September 22, 2014
Volume XLIX, Issue 9
Oracle & FPD Join CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO Line-Up
The DCIA & CCA are very pleased to announce that executives from Oracle and Front Porch Digital (FPD) have joined the speaking faculty for the upcoming CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014).
CDSE:2014 features the top-ten cloud brands Amazon, Dell, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle, Rackspace, and SAP, among many other cloud-computing innovators.
Delegate registration is now available for CDSE:2014, which will take place in Austin, TX next Wednesday and Thursday, October 1st and 2nd.
Oracle's Senior Director of Sales Engineering, Stan Defilippi will offer a keynote address on "DataBase-as-a-Service (DBaaS) Private Cloud." This session will focus on the people, process, and technology aspects of implementing a DBaaS Private Cloud.
Topics will include business and information technology (IT) drivers for DBaaS, DBaaS characteristics, DBaaS architectural concepts, the service catalog, cost recovery and charge-back structure, the cloud maturity model, and the journey to a DBaaS Private Cloud.
Case studies and demonstrations will be provided during this presentation.
Stan Defilippi has driven business execution across North America Sales in various senior roles in business development, sales, pre-sales, enterprise architecture, consulting, operations and program management.
Prior to his 17 years at Oracle, Stan spent 13 years at Unisys. At his last assignment at Unisys, he ran a $25 million start-up US law enforcement telecommunications systems business.
FPD's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Brian Campanotti, will keynote on "Advanced Private Cloud Technologies and Services." The Media & Entertainment sector has been dealing with Big Data for decades. And while recent advancements in cloud-based technology have provided even more options than ever before, a pragmatic approach to cloud service adoption must be taken.
Philosophical debates surrounding on-premises versus cloud-centric solutions, media workflow demands and challenges, long-term storage and preservation requirements, vendor neutrality, and many other factors add complexity to this already difficult debate.
Content providers must also be vigilant in the protection of their valuable information and assets against spying eyes and cyber criminals hell-bent on covertly accessing information owned by someone else.
As public cloud solutions continue to gain traction, those leveraging purpose-built private cloud services focused on service level agreement (SLA) characteristics specifically serving the Media & Entertainment sector are finding a successful niche as their domain specificity addresses many of these deep-rooted challenges.
This presentation will delve into advanced private cloud technologies and services that are helping content owners and media organizations benefit from cloud-services, while ensuring protection, vendor neutrality, long-term accessibility and unmatched security for their most valuable assets.
Brian Campanotti leads industry invention and advancement in cloud-based and on-premises global content storage management (CSM), media asset management (MAM), and content publishing, migration, and preservation solutions.
He is responsible for innovations in the area of cloud-based solutions for Big Data focused on media-centric content handling, delivery, storage and preservation.
He was one of the primary inventors of the Archive eXchange Format (AXF) and has been active in standards body activities helping to promote innovation and openness in the industry for more than two decades. Brian and his team have won Emmy Awards for their work in content collection preservation technologies and for innovation in serial digital video technology.
At CDSE:2014, business strategy and technical sessions covering the latest trends — Mobile Cloud, DevOps, and Big Data — as well as general interest cloud service topics will be featured along with a special focus on three economic sectors experiencing the most cloud adoption: Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Life Sciences, as well as Government & Military.
At eighteen co-located CDSE:2014 instructional workshops and special seminars facilitated by industry leading speakers and world-class technical trainers, attendees will, see, hear, learn and master critical skills in sessions devoted to the unique challenges and opportunities for developers, programmers, and solutions architects.
During the business conference at CDSE:2014, thirty-six highly focused strategic and technical keynotes, breakout panels, and Q&A sessions will thoroughly explore cloud computing solutions, and ample opportunities will be provided for one-on-one networking with the major players in this space.
Register now.
Oracle Buys Front Porch Digital
Excerpted from TV Technology Report by Deborah McAdams
Oracle announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Front Porch Digital, provider of content storage management for large-scale media assets. The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in 2014. Until the transaction closes, Oracle and Front Porch Digital will continue to operate independently and it is business as usual.
Oracle, a $180 billion enterprise digital storage behemoth with 400,000 customers and $11.3 billion in revenues last quarter, systematically is expanding its reach into cloud services, The Motley Fool said.
Cloud services, while generating only $450 million last quarter, is the company's fastest growing segment, The Fool's Brian Nichols said. The company noted the continuing need for managing media assets, and that Front Porch has a footprint in the space comprising 550 companies worldwide, including Discovery, A&E, the BBC, and the US Library of Congress.
Privately held Front Porch headquarters are in Louisville, CO, between Denver and Boulder, and according to its Linkedin profile, it has between 51 and 200 employees.
"The combination of Oracle with Front Porch Digital is expected to create the most comprehensive, enterprise-grade cloud and on-premise content storage management solution to help organizations efficiently manage the growing," Oracle said.
Front Porch's product line includes the DivaSolutions content storage management system, the Lynx media-grade cloud network; and Samma digitizing technology, which it acquired in 2008.
Oracle said after the deal closes, it will make "significant engineering investments in Front Porch Digital's content storage management solutions," for more rapid delivery. It will "further optimize Front Porch Digital solutions with Oracle technologies, while maintaining the technology-agnostic profile for Front Porch Digital's offerings.
Oracle is committed to preserving and building upon these existing partnerships and open standards, such as Archive eXchange Format (AXF), to continue delivering integrated and seamless solutions for customers."
Ellison Steps Down as Oracle CEO
Excerpted from MarketWatch Report by Rex Crum
Oracle said Thursday that company Co-Founder and Chief Executive Larry Ellison would become the software giant's Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer. Oracle said the company's current Co-Presidents, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, have been promoted to Co-CEOs of the software giant.
Jeff Henley, Oracle's Chairman for the last 10 years, was named Vice Chairman of the company's Board of Directors.
Data Privacy & Security Webinar
Cutting Edge Developments Affecting Cloud Companies in Privacy & Data Security, a webinar presented by Edwards Wildman Palmer (EWP) and hosted by the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA), is now available here.
Questions and answers from the Q&A session are also posted on the same page as the webinar recording, which you can access here.
As outlined at the end of the webinar, the CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 is taking place from October 1st to 2nd 2014 in Austin, TX. Click here to learn more about this event and click here to register.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of the speakers: Moderator Marty Lafferty, CEO, DCIA; Speaker Larry Freedman, Partner, EWP; Speaker Tom Smedinghoff, Partner, EWP; or Speaker Michael Bennett, Partner, EWP.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 Next week, the Cloud Computing Association (CCA) and the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) will present the CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014) at the Hilton Austin in Austin, TX.
We have a very exciting agenda planned for you over two days of conference sessions, workshops, and special seminars starting Wednesday morning October 1st.
On the business strategy track, first we'll celebrate the debut of Tim Hayden's new book "The Mobile Commerce Revolution" and then take a broad look at the state of cloud adoption focusing on the public sector with opening keynotes from Amazon Web Services and Google. A leading global cloud attorney from Edwards Wildman Palmer will join us for the panel discussion that follows.
Meanwhile our first workshops, from Microsoft and IBM, will feature "Getting Started with Azure" and "DevOps Services in the Cloud" and then, after a networking break, we'll hear more from Microsoft and IBM in conference keynotes on enabling DevOps and Mobile Cloud Architectures.
These will be followed by a fascinating case study from Sense Corp. on the role of OutSystems in the College Bound cloud initiative. And again and throughout the conference we'll follow the keynotes in each program block with an in-depth panel discussion.
Next Google and Dell will present workshops on "GIS & GPS in DriveTexas" and "Managing Hybrid Cloud Environments."
Back on the conference track, Dell and Rackspace will address the "Current State of Private Cloud" followed by Aspera on "Cloud Object Stores."
Rackspace will lead the concurrent workshop followed by SAP on "Ariba — the World's Largest Sourcing Network."
As something new in Austin, we're offering a flexible meal plan where you can visit the Exhibit Hall for the Conference Luncheon Buffet at your convenience anytime between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM.
After lunch on Wednesday, we'll pick-up with a program block focused on Media & Entertainment from Front Porch Digital, Mediafly, and RealEyes Media.
Or if you prefer, workshops from SoftServe on DevOps and Microsoft on Azure.
Next we'll zero in on Mobile Cloud with Adjacent Technologies, JW Secure, and NetSuite.
Meanwhile, workshops will feature "IBM Bluemix: Mobile Apps in the Cloud" and "FedRAMP Accreditation" by Paragon.
After a mid-afternoon networking and refreshment break, we'll continue with conference sessions on Big Data from SoftServe, Talend, and Oracle, and workshops on "Digital Transformation" from Dell and "Healthcare Exchange" from DigiCert.
And this will be followed by our most popular session — the Networking Cocktail Reception — thanks to Conference Sponsors and Exhibitors IBM, SoftServe, Rackspace, Edwards Wildman, Paragon, Iron Mountain, and OutSystems.
Thursday October 2nd will open with a series of cutting-edge sessions focusing on "Predictive Analytics" from QRhythm, "Virtual Desktops, Video Surveillance, and Biometrics" from VDI Space, and "Application Continuity" from Iron Mountain. Early morning workshops will cover "Real-Time Data Solutions with SAP's HANA" and "Contained Excitement using Docker" from Rackspace.
Next we'll have a fascinating case study about the 2014 World Cup "Staying Ahead of the Game" from SAP and a workshop "Hangout with Google."
Our Healthcare program block will follow, with keynotes from OnRamp, Kinetic Concepts, and MyDirectives.
After a mid-morning networking and refreshments break, we'll have workshops on "Building Managed Cloud Environments for the Public Sector" from IBM, "Critical Regulatory Issues" from Edwards Wildman, and "The Coming Internet of Things" from Flux7.
Our Conference Closing Session will cover "Mining the Cloud" and "Data Security" by SERC and Paragon, followed by some much needed "Reality Therapy" from Xvand.
CDSE will cover Mobile Cloud, DevOps, and Big Data, the most powerful trends in the cloud computing industry today, and the three economic sectors that continue to lead migration to the cloud: Government & Military, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Media & Entertainment.
Please click here to register. Share wisely, and take care.
Amazon Web Services & Google Highlight CDSE Opening Session
Executives from industry leading cloud services providers (CSPs) Amazon Web Services and Google will highlight the Opening Session of the upcoming CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014).
Delegate registration is now available for CDSE:2014, which will take place next week in Austin, TX.
CDSE:2014 officially opens on Wednesday morning October 1st with Continental Breakfast at 7:00 AM followed by a program block featuring Keynote Addresses by Brigadier General Steven Spano (ret.), USAF, the General Manager, Defense and National Security for Amazon Web Services' Global Public Sector; and David Mihalchik, the Leader of US Government Solutions for Google.
General Spano retired from the USAF in September 2011, where his last assignment was as the Director of Communications, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, VA, responsible for IT vision, policy guidance, and resource allocation supporting the command's warfighting mission.
Since joining Google in 2007, David Mihalchik has helped establish and rapidly expand Google's cloud computing footprint in the public sector. David led the effort within Google to certify and accredit Google Apps under FISMA, and he was part of the team that launched Google Apps for Government in 2010.
Register now.
BitTorrent Opens its P2P Messaging App Bleep to the Public
Excerpted from The Next Web Report by Emil Protalinski
BitTorrent today announced its privacy-focused peer-to-peer (P2P) messaging platform Bleep is now available as a public alpha. In addition to the Windows app, the company has also released Mac and Android versions.
Less than two months ago, BitTorrent released an invite-only alpha of Bleep for Windows 7 and Windows 8. Thanks to feedback from the Bleep Alpha test group, the company has fixed enough bugs to make the Bleep Alpha available to any willing tester.
To mark the occasion, BitTorrent has also unveiled the official Bleep logo (shown here) and offered this description:
This has been inspired by the simplicity of a folded note. You write a message, fold it up, and hand it to your friend. It is fast and efficient. There is no middleman. The image of a folded note is designed to be a symbol of speed, privacy, and peace-of-mind in the digital age.
Bleep testers can sign-up with an email or mobile number, or they can access the client in incognito mode, which means they share no personally-identifiable information. They can also import their Google address book contacts, and invite friends to Bleep via email, SMS, QR code, or a public key.
Formerly known as BitTorrent Chat, Bleep offers end-to-end encryption for every message sent through it, and ensures to only store content locally on your device. Users have the option to delete their encrypted message history, leaving no trace of conversation behind.
While that sounds great, you can expect the alpha to come with known (and unknown) issues and bugs. While you can receive messages on multiple devices, sent messages are not shown across all devices. Also, communications can only occur when all parties are online — offline photos and group chats cannot be sent asynchronously.
BitTorrent warns Android users that they will need to set the app to "WiFi Only" unless they have an unlimited data plan. The company is still working on reducing battery and data usage. Furthermore, while Bleep lets you move an existing account from desktop to mobile, it does not yet support moving an existing account from Android to Windows or Mac.
If these issues don't faze you, you can download the new public alpha now at the links below.
Bleep for Windows, Mac, and Android.
IBM Sponsors CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO
The DCIA & CCA are very pleased to welcome IBM to the all new co-hosted CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014).
Delegate registration is now open for CDSE:2014, which will take place in Austin, TX next Wednesday October 1st and Thursday October 2nd.
Business strategy and technical sessions covering the latest trends — Mobile Cloud, DevOps, and Big Data — as well as general interest cloud service topics will be featured along with a special focus on three economic sectors experiencing the most cloud adoption: Media & Entertainment, Government & Military, and Healthcare & Life Sciences.
IBM is a CDSE:2014 Gold Sponsor.
IBM's Keynote Address, "Mobile Cloud Architectures," by Sal Vella, Vice President, Rational Product Development and Customer Support, IBM Software Group, will highlight how government and healthcare entities, and businesses from banks to retailers, are using cloud-based mobile development and delivery environments to very quickly develop in the cloud, deliver on mobile, and test using innovative mobile and cloud capabilities.
IBM will also present two Workshops: "DevOps Services in the Cloud: From Idea to Production in Minutes" and "IBM Bluemix: Build, Deploy and Test a Mobile App in the Cloud."
Sandhya Kapoor, Senior Software Engineer, IBM Ecosystem Development, Strategic Initiatives, will lead the DevOps Workshop.
Leigh Williamson, IBM Distinguished Engineer, IBM Mobile Software Development Strategy, CTO Team, Rational Software, will lead the Mobile Apps Workshop.
IBM's participation exemplifies the two major offerings of CDSE:2014:
During the business conference at CDSE:2014, thirty-six highly focused strategic and technical keynotes, breakout panels, and Q&A sessions will thoroughly explore cloud computing solutions, and ample opportunities will be provided for one-on-one networking with the major players in this space.
At eighteen co-located CDSE:2014 instructional workshops and special seminars facilitated by industry leading speakers and world-class technical trainers, attendees will, see, hear, learn and master critical skills in sessions devoted to the unique challenges and opportunities for developers, programmers, and solutions architects.
Register now.
Next Generation Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Wireless
Standardization is on the horizon for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) to operate in a peer-to-peer (P2P) mode known as LTE Direct (LTE-D) that involves discovery and a mode of operation involving the so-called "ambient awareness".
This is expected to be a novelty at first but quickly evolve into a new ecosystem that is at once complementary and competitive to the current cellular ecosystem.
There are a number of additional technologies that may also be deployed that all provide the ability for devices to "discover" one another, although over different distances ranging from centimeters (Near Field Communications), meters (Bluetooth), 10s of meters (Wi-Fi), and some that vary (beacon technologies).
New research from Reportbuyer addresses the technology, companies, solutions, and market opportunities involving discovery, presence/detection, P2P communications, and related applications.
The report evaluates the ecosystem, anticipated impacts, and future of person-to-person, device-to-device, communications.
Microsoft Joins CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO
Microsoft has joined other cloud computing industry leaders at the all new co-hosted CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014).
The needs have never been greater for developers, programmers, and architects to advance their knowledge, capabilities and skill-sets in order to profit from the ongoing revolutionary transformation in the business processes of the future.
Microsoft's cloud platform Azure is helping to drive this growth with services that provide enhanced performance, scalability, and additional security, which conventional web hosts just can't provide.
For web developers, this means access to hosted applications and data, along with cloud-based development services, enabling them to create web applications that have access to data and services like never before.
To help industry participants learn how to capture their share of this huge opportunity, the DCIA & CCA have partnered to present CDSE:2014 next week in Austin, TX.
Keynoting for Microsoft on the topic "Enabling DevOps for the Cloud" will be Haishi Bai, Microsoft's Technology Evangelist for Azure.
Haishi is an active technical writer with two published books on cloud computing and a blog with 0.5 million views yearly. He's been working in the industry for 17 years, and has been accumulating software development skills since he was 12, when he wrote his first programs in BASIC.
Microsoft will also offer two Workshops at CDSE:2014, which will cover "Getting Started with Microsoft Azure."
Microsoft's participation and that of the other major cloud brands exemplify how this inaugural summit and expo is co-locating two related but distinct events with broad audience appeal: first, a senior-level strategic business conference; and second, an all new opportunity for cloud-solution providers and vendors to present hands-on instructional workshops and special seminars.
DevOps facilitators, Big Data users, and Mobile Cloud clients as well as leading representatives of end-users in these three key verticals: Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Government & Military, will all present case studies at CDSE:2014.
Learn about the venue for this major industry event here.
Register now.
Microsoft is also offering two new programs, BizSpark and DreamSpark, with great benefits free for students and qualified software start-ups.
Microsoft Azure: Cloud for the Rest of Us
Excerpted from Geekzone Report by Bill Bennett
Cloud computing is great. Yet anything beyond Dropbox, OneDrive, or iCloud can be daunting for those of us who aren't IT professionals. On the other hand, there's nothing scary about getting started with Microsoft Azure. Microsoft has created a cloud computing service that makes creating a server as simple as setting up a Word document.
Sooner or later a small business grows to the point where it needs servers. In the past that meant buying hardware. Today it means monthly payments to cloud services. Everything physical servers do — and then some — can be moved to the cloud. Corporations run enterprise systems in the cloud. Banks run in the cloud. For a small business, the cloud can run virtual networks, handle storage, run web apps or databases. It can also host websites. Cloud hosted services have two advantages over running your own server:
First, you don't have to guess how much computer you need before committing your money. With cloud services you can buy the bare minimum then pay extra to buy more capacity.
Second, cloud hosted services are managed for you. You won't have to hire, train people or learn to deal with the hardware yourself.
Another advantage of cloud computing is you're not left with a white elephant on your hands if your needs change. Better still, if you need something new, say you decide to host a new website, adding that to your existing account is next to no trouble. Or at least that's how it should work.
One thing that bothers me is running a small business website. There are cheap virtual servers, but my experience has not been good. In particular, cheap hosts can't handle large traffic spikes. I doubt I'll go down that path again. WordPress.com hosts my site despite the drawbacks and restrictions because it's reliable and scales well when the crowds turn up on my doorstep.
My latest project — don't worry you'll hear about it soon enough — needs a website that may see traffic spikes. So I decided this would be a good moment to test small business hosting from the two biggest names in cloud computing: Amazon and Microsoft.
To test I set up two small websites. One on Amazon EC2 and another on Microsoft Azure. Both test sites are on free services for now. I used Amazon's free tier and a 30-day trial account on Microsoft Azure. If I had to pay for either service, the bill would come to less than $20 a month, that's not much, only fractionally more than I'd pay a web host. It took less than five minutes to get a WordPress site running on Microsoft Azure. The hardest part was filling in credit card details and waiting for the two factor authentication to call back on my phone.
The Azure process is dead simple, it requires little computer knowledge. Anyone able to work a Windows computer could set things up using a familiar Microsoft-style wizard which steps you through the process. The only hiccup I met was not being able to log-on to an Azure server late on a Saturday evening. I tried again the next morning and whipped through the process.
Azure has an app gallery with ready to use applications. It took a just couple of clicks to find and install WordPress. Once that was done, I need to update WordPress to the latest version — it had only appeared in the last couple of days. And from that point on, I was up and running. Amazon EC2 is harder to use. I found a tutorial on using EC2 to set up a blog using Ghost and stepped through the process. It took almost 30 minutes
I'm certain EC2 would be a breeze for computing professionals and geeks, it's not somewhere I'd send the average small business owner without lots of handholding.
Direct performance comparisons between the two services are hard. My Amazon account has been running seven months and according to Pingdom, has never gone offline. My Azure account is just days old, so I can't really compare.
Microsoft has most things right with Azure. It's no accident the company's new CEO Satya Nadella comes from the company's cloud division. Azure does for cloud computing what Microsoft Office does for desktop productivity. It offers all levels of users an easy way into a set of technologies that can be as deep and complex as you wish. There's a lot in both Azure and Office for professionals, but the rest of us can use them, too.
Dell & SoftServe at CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO
Major brand Dell and innovative up-and-comer SoftServe will be at the CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO (CDSE:2014) taking place in Austin, TX next Wednesday and Thursday.
Founded in 1993, SoftServe is now a leading global provider of high quality software development, testing, and technology consulting services in SaaS/Cloud, Mobility, and SDLC. SoftServe has successfully completed over 2,500 projects for over 150 global companies.
SoftServe will be a Gold Sponsor of CDSE:2014.
Cloud computing not only improves business processes and operational efficiency — it reinvents the role of IT. And when aligned with organizational strategy, it can give companies that adopt cloud solutions a competitive edge. Backed by a decade of experience building cloud environments, Dell matches business needs with the right secure, enterprise-class solutions.
Dell will have a major role at CDSE:2014 with a Keynote Presentation and two Workshops.
Keynoting on "The Current State of Private Cloud" will be Michael Elliott, Enterprise Cloud Evangelist. Dell's Workshops will be "Managing Hybrid Cloud Environments — The New Reality for Delivering IT as a Service" and "Digital Transformation and the Essential Role of Cloud and Developers."
According to the research firm IDC, cloud computing was an estimated $47.4 billion industry in 2013 and is expected to more than double by 2017. The cloud's 23.5% compound annual growth rate is five times faster than that of the broader technology market.
At CDSE:2014, highly focused business strategy and technical keynotes, breakout panels, workshops, and seminars will thoroughly explore cloud computing solutions and offerings, and ample opportunities will be provided for one-on-one networking with the major players in this space.
DevOps facilitators, Big Data users, and Mobile Cloud clients as well as leading representatives of end-users in these three key verticals: Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Government & Military, will all present case studies at CDSE:2014.
Check-out the full agenda here.
Register now.
FCC Chief Presses Experts on Mobile "Net Neutrality" Rules
Excerpted from Reuters Report by Alina Selyukh
US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler urged consumer advocates and wireless industry representatives on Tuesday to address how wireless carriers might be allowed to "reasonably manage" their Internet networks.
The issue is at the heart of a debate over whether the FCC should undo exemptions applied to mobile carriers as it rewrites Internet traffic regulations, after an appeals court rejected its 2010 rules in January.
Consumer advocates and wireless industry experts discussed the question of parity between wireless and wireline networks at one of several roundtables called by Wheeler to get "from heat to light" on so-called Net Neutrality rules.
Public interest groups and web companies, including Google and Facebook, say the FCC should impose similar anti-discrimination rules for wireless companies and wireline ISPs.
Under earlier rules, all ISPs were banned from blocking users' access to websites, but wireless providers were only banned from blocking applications that competed with their own voice or video calling services. Wireline ISPs could not block or "unreasonably discriminate" against any applications.
Christopher Guttman-McCabe, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs at wireless association CTIA, stressed that wireless networks differed by being shared and more dynamic than wireline ones. He said "a radical change" to mobile Net Neutrality rules to create parity threatened the wireless networks with poorer consumer experiences and less investment in innovation.
"Chris, I can't accept your 'hell will freeze over' analogy," said Wheeler, who ran the CTIA from 1992 to 2004 before becoming a venture capitalist.
Wheeler urged the panel to instead focus on what "reasonable network management" should mean, citing a recent comment by Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam as showing the largest wireless carrier was already committed to abiding by Net Neutrality parity.
Verizon's Vice President for Federal Regulatory Affairs, David Young, said Verizon had no problem delivering the open Internet connections that its customers expect.
"To the extent that the FCC moves forward with reasonable rules that recognize the differences between wireline and wireless, we're likely to be able to satisfy them with the way that we provide our services," he said.
Wireless and consumer interest representatives agreed that mobile networks technologically differed from wired networks, but disagreed on the extent to which wireless ISPs should be restricted in "reasonable network management."
"We appreciate that there are operational challenges, I just don't think that's a carte blanche for carriers" to hurt consumers, said Delara Derakhshani of the Consumers Union.
US consumers, particularly minorities, increasingly rely on mobile phones for Internet access, prompting Wheeler to underscore in a recent speech that the agency has "specifically recognized that there have been significant changes in the mobile marketplace since 2010."
It is unclear to what extent Wheeler is prepared to regulate wireless Net Neutrality.
"Although I continue to keep an open mind, I must say that I have concerns about a lower, a possible lower standard for mobile services," FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said on Tuesday.
Rackers Sign-On for CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO
A cadre of Rackspace speakers have signed-on to the upcoming CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014).
Leading this group as a Conference Keynote Speaker will be Principal Engineer and Senior Manager Jesse Noller.
Jesse Noller is a full stack developer and software engineer with extensive Python, web programming, and distributed systems experience. In addition to being a core developer of the Python language, he's a member, director, and officer of the Python Software Foundation.
Along with the business strategy conference on Wednesday October 1st and Thursday October 2nd, in Austin, TX numerous co-located CDSE:2014 instructional workshops and special seminars will explore three categories of cloud adoption: Big Data, DevOps, and Mobile Cloud; and three verticals where the pace of cloud adoption is particularly dynamic: Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Government & Military.
Facilitating two of these Workshops for Rackspace will be Alex Brandt, Ryan Richard, and Wayne Walls.
Alex Brandt is a Cloud Evangelist at Rackspace. He regularly consults with Rackspace customers to develop unique solutions while internally developing new approaches with evolving technologies.
Ryan Richard is the Team Lead - OpenStack Architect on a special projects group at Rackspace. His primary role revolves around automation, performance monitoring, helping customers evolve their development workflows, and supporting advanced cloud deployment methodologies.
Wayne Walls is Director of Cloud Strategy at Rackspace. He is an accomplished technical business leader with over 10 years of experience developing hosted solutions in start-up, enterprise, and academic environments.
As a preview of what to expect, one of the two Rackspace Workshops is entitled "Contained Excitement" and will cover how Docker changes the dev/test/build/deploy workflow. Storing Docker images, integrating images into testing, and deploying images to production will also be demonstrated.
Register now for CDSE:2014.
Rackspace Appoints Taylor Rhodes as CEO
Excerpted from CloudTech Report by James Bourne
Open source cloud provider Rackspace has dismissed all merger and acquisition discussion to continue with its current independent trajectory — and has named Taylor Rhodes as new chief executive.
Rhodes joined Rackspace in 2007 and was appointed President of the company back in January. He takes over from Graham Weston, CEO from 1999 to 2006, who had temporarily held the fort since the retirement of Lanham Napier in February.
"Our Board conducted a thorough search of highly qualified internal and external candidates, and we are confident that Taylor is the right person to lead Rackspace through its next phase of growth," said Sam Gilliland, lead independent Director of the Rackspace Board.
"Throughout his tenure, Taylor has proven himself to be an inspiring leader, a strategic thinker and a committed Racker," he added.
There had been talk of potential merger or acquisition activity at Rackspace, with the company disclosing that multiple parties were interested.
Former CEO Weston explained the updates. "We talked to a diverse group of interested parties and entertained different proposals," he said, adding: "None of these proposals were deemed to have as much value as the expected value of our standalone plan.
"We concluded that the company is best positioned to drive value for shareholders, customers, and Rackers through the continued execution of its strategic plan to capitalize on the growing opportunity for managed cloud services," he added.
The wording of the press material indicates that Rackspace has taken this decision on its own merits.
The company's ethos, stated at the start of the year, was to continue its push towards OpenStack and hybrid cloud models. This time around, with analysts inevitably about to ask questions over why M&A never materialized, Rackspace is pointing towards gaining increased share in the managed cloud market, as CloudTech reported earlier this year, as well as an upturn in figures.
Rackspace added more than $20 million of new revenue in a single quarter in Q214, the first time this has happened in the firm's history. Sequential revenue growth of 4.3% in the same quarter was the highest since 2012.
The company also fiercely cultivates its relationship with customers — the term Rackers for instance, and claims of "fanatical support." With this strength in branding, Rackspace remains on a sure enough footing as Rhodes steps into the hot seat.
SAP on Board for CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO
The DCIA & CCA are very pleased to welcome SAP to the all new co-hosted CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014), featuring fellow industry leaders Amazon, Dell, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle, and Rackspace, among many other cloud computing players.
CDSE:2014, which will take place in Austin, TX next Wednesday October 1st and Thursday October 2nd, is now accepting delegate registrations.
SAP's Keynote Address, "Staying Ahead of the Game," by Scott Campbell, Senior Principal for Media, Sports & Entertainment at SAP America, will highlight the rapid innovation SAP provided to help the German soccer team gain a distinct advantage in the 2014 World Cup.
In addition, the CDSE Healthcare Panel will feature Christine Heffernan, Industry Value Engineering - Healthcare at SAP.
SAP will also present two Workshops, "Ariba — Join the World's Largest Sourcing Network" and "Developing Real-Time Data Solutions Using the SAP HANA Cloud Platform."
Principal Technical Solutions Consultant at Ariba, an SAP Company, Mark Willner will provide the hands-on tutorial of Ariba.
Find out how to join over one million suppliers that have registered and actively trade their products and services on the Ariba Network.
Architect for Big Data Solutions at SAP, Mark Mumy will conduct the SAP Workshop on real-time data solutions using the SAP HANA cloud platform.
This session will provide an overview of the solutions and a selection of examples from the 1,500 developers and start-ups that are running their solutions on the world's fastest real-time data platform.
SAP's participation exemplifies the two major offerings of CDSE:2014:
During the business conference at CDSE:2014, highly focused strategic and technical keynotes, breakout panels, and Q&A sessions will thoroughly explore cloud computing solutions, and ample opportunities will be provided for one-on-one networking.
At the co-located CDSE:2014 instructional workshops and special seminars facilitated by industry leading speakers and world-class technical trainers, attendees will, see, hear, learn and master critical skills in sessions devoted to the unique challenges and opportunities for developers, programmers, and solutions architects.
DevOps facilitators, Big Data users, and Mobile Cloud clients as well as leading representatives of end-users in these three key verticals: Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Government & Military, will all present case studies at CDSE:2014.
Alibaba Debut Makes a Splash
Excerpted from Wall St. Journal Report by Telis Demos and Juro Osawa
Alibaba Group Holding, China's largest e-commerce company, on Friday became a publicly traded technology powerhouse, launching a blockbuster share offering in New York that drew attention world-wide.
Its first trade changed hands at $92.70, well above the $68 initial price that some investors paid, and shares finished the day at $93.89, giving the company a market value of $231 billion, larger than Procter & Gamble.
The 38% first-day gain handed buyers of the offering paper profits of more than $9 billion and easily topped the average 26% jump for US-listed technology and Internet deals this year, according to Dealogic. The rise was especially impressive as larger deals typically have smaller one-day jumps.
The IPO fortifies Alibaba with a sizable war chest for possible acquisitions and product launches to compete with Chinese Internet rivals Tencent Holdings and Baidu and allows it to quickly expand in overseas markets including the US should it choose to do so.
Founded in Executive Chairman Jack Ma's apartment 15 years ago, Alibaba built its e-commerce empire by connecting China's entrepreneurs, first with overseas clients and then with hundreds of millions of domestic consumers.
The former English teacher ranks among the wealthiest of China's billionaires. He sold nearly $1 billion worth of stock in the IPO, and continues to hold a stake in the company worth about $18 billion at Friday's close.
Mr. Ma has insisted the company will keep its primary focus on China, but the attention and financial clout from Friday's offering could change that. Revenue for its most recent fiscal year was 52.5 billion yuan ($8.6 billion), less than one-eighth of Amazon, but its market value now exceeds the US company's.
George Zachary, general partner at Charles River Ventures in Menlo Park, CA, said he now views Alibaba as a powerful global force, because of its scale, market value and cash holdings.
"We should be careful of Alibaba because they could certainly start to control a lot of the landscape," he said. "They are going to be the biggest e-commerce company."
Its steep valuation poses hurdles. Alibaba now trades at a price that has Wall Street investors expecting strong growth even as it faces challenges including a transition to mobile commerce, where advertising rates are lower than for desktop users, and potentially slower-than-expected consumer growth in China.
Alibaba's value is about 35 times what its underwriters forecast for next year's earnings, according to people familiar with the banks' projections. Rival Tencent trades at about 31 times earnings, while companies in the S&P 500 index trade at roughly 15 times.
Carlos Kirjner, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein , estimated before the IPO that Alibaba's fair value was around $215 billion. Now, valued at $231 billion, "the market is counting on spending per user to grow, and the company to invest the IPO profits wisely for future growth." He said that meeting those targets is "very plausible," but hardly "a no-brainer."
In contrast to Facebook's troubled IPO with confusion over missed trades, Alibaba's first day went smoothly, coordinated by a gaggle of banks tasked with selling an Asian company in New York to investors across several continents.
Thanks to the heavy retail and institutional demand, underwriters are expected to exercise an option to sell more shares, which would vault the amount raised to $25 billion, a global record for a stock offering.
The deal's 35 underwriters collectively earned as much as $300 million in fees, with the first five banks on the deal earning as much as $45 million each, according to people familiar with the terms. Those banks were Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley. Alibaba also hired Rothschild as a separate adviser on the deal.
Yahoo sold 121.7 million shares in the deal, a bringing in about $5.1 billion after capital-gains taxes. It still owns 401.8 million shares.
While the company hasn't been as well known outside of China, its IPO establishes it on the global stage. A majority of its shares were sold to U.S. investors, said people involved in the deal.
Friday's debut also was watched closely around the world: Employees at the company's headquarters in Hangzhou celebrated their new wealth with a fireworks display, Silicon Valley venture capitalists took in the spectacle with a mixture of awe and dread, and Wall Street bankers toasted the millions of dollars in fees the stock sales generated.
"To have the money is something that can make the heart feel more at ease," said Tony Miao, who says his wife works at Alibaba and currently owns about 2,000 shares.
Publicity around the company in recent days helped drum up a "swell" of interest among ordinary investors, said Steve Quirka Senior Vice President of TD Ameritrade Holding. He said Alibaba accounted for roughly 13% of TD Ameritrade's trading volume.
Originally, "we weren't sensing there would be this much activity," Mr. Quirk said. "But in the last 48 hours it just picked up a lot."
Still, only about 10% of the IPO went through retail channels, about two-thirds of which were set aside for friends, family, and employees designed by Alibaba itself, according to people familiar with the deal. Just a 4% sliver of the deal went broadly to small investors, the people said, in contrast to the more than 25% set aside for Facebook.
Investors who couldn't obtain shares at Alibaba's Thursday night price took to their computers Friday for a chance to buy a piece of the Chinese e-commerce company, even as shares at times neared the $100 mark.
Chris Kateyiannis was one determined buyer. A sophomore at Ohio State University, he placed an order at up to $81 per share before his Chinese language class began at 9 a.m. By the time he got out, the opening range had already exceeded that. In the school's computer lab, Mr. Kateyiannis downloaded a web extension that refreshed his Fidelity brokerage account for him every few seconds, and he adjusted his order.
Just before his calculus class began at noon, his order finally went through at $94.79. Sitting in class, he discreetly used his phone to buy another round of shares when the price pulled back a little to $92.18. "I was still paying attention to the teacher," he insisted.
With shares closing at $93.89, Mr. Kateyiannis was hardly a big winner. "I might sell half my shares in a few weeks if I need the money to invest in something else," he said. "I'm going to hold on to some of it though—I think it'll go up in the long-term."
Paragon at CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO
The DCIA & CCA welcome Paragon to the CLOUD DEVELOPERS SUMMIT & EXPO 2014 (CDSE:2014), featuring the top-ten cloud brands Amazon, Dell, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle, Rackspace, and SAP, among many other cloud-computing innovators.
Delegate registration is available now CDSE:2014, which will take place in Austin, TX next week on October 1st and 2nd.
Business strategy and technical sessions covering the latest trends — Mobile Cloud, DevOps, and Big Data — as well as general interest cloud service topics will be featured along with a special focus on three economic sectors experiencing the most cloud adoption: Media & Entertainment, Government & Military, and Healthcare & Life Sciences.
Paragon is a CDSE:2014 Silver Sponsor.
Paragon provides client-centric, customized program management, information technology (IT), and logistics services to federal agencies of all sizes in every arena, helping them to manage processes, optimize operations, and increase their return on investment (RoI).
Among its many service offerings are cyber security planning and accreditation, which represent the latest in security capabilities, security compliance preparation, and accreditation following NIST standards and FedRAMP requirements.
Keynoting for Paragon will be Bob Littlejohn, Senior Security Engineer, Paragon Technology Group.
He has over 20 years of experience in information system security and accreditation with a variety of agencies, starting as a system security analyst with McDonnell Douglas, and including information security with Johnson Controls World Services, NCI Information Systems, Unisys, APPTIS, Newberry Group, and Booz Allen Hamilton.
Bob Littlejohn was responsible for certification and accreditation of systems for PEOSTRI in Orlando FL, the Air Force Weather Agency in Omaha NE, US Transportation Command in southern IL, Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque NM, the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB CA, and assisted with development of the US Coast Guard certification and accreditation strategy for Telecommunication and Information Systems Command in Springfield, VA.
Conducting a Paragon Workshop at CDSE:2014 will be Mark Clark, Systems Security Engineer, Paragon Technology Group.
Combating cyber threats is rewarding for him because it helps protect information from those who intend to exploit it in a harmful manner.
Mark Clark's most interesting tasks are those that require resolution of a non-routine security problem.
"One of the biggest challenges security engineering faces is how to interpret and apply pre-existing security regulations to rapidly changing technology and cyber threats. Crafting unique solutions to mitigate these threats is rewarding," he says.
Paragon's participation exemplifies the two major offerings of CDSE:2014:
During the business conference at CDSE:2014, thirty-six highly focused strategic and technical keynotes, breakout panels, and Q&A sessions will thoroughly explore cloud computing solutions, and ample opportunities will be provided for one-on-one networking with the major players in this space.
At eighteen co-located CDSE:2014 instructional workshops and special seminars facilitated by industry leading speakers and world-class technical trainers, attendees will, see, hear, learn and master critical skills in sessions devoted to the unique challenges and opportunities for developers, programmers, and solutions architects.
How to Manage the "Shadow Cloud" Successfully
Excerpted from Baseline Report by Dennis McCafferty
It's no secret that line-of-business departments are taking command of how they acquire and use information technology (IT), and a growing number of business users are now adopting their own cloud computing environments.
As a result, something called the "shadow cloud" has emerged, according to a recent report from PwC. The rapid pace of business change is bringing a sense of urgency to this topic, as the cloud enables rapid deployment of essential business tools in a cost-effective manner.
The report, Managing the Shadow Cloud: Integrating Cloud Governance into Your Existing Compliance Program, makes it clear that, like the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement, there's not much the IT organization can do to stop this trend.
Instead, given the shadow cloud's vast potential to help organizations gain a competitive edge, IT should work closely with other departments to maximize the cloud's positive impact and minimize any risks.
"The days of 'big IT' are gone," the report concludes, "but successful IT departments will be those that work with the business to solve the organization's most important problems: IT will move from a centralized authority to an advisor, broker and orchestrator of business services."
To gain insight into how to best move forward with shadow clouds, consider these best practices, which are adapted from the report.
Coming Events of Interest
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.
HTNG 2014 MidEast — September 23rd-25th in Dubai, UAE. Planned topics include a panel discussion on the realities of cloud computing for hospitality; the latest techniques of hackers; new hospitality mobile apps; fiber optic infrastructure for hospitality and a report on the technical challenges of the complex Al Habtoor City project.
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.
IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing for Emerging Markets — October 15th-17th in Bangalore, India. The third annual CCEM, will address the unique challenges and opportunities of cloud computing for emerging markets in a high quality event that brings together industry, government, and academic leaders in cloud computing.
CloudComp 2014 — October 19th-21st in Guilin, China. The fifth annual international conference on cloud computing. The event is endorsed by the European Alliance for Innovation, a leading community-based organization devoted to the advancement of innovation in the field of ICT.
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.
GOTO Berlin 2014 Conference — November 5th–7th in Berlin, Germany. GOTO Berlin is the enterprise software development conference designed for team leads, architects, and project management and is organized "for developers by developers". New technology and trends in a non-vendor forum.
PDCAT 2014 — December 9th-11th in Hong Kong. The 16th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies (PDCAT 2014) is a major forum for scientists, engineers, and practitioners throughout the world to present their latest research, results, ideas, developments and applications in all areas of parallel and distributed computing.
Storage Visions Conference — January 4th-5th in Las Vegas, NV. The fourteenth annual conference theme is: Storage with Intense Network Growth (SWING). Storage Visions Awards presented there cover significant products, services, and companies in many digital storage markets.
International CES — January 6th-9th in Las Vegas, NV. The International CES is the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Held in Las Vegas every year, it has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for more than 40 years — the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace.
|
