Author: David

Cloud computing and cloud services have proliferated in the first place because of one simple reason: they lower the cost of doing business.

The worrying about the security implications of switching to the cloud has started a bit later, but as more and more companies started to migrate their assets and data – and as attackers spotted the trend – securing them against compromise became more and more important…

To do this, resellers need to look at expanding their product portfolio to include the most in-demand cloud solutions for their markets and to quickly develop technology expertise to drive business growth. Essential to building up know-how in a new area like the Cloud is working with a well-known IT partner who has the necessary skills and who possesses local market knowledge. It’s important to recognise that Cloud is not dissimilar to other technologies in that customers need it to be positioned, evaluated, implemented and integrated into their IT environment. Resellers should feel assured that they can fulfil these key customer requirements very well indeed…

"DRFortress has demonstrated extraordinary vision in delivering the first ‘On-Demand, Pay-by-the-Drink’ Cloud Storage and now the same for Cloud Computing Services to Hawaii," said Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting. "Hawaii IT organizations are now able to cost effectively take advantage of the cloud services revolution knowing their data and applications will be always be available regardless of local conditions."…

Ellison revealed the Redwood Shores company’s plans during a wide-ranging conversation before a crowd of executives at the D: All Things Digital conference.

“We’re announcing on June 6 the general availability of the Oracle Cloud,” Ellison said. “So for the first time, you’re going to have the complete ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) suite available in the cloud…

After chatting about Ellison’s America’s Cup exploits, host Kara Swisher asked about his perspective as perhaps the longest running tech chief executive in Silicon Valley, having run Oracle since 1977.

Ellison responded with a discussion about how different networks – such as electrical and phone networks – are similar to the Internet. They are complex networks that consumers access with simple devices…

The cloud isn’t just a medium for hosted computer applications – it’s also a medium for complex telephony applications.  In fact, many companies are now integrating their old-style PBX systems with front-end software that allows older VoIP PBX gear to leverage the Internet for outside unified communications activity, such as phone calls, video calls, multiparty conferences, IM, media streaming, etc.  The software that makes all of this possible is referred to as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) software.

A PBX with SIP is able to connect to the public telephone network (a.k.a. PSTN), via a SIP trunk provider who effectively acts as a gateway from the Internet to the PSTN.  Hence, VoIP traffic, which is Internet-based, is seemlessly translated, or "trunked" onto the PSTN via the SIP-trunking provider, and vice-versa; yet, all other communication activity is handled by the native Internet…

With healthcare costs continually increasing, hospitals can turn to innovative technology to aid care collaboration and coordination across a fragmented healthcare continuum. Innovative, smart technology is a key step to lowering healthcare costs, according to Thomas R. Ferry, president and CEO of Newton, Mass.-based Curaspan Health Group, which connects providers, payers and suppliers via secure electronic patient-transition networks to improve outcomes as patients move between levels of care. Smart technology — software-as-a-service networks — provides the level of connectivity, content and automation required for improving care coordination.

"Waiting for the Supreme Court decision is not a good excuse to delay on innovating or to do nothing. I think if anything, it is a reminder that action is needed now. By taking the technology and tools available in the market today, smart healthcare organizations can build the infrastructure to lower costs of healthcare delivery, to participate at lower reimbursement levels and to have a much better collaboration, which will result in better clinical organizations," says Mr. Ferry…

While managing the growth of information can be challenging to some organizations, leveraging cloud computing technologies can help decision-makers remain productive in their efforts to do so. By using cloud-based services during the advent of big data, organizations can enhance the flexibility and availability of mission-critical solutions, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Disparate infrastructure systems will no longer be able to manage the rapid expansion of information, and the lack of scalability often makes legacy equipment inadequate for a growing business, the news source said. Cloud computing, on the other hand, enables organizations to migrate as much or as little information to a virtual environment as necessary without negatively impacting data quality…

Cloud computing is obviously here to stay, so enterprises need to balance security and availability when using private, public or hybrid cloud services that leverage multi-tenant architectures.

Forrester Research defines multi-tenant architectures as "IT architectures that let multiple customers (tenants) share the same applications and/or compute resources with security, reliability and consistent performance."

In its recent research report, "Understanding Cloud’s Multitenacy," the analyst firm concludes that multi-tenant architectures are not necessarily a less secure model. However, need to understand the type used by any service they consume, as well as their own security responsibilities…