Managed Services - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Microsoft expands Intune services

  Anticipating use of Intune by larger organizations, Microsoft is outfitting the managed desktop service with a number of new capabilities that should make its use more appealing in enterprise settings.

• Microsoft aims Office 365 at small businesses

  For the launch <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217982/Microsoft_Office_365_goes_live">of its first full-fledged online office suite</a>, Office 365, Microsoft is paying particular attention to how the new service could help small and medium-size businesses.

• Cloud storage providers need sharper billing metrics

  Purveyors of cloud storage services may be doing their customers, or themselves, a disservice by relying on imprecise metrics for billing, argued a researcher at a Usenix conference.

• Microsoft, SAP team to ease cloud deployments

  In an attempt to ease cloud deployments for their combined customer base, Microsoft and SAP are configuring some of their software products so that they work more easily together.

• VMware debuts sign-on service for cloud applications

  In the hopes of simplifying cloud operations for organizations, VMware has launched a federated sign-on service for cloud applications. The service can extend internal user directories to cloud services without disclosing user names or passwords, the company contends.

• Panel: The cloud requires fresh IT skills

  As organizations move more of their applications to the cloud, they might find themselves needing skills different from what their system administrators now possess, according to IT executive panel discussions on cloud computing on Wednesday.

• IEEE hopes to drive cloud computing standards

  Standards organization IEEE has decided to get involved in cloud computing, starting with two development projects related to cloud interoperability, it said on Monday.

• Connxion halves FY11 revenue forecast

  Data and transaction services company Connxion (ASX:CXN) has cut its FY11 revenue forecast to $17-19m, from $38m, as a result of winding up its managed services business

• Citrix invests in personal cloud management company

  Citrix Systems has invested in Primadesk, a company that is developing a free, Web-based application to help users keep track of content stored in different cloud-based services, the company said on Monday.

• Microsoft offers free Azure trial

  Recalling all those AOL disks promising hundreds of hours of free usage (minus the disks), Microsoft is offering up to 750 free hours of use on its Azure service as an enticement for developers to try cloud computing, the company announced Tuesday.

• IBM sweetens the pot for partners

  Kicking off its 2011 PartnerWorld Leadership Conference, IBM has announced an expanded set of incentives for business partners offering IBM-based cloud and analytics services.

• Adobe launches e-form service

  Adobe has launched a service for conducting online surveys that the company says should ease the process of setting them up and analyzing their results.

• Telstra launches managed network service

  Online advertising company AdEffective (ASX:ABN) has launched domain name monetisation platform Yieldom, in partnership with ParkLogic and DistributeYourArticles.com

• Rackspace adds management to cloud offering

  Rackspace has added managed services to its cloud offering, joining some of its smaller competitors.

• Informatica debuts pay-as-you-go data integration service

  Hoping to pique the interest of the cloud-curious enterprise, data-integration software provider Informatica has unveiled a low-cost, cloud-based data integration service, called Informatica Cloud Express.