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
12.17.2012
It is interesting that some governmental bodies and national decision-makers are canvassing for the expanded use of cloud computing in their jurisdiction because of the relative economic gains it can bring to the regions. In October this year, the EU’s Digital Chief claimed that “greater use of the internet to store and process data remotely (cloud computing) could boost the European Union’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 160 billion euro annually by 2020”. Undoubtedly, this is a significant piece of encouragement that urges European business owners to migrate their digital data to the cloud. But how can this lead to national economic boost?
There are four distinct ways countries in the European Union bloc can reap the full benefits of cloud computing: First, moving their data and other digital content to the cloud has the singular power of creating a cost-cutting possibility for European businesses. This is because the overhead IT expenditure incurred annually by these businesses will be drastically reduced. They do not necessarily need to hire and constantly manage in-house IT infrastructure that may cost them billions of euro a year.
Second, cloud computing structurally engenders business innovation. The capital saved on hiring, training and maintaining IT personnel and in-house infrastructure can be channeled into a new business venture. Companies that have adopted cloud computing often have new and improved business opportunities springing up. The significance of business innovations is that Europeans can concentrate on creating more jobs while expanding their businesses.
Third, cloud technology also promises fastness and unprecedented speed of operations. The adopters of cloud technology can subsequently reduce or permanently abort downtime which plagued other companies that do not switch their operations to the cloud. Other problems non-adopters of cloud computing face include but are not limited to data loss tendency, poor connectivity, slow performance and ineffective IT system operations. All these problems naturally hinder smooth running of businesses; and if the situations are unmanaged, they may lead to huge business losses.
Fourth, the EU’s digital Chief was mainly concerned about the competitiveness of the European economy when compared with those of other regions of the world. In her words, Neelie Kroes, EU Vice-president and digital Chief said that “without EU action, we will stay stuck in national fortresses and miss out on billions in economic gains.” This statement confirms her strong conviction that cloud computing possesses the capability of helping Europe revamp its economic stagnation and make the block competitive in the global economy.
Since cloud computing entails using environmentally friendly systems, this attribute of cloud technology can assist Europe businesses to maintain an admirable culture of sustainability and business continuity. Cloud computing makes it possible to store, retrieve and transmit digital files without the hassle of using papers and other environmentally harmful materials. This development will help companies to operate with green and renewable energy resources.
EU is calling all its constituting members to proactively embrace cloud computing because of the benefits highlighted above, and to create an environment for business continuity and higher profitability. The European Union’s digital chief appears quite serious about the danger of lagging behind in the adoption of cloud technology.
Hence, she sounded a warming to all EU member states to adopt, implement and innovate on the usefulness of cloud technology. The main purpose for this clarion call is to make the bloc highly competitive with the North America, Asia and the Pacific which are seriously exploring and utilizing the opportunities offered by cloud computing. This is definitely going to be a gradual process, but EU’s digital chief has no doubt that cloud technology can help turn around the slugging European economy.
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/
12.14.2012
Japan remains the world’s third largest economy, even with a global financial crisis coming on the heels of a Japanese recession, it has survived mainly through an export-oriented economy. With a worldwide slowdown in sales of consumer electronics, Japan is already feeling the pinch. There is, however, a nascent industry which is slowly getting exported. Popular mobile games portals are now trying to sell their social games outside of Japan.
From one viewpoint, there is the sense of the inevitable in this. Every so often, Japanese products have leaked out to the rest of the world. With cell phones, smaller Japanese manufacturers have been testing the market since the late 1990s. Besides Sony, other electronics manufacturers both big and small have tried to export their basic phone models. Manufacturers like Sharp, Kyocera, and Sendo have tested the foreign waters. Their only failure was that they were too busy selling feature phones in their homeland and the only ones which could be exported were the basic or entry-level models.
This time, it’s the software and game developers who are slowly showing off their wares outside of Japan. Traditionally, games have only been successful when these were released in conjunction with a console or game platform. This time, it’s the distribution channel which is bringing the games to the West. The two largest mobile game platforms, Gree and DeNA are expanding their market, and stepping out on to the West.
This is a big step for Japanese mobile games like Japan-specific social games and card battle games. This is also a big signal for Western game developers to get into Japan, these are convenient times because the likes of GMO Cloud are now offering market entry services that include marketing and localization. Because unlike the traditional mobile games, the newer titles are all mostly Android and iOS games. This makes it easier for Japanese developers to be able to penetrate the Western games market. Whereas before, social games were made for feature phones, games and apps on Android and iOS don’t need to be ported to another phone in order to be sold abroad. In fact, Western players have been playing un-translated games since the 1970s.
The growth in the Japanese social game market is even more phenomenal than the rest of the world. It has grown to an estimate $4.36 billion revenue from practically nothing just a few years ago. The income growth showed a ten-fold increase in the last three years.
Some of the more popular card-battle games are not represented as mobile phone apps. Console games are still a large market, with upfront sales directly translating to game revenues. However, mobile phone games are usually free downloads and free-to-play but with in-game merchandise and level ups which can be purchased with real cash. This type of monetization is common for a lot of other games. It just so happens that Gree and DeNA, along with other Japanese games and channels make more money out of their games compared with western game companies.
The export of Japanese games do not necessarily mean that the Japanese market is saturated to the point that new developers cannot get in. On the contrary, the continued exponential increase in the market is a sign that new game companies are welcome. It can even be said that the new game companies can help fuel the growth even further with newer game genres and titles.
This bi-directional flow can be wholly attributed to the success of Android and iOS devices. Apple has an aggregate market share of around 32% of the Japanese market. There are more Android devices, however, since there are more Android manufacturers, these companies have a lower percentage market share. Either way, mobile apps and games are on the increase and, for now, there is no way to predict when the bubble would burst.
It seems that the reason that the mobile apps and game market continues to grow is because there is no alternative in the horizon. Phone apps will continue to grow until a new device comes along. So far, iOS and Android devices have overturned the Japanese smart phone apps market due to sheer numbers. This is a positive feedback mechanism where the large number of apps is fueling the sales of smart phones.
Going back to established IP titles, it is only a matter of time before most of them would migrate to Android and iOS apps. One of the most popular card-battle games is Pokemon. It was introduced in 1996, and since then other card sets have been released, and these have helped push newer models of Nintendo game consoles. However, Pokemon is yet to be ported to the Android or to iOS. Like a lot of other console games, there is a need to change the monetization before these games are introduced or relaunched as smart phone apps. There is the fear that once these titles are released as smart phone apps, the sales of game consoles would decrease dramatically.
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.
12.13.2012
“Cloud gaming”, as the name implies, is the act of playing games that are stored and retrievable from the cloud. The fact is that without the invention of cloud computing, there would not have been cloud gaming. Cloud gaming allows players to directly access games on the web through their browsers. The applicable browsers include Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer So, how does cloud gaming contribute to the experience of satisfaction in game-playing?
Cloud-gamers, as they may be called, do not necessarily need to worry about many things while playing their games. Some of these unprecedented advantages they enjoy are highlighted as follows:
Cloud gaming gives players the peace of mind of continuously enjoying their games without the need to worry about a lot of problems, some of which had been explained above. How are these advantages made possible by the cloud? Technically speaking, cloud technology allows configurations that accommodate a sudden surge of traffic. For a better illustration, take a look at GMO Cloud’s Game Server Configuration example.
More so, game players can increase their play time through more subscriptions, periodically. In other words, if they are satisfied with the gaming services provided , they can request for more play time in order to enjoy different series of games, as long as possible.
Coreonline is an example of a cloud gaming service designed and marketed by Square Enix. As described above, this cloud gaming service works through the use of browsers and some proprietary technologies that belong to Square Enix and Google.
At the moment, only two titles are available, Mini Ninjas and Hitman: Blood Money. To play Mini Ninjas, players are just redirected to Chrome Web Store where there had already been a streaming version of the game. But for Hitman: Blood Money, this can be played directly in the Coreonline Store. Interestingly, game players can earn some play time by simply watching ads before or in the course of the game. Alternately, they can skip the ads and purchase some levels or the entire game so as to enjoy it without any interruption. Some of these cloud-games do well on some particular browsers. For instance, Mini Ninjas, Blood Money and Lara Croft Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7, while Lara Croft and Mini Ninjas will only work on Chrome on Mac.
As many cloud-gaming providers enter into the business, gamers will have the chance of selecting which provider to use and this will lead to the reduction in the overall cost of playing video games.
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/
12.12.2012
Studies have shown that cloud computing will be a major source of employment and revenue in the next few years. Cloud computing is projected to become a $1.1 trillion dollar annual business in the next three years! This is according to an IDC research that was commissioned by tech giant Microsoft. This is actually a conservative estimate if one considers that rate at which cloud computing advances. Every couple of months, a new idea comes along making the whole sector take a huge leap forward. According to this study, fourteen million new jobs will be generated in the next three years thanks to cloud computing advances.
What makes cloud computing a special force in innovation?
The positive impact of cloud computing is different than other new technologies. This is because it transforms how companies operate. Cloud technology has a positive aspect on costs and efficiency. However, its most important effect is spurring innovation. There are several reasons for this. One of the most important is that it helps IT managers and personnel focus on more innovative projects by freeing them from more mundane tasks. Cloud technology allows different individuals and departments within a company meet and communicate more effectively. Before, IT directors had to deal with every-day crises and with what were essentially tasks related to keeping the existing infrastructure working. With the advent of cloud service providers, IT directors can now talk strategy and find ways to help the whole company succeed in its mission by applying new concepts and technologies.
Some of the predictions contained in the IDC study
There are some truly promising facts in the IDC study that should help clarify the great role that cloud computing will have in the next few years. As already mentioned, cloud computing will be responsible for almost fourteen million new jobs by 2015. Thanks to the IT innovation mentioned above, the revenue from cloud computing could reach over a trillion dollars per year. One of the best aspects of the cloud revolution is that it is truly democratic. Cloud service providers help smaller companies compete with larger sectors by giving them access to technology that was previously only in the hands of companies that were able to afford costly IT infrastructure. The study predicts that employment related to cloud technology will increase both in large business and in small and medium sized companies (those with fewer than five hundred full time employees.)
Asia is a major player in the future of cloud computing
Today, Asian economies are technological powerhouses, especially Japan and South Korea. Cloud technology will have a major effect on already established communications, media, and banking firms in these countries (these sectors are already a huge part of these countries’ markets.) An example of a technologically-influenced company is GMO Cloud where it is part of a huge internet conglomerate in Japan that caters to major companies based in the country.
Countries such as India and China are projected to be the major sites for new jobs related to cloud computing. In fact, the IDC study predicts that about half of the projected fourteen million jobs will be located in these two countries. We are already seeing the effects of this in several cloud services providers that today are taking steps to nearly double their workforce in an attempt to meet the increasing demands of the market.
Small business and cloud technology
One of the characteristics of small businesses is that they typically have less access to technology than larger companies, even though small businesses account for most employment opportunities around the world. However, with larger companies holding off on adopting cloud services because of their larger investments in legacy infrastructure, smaller companies are projected to become very large drivers of the progress of cloud computing around the world. Certain industries, like retail and services, will see a rapid adoption of these technologies due to the higher amount of smaller companies in these sectors. However, banking and other information-sensitive sectors will take longer to adopt the cloud due to the security concerns. Regardless of the speed of adoption, cloud technology is one of the most important revolutions in the history of computing and we can expect profound changes in the economy similar to what was seen in response to previous technological leaps in the 80′s (with the rise of personal computing) and the 00′s (with the mobile technology revolution.)
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:
Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.