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Good explanation of how Bump and PayPal work together. People have predicted the death of cash and checks for a long time. But there are certain transactions - like paying a friend back for dinner or buying vegetables at the farmers' market - for which they remain essential. ¶PayPal's new iPhone application could finally change that. It promises to let you quickly divide a restaurant bill and send a friend the portion you owe just by bumping your iPhones together. ¶The application is free to download from the App Store. Users log in with their PayPal credentials or with their cellphone number and a numeric PIN, and they can send or request money and manage their account on the phone. ¶To send money, users choose a recipient from their cellphone contacts or bump two phones together. For that, the app uses technology from Bump Technologies, which developed it to swap contact information between two phones. The money is transferred immediately

If someone told you that you could drop your operating costs by 40 percent, would you listen? If that same person said you could save between $70 and $150 per user per year in energy savings alone if you tried something new, would you try it?  A lot of companies are listening, and those same businesses are trying something new - cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) - and reaping the many benefits, which start with the aforementioned cost savings. "It's about saving money, and there's a tremendous amount of money to be saved, because if you look at IT budgets, nearly 80 percent of that budget, in many cases, is spent just to keep the lights on, which means the other 20 percent is the only money that's actually able to be used to implement new technologies into the model," says Jeff McNaught, chief marketing officer at Wyse Technology Inc. 

1. ESBaaS Will Emerge in Enterprise Clouds.  (enterprise service bus as a service for internal messaging and exchange between apps) 2. Enterprise Cloud Computing will Accelerate Data Center Consolidation. 3. Desktop Virtualization.    4. SME Data Center Outsourcing into Public Clouds 5. Cloud Computing and Cloud Storage will Look to PODs and Containers.

Amazon Releases Developer SDKs One interesting and important exception is Amazon's recent release of its Software Development Kits (SDK) for Google's Android and Apple's iOS. With these kits, developers are provided with tools that will simplify development of cloud applications stored on the Amazon Web Services cloud platform, or AWS. Developing apps that can use many of the already popular AWS cloud services offers many new opportunities for the developer community, especially due to its low-barrier-to-entry and affordability, enabling more developers with limited resources  to build and provision new mobile cloud services. The new SDK includes libraries that simplify handling of HTTP connections, request retries and error handling, which used to be complex and arduous. Integration of applications with several AWS cloud services, like the Simple Storage Service (S3), SimpleDB database, Simple Notification Service (SNS) and Simple Queue Service (SQN) will be much more accessible than before. For example, it's going to be interesting to see whether developers will build a viable messaging solution atop the AWS SNS service that can actually compete with mobile SMS services - which have been a long-time major cash-cow for many mobile network operators.

Enterprise cloud storage provider Box.net is launching a new version of its software that includes a front-facing interface built from scratch and additional mobile features, the company announced today. The new Box.net interface is a mash-up of micro-blogging activity streams like FriendFeed and online storage like Dropbox. Box users can drag and drop files from their computer directly onto the site to send files into cloud storage. There are also folders that are synched up directly with the cloud, like Dropbox, that automatically update files as they are changed. Users can preview those files directly within Box.net - and the software supports a lot of file formats. Box developer Kim Lockhart showed off the capabilities by opening up Adobe Illustrator files within the web interface and previewing other files from Photoshop and the like. Whenever any file is viewed, commented on or changed, Box.net users get an update on their activity feed. "This basically kills the software problem," Lockhart said. "You can view files like illustrator files and pretty much anything else as we move forward without ever having to have the software." The idea was to remake the front-facing application from scratch because it was becoming too complicated with too many features. Box.net released a new update just about every week last year and added more and more features, and that was clouding up the service and making it too complicated for some end users, said Box.net CEO Aaron Levie. While Box is mainly focused on the enterprise, Levie said Box had plenty of potential in the consumer space - to compete with cloud storage providers like Dropbox and the like.

The home business and small office sectors are leading the adoption of Cloud computing services, with business spending on Cloud services predicted to surpass $13 Billion by 2014. Cloud computing enables businesses to access computer servers and data storage over the Internet and internal networks, allowing them to lower data costs and move content more nimbly. One of the key concerns over adoption of Cloud services to date has been security issues. Recent research from the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) in the US suggested companies were holding back on Cloud investments over fears for the security of their data in the Cloud. Half of the 834 executives from 21 countries polled said they were delaying Cloud implementation because of security concerns, and over a third said they were waiting to get the full value from installed systems. Research by IDC confirmed this view, with organisations claiming identity management and access control over who has access to Cloud data was a worrying factor, along with governance issues over privacy and compliance of both Cloud data and apps. Nevertheless, the fast-growing trend has been seen to be boosting demand for infrastructure and fueling consolidation in the data-storage sector. According to the In-Stat report which forecasts trends in cloud computing and managed hosting spending in the US, the growth in Cloud Computing will be 'staggering', rising from a figure of less than 3 billion currently.

Businesses are moving to the cloud, at least as far as their IT spending is concerned, a new report from research firm In-Stat has indicated, saying cloud computing and managed hosting spending by US businesses will surpass $13 billion in 2014, up from less than $3 billion. "Although spending across all sectors and size of business is projected to grow, there are some segments where growth will be staggering," said Greg Potter, research analyst at In-Stat. "The professional services and healthcare verticals will see the largest growth in spending on cloud computing services, growing over 124 percent between 2010 and 2014."

"Based on the results of this survey, it's clear that SMBs see the value of cloud-based solutions and are eager to benefit from a productivity and ROI perspective," said Fonality president and CEO Dean Mansfield. "Cloud-based communications tools in particular can be leveraged by companies to drive competitive differentiation while maximizing working capital." Minimizing total cost of ownership is the "ultimate goal" of adopting service-based offerings, according to survey results, while mobility and UC were recognized by a strong majority of those surveyed as key technologies to increase efficiency and profitability. Most respondents saw their current communications solutions as being "good," but 78 percent also seek to improve their capabilities. There was a very high amount of interest in cloud-based solutions and an "excellent prognosis" for cloud-based AaaS (Anything as a Service), with market opportunities still emerging "The needs of small and mid-size businesses differ significantly from large enterprises," said Steve Taylor, editor-in-chief and publisher for Webtorials, "This study shows that SMBs have a notable disposition to leveraging cloud-based technology to enhance their operations and their communications capabilities in particular."

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Good numbers!  Amazon reproting $25 Billion, yet IT is only spending an estimated 10% on Cloud-computing.  2013 Cloud-computing market expected to be $2.5 Trillion. (451 Group)  Amazon currently has 59% of the cloud-services market.

BEIJING-International Business Machines Corp. agreed to cooperate with Chinese network services provider Range Technology Development Co. on the construction of a cloud computing data center in China, which IBM said will be Asia's largest in terms of floor space. Construction of the center is likely to generate about $200 million worth of contracts for IBM over the next five years, a person familiar with the situation said. IBM said Tuesday it expects the data center in Langfang, Hebei province, to be completed in 2016 and to have a floor space of more than 620,000 square meters. IBM and Range Technology signed an agreement on the data center last week in Chicago during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the U.S., IBM said. The data center will offer services such as data backup, disaster recovery and leasing of servers, said Li Tao, senior manager of IBM China's public sector division. Enterprises such as software developers and government departments are likely to use services provided by the data center, IBM said. No one at Range Technology was immediately able to comment Tuesday, but a statement dated Jan. 11 on the company's website said it formed a strategic partnership with IBM, and the companies would cooperate in areas including data center construction.

According to the research group IDC, worldwide spending on cloud services is expected to grow almost threefold, reaching $44.2 billion by 2013. Enterprise spending remains robust, with manifold growth expected in cloud computing space, within a very short span of time. Small and medium size businesses (SMB) are also rapidly adopting cloud computing technologies to improve their IT systems management at a lower cost.

For those that needed just a little more proof, Gartner (news, site) has confirmed cloud computing is hot. In fact, cloud technology is so hot that it topped Gartner's 2011 CIO Agenda. Even if you managed to resist the siren of prime time TV beckoning, "To the cloud!", it's unlikely you'll want to ignore the voices of over 2,000 CIOs . The Cloud Gartner released its survey of 2,014 CIOs representing more than US$ 160 billion in spending across 50 countries and 38 industries. Cloud computing, virtualization and mobile led the list of technical priorities.

Gartner report forecasts rapid increase of cloud services Published on Jan 28, 2011 A report by Gartner this week has says that the take-up of cloud services will happen much more quickly than many expected. In its survey of CIOs across Europe, it says currently, three per cent of CIOs have the majority of IT running in the cloud or on SaaS technologies, but over the next four years CIOs expect this number to increase to 43 percent.

Adoption of cloud computing is on the rise. Recent IDC (News - Alert) research shows that worldwide spending on cloud services will grow almost threefold, reaching $44.2 billion by 2013.With this increased interest and adoption, businesses across the world are embracing IBM's public cloud services for easy-to-use collaboration tools to connect with colleagues, partners and suppliers quickly.

Essentially, what CloudConnect does is to enable users to view documents that are stored in the cloud without having to upload them, while giving document providers complete control over the document. What this means is that no matter who views the document, it won't ever be uploaded on Adeptol servers. An additional feature is that document creators can create documents in any format they want and deliver them to users in the format that they can best view it in. New features include: ..... AJAX document viewer with support for more than 300 file formats ..... Mobile Viewer license that enables users to view documents on iPhone/iPad and Android with enhanced loading times .....Built in AES encryption that can be turned on at will. Encrypts not only document content but document URL too .... Advanced caching enabling users access static documents directly from the cache Adeptol viewing technology is based on the adoption of HTML 5 technology that enables viewing across a wide range of mobile devices including iPad, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. 300+ file formats available in the viewer

Last September, Xerox launched a very expensive campaign to rebrand itself as a document management heavyweight. This week, Xerox's MFP rival, Ricoh (news, site), has just announced that it will be investing US$ 300 million over three years to "aggressively" accelerate its shift into the managed document services or outsourced document management space. Using its core hardware and software technologies, the shift will see Ricoh focusing not just on the provision of hardware and software, but offering entire document management services from capture to printing. At a press briefing held in New York, London and Tokyo earlier this week that underlined the global nature of the business shift, Ricoh said the US$ 300 million would be invested in its managed document services infrastructure with a revenue target of US$ 3.3 billion by 2013. Document Management Market Shift So, what is all this about? It seems simple enough - Ricoh has identified shifts in the document management market that are focused on better enterprise returns based on more efficient document management. No surprise there. However, what is surprising, is that Ricoh believes the shift is so profound that it is investing this amount of money in re-aligning its business.

In addition to its ability to sync to mobiles and tablets, ShareFile also lets user's work with their existing folder structure, rather then demanding everything goes into one drop folder. The two-way functionality works via an Adobe Air 2.0 app, while Sync itself is part of ShareFile's Power Tools suite that comes with desktop and mobile apps, Outlook plug-ins and other goodies

A Rackspace whitepaper report on the Cloud-computing and the impact it will have.  Conclussion is that Cloud-computing will be as important and pervasive as Internet connectivity.

The EU's cyber security agency ENISA (www.enisa.europa.eu) announced this week it has released a new report on governmental cloud computing. The report, which can be downloaded now on the ENISA website, is targeted at senior managers of public bodies who have to make a security and resilience decision about migrating to the cloud, if at all. The main goal of the report is to support governmental bodies in taking informed risk based decisions relating to the security of data, resilience of service and legal compliance on moving to the cloud. ENISA concludes that private and community clouds appear to be the solutions that offer the best solution to meet the needs of public administrations if they need to achieve the highest level of data governance.The report makes several recommendations to governments and public bodies, including national governments and the EU institutions should investigate the concept of an EU governmental cloud.The report also argues that cloud computing will soon serve a significant portion of EU citizens, SMEs and public administrations, and therefore national governments should prepare a cloud computing strategy and study the role that cloud computing will play for critical information infrastructure protection.Finally, the report states that a national cloud computing strategy should address the effects of national/supra-national interoperability and interdependencies, cascading failures, and include cloud providers into the reporting schemes of articles 4 and 13 of the new Telecom Framework Directive. Download report:  http://www.enisa.europa.eu/act/rm/emerging-and-future-risk/deliverables/security-and-resilience-in-governmental-clouds/