WHAT A JOKE!! Some has reported that Apple iCloud users were hit by an outage. The report goes as “Apple iCloud users were hit by yet another outage, though this one seems to have affected a relatively small percentage of users. As of Thursday 4 a.m. PT, Apple's status page reveals issues with iMessage, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Backup and Restore, and iPhoto Journals. Apple's description of the problem reports that people may be unable to use those services and unable to send or download attachments in iMessage. The page says that less than 1 percent of users were affected. Just how many people does that include? In April, Apple said that its iClouduser population had jumped to 300 million. So that means these services may have been out of commission for just under 3 million people. Apple's status page also indicates that the outage started Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. PT and that it was resolved Thursday around 8:30 a.m. PT.” The report smell criticism. What do you expect? Apple is serving the whole world. So what? Is it hiding the fact that things may go wrong from time to time? Compare to what benefits the users can get out of Apple's iCloud services. Apple is transparent and not hiding anything from its user as everyone can see from its worldwide web page in the link below, and also check what went wrong. http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

Performance management specialist Xactly to integrate its compensation management software with SAP Cloud for Sales solutions. As the result of a new agreement with SAP, Xactly Corporation will integrate XactlyIncent, its cloud-based incentive compensation management software, with SAP Cloud for Customer solutions, including the SAP Cloud for Sales desktop and mobile products. "Our deepened relationship with SAP will extend our reach to forward-thinking companies around the world that are creating strategic efficiencies and business value with the cloud," said Evan Ellis, Xactly's chief operating officer. "By partnering with SAP, Xactly will be able to help more companies leverage the cloud to improve their performance and efficiency by unleashing the motivational potential of incentives." According to Christopher Cabrera, founder, president and CEO of Xactly, many organizations still use spreadsheets to manually calculate sales commissions and bonuses, which exposes their businesses to both material and performance risks. "We look forward to leveraging the power of solutions from SAP and from Xactly to help customers reduce risk, gain valuable insight and create a more engaged, aligned and motivated workforce," he said. Another Xactly product, Xactly Objectives, won an award for sales technology innovation in the 2013 Ventana Research Technology Innovation Awards, which according to Ventana's website "showcase what technology vendors have done to advance the computing potential of their applications and technology so that it can be used to drive better efficiency and productivity as well as the outcomes and performance of an organization." >> Source

Fears over NSA surveillance revelations endanger US cloud computing industry Companies say they could lose billions as customers become wary about their data being turned over to US authorities American technology businesses fear they could lose between $21.5bn and $35bn in cloud computing contracts worldwide over the next three years, as part of the fallout from the NSA revelations. Some US companies said they have already lost business, while UK rivals said that UK and European businesses are increasingly wary of trusting their data to American organisations, which might have to turn it over secretly to the National Security Agency, its government surveillance organisation. One British executive, Simon Wardley at the Leading Edge Forum thinktank, celebrated the publication of the information about the NSA's spying and its Prism data collection program: "Do I like Prism ... yes, and god bless America and the NSA for handing this golden opportunity to us," he wrote on his blog. "Do I think we should be prepared to go the whole hog, ban US services and create a €100bn investment fund for small tech startups in Europe to boost the market ... oh yes, without hesitation." A survey by the US-based Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found that American companies which offer file storage and computing in cloud systems – so they can be stored and accessed anywhere in the world – are gloomy about the effects of the Guardian's revelations of the extent of US government snooping and data gathering through projects such as Prism and Xkeyscore >> READ MORE