BBC News - Big name firms form alliance to drive cloud standards

Some of the world's biggest companies are using their market clout to demand that computer equipment makers change the way they make their machines.

The 70 firms, which includes BMW, Shell and Marriott Hotels, said systems that do not work together are holding back the spread of cloud computing.

The companies have formed the Open Data Alliance Centre to push for unified standards for technology.

The businesses involved account for more than $50bn (£32bn) in IT spending.

"The old way just won't work anymore," said Andrew Feig, an executive director at Swiss bank UBS.

"We want to pay for what we need, when we need it."

The principal goal of the body is to help businesses cope with an explosion in the number of people that will want to access services and applications online using a plethora of different devices from phones to TVs to tablet computers.

Researchers estimate that another one billion users will come online in the next five years.

BBC News - Big name firms form alliance to drive cloud standards

This thing could destroy the world?

Photo by Gail Orenstein

Leh, after the 2010 Flash Floods killed dozens of people in the small city of Leh.

This poppy is the product that could undermine the entire developed world.

Counting the cost of Leh flood

This was the count 2 weeks ago, it probably has risen.

Breakdown of a Hospital

Photos by Gail Orenstein

The Leh Hospital was built at the bottom of the town. Maybe it made sense since all the major roads went down hill, maybe it would be easier to get people to it rather than building on higher ground. But when this years monster rain hit Leh the hospital was ruined.



The flash flood left almost half the hospital under mud. Fortunately the near by Army hospital was able to do emergency surgery, but the conditions for those waiting for care in Leh hospital were terrible.

Terrible floods devastate Northern India

Leh India

Lost in the news of massive floods in Pakistan and China, Leh in Northern India has experience some of the worst flooding in decades. The arid desert land rarely sees any rain fall. Homes are often made of mud bricks and straws and as this remote region grew with tourism and the presence of the Indian Army homes and businesses were built in places that traditionally would have been left empty.



Then this August several days of heavy rain hit Northern India. The rains were not has violent as those hitting parts of Pakistan or China but for an arid desert surrounded by mountains the impact was devastating. Gail Orenstein photographed over 170 dead bodies outside the Leh hospital. They had been brought in over two days from the local area. More were trapped in the remote villages where, with the roads washed away, there was very little hope.



No one will likely ever know how many families were washed away in to the rivers and are lost forever. After a week of rescue work Leh was still cut off by all but land. Tourists fled, taking with them one of Leh's main sources of hard currency to purchase food stocks which will certainly become more expensive as the long roads from Kashmir have been damaged.

Leh Flash Floods in India

Gail Orenstein has been covering the devistation from the Flash Floods in Northern India. This is one of the first images of her work she has been able to get out of the area. More images will be coming soon.

The human impact of these photos has been terrible. Gail has been covering the work at the hospital and morgue. At the morgue she was asked to photograph the dead for the local police, since the Leh police force only had a film camera. To date Gail has processed 150 images of dead persons for the police.