Everyone is talking about Cloud Computing. But only a handful of people really understand it, and what the proper definitions, applications and tangible business benefits are.

If your business is web-enabled in some way or form, it would be in your best interests to understand what the geeks are droning on about.

We’ve created a simple guide to Cloud Computing for those who are wanting to gain a basic understanding of the topic – a concise guide for the uninitiated.

Read it online here. Or download it and share it with friends in pdf format.

Enjoy.

Apart from great organisation, speakers, and coffee, conference delegates generally rate WiFi connectivity as one of the most important needs at a conference. So, while the word spread that the number of registered Net Prophet delegates (Net Prophet is a South African conference we sponsor) was fast approaching the 900 mark, we were meticulously plotting how we were going to provide free WiFi; whilst trying to figure out exactly how many devices would be connected on the day, and at any given time.

From last year’s conference (400 delegates), we learnt that balancing the load across eight 1mb/s connections was simply not going to cut it this time. We needed to find something that would allow 900+ delegates to freely tweet, upload, download, check emails, send emails and chat to their friends who were missing out on the conference.

Some of the challenges that face conference WiFi are:

1. Providing enough back-haul Internet capacity
2. Limiting per user download and upload speed
3. WiFi coverage within the venue
4. Wireless interference
5. Wireless Access Point congestion

Net Prophet takes the form of a one day conference held in a large conference facility. We calculated that we would need an Internet back-haul link total with the capacity of about 20Mb/s down and 10Mb/s up to give the largely tech crowd a great experience. We provisioned this directly from our Data Centre in Cape Town via 2 5.8Ghz point to point wireless links to the roof of the conference venue. More

For months we have been Tweeting about our mysterious Secret Project. Today, the cat is finally out the bag.

We are very proud to announce the launch and immediate availability of True Cloud Servers – a cloud hosting platform that allows users to deploy and provision fully operational servers in just seconds. The first of its kind in South Africa, True Cloud Servers offer benefits previously unavailable to businesses hosting locally.

More

No longer considered a passing fad, blogging has proven itself to be a valuable marketing tool for those who have valuable, interesting or even entertaining content to share with the world. Here are seven indispensable tools that may be useful for amateur and pro bloggers alike:

WordPress is a blog publishing application which may be used for basic content management and focuses on web standards and usability. Features include, but are far from limited to: a user-friendly workflow, rich plugin architecture and an advanced templating system. WordPress is free and has become one of the most popular blog software applications used. RSAWEB provides web-hosting packages suitable for hosting WordPress sites.

Bit.ly and Goo.gl are used to shorten the length of your URL, enabling you to share the link easily, Tweet and email to it to friends, with the objectives being: stability (ensuring the services have good uptime), security (protecting users from malware and phishing pages), speed (fast resolution of short URLs) and tracking (see how many people followed your link).

Google Analytics is a valuable tool which allows you to track the traffic information associated with your blog. You can view the number of unique visitors, page views, as well as how the visitors arrived at your site. This information provides you with useful insights into your target audience, hence preparing you to write better-targeted content and strengthen your marketing initiatives.

Google Feedburner allows bloggers the ability to create and manage their own custom RSS feeds and track the usage of their subscribers and readers. It is the leading tool for media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds assisting bloggers, podcasters and commercial publishers to promote, deliver and ultimately profit from their blog.

Disqus expands on your blog’s discussion community through using Discus Comment as a comment system and moderation tool for your site, also allowing users to comment via their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

TubeMogul, if you decide to include video into your blog, then TubeMogul is the tool for you. TubeMogul presents the blogger with a single point for deploying uploads to multiple video sharing and media sites. Additionally, the analytic technology aggregates your video-viewing data to give users the information as to who, when, where and how often their videos are being watched.

HubSpot gets you found online with advanced inbound marketing tools and shows you how to convert more visitors into leads. The full package will burn a hole in your pocket, with the cost of packages ranging from US$250 to US$12,000 p/month. However, the 7-day free trial should give you a fair understanding into the products capabilities. There are also HubSpot free tools available at Website Grader, and Twitter Grader which will analyze your Twitter account, followers and Twitter habits.

These suggested tools are merely the entrance gate to a whole world of apps that will assist any blogger with getting the most out of their blog. There’s an app that will suit a bloggers every need, it’s just a question of: Which one is your favourite?

With the new-year in full swing, lets take a look at what strategic technologies we think are already beginning to take root, and will play a big role in shaping IT in South Africa during 2010:

1. Cloud based Technologies
With the success and rapid adoption of cloud based technologies in international markets, it’s only a matter of time before this game-changer reaches our shores, offering services that are faster to market than ever before. Expect some big developments in this space from RSAWEB in the near future.

2. Modular Data Center design
A more modular approach to data centre design will be employed, only providing resources for space being utilized. Previously, newly-built data centers often had huge areas of vacant floor space, fully powered and backed by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), water-and air-cooled while they were predominantly empty.

3. Flash Memory
Flash memory is not a new technology, but it is only now beginning to gain momentum as the price drops with increasing demand.

According to international research company Gartner, at the current rate of price drops, this technology will enjoy more than a 100 percent compound annual growth rate during the new few years and become strategic in many IT areas including consumer devices, entertainment equipment and other embedded IT systems.

4. Virtualization for Availability
Recent developments in virtualization technology such as live migration, has brought a new focus on this technology, which now provides higher availability than before. Such developments will allow for the cost and complexity systems to be reduced.

5. Mobile Applications
An often overlooked factor in a country that has 3 times more mobile internet users than broadband users. By the end of 2010, Gartner predicts that world wide 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce providing a prosperous environment for the convergence of mobility and the Web.