HP launches the next generation CloudSystem, now with a "consumer-inspired" UI, simplified management tools and an improved deployment process to provide the foundation for a hybrid cloud solution.

Integrating OpenStack-based Cloud OS technology, CloudSystem takes advantage of multiple public clouds, including the newly added Windows Azure and platforms from European cloud provider Arsys and French telco SFR.

A further cloud-related HP announcement is the Hybrid Cloud Management Platform-- one integrating Cloud Service Automation (CSA) 4.0 with native CloudOS and TOSCA (Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications) support for easier application portability and hybrid/heterogeneous IT environment management.

IBM creates software allowing the dynamic migration of data across multiple clouds-- what Big Blue describes as a "cloud-of-clouds" taking advantage of multiple yet separate clouds to provide stronger protection.

“Our cloud-of-clouds invention can help clients avoid service outages and security incidents that impact the reliability and security of individual clouds,” IBM says. “We are adding multiple levels of redundancy and reliability by making cloud migration and back-up easier and faster than is currently possible.”

The patent-pending invention uses an "object storage" interface allowing users to drag and drop files for back-up or sharing to any cloud. It is vendor-neutral and addresses space efficiency, data synchronisation and metadata coordination when storing data redundantly on object storage.

The idea of a pan-European cloud free of NSA spying pushed by Neelie Kroess and other European politicians finds an opponent in the shape of SAP, the biggest software developer in the continent. 

"A merger between some European IT companies with the aim of drawing a line between them and the rest of the global market does not make any sense," SAP co-Chief Executive Jim Hagemann Snabe tells Reuters. "Such an endeavor would be doomed to fail from the outset."

Hagemann Snabe argues such a pan-European cloud-- an equivalent of Airbus for IT, if you will-- will only lead to "less competition, less innovation and less growth in a globally-focused sector." Instead he suggests the promotion of competition and young talent in order to create the next generation of European IT companies.  Read more...

HP announces HP Propel-- a cloud-based service solution for organisations wanting to offer self-service capabilities to end users, available in a trio of free or paid-for software-as-a-service (SaaS) options. 

The SaaS applications in question consist of an IT self-service portal, service catalogues and an Open Service Exchange available as desktop and mobile platforms. 

The free version includes a standard service catalogue, a Knowledge Management collaboration product and IT news feed delivery via RSS. 

Meanwhile the paid-for version includes an enhanced catalogue, advanced authentication (including single sign-on) and an extended version of Knowledge Management. It also allows customers to integrate on-premise service management solutions via HP-hosted Propel Service Exchange. Read more...