Atos Origin achieves ISO 14001 certification for all its data centers and buildings in the Netherlands within 7 months

News:

Atos Origin, today announces that its environmental management system in the Netherlands has been certified to ISO 14001 standard. This means that all 15 office sites, divisions and data centers in the Netherlands have been certified as in compliance with this international standard. Certification was achieved in just seven months. [More…]

What’s Next: Top Trends

Interesting:

“…Observations on current and  future trends…” – Richard creates a very interesting weblog to understand trends and their connections. He also creates a novel trends-map and the 2010 edition is almost ready. [more…]

[thx to Francisco P. for the submit]

Nine times six: The New Norm

Interesting:

Colleague Carl Bate [http://9times6.blogspot.com/] published a white paper on the significant changes going on in our society and affecting day-to-day business practices. Carl suggests 5 key questions to ask yourself in order to make use and/or cope with these fundamental changes:

  1. Which parts of your business model today are most susceptible to people bypassing the organization and doing it for themselves?
  2. Which parts of your corporate model are susceptible to employee bypass, enabled by consumer technology?
  3. What’s the future for your organizational investment in and management of information technology when the technology available to everyone is actually working?
  4. How can you develop and accelerate trust in the new business and societal security models?
  5. What new skills and decision making responsibilities are needed by your organization to embrace the opportunities and manage the risks of global connectivity?

I think these are excellent questions and would like to add one to complete the list:

    • What type of culture do you need to provide for people to motivate them to work collaborative in support of your business goals?

I recommend the whitepaper – it provides a good start when dealing with these questions.

Apps.gov : A US Government Cloud Platform

Interesting:

“…Apps.gov is your source for cloud computing applications designed to help your agency harness the power of today’s technology…”

www.apps.gov is positioning itself as an open platform that provides all kind of cloud services. They are running business apps, productivity apps and social media apps. They are even preparing Cloud IT Services such as online-storage and server processing capacity.

www.apps.gov is an initiative by the GSA, the U.S. General Services Administration:

“…The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) leverages the buying power of the federal government to acquire best value for taxpayers and our federal customers. We exercise responsible asset management. We deliver superior workplaces, quality acquisition services, and expert business solutions. We develop innovative and effective management policies…” [more…]

The website allows government agencies to sign up for the services and includes a FAQ for vendors how to participate.

The FAQ for potential users explains the concepts for SaaS and Cloud Services and indicates very clearly that the services provided “…are currently not certified and accredited as required by the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)…”

Nevertheless…this is an interesting development in eGovernement.

[thx to colleague Jose E. & Francisco P. for this link]