November 4, 2013
Volume XLV, Issue 11
CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 Recap
Thanks and congratulations to all who participated in CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 (CCW:2013) this week at the The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, NV. Very informative sessions and high-caliber networking opportunities combined to make CCW:2013 an enormously valuable and stimulating event.
Thank you especially to industry leading exhibitors Aspera, a Platinum Sponsor; Oracle Communications and Savvis, Gold Sponsors; A10 Networks, Citrix, SoftServe, TransLattice, and VASCO, Silver Sponsors; and ABI Research, Marketing Partner for CCW:2013.
Please click here for the conference brochure, keynote presentations, audio recordings of all sessions, and a photo album from the event.
One Month Countdown to GOVERNMENT VIDEO IN THE CLOUD
The needs for cloud solutions for producing, storing, distributing, and analyzing government-owned video content are greater than ever.
The DCIA will present GOVERNMENT VIDEO IN THE CLOUD (GVIC), a Conference within the Government Video Expo 2013 (GVE) on Wednesday December 4th at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.
The CCA offers sponsorship opportunities for this event.
Please click here to register. DCIA Member Company employees and DCINFO readers are entitled to a $100 discount by using registration code GVE.
GVE, co-located with InfoComm's GovComm, brings the east coast's largest contingent of video production, post, digital media, and broadcast professionals together with government AV/IT specialists. The combined event features over 150 exhibits and nearly 6,000 registrants.
GVIC will focus on cloud solutions for government video, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; and other use cases such as agency communications and law enforcement.
The GVIC opening keynote by Tim Bixler, Federal Manager, Solutions Architecture, Amazon Web Services (AWS), will offer an "Update on Cloud Video Services Adoption in the Public Sector."
The first two case studies will be: "Cloud Solutions for Government Video Production" by Greg Parker, CEO & Founder, Raketu Communications and "Cloud-Based Management of Government Video Assets" by Frank Cardello, General Manager, Platform, T3Media.
The first GVIC panel will add Cirina Catania, Independent Video Producer, to the discussion and cover "Considerations for Creating Government Video in the Cloud."
After a networking break, the second GVIC keynote by Adam Firestone, Director, Solutions, WSO2 Federal Systems, will address "Security & Reliability Concerns Unique to Government Video in the Cloud."
The next two case studies will cover "Distribution of Government-Owned Video from the Cloud" by Adam Powers, VP of Media Technology & Solutions. V2Solutions and "Analysis of Aggregated Government Video Content" by Michael Rowny, CEO, PixSpan.
The closing GVIC panel discussion will add John Heaton, director of sales engineering, Americas, Aspera and Larry Freedman, Partner, Edwards, Wildman, Palmer, and examine "Considerations for Cloud Dissemination of Government Video."
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The DCIA is pleased to announce our first wave of speakers for the CONNECTING TO THE CLOUD (CTTC) Conference within the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 8th in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV.
The CCA is handling sponsorships.
CTTC at CES will highlight the very latest advancements in cloud-based solutions that are now revolutionizing the consumer electronics (CE) sector or — as ABI Research's Sam Rosen referenced that category this week during CLOUD COMPUTING WEST — the "cloud 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.
An opening panel moderated by Tanya Curry-McMichael, VP of Strategy and Marketing, Verizon Digital Media Services, will examine "Millennials, Online TV, and Gaming: Now and Tomorrow."
What are the implications of the digital revolution in the way Millennials discover, access, and consume video and gaming content online?
Hear it first-hand from young voices representing leading companies in the digital, social, and tech arenas.
Bhavik Vyas, Media & Entertainment Partner Eco-System Manager, Amazon Web Services (AWS), will further examine this issue in "Who's Connecting What to the Cloud?"
And Sam Rosen, Practice Director, TV & Video, Consumer Electronics, ABI Research, will address, "Where Are There Problems Connecting to the Cloud?"
Next, in two back-to-back presentations, Robert Stevenson, Chief Business Officer & VP of Strategy, Gaikai, will explore "Consumer Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content: Ubiquity, Cost, Portability Improvements." And Reza Rassool, Chief Technology Officer, Kwaai Oak, will expose "Consumer Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Availability, Reliability, Scalability Issues."
The follow-on panel with Jay Migliaccio, Director of Cloud Platforms & Services, Aspera; Andy Gottlieb, VP, Product Management, Aryaka; Larry Freedman, Partner, Edwards Wildman Palmer; David Hassoun, Owner & Partner, RealEyes Media; Jay Gleason, Cloud Solutions Manager, Sprint; and Grant Kirkwood, Co-Founder, Unitas Global, will discuss "The Impact on Telecommunications Industries of Cloud Computing."
Then two sessions will delve into "Telecommunications Industry Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content: New Opportunities" with Doug Pasko, Principal Member of Technical Staff, Verizon Communications. And then "Telecommunications Industry Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Infrastructure Challenges" with Allan McLennan, President & Chief Analyst, PADEM Group.
The next panel will address "The Impact on Entertainment Industries of Cloud Computing" with Mike King, Dir. of Mktg. for Cloud, Content & Media, DataDirect Networks; Venkat Uppuluri, VP of Marketing, Gaian Solutions; Mike West, Chief Technology Officer, GenosTV; Mark Sorency, Emerging Technologies Executive, IBM; Kurt Kyle, Media Industry Principal, SAP America; Adam Powers, and VP of Media Technology & Solutions, V2Solutions.
Two solo presentations with Les Ottolenghi, Global CIO, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, and Saul Berman, Partner & Vice President, IBM Global Business Services, will highlight "Entertainment Industry Benefits of Cloud Computing: Cost Savings & Efficiency" and "Entertainment Industry Drawbacks of Cloud Computing: Disruption & Security" respectively.
Additional sessions will introduce the subjects "Consumer Electronics Industry Benefits of Cloud-Based Services: New Revenue Streams" with Mikey Cohen, Architect & Principal Engineer, Netflix, and "Consumer Electronics Industry Drawbacks of Cloud-Based Services: Complexity" with Tom Joyce, SVP & GM, HP Converged Systems, Hewlett Packard.
The closing panel will draw on all the preceding sessions to more deeply analyze "The Impact on the Consumer Electronics Industry of Cloud Computing" with Michael Elliott, Enterprise Cloud Evangelist, Dell; David Frerichs, President, Media Tuners; Thierry Lehartel, VP, Product Management, Rovi; Russ Hertzberg, VP, Technology Solutions, SoftServe; Guido Ciburski, CEO, Telecontrol; and Scott Vouri, VP of Marketing, Western Digital.
Top program topics will include case studies on how cloud-based solutions are now being deployed for fixed and mobile CE products — successes and challenges; the effects on consumers of having access to services in the cloud anytime from anywhere — along with related social networking trends.
Also featured will be what broadband network operators and mobile Internet access providers are doing to help manage — and spur — the migration to interoperable cloud services.
Some in traditional entertainment industries find this technology overwhelmingly threatening and disruptive — others see enormous new opportunities; and the value proposition for CE manufacturers will also continue to evolve substantially to providing cloud-based value-adding services — rather than conventional hardware features.
Please register now for CTTC at CES. Share wisely, and take care.
Kids' Mobile Media Consumption Exploding
Excerpted from Broadcasting & Cable Report by John Eggerton
If a new study is on the mark, TV Everywhere efforts that include Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, or other kids-targeted television could reap big rewards among the toddlers with tablets set.
Young children's access to mobile media devices has exploded in the past two years, although television is still the medium of choice, and educational television is the most-watched genre. That is according to "Zero to Eight: Children's Media Use in America 2013," the second biennial study from Common Sense Media on media use by children eight-years-old and younger.
That is according to an advance copy of the study, which was released October 28th. The study found that between the first study (in 2011) and 2013, there has been a five-fold increase in tablet ownership by families with young children (from 8% to 40%).
And kids under eight with access to a smart phone has increased from 52% to 75%. Traditional TV watching is down 12 minutes per day, but TV still "reigns supreme in children's media lives," the study found. More than half of the kids surveyed (58%) watch TV at least once a day, compared to 17% who use mobile devices every day, and 14% who are on a computer.
Of the one hour and 55 minutes average screen time per day for kids eight and under, half (57%) is spend watching TV, compared to 19% watching DVD's, 13% using mobile devices, and 9% playing video games. Of that 57% spent watching TV, a third of that is to programming that has been time shifted — via a DVR, downloaded or streamed, or on demand.
The other third (68% actually) was watched at its regularly scheduled time. The report is based on a nationally representative survey of 1,463 parents of children age 8 and under. The survey was conducted from May 20 to June 12, 2013. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The Battle for Cloud City
Excerpted from Report by Dan Schnapp and Matt Syrkin
As the convergence of cloud-based products and services with the delivery and consumption of entertainment content continues to gain steam in the US, multiple courts across the US are being asked to weigh in on the copyright implications of a new type of online TV service offered by two entities — namely, Aereo and FilmOn X (aka Aereokiller and Barry Driller).
A cross-country surge of litigation in the matter is testing the balance between copyright holders' exclusive rights to exploit their works and consumers' and service providers' ability to make lawful use of these works through emerging cloud-based technology solutions.
Since our last article on the subject, litigation involving these two service providers has now spread from courts in New York and California to courts in Massachusetts, Utah, and the District of Columbia—and now, the US Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in by the plaintiffs.
The technology prompting the disputes consists of a cloud-based solution that captures and digitizes over-the-air television broadcast signals for transmittal to individual subscribers utilizing remotely located, miniature TV antennas.
Both services employ a similar protocol in assigning each individual subscriber his/her own thimble-sized antennae located at the service provider's facility which can be used solely by that subscriber to view live, as well as time and place shifted, streams and downloads of over-the-air television broadcasts on any Internet connected device, including mobile devices.
Please click here for the full report distributed to delegates at CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 (CCW:2013).
Settling the Aereo Issue
Excerpted from TV Technology Report by Tom Butts
Last month, the Library of American Broadcasting honored Barry Diller as a "Giant of Broadcasting" at a gala event in New York. Diller, as many of you know, is the financial backer of New York-based startup Aereo, which is in the midst of legal battles with broadcasters over its attempts to retransmit broadcast signals in violation of copyright law.
Yes, folks, the man who many claim is trying to destroy the current broadcast business model, was honored by the some of the very folks who are fighting him in court.
Forget spectrum auctions or the Hopper. To say that Aereo could redefine the concept of copyright law (and broadcasting itself) is not an understatement.
While there are some questions as to whether or not the antenna arrays actually perform to what Aereo claims they do, the main issue is one of retransmission fees, which bring in an estimated $3 billion annually, according to SNL Kagan, and are the financial lifeblood of TV broadcasters.
If Aereo and similar services, including Film On, survive legal challenges, it could lead to the collapse of broadcasting as we currently know it. It has even led one executive—from the network that Diller built—to announce that they would consider moving the network to the Internet if Aereo prevails.
Aereo's viability as a profitable company is not the issue here; so far its service has had limited success. Rather, it is the policy changes that could free not only services like Aereo but other pay TV providers from paying retransmission fees that constitutes the biggest threat to the financial underpinnings of the broadcast industry.
Aereo launched its service last year in New York and has since expanded to more than half a dozen cities. During this time, broadcasters have been challenging the company in several district courts, but after an initial victory last year, have lost several battles since.
After its latest defeat in a Boston court, broadcasters decided to take its case to the Supreme Court. Although the issues surrounding the case are fairly complex, the question broadcasters posed to the court is simple: "Whether a company 'publicly performs' a copyrighted television program when it retransmits a broadcast of that program to thousands of paid subscribers over the Internet."
Aereo bases its entire existence on the now-infamous Cablevision case in 2008 in which copyright holders in the television and film industries claimed that the New York cable provider's hosted DVR service constituted a "public performance," thereby violating copyright laws.
The court disagreed, basically saying that automated copying or timeshifting of content from the cloud-based service did not. In its legal filings, Aereo claims that its service is no different than Cablevision's.
So far, Aereo seems to be on the winning side in the lower courts but broadcasters want the issue settled sooner rather than later as the startup expands westward. Putting the issue in front of the Supreme Court is a gamble as the court may defer to previous decisions or even to Congress. Considering the unpredictability of the courts, broadcasters may have to pursue the legislative alternative.
As for Mr. Diller, this honor reminds us that perhaps he is not done having an impact on our business.
Cloud Computing Most Valued Skill for a Successful Career
Excerpted from Channel Pro Report
UK IT directors report that expertise in cloud computing is the most valuable skill for IT professionals to have for career advancement, according to new research from recruitment specialist Robert Half Technology.
Thirty-nine per cent of IT directors said expertise in cloud computing is the most valuable skill for IT professionals to have, followed by security (37 percent), project management (33 percent), virtualization (29 percent), network administration and engineering (27 percent), mobile and application development (27 percent), database management (24 percent), C# development (15 percent), business intelligence (14 percent) and Java development (13 percent).
Comments Phil Sheridan, UK Managing Director, Robert Half Technology: "The fact that so many companies are investing in cloud initiatives as well as training for their teams means that there are rich opportunities and a clear career path for IT professionals with cloud skills. With such a high proportion of companies planning to hire additional staff in this area, it's clearly a good time to focus on cloud skills as well as security around cloud initiatives and across the technology function.
"However, project management and virtualization skills are also highly valued by IT directors so these are worth focusing on too."
This rise in adoption of cloud computing initiatives is driving organizations to employ greater numbers of cloud experts, says the research. Forty-one percent of IT directors said that they would hire additional staff to support cloud initiatives. Of these, permanent employees would make up 17 percent of new hires, while contractors or interims would make up 24 percent.
An equal number (41 percent) of IT directors said that their cloud initiatives were fully staffed. Just 18 percent said that they did not have cloud initiatives in place, suggesting that the vast majority of companies (82 percent) have undertaken or will undertake cloud projects.
As well as hiring new cloud experts, IT directors are investing in training and education to bring their current teams up to speed. Almost half (49 percent) say that they deliver in-house training and development, while a third (32 percent) invest in external training courses and 30 percent provide webinar and e-learning.
A quarter of companies deliver on-the-job training while a fifth (20 percent) relies on previous experience in another company.
Cloud Computing Ranks High among IT Professionals
Excerpted from Midsize Insider by Marissa Tejada
Cloud computing is necessary in the eyes of more CIOs and IT professionals today. A new survey found that more firms are integrating the cloud into their information infrastructure to help them gain a competitive edge. Cost and security ranked as the top concerns when IT decides on a cloud platform and vendor.
NTT Com Security recently commissioned a report from Vanson Bourne that solicited the opinions of IT professionals at firms around the globe. The research, featured in CloudTimes, found that North American companies were the biggest implementers of cloud computing. Almost 100 percent of North American respondents said that that they have had the cloud working for them for the past six months or more. Cost or security ranked as the most important factors when deploying new applications.
Overall, the findings pointed out that CIOs and IT professionals believe the cloud offers their firms a competitive advantage and helps them reduce costs. Nearly three-quarters of CIOs from around the globe who were interviewed said they were already using the cloud.
The survey also highlighted that more than 60 percent of US and Canadian firms consider cost when deploying the cloud. Cost remained a concern for other regions of the world as well. With limited budgets, resources and time, IT professionals at midsize firms must look to overall costs when considering an entire cloud implementation. In the end, achieving the desired agility, flexibility, security and business outcomes are important.
That often starts with a good cloud vendor as a partner in the implementation process.
The survey also pointed out that availability of in-house skills is a concern for 47 percent of firms. Experienced cloud vendors can fulfill this concern better than ever before. With the rise of cloud computing implementations in the market, more experienced vendors are targeting their services to growing firms and can help midsize firms fill the gaps in cloud knowledge. More vendors innovating in this space means more competition for the business of midsize firms. More choices lead to more competitive prices for better service.
IT professionals at midsize firms cannot afford to overlook price concerns. However, they also cannot afford to approach a cloud implementation without the right set of knowledge and tools, especially since security is paramount. By working with cloud vendors who understand their needs, IT professionals can continue to reap the benefits of cloud computing with the least amount of worry.
Awesome Cloud Services Announces Cloud Computing Case Study
Awesome Cloud Services has announced the results of a recent case study with technology provider BCG Systems who partnered with Awesome Cloud Services to provide a comprehensive cloud-based solution to one of BCG Systems' Georgia-based clients, thus enabling the client to become a more agile organization.
Like many small to medium-sized businesses, BCG Systems' client had no onsite IT team. BCG Systems turned to Awesome Cloud Services to provide a comprehensive cloud-based solution that included day-to-day production through cloud servers and a business-continuity deployment. In partnering with Awesome Cloud Services, BCG Systems was able to deliver an all-inclusive cloud solution that enabled their client to reduce expenses and focus more of their time on running their business, delivering them not only on-demand access, but peace of mind as well.
BCG Systems was able to provide their client with various benefits that come from utilizing cloud services, including reduced capital expenditures, increased business agility, improvements in performance and on-demand access to their system.
Awesome Cloud Services is a cloud services provider that works exclusively with technology providers, enabling them to provide their clients with white label cloud services. Awesome Cloud Services provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, as well as Software Licensing (SaaS).
Believe It: The Cloud Gives You a Business Edge
Excerpted from InfoWord Report by David Linthicum
An IBM survey shows that the cloud's strategic importance to decision-makers, such as CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, HR Directors, and procurement executives, is poised to double from 34 percent to 72 percent, vaulting over their IT counterparts at 58 percent.
The survey found that one out of five organizations is ahead of the curve on cloud adoption. Moreover, they are achieving a competitive advantage by using cloud-based platforms, and not just cutting costs and driving efficiency through cloud computing.
Of course, consider the source: IBM is not a neutral cloud computing party; it sells many cloud-based offerings, including technology and a public cloud server.
Still, the results of this survey are not surprising, considering that business leadership is driving much of the growth around cloud computing, demanding that IT both consider and implement this technology. They see the potential for this technology to be strategic, much like the growth of the Web many years ago that changed the face of many businesses. Remember, it was business units, not IT, that drove Web adoption and related functions like e-commerce.
I often preach that you move to cloud computing for the cost efficiencies but stay for the business advantages, such as time to market and agility. The study also points out the ability to use cloud-based big data to make more informed business decisions. This study shows that many businesses are seeing those advantages now, mostly after the initial cloud deployments.
The game-changing aspects of cloud computing allow businesses to move faster than their competitors. In just a few years, we'll have heard story after story about larger, cumbersome enterprises that learned how to sell more cars, produce more product, offer more timely financial products -- you name it -- based on the use of this technology.
HP's SMB Cloud Strategy: 4 Moves for Fiscal 2014
Excerpted from The VAR Guy Report
Hewlett-Packard's new fiscal year started on November 1st. Among the big questions: How will HP empower partners in the SMB market — especially with cloud services? Here are four logical SMB cloud steps for HP — as pitched by The VAR Guy.
The advice includes...
1. Link CSP Partnerships to HP Hardware: Partner immediately with channel-friendly cloud providers and make those cloud providers run HP hardware. Potential examples include...
Axcient: Work more closely with this cloud business continuity services provider. Axcient built its cloud and on-premises appliances on HP hardware, but things have been somewhat silent in recent months. How about an update?
Artisan Infrastructure: Reach out to this emerging IaaS cloud provider. Artisan has a channel-only model. What hardware is the foundation for Artisan's cloud? The VAR Guy doesn't know. HP should find out.
Datto: Now here's another fast-growth backup and disaster recovery provider that has cloud and on-premises solutions. Datto builds its own hardware, The VAR Guy believes. But it would be wise for HP to give Datto a call to better understand how the company built out its cloud services for MSPs.
Google Apps Relationship: Communicate how the existing HP/Google relationship helps partners. HP has not really done so to date. A good starting point would be for HP to speak with the
Cloud Alliance for Google Apps team. Then, explore how those Google Apps partners can potentially leverage HP endpoints/hardware.
HP's own cloud: Promote HP public cloud as the natural back-end service for SMB channel partners. Get SMB ISVs onto the HP public cloud, then create and ecosystem of ISV-VAR relationships on the HP cloud.
2. On-premises SMB Offerings…
Compete With Microsoft: Design and promote an HP server that replaces Microsoft Small Business Server on-premises. Small business VARs have been begging for a Microsoft Small Business Server alternative ever since Microsoft killed the product. Reach out to Canonical (Ubuntu Linux server) about potential possibilities.
Extend to the Cloud: Link the HP SMB server to HP's public cloud for bursting/customer growth opportunities.
Think Managed Services: Partner more closely with RMM (remote monitoring and management) software providers like LabTech Software, Kaseya and Continuum (among others).
Connect to Autonomy: Connect the dots between on-premises HP SMB servers and Autonomy for cloud backup, eDiscovery, data protection and more. Yes, Autonomy may wind up competing with other partners The VAR Guy recommends in this article (Axcient, Datto, etc.). But coopetition (competition and cooperation) is a fact of life in IT.
3. Hardware as a Service (HaaS)…
Aggressively promote on-premises server sales as a monthly cost model, similar to cloud services.
SMB channel partners can then mix/match HP on-premises hardware with HP public cloud, giving customers a monthly ongoing price regardless of what they choose.
4. Channel Ready: Every HP product or service launched for SMB should have an associated partner program initiative the day of launch...
That's about all from here. The VAR Guy suspects you're working on some of the above-listed items.
Google's Eric Schmidt Offers Cloud Computing Tips
Excerpted from V3.co.uk Report by Dan Worth
Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has offered firms considering moving to the cloud five key tips to help them make the move, including avoiding Microsoft.
Schmidt said last month that cloud use was "inevitable" and he has followed up this claim by offering advice for those who want to heed his prophecy and start the transition now. Writing in a blog post Schmidt outlined five key issues that firms must address, and unsurprisingly these centered around using Google's products, including Google Apps such as Drive, Gmail, and Hangouts.
He also urged the uptake of cloud-based apps for specific needs, with the lucky companies touted by the Google chief including Workday for HR service, Salesforce for CRM and NetSuite for financials.
When it came to cloud infrastructure for custom application hosting, though, Schmidt was less generous with his praise for other firms, as he dismissed offerings from Google's arch rival Microsoft.
"Many organizations have built their own custom applications or need to be able to do very specialized programming. Most people use Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure. Choose between the first two," he said.
The fourth piece of Schmidt's advice was to "use a modern browser" and unsurprisingly Chrome was his suggestion.
"Chrome is built for speed, simplicity and security — and of course it's free. To make sure that you're protected from the latest threats, Chrome automatically updates whenever a new version of the browser is available," he wrote.
Finally, Schmidt recommended a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy to reduce hardware costs and allow staff to work more flexibly. Chromebooks were touted as the best laptop of choice for this purpose, but he did acknowledge rival operating systems.
"Without servers, the only real hardware you need are computers and phones — and a true cloud architecture works well with any operating system: Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Android, iOS," he said. "People can choose the device that suits them, and you can then reimburse their purchases and/or their own personal cell phone and Internet bills."
With these tips Schmidt said firms of all sizes should now feel ready to tackle the cloud, but if not, they should look for outside help where necessary.
"For small and mid-size companies, the transition can be made in a matter of days or weeks. For larger companies, who often have custom legacy systems built over many years, the migration may take a few months," he said.
"In these cases, consider working with experts that specialize in helping companies move to the cloud using all the tools I've mentioned. The world is moving to the cloud. Now's the time for you to move, too."
The tips come as many firms embrace the cloud, such as Whirlpool, which has taken on Google Apps for its transition. However, no doubt to Schmidt's frustration Microsoft has also been able to tout its own customer deals, some of which had left Google.
Cloud Security Services Market to Reach $2.1 Billion in 2013
Excerpted from Biztech2 Report
The cloud-based security services market will be worth $2.1 billion in 2013, rising to $3.1 billion in 2015, according to Gartner. Gartner said that growth in cloud-based security will remain strong, but revenue opportunities will vary. "The cloud-based security market remains a viable one, offering providers many opportunities for expansion," said Ruggero Contu, Research Director at Gartner. "Encryption will be a new area of growth, but it remains a complex activity.
The strongest interest will be in ecryption products from cloud security brokers, which are relatively easy to deploy and have options for on-premises encryption management." Gartner predicts that the top three most sought-after cloud services moving forward will remain email security,
Web security services and identity and access management (IAM). However, in 2013 and 2014, the highest growth is forecast to occur in cloud-based tokenization and encryption, security information and event management (SIEM), vulnerability assessment and Web application firewalls. "Areas such as SIEM and IAM offer the biggest growth potential, although for SIEM this will be from a small base," said Kelly Kavanagh, principal research analyst at Gartner. "The benefits cloud security offers — particularly encryption — are making it an increasingly popular choice.
However, trust concerns and regional variations mean that providers will have to assess each market opportunity carefully before deciding which to focus on." Overall adoption of software as a service (SaaS) applications and other cloud-based services encourages enterprises to adopt cloud-based security controls.
These are delivered either as stand-alone features or as part of an integrated SaaS package. Managed security services (MSS) are also driving adoption of cloud-based security services among enterprises.
MSS delivery models are in turn being affected by demand for cloud-based security services, which is enabling security providers to become de facto MSS players. "The benefits of deploying cloud-based security services are clear," said Kavanagh.
"Aside from the broad area of IAM, specific controls, such as encryption, are becoming vital to the adoption of cloud computing. They are further helping to generate interest in this particular form of security service delivery." Gartner expects acceptance of, and reliance on, cloud-based security-as-a-service offerings to increase, based on enterprises gaining more experience with SaaS and more consumer-grade technology being made available to corporate systems as a result of trends, such as bring your own device (BYOD).
Cloud-based security services will grow faster than the market for remotely monitored customer premises equipment (CPE) MSS through 2012, but starting from a smaller base.
In the next 24 months, new security-as-a-service-based offerings that address specific security controls for cloud-based IT resources will be available from larger IT and network service providers, aimed initially at small or midsize businesses (SMBs).
Gartner predicts that smaller, pure-play managed security service providers (MSSPs) will be most affected by the introduction of these services, and expects them to consolidate Within the IAM space, interest in cloud-based security has been driven mostly by SMBs' needs to extend their basic IAM functions and serve employees who are accessing SaaS and some internal Web-architected applications.
An increasing number of organizations seem to be adopting cloud-based IAM services to replace IAM on-premises tools. Larger businesses are often looking to use IAM as a mixture of legacy- and Web-architected cloud and on-premises. "Although enterprises' interest in encryption is expected to grow, service providers' relative lack of interest in cloud-based encryption means it has remained a complex activity, requiring organizations to initiate complex, build-your-own deployments," said Contu.
"The strongest interest is in encryption products from cloud security brokers, thanks to their relative ease of deployment and their options for on-premises encryption management. Nevertheless, Gartner expects cloud hosting providers and IaaS providers to show an increased interest in cloud-based encryption capabilities." Given the differences in maturity, cultural acceptance and local IT infrastructures, considerable regional differences exist in the deployment rates of cloud-based security systems.
The maturity of the related business communities, local regulations and cultural aspects all play a part in the level of spending dedicated to this delivery model compared with on-premises deployments.
Privacy remains an important inhibitor in the deployment of all forms of cloud-based services. This is particularly true in those regions and countries with strong regulatory requirements (such as Europe, with its data protection legislation).
OpenXcell Takes its Cloud Technology a Step Further
Excerpted from WhaTech Report
Incorporating cloud strategy to manage the e Commerce platforms shows positive insight for the prospective businesses.
With a great plunge of web as an unbeaten platform more and more businesses are now inclining towards generating their own e-businesses. Though managing the complexity of the software and hardware management is certainly not a cake walk.
OpenXcell Technolabs is one of the few software companies that are serving since many years to both small and large scale businesses in enhancing their business enterprise through Cloud Computing Services.
These SaaS based business management system offered by OpenXcell is dynamically scalable that micro manages and provides virtualized resources as a service over the Internet in which the users need not have expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure or Cloud Architecture.
With ample of experience in generating cloud computing architecture for different management systems and also with so much of happening on the e Commerce platform, OpenXcell has fetched the opportunity to invent Orderhive -- a cloud- based Inventory & Order Management System (IOMS) that serves small as well as large scale business owners in considerable low cost investment.
This SaaS software can simplify and automate the business management including inventory, orders, contacts and account management of more importantly small scale businesses.
Orderhive is competent cloud based inventory and stock management software that will help build up and manage the backend of any e Commerce platform more efficiently and systematically.' Says Jayneel Patel, the MD of OpenXcell Technolabs.
Indeed the entire process from managing the stocks to fulfillment of the orders in an e Commerce scenario is certainly a mammoth task especially when the business owner is clueless of the complexities attached with it. It is then such cloud based softwares that turn out to be a boon for the potential e Commerce platforms.
The other essential factor that is taken into consideration while incorporating cloud strategy for managing the e Commerce platform is that the Small-medium merchants will be able to set their precise information and achieve real-time updates on their inventories.
They will also be able to set the desired order in the event when the present stock gets sold out, hence reducing the possible hassle and perplexity.
OpenXcell Technolabs is a trusted SaaS based business management system developer. OpenXcell has its headquarters located in the US with its app development center located in India.
Cloud: The Next Industrial Revolution
Excerpted from All Things D Report by Robert Jenkins
"You have to ask yourself whether you're inherently a commodity business or inherently an innovation business."
Those words were spoken in 2005 by then Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley. But it may not be so easy to divorce commodities from innovation. In fact, without commodities, innovation would be nearly impossible.
When the world started to trade power from steam, coal and natural gas as commodities, entire industries skyrocketed to new levels of innovation. For instance, power-fueled advancements in transportation and heavy machinery revolutionized agriculture, infrastructure and medicine, along with countless other industries, forming what's now known as the Industrial Revolution.
Fast forward nearly two centuries and, today, the cloud possesses much the same transformative potential for the 21st century. In its current state, the market for computing resources is very similar to the world prior to the Industrial Revolution. Resources are scattered, pricing for services varies greatly — the system as a whole is inefficient.
But that won't last forever, as cloud computing is increasingly how computing resources are delivered to customers and even how they are traded among producers. These very computing resources are the basis for much innovation, and innovation is where new business opportunities are born.
Available to everyone, there is no limit to how they can be used by creative minds. The opportunity for cloud service providers is how they deliver that computing more effectively to customers and the toolset they give them to maximize the value from those very same resources. After all, a gig is a gig is a gig. It's what you do with it that matters, and that's what people are slowly but surely coming to realize.
Cloud is a fundamentally more efficient delivery system for large-scale computing resources, as utilization is much higher than dedicated hardware solutions; plus, it offers automation and elasticity for customers.
In most cases, utilization for public cloud solutions is at least double that of traditional dedicated solutions. And, as those benefits filter into the general economy, they have the capability to dramatically increase the efficiency of computing resource delivery.
As the cloud matures with increased interoperability, data portability and price/performance transparency, there will be a domino effect on the economy. Providers will have to compete based on how they innovate in delivering computing resources as well as how they can meet the needs of specific clients and use cases.
For example, if one cloud provider has better resource allocation logic and can run its capacity at 90 percent utilization versus 80 percent for the market as a whole, they have a significant advantage equivalent to being able to extract oil more cheaply than anyone else.
Likewise, specific sectors have certain needs. The financial services and healthcare industries, for instance, rely heavily on ultra-secure data transfers to protect sensitive information that could potentially be targeted by hackers. For them, a provider offering innovative private patching technology would be an ideal partner.
Moving forward, businesses will be able to choose cloud infrastructure providers based on real value propositions like this, taking us from a market focused on opaque pricing of cookie-cutter services to the highest value approach focused on price/performance and service fit through customized offerings.
As more and more industries rely on compute power, cloud resources will help fuel worldwide economic growth. Like steam, coal and other power sources centuries ago, this new way of looking at cloud infrastructure, where it is shaped primarily by the needs of the user, will enable customers to use commoditized resources as a launch pad for revolutionizing their industries yet again.
Commodities and innovation are inextricably linked. Commodities are the foundation without which we'd still be traveling in horse-drawn carriages and communicating via telegram. So, imagine what could happen with the cloud.
The impact that a lower oil price has on the world economy is well understood economically (it is both significant and positive!). But, the question is, where will a massive increase in accessibility to computing resources and a dramatic lowering of computing resource prices take us?
Some of the world's most challenging problems are limited by our computing power; three quick examples include climate prediction, genetics analysis and high-energy physics, which helps in understanding our universe better. No one can deny the impact of accelerating progress in even one of these fields, never mind all of them.
As the focus shifts from how many gigs of RAM you can get for the lowest price to which provider can offer the best performance and infrastructure customized for your specific use cases, we'll see entire industries able to develop new apps, products and services that change the way we work, play and live.
They'll do it better, faster and more efficiently; and, just like the Industrial Revolution, global output and productivity will reflect this shift.
According to a recent KPMG survey of business leaders from a broad range of sectors, the cloud was identified as one of the top three vehicles expected to act as the driving force behind the next wave of indispensable technologies in the coming years.
Respondents indicated that they believe we are still in the early stages of the cloud innovation curve, and that the most significant developments are still to come. They're just waiting for — and expecting — the cloud to kick-start that next revolution. But, what will it look like?
If we look at computing use cases as Olympic athletes, we start to see the cloud for what it is and what it could be. Sheer athleticism is a must for a successful Olympic athlete, but it far from guarantees a gold medal.
For instance, you wouldn't put a world-champion swimmer in a 400-meter sprint against Usain Bolt simply because the swimmer is athletic. And, while athleticism cannot be undervalued, all we have to do is look at the differences in the physiques of swimmers versus runners versus weight lifters and so on to realize that they spend years tailoring their bodies and skill sets to specific sports. So, why should computing requirements be any different?
A media and entertainment company in Hollywood will have different needs when it comes to cloud infrastructure and services than a scientific research organization like CERN, even though the underlying computing resources powering their platforms (i.e. computing resource commodities) may be the same.
So, as an Olympic athlete's body needs to be tailored to specific events, cloud infrastructure needs to be shaped into a form conducive to the needs of its users.
The move to cloud as a delivery mechanism for computing resources paves the way for true innovation, both in terms of efficiency gains by providers in delivering those resources and the ability for customers to make those resources mold to their needs.
The innovative breakthroughs that can be made with the right foundations in place are what breed success, push entire industries into the future and create new ones that change how we live our lives, day in and day out.
Why Can't Big Government Launch a Website?
Excerpted from Slashdot Report by Mark Whittington
Glenn Reynolds, the purveyor of Instapundit, asked the pertinent question, "If big government can put a man on the moon, why can't it put up a simple website without messing it up?"
The answer, as it turns out, is a rather simple one. The Apollo Program, that President John F. Kennedy mandated to put a man on the moon and return him to the Earth, was a simple idea well carried out for a number of reasons.
The primary one was that Congress did not pass a 1,800 or so page bill backed up by a mind-numbing amount of regulations mandating how NASA would do it.
The question of how to conduct the lunar voyages was left up to the engineers at NASA and the aerospace industry at the time.
The government simply provided the resources necessary to do the job and a certain degree of oversight.
Imagine if President Obama had stated, "I believe the nation should commit itself to the goal of enabling all Americans to access affordable health insurance" but then left the how to do it to some of the best experts in health care and economics without partisan interference.
If Healthcare.gov Were Running on a True Cloud, It'd Be Much Better Off
Excerpted from IT World Report by Nancy Gohring
It's been nearly impossible to avoid coverage of the many different problems facing Healthcare.gov.
A statement from Terremark, which is providing the backend service for the Healthcare.gov site, gives us a bit of insight into just one of those problems. Despite all the talk about the government adopting cloud computing, it appears that Healthcare.gov isn't actually using the cloud.
Instead, it sounds like it's running in an old-school hosted environment.
"Since HHS asked us to provide additional compute and storage capacity, our engineers have worked 24/7 to trouble-shoot issues with the site. At the request of HHS's Deputy CIO, we are now undertaking infrastructure maintenance, which should be complete overnight. We anticipate the strengthened infrastructure will help eliminate application downtimes," Verizon, Terremark's owner, said Tuesday.
One of the benefits of the public cloud is that applications can scale automatically as needed. That's why large Internet startups prefer public clouds — they don't have to guess how popular they'll be. Just run the service on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and scale up according to demand.
Were Healthcare.gov running in a true cloud environment, it wouldn't have to manually order up additional compute and storage capacity and wait for it to be provisioned, while users are prevented from accessing the overloaded site.
Because Healthcare.gov is a federal service, strict security regulations might be to blame for the technology decision that limited the backend service to be essentially a hosting environment rather than a true cloud.
"The combination of the federal government and health-care info on US citizens has got to be a regulatory mine-field," said Michael Cote, an analyst with The 451 Group. "As such, I'd wager much of the drag around this whole thing is due to the expensive, slow requirements such regulations drive."
Still, it should have been possible for the healthcare site to comply with those regulations just by working with a provider like Terremark that's jumped through the necessary hoops required to take on federal contracts. Using a hosting environment rather than a scalable cloud doesn't make sense for a service like this with an unknown demand.
Coming Events of Interest
Government Video Expo 2013 - December 3rd-5th in Washington, DC. Government Video Expo, co-located with InfoComm's GovComm, brings the east coast's largest contingent of video production, post, digital media, and broadcast professionals together with the government AV/IT specialists. The combined event features over 150 exhibits and nearly 6,000 registrants.
GOVERNMENT VIDEO IN THE CLOUD - December 4th in Washington, DC. This DCIA Conference within Government Video Expo focuses specifically on cloud solutions for and case studies related to producing, storing, distributing, and analyzing government-owned video content.
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.
NAB Show - April 5th-10th in Las Vegas, NV. From broadcasting to broader-casting, NAB Show has evolved over the last eight decades to continually lead this ever-changing industry. From creation to consumption, NAB Show has proudly served as the incubator for excellence — helping to breathe life into content everywhere.
Media Management in the Cloud — April 8th-9th in Las Vegas, NV. This two-day conference provides a senior management overview of how cloud-based solutions positively impact each stage of the content distribution chain, including production, delivery, and storage.
CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 - May 13th-14th in Washington, DC. Three major conference tracks will zero in on the latest advances in the application of cloud-based solutions in three key economic sectors: government, healthcare, and financial services.
|
.jpg)
