Constructing a high-availability application in the cloud can seem like a daunting process. The key is to assume that every component of a system will fail at some point and to prepare for that eventuality. Then you can build for failure and automate processes to handle it. Fault-tolerant systems designed for high availability - for example, 99.99% or 1 hour of downtime per year - are achievable in the cloud.

Here is a four-step guide to achieving high availability in the cloud.

Instances in the cloud - just as in a typical data center - are ephemeral. You need to be prepared for server failure. Building for server failure begins with designing stateless applications that are resilient through a server or service reboot or relaunch.

• Set up auto-scaling so that any given tier of your application - load balancer, app server, database, and caching servers - can maintain a minimum number of nodes or set of performance metrics.
• Set up database mirroring, master/slave configurations, and/or priming to ensure data integrity and minimum downtime.
• Use dynamic DNS and static IPs so that components of your application's infrastructure always have the right context.

2. Build for zone failure

Sometimes more than just single servers fail -- there are electricity failures, network outages, and lightning strikes. You need to make sure that your applications are prepared for zone failures. Zones (Amazon Web Services refers to them as "availability zones") are distinct locations that are engineered to be insulated from failures in other zones.

• Spread the servers in each of your application tiers across at least two zones.
• Replicate data across zones. Note that this is usually cheap, though not free.

3. Build for cloud failure

On rare occasions multiple zones in a region can fail due to system-wide issues -- the April 2011 Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage is a notable example. Each region is an independent system of resources with its own API endpoint -- which is how we define cloud here.

To achieve multiple 9s of availability, you will need to have a process in place for cloud failures. Building across clouds can be difficult: APIs, services, and configurations differ. You will need to design your architecture using generic concepts (durable storage) yet deploy using cloud specifics (EBS volumes).

Cloud management systems abstract away these differences and make it easier for you to implement a fault-tolerant strategy by providing reusable building blocks. These building blocks can be used to not only withstand moving across different regions of the same provider, but also across regions of different providers.

• Back up or replicate data across regions or providers. Make sure you secure and authenticate your communications across these regions because the traffic will traverse the open Internet.
• Maintain sufficient capacity to absorb zone or cloud failures, using reserved instances if necessary.
• Remember to crawl, then walk: Build high availability across zones and then expand to multiple clouds.

4. Automate and test everything

As you set up your infrastructure to handle server, zone, and cloud failure, you should be automating your processes in the event of failure. Cloud management systems allow you to execute pre-planned failover processes across servers, zones, and clouds. In an emergency, time is precious, so automate everything.

• Automate backups so that your data is ready whenever disaster strikes.
• Set up monitoring and alerts to identify and pinpoint problems as they occur because you may not receive timely information from your cloud providers.
• Your disaster recovery plan is only good if you test it to make sure it works. By randomly directing high loads to your production servers and disabling your various servers, services, and zones, you can test the ability of your infrastructure to withstand failure.

Cloud infrastructure has made disaster recovery and high availability remarkably affordable compared to other options. Despite recent highly publicized failures, many organizations successfully run critical services on the cloud when they architect correctly and use the right management tools.

Photo by joegus74

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Zoho Projects: Online project management with collaboration and bug tracking GageIn: Provides unique applications for business professionals and the enterprise Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | DataStax: The commercial leader in Apache Cassandra | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University: Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Rovi: Helps people discover and buy movies, TV shows, music, & other entertainment | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Spredfast: A Social CRM that enables organizations to monitor, manage and measure social media initiatives | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is an online project management application that enables your team to work together efficiently and get things done fast. It's intuitive, easy-to-use interface makes communication and collaboration absolutely simple. It also packs a wide range of features like the all-info-in-one-glance dashboard, time tracking, editable Gantt charts, bug tracking and more. It's the secret behind how many businesses, organizations & groups within them reach their project milestones on time. Sign Up Now.

Thank Zoho Projects on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

GageIn

GageIn is a business content hub for professionals. Our content, curated from 2 million company websites, 19 thousand publications, and social media platforms, enables users to discover, act on and share the most relevant updates with their network.

Sales: Potential leads and sales triggers emailed to you every day

Marketing: Monitor trends & key events and engage your target audiences

Research: Develop critical business insights and gain a competitive advantage

Critical information is easily accessible so professionals can spend less time searching and more time doing their jobs. Sign up for a free account today!

Thank GageIn on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Datastax

DataStax is the developer of DataStaxEnterprise, a distributed, scalable, and highly available database platform built on Apache Cassandra that delivers optimal performance either on premise or in the cloud for modern enterprise applications that manage both real-time and analytic workloads. The company has over 100 customers, including leaders such as Netflix, Cisco, Rackspace and Constant Contact, and spanning verticals including web, financial services, telecommunications, logistics and government. DataStax is backed by industry leading investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Crosslink Capital and is based in Burlingame, CA with offices in Austin, TX and Stamford, CT.

Thank Datastax on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University

American University's online graduate certificate in Digital Media Skills allows students to work full-time while taking challenging graduate-level online courses taught by experienced faculty trained to deliver superior content. In just 12 months, students will complete coursework in Digital Media Literacy, Web Development, Dynamic Content, and Video for Social Media. The final capstone project allows students to focus their interests in a particular area and to produce a professional portfolio that clearly demonstrates their skills, knowledge and digital vision. An optional on-campus session at the end of the program allows the opportunity to get one-on-one critiques from industry leaders.

Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media. The future is here. Don't be left behind. Learn more.

Thank American University on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Rovi

Rovi's comprehensive catalogue of entertainment metadata provides CE manufacturers, service providers and online, mobile and application developers the necessary foundation to effectively market in the digital marketplace. Rovi's deep information about music, movies, TV shows, celebrities and more engages consumers and helps them navigate through overwhelming amounts of digital entertainment content. It provides the ingredients for advance search and recommendations which encourages continuous discovery and increases consumption of your products. Rovi's large collection of images can also help differentiate your products by creating more visually appealing experiences.

Thank Rovi on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Spredfast

Spredfast is a social media management system designed to help companies succeed in social business. A software- as-a-service (SaaS) solution, Spredfast provides a unified platform for enterprises and agencies to manage, monitor and measure their social media programs. It also enables coordination of team activity and integration of social data into existing business systems. Spredfast works with brands like Nokia, AARP, Bayer, Wunderman and HomeAway to extend and publish their content and engage with their social community from a single interface on major social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogs and Flickr. For more information visit http://spredfast.com.

Thank Spredfast on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Zoho Projects: Online project management with collaboration and bug tracking GageIn: Provides unique applications for business professionals and the enterprise Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | DataStax: The commercial leader in Apache Cassandra | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University: Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Rovi: Helps people discover and buy movies, TV shows, music, & other entertainment | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Spredfast: A Social CRM that enables organizations to monitor, manage and measure social media initiatives | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is an online project management application that enables your team to work together efficiently and get things done fast. It's intuitive, easy-to-use interface makes communication and collaboration absolutely simple. It also packs a wide range of features like the all-info-in-one-glance dashboard, time tracking, editable Gantt charts, bug tracking and more. It's the secret behind how many businesses, organizations & groups within them reach their project milestones on time. Sign Up Now.

Thank Zoho Projects on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

GageIn

GageIn is a business content hub for professionals. Our content, curated from 2 million company websites, 19 thousand publications, and social media platforms, enables users to discover, act on and share the most relevant updates with their network.

Sales: Potential leads and sales triggers emailed to you every day

Marketing: Monitor trends & key events and engage your target audiences

Research: Develop critical business insights and gain a competitive advantage

Critical information is easily accessible so professionals can spend less time searching and more time doing their jobs. Sign up for a free account today!

Thank GageIn on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Datastax

DataStax is the developer of DataStaxEnterprise, a distributed, scalable, and highly available database platform built on Apache Cassandra that delivers optimal performance either on premise or in the cloud for modern enterprise applications that manage both real-time and analytic workloads. The company has over 100 customers, including leaders such as Netflix, Cisco, Rackspace and Constant Contact, and spanning verticals including web, financial services, telecommunications, logistics and government. DataStax is backed by industry leading investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Crosslink Capital and is based in Burlingame, CA with offices in Austin, TX and Stamford, CT.

Thank Datastax on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University

American University's online graduate certificate in Digital Media Skills allows students to work full-time while taking challenging graduate-level online courses taught by experienced faculty trained to deliver superior content. In just 12 months, students will complete coursework in Digital Media Literacy, Web Development, Dynamic Content, and Video for Social Media. The final capstone project allows students to focus their interests in a particular area and to produce a professional portfolio that clearly demonstrates their skills, knowledge and digital vision. An optional on-campus session at the end of the program allows the opportunity to get one-on-one critiques from industry leaders.

Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media. The future is here. Don't be left behind. Learn more.

Thank American University on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Rovi

Rovi's comprehensive catalogue of entertainment metadata provides CE manufacturers, service providers and online, mobile and application developers the necessary foundation to effectively market in the digital marketplace. Rovi's deep information about music, movies, TV shows, celebrities and more engages consumers and helps them navigate through overwhelming amounts of digital entertainment content. It provides the ingredients for advance search and recommendations which encourages continuous discovery and increases consumption of your products. Rovi's large collection of images can also help differentiate your products by creating more visually appealing experiences.

Thank Rovi on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Spredfast

Spredfast is a social media management system designed to help companies succeed in social business. A software- as-a-service (SaaS) solution, Spredfast provides a unified platform for enterprises and agencies to manage, monitor and measure their social media programs. It also enables coordination of team activity and integration of social data into existing business systems. Spredfast works with brands like Nokia, AARP, Bayer, Wunderman and HomeAway to extend and publish their content and engage with their social community from a single interface on major social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogs and Flickr. For more information visit http://spredfast.com.

Thank Spredfast on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

The Chevy Volt* is unique among electric cars because it runs on two sources of energy. You have an electric source - a battery - that allows you to drive gas-free for an EPA-estimated 35 miles. And there's also an onboard gas generator that produces electricity so you can go farther. So if you want to drive using only electricity, you can. If you want to drive using electricity and gas, you can do that, too. Hear what one proud Volt owner had to say about how the electric car fits his driving lifestyle.

Meet Ron Hipschman of California. "After seven months of driving my Volt, I have yet to get into a gas line," says Hipschman. He says the farthest he's driven on a single electric charge so far was about 50 miles, with most of that trip being on a freeway and taking place on a nice day when the temperature was about 70 degrees. "Perfect conditions for the battery," he notes.

Because the Volt lets drivers pick the driving mode to match their driving style (normal, sport, and mountain modes), you're truly in charge of the car's performance when you're behind the wheel. In addition, you'll also learn how to get the most efficiency out of the vehicle by keeping an eye on the dashboard.

"No jack-rabbit starts and stops, keeping tires properly inflated, and keeping the speed lower than most people on the freeway were always things I did. The Volt just makes it easier to see the effects," he explains.

Not having to shell out hundreds of dollars to fuel up and smarter driving skills are great perks, but the Volt's appeal goes beyond just the electric power, intuitive driving modes, and dashboard gadgets. There's also the cool factor - think movie and superhero spy cars! "My neighbor is constantly surprised that I can 'sneak up' on her with the Volt when she is in her driveway, which is next to mine. This is a real stealth car!" says Hipschman.

He encourages prospective car buyers to check out the Volt for themselves to see if it's a good fit. "Go take a test drive," he says. "You'll be sold."

*Volt is available to order at participating dealers. Quantities limited.

Your all-encompassing mobile device or sophisticated print-and-shoot camera allows you to take outstanding pictures - but it isn't always easy to create prints that are equally impressive. The Epson Artisan 837 all-in-one printer was built to perform, offering stunning, ultra-hi-def quality whether you're printing photos, everyday docs, or creative projects.

You know you always wish that photo printers would require less wait and less ink to do the job, so - lucky you: The Epson Artisan 837 is the world's fastest 4x6" photo printer - and it doesn't sacrifice quality for speed. You'll get vivid, rich, high-quality photos with high-definition, better-than-lab-quality printing that can be done conveniently at home. Plus, this gold standard printer is equipped with high-capacity ink cartridges that allow you to print up to 50 percent more photos. Winning!

Even better, you don't have to be right beside your printer or attached by a USB cord to print. With Epson Connect, you can be across the globe and wirelessly print photos, documents, web pages, or emails from your Epson Artisan 837. All you need is a mobile device and a few moments to install the app. From then on, you'll be free to roam while still being free to print as you please.

Printing isn't the only job of the Epson Artisan 837. This all-in-one printer - versatile, remember? - includes a 30-page automatic document feeder which enables you to copy, scan, and fax large documents with ease. Epson. Built to perform.

Photo by svilen001

The cloud model provides convenient, affordable, and on-demand computing resources tailored for software development teams as well as augmenting in-house IT environments. Today's leading companies use the cloud to change IT to be more agile and power their agile software development teams. Below are five tips that enable them to deliver agile IT.

2. Empower Developers with self-service environments
Enable your developers by creating operational templates specific to each development project, setting consumption policies and providing an easy way for developers to consume IT services. Once you adopt an agile model, trust your developers and empower them with self-service environments. IT can reduce the amount of support they need to provide and development teams get the flexibility they need on-demand.

3. Expect rapid changes and fast iteration to be the new normal
Be ready to architect IT to be agile, configurable, scalable and flexible. An agile development model is inherently fast paced, so be willing to accommodate change and quickly adapt to what works and what does not. Expect rapid iteration and design your IT processes accordingly.

4. Collaboration is at the heart of agile development
Agile teams set the stage for customers, lines of business, QA, and support professionals from day one. All of these stakeholders are expected to operate on the application based on the specific roles they play within the team. If the IT environment cannot be easily replicated and shared with all stakeholders then the developers will not adopt it.

5. Maintain visibility and control over your IT operations
Agile IT does not eliminate security and governance needs. IT departments need to set security policies and enforce them through granular access control. They need to have complete visibility into quota usage, resource management, and compliance. Cloud providers like Skytap can easily enable security and governance needs for IT departments.

You can transform existing IT into an agile IT that development teams will embrace. The process isn't difficult - but you must rethink your IT architecture and implement a solution that is developer-friendly.

About the Author: Nate Odell is Director of Marketing at Skytap, a leading provider of cloud automation solutions. He is an industry veteran with a successful 11-year career in B2B marketing for technology startups. Follow Nate on Twitter @NateOdell25 or @Skytap.

Photo by artM

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | DataStax: The commercial leader in Apache Cassandra | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Conduit: The fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers | Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University: Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Rovi: Helps people discover and buy movies, TV shows, music, & other entertainment | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Spredfast: A Social CRM that enables organizations to monitor, manage and measure social media initiatives | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Datastax

DataStax is the developer of DataStaxEnterprise, a distributed, scalable, and highly available database platform built on Apache Cassandra that delivers optimal performance either on premise or in the cloud for modern enterprise applications that manage both real-time and analytic workloads. The company has over 100 customers, including leaders such as Netflix, Cisco, Rackspace and Constant Contact, and spanning verticals including web, financial services, telecommunications, logistics and government. DataStax is backed by industry leading investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Crosslink Capital and is based in Burlingame, CA with offices in Austin, TX and Stamford, CT.

Thank Datastax on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Conduit

Conduit is the fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers with over 260,000 members and their 230 million end-users. The Conduit Network empowers publishers - from global brands to independent developers - to create, exchange and distribute apps, and to collaborate through business partnerships.

Conduit enables publishers to seamlessly encapsulate content and deploy it everywhere from web browsers and Community Toolbars to mobile devices across all platforms. Publishers can distribute and exchange their apps directly, or through the Conduit App Marketplace. Conduit-powered apps enhance engagement, retention and monetization beyond the boundaries of the publisher's website.

With Conduit, global brands including Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, Univision, the Chelsea Football Club, Fox News, iVillage, Groupon, Travelocity, and TechCrunch are marketing themselves online - along with hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized organizations in more than 120 countries around the world. Join the Conduit Network at www.conduit.com.

Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University

American University's online graduate certificate in Digital Media Skills allows students to work full-time while taking challenging graduate-level online courses taught by experienced faculty trained to deliver superior content. In just 12 months, students will complete coursework in Digital Media Literacy, Web Development, Dynamic Content, and Video for Social Media. The final capstone project allows students to focus their interests in a particular area and to produce a professional portfolio that clearly demonstrates their skills, knowledge and digital vision. An optional on-campus session at the end of the program allows the opportunity to get one-on-one critiques from industry leaders.

Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media. The future is here. Don't be left behind. Learn more.

Thank American University on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Rovi

Rovi's comprehensive catalogue of entertainment metadata provides CE manufacturers, service providers and online, mobile and application developers the necessary foundation to effectively market in the digital marketplace. Rovi's deep information about music, movies, TV shows, celebrities and more engages consumers and helps them navigate through overwhelming amounts of digital entertainment content. It provides the ingredients for advance search and recommendations which encourages continuous discovery and increases consumption of your products. Rovi's large collection of images can also help differentiate your products by creating more visually appealing experiences.

Thank Rovi on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Spredfast

Spredfast is a social media management system designed to help companies succeed in social business. A software- as-a-service (SaaS) solution, Spredfast provides a unified platform for enterprises and agencies to manage, monitor and measure their social media programs. It also enables coordination of team activity and integration of social data into existing business systems. Spredfast works with brands like Nokia, AARP, Bayer, Wunderman and HomeAway to extend and publish their content and engage with their social community from a single interface on major social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogs and Flickr. For more information visit http://spredfast.com.

Thank Spredfast on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

Think about it: Choosing the right printer is just like choosing a business partner. As smart entrepreneurs know, the right partner makes you (and your business) look good, pitching in where needed, never leaving you high and dry at 2 a.m. when you're finishing up an important presentation, and always performing at maximum potential.

The Epson WorkForce® Pro printer is a lot like a good partner.

It's the world's fastest two-sided inkjet printer and it's reliable. (Which you'll appreciate when you're printing those slide decks in the wee hours of the morning.) Thanks to a large ink and paper capacity, the Epson WorkForce® Pro requires less printer downtime to add paper and ink than competitive models. Even two-sided printing is practical and pain-free!

The Epson WorkForce® Pro is built to perform -- with technology that allows the ink to dry instantly, creating smudge, fade, and water-resistant prints that are half the price per page for color printing versus laser (not to mention the savings on paper). Better printer efficiency and value means more money in your pocket -- and a nicer pocket, too. That's why it's one of the easiest and smartest business decisions you'll ever make, allowing you to run your business at full speed.

Photo by brokenarts

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Semantic Tech & Business Conference: The voice of semantic Web business | Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Zoho Creator: The easiest and fastest way to build custom applications on your own, online | Conduit: The fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers | Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University: Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Rovi: Helps people discover and buy movies, TV shows, music, & other entertainment | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Frequency: A personal video service that combs the Web to find and deliver the stuff you're interested in most | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Semantic Tech & Business Conference - D.C.

Semantic Tech & Business Conference, held on November 29-December 1 in Washington, D.C. covers the latest innovations in Semantic Web and linked data technologies and how they can be applied to provide businesses with faster integration, productive collaboration, more accurate search, and better-informed analytics. More than 70 experts will lead discussions on how semantic technologies are being used to revolutionize enterprise IT, government, military/intelligence, healthcare, finance and publishing.

Thank Semantic Tech & Business Conference on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is a web based platform that lets users build customized business applications on their own. Zoho Creator is completely non-programmer friendly. It's intuitive drag and drop interface makes it easy for anyone to build apps easily and quickly. It packs a wide range of features including Workflow, Extensive Reports, Analytics, Schedulers, Notifications and more. Sign up for Free!

Thank Zoho Creator on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Conduit

Conduit is the fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers with over 260,000 members and their 230 million end-users. The Conduit Network empowers publishers - from global brands to independent developers - to create, exchange and distribute apps, and to collaborate through business partnerships.

Conduit enables publishers to seamlessly encapsulate content and deploy it everywhere from web browsers and Community Toolbars to mobile devices across all platforms. Publishers can distribute and exchange their apps directly, or through the Conduit App Marketplace. Conduit-powered apps enhance engagement, retention and monetization beyond the boundaries of the publisher's website.

With Conduit, global brands including Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, Univision, the Chelsea Football Club, Fox News, iVillage, Groupon, Travelocity, and TechCrunch are marketing themselves online - along with hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized organizations in more than 120 countries around the world. Join the Conduit Network at www.conduit.com.

Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University

American University's online graduate certificate in Digital Media Skills allows students to work full-time while taking challenging graduate-level online courses taught by experienced faculty trained to deliver superior content. In just 12 months, students will complete coursework in Digital Media Literacy, Web Development, Dynamic Content, and Video for Social Media. The final capstone project allows students to focus their interests in a particular area and to produce a professional portfolio that clearly demonstrates their skills, knowledge and digital vision. An optional on-campus session at the end of the program allows the opportunity to get one-on-one critiques from industry leaders.

Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media. The future is here. Don't be left behind. Learn more.

Thank American University on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Rovi

Rovi's comprehensive catalogue of entertainment metadata provides CE manufacturers, service providers and online, mobile and application developers the necessary foundation to effectively market in the digital marketplace. Rovi's deep information about music, movies, TV shows, celebrities and more engages consumers and helps them navigate through overwhelming amounts of digital entertainment content. It provides the ingredients for advance search and recommendations which encourages continuous discovery and increases consumption of your products. Rovi's large collection of images can also help differentiate your products by creating more visually appealing experiences.

Thank Rovi on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Frequency

Frequency is a free video discovery platform with over 1,000 channels of programming. Our users follow their favorite topics, channels, and videos posted to their Facebook and Twitter networks in one continuous, personalized stream. The Frequency engine also allows users to follow the video streams of their favorite blogs and websites, by automatically extracting videos from their RSS Feeds and assembling them on a personal video page. Even ReadWriteWeb has its own dedicated Frequency channel. With over one million monthly users, Frequency viewers have cumulatively watched over 28 years of video through their personal streams since the site launched in late 2010.

Thank Frequency on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Semantic Tech & Business Conference: The voice of semantic Web business | Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Zoho Creator: The easiest and fastest way to build custom applications on your own, online | Conduit: The fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers | Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University: Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Rovi: Helps people discover and buy movies, TV shows, music, & other entertainment | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Frequency: A personal video service that combs the Web to find and deliver the stuff you're interested in most | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Semantic Tech & Business Conference - D.C.

Semantic Tech & Business Conference, held on November 29-December 1 in Washington, D.C. covers the latest innovations in Semantic Web and linked data technologies and how they can be applied to provide businesses with faster integration, productive collaboration, more accurate search, and better-informed analytics. More than 70 experts will lead discussions on how semantic technologies are being used to revolutionize enterprise IT, government, military/intelligence, healthcare, finance and publishing.

Thank Semantic Tech & Business Conference on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is a web based platform that lets users build customized business applications on their own. Zoho Creator is completely non-programmer friendly. It's intuitive drag and drop interface makes it easy for anyone to build apps easily and quickly. It packs a wide range of features including Workflow, Extensive Reports, Analytics, Schedulers, Notifications and more. Sign up for Free!

Thank Zoho Creator on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Conduit

Conduit is the fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers with over 260,000 members and their 230 million end-users. The Conduit Network empowers publishers - from global brands to independent developers - to create, exchange and distribute apps, and to collaborate through business partnerships.

Conduit enables publishers to seamlessly encapsulate content and deploy it everywhere from web browsers and Community Toolbars to mobile devices across all platforms. Publishers can distribute and exchange their apps directly, or through the Conduit App Marketplace. Conduit-powered apps enhance engagement, retention and monetization beyond the boundaries of the publisher's website.

With Conduit, global brands including Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, Univision, the Chelsea Football Club, Fox News, iVillage, Groupon, Travelocity, and TechCrunch are marketing themselves online - along with hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized organizations in more than 120 countries around the world. Join the Conduit Network at www.conduit.com.

Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University

American University's online graduate certificate in Digital Media Skills allows students to work full-time while taking challenging graduate-level online courses taught by experienced faculty trained to deliver superior content. In just 12 months, students will complete coursework in Digital Media Literacy, Web Development, Dynamic Content, and Video for Social Media. The final capstone project allows students to focus their interests in a particular area and to produce a professional portfolio that clearly demonstrates their skills, knowledge and digital vision. An optional on-campus session at the end of the program allows the opportunity to get one-on-one critiques from industry leaders.

Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media. The future is here. Don't be left behind. Learn more.

Thank American University on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Rovi

Rovi's comprehensive catalogue of entertainment metadata provides CE manufacturers, service providers and online, mobile and application developers the necessary foundation to effectively market in the digital marketplace. Rovi's deep information about music, movies, TV shows, celebrities and more engages consumers and helps them navigate through overwhelming amounts of digital entertainment content. It provides the ingredients for advance search and recommendations which encourages continuous discovery and increases consumption of your products. Rovi's large collection of images can also help differentiate your products by creating more visually appealing experiences.

Thank Rovi on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Frequency

Frequency is a free video discovery platform with over 1,000 channels of programming. Our users follow their favorite topics, channels, and videos posted to their Facebook and Twitter networks in one continuous, personalized stream. The Frequency engine also allows users to follow the video streams of their favorite blogs and websites, by automatically extracting videos from their RSS Feeds and assembling them on a personal video page. Even ReadWriteWeb has its own dedicated Frequency channel. With over one million monthly users, Frequency viewers have cumulatively watched over 28 years of video through their personal streams since the site launched in late 2010.

Thank Frequency on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

Please send your amazing stories to http://goo.gl/pa1Al and you may be profiled for a feature!

The legacy IT model can no longer meet the requirements of today's agile development teams. Historically, the old IT model required at best two to four weeks to spec out a development and test environment, order the machines, network and storage gear, wait for delivery, rack it, and configure them. That procurement process is extremely time-consuming, inconvenient and costly. Today's development teams require a new approach to obtain much needed IT resources quickly for their development and test projects.

• Deliver a self-service solution portal. Developers can create, replicate, change or delete entire software dev/test stacks in seconds.
• Provide on-demand scalability and configurability. Developers can create new release stacks on-demand and in a consistent and dependable fashion as they go through release cycles.
• Provision multiple dev/test environments. Test engineers can run multiple copies of a release, build and test various OS/DB/Browser combinations and scale the environments up or down quickly, as needed.
• Enable constant time snapshots and rapid bug reproduction. Dev teams can recreate any complex bug scenarios (including production issues), rapidly snapshot those environments, make changes, run tests and compare the results to the original.
• Facilitate collaboration and parallel work streams. Engineers can collaborate and share access to those environments with other engineers and support professionals over the Web.

At the same time, IT professionals can get full visibility and control over cloud environments. In particular, they can:

• Set-up dev/test environment templates that are IT policy compliant.
• Create users, roles, access control lists and permissions.
• Establish hybrid cloud architecture to connect to in-house data centers.
• Assign group, project and individual level quota for machines, storage and networks.
• Track usage by month, by user, by project and implement charge backs if needed.
• Audit and ensure compliance policies are followed.

The result?

IT teams that adopt a cloud-enabled agile IT solution such as Skytap Cloud can expect to reduce their total cost of ownership by more than 70% while also reducing the release cycle time by more than 75% when compared to the legacy IT infrastructure. Agile IT empowers development teams to achieve the full potential of the agile model. In addition, IT will be able to retain full visibility and control over cloud environments and reduce operating costs.

Photo by OeilDeNuit

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Zoho Creator: The easiest and fastest way to build custom applications on your own, online | Conduit: The fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers | Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University: Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Frequency: A personal video service that combs the Web to find and deliver the stuff you're interested in most | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is a web based platform that lets users build customized business applications on their own. Zoho Creator is completely non-programmer friendly. It's intuitive drag and drop interface makes it easy for anyone to build apps easily and quickly. It packs a wide range of features including Workflow, Extensive Reports, Analytics, Schedulers, Notifications and more. Sign up for Free!

Thank Zoho Creator on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Conduit

Conduit is the fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers with over 260,000 members and their 230 million end-users. The Conduit Network empowers publishers - from global brands to independent developers - to create, exchange and distribute apps, and to collaborate through business partnerships.

Conduit enables publishers to seamlessly encapsulate content and deploy it everywhere from web browsers and Community Toolbars to mobile devices across all platforms. Publishers can distribute and exchange their apps directly, or through the Conduit App Marketplace. Conduit-powered apps enhance engagement, retention and monetization beyond the boundaries of the publisher's website.

With Conduit, global brands including Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, Univision, the Chelsea Football Club, Fox News, iVillage, Groupon, Travelocity, and TechCrunch are marketing themselves online - along with hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized organizations in more than 120 countries around the world. Join the Conduit Network at www.conduit.com.

Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Digital Media Skills Certificate at American University

American University's online graduate certificate in Digital Media Skills allows students to work full-time while taking challenging graduate-level online courses taught by experienced faculty trained to deliver superior content. In just 12 months, students will complete coursework in Digital Media Literacy, Web Development, Dynamic Content, and Video for Social Media. The final capstone project allows students to focus their interests in a particular area and to produce a professional portfolio that clearly demonstrates their skills, knowledge and digital vision. An optional on-campus session at the end of the program allows the opportunity to get one-on-one critiques from industry leaders.

Retool your technical skills, refocus your career goals, and reinvigorate how you think about Digital Media. The future is here. Don't be left behind. Learn more.

Thank American University on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Frequency

Frequency is a free video discovery platform with over 1,000 channels of programming. Our users follow their favorite topics, channels, and videos posted to their Facebook and Twitter networks in one continuous, personalized stream. The Frequency engine also allows users to follow the video streams of their favorite blogs and websites, by automatically extracting videos from their RSS Feeds and assembling them on a personal video page. Even ReadWriteWeb has its own dedicated Frequency channel. With over one million monthly users, Frequency viewers have cumulatively watched over 28 years of video through their personal streams since the site launched in late 2010.

Thank Frequency on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

Editor's note: We offer our long-term sponsors the opportunity to write posts and tell their story. These posts are clearly marked as written by sponsors, but we also want them to be useful and interesting to our readers. We hope you like the posts and we encourage you to support our sponsors by trying out their products.

Running a small business is never easy. There are too many things to do but too little time, manpower and finance at your disposal. While cleverly juggling smart moves and a bit of luck can take care of the time and manpower, being cash strapped is one thing that needs more than just that. And most small businesses are cash strapped.

For two reasons:

• Spreadsheets and files are not nearly enough to manage the different aspects of your business efficiently. The world has moved on to the cloud. Tweets have replaced emails, and chats are the new phone calls. Why, then, would you lug around files after files containing sensitive and important data?
• You don't have to hire IT guys to build and manage your business applications.

A Mexican standoff? Not quite. Get around both of these with a stroke of brilliance. Build custom business applications - yourself. Yes you - with limited or absolutely no programming expertise - can build a complex looking application all by yourself, in minutes.

Zoho Creator is just what you need. Zoho Creator is a database software that lets users build customized business applications online. Building a customized business application is not rocket science. No really.

Here's a checklist that can help you decide if you can build your own app.

• You own the business? Yes.
• You know what you need to manage a particular department in your business? Yes.
• It will be your decision to hire an IT guy to develop the custom app for you? Yes.
• You will be briefing the IT guy on what your application needs to do? Yes.
• And when he comes up with an application, you'll be the one testing it out to see if it is really what you ​need? Yes.

If you answered yes to at least three of the above questions, then congratulations. You have what it takes to build a full-fledged customized application, all by yourself.

With a simple platform like Zoho Creator, you don't have to look any further. Zoho Creator's intuitive drag and drop interface lets anyone build customized applications easily and quickly. Include all the business rules and workflows you need, throw in some reports and spice it up schedulers and email notifications without breaking a sweat or burning a hole in your pocket.

When it's all done, stand back and take pride in yourself for being such an awesome craftsman.

Welcome to the world of creators!​

Photo by mjw

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO.

Skip to info about: Web 2.0 Expo: For the builders of the next-generation Web | Alcatel-Lucent: Application developer platform | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | BTBuckets: Free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool | Zoho Creator: The easiest and fastest way to build custom applications on your own, online | Conduit: The fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers | RightScale: A fully automated cloud management platform | Skytap: Cloud solutions for enterprises and ISVs | Frequency: A personal video service that combs the Web to find and deliver the stuff you're interested in most | Clickatell: SMS provider | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer

Web 2.0 Expo

Web 2.0 Expo is for the builders of the next-generation web: designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, and business strategists. At this fall's event in New York City, we'll reveal the key pieces of the digital economy and the ways you can leverage important ideas for your own success.

Thank Web 2.0 Expo on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry, is turning the network into a powerful platform for developers.

With the launch of the Alcatel-Lucent Developer Platform, the company provides service providers and enterprises with tools that enable third-party developers to build, test, manage and distribute applications across networks, including television, broadband Internet and mobile. Alcatel-Lucent's introduction of a radical new business model combines network APIs with other third-party APIs, and opens revenue sharing opportunities to support developers in their pre-revenue wallets and provides an additional revenue channel for service providers.

The developer platform is part of a larger push by the company to combine the trusted capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web.

Thank Alcatel-Lucent on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

BTBuckets

BTBuckets is a free personalization and on-site behavioral targeting tool that allows websites to increase engagement and ultimately maximize conversion rate optimization (CRO) by clustering and targeting specific user groups. With a simple installation process (a single tag implemented on your site's webpages just like Google Analytics), BTBuckets can update and adapt your website in real-time to create the best experience for that specific user segment without the need to change any HTML code on your website.

BTBuckets segmentation capabilities include behavioral, demographic, customer life-cycle, technographic and firmograhic. Install the BTBuckets browser extension to create segments from within the Google Analytics interface and target these users immediately.

Thank BTBuckets on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is a web based platform that lets users build customized business applications on their own. Zoho Creator is completely non-programmer friendly. It's intuitive drag and drop interface makes it easy for anyone to build apps easily and quickly. It packs a wide range of features including Workflow, Extensive Reports, Analytics, Schedulers, Notifications and more. Sign up for Free!

Thank Zoho Creator on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Conduit

Conduit is the fastest-growing network of web and mobile app publishers with over 260,000 members and their 230 million end-users. The Conduit Network empowers publishers - from global brands to independent developers - to create, exchange and distribute apps, and to collaborate through business partnerships.

Conduit enables publishers to seamlessly encapsulate content and deploy it everywhere from web browsers and Community Toolbars to mobile devices across all platforms. Publishers can distribute and exchange their apps directly, or through the Conduit App Marketplace. Conduit-powered apps enhance engagement, retention and monetization beyond the boundaries of the publisher's website.

With Conduit, global brands including Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, Univision, the Chelsea Football Club, Fox News, iVillage, Groupon, Travelocity, and TechCrunch are marketing themselves online - along with hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized organizations in more than 120 countries around the world. Join the Conduit Network at www.conduit.com.

Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

RightScale

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management and enables organizations to easily deploy and manage business critical applications across multiple clouds.

Why you'll love RightScale:

• Manage your entire cloud infrastructure from a single dashboard
• Use ServerTemplates™ for dynamic configuration at run-time
• Monitor and scale deployments to meet fluctuating demand
• Clone servers and deployments and modify as needed
• Launch deployments across multiple clouds

Once you create your free account, you'll be able to launch, monitor, and manage a server deployment in the cloud from the Web-based RightScale Dashboard. Try it free!

Thank RightScale on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Skytap

Skytap provides cloud automation solutions for enterprises and software vendors to develop, test, migrate, evaluate, demo, and train on new and existing applications in the cloud. Skytap Cloud is ideal for distributed Dev/Test, Training and Sales Demo teams. Teams are empowered to:

• Create multiple cloud environments in seconds
• Run existing applications without any code changes
• Deploy virtual data centers, take snapshots and collaborate
• Accelerate bug resolution cycles by 75%
• Reduce operating costs by 70% annually

Customers of all sizes can deploy Skytap in a day. Try Skytap for free.

Thank Skytap on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Frequency

Frequency is a free video discovery platform with over 1,000 channels of programming. Our users follow their favorite topics, channels, and videos posted to their Facebook and Twitter networks in one continuous, personalized stream. The Frequency engine also allows users to follow the video streams of their favorite blogs and websites, by automatically extracting videos from their RSS Feeds and assembling them on a personal video page. Even ReadWriteWeb has its own dedicated Frequency channel. With over one million monthly users, Frequency viewers have cumulatively watched over 28 years of video through their personal streams since the site launched in late 2010.

Thank Frequency on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell

Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging. You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) including; HTTP (internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP (email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Toopia

Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!