Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched DynamoDB, a cloud database service designed to meet the growing needs of demanding Web-based applications.

DynamoDB will allow developers to launch new database tables and moderate their database capacity without downtime and performance overheads. All data is housed on solid state drives and replicated across multiple AWS availability zones to ensure high availability and durability of data. …

Enterprises using Equinix’s data centres in Singapore and Tokyo can now connect directly to Amazon’s public cloud service.

Through Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect, Equinix customers in the Asia-Pacific region can establish private network connections with Amazon’s cloud infrastructure, paying only for the network ports used and data transferred out of AWS. Data transfer into AWS is free.

Equinix, a global data centre operator, said the connectivity option will help companies cut network costs into and out of AWS, by lowering bandwidth commitments to ISPs …

Google started the building of a new data centre in Singapore on Thursday, a US$120 million facility which represents the Internet giant’s expansion of operations in the region.

“More users are coming online in Asia than anywhere else in the world,” said Julian Persaud, head of Google Southeast Asia at a launch event. Projected to go online in 2013, the new data centre promises to serve this growing demand by delivering fast and reliable access to Google services.

In addition, the data centre will boost the local job market in a small way, as Google is hiring a small team of full-time staff as well as a number of contractors in a variety of roles, including computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers, and catering and security staff. …

Huawei may be one of the top manufacturers of mobile broadband dongles, but the company is still the underdog in the Android smartphone arena. With two new low-cost devices just unleashed, will Huawei’s “vision” bring the company any “honor” in the smartphone battle? …

Every once in a while, a technology emerges that makes you wonder why you haven’t thought about it before. The Singapore-made Orastream app is one such example.

It enables music players to stream the songs at as high a quality as possible, depending on the network that is delivering the songs. This means you always enjoy the highest quality music, without worrying about the dreaded break in transmission – a boon to future music services on the go. …

Google will retire its Wave collaboration platform for good next year in an “off-season spring cleaning” exercise.

In a e-mail to Google Wave users yesterday, the search giant said all waves will be read-only by January 31, 2012, followed by a complete shut-down of the service on April 30, 2012. Users can continue to export individual waves using the existing PDF export feature until the Google Wave service is turned off. …

Cloud computing is gaining momentum in Singapore despite concerns over data privacy and security, a new survey has found.

According to the Cloud Maturity Index commissioned by VMware, 63 percent of Singapore firms are either using or planning to roll out cloud initiatives, compared to 53 percent in 2010. The survey was compiled by Forrester Research, which interviewed 6,141 business and IT decision-makers in the Asia Pacific region. …

Google Street View has been expanded in Singapore to include panoramic views of the city-state’s iconic and heritage sites.

According to a media statement Tuesday, Google said the new sites were chosen by Singaporeans in a poll jointly organised with the Singapore Tourism Board, where respondents indicated locations they wanted to see on Street View. These include the Singapore Flyer, Haw Par Villa, Fort Canning Park, One Fullerton, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Kampong Buangkok and Kampong Glam. …

The Asia-Pacific region appears more keen to adopt cloud computing than Europe and the United States, according to a survey of industry leaders revealed by HP today.

Fifty-eight per cent of chief information and technology officers in China have plans to move to cloud computing, while 56 per cent of these key decision makers are keen on the new technology in India, it said. This compares with 34 per cent in the United States and 32 per cent in Europe, according to HP executives at a regional media event in Singapore.

The reason: Asia has fewer legacy systems and thus can move faster without worrying about junking old investments. …

Amidst the brouhaha surrounding the spat between Oracle and Salesforce at Oracle Openworld this year, Oracle unveiled a public cloud service to strengthen its position in the SaaS market. The world’s second largest software maker also announced significant products that would help companies make better business decisions by making sense of the growing avalanche of corporate data. Here’s a rundown of the key announcements and what they mean for enterprises: …