IBM Poland and the Wroclaw University of Technology on Thursday announced an agreement to establish the first university cloud computing center in Poland. As part of the partnership, the Wroclaw University of Technology will create a new academic curriculum, making cloud-focused courses available to more than 1500 students. "The new cloud center will provide a common platform for students and professors, industry partners and government agencies to work on real solutions based on cloud computing that will align people and technology effectively, and will generate value for both services providers and clients," said Professor Czeslaw Smutnicki, director of the Institute of Computer Engineering, Control and Robotics, Wroclaw University of Technology. "We plan to start immediately with a cloud computing practice for over 500 students later this summer. The cooperation... (more)

Developers Rate IBM Top Private Cloud

IBM on Tuesday announced that its private test and development cloud was the top choice of developers in Evans Data Corporation's Cloud Development Survey 2010. Evans Data Corporation's Cloud Development Survey Report examines the concerns, intentions and current adoption of developers regarding deploying to and developing for public or private clouds. The report covers the full range of Cloud Computing issues, including: Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud, Private cloud management and data centers, standards and security. In the survey of over 400 software developers, almost 30% ide... (more)

A Case for Private PaaS

A couple of weeks back, at the IBF Panel discussion on PaaS, we were discussing the opportunity for a Private PaaS. While a Private Cloud is typically associated with IaaS, I started to ponder on the value of a Private PaaS offering. Installing the development platform / runtime running .NET or Java stack on a set of VMs provisioned on the Private (IaaS) Cloud doesn’t turn it into a Private PaaS. PaaS should really abstract the nuts and bolts of the infrastructure (OS, middleware and other plumbing) and should expose only what is required for the applications to run. Microsoft’... (more)

Who’s Gonna Buy Novell?

Novell set this week as the deadline for acquisition offers, according to the Wall Street Journal followed by the New York Times. Elliott Associates LLP spokesman Scott Tagliarino claims Elliott, whose $5.75-a-share offer put Novell in play a couple of months ago, knows nothing about Novell's schedule. "It's running its own show," he said. Elliott's offer is still on the table. Novell refused the hedge fund's unsolicited bid as too low but since the offer inflated Novell's sunken stock price the company knew it was trapped and went looking for a sweeter deal. The Journal report... (more)

EC Opens Two Antitrust Investigations of IBM

The European Commission said Monday morning that it has opened not one but two formal investigations of IBM and its mainframe business on the suspicion that Big Blue has abused its dominant position. IBM is already under investigation by the Justice Department for the same thing and the EC's move may inspire the DOJ to make its case. IBM's immediate reaction was to blame Microsoft and "its satellite proxies" for its troubles but that "pretty to think so" excuse doesn't quite hold water. One of the twin probes the EC currently has underway has nothing to do with any of the recent... (more)