December 23, 2013
Volume XLVI, Issue 6
Don't Miss Octoshape at CES
DCIA Member Company Octoshape is especially well positioned for the next evolution of global cloud-based broadband TV.
The company has acquired over 100 customers in the last 18 months, including large US technology vendors and tier-1 broadcasters, such as Cisco, DirecTV, Dish Network, and Turner Broadcasting, among others, and is continuing to grow rapidly.
Octoshape's platform delivers a suite of multicast technologies and other optimization techniques designed to distribute high-quality video content globally, without the need to upgrade in-country infrastructure. This allows Octoshape to enable very cost effective commercial models for premium content owners and service providers to reach millions of subscribers worldwide.
The company is now scheduling sessions for qualified delegates to meet with its CEO and members of its executive team for first-hand demonstrations of its platform, which will underscore its technology differentiation, at the upcoming 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
In the interest of time, feel free to get in touch with Octoshape's Per Hultin directly to set-up a meeting at the show.
gCLOUD Speakers for CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014
TheDCIA & CCA will present CLOUD COMPUTING EAST (CCE:2014), a strategic summit for business leaders and software developers, in Washington, DC from Tuesday May 13th through Wednesday May 14th.
As one of three tracks within CCE:2014, gCLOUD (The Government Cloud) will thoroughly examine the ways that local, state, and federal governments can improve services and protect citizens with cloud-based tools. It will also address liabilities and challenges that need to concern government agencies regarding cloud-based services.
Topics will include: the explosion of data, advances in security and reliability, and options for redundant storage; challenges to natural resource management, transportation, and utility grid monitoring; and the impact of cloud services on law enforcement and emergency responsiveness.
If you would like to speak at this major industry event, please contact the DCIA at your earliest convenience. We're interested in gCLOUD end-user organizations, public-sector thought-leaders, and private-sector solutions providers to discuss how the cloud is transforming the way government performs its essential functions.
We're finalizing the conference agenda and speakers list to be included in the promotional materials and conference program now. Call or e-mail at your earliest convenience — THIS WEEK — for more information.
DCIA Member companies and DCINFO subscribers will also receive invitations this week to speak on the hCLOUD (The Healthcare Cloud) and fCLOUD (The Financial Services Cloud) tracks.
Please contact the CCA for attractive exhibition and sponsorship opportunities.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 Very happy holidays from the DCIA, and best wishes for success in the cloud in 2014.
On Wednesday January 8th, we will present CONNECTING TO THE CLOUD (CTTC), a Conference within the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV.
Please register now for CTTC at CES. 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 at CLOUD COMPUTING WEST — the "cloud electronics (CE) sector."
At 1:00 PM, an opening panel presented by Verizon Digital Media Services, featuring Jonathan Perelman, GM Video & VP Agency Strategy, BuzzFeed; Adam Ostrow, Chief Strategy Officer, Mashable; Michael Schneider, CEO, Mobile Roadie; and Jason Baptiste, CMO, Onswipe; and moderated by Daniel Dan Cryan, Senior Director of Digital Media, IHS / Screen Digest, 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, music, and gaming content online? Hear it first-hand from young voices representing leading companies in the digital, social, and tech arenas.
At 1:45 PM, Robert Stevenson, Chief Business Officer & VP of Strategy, Gaikai, will further examine this issue in a keynote address entitled, "Tomorrow Is Now: What We Are Connecting to the Cloud."
At 2:00 PM in a solo presentation, Sam Rosen, Practice Director, TV & Video, Consumer Electronics, ABI Research, will address, "Where Are There Problems Connecting to the Cloud?"
Next, at 2:15 PM, Reza Rassool, Chief Technology Officer, Kwaai Oak, will further expose "Consumer Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Availability, Reliability, Scalability Issues."
The follow-on panel at 2:30 PM with 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, starting at 3:00 PM will delve into "Telecommunications Industry Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content: New Opportunities" with Doug Pasko, Principal Member of Technical Staff, Verizon Communications. And at 3:15 PM, "Telecommunications Industry Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Infrastructure Challenges" with Allan McLennan, President & Chief Analyst, PADEM Group.
The next panel, at 3:30 PM, will address "The Impact on Entertainment Industries of Cloud Computing" with Jay Migliaccio, Director of Cloud Platforms & Services, Aspera; Mike King, Dir. of Mktg. for Cloud, Content & Media, DataDirect Networks; Venkat Uppuluri, VP of Marketing, Gaian Solutions; Mike West, Chief Technology Officer, GenosTV; George Dolbier, CTO, Social & Interactive Media, IBM; Kurt Kyle, Media Industry Principal, SAP America; Adam Powers, and VP of Media Technology & Solutions, V2Solutions.
Two solo presentations, at 4:15 PM with Les Ottolenghi, Global CIO, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, and, at 4:30 PM, 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, starting at 4:45 PM will introduce the subjects "Consumer Electronics Industry Benefits of Cloud-Based Services: New Revenue Streams" with Mikey Cohen, Architect & Principal Engineer, Netflix, and, at 5:00 PM, "Consumer Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content: Ubiquity, Cost, Portability Improvements," with Joshua Danovitz, VP of Innovation, TiVo
The closing panel at 5:15 PM will draw on all the preceding sessions to more deeply analyze "The Impact on the Consumer Electronics Industry of Cloud Computing" with Melody Yuhn, CTO, CSS Corp.; 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.
Finding Holiday Success in the Cloud
Excerpted from Business2Community Report by Kelly Meeneghan
With the holiday shopping season in full swing, consumers are showing little intention of slowing down. Make sure your small-to-midsize business (SMB) is prepared for the extra attention by transitioning your business back-end into the cloud to make the most of this shopping season.
The end of the year is an ideal time for SMBs to leverage their products and services in order to drive profits. In fact, this holiday shopping season, consumers are each expected to spend more than $1,260. The secret to making the most of this opportunity is preparation, and shoppers are looking online for a majority of their purchases. However, slow loading times, website errors, outdated information, and a lack of online security can lead to abandoned searches and loss of business.
This year, consider transitioning your technical needs to a more flexible platform. Previously a solution only implemented by larger companies, cloud servers are starting to be adopted by SMBs as it is often considered the perfect option for retail and seasonal businesses. Below are three benefits of operating in the cloud and the impact it can have on businesses that see an increase in attention during the holiday months.
Managing Costs
Remaining within budget is typically a number one concern for SMB owners when there is more consumer demand. Raw supplies, marketing materials, employee pay, and other miscellaneous front-end and back-end operations need to be strategically planned for. Operating your IT needs within a cloud platform can help reduce your overall technical costs, allowing you to put your money towards other important business aspects.
Due to their ultimate flexibility cloud users maintain full control over the amount of technical resources that are used at any time. By configuring your website's RAM, hard disk space, and CPU as needed, you will only pay for what you use. During the holiday rush, scale your resources up to accommodate the increase in online traffic. Once the rush is over, the resources can be scaled back down to your normal, lower settings. This ensures that at an affordable price, your online presence can handle the additional attention and no one is faced with a slow or nonfunctional website.
For holiday-specific seasonal businesses that do not operate in the off-season, some hosting companies have implanted "sleep-mode" features within their cloud product lines. By enabling this functionality, business owners can freeze their CPU and RAM resources while keeping their data fully and safely stored for up to six months at no cost. All of the adjustments can be made without technical support and take almost immediate effect, saving your business time and money.
Access Anytime, Anywhere
The holiday season can be a hectic time for SMBs. Often on the move, not all time is spent in the office or physical store location. Within a cloud infrastructure, important files are no longer confined to one server. Presentations, order forms, contact information and countless other documents that are vital to the daily operations of your business can be accessed anytime and anywhere through any device via the web. Documents can be accessed and updated much more conveniently within the cloud.
Reducing Risk
Online security has become a main concern for business owners of all sizes. The services in a cloud platform are designed to provide redundancy, thus offering optimal uptime and improved security — advantages many do not often realize. In fact, it has been proven that cloud solutions are more secure and able to handle online attacks better than most private networks located onsite. Many use a server to run online processes, applications, databases, and e-commerce and now there are cloud-based servers that are virtualized offering infinite scalability yet have all the power needed.
For many SMB owners, cloud computing may seem to be an intimidating concept. Typically thought of as leveraged by IT departments and professionals, SMBs have the ability to experience the same great advantages and positive business impact with a cloud solution. Make the most of this holiday season and consider a cloud platform to support all your IT needs.
Getting Ready for CES 2014 — The Internet of Stuff
Excerpted from ZDNet Report by Ed Bott
A new report from Gartner predicts that "The Internet of Things" will encompass 26 billion units — not including PCs, tablets, and smartphones — by 2020.
I believe it. In the run-up to this year's International CES, it feels like I've received about that many pitches for connected things. Some of the early wave of "Things" that will be on display in Las Vegas next month are essentially working prototypes, foreshadowing what will someday be polished products.
For now, the potential outweighs the polish. Maybe the real "Internet of Things" is still a few years away. For now, with a nod to George Carlin, I'm calling it "The Internet of Stuff."
I've lost count of the emails I've received inviting me to look at digital stuff that gathers data and shares it with people and with other connected stuff: new health and fitness devices, streaming audio and video gadgets, smart automotive accessories, and all sorts of things for the home.
Not just the usual home automation hardware, which always seem to be a few years away from going mainstream, but also things like connected door locks and thermostats. Lowe's — Home Depot's arch rival in the big-box hardware business — is going to be showing off its collection of contributions to The Internet of Stuff at CES.
Every year I wrestle with the decision of whether to endure the horrors of a ridiculously crowded Las Vegas in January, knowing that I'm almost certain to return with a cold or the flu. This time I decided to go because I want to see if I can make sense of the tech landscape if it's all physically there in front of me. Lord knows it just feels like a big hot mess as I scroll through all these pitch emails.
For the longest time, CES was mostly about the living room: TVs and audio systems and VCRs and DVD players, with a smattering of mobile stuff, mostly car audio.
Then, after the demise of Comdex, CES briefly became a showcase for PCs, although that era started just as Apple was creating a parallel universe, outside of Las Vegas, organized around the iPhone and the iPad.
PCs are still well represented at CES, of course, even if (for the second year in a row) Microsoft won't be exhibiting or keynoting.
There will still be giant walls of TVs and plenty of killer audio systems. But mobility and connectedness is where the real action is. Give me a few hours with Excel and I could probably prove it by calculating an Index that measures the percentage of pitches for headphones and smartphone cases.
That index appears to be at an all time high for CES 2014. (Just last week I got pitches for a military-grade Kevlar smartphone case, and an iPhone 5 case that doubles as a 650,000-volt stun gun. There was also something about a drone that works inside offices. Yikes.)
Even if most of the products are destined to be dismissed as too early, there's genuine value into getting hands-on with these things. At IFA in Berlin last September, I spent a half-hour or so with the Samsung Gear watch, which I had dismissed when I first read the press release. Seeing the product in action helped me understand both its audience and its potential in a way I couldn't from that press release. (And I'm holding out for at least versions 3.0.)
What's really of most interest, and where I hope to learn some interesting stuff, is the technology that goes into all these devices.
I expect to see and interact with a lot of new input stuff, especially voice and gestures. I want to see what's coming from chipmakers like TI and Qualcomm and AMD.
And there should be some interesting security stories as well, especially as biometric identification and verification starts to appear as a feature in more and more devices.
It's always interesting at CES to get a thorough tour of the booths of the big consumer electronics giants, like LG and Toshiba and Sony and Panasonic and especially Samsung, which have sprawling and sometimes overwhelming product lines.
But you're just as likely to see a future hit product at one of the mini-tradeshows that are magnets for anyone with a press badge: ShowStoppers and Digital Experience. And there are plenty of opportunities for interesting, sometimes off-the-record conversations and demos away from the show floor behind closed doors.
The show officially runs from January 7-10, but there are plenty of press events in the days leading up to the show as well. I'm hoping this year that I can come home with a clearer picture of where the tech industry is headed instead of the CES flu. Wish me luck.
Verizon's New Cloud Platform
Excerpted from TechRepublic Report by Nick Hardiman
Verizon has been building a new cloud platform, announced on October 3rd in New York, called the Verizon Cloud.
Verizon is already in the cloud business. It runs the VMware-based vCloud Express and Enterprise Cloud and it provides managed clouds and private clouds to enterprises. Why does an infrastructure giant like Verizon decide to build a next-generation cloud?
The Last Five Years of Verizon Cloud
Verizon is both an American telecoms giant and a global IT services provider. It turns over billions of dollars and employs most of 200,000 people around the world (for those who do not live in a Verizon part of the globe, Verizon rhymes with horizon).
Cloud is not a new venture for Verizon. Gavan Egan, who runs the cloud business for Verizon in Europe, said, "We've been in the cloud business for well over 5 years now. Our focus is really on enterprise cloud hence you see that's the branding around a lot of our platforms. Verizon today offers a whole range of cloud and hybrid cloud options - public cloud, private cloud, co-location. We've got 15 data centers around the world where we support this business."
Egan explained how Verizon built up its cloud business. "Verizon had an offering which it had deployed in data centers around the world, and which was very successful in the enterprise space. These were complemented by the acquisitions of Terremark and Cloudswitch."
Why Build a Next Generation Cloud?
Verizon felt the use of cloud services was limited. Egan described what kind of cloud usage Verizon was seeing from its enterprise customers. "We've got a huge amount of experience running cloud and observed the challenges that our customers had in terms of using cloud. Why have companies only put a limited set of types of application on the cloud?"
"Today, on all our cloud platforms, 50% of applications are web-facing applications. Another 40% are test-and-dev type applications." Enterprise customers refuse to put many workloads on current public cloud offerings.
"We wanted to broaden the use-case for cloud so you would be able to put more-and-more in the cloud." Egan said. "Cloud today solves challenges with hundreds of thousands of virtual machines (VMs). We set out trying to solve challenges with millions and tens of millions of VMs".
The Next Generation Cloud
Having decided to expand the usefulness of cloud computing for its enterprise customers, how did Verizon tackle the problem? "Two and a half years ago we started planning for our next generation cloud. At that time, Terremark had always been a leader in cloud functionality, and we wanted to maintain leadership capability there. "
Along with maintaining this functionality, Egan said Verizon wanted to improve performance. "With the Verizon cloud compute platform, you get guaranteed performance in the cloud. We guarantee your performance, in terms of memory, in terms of storage, and also in terms of network."
Verizon also wants to improve manageability. Current cloud customers "buy cloud in bundles - I want this size bundle, that size bundle. We decided to give customers complete flexibility, in terms of the amount of compute, memory, stores they need to run the different workloads that they require".
"We will allow you to set up your workloads on our cloud and then dial the number of IOs you need for that application. Dial up the size of the network you need for that. You dial it up and we will guarantee that you will have access to those resources for the whole time. And you know what, if you don't need them, you just dial them back down".
The new Verizon Cloud will target both cloud natives and the traditional IT departments where Verizon has traditionally played. "You will be able to acquire resources on this cloud using a credit card from your home computer. You will be able to contact Verizon to do different types of contract on the cloud. We really opened up in terms of flexibility and the ease of adoption in terms of the cloud platform".
The Technical Stack
Egan said they could not simply ramp up capacity on their existing offerings. "We looked at VMware - who we have a very good partnership with, the Verizon cloud is fully VMware compatible - and to achieve the scale we wanted to, we had to do something different." Everything from the hardware up is new. "We've worked with partners such as SeaMicro, NetApp, and HGST from Western Digital. We've invested in driver technology around that hardware".
Network administrators get more access using the new Verizon Cloud, because Verizon built on the work of Cloudswitch. "Cloudswitch was an important acquisition because it gave fantastic capability in software. That was really important to us in terms of how we looked at our cloud infrastructure going forward".
What difference does CloudSwitch make? "Today most clouds are presented to customers at layer 3. This will be presented at layer 2. You will get full access to layer 2 controls, so you will be able to do your own SDN, create own subnets, and so on - really making this an extension of your own data center".
The base of the software stack is a virtualization layer with a modified xen hypervisor at its core. Verizon are talking with partners such as Cloud Foundry and Cloudera about the PaaS layer and other technology they are likely to run.
The End of Private Cloud?
The Verizon Cloud goes into public beta in the next month and into GA sometime next year. If the Verizon plan to expand cloud use works, it could be the beginning of the end for private clouds. Egan thinks "the business case in terms of private cloud is going to shrink. If you look at the market for private cloud today, why do companies do it? Performance is a big thing, security is a big thing. We believe we address a lot of that with our next generation cloud".
When an infrastructure giant gets into cloud, it not only aims to be a global leader, it plans to change the game.
TiVo Co-Founders' New TV Streaming Box QPlay
Excerpted from GigaOM Report by Janko Roettgers
Two co-founders of TiVo want to give TV another shot. This time, their new product is all about streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
TiVo Co-Founders Michael Ramsay and Jim Barton are about to release a new TV companion device that aims to combine video discovery and curation with smart TV functionality.
Dave Zatz recently spotted an FCC filing for the QPlay-branded device, which suggests that the release is imminent. Zatz also found a bunch of other clues, and I've learned in the last few days that some of the services QPlay is working with include Netflix and Hulu Plus.
Here's what we know about QPlay:
QPlay has been developed by a San Jose, CA based company called InVisioneer. Ramsay is the company's CEO and Barton is CTO and President. The company's other hires include engineers from Apple, Google and Linden Lab. The company received a seed round of financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in September.
Here's what InVisioneer says about itself:
"Our passion is innovative products that people love to use. In the past we disrupted industries to do what was right. We're gearing up to do it again."
I know, that's not very specific. Here's a bit more detail, courtesy of a job ad surfaced by Zatz:
"InVisioneer is building a product that sits at the nexus of exciting trends in video, mobile, and social."
And here's the company's description on Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' website:
"We provide a better way to find and watch quality TV and Internet video."
The aforementioned FCC filing adds some more details, thanks to a user manual included in the filing. The QPlay companion box connects to TVs through HDMI, but it comes without a remote control. Instead, users are told to use their iPad to set up Wifi for and interact with the device, suggesting that QPlay functions similarly to Chromecast.
However, there are also some key differences: Whereas Chromecast is primarily about letting users beam content to the TV screen from within a variety of third-party apps, QPlay instead focuses on curation through its own dedicated app.
Essentially, QPlay will offer users apps for iOS devices to discover, collect, share and watch videos. Users will be able to make their own playlists of videos, share them with others through the service as well as Facebook and Twitter, browse the playlists of their friends and apparently also rate playlists.
The big question is: Playlists of what? Zatz guessed last week that this is all about videos from YouTube, Vimeo and similar services — the low-hanging fruit that would be easy to get access to for InVisioneer.
However, I have since learned that QPlay is more about premium video, and that the device will likely give consumers access to content from Netflix and Hulu Plus as well as possibly Amazon.
Lots of details about QPlay are still unclear, but given the timing of the FCC filing, I wouldn't be too surprised to see many of them revealed at the upcoming CES in Las Vegas next month.
BitTorrent Serverless Chat Uses Crypto Keys
Excerpted from Ars Technica Report by Jon Brodkin
BitTorrent is developing a serverless instant-messaging (IM) system that relies on public key encryption to protect the privacy of communications, identifying users not with traditional usernames but with cryptographic key pairs.
The company, which develops the BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol as well as the BitTorrent and uTorrent file sharing software, announced the forthcoming chat software in September and revealed some details on how it will work in a blog post today. It reads:
With BitTorrent Chat, there aren't any "usernames" per se. You don't login in the classic sense. Instead, your identity is a cryptographic key pair. To everyone on the BitTorrent Chat network at large, you ARE your public key. This means that, if you want, you can use Chat without telling anyone who you are. Two users only need to exchange each other's public keys to be able to chat.
Using public key encryption provides us with a number of benefits. The most obvious is the ability to encrypt messages to your sender using your private key and their public key. But in public key encryption, if someone gains access to your private key, all of your past (and future) messages could be decrypted and read.
In Chat, we are implementing forward secrecy. Every time you begin a conversation with one of your contacts, a temporary encryption key will be generated. Using each of your keypairs, this key will be generated for this one conversation and that conversation only, and then deleted forever.
Underlying this system is a Distributed Hash Table (DHT), which finds IP addresses, removing the need for a central server to route messages, the company explained.
"If you understand the fundamentals of the DHT, you might be wondering, 'How is a DHT more secure? Aren't you giving your IP address out to the entire DHT? That's LESS secure than a central server!'" BitTorrent wrote. "With Chat, we are expanding on what we can use the DHT for. We have updated our DHT protocol to support encryption. The new DHT protocol enables users to find each other securely and privately."
You can sign up for the BitTorrent Chat private alpha, but don't expect to be granted access right away. BitTorrent spokesperson Christian Averill told Ars that the system is only being used internally as of now.
Averill noted that the key pair scenario described above is just one of the ways BitTorrent Chat will secure communications—users will have other options. "There will be other, simpler ways that we also support for people who are less technical," Averill said. "Those details will follow at a later date."
BitTorrent, Inc. isn't saying when Chat will be available, but Averill said it will likely follow a similar development pattern as BitTorrent Sync, a Dropbox-like file syncing system that relies on P2P technology. That would mean a private alpha testing stage would be followed by a public alpha few months later and a beta release a few months after that.
Interest in more secure file syncing and chat technologies has increased in the months following leaks detailing how the National Security Agency spies on personal communications. Users who don't want to wait for BitTorrent Chat can encrypt instant messages today using Off-the-Record, which can be used through plugins for chat clients.
Cloud Computing, Media Industry, Midsize Firms
Excerpted from Midsize Insider Report by Marissa Tejada
Cloud computing is a game-changing technology that is making a difference in most industries, including the media industry. In a recent article, the CTO of Amazon pointed out that the cloud has changed the way in which firms are approaching media production, enabling them to innovate in new and creative ways.
The promise of the cloud in the media industry parallels the experiences of growing firms today when considering the cloud to help them to become more productive and competitive.
Cloud and Media Production
In a recent post on CloudAve, writer Ted Navarro highlighted thoughts about the evolution of cloud technology from Werner Vogels, the CTO of Amazon.com. Vogels pointed out that the cloud will help to develop greater innovations in mobile and analytics. He also called out the effect that cloud computing has had on media and even on midsize firms.
Midsize firms at one point, he said, could not produce what they wanted due to the expense associated with hardware and third-party production houses. Now, with the cloud, the creation of rich media has lowered in price as various audio and video tools have become more commoditized.
Another example offered by Vogel in the CloudAve post is the fact that smaller companies never imagined that they could distribute their media internationally, yet today they can do so simply by leveraging the cloud.
As a result, the economics of the media industry have changed and continue to evolve as companies build on new channels of distribution in the industry. With these numerous shifts in the media industry on account of the cloud, according to the article, next year will see a large-scale adoption of cloud media production.
Lessons for Midsize Firms
Midsize firms in every other industry once faced the same limitations as media. There was a limit on what they could accomplish. Certain technologies, such as big data, were once a consideration only for enterprise firms that had the staff, knowledge and resources to implement projects to support high-level business goals.
That has changed with the cloud.
Cloud services, if implemented correctly, have been proven to enable business growth at smaller firms, improving agility, scalability and flexibility at an ideal price point.
The challenge of juggling tight resources remains at growing firms. That is just one reason why the cloud is being adopted at a faster rate. IT professionals at midsize companies who work with trusted vendors do so because they can make the most of the firm's technology investment from the start.
They cannot afford to waste time, money and resources on a migration that is not fully optimized to their needs. Experienced vendors can assist them with architecture planning and design and data security and can present the best private, public or hybrid cloud service technologies.
2013 Review: Cloud Now Normal — So Real Work Begins!
Excerpted from Computer World Report by Larry Freeman
"Cloud" has proven to be a sticky marketing term, even (especially?) among non-technical consumers. In 2013, the average consumer began to understand just what the cloud was all about: an immense repository of data and services that are broadly accessible.
For business users, the cloud also became commonplace. Although most executives still don't have a deep understanding of the choices and tradeoffs involved with a shift to cloud computing, there is a growing consensus that "the cloud" promises a quicker and cheaper way of purchasing IT than the traditional, build-it-yourself model.
This in turn has led to internal debates between application developers and infrastructure teams on the best approach for implementing "the cloud" within IT organizations.
(And of course, IT architects know that when they hear management say, "We want to move to the cloud," they will be the ones who have to figure out how to do it!)
In 2013, the SaaS/PaaS/IaaS (SPI) cloud model moved from concept to reality for the majority of organizations. According to North Bridge and GigaOM's 2013 Future of Cloud Computing, 75 percent of those surveyed reported the use of a least one cloud instance in their environment.
Some cloud implementations remain relatively easy, such as using a SaaS provider to bring online a new, stand-alone application—assuming that there's minimal integration required.
However, most cloud implementations are still difficult: For example, reconfiguring existing on-premise servers, networking, and storage equipment into an infrastructure of pooled IT resources remains an elusive goal for many organizations (aka "building a private cloud").
And some cloud implementations often appear to be darn near impossible, such as building a hybrid cloud that allows easy data migration between on-premise private clouds and off-premise public clouds.
Yet, despite the growing pains, the increased availability of cloud services in 2013 became a much-needed relief valve for IT organizations as the pressure to "do more with less" continued with no end in sight.
In 2014, it is safe to assume that enterprises will spend a great deal of time determining which applications are the next candidates for a transition to the cloud.
Three criteria for assessing cloud-based workloads.
While 2013 was the year of mainstream cloud adoption, 2014 looks to be the year of cloud immersion, with many companies following the lead of the US Government and adopting a "cloud first" policy. From a data-storage perspective, each transition to cloud-based workloads means an organization must decide whether to use on-premise or off-premise cloud storage.
This decision requires an assessment in three areas: performance, control, and cost.
Performance: Despite advances in carrier speeds, data transmission to and from off-premise public cloud providers is still inadequate for most transaction-based applications. Cloud throughput can be spotty and subject to bursts of activity from other tenants sharing your resources. Minimum performance levels can be enforced contractually but are difficult to verify. The penalty paid by the provider also fails to cover the true cost: unhappy users suffering from poor response times. Your best bet may be to make sure off-premise cloud applications (and users) can tolerate inconsistent performance.
Control: When you move any workload off-premise, in essence, you are giving up control of your storage infrastructure for that workload. This means that architectural decisions, performance tuning, maintenance cycles, and technology refreshes will be someone else's domain. Off-premise storage also means that unauthorized access to your data carries a higher risk. Although cloud security breaches have been rare, this is still a consideration for applications with strict security or compliance requirements.
Cost: Fundamentally, nearly all decisions to move to the cloud involve projected cost savings. A determination of off-premise vs. on-premise storage will be a compromise between the ability of a cloud service provider to successfully emulate your IT environment, protect your data from prying eyes, and positively impact your budget's bottom line.
6 #BigData Predictions from DDN's Jean-Luc Chatelain
Excerpted from Silicon Angle Report by Ryan Cox
When it comes to Big Data, Jean-Luc Chatelain is a name worth dropping. Jean-Luc Chatelain is the CTO, DataDirect Networks (DDN), and former VP & CTO Information Optimization at HP. To say he knows his way around Big Data is putting it lightly. Last week, Chatelain tweeted his six #BigData predictions for 2014, and he didn't hold any punches. Lets dive into each of his six predictions.
2014 Prediction #1: Most enterprises will keep drowning in data and have no information or insights.
Big Data and the Big Data Economy have done a lot of things, including an increase on available data by an order of magnitude three- to four-times over. But there's been a lag in enterprise adoption, despite Big Data being an anticipated priority long before it hit any organizations' pipelines.
What needs to happen next is an improvement in understanding how Big Data fits into the pipeline, and how the enterprise will collect, process, and predict based on its amassing data. More importantly, how will the enterprise glean this elusive insight Chatelain speaks of, and how will they take action accordingly?
2014 prediction #2: Some Enterprises will want to "do #BigData projects" while their #LittleData issues are still not solved.
We'll call this jumping the shark. Often times technology professionals, more than other profession, are susceptible to 'shiny-object-syndrome'. If you are an Enterprise company, and you don't currently have your ducks-in-a-row on the #LittleData stuff, jumping into #BigData is only going to cause more problems for the problems you have and aren't addressing. A key takeaway for Enterprise professionals: gain an above-average working understanding of your data.
2014 prediction #3: Software defined everything hype will increase in total ignorance of where and when HW & SW tight coupling makes sense.
Software might be eating the world, but taking your cues from venture capitalists who have skin in the game, or start-ups who are trying to get to those VCs, is not a good strategy. Hardware is not going to go away next year, or anytime in the near future for that matter. Yes, the IT world has changed its relationship status with hardware to 'its complicated', but time and time again we are being reminded of the current weaknesses in corporate strategies when it comes to the old HW and SW conundrum.
2014 prediction #4: Commodity & open source everything pundits will still live in blissful ignorance of a little thing called TCO.
Ouch. Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or system. Cost drives adoption, one way or another. Profit is in the passenger seat.
2014 prediction #5: EDW economics will still be poor, drive ETL for data reduction & inflexible model fit hence derive faulty insights.
Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) is not to a level of good economic value, according to Chatelain. EDW consolidates data from multiple sources in support of enterprise-wide decision making and related information needs such as reporting, analysis and planning. If he is right, the data analyzed by Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) systems will produce data that is not void of errors.
2014 prediction #6: The #BigData universe will still have a giant black hole into which #security, #privacy & #GRC have fallen & will stay.
Security. Privacy. Governance, Risk Management and Compliance. The bigger the data, the bigger the security risks. The bigger the data, the bigger the end-user worries of privacy. And doe anyone actually think that we are in a place with Big Data where governance, risk management, and compliance are leading the way? Of all Chatelain's predictions, this is the biggest (pun intended). NSA anyone?
Despite its ongoing maturity, Big Data isn't all bad. In fact, the takeaway is that Big Data is still expected to improve our lives in ways we never imagined. But to summarize Chatelain in one sentence: we aren't there yet.
10 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2014
Excerpted from CIO Report by Bernard Golden
It's the time of year when darkness comes early and people begin to sum up how this year has gone and next year will unfold. It's also the time of year that predictions about developments in the technology industry over the next 12 months are in fashion. I've published cloud computing predictions over the past several years, and they are always among the most popular pieces I write.
Looking back on my predictions, I'm struck not so much by any specific prediction or even the general accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the predictions as a whole. What really comes into focus is how the very topic of cloud computing has been transformed.
Four or five years ago, cloud computing was very much a controversial and unproven concept. I became a strong advocate of it after writing Virtualization for Dummies and being exposed to Amazon Web Services in its early days. I concluded that the benefits of cloud computing would result in it becoming the default IT platform in the near future.
I'm pleased to say that my expectation has indeed come to pass. It's obvious that cloud computing is becoming the rule, with noncloud application deployments very much the exception. Skeptics continue to posit shortcomings regarding cloud computing, but the scope of their argument continues to shrink.
Today, the arguments against cloud computing are limited. "Some applications require architectures that aren't well-suited for cloud environments," critics say, suggesting that cloud environments aren't universally perfect for every application. This shouldn't really be a surprise.
Other critics cite some mix of security and compliance, although the sound level of this issue is far lower in the past. In his 2014 predictions, Forrester's James Staten says, "If you're resisting the cloud because of security concerns, you're running out of excuses" and notes that cloud security has pretty much proven itself.
I've always taken a different perspective: The alarm raised about cloud security was just air cover for IT personnel who didn't want to change their established practices. Furthermore, the concern about security would disappear not because cloud providers suddenly "proved" they were secure enough but because recalcitrant IT personnel read the writing on the wall and realized they had to embrace cloud computing or face the prospect of a far larger change - unemployment.
With the triumph of cloud computing underway, what will 2014 hold for developments in the field? This is going to be an especially exciting year for cloud computing. The reason is simple: In 2014, the realization that the cloud can spawn entirely new types of applications will come into general awareness. Expect to see many articles next year proclaiming the wondrousness of one cloud application or another and how cloud computing made such an application possible when it never could have existed before. Count on it.
With that in mind, here's my set of 2014 cloud computing predictions. As in the past, I present the list broken into two sections: Five end-user predictions and five vendor/cloud provider prognostications. I do this because too many predictions focus on the vendor side of things. From my perspective, the effect of cloud computing on users is just as important and worthy of attention.
Please click here for Bernard Golden's full list.
Coming Events of Interest
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 2014 – 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.
CLOSER 2014 - April 3rd-5th in Barcelona, Spain. The Fourth International Conference on Cloud Computing and Services Science (CLOSER 2014) sets out to explore the emerging area of cloud computing, inspired by recent advances in network technologies.
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.
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