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.

 

(Read my complete article at Exchange Magazine)

 

 

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)

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)

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)

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 6^th 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)

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)

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)

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)

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 8^th 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)

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)

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)