The use of highly scaled, shared, and automated IT platforms"”known as cloud computing"”is growing rapidly. Adopters are driven by the prospects of increasing agility and gaining access to more computing resources for less money. Large institutions are building and managing private-cloud environments internally (and, in some cases, procuring access to external public clouds) for basic infrastructure services, development platforms, and whole applications. Smaller businesses are primarily buying public-cloud offerings, as they generally lack the scale to set up their own clouds. But as attractive as cloud environments can be, they also come with new types of risks.

GT Nexus Inc. and TradeCard Inc. have announced a merger agreement that will create a single cloud-technology platform for global trade and supply-chain management.

Syspro, a developer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, is readying Syspro 7 for general market release in 2013. The tool is currently available in community preview mode to Syspro resellers and partners.

A year-end roundup piece on developments in enterprise software in 2012 finds "clarity" is beginning to come the cloud-based ERP software market.