Cloud Computing

The circular economy (CE) promises a more sustainable use of resources by managing products in a cycle and striving for a transformation from a linear to a circular supply chain. In particular, digital technologies as enablers for the circular economy have been increasingly researched and applied in practice in recent years. This article describes which digital technologies offer potential for increasing circularity in the production of circular photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Success factors that had long driven China’s economic boom have lost their legitimacy gradually. The emergence of the competitive indigenous technology houses in IT, telecommunications and software industries in the past two decades has made China’s industrial digitalisation feasible, which the nation would urgently need to base its further growth more on technology and innovation. Consequently, China’s economic performance would become more solid and sustainable. Internet+ predicts the general direction of digitalisation in China’s industries and represents the concept that is currently enthusiastically debated by the economists, politicians and in the media. The integration of information technology with other manufacturing industries is particularly emphasised in this context. The article examines the background and the terminology, takes a look at the market model and some technical issues of Internet+. A case study accompanies the “excursion” to China, in order to give ...

Cyber-Physical Systems and the internet of things change the way we see management, production and even logistics processes. The research project “Smart Logistic Grids” uses a decentralized cloud-based management concept to reduce the risk of disruptions in logistics networks.

The networking between companies in a supply chain becomes tighter. This applies for manufacturing plants and the supply with manufacturing equipment as well. Hence, the complexity of the flow of information, in particular for tool management, increases. Currently the exchange of information is mostly paper-based and tool data is not available continuously along the supply chain. By using a digital and cloud-based tool management system, breaks in the flow of information along the supply chain for machining tools can be overcome. Herewith tool data can be called and updated ongoing and location-independent. Furthermore, after clearly identifying a tool, required tool data can automatically be transferred into the control system of the machine.

GloNet is a research project co-funded by the European Commission which aims in supporting small and medium sizes enterprises to collaborate in the frame of virtual organisations. The cloud-based GloNet platform supports the efficient organisation of business processes involving suppliers and customers in the product lifecycle. The solution will allow for the maintenance of complex, individualised, and extended products. This article presents a use case from the solar ranch, summarises process requirements and elaborates on the architecture and important features of the GloNet platform.

This paper deals with forecasting of single period products taking the apparel industry as an example. Due to the resulting shortcomings of conventional forecasting methods, i.e. the statistical methods, and subjective estimates, the improvement of sales forecasting using a community-based approach is proposed. A platform for a professional community can be created by cloud computing tools.

For businesses, the main problem with cloud computing is the loss of control over own data. After all, one cannot know what cloud provider staff might read or copy processed or stored data. Not so with providers based on Sealed Cloud technology. This basic technology encrypts all data, and any access is rendered impossible by a series of technical measures. Not even the cloud provider has access to the data, not only during transfer and within the database, but also during data processing.

Certifications of cloud services are frequently discussed as decision support instruments and are a key action of the recently published European Union’s cloud computing strategy. However, cloud service certifications are currently still under development and the effect of cloud service certifications on users’ selection decisions yet remains unclear. This article provides an overview of the current certification environment in cloud computing, presents recommendations for designing effective cloud service certifications and shows potential for further research and development. The recommendations may be used by cloud service certification providers to improve their certifications and by cloud service users and providers to assess cloud services and cloud service certifications.

Cloud computing is the buzzword of the last years; meanwhile, it becomes more present in the product portfolios of IT service providers. A lot of newcomers emerge in the cloud market and established player extend their traditional IT business with cloud aspects. Based on a comprehensive literature analysis, a structured framework for cloud business models is synthetized. This framework is used to investigate and compare 29 successful business models in the cloud market. With the help of a cluster analysis, four common patterns of combination are identified for cloud business models. These clusters induce recommendations for action for IT service providers in the cloud market.