Category: News

Grazed from Cloud81.  Author: Alan Perkins.

No matter where you stand on the new Cloud technologies, there is no escaping the fact that Cloud Computing has everyone’s attention. For some business executives it is seen as an opportunity to financially restructure their IT expenditure. Some focus only on the risks they perceive of placing their data and systems in the hands of some external third party.  Still others see it as providing the means to focus on their core business and new business ideas without having to worry about whether the computer infrastructure will be able to cope.

While IT teams must ensure that systems are safe and data is secure, it is ironic that by focusing too much on security and availability, many CIOs are exposing themselves, and their employers, to a far greater risk – the risk of missing the opportunities presented by new technologies emerging from Cloud Computing.  The CIOs who will provide the greatest value to their employer will be those who approach Cloud by asking themselves “what can we now achieve that was previously inconceivable?”…

Grazed from Forbes.  Author: Joe McKendrick.

Cloud computing is more than just the latest in a series of attempts to pare down government spending — it’s a gateway to unprecedented innovation in a sector known more for bureaucratic inertia. That’s the view of Dr. Rick Holgate, president of the  American Council for Technology (ACT), an independent advisory group of federal agency CIOs. In his view, cloud is one of three forces of innovation sweeping U.S. federal agencies, along with restructuring and opening up to private industry partnerships.

I recently caught up with Holgate, who is CIO of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, to talk about the disruptive forces that are reshaping the federal government. Cloud computing is the first and foremost of such forces – “bringing about more modern and more flexible, agile ways of delivering services and technology to our customers,” he says. “We’re really thinking different about we build services and build solutions.”…

Grazed from MidSize Insider.  Author: Rick Robinson.

As California faces its worst drought on record, communities, agencies and firms are calling on the latest generation of technology to aid in the effort to conserve precious water. From cloud computing to the Internet of Things (IoT), technologies that were purely speculative just a few years ago are now being implemented, and at the very center of the water awareness revolution is big data analytics.

Natural disasters such as droughts can provide a dramatic and instructive test of emerging technologies since they are often called on to work in new and expanded ways under urgent conditions. The California water crisis is testing not only specific technologies but also the agility of midsize IT operations in adopting new technologies and putting them to work…

Grazed from MidSize Insider.  Author: Doug Bonderud.

Spending predictions favor the cloud. Research firms have been reporting that big numbers are to be expected from cloud computing over the next few years. This increased spending means bigger software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments, larger infrastructure implementations and greater expectations of uptime. To achieve these goals, midsize companies need more than just a powerful cloud; they need the right network backbone. Can network architecture keep up with cloud demands?

A Very Good Year

According to a February 19 article from Whir, companies across the globe spent just over $145 billion on cloud computing in 2013. Referencing research findings from IHS Technology, the piece notes that 2014 has an even better outlook, with companies expected to spend almost $175 billion this year, a 20 percent year-to-year increase…

Grazed from eWeek.  Author: Jeffrey Burt.

Broadcom and Huawei Technologies will be among the growing number of vendors bringing network-function virtualization offerings to the Mobile World Congress 2014 show this week.  Broadcom will demonstrate a new platform designed to enable system makers and third-party vendors to create virtualized network function applications that can migrate across multiple system-on-a-chip (SoC) platforms, bringing greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness to network operators and service providers who are navigating an increasingly cloud-based environment.

For their part, Huawei officials at the show will talk about its Cloud Edge solution for deploying network-function virtualization (NFV) capabilities on mobile broadband networks…

Grazed from eCommera.  Author: PR Announcement.

eCommera, a global software-as-a-service (SaaS) and big data company that was formed to help retailers profit from the move to omni-channel commerce, has announced a $41 million Series C funding round – one of the largest raises in its category.

Dawn Capital led the round together with investors West Coast Capital, Frog Capital, ePlanet Capital, WPP and new partner Wti. The funding will be used to advance global growth of a next generation "Decision Intelligent Commerce" solution built exclusively for retailers. This game-changing solution combines big data predictive analytics with online, mobile and operational software to allow retailers to sell everywhere, fulfil from anywhere and to do so profitably…

Grazed from CloudTweaks.  Author: Andrei Maguleanu.

If you follow the gaming scene in its entirety, you have undoubtedly noticed some changes over the past few months. The major change on the gaming scene has undoubtedly been the arrival of the next gen consoles, after years of speculation and rumors. Both the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One are big hits so far, and after testing them both, and after testing them both I was glad to see that they have greatly improved the whole gaming experience. And one of the things I liked the most was, not unexpectedly, the integration of cloud management.

When I first got my hands on an Xbox 360, playing a game was pretty straightforward: buy the console, buy the game on a disc, put the disc in the console, run the install and play. It was the same with the Playstation 3. The problem was that you relied on that single disc, without it you’d simply lose access to the game…

Grazed from PRWeb.  Author: PR Announcement.

Awesome Cloud Services recently published an infographic illustrating the growth of cloud computing. The infographic also showcases the opportunity for IT providers to generate new revenue by providing cloud services to their clients as part of the AwesomeCloud Channel Partner Program.  Cloud Computing Infographic:

http://www.awesomecloud.com/blog/cloud-insights/cloud-computing-infographic/

The infographic is interesting in that it not only outlines the growth rate of cloud services by segment but also predicts growth.

Grazed from CloudComputing Intelligence.  Author: Marcus Austin.

Cloud billing is expected to take off in 2014 but the use of in-house-developed billing systems and manual processes are slowing down businesses moving their apps to the cloud.  A new survey by Cerillion Technologies, has revealed that more than half of all businesses today (53%) are still using either an in-house-developed system or manual processes to bill their customers.

At the same time, the results highlight a clear shift in the way products and services are sold: away from traditional one-off product sales towards a more flexible pricing model based on subscriptions and usage.  One-off pricing models are currently used by 84% of organisations but the research shows that this proportion is set to fall to 51% in the future. In contrast, new pricing initiatives built around an on-going service relationship are growing steadily, including subscriptions, pay-per-use and freemium pricing models…

Grazed from SysCon Media.  Author: Editorial Staff.

Unless you are an IT manager, understanding all of the technical details of how big data technology — such as Hadoop Hive or Apache Pig as a Service — works isn’t as important as understanding how big data can be used to improve lives. Public safety, whether it’s reducing crime rates or maintaining roads and bridges, is a huge undertaking with serious consequences when mistakes are made. Big data can provide additional insights (such as the connection between home games and crime rates discussed below) to governments and businesses to help them keep cities safe, and better respond to disasters when they strike.

Bridge Maintenance

The U.S. Department of Transportation keeps track of more than 600,000 bridges, all of which are more than 20 feet long and used for vehicular traffic. Of those bridges, 25 percent have been classified as deficient. Unfortunately, repairing bridges is an expensive endeavor costing billions of dollars, and until recently, the process of inspecting bridges for problems was slow and inaccurate (since each bridge had to be inspected manually). Occasionally even small mistakes can lead to big consequences, such as when a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 people and injuring 145…