November 26, 2012
Volume XLI, Issue 10
URGENT Call to Action — Contact US Senators Now
As previously noted, the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) joined with the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and a politically diverse coalition to launch Vanishing Rights, a campaign to update the US Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).
ECPA was passed more than a quarter of a century ago establishing rules for when the government can access our digital information - and it's woefully out of date.
Under ECPA, the government says information stored in the cloud, location data generated by mobile devices, and even basic e-mail and text messages do not receive full Fourth Amendment protection - meaning the government can access it without a warrant.
The campaign to change that is coming to an important turning point. This Thursday, November 29th, the US Senate Judiciary will consider ECPA reform.
It's critical that your Senators know the importance of passing strong and beneficial ECPA reform, and not bad amendments that would make things even worse. Vanishing Rights has the latest information on the status of proposals under consideration and guidance on actions you should take.
Please contact your Senators using Vanishing Rights before Thursday — by phone if possible — using the list of Committee Member numbers at the Vanishing Rights website.
For more on why this matters, please see Megaupload and the Government's Attack on Cloud Computing and the General Session Keynote by Jim Burger from CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2012 (CCW:2012). Please contact the DCIA to learn what more you can do.
INTELLIGENCE IN THE CLOUD Coming Next Week
Cloud computing experts from the private and public sectors are coming together for the INTELLIGENCE IN THE CLOUD (IITC) Workshop on Tuesday December 4th at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Headquarters in Washington, DC to discuss ways that cloud services are evolving to meet a variety of needs while satisfying outside-the-wall concerns for mission-critical content.
The DCIA is partnering with the NAB in presenting multiple proven case studies and in-depth panel discussions. IITC features a continental breakfast, lunch, and networking in an intimate setting. Check out the agenda and learn more about the speakers.
Dr. Suzanne Yoakum-Stover, Executive Director, Institute for Modern Intelligence, will offer the opening keynote What Does Cloud Computing Bring to the Intelligence Community?
Follow-on morning sessions will include Securing Multimedia Traffic on Broadband Data Networks; Business Intelligence & Mobile Device Management; Data Collaboration & Analysis; and Identifying Common Challenges.
Legal Considerations will be discussed over lunch.
Afternoon keynotes and case studies will include Cloud 101 for Multimedia Assets; Collaboration, Transfer, Storage, Access; Managing Your Cloud for Security and Compliance; Private, Hybrid or Public — Which Cloud for What Purpose; Secure Interactive Broadcasting; and What, not Where: What the Cloud Changes Next.
The closing session will discuss Putting It All Together and Where Do We Go from Here.
For more information, download the workshop program and keynote abstract.
Don't wait, space is limited. Register today!
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The DCIA is pleased to announce the agenda for our third annual CONTENT IN THE CLOUD (CITC) Conference within the 2013 CES Show taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Wednesday January 9th.
Join us for six insightful keynotes and four lively panel discussions highlighting the latest advancements in cloud-based solutions for content distribution.
Insiders will share how changes and progress in the cloud are revolutionizing data storage and delivery.
The effects are being felt across the consumer electronics (CE) industry, and it's only just begun!
At the 2013 CITC, we'll pay special attention to the impact of cloud-delivered, high-value entertainment on consumers, telecom industries, the media, and CE manufacturers.
Case studies will explore how cloud-based solutions are now being deployed for entertainment content storage and delivery — including successes to date and challenges that remain to be overcome.
Sessions will also examine the effects on consumers of having access to media in the cloud anytime from anywhere — along with related social networking trends.
Keynotes and panels will discuss what broadband network operators and mobile Internet access providers are doing to help manage — and spur — the migration of content to the cloud.
Some in traditional entertainment industries find this technology overwhelmingly threatening and disruptive — others see enormous new opportunities.
Learn how the value proposition for CE manufacturers will continue to evolve towards providing cloud-based value-adding services — rather than conventional hardware features.
Our opening keynote will answer the question What Is Content in the Cloud, Really? How should cloud computing be defined? What are the key economic considerations and prospects for sustainability of the cloud-enabled delivery phenomenon?
Our first panel will discuss The Impact on Consumers of Implementing Cloud Computing for Media Access and Storage. How do cloud-based streaming and storage affect users' ability to access entertainment content and to own copies of movies, music, TV shows, games, etc.?
Our next keynote two keynotes will balance Consumer Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content: Ubiquity, Cost, Portability Improvements with Consumer Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Privacy, Reliability, Security Issues. What advantages do cloud-based solutions applied to popular entertainment bring to users? How do they compare to older methods of online distribution? What is the role of social networking in this arena? What has been the experience to date concerning confidential data being inadvertently leaked or intentionally hacked? What can users do to mitigate not having access to their applications or accidentally losing their data when they go offline? What happens if a cloud provider goes out of business?
Then a panel will evaluate The Impact on Telecommunications Industries of Cloud Computing. What does cloud computing mean to broadband network operators in terms of managing their intellectual property (IP), allocating network resources, and developing and provisioning new services?
A follow-on keynote will summarize Telecommunications Industry Benefits & Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: New Opportunities vs. Infrastructure Challenges. What advantages do broadband network operators gain with cloud-based solutions applied to popular entertainment? How does the on-demand, always-accessible nature of cloud-based entertainment delivery challenge conventional distribution systems?
The next panel will consider The Impact on Entertainment Industries of Cloud Computing. What do cloud storage and distribution mean to content rights-holders in terms of managing their intellectual property (IP), realizing cost savings, reaching new audiences, analyzing usage, and implementing new business models?
Then a keynote will highlight the top-line Entertainment Industry Benefits & Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Flexibility and Reach vs. Disruption and Accountability. What improvements does cloud computing offer the content distribution chain? What issues do rights-holders face in adopting their internal content management processes to cloud-based media storage?
Our final keynote will outline Consumer Electronics (CE) Manufacturer Benefits and Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Expanded Opportunities for New Products and Recurring Revenue Streams; New Challenges Related to Interoperability and Data Security. What unforeseen impacts, both positive and negative, do cloud-based solutions applied to popular entertainment properties bring to CE manufacturers?
And then our closing panel will explore The Impact on CE Manufacturers of Cloud Computing Deployment. Remotely accessing applications and data has implications for elements that must be integrated into networked end-user devices. What about servers and other edge storage hardware products? What new hurdles must be overcome with these technological solutions?
To register for CONTENT IN THE CLOUD at CES, please click here. Share wisely, and take care.
Status of Cloud Computing in the US Army govWin (blog) Cloud work is progressing painfully slowly in the Army, but with the Army Private Cloud (APC2) contracts in place, a maturing Army cloud strategy, and additional work appearing at the Army IT Agency and related to the Distributed Common Ground System, ... See all stories on this topic »
Cloud Computing for ISPs
At CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2012 (CCW:2012), which took place earlier this month in Santa Monica, CA, a BROADBAND NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE panel analyzed problem areas for Internet service providers (ISPs) created by the proliferation of cloud computing and a potential means to enhance the rapidly expanding cloud ecosystem.
Initially suggested by Huawei's Research Department, this panel focused on a discussion of the potential challenges coming from the intersection of cloud computing with telecom and a significant area of opportunity.
The panelists were from companies and organizations with various backgrounds including research institute UCLA, cloud-computing solutions provider Attend, and telecom device vendor Huawei.
During the panel, several questions highlighting a wide variety of viewpoints were discussed among the panelists and audience.
Starting with a basic understanding of the possible ways the proliferation of cloud computing could affect network resource usage, the panel explored many scenarios and potential concerns — such as the huge bandwidth consumption in ISP backbone networks when data centers were far from end-users.
Then the panel talked about potential steps that might be taken so that the adoption of cloud computing solutions could overcome this kind of issue and potentially initiate a leapfrog means to advance capabilities.
The panel envisioned and discussed a scenario where an open cloud platform integrating service modules including storage, computing, and network awareness, could be deployed over the edge of ISP networks.
Such a platform would help enable the flexibility and efficiency of cloud solutions by providing APIs, which encapsulate virtualized in-network resources to cloud services, as well as improve the network friendliness of cloud solutions by boosting local storage and computation.
Finally, the panel concluded that in order to eliminate the problems such as the above example that it explored in depth during the session, better coordination among participating companies across different industries in the whole cloud ecosystem would be required in order to achieve a future where cloud based solutions represented a multi-win outcome.
BitTorrent to Start Testing Live P2P
Excerpted from Broadband TV News Report by Robert Briel
BitTorrent has just posted a call for broadcast engineers to help with the building of BitTorrent Live.
BitTorrent Live has been testing for some time and now the company is calling for broadcasters to join it in these tests.
BitTorrent Live is a new peer-to-peer (P2P) live streaming protocol. It allows content creators to scale their reach to audiences of millions with near-zero latencies and minimal infrastructure investment.
"Built with users, from scratch, it's designed to take the principles of the BitTorrent protocol, and apply them to streaming," according to BitTorrent's call to broadcasters, "That means: no barriers to broadcast. That means: the more people who tune in, the more resilient your stream. That means: you can share video with a massive audience, in realtime — without bandwidth costs or infrastructure requirements.
"We've been conducting regular tests with users (props to our intrepid volunteers), and have achieved results at swarm sizes of a few thousand. Now, we're inviting qualified broadcasters like you to help us build something amazing."
Leveraging the lessons of the original BitTorrent protocol, BitTorrent Live has been designed from scratch as the perfect means of sharing events to the masses in real-time, but without the astronomical bandwidth requirements that traditionally constrain content creators.
Every viewer that joins a swarm extends its reach by sharing pieces of the video to other viewers. Media is delivered with stunningly low delay by utilizing a UDP Screamer protocol. Video and audio are transmitted using the industry standard H.264 and AAC codecs, providing the highest quality.
On the company's website it says: "BitTorrent Live is still under heavy development, and as such, is available as a technology demonstration only. The ability to run a video source is not currently available to end-users. Once the protocol has been finalized we expect to allow user generation of content. The experience may not be perfect yet, but we strive daily to improve it, and welcome your input and experiences. "
Broadcasters can directly apply here.
Cloud IT Outsourcing Contracts Triple
Excerpted from Computer Weekly Report by Karl Flinders
The number of global IT services deals with a cloud computing element have tripled since 2010, according to research from IT outsourcing consultancy Information Services Group (ISG).
ISG used its TPI index to analyze IT outsourcing deals and found this year will see 300 IT contracts awarded which feature cloud computing services. This compares with 110 in 2010 and 220 in 2011.
Stanton Jones, Emerging Technology Analyst at ISG, said the move to standardized platform-based services which are difficult to customize is a step-change for the IT services sector.
"Cloud services, especially shared platforms, are a new terrain for providers and clients alike, as they are highly standardized and can't be easily customized — the antithesis of traditional outsourcing," said Jones.
He added that the greatest potential for growth and momentum is in software-as-a-service (SaaS) — especially for human resources (HR), customer relationship management (CRM) and collaboration.
Jones said infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) will lag behind SaaS in enterprise-wide adoption.
ISG said in earlier research that service providers reported that cloud computing is now a feature of at least 25% of their pipeline opportunities.
"Clearly, cloud is a disruptive trend in the enterprise and we predict this disruption will not only continue, but accelerate, especially for the traditional IT service providers." Jones said.
"From well-known software vendors to more nimble mid-market players and emerging pure-play infrastructure and SaaS providers, traditional IT service providers face significant pressure in nearly every direction."
In a recent interview with Computer Weekly, BG Srinivas, global head of financial services at Indian IT services firm Infosys, said the recession had driven customers to look for more flexible ways of paying for services.
As a result there is interest from customers in Infosys platforms-as-a-service (PaaS). Infosys has a range of edge products. These are platforms delivered through a private cloud. They are designed as a service for a particular part of a business.
Recent research of IT buyers carried out by Computer Weekly/Techtarget revealed that, in Europe, only 21% of businesses have outsourced cloud development and only 18% in North America.
Governments Expected to Increase Cloud Usage
Excerpted from CloudVIA Report
A large portion of the business sector has plunged into the cloud market, and it appears government agencies are set to follow suit. A report by Pike Research estimated that local branches worldwide will spend nearly $5 billion on smart technology between now and 2017.
"Cloud-based computing, in particular, offers new options for cities that reduces capital expenditure, provides access to new skills and reduces time-to-deployment of new solutions," said Eric Woods, Research Director at Pike. "Cloud-based systems also enable cities to take advantage of the huge amounts of operational data they collect to improve efficiency and develop new services."
Holden Beach, a popular vacation site in North Carolina, moved its online databases for public safety and administrative software to the cloud four years ago, State Tech Magazine reported. The decision has saved the town approximately $80,000 a year, according to the news source.
North American government spending will account for more than $1 billion of the $4.8 billion worldwide total, according to the study by Pike. Those expenditures will reach approximately $1.4 billion in 2017 alone. The study analyzed smart technology initiatives worldwide and how local governments are likely to utilize them in the future.
A separate report by IDC indicated there's good reason to be optimistic about government agencies implementing cloud applications. The study, released in August, found that 9 percent of local government tech employees believe their servers be based will at least partially in the cloud in the near future.
Cloud Computing in the Healthcare Field
Excerpted from Ezine@rticles Report by Jerry Smith
Hospitals and hospital staff all benefit when things are going smoothly. Appointments are scheduled on time, the proper medicine is filed the way it should and inventory control is up to date to make sure patients have what they need to stay comfortable. One of the most important factors in keeping current with patients and their changing health situations is to always be current with their medical charts.
Every time a patient visits a doctor or has to stay in the hospital, records are kept with a doctor's diagnosis, medicine given, and solutions discussed. This information is incredibly important to keep as records for future visits, but to also make sure the patient is following through with medical advice. With the advancements in technology, hospitals are able to do so with new cloud-computing solutions for healthcare operations that can not only save time and money, but also lives.
Cloud computing in healthcare is the newest and most important way to make sure that patients' hospital records are maintained. While originally created to help consumers have access to their personal information, cloud access has also made its way into hospitals. Typically, when someone saves any information to their cloud account, they will have access to whatever they need as long as there is a connection to the Internet. Individuals can simply login with their personal information and they will have access to everything they need within moments. No hassle, no USB flash drives. Everything you need, delivered to you wirelessly.
Since patient medical records are incredibly important, it is imperative to make sure everything is accurate. We all know how difficult it can be to read a doctor's writing. When you save all the information in a digital format, there is no need to scrutinize a doctor's writing skills. There will also be no misinterpretations with regards to the records. A patient will always be given the right amount of medicine and be treated with quality care.
Of course with all the benefits, there are bound to be a few bumps along the way. A basic concern with the healthcare cloud is that there is the potential for patient's personal medical records to be stolen. Similar to many of the other Internet capabilities, there is a fear that people's records will no longer be safe and private. Hospitals however, have been doing everything they can by putting more security in their day-to-day operations to keep patients' records safe and private. Each hospital will have to decide their own pros and cons to having records in the healthcare cloud.
Cisco to Buy Cloud Firm Meraki for $1.2 Billion
Excerpted from Daily Finance Report by Rich Smith
Over the weekend, Cisco Systems announced a second big acquisition in the cloud computing space. On Sunday, it announced plans to spend $1.2 billion to acquire San Francisco, CA based Meraki, a provider of midmarket software for managing Wi-Fi, switching, security, and mobile devices from the cloud.
This follows Cisco's announcement Thursday that it plans to acquire Cloupia, a Santa Clara, CA based designer of software for managing data centers, for $125 million.
"Meraki's solution was built from the ground up optimized for cloud, with tremendous scale, and is already in use by thousands of customers to manage hundreds of thousands of devices," said Cisco. The company was originally founded by members of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science in 2006, and had been preparing for an IPO of its own before receiving Cisco's offer.
Cisco said it will pay for the company in cash, including paying incentives to retain key employees of Meraki. The acquisition is expected to close in the next few months. Once integrated into the company, Meraki will form the core of Cisco's new Cloud Networking Group.
Amazon & Telefonica Bring Clout to ECP
Excerpted from CloudPro Report by Jane McCallion
The European Cloud Partnership (ECP), a body founded by the European Commission, has welcomed a number of industry bigwigs as members to its Steering Board.
The ECP was set up as part of the European Cloud Strategy and brings together industry representatives with the public sector to try and establish a digital single market for cloud computing in Europe.
While the body is chaired by the President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, other members include Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO of Telefonica Digital, Werner Vogels, VP and CTO of Amazon, and Leo Apotheker, former CEO of both SAP and HP.
According to the Commission, the ECP Steering Board provides advice on turning cloud into an effective engine for sustainable economic growth, innovation and cost-effective public services.
During the inaugural meeting, the Board Members set out their objectives for 2013 and 2014. These included the establishment of a common framework for cloud computing across Europe and stimulating the migration of public IT use to the cloud, which it claims will prompt SMBs to do the same.
As part of this mission, the ECP will research current and emerging security and interoperability standards for the cloud.
By 2014, the ECP will have identified and set in motion three cross-border, interoperable pilot projects that move cloud into mission critical areas of public life, it is claimed.
At the same time, it will encourage cloud providers to undertake voluntary and preferably independently accredited certification.
Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, said, "I need this top-level input so that all of Europe can see the full benefits of cloud computing, and quickly. President Ilves and all Board Members are going to give no-nonsense, action-oriented advice to get the European Cloud Partnership moving."
Huawei Launches New CloudEngine Series
Excerpted from Technology Spectator Report by Harrison Polites
Chinese tech giant Huawei has released a new version of its CloudEngine product, which it says will "future-proof" data centers from the impeding boom in cloud computing.
Launching the product at the Symposium and ITxpo on the Gold Coast, the company said the new CloudEngine Series is set to handle the estimated 66 per cent annual growth in cloud computing traffic leading up to 2020.
"Huawei's CloudEngine series is designed to future-proof data centers to cope with the surging demand for cloud computing applications," VP of Huawei's Enterprise IP product line, Steve Collen said.
"With the ability to handle up to three times the switching capacity and four times the bandwidth compared to the highest level currently on the market, Huawei's CloudEngine products push the limits of what's possible in cloud computing innovation."
Dell Buys Gale Technologies to Boost Cloud Strategy
Excerpted from Statesman Report by Kirk Ladendorf
Dell said Friday it has purchased Gale Technologies, a leading provider of management software that eases the installation of diverse computing operations.
Gale, founded in 2008, is based in Santa Clara, CA, and builds software that enables companies to easily manage how various kinds of computers will interact to share data.
No terms of the deal were disclosed and Dell would not say how many people Gale employs.
Dell's stock price dropped sharply Friday following its Thursday report of third quarter financial results, which fell slightly before the consensus of analyst expectations. The stock closed at $8.86 a share, down 70 cents, or 7.3 percent. It was the company's lowest closing price since March 2009.
The company reported a net profit of $475 million on revenue of $13.7 billion for the quarter ended in October. Revenue was down 11 percent from a year ago, while profit declined by 47 percent.
Analyst Patrick Moorhead with Moor Insights & Strategy said Gale gives Dell an important piece that it lacked in selling and deploying big cloud computing systems. That's because Gale's software lets companies track their data across multiple locations, whether it is in a private customer-owned cloud or in a public cloud that is shared with multiple companies.
"Their management tools are kind of the glue that holds complex cloud installations together," Moorhead said. "Gale allows Dell to go head-to-head with Hewlett-Packard and IBM to compete for cloud computing deployments and cloud services. They are very well-regarded."
Dell is on a multi-year transformation journey as it attempts to become a stronger provider of "end-to-end" information technology solutions, including hardware, software, and services.
The company said this week that its higher-profit enterprise business, in on a path to take in $20 billion in revenue this fiscal year and account for more than half of Dell's profits.
Marius Haas, President of Dell's Enterprise Solutions Group, said Gale "integrates well" with the computer maker's existing software that helps companies deploy new computing infrastructure.
Analysts have estimated that Dell has spent more than $12 billion since 2008 on 23 acquisitions to bolster its business. The most recent deal before Gale was its purchase of California-based Quest Software in September for $2.4 billion.
Owning Software or Data "No Longer Makes Sense"
Excerpted from Forbes Magazine Report by Joe McKendrick
Is a subscription-based economy — fueled by cloud computing — now the new normal? Two industry experts participating in a recent webcast say yes, and enterprises of all types and sizes are being drawn into this new world.
"We are moving into a world that is evolving into a subscription economy," says Erik Berggren, Vice President of Customer Results and Global Research at Success Factors (an SAP company).
"What you want both as a consumer and as a business user is the utility of something. You want a means of transportation. You want computing power. You want answers to your questions. You want to get something done really quickly in your business. That's going to be the driving force."
Berggren was joined Don Huesman, Managing Director of the Innovation Group at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in a new webcast series hosted by Knowledge@Wharton discussing the current and future implications of cloud computing.
The impetus behind cloud is more than financial, Huesman relates. More often than not, "psychological factors" are taking precedence over "financial factors" in decisions to adopt cloud, he says.
"Oftentimes I think business decisions are made on factors other than rational financial decision making processes. The sort of the agility that comes and is natural to the consumer electronic space is something that managers of businesses are looking for in their own enterprise solutions. That means turning to the cloud."
Cloud represents the forefront of the growing consumerization of IT, Huesman adds. "The days of having front-loaded initial expenditure on a large product that you own and pay maintenance on is over. A much more economical approach to a subscription-based service is in our future."
This may even apply to content as well, he adds.
"Owning data doesn't make a lot of sense in the sense of holding it in your hand or having it on a laptop. It's about access to the resources you need on whatever device you may have handy."
Berggren agrees that data is now more likely to come from the cloud than from local machines. "When you're working on and consuming data from some business application, the application will look at data from some other place on the Internet and combine that with the data you have in your own cloud installation," he points out.
"This makes it possible to get instant benchmarking, in addition to getting decision-making support to see where you are. That is what we think people will get used to and expect from their IT application."
Speed to market is another aspect of cloud computing — business ventures can be created and launched in a matter of weeks employing resources form the cloud.
"Here at Wharton I see a lot of young entrepreneurs and developers who work sometimes with their colleagues from the engineering school and will use the cloud to build out what looks to be a full-blown business in the course of just a few weeks, mostly in an effort to attract venture capital or to get a good grade in an entrepreneurship class," Huesman says.
"But it's remarkable that they can spin up what would have been unthinkable even a few years ago in terms of a highly professional and polished presence of functional e-commerce websites."
This new business-in-weeks capability is increasingly being seen within the business world at large, Huesman also says. "The cloud has been tremendously energizing for small, new start-ups that can quickly spin up capabilities in response to demand." he says, adding that there is also "the opportunity to be gradual in building up a capability in this area for established businesses."
He predicts "a tighter and closer alignment with new enterprises, either wholly baked or new enterprises within existing companies, looking to diversify their portfolio of capabilities and build a future."
Cloud computing, for all intents and purposes, is "another way of thinking about outsourcing," says Berggren, and to a large extent, "insourcing" as well. "You're insourcing best practice and process capabilities into your organization so that you can focus on your core business. There are cloud applications that help you drive more productivity and execution power."
Gartner: PaaS Market to See Sharp Growth
Excerpted from InfoWorld Report by Chris Kanaracus
The platform-as-a-service (PaaS) market will grow to $1.2 billion this year, up from last year's $900 million take, as vendors and customers seek easier ways to create new applications and customize existing ones, according analyst firm Gartner.
PaaS spending will rise to $1.5 billion in 2013, while reaching $2.9 billion by 2016, Gartner said Monday.
The firm includes both broader PaaS products such as Salesforce.com's Force.com, as well as discrete application infrastructure components, such as databases, messaging and "other functional types of middleware offered as a cloud service," Gartner said.
Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings like Amazon Web Services and packaged software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications are much more mature than PaaS, Research Director Fabrizio Biscotti said. "For this reason, PaaS is where the battle between vendors and products is set to intensify the most."
PaaS is being mostly adopted so far by users in "mature economies," with the US alone taking up 42 percent of the total market, according to Gartner.
While PaaS revenue will remain "relatively modest" compared to other categories, the numbers don't reflect the true strategic importance of PaaS to software vendors, since a viable cloud development platform can help create a large ecosystem of partners and developers, according to Gartner.
As PaaS sales grow, the market and technology itself will likely evolve and shift, Gartner said.
"A factor that may slow PaaS adoption is the extreme fragmentation of the market, with dozens of vendors providing individual PaaS functionalities (MFT, DBMSs, messaging, application servers, data integration, B2B integration, BPM technology and so forth)," according to the report.
"Such fragmentation will be impossible to deal with when users and service providers start to implement large-scale, business-critical applications requiring the simultaneous and in-concert use of multiple PaaS capabilities (for example, user experience, application servers, DBMSs, security, and messaging)."
In fact, there are already more than 150 companies offering partial PaaS products, which is notable given the market's relatively small size, according to Gartner.
It's expected, therefore, that "a rapid aggregation" of PaaS components into suites will emerge, the report states.
Oracle and SAP have either announced or released PaaS technologies in recent months, hoping to keep pace with the likes of Microsoft Azure, Force.com and open-source options like OpenShift, which is backed by Red Hat.
Some of the consolidation predicted by Gartner has already occurred, evidenced by Salesforce.com's late 2010 acquisition of Heroku, which provides a PaaS for applications written in Ruby, Java, and other languages.
Oracle made a move in a similar direction last week, taking a minority stake in PaaS vendor Engine Yard.
Differences between Cloud Users & Non-Users
Excerpted from CloudTech Report by James Bourne
A cornerstone study into cloud computing in the UK has revealed the key difference in opinion between cloud users and non-cloud users.
The study, from Raconteur Media and written by Mike O'Driscoll entitled Navigating the Cloud, had a relatively small survey base — just under 250 completed at least part of the survey — but of that number, there was a lot of clout — 84% saw themselves as the key IT decision maker.
Again, software-as-a-service (SaaS) proved itself to be the most mature cloud market. 81% of respondents currently use SaaS, compared to 45% for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and 38% for platform-as-a-service (PaaS) (38%). Crucially, only 5% of respondents had no plans to use SaaS in their company.
This correlates with research from Symform which showed that SaaS "continued to be the entryway" for cloud platforms.
The survey showed less of a grasp for PaaS, however, where 48% of Symform respondents stated they weren't going to use PaaS in the next 12 months. Recent Gartner research predicted that PaaS would hit $1.2 billion as a global market by the end of this year, and Ovum called PaaS "the next kid on the cloud block" in its latest research note.
One of the intriguing takeaways related to concerns when selecting a cloud provider. For non-users, the biggest concern related to interoperability and portability; yet for users, the biggest concern remains security.
Vendor lock-in, traditionally perceived to be a struggle for cloud, was considered the smallest concern for non-cloud users. Could this perhaps be down to a lack of knowledge? It was only the fourth biggest concern for cloud users, behind security, compliance and cost.
Security was the number two risk for non-users; yet for cloud users interoperability was the least important factor, which certainly suggests a certain discrepancy between users and non-users.
Yet there were definite similarities between non-users and users when asked about priorities when selecting a cloud provider.
Respondents had to rank each element out of five, and the report collated the mean scores.
In both cases security was the number one thought, but it was more important to non users (5.00) than users (4.77).
The next most important facets were exactly the same for both cloud users and non-users; privacy (4.71 users, 4.82 non-users); support from supplier (4.26 users, 4.52 non-users) and scalability (4.32 users, 4.52 non-users). Intriguingly, the responses were similar yet the numbers from cloud-users were lower.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, credit card information was least likely to be hosted on the cloud. 48% of non-users polled said they would be happy to host the data on a private cloud, and 48% said they weren't prepared to put the data on any cloud. Alternately, 64% of cloud users didn't want to host cloud data on any cloud.
The full research can be found here. Does this correlate with current cloud trends?
Meeting Challenges of Hybrid Cloud Infrastructures
Excerpted from Network World Report by David Grimes
As companies embrace cloud computing, many are finding it advantageous to use external clouds to host non-critical IT services and data while keeping business-critical applications on internal-cloud infrastructure. However, this hybrid approach can create significant management challenges. The clouds must tightly integrate with each other, and legacy systems and data and workflows must be managed across the clouds and systems.
Since hybrid clouds typically involve a mix of technologies and vendors, and there is the constant need for new capabilities, the level of complexity and amount of attention required to properly manage these platforms is increasing at a rapid rate. That means the management platform for hybrid cloud solutions is a critical, if often overlooked, piece of the proverbial puzzle.
Managing the hybrid cloud involves much more than tools. After all, vendors for each separate component of cloud infrastructure provide their own "stovepipe" of managerial tools. But since there isn't a true "single-pane-of-glass" tool, you will need a more strategic perspective and framework to succeed with hybrid cloud computing. The following principles and practices can shape this meta-cloud management initiative.
In cloud computing, the vendor pool is growing very rapidly. Today, there may be three-to-four times as many cloud-services providers as there were just three years ago. And since a hybrid cloud architecture inherently requires multiple vendors, you need to exercise particular care and caution in assembling your portfolio of cloud-computing partners. You'll need to identify and select everything from server-oriented (infrastructure) services to cloud storage to desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions.
Ask some pointed questions. Are the licensing and contract terms suitable for your business? What track record do they bring to the engagement? In particular, what is their performance with respect to security? As you look to leverage the expertise of your vendors, look for opportunities to reduce the number of vendors you use.
With a traditional IT configuration — centered around the classic on-premises data center — the corporation typically establishes and staffs an IT operations and support team over which it can exercise near-total control. It sets the parameters and defines the expectations for all aspects of performance, security, regulatory compliance and more. With a hybrid cloud configuration, you're outsourcing significant portions of that infrastructure to, presumably, capable partners.
What steps can you take to measure and ensure the accountability of your chosen partners? It starts with careful definition of service-level agreements and escalation processes. Does the partner have clear SLAs that are well-suited to your business? What are the reporting processes? How will the partner communicate — and how frequently?
To minimize risk exposure, many companies find that the best course of action is to start by moving lower-risk applications and data to the external cloud, so that any breach will not involve sensitive processes and information. Once confidence is established, the vendor can assume greater responsibility for other systems and databases.
Naturally, your internal IT staff — which has typically worked in an on-premises data center — can view cloud computing as an outsourcing career threat. It's an understandable concern. The managerial challenge here is to transform that mindset and change existing practices to help them recognize the added value they can bring to the organization in these reconfigured roles.
Our job as IT managers is to ensure we provide ample appropriate opportunities for our teams to learn new skills, assume new, higher-value positions and pursue more fulfilling long-term careers. For instance, internal cloud/external cloud integration has much greater significance. Understanding how new technologies can play a role or provide new functions and value is an important opportunity for IT professionals. In short, the job is to emphasize that a hybrid cloud infrastructure is an opportunity to reinvigorate and elevate IT careers.
The rapid pace of innovation in the cloud space is unlikely to slow in the foreseeable future. Infrastructure technologies such as virtualization are continually changing and improving — and each presents key differences that must be understood. It's essential to be sure that both you and your team are vigilant in understanding the differences and changes to keep your hybrid cloud operating optimally. Life cycles are shorter and technologies are sunsetted faster than ever. When you have a technology decision to make or a business process to build, you want to be sure you can adapt as technology changes.
By embracing the cloud computing model, enterprises are embracing the opportunity to move beyond the four walls. However, they are also rejecting the binary "either/or" choice of all-internal or all-external and seek to get to get "the best of both worlds." Since we certainly cannot expect enterprises to achieve 100% external cloud adoption in the short term, our industry needs effective strategies to control and oversee the heightened management challenges that hybrid cloud implementations can present as the transition unfolds.
Cloud and Big Data — Fusion of 2 Innovative IT Trends
Excerpted from CloudTech Report by Ian Foddering
As market awareness and adoption increases, so customer confidence and clarity is growing and companies are better able to evaluate the benefits and challenges that big data presents their individual organizations.
It's not surprising to see that big data is the top IT spending priority in Gartner's recent global forecast. These figures correlate with Cisco's recent CloudWatch survey, which found that big data will be an important aspect of IT strategy and is set to increase in importance over the next 12 months.
Two priorities emerge ahead of others — accessing data in real time and accessing data from multiple devices. It is no exaggeration to say that organizations of all shapes and sizes are experiencing a data explosion and that the IT department is in the eye of this data storm. Real time access to data is not only seen as a critical success factor, but this also emerges as the key challenge when it comes to providing data analytics to the business alongside speed of data delivery.
Data analytics could be improved by taking into account the context, source and security of the information rather than looking just at the data itself. With positive experiences of cloud very much front of mind, many C-level execs say that data analytics could be improved in their organization if data delivery was part of cloud services delivered with third party expertise.
It could be argued that cloud computing is increasing the demand for real-time business insights as data is being accessed and consumed through various devices anywhere, anytime. The capability of cloud alongside the sheer power of big data analytics represents a fascinating fusion of two innovative IT trends, the full impact of which is yet to unfold.
Big data has been hugely topical in the last few years. It has been highly publicized that all types of organizations are experiencing a data explosion, which is putting strain on IT departments to manage and store this vast amount of data. Big data, has therefore, been a significant driver of cloud adoption as companies struggle with how to store, manage and protect this data.
It is critical for organizations to have instant access to these large quantities of data, to successfully achieve their business objectives. However, this is a major challenge for companies, along with effectively analyzing this data. Cloud computing enables companies to overcome these challenges, and it could be argued that cloud computing is in fact increasing the demand for real-time business insights, due to data being accessed and consumed through various devices anywhere, at any time.
The capability of cloud alongside the sheer power of big data analytics represents a fascinating fusion of two innovative IT trends, and the full impact of these two trends has yet to be explored.
Explosive data growth has fueled the market for data analytics and companies readily see an application for cloud here as well. How the two disruptive trends of big data and cloud further transform the IT landscape and the role of the IT department is something that cloud watchers everywhere will be closely observing.
Cloud Computing for Lawyers
Excerpted from CloudTweaks Report by Rick Blasidell
For attorneys or paralegals, cloud computing could mean access to data anytime and anywhere. As long as they can connect to the Internet, work can be accessed from their home, office, client offices or from their smart-phones.
Lawyers can also work collaboratively on files and documents, even when they are physically not in the same location. For some lawyers, cloud computing is already an affordable and flexible alternative to traditional desktop and client server based software technologies.
Law firms are slowly moving to the cloud. The American Lawyer's 16th Annual Survey gathered responses from 82 law firms and revealed that 65% of them use cloud computing. Of those firms using the cloud, 77% described it as a positive experience.
Here's how lawyers could use cloud computing: legal practice management solutions, document management and collaboration, data back-up and storage, time and billing, digital dictation, accounting software tools, project management solutions, and e-mail clients.
Interest in cloud computing is increasing among attorneys, and for several good reasons:
Economy. The greatest economic advantage for a law firm is the reduced cost of hardware and software. The costs associated with the purchase and internally hosted software are lower and less hardware infrastructure means less IT maintenance.
Simplicity. Law firms do not need to worry anymore about constant server or software updates.
Flexibility and Accessibility. The cloud allows data access from any computer, at the courthouse, on vacation or at home. This king of flexibility also helps increase productivity and efficiency.
Coming Events of Interest
INTELLIGENCE IN THE CLOUD - December 4th in Washington, DC. This workshop continues the NAB's series of programs developed for military and government professionals to demonstrate how advances in the commercial industries can benefit the military and government sectors. The atmosphere for the workshop is interactive with attendee participation welcome.
Third International Workshop on Knowledge Discovery Using Cloud and Distributed Computing Platforms - December 10th in Brussels, Belgium. Researchers, developers, and practitioners from academia, government, and industry will discuss emerging trends in cloud computing technologies, programming models, data mining, knowledge discovery, and software services.
2013 International CES - January 8th-11th in Las Vegas, NV. With more than four decades of success, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) reaches across global markets, connects the industry and enables CE innovations to grow and thrive. The International CES is owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $195 billion US consumer electronics industry.
CONTENT IN THE CLOUD at CES - January 9th in Las Vegas, NV. Gain a deeper understanding of the impact of cloud-delivered content on specific segments and industries, including consumers, telecom, media, and CE manufacturers.
2013 Symposium on Cloud and Services Computing - March 14th-15th in Tainan, Taiwan. The goal of SCC 2013 is to bring together, researchers, developers, government sectors, and industrial vendors that are interested in cloud and services computing.
NAB Show 2013 - April 4th-11th in Las Vegas, NV. Every industry employs audio and video to communicate, educate and entertain. They all come together at NAB Show for creative inspiration and next-generation technologies to help breathe new life into their content. NAB Show is a must-attend event if you want to future-proof your career and your business.
CLOUD COMPUTING CONFERENCE at NAB - April 8th-9th in Las Vegas, NV.The New ways cloud-based solutions have accomplished better reliability and security for content distribution. From collaboration and post-production to storage, delivery, and analytics, decision makers responsible for accomplishing their content-related missions will find this a must-attend event.
CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2013 - May 20th-21st in Boston, MA. CCE:2013 will focus on three major sectors, GOVERNMENT, HEALTHCARE, and FINANCIAL SERVICES, whose use of cloud-based technologies is revolutionizing business processes, increasing efficiency and streamlining costs.
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