March 28, 2011
Volume XXXIV, Issue 7
What's New at NAB?
Excerpted from TV Technology Report by John Merli
Call it pie-in-the-sky or maybe just having your head in the clouds, but either way, it's a new attraction coming to the NAB Show for its 2011 edition. CONTENT IN THE CLOUD is a confab that aims to take full advantage of one of the Internet's most innovative (and out-of-sight) storage solutions: cloud computing. It's set for Monday, April 11th.
"It's among several new conferences added to our line-up this year," said NAB Science & Technology Vice President John Marino. "'CONTENT IN THE CLOUD' is a mini-conference that will address the ways cloud computing can benefit broadcasters and others in the realm of digital media." In cloud computing, software and data storage are shared (with permission) online-not on a computer hard disc or other physical means. Marino said the mini-meet will answer participants' questions on digital security, privacy and the overall reliability of cloud computing.
Marty Lafferty, CEO of the Distributing Computing Industry Association (DCIA), said the event will "explore emerging technologies that promise to expand the possibilities of digital post-production and distribution-while also threatening the status quo." Lafferty said for NAB Show attendees with IPTV or online delivery in their future, the mini-conference will feature eight keynotes and four panel discussions examining cloud content delivery and its impact on consumers, TV manufacturers, and the media.
"Cloud-based distribution can affect the user's fundamental ability to access broadcast and cable signal streams and to own virtual copies of television programs and motion pictures," Lafferty said. Featured keynotes include Scott Brown of Octoshape; Jonathan King of Joyent; and Anne-Carole Nourisson of Vivendi Mobile Entertainment.
Chris Brown, NAB's Executive Vice President for Conventions & Business Operations, has overseen the machinations of the massive industry confab since 1999. He said show planners and outside experts are continually seeking to assess what's going on across myriad related industries in helping assemble each spring's convention. "We try to leave as much flexibility as possible in the process," Brown said. "The NAB Show is a balancing act, and we always try to come at issues and events from several angles, where possible."
Another new NAB attraction will be the Telepresence Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 12th-13th. "This will look at what lies ahead for the future of telepresence and how it's currently being implemented in a variety of industries," said Marino, who has rarely missed a spring show in 35 years. "Part of the fascination will include how we humans interact with the virtual environments offered by telepresence." Also, major exhibitors on the show floor exhibiting telepresence gear will include Cisco/Tandberg, Polycom, Tata, HP, Teliris, BT, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, Verizon, Orange, Huawei, Telstra and Lifesize. Telepresence technology has been prominently featured this TV season within such primetime broadcast series as "NCIS" and "30 Rock."
Another new event-"Media Business Conference: Content in the Digital Age" - is being produced by Digital Media Wire. Its CEO/publisher, Ned Sherman, said the inclusion of the confab "makes perfect sense this year, particularly with all the developments at the intersection of broadcasting and technology. It brings together the best of both worlds - technology and content-for a day of discussions focused on monetizing that content in the digital age." The meet is set for Wednesday, April 13th.
"Master Class in 3D Filmmaking" on Tuesday, April 12th, is being described as a "Practicum" to include live demos, and will feature Buzz Hays of Sony and Steve Schklair of 3ality Digital. Also, a new three-day addition (April 11th-13th), "Content Conference: Creating Entertainment for the Big and Small Screen," will feature "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer; Gretchen Libby of Industrial Light and Magic; Cinematographer Rodney Charters of "24"; and Mark Herman, visual effects editor for "Resident Evil."
The Telecom Access Networks Conference and Pavilion also are new in 2011. "For the first time, NAB is specifically targeting independent telco operators seeking to expand their technology and business models into offering video services," said Dr. Richard Ducey, CSO for BIA/Kelsey in Chantilly, VA. The conference is set for Monday and Tuesday, April 11th and 12th. "These new venues will provide a deep focus on networking and related technologies and business models driving infrastructure build-out for tiers 2 and 3 operators and their ecosystems." Ducey said Zhone Technologies CTO Eric Presworsky will keynote on "where this industry needs to go over the next 25 years."
Finally, John David Ware says have faith that a new summit examining religious themes and film will also grace this year's show. Ware will moderate the event as founder of 168 Film Project. He said the all-day "Film 'N' Faith Summit" on Sunday, April 10th, is "designed to allow creators to better satisfy the growing demand for faith and family content." He said far more easily accessible low-cost digital production tools have resulted in a lot of experimentation in this genre worldwide.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 As a proud partner of the 2011 NAB Show, the DCIA is pleased to extend this special offer to DCINFO readers. Register today with code TF26 and save $100 on SMART Pass or Conference Flex Pass.
Our very exciting CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Conference is scheduled to take place on Monday April 11th at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) in Las Vegas, NV as part of the NAB Show.
We urge you to make plans now to attend so that you'll be able to explore this rapidly emerging technology that promises to expand the possibilities for realizing the full potential of digital post-production and distribution.
If IPTV or online delivery is in your current or future operating plans, you won't want to miss these eight keynotes and four panel discussions focused on cloud-delivered content and its impact on consumers, television manufacturers, telecom industries, and the media.
Anne-Carole Nourisson, VP of Licensing, Vivendi Mobile Entertainment (VME), will offer our opening keynote address, "Vision for Content in the Cloud." VME is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Vivendi Group, created 3 years ago, and now operating a direct-to-consumer (D2C) digital cloud entertainment service, by subscription, in France and Germany. Under the brand name zaoza, VME provides a selection of music, games, films, and TV series to its subscribers by means of cloud-based delivery.
Anne-Carole's professional background is in international marketing and sales for major brands, including media and entertainment companies, in the off-, on-line, and mobile worlds. She started her marketing career at Unilever, then joined Seagram for Tropicana European HQ division, then UK & Ireland marketing manager before moving into the entertainment industry as Marketing Director of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment France. She joined the Internet division of Vivendi Universal in 2000.
Jostein Svendsen, CEO, Creaza Videocloud will present our second keynote, "Cloud Vision vs. Technical Reality." Creaza will launch its new cloud-based video service at NAB for the mass market, and for all media sectors. During CONTENT IN THE CLOUD, Jostein will conduct a live demonstration where participants can record and upload videos to a private Videocloud. Jostein will then edit and publish live to the cloud in front of the audience - all of this from within a standard web browser.
Jostein is a true entrepreneur, having established several successful information technology (IT) companies in the last 15 years. He has an extensive background within the high-tech industry in Scandinavia, the US, UK, and UAE. He was the founder of two of Norway's leading multimedia and Internet companies - which later had successful listings on the Stockholm stock market. One of them grew to become one of the largest Internet development agencies with 2,000 employees worldwide.
Our first panel discussion, "The Impact on Consumers of Implementing Cloud Computing for Media Delivery" will feature Stefan Bewley, Director, Altman Vilandrie & Company; Kshitij Kumar, SVP, Mobile Video, Concurrent; Mike West, CTO, GenosTV; Tom Mulally, Principal Analyst, Numagic; Guillermo Chialvo, Gerente de Tecnologia, Radio Mitre; Bill Kallman, President & CEO, Scayl; Jonathan Sasse, SVP of Sales & Marketing, Slacker; and Kathleen Sullivan, CMO, Verizon Digital Media Services.
Our third keynote, "Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content for Consumers: Ubiquity, Cost, Portability Improvements," will be offered by Claude Tolbert, VP, Business Development, BitTorrent.
Claude brings a record of strategy creation and implementation from his work with The Boston Consulting Group and spent nearly a decade in telecommunications and technology with Covad Communications. His responsibilities have included negotiating strategic distribution agreements, M&A transactions, and product development partnerships. Claude received his Bachelor's Degree from Harvard College and earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Our fourth keynote, "Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content for Consumers: Privacy, Reliability, Security Issues," will be presented by Jim Burger, Member, Dow Lohnes.
Jim specializes in the representation of technology companies on intellectual property (IP), communications, and government policy matters. He joined the firm's Media, Information and Technologies Group in January, 1997. Before Dow Lohnes, Jim was a Senior Director in Apple Computer's Law Department. He has worked extensively on legal and policy issues arising from the confluence of digital technology, communications, IP protection and government regulation, particularly as affecting digital content, DTV, wireless data, and the Internet.
Our second panel discussion, "The Impact of Cloud Computing on the Consumer Electronics and Telecommunications Industries," will feature Stephen Condon, Director of Market Development, AT&T; Dan Holden, Chief Scientist, Comcast Media Center; Sean Barger, CEO, Equilibrium; Dan Schnapp, Chair, New Media, Ent. & Tech., Hughes Hubbard; Devon Ferreira, Co-Founder, Patriot Digital; Mark Vrieling, CEO, ScreenPlay; Kurt Smith, VP, Sales, Verizon Digital Media Services; and Sean Jennings, VP, Solutions Architecture, Virtustream.
Our fifth keynote, "Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content to the Consumer Electronics and Telecommunications Industries: Advanced Capabilities, New Features, Cost Advantages," will be offered by Jonathan King, SVP, Business Development, Joyent.
Jonathan leads teams responsible for service provider sales and hardware, software, and system integration alliances. Before Joyent, he was a Client Partner Director with Verizon Business Global Solutions; and before that, led Alliance Development for Totality, a company acquired by Verizon. Jonathan holds a JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and is pursuing an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from Washington University.
Our sixth keynote, "Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content for Consumer Electronics and Telecommunications Industries: Infrastructure, Disruption, Accountability Issues," will be presented by James Capps, VP, Systems Engineering & Integrated Technology, Comcast.
Jim oversees a department of over 50 employees and contractors responsible for the innovation and development of products and services for the Comcast Media Center (CMC), its parent company Comcast, and its customers, who include cable MSOs, television programming networks, and other members of the content development and distribution community. His department's most recent activities include developing a Headend Management System (HMS) that enables affiliates to offer advanced services using their existing NAS equipment.
Our third panel, "The Impact on Broadcasters of Cloud Computing Deployment," will feature Scott Ryan, CEO, Asankya; Alexander Marquez, Director, Intel Capital; Devon Copley, Managing Director, Kaltura; Peter Forman, CEO, Kulabyte; Alex Castro, VP & GM, Video Platform Solutions, Limelight Networks; Guy de Beer, CEO, Playcast; David Dudas, VP of Video Solutions, Sorenson Media; and AJ McGowan, CTO, Unicorn Media.
Our seventh keynote, "Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content to Broadcasters: Efficiency, Control, Flexibility Improvements," will be offered by John Griffin, Director of Connected Electronics, Dolby Laboratories.
As leader of Dolby's connected electronics business, John oversees the management and marketing of Dolby's consumer electronics (CE) product portfolio. He works with a wide range of Dolby customers and partners on home theatre, online, Blu-ray, and connected entertainment products and services. Previously, John served as Dolby's Director of Games marketing. John earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Our eighth keynote, "Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content to Broadcasters: Interoperability, Data Security, Quality of Service (QoS)," will be presented by Scott Brown, GM US, VP Strategic Relations, Octoshape.
Scott joined Octoshape in January of 2009. Prior to this, he ran Content Delivery Services and Media Technology Strategy for Turner Broadcasting. Scott spent 11 years at Turner Broadcasting and AOL focused on media infrastructure development, and high-scale media delivery on the Internet. He holds several streaming media technology patents, and has architected streaming solutions for the largest events on the Internet to date including the coverage of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration with 1.34 MM simultaneous users.
Our closing panel discussion, "The Years Ahead for Cloud Computing Deployment in the Television and Motion Picture Industries," will feature Chuck Stormon, CEO, Attend; Christopher Levy, CEO, BuyDRM; Les Ottolenghi, CEO & Founder, Fuzebox; Geng Lin, CTO, IBM - Cisco Systems Alliance; Randy Simpson, Director, Institute for Defense Analyses; Ramki Sankaranarayanan, CEO, Prime Focus Technologies; Ian Donahue, Co-Founder, RedThorne Media; and Stuart Elby, Verizon Digital Media Services .
The DCIA is also very pleased that Kulabyte will be sponsoring our first-ever CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Conference at NAB. Kulabyte's newest offering, Hyperstream, will debut at NAB as the world's first live cloud-based video transcoding service, capable of transforming a single live video origin stream into all of the many formats and data rates required to distribute video via the Internet to every screen regardless of device, player, screen format, or last mile bandwidth. Kulabyte will be exhibiting in SL10211 at the show.
If you haven't already done so, please register now for the NAB Show so you'll be able to attend CONTENT IN THE CLOUD. Share wisely, and take care.
Market Value of US Broadcast Storage to Reach $368 Million in 2015
Broadcast storage is undergoing a period of dramatic change, as TV stations move to file-based workflows and network play-out centers move to HD and 3D services. US broadcasters are set to launch local mobile DTV services, and all content needs to be repurposed for new devices like iPads, tablets, and smart-phones. All of this will help push the market for US broadcast storage and news production systems to an annual value of $368 million during 2015, according to new In-Stat research.
"The nature of professionally-produced television is undergoing fundamental changes. Multiscreen content delivery networks (CDNs) and services will eventually push a great deal of professional content into 'the cloud'," says Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst. "Even for local TV stations that produce their own talk shows, news, sports, advertising, and specialty programming, the changes in consumer behavior require that content at least have 'hooks' and 'triggers' up in 'the cloud' to permit the maximum value of professional content to be realized as it flows through an ever-widening pool of delivery services."
Recent research by In-Stat includes the following: Producing content for multiscreen requires the following resolutions and CODEC support, which is creating an exponentially growing storage problems: multiple resolutions including 416x240, 832x480, 1920x1080p, 1920x1080i, 128-x720p, 1920x1080p, 1280x720p, and others; and multiple CODEC support including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-4 SVC, Adobe FLASH, Adobe OpenScreen, Adobe Adaptive Streaming, Microsoft Silverlight with Smooth Streaming, DiVX, and Google VP8.
The research explores six traditional storage silos of the video workflow, which include content production, ingest for local use, management for active use, staging for immediate use, staging for distribution, and archiving for permanent storage, are being consolidated. In addition, news production equipment is showing gradual sustained growth.
The research, US Broadcast Storage: Enabling the Digital Media Workflow, covers how the requirements of multiscreen CDNs and services will eventually push a great deal of professional content into "the cloud" and includes: value estimates for six silos of broadcast storage in four market segments; segmentation for Top 20 DMAs, 21-100 DMAs, 100+ DMAs and network play out centers; coverage of news production systems in all four market segments; and in-depth discussion of video consumption trends.
Companies mentioned include AMWA, ABC, Adobe, Advanced Media Workflow Association, Alcatel-Lucent, Amazon Web Services, AMD, BBC, Broadcom, Broadcast International, CBS, Cisco Systems, Comcast, EMC, ESPN, Google, Harmonic, Hitachi, HP, Hulu.com, IBM, Intel, Irdeto, KT, LSI Corporation, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Motorola Medios, National Association of Broadcasters, National Football League, NBA, NBC Universal, News Corp., Nvidia, Omneon, Open Mobile Video Coalition, PGA, Quantum, RIM, SGL, Silverlight, Syniverse Technologies, Texas Instruments, The Golf Channel, thePlatform, Time Warner, TiVo, Trident Microsystems, Viacom, Walt Disney, YouTube, YouView, Zoran, Apple, Avid, Korea Telecom, National Hockey League, STMicroelectronics, and Windows Media.
For a free sample of the report and more information, please contact Elaine Potter at 480-483-4441.
Cloud Computing: Amazon AWS Accelerates
Excerpted from Formtek Blog Report by Dick Weisinger
Every time you hit a webpage on the Internet, there is a request-response loop that flows between the request made from your browser to the host server of the site you are hitting which returns a packet of data in a response. It's a simple model. Some statistics from Compuware's Gomez web-performance division found that the response you see rendered as a page in your browser is much more complex.
Gomez published what they are calling a "Data Point" fact where they found that the average Internet transaction actually involves 8.87 servers. That's an interesting statistic that points to how interconnected networks and the Internet really have become. While the browser initiates a request with a single host server, that host server will interact with other servers to create an aggregated response that is sent back to the browser.
What is even more interesting in the data collected by Gomez is the fact that 19% of all Internet transactions that are made involve access to Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud Service (EC2) to retrieve at least one element of data that is included in the server response. That's an amazingly high total of total web transactions for Amazon to be involved in.
Imad Mouline, Chief Technology Officer of Gomez, commented on this statistic saying that, "today's composite websites are a complex mix of content and services delivered from the data center and from other sources outside your firewall. The average web user transaction involves more than eight different third parties or hosts. The browser is responsible for assembling all of these components and presenting the user experience."
Amazon's online store is well-known, and that reputation overshadows the hold and positioning that Amazon has within the cloud marketplace. Amazon's cloud is now virtually (no pun intended) everywhere. Amazon's EC2 has become the de facto starting point for many start-ups today. AWS makes it very cheap for any company to get started using the cloud, and AWS provides users with an easy and flexible ability to scale up or down the number of virtual servers that are used. The grip that Amazon has on the public cloud appears to be global.
Not only is Amazon a top choice by US companies for hosting their data, Amazon also has a big presence in places like India and Ireland. Amazon has gone, for example, from almost no presence in Ireland in early 2009 to hosting the largest number of secure websites in Ireland. Nearly one-third of all Irish secure websites now use Amazon AWS, based on data from NetCraft. To push further into Europe, Amazon has recently purchased a huge facility in Dublin that it will be converting into a datacenter.
HP to Offer Cloud Computing Platform
Excerpted from Los Angeles Times Report by Shan Li
Hewlett-Packard is getting into the cloud-computing business and taking on competitors Amazon and Google.
The technology giant announced plans Monday to announce a portfolio of cloud computing capabilities from infrastructure to platform services, the company said.
As part of that push, HP plans to deliver an "open cloud marketplace" in which developers can create applications for consumers and businesses.
"We see clearly a world in which the impact of cloud and connectivity is changing not only the user experience, but how individuals, small businesses, and enterprises will consume, deploy and leverage information technology (IT)," said chief executive Leo Apotheker.
After purchasing smart-phone maker Palm and its WebOS last year, HP also announced plans this week to expand and put its WebOS into a broader range of products, ramping up its presence in the gadget world by delivering 100 million devices a year.
This is the first time Apotheker has publicly announced his strategy for HP since taking the helm from Mark Hurd, who is credited with rebuilding the technology giant into the world's largest computer maker and resigned last August after allegations of sexual harassment and falsifying expense reports.
No date was set for the launch. It remains to be seen whether HP can lure software developers to the new platform with a bevy of other competitors such as Google and Amazon already present.
GSA: Cloud Computing Is Easy, Safe, Inexpensive
Excerpted from InformationWeek Report by Elizabeth Montallbano
Moving to the cloud is easier, more cost-effective, and safer than many federal IT pros realize, according to the Assistant Commissioner of the General Services Administration (GSA).
In light of the federal mandate for agencies to embrace cloud computing, GSA's Mary Davie tried to debunk some of the myths about cloud computing in a blog post.
TechWeb's Gina Smith is at CES 2011 and caught up with Nike who, in partnership with TomTom, launched a GPS-enable watch at the show.
The Office of Management and Budget has taken "an aggressive stance on the cloud," she wrote. "We're all on the hook to move three systems to the cloud by 2012. I'm here to tell you that it can be done intelligently and securely."
GSA, provides technology products and services to federal agencies, has begun offering software as a service through its Apps.gov portal. In October, the agency announced that it would "soon" begin offering infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) through Apps.gov and named 20 vendors that had been approved to offer those services.
Now, nearly six months later, GSA has yet to offer IaaS via Apps.gov. In the blog post, Davie writes that blankets purchase agreements for IaaS and e-mail as a service will be ready soon. "These vehicles will make it easier for our customers to compare services and acquire what they need from the cloud," she said.
Davie addressed what she described as four "cloud computing myths:" that clouds can be "anything"; that public clouds aren't secure; that agencies lose control of their data in the cloud; and that moving to the cloud is difficult to do.
All of these challenges can be overcome, she argued. For one thing, there are baseline characteristics for cloud architecture, and not all clouds are created equal, Davie said.
Moreover, while public clouds are not inherently secure, agencies can customize the controls to lock down data and applications in the cloud. They should weigh carefully what they choose to put in the cloud, as not everything is suitable for a cloud environment, she said.
Agencies can demand strict service level agreements to ensure they maintain control over data and applications and aren't being taken advantage of by cloud service providers, Davie said.
Davie acknowledged that it can be difficult to move systems to the cloud if a measured approach isn't taken. She recommended that agencies use a phased process on a "time line that makes sense."
"If an agency is facing a technology transition that requires a large capital investment, say in hardware, then making that technology transition may be easier and faster in the cloud," Davie wrote.
But Davie also urged caution. "Every time you move data or applications, there is risk," she wrote.
Apple's Cloud-Based Music Service May Debut in April
Excerpted for Radio-Info Report
Hypebot says the long-expected service might cost $20 a month, and allow users to store all their music and other content in "the cloud", so it would be available to the user on any mobile device.
Hypebot says the much-rumored debut from Apple "places pressure on Slacker to get their on-demand service to market, and for Spotify to finalize their US deals" with record labels.
Spotify is popular in the UK and Europe, but is still lining up its supply deals for the US market. Historically, Americans have been slow to adopt the cloud-based approach, preferring to store music on their own devices.
In Hindsight: A Tragedy in Japan, and a Connected Tech Economy
Excerpted from San Jose Mercury News Report by Frank Russell
On Monday, Leo Apotheker - the new CEO of Palo Alto tech pioneer Hewlett-Packard - detailed his strategy for the company, offering a heavy emphasis on "cloud computing."
"We see clearly a world in which the impact of cloud and connectivity is changing not only the user experience, but how individuals, small businesses and enterprises will consume, deploy and leverage information technology (IT)," Apotheker said.
"HP is well-positioned to be the trusted leader in addressing this opportunity." Apotheker also said HP would include its webOS operating system (acquired in last year's purchase of Sunnyvale handheld computing pioneer Palm) in numerous devices - including personal computers (PCs) that also run Microsoft's Windows software.
On Tuesday, four days after a deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as a nuclear crisis intensified, investors also began to worry about the disaster's effects on a struggling global economy. In Japan, the Nikkei index plunged more than 10%. Analysts said the disaster could disrupt production of automobiles and tech goods such as semiconductors and consumer electronics. Yahoo shares fell nearly 6%; the Sunnyvale Internet giant pulls in much of its earnings from its venture in Japan with wireless carrier SoftBank.
in the US, tech stocks dropped sharply throughout most of the trading day, but recovered somewhat after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues promised to stay on course with their plans to bolster the economy. While keeping its key short-term interest rate near zero, the Fed promised to watch climbing food and energy costs to make sure they don't lead to widespread inflation.
The economy "is on a firmer footing" as "household spending and business investment in equipment and software continue to expand," the Fed concluded, while noting that unemployment remains high.
On Wednesday, US stocks plunged for the second day in a row. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index and the Dow Jones industrial average (home to Silicon Valley blue chips Intel, Cisco Systems and HP) both fell about 2%.
On Thursday, Silicon Valley's real estate market showed continued weakness in February, DataQuick Information Systems reported. The number of houses that changed hands in the Valley of Heart's Delight was nearly flat compared with a year earlier. At $495,000, the median price in Santa Clara County dropped 3% from February 2010. Condo sales climbed 23.4, but the median price dropped 7.8% to $290,500.
Throughout the Bay Area, existing-house sales were down 0.1% and the median price dropped 4.1% to $355,000. Distress sales - foreclosures or "short sales" for less than the value of the mortgage on a home - were more than half of transactions. Cash purchases accounted for 30.9% of Bay Area homes sold, the highest level since DataQuick began keeping track of the market in 1988. While January and February don't always signal the market's direction for the rest of the year, DataQuick President John Walsh noted that "sales over the past two months certainly underscore the market's reliance on investor and cash purchases at a time many potential buyers hesitated to act."
On Friday, Netflix - in a first for the Los Gatos online DVD-by-mail pioneer turned Internet streaming destination - signed an exclusive deal for rights to a new TV series from David Fincher, director of "The Social Network" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Fincher and Media Rights Capital, an independent studio, will provide 26 episodes of "House of Cards," a political thriller starring Kevin Spacey that will debut on Netflix's instant streaming service. Financial terms weren't disclosed. "House of Cards" will be based on a novel and BBC miniseries of the same title. Production of the US version is expected to begin in 2012.
San Jose network-equipment behemoth Cisco Systems, meanwhile, declared its first-ever dividend. It will pay 6 cents a share next month to stockholders on record as of March 31st. Cisco joins such dividend-paying tech titans as HP, Intel, and Microsoft.
Speaking of tech stocks, the Nasdaq edged 0.3% higher on the last trading day of a chaotic week. The Dow gained 0.7%. For the week as a whole, however, the Dow dropped 1.5% and the Nasdaq plunged 2.6%.
EU Puts Standardization at Forefront of Cloud Computing
Excerpted from PCWorld by Jennifer Baker
The head of the European Commission's digital agenda has put interoperability and standards at the forefront of the cloud computing agenda.
"Users must be able to change their cloud provider as fast and easily as changing one's Internet or mobile-phone provider has become in many places," said Commissioner Neelie Kroes at the launch of Microsoft's cloud computing center in Brussels on Tuesday. "Interoperability is essential for the cloud to be fair, open and competitive.
"International standardization efforts will have a huge impact on cloud computing. Open specifications are a key in creating competitive and flourishing markets that deliver what customers need," she added.
This echoes some of the concerns of industry. "Migration is the biggest obstacle to be overcome in cloud computing," said Jan Wildeboer, Red Hat evangelist, on Wednesday. "Although 80 percent of current cloud offerings are based on open source, if your data is in the cloud, is it still your data?"
Although various cloud certification programs and benchmarks have been launched, there is still no de facto standard for moving workloads or data among different clouds. This difficulty can amount to an effective lock-in, undermining the very flexibility that makes cloud computing so appealing.
The Commission, the European Union's executive and regulatory body, has recognized this and is taking steps to get the major stakeholders involved with a consultation to be launched in the coming months. "It is going to take partnership between industry and government, and European leadership," said Kroes, while acknowledging that the "Holy Grail" is a global solution.
With international IT giants such as Dell, Citrix and Amazon all looking for a slice of the cake, consensus could prove difficult. But imposing standards only on a European Union level is unlikely to be effective given the distributed nature of the cloud.
Formal consultations on European cloud computing will take place in Brussels on May 23, as well as online. The feedback from these consultations will form the basis of the Commission's strategy on cloud computing.
Indian Organizations Favor Private and Hybrid Clouds
Excerpted from InformationWeek Report
EMC Corporation recently announced the results of an IDC White Paper sponsored by EMC: Hybrid Cloud on the Rise: A Key Strategy to Business Growth in Asia Pacific.
The study revealed that today 53% of organizations surveyed in Asia Pacific are already currently using some form of cloud, or actively researching and testing cloud services, while the remaining 47% of organizations have plans to adopt private and/or public cloud services at some point in the next 12 months. At an India level, while 14% of India organizations said they were currently using cloud computing, 76% plan to use cloud computing at least after six months.
In India, the most common cited response to adopt cloud computing was the need to effectively use IT assets (60%). India was also striking in that it had the highest response rate (and well above other countries surveyed) that private cloud changes the IT funding model (56%), with Australia, the second highest rate for this response, at 31%.
According to the survey, organizations based in India surveyed showed a strong inclination toward the private cloud, with extremely low responses for public cloud in both 2010 and 2013. Comparing 2010 with 2013, there are relatively small changes, with a decline in responses for private cloud across multiple applications, and small increases in IT infrastructure, storage, and storage management as well as a relatively strong increase in VoIP. Based on results, India organizations will remain focused on the private cloud over the next three years, with small opportunity for public cloud services.
The survey data also suggests that the hybrid or "converged" approach to cloud will be the rule rather than the exception in 2011 as cloud computing gains a bigger foothold across the region. As a result, cloud federation between private and public clouds, or between different public clouds, will become increasingly important in 2011 as the cloud model moves into the enterprise.
"While the need to effectively manage IT assets stands out as a primary reason for implementing cloud services in India, enterprises want the benefits of cloud computing in their own terms. EMC anticipates hybrid clouds will the eventual goal of customers once they have advanced on their journey to the private cloud to a point where they can choose what resources they want to manage in-house and allow others to be managed externally", said Manoj Chugh, President, EMC India and SAARC.
"Trust in the cloud will play a key part for CIOs in determining how much goes on the public cloud, and what stays in the private cloud. The reality is that private and public clouds need to work together, and this requires a converged or hybrid cloud approach", added Manoj.
The IDC survey indicates that the shift to hybrid clouds is also being accelerated by the needs of some IT departments that have to deal with new ways of building applications to meet the needs of end-users who are increasingly turning to smart phone devices and web tablets, while needing to continue supporting core legacy and mission-critical applications.
The survey data suggests that CIOs will view some applications as more suited for a public cloud - especially when it comes to communication applications, while most enterprises in the region may prefer a private cloud approach for their core systems. IDC also suggests in the near future that private clouds will eventually need the ability to cooperate with other types of clouds.
Researchers at IDC also conclude that in the near-term (up to 12 months) demand for cloud remains extremely positive and likely to accelerate, and that over the medium term, the adoption of cloud by the majority of organizations in the region will provide strong growth opportunities for the IT industry, with a likely shift to more advanced cloud services as IT organizations become more accustomed to the delivery structure and internal usage model shifts.
The IDC survey, sponsored by EMC, was conducted in late 2010 that targeted the responses of 600 CIOs and key IT decision-makers within the organization to analyze the current and expected usage patterns of cloud services in the following surveyed countries, including Australia, Korea, China, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Finding the Right Level of Cloud Computing
Excerpted from IT Business Edge Report by Michael Vizard
While there's more talk than actual use of cloud computing in the enterprise, a Zeus Technology survey looks at the beginnings of a major shift under way. Clear expectations and planning can improve your experience and near-term success.
On the face of it, building a cloud computing architecture on which multiple applications can dynamically scale using a common pool of IT infrastructure should be a pretty straight-forward proposition. But in reality, IT organizations are struggling with cloud computing decisions ranging from simply deciding what applications should run in these environments, how to secure the data in these clouds and even finding the right tools to manage the overall environment.
All too often the end result, says John Treadway, Director of Cloud Services and Solutions for Unisys, is a fragmented approach to cloud computing that results in only a handful of minor applications being deployed on a cloud computing architecture.
In an effort to help accelerate cloud computing adoption, Unisys today launched a new Hybrid Enterprise Framework built around a new Unisys CloudBuild Services effort that is anchored by an "eight-track" methodology that helps customers determine what types of applications to run in a cloud environment and, just as importantly says Treadway, which ones to not run in the cloud. Treadway says that not all applications are meant to be run on top of shared infrastructure, so determining what applications can be successfully deployed on an internal or external cloud computing platform is critical.
Treadway notes that when it comes to cloud computing, too many organizations are overly focused on the shared infrastructure aspects of cloud computing, rather than the benefits of the elastic nature of applications in the cloud and the ability to create self-service portals. It's those two aspects of cloud computing that ultimately provide the most benefit to the organization; otherwise, cloud computing is little more than tantamount to replicating a traditional symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) environment using inexpensive x86 servers.
Until all these issues are resolved and understood, Treadway says that IT organizations are reluctant to put any mission-critical applications on top of cloud infrastructure. As a result, IT organizations wind up with limited cloud computing deployments versus striking the right balance between cloud computing environments and traditional dedicated application infrastructure that will define enterprise computing for years to come.
Eric Schmidt: Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information As We Did Up To 2003
Excerpted from TechCrunch Report by MC Siegler
This week at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, the first panel featured Google CEO Eric Schmidt. As moderator David Kirkpatrick was introducing him, he rattled off a massive stat.
Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003, according to Schmidt. That's something like five exabytes of data, he says.
Let me repeat that: we create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003.
"The real issue is user-generated content," Schmidt said. He noted that pictures, instant messages, and tweets all add to this.
Naturally, all of this information helps Google. But he cautioned that just because companies like his can do all sorts of things with this information, the more pressing question now is if they should. Schmidt noted that while technology is neutral, he doesn't believe people are ready for what's coming.
"I spend most of my time assuming the world is not ready for the technology revolution that will be happening to them soon," Schmidt said.
Coming Events of Interest
Cloud Computing for Government - March 29th in Washington, DC. Special event at the National Press Club explores the US federal government's $76 billion IT spend annually on more than 10,000 different systems and how cloud computing will change that.
NAB Show - April 9th-14th in Las Vegas, NV. For more than 85 years, the NAB Show has been the essential destination for "broader-casting" professionals who share a passion for bringing content to life on any platform - even if they have to invent it. From creation to consumption, this is the place where possibilities become realities.
CONTENT IN THE CLOUD at NAB - April 11th in Las Vegas, NV. What are the latest cloud computing offerings that will have the greatest impact on the broadcasting industry? How is cloud computing being harnessed to benefit the digital distribution of television programs, movies, music, and games?
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.
Cloud Computing Asia - May 30th - June 2nd in Singapore. Cloud services are gaining popularity among information IT users, allowing them to access applications, platforms, storage and whole segments of infrastructure over a public or private network.CCA showcases cloud-computing products and services. Learn from top industry analysts, successful cloud customers, and cloud computing experts.
Cloud Expo 2011 - June 6th-9th in New York, NY. Cloud Expo is returning to New York with more than 7,000 delegates and over 200 sponsors and exhibitors. "Cloud" has become synonymous with "computing" and "software" in two short years. Cloud Expo is the new PC Expo, Comdex, and InternetWorld of our decade.
CIO Cloud Summit - June 14th-16th in Scottsdale, AZ. The summit will bring together CIOs from Fortune 1000 organizations, leading IT analysts, and innovative solution providers to network and discuss the latest cloud computing topics and trends in a relaxed, yet focused business setting.
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