Enterprise search seems to keep losing every one while the battle over cloud computing in the enterpise continues to heat up

Most Customers Find Enterprise Search Results Disappointing
A new survey from the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM) finds that enterprise search appliance are not nearly as helpful as most people might have hoped, which has everything to do with how hard enterprise search is to implement and manage. But don't give up yet, there is some progress being made when it comes to semantic search for business sites. Just don't look to Google, Microsoft or IBM to provide it.

Google Extends Partnership with Salesforce.com
The software-as-a-service provider further cemented its status as most favored satellite nation under the expanding Google empire. But despite all the noise, the relevance of the latest news on the Google partnership with Salesforce.com is questionable. And perhaps even more important is what is going on as startup companies such as Bungee lay the foundation for a blended computing model that will define the next generation of enterprise computing.

Red Hat Partners with Amazon on Cloud Computing
As cloud computing becomes more strategically relevant in enterprise, the big vendors are starting to pair up with various clouds of services. Meanwhile, the tools for managing clouds of services are improving but how service level agreements will be structured across clouds of computing is still a big question. Whatever does happen, it's also becoming apparent that open source management tools will be playing a bigger role in the enterprise as cloud computing evolves because we're already seeing the companies that build platforms for managed services embracing open source tools. Of course, it looks like old line players such as IBM are going to have a pretty hard time moving over to embrace cloud computing than many people might have originally thought.

Demand for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Skills Surge
Times can be tough in IT, but it looks like SOA is finally red hot after 20 years of piloting and testing. This may also account for why Progress Software felt the need to reach out an acquire Iona Technologies.

Nokia Buys Symbian Provider of Operating Systems for Smart Phones
In a move seen as a hedge against Apple, Google and Microsoft, Nokia is acquiring Symbian, which provides the operating system used in a large number of smart phones. As part this exercise, Nokia is pledging to open the Symbian operating system as part of an effort to stem interest in smart phones based on Google's Android operating system that are due in the fourth quarter. Whether this move is coming in enough time to stave off Apple, Google and Microsoft is still anybody's guess. But one thing for certain is that when it comes to smart phones, open is better than closed.

RFID Seen as Increasing Health Risk in Hospital Environments
Maybe it was only a matter of time, but as wireless networks proliferate through hospitals it should come as little surprise that RFID frequencies are starting to interfere with medical equipment.

Virtualization Modeling Tools Improve
Under the heading of its better to look before you leap, CiRBA has improved its modeling tool for helping to determine what to make virtual when. Meanwhile, Embotics has enhanced its suite of management tools by making it easier to enforce policies across virtual environments. Elsewhere, Parallels partnered with Quest on virtualization for the client, which is rapidly becoming the next big segment of the virtualization landscape.

How Come the Certification Circus Keeps Coming Back to Town
We all know that the certification systems surrounding IT are a mess across the board so the only real mystery is why the vendor community doesn't seem to want to really do anything about it.