Hoping to ease customers' migration to the cloud, NetApp (NTAP) has released a reference architecture for deploying its storage systems as part of a Microsoft (MSFT) Hyper-V cloud system. The easier cloud companies make the migration process, the faster the adoption, the more valuable these companies become.

VMWare is making it easier for companies to adopt cloud solutions by centralizing the authentication process. Adoption rates are a key indicator of the success of cloud companies. The easier the better, the more valuable the company over time.

There's a stock exchange currently up 50% so far this year, and that's Mongolia's top 20 index.

This sharp increase, however, has taken place on low trading volume. But a number of investment banks in the world are still eyeing the country with great interest as an upcoming international player. 

You already know that we here at NBT think that Mongolia is the Next Big Thing when it comes to the future of investing in metals, minerals and emerging-market infrastructure. (Clearly, we've dedicated a whole Web site to it!)

Now, I'm sure we're not first to the party -- and nor should you ever want to be. Let others get the soiree started and THEN you can assess whether it's a place where you want your money to be.

East Asia Minerals (EAS.V) has just announced its intent to purchase up to a 50% equity interest in Australia-based Carbon Conservation Pty Ltd. 

Google (GOOG) is planning to introduce its Chromebook line of laptops next month, a move aimed at bolstering the search engine giant’s foray into computer hardware and one that could keep cloud-computing stocks in focus. Imagine PC's designed only to use the cloud?  Coming in June.

I still think the China story has plenty more chapters to go before it's old news on the investment front. But part of this ongoing saga is nearby Mongolia, which is home to a veritable wealth of the limited natural resources and precious metals that have been climbing up, up and away in recent years.

“Chromebooks” are coming next month, and they are going to be HUGE in China where the Android OS is about 90% of the smartphone market.

After all, what's not to love about an "instant-on" (8 second) boot time … an 8-hour battery life … a 12.1 inch display … a constant connection for the owner as well as serving as a MiFi hotspot for up to 8 users … and runs on Google's Chrome operating system.

Both NBT Equities and ChinaTel Group Inc. ($CHTL.PK) are convinced that very attractively priced tablet computers with a 4G SIM card from one of the ChinaTel 4G carriers is going to be THE most popular way to live the digital life in most emerging countries.

ChinaTel partner ZTE Corp. is already making a Wi-Fi/3G tablet called the LightPro tablet for the Spanish market. The key difference to the ChinaTel network tablet? The Spanish monthly rate for data plan is $60 a month!  

NBT Equities Research is heading to Mongolia next week to meet with commerce and mining company officials. 

Our agenda item: Bringing the incredibly valuable Mongolian mining companies to the U.S. capital markets over the next 12-18 months.

AT&T's investment is part of its previously announced $19 billion capital budget for 2011. The company said it intends to invest in five key areas – such as enterprise mobility applications and cloud-as-a-service enhancements – while also rolling out platforms, systems and e-capabilities to automate and simplify services for business customers.  This is important as a trend to watch major telcos commit to the cloud.

It's clear that Google is a major force in both the tablet and phone market. On the tablet side, it's a distant second to Apple's wildly successful iPad franchise but its running fast in an effort to catch up. It's going to be a long hard run to catch Apple in this space. Competition is good and could drive both stocks through innovation.

The Amazon outage was caused by an improper configuration of network infrastructure components. Human error led to gigantic cloud failure and financial losses.  However, many cloud stocks continue to rise and this does not look like the end of the world for cloud investors.  Learn why by clicking on Amazon.

The move deepens NetSuite's already close relationship with Oracle. NetSuite uses the vendor's database and middleware, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison remains a major investor in the company. Can Larry be wrong?

JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens on Tuesday raised his price target to 48 from 42 for RAX. He rates the stock market-outperform, or buy.  Learn why by clicking on RAX. Curated by Kyle Brown.