Roundup: IBM, Microsoft, Akamai, Cloudy links

Here’s a roundup of interesting links from the last few days about data centers and cloud computing:

• IBM plans to open a new data center in Scotland intended for medium-size businesses, the company said Friday. 
• Responding to news reports, Microsoft said Friday that it is reviewing its hiring plans amid the economic uncertainty, but denied a report that it has instituted a companywide hiring freeze.  
• Dan Rayburn drills a little deeper into Akamai’s pricing for content delivery services, and wodners why the company is quoting one price for streaming delivery and another price for HTTP based video delivery. Akamai’s pricing was an issue cited in several analyst downgrades last week.
• James Urquhart has a thoughtful post that looks at the future of cloud computing now the buzz is starting to recede, giving way to practical questions about lock-in and the uility of clouds for the enterprise.
• More specifically, Bob Warfield responds to Richard Stallman’s widely-noted critique of cloud computing. Is “virtual hardware” the key to thinking about the cloud? 

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About Rich Miller

Rich Miller is the founder and editor-in-chief of Data Center Knowledge, and has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000. He has tracked the growing impact of high-density computing on the power and cooling of data centers, and the resulting push for improved energy efficiency in these facilities.