In the Know: Top 5 Must-Read Cloud Stories, Jan. 22

Talkin’ Cloud at the end of each day pulls out five must-read cloud computing stories from the news cycle for its readers to review in the morning. Today’s column features IBM, Pluribus Networks and Google (GOOG).

Some of these stories have been gathered from Talkin’ Cloud’s article database, while others have been collected from elsewhere. If we missed something, feel free to leave a comment below. We might just add it into the mix.

Here’s today’s list of must-read cloud computing stories.

10 Worst Cloud Security Threats Of 2015. With the majority of businesses admitting to not trusting cloud security, security solutions providers have a lot of work ahead of them in 2015 — especially since the majority of IT security leaders have adopted the cloud or are currently planning cloud initiatives. 

What are the biggest cloud security issues affecting businesses this year? How can channel partners mitigate these threats? Talkin’ Cloud has the answers.

IBM’s cloud revenue hits $7B in 2014, but still plenty of work to do. The good news for IBM this week is its cloud revenue in 2014 hit $7 billion, a year ahead of schedule. But that’s not good enough for some. They believe there’s still plenty of work for Big Blue to do — and they’re probably right.

The company this week reported its revenue for Q4 to be $24.1 billion, down 12 percent from the year-ago quarter. What does that mean? IBM’s revenues have declined for the 11th consecutive quarter. Will IBM’s shift toward cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security pay off in the end?

Click here for Talkin’ Cloud’s Top 100 CSP list

SDN Startup Pluribus Networks Raises $50M for Open Application Platform. The software-defined networking (SDN) startup has raised $50 million in funding for its open application platform. This financing round brings the Palo Alto, California-based company’s total financing to date to $95 million. The company plans to use the additional funds to grow its sales, business development and engineering teams to support growing customer demand.

What’s in store for Pluribus’ channel partners? Ginsburg, the company’s CMO, told Talkin’ Cloud that the additional funds will also expand the company’s channel efforts by growing its sales in North America and footprint in Southeast Asia. He also said Pluribus will be announcing a new channel chief in the near future.

Mirantis Expands OpenStack Cloud Computing Training. “Pure-play” OpenStack vendor Mirantis believes existing cloud computing training programs for OpenStack don’t meet the soaring demand for expertise in the open source cloud platform. That’s why it’s expanding its OpenStack training offerings with two new courses and a certificate verification portal.

What’s now available? OpenStack Fundamentals, designed to introduce business professionals to the open source cloud computing operating system; and OpenStack Bootcamp II, a course for “students with extensive background in OpenStack.”

Google Reveals Its 10 ‘Need-To-Know’ Technology Partners. CRN reached out to search giant Google to find which of its technology partners are making the biggest moves in 2015. Here’s a list of Google’s “need-to-know” technology partners.

Follow CJ Arlotta on Twitter @cjarlotta and Google+ for further updates on the story above — or if you just want to say hello.