Author: David

Grazed from Government Computer News.  Author: Henry Kenyon.

Cloud computing may be catching on in government, but many organizations are still contemplating their first steps. And they face a range of challenges in getting started, a panel of experts said during the AFCEA Belvoir Industry Days conference at the National Harbor, Md., March 19.

Ashok Nare, chief consultant at Octo Consulting said the barriers include security concerns, an unwillingness for agencies to give up control, sorting through pricing/consumption models and establishing accountability. Organizations must think about how they design, fund, manage and deliver cloud computing solutions, he said…

Grazed from V3.co.uk.   Author: Daniel Robinson.

Cloud computing storage firm Egnyte has unveiled a new service for enterprise customers, aimed at meeting the need for employees to share documents in a scalable and secure solution that combines on-premise and cloud-based storage.

Available immediately, Egnyte Hybrid Cloud is just one of many cloud computing services competing to offer businesses a more corporate-friendly alternative to Dropbox for collaboration and sharing files, including RES Software and Dropbox itself…

Grazed from NuWire Investor.  Author: Michael Trinkle.

Small businesses have had a rougher road than larger enterprises during the past three years.  Credit markets have withdrawn their support, although recent studies suggest that the situation is “thawing”, especially among community banks.  Cash flows have slowed, as the majority of clients have been forced to be “slow pays” to meet current demands, and the credit quality of new clients presents new risks that must be mitigated in the near term.

Is now the time to get more “lean and mean” about internal operating expenses?  Controlling expenses is key to running a company with less than $5 million in revenue, the upper cap for the majority of small businesses in America.  New firms today must “connect” more than ever before to the “electronic grid”, but the escalation of costs in this arena have baffled small business owners, forcing many to question what alternatives exist to manage a cost-effective IT department…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

PowerOneData International, a Company providing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Advanced Database Management Software to Utilities and Municipalities around the world, reducing energy consumption and its negative impact on the environment and public health (P1DI), announces the April 1, 2012 roll-out of GENII(TM), its next generation Meter Data Management Software. When combined with P1DI’s Smart Meter technology, GENII(TM) a highly innovative, cloud computing based, meter to mouse application, gives electric utilities the most comprehensive package of functionality ever offered in an AMI solution. GENII(TM) is agnostic in nature, interfacing with any meter in use today…

Grazed from PRWeb.  Author: PR Announcement.

Cloud computing has emerged as a potential solution for managing data generated from the advanced metering technology used in smart grids. Issues related to the large-scale, real-time computing, communication, transfer and storage of data generated by smart grid technologies can all be addressed through cloud computing. Cloud computing is a new phenomenon in the field of information technology that will allow utilities to make better use of their storage and processing capacity in smart grids. The need for cloud computing will increase as the deployment of smart meters and intelligent electronic devices increases…

Grazed from Computer World.  Author: Thomas J. Trappler.

We all know that the data we rely on to run our businesses can be subject to subpoena and other government actions. Such actions create additional risks when that data is in the cloud.

With cloud computing, data from multiple customers is typically commingled on the same servers. That means that legal action taken against another customer that is completely unrelated to your business could have a ripple effect. Your data could become unavailable to you just because it was being stored on the same server as data belonging to someone else that was subject to some legal action. For example, a search warrant issued for the data of another customer could result in your data being seized as well…

Grazed from MarketWatch.  Author: PR Announcement.

Increasingly, internal audit professionals must possess a strong understanding of hot areas of technology such as cloud computing and social media – and the risks they bring – in order to perform their jobs at a high level, according to a new study from Protiviti ( www.protiviti.com ), a global consulting firm. However, many internal auditors say their technology IQ could be improved a few points, both in understanding new technologies and employing technology-enabled auditing processes.

 

With a focus on technology, the sixth edition of Protiviti’s Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey ( www.protiviti.com/IAsurvey ) assesses internal auditors’ skills and knowledge, and identified those competencies most in need of improvement. More than 800 internal audit professionals from around the world participated in the survey…

Grazed from Business Cloud9.  Author: Stuart Lauchlan.

It’s not that long – in IT industry terms – since Microsoft wasn’t all that keen on talking about Cloud Computing in front of its channel partners in case their concern about potential disintermediation took vocal effectt.

But that was then and this is now – and with Microsoft now full-square behind the Cloud, this year’s Convergence gathering saw no such reticence from Kirill Tatarinov, President, Microsoft Business Solutions as he announced upgrades to the firm’s Cloud CRM offering and the fulfilment of a commitment to move ERP alongside it…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Sourya Biswas.

Of course, the explanation behind the price decrease may be as simple as economies of scale. After all, the amount of data stored in S3 did triple in 2011, marking its fastest year of growth since 2006. At the same time, the challenge posed by smaller, yet rapidly growing rivals cannot be discounted. Hence, this move may also have been to leverage its first-mover advantage to stave off competition. Even with the more recent EC2 price decreases, Amazon has described it as passing on cost savings to its customers.

Amazon’s Jeff Barr wrote: “As we continue to find ways to lower our own cost structure, we will continue to pass these savings back to our customers in the form of lower prices. Some companies work hard to lower their costs so they can pocket more margin. That’s a strategy that a lot of the traditional technology companies have employed for years, and it’s a reasonable business model. It’s just not ours….”…

Grazed from Sys Con Media.  Author: Maureen O’Gara.

Windows 8-based PCs and tablets will start coming out around October ahead of the Christmas rush, according to Bloomberg.  Work on the new operating system, which will run on both Intel and ARM chips, is supposed to wrap up this summer.

Unidentified sources told the news service there would be less than five ARM devices at the debut, three of them tablets, and more than 40 Intel machines.  Microsoft has tightly controlled the number of ARM widgets and set rigorous quality-control standards for its first mass market push outside Intel’s orbit, it says it was told…