In The Know: Top 5 Must-Read Cloud Stories, June 29

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 Dropbox, Google (GOOG) and Elastica. 

Some of these stories have been gathered from Talkin’ Cloud’s article database or that of its sister sites, 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.

Google to pair its cloud-computing power with Broad’s analytic tools. Google has signed an agreement with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to create new data analysis tools in the cloud, starting with the offering of Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) as a service. Broad Institute’s GATK will be available to users of the Google Cloud Platform in an effort to “lessen the IT burden on researchers by allowing them to outsource the configuration of technical specifications and maintenance” of cloud resources.

Real use cases: Why 50% of enterprises are choosing hybrid cloud. Study after study reiterates how quickly enterprises are adopting hybrid cloud since it gives them more control over their IT environments while enabling them to access the scalability of public cloud.  But what are enterprises actually doing with hybrid cloud? Testing environments, disaster recovery and cloud bursting are just a few of the use cases for enterprises.

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Nadella Microsoft Mission Statement Talks Tough Choices Ahead, Growth, Teamwork Culture. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella issued an internal memo to employees on the company’s new mission statement. Not surprisingly, the mission includes an emphasis on mobile devices and cloud services, which Nadella said Microsoft will meet with “best-in-class platforms and productivity services.”

Elastica Expands into Australian Market through Partnerships with Telstra, Cisco. Cloud application security provide Elastica is expanding in Australia through agreements with Telstra and Cisco. Australian businesses will have access to Elastica’s application security platform through a strategic partnership with Telstra. 

Dropbox and Xero form alliance as small business cloud computing battle heats up. Cloud accounting software provider Xero has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Dropbox to allow its users to share documents directly from personal or business accounts with accounting systems.