Viruses and computer hacking have become common terms we all hear regularly in news reports and online. And while the concept of a virus is easy to understand, mainly because we are all taught how biological viruses work in our own body, it’s difficult to understand exactly what is going on during an attack inside your PC. What we need is a realistic visualization of exactly what is happening as an attack happens, and how […]
Cloud Computing
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) expects to save 40% over the next five years by switching its financial management application to a cloud computing vendor — a sign of the massive savings to come from the U.S. federal government’s shift to the software-as-a-service model. The EEOC ran a competitive bid and chose Global Computer Enterprises (GCE) of Reston, Va., to provide Oracle’s Financials Release 12 software in a cloud-based delivery model. The five-year contract […]
New Zealand was already set to be the land of cloud computing, but the Christchurch earthquake should boost that process further. As businesses recover from the havoc the quake wreaked, it is becoming clear who fared best. Those who stored their data offsite were least affected, and cloud computing was shown to be good for data recovery. Analysts say that, given this, the quake will send firms to the cloud, especially since it makes it […]
A spike in attacks against IP PBXs that started last fall shows no signs of abating, spawning speculation that those responsible have tapped into botnets and cloud computing resources to carry out their illegal activities. According to separate security reports from Cisco and Sipera’s Viper Lab research arm, the exploits are carried out using techniques that lend themselves to the interpretation that the attackers are tapping into broad resources that make their work more effective. […]
Cloud computing in Dallas ranked high in a recent survey of over than 2,000 SMB and enterprise IT decision-makers. Microsoft named some of the country’s top “cloud-friendly” U.S. cities as a result of the survey. In the findings, IT decision makers nationwide discussed how they are adopting and using cloud computing. Dallas ranked third among the most cloud-ready cities for large companies. Of IT decision makers, 46 percent believe the cloud is an engine of […]
Steve Ballmer, pacing the stage at the CERAweek energy conference in Houston Wednesday night, touted cloud computing as the wave of the future. He pushed Microsoft’s Kinect system for its Xbox 360 console. He brought an actor on stage to demonstrate how Kinect’s sensors register the body motions of its users without the need for a handheld device like Nintendo’s Wii and showed how friends using Kinect can interact with each other in cloud-based cyberspace. […]
Virtualization – not quite the nirvana it was promised to be. We expected exponentially better efficiency, higher availability and huge savings for IT budgets. However, now that the honeymoon is over, most organizations feel slighted. Not only have the promised benefits never been realized, but IT organizations also have been saddled with ever-increasing user demand and out-of-control costs – not to mention virtual sprawl, vendor lock-in and high provisioning effort. With all of these issues, […]
In my last cloud computing commentary in this space, I described how a growing number of organizations of all sizes are recognizing the potential benefits of Cloud Computing and are beginning to consider their options. Now, the question is: who will help you sort through the myriad of choices and capitalize on the rapidly expanding Cloud alternatives? As I outlined in my previous column, the Cloud Computing marketplace is generally divided into three stratas – […]
Researchers propose using hacker tactics to secure cloud computing systems. Handing sensitive data over to a cloud computing provider makes many companies skittish. But new software, called HomeAlone, could help them come to terms with using such services. Cloud computing can save companies money by providing inexpensive, flexible storage and processing resources that are managed for them. All the same, many companies remain hesitant to turn their data over to a third party. Cloud computing […]
While both large and small companies are investing aggressively in cloud backup and recovery solutions, in the next two years the greatest growth in cloud-based managed services will come from SMBs. Today 5 percent of SMBs surveyed employ backup-as-a-service, remote backup or online backup services from a managed service provider and 38 percent plan to employ them in two years – a growth rate of 660 percent. Market Driven by Multiple Needs Three factors contribute […]