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categorise their data in a better way, and thus have no issues with
outsourcing less sensitive data.
Apple created a new kind of service of this type with its iCloud. The main
innovation is that the content is not stored on local storage devices (such as
hard disks), but that all of the account owner's devices can access the data
in the iCloud. This removes the need for synchronization, especially of email
and calendar entries. Tracks and apps purchased by users are not stored in
the iCloud, but are available via the iCloud for all devices. The same thing
applies to Apple's Photo Stream service which lets users keep up to 1,000
photos in the iCloud. This vastly simplifies the exchange of data between the
account owner's various devices.
Unified Communication and Collaboration
The everyday lives of organizations and individuals frequently revolve
around using the technology options available to us for communication and
collaboration. The interesting aspect in this, however, is how quickly these
communication and collaboration options change, how much more we can
"
get done", and how much more information we can transport in new ways.
Back in 1995, Unified Messaging brought a significant advantage, and added
measurable value for companies with the integration of email, voice mail,
fax and, of course, computer telephony integration (CTI). Communication
and also access to information took less time and involved less effort. These
forms of communications have, of course, not been abolished today; instead
they have been improved and further developed. Unified Communications
(
UC) is the new buzzword here, integrating e‐mail, telephony, voice mail,
instant messaging, video conferences, availability information (presence
integration), group messaging (persistent group chat) the presentation of
applications and information (sharing). Unified Communications started to
boom as early as 2005, and was embellished with new features by
companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Google, Siemens, Avaya, Genesys
and many more. Unified Communications is, in a certain respect, incomplete
without collaboration. One example of collaboration could be a smart web
portal, on which data is stored, distributed, permissions are granted. Or
content, such as intranet sites, team portals or project portals, can be
created using web technologies. In combination with real‐time
communication this results in the term UCC (Unified Communications &
Collaborations). UC is becoming increasingly essential to industry and even
across industries, and is an obvious candidate for a Cloud service.
