There are two major conferences being held in the Denver/Boulder area regarding organic, green, entrepreneurship and venture capitalists seeking to support environmentally sensitive firms. You can find information on them here http://www.naturallyboulderproducts.com/days/program-and-events.html and here www.cleanenergyforum.com .  Expect to see a lot of content from me this week on both of these events. With over 500 investors from around the world, and over $1.7 billion invested in enviro-centric companies through just one of these channels in the past five years, there is a lot to discuss. Â
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Within turmoil is opportunity. As the global economy churns and lurches, there are segments that have long term sustainability. Green and environmentally sensitive businesses are poised to take advantage of multiple trends that are converging; trends like global warming, telecommuting, and working within the cloud.
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Speaking of cloud computing, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Hal Anderson, CTO of 24by7 Service ( www.24by7service.com ), regarding their project management tools. This company provides a measured, intelligent solution to migrating from PBX technology to voice over IP that is vendor agnostic. They are not beholden to any of the telcos, and do not have a vested interest in any particular VoIP solution. Their role is to assist companies in leveraging IP-based communications solutions when and where it makes sense. They never, ever, recommend a rip-and-replace. Their philosophy is one I share: squeeze every last nickel of value out of existing technologies before getting rid of it, but take advantage of emerging technologies when and where it makes sense.
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Cloud Computing - a total violation of privacy.
If you think for one moment that I will buy into cloud computing as a comsumer, then your nuts. Any email, document, etc on YOUR servers, while my machine acts as a cache. Again your nuts. People have hacked into the VA, banks, retail companies, and gotten banking and personal information, and you want cloud computing.What made Dos and Windows a success was magazines like PC Magazine that showed the technical aspects and programming. Today its product placement. Stupid!
So, Microsoft Azure and Google what ever. Forget it. It's Googles way of cutting into Microsoft's business. Nice try. Want to go broke...do cloud computing. This will be the last PC I buy or build.
See ya!
Moving workers to the cloud
Now that more applications are running outside the downtown data center (in the cloud), does it really make sense for workers to commute to a downtown office location?With the price of gas and the congestion on commuter roadways, doesn't it make more sense for workers to work from remote offices?
Most workers really don't need to drive to the downtown location to do their job. Remote Office Centers lease individual offices, internet and phone systems to workers from different companies in shared centers located around the city and suburbs.
The computer systems are no longer located downtown, so why make works spend an hour in their cars to get to a downtown location?
ROCs are fairly new, but can be found in many cities by searching the internet for "Remote Office Centers" in quotes or by going to a free web site that lists ROCs:
http://www.remoteofficecenters.com