July 29, 2013
Volume XLIV, Issue 9
CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 Announces More Speakers
The third wave of keynote speakers, panelists, and moderators for CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 (CCW:2013) will be announced this week, featuring industry leaders Amazon Web Services (AWS), Aspera, DataDirect Networks (DDN), and Intertrust Technologies Corporation, industry analyst The PADEM Group, and the author of 21st Century Television: The Players, The Viewers, The Money.
Included in this group are AWS Media & Entertainment Partner Eco-System Manager Bhavik Vyas; Aspera CEO, President, and Co-Founder Michelle Munson; DDN Director of Marketing for Cloud, Content & Media Michael King; Intertrust Vice President for Product Management John Gildred; The PADEM Group President and Chief Analyst Allan McLennan; and author Frank Aycock.
Previously announced speakers include representatives of ABI Research, AT&T Mobility, Comcast, Dell, Dell SecureWorks, GenosTV, IBM, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Microso ft, Netflix, Rackspace, Rafelson Media, Sprint Nextel, and Trend Micro.
CCW:2013 is the Cloud Computing Association's (CCA) and Distributed Computing Industry Association's (DCIA) business strategy summit taking place October 27th-29th at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, NV.
This year's themes are "Revolutionizing Entertainment & Media" and "The Impact of Mobile Cloud Computing & Big Data." Here's a sampling of CCW:2013 presentations:
ABI Research's Practice Director Sam Rosen will speak on "Consumer Transition to the Cloud: Service Provider & OTT Video, Gaming, and Music Services."
AT&T Mobility's Enterprise Architecture Manager Melody Yuhn will address "Mobile Storage Considerations."
Dell's Enterprise Cloud Evangelist Michael Elliott will discuss "Hybrid Clouds — The End State."
Dell SecureWorks Director of Product Management, Cloud Security, Mark Wood will offer guidance on "Selecting Technologies to Secure Your Cloud."
IBM Cloud Architecture Executive Mark Sorency will explain "How to Build Your Cloud Strategy."
Netflix's Architect and Principal Engineer Mikey Cohen will examine "Cloud Migration Considerations."
And Rackspace's Cloud Products Program Manager Tom Hopkins will keynote on "Strawberry Coconut Cloud — You Choose the Flavor."
There's no question that advances in cloud computing are having enormous effects on the creation, storage, distribution, and consumption of diverse genres of content.
And most profound among these effects are those involving the increased proliferation of portable playback systems and the accompanying generation of unprecedented amounts of viewership, listenership, and usage information from audiences globally.
The ubiquity and widespread acceptance of user interfaces that reflect the dynamic interactivity exemplified by smart-phone applications is rapidly replacing the flat linearity of traditional TV channel line-ups and changing expectations for a new generation of consumers.
Cloud-based information and entertainment-of-all-kinds accessible everywhere always on each connected device will become the new norm.
And perfect data related to consumer behaviors associated with discovering and consuming this content will displace metering and ratings technologies based solely on statistical sampling.
Two CCW:2013 conference tracks will zero in on the latest advances in applying cloud-based solutions to all aspects of high-value entertainment production and storage, as well as media delivery and analysis options; along with the growing impact of mobile cloud computing on this sector, and the related expansion of big data challenges and opportunities.
DCINFO readers are encouraged to get involved in CCA's and DCIA's CCW:2013 as exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers.
The CCA is handling exhibits and sponsorships. Please click here for more information.
The DCIA's role is to provide keynotes, panelists, and case-study presenters to participate in our comprehensive agenda of sessions in ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA and MOBILE CLOUD & BIG DATA.
Please click here to apply to speak at CCW:2013.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The National Security Agency's (NSA) PRISM program that was revealed last month by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden threatens the US cloud computing industry's continued advancement.
The DCIA calls your attention to the just released Government Access to Information Survey (GAIS), a poll of 456 Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) members completed between June 25th and July 9th, and encourages you to comment here.
56% of international respondents to GAIS said they are now less likely to use a US-based cloud service than before Snowden's revelation of the NSA surveillance programs, which facilitate the mass collection of user data from high-traffic websites.
36% of US cloud service providers said fallout has made it less likely that they will get international business.
45% of all respondents said the PATRIOT Act, which allows for the NSA program, should either be modified — and 41% said it should be repealed in its entirety.
The cloud computing industry does not stand alone on this issue.
The American Library Association (ALA) said it is "gravely concerned but unfortunately not surprised."
"Our community calls for public dialogue about how to open up the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and other surveillance laws so that there can be true accountability and an improved balance between individual privacy and the need of government to investigate terrorism and other crimes."
"We need to make changes to our surveillance laws."
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) raised strong concerns regarding the surveillance programs' "scope, wisdom, and legality."
"Whether technically following the letter of the constitutionally suspect laws or not, top officials in national security and law enforcement bureaucracy need to take responsibility and come clean with the American people."
"And hopefully they or their successors will provide the leadership necessary to curtail such sweeping intrusions on our privacy and liberty in the future."
"The secrecy surrounding the entire process is incompatible with a well-functioning free and open society."
And the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said, "When the government was caught spying on American citizens in the 1960s and '70s, Congress created the Church Commission to right the government's wrongs."
"Recommendations from that commission resulted in legal reforms that ensured judicial oversight of surveillance programs."
"Congress must act in a similar fashion and create a 21st-century Church Commission and enact strong legislation to rein in the executive branch and protect our communications."
Congressmen Justin Amash's (R-MI) and John Conyers' (D-MI) proposed amendment to defense appropriations bill HR 2397 that would have revoked funding from the NSA's program nearly passed this week (205-217) and more work is clearly needed.
Call your Member of Congress today.
Please take time to weigh-in with your elected federal lawmakers on this important issue. Share wisely, and take care.
Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Smart Mobile Apps
Excerpted from Cloud Times Report By Saroj Kar
Forrester released the data of its annual survey on information techologies (IT) spending worldwide and detected areas with higher spending, including apps and tablets.
The Forrester Research annual report on worldwide IT spending split the amount of 2.06 trillion dollars spent this year from businesses and governments between hardware, software, and services related to IT. CIOs and IT decision-makers plan their biggest software spending increases in mobile applications and middleware, analytics, security, and collaboration software.
Software registered the largest share of tech spending in 2013 and companies will continue to spend in this segment particularly on smart and cloud computing in 2014. While investment in legacy applications (both desktop and server) begins to languish, most investment moves towards cloud computing solutions, SaaS solutions development, and smart computing (i.e., Big Data and mobile application development).
Software market spending will increase to $542 billion in total investment. The market will grow by 3.3% this year and 6.2% in 2014, with a surge stronger than any other technology category.
Next to software, the PC still continue to dominate the market with an amount invested in 2013 amounting to $134.2 billion. The PC industry's growth rate will be limited to 3%, despite the launch of the new Windows 8 operating system.
At the same time, mobile software and mobile apps will grow in an impressive way as consumers are now more inclined to tablets. The tablets market will grow by 36% this year with a turnover of $21 billion, dominated by Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft.
Forrester outlines the US as a nation to the world's highest-spending in terms of IT investments at $819 billion, and which should rise to $875 billion by 2014. For Europe, Forrester also has a positive evaluation, since it seems that the old continent is in recovery after a strong period of recession. The UK lags behind Germany in the adoption of advanced technologies such as mobile, cloud, and analytics.
Forrester data indicates that European (specifically, British, French, and German) CIOs in a recessionary business environment will pare their new project budgets for packaged process apps and platform software. As a result, software purchases, which are Europe's largest ICT category, will rise by 2.2%, with a decline in licensed software purchases being offset by growth in maintenance fees and SaaS deployments.
Like German firms, a high proportion of UK firms — 63% on average — are implementing mobile technologies like smart-phones and tablets and mobile apps. But only one-third of UK firms are using or planning to use cloud computing, and only two-fifths are using smart computing technologies.
CIOs in the US should plan for 5% to 6% growth in tech buying in 2013 and 2014; those in Europe will generally make lower IT purchases in 2013, rebounding to small increases in 2014. In Canada, Japan, Australia, and India, modest rises are in store. In China, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, growth rates will be in the high single digits, though lower than their peaks in 2011, says the report.
PRISM Harming US Cloud Providers' Business Abroad
Excerpted from ZDNet Report by Liam Tung
Leaks by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden about the US spy program PRISM have damaged international business opportunities for US cloud providers and could have an even bigger impact in the future, according to a new survey.
According to the results of a survey by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) of around 500 of its 48,000 members, the harm caused by revelations of the US spy program has already had an impact. The CSA's corporate membership includes most large US software, cloud, and security vendors and service providers.
Of the non-US organizations that participated, 10 percent claimed to have already canceled a project that would have used a US-based cloud provider while 56 percent said they would be less likely to use a US cloud company in the future.
A third of 220 US respondents also believed it is more difficult now to conduct business outside the US following Snowden's revelations. That said, however, 64 percent said it has had no impact.
The results follow speculation in Europe that knowledge of PRISM could likely have a massive impact on US cloud companies.
Earlier this month the EC's Digital Chief Neelie Kroes warned that European customers would act "rationally" and turn away from US companies after discovering that information in their control was being shared with intelligence agencies.
"If European cloud customers cannot trust the United States government or their assurances, then maybe they won't trust US cloud providers either. That is my guess. And if I am right then there are multi-billion euro consequences for American companies," she said.
Indeed, some in Europe are looking at the spy campaign as an opportunity to channel business back into Europe. Estonia's President Toomas Hendrik Ilves recently called on Europe to build "its own cloud" and offer citizens of Europe a level of privacy and security he believes does not exist with US firms.
The CSA also quizzed members about what should be done to the US Patriot Act, which enabled the PRISM secret surveillance program through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. While 41 percent believe the act should be repealed, 45 percent said they want it retained but with greater transparency and tighter monitoring.
However, an overwhelming majority at 91 percent said they wanted companies that had been subpoenaed under the Patriot Act to be able to publish summary information about the amount of responses they have made.
Cloud Computing: The US versus the EU
Excerpted from Mondaq Report by Jason Weinstein
The International Association of Privacy Professionals has published my article on how US cloud providers and the US government can respond to the wave of hypocrisy from the EU over PRISM.
European cloud providers have tried for years to gain a competitive advantage in the European market over US-based counterparts by claiming that content stored with European providers is more protected from government access than data stored with US companies. These European providers have tried to instill fear in potential customers, claiming that the USA PATRIOT Act gives the US government essentially unfettered access to content stored with US companies.
As has been well documented here and elsewhere, the truth is that the US imposes tighter restrictions on the ability of its law enforcement and security agencies to get data stored in the US than many EU governments face in accessing data stored in their home countries. Moreover, unlike in the US, providers in the EU can voluntarily provide content and customer data to the government, and EU providers are required to retain data for up to two years, helping ensure the data is there when the government comes looking for it.
When I was at the Justice Department, it was not uncommon for law enforcement officials in European countries who were seeking their citizens' content stored in the US to complain that the evidentiary standards that had to be met to obtain that data under US law were too high.
No, you didn't read that wrong: European governments complain to US officials that they can more readily access their citizens' data if that data is stored in Europe than if that data is stored in the US, because they often cannot satisfy our stricter standards for government access—standards that protect data in the US regardless of whether that data is owned by an American or European customer.
Even before anyone ever heard of Edward Snowden, US-based providers and US government officials struggled to combat the misinformation being propagated by EU providers and media, with limited success. The hyperbole and hypocrisy from EU officials in the wake of the PRISM leaks has made that struggle even more difficult.
The overheated rhetoric coming out of the EU shows no signs of abating, almost as if EU officials were determined to keep the public's focus away from the even more permissive national security laws in their own backyard. But despite that rhetoric, the reality is that data belonging to EU citizens and companies is no less protected from government access—and arguably much better protected—if stored with a US provider than with a European provider.
So as European providers seek to exploit the PRISM controversy to further cloud the truth, what should US providers, and the US government, do?
ECPA Reform: US providers should continue to play a leading role in forcefully advocating for a uniform warrant standard for all content stored in the US One reason why European providers were initially able to gain traction with their attacks on US laws is that our standards—while still higher than in many EU countries—are rather hard to explain, with different rules for opened and unopened e-mail, and different rules based on the age of certain e-mails.
A warrant-for-all-content standard has the benefit of being easy to understand and explain in a foreign market. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and numerous other tech companies recently wrote to Congress to express support for a warrant requirement for stored content. Continued strong, and public, leadership by those companies is critical.
Transparency: Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo deserve praise for their aggressive push for greater transparency about national security-related requests. Thus far they've pressed the issue in the courts and at the White House. They should not let up, and if necessary should take that fight to Capitol Hill as well. And they should use what data they are able to release to demonstrate that requests by governmental authorities in the US — federal, state and local — in all types of cases combined affect only a fraction of a percent of users.
Use economic and political leverage: There are signs that governments in Europe and elsewhere may try to take their frustrations over PRISM out on US providers. Foreign officials are already using PRISM as an excuse to promote what my colleague Stewart Baker refers to as "information protectionism," suggesting that European companies should not use US providers and even going so far as to suggest laws requiring cloud providers to store data locally.
The US government cannot sit back and let European governments beat up on US providers, who have done nothing other than comply with their obligations under US law. The Obama administration and Congress should use all available leverage — economic, political and legal — to help protect US providers from repercussions — including, where appropriate, suspending law enforcement and intelligence assistance to those countries that harass or threaten US providers merely for obeying US law.
Fight fiction with facts: The US needs to be much more willing to call out EU officials for their hypocrisy. US providers — and the US government — cannot afford to allow the narrative to harden further that US laws are less protective of stored content than EU laws.
The facts are very much on the side of the US providers, and the US government needs to work even harder now to make sure those facts are heard over the noise.
Overbearing Data Protection Rules Threaten Cloud Computing
Excerpted from EurActiv Report by Thomas Boue
A quiet battle of wills has broken out among European policymakers who are pushing competing visions for how to capitalize on the most significant wave of innovation now underway in information technology: cloud computing.
All agree that by creating a new, more efficient architecture for computing, the cloud offers vast economic benefits. It lets enterprises avoid the cost of buying and maintaining some of the IT hardware and software they need to run their operations. Instead, they can have their computing resources delivered over the Internet, as infinitely scalable services. For established companies, this creates cost savings that can be reinvested in the core business. For smaller start-ups, it represents one less obstacle on the path to growth.
But while some rightly see the cloud as an opportunity to accelerate commerce and expand global trade in digital services, others harbor more protectionist urges, focused on creating a European fiefdom in the cloud at the expense of global scale.
Europe's data protection rules lie at the heart of the cloud computing proposition. The path European policymakers take will determine the extent to which Europe's citizens and industries can take advantage of the global economic potential of the cloud. MEP Pilar Del Castillo (Spain; European People's Party), in her report on the Commission's cloud strategy, "Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing," rightly points out that the biggest growth opportunities for European firms are likely to reside outside the EU.
Such global growth is contingent on a policy environment in which European enterprises can leverage digital technologies to do business wherever they find a market, and customers have access to the best technologies the world has to offer.
To that end, the draft General Data Protection Regulation must strike a better balance between privacy protections — which are unquestionably essential — and enabling digital technologies. One practical improvement to the Commission's draft text would be to recognize context and risk in the definition of personal data. Different types of data, and different uses of data, carry different levels of risk and sensitivity.
A context- and risk-based approach would ensure strong privacy protections are in place for truly sensitive user data, while making it easier for SMEs and businesses of all types and sizes to reap the benefits of innovative, data-enabled technologies by allowing data to flow through the global cloud — seamlessly and efficiently.
A global survey conducted by BSA earlier this year, benchmarking year-on-year changes in cloud-related laws and regulations in 24 countries around the world, found that many of Europe's largest IT economies are falling behind other global markets in implementing cloud-friendly policies.
Of the EU countries studied in the survey: Germany was knocked into fourth place as the US rose to third in the rankings; France and the UK dropped one place each to sixth and seventh respectively; Italy dropped four places to 10th in the rankings, while Spain slipped two places to 11th; and Poland slid one place to 12th.
Other countries, on the other hand, have lifted their games. Japan, Australia, and the US top the global markets, and Singapore vaulted into the top five this year from 10th in the rankings in 2012.
There are lessons to be learned from these countries - about privacy and security laws that balance user protections and innovation; about encouraging investments in cloud research and development through modern intellectual property regimes; and about removing barriers to free trade so that cloud services can operate across national borders.
Policymakers must steer away from highly prescriptive, Europe-centric rules that could ultimately sideline the EU from the global cloud market. Any short-term benefits that might come from keeping the cloud within European borders could be easily overshadowed by the opportunity costs associated with losing access to foreign markets, should those countries follow suit with protectionist barriers of their own.
The cloud is a major economic opportunity, but to capture its full benefit policymakers must navigate in the same direction. A cohesive global marketplace will offer more value than the sum of its parts.
Under Code, Apps Would Disclose Collection of Data
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Natasha Singer
Like food packages that display nutrition labels, some mobile apps could soon display information that allows consumers to decide at a glance whether the apps are good for them.
A variety of groups, including app developers and consumer advocates, have agreed to test a voluntary code of conduct that would require participating app developers to offer short-form notices about whether their apps collect certain personal details from users — including health and social networking data — or share user-specific data with entities like advertising networks or consumer data resellers.
The idea is to allow people to compare the data collection practices of, say, flashlight apps and choose one that does not ingest unrelated material like their photos or contact lists. The determination that the notices are ready for testing is the outcome of yearlong negotiations — convened by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a division of the United States Commerce Department — to increase mobile app transparency for consumers. Participants included app developers, digital marketing, civil liberties, consumer, and privacy groups.
On Thursday, many participants in the process voted to support a version of the code drafted by a diverse coalition including the Application Developers Alliance, an industry association, and advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the World Privacy Forum.
Although major mobile app developers like Apple and Google, which develops mobile apps for its Android platform, have not indicated whether they intend to sign on to the code of conduct, groups involved in drafting it say it is a significant advance in mobile privacy for consumers — and an unusual agreement among industry and consumer advocates.
"It's a victory for common sense," said Tim Sparapani, Vice President for Law, Policy and Government Relations at the Application Developers Alliance, a group representing more than 100 companies and 20,000 individual developers.
But other participants in the negotiations said the notices would do little to give individual consumers more insight into or control over the vast piles of information about them that online entities collect and analyze. The notices would display only a limited list of data collection categories, they say, and would not allow consumers to opt out of data-mining or even see the records companies had amassed about them.
"A very modest slice of privacy was put forward," for the groups to tackle, said Susan Grant, the director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America, a research and advocacy organization representing about 300 consumer groups. "As time went on, that slice became more and more narrowed."
She abstained from the vote Thursday on whether to support the code.
In the past, the app industry has been heavily criticized by some federal regulators and consumer advocates for collecting personal details from users without their knowledge or consent. A review last year by the Federal Trade Commission of 400 popular children's apps available on Google and Apple platforms concluded that only 20 percent disclosed their data collection practices.
The code of conduct would require participating mobile app developers to show notices indicating whether their apps collected user-specific details in any of eight categories: biometrics, including fingerprints or facial recognition data; Web browsing history; logs of phone calls or texts made or received; contact list details like e-mail addresses or social network connections; financial information, like credit or banking data; health or medical data; precise location data; and stored text, video or photo files.
Signatories to the code would also have to list any of eight categories of entities with which their apps shared information; these include ad networks; mobile carriers; consumer data resellers; data analytics companies; government entities; operating systems; social networks; or other apps.
Companies that violated a promise to adhere to the code would be subject to enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission. The code is the first step in a larger plan by the Obama administration to institute a wide-ranging consumer privacy bill of rights that would give consumers some rights to access, control and correct the personal details companies collected about them.
Last year, the White House issued a report proposing that Congress enact such a consumer privacy bill. The report said the bill would rely on codes of conduct, worked out in industry-advocacy group negotiations, to specify how different industries would adhere to those principles. The administration has yet to make public the proposed text for the legislation.
But some participants who helped develop the mobile app transparency notices said the modest gains that resulted for consumers indicated a need for stronger privacy legislation and regulation.
"If we want to move expeditiously through bigger issues, we are going to need some legislative action," said Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for privacy issues at the Washington office of the ACLU.
Amazon Web Services Files Complaint over CIA Contract
Excerpted from InfoWorld Report by John Ribeiro
Amazon Web Services has filed a complaint in a US court after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained in part a protest by IBM against the award of a contract by the CIA for a cloud computing project.
IBM had challenged the evaluation of proposals and the selection decision in the award of the CIA contract for commercial cloud services to AWS in Seattle.
The bid protest complaint filed by AWS on Wednesday in the US Court of Federal Claims is under seal as some of the information contained in it is under a protective order from the GAO.
"We believe strongly that the CIA got it right the first time. Providing true cloud computing services to the intelligence community requires a transformative approach with superior technology," AWS said in an emailed statement.
"We believe that the CIA selected AWS based on AWS' technically superior, best value solution, which will allow the Agency to rapidly innovate while delivering the confidence and security assurance needed for mission-critical systems. We look forward to a fast resolution so the Agency can move forward with this important contract," it added, without providing information on what AWS is asking from the court.
Amazon is seeking a response by Sept. 23 to its complaint, according to the filing. The contract to AWS is said to be worth about US$600 million, according to various reports.
Five companies including IBM, Microsoft, AT&T and Amazon, submitted proposals by closing time on July 13 last year. Protests by AT&T and Microsoft were found moot after the CIA amended its request for proposal (RFP) to remove contested mandatory qualification requirements. One unnamed company dropped out of the race.
The GAO in its ruling of June 6 said that IBM's protest was sustained because the evaluation of its price under one of the solicitation's price scenarios "was not calculated in such a way as to result in evaluation on a common basis," according to a redacted version of the ruling on the GAO website.
The GAO also found that the CIA relaxed a solicitation term only for AWS during post-selection negotiations, while rejecting a claim by IBM that the agency's evaluation of the past performance of a commercial cloud services provider improperly ignored information from news reports of service outages.
GAO recommended that the agency reopen the competition and amend the RFP as necessary to ensure that proposals "are prepared and evaluated on a common basis."
The CIA deal is important for AWS as it targets opportunities to set up clouds for governments in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The Amazon company already runs AWS GovCloud in the US for government agencies, and plans to set up similar "mini-clouds" or gated configurations for governments around the world, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels said in an interview recently.
Case Study: Telefonica Rises above the Surface
Excerpted from Computing Report by Sooraj Shah
Telecommunications giant Telefonica wanted to encourage collaboration and standardize the use of software among its 150,000-strong workforce, because, as the group CIO Phil Jordan explained to Computing, the company was fairly segregated.
Better known in the UK as O2, Telefonica has a presence in 24 countries and has annual revenue of about $92 billion. After the board decided it needed to improve employee interaction between regions and within each country, Jordan and his team set about migrating 140,000 staff to a new global Exchange platform. So far, so good, but then the rise of bring your own device (BYOD) began to complicate matters.
"People self-selected to use Apple devices and we had some good options and capabilities on them, but it didn't really add to our collaboration capability. In some ways, BYOD has made collaboration across the company worse; it's great for individual productivity as you choose a device that you're comfortable with, it opens up in the cloud and offers plenty of apps for you to engage with, but for Telefonica it didn't add a lot. So we started thinking about getting everyone onto a communications platform and using the cloud," he said.
The company is a big Microsoft shop, using Microsoft Office, Exchange and Outlook, and was already a Yammer user before Microsoft acquired the enterprise social networking firm in June last year.
After realizing that cloud productivity products were the way ahead, the company decided that Microsoft's offering, Office 365, was the best fit.
The rollout started with an initial deployment to 3,500 seats last month, with another 20,000 to come this year, and the remaining 100,000 moving over a period of 18 months.
Jordan said the transition to 365 will enable the company to standardize on Windows 8, as part of "an ongoing evolution" of its desktop environment.
"As an industry we are very heavily dominated by iOS and Android, and Telefonica is keen to encourage other ecosystems," he stated.
Jordan cites Telefonica's lead in a consortium that is launching Mozilla Firefox OS smart-phones as an example of this, and suggested that this prompted the firm to look at Windows 8 smart-phones as well, and they were selected as part of Telefonica's switch to the Windows 8 ecosystem. The switchover would be drastic.
"We wanted to do something that was different and bold so I came up with the idea to change the workplace in a day as a symbol of our transformation. So we gave the top 2,000 people in the company personalized and pre-configured smart-phone and desktop combinations running Windows 8, and it has gone really well so far — the feedback has been amazing," he stated.
He acknowledged that such a "big bang" approach was risky, but so far it seems to have paid off.
BitTorrent Adds a Set-Top Partner
Excerpted from Multichannel News Report by Jeff Baumgartner
BitTorrent's gradual shift from PCs to TVs, set-tops, and other consumer electronics devices took a step forward Wednesday with word that Fortis of South Korea has embedded BitTorrent's file-sharing technology in a range of new Linux-based boxes that will be sold in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Although some consumers use BitTorrent to obtain unauthorized content, the integration will likewise enable users to access an expanding library of licensed content as well.
"We are providing access to an enormous amount of authorized content through our ecosystem," said BitTorrent Chief Strategy Officer Shahi Ghanem. "We realize that the content is critical to making the technology viable."
In May, BitTorrent formally introduced a new file format, BitTorrent Bundle, that's designed to attract content owners to its platform and enable them to control how users gain access the material. Using that system, for example, a content owner could offer part of a bundle of content for free in exchange for a "like" on Facebook, or ask users to make a donation or to pay for that content outright.
The BitTorrent Bundle program currently offers exclusive content from partners such as Kaskade, Pixies, Public Enemy, and Counting Crows.
Ghanem said BitTorrent's CE partners are also looking for the company and its technology to help them distribute 4K video via the Internet. "4K is a real natural fit," he said.
Fortis marks the fourth announced box maker to integrate BitTorrent's technology. Others announced BitTorrent set-top partners include BBK, Antik and AirTies. BitTorrent is also integrating its technology in connected TVs. In November, BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker told Multichannel News that the company had inked deals with 20 TV set makers. BBK, which also makes TVs, and Turkey-based Vestel are among those that are announced.
Ghanem noted that BitTorrent is also working with "two very large manufacturers" that are developing TVs for the new buying season that will also embed the company's technology.
BitTorrent estimates that it has 170 million monthly active users that move about 3 Exabytes of content using the company's protocol.
According to Sandvine's latest Global Internet Phenomena Report, BitTorrent represented 9.23% of aggregate peak period application traffic on North American fixed access networks, 17.36% in Europe, and 21.66% in the Asia Pacific region.
Five Unlikely Benefits of Cloud Computing
Excerpted from Forbes Report by Joe McKendrick
Cost savings… elasticity…. scalability…. load "bursting"…. storage on demand… These are the advertised benefits of cloud computing, and they certainly help make for a solid business case for using either third-party services or a virtualized data center.
But after the agreements are signed, systems and processes are set up, and users are retrained, something unexpected happens. The initial use cases are realized, but then additional benefits begin to emerge — sort of like the icing on the cake, but often, these unforeseen benefits provide far more value to the business than initially planned.
Over the past couple of years, I have spoken with many CIOs and executives who not only talk about the unplanned challenges, but also cite pleasant surprises as well. Here are some examples of such unexpected benefits that emerge as cloud projects roll along:
More flexibility to get into new businesses. What holds back new the pursuit of ideas among entrepreneurs and large organizations alike? Time and money, or the lack thereof. Say you want to design and test a new product line. With the available of on-demand cloud resources, new configurations can be up and running within hours or minutes, so that helps reduce the time element. Since users will only be charged for that amount of time they use cloud, that helps reduce the money needed. Even within the largest enterprises, innovation springs from constant experimentation, the ability to keep trying new ideas, and be willing to fail. On-demand cloud resources provide the way to try out new ideas without extreme investments in supporting systems. And a shift in business focus can be made fairly quickly.
Smoother mergers and acquisitions. One of the great sticking points of many mergers is the months, or even years, it takes to bring data and records from one system into another. Sometimes, it never happens. Even government agencies have this problem in a big way, especially when efforts are made to consolidate agencies or departments. There are agencies today that have workers manually coding information from one system to another. It still takes a lot of time and work. With systems in the cloud, however, the transition is much faster. End-users in the conjoined organizations can readily and rapidly access cloud-based systems.
Ability to duplicate or adopt successful business processes others have hashed out. One of the fears about cloud services is that they're homogenized, built to the lowest common denominator, and thus leveling the playing field for all business customers. At the same time, cloud services are based on the collective learning and input of customers, and new customers immediately are exposed to processes, formulas and interfaces that are well-tested and proven to deliver the best business results. This is the kind of education you can't even get at Harvard Business School.
More tech savvy in the executive suite. These days, in a hyper-competitive global economy, the advantage goes to organizations that are adept at leveraging the latest technology resources. To get there, they need the leadership and guidance of their CIOs, CTOs and other technology leaders. You don't want these executives' time saddled overseeing maintenance of in-house IT systems — in fact, statistics regularly show that up to 80% of IT budgets are tied up in routine maintenance. Cloud frees up IT executives to think and act strategically. IT leaders provide the insights needed to select the right technology resources for the business, be they from the corporate data center or from an outside service provider.
Segue into the cloud business. As many organizations build out private cloud — using tools from VMware or OpenStack — they are establishing online services that not only can be delivered to internal users, but outside their firewalls as well. In addition, organizations using third-party services are incorporating those services into their own bundles of offerings. As a result, they are offering various online services to customers and partners. Witness UPS and FedEx, which provide tracking and logistics applications to customers from their sizable data centers. Perhaps a market will develop for excess corporate compute cycles?
Lesser Known Benefits of Cloud Computing
Excerpted from The Data Journal Report by Rakesh Dogra
There are plenty of benefits of cloud computing and these benefits get highlighted when most people make a case for this technology. Apart from the well known benefits of scalability and cost effectiveness, there are other advantages to the cloud as well.
One such benefit is the ability of an entrepreneur to get into new businesses. The flexibility of cloud computing can go a long way in this aspect.
There is also the fact that cloud can make it easier for a company to get into mergers and acquisitions, adopting successful business processes and getting executives to be more comfortable with technology.
Quite a few organizations can also deliver online services to their clients because of the "excess corporate compute cycles" that are made available.
Cloud allows people to experiment and innovate without too much of investments and use of resources either. So a restructuring of business or change of focus is easier.
The Cloud Is Green, and That's Good
Excerpted from WhaTech Channel Report
A detailed examination of the environmental benefits of cloud computing has found that widespread migration of even a few basic corporate applications like email and CRM into the cloud could generate significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
A research study, The Enabling Technologies of a Low-Carbon Economy - a Focus on Cloud Computing funded by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and Microsoft estimates that if 80 percent of enterprises in Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the UK migrated their email, CRM and groupware applications to the cloud they would reduce annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 million tonnes of CO2. This represents about two percent of ICT's contribution to GHG emissions in those countries and is equivalent to taking 1.7 million cars off the road.
The report estimates that vendors supplying cloud-based email, CRM and groupware could do so with one twentieth of the GHG emissions compared to enterprises delivering these services themselves. And it is not only large enterprises that can make a significant contribution by migrating their applications to the cloud: small and micro size firms accounted for over 60 percent of savings.
With the focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) across corporations, mid-size business and growing companies alike, Australian businesses have a unique advantage when it comes to cloud adoption and responsibly managing the impact of data centers.
A variety of renewable resources, green energy options and competitive pricing make it easier for Australian businesses to get a "green" boost.
For Australian businesses cloud adoption addresses "green IT" strategy long-term, it reduces operational costs and it also redefines a company's impact on communities and the environment.
The study was part of a broader GeSI research project looking at the potential of ICT to enable the transition to a low-carbon economy, entitled "SMARTer 2020: The Role of ICT in Enabling a Low-Carbon Economy". It demonstrated how the increased use of ICT could cut the projected 2020 global GHG emissions by 16.5 percent, some 9.1 gigatonnes of CO2, and save $1.9 trillion in gross energy and fuel savings.
However, despite these benefits, GeSI says that barriers continue to slow the mass adoption of cloud services, and of a broader range of ICT solutions. It is using the findings of the studies to "strongly encourage policy makers to embrace the enabling potential of ICT across all levels of government."
There is a sense of urgency to this. In his foreword to the study, Ray Pinto, Government Affairs Director at Microsoft, said: "We need to act faster...industry and government must come together to sharpen policy and overcome resistance points in behavior. The study signals a deadline of three years to cut through the issues otherwise the continued uncertainty to embrace cloud computing will halve absolute benefits from 4.5Mt CO2e to 2.3Mt CO2e."
The report concludes that prime responsibility for driving the market adoption of technologies that can abate GHG emissions, such as cloud computing, lies with the ICT industry. To accelerate the migration to the cloud, it urges major vendors to complete six actions:
Employ smarter approaches to present a clear economic case for cloud.
Support the economic case of cloud-services with clear impartial evidence of its GHG abatement credentials.
Acknowledge that adopting cloud services may require clients to change deeply ingrained behaviours (especially IT directors and their teams).
Respond to the challenge of behavior change with evidence and tools to make it easy for customers to switch to cloud, leaving them incentivized to stay not coerced or worried about covert lock-in.
Avoid one-size-fits all marketing approaches; instead approach specific market niches with communications that address the unique unmet needs and the 'pain points' which each niche feels.
Embrace the principles of disruptive innovation. By avoiding a premature rush to mainstream markets, vendors can grow to mainstream market penetration through niche marketing.
Coming Events of Interest
First China International Cloud Computing Expo - August 15th-18th in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. The business forum during the expo will focus on exploring trends for the development of the cloud computing industry, especially its application in the post-disaster reconstruction and protecting data.
NordiCloud 2013 - September 1st-3rd in Oslo, Norway. The Nordic Symposium on Cloud Computing & Internet Technologies (NordiCloud) aims at providing an industrial and scientific forum for enhancing collaboration between industry and academic communities from Nordic and Baltic countries in the area of Cloud Computing and Internet Technologies.
P2P 2013: IEEE International Conference on Peer-to-Peer Computing - September 9th-11th in Trento, Italy. The IEEE P2P Conference is a forum to present and discuss all aspects of mostly decentralized, large-scale distributed systems and applications. This forum furthers the state-of-the-art in the design and analysis of large-scale distributed applications and systems.
CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 - October 27th-29th in Las Vegas, NV. Two major conference tracks will zero in on the latest advances in applying cloud-based solutions to all aspects of high-value entertainment content production, storage, and delivery; and the impact of mobile cloud computing and Big Data analytics in this space.
International CES - January 7th-10th in Las Vegas, NV. The International CES is the global stage for innovation reaching across global markets, connecting the industry and enabling 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 $209 billion US consumer electronics industry.
CONNECTING TO THE CLOUD - January 8th in Las Vegas, NV. This DCIA Conference within CES will highlight the very latest advancements in cloud-based solutions that are now revolutionizing the consumer electronics (CE) sector. Special attention will be given to the impact on consumers, telecom industries, the media, and CE manufacturers of accessing and interacting with cloud-based services using connected devices.
CCISA 2013 – February 12th–14th in Turin, Italy. The second international special session on Cloud computing and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and its Applications within the 22nd Euromicro International Conference on Parallel, Distributed and Network-Based Processing.
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