2016. However, in this GigaOM article, Derrick Harris suggests that number could look a lot bigger when analytics, SaaS applications and other products are included.

  • Do standards harmonize innovation? In this Smart Enterprise blog, Jacob Lamm discusses how standards promote innovation and enable creativity within a structure, similar to blues and improvisational music.

Upcoming Cloud Events

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More Stories By CloudCommons 2012

CloudCommons is an independent online community of IT professionals, analysts, technology providers, and industry experts. Members can ask questions, learn from experts, and find the latest cloud-related news. Cloud Commons offers a forum to contribute and discuss best practices and successes, as well as research vendor solutions. Sponsored by CA Technologies, Cloud Commons has been growing steadily since its launch in May of 2010.

Hosted on Cloud Commons is the Service Measurement Index (SMI). Led by Carnegie Mellon University, SMI encompasses a growing consortium of members. SMI compiles user-submitted ratings of cloud services and scores them relative to other services of the same type. Ratings include metrics such as: quality, agility, risk, cost, capability, and security.

ThisWeekInCloud is Cloud Commons weekly newsletter listing the industry events we felt worthwhile reading about. Read them here or subscribe to have it delivered to you inbox as email or as RSS Feed.

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