Appistry is expanding its Cloud IQ platform, a basis for building a private cloud inside the enterprise, to include a file storage system. Cloud IQ Storage is aimed at extremely large storage loads-- up to a petabyte -- that would enable next generation, high scalable applications dealing with masses of data.

The year has started out with significant M&A activity from vendors looking to deliver the necessary components for cloud computing. They all come to market with their own technologies and solutions, but there's one offering that's a must-have.

There's an experiment underway to see whether video recordings of police actions can be captured as they occur -- by an officer wearing a camera as an ear piece. Local police forces can't afford the system that captures the contents of the camera and stores them. But that's where the cloud can help.

SiliconRepublic quotes a Google Europe exec saying "desktops will be irrelevant in three years." CIOs can only dream that some device, any device, would actually go away.

CA aquired cloud startup 3Tera in a move that is not characteristic of the company. For one thing, it reportedly paid a lot of money for a 20-employee firm, somewhere around $90 million, and CA rarely pays a premium. To Chris O'Malley, executive VP, the purchase is emblematic of a new day at CA.

There’s a debate in the software industry over whether multitenancy is a prerequisite for cloud computing. Those considering using cloud apps might question if they should care about this debate. But they should care, and here’s why: multitenancy is the most direct path to spending less and getting more from a cloud application.

At TechWeb's Cloud Connect conference in March, I'll be moderating a panel on the value of public, private and hybrid cloud. We'll assess where the value is today and where things are headed. Here's my take: Utilizing the right cloud combination to maximize the resources in your organization for different types of workloads, functions, applications, and business processes will be critical to realizing the true value of cloud computing.

Investment advisor Piper Jaffray interviewed 100 CIOs and IT managers, then wrote up its conclusions in a 320-page report, neatly summarized by its title: "The Future Is In the Cloud." Spending on software as a service and cloud computing will grow from 5.7% today to 13.5% of all software spending in five years, it predicts.

Four startups have emerged as finalists in Cloud Connect's Launch Pad contest, in which the public voted for their favorite new or in-development cloud application or service. These finalists provide a good indication of what's next in the cloud.

It's almost a manifesto. "Everything will move to the cloud," predicts Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Mark Murphy and researcher Brian Schwartz. And as it does, three medium-sized companies will become star cloud suppliers. Do you think you know who they are? I, for one, didn't get them right.

At a recent IT End User Group focused on cloud computing, I detected turbulence. Roughly three quarters of the networking professionals and systems administrators I spoke with are afraid of losing their jobs once cloud computing evolves within their organizations.

Looking to get into health IT, but don't have a background in healthcare? Practice Fusion might be the place for you.

Google will be providing a $100,000 grant to The Dalles, Oregon, to build and operate a WiFi cloud that covers the city's business district.

When organizations migrate to cloud computing, most of the focus is on technology components such as security, automation, and policy management. There is, however, another key element that's necessary for a cloud model to work within enterprises, and it involves organizational behavior.

Under CIO Vivek Kundra, the federal government has launched Apps.gov, an online marketplace of software where federal agencies can find what they need, sometimes at bargain prices. But behind the scenes, it's made a much bigger bet on cloud computing. It's NASA's Nebula cloud at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

Google has removed what for many CIOs and IT professionals has been one of the last remaining hurdles to their adoption of Google Apps for business documents, spreadsheets, presentations and probably most importantly: email. Yesterday, the biggest of the cloud-based challengers to Microsoft and IBM-Lotus announced it now has a range of Blackberry-esque mobile device management features (including the ability to remotely wipe a smartphone) for iPhones as well as Windows Mobile and Nokia-based devices.

There is a case of piling on going on right now as it relates to cloud storage. While I agree that the term has been hijacked, stretched and bent by more than a few storage vendors, that does not mean that the whole concept is bad. While the name is as poorly chosen as “social media”, the concept is dead on.

On the cusp of launching its Azure cloud computing service, Microsoft is also making a savvy bid to lock up a patent for one of the main worries--vendor lock-in--of cloud users. (The other big concern is security.) The folks from Redmond have filed a patent application for migrating data to a new cloud, which is what you'd have to do when leave your first vendor.

If you're a cloud computing startup, innovator, or just a developer who is tinkering with that pet cloud project in your "garage" and you're looking for some prime time exposure (including free exhibit space at Cloud Connect), then you should be thinking about putting yourself in the running for Launch Pad at Cloud Connect. I, along with fellow InformationWeek editors John Foley and Fritz Nelson, are among the 10 jury members and you only need know how to work Twitter to get started.

Two weeks ago, HP and Microsoft announced they would jointly spend $250 million to better integrate their hardware and software systems. That's one of the first reactions to Oracle's expected acquisition of Sun Microsystems and its entry into the hardware business. More such alliances are likely to spring out of the ranks of Oracle's competitors.

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