There are a lot of aspects to the cloud to be thankful for: unlimited access to music and files (Spotify, DropBox), tools that make collaboration so easy you actually enjoy doing it (Evernote, Google Docs), and the ability to access your files and information anywhere at anytime (Salesforce, Gmail, Google Docs again). Norman gives us his reasons to be thankful for the cloud, such as the ability to be “techie” even though he’s not, it allows him to stay “connected and levelheaded” wherever he is, and allows us all to relax on holidays and days off because people can always reach us through the cloud.

• Why I Give Thanks for the Cloud

When the economy took a turn in 2008, many small businesses turned to SaaS to help save resources. Now, in 2011 and 2012, we are seeing large enterprises either making the move or transitioning to the cloud. “The evidence that cloud computing may just be recession proof is beginning to stack up.” Cloud companies such as Rackspace, NetSuite, and salesforce.com “show no signs of slowing down,” and more companies are continually turning to SaaS every year. Cloud computing is creating new opportunities for growth within both small and large companies, and as of right now, it is still growing.

• Recession Worries? Not for Cloud Computing

Ben Kepes poses the question, “what will cloud storage look like in the future?” Demands for cloud storage are changing, and today’s solutions may not be meeting those needs. Post your thoughts on his discussion through the link below.

• What Will Cloud Storage Look Like in the Future?

To keep up with the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are 50 applications we are most thankful for. Life Hacker took a vote last week over which free apps are everyone’s favorites, and here are the top 50, along with some of Life Hacker’s favorites. Dropbox, Google Chrome, Firefox, Evernote, and Notepad++ are in the top five.

• 50 Free Apps We’re Most Thankful For

VMware will soon be launching AppBlast. AppBlast is an application that allows you to access any application on any device, as long as your browser supports HTML5. AppBlast breaks through the application limits associated with a PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, tablet, and so on. For example, if you need to access Photoshop, an application that is strictly available on a desktop, on your iPad, you can do that with ease. Or, if you need to access iPhoto, a Mac-only app, on your PC, you can do that, too. We anxiously await AppBlast’s arrival, because it sounds pretty darn cool.

• Thanks to VMware, There’s an App for That

The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) held their first Cloud Computing Roundtable of the season last week, and a few Delivered Innovation team members had the chance to attend. Rich Berger, Partner Business Manager for VMware, presented on the definition of the cloud, cloud adoption stages, the experience with cloud computing, and how VMware’s products help you get the most out of the cloud.

Rich gave an informative and interesting presentation, and I’d have to say that my favorite part was learning about VMware’s soon-to-be-released project, AppBlast.

AppBlast allows you to access any application, any time, on any device, as long as you have a browser that supports HTML5. So, if you are on a Mac, using Chrome, and want to access Windows Media Player, go for it. If you are on a PC, in a Linux interface, using Firefox, and you want to access iPhoto, then have at it. It might be hard to believe, but yes, I am not kidding: any application, any device, any time. Wait a minute, what if I’m on my iPad and I want to access Photoshop? Why yes, there’s an app for that: AppBlast.

How does AppBlast work? In VMware’s words, “It is a web based delivery model for delivering ThinApp applications to any end user device compatible with HTML5 and Java. App Blast integrates with VMware Horizon App Manager and will allow IT organizations to entitle users to access ThinApp applications directly from the web to any device such as Apple’s iPad or Android based devices.” In a world where there is constant Mac vs. PC, Chrome vs. Firefox, iPhone vs. Android, iPad vs. Kindle Fire, Good vs. Evil, project AppBlast is here to save the day.

So, next time someone asks you, “is there an [insert Android, Mac, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, etc. here] app for that?” Thanks to VMware, yes, yes there is.

VMware AppBlast Preview

Citrix Systems Inc. acquired Cloud.com on Tuesday for a rumored price of $200-250 million. “The acquisition will let Citrix customers run cloud-computing software faster and more cheaply.” GoDaddy.com, Zynga, and Nokia are all Cloud.com customers that rely on the service to run their website in the cloud and handle their traffic. This acquisition puts Citrix into closer competition with VMware and Amazon.com, which also host websites on their cloud platforms.

• Citrix Systems Acquires Cloud.com to Challenge Rivals VMware, Amazon

The four reasons Casey outlines as to why the cloud is not overhyped are geography, faster deployment speeds, room for growth, and frequency of updates and enhancements. Geography because companies with offices all over the state, country, world, what have you, can access the same data at the same time, without the fear that something problematic would happen to a single data center. Faster deployment speeds and room for growth are important because as businessues such as the Schumacher Group grow rapidly, the cloud services can be set up quickly, keep up with growth, and maintain high speeds better than an on-site server would. And finally, the frequency of updates and enhancements allows for more growth and simple updates without hassle.

• 4 Reasons Cloud Computing Isn’t Overhyped

According to new In-Stat research, public cloud computing “is set to grow “153% from 2010 to 2015.” IaaS is predicted to grow to about $4 billion by 2015, SaaS will grow 142%. In addition, small businesses are expected to be the fastest growing size segment, “growing from $2.5 billion by 2010 and $6.6 billion by 2015.” SaaS and IaaS are important to small businesses because of the ease of use, the accessibility, and the cost savings they provide.

• Public Cloud Computing is Set to Grow 153% From 2010 to 2015

Cloud services “can and will fail at some point,” there is no reason to deny it. However, to ensure that business runs smoothly during these times, businesses must fully understand what possible problems could arise and find out how to solve them if the event occurs. If an organization is experiencing performance problems, consider Cloudsleuth, “an open online cloud community sponsored by Compuware,” which helps uncover and solve performance problems. If companies do experience slower response times or lower network bandwidth, they should try to uncover the issue before it turns into something even larger, such as the service shutting down completely. Do not let these types of problems discourage you from joining the cloud. Just like IT services, problems will arise, but learn how to fix them and have an alternative plan prepared, and the downtime will go smoothly.

• What to Do When the Cloud Fails

VMware announced their new version of vSphere cloud operating system on Tuesday. The new upgrade is “aimed at making it easier for small and medium sized businesses to adopt cloud computing.” The upgrade included better security, storage, and recovery features. New storage features allows for companies to “pool internal storage from several computers into one secure pool” without needing to purchase additional services or hardware. VMwares announcement was juxtaposed with Citrix’s acquisition of Cloud.com, which puts the two companies in bigger competition with the other.

• VMware Expands Cloud Suite, Boosts Storage Abilities

Dodson outlines various reasons why the cloud is essential for health care providers. He makes the argument that, “by utlizing cloud based platforms… health care IT departments can shake-off the burden of supporting on-premise applications that don’t directly affect patient care.” Some of his reasons for moving health care to the cloud includes cutting down their budgets, the need to get more information, faster, and the need for security. Doctors are already starting to use iPads to take down patient information and transfer prescriptions to pharmacies, so we are already starting to see the benefit of the cloud and cloud resources at work in this industry.

• Five Reasons Why Cloud Computing is Essential For Health Care

Quickbooks announced Intuit Anywhere, a PaaS with pre-built integration to other cloud-based services. “With one-click, [customers] can “Connect to QuickBooks” from an Intuit Anywhere enabled app, sign-in with their Intuit Account, and instantly have QuickBooks data available to them.” A few well known Quickbooks partners are already signed up to use this application, including eBay and Concur. The idea of PaaS with pre-built integrations to other cloud based services is new in PaaS technology, and we cannot help but ask whether this was what PaaS was meant to do from the beginning, or is Quickbooks breaking new ground?

• Announcing Intuit Anywhere

This week, VMware announced that they intend to acquire Digital Fuel, an IT Financial Management SaaS solutions. Digital Fuel provides solutions to optimize IT cost and value, by enabling companies “to plan, manage and optimize cost and value in the emerging world of cloud based dynamic IT.” Digital Fuels’ mission corresponds with VMware’s, in the sense that VMware is constantly coming out on top as the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions in IT. Details of the acquisition were not announced, and is schedule to close this July.

• VMware to Acquire Digital Fuel, IT Financial and Business Management SaaS Company

GMO, Japan’s most sought after name in cloud hosting, announced their intention to move into the US with GMO Cloud America Inc. GMO decided to move to the US because of “the growing demand created by businesses that are embracing the scalability and portability of cloud hosting and computing.” At it’s launch, GMO will provide three different packages: GMO10, GMO20, and GMO30 at low introductory prices for the next six months. GMO10 will be free during this period. With more companies moving to the cloud every day, it isn’t a bad idea to open up more options for cloud hosting.

• GMO Launches Cloud Computing Solution in U.S. Market

Contendo raised $17million from partners Citrix and Juniper Networks to support the company’s growth. Contedo specializes in cloud-based acceleration technoligies, including site and mobile acceleration. Contedo expands to grow overseas with their funding, moving into Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Citrix stated their investment in the company was driven by, “the synergy between the services and technologies of Citrix Systems and Contedo blend on-premise physical and virtual appliances… thereby improving end user experience from any location to any device.”

• Cloud Technology Startup Contendo Raises $17 Million From Citrix, Juniper, VCs

CloudTweaks takes an interesting position on last week’s Amazon outage, arguing that the outage is “actually a very positive sign for cloud computing.” Even though many popular websites such as Foursquare and Quora went down, Netflix managed to get by with only a minor hiccup. This is because whenever Netflix notices one of their operational systems or availability zones is poorly performing, they “terminate it and get a new one” or “switch over to another.” Smart move on their part, since problems and failures will undoubtably occur. However, thanks to the cloud, it easy for companies to deal with these issues by simply transferring their content into other data centers. Even though Amazon is at fault for this outage, companies shouldn’t put all the blame on them, as they too, should have been more prepared.

• Amazon Web Services Deployment the Right Way

Greenbutton provides us with a great cloud case study. “Greenbutton leverages cloud processing to drive result for the bio sciences, geoscience and engineering and 3d artists.” Through partnering with Microsoft Azure, Greenbutton’s 3d artists can accelerate their render jobs and reduce their processing time significantly- literally from hours to just a few minutes, saving them significant costs and time.

• Head of Microsoft Azure Calls Out Greenbutton. The Perfect Cloud Case Study?

On Friday, VMware announced their purchas of SlideRocket, a service that provides companies with online presentation software, essentially allowing them to make fancy PowerPoint presentations in the cloud. VMware believes that the acquisition of SlideRocket will help their users “‘deliver access to applications and data from any device, where and when a user needs it’ and ‘help VMware drive a new model for end-user computing for the enterprise.’” PowerPoint is the second most widely used business tool, following email.

• VMware Makes a Move on Office

The Wall Street Journal is comparing the future of cloud computing to the Industrial Revolution, in that cloud computing is going to “shape our future world.” The biggest impact of the cloud will of course be in the business sector, changing the way many companies manage their IT infrastructure, office communication, and reducing costs. Is it too much to say, “We told you so?”

• Cloud Labeled as a ‘Revolution’

Earlier this week, ebizQ asked users to respond to the assumption that SOA is being ignored in the cloud, and instead architects are, “tossing things out of the enterprise onto private and public clouds and hoping for the best.” Overall, responses seem to be 50/50 on the matter. Delivered Innovation CTO Michael Topalovich argues that SOA may not be lost, but rather, the issue lies in the fact that many companies do not comprehend the cloud, or even go as far as to claim they are using “the cloud,” when in reality, they don’t fully understand what the cloud is. Feel free to post your opinions to this discussion.

• Are the Lessons of SOA Being Ignored with the Cloud?