I know I talk too much about the weather, but I'm really freezing! I know I have no excuse to even hint at that while I live in Florida, but I am just too cold. However, that's actually okay at this time of the year. I grew up in the north and December should be cold! Even though I've been here for 15 years, I can't get used to a "Florida Christmas." The weather's bad enough, but the "look" of the season is just wrong. It's not just that we don't have any snow (we didn't have snow in NY/NJ all that often) it's the colored lights on palm trees, and Santas in shorts and sun glasses, and….

Have a wonderful December – wherever you are, and whatever the temperature is. And, have wonderful holidays, whatever you celebrate. I intend to celebrate them all this year, so remember I'm right there with you.

We do have the schedule set for 2009 – see you next year!

Here's the schedule or you can view the complete schedule on our Website

CSTA Web sessions:
December 10, 11
January 13,14
February 11, 12
March 11, 12

UITJ (Understanding IT Jobs) Web sessions:
January 15
March 12

TR Web sessions:
January 21
March 16

Keep in touch and keep up with technology!

Back to top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TechKnowledge

Cloud Computing


Cloud Computing is developing software using the Internet as a dominant resource. In fact, The Cloud, is often used to refer to the Internet, so the Internet is a necessary part of any cloud reference. In any cloud computing situation data and/or programs are stored on non-local resources that are accessed through the Web. This data and/or programs can be downloaded to local storage including desktops, entertainment centers, tablet computers, notebooks, wall computers, handhelds, sensors, monitors, etc. for use, but its permanent home is "on the web."

Cloud computing is a general concept that includes many things including SaaS (Software as a Service), Web 2.0, Web services, and virtualization. Basically, users rent or subscribe to IT resources which they access through the Web. These resources are varied, and can be as simple as renting storage for backups and archiving, or as complex as building a complete data center in the cloud and running all IT functions from there.

The concept was originally defined as "utility computing" when various people suggested that computing power should be provided as electricity or water – available from utility companies on a metered basis - and customers would pay for what they use. SaaS offerings appeared at the turn of the 21st century, and provide this function for application software. Salesforce offers CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems as a service – customers subscribe to a number of seats or uses, the software is owned by the SaaS vendor, and runs on hardware owned by the SaaS vendor. Other applications are also offered this way, Google Apps provides common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on Google's servers. Amazon has played a key role in the development of cloud computing and Amazon Web Services provides:
• Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)
• Amazon SimpleDB
• Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3)
• Amazon CloudFront
• Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS)

Virtualization plays a major role for cloud computing suppliers. Because they must provide their product(s) on-demand, and because demand is never completely predictable, they rely on virtualization of both storage and servers to service their customers. Scalability is necessary, and virtualization is the best way to provide scalable resources. Other technologies that are commonly used are open standards and open source software.

Many companies are finding cloud computing a terrific way to fill IT needs. Originally, the idea was thought to find a home in small and midsize companies that could not afford some of the desired technologies, but. in fact, large companies have found this a great solution to at least part of their computing needs. Cloud computing is being driven by those providers already mentioned (Amazon, Google, and Salesforce) as well as traditional vendors including IBM, Intel and Microsoft. And, it's being adopted by large enterprises including General Electric, L'Oréal, and Procter & Gamble. Everybody's looking at this one.



Back to top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TechCheck

1. McCain, Obama and Palin were in a four way tie for 7th place in the number of Halloween costumes worn this year. Who was #4?

2. What's the latest alternative to PKI?

3. What's the latest function of Live.com?

4. Which of the following does not belong?
a. Cookies
b. Elf
c. Santa
d. Tree

5. What's the most important activity in IT today?


Back to top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finishing 2008

It's been quite a year. I think a lot of us are happily looking forward to the next. And from all signs, IT will be moving along on pace with the past few years. We'll be spending the month of December reviewing all our products, making sure all are updated. My biggest job will be to update the papers in TechRef®. I both dread and look forward to doing that. I can't wait to get the latest technologies, movements, and ideas into our products. Updating the courses is an ongoing job – we actually do a little of that almost every time we teach, so that one will be easier. Just as important, but easier.

IT has really changed drastically since 1990. When we cover applications in CSTA (Computers: Systems, Terms, and Acronyms), we discuss the fact that until 1990, virtually the only applications that existed were back office systems – HR, manufacturing, accounting, finance, payroll. Look what we've added since then: eApplications (eCommerce/eBusiness), Web services, Web 2.0, and SaaS/Cloud Computing all followed the creation of the Web in 1990. The front office systems: sales, marketing, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), CEM (Customer Experience Management), and call center systems became common in the 1990s, as did ERP systems. BI (Business Intelligence) appeared and, with data integration, is growing into BPM (Business Process Management).

Let's tie up 2008, and see what happens next. If the next 15 years are like the last 15, we will be living in a new world.

Back to top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Short Vocabulary

RFID

This topic was requested by a subscriber, and it's timely. RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) has been around for a while, but is gaining more and more interest. Its current use is still in inventory systems, but the technology is also used in, e.g. animal identification, passports (including U.S . passports) and libraries and museums.

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) IT technology used in asset management. Keeps track of assets which are not connected to a computer system. While it's fairly easy to track hardware and software, non-connected devices such as medical equipment in a hospital or mobile cell phones are much harder to track. An RFID tag is placed on the physical asset and sends a radio signal to a reader which inputs information on all the devices to an asset management system. This technology is growing in popularity and is used to track many different kinds of physical inventories. Other uses included monitoring traffic, and implanting tags to locate lost animals (and even people). RFIDs growth has been slower than expected because of problems caused when transmitting across liquids and metals.

RuBee (IEEE 1902.1) Short-range wireless technology and an alternative to RFID. Rather than using radio signals, Rubee uses magnetic signals. Radio signals (thus RFID) have problems in some environments, especially liquids and metals. Rubee's magnetic signals are not affected, so it works in any environment including harsh environments, and can handle networks of thousands of tags. These tags can be low in cost, near credit card thin (1.5 mm), and fully programmable using 4 -bit processors. Despite their high functionality, RuBee tags have a proven battery life of ten years or more using low-cost, coin-size lithium batteries. The RuBee protocol works with both active tags and passive tags that have no battery. Rubee was introduced early in 2007 and products are expected in 2008.

StreamSQL Data management technology. Software products designed to process, analyze, and act on real-time data generated by sensors, including RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) sensors. The server technology used to access this data is a modification of SQL geared to handling streaming data rather than data stored in tables. The product is the commercializing of a multi-year research project conducted by scientists at MIT, Brown University and Brandeis University.

VeriChip A computer chip containing identification information that can be inserted under a person's skin. It's about the size of a grain of rice and uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology which allows the information to be scanned from about four feet away. Used for security and medical purposes.

VeriMed Application system. Personal identification system which uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for identification. A chip is implanted in the person's arm or hand, and will cause a 16-digit identifier to display when tapped by an RFID reader. The number can be used to access information in a database when the number, a username and password are supplied.

Back to top



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Answers to TechCheck

1. They were all tied with Batman.

2. PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) is the current technology used to set up two-key encryption. An alternative is IBE (Identity-Based Encryption) which is encryption technology initiated by the sender. It uses a unique identifier of the recipient (such as an e-mail address) to calculate a public key. A trusted third-party server, called the private-key generator, uses a cryptographic algorithm to calculate the corresponding private key from the public key.

3. Live.com is now an internet search engine, which also provides access to Windows Live, CashBack services, Hotmail, and MSN. It can be customized with gadgets such as mail readers, weather reports, slide shows, search, games, etc. This is its definition as of April, 2008. Check out WikiPedia for the history of the functionality.

4. Santa does not belong. The other three are all technical terms – we use cookies on the Internet, Elf is a programming language, and there are many trees used in IT, decision trees, hyperbolic trees, b-trees, c-trees. Santa is much too busy to partake in a quiz at this time of the year.

5. Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!!!


Back to top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Privacy Policy

SemCo Enterprises, Inc. respects your privacy. We do not sell, rent or share your information with anyone.