Month: June 2010

Microsoft Opens Cloud Computing Center in Taiwan

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Taiwan will need such servers for an initiative to build complete containerized data centers that was announced Wednesday at Computex by Taiwan’s biggest publicly funded research group, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The research organization is working to halve the cost of building containerized data centers by using standardized computing components and a set stack of software.

Microsoft and the two laptop makers plan to have prototypes of the new cloud computing servers available in the fall.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/197873/microsoft_opens_cloud_computing_center_in_taiwan.html

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Small And Midsize Companies Take New Directions On SIEM

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“The need for compliance really drove widespread deployment of log management — SIEM tools went everywhere,” says Sam Curry, technology chief marketing officer at RSA. “I think we’re seeing a real shift here, and it may be happening first at small and medium-sized companies because their compliance process is less complex than those at larger enterprises.

“These are categories in which people are actually getting things done, not just marking a checkbox on a form to say they’re doing it,” the SANS study says.

In the RSA study, 89 percent of respondents said the primary use for their SIEM tools is for security operations functions, compared with 54 percent who cited compliance. Moreover, the survey reported that as many as 66 percent of those surveyed ranked real-time monitoring as most important when evaluating a SIEM vendor.

Because of their size, SMBs might be quicker to take advantage of the automated operations capabilities of SIEM and log management tools, Gottlieb says. “They’re going to be quicker to ask for more automation.”

“Most SIEM products require months of tuning after the initial installation — there is no such thing as a fully functional SIEM right after installation,” said security consultant Eugene Schultz in a blog.

But companies that have already purchased and implemented SIEM and log management tools are finding them increasingly useful in the growing tasks of incident response and forensics, Curry says.

http://www.darkreading.com/security/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225300198&cid=RSSfeed

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Google touts benefits of cloud computing

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An accompanying video suggests that companies need spend only two minutes answering two questions before deciding whether the cloud is right for them.

The tool creates custom URLs, presentations, spreadsheets and posters which can be used internally to spread the word about the benefits of the cloud.

Google estimates that organisations can save thousands of pounds a year by making the switch, while adding new capabilities and storage to common applications like email.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2263998/google-offers-cloud-trial

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F5 Optimizes Microsoft Solutions Enabling the Dynamic Data Center

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“Customers looking to deploy Microsoft’s on-premise cloud and virtualization solutions will find F5 solutions to be a powerful complement for the enhanced application delivery, infrastructure visibility, and automation capabilities they provide,” said Dai Vu, Director of Virtualization Solutions Marketing at Microsoft Corp. “F5 shares our vision for the dynamic data center, and joint customers looking to deploy solutions in a number of distinct physical, virtual, and hybrid computing models will see added value.”

F5 offers a solution portfolio with both physical and virtual deployment options, providing comprehensive integration with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, and more. With F5’s BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Virtual Edition, customers can conveniently scale their data center environments without incurring the added cost and time associated with deploying traditional hardware. This flexibility gives customers options for supporting Microsoft applications within a variety of data center architecture models, including those leveraging cloud computing.

F5 has joined the Microsoft Dynamic Datacenter Alliance to further its commitment to providing joint customers with the IT agility they need to support their organizations and maximize the value of their technology investments. F5 is the first ADN partner in this alliance and one of the “founding” network partners.

Integration with Microsoft’s new Dynamic Datacenter Toolkit reduces the time required to deploy new virtual machines, and simplifies integral functionality such as virtual application provisioning, reconfiguration of network traffic, and holistic health monitoring.

“Through collaborative interoperability and integration efforts, we’re enhancing organizations’ abilities to control and manage dynamic IT services.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/f5-optimizes-microsoft-solutions-enabling-the-dynamic-data-center-2010-06-01?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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How cloud computing is affecting call centres

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During the snow earlier this year, workplace assessment solutions provider SHL Group, which uses NewVoiceMedia’s cloud-based telephony system, was able to quickly and easily reconfigure its services so that its staff could work from home or wherever they happened to find themselves.

Says NewVoiceMedia CEO Jonathan Grant, “In traditional call centres, human beings went to the technology, now with the help of cloud computing, the technology goes to the people.”
Marketing Director Amanda Fennell adds, “Everybody wants that accessibility via the internet and the resilience that it also affords.”

Running processes in the cloud means call centres can make significant cost savings, as they are able to reduce the amount they spend on maintenance and upgrades of traditional IT systems. Cloud applications can also be rolled out quickly, a crucial benefit given the fast-paced nature of the call centre industry where speed is a key performance indicator.

If payment is by subscription, firms only pay for what they use and there is no large upfront expenditure.

Plus, as agents have secure access to all the information they require irrespective of the computer they are working on or where they are physically, relocation or expansion becomes more of a seamless experience.

A case in point is when SHL Group moved its operation from Colorado to the UK, which it did without even having to contact NewVoiceMedia. This has created the power of “crowd sourcing”, where enthusiasts rather than salaried staff proffer information online.

A number of applications have emerged, such as Salesforce’s Service Cloud 2, where all channels of communication, including social media, are consolidated together.

This means that you can highlight a customer complaint on Twitter in the same way as a telephone query.

Utilising lower-cost interaction channels, such as email, plus chat, web self-service knowledge base, Twitter and Facebook, can result in significant cost savings.

Hosted contact centres, delivered from the network, are one the quickest, most cost-efficient ways for a business to virtualise resources and improve service quality by connecting the best person with the right skill to the right enquiry every time, wherever they may be located.

http://www.callcentrehelper.com/how-cloud-computing-is-affecting-call-centres-10947.htm

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