Thursday, December 12, 2013

Congressional Commitee Addresses 'Retirement Crisis'

One of the greatest services that retirement planners can do for their clients is to advise them to delay receiving Social Security benefits until beyond age 62, according to recent testimony before the Congressional Special Committee on Aging.

Addressing what it calls a “retirement crisis,” the Special Committee on Aging met recently to hear testimony on the “State of the American Senior: The Changing Landscape for Baby Boomers.” The meeting was led by Chairman Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME).

(Read my complete article at Think Advisor)

Learning to Live With Recycled Email Accounts

Earlier this year, news that Yahoo intended to recycle dormant email addresses was initially greeted with a largely favorable response.

“Get the Yahoo email address of your dreams at Yahoo’s wish list,” said Joanne Stern on Good Morning America, for example.

But the move soon opened up debate on whether Yahoo was inviting privacy invasions, as some users reported getting unwanted emails intended for someone else.

(Read my complete article at Internet Evolution)

A crisis in physician recruitment

Over the next seven years, an estimated 6.5 million new healthcare jobs will be have to be filled, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A large number of those positions will be for physicians.

Healthcare HR managers will find it challenging to fill the majority of new jobs in the fast-growing healthcare industry, which will be for nurses, aides, and support staff. But it’s the need for more physicians that doesn’t bode well for the industry, based on the current state of physician hiring.

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Successfully Educating Your Clients on Long-Term Care

As a society we are living longer, and we are living with medical issues longer. This places greater need for long term care insurance policies – insurance that covers the gaps left by Medicare and other assistance programs.

At the same time, a growing number of insurance companies are getting out of the long-term care business. Quite simply, it has become nearly impossible to forecast what individuals will need for health assistance, and what that assistance will cost, 20, 30 or 40 years into the future.

(Read my entire article at Think Advisor)

Health Care a Critical Part of Retirement Strategy

When it comes to retirement planning, a majority of customers consider health care coverage to be a critical part of their overall strategy. But most say they have limited understanding of health care issues today, and a small minority understand the importance of long term care protection. Those are among the findings of a new research study entitled “2013 Retirement Planning Study,” sponsored by Nationwide Financial and conducted by Summit Professional Networks and ThinkAdvisor.

(Read my entire article at Think Advisor)

Graphene Key to Cheaper, More Efficient Supercomputers?

In the era of supercomputers, the race is on to make the massive machines cheaper to build and more efficient to operate. And new research is suggesting that emerging material graphene, which is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms laid out as a mesh of hexagons, could help do both.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Ask the Advisor: Engaging and Involving Customers

Working with a retirement planner can be a challenging process for many clients. After all, this is a relationship that requires a lot of trust on both parts, and a great deal of financial candor from the customer. Scott Hanson, a certified financial planner with Hanson McClain Advisors in Sacramento, shares his thoughts on how a retirement planner can best explain their role, foster mutual trust, and make the relationship work to best advantage. As Hanson notes, the greatest benefits you may provide as a retirement planner are the financial mistakes you help a client avoid.

(Read my complete article at ThinkAdvisor)

Telework as a competitive edge

Even in a populated area like Dallas-Fort Worth, competition for skilled healthcare workers is fierce, and that’s why organizations like Texas Health Resources support remote work and teleworking.

(Read my complete article at HealthcareFinanceNews)

BYOD to make traditional phone systems obsolete, study says

IT managers have been hearing that BYOD practices are rapidly increasing, and that trend was confirmed by a new study released Thursday by RingCentral, a provider of cloud business communications solutions.

(Read my complete article at FierceMobileIT)

CompTIA announces program to certify mobile IT pros

To address the growing need for qualified mobile IT professionals, non-profit IT trade association CompTIA announced a new CompTIA Mobility+ certification program to verify IT professionals have the skills they need to keep pace with mobile market advances.

(Read my complete article at FierceMobileIT)

Friday, November 8, 2013

IT contractor ranks are growing, says OnForce CEO

Impacts of the recession are still being felt dramatically in the IT job market, with large numbers of IT professionals forced to seek work among the contractor ranks.
That is the take of Peter Cannone, CEO of OnForce, the largest workforce-as-a-service company in the country.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Positive, negative signs ahead for IT spending, says IDC

Spending on IT worldwide will accelerate in 2014, according to a new research report from International Data Corp (IDC).

The research firm notes that the growth rate of spending on IT dipped in 2013 to 4 percent. IDC is projecting growth rate to increase to 5 percent in the year ahead, as global markets are able to distance themselves from the world-wide recession, eWEEK reports.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Most companies fail to explain BYOD policies, study finds

IT managers have been deluged with headlines about the security risks that employees pose with Bring Your Own Device programs. Now, it turns out that those same employees may be innocent of the crimes of which they are accused, sort of. It's not that employees aren't causing problems. Some certainly are. But most were never told what their employer's BYOD policies were in the first place.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Most employees don't view taking corporate data as stealing

Security is first and foremost on the minds of most organizations these days. And a continued threat to the company's data comes from within--from employees who feel like they live in a "finder's keepers" environment.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Procurement woes holding state IT initiatives back

State CIOs are being held back in their efforts to deploy new IT services and initiatives by cumbersome and risk-averse procurement processes, according to a new survey by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Cloud could be key to untold riches ... or not

If you want to be the hero in your company, leading the organization to a doubling in revenue potential, then embrace the cloud right away.

Conversely, if you are not already engaged in cloud-based computing, you had better do so immediately. Otherwise, it could cost you your job, since you would be denying your organization that opportunity to double its revenues.

At least that is the sense of new research by IBM: "Under Cloud Cover: How Leaders Are Accelerating Competitive Differentiation".

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Digital investments driving IT's high performers, Accenture says

Companies that invest in digital technologies and enhanced customer experiences are better able to identify new growth opportunities and enhance organizational performance.

That is among the key findings from Accenture's new report "High Performers in IT: Defined by Digital."

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

MegaCloud service apparently goes dark

A month after Nirvanix pulled the plug on its cloud computing service, it appears that another cloud company may have closed up shop.

According to Network World, the web site for MegaCloud, a free and paid consumer cloud storage company, is no longer accessible on the Internet. Any attempt to locate MegaCloud.com on the web results in a notice that the site can't be found. In addition, "none of the other sites associated with MegaCloud work either, such as the features page, pricing information and the contacts links," Network World noted.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Does your industry measure up to the cloud?

There is growing interest in cloud-based computing, but embracing the cloud obviously isn't right for every company, and it may be less desirable in certain industries.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

More companies embracing cloud-based computing

Everything cloud-based seems to be exploding in activity, and no less is true for cloud-based security as a service.

According to Gartner, the cloud-based security as a service market is on track to hit $4.13 billion in value by 2017. This market includes secure email, web gateways, identity access management, remote vulnerability assessment, security information and event management, notes Network World.

(Read my complete article at FierceCIO)

Zombie device ranks are growing

From "The Walking Dead" to "World War Z," it seems that everybody went wild for zombies this year.

Not to be left out of the discussion, zombie devices are also a topic of growing interest. And as Bring Your Own Device programs gain in popularity, the likelihood that you will be doing battle with some of those zombies increases.

(Read my entire article at FierceCIO)

The remote worker debate: Home is where the heart is

The tech media has been quick this week to jump on reports that HP is calling remote-based workers back to the office. It follows similar action by Yahoo earlier this year.

In both cases, according to internal memos that have been publicized, the desire is to foster a closer sense of team and bring everyone back together face-to-face.

(Read my entire article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cisco reaffirms its support of remote-based workforce

In the midst of reports that some leading technology companies are reining in their remote workers, networking giant Cisco reaffirmed its policy last week that remote workers are a valued and critical part of its workforce.

(Read my entire article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Siemens launches, rebrands itself as Unify

With 170 years of business success under its belt, no one can say that Siemens Enterprise Communications doesn't know how to adapt with the times. And so it did, once again, this week becoming Unify.
(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: 10 Comnmandments of BYOD

Nobody ever said managing a bring-your-own-device program was easy, but the good folks at MaaS360 have offered up a bit of advice aimed at helping every organization at least put the right steps in place.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Tangoe goes into BYOD advisory business

Tangoe Inc., a global provider of communications lifecycle management software and services, is going into the business of advising companies on how to successfully implement bring-your-own-device programs.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Amazon Web Services and big data a double winner for cloud pros

IT pros wanting to get in on opportunities with cloud computing had better brush up on Amazon Web Services and get a bit of big data under their belt.

That is the word of advice from Dice.com's Howard Lee, chief architect of the job search and compensation company's Open Web effort. Lee spends a good portion of his time analyzing job search terms used by recruiters on the Dice site and he says nothing else comes close to AWS for desired cloud-based experience or skills.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Data centers will be engulfed by clouds by 2017

Data center cloud traffic is on track to more than triple over the next four years, according to networking giant Cisco. Furthermore, cloud server workloads will surpass conventional data center workloads by as early as next year.

These are among the findings of Cisco's just-released Cisco Global Cloud Index Forecast 2012-2017, which is based on 40TB of data collected from ten enterprise and service provider data centers and data on server shipments from market research firms.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

YouTube mobile traffic sees more than 6-fold increase in 2 years

Traffic on YouTube from mobile devices jumped more than six-fold over the past two years, according to Google, which owns the popular social media site.

In 2011, mobile devices accounted for 6 percent of traffic on YouTube. That number is up to 41 percent this year, CEO Larry Page was quoted as saying during Google's quarterly earnings call in a Computerworld article. The 41 percent figure includes traffic from tablets as well as smartphones.

(Read my complete article at FierceMobileIT)

Mobile devices will enhance, not replace, PC-based online shopping this holiday

With the growing attention to m-commerce--online shopping done on mobile devices--it would be tempting to think that mobile devices will replace the laptop as the holiday shopping tool of choice.

Not so, says Tom Leung, former Google exec and current CEO of Yabbly, an online shopping community site. Instead, retailers should expect to see consumers use an "omni-channel" approach to their holiday shopping--laptop, tablet and smartphone all working together.

(Read my complete article at FierceMobileIT)

Making Dollars and Sense Out of Roth IRAs and 401(k)s

One of the unfortunate casualties of the recent economic downturn is distrust in the stock market and investments tied to it. That includes IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 401(k) plans.

But market-related investments are intended for the long-term of course, and consumers need to stay the course when it comes to retirement investing. That is among the best advice you can give clients this year. Especially since the market has largely corrected itself and most stocks have recovered their lost value.

(Read my complete article at Think Advisor)

The Importance of Explaining Medigap

A large number of people wait until near-retirement age to start thinking about retirement planning. That can include Medicare insurance.

While there are some benefits that are best delayed, such as Social Security, others need to be acted on early to ensure reasonable rates and desired coverage. One of those is Medigap insurance. Your clients should be asking about Medigap insurance as soon as they turn age 64. Waiting just a few months can mean the difference in dramatic rate increases and coverage reductions.

(Read my complete article at Think Advisor)

Customer-facing kiosks: Successes and pitfalls

Travelers on commuter rail systems sometimes have to wait long periods of time for the next available train. So it would seem to be the perfect opportunity for them to do some errands -- food shopping, for instance.

It's simple enough. They walk up to a special advertising panel on the train platform, take out their Apple or Android mobile device and download the Peapod mobile app. They can then browse virtual aisles of groceries and produce, scan the barcodes below the images of the items they want and, finally, place and pay for their order -- all online. Their items will be delivered the next day.

Ordering groceries on the way home has never been so easy.

(Read my complete article at Computerworld)

Community Supercomputer Brings Data Analytics to the Masses

Massive supercomputer power is usually reserved for big companies or governments, but now it’s available to the public, small businesses, researchers and startups in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The $3.5 million Tandy Community Supercomputer is considered the first of its kind in the U.S.

(Read my complete article at Go Parallel)

Peregrine Supercomputer Takes Flight in Search for Renewable Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy recently unveiled its innovative warm-water, liquid-cooled supercomputer—Peregrine, which is housed in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) recently inaugurated Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF).  The new data center was designed to be one of the most energy efficient facilities in the world, operating at a power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.06 or better.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Supercomputer Reveals Secrets of Black Holes

Black holes may cause the creation of stars, not their destruction, according to new discoveries by University of Leicester supercomputer “Complexity.”
The supercomputer is one of five supercomputers in the U.K. that are part of a project to explore the universe, according to a recent report by the BBC. Complexity went online in the summer of 2012 with government funding to build a supercomputer capable of doing unprecedented astronomical research.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)


Predicting the Future with Supercomputers?

Supercomputers can perform amazing analysis, but can they predict the future? Data scientist and one of the foremost proponents in the emerging field of predictive supercomputing Kalev Leetaru predicts they will be able to.

For Leetaru’s 2011 study “Culturomics 2.0: Forecasting large–scale human behavior using global news media tone in time and space,” he applied tone and geographic analysis to a 30–year worldwide news archive using the Nautilus SGI UV supercomputer at the National Institute for Computational Sciences. Nautilus created a network comprised of 10 billion items connected by one hundred trillion relationships.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Supercomputer Boosts Cutting-Edge Stroke Research

Stroke, which happens when a clot blocks an artery or blood vessel and restricts blood flow to the brain, kills nearly 130,000 people each year in the United States and is a leading cause of serious, long-term adult disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  But new research could one day limit the damage caused by the deadly disease.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Shoppers Wish Retailers a Very Mobile Christmas

Every year at this time, each of the nation's retailers writes Santa a lengthy note, telling him how good it has been and how it deserves a really special Christmas. Recently, Saint Nick hasn't been reading those notes closely.

Holiday sales numbers haven't been quite what retailers have hoped to see. This year may prove to be more of the same. But where retailers do seem to find hope is in the notion that online sales, and mobile commerce in particular, will play a big part in this year's festivities.

(Read my complete article at Internet Evolution)

Tackling America's greatest drug problem

America has a major drug problem, but it’s not the one that probably comes immediately to mind. It is a continual and rotating shortage of important drugs needed to treat a variety of legitimate medical conditions impacting patients and the healthcare supply chain.

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Saturday, October 19, 2013

The Global Treasurer: An interview with the well-traveled Winston Cummins


The best word to describe Winston Cummins is worldly.
 
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Cummins spent most of his early life in the South African port city of Durban before moving half way around the world to Vancouver, Canada in 1994. Along the way he cycled across South Africa and even sailed across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii.
 
 
 

Purdue's Carter Supercomputer Gets New POD Home

Purdue University’s powerful Carter supercomputer has a new high-tech home in a performance-optimized data center (POD). The move makes room in the school’s Mathematical Sciences Building for future supercomputers, including Conte–which was ranked nation’s fastest university-owned supercomputer on the June 2013 Top500 list.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Building Next-Gen Supercomputers to Shed Light on Solar Efficiency

Solar power, as with any alternative energy source, comes with great promise and great challenges with issues including efficiency. But new supercomputer research aims to change that picture by simultaneously developing exascale computer capacity, and finding ways to improve solar absorption and transfer technologies.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Ireland's New Supercomputer to Be Named by School Children

As part of an effort to introduce the world of supercomputing to a wider audience, the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) has launched a competition among primary and secondary students of Irish schools to find a name for the country’s latest supercomputer.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Most Powerful Supercomputer in Australia Unleashed

In a major boost to efforts to study and predict extreme weather, officials at the Australian National University (ANU) unveiled the country’s fastest supercomputer – Raijin.

With a peak performance of 1.2 petaflops, Raijin features 57,472 Intel Sandy Bridge cores running at 2.6 Ghz, 160 TB of memory, 10 PB of storage, and a Mellanox FDR Infiniband interconnect that delivers 9 terabytes per second bandwidth.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Making Dollars and Sense Out of Roth IRAs and 401(k)s

One of the unfortunate casualties of the recent economic downturn is distrust in the stock market and investments tied to it. That includes IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 401(k) plans.

But market-related investments are intended for the long-term of course, and consumers need to stay the course when it comes to retirement investing. That is among the best advice you can give clients this year. Especially since the market has largely corrected itself and most stocks have recovered their lost value.

(Read my complete article at Think Advisor)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Holiday sales should get big boost from mobile

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas to the country's major online retailers, who are hoping that Santa will indeed be good to them all this year.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

IEEE laaunches new Intercloud Testbed project

If you think cloud-based activities have been moving at a rapid pace, just wait. The IEEE last week announced the 21 founding members of a new Intercloud Testbed project aimed at making the cloud as second nature as the Internet.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Amazon Web Services plays Welcome Wagon to startups

Call it a welcome to the neighborhood kit. Amazon Web Services announced last week it was launching a new program for startup customers to use its cloud service.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Enterasys, PCM Inc. offer new cloud-based wireless product

Enterasys Networks and PCM Inc. joined forces in providing a joint cloud-based wireless offering called PCM Cloud Wireless Service.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Keep BYOD policies simple but effective

From the web, to the cloud, to mobile technology, among the greatest concerns of IT managers is security. The same is true for bring your own device programs, which--despite their growing popularity--hold the possibility of placing an organization's data at great risk.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

IT managers seek reliability above all in the cloud

Cloud service providers take note: you are being most closely scrutinized on...reliability. At least that's the leading consensus among IT leaders across the pond.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Healthcare IT jobs are just what the doctor ordered

While some recent job forecasts have predicted a slight cooling in the IT job market, a best bet for job seekers may be in the healthcare industry.

Perhaps more than any other industry, job growth projections for healthcare are very healthy indeed. And it's not just physicians, nurses and support staff who are needed. Healthcare is undergoing tremendous change and most of the change is driven by technology. This includes the continued implementation of the electronic patient record, and in some cases, the paperless hospital. Then there are the jobs being created by the Affordable Care Act healthcare exchanges. Network administrators, in particular, are in high demand.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Monday, October 14, 2013

Spotlight: The evolution of the TOP500 supercomputer list

As recently noted by FierceEnterpriseCommunications, next week is the deadline for organizations to nominate their supercomputers for inclusion in the next semi-annual TOP500 Supercomputer List.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Celebrating the life of Ken Brill

We recently reported on the death of Ken Brill, founder of the Uptime Institute and the so-called "Father of the Data Center Industry."

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: New study looks at global hybrid cloud market

Research and Markets has just made available its newest research study, "Hybrid Cloud Market by Delivery Models, Cloud Management & Cloud Security – Global Advancements, Market Forecasts & Analysis 2013-2018."

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight" Tech's top 10 execs as comic book characters

We've seen the top names in technology viewed, reviewed and dissected in a variety of ways. But one of the more creative recent approaches is one that appeared in Computerworld last week, in which the top 10 names in technology are compared to comic book superheroes.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Nokia takes auto navigation system to the cloud

At the International Motor Show in Frankfurt this week, Nokia will debut a new in-car multimedia platform that uses cloud-based computing to provide drivers with more accurate satellite navigation, real-time traffic updates and connectivity with smart devices.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Anogther study finds value in SDN, but not now

We recently reported on survey findings that federal IT managers see value in software-defined networks (SDN), but not for the present ("Government sees value in SDN, just not right now").

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: It's sunny days for cloud skills

The increased interest in cloud computing among organizations is creating new job opportunities for IT professionals who want to cash in.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Cisco's special education technology 'Focus'

Networking giant Cisco launches a new monthly online magazine today, with the first "Focus" issue devoted to technology in education.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Google wants experts to lend a Helpout hand

If you've got expertise on technology topics and a desire (or need) to share, Google wants you. Google has issued a call to order for its pending Helpouts service, in which individuals and businesses will offer their technology wisdom and advice for free or for a fee.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Obamacare hiring may include H-1B workers

The staff of the healthcare exchanges being set up to implement and manage the new Affordable Care Act may include foreign workers on H1-B visas, Computerworld is reporting.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Getting a leg up on SDN skills

Analysts predict that the software-defined networking market could grow to $35 billion by 2018 and influence between 30 to 40 percent of total network spending.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Spotlight: Nike finds that some IT jobs just need Americans

When it comes to developing apps for the company's wearable technology, executives at Nike found that their offshore talent couldn't 'Just Do It.'

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Health Savings Accounts Gain in Popularity

Nearly 15.5 million Americans are now covered by Health Saving Accounts, an increase of 15% from last year, according to a new census just released by America’s Health Insurance Plans. Meanwhile, HSAs have grown to an estimated $18 billion in assets representing over 9.1 million separate accounts, according to the recent 6th semi-annual Health Savings Accounts Survey by Deviner.

(Read my complete article at ThinkAdvisor)

Ask the Analyst: Asset Allocation & Portfolio Rebalancing

People like a winner. They also like a sure thing. That is why so many private investors saving for retirement leave their money in the same accounts that were last year’s strong players. It makes sense. It can also be a really big mistake, according Gregory Friedman, a certified financial planner and CEO and president of Private Ocean in San Rafael and Walnut Creek, CA. He calls it investor greed.

(Read my complete article at ThinkAdvisor)

What to Make of The Affordable Care Act

It’s a wonder if anyone knows what to make of the upcoming Affordable Care Act, or better known as Obamacare.

What the headlines say
Obamacare will help drive down health care costs
How Obamacare Raises Healthcare Costs
Health Care Plans Under Obamacare Will Cost Even Less Than Expected
New Study Shows Higher Health Care Costs under Obamacare
Obamacare Should Make Health Care Cheaper – Just Not Right Away

(Read my complete article at ThinkAdvisor)

Americans Keep Pushing Off Retirement Plans

It is said that numbers don’t lie, and when it comes to retirement planning, the recent numbers are downright distressing with only 13% of people saying they feel confident they can afford a comfortable retirement. This is according to a recent Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute.

(Read my complete article at ThinkAdvisor)

Friday, October 11, 2013

Retailers report surging mobile commerce sales

Mobile commerce is front and center on the radar of most retailers today and they are focusing on making the experience as easy as possible for whatever device a consumer uses.

(Read my complete article at FierceMobileIT)

Education efforts key to successful BYOD programs

While cloud computing and big data are grabbing most of the headlines of late, the Bring Your Own Device movement is still very much alive and giving IT managers plenty to be concerned about.

An increasing number of organizations are adopting formal BYOD policies, hoping to benefit from increased employee productivity. But data security remains a very real concern.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Pertino introduces new Network Service Virtualization framework

Pertino, a leading player in the network virtualization market, announced recently that it has introduced the first software-defined network framework based in network functions virtualization.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

The cloud takes 3 of Gartner's top 10 predictions

Gartner pundits offered up their predictions of the top ten technologies for 2014--and cloud computing takes no less than three of the top ten slots.

At its big conference in Orlando this week, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, Gartner analysts painted a vision of the world in 2020 in which a data explosion will overwhelm everything: every organization becomes a technology company; every budget is a technology budget and smart machines will replace people. Science fiction becomes science.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Networking pros not likely to be automated out of jobs

Networking professionals take heart--your job is not likely to become automated; at least not in the short term.

That is one of the nuggets of good news in the new study, "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerization?"

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

A10 Networks gets $80 million in equity funds

On the heels of launching its Thunder portfolio of Unified Application Service Gateways in July, A10 Networks has now announced it secured $80 million in equity investment from equity firm Summit Partners.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Beating the workforce shortage

The healthcare field is the fastest growing job sector in the United States according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and this is expected to result in shortages. Savvy healthcare organizations are turning to labor forecasting and workforce planning strategies.

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Supercomputer Simulates Human Brain Activity

In an achievement that gives neuroscientists glimpse of what will be possible in the future with next-generation exascale systems, Japanese and German researchers have succeed in simulating one second worth of human brain activity on the K supercomputer.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

One Source Networks launches BaaS offering

One Source Networks announced that it has launched Backup-as-a-service for large enterprises, providing network backup and retention capabilities via the cloud.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Federal IT workforce could be slow to recover from shutdown

The prolonged federal government shutdown couldn't have come at a worse time for the federal IT workforce, and even when the shutdown ends, things may not pick up right away in that sector.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Europe wrestles with safety of school children in the cloud

We read daily about the mad dash of business organizations to embrace cloud computing, but no less aggressive is the pace of cloud adoption in education. That reality has educational and government leaders in Europe wrestling with how to better safeguard school children in the cloud.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Enterprises becoming more savvy with cloud service providers

Enterprises may be more savvy when it comes to cloud computing, according to takeaways from the 451 Research Hosting and Cloud Transformation Summit in Las Vegas two weeks ago.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Survey finds most organizations reduce budgets after IaaS implementation

Two thirds of companies that have implemented IaaS have reported budget reductions, according to a new survey report "Research: IaaS impact on data center design and staffing," released by Tech Pro Research.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

H-1B efforts not in sync with IT job market

While much of the federal government shutdown for business this week, one area was very much alive on Tuesday -- the effort of Senate Democrats to raise the quota on H-1B visas for foreign workers, which is always interpreted as offshore IT professionals.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

50% of large enterprises will adopt hybrid cloud by 2017, Gartner says

The next big thing in cloud computing--the hybrid cloud--is here now and in a big way, according to research firm Gartner.

The Stamford, Conn., research firm has just released the results of its study, "Private Cloud Matures, Hybrid Cloud Is Next," which predicts that half of all large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by 2017.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Aruba Networks debuts cloud-based Wi-Fo management system

Media outlets were all abuzz this week with the announcement by Aruba Networks that it is launching a new cloud-based Wi-Fi management system.

From Computerworld and Cloud Pro to Network Computing and Enterprise Networking Planet, everyone was quick to jump on the story. And deservedly so. The new offering, Aruba Central, aims to make it easier for IT pros to manage connectivity across multiple sites.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

New certification offered for cloud technology skills

A cloud can be a hard thing to pin down--which is why CompTIA has just issued a new certification for IT professionals to prove they have truly embraced it.

The CompTIA Cloud+ certification program was announced Oct. 1 by the non-profit association, which is based in Downers Grove, Ill. It's intended to validate "the knowledge and best practices required of IT practitioners who must understand and deliver cloud infrastructure solutions," the organization announced.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Nominations due for world's top supercomputers

Supercomputers are the ultimate computer networks: large number of servers, processors and co-processors tied together to enable massive computing power. They fill entire rooms, or floors and sometimes even their own buildings. Their owners have been in fierce competition as of late for the naming rights to be among the world's fastest.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Call center activity taking off, says Cisco's Hernandez

While Cisco has been in the contact center business for a few years now, the company has seen tremendous growth in this market in the past year, according to John Hernandez, vice president and general manager of Cisco Collaboration Business Applications.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

New studies confirm cloud popularity for storage, business intelligence

The results of more studies on cloud computing were recently released, and they confirm the rapid rate of adoption of cloud-based applications.

Verizon released the results of its latest study about the cloud, the "State of the Enterprise Cloud Report," indicating that the use of cloud technology for storage grew by 90 percent from January 2012 to January 2013.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

The game is afoot for 'Sherlock' in the cloud

Though he never lived, a century and a quarter after his first appearance, Sherlock Holmes is still known as the greatest consulting detective of all time. Which is why it is so fitting that a new cloud- and analytics-based initiative looking to solve some of today's most complex information challenges has been named Sherlock.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Nuage product extends benefits of SDN automation

Nuage Networks announced the release of its 7850 Virtualized Services Gateway (VSG), which is intended to enable customers to extend the benefits of automation and network control across their entire datacenter infrastructure.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

European commissioner calls for single data privacy law

Despite recent revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency's surveillance practices, interest in cloud computing remains very high in Europe. Because of that, Europe needs a single data privacy law to cover the entire European Union, according to Viviane Reding, vice president of the European Commission and the EU's commissioner for justice.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

IT efforts braced for tomorrow's Obamacare exchange launches

The work of networking professionals helping to get the Affordable Care Act healthcare exchanges launched tomorrow will take on a greater sense of urgency in some states today, as a number of glitches have been reported in various systems. In addition, the final security testing of the federal data hub isn't scheduled to happen until today, the day before the exchanges officially open for business.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Cloud developers are a happier lot nowadays

There has perhaps never been a more compelling reason to go to the cloud. New survey findings from Forrester reveal (sub. req.) that enterprise cloud developers are happier and more adventurous than their other IT counterparts. And this may be the new reward area for your best staffers.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud security fears biggest obstacle to adoption

Cloud service providers still have a lot of work to do when it comes to convincing organizations that the cloud is safe. In fact, in a recent study, 78 percent of IT managers cited security concerns as the No. 1 obstacle to adopting cloud technologies.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Microsoft reportedly developing government cloud platforms

Microsoft is reportedly in the process of developing one or move versions of its cloud operating systems customized for government clients. That could involve any number of government agencies, all of which have been instructed to look for ways to reduce operating costs.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cisco cuts 4K jobs on top of strong earnings

Networking giant Cisco has analysts collectively scratching their heads following last Thursday's earnings report, in which the company cited strong quarterly earnings and then announced the elimination of 5 percent of its workforce--or, 4,000 jobs.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

$10B will take Dept. of Interior to the cloud

The government agency charged with safeguarding our public lands has approved a new $10 billion deal ($1 billion each) with ten companies that takes the agency to the cloud over the next decade.

The Department of the Interior has contracted with the ten firms to help the agency "as it moves to a more flexible infrastructure to help reduce costs and plough savings into innovation," according to a report in CloudPro.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

IntelCall, Polycom announce new UC products

InterCall, a leading provider of conferencing and collaboration services, announced it has released ECC Lync Edition, a hosted, reservation-less audio conferencing solution that complements the Microsoft Lync UC platform.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Case study: Tennessee schoolchildren pilot first Microsoft educational cloud tool

When students in the Clarksville-Montgomery School District in Tennessee return to school in two weeks they will find freshly-buffed hallways, sparkling desk tops and a new update of what is a very new educational cloud platform--Microsoft Office 365 for Education.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud market revenue could reach $20B by 2016

Clouds are moving targets. They also change shape constantly. This may explain why so many different cloud market projections keep drifting into view.

The latest study predicts that revenue from the cloud computing market could reach $20 billion by the end of 2016. That is the word from 451 Market Monitor, a division of analyst house 451 Research, in its just released study, "Cloud Computing 2013 Overview Report."

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

USPS awards online authentication contract to SecureKey

If anyone knows you, it the U.S. Postal Service. So wouldn't it make sense for the USPS to be the agency in charge of the new Federal Cloud Credential Exchange (FCCX)? The Postal Service thinks so, and yesterday awarded a three-year, $15 million contract to SecureKey to develop a cloud-based authentication service as one of the first steps.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Amazon Web Services is top IaaS provider, Gartner says

Amazon officials no doubt believe in magic, as this week the company's cloud services blew away the competition in Gartner's annual Magic Quadrant report, according to Network World.

According to Gartner, Amazon Web Services is the top IaaS public cloud service provider and offers the widest breadth of services of any vendor in the market. The selection did not come as a surprise to industry analysts.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

New studies confirm rise in hybrid cloud computing

A majority of organizations see their future as partly in the cloud, while still firmly anchored to familiar soil.

Hybrid cloud computing, as it is known, uses a combination of the services of a public cloud-computing service provider, a private cloud provider and on-premises network hosting.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Mobile device management spawning MSM market

Mobile device management (MDM) is evolving into application and content management, with the core driver being the demand for greater security around corporate assets, wherever they may reside and regardless of format, according to a report in DigiTimes. This is creating a strong, fledgling submarket for mobile security management (MSM).

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Banks take a greater liking to the cloud

The banking community has apparently finally given its seal of approval to cloud computing. According to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, four times the number of bank officials this year versus last say they plan to invest more in cloud computing in the months ahead (71 percent, up from 18 percent).

The study "Clouds in the forecast," included 115 large banks around the world, and asked bank executives about their views on current cloud computing investments, future plans and concerns. Approximately half of the banks were based in the United States.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Growing fan base for Office 365 for Education

This week and next, millions of children across the country are returning to school. For some of them, the new school year will bring new opportunities with technology. And for a growing number of school districts, that includes investments in Microsoft's foray into educational cloud computing: Microsoft Office 365 for Education.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Government sees value in SDN, just not right now

Ask government IT managers if they are interested in software-defined networking (SDN) and many are likely to tell you "yes, but it's just not a good time right now."

That is among the findings of a new study sponsored by Juniper Networks, which looked at the awareness of SDN, its perceived benefits and rates of adoption or planned adoption at various federal government agencies.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

VMware launches NSX in network virtualization foray

A good deal of buzz coming from the VMworld conference in San Francisco this week was over the launch of VMware NSX, which will be generally available in the fourth quarter of this year.

According to a report in Network Computing, "the launch touts new features such as a distributed firewall and support for partners to integrate firewalls, load balancing and other services into the software platform. The company did not disclose pricing."

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud lessons from the classroom

Over the past few weeks, FierceEnterpriseCommunications has been examining pilot programs for cloud computing in public education. It has been our Back-to-School offering.

In the first part of the series, we visited the Oregon Virtual School District, with the first state-wide rollout for Google Applications in Education. In part two, we headed south to the Clarksville-Montgomery School District, which had the first large-scale rollout for Microsoft Office 365 for Education. This week, we spoke with Microsoft about other initiatives involving its cloud-based educational platform. And next week we wrap up the series with a conversation with Google on what lies ahead for its educational cloud efforts.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Majority of enterprises now have some cloud presence

If they haven't already established a presence in the cloud, a vast majority of organizations are certainly considering it, according to new research from International Data Group (IDG).

In its recently released report, "Cloud Computing: Key Trends and Future Effects," IDG found that 61 percent of enterprises have at least one application that is cloud-based in their organizations today. That number is up from 57 percent in 2012. Another 24 percent of enterprises plan to implement a cloud application within the next 12 months, and an additional 15 percent are planning to do so within one to three years.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Avaya debuts new OpenStack SDN platform

Avaya is making major investments in the software-defined networking arena with the debut last week of its new data center framework, which will make use of an open source OpenStack cloud platform.

The software defined data center (SDDC) is a set of technologies the company says will help automate and streamline the management of compute, storage and networking components with the data center, according to a report on CRN.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Investors opening up wallets to new cloud ventures

Venture capitalists are apparently feeling all warm and fuzzy over the cloud these days, with large sums being invested in new cloud computing ventures.

Two recent announcements demonstrating this trend caught our attention: one involving Birst, a San Francisco company that offers cloud-based business intelligence services; the second involving CloudPhysics in Mountain View, Calif., which is launching a new app store to help IT managers with problems in a VMware virtualization environment.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Search for the Next Most Powerful Supercomputer

The Top500 project is accepting submissions for this year’s second list of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. The deadline for entries is October 15 and the winners will be unveiled in November.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

New Rugged High-Performance Computer Unveiled

Themis Computer has released a new high performance computer designed for military, commercial or industrial use in high-performance environments where server size, weight and power (SWAP) is severely limited.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Parallel Programming Marathon: Could You Go the Distance?

On your mark, get set, code! The 8th annual Marathon of Parallel Programming will be held Oct. 23-26 at Porto de Galinhas, in Brazil to test the parallel and distributed programming prowess of competitors.

(Read my entire article at GoParallel)

What Is Cloud Robotics?

From government to finance to education, it seems that everyone wants to work in the cloud these days — even robots.

As cloud computing captures the public imagination, it also has become the latest area of serious study in robotics on numerous college campuses, including Philadelphia's Drexel University and the University of Minnesota.

(Read my complete article at EdTech Magazine)

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

5 Things You Need to Know About Applications Performance Management

Software applications are vital to every aspect of an organization’s operations, from driving sales to growing the business to serving customers. So, the ability to see how applications are performing is crucial.

Making the task more difficult is the increasing rate of cloud computing adoption. With the cloud, not all components of applications are hosted on premises. However, the answer can be found in modern application performance management (APM) tools. But not all APM tools are created equal, and there are some things you should know when selecting one.

(Read my complete article at APMSOLUTIONS)

UC market 'on fire,' says Infonetics Research

The Unified Communications market is "on fire," according to a report to be released today by research firm Infonetics Research.

FierceEnterpriseCommunications was given an early look at findings from the study, "UC lighting up struggling enterprise communications market," and they cite a 34 percent revenue hike in the UC market from one year ago. (Editor's note: Due to an error in the original release from Infonetics, the figure of 34 percent was previously reported as 168 percent)

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Organizations feel more secure with cloud-based assets

Despite continued reports that security fears are an obstacle to cloud computing investments, a new IDG study finds that 75 percent of organizations are now confident in their own security of information assets in the cloud.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)


Taking supercomputers to the cloud

With virtually every type of computing service going to the cloud, it is only logical that supercomputing should as well.

The concept was recently explored in an article entitled "Meeting Demand" in Scientific Computing World, and it makes great sense for two important reasons: cost and accessibility.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

New AT&T Foundry center aimed at networking innovation

AT&T opened it newest Foundry center in Atlanta last week, aimed at developing networking innovation. The Atlanta center joins the firm's Foundries in Plano, Texas, Palo Alto, Calif., and Israel.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud computing predictions can get very hazy

A person can be forgiven if he finds himself confused over recent predictions on cloud computing adoption. The predictions seem to differ not only from one study to another, but even in how the same study is analyzed and then reported by different media sources.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Google Apps for Education still tops cloud-based offerings

As in the business sector, public education is embracing cloud-based computing in a big way, and the most popular platform remains Google Applications for Education.

Since Google debuted its educational cloud platform in the Oregon Virtual School District three years ago, hundreds of additional school districts have signed up for the tool. The goals are to provide anytime, anywhere access for student work; to foster an environment of collaboration and communication; and to save on licensing fees for email accounts.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Creating a workplace safety program

An effective workplace safety program is imperative in healthcare settings to ensure the well-being of workers and hold down costs related to worker injury.

In a study released last year by Harvard Business School on the impact of government safety inspections on workplace insurance claims, workers' compensation costs and overall employer savings, researchers found:

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Healthcare reform a job creation machine

Much public discussion about the Affordable Care Act has focused on the countdown to Oct. 1, when uninsured Americans can access the health insurance exchanges. But a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to prepare for that moment, including the creation of thousands of new jobs.

A typical example is the State of Illinois, where over 600 workers have been hired to help explain the new regulations under the ACA. That number is expected to reach 1,200 by the end of September.

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Finding the perfect hospital CFO

The healthcare industry is undergoing dramatic change. Mergers and acquisitions are being announced almost weekly, patient records are going all-digital, and healthcare reimbursement is evolving.

Along with these changes is a new role for the hospital chief financial officer – one that is more strategic, and which requires some very specific skills and experiences.

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Achieving accurate product pricing

As medical supply prices have steadily risen in recent years, many hospitals have turned to group purchasing organizations to buy in bulk and keep costs down, but group product purchasing also complicates the product supply trail, often leading to errors that prevent fulfillment, delivery and payment.

The primary reason that medical supply orders go astray is pricing mismatches, said Steve Inacker, president of hospital sales and services, medical segment at Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio.

(Read my complete article at Healthcare Finance News)

Why Online Backup Is the Best Way to Protect Your Personal Digital Data

From passwords and photos to work documents and music files, all of your precious data is stored on your computer, tablet or mobile device. But, how secure is it?

Many computer users know they should back up their data, but few of them do. According to 2012 poll results from computer hard drive manufacturer Seagate and Harris Interactive, 90% of 2,205 U.S. adults say they feel their digital content is valuable, yet only 10% of those surveyed back up their files daily.

(Read my complete white paper at Slashdot Media)
 

Determining the ROI of APM: Know the Real Costs Before Buying In

Computer networks—and the demands organizations place on them—are more complex than ever. Adding to that complexity are performance problems resulting in the growing number of applications that are installed and deployed. This has heightened interest in application performance management (APM).

Like any new technology investment, launching an APM solution starts with making the business case for it – the return on investment (ROI). That includes what the technology costs to purchase, deploy and maintain, of course. Realizing thousands, or millions, of dollars in savings isn’t of great value if you’re paying out similar funds to purchase an APM solution in the first place.

(Read my complete article at APMSOLUTIONS)

Pain Points of Application Performance Exposed

Business applications are the lifeblood of most organizations, which depend on them to help deliver products and services 24×7. This requires robust IT systems, which are often extremely complex or highly customized.

Today’s enterprise applications are increasingly a large collection of distributed software and cloud services. They have become engines with many moving parts, and as such, at risk of something not working as intended. Indeed, it is the complexity of today’s IT systems–and the multiple applications that run on them–that have become an organization’s Achilles’ heel.

(Read my complete article at APMSOLUTIONS)

5 Trends Fueling the Need for Next-Gen APM Tools

Poor applications performance can affect every industry. And the results can range from mere annoyance to business-threatening disruptions.

But with today’s overly complex systems, employees using their own personal devices for work and organizations shipping their data to the cloud, monitoring and managing applications has become an increasingly challenging task.

(Read my complete article at APMSOLUTIONS)

Friday, September 27, 2013

Exascale Supercomputer Research Gets Federal Funding Boost

Six universities nationwide were given federal grants to conduct high-performance computing simulations aimed at addressing some of the world’s most complex problems.  The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) presented the awards, which also named each of the schools a center of excellence focusing on the emerging field of predictive science.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Sherlock Takes Problem-Solving Skills to the Cloud

A bold new cloud and analytics-based initiative called Sherlock that aims to solve some of today’s most complex challenges has arrived. The effort at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California in partnership with SD Technology and Chickasaw Nation Industries, will serve federal, state, and local governments as well as universities nationwide.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Gesture Control Company Gets Helping Hand From Intel

Maker of the wearable gesture control device MYO Thalmic Labs announces that it has raised a $14.5 million Series A round by Intel Capital, along with Spark Capital.

Thamlic, whose MYO device enables users to control computers, smartphones and other digital devices with simple hand gestures, will use the new funding to help meet growing order demand, further develop the product, and develop future products and technologies.

(Read my complete article at GoParallel)

Cloud networking popularity on the rise

A growing number of organizations are using cloud networking tools in their business or plan to do so in the year ahead, according to new research.

Spiceworks recently surveyed 488 IT professionals on their use of or intentions around cloud networking. The survey results were released in "The Cloudification of the Network," which was sponsored by network solutions provider Pertino.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Digium acquires VocalCloud, launches Digium Cloud Services

Digium Inc. recently announced that it has acquired VocalCloud, a provider of cloud-based VoIP solutions, and with the acquisition has launched Digium Cloud Services.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Networking among top skills for 2014, survey reveals

While hiring forecasts for 2014 may look a lot like 2013, there is especially good news for networking professionals.

According to Computerworld's annual jobs forecast, networking professionals have jumped from the eighth spot to number three on the publication's survey of most in-demand IT jobs. Computerworld surveyed 221 IT executives on their hiring plans for 2014, and 31 percent said they intend to hire networking professionals in the year ahead.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Amazon, Google and Microsoft ar top in developer's survet

Approximately 20 percent of application developers say they are now working on cloud applications, says a recent study by Forrester Research.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud heart is green, Irish computing expert says

Ireland is the cloud computing center of Europe, if not the whole world, according to a leading Irish cloud computing expert.

That is the reported view of Dr. Horatia Gonzales-Velez, head of the National College of Ireland (NCI)'s Cloud Competency Centre, as recently reported by Silicon Republic.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

A call to promote worthy IT career efforts

Two articles especially caught my attention last week, both dealing with the information technology workforce, and both shedding light on the need to make IT careers more attractive.

(Read my entire article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

IT jobs are moving, growing and becoming top secret

Three new jobs reports caught our eye this week which have very different messages about what is happening to IT jobs, where it is happening and where your next best job might be.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Organizations plan repeat business for cloud projects

It's so far, so good, for cloud project spending, according to a new study by 451 Research. At least that is the message from organizations that have a separate cloud computing budget.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

One Source Networks expands IP-based global network

One Source Networks (OSN) is expanding its IP-based communications across five new points of presence (PoP) in North and South America, Asia and Europe, the company has announced.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Gravitant release will simplify VWware-based cloud management

Organizations just can't get enough of cloud-computing, according to the latest research from International Data Corp. (IDC). The Framingham, Mass.-based research firm says worldwide spending on IT cloud services will reach $47.4 billion this year and is on track to exceed $107 billion by 2017.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Global cloud spending will reach $47B in 2013

Organizations just can't get enough of cloud-computing, according to the latest research from International Data Corp. (IDC). The Framingham, Mass.-based research firm says worldwide spending on IT cloud services will reach $47.4 billion this year and is on track to exceed $107 billion by 2017.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Gulf States emerge as cloud hotbed

One of the fastest-growing regions to embrace cloud-based computing is the Persian Gulf area, where oil-rich countries are seeing a boom in new corporations as well as the use of Big Data and cloud computing to gain business intelligence and operational savings.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud activity set to explode, expert predicts

Research firm International Data Corp (IDC) recently heralded the beginning of a new phase for cloud services, dubbed Chapter Two, in which the scale of cloud adoption will grow significantly but will have a more user- and solution-driven approach. The anticipation is that IT departments will become more innovative and will have more competitive cloud application offerings in the future.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Non-profits given free licenses for Office 365

Non-profit organizations in 41 countries have been given free, or substantially reduced-price, use of Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 suite.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

SDN can save operators $4B in capex by 2017, report says

Software-defined networks can save mobile operators an estimated $4 billion in capital expenses by 2017, suggests new research by Strategy Analytics.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

ADTRAN announces 2 new IP product releases

ADTRAN, Inc., a leading provider of cloud connectivity, enterprise communications and mobility products, has recently made two major announcements in the IP space.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Cloud safety starts with the user, security expert says

Several recent studies have shown that the largest obstacle to the adoption of cloud-based computing is the fear of data security.

Those fears are often justified, says Bill Hackenberger, CEO of High Cloud Security. But equally disturbing is the large number of organizations that believe their data is safe and hacker-proof just because someone is watching over it.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Aorta Cloud hopes to avert Nirvanix closing

In the wake of cloud service provider Nirvanix announcing it is shutting down this month, its partner in the U.K. is seeking financial assistance to keep the service going for two months, CloudPro has reported.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Government systems unprepared ffor 'Big 5' challenges

Many government computer systems lack the capacity needed to meet the growing demands of cloud computing, Big Data and other leading technologies, according to a recent survey of 200 government network managers.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

More large organizations optin gfor PaaS adoption

The popularity of cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is increasing, with nearly one-third of large organizations saying they are adopting PaaS.

That is the word from Unisphere Research, in a survey on PaaS cloud computing practices. Unisphere surveyed 262 enterprises on what their current or planned activities are around cloud adoption and what activities they are looking to do in the cloud. The research was sponsored by Oracle.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Extreme Networks acquiring Enterasys for $180M

Extreme Networks has announced that it is purchasing Enterasys Networks for $180 million in cash. The deal, which was announced Sept. 12, is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2013.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Amazon Web Services top search rankings in Dice.com report

Last month the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 3,600 new jobs were created in data processing, hosting and related services. And Howard Lee thinks he knows why: the cloud.

Lee is chief architect of Open Web, a sourcing product for recruiters offered by Dice.com. That company is well known for its job postings, salary data and job market tracking. In an interview with FierceEnterpriseCommunications this week, Lee shared his thoughts on the BLS numbers and on Dice.com's latest skills report.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Organizations fear hidden costs in the cloud

Cloud computing will be the highest priority for IT investments for the next few years, but the move to the cloud brings a number of risks to organizations that don't do it right, a new study by Research in Action finds.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Latest cloud security worry: going out of business

Just when organizations were thinking it was safe to venture into the cloud, we get word that cloud services provider Nirvanix is shutting down at the end of this month.

Customers have reportedly been given until Sept. 30 to move their data off Nirvanix servers. "Move it or lose it," as the saying goes.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud providers pounce on crippled Nirvanix customers

The Google search results say it all:
… Nirvanix is Closing--Call the Pros at Savvis Today
… Nirvanix Out of Business? Try Egnyte Enterprise Cloud Storage
… CloudBerry Explorer Allows Moving Data Off of Nirvanix
… Nirvanix cloud collapse seen as a canary in the coal mine for IaaS
… After Nirvanix: How to assess the right cloud provider for you

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud-enabling technologies market will reach $23B by 2016

The cloud-enabling technologies market is on track to reach $22.6 billion by 2016, according to new research by Market Monitor.

Market Monitor, a service of 451 Research, recently published its Cloud-Enabling Technologies overview report, which predicts a 21 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for these technologies through the 2016 timeframe.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Obamacare spurs hiring of call center staffers

In one week's time an estimated 27 million Americans will newly qualify to sign up for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Oct. 1 is the deadline upon which currently uninsured American workers can designate a health plan under their current employer, or sign up with one of the health insurance exchanges that have been established in each state. The Affordable Care Act will actually go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, but the uninsured are being given 90 days in which to select the plan that will serve them come that date.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

PayScale report reveals salaries for top IT degrees

Despite some well-publicized layoffs in the past two weeks and predictions that hiring for information technology workers is cooling a bit this quarter, the IT field remains a well-paying one, new research reveals.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Blue Jeans Network gets $50M funding boost

Blue Jeans Network, a leading player in the interoperable video collaboration services space, has just received $50 million in new venture capital funding. The funds will be used to help the company expand its cloud-based videoconferencing network both domestically and globally.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Executives sold on the value of the cloud

Corporate executives see cloud computing as not only a means of saving money but also as an enabler for new ways of doing business, according to a recent study by research firm Saugatuck Technology.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

New IT hiring numbers project slight cooling

In the wake of a disappointing federal labor report for August, staffing firm Robert Half International has also reported an anticipated slight cooling for IT hiring for the fourth quarter of 2013.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cloud computing reaches maturity stage for many organizations

Use of the cloud is reaching maturity stages for many organizations, with production applications now accounting for 60 percent of cloud usage.

That is among the findings of the new report "State of the Enterprise Cloud Report" from Verizon, which examined the use of cloud-based computing among customers between January 2012 and June 2013.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Ericsson building new R&D centers in Sweden, Canada

Research into cloud-based computing will get a boost from three new global Information and Communication Technology centers being built by Ericsson, the Swedish networking giant.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

The H1-B visa debate: Where do you stand?

I have been reading a lot lately about the perennial debate over H1-B visas and whether the annual cap should be lifted to allow more foreign workers to come here on this visa program.

By design, the H1-B visa is supposed to be used only to hire foreign workers for which U.S. hiring efforts are inadequate. In other words, we can't find enough bodies with the sought-after skills at home, so we must seek them abroad. Not surprisingly, the majority of H1-B visas issued each year are issued to information technology workers.

(Read my complete column at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Cedexis announces upgrade to Radar service

Cedexis, a leading provider of cloud and mobile app performance benchmarking tools, has announced upgrades to its Radar service. The upgrades include new interactivity, automated alerting and increased data granularity.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Case Study: Agricultural co-op finds project management solution in the cloud

Managers and employees at the Southern States Cooperative love sunny days, but their customers depend on rain as much as anything to succeed. So when the cooperative needed a new collaboration tool to effectively manage its 1,200 retail locations in 23 Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, a cloud-based product made perfect sense.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

New studies confirm cooling on IT job front

Two new research reports are confirming a cooling in the IT hiring market as we head into the fourth quarter.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Organizations fear hidden costs in the cloud

Cloud computing will be the highest priority for IT investments for the next few years, but the move to the cloud brings a number of risks to organizations that don't do it right, a new study by Research in Action finds.

(Read my complete article at FierceEnterpriseCommunications)

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Encore Performance: Katria N. Kowal, CTP, balances treasury and family

To say that Katria Kowal has the creative spirit doesn’t come close to capturing her true personality. Dance and music literally flow through her veins. In fact, asked what she most likes to do in her spare time, she responds. "Dance and sing with our children in the kitchen, and living room, and throughout the house. Really!"

An avid dancer, Kowal said "we always have music playing, and our young children already have an appreciation for various forms and genres, and can tell you the composer of the Pink Panther theme!" Kowal’s seven-year-old daughter has picked up on her love of dancing—both Ukrainian and ballet—especially in the Nutcracker, and playing the violin. "Our son can’t wait to play the drums or violin. But at four, he has time to decide" she laughed.

(Read my complete article at Exchange Magazine)