Public clouds just don’t cut it when it comes to mission critical applications that form the backbone of your business. Security concerns, especially when you’re dealing with sensitive customer data like building security drawings, could also put a damper on any cloud computing strategy.

You could try to build a “private cloud“, though the term could be misleading, depending on your definition of cloud computing.

In May, Amazon Web Services senior vice president Andy Jassy noted that private clouds usually incur “very high fixed cost and lack the benefits of the cloud. Companies still own all the capital expenditure, data centers, servers; it’s not pay as you go and it’s not truly elastic on the company level because you still own and manage the infrastructure by yourself.”

First unveiled at CES 2010, the Iomega iConnect is a NAS device targeted at consumers and SOHO users with its simple set-up process that quickly connects USB drives and printers to a home network for file and print sharing.

This S$163 NAS slab is possibly one of the thinnest out there, and comes with four USB ports (three in front and one behind) for hooking up USB drives and printers that can be shared among the users on your home network. While the iConnect looks sleek, the whole set-up doesn’t look that great once you have USB cables running all over the device.

In a move that stunned many in the tech circles, Oracle pulled a trigger on Google with a lawsuit alleging that the Android platform and devices infringe one or more Java patents and copyright.

Oracle claims that Google has been aware of Sun’s patent portfolio, including the patents at issue, since the middle of this decade, when Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers.

The lawsuit leads one to question the intentions of Oracle’s latest lawsuit and its commitment to open source. Java has been covered by the open source General Public License since 2006, way before Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems was completed in January 2010.

In a turn of affairs, SAP announced this week that it would not contest the liability of TomorrowNow for downloading proprietary, copyrighted software products and other confidential materials used by Oracle’s support organization.

In 2007, Oracle filed a lawsuit against TomorrowNow, a now defunct SAP subsidiary that offered maintenance and support services for Oracle software at a much lower cost than that provided by Oracle. SAP had said then that it will aggressively defend the claims made in the lawsuit.

On Thursday, SAP said that it will accept financial responsibility for any judgment awarded against TomorrowNow, despite the fact that SAP was not involved in TomorrowNow’s service operations and did not engage in any of the copying or downloading alleged in Oracle’s complaint.

Starhub has quietly introduced a “redirection service” that takes MaxOnline broadband customers to a Yahoo search page if you happen to enter an invalid URL in your browser. Prior to this, you would typically get an error message from your browser telling you that the invalid domain’s server cannot be found.

According to a Starhub FAQ list, the service does not track individual Internet usage patterns. The service “simply redirects queries to non-existing domain names to a useful search results page instead of a cryptic error message page or browser-defined page”. Users can also choose to opt out of the service at a preferences page.

What Starhub is effectively doing is DNS hijacking, a controversial practice that has led to security breaches by hackers. Some ISPs in the United States have had their users open to cross-site scripting attacks due to lax Web programming techniques by some search partners.

In 2003, Verisign also directed users to paid search results, a move which led to an investigation by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Among its findings, ICANN noted that DNS redirection “disturbed a set of existing services that had been functioning satisfactorily. Names that were mistyped, had lapsed, had been registered but not delegated, or had never been registered in DNS were resolved as if they existed.

“As a consequence, certain e-mail systems, spam filters and other services failed resulting in direct and indirect costs to third parties, either in the form of increased network charges for some classes of users, a reduction in performance, or the creation of work required to compensate for the consequent failure”.

From July 13, Microsoft will end its support for Windows 2000 and XP Service Pack 2, according to a media statement Monday.

Specifically, users of these two operating systems will not receive security updates or non-security hot fixes, free or paid assisted support, the option to engage Microsoft’s product development resources as well as
updates to online content (KB articles, etc.)

Microsoft customers are “highly encouraged” to migrate to the latest supported service pack which is the latest and most secure version of their product. Staying on a supported service pack is the only way to ensure continued access to security updates and the ability to escalate support issues within Microsoft.

To ensure that customers understand exactly what end of support means, Microsoft has put together a list of questions customers might ask about end of support. In addition, Microsoft has guidance for customers to understand what version of Windows they’re using today and how to upgrade their PCs to the version that’s right for them.

Launched in February 2000, Windows 2000 promises to build on the security and stability of its predecessor, Windows NT. Targeted largely at business users, Windows 2000 came in various flavours including Windows 2000 Professional for enterprise desktops and Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter Server on corporate servers.

Networking giant Cisco Systems unveiled its vision of smart, connected cities of the future during a media event at the Shanghai World Expo today.

In a showcase of interest to urban planners striving to build sustainable and environmentally friendly cities, Cisco demonstrated several network enabled applications in areas such as health care, security and transportation.

Telemedicine, for instance, allows patients to measure blood oxygen levels and send that information to their doctors while urban transportation management systems allow city officials and transportation service providers to monitor real time traffic conditions and divert traffic if necessary.

Underpinning these technologies are ubiquitous smart networks and data centers that process and serve up critical information in real time.

New developments in Linux are about to emerge from Asia with the Linux Foundation’s heightened focus in the region. Last week, the foundation appointed Cliff Miller as its new director of China operations and Alex Lu, who will hold the same job in Taiwan.

Miller co-founded TurboLinux in 1992, bringing commercial Linux to Japan and China in the 1990s. He also co-founded Mountain View Data in 2000, which provided Linux-based data storage software and server provisioning software to the enterprise.

Miller’s counterpart, Lu is a co-founder at DeviceVM and, as the senior vice president of business development, continues to close worldwide contracts with leading OEMs to bring Linux to netbooks, notebooks and desktop PCs.

The choice of China and Taiwan to unleash a fresh wave of innovation in the Linux platform on servers and mobile devices is hardly surprising.

With all the buzz surrounding cloud computing today, enterprises large and small may still be grappling with what the term really means for their business.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) senior vice president Andy Jassy took the opportunity to demystify some misconceptions about cloud computing and its benefits to enterprises as part of the IDA Distinguished Speaker Series on Thursday. AWS also announced its first Asia-Pacific Region in Singapore.

If you can’t wait to lay your hands on an Apple iPad, head down to Lucky Plaza where the device was spotted at several electronics stores in the basement level. Prices are hovering around S$990.

CNET Asia’s Crave blog reported that the iPad is going for S$1,299 at one large 24-hour megamall, so Lucky Plaza might just be offering the best iPad prices in town for now before the device officially ships to Singapore.