A new Greenpeace report, entitled "Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and Its
Contribution to Climate Change" has just been released. It encourages Apple,
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others to be responsible in what power sources
it uses for its new data centers.
It frets that Cloud Computing--defined in this report exclusively as the
Consumer Cloud of gmail, etc. and all the stuff that people might download to
the new Apple iPad--will have an enormous, deleterious carbon footprint.
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Specifically, it excoriates Facebook for commissioning a new data center in
Oregon that burns coal. This seems to have been the precipitating incident
that drove Greenpeace to write this report. The recent Apple iPad
announcement serves as a nice foil in the group's argument as well.
The report reads to me as an attempt to gr... (more)
I was lucky that Typhoon Ondoy did not affect my apartment. We are out in
Pampanga two hours from Manila but we did not have a flood in my little
neighborhood.
But so many people died in this typhoon, and now the world knows what can
happen in the Philippines. We get more than 20 typhoons each year and they
cause many problems.
Typhoon Feria back there in June damaged many houses in Samar Province where
I am from. I was visiting then and it was very scary. You know we don't have
a radio there or any way to know when a typhoon is coming. We just hope for
the best and we know that no one will help us.
Two other typhoons in August and September gave us rain for more than one
week. A lot of floods and some people died then, too.
But I think that nobody outside of the Philippines knows about these things
unless they are very, very bad.
As I said, my family and friends ... (more)
It's the Year of the Tiger throughout Asia, even in the overwhelmingly
Christian and Muslim Philippines. Nothing like a good icon to give people an
excuse to party.
The year may be propitious in bringing back some growl to a region once famed
for its "Asian Tiger" economies, if the growth of Cloud Computing continues
to have a positive affect throughout the region.
One specific growth area is that of data centers, or server farms. I worried
a week or so ago that it was simply too hot to afford the air-conditioning
required in most of this region to make server farms a valid business
proposition, ie, one that is not propped up by government subsidy year after
year.
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Then again, roads, trains, airlines, and even one of the world's two major
airline manufacturers are propped up by governments, given what... (more)
Cloud Expo will be arriving in New York again between April 19 and 21, with
an expected 5,000 attendees and more than 100 sponsors and exhibitors. Oracle
(ie, Oracle/Sun/BEA/Siebel/PeopleSoft/JDEdwards/etc.) has signed on as the
Diamond Sponsor. Adaptivity and Cloud Revolution are Platinum Plus Sponsors.
VirtualArk is the Platinum Sponsor. And the list of Gold Sponsors includes
Cordys, Microsoft, NaviSite, Surgient, The Planet, terremark, and Unisys.
There's a long list of Bronze Sponsors, special sponsors, and exhibitors as
well.
Why do i mention this? Why am I touting this? How can this be an objective
report?
Many of my readers know that I've known the folks at the show's parent
company, SYS-CON Media, for many years. I first met them when Sybase bought
Powersoft--I was producing Sybase Magazine at the time, and SYS-CON had
launched PowerBuilder Developer's Jou... (more)
Hype is the enemy of success. But people just can't seem to help themselves,
so new developments are invariably hyped. This is as true in the technology
business as in any business in the world.
Cloud Computing is the latest new development to get hyped mercilessly. Two
years ago, a handful of companies were talking about a new way of doing
things, a way that was in essence Grid Computing with Attitude. But Grid
Computing sounds geeky and borgish; something best left for simulating
nuclear explosions, perhaps.
Today there is not a single technology company lacking a Cloud Computing
strategy, whether real or ostensible, as far as I can tell. All these
solutions are either unique, compelling, or ideal. The situation reminds me a
bit of hyperinflation; when there are too many units of currency (or units of
hype) to meet market needs, each unit has little or no value.
... (more)
Welcome to the Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter
that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise
mobility in Asia. Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for
enterprise mobility between now and 2016.
Panasonic’s Android-based Toughpad will be available in Asia starting
September of 2012. The tablet is aimed at organizations requiring rugged
devices and will cost around $1,599. Read Original Content
GSMA predicts the business impact from the growth of connected devices –
smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics and M2M connectivity – in China
will increase six times, from $116 billion in 2012 to $707 billion in 2020.
Read Original Content
According to IDC, investments in enterprise resource management applications
are still on the rise, especially in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines,
Thailand,... (more)
Welcome to Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that
consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise
mobility in Asia. Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for
enterprise mobility between now and 2016.
Despite a push for mobile business, China’s Baidu only has 35 percent of
the mobile search volume. The company is pushing for pre-installation of
its search engine in mobile devices. Read Original Content
According to a recent survey by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India, over 50 percent of full-time employees prefer mobility and
employing mobile technology into the workplace. Read Original Content
Indian e-commerce site Freecharge.in offers a unique customer service plan in
which customers can simply recharge their prepaid mobiles online and in
return receive gift coupons of the same ... (more)
Note: Ray Roxas-Chua is the Chairman of the Commission on Information and
Communications Technology (CICT), in the government of the Philippines. He is
the youngest cabinet member in the administration of President Gloria
Arroyo-Macapagal.
I interviewed him in late 2008. The interview occurred before the Satyam
scandal in India, which in my view threatens to disrupt all outsourcing
growth in India, perhaps to the benefit of other countries, including the
Philippines.
Roger Strukhoff: Let’s start with some background information on the CICT.
Ray Roxas-Chua: The CICT was formed in 2004, as a realization of the
importance of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) to the
development of the country. We are the lead agency responsible for the active
development of ICT in the Philippines. In a nutshell, our mission is to
leverage the benefits of ICT in all aspect... (more)
Election season is in full swing here in Manila. The current president,
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (known as GMA) cannot be re-elected as president,
even as it seems she wants to be. So several major names—and in the
Philippines, you always run into the same major names—are competing for
leverage and public affection in these months before the voters go to the
polls in May 2010.
The big news recently was the withdrawal of Sen. Mar Roxas from
consideration. Roxas, who family names is among the most elite of the elite
here, has been praised fulsomely for his principled decision.
The praise is flowing because his decision has cleared the way for fellow
Liberal Party Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to make his bid for the
president’s office in Manila’s Malacanang Palace. The reality is that
Roxas was running a poor fourth in the polls, with about 9 percent of voters
sayin... (more)
http://twitter.com/fuatkircaali
Yesterday morning I checked the Ulitzer home page on my iPhone on my way to
the office and I realized two of the top three stories were about "Typhoon
Ondoy" in Philippines.
Thirty-six hours later we still have three stories filed from Manila on
Ulitzer's home page. Top Ulitzer stories on Ulitzer from around the 25
distinct subject categories it covers are processed every 60 minutes and
displayed by an algorithm which we believe is more sophisticated than, say,
Google News algorithms.
Early this year, seasoned news man Roger Strukhoff, whose family owned and
published their town newspaper in Wisconsin, launched the Ulitzer topic
Philippines Online Journal. Strukhoff logged close to three million Ulitzer
page views with his articles.
Inday Vinas is a struggling young writer who grew up in a very poor area of
the Philippines. She sta... (more)
The volunteer members of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary continued to do
their work after the headlines faded in the wake of the dual typhoons that
the Philippines in September. A more recent storm approached the northern tip
of the country, dithered, then moved northeast toward Japan without making
landfall in the Philippines.
The latest potential typhoon is brewing as I am writing this article. Current
projections show that it may head for the country's mid-section, where rains
occur regularly throughout the year, in contrast to the traditional six-month
rainy season (May to October) on the northern island of Luzon, the island
on which the capital city of Manila is located.
Commodore Harold Wolf sent along the numerous pictures attached here. He also
referenced a stirring article that was written by Commodore Daniel G.
Cabalde, District Director for the regi... (more)