There is perhaps no hotter topic in the industry today than cloud computing.  While multiple definitions of the term exist, it is easiest to think of clouds as exemplifying the same business model used by electric utilities, hotel chains, and rental car services, applied to IT and network services.  In this model, on-demand or pre-reserved resources are paid for on a usage-sensitive basis and accessed over a network.  Web mail and video- and photo-sharing sites are cloud services, and so are storage and physical or virtual servers available for “rental.”.

The implementation of mobile payments across the UK requires banks to extend contactless infrastructure to support NFC. In addition, consumers will demand a choice of handsets that support NFC transactions. Nokia has been leading the NFC handset space, but other vendors are starting to make significant investments in the technology. If handsets are to take over from the traditional wallet, manufacturers must also solve a number of current technological restrictions, such as improving battery life and operating systems..