The systems integration and managed services specialists, announces today it will speak on Cloud Computing on 20 May at a major event "Cloud computing - what is it and what can it do for my business?" This event will take place at Adastral Park - best known as BT's research site and home of 21CN - and will bring together a range of experts for an afternoon of highly topical presentations and business networking opportunities.

This event has been organised by the IP-City Network in collaboration with Digital Communications & Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Networks and is focused on local and regional organisations. It aims to demystify all the hype and explain the business advantage of private and public Cloud, with Microsoft's Windows Azure, IBM's CloudBurst or third party Cloud services with Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Rackspace, and others.

It is the 'pilot' for a series of national events that will give you the opportunity to hear experts describe exactly what is meant by 'Cloud Computing', to hear from businesses already using cloud services and gaining benefits, to quiz an expert panel to help you gain a better understanding and to meet with other business people hoping to take advantage of the new services on offer.

Frank Stone, organiser for IP-City Network said "You will also hear from two local companies, Smart421 and HTK, about how they are already exploiting these applications and developing new services, which other companies can benefit from directly. After this event, companies will be able to make progress in their own organisation, understand the advantages and drawbacks of using Cloud computing and who to get more help from locally and take action."

Neil Miles, managing director of Smart421, said "Companies in the Eastern counties are watching carefully to understand how the emergence of Cloud computing can bring competitive advantage to them."

For more information in this and other stories, please contact: marketing@smart421.com or call +44 1473 421 421.

To register for a free place, please visit the DCKTN

Notes to editors

Subsequent to this announcement, an editorial article by Frank Stone publicising this event has been published by the East Anglian Daily Times.

To view a copy of this article, please click here. This link will open to a PDF file in a new window. The words and pictures in the PDF file are copyright © 2010 Archant Regional Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cloud computing is a method of obtaining more cost effective and rapidly scalable computing capacity by externalising IT needs and requirements to data centres. You consume what you need, when you need it, and pay only for what you use as an operational expense. This can be attractive for progressive businesses that need a flexible way to grow capacity quickly without tying up cash.

The Cloud Computing model has been made famous by the emergence of software-as-a-service (SaaS) players such as Force.com whose customer relationship management (CRM) called Salesforce has disrupted the software marketplace. But computing in the Cloud is able to offer much more, such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and now even Data-as-a-Service (DaaS).

IP-City Network focuses on the ICT needs of industry and is the catalyst for bringing like-minded people together, via inspiring and informative step change innovation events, workshops, enterprise activities and Special Interest Groups (SIGs). For more information, please visit www.ip-city.com

The Digital Communications Knowledge Transfer Network (DCKTN) has been established by an industry-led group of leading players, with funding from the Technology Strategy Board. It seeks to bring competitive advantage to the UK by promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing between the users and providers of Digital Communications, and helping to drive innovation in the sector. For more information, please visit www.dcktn.org.uk

Smart421 is an information and communications technology company specialising in systems integration and managed services of business critical systems. It is best known for its work with FT UK 500 companies, especially among leading financial institutions, power utilities and tier one telcos.

Smart421's agile business approach is solving business problems for companies more reliably than offshore outsourcing and more cost effectively than many of the big names in IT consulting.

Founded in 1989, today Smart421 is part of the KCOM Group, a public limited company with an annual turnover of over £500M, 2,200 staff and offices in major locations across the UK. The KCOM Group delivers communications services to a range of businesses and consumers, with an emphasis on exceptional service delivery.

Smart421 applies independent thinking and a passion for delivery across two key specialities: Architecture and Design Consultancy, and Managed Services.

A rapid overview of Smart421's technical and intellectual competencies

Architecture and Design Consultancy - Optimisation of your enterprise architecture through its consultancy, business integration and data management practices. This means that you benefit from clearer future direction, greater ability to adapt dynamically to change and more compelling return on your IT budget.

Managed Services - Maximisation of your system performance and reliability through its end-to-end managed services provision. This means that you benefit from reduced operational costs, enhanced business continuity and fully managed risk.

For more information, please visit www.smart421.com/aboutus/ email info@smart421.com or call
+44 (0) 1473 421 421