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Bitcoin set to go boom – Finextra (press release)

Adam Davies, consultant at Altus Consulting believes the value of a single bitcoin will reach 3000 by the end of the year. He explains why.

In January, people reacted strongly when Bitcoin passed the $1000 mark. Then in March Bitcoin surpassed the price of gold. So it was hardly a surprise when in May, it reached a new all-time high, trading above $1,400, mostly attributed to strong demand in Japan where it is now deemed a legal means of payment. The price of Bitcoin has tripled in the past year, and I believe it may top 3K in 2017.

The success of the digital currency lies in its universality and convenience, allowing people to do things in an easier way, much like the transport and telecommunications industries. However, just because something is easy does not necessarily guarantee adoption. So what is driving its popularity?

This year, the adoption of Bitcoin will be driven by those who operate in the grey economy and thus experience the strongest barriers to value transfer.

A burgeoning grey market

To use Bitcoins you don't need any proof of ID. Acquiring and transferring them from one location to another is extremely easy. Bitcoin rose to infamy due to its use on the dark web as the unit of currency for sites such as Silk Road, best known as an online market for selling drugs. However, Bitcoin is now being adopted by many people who want to move money across borders and hedge against hyper-inflation and currency restrictions, or as in India, banknote demonetisation. This is happening across the globe. Whereas dark web sites such as Silk Road occupy the dark market, this upswing in Bitcoin usage is known as the grey market. These activities are likely become more and more mainstream in light of the changing political and economic climate, and this will drive a further increase in popularity. Thus Bitcoin is rapidly becoming a safe haven investment, being free from government interference, and with limited supply.

The right environment

Before the Brexit vote, when the world seemed a safe and consistent place, I put forward the theory that Bitcoin would pass gold as the safe haven currency. At the time I realised that given the right conditions digital currencies would only trend up in value. Since then weve seen the right conditions develop; China has a fragile economy, new political direction in the US, the political tsunami of Brexit, and upcoming European elections means we are likely to see more economic volatility.

A consistent value

Almost all currencies are valued by either securing the currency against a commodity or by comparing its value against another currency. Bitcoin is unique; it not created by a sovereign state and without an owning authority. The value of Bitcoin is solely determined by the price someone is willing to pay for it. This is an important distinction from traditional currencies and the key strength of Bitcoin. With traditional currencies, when making international trades electronically you are relying on the availability of supply. If there are not enough dollars, yuan, euros or pounds the value of the currency will increase, or more is issued to cover the shortfall (supply and demand). This means one of two things, either the value of good in transit increases or the currency in question is devalued.

The value of bitcoin is, instead, determined by the value of products within trades taking place. When bitcoin was starting out, there wasn't much trade and therefore there wasn't much value; the value of a Bitcoin was low. Today, as we watch bitcoin becoming increasingly popular, the amount of in-flight trade in goods using Bitcoin mans that the value must increase in order to cover the value of the goods. As there is a limited supply of Bitcoin and the supply will only increase slowly over time to a maximum of 21 million, the increase in trade volumes will result in an increase in Bitcoin value.

So the reason I believe that bitcoin will reach 3k in 2017 is really down to how much the value of trade will increase in 2017. The largest ever bitcoin transaction was on 12th March 2017 at $860K, the largest number of transactions in a single day is a number that increase week on week. This shows a upwards trend of Bitcoin usage, and as Bitcoin is not seen as an tradable commodity by the investment houses, this trend is driven by trade. Which means Bitcoins has to increase in value to meet the demands of higher trade and value volumes and thus higher value transactions.

So what?

The value of Bitcoin transactions, with more increasing adoption and acceptance, underpinned by easy access, growth could actually outstrip the original $3000 prediction. If not by the end of this year, then probably in the next. Bitcoin is one to watch.

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Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 05/08/2017 Another Bullish … – newsBTC

Bitcoin price could be due for more gains as it broke to the upside from its short-term symmetrical triangle pattern.

Bitcoin price could be due for more gains as it broke to the upside from its short-term symmetrical triangle pattern.

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA so the path of least resistance is to the upside. In addition, the 100 SMA lines up with the triangle support, adding to its strength as a floor in the event of another pullback. Also, the gap between the moving averages is getting wider to reflect strengthening bullish momentum.

Stochastic is on the move up to show that there is some buying pressure left but the oscillator is nearing the overbought zone to indicate rally exhaustion. Once it turns lower, selling pressure could return and trigger a pullback to the broken triangle resistance around $1550.

RSI is also heading north so bitcoin price might follow suit. This indicator is also approaching overbought levels so buying momentum could fade at some point. However, if bulls keep charging, bitcoin price could retest the latest highs or even set new ones.

Economic data from the US turned outs stronger than expected on Friday as the economy added more jobs than expected while the average earnings figure came in line with estimates. The Fed labor market conditions index is due today and a rise from the earlier 0.4 reading could support stronger odds of a rate hike in June.

Still, bitcoin price is enjoying support from stronger volumes in Japan as the governments recent decision to accept the cryptocurrency as a legal form of payment has led to increase activity among investors. Expectations for SEC approval for the COIN bitcoin ETF is also driving up demand and price at the moment.

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Bitcoin Price Watch; Here’s What’s On This Morning – newsBTC

Here's a look at what we are focusing on in the bitcoin price this morning.

And were off on another weeks worth of trading in our bitcoin price efforts, and things are going to be a little unpredictable moving forward. Price corrected pretty severely over the weekend and has spent the last twenty-four hours or so correcting towards previous highs. This is a good thing, of course, but it also means were heading towards a double top type position, and further, that once we get there, price will have to break the top, or correct to form a triple top. That makes things tough from a prediction perspective and makes our trading for today a little riskier than normal.

Not that we cant stay on top of it well be in with our stops as tight as ever (maybe a little tighter) to ensure that if price does reverse against us, we get out intime.

So, with all this noted, lets take a look at the levels were going for during the session today in an attempt to carve out some sort of strategy for implementation near term.

As ever, take a quick look at the chart below to get an idea of where things stand. Its a five-minute candlestick chart and its got our range overlaid in green.

heres a look at what we are focusing on in the bitcoin price this morning.

As the chart shows, then, the range we are going for the session this morning comes in as defined by support to the downside at 1589 and resistance to the upside at 1606. Standard breakout rules apply for today, but as mentioned with a particular focus on risk. So, if we see price break through resistance, well be in long on a close above that level towards an immediate upside target of 1620. A stop at 1600 looks good. Conversely, a close below support will have us in towards 1570 and well cap our risk at 1595.

Lets see what happens.

Charts courtesy of TradingView

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Bitcoin Price Watch; Here's What's On This Morning - newsBTC

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China Says Draft Rules on Cloud Computing Have Been Misunderstood – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

China Says Draft Rules on Cloud Computing Have Been Misunderstood
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
SHANGHAIChina is defending new draft regulations on cloud-computing services that have come under fire from U.S. trade groups, saying it has no intention to jeopardize the intellectual property and technology of overseas companies that operate here.

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Hot Stuff: Ever Heard Of Cloud Computing? Here’s Why Filipinos … – ABS-CBN News

It's hard living in this age. Everything you do needs to be documented. We're not just talking about your social media shenanigans, but stuff you need for your government and office transactions, you know, the bigger reasons why Internet came to be in the first place. Nowadays you spend a considerable amount of time and money on spending additional external hard drives to store all these filesthose of necessity and otherwise. Then sometimes, you have to deal with a broken drive or two; then sometimes, you lose them to your horror. Pictures of you and baegone! Videos of your cliff jumpingnowhere to be found!

The inconvenience brought in by the physicality of these drives and devices can be haunting as days go by. In the corporate setting, not having enough space for your files leads to miscommunication, mismanagement, and delay. If you're just worried about it because you have no space in your phone for any more selfie, it can also be problematic. Enter the concept of cloud storage platforms, which PC Magazine defines as the "means of storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive." Yes, you read that right: All your files easily dumped and then catalogued online in one data center and that's it. Imagine the fictional Pied Piper from TV series Silicon Valley. In the plot, It's so revolutionary the similarly made-up high-tech company Hooli is running after its ownership.

The concept of cloud computing fits right into the tech culture of social media-heavy using FIlipinos.

At the press launch of the partnership between Philippine-based enterprise solutions provider Nexus Technologies announced its partnership with Singapore-based IT company InfoFabrica last April 21, Nexus-InfoFabrica Country Sales Manager John Defiesta couldn't have agreed more of how cloud computing can help advance Filipinos' lives in more ways than one.

There is a huge opportunity for Philippine companies, big or small, to take advantage of what cloud services have to offer."

Defiesta said the partnership aims to make cloud computing accessible to all Filipinos, in anticipation for its now-growing demand.

A report from Gartner, Inc. indicated that there will be at least an 18% growth for cloud computing in the Philippines this year. Big companies like Globe Telecom, Smart Communications, and ABS-CBN have been using thecloud, too; it's an attempt to savemillions of pesos from purchasing additional storage and servers for their numerous customers.

Another factor why cloud computing is a worthy investment? Flexibility. InfoFabrica offers a pay-as-you-go model where you only pay for additional storage when you need it. You can avail of it permanently or for a certain period. It's also perfect for startup companies, small businesses, and even students, said Defiesta.

Defiesta also predicts a sharp growth of cloud computing in the Philippines within the next five years. No more storage woes!

"There may be problems in terms of bandwidth, but the country is improving, and telco companies are making an effort," he reassured.

ALSO READ:Hot Stuff: Where to Find Celeb- and Athlete-Approved Workout Wear Online

Banner photograph from Unsplash.com

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3 things to know about the cloud v. data center decision – ZDNet

Cloud computing has made a dramatic surge over the past five years, but issues such as compliance and data residency are also driving tech leaders to carefully consider their IT architecture. In the video above, we break down the three most important things you need to know about the cloud versus data center decision. For those who prefer reading to watching, you'll find the entire summary below.

And to explore more about this topic, check out the full ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature The Cloud v. Data Center Decision. You can also download the full report as a PDF ebook (free registration required).

Up until a few years ago, companies had to make a strong case for why they wanted to use the cloud, and they often had to overcome fears about security and lack of control. Today, the script has flipped. Many IT leaders now have to justify why they want to run something on-premise, if there are comparable options in the public cloud. Plenty of companies ARE still choosing their own data center, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, but the context has completely changed.

When it comes to new applications for standard business functions, most enterprises are choosing go cloud-first. There's a very high bar to justify running something like email, CRM, or ERP on-premise. Launching custom applications or migrating legacy applications is a different story though.

The initial perception of cloud was that companies were doing it to cut costs. However, today's cloud isn't as much about saving money. It's more about shifting to a modern architecture so you can take advantage of the latest technologies like containers and microservices. And, being in the cloud insures that your business will always have access to the next big leap in tech without a big infrastructure upgrade. In other words, it's about agility.

Again, to learn more about this topic, read our full special report "The Cloud v. Data Center Decision" and you can download them in one PDF on TechRepublic, available for free to registered users.

The Monday Morning Opener is our opening salvo for the week in tech. Since we run a global site, this editorial publishes on Monday at 8:00am AEST in Sydney, Australia, which is 6:00pm Eastern Time on Sunday in the US. It is written by a member of ZDNet's global editorial board, which is comprised of our lead editors across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the US.

Previously on Monday Morning Opener:

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Five ways configure price quote software is revolutionising selling today – Cloud Tech

Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) continues to be one of the hottest enterprise apps today, fuelled by the relentless need all companies have to increase sales while delivering customised orders profitably and accurately. Here are a few of the many results CPQ strategies are delivering today:

Another factor fueling CPQs rapid growth is how quickly results of a pilot can be measured and used for launching a successful company-wide launch. Pilots often concentrate on quote creation time, quoting accuracy, sales cycle reduction, automating Special Pricing Requests (SPRs), up-sells and cross-sells, perfect order performance, margin improvements and best of all, winning new customers. These are the baseline metrics many companies use to measure their CPQ performance. Throughout 2017 these metrics across industries are accelerating. There is a revolution going on in selling today.

Cloud- and SaaS-based CPQ solutions are quicker to implement, easier to customise to customers requirements, and available 24/7 on any Internet-enabled device, anytime. Many are designed to integrate into Salesforce, further accelerating adoption seamlessly. The following five factors are the primary catalysts revolutionising selling today:

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Servers as pets or cattle was 2012. Now it’s McMansions or Hotels … – The Register

Remember pets and cattle? CERN's 2012 metaphor to describe on-premises servers you name and care for lavishly versus virtualized cloud servers you never name, run in a herd and snuff out without a second's thought?

Well the metaphor's evolved: VMware and Pivotal are now talking about McMansions and hotels to explain how they will bring virtual networks into the world of DevOps.

The companies feel that most DevOps work is taking place either with cloud-native applications or on the margins of a big organisation's software flet. Core applications remain largely untouched in the push to continuous deployment, largely because even small changes to older code in the heart of a business require detailed security and compliance oversight. That slows things down because large organisations have silos to take care of those things. Between politics and governance, that makes it hard to get close to continuous delivery.

That state of affairs got the two companies thinking about the surprise breakout use case for NSX. VMware first imagined NSX as a control plane for networks comprised of different vendors' hardware. It's turned out to be more immediately useful for microsegmentation the practice of creating virtual networks to link a small set of resources, often tied to a specific workload. Because these virtual networks are only required to do certain things, they are defined by policies that don't let them do anything else. If behaviour not defined in policy is detected, microsegmented networks either isolate themselves or make red lights and klaxons go off down in Ops.

At Dell EMC World the companies will explain how NSX will be integrated with Pivotal Cloud Foundry so that when developers work on stuff that touches compliance-and-security-sensitive applications, they'll do so inside virtual networks that reflect all the worries security and audit teams want taken into account. Instead of creating compliance-friendly new development environments a McMansion with a room for everyone and every household activity - they'll check into a hotel with just the services needed for a short stay, but a policy-enforced empty minibar.

These development environments will have their own IP and MAC address spaces and, while they may run on shared hardware, will be logically discrete from production environments and from other testbeds.

The two companies think this approach will be especially attractive to developers building containerised systems on top of core applications, because spawning containers, chaining them and they destroying both the containers and the connections between them sets off alarms among compliance pros. Those folks are accustomed to being able to trace transactions with great granularity, a task that possible with containers but made harder by the fact containers are treated as even more disposable than cattle. Showing governance types that all of this whacky work happens within virtual environments that adhere to policy makes for greater comfort.

We're not sure at this stage exactly what Pivotal and VMware will announced, but The Register understands this is a day two announcement. Michael Dell, David Goulden and Intel's Diane Bryant are the day one speakers at the show.

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BOXX Expands Product Line and Services by Acquiring Cirrascale – GlobeNewswire (press release)

May 08, 2017 08:00 ET | Source: BOXX Technologies

Austin, TX, May 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AUSTIN, TEXAS, May 8, 2017 BOXX Technologies, the leading innovator of high-performance computer workstations, rendering systems, and servers, today announced the acquisition of Cirrascale Corporation, a premier developer of multi-GPU servers and cloud solutions designed for deep learning infrastructure. The acquisition enables BOXX to add Cirrascales deep learning hardware to its line of multi-GPU solutions and solidifies BOXX as the leader in multi-GPU computer technology. Cirrascale Cloud Services, a BOXX subsidiary, will continue to expand its growing business and provide GPU-as-a-Service along with other professional services.

Cirrascale is instantly recognizable as a leader in deep learning infrastructure, cloud services, and like us, a strategic partner of NVIDIA, so naturally, were excited to welcome them to the BOXX family, said Rick Krause, BOXX CEO. We now have a complete solution of world-class deep learning servers, development workstations, and cloud services for data scientists, researchers, and other professionals.

Cirrascale Cloud Services offers a dedicated, bare-metal cloud service with the ability for customers to load their own instances of popular deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, Caffe, MXNet, and Theano. This provides user access to the raw horsepower of a modern multi-GPU system and is highly attractive to customers with various deep learning and HPC applications. BOXX will manufacture the high performance rackmount systems featuring up to eight NVIDIA Quadro or Tesla graphics cards.

With expertise in the development and manufacturing of high-performance systems, BOXX will now deliver deep learning solutions to customers worldwide while providing services and support to meet their needs, said PJ Go, CEO, Cirrascale Cloud Services. This enables our team to continue to expand our cloud services which have grown exponentially over the past year. Together, our companies will further accelerate the ever growing momentum of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

BOXX began primarily in media & entertainment, producing the fastest and highest quality hardware solutions for VFX, animation, and motion media applications. However, over the past decade, the hardware manufacturer has expanded to also develop products specific to architecture, engineering, and other markets which rely on professional 3D design applications. Multi-GPU workstations have always represented a significant portion of BOXX business, but as the company continues to add enterprise customers like broadcast networks and organizations focused on deep learning, the acquisition of Cirrascale is a natural fit. The acquisition comes as BOXX, owned by Dallas-based private equity firm Craftsman Capital, is experiencing record growth.

BOXX is an incredible brand built on delivering the highest possible performance to the customer, said Barrett Dean, Partner at Craftsman Capital. With expanded resources and knowledge base, we have complete confidence that consumers will view BOXX as a one stop shop for deep learning infrastructure and cloud services. The highly experienced BOXX management team has done an outstanding job of building BOXX as a premium solution provider, so the addition of Cirrascale further expands the BOXX brand into new markets.

For further information and pricing on multi-GPU servers, contact BOXX at 1-877-877-2699. Learn more about multi-GPU servers, APEXX workstations, BOXX rendering solutions, BOXX finance options, and how to contact worldwide resellers, by visiting http://www.boxx.com. For further information on Cirrascale Cloud Services or to rent the latest x86 and POWER configurations, call (888) 942-3800 or visit http://www.cirrascale.cloud.

About BOXX Technologies

BOXX is the leading innovator of high-performance workstations and rendering systems for visual effects, animation, product design, engineering, architectural visualization, and more. Combining record-setting performance, speed, and reliability with unparalleled industry knowledge, BOXX is the trusted choice for creative professionals worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.boxx.com.

About Cirrascale Cloud Services Cirrascale Cloud Services is a premier provider of dedicated public and private, multi-GPU cloud solutions enabling deep learning. The company offers the latest cloud-based solutions for large-scale deep learning operators, service providers, as well as HPC users. To learn more about Cirrascale Cloud Services and its unique dedicated, multi-GPU cloud solutions, please visit http://www.cirrascale.cloud or call (888) 942-3800.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2d54d8d7-1b2b-46ae-91ac-e24fe9930074

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Transforming the datacenter – ZDNet

The biggest fear early cloud adopters overcame was the fear of disruption. How would they move everything from their existing data center to a cloud service without disrupting business operations? The answer was, they didn't.

Smart companies realized that the safest way to transition from on-premises systems to the cloud would be to first assess all their applications, workloads, and other data assets to determine which would be most amenable to the cloud transition. They began with low-criticality workloads and slowly worked their way up the list. Some are still working through that process.

For those organizations, a new concern emerged. How would they manage an environment that basically consisted of two network cores; one still on-premises and the other now in a cloud facility? Would they need to maintain two separate environments? Two management consoles? Two sets of protocols? What would happen when they needed to combine resources from both environments to accomplish something?

The alignment of Active Directory for Windows Server with Active Directory for Azure meant that data center managers could create a unified, seamless system that combined both on-premises and cloud-resident systems under one AD forest. This enables IT to use one set of protocols, one set of user credentials, one set of security standards, and one unified data environment.

It also facilitated the smooth movement of more applications, workloads, and other data assets from the on-prem network to the cloud. Once the two are aligned, it becomes almost effortless to provision new virtual machines and new resource stacks, and move them across the network.

Gartner recently predicted that, by 2020, the "cloud shift" will affect more than $1 trillion in IT spending. That means that more organizations will be migrating more of their IT operations to the cloud.Some will still need to port, modify, or rewrite some applications before they can be migrated. The recent embrace of Open Systems by Microsoft clearly signals Redmond's commitment to assist in this challenge. One way in which the company is facilitating cloud migration is by developing more and more enhancements to Azure services that will accommodate a broader variety of platforms and environments.

Many resources combine to provide a complete Azure service for your applications. These include virtual machines (VM), your storage account, web apps, databases, and your virtual network (VLAN). Originally, when you managed an Azure cloud environment, you created, deployed, and managed each of these separately. When adjustments needed to be made, you went to the required consoles manually. When you wanted to replicate your solution in another Azure environment, you had to recreate everything.

The introduction of Azure Resource Management (ARM) in 2014 changed all that, mainly by providing resource groups, which are defined by Microsoft as "a container that holds related resources for an Azure solution. The resource group can include all the resources for the solution, or only those resources that you want to manage as a group. You decide how you want to allocate resources to resource groups based on what makes the most sense for your organization." Now all the required resources can be managed as a group, which saves tremendous time and effort.

As the cloud revolution marched on, it became clear that cloud customers enjoy better IT services at a lower cost. It made little sense to own and operate your own servers when a cloud provider could deliver a professionally operated data service, while you pay only for what you use.

Now, all of the tools required to ease the path from on-premises to cloud facilities are emerging very quickly. Companies can move from on-premises to robust co-existence and then finally complete the journey to the cloud on their own schedule with virtually no disruption whatsoever.

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Transforming the datacenter - ZDNet

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