FABASOFT FOLIO CLOUD - WEBINAR #1

Learn how to use Fabasoft Folio Cloud to collaborate with your business partners.

Cross-company, around the world, 24/7, and in 15 languages. With mobile devices like your iPhone, BlackBerry or Android. With Fabasoft Folio Cloud, you can manage your projects more efficiently.

In this webinar series, we will show you how to set up your account, invite your contacts for collaboration, how to attribute different types of access rights and how to organize your documents in the Team Room. Webinar #1 is a step-by-step guide for setting up your personal Folio Cloud account.

Video Guide "Registration"
For an alternative version, please visit http://www.foliocloud.com/support/videos




Create your free Fabasoft Folio Cloud primo (BETA) account in 5 easy steps:
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1. Open the URL www.foliocloud.com in your web browser and click on the "Free Account" button on the right side.

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2. Enter your first name, last name, and a valid e-mail address. Click"Next".











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3. To verify that you are human, enter the code displayed in the box below the text field. Then click on "Register".










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4. Open your e-mail program. In your inbox, you will find an e-mail from Fabasoft. Click on the included link. This will refer you to the login page for Fabasoft Folio Cloud.









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5. Simply choose a password, confirm this password. "Register" will finalize your registration. You can immediately start to use Fabasoft Folio Cloud for your teamwork.









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FABASOFT FOLIO CLOUD FOR COMPANIES

Collaborate globally and flexible with your business partners.

Make your company even more successful! Use Fabasoft Folio Cloud for reliable internal collaboration as well as for collaboration with your business partners.

Today, receiving a torrent of unstructured and redundant information, mostly by e-mail, is everyday routine in a company. It is easy to lose track in the collaboration with business partners – despite clearly defined responsibilities. Use Fabasoft Folio Cloud to mend your ways in collaborating, inside the company as well as externally with business partners. Profit from transparent and efficient collaboration with business partners supported by Fabasoft Folio Cloud.
Simply register, create team folders, invite business partners and you’re off to better collaboration! www.foliocloud.com

How Fabasoft Folio Cloud simplifies the collaboration with business partners

Working together on business records across various locations, or securing an up to date information flow with business partners, poses a challenge to many companies. Maintaining an overview and being in control when several persons are involved in a collaboration often leads to significant problems.
That is exactly where Fabasoft Folio Cloud moves in. It structures collaboration across the corporation and puts you back in control. Fabasoft Folio Cloud provides for higher traceability by the versioning of digital business records. You are always in control of changes to important records – independent of whether the collaboration takes place across your desk with a colleague, or with a business partner abroad. And the best thing is: you don’t even have to be in the office.

Everywhere where borders would otherwise restrict your work, Fabasoft Folio Cloud opens up new possibilities. You can collaborate with your colleagues and business partners reliably and securely - at any time, anywhere and via all web browser end devices. Also via iPhone® and BlackBerry®.

Top Features for Companies

Trusted

Encrypted communication
Optimal creation of documents
The highest standards for record storage

Cloud

24/7 availability
Mobile access (Internet, iPhone®, BlackBerry®)
Simple to use, in 15 languages

Collaboration

Capture or import contacts
Invite friends, form teams
Edit photos, documents etc. together

CLOUDED NETHERLANDS

from gill4kleuren on flickr.com

CLOUD COMPUTING - PRAISE & CRITICISM

from Wikipedia.org

Criticism of the Term

During a video interview, Forrester Research VP Frank Gillett expresses criticism about the nature of and motivations behind the push for cloud computing. He describes what he calls "cloud washing" in the industry whereby companies relabel their products as cloud computing resulting in a lot of marketing innovation on top of real innovation. The result is a lot of overblown hype surrounding cloud computing. Gillett sees cloud computing as revolutionary in the long term but over-hyped and misunderstood in the short term, representing more of a gradual shift in our thinking about computer systems and not a sudden transformational change.^[88][89]

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation has stated that cloud computing has been defined as "everything that we already do" and that it will have no effect except to "change the wording on some of our ads"^[90][91]. Oracle Corporation has since launched a cloud computing center and worldwide tour. Forrester Research^[92][93][94] Principal Analyst John Rymer dismisses Ellison's remarks by stating that his "comments are complete nonsense and he knows it".

Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and lead architect and organizer of the GNU Project, said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign", he told The Guardian. "Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true." ^[95]

Praise of the Term

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft said of cloud computing "It's the next step, it's the next phase, it's the next transition" and that in addition of Microsoft "pretty much everybody in the technology industry is betting their companies on [...] this incredible transformation around the cloud".^[96]

Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, says that "with the cloud comes unconstrained thinking and willingness to tinker and experiment without worrying too much about cost". He claims that "the cloud allows lot of businesses to scale aggressively, like Facebook apps" and that "[Amazon] are enabling a lot things in a way that will be long-term beneficial as it would help build more sustainable businesses using a lot less capital [...] The fact is that because of the cloud, today a young upstart can take market share without an incumbent having time to react."^[97]

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said "It's a new model. You basically put all your information on servers and you have fast networks and lots of different kinds of personal computers and mobile phones that can use the applications... it's a powerful model and it's where the industry is going."^[98]

FABASOFT FOLIO CLOUD. TRUSTED. CLOUD. COLLABORATION.

In early 2010, Fabasoft has released its cloud computing software Fabasoft Folio Cloud primo (BETA). You can create your free account on www.foliocloud.com.

EVENT REVIEW: FABASOFT FOLIO CLOUD AT GARTNER PCC SUMMIT

Faster, higher, further. The company of the future is aiming high.

Sky-high, to be precise. With Cloud Computing these goals are realized daily. Never before has it been so easy to collaborate, detached from time and space.

At this year’s Gartner Summit in Baltimore, current trends on the topic of cloud computing were discussed in think-tank roundtables of experts and users. For years Fabasoft has been closely collaborating with analysts at Gartner, the world leader when it comes to future trends in the IT-sector. The company predicts a rapid growth of cloud computing applications in the coming years. The latest addition to the Fabasoft product family, Fabasoft Folio Cloud, is already – in its BETA version, launched in the beginning of the year - considered by Garter to be one of the biggest hopes in this field.

What distinguishes Folio Cloud from its competitors is the highest degree of security. The usual high safety standard of all Fabasoft products is also integrated into Folio Cloud, a special aspect being the encryption with https, a method familiar through its function of allowing credit card number entry in online payment transactions. In Fabasoft Folio Cloud each and every process is protected at this high level. Thus Folio Cloud is also specifically appropriate for sensitive business areas, a fact strongly emphasized by Gartner. How companies can successfully integrate Fabasoft Folio Cloud into their everyday business was the topic of Karl Mayrhofer’s presentation on “Trusted Cloud Collaboration”.

Image: Fabasoft at Gartner PCC Summit in Baltimore © Fabasoft

In roundtables, comprised of experts, analysts and users of cloud computing software, future trends were discussed, case studies presented and recommendations made for the years to come. Through improved design and increased integration of web 2.0 technologies, portals and user interfaces are continually becoming more user-friendly. The new generation of cloud computing software is especially characterized by the integration of user experiences and thus always adapts to actual user needs.

Particular significance is given to the understanding and use of collective intelligence. For a long time it has been known that using social software within a company can enhance business value. Companies that make use of social networking and take advantage of the swiftness and efficiency of online communities already rank among the winners, because information management and the skillful handling of the growing diversity and complexity of data belong to the core areas of cloud computing. Fabasoft and the participants of the Gartner PCC Summit have already realized that social software will revolutionize the IT- and business world in the forthcoming years. And with Fabasoft Folio Cloud, Fabasoft already belongs to the pioneers and innovators of this future branch.

RICHARD STALLMAN ON CLOUD COMPUTING

WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING? - video

EACH TO THEIR OWN - MODELS FOR CLOUD COMPUTING

from Wikipedia.org:

Public cloud

Public cloud or external cloud describes cloud computing in the traditional mainstream sense, whereby resources are dynamically provisioned on a fine-grained, self-service basis over the Internet, via web applications/web services, from an off-site third-party provider who shares resources and bills on a fine-grained utility computing basis.^[28]

Community cloud

A community cloud may be established where several organizations have similar requirements and seek to share infrastructure so as to realize some of the benefits of cloud computing. With the costs spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a single tenant) this option is more expensive but may offer a higher level of privacy, security and/or policy compliance. Examples of community cloud include Google's "Gov Cloud".^[50]

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud environment consisting of multiple internal and/or external providers^[51] "will be typical for most enterprises".^[52] By integrating multiple cloud services users may be able to ease the transition to public cloud services while avoiding issues such as PCI compliance.^[53]

Another perspective on deploying a web application in the cloud is using Hybrid Web Hosting, where the hosting infrastructure is a mix between Cloud Hosting for the web server, and Managed dedicated server for the database server.

Private cloud

Private cloud and internal cloud are neologisms that some vendors have recently used to describe offerings that emulate cloud computing on private networks. These (typically virtualisation automation) products claim to "deliver some benefits of cloud computing without the pitfalls", capitalising on data security, corporate governance, and reliability concerns. They have been criticized on the basis that users "still have to buy, build, and manage them" and as such do not benefit from lower up-front capital costs and less hands-on management^[52], essentially "[lacking] the economic model that makes cloud computing such an intriguing concept".^[54][55]

COMMUTING OR CLOUD COMPUTING?

from Wikipedia.org:

Agility
improves with users' ability to rapidly and inexpensively re-provision technological infrastructure resources.^[26]

Cost
is claimed to be greatly reduced and capital expenditure is converted to operational expenditure^[27]. This ostensibly lowers barriers to entry, as infrastructure is typically provided by a third-party and does not need to be purchased for one-time or infrequent intensive computing tasks. Pricing on a utility computing basis is fine-grained with usage-based options and fewer IT skills are required for implementation (in-house).^[28]

Device and location independence^[29]
enable users to access systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what device they are using (e.g., PC, mobile). As infrastructure is off-site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the Internet, users can connect from anywhere.^[28]

Multi-tenancy enables sharing of resources and costs across a large pool of users thus allowing for:

• Centralization of infrastructure in locations with lower costs (such as real estate, electricity, etc.)
• Peak-load capacity increases (users need not engineer for highest possible load-levels)
• Utilization and efficiency improvements for systems that are often only 10–20% utilized.^[22]

Reliability
improves through the use of multiple redundant sites, which makes cloud computing suitable for business continuity and disaster recovery.^[30] Nonetheless, many major cloud computing services have suffered outages, and IT and business managers can at times do little when they are affected.^[31][32]

Scalability
via dynamic ("on-demand") provisioning of resources on a fine-grained, self-service basis near real-time, without users having to engineer for peak loads. Performance is monitored, and consistent and loosely coupled architectures are constructed using web services as the system interface.^[28] One of the most important new methods for overcoming performance bottlenecks for a large class of applications is data parallel programming on a distributed data grid.^[33]

Security
could improve due to centralization of data^[34], increased security-focused resources, etc., but concerns can persist about loss of control over certain sensitive data, and the lack of security for stored kernels^[35]. Security is often as good as or better than under traditional systems, in part because providers are able to devote resources to solving security issues that many customers cannot afford.^[36] Providers typically log accesses, but accessing the audit logs themselves can be difficult or impossible. Furthermore, the complexity of security is greatly increased when data is distributed over a wider area and / or number of devices.

Maintenance
cloud computing applications are easier to maintain, since they don't have to be installed on each user's computer. They are easier to support and to improve since the changes reach the clients instantly.

Metering
cloud computing resources usage should be measurable and should be metered per client and application on daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. This will enable clients on choosing the vendor cloud on cost and reliability (QoS).

CLOUD COMPUTING

definition from Wikipedia.org:

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like the electricity grid.
It is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client–server that preceded it in the early 1980s. Details are abstracted from the users who no longer have need of expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.[1] Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.[2][3] It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet.[4]
The term "cloud" is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network,[5] and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents.[6] Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.
Most cloud computing infrastructure consists of reliable services delivered through data centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers and typically offer SLAs.[7] The major cloud vendors include the largest IT vendors: Google, IBM, Microsoft, and HP along with Amazon and VMWare.[8]