Francesco Bellini

Digital Service Platform for Networked Enterprises Collaboration: A Case Study of the NEMESYS Project

Enterprises’ networks (formal and informal) are an ever-growing economic phenomenon, especially in Europe, characterised by a large number of Small and Medium Enterprises. The new economic opportunities are making possible the creation of new types of organizations where the deployment of information technology into knowledge work will increase organizational productivity and effectiveness. The aim of the paper is to summarise the results of the NEMESYS research project funded under the Lazio Region Structural Funds, where a digital platform has been developed in order to deliver services to enterprise networks independently from the network shape and enabling efficiency and effectiveness of the business activities.

Legal Issues and Requirements for Cloud Computing in e-Science

Cloud technologies have increasingly gained momentum in recent years, primarily due to their promise of enhanced performance, such as elasticity, scalability, risk reduction and the easy deployment of end-user services. Despite the great interest and success achieved by the Cloud model, there are still some legal issues raised both in the scientific sector and the information society as a whole. The objective of this paper is to provide the needed starting points for a reflection aimed at the creation of a new governance and legislative model on data protection, privacy and security to develop an efficient strategy on Cloud Computing, notably for government and e-Science, promoting innovation and interoperability in Europe.

FabLabs as Platforms for Digital Fabrication Services: A Literature Analysis

Digital fabrication is contributing to the paradigm shift that is determining a new way to design, produce and consume goods and services. In order to understand the role of FabLabs, networked platforms for the dissemination of digital culture through the sharing of technological tools and knowledge, this paper explores the main research themes and methods associated with this new business model. Through a systematic literature analysis, it provides an assessment of the state of art of the past and current literature about FabLabs from a service perspective. Based on research papers published exclusively on scholarly journals, the study describes the emergence of this research area and characterize its current status. A critical analysis of the existing research as well as some recommendations for future studies in this field are also offered.

The Impact of e-Invoicing on Businesses Eco-Systems: Evidences from Italian Supply Chains and Suggestions for a Research Agenda

In 2007 the European Commission presented the Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the European Union, with the aim to work with Member States in order to cut 25 % of administrative burdens on businesses by 2012. In this framework, a set of interesting actions can be summarised into the so-called dematerialization, intended as the substitution of the physical business documentation with digital files and archives that are able to provide better performances in terms of efficiency, as well as the same legal requisites of the documents in the paper format. The aim of this chapter is to introduce the approaches adopted from some Italian Supply Chains and provide some hints for further research developments.

Innovation Support Strategies for Enhancing Business Competitiveness in the European Union: Programmes, Objectives and Economic Impact Assessment

The research, development and innovation programmes of the European Union play an important role for the development and competitiveness of the “old continent”. The aim of this paper is to briefly describe the policy that drives these programmes and give some insights on how they are assessed in order to measure the impact of public investment. In this work, we discuss the impacts on Gross Domestic Product and employment estimated by the European Commission for Framework Programme 7 with the results of a sample of 60 FP7 projects in three ICT domains. The exercise allows to raise some questions about the assumptions made by the EC experts and provides suggestions in order to implement a more effective system for monitoring the R&D investment.

Internet Service Providers: The Italian Scenario

This paper shows the characteristics of the Italian Internet Providers’ market. The study is divided into three parts where different factors are analysed providing an observation of the targeted sector from different perspectives. After having identified the research objectives and the characteristics of the internet providers’ sector, the Italian Internet market is described through fundamental parameters such as the analysis of demand, global turnover and the analysis of different methods of access to the network. In the second part, we analyse the technical, economic and financial characteristics of the sector, through the study of fundamental elements such as technological readiness of ISPs and the structure of supply, taking into account operating areas and services provided by companies; the survey provides then a study of the companies’ size in order to have a clear market segmentation. The last part provides an analysis of the economic and financial structure exploring companies’ efficiency through performance indicators. The final result is a critical analysis of findings from which emerges that medium sized ISPs are more performing in terms of business indicators while policies still seem to be in favour of big operators.

A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy for the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development

The paper has the objective to provide a methodology for the socio-economic, technological and environmental impact assessment of a Cloud Computing strategy for the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development and more specific at the service of the Department for Communications. In order to develop a detailed and tailored model for implementing the g-Cloud strategy, we analyse the current services and functions performed by the Department for Communications of the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development, showing the current ways of managing information flows within and outside the administration. Starting from the available background analysis on the current state of the art of the adoption of g-Cloud services in Europe and USA, we provide assumptions and hypotheses for the definition of the g-Cloud Strategy. We then compare the requirements provided by the General Directorates of the Department for Communications of the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development in order to validate the hypotheses previously defined. By reviewing the approaches for the impact assessment available from literature review, we define the best effective methodology for assessing the potential impacts of g-Cloud strategies. The methodology considers four areas of impact: economic, social, legal and environmental impacts. For each area of impact we identify specific indicators for the assessment of efficiency and effectiveness of Cloud Computing initiatives in the Italian PA that have been validated by a set of Cloud Computing experts.

Calculation of the Square Matrix Determinant: Computational Aspects and Alternative Algorithms

The calculation of a square matrix determinant is a typical matrix algebra operation which, if applied to big matrixes, asks for complex calculations. There are different algorithms for the determinant calculation, each one with different features under the aesthetic, functional and efficiency point of view. Besides two traditional methods such as

A Computational Model for Optimization on International Telecommunication Networks

Telecommunication networks are characterised by a complex group of intermediaries and each one of them faces two types of operational costs: transmission costs and delivery cost. This scheme allows the operator to evaluate the market structure and to perform the telecommunication service. The first aim of the paper is to model this scenario and implement an optimisation tool giving a support in optimal routing decision making. Given a existing and non-changeable network structure which is reliable to a short term perspective, the input of the N.E.O.S. (Network Optimisation System) tool consists in a set of structured arrays describing the various components of the market (i.e. customers, suppliers, unit transmission costs etc). The system allows the decision maker to create a customised data framework and performs linear optimisation in order to find the best routing solution for traffic demand. All the results can be graphically displayed following the output steps creating a monitor for decision making. Finally the tool is able to predict the income level related to the routing given solution. The second part of the paper tells indeed the optimal number of circuits relaxing the constraint of a given network structure; the latter could be related to a medium term perspective. The tool is implemented by using MATLAB software.

Multidimensional corporate analysis: analytical and graphical approaches

The internal auditing activities in a public or private firm are fundamental in order to measure the performances and represent these through the use of indexes (usually coming from ratio analysis), tables and graphs that synthesize the financial, economic and corporate aspects of the firm life and development.