19 May 11. Aeroseeker mini UAV unveiled at IDEF. Atlantic UVS unveiled its Aeroseeker quad-rotor mini unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at the IDEF 2011 exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey. Company Chief Executive Officer Oz Aksugur told Jane’s that the platform had recently completed an 18-month development programme. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)

09 May 11. Bluefin to develop anti-IED hull-clearing AUV. US autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) house Bluefin Robotics is developing a robotic ship hull mine and improvised explosive device (IED) identification and neutralisation capability for use in joint service explosive ordnance disposal. Work is being completed under a recent USD30 million contract awarded by the US Office of Naval Research (ONR). The new vehicle, known as the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Hull Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Localization System (EOD HULS), will capitalise on the Hovering AUV (HAUV) previously developed by Bluefin (vehicle design) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (control systems) . (Source: Jane’s, IDR)

17 May 11. Turkish intelligence uses Malazgirt mini UAV. Kale-Baykar’s Malazgirt mini rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is in service with Turkey’s intelligence services, Jane’ s has learnt. However, a company representative was unable to disclose how many systems have been delivered or where they are in operation. The Malazgirt, which was on display at the IDEF 2011 exhibition in Istanbul, is one of the first rotary-wing UAVs in operational service and it is designed to provide a surveillance and reconnaissance capability. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)

23 May 11. US forces eye Switchblade lethal aerial ammunition capability. The US Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) and Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) are assessing lethal aerial munitions (LAMs) and how they could be employed in combat. MCWL is working with AeroVironment’s Switchblade unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is essentially a ‘kamikaze’ system that can deliver warheads designed for specific targets, CNA lead analyst John Reynolds told Jane’s. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)

26 May 11. Eoin Blacklock, managing director, KeepItSafe®, a leading online backup provider and a brand of j2 Global® Communications, Inc., stated that the overwhelming problem with “cloud computing” is the lack of awareness as to where customer data is being stored. Customers should always know where it’s stored so they do not break any data protection rules and gain a better understanding of the cloud. Companies need to ask the following questions of their providers – Is the data stored in multiple datacentres. After hurricane Catriona many organisations all over the world who had hosted services “in the cloud” quickly learned that their data was actually stored in a datacentre in New Orleans which was now underwater. Just like the clouds in the sky, there are many different types and the fear in the industry is that not all providers will store the data in a secure environment and in multiple locations. With many companies now using applications which are external to their office network it has become much more security focused. Being able to access your files from anywhere and from any computer is one of the great conveniences of the always-on Internet. Online file storage has been around for quite a while, but the latest generation of services are so cheap and easy to use that there is almost no reason not to back some of your files up into the cloud. In 2010 many businesses saw their data grow to staggering levels therefore data storage options needed to fit this growing need. Simply put data is multiplying. Not only are businesses faced with future data growth, but saved data is also still of great importance especially in some industries. This is part of the reasoning behind the growing trend towards cloud computing. “The average data volumes being backed up are about 50GB per client, which is, in fact, a ten-fold increase from the 2005 level of