Cloud Computing and Real Estate

Hi Folks,

   Glad to have you back. If you are lucky enough to have the Holiday off for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I hope that you have a nice, relaxing day planned.

   Lately, every time you turn on your TV, you hear, "To The Cloud", or "Cloud this", and "Cloud that". What exactly is this, "Cloud". Well, this is not the kind of cloud that you see in the sky. This is referring to a virtual cloud, where a sky cloud has billions of little droplets of water, and the Computing Cloud has billions of servers hosting Web sites and Web Applications ("Apps").

   As Wikipedia refers to it, "Cloud computing is location independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid.", which is the "Cloud", or you can even think of it as an ocean. It's huge and made up of billions of pieces.

   Now, as Cloud Computing relates to an industry, such as the Real Estate industry, Wikipedia continues to say that, "This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer." So, to break this down, a Realtor or an investor can be on the road looking at homes, and can pull out their laptop, IPad, IPhone, Droid, etc, and can access a Web Site that can run the same Home-Valuation App that they can run from their desktop in their office. Thus, they are accessing the "Cloud" to do exactly what they can do from their office. As long as their is a connection to the Internet, they can do this.

   Hopefully, this can give you a good understanding of how Cloud Computing is and how it relates to the Real Estate industry. Things have come a long way since my Commodore 64K Computer in the 80's! (Now, I'm dating myself with that statement !).

   Did I miss anything? Comments? Suggestions? We'd love to hear

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com


Tags: #cloudcomputing #realestate #realtor

Passed Website Security PCI DSS Compliancy

Good Morning Everyone,


There has been a huge sweeping reform of the credit card industry, and along with it, there have been new rules implemented regarding the security measures that are taken by websites to ensure full security and protection of data that is entered on these websites. For quite some time, the focus has been on the large multi-national corporations, however, the focus has now turned to all websites, including HomeRun Homes/Lease2Buy.com. In May, We were notified about this by our merchant account provider (the company that processes credit card transactions for Ads that are placed on our website), and we were provided a mandated deadline of July 31, 2010.

The full details of this "PCI DSS" mandate, are outlined at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss.shtml, which summarizes them as, "...a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. This comprehensive standard is intended to help organizations proactively protect customer account data. "

Well, way back in College, I took Calculus, Advanced Calculus, Integral Calculus, Statistics, and multiple Finance and Economics courses, and this PCI DSS compliance process has truly made those topics seem like cotton candy and fluffy clouds ! What a difficult and stringent procedure ! There was a 200 question exam-type format that we needed to pass, along with a highly-intrusive scan of our website for vulnerabilities and hacker entry points. We can tell you that there were a few minor issues, and nothing that had or would have jeopardized data. My point is that they wanted a fully clean slate, so concurrently, we took advantage of the timing and we transparently moved our site to an even beefier server platform (for all of those techies like myself, it is a load balanced environment to provide stability and redundancy). Thus, more security and a quicker website for our visitors.

The end result?

We have PASSED both the behemoth exam along with our intense website security scan, so, as per Trustwave (www.trustwave.com), the absolute leader in the field of website security, we are now proud to say that we are 100% PCI DSS Compliant (CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATE). We have spoken with many of our peers, and they feel as if they will not make the deadline, and therefore, they risk being discontinued by their credit card merchant account, thus, rendering them basically "out of business".

We are glad that we have passed and that we are recognized as fully compliant with all website and data security regulations, and we will continue to be your centralized marketplace for Rent to Own Homes, whether you are a buyer or a seller!


Have a Great Weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!