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The multi-year, three-step project, which started 18 months ago, includes a move to a private cloud, better backend integration between online and brick and mortar stores to support in-store merchandise pickup, and larger in-store networking pipes that could, ultimately, be used to help guide shoppers to in-store deals.

As the East Coast prepared for Superstorm Sandy, the American Red Cross's new cloud platform allowed users in the storm's path to read customized preparedness warnings and shelter information, based on their location, as they checked the organization's homepage. And when Americans reached into their pockets after the storm, a scalable ecommerce platform allowed the organization to handle as many as 75,000 concurrent donations - the most ever. The American Red Cross is merging its 400-500 chapter websites, under a new cloud platform, from Oracle Corp. , that allows the organization to scale up its capacity when a disaster strikes and users are clamoring for preparedness information, Craig Oldham, vice president of digital engagement told CIO Journal. The platform, which the Red Cross began rolling out in August, was already implemented by half its chapters by the time the storm struck. The ability to scale up allowed the Red Cross to handle a peak of more than 500,000 page views per minute, during a NBC telethon to draw donations for the relief effort in early November...

Faced with falling demand for its UGG boots Deckers Outdoor Corp. is preparing to more than double its retail operation and shift away from a strategy that had been predominantly focused on wholesale. To prepare for the rapid expansion, Deckers is rolling out a new IT platform that will allow the company to handle more data associated with more retail stores and better manage inventory levels, Yul Vanek, the company's vice president of information technology, told CIO Journal.