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IP-Based Cloud Solutions Improve Communications for SMB’s

The article focused on how the cloud has enabled tools such as IP-powered unified communications (UC) solutions and IP-based video collaboration have shifted views that removed technical limitations and cost restrictions.

The author had also suggested that through robust, cost-effective gateways, a business can optimize its use of the cloud. With this combination, the new technology will provide well-recognized tools for connecting networks and will be able to address specific and multiply protocol negotiation tasks.

Cloud communications not only gives a low-cost and innovative way to supply the best communications service, but also provides efficiency and reliability to businesses that let them keep abreast with innovations, and powerful tools to aid the use of the cloud.

To read the full article, you may visit Telecom Reseller.

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Friday Cloud News Roundup

Cloud Business Continuity Planning Webinar

Cloud Best Practices will be holding a webinar about Cloud Business Continuity Planning (BCP) this January. One important topic to be discussed is be the cloud-aware applications, or applications that are now engineered for cloud environments. The webinar will also tackle on the primary advantage of the Cloud BCP as against traditional BCP, which is multi-site resilience.

In a nutshell, Cloud BCP is described as disaster avoidance, while contrary to that is the traditional, which is defined as disaster recovery.

Read more about the differentiation of traditional BCP and Cloud BCP in Cloud Best Practices. To confirm your attendance to the webinar, you may go to this link.

Cloud Technology Provides Ease of Access to Legal Documents

For the first time in the industry, lawyers will be able to easily access courtroom documents using mobile devices.

Magnum Cloud has developed a system that allows users to log in to the cloud anywhere at any time and will be able to keep up to date with courtroom developments, acquire case materials, evidence and case law, all on a secure network.

This development has not only eased the acquisition of legal data of lawyers and judges but it has proven to enforce paperless processes as there is a going case that had already saved at least 5 million sheets of paper.

To read the full article, you may visit Insight.

Cloud Brings Greater Efficiency and Savings to the Healthcare Supply Chain Industry

Mckesson Strategic Supply Sourcing, the healthcare services and information technology company focused on improving healthcare businesses, is offering the fist cloud-based supply chain solution that brings the promise of new customer advantages.

The system is the first offering in the market that can support materials management information systems (MMIS), and users will have access to data on critical-surgical medical supplies, high cost physician preference items and group purchasing organization through a private marketplace. Ultimately, users can effectively leverage each organization’s purchases and choose the better contracts.

This solution will aid in the implementation of an effective supply chain management, which will help hospitals improve contract compliance and reduce unnecessary spending.

To read more about Mckesson’s cloud-based supply chain solution, you may visit their site now.

The Newly Improved Cloud

This article takes a deeper look on what really is new about the cloud. It discusses that “cloud” per se has always been there, since the 1990′s when the term was coined to represent the internet.

What is rather new about the concept of the cloud is its significant improvement to deliver ease, convenience and value of using the cloud. Case in point, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) has evolved into virtualization and orchestration technologies, while Software as a Service (SaaS) is continuously improving its connectivity aided with more interactive browser technologies.

Read more about what new concepts the cloud has brought to the technological scene at Readwriteweb.

Transparency Needed From Cloud Service Providers

In the Cloud Fundamentals Video Series, Mr. Mark Estberg, the senior director of Microsoft Global Foundation Services emphasized the importance of a partnership between customers and cloud providers so customers will be ensured of transparency.

What is currently happening is that in exchange for the benefits of cloud service such as low costs and increased business agility, some customers are willing to accept a reduced level of transparency.

This video says that cloud service providers need to have due diligence and provide transparency to their customers to show that they are being responsible with the applications and data entrusted to them. At the same time, customers also need to be aware of the requirements and whether these requirements are matched with deployment models. Mr. Estberg says that until the industry is able to provide a richer automated reporting system, it may help to have periodic audits by trusted auditors with some level of automated reporting.

To view the full video, you may visit the Microsoft Development Network Site.

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The Media and Entertainment Industry’s Gradual Transformation to the Cloud

Sorenson Media is trailblazing the use of cloud-based applications in the media and entertainment industry. (more…)

Friday Cloud News Roundup

Opposition to Piracy Legislation Heats Up

As the time for voting on the upcoming anti-piracy legislation gets closer, more of the top rated companies in the cloud hosting business are coming out against SOPA. Many say that the legislative act would make the job of hosting a nightmare and lead to an erosion of free speech on the net. The bill has become a center of contention for many in the cloud hosting community with companies taking sides on both sides of the discussion. For more information on this important web legislation, and how it could affect the production of anyone doing business in the cloud, be sure to follow the link below.

The Battle of Technology over Service

There has been a lot of talk recently of Forrester’s End of Year forecast for technology, particularly cloud technology, to be the driving force for many businesses in 2012. Business to Community’s Tech & Gadgets writer Louis Columbus takes that vision to task, as he looks at two analytical articles that show how customer service remains the most important asset of any company. The articles are by two well respected writers:

• Software blogger Ray Wang on Mega Business Trends
• ZDNet’s Paul Greenberg on Customer Engagement

He takes the Forrester Report and combines it with the concepts presented by Ray Wang and Paul Greenberg to present some very insightful overviews of the development of cloud technology and how it is truly impacting ongoing business. The overview looks at several important issues including graphs that illustrate:

• Total US ICT Market of $962B and where that money was spent (primarily on software)
• How the software market is dominating and in what businesses
• Foresters definitions on where the growth will take place over the coming year

For a look at how these forecasts from Forester are redefined by the findings of Wang and Greenberg, as well as the links to the two essays, read more:

Open Source Technologies

With the trend towards open source gaining momentum, PC World takes a look at five open source companies that every business should be aware of. The shift towards more businesses considering open source for legitimate business as opposed to seeing it as a small-time alternative may be what is driving this move to a larger share of the market. Among the companies that IDG News writer Joab Jackson details for PC World’s report are:

• Red Hat – Slatted to be the first open source software company to generate over $1B/year in revenues.
• Nginx – This open source hosting software is used by such companies as Facebook, Hulu and WordPress.
• Stig- Due to be released in 2012, this is a nonrelational database designed specifically for social networks.

For a more detailed analysis of what the year may hold for these and two other companies, be sure to read more.

How the Cloud is Changing Job Roles

Cloud technology is not only changing how businesses work, it is changing the roles of many employees in businesses as well. Joe Kendrick, a long-time business and technology writer for Forbes Magazine looks at how the introduction of cloud technology is not only changing the IT Department, but also many executive level positions in business.

In this article one of the areas he sites is the role of cloud to move CIOs into “the corner office” as the ability to identify and leverage key cloud resources becomes an increasingly important part of their role in the company. He cites a survey of CIOs that shows:

• 54% believe cloud computing gave them more time for business strategy and innovation
• 71% who adapted cloud strategies saw this as part of their pathway to upper management
• 44% of non-adapting CIOs saw their position as a path to upper management

He also looks at the role of finding the right skill sets to develop business strategies and how these skills will be more important for CIOs in the coming years. For the complete discussion on future roles for CIOs in the coming cloud technology revolution, be sure to read more.

Data Sorting Splunk – Next Big Thing?

When the New York Times takes a look at a company and calls it the forerunner of the next big thing in an industry, any industry, you pay attention. That is exactly what New York Times technology writer Malia Whalan is saying about Splunk, a little start-up with a big vision. The company takes Big Data, the kind of data thrown off all around us as smartphones, automobile computers and more continue to churn out important data. It then makes that Big Data more useful by indexing the data into searchable links. A few examples are:

• Zynga the makers of FarmVille and other online games analyze where players get stuck to improve the games.
• Macy’s uses Splunk to observe web traffic to avoid down time during holiday shopping time
• Hundreds of government agencies use it to monitor websites for suspicious activity

For a look at not only other companies that use Splunk in innovative ways, but other innovative start-ups that are tackling the cloud with out of the box thinking, be sure to read more.

Budgeting in the Medical Industry for Cloud

If you have ever priced a new car you know that the cost of the car is just the start to your final costs. In the same way, pricing out new electronic medical records (EMR) systems can have a lot of hidden costs. Recently the American Medical Associations site amednews took a look at what kinds of costs need to be addressed, both hidden and on-going when pricing out new EMR systems.

Even with the cost savings from cloud-based EMR systems, there are some budgeting considerations that are part of the on-going costs and need to be included:

• Pre-implementation costs
• Connectivity
• Data security
• On-going maintenance and technical support

These are just a few of the areas that they look at with some detail in the report. They warn that productivity will take a hit for a short while as users get up to speed with the new technology. Also, be prepared for the price of upgrading hardware such as computer monitors, even if the cloud-based EMR system takes care of software upgrades. For more details on the budget planning and hidden costs for upgrading to cloud-based EMR systems, be sure to read more.

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Building a Library in the Sky – The Cloud and School Libraries

T.H.E. Journal (Transforming education tHrough Technology) recently spoke with Doug Johnson who, amongst many other accomplishments, is the Director of media and technology for Mankato Area Public Schools. Johnson writes about cloud hosting technology through books, columns and blogs and is an active advocate for school librarians. The conversation was sparked by Johnson’s recent talk about School Libraries and the Cloud.

In this interview, Johnson describes how librarians are in a position to lead schools into the cloud age and that cloud hosting technology can help libraries move into the world of “where doing stuff takes precedence over learning how to do stuff”. He spoke of the many ways that cloud hosting technology can be used to help librarians by:

• Improving the library experience for students
• Helping keep school budgets down
• Connect to free e-book systems and similar programs

To read the full interview and follow up with links to Doug Johnson’s blog on technology from a non-tech point of view, read the full story at T.H.E. Journal.

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