November 3, 2014
Volume XLX, Issue 3
2015 Storage Visions Conference and Awards
For the eleventh year, the Storage Visions Conference (SVC) will present industry creativity and innovation awards at the 2015 event taking place January 4th and 5th at the Riviera in Las Vegas, NV, just before the 2015 International CES and the DCIA's Internet of Things (IoT) at CES.
Don't miss this opportunity to participate in this power-packed two-day event! This year's theme is "Storage with Intense Network Growth (SWING!)"
Take advantage of this opportunity to network with members of the vast data storage ecosystem. Here's how you can participate: sponsor and exhibitor benefits and packages, participating sponsors and exhibitors, exhibitor registration, and speaker information
SVC '15 management has negotiated rates as low as $55/night for event attendees at the Riviera.
Click here to register for the event with a $100 discount.
Make your reservations now!
Learn about the latest storage technologies and methods to improve performance and efficiency, lower costs, and increase reliability. Network with the companies and people who will create the next generation of hardware and software.
The DCIA's Internet of Things (IoT) at CES
The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) will present twelve hours of demos, displays, and discussions at the 2015 International CES focusing on the Internet of Things (IoT).
From Tuesday January 6th through Friday January 9th, daily segments will be webcast live from the DCIA's CES exhibit-booth studio in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The six major topics to be covered will be: Smart Objects for Fitness & Healthcare; Programmable Homes & Energy Management; Media Entertainment & Social Networking Solutions; Geolocation Services & Vehicular Automation; Retail, Public Space & Manufacturing Environments; and Power Consumption, Cybersecurity & Interoperability.
Do you work in the designing, manufacturing, marketing, or analyzing of connected devices or systems in any of the above areas?
If so, and you'd like to participate as a speaker in The DCIA's Internet of Things (IoT) at CES 2015, please call or email DCIA CEO Marty Lafferty at your earliest convenience.
Feel free to share this information with your colleagues and associates who may be interested in taking part in the DCIA's IoT at CES.
IoT Promises a Smart Future
Excerpted from The Tennessean Report James Fields
Imagine you set your alarm on Monday for 5:30 AM. As soon as you hear it ringing, you also hear your coffee machine start brewing a fresh cup for you. Once you get into your car and head to work, your car automatically suggests a different route because you're a few minutes later than normal and there's unexpected traffic on the interstate. When you finally arrive at the office, another gadget has already mapped out the times you're going to be most productive based on your past productivity patterns on Mondays when you're running a few minutes behind schedule.
Think this sounds like something from the movie "Minority Report"?
Think again. The "Internet of Things (IoT)" promises lifestyle improvements based on behavioral data, and although only a few gadgets might influence our lives right now, a future with all of our gadgets predicting and responding to our behavior is not far off.
So what exactly is the IoT? At its most basic level, IoT could potentially include anything with an on-off switch that can connect to the Internet. But it refers more largely to the goal of lifestyle improvement based on the connectedness of gadgets conditioned to the behaviors of their owners. This giant, connected network of things can include anything from toothbrushes to thermostats to refrigerators. When people talk about "smart homes," they're referring to these gadgets and products working alongside one another to make things run as efficiently as possible.
A few exemplary items include:
Samsung's Wi-Fi enabled refrigerators. This refrigerator can stream Pandora, give you a glimpse of the weather, connect to your social networks, and even allows you to leave notes to your family. As the most opened and closed door in a house full of kids, it makes sense that this appliance, of all others in the kitchen, offers smart technologies.
Philips "hue" light bulbs. It might sound like an extravagance, but these smart light bulbs are nothing short of amazing. These Wi-Fi connected lights allow you to change lighting based on your mood — you can even choose a picture and have the light mimic its colors.
Nest thermostat. The Nest thermostat learns your schedule and your preferences so it can adjust accordingly. Forgot to change the temperature when you left the house in a rush? No problem. The Nest allows you to adjust the thermostat from your phone, and can lower heating and cooling bills by 20 percent.
The IoT isn't just limited to the individual or to the home. Entire cities are starting to use the technology. While there has been some struggle implementing smart technology on a large scale, cities like San Jose, CA have directed their focus toward improving the lighting and parking problems that most cities face.
Such technology includes alerting drivers to which parking spots are available, or helping cities figure out where more parking should be located, which in turn makes the city money. Smart lighting ensures that street lights only turn on when a car or person approaches, saving massively on energy. Other cities like Chicago, IL have installed sensors around the city to look for correlations between resident behavior and public health issues like asthma and diabetes.
Regardless of how innovative it sounds to have homes and cities built entirely upon a giant network of connected things, having an infrastructure reliant on the Internet brings with it a slew of difficulties, including security and privacy issues. It's unsettling to think that increased use of smart gadgets could open the user up to personal data breaches.
Also of issue is the fact that separate companies are working on their own proprietary smart technologies. So the cutting edge smart Samsung refrigerator you have can't "talk" to the new Sony television in your living room — yet, at least. But things are certainly moving in the direction of increased connectedness. As smart homes increasingly become the norm, a life lived without predictive data may soon be a thing of the past.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed extending the definition of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) to online video program distributors (OVPDs) and over-the-top (OTT) Internet protocol television (IPTV) services.
In his blog "Tech Transitions, Video, and the Future," the Chairman provided a preview of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to accomplish this further advancement of his Open Internet agenda.
The DCIA emphatically supports this extension, which will benefit industry progress substantially.
We fully agree with Chairman Wheeler, who noted that the MVPD definition "should turn on the services that a provider offers, not on how those services reach viewers."
"Twenty-first century consumers shouldn't be shackled to rules that only recognize 20th century technology."
While OVPDs and OTT IPTV services have unequivocally demonstrated that their technology is ready for mass distribution, their advancement in the consumer marketplace has been held back due to an inability to obtain television programming carriage rights.
Wheeler said that opening up access to TV programming for OVP & OTT IPTV providers will also encourage high-speed broadband competition: "Those seeking to deploy new competitive broadband networks tell us that it's hard to provide new high-speed Internet access without also being able to offer a competitive video package as well."
Enabling this new category of television programming distribution will increase revenue for all participants in the distribution chain and benefit consumers with a wider range of choices and more attractive prices than are currently available.
Subject to the concurrence of other FCC Commissioners, Wheeler's proposal will place Internet video services under federal regulations that govern MVPDs, like cable and satellite distributors, granting them the ability to negotiate with broadcasters and cable TV programmers to carry TV stations and cable channels.
In many ways, this move will echo the rights granted to satellite video distributors in 1992 to negotiate to retransmit broadcast television station signals, which followed soon after cable programming began to be licensed to the direct-to-home (DTH) and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) markets in the late eighties.
Why has it taken so much longer for OVPDs and OTT IPTV services to reach this point?
Primarily because there has not been the level of infringement that had taken place in the home satellite market prior to the advent of signal scrambling, which in turn made it possible to impose conditional access and collect subscription fees: some three-quarters of a million home-satellite viewers were being added monthly, pre-scrambling, based on a premise of larceny — "Buy a backyard dish and get cable programming free forever!"
Wheeler's new MVPD definition would apply only to services that offer retransmissions of channels with pre-scheduled programming lineups, meaning that it would not include on-demand video providers like Netflix.
As the Chairman opined, this move could lead to greater program packaging flexibility as well: "Consumers have long complained about how their cable service forces them to buy channels they never watch."
"The move of video onto the Internet can do something about that frustration, but first Internet video services need access to the programs."
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), as expected, responded by voicing concern over "profound" implications of government extending its regulatory reach into online video services and challenged whether "any would-be virtual MVPDs will meet their 'social compact' obligations."
Among many others, however, the Writers Guild of America issued a statement of support, which said, "A technology-neutral definition of an MVPD is long overdue and will enhance consumer choice."
"With the largest MVPDs attempting to consolidate their control of content distribution through mergers, this game-changing proposal to allow new competitors is absolutely necessary." Share wisely, and take care.
US Regulators to Vote on Treating Internet TV like Cable
Excerpted from Reuters Report by Alina Selyukh
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in coming weeks will vote on whether Internet TV should have the same access to television programming as cable and satellite TV providers, which could shake up competition in the video industry.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Tuesday said he has asked his fellow Commissioners to vote on a proposal that would help Internet TV services, such as ones being developed by Dish Network, Sony, and Verizon, to compete with traditional pay-TV for digital rights to major network programming.
The potential regulatory change concerns online subscription video services that offer scheduled programming similar to traditional pay-TV providers, and not online video services such as Netflix that stream content on demand.
Satellite provider DirecTV is another company that has indicated plans for an Internet video service and CBS this month revealed a plan for an Internet streaming service that would include scheduled programming.
Time Warner's HBO will also launch a standalone online streaming product but its details are unclear.
Traditionally, the FCC has ensured that cable and satellite TV providers such as Comcast could negotiate for rights to retransmit network programming. Online video services have not had the same regulatory backing because they rely on a different technology and do not have their own video distribution facilities.
Now, the FCC will vote on leveling the playing field with a technology-neutral definition of a "multichannel video program distributor (MVPD)," with the goal of encouraging new competition in the video market.
A draft of the proposal tentatively concludes that online TV services should have the same access to cable and local TV programs as traditional pay-TV services and seeks comments on whether the obligations imposed on the two types of video services should also be the same.
If adopted, some analysts see the proposal as potentially also creating a new opening for Aereo, a video streaming company whose business model was questioned by a Supreme Court ruling in June that said the company had infringed broadcasters' copyrights by capturing live and recorded programs through antennas and transmitting them to subscribers.
The vote by four FCC commissioners, two Democrats and two Republicans, would formally propose the idea and begin the process of seeking public comments.
Aereo Sees Path Forward in FCC Online Video Proposal
Excerpted from Bloomberg Report by Todd Shields and Alex Barinka
Online video providers such as Aereo would be able to distribute TV programs like cable services, helping consumers circumvent large packages of channels, under a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposal.
If approved, the proposal would let Internet video services negotiate for the right to distribute cable programs and local television. Aereo Chief Executive Officer Chet Kanojia, who halted his startup's service after losing a Supreme Court decision in June, called the action by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler "an important step."
The proposed change, outlined yesterday in a blog post by Wheeler, would alter the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), to include providers of online video. New rules wouldn't be final until after a vote by the agency, controlled by Wheeler and fellow Democrats.
"Consumers have long complained about how their cable service forces them to buy channels they never watch," Wheeler said. "The move of video onto the Internet can do something about that frustration."
Aereo is counting on the rule change after the Supreme Court said the company's digital streaming service, which used antennas to get programming over the air, violated broadcasters' copyrights. Though the nation's highest court said the company operated akin to a cable-TV provider, Aereo has been unable to get the license needed to transmit programs under copyright law.
"The way people consume television is rapidly changing and our laws and regulations have not kept pace," Kanojia said. "By clarifying these rules, the FCC is taking a real and meaningful step forward for competition in the video market."
While its old model let Aereo offer programming without paying the broadcasters, the startup would have to negotiate payments to the TV networks under Wheeler's proposal.
Aereo was barred from streaming live television to subscribers this month when U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in New York granted TV networks a request for a temporary order blocking the service. The judge also dismissed Aereo's claim that the Supreme Court's June 25 ruling entitles it to a license.
Kanojia met with Wheeler and other officials on October 8th to advocate for online programming to be added to the definition of an MVPD.
The change wouldn't help on-demand services like those from Netflix, Amazon, or Apple, Jonathan Sallet, the FCC's General Counsel, said in a speech October 17th.
It could pave the way for others. Online program packages are planned by companies including Dish Network, DirecTV, Verizon, and Sony, Wheeler said. Meanwhile, Time Warner's HBO and CBS, the most-watched US TV network, announced new online-streaming services this month that don't require a cable subscription.
The FCC should take care to "honor principles of competitive neutrality among rival providers," Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), a Washington-based trade group, said.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) said it would work with the FCC on its rules.
"NAB welcomes video distribution platforms that legally deliver local TV content to consumers when and where they want it," a spokesman, Dennis Wharton, said. "We look forward to engaging with the FCC to ensure that this new competition enhances rather than undermines localism."
FilmOn Follows Aereo Asking To Be an MVPD
Excerpted from CED Magazine Report by Brian Santo
FilmOn, a streaming video site that had modeled its operations after Aereo's, has notified the FCC that it intends to begin retransmitting local broadcast channels to authenticated subscribers, acting as a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD).
When Aereo started up, the company argued it was essentially a network DVR company, and thus could provide its subscribers access to broadcast stations for free. FilmOn followed a similar tack, including adopting Aereo's approach of using antenna arrays. Broadcasters disagreed with both, and sued Aereo. The case went to the Supreme Court, which in June ruled in favor of the broadcasters, stating Aereo was equivalent to an MVPD. Aereo and, eventually, FilmOn were compelled to suspend the delivery of broadcast stations. Aereo was knocked out entirely; FilmOn continues to stream other content.
The Supreme Court decision unintentionally highlighted a different legal question, however: can a streaming company qualify as an MVPD?
Aereo has since been trying to convince everyone other than the nine Supreme Court justices that it should be treated as an MVPD. Thus far it has failed.
But the can of worms the Supreme Court opened is still there, open, and both companies are pressing the issue. Earlier this month, Aereo announced it had filed a petition with the FCC, asking the FCC to clarify regulations about online MVPDs (sometimes referred to as online video programming distributors, or OVPDs), so that Aereo can comply with them and resume operations as an MVPD.
FilmOn is going a half-step further by assuming it can qualify as an MVPD. In FilmOn's notice to the FCC, it cited the Supreme Court decision in Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo as all the authority it needs to be an MVPD. FilmOn informed the FCC that is has established headends to receive, record, and stream local broadcast station video programming to consumers in dozens of designated market areas, and that it plans to follow all rules that apply to MVPDs when it starts retransmitting broadcast stations. It did not specify a date in the document.
"The Supreme Court determined such a service was similar to a cable system and had it existed in 1976, Congress would have made clear it intended to cover such service within the right of public performance," FilmOn wrote.
The FCC has been saying that it intends a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to establish a regulatory framework for online MVPDs.
This announcement was met with some measure of alarm by the American Cable Association, however, which has prior claim on the FCC's attention on a similar issue.
More than 900 small cable operators together have the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) negotiate for collective programming rights on their behalf. In general, "buying groups" are allowed by law, but because of the way "buying groups," are defined, the NCTC does not qualify.
The ACA has been requesting a regulatory change that would allow the NCTC to qualify, and has been requesting the FCC address this longstanding issue before considering the new issue of OVPDs.
FCC Considers Hybrid Regulatory Approach to Net Neutrality
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Edward Wyatt
The Chairman and staff of the Federal Communications Commission are moving toward a proposal that for the first time would give the agency regulatory authority over how Internet traffic flows between content providers and the companies that provide Internet service to consumers, according to people close to the discussions.
The proposal is part of a hybrid solution that has gained favor among the FCC staff over the last two months. Like other possible solutions, it seeks to reestablish the FCC's authority to enforce Net Neutrality, the general concept that no Internet traffic should be discriminated against unfairly.
But unlike policies previously considered, which treated the entire Internet ecosystem as a single universe, the hybrid proposal would establish a divide between "wholesale" and "retail" transactions.
It would apply utility-like regulation to the wholesale portion, the exchange of data from the content provider to the Internet service provider (ISP) for passage through to the end consumer. The retail portion, the transaction that sends data through the ISP to the consumer and which allows the consumer to access any legal content on the Internet, would receive a lighter regulatory touch.
The hybrid proposal has not yet been circulated by the Chairman or his staff to the other four commissioners, according to people close to the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the still-fluid nature of the effort. It is one of four possibilities that the FCC is considering as it seeks to draw up a Net Neutrality framework that, unlike its last two attempts, will hold up in court.
But the people said the hybrid approach has recently gained the most traction among close advisers to the Chairman.
A formal proposal could come as soon as next month, although people close to the discussions say that Tom Wheeler, the Chairman, has suggested privately recently that the action might be pushed to the first quarter of next year.
By taking a split-the-baby approach to Net Neutrality, the commission would seek to avoid putting consumer Internet service under a burdensome utility-like regulatory regime. Critics of such an approach say it would discourage investment and slow the type of technological advances that have fueled the growth of online systems.
However, the hybrid approach would apply Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 to the connection between ISPs, and content providers. For the purpose of agreeing to transport content from a company like Netflix through its network, an ISP would be treated as a "common carrier," subject to stricter regulation.
In that instance, an ISP, as a common carrier, could not give an unfair advantage to one content provider over another.
Paid prioritization, where a content provider pays for a fast lane to consumers, would be restricted unless it could be proved to be just and reasonable.
Under the hybrid approach, consumer Internet service would be governed under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which gives the FCC broad powers to ensure that broadband capabilities are being deployed to all Americans "in a reasonable and timely fashion."
Taken together, those approaches would allow the FCC to enforce a rule against blocking of legal Internet content, to install restrictions on discrimination among Internet traffic and still provide some allowance for unique delivery arrangements for specialized services.
An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the status of the Net Neutrality deliberations beyond that no decision had yet been reached. "The Chairman has said that all Title II options are under serious consideration," the spokeswoman, Kim Hart, said.
The hybrid approach has been discussed with the FCC by various groups, including in a comment filed with the agency by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
The other possibilities under consideration are to use Section 706 alone to oversee Net Neutrality; using Title II alone; or to classify Internet service as a Title II common carrier but use Section 706 to regulate.
Those possibilities, however, have been judged by a growing consensus of FCC members to either limit the agency's flexibility or to be vulnerable to criticism and potentially unsupportable in court.
Some consumer advocates immediately came out against the FCC's newly floated hybrid approach, which was reported in The Wall Street Journal. Craig Aaron, President of Free Press, a consumer advocacy group that has called for full Title II reclassification, likened the hybrid approach to Frankenstein's monster.
"The FCC has already tried twice before to invent new classifications on the fly instead of clear rules grounded in the law," Mr. Aaron said. "And twice their efforts have been rejected. This flimsy fabrication will be no different. And this approach will only serve to squander the political support of millions and millions of Americans who have weighed in at the agency asking for strong rules that will stand up in court."
Public Knowledge, another consumer group, had kinder words for the policy. "Although there are many details that do not appear to have been worked out," said Gene Kimmelman, the group's President, "we are confident that the proposal they're considering could use Title II and other regulatory tools in a manner that effectively addresses the most important issues in the debate."
Mr. Kimmelman cautioned, however, that details mattered. "It is critical," he said, "that the chairman explains how it will protect the core tenets of an open Internet that consumers expect and businesses require," he said. "This includes, but is not limited to, explaining what sort of prioritization is allowed — and if allowed, why that level of prioritization is not harmful."
ISPs are expected to be wary, at best, about the proposal, and AT&T, one of the largest, said Friday on its Twitter feed that "any use of Title II would be problematic."
NIST Lays Out Roadmap for Cloud Computing
Excerpted from GCN Report
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the final version of its Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap Volumes I and II, the culmination of a three-year old effort to assess and set objectives for the accelerated adoption of cloud computing in government.
"Cloud computing is still in an early deployment stage, and standards are crucial to increased adoption," the report adds. "The urgency is driven by rapid deployment of cloud computing in response to financial incentives."
The first volume, High-Priority Requirements to Further Cloud Computing Adoption, identifies 10 requirements NIST believes are necessary to maintain innovative cloud adoption across government. The requirements relate to interoperability, performance, portability and security, and are largely intact from the draft version of the roadmap, published in 2011.
Volume II, Useful Information for Cloud Adopters, is designed to be a technical reference for those actively working on strategic and tactical cloud computing initiatives. Volume II integrates and summarizes the work completed to date and explains how these findings support the roadmap introduced in Volume I.
Among Volume I's 10 requirements is a call for a focus on technical specifications to enable development of consistent, high-quality Service-Level Agreements in provisioning cloud services.
Another requirement addresses the need for improved frameworks to support federated community clouds. "Technical policies, credentials, namespaces and trust infrastructure must be harmonized to support a community cloud that spans multiple service providers' physical environments," said the NIST plan.
Yet another requirement identifies the need to improve cloud service metrics, including standardized units of measurements for cloud resources. "In utility industries," the paper said, "the notion of units of measurement is fundamental to buying and selling service." But even though cloud computing uses a utility model for service delivery "IT resources are supplied as abstracted services, often characterized as infrastructure as a service or platform as a service. Consumers need to be able to precisely specify and receive services," the paper argued.
The NIST document also acknowledges the role of parallel technologies, including big data and cybersecurity, in shaping cloud services as well as the way cloud acts an "enabler of big data capture, storage, analysis, sharing and management."
"Big data subject matter experts commonly refer to cloud computing as being indistinguishable from big data," said the NIST document. "Just as cloud computing struggled with definition early in its adoption, and similarly was represented as an "old" or "new" capability depending on the perspective of those defining it, big data as a concept is the focus of definition and framing discussions.
Likewise, cybersecurity has a complicated interdependency with cloud, according to the NIST roadmap, which "presents certain unique security challenges resulting from the cloud's very high degree of outsourcing, dependence on networks, sharing (multi-tenancy) and scale."
Those security challenges include "authentication techniques such as multifactor authentication with tokens, applied cryptography and software assurance techniques (e.g., testing and analysis) needed to build confidence that logical boundaries implemented in cloud systems are sufficiently strong to provide security."
NIST cited projects that relate to these challenges, including the Department of Homeland Security's Continuous Asset Evaluation, Situational Awareness, and Risk Scoring (CAESARS) project, which provides an architecture for dynamic system monitoring and reporting, and the National Science Foundation Future Internet Architectures initiative, which is developing Internet architectures to provide advanced security and reliability in the context of emerging Internet usage patterns.
NIST says future phases of the roadmap project will involve applying the government cloud computing business use case template to support government cloud development, validating the Reference Architecture (SP 500-292) through examples of categorized services, and with establishing a repository of the mapped vendor services to support the government and others in comparing cloud service offerings.
The NIST paper represents the points of view of more than 200 commenters from federal agencies, industry, higher education and standards development groups in constituting a workable path for cloud computing.
Gartner Positions Verizon in Leader Quadrant of M2M Services
Verizon today announced that it has been positioned by Gartner in the Leaders quadrant in the "2014 Magic Quadrant for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Services" report. This report marks Gartner's first-ever analysis of the global M2M services landscape.
"Organizations are increasingly embracing the tremendous opportunities of the Internet of Things (IoT) economy to boost operational efficiencies, control costs, generate new revenue opportunities, reinvent business models and even build customer loyalty," said Mark Bartolomeo, Vice President IoT Connected Solutions at Verizon. "IT leaders know that realizing the potential associated with machine-to-machine technology is a tough challenge that requires a simplified, comprehensive and secure solution to reduce complexity, risk and fragmentation.
"We continue to invest in our platforms and enabling technologies that are central to the functioning of the Internet of Things, including America's largest and most reliable 4G LTE network, and in our global IP network, our leading cloud and managed security services combined with our powerful developer ecosystem," Bartolomeo continued. "All of these assets make Verizon the destination for delivering comprehensive machine-to-machine innovation — allowing organizations to unlock new market opportunities."
Here's more about Verizon's global IoT capabilities.
Verizon's global networks support an expansive portfolio of advanced communications solutions including its cloud computing platform with more than 50 data centers in 20 countries, and its managed security services, including private IP and managed certificate services, to help protect identities, assets and data around the world.
From asset tracking and wireless backup to managed ATMs, conditioned-based monitoring, mobile health, mobile retail, energy management, car sharing, fleet management and other telematics capabilities, Verizon and its partners offer customizable solutions — leveraging the power of Verizon's intelligent networks, cloud and security platforms — to suit the specific needs of any industry or organization.
Verizon has created a smart cities test bed at its Innovation Center in Waltham, Massachusetts, to showcase new innovative technologies, such as smart parking, traffic management, emergency response, smart street lighting and environmental solutions, including water and waste management, to address current and future needs of urban planners, CIOs and mayors.
Verizon's global telematics solution offers a complete set of personalized and connected services that enhance safety, security and convenience — while boosting brand loyalty and creating new opportunities for ongoing revenue for automakers, insurance companies and their ecosystem partners.
Verizon's M2M Developer Program offers a wealth of resources across multiple industries for developers through step-by-step guidelines in building their own M2M solutions. This includes access to developer kits, acquiring certified devices to test environment and application development — all to enable our developer community to help businesses in their M2M deployment efforts through innovation.
Visit Verizon Enterprise Solutions to learn how machine-to-machine solutions can improve your business.
Huawei Customer Interview: Jannah Hotels & Resorts
Excerpted from Light Reading Video Center
Please click here for a video interview with Nehmeh Darwish, CEO of Jannah Hotels & Resorts, about his collaboration with Huawei across five hotels in the United Arab Emirates.
DDN's New S3 Gateway to WOS Cloud Object Storage
Today, DataDirect Networks (DDN) announced significant expansion to its accessibility program for WOS object storage with the introduction of WOS Access for Amazon S3 (WOS S3), which adds support for the industry standard Amazon S3 API. With this latest release, DDN offers the broadest range of supported interfaces to an object storage platform in the industry, enabling users from Enterprise to Academia and Research to Government, Private and Public Cloud the optimal connectivity choices for their existing datacenters.
The inherent flexibility of the object storage technology that Web-scale users have trusted for years also makes WOS an attractive solution for DDN WOS partner program members to build solutions with. Businesses can implement a private or hybrid cloud strategy to manage massive data sets cost efficiently and securely, while seamlessly connecting to third-party software applications and technology partners that use the S3 API.
DDN is a leader in data center infrastructure for Big Data and Cloud Storage applications. Its data storage and processing solutions and professional services enable content-rich and high growth IT environments to achieve the highest levels of systems scalability, efficiency, and simplicity.
DDN enables enterprises to extract value and deliver results from their information. Its customers include the world's leading online content and social networking providers, high performance cloud and grid computing, life sciences, financial services, media production, and security and intelligence organizations.
Deployed in thousands of mission critical environments worldwide, DDN's solutions have been designed, engineered, and proven in the world's most scalable data centers to ensure competitive business advantage for today's information powered enterprise.
Telefonica Enables Users to Make Their Own IoT/M2M 'Things'
Excerpted from PCC Report by Tara Neal
Telefonica's recent Thinking Things product offer has just made it possible for anyone to create a machine-to-machine / Internet of Things (M2M/IoT) connected 'thing' which 'reads' the environment and transmits the information to the cloud. Temperature, humidity, and lighting are some of the information the Thinking Things can record and transmit. Using the Thinking Things, users can simply plug in the solution to any other product or use it as a standalone tool to collect information based on the defined parameters and program automated tasks.
According to Telefonica, the Thinking Things plug-and-play solution is based on the stackable Lego-type modules with 2G connectivity. Telefonica's first Thinking Things pack, the Environment Pack starts at just 90 euros and users can remotely control and manage the temperate, lighting, and humidity in any location. Monitoring of other parameters is enabled by adding other modules such as presence, pressure, humidity and temperature sensors, impact meters, audio and LED notification modules, and timers.
Telefonica said in its statement that the launch of the Thinking Things product is the first step towards the Thinking Things Open, an open ecosystem which manufacturers can leverage to bring connection to their products. With all the data transmitted to the cloud, app developers can use the system's APIs to build end-user applications that consumers can download on their mobile devices and use for controlling various 'things' in the house, office and factories, remotely and in real-time.
According to Telefonica, which has a customer base of more than 316 million around the world, the Thinking Things is an important part of its strategic investment in the IoT and M2M, a sector that is expected to see global investment (within the industrial vertical) growing by 2,400% to reach $500 billion by 2020, as cited by Accenture, a leading advisory and outsourcing company in a report released last month.
Humans Can Make the Internet of Things Smarter
Excerpted from Harvard Business Review Report by Carlos Montero-Luque
Internet of Things (IoT) systems usually consist of a set of sensors that collect information, which is then transmitted between different devices without human intervention.
At the same time, today's mobile infrastructure — the devices, the apps — is typically all about human interaction.
At first glance, these two environments seem to be separate. But what if they talked to each other? I'd argue that this integration is actually key to making IoT work, especially under circumstances in which human interaction, judgment, and action can enhance data collection, analysis, and system behavior. In short, input from actual people will make the IoT smarter.
A system that collects data automatically can be compromised by issues of data quality, such as inconsistent, missing, or unrecognized data which then can result in incorrect analysis. Human interaction with IoT systems through mobile apps can augment automated data collection and correct, complement, extend, or even override the data gathered by the system or the actions it would undertake in response to the analysis of poor quality data.
For example, the recently-launched iPhone 6 includes the following capabilities: camera, GPS, compass, Bluetooth and NFC, micro location, barometer, gyroscope, accelerometer, proximity sensor, and an ambient light sensor. These functionalities make it possible for a person to collect a wide range of information which can in turn be used to interact with an IoT system.
Imagine a traffic system that detects that the flow of vehicles has changed dramatically in a tunnel. A photograph of an accident taken by someone in the tunnel and sent via a mobile app could help inform the decision to re-route traffic and open the road to emergency services even if a standalone camera was not present or operational in the tunnel.
At a more personal level, imagine a person wearing a device to monitor blood pressure or sugar levels. While a change in readings can trigger a call from the doctor's office or signal an ambulance dispatch and preparation of life-saving medicines in the emergency room, it is likely that direct input from the patient or a loved one can help determine whether this is a false alarm. Whether entered through a mobile phone or the wearable device itself, the user's or loved one's input — for instance, noting that the patient took off the device momentarily — can help make the system smarter.
Another way that mobile-device users can make the Internet of Things more useful is by granting timely access to their data. For example, in an emergency situation, first responder agencies such as fire departments can be given temporary access to IoT data regarding traffic conditions or building data in order to act more quickly and efficiently. These rights can be obtained and granted via the mobile infrastructure, and revoked when no longer needed. As IoT environments proliferate, the expectation to provide such access will grow to ensure effective and proper use of this expanding infrastructure.
IoT systems are continuing to roll out across industries, such as health management, industrial production, logistics, and retail, among many others. The key to maximizing the usefulness IoT systems is getting these mobile interactions right. We should look for opportunities to improve the capabilities of IoT environments by making it easier for real people to contribute to them.
Cloud Computing Is the New Normal
Excerpted from DataCenter Dynamics Report by Drew Amorosi
No longer just a growing trend, a new report from Verizon shows that cloud computing is rapidly becoming a mainstream delivery model for enterprise IT. Data collected from June 2013 to July 2014 show that cloud services are having a transformational effect on enterprise IT while serving as a catalyst for business innovation. All the while, cloud-based infrastructure increasingly takes on mission-critical applications for enterprises — the type of computing elbow grease that was once the preserve of on-premise data centers.
Verizon culled information from its own usage data for the report, titled State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud 2014, in addition to a survey of the telecom giant's enterprise-level cloud customers. Verizon also commissioned 451 Research for portions of the survey data, along with the use of third-party research from Accenture, Forrester, Gartner, and IDC.
The report found that cloud computing is no longer a buzz-worthy trend; in fact, it has arrived in full force. Data from 451 Research show that 65% of enterprises are currently deploying some form of cloud computing, with enterprise spending on these services increasing 38% over the previous year. "Companies know that cloud can deliver when it matters", the report noted, "and they are busy developing the skills that they need to specify, procure, and manage cloud services."
Case in point is the 71% of enterprises that expect to use the cloud for running external-facing production applications by 2017, an 11% increase from the previous year. It's an eye-raising finding from Helen Donnelly's perspective. The director of cloud product marketing for Verizon's Enterprise Solutions business observed that this report has confounded some previously held assumptions about when and where cloud computing is being deployed, avoiding any type of "heavy lifting", as she explained. "What this report shows is that's not the case", Donnelly told DataCenter Dynamics, adding that "enterprises are engaging the cloud for business-critical workloads."
Research from IDC found that current "cloud adopters" plan to spend 54% of their IT budgets on cloud services over the next two years, reinforcing the notion that cloud computing has gone mainstream and is competing with traditional IT delivery methods, such as managed hosting and on-premise data centers. "It's definitely becoming more of a mainstream delivery model", Donnelly concurred. "Many of the organizations we interviewed for the report were taking a 'cloud-first' approach — trying to find ways to deliver IT services from a cloud-based model from the outset."
451 Research found that 41% of the enterprises using infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) were doing so for mission-critical workloads. The analyst firm also said that 72% of enterprises expect to put more than half of workloads into the cloud — including software-as-a-service (SaaS) — by 2017, which is a significant increase over 58% today.
As the nature of cloud deployments continue evolving, perhaps one of the most significant knock-on effects the model generates is its transformative nature for business development. The Verizion report observed that "cloud's now an integral part of business transformation discussions, and seen as a potential solution to a range of business and technology challenges."
In fact, according to HBR Analytic Services, cost savings was secondary to business agility when companies evaluated their primary drivers for cloud adoption.
"There is a sense of accessibility that everyone can share", Verizon's Donnelly tells us about the cloud. "As accessibility to things like the Internet proliferates, so too will this sense of accessibility for productivity on the part of users."
The Cloud Isn't the Only Game in Town
Excerpted from Accounting Web Report by Terry Sheridan
There's thunder and lightning in the cloud these days. And the rumbling is all about security. Could peer-to-peer file transfers be the answer? As the old accounting adage goes, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
ESTMob's two-year-old Send Anywhere offers file-transfer apps that bypass web servers for all platforms and connected devices. That means those sensitive, ultra private files you don't want anyone to see stay that way.
It works like this: You select a file and hit the Send button. You'll get a six-digit code to send to your client, or you can go to the receiving device yourself if you're sending to one of your own devices. On the receiving end, you or your client punches in the code and the file is delivered.
The service works via apps for iOS and Android devices, and PCs and Macs.
For those sometimes funky WiFi connections on mobiles when you're sending to someone on another network, you'd use Send Anywhere's "optimal node server" that simply assists the connection—it doesn't touch the files, says Alex Gershon, the company's business development associate.
"Nothing is stored and we are a peer-to-peer (P2P) file transfer system — files go directly from me to you," he says. "And we use SSL encryption, which is like a concrete tunnel around the connection, so only you and the recipient can see what's being sent."
For accountants and tax attorneys, it's about as secure as you can get, he says.
It's important, though, that you keep the temporary six-digit code secret, Gershon adds. Enhanced security keys are available in a mix of numbers and letters through the app settings. (On a side note, Gershon is big on smart, multiple passwords. Too many people use the same password for all of their accounts, he says.)
Security, and secure servers, are a growing concern nationwide. A cyberattack last summer on JP Morgan Chase affected 76 million account holders and 7 million small businesses, according to a NY Times report in October. Citing unnamed sources, the report indicates that hackers burrowed their way into more than 90 servers.
JP Morgan Chase is hardly an isolated case, though it may be among the largest. Target and Home Depot have sustained attacks that affected more than 150 million cardholders and other customers, according to the article.
No wonder people increasingly are on edge, and it's beginning to show. A recent survey by market researcher and consultant Software Advice indicates a decidedly mixed view by respondents about use of the cloud.
We recently posted an article with similar findings, particularly about security, in a survey by CPA2Biz, the AICPA's for-profit technology subsidiary.
Still, Gershon acknowledges that cloud storage is a competitor. Some users might consider Send Anywhere's lack of cloud storage a problem when they need to create space on their computers and store files somewhere.
But, he adds, "That's what external hard drives are for."
Coming Events of Interest
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.
The DCIA's IoT at CES — January 6th-9th in Las Vegas, NV. Twelve hours of demos, displays, and discussions of the the Internet of Things (IoT) in daily segments webcast live from the DCIA's CES 2015 exhibit-booth studio in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) — October (2015 Dates TBD) in Dubai, UAE. IoTWF is an exclusive event that brings together the best and brightest thinkers, practitioners, and innovators from business, government, and academia to accelerate the market adoption of the Internet of Things.
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