Cloud Hosting HQ

Hostingpublicity.com takes a look at a new app Rackspace has released for the iPad:

The Rackspace(R) Cloud, the cloud computing division of Rackspace Hosting, has announced the release of Rackspace Cloud Pro(TM), the first application for the new iPad(TM) to enable developers to monitor and manage their Rackspace Cloud Servers(TM). With Cloud Pro, users can turn on backups for a server, create new servers from backups, manage back-up scheduling, re-boot, rename, resize and delete servers — all using the iPad’s intuitive touchscreen interface. The free application is now available at iTunes.

The application also offers a panel on the login screen that shows users the current system status of the entire Rackspace Cloud and displays the US and UK Rackspace support numbers. Using Cloud Pro, users can also ping the public IP address for a Cloud Server to see how responsive their server is from wherever they are located. Cloud Pro for iPad frees businesses and developers from their desktops by offering them enterprise-quality server control and functionality through the convenience and mobility of the iPad.

This article at reddevnews.com examines a few companies that you may or may not know about:

Don’t just consider the “big boys” when determining your cloud computing partner — many vendors have a lot to offer. Here’s five up-and-coming platforms to add to your consideration list.

This article from Network World takes a look the complex structure of the cloud:

The reality of cloud computing has always been a lot more about the nuts and bolts of data-center operations than about the metaphor of on-demand computer power flowing from anonymous sources somewhere on the other end of the network connection.  Still, it’s a bit too meta when you realize that cloud-computing platforms are often made up of other clouds.

Over at the Cloud Computing Journal Peter Silva has taken a look at people’s understanding of what the cloud is and provides several links that with different explanations and evaluations of the cloud.

We all know that there is still significant confusion surrounding cloud computing driven by vendor claims, lack of standards and it being a *relatively* new technology tool for business.  I’ll let the links do most of the talking  but it is interesting to watch the videos and hear all the different opinions on what is cloud computing over the years.

A presentation at CloudConnect by Guy Rosen, CEO of Vircado and the man behind the jackofallclouds blog.

This article at inkopia.com asks that very question. In the article they take a look five key reasons people prefer cloud hosting.  Those five reasons are:

1. Reduced capital expenditure
2. Scalability
3. Uptime
4. Automation
5. Data recovery

To see a summary of why they believe these are the reason for choosing cloud hosting take a look at the  full article.

Former disc jockey Dave Macli discusses how cloud-based services are helping his music-based business over at rcpmag.com.

Macli, founder and chief executive of social networking and music file portal The DJ Booth, thought it was a good idea out of the gate as the perfect example of a Web 2.0 enterprise client.

“In order to be successful we have to be on the cutting edge of the music industry,” said Macli. “If an artist releases a song and we don’t have it up the next day, our users will let us know about it.”

It’s for this very reason that Macli says he needs to keep focused. His company chose to have its IT infrastructure hosted by Dallas-based The Planet. Macli’s firm is headquartered in New York. Such is the nature of leaving IT to someone else Macli says.

Macli’s relationship with The Planet is a prelude to how cloud computing services can and will be deployed in the future.

This article at zarjay.net takes a look at some of the cloud-based services that are available from three very well-known companies. These services are setting trends now that will be come the standard for cloud-based services in the not to distant future.

There are quite a few services available now, but the big three you should probably know about are Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Amazon started the whole trend and offers the most wide array of services. Google offers one specific service for cloud hosting (although you can arguably say that almost every Google product is a “cloud service”), and Microsoft is the one getting the least attention, but their strength in the business world may end up making their services the most widely used.

Read the rest of the article to learn more about  the services each company is providing.

Cloudhostingmag.com takes a look at ten great ways to speed up your site in a two part article that examines some great ways to increase how fast and efficient your site is for visitors.  Their ten ways are:

For an examination of each of these ways check out part 1 and part 2 of this article.

This article on thewhir.com takes a look at some ideas for the future of cloud hosting as presented by De Spiegeleer at WebhostingDay 2010.

In his presentation, “Cloud 2.0: a vision on the next generation of cloud products,” De Spiegeleer presented some very compelling ideas on how to improve the entire data center environment — starting from the physical layer. He explains that most IT effort in the cloud is focused around upper layers, but there is little attention paid to automation, preventing of disasters, remote control, monitoring, auditing, power optimization, and a host of other problems.