May 12, 2014
Volume XLVIII, Issue 2
Cloud Computing Spending Set to Explode
Excerpted from Employee Connect Report by Kate Larkin
The amount businesses spend on cloud computing is set to triple by 2017, a recent study has concluded.
The study conducted by industry leader IHS Technology looked at figures from 2011 cloud revenue and has predicted big gains in the cloud market.
In 2014, total spending related to cloud infrastructure and services is set to top US $174.2 billion, up 20 per cent on last year's $145.2 billion, IHS said.
Senior Director and Principal Analyst for the Cloud and Big Data at IHS Jagdish Rebello said cloud services are critical to business development today.
"With the cloud touching nearly every consumer and enterprise around the globe, spending for cloud-related storage, servers, applications and content will be dedicated toward building a framework that is rapidly scalable, highly dynamic, available on-demand and requiring minimal management," he said.
"The robust growth will come as an increasing number of large and small enterprises move more of their applications to the cloud, while also looking at data analytics to drive new insights into consumer behavior."
As businesses worldwide race to convert their physical data onto a cloud platform, revenue is projected to reach $235.1 billion by 2017. This would be triple the $78.2 billion spend recorded in 2011.
For recruitment agencies, cloud computing is part of an exciting future. The benefits of the technology can be far reaching, with Rebello adding that new smartphones and tablets are must-haves for companies looking to have an edge in competitive markets.
This means mobile human resources (MHR) becomes much more important in how a business interacts with both employees and customers.
"The most engaged among spenders will be those seeking to ensure their continued relevance to consumers in the future," he said.
Businesses looking to add other technology to their portfolios are encouraged to invest in HR management software, which can transform their recruitment processes and help to manage the everyday running of their departments.
Cloud Computing in Hypergrowth Mode
Excerpted from Midsize Insider Report by Marissa Tejada
Cloud computing has entered a new and exciting era. No longer is it just a service that companies are thinking about, firms are now entering what Forrester Research calls a "hypergrowth" phase in which the cloud is being implemented throughout the total information technology (IT) infrastructure.
In 2013, the public cloud market saw revenues of $58 billion. Forrester's latest study, featured at ZDNet, predicts the public cloud market will grow to $191 billion by 2020. This growth in the use and maturity of public cloud platforms is solidifying the technology's status as a go-to deployment and solution for various business needs. The current exponential adoption of cloud services at firms is considered the hypergrowth — or second stage — of technology, according to Forrester. This adoption has created much higher revenues than the beginning exploratory phase of the technology that took place over the last few years.
The report also found that a major portion of cloud revenue was derived from software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, which comprised $36 billion in revenue in 2013. SaaS is replacing licensed software for sales force automation, customer relationship management (CRM) systems and procurement and purchasing tools. This shift will only continue to grow: Forrester predicts that SaaS will be utilized for other applications as well. As the tremendous growth of SaaS solutions continues, more IT managers will budget for cloud deployments.
Midsize firms are no doubt part of the growth of public cloud services. Cloud vendors are constantly delivering new capabilities that IT professionals are seriously considering in order to optimize their operations and increase productivity. As public cloud computing services continue to outrival traditional software, more cloud services will successfully dominate the market — services that are perfect for growing firms with limited IT personnel and resources.
Public cloud services are often ideal for midsize firms because they offer the flexibility and scalability that IT professionals seek. Traditional licensing constraints were often a concern for IT managers at smaller firms. Now, the computing power that a firm needs can be managed easily with pay-per-use pricing and shared consumption models, meaning midsize firms can keep up with the needs of their specific client base and stay within budget. Public clouds also empower growing firms with increased automation to help them adjust to new capabilities in a streamlined manner.
Midsize firms are increasingly employing cloud services as cloud hosting options continue to grow and move forward in its hypergrowth stage. The combination of new pricing and the latest cloud services innovations are creating an overall advantage for growing firms. With the cloud, they can advance their applications, increase productivity and accelerate business goals.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 Current events continue to underscore the timeliness of CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 (CCE:2014), the strategic summit for business leaders and software developers taking place this Thursday and Friday, May 15th and 16th, at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.
CCE:2014 will focus on the rapidly advancing gCLOUD (Government Cloud) and hCLOUD (Healthcare Cloud).
A sampling of this week's headlines includes: Government Will Soon Spend More on the Cloud than the Private Sector; North American Healthcare Cloud Computing Market Worth $6.5 Billion by 2018; Federal Cloud Speeds on While States Lag Optimistically Behind; and Cloud Puts Insurance Carriers & Agencies on the Same Page.
If you haven't already done so, please register now for this spring's must-attend conference, CCE:2014, jointly presented by the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) and Cloud Computing Association (CCA), to see and hear the latest developments in the increasingly related gCLOUD and hCLOUD.
Here's your comprehensive guide to CCE:2014 conference sessions.
Opening plenary keynotes will provide an overview of the state of cloud computing adoption for government and healthcare by Amazon Web Services' Steve Spano and IBM's Michelle Rudnicki.
Keynotes highlighting leading industry trends and the emergence of standards impacting gGLOUD and hCLOUD, along with learning from obstacles that have been surmounted, will follow by Google's David Mihalchik and Verizon's Igor Kantor.
After a mid-morning networking break, we'll examine common regulatory frameworks and pending legislation affecting the government and healthcare sectors with Edwards Wildman's Larry Freedman and Wahab & Medenica's Kaiser Wahab.
We'll close-out the morning plenary with a panel discussion of outstanding issues still to be overcome for continued advancement with Microsoft's Yung Chou, Rackspace's Bret Piatt, Juniper Networks' Mark Belk, SAP America's Marlyn Zelkowitz, Canon's Stephen Agostini, and MarkLogic's James Clippinger.
Following our conference luncheon, we'll zero-in on cloud computing essentials that are specifically relevant to adoption of cloud solutions in the government and healthcare sectors.
gCLOUD service models will be described by Clear Government Solutions' Christopher Grady while hCLOUD service models will be explained by Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences' Tim Quigley.
NetApp's Kirk Kern will define public sector deployment models while healthcare deployment models will be delineated by Oracle's Andrew Dietrich.
Then gCLOUD architectures will be explored by Dell Services' Jeffrey Lush while Document Advantage Corporation's Dave Wiggins will provide insights into hCLOUD architectures.
With these fundamentals covered, we'll advance to roundtable discussions of gCLOUD management considerations adding WSO2's Chris Haddad, Virtustream's Sean Jennings, and NetApp's Rediet Tilahun; and hCLOUD management considerations with Level 3's Allen Bintz, NTP Software's Bruce Backa, and VeriStor Systems' Justin Linenkohl.
These conversations will continue in our mid-afternoon networking break, after which we'll delve into basic practical concerns.
Data storage for government will be the subject matter for CyrusOne's Fred Holloway while data storage for healthcare will be ServerCentral's Avi Freedman topic.
gCLOUD software applications will be reviewed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Debbie Brodt-Giles while hCLOUD software applications will be analyzed by SoftServe's Roman Pavlyuk.
Workflow processes in the gCLOUD will be examined by Unitas Global's Grant Kirkwood while hCLOUD workflow processes will be scrutinized by VirtualQube's Scott Gorcester.
Our gCLOUD day-one closing panel will add ASG Software's Brian Crowley, QinetiQ's Viswa Kumar, and General Dynamics Information Technology's Damian Whitham for a full discussion of implementation strategies.
Meanwhile, two sessions will close-out our first-day exploration of the healthcare cloud: Apptix's Bob Finocchioli will join our hCLOUD implementation strategies panel and then a special seminar on directed exchange will introduce DirecTrust's David Kibbe, DigiCert's Scott Rea, Cerner's Andy Heeren, and ONC's Kory Mertz.
Our conference networking cocktail reception will immediately follow, with special thanks to CCE:2014 sponsors and exhibitors, starting with platinum sponsors Amazon Web Services and IBM.
Gold sponsors include Acolyst, Aspiryon, CyrusOne, FalconStor, General Dynamics Information Technology, NetApp, Oracle, SoftServe, and VeriStor Systems.
Silver sponsors are Apptix, Clear Government Solutions, CSC Leasing Company, Document Advantage Corporation, Edwards Wildman, Level 3 Communications, and Trend Micro; and associate sponsors include Axios Systems and VirtualQube.
Friday morning, we'll begin with gCLOUD and hCLOUD business strategy tracks.
Vendor selection criteria for government cloud solutions will be recommended by Kwaai Oak's Reza Rassool while StoAmigo's John Papadakis will address this topic for the healthcare sector.
Two IBM executives will offer their perspectives of task prioritization: Sal Vella for gCLOUD and Ramesh Menon for hCLOUD.
Performance metrics for the gCLOUD will be outlined by Aspiryon's Andy Caldwell while Kwaai Oak's Reza Rassool will summarize hCLOUD performance metrics.
Before our mid-morning networking break, two final panels in this program block will explore economic considerations with IBM Federal's Victor Brown and DST's Mark Wells joining for the gCLOUD and CSC Leasing's Tom Mountcastle and BrightLine's Stephen Halbrook coming on board for the hCLOUD.
Our closing plenary session will start with keynotes by Oracle's Brian Kracik, FalconStor's Chris Poelker, VeriStor Systems' Justin Linekohl, and Trend Micro's Blake Sutherland on new advances in cloud application development as well as programming challenges and opportunities in the public and healthcare sectors.
We'll conclude the conference with a panel on final considerations for selecting, deploying, and evaluating cloud solutions adding Dell's Michael Elliott, Oracle's Andrew Dietrich, and "Securing the Cloud's" author Vic Winkler.
Once again, please register now for CCE:2014. This seminal industry event is not to be missed! Share wisely, and take care.
The Explosive Growth of Cloud Computing
Excerpted from Cool Infographics Blog Report by Randy Krum
Cloud computing is definitely a growing trend. Are you in the position to enjoy all of what cloud computing has to offer?
The Explosive Growth of Cloud Computing infographic from Eclipse lets you know what you could be missing if you don't join in.
Now is the time to get on the growth curve of cloud services as we are seeing ever-increasing demand for these services — look at how they have developed in the home with subscription services such as Netflix and Love Film. There is a real on-demand economy and as a result, a new, smarter way of working.
So, if it's time to investigate cloud services for your business, it's also time to look at your connectivity partner, and a partner who provides both connectivity and cloud services will know exactly what you need to ensure a robust Internet connection.
Look for a partner who is prepared to really understand your business needs and the role of both the cloud and connectivity in those needs; a partner who will tailor-make solutions to your exact business requirements and stay away from the one-size-fits-all mantra; and a partner who provides a high service assurance accompanied by easily accessible monitoring systems so you can be "in the know" regarding your network's performance.
The Cloud Is an Inevitable Force: Amazon Web Services
Excerpted from Digital News Asia Report by Edwin YappMay
The cloud computing paradigm shift is an undeniable and unstoppable force driven by the competitive needs of businesses and while there are still some impediments that stand in the way of full adoption, its acceptance will eventually happen, says the top executive of a major cloud player.
Dr. Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer of Amazon Web Services (AWS) says companies — both big and small — can no longer afford to consider the cloud as a "nice to have," and those that do will stand to lose out in a big way.
Speaking to Digital News Asia (DNA) in an exclusive interview, Vogels says cloud computing is now a "need to have" as it's unlike any other technology evolution that the world has seen in the past five decades of computing.
"If cloud computing were like the next tech step of computing — like how we went from mainframe to mini computers to client-server, to PC, and the web — it wouldn't be a big deal.
"But because the cloud has a huge impact on businesses like eliminating capital expenditure (capex), lowering operational expenditure (opex), and taking away the complexity of data center management while enabling customers to go global in minutes, the cloud is able to drive success, and success is so seductive," he says.
AWS is an independently-run cloud service provider owned by e-commerce giant Amazon. AWS began offering IT infrastructure service over the web in 2006, which now include storage, compute, and networking services. The company counts among its customers small and big companies such as Comcast, NASA, Netflix, Pfizer, and Pinterest to name a few.
Meanwhile, cloud computing has been touted in the past few years as a new way of delivering software and IT services in today's broadband-enabled world. The benefits of the cloud are quite clear for businesses. By having applications installed in data centers instead of being "on premise," companies would not have to individually install software locally on personal computers, laptops, or even on tablets.
Data stored on central servers means it is more secure and is centralized for all to access. Organizations also do not need to worry about software upgrade cycles and users can access all of their applications via the browser.
Financially speaking, companies are able to move their IT spending from a capex to an opex model because they are consuming IT as a service and not buying hardware as assets.
This means IT budgets could become much more efficiently used. But despite some of these obvious advantages, some industries are still grappling with where data is being stored on the cloud, especially when they use the public cloud provided by third-party service providers — such as AWS — that have many clients sharing a common data center.
In fact, a recent survey commissioned by data center player NTT Communications suggests that businesses are concerned about where their data is stored and are acting decisively to protect their data by keeping it where they know it will be safe.
The study was completed in March 2014 and follows startling revelations made by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, last year who began revealing astounding details about what the US and UK governments were doing behind closed doors. This included the massive extent to which the US NSA and its British counterpart the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) collected phone and Internet data from citizens.
The spying went as far as listening in on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone.
The NTT sponsored report notes that a big proportion of ICT decision-makers in large companies in France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United States, and Britain may even delay cloud computing projects that could deliver them much-needed flexibility and performance gains.
The survey states that in no uncertain terms, ICT decision-makers really want the best of both worlds — the guarantee of the sovereignty, security and privacy of their data and yet reap the benefits of cloud computing.
"But they can only do so if they can specify exactly where and how their data is stored in the cloud," the summary of the report notes.
When asked if the conclusions from the NTT Communication's report were in line with what AWS had been experiencing from their customers, Vogels declines to comment on the specifics of the study, noting only that AWS has not yet seen any impact to its cloud computing business.
"Regardless of the Snowden revelations, AWS has always treated privacy and security as the most important element in our business. To date, we've not seen any negative impact on our business."
Vogels also unequivocally denied AWS had in the past been a part of the alleged listening in of governments through a project called PRISM. First revealed in June last year, PRISM is understood to be a clandestine national security electronic surveillance program administered by the NSA since 2007.
The revelations were part of a systematic series of disclosures released by Snowden to two media giants: Britain's Guardian newspapers and the The Washington Post in the US. "We've never been part of the PRISM surveillance program," stresses Vogel.
"This means that AWS has never received a FISA request from the Financial Intelligence Surveillance Court," he says, adding this also implies that AWS has never divulged any of its customer information in any form to anyone.
Besides distancing itself from PRISM, Vogels also took great pains to explain that AWS is committed to privacy and security and will not move its customers' data from the regions it resides in.
The technology head honcho for AWS reveals that the cloud player has a total of 10 regions where its data center resides in; four in the United States, one in Europe, one in Brazil and four — Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney — in Asia.
"Each of these regions have cluster zones and we have well over 25 availability zones, which our customers can choose from. But wherever our customers' data is, it will not be moved, unless the customers want it."
To further strengthen its compliance and commitment to data privacy and sovereignty, Vogels says that AWS also periodically advises its customers on relevant compliance issues such as new legislations, which are introduced from time to time.
An example of this can be found in how AWS has introduced guidelines for customers in Malaysia as the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) 2010 came into force this year.
Quizzed further on what he thought of the recent revelation of the Heartbleed bug which blindsided the information security world — a recently discovered flaw in the OpenSSL cryptographic library that could allow hackers to steal information which is normally otherwise protected — Vogels remains philosophical about it, noting that "software bugs are nothing new" and that the cloud has a significant advantage when faced with such a scenario.
"I think everyone was caught by surprise by Heartbleed," he says. "Bugs are there and a fact of life forever for software and they are nothing new, and we have to live with them. In fact, my argument is that in the traditional IT world, you have to fix all the bugs first before rolling them out your product to all your customers.
"In cloud computing, it's a 'one bug, one fix' scenario. In the case of Heartbleed, we could immediately investigate where the services were affected or not affected, and we cloud could apply fixes to that. "This means that when we patched the flaw, all our customers running on our platform are protected.
For those customers that were running SSL by themselves, we contacted our customers, with suggestions on to how to fix it." Vogels claims that a cloud player such as Amazon has deeper insights to security as they invest heavily on IT security.
"We absolutely cannot do business on the Internet without security and privacy as a number one priority in today's world," he emphasizes. "That is why we invest heavily in security and protection of our customers' data."
While acknowledging that security, data sovereignty and privacy are important issues to deal with, Vogels believes that a greater impediment to the cloud comes from within the enterprises themselves. The AWS executive says that the real impediment to the cloud lies not in that enterprises and their respective management do not believe in the cloud proposition, but rather in traditional change management.
"Every change made by any business has an impact to that business," he explains. "For instance, there will be new processes and procedures introduced and people will need to approach things differently. And when new things impact the business, there is a need to find the right advocates within the organization to champion these changes. This is what traditional change management needs to overcome with regard to the cloud."
Vogels says that within any organization, these champions are the ones that usually want to innovate and move quickly but find that it isn't able to support their vision. Based on AWS' experience, he says customers have told him that they need to be more agile in their businesses because there is a need to be more competitive in the global marketplace.
"Moving faster is key in today's environment because the increasing consumer choice today creates uncertainty in whether a company's products are able to succeed or not. "And in a world where things are very uncertain, you need very different resource models. You can no longer have long-term commitments to service providers or IT departments, but you have to be agile in acquiring resources on demand and releasing resources that you no longer need, while only paying for what you use.
"Cloud computing allows you to do all this. And while most customers tell us they love the lower costs of the cloud model, the real reason for their interest is that they are able to move much faster with the cloud," says Vogels, adding that main area which would help save cost is in the test and development.
Asked what his advice was for companies considering the cloud, Vogels suggests that they start small. "Start small and not take on a big IT project when moving to the cloud. This enables you to 'get your hands dirty.'
The cool thing about the cloud is that you can do this easily and take the next two years to ramp up and see what cloud computing is about without having a long-term contract," he adds. According to Steve Hodgkinson, Research Director at Ovum Asia Pacific, the best practices for any enterprise embarking on adopting the cloud should be the same practices as for any IT procurement, that is to build the right skills to be an intelligent buyer, conduct proper due diligence and always have a tested plan B.
Hodgkinson says companies need to be honest with themselves about the quality, sustainability and affordability of their existing approach to IT and then evaluate the benefit/ risk trade-offs of cloud services.
"Too many companies are fearful or skeptical about the theoretical risks of cloud services while being complacent about the clear and present dangers of the status quo," he says.
Hodgkinson argues that it is really a matter of gaining skills and experience progressively for those wanting to adopt the cloud. He says most companies are seeking to start with relatively low risk applications and workloads first in order to test out the model and the vendors.
"Suncorp, one of the largest banks in Australia, is at the leading edge of cloud services adoption, planning to migrate around half of its application to cloud services this year — having tested the approach for the past several years with a range of private and public cloud arrangements," Hodgkinson adds.
Asked what more must be done to advance cloud computing especially in conservative industries such as the financial services, he says it's all about building trust. "Think of it like learning to drive a car. It is dangerous to drive while looking in the rear vision mirror but at the same time, it's also dangerous to drive too slowly. The best approach is to develop defensive driving skills, which can only be done 'hands-on."
The Ovum analyst says companies need to get hands-on with cloud services in order to learn the skills to be an intelligent customer in a fast moving global digital services market. Concurring with AWS' Vogels,
Hodgkinson recommends that they start small and work out what works and do more of it or work out what doesn't work and do less of it and that companies need to try cloud services safely to build experience and skills.
"Vendors need to live and die by 'cloudy is as cloudy does' — there is no space in cloud services for vaporware," he argues. "Vendors must ensure that they invest ahead of the demand curve in order to actually have the cloud services on tap that they are selling."
WSO2 VP to Discuss gCLOUD Management at CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014
Excerpted from Digital Journal Report
Cloud adoption has had a tremendous impact on e-government, leading to reduced operations costs, a smaller IT footprint, the sharing of knowledge and infrastructure, and more effective public services.
WSO2 Vice President of Platform Evangelism Chris Haddad will examine best practices for managing government cloud deployments in a panel discussion at CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014. The conference runs May 15-16 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.
Additionally, a new white paper by WSO2 Director of Solutions Architecture Mifan Careem examines the technical considerations and requirements for cloud-enabling public services through a platform-as-a-service (PaaS)
Chris Haddad will join a panel discussion at CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 on Thursday, May 15th at 2:30 PM.
The interactive session, "gCLOUD Management," is part of the event's Government Cloud Track, focusing on government cloud computing deployments. As part of the panel discussion, Chris will explore government cloud management best practices for maintaining high availability, reliability and security integrity in a dynamic, hybrid environment. He also will examine the cloud-based technologies that are transforming business processes, improving efficiency, and streamlining costs.
In addition to Chris, the session will include moderator DCIA Associate Ross Freedman, and panelists: Clear Government Solutions President Chris Grady; Virtustream Senior Vice President Sean Jennings; and NetApp Cloud Architect, US Public Sector, Rediet Tilahun.
In his white paper, "Connected Government, Cloud Enabling Public Services," Mifan Careem looks at the functional and nonfunctional challenges that arise in building an e-government stack and how an enterprise-ready PaaS can help in solving these challenges.
Mifan begins by exploring the role of cloud computing in e-government, and how organizations are focusing on the delivery of technology to end consumers. He then examines three different PaaS models for e-government: centrally owned and managed; centrally owned, but locally managed; locally owned and managed.
Mifan also discusses the major requirements of a typical multi-tenant e-government application, as well as the challenges that arise when building an e-government stack. He also explores considerations, such as a hierarchical governance model and subtenants, and a multi-tenant portal solution to support both government-to-consumer and consumer-to-government interactions.
Finally, Mifan reviews how multi-tenant, cloud-ready WSO2 Carbon enterprise middleware products, WSO2 Cloud, and WSO2 Private PaaS can effectively address digital government requirements.
Chris Haddad, WSO2 Vice President of Platform Evangelism, works closely with developers, architects, and C-level executives to increase adoption of WSO2 open source technology, improve the middleware platform, and maximize customer value. Prior to joining WSO2, Chris led research teams as a research vice president at the Burton Group and Gartner advising Fortune 500 enterprise organizations and technology infrastructure vendors.
Mifan Careem joined WSO2 as Director of Solutions Architecture in 2013. Previously, he co-founded Respere in 2007, a technology startup specializing in humanitarian ICT solutions. Mifan also served as lead architect for many global projects, including the national initiative to build a cloud-based SOA platform for local government bodies in Sri Lanka. Additionally, he was a founding member and board director of the Sahana Project, delivering open source solutions for disaster recovery.
CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 is a strategic business summit jointly presented by the Cloud Computing Association (CCA) and the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA). This year's conference will focus on two major sectors: government and healthcare, whose use of cloud-based technologies is revolutionizing business processes, increasing efficiency and streamlining costs. The CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 speaking faculty will be made up of thought-leaders who will bring broad industry knowledge, technological savvy, and strategic insight.
WSO2 delivers on the promise of the connected business with the only completely integrated enterprise platform that enables businesses to build, integrate and manage their APIs, applications, and web services on-premises, in the cloud, and on mobile devices.
Leading enterprise customers worldwide rely on WSO2's award-winning 100% open source platform and its robust governance and DevOps functionality for their mission-critical applications. Today, these businesses represent nearly every sector: health, financial, retail, logistics, manufacturing, travel, technology, telecom and more.
NTP Software CEO to Present at CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014
Bruce Backa, CEO of NTP Software, the worldwide leader in file data management, will join the speaking faculty of the Cloud Computing Association (CCA) and the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) for their annual event CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014, held May 15-16 at the Hilton Doubletree in Washington, DC.
This year's event includes a focus on government and healthcare sectors, which are leading the way in adopting cloud-based IT solutions to revolutionize business processes, increase efficiency, and streamline costs. Backa and other entrepreneurs and innovators will offer industry knowledge, technological savvy, and strategic insight during in-depth panel sessions, roundtables, and technology presentations on how cloud-based solutions are being implemented by governments and healthcare providers.
According to the DCIA, global spending on cloud-based technologies has skyrocketed to over $50 billion per year; and will continue to grow by over 70 percent per year.
"Government and healthcare users are increasingly adopting cloud computing, and with cloud storage comes new rules for file data, including strategic data retention and access policies, securely accommodating a mobile and remote workforce, and reducing risk, among other issues," said Backa. "I aim to explore these new rules for file data management at this important industry event."
Backa, recognized as Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, founded NTP Software nearly 20 years ago. He has also held CTO positions at the international insurance and financial services firm AIG and the American Stock Exchange. He has several US and international patents related to data management, and was awarded the Kemeny Prize in Computing from Dartmouth College.
The DCIA is an international trade organization focused on commercial advancement of cloud computing and related technologies, particularly as they are deployed for the delivery of high-value content. Member companies include industry-leading software developers and distributors, broadband network operators, content rights-holders, and service-and-support firms.
The CCA is an independent membership organization dedicated to building a community of end-users and service providers of cloud-based solutions and products. Its goal is to promote the adoption and use of cloud-based technologies by large-cap and small-to-middle-market enterprises (SMEs) across all industry sectors.
Founded in 1994, NTP Software is the worldwide leader in the management and control of unstructured data. Every day, more than 20 million users work with storage resources managed by NTP Software's technology.
NTP Software gives organizations control of their file data by providing the solutions needed to understand, manage, move, and secure file data completely.
NTP Software delivers a single, cross-platform solution across a customer's entire file data storage environment: from managing individual files and users to an entire global enterprise with hundreds of systems and dozens of sites.
StoAmigo Exec to Discuss hCLOUD Vendors at CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014
John Papadakis, Senior Vice president of Sales and Business Development for StoAmigo, has been selected as one of the executive speaking faculty for CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014, slated for May 15-16 at the Hilton Doubletree in Washington, DC.
CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 - presented by the Cloud Computing Association (CCA) and the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) - has a dual focus on two powerful sectors: government and healthcare. This strategic summit for business leaders and software developers will examine the unique issues, opportunities, and special considerations that both healthcare providers and government entities face when adopting cloud-based, IT solutions.
According to the DCIA, The US public sector is projected to pay $10 billion per year by 2018 for cloud computing services in military and government agencies. Meanwhile, annual spending on cloud solutions by the US healthcare sector will grow from $1.8 billion in 2013 to an astonishing $6.5 billion by 2018.
"These financial investments require careful planning and restructuring of the IT organizations in order to be fruitful," Papadakis said. "Having the right cloud service provider is critical to whether these ventures succeed or fail.
"Our company, StoAmigo, will be presenting our views on the proper vendor selection criteria for the healthcare industry - what to look for and what to avoid when choosing a cloud provisioning partner."
Papadakis has 35 years of experience in the field of IT and Telecommunications. He serves on numerous boards and has held many senior positions worldwide, from Chief Operating Officer of AT&T Mediterranean to Vice Chairman of Telecommunication and IT companies. His impressive background includes advising major world figures and international organizations, including the Czech government and the Minister of Communication of Greece.
The CCA is an independent membership organization dedicated to building a community of end-users and service providers of cloud-based solutions and products. Its goal is to promote the adoption and use of cloud-based technologies by large-cap and small-to-middle-market enterprises (SMEs) across all industry sectors.
The DCIA is an international trade organization focused on commercial advancement of cloud computing and related technologies, particularly as they are deployed for the delivery of high-value content. Member companies include industry-leading software developers and distributors, broadband network operators, content rights-holders, and service-and-support firms.
With operations in North America, Europe and Asia, StoAmigo is the creator of a cloud computing ecosystem that allows public and private storage to coexist. The company is out to change the way the world does "cloud" with patent-pending technologies that make interaction fun, simple, and safe across a variety of devices.
The StoAmigo team is committed to developing exceptional solutions that enrich digital media and offer security, privacy and control over our digital content.
StoAmigo is also the proud creator of the CloudLocker, the only private, secure, server-based personal cloud device that remains under the user's control.
House Judiciary Committee Approves USA Freedom Act
The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 32-0 the USA Freedom Act (H.R. 3361), a bipartisan bill authored by Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to reform our nation's intelligence-gathering programs operated under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), including ending the bulk collection of data.
At the markup, an amendment in the nature of a substitute was offered by Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner on behalf of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) and was adopted by the Committee. This bipartisan substitute amendment protects Americans' civil liberties while maintaining a workable framework for intelligence officials to protect our national security and helps restore confidence and ensures transparency in the government's intelligence-gathering programs.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member Conyers, Crime Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner, Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Scott, Congressman Nadler, and Congressman Forbes praised the Committee's approval of this important legislation in the joint statement below.
"Today's strong, bipartisan vote by the House Judiciary Committee takes us one step closer to ending bulk collection once and for all and safeguards Americans' civil liberties as our intelligence community keeps us safe from foreign enemies who wish us harm. For nearly a year, the House Judiciary Committee has examined our nation's intelligence-gathering programs operated under FISA and has worked together across party lines and with the Obama Administration to reach this bipartisan solution that includes real protections for Americans' civil liberties, robust oversight, and additional transparency. As the Committee of primary jurisdiction, we urge the House and Senate to move expeditiously on this legislation so that we can begin to restore confidence in the way intelligence is gathered and protect the privacy rights of all Americans."
Below are key provisions of H.R. 3361, as approved by the House Judiciary Committee today.
Prohibits Bulk Collection of Data: The bill protects Americans' privacy by prohibiting bulk collection under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act (Section 501 of FISA), under the FISA Pen Register/Trap and Trace law (Section 402 of FISA), and under National Security Letter statutes.
New Mechanism for Obtaining Call Records: To ensure national security officials have the needed information to keep Americans safe while enhancing Americans' confidence in the manner in which this information is collected and held, the bill creates a new process for the collection of call detail records. The government would be required to seek approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) of specific selection terms on a case-by-case basis. The FISC is authorized to allow up to two "hops." The government may renew these orders every 180 days.
Protects Americans' Privacy: The bill codifies current minimization procedures, requiring the government to adopt procedures that are reasonably designed to minimize the retention and prohibit the dissemination of nonpublic information about Americans. It also clarifies the existing provision in the FISA Amendments Act against reverse targeting and reiterates Congress' intent in protecting the communications of Americans. Additionally, it prohibits the government from using unlawfully obtained information about Americans acquired outside the scope of court-approved targeting and minimization procedures.
Ensures Robust Oversight of Intelligence-Gathering Programs: The bill increases oversight of our intelligence-gathering programs by providing for judicial review of minimization procedures for the production of tangible things, such as emails and phone calls.
Increases Transparency of Intelligence-Gathering Programs: The bill creates a panel of legal experts to help ensure the FISA court adequately considers privacy concerns and Constitutional rights of Americans and also requires the Attorney General to conduct a declassification review of each decision, order, or opinion of the FISA court that includes a significant construction or interpretation of the law. The bill also requires the government to disclose the number of requests made for call detail records under the new collection program and requires the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to publicly report annually the number of FISA orders issued, modified, or denied by the FISC.
Allows American Tech Companies to Disclose FISA Orders: The Committee today approved an amendment offered by Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Chairman Goodlatte, and Crime Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner to allow companies to semi-annually publicly report requests for information they receive under FISA and National Security Letter authorities. This amendment codifies the Justice Department's settlement with several companies earlier this year while making additional modifications to allow for even greater transparency to the American people about their privacy and the extent of the intelligence community's work, while protecting national security.
Broadcasters, Advertisers Watch Aereo Case Closely
Excerpted from Fortune Report by Peter Suciu
The over-the-air television streaming company Aereo and the major broadcasters — including ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC — have had their day in court. Though a ruling on the company's peculiar business model from the nation's highest court isn't expected until June, smaller broadcasters, industry groups, and advertisers alike are trying to figure out how a decision in either direction will impact their business.
The case has fragmented the greater broadcasting industry in surprising ways. Though the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) expectedly issued a statement in support of the major broadcasters involved the case, many smaller or independent broadcasters around the country actually support Aereo's position.
Low power broadcasters are one such group. Low power stations aren't typically carried on cable or satellite services, and when they are, they still don't reap the rewards of retransmission fees like the bigger players. In their view, Aereo streaming content that originates from low power stations could actually mean more eyeballs, and potentially more ad revenue, at the local level.
"I am hoping that Aereo wins," said Gary Cocola, President and Founder of Cocola Broadcasting Companies. "I can't get all my signals picked up on cable, as my stations take up too much bandwidth for the cable and satellite guys."
Fresno, CA based Cocola is one of several broadcasting companies in the US that own low power stations, which require users to have an antenna to receive the signals.
"I have 53 streams of video in Fresno through the low power stations," Cocola told Fortune. "The best thing that could ever happen to me is that Aereo picks up the signal in Fresno. Rabbit ears don't work well for low power TV and you really need an external roof antenna. For those in apartments, this isn't an option."
Not all independent TV stations are siding with Aereo. Some independent broadcast owners argue that the service could have a large negative impact on independent, free-to-the-home broadcasting.
Colby May, legal counsel for Tri-State Christian Television, which now operates a network of eight religious TV stations and their repeaters throughout the Midwest, says Aereo's technology "appears to be a gimmick designed simply to circumvent the copyright laws."
"Basically, the service turns broadcasting into a mere over-the-top content source -- albeit a cherry-picked one -- and divorces the integrated service of local television and format from its local context," May said. "Would an author or publisher accept allowing the entire 'work' to be usurped by a third-party's editing, or cutting The Mona Lisa down to just the corner of the smile?"
While much of the Aereo case is built around the company's skirting of retransmission fees, the world of free over-the-air broadcasting still reaps a lot of money from conventional advertising. Since the days of the VCR, broadcasters have worried how technology could impact the traditional 30-second spot; Aereo is only the latest technology to make waves.
Still, an Aereo victory could lead to major changes in the way advertisers approach broadcasters, said Andrea Marder, Director of Media Planning and buying at Media Associates.
"There has already been a lot of talk from the broadcasting community to migrate to cable as well as over-the-top (OTT) services," Marder said. "If they do migrate to cable, it will be a very different landscape for advertisers. Everything today as we know it with the networks is really about a broadcast audience. This could change the landscape."
Those changes are already underway, albeit slowly, as younger viewers consider "cutting the cord" and using alternative means of watching television shows. "The cord-cutting isn't actually happening in the millions yet," Marder said. "But we are seeing a rise in second screens as being an alternative to the traditional living room set."
An Aereo win could also change the demand for local advertising sales. In this regard, it could affect the network affiliates the most, Marder said. "If the networks change their model," she said, "then the locals need to find a new place for content. Without that content from the networks, the local stations look less desirable when it comes to advertising."
An Aereo win could also raise questions about just how to measure those additional viewers so that low-power broadcasters can take advantage of them.
"Aereo doesn't have measurement in place with Nielsen, so it would be interesting to see how the local stations can draw revenue through Aereo without the traditional ratings system," Marder said. "Large advertisers want those metrics, as it sets the rates for ads. However, local mom-and-pop shops typically buy by the spot so for those local businesses this could be a bonus.
The cloud computing industry is also closely watching how the Aereo case unfolds, for the potential ramifications of "general sloppiness" in an "over-reaching" adverse ruling, said Marty Lafferty, CEO of the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA), an international trade organization focused on commercial advancement of cloud computing.
"At the very least, this would likely put a pale over some venture capital in the cloud computing space," Lafferty said.
An Aereo loss could pave the way for litigators in the broadcast market to go after people who are storing copyrighted content in the cloud, Lafferty said.
"It is going to be easier to go after a data center than going after 10 million users in their homes," he said. "Hosting services and cloud computing centers do try to ensure that they aren't storing copyrighted material, but there is always a fringe element that tries to get around the laws."
"Really, this is about the broadcasters being at a point where they didn't prepare for the future."
And that's just it, really. Aereo is only the latest in a long line of technology that appears to threaten the business model of broadcasters. It wasn't long ago that the TV industry was up in arms about ad-skipping DVRs, and it continues to have an uncomfortable relationship with streaming Internet TV.
Alkiviades "Alki" David knows this well. David is the Founder of FilmOn, an Aereo-like company known for streaming over-the-air TV on the Internet. In September, a federal judge slapped his company with an injunction, barring it from retransmitting broadcast programming over the Internet in the US after ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the District of Columbia last May. Today, the company provides free and pay subscription packages that include access to more than 500 live streaming TV channels -- but none from the major networks.
"The real problem lies in the fact that five corporations control virtually all the mainstream media," David said. "They are further trying to control the flow of information."
If Aereo wins in court and broadcasters remove their content from the airwaves -- possibly in violation of agreements pertaining to it -- the ruling would create a vacuum that would be filled by independent stations, David said.
"The broadcast networks have been mandated by the government to fill the spectrum that they've build their business on," David said. "By Congressional order, they've been asked to make this information freely available to the public."
A ruling in favor of Aereo could also change the way Nielsen, the TV ratings firm, measures viewership. "An Aereo win will encourage Nielsen to have a rating system that is based on truth instead of fiction," David said.
He added: "Even if Aereo should lose in the courts, history has shown that technology always wins in the end. Ultimately that is where this goes."
Crisis on the Internet: Is Everybody the Bad Guy?
Excerpted from Huffington Post Report by Eric Mink
Next week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to propose new rules that its Chairman claims will preserve the Internet as a free, fair, and open communications medium for all.
It seems far more likely that the rules will radically distort the medium by tilting Internet functioning even further in favor of the giant technology players.
Essentially, the FCC will propose to allow America's giant Internet access service providers (AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and their ilk) to squeeze payoffs out of America's equally gigantic Internet content providers (e.g., Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix) in exchange for preferential online treatment — faster speed, better quality — of their content.
Anybody who doesn't have access to Google-Apple-Amazon-Netflix-level cash — that is, everybody else — may find their content caught in Internet congestion as the paid-off stuff zips by in the fast lanes.
Customers, of course, will have to cough-up the added cost of the payoffs, unless content companies absorb them by reducing profits.
Best not to hold our breath for the latter.
A recent deal between content provider Netflix and access provider Comcast offered an ominous illustration of how the new rules might work:
Toward the end of 2013, Netflix noticed that Comcast Internet subscribers were experiencing serious slowdowns in the speed of Netflix streaming programming, causing frequent interruptions and making it maddening to even try to watch anything via Netflix.
On February 23rd — shortly after the release of the second season of Netflix's acclaimed original series "House of Cards" — Netflix and Comcast announced that Netflix would pay an undisclosed sum for the privilege of connecting its signals directly to Comcast computer servers instead of through a third-party service.
In March, Netflix's average connection speed to Comcast viewers was 65 percent faster than it was in January.
Technically, the Netflix-Comcast deal isn't relevant to the FCC's proposed rules. The rules address "net neutrality," the principle that all Internet content should be treated fairly and equally by all parties. To the FCC, it applies to the way service providers like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon deliver Internet content to retail end-users — individuals, families, and businesses.
The Comcast-Netflix deal, on the other hand, is an "interconnection" agreement covering a wholesale transfer of content at the start of the transmission chain, not at the end. Therefore, net neutrality doesn't apply.
Netflix begs to differ. It says its deal with Comcast was not a conventional interconnection pact. It says Comcast forced Netflix to cut a deal by degrading performance quality, a charge Comcast denies.
Either way, the distinction will look pretty silly next week when the FCC proposes to allow interconnection kinds of pay-for-play deals at the retail level. Internet service providers (ISPs) will be able to establish different classes of content and charge extra for better speed and quality.
As arcane as this Internet controversy may seem, I understand that this could be a hugely significant moment in the evolution of the most important communications medium in human history.
I just don't know whom to root for.
Certainly not the Internet access service providers, many of which sell Internet access through the cable TV systems they also own.
Take Comcast: In 2007, as a recent piece by Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times reminded us, The Associated Press (AP) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) discovered that Comcast was secretly interfering with Internet customers who were trying to use a legal, web-based file-sharing service called BitTorrent.
Some BitTorrent services competed with some services Comcast also offered.
Comcast denied that it was targeting BitTorrent, but the AP and EFF showed that the denial was false, and an FCC investigation confirmed their findings.
In 2012, the FCC concluded that Comcast was misbehaving again by failing to keep promises it made in connection with the company's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011. The Commission fined Comcast a pittance and ordered it to keep doing what it had promised to do but hadn't done.
Meanwhile, Comcast — already the nation's biggest cable company and largest provider of broadband Internet service — is seeking government approval to acquire Time-Warner Cable for about $45 billion. If the deal goes through, Comcast will control 40 percent of the US broadband business plus the cable systems in 19 of the 20 largest markets.
But my heart isn't exactly breaking for the content providers.
Two weeks ago, Adobe, Apple, Google, and Intel agreed to pay more than $300 million to settle a class action lawsuit by 64,000 engineers. The technology workers charged the companies with secretly promising to not hire each other's valuable employees. An evidence trail of documents, including emails, of all things, backed them up. The arrangement benefited the companies financially, but their collusion denied their workers opportunities to get better jobs.
Is there any reason to believe that companies willing to break federal antitrust law to hurt their own employees will act in the best interests of their customers?
There is not, which underscores the need for responsible regulation of the broadband industry. But I'm not convinced that the FCC is up to the job.
Its half-baked approach to net neutrality, after all, led to two botched legal actions — one involving Comcast, the other with Verizon — that created the present crisis.
Yet the rules FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing fail to take the only clear path past the legal mess, which is to hold Internet companies to the same "common carrier" standards as telephone companies.
The FCC already has the authority to do so, but Wheeler is pushing, instead, a "commercially reasonable" behavior standard that will be all but impossible to define or defend against legal challenge.
I wonder whether the FCC simply has become incapable of protecting the public interest.
Early in his career, Wheeler spent five years as President of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), the cable industry's primary lobbying group. The current NCTA President, Michael Powell, was the FCC Chairman from 2001 through 2005.
Wheeler subsequently became chief executive of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), the wireless industry's lobbying group. A month from now, CTIA will get a new chief executive: Meredith Attwell Baker, a former FCC Commissioner.
Among Baker's distinctions at the agency was her vote on January 18, 2011, to approve Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal. Five months later, she announced she was leaving the FCC to become Senior Vice President of Government Affairs — for Comcast-NBCUniversal.
This is no mere revolving door; it's a swirling tornadic cell on the leading edge of a line of severe thunderstorms.
And it's a danger to an Internet that should remain free, fair, and open to all if it is to remain innovative and vital for the public interest.
Coming Events of Interest
CLOUD COMPUTING EAST 2014 — May 15th-16th 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.
Enterprise Apps World — June 17th-18th in London, England. EAW is a two day show, co-hosted with Cloud World Forum, that will look at all the implications of going mobile in the workplace and how enterprise apps can help.
Silicon Valley Innovation Summit — July 29th-30th in Mountain View, CA.AlwaysOn's 12th annual SVIS is a two-day executive gathering that highlights the significant economic, political, and commercial trends affecting the global technology industries. SVIS features the most innovative companies, eminent technologists, influential investors, and journalists in keynote presentations, panel debates, and private company CEO showcases.
International Conference on Internet and Distributed Computing Systems — September 22nd in Calabria, Italy. IDCS 2014 conference is the sixth in its series to promote research in diverse fields related to Internet and distributed computing systems. The emergence of web as a ubiquitous platform for innovations has laid the foundation for the rapid growth of the Internet.
CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 — October 1st-2nd in Austin, TX. CDSE:2014 will feature co-located instructional workshops and conference sessions on six tracks facilitated by more than one-hundred industry leading speakers and world-class technical trainers.
International Conference on Cloud Computing Research & Innovation - October 29th-30th in Singapore. ICCRI:2014 covers a wide range of research interests and innovative applications in cloud computing and related topics. The unique mix of R&D, end-user, and industry audience members promises interesting discussion, networking, and business opportunities in translational research & development.
|
