Cloud Computing at the Potomac Officer’s Club

Across the Federal IT landscape, terms like “cloud”, “cloud computing” and Software as a service (SaaS) are at the center of a seismic shift by the agencies away from building and managing every aspect of their IT infrastructure and services. The potential benefits of cloud computing within the Federal IT landscape are well known, and, the fact is that the role of every CIO across “.Gov” has shifted in a way that makes cloud very difficult to ignore.

The CIOs that lead the Federal government agencies are no longer solely responsible for the management of IT, but now face the added pressure of supporting business growth by reducing costs and driving innovation in a concerted effort to build a strategic advantage for their Agency. One part of the solution is certainly the cloud. Cost savings, elasticity, scalability, “load “bursting”, storage on demand… these are the advertised benefits of cloud computing, and they certainly help make for a solid business case for any Agency to use either third-party services or a virtualized data center.

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Cloud Computing at the Potomac Officer’s Club

Across the Federal IT landscape, terms like “cloud”, “cloud computing” and Software as a service (SaaS) are at the center of a seismic shift by the agencies away from building and managing every aspect of their IT infrastructure and services. The potential benefits of cloud computing within the Federal IT landscape are well known, and, the fact is that the role of every CIO across “.Gov” has shifted in a way that makes cloud very difficult to ignore.

The CIOs that lead the Federal government agencies are no longer solely responsible for the management of IT, but now face the added pressure of supporting business growth by reducing costs and driving innovation in a concerted effort to build a strategic advantage for their Agency. One part of the solution is certainly the cloud. Cost savings, elasticity, scalability, “load “bursting”, storage on demand… these are the advertised benefits of cloud computing, and they certainly help make for a solid business case for any Agency to use either third-party services or a virtualized data center.

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The Next Cloud Battleground: PaaS

Back in the day – when the Internets were exploding and I was still coding – I worked in enterprise architecture. Enterprise architecture, for the record, is generally not the same as application development. When an organization grows beyond a certain point, it becomes necessary to start designing a common framework upon which applications can be rapidly developed and deployed.
Architects design and implement this framework and application developers then code their applications for deployment on that architecture.
If that sounds a lot like PaaS it should because deep down, it is.

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SharePoint MVPs Offer Consulting in Exchange for Typhoon Haiyan Aid

On November 8, 2013, the deadliest typhoon ever recorded in history devastated the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan was stronger than hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined. It has been estimated that at least 10,000 people have been killed.

Dux Raymond Sy, VP of Customer Strategy and Solutions, AvePoint Public Sector, has organized an initiative that allows people to trade a donation to a charity of their choice for a one hour SharePoint consulting session with one of a variety of reknown SharePoint MVPs and leading experts.

For every $99 donation, the donator can have a one hour session ($99 = 1 hour; $198 = 2 hours; etc.)

The list of participating experts and MVPs includes Dux, Benjamin Niaulin, Naomi MoneyPenny, Jason Himmelstein, Mark Kashman, and nearly 70 others. Within these one hour sessions, donators can gain mentoring, coaching, training, trouble shooting, etc.

Embracing the New Enterprise IT: The Public Cloud

Cloud this and cloud that are on the lips of every IT professional. Beyond being an overhyped buzzword, cloud computing is a technology that’s innovating the way that many businesses, from startups to enterprises, handle their IT needs. Whether it’s specific applications or a complete infrastructure, cloud technology continues to transform the IT landscape.
Businesses have a few different cloud options to choose from: Public cloud services are run through third-party providers, whereas the private cloud is controlled directly by the business itself and distributes computing resources within the company. It’s also possible to use a combination of both. The public cloud provides a cost advantage and an overhead advantage to businesses, since you don’t have to pay for equipment cost or maintenance. However, the disadvantage is that you don’t have direct access to the hardware or software. It’s hosted offsite at the cloud service’s facility, which can raise some security concerns.

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Cloud Storage Adoption Gaining Among Businesses

Cloud computing is helping businesses combat a growing problem: Too much information and not enough storage capacity.
With businesses increasingly facing the prospect of running out of storage capacity, adoption of cloud storage technologies continues to grow, according to a report from cloud-integrated storage solutions specialist TwinStrata.
The survey found that 37 percent of respondents have been using cloud computing for three or more years, more than a one-third increase over last year’s 27 percent number. When compared with last year’s survey, overall adoption of cloud services has steadily increased across all categories, with use of Software as a Service (SaaS) reaching as high as 62 percent and both cloud storage and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) edging closer to 50 percent adoption rates. Platform as a Service (PaaS) experienced the greatest increase in adoption as more organizations become increasingly comfortable with the cloud, the report indicated.

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When Does Internet of Things Become Internet of Agents? | Part 2

In my last blog, I discussed how the Internet of Things is really developing into what can more accurately be called the Internet of Agents. These connections and multi-agent systems are resulting in an increasing number of highly applicable, value-added bundled and branded services. The latest Gartner forecast for Internet of Things predicts that by 2020 there will be $309 billion in incremental revenue opportunity for IoT suppliers, mostly in services.
The Internet brings us 21st century online versions of other traditional services: agents that can deliver cars as a service, clothes as a service and takeaway food as a service. The Internet of Agents tells you where you can catch a bus for wherever you want to go, and how long it will be before the bus arrives at your stop. It also tells you which local hardware store stocks the product you’re looking for. If you choose, you can track “things” that belong to you. You can track your car or your laptop or your mobile device if it goes missing. Your children, your pets, your significant other (yes, people are now “things” too). You know where a package in transit is and when it’s scheduled to be delivered to your doorstep. All of these agent-driven services bring together traditional people-based services, connectedness, location awareness and physical devices or tools.

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NCOIC to Rollout Open Process for Secure, Hybrid IT Computing Environments

Next month, the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) will introduce an open pattern that will enable governments, agencies and businesses to create a secure, hybrid IT environment quickly and cost effectively. Cloud computing expert Kevin Jackson has been named to lead the team that will assist organizations in adopting the process, known as the NCOIC Rapid Response Capability (NRRC), into their operations. “The NRRC was initially developed for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to test the ability of an open cloud environment to quickly collect, store and share geospatial information in a complex disaster situation,” said Jackson. “We have refined the process with checklists, rules and patterns so it can promote information exchange and collaboration for a wide range of needs, including emergency response, humanitarian assistance and rapid IT infrastructure deployment.”

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NCOIC to Rollout Open Process for Secure, Hybrid IT Computing Environments

Next month, the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) will introduce an open pattern that will enable governments, agencies and businesses to create a secure, hybrid IT environment quickly and cost effectively. Cloud computing expert Kevin Jackson has been named to lead the team that will assist organizations in adopting the process, known as the NCOIC Rapid Response Capability (NRRC), into their operations. “The NRRC was initially developed for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to test the ability of an open cloud environment to quickly collect, store and share geospatial information in a complex disaster situation,” said Jackson. “We have refined the process with checklists, rules and patterns so it can promote information exchange and collaboration for a wide range of needs, including emergency response, humanitarian assistance and rapid IT infrastructure deployment.”

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