Latest Articles
12.21.2012What Can Rendering Service Market Get From Cloud Computing?
12.20.2012Penetrating the Japanese Social Gaming World With the Help of Japanese Social Gaming Companies
12.19.2012Cloud-Based Rendering – the Logical Next Step for Render Farms
Archives
Categories
Tags
Android Basic Cloud Concepts big data CIO cloud Cloud adoption Cloud applications Cloud benefits cloud computing cloud concepts cloud gaming cloud hosting Cloud in business Cloud in Vertical Industries Cloud Migration Cloud News cloud provider cloud security cloud servers cloud services cloud storage cloud technology Enterprise gaming industry Google Government IaaS IT Japan mobile applications mobile gaming PaaS private cloud public cloud SaaS security Small Business small businesses smb SMBs social gaming Social Media social network virtualization virtual serversCall 855-466-4678
10.11.2012
Online shopping in Japan is expected to become a $56 billion industry by 2015, this is according to a research done by global management consulting firm Mckinsey & Company. Virtual shopping is currently a $30 billion market and approximately represents 5 percent of the entire retail sales.
The significant shift from conventional shopping landscape is attributed to the unlimited power of the Internet. The decision to shift was likewise influenced by the consumer’s cost-cutting scheme during the 2009 recession.
The dwindling economy taught consumers to live within means. So instead of “hanging out” they found it more economical to stay home. The most exciting mode of entertainment at home, apart from the television was the Internet, which eventually became their key to the outside world. Pretty soon, it provided everything they needed, from the news and public affairs, social discussions down to the basic commodities.
High speed Internet easily earned a place in the Japanese consumer’s daily life. Worldpopulationreview.com pegged the population of Japan to be 130 million with 90 million Internet users.
Online shopping proved to be cheaper than to going to a retail store. Every shopper knows that a single trip to the mall easily includes food and transportation costs.
Known for their discipline and diligent saving practices, online shopping gives Japanese buyers an opportunity to compare prices. They can even do further research by reading product reviews and discussion forums. And because of the unique sense of consumer empowerment price wars in electronics and apparel has been sweeping the virtual stores.
Previous studies made by Mckinsey & Company further noted that it took decades before consumers welcomed the idea of shopping on credit.
Innovative Selling
Thus, the astounding shift in consumer mindset is enough to convince retailers to get online and be part of the virtual shopping frenzy. To keep up with their dynamic market they have been developing various selling innovations.
For instance, a mobile gadget like Kindle keeps users glued to Amazon’s shopping catalogue while simplifying the book purchasing process. There’s Zappos.com, the largest online shoe retailer which has a return policy in case the shoe does not fit. Japanese food products use Cookpad.com to market their latest promotions; the cooking and recipe site has over eight million users.
Another significant factor related to online retail success is the efficient delivery system. Japan is known to have the most reliable and the most reasonably priced logistics network in the world. For instance, it is a common practice among Japanese golfers to send their golf clubs to their destination ahead of time. Logistics service is very cheap and it spares them from actually carrying the bulky golf bag during the trip.
Amazon Japan is the only outlet that can bravely offer “same day delivery” feature. The efficient service began in 2009 and orders made at midnight can be delivered in the morning. Japanese buyers can even choose to pick up their orders at any of the 50,000 convenience stores all over the country. The service extends to fresh food products. For an extra fee fresh food like newly caught crab from Hokkaido or Okinawa pineapple can be delivered to the buyer’s doorstep on the same day.
Love for Luxury Brands
Among the most visited shopping sites are Rakuten, Amazon Japan and Yahoo Japan. Rakuten is the number one shopping site. It carries everything from fashion, electronics, home, garden, health and beauty, car accessories, sports, food and drinks. It is one of the top Internet companies in the world along with Google, eBay, Yahoo and Amazon reporting revenue at US$4.7 billion in 2011. Founded in 1997, Rakuten currently has 10,000 employees worldwide.
The number one brand on Rakuten’s search list is Louis Vuitton. The luxury label has consistently been dominating the Japanese retail arena for years. According to an article in the New York Times the international luxury industry relies on the Japanese market for at least 13 percent of their total profit.
With the upper class as their primary market, brands like Louis Vuitton, Coach, Hermes and Tiffany also have significant presence among the middle class. These consumers penny pinch by skipping vacations or avoiding expensive restaurants so they can afford designer clothes, bags and shoes.
The obsession for stylish labels has migrated to the Internet. Other popular brands that are consistently at the top of Rakuten’s search list are Coach, Gucci, Hermes, and Nike.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
10.10.2012
Cloud computing is no longer a new word. Almost every major enterprise makes use of it to reduce infrastructure costs as well as provide a Software as a Service (SaaS) business model to offer web-based applications that create more profitable revenue streams. Since cloud computing has become a common name in the industry, there are thousands of providers for the service. So the question arises, “How do you select the right cloud service provider for your business?” Well the answer to that depends on how you follow the criteria stated below to select the right cloud service provider.
Do they guard well?
You must know where the data is kept by the cloud provider you employ. It should be guarded by security personnel all the time and surveillance cameras and mechanisms must be installed in the surroundings of the facility. The facility should not be accessible to imposters or unauthorized personnel. If a person is able to walk into a data center facility without being caught, then the security measures of such a cloud service provider lack credibility because your critical data has no guarantee of being protected from a theft or unauthorized access. Proper security measures such as biometric ID verification, trespassing alarms, etc. must be in place to ensure that your data is protected at all costs.
Are they geographically immune?
A data center facility where the data from your cloud service is likely to be stored away should not lie in a seismically active region because then it would be prone to disastrous consequences at the time of events like earthquake, storm and fire break-out. Always try to pick the locations lying outside the common pathways of hurricanes, thunderstorms, excessive heat radiation and other naturally hazardous environmental conditions. Not only that, but also at the time of crisis, the recovery locations must be accessible by company staff with ease and at the earliest.
Are they high tech?
Just because they have good storage hardware, does not mean they are the best. You need to analyze whether they employ the best in class technology for safeguarding your data such as software firewalls, encrypted data transmission, active monitoring tools, performance metrics to determine speed of service and much more. Without such software utilities it is difficult to stage claims about efficiency and other performance measures. The service provider you choose must be able to give a satisfactory report about their performance that is measured by proven standards and software utilities.
Are they what they claim?
Make sure that the security and other performance claims they make are solid and true. Ensure that certifications are for the mentioned technological guarantees or are accredited by an international standardization agency for quality service. There would be imposters and hence, it is important to select a service provider with a proven track record or have a valid legal certification from industry experts or information technology foundations. These certificates serve to prove the authenticity of the service provider and can be trusted.
Do they have sufficient backup facilities?
In the event of a disaster, your data which would determine the fate of your business, should not be lost or damaged. Hence the cloud service provider you choose must provide efficient backup mechanisms and options to safeguard your critical data. Proper software applications for backup should be available throughout and the entire facility should be periodically tested to estimate the level of preparedness it has in the event of a disaster.
Do they have reliable infrastructure?
The hardware infrastructure that a cloud service provider has must be fail-proof. They should not falter frequently and the power and cooling systems must always have proper backup mechanisms installed. A minute of service disruption by your cloud service provider can lead to millions of dollars in losses for your business. The network connectivity, bandwidth and other connectivity parameters must be of high quality.
Do they have apt personnel?
The service provider you choose must have experts personal handling your critical data. Lack of expertise could result in fatal damages and delay in rectifying mistakes or downtime of processes that are mission critical in nature.
In short, the cloud service provider you select must have bullet proof reliability and quality when it comes to the service they offer. Following the above criterion alone is not enough. You need to verify your service provider with the above criterion periodically so that you can be assured of quality cloud service all through the time.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Mandira Srivastava is a fulltime freelance writer who specializes in technology, health and fitness, politics, and financial writing. Equipped with degree of mass communication and having worked for both private and corporate clients, I have experience meeting a wide range of writing requirements and styles.
10.9.2012
The European Union released a document on September 27, 2012. This is a communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and various other committees. The document is subtitled “Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe”. It makes for very interesting reading. The entire communication spans 32 pages with diagrams and tables and is a great discussion on the importance of the cloud and how it needs to be managed.
Many experts in the cloud computing business have taken this document to be a protectionist document that somehow seeks to ensure that European business is retained within Europe. However this is not so and when the paper talks of using local data centers, it is not out of protectionism, but as a method to overcome privacy issues. The document covers a number of best practices and problem areas associated with cloud computing.
In this post, I am covering a few points raised and clarified in the document mentioned above:
In the Cloud Computing environment, computing becomes an operating expenditure rather than capital expenditure – when you rent cloud computing cycles rather than buy servers, your expenditure goes into operating expenditure. There is no capital expenditure and depreciation. The hardware you use is always modern and updated and efficient.
On the energy uses of Cloud Computing, the paper makes the following observations –
Other Trends in Cloud Computing
Even with such large energy consumption overall, there are significant energy savings for large companies when they move to the cloud. Large companies in the US could save as much as $12.3B every year by moving to the cloud. As a consequence of these major savings’ possibilities, the paper says, Europe must move wholeheartedly to embrace cloud computing.
According to an IDC study commissioned by the European Commission, the global market will increase from $21.5 bn to $73 bn in 2015. Europe will get a 1% to 2% of GDP boost in the top five countries and nearly 11.3 million jobs will be added. A majority of European firms – 64% – are already using basic cloud computing services.
However, most firms are still quite cautious and reluctant to spend more till they gain more confidence. The key beneficiaries of this technology are the larger firms which look for major business benefits. It is surprising that the smaller firms – those who have the most to gain – are the slowest to adopt the technology. Firms that do not adopt cloud computing are essentially worried about data protection, data breach risks, liability to third party customers and worries about being able to enforce the service level agreement. Yet another barrier to use is the lack of reliable high speed Internet. If your connection is not available near 100% of the time, you cannot really repose faith in the system.
Most users start by porting simpler, non critical applications to the cloud when they first start. Later as they gain more confidence, they switch to more mission critical applications.
Why are European governments advising users to go for data centers within their own respective countries? One reason lies with the US Patriot Act itself. Most companies are worried that the US government could demand complete access t o the data stores on the cloud.
If the US government wants to increase the business coming into its data centers, it will have to find other, more acceptable ways to be able to examine the data it is working with.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Sanjay Srivastava has been active in computing infrastructure and has participated in major projects on cloud computing, networking, VoIP and in creation of applications running over distributed databases. Due to a military background, his focus has always been on stability and availability of infrastructure. Sanjay was the Director of Information Technology in a major enterprise and managed the transition from legacy software to fully networked operations using private cloud infrastructure. He now writes extensively on cloud computing and networking and is about to move to his farm in Central India where he plans to use cloud computing and modern technology to improve the lives of rural folk in India.
10.8.2012
Countries in Asia are gearing up to maximize the benefits of cloud computing in diverse ways. This is in part due to the increasing demand for internet security and better IT services by corporate and governmental bodies. This unprecedented demand is motivating these entities to move their computing activities to the cloud for safety, cost-efficiency and flexibility. As a matter of fact, this change in the trend of managing IT infrastructures is expected to give Asia a head-start in the race to adopt cloud technology for optimal performance.
Companies that provide cloud computing and related IT solutions are seeing a significant increase in income as the number of their active clients ballooned. This is a very healthy development for cloud computing in Asia as corporations embrace the new and improved methods of managing their IT infrastructures. These Asian companies have a lot to gain from their determination to adopt cloud technology in every aspect of their operations; some of these benefits are highlighted below. Hence, the current trend in the use of cloud computing only emphasizes the persistent hunger for all technologies that are functional and helpful in letting Asian companies maximize their profitability.
Here are some of the sterling merits of adopting cloud computing:
Asian companies can save on the cost of managing their IT/ICT structures by completely moving their infrastructure to the cloud. They would not be required to spend on recruiting, training and maintaining a large size of IT personnel. This practice, noticeably, has been in existence, and more and more Asian companies are exploring this unique opportunity of reducing their overhead IT expenses with the hope of diverting those funds to other areas of their businesses that badly need them.
With cloud computing, companies enjoy unprecedented flexibility to operate efficiently according to their corporate goals and objectives. In other words, they can scale their IT requirements periodically based on their needs at a particular point in time. This action makes it possible for companies to concentrate on the main administrative parts of their business activity, leaving the technical/IT section to external or public cloud service providers that will guarantee safety and the protection of their data and other vital information.
Findings have shown that moving one’s IT structure to the cloud enhances performance. Apart from the guarantee that data and other important information will be kept in a way that they can be accessed immediately and swiftly when needed, cloud technology also encourages specialization, whereby a company can concentrate on its statutory responsibility of producing goods and services to its array of clients without experiencing any interruption due to the guarantees offered by cloud computing.
Being cost efficient and performance-boosting, cloud technology is capable of helping Asian companies achieve an unprecedented level of profitability. Specifically, these companies save plenty of money in reducing their overhead expenses on IT installation and maintenance in their respective operations. Undoubtedly, better performance can also lead to the production of great services/products that consumers will be happy to spend their hard-earned money on.
Without doubt, as Asian companies take up the challenge to explore more and more about the applicability of cloud computing in their various business activities, it is clear that they can continue to operate optimally in a way that the quality of their outputs will be maintained and improved upon. Countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and of course China are pioneers in this process of adopting cloud technology. Malaysia, for instance, is enjoying robust governmental support in this area as the country keeps an open-door policy for foreign IT services providers to migrate their operations into the country for higher profitability.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/