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Cloud Computing is helping cultural organizations too. " In the past 12 months there has been a proliferation of web based tools which can offer cultural organisations more convenient ways of working at a cost which was previously unimaginable. Source These tools, which are known as cloud based services can transform the way that those in the sector work, whether that is replacing Microsoft Office with Google’s free alternative, enabling staff to access files from home with Dropbox or ditching the notebook for Evernote.  Here are three free web based tools that every Culture Geek should know about.

Ophir Zardok ,  CE O and Co-Founder,  Evento. of shares his experience on the role of cloud computing in building his enterprise sources " I have spent the last decade of my professional career combining my two passions: sports (football, to be exact) and technology. After working in global IT companies like Check Point, MIND CTI and others, I decided to do ‘a pivot’. I applied to, was accepted at, and graduated from the FIFA Master ,  a unique sports management course organized by FIFA. I joined the League of Ireland Champions Drogheda United FC as CEO and achieved my dream position as UEFA Venue Director, organizing Champions and Europa League matches all over Europe. While I was making this pivot I couldn’t stop thinking about my other passion, technology. After spending over five successful years in Europe I returned to Israel wondering what to do next. Should I go back and work in global IT companies, or should I find my way into the Israeli sports scene. After co

On Tuesday, NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. ( NDAQ ) announced the launch of an Amazon Web Services-powered cloud computing platform - FinQloud. The platform has been created to assist the financial services industry in storing and managing financial data with a view to simplifying operations and helping companies meet regulatory requirements. Source Global regulators are coming up with stringent regulatory requirements and gaining access to more in-depth data in order to boost transparency. This is increasing the pressure on financial services companies since they have to manage larger volumes of data, resulting in high data management costs. FinQloud will help financial services companies to deal with the increased compliance requirements and enable them to focus resources on revenue-generating activities by providing a comprehensive solution with features such as infrastructure data management, virtualization and hosting. Initially the platform will offer Regulatory Reco

Cloud is a comprehensive resource. It can help business gain competitive advantage. How is shown here in a article posted on CloudTweaks Cloud computing is one of the best technologies of the century. It allows companies to leverage their computing functions on other company’s servers. When corporations, small businesses, or nonprofit organizations adopt this technology, they get many benefits. The common ones are streamlined costs, efficiency, and security. This article looks at ways businesses can boost their  competitive advantage  by adopting cloud computing services. Cutting costs with cloud computing Cloud computing allows a business to use other company’s hosted software and hardware at a lower price than the one for buying physical hardware and software. The maintenance costs are catered for by the hosting company. In the end, a business is able to benefit from optimized services at low costs, allowing it to increase its revenues. The extra revenues could be used t

Cloud comes to Microsoft's rescue says Peter Pham Microsoft ( MSFT )  launched the Windows Server 2012 cloud operating system in China on Sept. 18. This is the first time that the Windows Server 2012 OS has taken up the cloud design. It is the successor to Windows Server 2008 and comes in time for the launch of Windows 8. Both Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 will feature the new user interface. Piracy is why Microsoft is focusing on tablets for the future over PCs, as the OS is shipped as a ROM with the device and you can't buy a blank tablet and load the OS on it, bypassing the license fee. The OS is married to the hardware, which destroys the opportunity for piracy and affords Microsoft the opportunity to capture that lost revenue in Windows 8/RT licenses. Bundling Office with all Windows 8/RT tablets lets the company ensure it monetizes both cash cows more effectively, albeit at a lower price.  more details here

Content is both heart and blood of contemporary networks such as the  Internet . Here is a wikipedia introduction to Content Delivery Networks - designed and deployed for managing the content. A  content delivery network  ( CDN ) is a large distributed system of  servers  deployed in multiple data centers in the Internet. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance. CDNs serve a large fraction of the Internet content today, including web objects (text, graphics, URLs and scripts), downloadable objects (media files, software, documents), applications (e-commerce, portals),  live streaming media, on-demand streaming media, and social networks. A CDN operator gets paid by content providers such as media companies and e-commerce vendors for delivering their content to their audience of end-users. In turn, a CDN pays ISPs, carriers, and network operators for hosting its servers in their data centers. Besides better performance and a

Cloud Computing Case Studies from DACS Cloud Computing Case Studies Case Studies in Cloud Computing White Paper by David Cearley and Gene Phifer. http://www.gartner.com/it/content/1286700/1286717/march_4_case_studies_in_cloud_computing_dcearley_gphifer.pdf Cloud Computing In the Government As a second part to this report, is a case study written by Tom Kwasniewski, Software Engineer at Quanterion Solutions, Inc. that is a detailed account of migrating an existing application to the Microsoft Azure cloud environment. The actual implementation of the migration and the issues found are discussed. http://sw.thecsiac.com/techs/abstract/518136 Cloud Migration: A Case Study of Migrating an Enterprise IT System to IaaS  Khajeh-Hosseini, A.; Greenwood, D.; Sommerville, I.; This case study illustrates the potential benefits and risks associated with the migration of an IT system in the oil & gas industry from an in-house data center to Amazon EC2 from a broad var

The education department said on Sunday it planned to open cloud computing access, including electronic tools and mail, to more than 600,000 public school teachers nationwide and provide better communication and collaboration facilities to educators. Education Assistant Secretary Reynaldo Laguda said the agency has collaborated with Google and would utilize its Google Application for Education, including its chat and calendar systems, to allow teachers to communicate and collaborate easily and efficiently. “Engaging an E-mail or web-mail service will address many of these communication and collaboration challenges. With this collaboration with Google, we will significantly reduce our Information Technology costs,” Laguda said. Here is the complete story

Here is a list of Certifications for You   courtsey A cloud computing certification is a powerful tool to advance your career in IT. Since many organizations and professionals are shifting towards cloud computing, it is expected that they will need assistance as they adopt the new system. A cloud computing professional certificate proves that you have the necessary skills to assist a cloud computing user. This certification is also a proof that you are dedicated to continually improving your skills as an IT professional. This will increase your motivation, commitment, and responsibility towards your career, while making you eligible for new career opportunities in cloud computing. Some of the certification you can take are as follows. The  Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge  (CCSK)  evaluates your competency in basic cloud security issues. It usually consists of 50 questions which must be answered within an hour, and the passing grade is 80 percent. The multiple-choice ex

Data security consistently tops the laundry list of security priorities because it must. Organisations are collecting data, creating data, using data, and storing data in some way or another. Mishandle data or disregard privacy, and you’ve got a public relations fiasco on your hands with the potential to disrupt business operations or hurt the bottom line. Here is research report and findings from Forrester Analysis Key findings include: Data security is a top priority and commands a sizable chunk of budget.  A majority of organisations (91 percent) cite data security as a critical or high priority and allocate, on average, 16 percent of security technology budget to this area. Hot focus areas include database vulnerability assessment, monitoring, and auditing, with 24 percent of firms planning to invest here, and data leak prevention (DLP), with 22 percent of firms planning investments in this area. Consumerisation fuels data security concerns, but protection is lacking.

“Failure to embrace cloud-based services will lead to IT support companies beingleft behind,” asserts Simon Street, engineering manager at SRS Support in Bridgend in a report available here IT support companies that don’t embrace cloud computing and include it in their portfolio of products and services are putting their businesses at risk, according to a client study done by Giacom, market leader in providing Hosted Exchange via the cloud. Giacom has the largest Hosted Exchange reseller network in the UK of more than 1,200 IT support companies, and provides a white label platform to allow IT professionals to deliver Microsoft’s popular Exchange e-mail server and Share Point storage and collaboration server under their own brand. The service is operated by Giacom under its Message Stream brand. more details here 

Open Source is a new resource and playing an important role in the spread and adoption of cloud computing approach.  Here is one view on how Open source can fuel cloud computing innovation by  Ignacio M. Llorente Why use open source for building and designing cloud? Because open-source software stacks offer a huge amount of customizeability so the cloud you build actually does what you need it to do — and without huge licensing fees. How can open-source cloud management tools like Eucalyptus, CloudStack, OpenStack and OpenNebula  impact the adoption of cloud technology?

GE has embarked on an 18-month project with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to help bring NextGen air traffic management (ATM) technology into the Cloud.  Cloud computing will enable airlines and air traffic controllers to perform their tasks by sharing not only real-time information but also data analysis and decision support tools to improve aircraft operations and airspace efficiency. Courtesy  A key programme objective is to explore how air traffic controllers, airlines and aircraft can interact more efficiently in a cloud computing environment. Today ATM functionalities and capabilities are developed and hosted separately by each of these entities. The expectation is that this project can help accelerate the transition of NextGen ATM technology, which traditionally would take years or even over a decade to complete. For complete story read here 

Cloud Computing in aid of Telecommuter courtesy  Telecommuting is the new way of working. The days when people had to be physically present at work are far behind. Working from home is a more cost effective, efficient, and easy option. That is why many companies have adopted it fully or partially. Cloud computing helps telecommuting  to be effective because there are so many applications hosted online you can use to work efficiently from home. To know how cloud computing help a telecommuter in managing project, preparing invoice and more see here 

The newly developed cloud computing show great potential for relieving some of the burdens on supporting e-learning.  In a research paper titled " Overview of Cloud computing and its applications in e-learning "   Lee Chao shares some useful insights

Cloud Computing Serves Schools Too   Courtesy  Jessica Macias missed a day of school recently due to illness but she didn't miss her social studies class.  Macias, a Hobart Middle School eighth-grader, was able to log into class from home using Google Apps, an online document system that allows people to use it just by logging on, much like the Web-based email services Hotmail and Gmail. Called cloud computing, data is stored on servers at a remote location rather than in their laptops. It's also interactive, allowing teachers to post homework assignments and other information online for students. The School City of Hobart is using the latest technology, with each student using a computer in the classroom and classrooms using social media like Facebook and Twitter. Several elementary and secondary teachers in the school district are using Google Apps and social media in their classrooms. For complete story read here 

Cloud computing meets Cosmology and helps researchers build structures  The ΛCDM cosmological model makes accurate predictions about the fluctuations in the matter distribution of the Universe. By measuring the statistical properties of the galaxy distribution, predictions of different cosmological models can be tested. To achieve this computationally demanding goal, a huge amount of resources is needed both for the analysis of those large-scale structures as well as for the calculation of the sampled-point grid. In this paper, the experience harvested throughout the process of adapting the code to be executed on several platforms: the Venus-C cloud computing infrastructure and a traditional computer cluster, along with the corresponding results are described in detail. Here is  research paper 

Cloud Computing has potential to serve non-profits also. Courtesy  Little to no upfront costs , but watch out for recurring operating costs. From  Wikipedia : "Cloud computing users can avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use. Consumption is usually billed on a utility (for example, resources consumed, like electricity) or subscription (for example an annual subscription to a newspaper) basis with little or no upfront cost." No IT staff required : Ok, this might be an oversimplification, but many applications available in the cloud require much less in-house IT support because the hosting provider takes care of installs, upgrades, backups and standard maintenance for you. No servers  need to be researched, purchased, maintained, or recycled. Rapid deployment:  Often, accounts can be set up in minutes. More complicated pieces of software (CRM, accounting packages, donor management sof

Cloud computing is as already said is a solution in search of a challenge. Here is how it can benefit 10 different industries courtesy  Cloud computing, or ‘cloud’ as it is popularly known as, is the latest trend in the computer world. Everyone is talking about it and everyday new developments are coming in. Cloud computing is like a huge switchboard; when you need a power outlet, just plug in your device; and when you are done, remove it. You do not have to carry a switchboard or an adapter with you everywhere. Therefore, the switchboard becomes a ‘service’ given to you at a cost or for free (depending on the vendor). Without doubt, cloud computing is here to stay, and more and more industries are joining the vast virtual world. Let us look at ten industries that will gain from adopting the cloud. 1. Education:  It is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. The need and  demand of education  never goes down. Cloud computing in education opens avenues for better res

With the spread of cloud computing every profession is expected to benefit from its offering. But before taking a leap into cloud every professional must check its implications. Here is one for Lawyers courtesy  Can you legally use cloud computing in a law-firm environment? What are best practices if you use cloud computing? Cloud computing, where your data and software are stored on servers owned and maintained by a third party, once an unfamiliar and foreign concept, is becoming increasingly commonplace. As a result, lawyers are seeking to take advantage of the many benefits of using cloud computing services in their law practices, including cost savings, flexibility, and agility. For complete story see here 

The contribution of cloud computing to education from  Cloud computing or simply ‘the cloud’ as is often referred to in IT circles, is increasingly changing the education landscape. Many classroom educators didn’t see this coming, safe of course for a selected few technology professors who have consistently sought to bring the light of cloud to the academia. But isn’t this the beauty of technology? It sneaks into hitherto organized systems, rips them apart, and creates new opportunities that only the wise can grab upfront and walk to the bank. This is the exact kind of ‘harm’ that cloud computing is posing to traditional  education systems . We have already witnessed the rise of virtual learning centers, personal learning, and the all-popular long-distance learning. Thanks to could computing, students from different locations around the world can collaborate on assignments, rendering them interactive among their peers in education. For complete story view this

The use of cloud tools in creating an online office is no longer a new idea. Today, many lawyers have made mobile phone apps and online websites their go-to tools for the operation of their firm. In the process, some have found that there are certain options that are most preferable.   The following tool s are the ones that lawyers love the most

The supply chains of today are highly fragmented with silos of information that make it impossible to share information with trading partners. Businesses need technology platforms that empower them to visualize a product in every stage of its lifecycle, in real time, from raw materials through delivery to end customer. Management must be able to make quick decisions to re-route shipments, locate containers, and collaborate with suppliers to meet customer demand. In today’s fast-paced, highly competitive global environment, companies need supply chains that are agile, savvy, and adaptive. Customers, suppliers, and trading partners are demanding, want information now, and require the right products arrive at the right location at the right time. This can best be accomplished in the cloud environment. Here is how

A majority of Indian start-ups in 2012 catered to individual customers, with most entrepreneurs adopting mobile and cloud computing technologies to build their businesses, according to a study by Yourstory.in—an online platform for start-ups and entrepreneurs. “Entrepreneurs are realizing these products can work out well globally and cloud has been a big enabler,” she said. Nearly 34% of the start-ups surveyed said they were actively using the cloud (a metaphor for Internet-based computing that allows users to access content on demand and anywhere) to power their main product.   The “State of Indian Tech Start-ups” survey was based on responses from more than 400 enterprises across six cities—Ahmedabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. For complete story see here

Cloud Computing Shape Educational aspects of coming days - from  Cloud computing and education sounds ambiguous on the face of it. Naturally, it’s because, very few individuals, publishers and users alike come from the education sector. In most cases, cloud computing is only associated with businesses and how they can leverage their efficiencies. Just to introduce how the cloud deserves a place in our current  education institution , it’s important to reiterate the education philosophy. Its essence is knowledge. It’s this knowledge which brings advancement, achievement and success. However, there are several things which make these parameters unattainable. In blunt language, this is failure. Small classrooms, lack or resources, short-handed staff, lack of adequate teachers…the list is endless. One way or the other, cloud computing can be utilized to improve education standards and activities. The end result will be to curb the above problems and instead, boost performance.

Cloud computing is becoming a general resource. Here is an interesting application from  Cloud computing is a model that gradually transforms information technologies but its application has long extended beyond IT. The solutions in the form of online file storage and sharing represent an efficient method to deal with many social and professional requirements of modern age. The most important discussions are still related to enterprises but cloud computing is being implemented in many public fields. Healthcare and education are some of the fields that increasingly turn to the cloud technologies and so are many other industries including translation. Translation being as old as it is, doesn’t seem like a field that would depend on technology. In the past translators spent long hours in the libraries researching different topics using different forms of print material. Their contemporary colleagues that heavily rely on Google Search often wonder about translation

ComodIT, a tiny startup out of Liege, Belgium, has big plans to help you manage your IT infrastructure in the cloud. The company’s new Synapse Agent, a step towards that goal, lets you manage multiple hosts or instances from a single command-line interface. The company describes Synapse as a “universal API for remote system administration” that lets users — the target audience is devops pros — manage multiple cloud instances or hosts from a single command line interface using a REST API. “It brings together the features of configuration management and orchestration in a lightweight framework,” said ComodIT CEO Daniel Bartz. The code– written in Python and using the advanced message queueing protocol  (AMQP) for messaging–was posted to Github Tuesday so people can kick the tires. More info is here

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is starting an initiative in India that will focus on the opportunities and challenges  cloud computing solutions  can help with across the country. IEEE said they are in a unique position to help the development of the cloud globally and in India. “The primary driver behind choosing India for the first ever conference from IEEE focused on cloud computing is the rapid and significant deployment of cloud computing products and services here," according to Kathy L Grise, Future Directions senior program director for the IEEE Cloud Computing Initiative. "We also see India as a hotbed of innovation in this area." Grise said IEEE has provided a platform for the cloud for years, so they believe they can garner increased participation from engineers in India and help develop the technology spread throughout the country. InformationWeek reported earlier this year that the  cloud based services  market in India is expected