In the Know: 5 Cloud Stories to Review, Jan. 21

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, VMware (VMW) and Microsoft (MSFT).

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 five cloud computing stories to know for today.

IBM: Cloud Revenue Hit $7B In 2014. Big Blue reported total cloud revenue of $7 billion in 2014, up 60 percent from the prior-year period (its cloud portfolio generated $4.40 billion in cloud revenue in 2013). Others are still skeptical of the company’s cloud numbers. That’s because Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) in the past have also been shady with their cloud numbers. Talkin’ Cloud’s research positioned IBM as the number one cloud provider in 2014. Will it remain at the top in 2015? Fifty-seven percent of our readers believe so.

VMware Delivers on Enterprise Class Cloud Promise. VMware has extended the scope of the VMware vCloud Air initiative by adding new disaster recovery capabilities, the ability to support hundreds of virtual network connections, and announced the general availability of the VCloud Air Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand service.

But is the Palo Alto-based virtualization company playing catchup with Amazon and Microsoft? Analysts say VMware still has more to do to compete in the public cloud market (such as widening its portfolio of virtual machine offerings).

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

Microsoft: Try ExpressRoute for Free Through Partners. The tech giant is offering Azure customers the chance to try out its ExpressRoute direction connection service at no cost through a handful of global partners.

These partnerships have expanded into seven cities. Customers have until the end of June to take advantage of this deal from Microsoft. Will this promotion boost Microsoft’s ExpressRoute customers? Only time will tell.

Migrating to the cloud? Here’s what you need to know. Dell SEO Alan McMahon believes businesses can easily migrate to the cloud by focusing on people, cost and capacity. Cat Le-Huy, CTO for Brilliant Basics, discusses cloud innovation in a Dell-sponsored video.

IBM eyes more cloud acquisitions to find a path to growth. During Big Blue’s quarterly earnings call, IBM CFO Martin Schroeter told investors that the company is looking into cloud acquisitions to find a path to growth.

Where should IBM focus its efforts? How about cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security? IBM reported growth in each of those categories. 

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