Whether challenges concern security, observability, access to data, data flow, or multicloud, hardware must pay attention to the Open Source world.

Data is value. But merely having usabledata doesnt necessarily translate into taking full advantage of it.

The key question that enterprises areasking is, how can we tap datas available but inaccessible potential,furthering our customers goals and boosting revenues? And for answers,theyre increasingly turning to open source solutions.

Leading companies are evaluating andmaturing open architecturesintegratedcollections of composable compute, networking, and storage resources. Thescalable hardware infrastructures enable processes for continuous integrationand development of software. Far from a black box, open source software and,increasingly, hardware offer better visibility and control for everyone. Theupshot: democratizingthe tech industry by removingbarriers that stand in the way of collaboration.

See also: Top Open Source Tools for Deep Learning

An IDCTechScape study found thatmost of the important emerging technologies are partially or fully made up ofopen source components, which makes a bold statement about where the industry goesin the future.

The benefits are significant:

The company I work for, SeagateTechnologya global leader providing data storage solutions for over 40 yearsbelongsin the hardware camp.

And yet, for the same reasons thatinnovation is at home in the open source world, we go beyond that: We want tobe fluent in software, and we enable innovations happening in software.

For several years, Seagate has sponsoredsoftware-centric consortia and foundations like The Linux Foundation andUniversity of Santa Cruzs Center for Research in Open Source Software, as wellas open source hardware foundations such as RISC-V and OpenTitan. Wereoptimizing our systems for data increasingly stored as objects.

Whats a hardware company doing in thesoftware world? Anything that happens in software reverberates in hardwareandvice versa. Hardware is the yin to softwares yang. Each has toinnovate to keep up with the others demands. The flow of data requiressoftware and hardware to enable itin tandem. Experience designing hardware offersinsights into how data should be processed. And lessons from the software worldshould inform hardware design.

The problems that open source tacklesare the same that data storage solutions take on. Consider several challengingareas: the rise of the multicloud, data flow, access to data, observability,and security.

Multicloud: As many enterprises shift from public cloud tomulticloud, they still expect the features of public cloud in hybrid clouds.Open source projectslike Apache Hadoop and Ceph, which enable scale-outstorageinnovate to power private clouds with compute and storage deployment.

How can hardware play a role? By enabling scale-out software ecosystems for privatecloud with workload-optimized clusters. If the application needs lower latency,an all-flash-array powered by SSDs is the right solution. If the private cloudrequires massive storage, the hardware architecture allows configurabledisaggregated building blocks.

Data Flow Issues: Given the rise of the edge, the IoT, and other tech, datais exploding from edge to core. In 2025 the datasphere will reach 175ZB. Whereand how to store and process all this data? Open source software offersbuilding blocks that allow infrastructure architects to developapplication-optimized solutions. Examples include solutions that allow streamingof data (e.g., Kafka), those that inject the data for analysis (e.g., Hive),and those storing data in OS-powered databases (e.g., Redis).

What does this mean for hardware? Which building blocks are combined to ingest desirabledata, at what rate, and what tools are used for analysis? All this has abearing on how the compute and storage components are configured. To facilitatean organic growth of cloud infrastructure, a compossible and disaggregatedapproach will yield an efficiency of resources (as opposed to a hyperconvergedarchitecture that leaves valuable resources stranded).

Access to Data: As data needs increase exponentially, the access to datagrows more important. As the capacity on disks increases to provide the densityneeded given the demand, so does the need for greater speed of reading andwriting the datawhile keeping the overall costs down.

Hows hardware helping? Researchers are innovating the NAND technology in orderto reduce cost while allowing the same level of latency and bandwidth. Technologieslike the dual actuator are providing higher IOPS to the higher-capacitydevices. This provides options to architects, enabling them to configuresystems that match the needs of various applications.

Observability: Anotheraspect of software-hardware integration isthe need for information about the system. The software megatrend is toorchestrate and then manage the multicloud infrastructure autonomously.Container orchestration ecosystems such as Kubernetes (powered to declareinfrastructure-as-code) integrate with mature open source tools such asPrometheus to innovate autonomous manageability.

And in thehardware world? Observabilityof factors such as temperature and vibration means information that can drivevalue. Hardware innovations can drive better data telemetry (observablemetrics) by creating easy-to-use tools for AI to reduce manual interventionsand preempt irregularities. Enterprise devices can expose open logs thatprovide much more granular information. Field Accessible Reliability Metrics isone such log that gives insight into the hard drive health.

Security: With regulations like GDPR and the California ConsumerPrivacy Act, needs grow for better management of the provenance, flow, compute,and storage of data. This creates an affinity with open source solutionsbecause the openness of the source promotes trust.

How does this show up in hardware? Take RISC-V. Its an open instruction set for electronicsfocused on low cost, low power, and high security, which allows companies toleverage and develop electronics architectures faster through a shared model.

There you have it: Whether challengesconcern security, observability, access to data, data flow, or multicloud,hardware must pay attention to the software world.

Because when it comes to the businessof data, hardware and software are in it together.

Read more:
Why Hardware Must Speak Software and What It Looks Like in the Open Source World - RTInsights

Open source software is more ubiquitous now than ever before, and is shaping the landscape of innovation in the software industry. For many years, open source was most commonly acknowledged as the Linux operating system, obtainable free and open to anyone keen on using it. Today, the concepts of collaborative development, with peer contribution to obtain a community success spans across all spheres and industries, says Muggie van Staden, MD at Obsidian Systems.

SAS South Africas country manager Akesh Lalla agrees, adding that an open source environment supports the rapid and agile development of projects and models. Open source provides an open space to tackle new challenges, to explore the data and see what answers it contains. New projects can enable significant successes with fast deployment, and, importantly, it also supports the failing fast strategy without incurring significant development and infrastructure costs.

There are three key benefits to open source software, adds Mervyn George, innovation strategy lead for Africa at SAP. The first benefit is that its readily available for access and almost always free to use, so for a company looking to implement or build solutions on a tight budget, the appeal is obvious. The second benefit is that contributors to the code are comprised of any willing member of the user community, so the ability to influence change is appealing to developers, architects and tech teams. The third benefit is the strength of the community, because the ecosystem it touches collaborates to strengthen the solution offering for the benefit of the entire community, and that community is therefore purpose-aligned.

Speaking of how open source can be monetised, Van Staden says if anything, the marketing of open source in hindsight perhaps did a disservice to the power behind the model. Open source software was associated with the term 'free' and most people hearing that misunderstood the term and assumed it as a reflection of cost. Free means the freedom to choose, innovate, migrate and not be limited by proprietary software at the time. In the last few years, with the rapid development of cloud solutions, the proliferation of data, and the Internet of Things (IoT), theres been a push to connect operations and for developers to provide agility to organisations to meet business challenges more rapidly. The ability to automate tasks while minimising risk and increasing speed is top-of-mind for everyone. Our partners are moving from startups to business successes as the focus is not profit first and more about providing the user with a great experience and meeting customer business needs, hence DevOps.

There are different ways for open source software to make money, says George. Donations from individual users are typically accepted and open source entities set up as non-profit organisations could even offer a tax incentive to individuals for their donations.

These donations can also take the form of memberships or regular contributions from corporate users. While open source software is usually free to download, there may be exceptions for specific professional licence versions, or restrictions with regards to the specific application of the software, in which case additional fees may apply. For the community, there are other forms of income, including offering services (such as training, implementation services and customisation, or support agreements), developing and selling value-added enhancements (plug-ins, themes, extensions, or accessories), hosting events, and publishing books or other paid-for content. There may also be a core team employed by the open source softwares holding entity that can offer a similar set of services to generate revenue.

Open source software was associated with the term 'free' and most businesses hearing that misunderstood the term and assumed it as a reflection of cost.

Muggie van Staden, Obsidian Systems

Many trends, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT and big data analytics, have also altered the open source landscape. One cant mention big data without mentioning the open source project Apache Hadoop. This is one of the most important frameworks that catapulted big data into the forefront for businesses to harness the information of customers by the processing of data across clusters of computers using programming models. Since then, analytic models are continuously learning and influencing the way we do business, says Van Staden.

According to George, exponential technologies such as those mentioned have gained substantial traction, enough to have entered numerous mainstream applications. Open source software, including programming languages like Python and C++, and machine learning frameworks like Tensorflow, or blockchains like Hyperledger, has made adopting and developing these exponential technologies more accessible to companies of all sizes.

Due to this traction, open source platforms and technologies have become the default in many tech domains, including blockchain, data science and AI. For this reason, large proprietary tech firms have sought to embed, integrate with or acquire open source platforms.

Open source platforms have also historically dominated AI and big data analytics and have long driven innovation in algorithms and development environments, says Lalla. With the increased commercial use of AI, IoT and machine learning, companies have had to look for commercial enterprise tools to help them scale into production. Model management, reuse and transparency is the strength of commercial enterprise tools that compliment open source technology.

But its not all sunshine and roses. Since its inception, open source has been associated with numerous security risks and bugs. When discussing compliance, these issues are driven by business needs, says Van Staden. DevSecOps is addressing security needs from the infrastructure layers to developing customised applications upfront rather than retrospectively, to minimise risk. This is the benefit of companies that specialise in taking open source software and making it enterprise-ready.

Muggie van Staden

While companies are doing a lot of development in open source, playing with concepts and products, putting it into production still presents a challenge, adds Lalla. Evolving companies analytics platforms and operationalising analytics is where the challenge lies. A hybrid approach of combining open source with proprietary software can deliver the best of both worlds, because proprietary software can address the challenges of taking a project into production and moving to scale for enterprise-wide use.

George believes that community-based brands derive strength in numbers. For compliance concerns, such as developer malpractice or licence infringements, the community should be empowered to raise concerns. Without this practice, it becomes unfeasible for a core team to monitor and react to all compliance incidents. For security concerns such as malicious use of open source code and attacks on open source infrastructure, representation from individuals and companies with cyber-security expertise should be encouraged, even enforced, where possible, on project or foundation councils.

Another bugbear for the open source community is a lack of skills. Open source skills are certainly born out of passion, curiosity and the need to solve problems, says Van Staden. There are many ways one can learn something online; the key is to put this into action and continually learn, practise, share knowledge and keep on trying new things. With the Covid-19 pandemic, many mindsets are being changed week by week that could change the platforms and methods that we use to develop our skills. Communities on Gitlab, GitHub and other code repositories are the playgrounds for any open source school.

Future skills will be impacted by the popular technologies of today, the roles we choose for humans to retain, and a growing need for people to learn how to better engage with other people, adds George. With current jobs in demand centred around open source and proprietary technologies, this will still be prevalent for many years, although with the increase in job automation across various departments and lines of business, future applications of human knowledge of these technologies will lean towards solution architecture and reverse engineering as opposed to hands-on development. The open source ecosystem, along with the proprietary software ecosystem, should continue to invest in skills development through access to learning content and software tools, and opportunities to apply new skills. This investment should start at an early stage of education primary school level in many cases.

Speaking of the rising challenges in open source software, Lalla believes that governance is key, particularly in South Africa, where the regulatory environment is becoming tighter and more challenging. Its important to be able to see right through your entire data lineage, to know how the data has changed and how AI inside the model has impacted the results and outputs. When the regulator asks those questions, organisations must be in a position to answer regulators expect companies to provide the appropriate levels of traceability and auditability. This is particularly true of organisations operating in the financial sector, where regulatory requirements are extremely demanding. Digital guardianship, or providing mechanisms to meet both expectations of the people entrusting you with their data and the internal organisational moral compasses for protecting agreed upon use of the data, is key too. Crucially, controls are also necessary to provide trust in the data. Businesses have to trust that the results of models are accurate and that those models will continue to perform into the future. Transparency, governance and security are all essential components, and they become even more critical when organisations scale their efforts.

Open source platforms and technologies have become the default in many tech domains, including blockchain, data science and AI.

Mervyn George, SAP

For George, open source also faces operational challenges, such as training and certification of service providers, and maintenance aspects like feature upgrades and security patches. The more adoption there is, the more breadth of application, or different use cases for implementation across different technology domains and industry sectors there is to be considered, which results in a potentially unobtainable product backlog. This excessive demand requires additional resources in terms of people, money and time, to deliver. As with traditional tech firms, the demand for scope coverage can lead to poor clarity in strategic direction and being spread too thinly. This would be compounded by having too many contributors, some of whom may expect their stance within the tech landscape to let their voice be favoured over that of other contributors.

What might have been seen as barriers to diversity, the accessibility of open source communities addresses non-discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, marital status and many more as the needs of individuals lean to being more inclusive, says Van Staden. By the nature of inclusiveness, contributions of code to open source projects are also on the rise. In order to maintain the peer review process, a priority is to ensure the quality of the deliverables of projects and uphold the coding standards. Open source is also based on a shared vision and goals and one would be hard-pressed to maintain that in a world striving for individual recognition before collective success.

So, what next for open source? I believe its safe to say that open source is here to stay as a model, however, the landscape of software may be riskier to predict. The key elements that will determine industry choices will be security, privacy and visibility of what is in your stack, such as being open source, and the voice from upstream of the open source community, says Van Staden.

For purists, open source software will continue to venture unscathed by organisational politics or biased influence from megabrand tech firms, adds George. In their defence, some open source technologies could be considered indispensable, if such a concept truly exists, given their high levels of adoption. Python, R and Android are examples that have gained enough traction to consider it implausible that they ever become redundant. The reality is that if a successful open source technology is not yet owned or incorporated by a megabrand tech firm, it will at some point be acquired by one of them, he concludes.

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Shaping the landscape of innovation - ITWeb

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Key market Players of Open Source Software:

FOSSIDAutomatticIBMOpenTextAcquiaAstaroOracleSUSEEpsonTranscendIntelCleversafeContinuentAdobeAlfrescoRethinkDBCompiereCanonicalRed HatRedpill LinproComiitClearCenter

Global Open Source Software Market is the title of an upcoming market research report at Globalmarketers. The market has been studied in depth to present vital data and information, including revenue share of each segment, region, and country, revenue growth driving factors, and restraints. In addition, potential revenue opportunities in untapped regions and economies, and threats are included. Key players and their details are presented in the company profile section of the report. The section comprises revenue and financial information and details, recent developments, strategies, acquisitions and mergers, and geographic reach and footprint. The global Open Source Software market is segmented by product type, distribution channel, and regions and countries.

Global Open Source Software Market Segmentation:

By Product Type:

SharewareBundled SoftwareBSD (Berkeley Source Distribution)

By End-User

BMForumphpBBPHPWind

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Global Open Source Software MarketRegional Analysis:

The Europe market is expected to account for majority revenue share over the forecast period owing to increasing demand for premium products in countries such as the Scotland, Italy, and Germany. The Asia Pacific market is expected to register a steady growth rate in the foreseeable future. China accounts for major production and exports of Open Source Software. Domestic consumption is also highest in the country. Chinas improving and rapidly growing economy in recent years and rising standard of living is projected to further support market growth.

Ask for detailed Table of Contents of this Report @https://www.globalmarketers.biz/report/technology-and-media/global-open-source-software-market-report-2019,-competitive-landscape,-trends-and-opportunities/138798#table_of_contents

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Open Source Software Market 2020 | What Is The Estimated Market Size In The Upcoming Years? - 3rd Watch News

The Global Open Source Software Market is known to provide a comprehensive and detailed information of the Open Source Software market for the estimated forecast period. In addition, the report also analyses theoverall growth of the market. It also covers and determines themarket growth and market share for the estimated forecast period 2026. Moreover, the reportprovides in depth and detailed analysis for the market in the estimated time frame. It alsocovers and analysis several segments which are present in the market. Furthermore, detailedanalysis is done to determine the competitive landscape of the market share, market size, forthe estimated forecast period. This Open Source Software report also provides the readers with detailed figures at which the Open Source Software market was valued in the historical year and its expected growth in upcoming years. To analyze the global Open Source Software industry the analysis methods used are SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis. To identify what makes the business stand out and to take the chance to gain advantage from these findings, SWOT analysis is used by marketers. Whereas PESTEL analysis is the study concerning Economic, Technological, legal political, social, environmental matters.

Request a sample of this report @ https://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/4499249

The Global Open Source Software Market is used for the estimation of the several other segments which is likely to affect the market growth in the coming years. The report is also drafted to cover and determine the market share and market size of the growth of the market in the estimated time period. The report on the Open Source Software market also provides and estimates the growth of the several competitors and the manufacturers in the estimated forecast period. Moreover, it also studies several business models and determine the strategies which are being used for the study of the global Open Source Software industry. The business owners and investors are always looking for innovative ideas to invest in order to grow. The study of global Open Source Software market helps vendors to come up with such innovative ideas.

Top Players:

IntelEpsonIBMTranscendOracleAcquiaOpenTextAlfrescoAstaroRethinkDBCanonicalClearCenterCleversafeCompiereContinuent

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Types:

SharewareBundled SoftwareBSD(Berkeley Source Distribution)Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)

Applications:

BMForumphpBBPHPWind

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Global Open Source Software Market Analysis by Types, Application, Top Players, Regions, Industry Outlook 2020, Opportunities, Growth Trends &...

Partner to deliver high-quality cloud services using the latest open source technologies

Red Hat Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Ingram Micro, Inc. has been appointed as distributor for the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider (CCSP) program supporting ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand) and Hong Kong. As part of the program, Ingram Micro will work with Red Hat to qualify, recruit and onboard partners as Certified Cloud and Service Providers.

The Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program includes hundreds of cloud, system integrator and managed service providers in Asia Pacific along with software developers and hardware manufacturers that use Red Hat products and technologies to host physical and virtual machines, set up private and public cloud environments, and provide managed application and container development services. The appointment of Ingram Micro comes in response to this growing interest in managed, multi and hybrid cloud solutions in the region.

According to IDC1, Asia Pacific spending on public cloud services and infrastructure is expected to increase almost three times over the forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 33% reaching USD 77.6 billion by 2023. The Red Hat CCSP program empowers solution providers in the region with the flexibility and scalability to meet evolving customer needs through open, cloud-based technologies.

Red Hats CCSP designation is awarded to partners that meet testing and certification requirements to deliver a scalable, supported and consistent environment with security features designed for enterprise cloud deployments. The globally unified CCSP program assures customers, ISVs and partners that a given solution has been validated by Red Hat product experts so cloud implementations begin with a solid foundation for success.

Certified Cloud and Service Providers can gain access to Red Hat solutions that not only offer a more secure, scalable platform for building public and private clouds, but also empower DevOps to develop, deploy, and manage diverse applications more seamlessly. Some such solutions are Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and Red Hat OpenStack Platform. Providers can use these solutions to improve operational efficiency and flexibility, expand hybrid cloud service offerings, and offer scalable and highly available third-party ISV applications on Red Hat technologies.

Supporting Quotes

Andrew Habgood, senior director and head of Partner & Alliances, Red Hat Asia Pacific

"We are excited to work with Ingram Micro as a distributor of the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program and part of the Red Hat partner ecosystem. We are committed to offering customers and developers broad choice in the cloud, and key to that vision is building a strong ecosystem of partners that can enable users to build and deploy the best applications possible. We look forward to continued collaboration with Ingram Micro as they grow the cloud partner ecosystem with Red Hat."

Francis Choo, vice president and chief country executive, ASEAN HK at Ingram Micro Asia Ltd.

"We are proud and excited to be part of the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program. It further strengthens our current foothold in the digital transformation journey where hybridisation, microservices and open source solutions are the key considerations when businesses build and manage their IT infrastructure. We are confident to bring great value with our robust portfolio in cyber security and SaaS solutions, together with our community of partners and ISVs, aggregating the next-generation IT solutions to our partners and their customers. We look forward to a stronger rapport with Red Hat."

Connect with Red Hat

About Red Hat

Red Hat is the worlds leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

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Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenShift and the Red Hat logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. The OpenStack Word Mark is either a registered trademark/service mark or trademark/service mark of the OpenStack Foundation, in the United States and other countries, and is used with the OpenStack Foundation's permission. Red Hat is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the OpenStack

1 Source: IDC Asia Pacific Public Cloud Spending Guide, 1H 2019

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200609005310/en/

Contacts

Media: Pinal Patilpinal@redhat.com +65 91083044

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Red Hat Expands Cloud and Service Provider Footprint with Ingram Micro - Yahoo Finance

The migration from Microsoft software to open-source alternatives comes with a series of benefits, including reduced licensing costs and better local control over the code powering the whole thing, and this is one of the reasons some authorities across the world are looking into such a transition.

Munich, for example, has become a pioneer in this regard after switching from Microsoft software to Linux and open source alternatives, and now it looks like another German city is pondering a similar decision.

Hamburg is reportedly looking into embracing open-source software on local computers in an attempt to reduce reliance on paid products and to become whats being described as a model in digital sovereignty.

A report from German publication Der Standard indicates that the plan is still in its early days and details are scarce, to say the least, albeit the open-source transition appears to be just a matter of time at this point.

Whats not clear, however, is whether Hamburg is planning a full switch to open source or just a partial transition that would have the city replace software like the Microsoft Office productivity suite with alternatives like LibreOffice.

If what Hamburg is planning is a complete switch to open source, then Linux could take the place of Windows as part of a gradual move, albeit for the time being, there are no details as to whether the city wants to use an existing distro or develop its own.

Munich, for example, created its very own LiMux project to power the transition to open-source software, while also replacing Microsoft Office with OpenOffice (and later LibreOffice).

Time will tell if Hamburg indeed gives the go-ahead to this ambitious plan, but for now, this comes as great news for the Linux and open-source ecosystem, which itself is growing at a fast pace these days.

Here is the original post:
Another German City Wants to Replace Microsoft with Open Source Software - Softpedia News

Clean Power

Published on June 8th, 2020 | by Tina Casey

June 8th, 2020 by Tina Casey

File this one under W for What else can President* Trump lose at? The nations top inspector of underground bunkers sailed into the Oval Office on the promise of bringing back coal jobs, only to tank the entire US coal industry in less than four years. Thats a rather interesting legacy for the worlds biggest fan of fossil fuels to leave behind, but the worst is yet to come as a new offshore wind initiative revs up to speed under his very nose.

The US offshore wind industry is revving up with a focus on floating wind turbines (photo courtesy of Aqua Ventus).

The US offshore wind industry started off with great ambition and a generous shot of adrenaline from the Obama administration, only to sink under the weight of political considerations (looking at you, Chris Christie).

When Obama left office the US offshore industry was drifting in the doldrums. To this day, there is still only one offshore wind farm in operation in US waters, with five turbines adding up to just 20 megawatts.

For the sake of comparison, check out Scotland it has almost 1 gigawatt under its belt already and another 4 gigawatts in the pipeline, including a 1.14 gigawatt offshore project that could be operational as soon as 2022.

It is with some irony, then, that the US offshore wind industry has been making up for lost time all throughout the Trump administration, with a considerable amount of help from his own Department of Energy.

A key step in the wind power ramp-up occurred during Trumps very first year in office, when the Department of Energy set out to establish something called the National Offshore Wind Research And Development Consortium. By 2018 the not-for-profit organization was up and running under the leadership of New York State, which is plowing ahead on an ambitious offshore plan of its own.

Gosh, if Trump stays in office another four years he will likely preside over the construction and operation of hundreds of offshore turbines. And, many of these are not likely to be just any old offshore turbines.

The new Consortium already has its eye on floating offshore wind turbines. Thats interesting because the US has barely gotten started on conventional fixed-platform turbines, and already it has an eye on cutting edge floating turbine technology.

Earlier this month the Consortium released details on 12 awards for offshore wind R&D, and at least four of them deal directly with floating wind turbines. A fifth one involve semi-submersible technology. They are:

Demonstration of Shallow-Water Mooring Components for FOWTs (ShallowFloat), Principle Power, Inc.

Design and Certification of Taut-synthetic Moorings for Floating Wind Turbines, University of Maine

Dual-Functional Tuned Inerter Damper for Enhanced Semi-Sub Offshore Wind Turbine, Virginia Tech University

Innovative Anchoring System for Floating Offshore Wind, Triton Systems, Inc

Techno-Economic Mooring Configuration and Design for Floating Offshore Wind, University of Massachusetts Amherst

If you caught that thing about Principle Power, thats especially interesting on account of the companys long running collaboration with the Department of energy on floating wind turbine technology.

The University of Maine should also pop up on the radar for its R&D work leading to the formation of the floating wind company Aqua Ventus.

Last year, the University of Massachusetts won funding from the Energy Departments cutting edge research office ARPA-E for open source software aimed at controlling floating offshore turbines.

Triton Systems is a diversified, cutting edge technology company making its way into renewable energy technology, so theres that.

If you have any idea whats up with Virginia Tech, drop us a note in the comment thread.

All of this is by way of saying that the foundational research of today is setting up the US wind industry for rapid growth tomorrow, at the expense of coal and natural gas, too.

In related news, now that wind development along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is under way, earlier this year the Energy Department pitched offshore wind development to the tune of a potential 508 gigawatts in the Gulf of Mexico, so stay tuned for more on that.

Follow me on Twitter.

*Developing story.

Photo: via Aqua Ventus.

Tags: Aqua Ventus, DOE, Electricity, Energy, Principle Power, Triton Systems, united states, US

Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tinas articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.

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MIDI controller keyboards are great because they let you control any synthesizer you plug them into. The only downside: you need a synthesizer to turn MIDI notes into actual sounds, slightly complicating some summer night campfire serenading. Not for [Geordie] though, who decided to build the nanoPi, a portable, MIDI instrument housing a Raspberry Pi.

Using a Korg nanoKEY2 USB MIDI controller as base for the device, [Geordie] took it apart and added a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a power bank to, well, power it, and a USB hub to connect a likewise added USB audio interface, as well as the controller itself. As the nanoKEY2 has a naturally slim shape, none of this would ever fit in it, so he designed and 3D printed a frame to extend its height. Rather than wiring everything up internally, he decided to route the power and data cable to the outside and connect them back to the device itself, allowing him to use both the power bank and the controller itself separately if needed.

On the software side, the Pi is running your common open source software synthesizer, Fluidsynth. To control Fluidsynth itself for example to change the instrument [Geordie] actually uses the Termius SSH client on his phone, allowing him also to shut down the Pi that way. While Fluidsynths built-in MIDI router could alternatively remap the nanoKEY2s additional buttons, it appears the functionality is limited to messages of the same type, so the buttons Control Change messages couldnt be remapped to the required Program Change messages. Well, theres always the option to fit some extra buttons if needed. Or maybe you could do something clever in software.

As you may have noticed, the nanoPi doesnt include any speaker and considering its size, thats probably for the best. So while its not a fully standalone instrument, its a nice, compact device to use with your headphones anywhere you go. And thanks to its flexible wiring, you could also attach any other USB MIDI controller to it, such as this little woodwind one, or the one that plays every pop song ever.

See the original post:
Raspberry Pi Plays A MIDI Tune Wherever You May Roam - Hackaday

Kanzu Code team at 40 Days 40 FinTechs on Monday June 8 (PHOTO/PML Daily)

KAMPALA Kanzu Code, a Financial Technology Company (FinTech) that builds inclusive financial tools is set for greater heights, following its enrollment in the 40-days-40-FinTechs project.

The 40 days 40 FinTechs initiative has given Kanzu Code further exposure to latest financial technology tools that will enable them develop more interoperable solutions using new technologies such as Mojaloop Open Source Software.

In all; with their involvement in this project, Kanzu Code is now much more equipped to play its part in Uganda, somewhat Africas financial inclusion drive.

Organized by HiPipo under its Include EveryOne programme, in partnership with Crosslake Tech, ModusBox and Mojaloop Foundation, the 40-days-40-FinTechs project seeks to enable FinTechs to innovate solutions that facilitate cross-network financial transactions at minimal risks and thus enhance access to financial services.

Running for 40 days, the project will see the participating 40 FinTechs, including Kanzu Code, acquire interoperable development skills to improve access to financial services, using the Mojaloop open source software.

Speaking on day one of the 40 days 40 fintechs project at the Kanzu Code offices, Peter Kakoma, the firms team leader applauded HiPipo, and its partners for investing in both technology and interactions that enable developers to build accessible, reliable and affordable financial inclusion products.

This is a big thing for our ecosystem; we are so excited about it and committed to working together with likeminded individuals in this financial inclusion journey. We cannot wait to roll it out new products supported by latest technologies such as Mojaloop and many others into our market, Kakoma says.

The Kanzu Code Operations Assistant Joy Amanda alluded to how the participation in the project will boost their capacity to reach more people, including women, who are often financially excluded.

Mojaloop will create an opportunity for women to access financial services and unlimited opportunities like selling their products online, getting loans and savings, Amanda said.

On his part, Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo CEO said that this initiative has been informed by the need to promote secure digital financial services, given their vital role in promoting financial inclusion.

This speaks to an ecosystem which has played a great role in transforming many lives especially in Africa but very few people have paid attention to shining a light on the amazing stories and names that are doing these great things to transform lives, Kawooya noted.

He added: For instance, over 200,000 families in Kenya today have solar energy; thanks to mobile financial services like M-Pesa, and the fact is that they are able to pay for solar in installments using a mobile money supported M-Kopa product.

Kawooya explained that Africa and Uganda in particular, have many amazing stories such as the Kanzu Code story, that need to be brought to the limelight.Kanzu Code has a team of developers; it is developing solutions to ensure that it empowers the under and un banked, some of whom are working in Saccos and other operations that allow them to start thinking of saving and investment, he said.

Kawooya said that by promoting financial technology as a sector and the general digital financial services ecosystem in particular, will play a critical role in boosting financial inclusion in Uganda and Africa.

Today, Africa speaks to more than 400 million mobile money wallets. That means 400 million people are banked. So this initiative among other efforts in may be another five years should cause another 400 million people to get banked thanks to solutions like Mojaloop that causes interoperability, he said.The initiative is expected to boost the on-going financial inclusion efforts in Uganda.

The 2018 FinScope survey puts Ugandas formal financial inclusion at 58%. If combined with informal, Ugandas financial inclusion jumps to 78%.

Profitability

Kawooya noted that with such collaboration, the market for FinTechs in Uganda is destined to expand and that FinTechs will become more profitable by leveraging interoperable technology to onboard more customers.

Additionally, he said that telecoms will also be able to provide more financial services, other than the Person-to-Person and withdrawals, to do more loans, savings and insurance. The government and the non-governmental organizations will also be able to serve the vulnerable in a much better way that includes everyone.

He noted that the collaboration will see them support Kanzu Code and other participating firms to get their products to the last person so as to impact lives.Using their expansive network of global experts, HiPipo will also offer advisory services to the participating firms.

KanzuCelebrating its 6th birthday, Kanzu Code is a technology company that builds inclusive financial tools for businesses, individuals and communities.It offers a number of tools for businesses, individuals and communities including Kanzu Banking, a software that empowers micro-finance institutions, savings and investment groups to manage their portfolios seamlessly using reliable, user-friendly and secure web and mobile technology.

The other tools are Kanzu Money, which allows for sending money from one mobile operator to another in a simple way, in addition to building enterprise web and mobile solutions for different businesses.

The 40 days 40 fintechs project will continue tomorrow with the second FinTech profiled.

Read more from the original source:
Kanzu Code on path to boosting financial inclusion - pmldaily.com