Provider of open source solutions Red Hat has announced that Portugal Telecom (News - Alert) has expanded its use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux as it moves toward an open source and open standards infrastructure.

Portugal Telecom is a global telecommunications operator that offers multimedia services to developing international markets. “Portugal Telecom is a global organization that relies on technology for the delivery of end-user products and services,” said Mário Vian Costa, IT manager at Portugal Telecom.

VMware is officially entering the service provider market by buying taking over the operations of the Mozy cloud-based storage service from parent company EMC. VMware CTO Steven Herrod announced the news on his blog today, writing that “VMware has hired the team and acquired assets behind EMC’s Mozy cloud-based data protection service” and that “VMware will operate the Mozy service on behalf of EMC without interruption.” Aside from the immediate benefit of selling cloud-based backup services, though VMware almost certainly made this purchase move with an eye toward the future of its own products and offerings.

For good or for bad, Microsoft is finally stepping into cloud computing for small business.

Microsoft's Web-based version of its franchise Office product, branded as Office 365 ($6.75 per user a month in Canada), came out of private beta recently with company executives flatly stating that the Internet is the one and only future for Microsoft.

Cloud Computing was the driving theme behind Microsoft Malta’s Innovation Day event, a one-day forum held on earlier this month at the Hilton Malta.Cloud Computing was the driving theme behind Microsoft Malta’s Innovation Day event, a one-day forum held on earlier this month at the Hilton Malta.

The event, themed “Be What’s Next… With Cloud Power” was attended by IT leaders, executives and academics. Its main aim was to create more familiarity around the concept of cloud computing and some of its major aspects such as academic, business and technological feature. The event not only showcased how local companies are innovating in the cloud but also provided an opportunity to learn about the latest cloud technologies from Microsoft and how these can be put into use by businesses, customers, inside the classroom and at home.