With my mission for the Canadian Cloud Best Practices Network to be a showcase of locally home-grown Cloud innovations and expertise, then it’s great when this can be achieved by talking about powerful, global-level capabilities.
In this case I refer to the recently released Cloud Computing in Health strategy document released from Canada Health Infoway, the principle eHealth standards organization for Canada.
This is a massive step forward in Cloud computing best practice trend-setting, globally as well as here in Canada, so it will be a very exciting program to profile.
Achieving a global audience through these assets is the primary reason I focus so much on reviewing and showcasing Canadian Government R&D in this area – Global level innovations attract a global audience…
Cloud 2.0 – Global Cloud Leadership from Canadian Healthcare
With my mission for the Canadian Cloud Best Practices Network to be a showcase of locally home-grown Cloud innovations and expertise, then it’s great when this can be achieved by talking about powerful, global-level capabilities.
In this case I refer to the recently released Cloud Computing in Health strategy document released from Canada Health Infoway, the principle eHealth standards organization for Canada.
This is a massive step forward in Cloud computing best practice trend-setting, globally as well as here in Canada, so it will be a very exciting program to profile.
Achieving a global audience through these assets is the primary reason I focus so much on reviewing and showcasing Canadian Government R&D in this area – Global level innovations attract a global audience…
Bulletin Messenger VI Now Available as Chrome App
Bulletin.net has made its service, Bulletin Messenger VI, available through the Chrome Web Store from Google Chrome. Consumers are now able to access from the Chrome Web Store the cloud-based service that allows organizations large and small to easily send multiple SMS messages to communicate directly with their audiences globally.
Bulletin.net’s patented IP provides Conversational Message Threading (CMT), the backbone of Messenger VI. Users can organize, send and receive SMS messages from the convenience of their desktop, mobile device or web browser, and deliver their message directly to their audience where they are sure to receive it – on their mobile phone. Leveraging SMS communications is a cost-effective method to connect businesses with mobile customers around the globe.
“SMS is ubiquitous, almost spam-free, and boasts a 96% open rate. It is the single most effective form of what we call ‘conditioned response marketing,’” said Michael Messner, Director of Marketing. “Customers have been conditioned to immediately check and respond to text messages.”
“SMS represents a key channel for mobile marketing and strongly complements other business communication strategies,” said David Hayes, Australian Country Manager.
Happy Techsgiving! Top 7 Tech Gadgets I’m Thankful for in 2012
By John Dixon
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I decided to take a couple minutes to think about what tech gadgets I have been most thankful for in 2012. I’ve seen both consumers and corporate clients really begin to embrace a few technologies over the past year. As a consultant, a lot of these things make life easier for me, my coworkers, and my company.
1. DropBox
…and other online file-sharing/storage solutions. This is more of a selfish item. I use DropBox personally to sync documents and data across various devices. Being on the road much of the time, I’ve assembled a small arsenal of technology to try and find that allusive combination that truly helps me deliver services to my clients. More and more devices sometimes makes it more difficult to stay organized. One platform, like DropBox, that helps me access my documents from any device is a technology that I’ve grown to rely on.
2. SSD Drives
For the first time, I can run several virtual machines and my desktop OS from my laptop, without sacrificing performance. I never thought I would need to do this, but it certainly helps my day-to-day productivity. I run one desktop that is always connected to the VPN of my client project, one for my GreenPages desktop, and my desktop OS to access documents on my local machine. Being able to instantly switch between them has been a huge help to me lately. Sometimes I’ll spin up a new VM to test a concept or a piece of code. The SSD makes all of this possible.
3. Cloud Infrastructure Services
Being able to spin up a virtual environment quickly and for low cost has really been helpful for both me and some of my clients. For example, recently I was able to spin up a J2EE (Tomcat, mysql, Apache) environment for a day to test something for one of my clients. I didn’t need to keep any of the data in the environment, so I used it for a day and shut it down, all for about $2.00 or so. Once the monitoring and management is ironed out, I really think this type of IaaS will be a very attractive alternative for corporate clients, especially development groups and startups.
4. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
GreenPages recently adopted this option for desktop computing, and I think it is fantastic. Having an arsenal of technology available to you is one thing, but having the arsenal of technology that you are comfortable using and are excited about is another. BYOD allows employees to get the technology that best fits their working style and expertise. I think this will become more and more important as the trend advances to employ more and more remote resources. And the next generation of workers – those who have grown up with all-the-time connectivity – will almost certainly work more efficiently with BYOD policies instead of TIWYG (This Is What You Get) policies.
5. Cloud Collaboration Platforms
This one is similar to #1, but more along the lines of collaboration. I work in a distributed team where face-to-face communication is not always possible. Being able to share documents and track issues from the same platform is almost necessary when it comes to complex projects.
6. App Stores
I admit, I like Apple stuff. I’ve heard the resentment of the Apple App Store – it’s a closed system, Apple gives only a 30% cut to developers, etc. But how often do you see a small organization or even a single individual effectively competing in the same market/landscape with large corporations? The cool thing about the App Store is that it narrows the focus on quality and experience of the product (the App, in this case). Sometimes the smaller organizations, including some of our clients, can deliver higher quality products and services than the “big guys.” App Stores are cool because they basically level the playing field.
7. Bluetooth In Rental Cars
I travel a decent amount so this is obviously extremely helpful when I am on the road. Another thing I can be thankful for!
What technologies are you Thankful for this year?
GreenPages is holding an event in Atlanta next week on the 28th. Come listen to our experts discuss everything from clustered datacenters, to buzz from VMworld, to VDI battlefield stories.
Gauging the Cloud Computing Confidence Level Among Businesses
It’s rather difficult to get a good read on public opinion, especially about things that half of them don’t know about. Cloud computing is one of those things.
How does one get a really good view on the overall public perception of particular things? Sure, you’ve got your own personal opinions, but they may be years ahead or behind the bulk of the public, depending on what exactly the subject is. We’re speaking very generally right now and philosophically at that, but this is a general topic that is extremely relevant. How can we really gauge things, and not just model them and pretend as if we’re doing something real.
Political polls claim to be judges of public opinion. They are somewhat accurate, but you’re taking thousands of people and claiming that they are representative of millions. Something seems fundamentally wrong. Thus, to claim that we know anything except very limited knowledge based on polling would be a lie.
Swivel Secure Launches University Licensing in UK, North America
Tokenless authentication provider Swivel Secure today announced the launch of its university licensing scheme, which enables universities in both the UK and North America to secure their network infrastructures at a fraction of the typical costs, regardless of whether their data is stored in the cloud or on a virtual private network.
Under the terms of the scheme, Swivel Secure channel partners are able to offer free licences for Swivel’s tokenless authentication platform to a university’s student population, when full licences are purchased for staff members. The scheme enables budget conscious universities to add an additional level of security to their network infrastructure without the need for extensive additional investment.
In both markets, data and network security is a growing concern amongst university IT administrators. Compliance with strict data protection regulations, together with increasing demands from students to access the campus network from a range of different devices and applications, is creating a complex environment that is putting pressure on existing access controls. Additionally, many campuses are also looking to realise the cost savings offered by migrating to a cloud-based infrastructure, which raises fresh concerns about authenticating off-premise users of the campus network.
“Cloud is already an attractive cost saving option for universities and Microsoft’s recent offer of free university licences for Office 365 will undoubtedly encourage more campuses to adopt the model,” comments Chris Russell, VP Engineering at Swivel Secure. “But universities should tread carefully. The ubiquitous reuse of username and password combinations is a real threat to cloud security. Often, all a hacker needs to do is to obtain and reuse a student’s login details for, say, Facebook, in order to gain unauthorised access to the campus network.
“Universities need to be implementing an authentication solution that requires an additional piece of information so if a user’s password is compromised the network remains protected. Our new licensing scheme enables universities to secure their VPN or cloud-based infrastructures in this manner using the only tokenless authentication platform approved for the Microsoft Office 365 environment. Providing free licences to all students should put the technology within reach of most, if not all universities, even those working hard to contain additional costs.”
The Swivel authentication platform was first launched in 2003. It is now used by local government, the NHS, major global enterprises and hundreds of smaller businesses, in over 35 countries, to remotely access their business networks, virtual desktops and cloud-based applications. Offering the widest range of user deployment options according to Gartner, the Swivel authentication platform offers the choice of mobile apps, SMS and interactive voice response channels when full two-factor authentication is mandatory.
ICT: Keep Your Eyes on Northern & Eastern Europe
We’ve produced our initial report for sale by The Tau Institute. It’s priced at $895, with a $200 discount if you mention “Cloud Computing Journal” when you order. You can visit our website or tweet me if you’re interested.
But this is not a sales pitch. The report is just part of our activities. I started my research on national ICT environments about two years ago, with the help of Cloud Computing Journal and ComputerWorld Philippines.
I started the Institute a few months ago. I’m Executive Director, with an office and an assistant here in the US. Ibarra Gutierrez serves as our Associate Director. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Computerworld Philippines, and has some dedicated staff to the Institute from his offices along Ayala Ave. in Makati Metro Manila.
We now have eight other folks on our Advisory Board, drawn from all regions of the world. They’ve been invaluable in helping us set a direction for the research, and fine-tuning it. My goal is to expand the board to about 15 members by end of 2013.
But again, this is not a sales pitch. What I’d like to do is focus my readers on the various regions of the world, and how they compare on a relative basis. As I’ve written many times before, most surveys and rankings in essence show rich countries at the top and poor countries at the bottom. They don’t tease out the relative differences among nations, ie, which nations are doing the most with what they have. This is what we strive to do with our initial research, which we call The Tau Index.
When I first started putting numbers together and creating our algorithms, I found a lot of dynamism in Southeast Asia. This confirmed my initial reason for starting this research, ie, the region is a beehive of activity. Yet my travels also told me that certain countries were overrated by normal measures, while others were diamonds in the rough that needed more exposure.
Our numbers confirmed this as well, pointing out that Indonesia actually appears to be lagging, Vietnam is a shining star, and the Philippines is more dynamic than Thailand. Our algorithms do integrate the perception of corruption, but are neutral about the form of government or underlying societal stresses.
So the flawed democracies of India and the Philippines, for example, are not compared against the Communists of China and Vietnam, the Islamists of Indonesia and Malaysia, or the severe class friction of Thailand. The same neutral approach goes for the rest of the world. The recent US election and its result have no bearing on the Index, nor do the current political struggles in Greece and Hungary, or the turmoil and serious violence throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East.
Instead, our aglorithms measure a country’s overall commitment to ICT and the benefits it brings. Over time, we may find that certain types of government or a long period of societal turmoil affect how a country migrates to ICT, with a subsequent affect on its economy. Our view is that higher levels of commitment to ICT equal more economic growth and less economic disparity.
In particular, the growth of mobile technology and social media are driving more open societies – something that we favor, of course – even as government attempts (including in the US) to control it become increasingly ham-handed.
As we enter the final weeks of 2012, I urge everyone to keep their eyes on Northern Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, but particularly on Northern and Eastern Europe. Countries and regions that could stand improvement – and may in fact be the leading beneficiaries of our research – include Latin America, the United States, the BRICs, and Southern Europe.
ICT: Keep Your Eyes on Northern & Eastern Europe
We’ve produced our initial report for sale by The Tau Institute. It’s priced at $895, with a $200 discount if you mention “Cloud Computing Journal” when you order. You can visit our website or tweet me if you’re interested.
But this is not a sales pitch. The report is just part of our activities. I started my research on national ICT environments about two years ago, with the help of Cloud Computing Journal and ComputerWorld Philippines.
I started the Institute a few months ago. I’m Executive Director, with an office and an assistant here in the US. Ibarra Gutierrez serves as our Associate Director. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Computerworld Philippines, and has some dedicated staff to the Institute from his offices along Ayala Ave. in Makati Metro Manila.
We now have eight other folks on our Advisory Board, drawn from all regions of the world. They’ve been invaluable in helping us set a direction for the research, and fine-tuning it. My goal is to expand the board to about 15 members by end of 2013.
But again, this is not a sales pitch. What I’d like to do is focus my readers on the various regions of the world, and how they compare on a relative basis. As I’ve written many times before, most surveys and rankings in essence show rich countries at the top and poor countries at the bottom. They don’t tease out the relative differences among nations, ie, which nations are doing the most with what they have. This is what we strive to do with our initial research, which we call The Tau Index.
When I first started putting numbers together and creating our algorithms, I found a lot of dynamism in Southeast Asia. This confirmed my initial reason for starting this research, ie, the region is a beehive of activity. Yet my travels also told me that certain countries were overrated by normal measures, while others were diamonds in the rough that needed more exposure.
Our numbers confirmed this as well, pointing out that Indonesia actually appears to be lagging, Vietnam is a shining star, and the Philippines is more dynamic than Thailand. Our algorithms do integrate the perception of corruption, but are neutral about the form of government or underlying societal stresses.
So the flawed democracies of India and the Philippines, for example, are not compared against the Communists of China and Vietnam, the Islamists of Indonesia and Malaysia, or the severe class friction of Thailand. The same neutral approach goes for the rest of the world. The recent US election and its result have no bearing on the Index, nor do the current political struggles in Greece and Hungary, or the turmoil and serious violence throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East.
Instead, our aglorithms measure a country’s overall commitment to ICT and the benefits it brings. Over time, we may find that certain types of government or a long period of societal turmoil affect how a country migrates to ICT, with a subsequent affect on its economy. Our view is that higher levels of commitment to ICT equal more economic growth and less economic disparity.
In particular, the growth of mobile technology and social media are driving more open societies – something that we favor, of course – even as government attempts (including in the US) to control it become increasingly ham-handed.
As we enter the final weeks of 2012, I urge everyone to keep their eyes on Northern Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, but particularly on Northern and Eastern Europe. Countries and regions that could stand improvement – and may in fact be the leading beneficiaries of our research – include Latin America, the United States, the BRICs, and Southern Europe.
Going global: Implementing the cloud without borders
Any move to the cloud requires a transformational way of thinking. With a global enterprise, this shift requires unique preparations and considerations.
Not only do standard challenges (i.e. alignment, business process, and change management) become increasingly complex as you add geographies and cultural differences to a project, but compliance and data quality concerns further complicate matters and require a detailed and methodical approach.
Over the past 12 years, Bluewolf has worked across every major timezone and global currency to deliver on the promise of the cloud.
We know that when it comes to a global cloud deployment, there should not be a “one size fits all” approach.
Laying the right foundation:
Before getting started, companies should reflect on the makeup of their organisation, and establish specific goals around success.
Lack of setting an effective vision and aligning leadership are major reasons why global cloud implementations fail to produce impactful …
Big Data Expo 2013 New York Call for Papers Now Open
There is little doubt that Big Data solutions will have an increasing role in the Enterprise IT mainstream over time. Get a jump on that rapidly evolving trend at Big Data Expo 2013 New York, co-located with 12th Cloud Expo – being held June 10 – 13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York, NY.
As advanced data storage, access and analytics technologies aimed at handling high-volume and/or fast moving data all move center stage, aided by the cloud computing boom, Big Data Expo is the single most effective event for you to learn how to use you own enterprise data – processed in the cloud – most effectively to drive value for your business.
A recent Gartner report predicts that the volume of enterprise data overall will increase by a phenomenal 650% over the next five years. Help plant your flag in the fast-expanding business opportunity that is Big Data: submit your speaking proposal today!