ReadWriteEnterprise

Amazon has added two new EC2 reserved instances, so that users now have the choice of four pricing models for EC2 instances. Seven, if you count choosing between one-year and three-year terms.

A quick refresher might be in order. Amazon started with a single price for its EC2 instances, then added reserved instances in 2009. The reserved instances give you a break on instance pricing in exchange for an up-front fee per-instance.

So you want to buy a tractor? Build a house? Scrabble? So do the more than 62 million other gamers who play Farmville daily. That's why keeping its communities humming 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and responding to issues in real-time is no game for Zynga.

To get the job done, the company turned to Vertica, which is now owned by HP. Says Ken Rudin, VP of Analytcs at Zynga: "With over 40 million players, 3TB of new data a day and 230 nodes spread across two clusters, Zynga's columnar data warehouse from Vertica is no analytical windup toy."

Today HP CEO Leo Apotheker announced HP's new strategy: cloud, connectivity and software. Mobility, consumerization of IT and big data will all play a role in this new strategy. In particular, HP's WebOS and Vertica acquisitions will drive it forward.

Here's a look at the specific plans Apotheker discussed.

Hot on the heels of Verizon's acquisition of Terremark, Time Warner Cable is acquiring NaviSite, an enterprise cloud hosting and management company. Time Warner Cable will pay $5.50 a share, or approximately $230 million.

Meanwhile, speculation is rampant that Savvis will be acquired, though its CEO James Ousley says things are business as usual for the company.