January 3, 2011
Volume XXXIII, Issue 7
In Lieu of an Online Holiday Greeting
DCINFO readers are being spared their traditional DCIA season's greetings message this year in favor of a more meaningful gift: a special discount for signing up now to attend the first-ever CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Conference at CES before the rates change on December 31st.
First, click here to register for the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Then sign-up for the exciting and timely CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Conference using the special code "DCIAMEM" and save nearly $250.
CONTENT IN THE CLOUD, focused on the many ways that cloud computing will dramatically impact the entertainment sector, will take place on Friday January 7th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Also of particular interest to DCINFO readers, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer will give the pre-show keynote address on Wednesday evening January 5th, and Verizon Chairman Ivan Seidenberg will join Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President Gary Shapiro with opening keynotes on Thursday morning January 6th.
Newsmaker of the Year: Cloud Computing
Excerpted from ITBusiness Report by Maxine Cheung
It seems the entire information technology (IT) industry was on a high and had its head in the clouds this year. That's why cloud computing is our top Newsmaker of the Year for 2010.
One would think that for something with so much activity around it and so talked about that there would be a concrete definition of what cloud computing is. Instead, depending on who you ask, everyone seems to have their own definition of what cloud computing means.
CA Technologies Vice President Jimmy Fulton summed it up best by saying, "There hasn't been a more ambiguous term in the IT industry in a long-time than cloud."
The cloud as we know it today comes in many different flavors in the forms of software-as-a-service (SaaS), hardware-as-a-service (HaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and security-as-a-service (another SaaS).
To put some perspective around just how big the cloud computing opportunity is, at Avnet Technology Solutions' recent IBM Partner Summit held in San Antonio, TX Mike Rhodin, SVP of Software Solutions at IBM, said the company sees the cloud as a $67 billion opportunity. Rich Hume, IBM General Manager for Global Business Partners, added that IBM expects the cloud opportunity to grow seven times faster than traditional IT and will have a growth rate of 22% through 2015.
Liz Herbert, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, MA said one of the key drivers that are leading businesses towards these as-a-service type offerings is because of the flexibility and predictability that these models provide.
"Customers are looking for fast deployment and value-based or usage-based pricing models that are flexible enough to allow them to scale up or down as their business needs change," she said. "Businesses also move towards SaaS because they want to create a tighter link with business needs."
Even with these motivators though, there are still lots of worry about security and what happens to an organization's information once it's "in the cloud."
Thanks to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada and the Patriot Act in the US, in addition to more education and awareness being put forth by manufacturers, vendors, and partners in the market place, businesses are slowly getting more comfortable letting their information "leave the four walls" of the office.
With that said, based on a recent online survey conducted on behalf of CA by Leger Marketing from September 27th to October 14th that gathered responses from 525 Canadian IT professionals and business executives, it wasn't surprising that 36% of respondents said their company was using a private cloud environment, while only 23% are using a public cloud infrastructure.
Microsoft was another vendor that made a huge investment in the cloud this year. At its annual Worldwide Partner Conference in the summer, Microsoft announced its Windows Azure appliance, which is a turn-key cloud services platform for deployment in data-centers. The appliance can be customized by partners to work in public or private cloud environments thanks to its standardized service platform. At this time, the vendor also announced a new branded effort better known as the Cloud Essentials Pack and the Cloud Accelerate Program to help partners ramp up their cloud activities.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 Following are highlights of the first half of the DCIA's 2010 Year in Review. Second-half highlights will be published here next week. All delegates to CONTENT IN THE CLOUD at CES will receive copies of the full report on January 7th.
As the year began, the DCIA paid tribute to top net technologies that shaped the past decade: Napster, BitTorrent, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, and of course Google, at its third annual P2P MEDIA SUMMIT at CES. faceVsion announced an HD webcam for the distributed computing industry's most successful offering, P2P telephony service Skype, and Digital Containers exhibited to spark interest in media-sharing software that safeguards against copyright infringement.
SmartPlanet's Dana Blankenhorn said distributed computing would play a major role in the "decade of miracles." The top-ten technologies forecast included: the cloud, tablet computers, augmented reality, e-book readers, 3D TV, OLED, Internet everywhere, better battery life, interactive gaming, and location-based apps.
Lucien Parfeni said it's only a matter of time until "the cloud" becomes the main way people consume music. The South Korean government said it would invest $524 million in cloud computing by 2014, quadrupling the size of this market. Panasonic and IBM inked the largest cloud deal ever replacing the electronics firm's MS Exchange with IBM's LotusLive service.
9X9 Network, which exemplifies the next generation of TV platforms known as "Cloud TV," joined the DCIA.
Ignite Technologies, a provider of enterprise content delivery solutions, expanded sales operations into EMEA. BeotelNet, a leading Serbian Internet service provider (ISP), deployed Oversi's video caching platform. SAIC acquired cyber-security company CloudShield.
Vuze 4.3 offered multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority, and instant info-access. Popular BitTorrent client Deluge released version 1.2.0, written in Python. An upgrade to Ares Vista for Windows 7 launched.
Chinese P2P video and download accelerator Xunlei announced its 2010 gaming strategy headed by CEO Cheng Hao. PPLive said it would increase the proportion of its high-definition (HD) programming through investments.
Ad-supported music service Guvera closed a $20 million second round from an Australian consortium. P2P music streaming sensation Spotify's mobile application won a PC Advisor Award.
Abacast announced that Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff had completed its review of Abacast's flagship live and on-demand P2P solutions.
Thousands of supporters and detractors weighed in with public comments on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) net neutrality rulemaking process. The DCIA made recommendations on preserving an open Internet. Skype commented in favor of neutrality. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said the FCC lacks authority to issue neutrality regulations.
Six advocacy organizations said the FCC should not involve ISPs in stopping copyright infringement, and the DCIA voiced concern that FCC filings submitted by the entertainment industry mixed infringement and neutrality issues.
In February, Stream Torrent, TV Ants, Sopcast, and TVU Player offered Super Bowl XLIV live online. Live streaming options also brought the Vancouver Winter Olympics to the Net. Akamai and NFL.com released P2P client Akamai NetSession, improving the speed and quality of video delivery.
Twitter began harnessing BitTorrent technology to deploy server updates across its vast network. BitTorrent and Vuze released significant updates including features to control their applications from remote devices.
Abacast announced new Board Members - and record revenue for 2009.
That "Man about the Cloud" Reuven Cohen reported in Elasticator that interest in cloud computing had soared 3,233% since 2007. Cisco reported that although downloadable file sharing continued to grow, online video streaming was growing faster. MediaPost predicted that video distributors would begin using cloud computing for streaming.
Valve announced extraordinary growth for Steam, its leading PC games platform. THQ CEO Brian Farrell said gaming can come roaring back with cloud computing.
The DCIA presented MUSIC IN THE CLOUD at the 10th annual Digital Music Forum in New York, NY.
Verizon Wireless customers with smart-phones were given the option of using Skype for voice calls to any user in the world over Verizon's 3G network.
Start-up Makara offered new tools to make it easier for companies to migrate traditional software applications onto a cloud infrastructure. 2 year-old VMOps released software allowing companies to deploy an equivalent of Amazon EC2 to build their own private clouds. Ipswitch launched a new WS_FTP server that enables P2P file sharing for businesses to encrypt, control, and manage their data traffic.
Opera released the beta for its P2P browser Opera 10.5, boasting that it's "the fastest browser on Earth." Streaming start-up UStream raised a $75 million Series B round led by Softbank of Japan. Swedish P2PTV streaming service Voddler picked up $3.5 million from Eqvitec Partners, bringing its financing total to $20.2 million. Cacaoweb added a feature to remove time limits and advertising from the Megavideo P2P video streaming platform.
MilkyWay@Home used the BOINC platform and distributed computing to link home PCs and help RPI researchers map the Milky Way galaxy.
iiNET won its Federal Court battle in Australia against motion picture studios, which accused the ISP of encouraging copyright violations. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) claimed that 95% of all downloads on the Internet are still unauthorized.
In March, Alcatel-Lucent introduced its Velocix Digital Media Delivery Platform for ISPs. Australia's Victoria Police heralded tests of Brilliant Digital Entertainment's new filtering software. Slingshot New Zealand deployed Oversi's video cache multi-service platform (MSP) for P2P and video traffic.
European early-stage technology investor Atomico, founded by the brains behind P2P programs Kazaa, Skype, and Joost, closed its second fund with $165 million. Adconion Media Group introduced the Joost Video Network.
Level 3 Communications partnered with Solid State Networks on an integrated game delivery solution. Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive, opined that games will move to cloud-based distribution.
Google Apps Marketplace opened for business with more than 50 cloud computing companies selling programs there. Chatroulette Map became an interesting mash-up of Chatroulette & Google Maps, utilizing a P2P connection among users for communication.
The DCIA conducted the P2P & CLOUD MARKET CONFERENCE. Bluelock, a profitable cloud computing start-up announced that revenues grew from $1.7 to $9.3 million in a year. Vanish used P2P networks to create unique encryption keys and protect data security. Industry expert Kai-Fu Lee said cloud computing will help China develop an infringement-free software market. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said 90% of MS employees will be working on cloud computing in a year
The top-ten free downloads were: Ad-Aware Free, Audacity, BitTorrent, Dropbox, Evite, FreeConference, IMDb, OpenOffice.org, The GIMP, and Trillian Basic.
Wal-Mart agreed to buy Vudu, a 3-year-old start-up whose P2P movie streaming service could be built into televisions and Blu-ray players. Rovi Corporation, a provider of digital entertainment technologies, acquired media recommendation service MediaUnbound.
Public broadcasters like BBC, CBC, and NRK experimented with P2P technologies such as BitTorrent to distribute content more efficiently. AVG Technologies licensed LimeWire to integrate AVG's Anti-Virus SDK engine into LimeWire Pro. ROK Entertainment Group launched a mobile P2PTV service with Russia's KOX TV.
P2PTV industry leader TVU Networks showcased its TVUPack backpack mobile newsgathering solution at NAB. Damaka launched its live P2P video streaming solution on mobile devices including Androids and Blackberries. China's KKBox took a unique approach as a P2P music streaming service that gives away music journalism as a bonus. PeerPong, developer of a social-search-engine service, raised $2.8 million. GigaTribe Version 3.0 allowed users to develop file-sharing networks and exchange large files with friends.
The EU said it would ensure international IP treaty ACTA does not include a "3-strikes" provision that would sever file sharer Internet connections. A study by a French university found that online copyright infringement there increased after France's enactment of its 3-strikes law.
Verizon EVP Tom Tauke noted that the US Communications Act no longer fits the digital space and needs a major rethink.
In April, the P2P arms race warmed up, with Adobe adding secure P2P communications to its beta version of Flash 10.1. Google Talk services iGoogle and Orkut began offering size-limit-free P2P file transfers, with Gmail in line to offer this feature next.
Janko Roettgers reported that entertainment industry insiders were finally working with, instead of against, P2P network operators and users. TechWorld outlined simple common-sense steps for consumers to use BitTorrent and P2P programs safely. Eddie Schwartz, President of the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC), argued that music file sharing should be authorized and monetized.
Facebook's new mission became to serve as the underlying social engine powering the entire Internet by means of its new "Open Graph" initiative. A wave of web start-ups aimed to help people indulge their urge to divulge personal details, from sites like Blippy to Foursquare to Skimble.
The top 20% of companies averaged ROI of 186% on investments in corporate P2PTV, which translates to a payback period of less than 7 months.
Verizon Business upgraded its hosted cloud computing service with server-cloning, support for SUSE Linux, and more networking capabilities.
The DCIA joined Digital Due Process (DDP) to help protect distributed computing users' online privacy rights.
The EU Tribler P2P developer team added new SwarmRank & BarterCast features to combat spam in its decentralized BitTorrent environment. PPLive launched "Blue Shield" to prevent malicious software from uninstalling the application. Opera 10.52 beta 2 added new features making its P2P-based browser compatible with older Macs. The BBC's Anthony Rose, who was formerly with Kazaa, joined video-on-demand (VoD) Project Canvas as its new CTO. Assets of P2PTV service Veoh Network, which closed in February, were sold to social video start-up 2Peer.
Pablo Soto, developer of file-sharing apps Blubster, Piolet and Manolito, launched Foofind, a search engine that indexes torrents. LimeWire Store partnered with the Yep Roc label and Redeye Distribution to release the Soundtrack of Our Lives EP
A US Appeals Court ruled that the FCC did not have the proper authority to force Comcast to change the way it manages its broadband network, underscoring the challenges faced by federal authorities in keeping pace with the Internet. The DCIA recommended that lawmakers and federal agencies make use of a working-group-like concept as exemplified by the P4P Working Group. A Senate hearing questioned FCC Chair Genachowski about reclassifying broadband.
The draft Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was publicly released after 2 years of negotiations for disclosure led by EFF. In defiance of the new Digital Economy Bill, UK ISP TalkTalk said it would refuse to disconnect its customers for unauthorized file sharing. In both France and Sweden, where draconian anti-online-copyright-infringement laws were in place, unauthorized downloading increased. An Italian court ruled against calls from copyright holders to compel ISPs to monitor users and block unlicensed file-sharing services.
In May, a study by Sand Hill Group found that cloud computing is here to stay and likely to hook itself even deeper into the business world. A study released by the CCIA concluded that companies relying on fair use generate $4.7 trillion in revenue to the US economy annually.
AT&T launched U-verse Online, a companion website for its digital TV service that lets subscribers watch streaming TV and movies on PCs.
uTorrent launched uTorrent Apps to let users add their own extensions and uTorrent Labs to give users early access to new developments. UC Davis created BioTorrents, a fast, efficient file-sharing service for scientific data. To distribute MechWarrior 4 to the public, the game's makers switched to BitTorrent exclusively.
Pando Networks, a leading provider of accelerated game delivery services, said it had delivered more than 30 million game downloads in the past 12 months.
Kontiki CEO Eric Armstrong, a leading provider of enterprise P2P video solutions, discussed consumer-style video at Streaming Media East.
Atrinsic focused on switching to a subscription-based paid music model through its part ownership of Kazaa. Spotify Unlimited offered ad-free streaming for $8/month. mSpot allowed people to upload their music - purchased, ripped, or downloaded - and access it from any Mac, Windows, or Google Android.
Google bought Simplify Media, a start-up with software that lets users share iTunes music across the web.
Israeli start-up PeerApp obtained a venture loan of $3 million from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Highwinds used P2P for its new Infinite HD video streaming service. Haihaisoft live P2P technology began providing H.264 high-definition (HD) solutions, saving 98% of bandwidth costs.
The DCIA conducted its first-ever P2P & CLOUD MEDIA SUMMIT at Digital Hollywood. An SRO audience witnessed technology and entertainment industry history at the debut of GenosTV from ShambroWest Corporation. GenosTV CEO Rob Shambro was also featured on Simon Applebaum's "Tomorrow Will Be Televised."
Skype, the distributed computing industry's greatest success, said users would double to 1 billion by 2015. Forbes' Lee Gomes said Skype has been so disruptive that it has shaken the economies of the underlying businesses that it has impacted. Skype began beta testing a new group video chat feature.
The FCC's proposal to regulate broadband using decades-old rules for phone networks stoked the flames of the net neutrality wars. Congressional leaders voiced concern that the FCC does not have the legal authority to regulate broadband. The Commission received numerous conflicting public comments.
A federal judge ruled that the company behind the LimeWire file-sharing network was liable for infringing major record company copyrights. During its five-year consumer litigation campaign, the music industry accounted for more than half of all copyright cases in US courts.
The "US Copyright Group (USCG)" threatened to sue Time Warner Cable regarding online movie infringement conducted by its broadband subscribers.
In June, Verizon Business offered a cloud-based storage service leveraging Verizon's global data network. $29 billion technology distributor Ingram Micro partnered with cloud providers Salesforce.com, Amazon, and Rackspace on the Cloud Conduit. ViFiB saved on expensive data center space by placing its cloud computing servers in homes and offices with broadband Internet access.
A Nielsen study showed Internet users spent over 6 hours a month on sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. According to eMarketer, by 2014, 77% of all US Internet users - 193 million - will watch online video. Cisco's VNI Forecast 2009-2014 projected that global Internet traffic will increase fourfold to 767 exabytes - or more than 3/4 of a zettabyte.
At an ITIF event, BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker focused on a technical solution to the net neutrality issue: uTorrent Transport Protocol (UTP). BitTorrent's Project Falcon, in an effort to make its products more accessible, introduced uTorrent Web for the iPhone. The UK government released 10GB of data about public spending via BitTorrent to take advantage of its enormous efficiency.
Level 3 and Solid State Networks announced their support of UTV True Games featuring SSN's powerful game / game update software. Pando Networks was selected by GamersFirst to improve game download performance.
The DCIA presented CONTENT IN THE CLOUD at the 7th annual Digital Media Conference in Washington, DC.
Niklas Zennstrom's and Janus Friis' new cloud music start-up, Rdio, unveiled itself amidst a crowded market for Internet music. LimeWire announced plans to launch a feature-rich cloud-based subscription music service by year's end.
Nexit Ventures made a $5 million investment in Octoshape, a leader in high-quality Internet/mobile media delivery leveraging P2P technology. Libox launched a public beta of its software that lets users share an unlimited number of media files with an unlimited number of people.
The DCIA welcomed the timely establishment of the promising new Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG).
Swedish ISP TeliaSonera launched Spotify's P2P music streaming platform on TVs through its digital offerings in Sweden and Finland.
The DCIA urged Congress to revise the Telecommunications Act of 1996 rather than allow the FCC to reclassify broadband under Title II rules. The FCC voted 3-to-2 to commence a public comment period regarding its authority to regulate broadband Internet service. Commissioner Clyburn defended the FCC against strong criticisms from industry observers.
Dmitry Shapiro, the Founder and CEO of Veoh, joined MySpace Music as CTO. Attorney Fred von Lohmann left EFF to take a job as Google's senior copyright counsel.
EFF, Public Citizen, and ACLU asked a judge to quash USCG's mass subpoenas against allegedly unauthorized file sharers. 3 judges closed a 5-year infringement case in Spain against CVCDGO, arguing that file sharing was comparable to the "loan or sale of books." And finally, in June, a US federal judge dismissed Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube after a 3-year battle.
Next week's report will feature industry highlights from July through December. Share wisely, and take care.
Cloud Computing: Vibrant Growth for Global Start-Up Companies
Excerpted from Montreal Gazette Report
Technological advances enabling companies to significantly cut costs have led to strong global growth in startup activity, according to a US venture capital pioneer.
"In 40 years in the business, I've never seen such a vibrant start-up environment," said Alan Patricof, Founder and Managing Director of Greycroft.
"There's a lot of money around and there's an enormous increase in start-up activity," he said.
That is largely due to the practice of cloud computing - running computer programs from remote servers - which has eliminated many of the costs involved.
"Cloud computing eliminates capital expenditure so you can go global very quickly - you don't have to have extensive servers in every country," Mr. Patricof said.
As a result, "more firms are downsizing or coming up with a strategy of how to separate private equity, large investments from earlier investments for start-ups," he said.
The Promise and Pitfalls of Cloud Computing
Excerpted from TIME Magazine Report by Harry McCracken
Once upon a time, a few decades ago, computers were extraordinarily expensive, room-filling machines - the kind decked out with whirring tape reels, flashing lights, and banks of switches. You didn't pull up a chair up to use one; instead, using a process called timesharing, you accessed it via a remote terminal at the same time as a bunch of other folks.
The PC revolution changed all that, but only for a while. Today, we're all dependent on distant computers all over again - namely the phalanxes of potent servers that power the web. More and more, we're using browser-based services instead of traditional software, and storing documents, photos, and other data online rather than on our own hard disks. It's a red-hot trend known as cloud computing. (The "cloud" in "cloud computing," incidentally, is a pointless synonym for the perfectly good term "Internet." The only thing the tech industry adores more than an old buzzword is a new buzzword.)
Cloud computing doesn't need to prove its worth: You engage in it every time you post a status update to Facebook, upload a photo to Flickr, or check your inbox in Gmail. But the question is, is it ready to replace - rather than supplement - the old-school, PC-centric computing we know?
Google thinks so. And it's trying to hurry things along with a piece of software called Chrome OS. Based on the company's increasingly popular two-year-old Chrome Web browser (and distinctly different from its Android operating system), Chrome OS has emerged from the primordial browser ooze and sprouted stubby little operating-system legs - ones just muscular enough to let it boot up on its own. It's nowhere near as elaborate and feature-rich as Microsoft's Windows or Apple's OS X, but that's the point. Google wants to reduce or eliminate the headaches that come with full-scale personal computing, from maintenance hassles to security threats to data-destroying hard-disk meltdowns.
The original timetable had Chrome OS laptops going on sale for this holiday season. Google admits that the project turned out to be a more sizable challenge than it expected, so the first commercial systems - from Acer and Samsung - won't hit store shelves until the first half of 2011, at prices yet to be announced. In the meantime, Google has come up with the Cr-48, an unbranded test notebook running a rough draft of the new operating system. It's doling units out at no charge to selected interested parties in return for feedback.
The Chrome OS experience is nearly identical to using the Chrome browser (or, for that matter, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or any modern browser). Everything runs in full-screen mode, and there's no conventional desktop or folders. And while even the lowliest netbook can run Windows programs, there are no such things as Chrome OS applications: Google has launched something called the Chrome Web Store, but it's just a way to find and bookmark nifty websites and services, not a source of apps you can download and install.
In theory, all this should feel underpowered and dumbed-down. In practice, it can be surprisingly agreeable, like exchanging a creaky, aging car for a nimble, lightweight road bike. Chrome OS starts up in seconds and snaps out of suspend mode by the time you've fully lifted its lid. There's none of the white noise that degrades the PC experience - the operating system notifying you that it's downloading updates, the security software crowing that it's deflected an attack, the random other programs telling you things you don't really care to know.
If something does go catastrophically wrong with a Chrome OS system, it should be less, well, catastrophic. Your data and settings are stored safely on the web, not on a hard disk-in fact, there is no hard disk. You can get to them instantly on any Chrome OS computer simply by entering your Google user name and password, eliminating the risk of treasured family photos or videos going bye-bye because you failed to keep a backup. Upgrading from one Chrome machine to another should also be a snap: You won't need to figure out a way to transfer your programs and files.
Still, the time I've spent with a Cr-48 hasn't convinced me that pure cloud computing beats the blend of web services and PC-based software that most of us rely on. True, I spend around 80% of my time in the browser even when I'm on a Windows PC or a Mac. But some of the remaining 20% is among the most essential work I do. I'd be thrilled, for instance, if a free web suite such as Google's Google Docs or Zoho could completely replace Microsoft Office. For me, at least, they can't - serious number-crunching and presenting still call for full-bodied Excel and PowerPoint.
I fret even more about Chrome OS's dependence on a reliable Internet connection. Google uses the tagline "Nothing but the Web" to promote Chrome OS, but "Nothing without the Web" would be almost as appropriate. Except for certain services that retain limited functionality even when the Internet is unavailable, such as Google Docs, this operating system is designed for an era of truly pervasive Net access - not the real world where connectivity can be pricey, spotty, or just plain unavailable.
Google is doing what it can: Every Chrome computer will have a built-in wireless 3G modem as well as Wi-Fi capability, and the company is partnering up with Verizon Wireless to provide buyers with 100MB of free data access for the first two years. A hundred megs is just enough to get you hooked, though - if you need more, you'll pay anywhere from $9.99 for a day pass to $50 for up to 5GB of data per month. And it won't help in places where Verizon is unavailable, such as airplanes, for example, and several hotel ballrooms I've been trapped in recently.
Just to test my assumptions about what I could and couldn't live without, I took the Cr-48 with me on a long weekend. I was able to accomplish everything I absolutely needed to do, including writing last week's Technologizer column - in part because I stayed in a hotel with good Wi-Fi. But when I got home, my MacBook Air felt like an upgrade that delivered most of what I liked about the Cr-48, plus more.
Even if I have a tough time imagining myself recommending Chrome computers to typical consumers as soon as the first half of 2011, I'm glad that they exist. The very existence of Chrome OS should encourage the development of sophisticated next-generation Web services that are better able to replace traditional software. By 2012 or 2013, pure cloud computing could feel far more tenable than it does right now - and if it does, the experiment known as Cr-48 will deserve some of the credit.
China's Cloud Computing Industry Looks to Soar
Cloud computing, an emerging resource delivery and consumption model that has come along with the development of distributed computing, parallel processing, grid computing and other technologies, acquires software, hardware and service resources in the resource pool through Internet. At present, it is undoubtedly a significant focus in the global IT industry. Various countries and regions including the United States, Japan, and Europe are considering cloud computing as a field of key strategic development in the future, with considerable investments represented by US's Apps.gov and Nebula, UK's G-cloud, and Japan's Kasumigaseki Cloud in order to obtain a leading position in the 3rd wave of IT Revolution.
Under such circumstances, China is also active in developing its cloud computing industry. Hu Jintao, President of China, stated at the country's top academic conference in June, 2010, "The rapid development of Internet, cloud computing, Internet of things, knowledge services and intelligent services offers a powerful tool and a favorable environment for service innovations."
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the Notice on Cloud Computing Service Innovation Development Pilot Demonstration Work, which named Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Wuxi as the five pilot sites for cloud computing service innovation development demonstration work and further illustrated the state's general thoughts on and the strategic layout of the country's cloud computing development.
Inspired by the bright future of cloud computing, China's government bodies, manufacturers, users, media, and research institutions are paying close attention to the development cloud computing and engaged in accelerating the surge of the industry.
However, the rapid industrialization and development of China's cloud computing are facing setbacks including users' weak awareness, lack of standards, data ownership disputes, usability and stability concerns, user lock, and difficulty in service quality control. Among them, standards and security are the most urgent core issues that will be wings on which the industry can soar.
First, the wing of cloud standards is critical for cloud computing's take-off. Without standards, it will be difficult to regulate the development of the cloud computing industry and form a large-scale industrialized cluster. The standards not only include technical standards, but also service standards that cover all kinds of issues relating to the planning and design, system construction, operation and quality assurance of public, private and mixed cloud.
The formulation and maintenance of standards require active participation of all players on the industry chain, including the related government bodies, industry associations, scholars, third-party research institutions, cloud computing-related software, hardware and service providers, and final users. The extensive participation also ranges from pre-research, project selection, drafting, opinion collection, review, and release to implementation. Besides, the standards shall be implemented under supervision and be constantly revised in accordance with practical needs in order to ensure the healthy development of the industry.
As for cloud security, it is a key element that determines whether a cloud service could be accepted by users. Besides large-scale system failure concerning computing resources, cloud computing security risks also include the lack of unified security standards, applicable laws and regulations, as well as privacy protection, data sovereignty and migration, transmission security, and disaster backup issues.
The development of China's cloud computing industry requires in-depth research on data encryption, backup, and location control so as to ensure the accessibility, usability, stability, and security of cloud services. The resolution of security issues requires constant improvement of cloud computing-related laws and regulations regarding data privacy protection, data sovereignty, service agreement guarantee, and accreditation of service providers, which will lay a solid foundation for the development of the cloud computing industry, strengthen the users' confidence in cloud computing and make them willing to pay for the services. Only in this way could more cloud application service providers reap profits in cloud computing and achieve a virtuous cycle and sustainable development.
A Business Guide for Cloud Computing
Excerpted from Corporate Counsel Report by Rick Bortnick and Nicole Moody
Cloud computing is the storage of data on remote computer servers and the sharing and transmittal of such information by way of the Internet.
Use of the cloud enables both businesses and casual users to maintain as much or as little electronic data as they wish on a third party's mainframes without the need for or the expense of having to buy and maintain their own hardware systems.
The cloud's economic benefits are clear. Still, clouds can be a legal minefield for companies and their counsel. Data breaches, hosting of illegal content, and inaccessibility of critical business information are just a few examples of turbulent situations cloud users can face.
Given the risks and potential rewards of the cloud, all in-house counsel need to consider the following guidelines before entering into a cloud provider contract:
It is critical to identify your business needs to successfully negotiate an appropriate cloud computing contract. First, consider whether the contract should be tailored, as opposed to being a standard boilerplate form. If you want to have routine, non-sensitive data serviced, it often makes sense to accept a standard, less onerous form of agreement, provided the indemnities and protections are appropriate.
Alternatively, if your business involves proprietary, confidential, or regulated information or data of any sort, you must consider the potential serious legal implications of using cloud storage. You also will need to ensure that the necessary protections exist before signing on the dotted line.
As a preliminary note, negotiations may be difficult if the bargaining power skews in favor of a cloud service provider. But in most cases, it does not.
Indeed, there are a myriad of cloud service providers available, affording the potential client greater leverage and bargaining power than the service provider. This advantage should not be ignored. So be steadfast in negotiations with respect to the storage and protection of your own (or your clients') business data and personally identifiable information.
Insist on a number of key contract provisions to manage the everyday risks associated with entering confidential business and personal data into the cloud.
As a threshold, you should require the service provider to maintain the utmost confidentiality of your information and be transparent with respect to its security policies and procedures in order to ensure data integrity, availability and confidentiality.
In this regard, insist on the same from the service provider's subcontractors and others with access to the cloud so that you are notified if and when third parties are afforded access to your business and personal data. In addition, a provision should be included confirming that you are the sole owner of the stored data and identifying the limitations on the scope of the services to be provided under the cloud vendor agreement.
Other key terms to be considered are ones which:
(1) establish protocols dictating how and when the service provider must respond to a security breach incident, including one or more provisions requiring the service provider to immediately inform you of a breach, assist you with the investigation, containment and mitigation of the breach, and allow you to conduct your own investigation;
(2) set forth how and when the service provider must respond to legal process such as complaints, subpoenas or other requests for your clients' data, including requiring that the service provider notify the affected client(s), preferably within hours, of such developments;
(3) afford full transparency with respect to the service provider's data retention and destruction policies, coupled with a mandate enabling you to create your own data retention and preservation programs (for both data and meta-data);
(4) provide you with an efficient means of authenticating data to ensure that no information has been modified, changed or corrupted; and
(5) require limitations on the service provider's right to move data within the cloud from one jurisdiction to another to avoid application of multi-jurisdictional rules and regulations.
Finally, and perhaps just as important as the provisions governing the confidentiality and security of your data, a cloud contract should include an indemnification agreement protecting and holding you harmless if the confidentiality, security or other key provisions are breached by the service provider, its subcontractors or others.
Such an indemnity agreement ensures that you are defended and compensated for any claims resulting from the provider's or its agents' acts, errors or omissions, including with respect to confidential data, intellectual property, and otherwise.
For example, in the city of Los Angeles' service contract with Google, Los Angeles is entitled to a minimum of $10,000 if its data is compromised. The city also has the power to seek unlimited damages if it determines that the breach was egregious. Such monetary damages will help remediate any loss or penalties incurred by the city as a result of the breach.
Identifying the threats facing cloud service providers will not only help you more successfully negotiate the contractual provisions noted above, but also enable you to make an informed decision when selecting a service provider.
Make sure that your provider has strong security procedures and controls in place to thwart daily (and oftentimes real) threats of accidental and malicious attempts to breach weak or insecure interfaces.
Specifically, a cloud's registration process can allow anyone with a credit card (or technical savvy) to instantly gain cloud entry and corrupt it with viruses, Trojan horses and the like. Confirm that the cloud service provider continually enhances and upgrades its initial registration procedures system and proactively monitors the cloud to detect unauthorized and oftentimes dangerous activity.
The provider also should set up a firewall at each network location and between each security zone within the cloud.
Firewall configuration should deny access to non-trustworthy sources, avoid vendor-supplied defaults for passwords, restrict access from systems that have direct external connections and those which contain confidential data, and so on. Among other tools, data protection can be provided through the use of encryption keys.
In short, a cloud computing contract must contain well-tailored provisions to protect your business, reputation, and assets at all turns.
Armed with an appropriately structured contract and a vigilant provider, you, as an actual or prospective cloud user, will be able to effectively benefit from the cloud's infrastructure and maximize its unrivaled and cost-effective level of efficiency without adding to the risks faced by your company.
Google TV Hits Mute Button
Excerpted from Around the Net in Online Media Report
From Sharp to LG, top TV makers were planning to unveil Google TV-enabled devices at The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month. In light of poor reviews, however, Google has reportedly asked that they keep quiet for now.
"The late request caught some of the manufacturers off guard," reports The New York Times. "And it illustrates the struggles Google faces as it tries to expand into the tricky, unfamiliar realm of consumer electronics, and drum up broad interest in a Web-based TV product that consumers want."
"Conventional wisdom on Google TV: Not ready for prime time," notes MediaMemo, adding: "Google apparently agrees."
"The search giant is re-tooling the software to address the concerns of reviewers and early adopters citing the complexity of the software, its inconsistent interface, and the lack of top content as problems with adoption," writes Fortune, joking: "Surprisingly, people don't want to use a full-size keyboard as a remote in the living room."
"Google TV was supposed to be one of the stars of the show at the Consumer Electronics Show next month in Las Vegas," writes VentureBeat. "But the star just got the hook."
Another minor issue with Google TV, as eWeek notes, is that "Google has also found its service blocked from accessing websites from CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox as the networks were leery of allowing Google to server their content for free."
Meanwhile, analysts tell The Times that Google's sudden change of plans reflects a weakness in the company's business culture around managing relationships with partners. "Google as a company is not a particularly partner-friendly or partner-focused company," says Forrester's James McQuivey.
FCC Angers Everyone with Net Neutrality Rules
Excerpted from Around the Net in Online Media Report
In what seemed like a win for net neutrality supporters, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday adopted new rules to govern how Internet providers treat web traffic and services.
On both sides of the debate, however, many are unhappy with the development. "Some people are decrying the new rules as backward (including Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell), warning that they'll 'inhibit innovation and investment,'" writes Search Engine Land.
"Many consumer advocates, however, believe the opposite that they don't offer sufficient consumer protection and are too friendly to corporations."
Under the headline, "Net Neutrality Passes, Immediately Pisses Everyone Off," Gawker writes that the new rules discouraging Internet access providers from charging websites for favorable treatment are, in fact, "a terrible surrender to big business, or alternatively a communist plot."
Indeed, "The rules will give government, for the first time, a substantive role in how the Internet will be operated and managed, how broadband services will be priced and structured, and potentially how broadband networks will be financed," Republican and FCC commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker writes in The Washington Post.
"By replacing market forces and technological solutions with bureaucratic oversight, we may see an Internet future not quite as bright as we need, with less investment, less innovation and more congestion."
What's more, according to Verizon: "This assertion of authority without solid statutory underpinnings will yield continued uncertainty for industry, innovators, and investors." Yet, broadband carriers like Verizon, and Republicans like McDowell and Attwell, aren't the only ones pouting.
"More surprising were the howls of dissatisfaction coming from net neutrality's backers," Ars Technica writes. "Didn't they just get what they wanted?"
Apparently not. "Despite promising to fulfill President Obama's campaign promise of enacting network neutrality rules to protect an open Internet, the FCC has instead prioritized the profits of corporations like AT&T over those of the general public, Internet entrepreneurs, and local businesses across the country," Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation said Tuesday.
"These failures place the Internet in peril of evolving into a system that will more and more resemble another cable network."
Hutchison Moves to Block Funds for FCC on Neutrality Rules
Excerpted from Washington Post Report by Cecilia Kang
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), ranking member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee filed an amendment to an appropriations bill aimed at preventing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from adopting net neutrality regulation.
Hutchison's amendment, co-signed by John Ensign (R-NV) and six other Republican lawmakers, would "prohibit the FCC from using any appropriated funds to adopt, implement or otherwise litigate any network neutrality based rules, protocols or standards."
An FCC spokeswoman declined comment on the amendment.
The legislation comes from an emboldened Republican party that has taken the majority in House. They have promised to repeal regulations such as open-Internet rules that they say would harm the communications industry's growth and ability to create jobs.
The FCC's five commissioners are deliberating draft rules proposed by Chairman Julius Genachowski that would prevent Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking access to websites or favoring the access to some content over others.
Hutchison's amendment is to a bill for military and veterans construction projects.
Coming Events of Interest
LA Mobile Entertainment Summit - December 7th-8th in Los Angeles, CA. This event is brought to you by the producers of the widely acclaimed 3D Entertainment Summit, this high level strategy and networking event will explore all facets of the mobile entertainment industry.
International CES - January 6th-9th in Las Vegas, NV. With more than four decades of success, the International CES reaches across global markets, connects the industry, and enables consumer electronics (CE) innovations to grow and thrive. The International CES is the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow featuring 2,700 exhibitors.
CONTENT IN THE CLOUD - January 7th in Las Vegas, NV. The DCIA's Conference within CES explores this cutting-edge technology that promises to revolutionize entertainment delivery. Six keynotes and three panel discussions focus on cloud-delivered content and its impact on consumers, the media, telecom industries, and consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers.
Global Services Conference 2011 - January 27th in New York, NY. Cloud computing has implications not only for IT services but also for business processing; cloud-based delivery models present a discontinuous and disruptive shift that will redefine how IT and BPO services are delivered. The conference will present actionable propositions to leverage cloud-based models.
Cloud Connect Conference - March 8th-10th in Santa Clara. CA. Learn about all the latest cloud computing innovations in the Cloud Connect Conference -- designed to serve the needs of cloud customers and operators - where you will see the latest cloud technologies and platforms and identify opportunities in the cloud.
Media Summit New York- March 9th-10th in New York, NY. This event is the premier international conference on media, broadband, advertising, television, publishing, cable, mobile, radio, magazines, news & print media, and marketing.
1st International Conference on Cloud Computing - May 7th-9th in Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. This first-ever event focuses on the emerging area of cloud computing, inspired by some latest advances that concern the infrastructure, operations, and available services through the global network.
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