August 5, 2013
Volume XLIV, Issue 10
Cloud Computing Grows Up
Excerpted from BusinessNewsDaily Report by Nicole Fallon
The popularity of cloud computing for businesses is undeniable. With an ever-increasing number of mobile devices that have constant Internet connectivity, the cloud is one of the best ways to boost efficiency and collaboration within your business. What was once seen as a revolutionary way to do business is now the norm, and according to a new report, it's about to change again.
Market Research Reports recently released a 15-section report on the future of the cloud for network operators and cloud service providers. According to the report, the cloud is moving beyond simple computing and data storage into a new realm of communications, applications, and content. This evolution is evident in the existence of communications products like Google Voice and cloud-based payment solutions for mobile commerce.
The report contains information on the different types of cloud solutions, enterprise challenges presented by cloud computing, personal and vendor cloud services, and opportunities for small businesses using cloud solutions. It also outlines several case studies, market trends, and predictions about cloud-based operations.
2013 Cloud Computing Survey Results
There is no one-size-fits-all version of cloud technology when it comes to real-world applications. That's why we view cloud computing technologies as raw materials that you can combine in multiple ways to achieve your desired business outcomes. Like many IT professionals, you may want to offer your organization the option of cloud computing.
But where do you start?
Begin your journey to the cloud by learning how organizations like yours embrace this revolutionary technology.
Please Click Here to Download the White Paper.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The first wave of exhibitors for CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 (CCW:2013) will be announced this week, featuring industry leaders Aspera, Citrix, and SoftServe.
CCW:2013 is the Cloud Computing Association's (CCA) and Distributed Computing Industry Association's (DCIA) business strategy summit taking place October 27th-29th at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, NV.
Keynote speakers, moderators, and panelists announced to date include representatives of Amazon Web Services (AWS), ABI Research, AT&T Mobility, Comcast, DataDirect Networks (DDN), Dell, Dell SecureWorks, GenosTV, IBM, Intertrust Technologies Corporation, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Microsoft, Netflix, The PADEM Group, Rackspace, Rafelson Media, Sprint Nextel, Trend Micro, and the author of 21st Century Television: The Players, The Viewers, The Money.
Delegates will be particularly interested in the fascinating demos and presentations of new services by this year's exhibitors.
Aspera's unwavering mission is to create the next-generation software technologies that move the world's data at maximum speed, regardless of file size, transfer distance, and network conditions.
The company's patented, highly efficient bulk data transport technology fasp is unique and core to all Aspera high-performance file transfer software.
With approximately 2,000 customers and over 16,000 active software licenses being used worldwide, Aspera serves all industries that need to move large volumes of data over wide area networks.
Citrix believes that your work and your personal life are not mutually exclusive. This belief inspires the company to build solutions that enable a seamless continuum to give you the shortest distance between work and life.
When you can unplug but stay connected, when you can work productively from any location, when you can choose the best device to use at any moment, work will complement your life, rather than compete with it. In this new era, work is no longer a place — it's something you do anywhere inspiration strikes. This is better for people, better for IT, and better for business.
SoftServe is a leading global provider of software development, testing, and consulting services. The company is motivated and inspired to leverage advanced software technologies empowering your business to accelerate your growth, strengthen your market position, and exceed your customer's expectations.
SoftServe has created an internal ecosystem that combines our experience, intelligence, and best practices with your needs and insights, building strong partnerships, delivering quality products and services, and giving you a competitive edge in your marketplace.
SoftServe's most valuable asset is its people contributing with their hard work, talent, and enthusiasm, as well as empowering their customers' business growth and success.
This year's CCW:2013 themes are "Revolutionizing Entertainment & Media" and "The Impact of Mobile Cloud Computing & Big Data."
There's no question that advances in cloud computing are having enormous effects on the creation, storage, distribution, and consumption of diverse genres of content.
And most profound among these effects are those involving the increased proliferation of portable playback systems and the accompanying generation of unprecedented amounts of viewership, listenership, and usage information from audiences globally.
The ubiquity and widespread acceptance of user interfaces that reflect the dynamic interactivity exemplified by smart-phone applications is rapidly replacing the flat linearity of traditional TV channel line-ups and changing expectations for a new generation of consumers.
Cloud-based information and entertainment-of-all-kinds accessible everywhere always on each connected device will become the new norm.
Perfect data related to consumer behaviors associated with discovering and consuming this content will displace metering and ratings technologies based solely on statistical sampling.
Two CCW:2013 conference tracks will zero in on the latest advances in applying cloud-based solutions to all aspects of high-value entertainment production and storage, as well as media delivery and analysis options; along with the growing impact of mobile cloud computing on this sector, and the related expansion of big data opportunities and challenges.
DCINFO readers are encouraged to get involved in CCA's & DCIA's CCW:2013 as exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers.
The CCA is handling exhibits and sponsorships. Please click here for more information.
The DCIA's role is to provide keynotes, panelists, and case-study presenters to participate in our comprehensive agenda of sessions in ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA and MOBILE CLOUD & BIG DATA.
Please click here to apply to speak at CCW:2013. Share wisely, and take care.
Use of Amazon's Cloud Approved for Dutch Banks
Excerpted from PCWorld Report by Loek Essers
The Netherlands banking regulator has approved Amazon Web Services (AWS) for use by financial organizations, Amazon said on Monday.
This clears AWS cloud services for use across all areas of Dutch financial operations including websites, mobile applications, retail banking and credit risk analysis solutions, Amazon said. With the approval, Dutch banks join other financial organizations using AWS including Bankinter in Spain, Unicedit in Italy and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Amazon noted.
All levels of data storage and management on the AWS Cloud, as well as the use of technology that runs on top of AWS and is provided by third party vendors, are also included in the approval, Amazon added.
Financial organizations planning to use cloud computing need to first inform banking regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and provide it with an opportunity to review a risk analysis, said DNB spokesman Remko Vellenga.
"DNB believes that cloud computing that uses third-party services, for example for storing and processing data, is actually a form of 'outsourcing,'" Vellenga said. "This means that when using cloud services from third parties, the company is held to the same legal requirements that apply to outsourcing."
Outsourcing to third parties must not hinder supervision by the DNB, and risks need to be known and controlled if financial institutions use a cloud service, Vellenga said.
DNB discreetly issued its AWS approval on July 11.
"We already have large Dutch banks running their retail banking platforms on AWS thanks to the work we have done with the DNB," according to a statement from Steve Midgley, head of EMEA—Amazon Web Services.
In January, DNB said on its website that it had issues with cloud providers over monitoring frequency. By law, DNB is allowed to monitor business operations at all times, however, in contracts proposed by cloud providers such as Microsoft, conditions were imposed on the supervision frequency, it said.
Since then, the issue has been resolved. Microsoft has agreed to change its contracts to comply with Dutch law, allowing Dutch financial institutions to, for example, use Office 365, DNB said.
So far, agreements related to cloud implementations by Dutch banks have been made with Microsoft, KPN, IBM and Salesforce, said Vellenga. DNB is also in talks with other companies, he said, declining to say which vendors were involved.
EMC: Time Now to Embrace Cloud Computing
Excerpted from AllAfrica Report by Prince Osuagwu
As cloud computing gains ground worldwide, Regional Manager for West Africa, EMC Corporation, Rasheed Jimoh, has argued that since Nigeria has automatically become the business hub of many local and international organizations, there could be no better time for the country to approach the cloud than now.
Jimoh was speaking at the first EMC Forum held in Lagos last week. EMC is a global company that enables businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver information technology services efficiently. For him, if cloud is where to go, then Nigeria should be at the forefront of the journey.
"As the global IT community examines the tremendous benefits of big data, the efficacy of cloud computing, and the inherent security concerns, there is no better time than now to bring this same conversation to Nigeria. We have hosted the EMC Forum in several countries across the world and each time it has proven to be an effective platform for a convergence of experts and thought leaders to shape the direction of cloud computing and today Nigeria joins the train of success stories."
He also challenged Nigerian businessmen and participants at the forum to ensure that the conversations at the forum continue to resonate and cause the IT transformation expected in various sectors of the economy.
Meanwhile, EMC's Vice President and Global Chief Technology Officer, Patricia Florissi, said that the company has seen some impressive growth since it debuted in Nigeria.
She said that in 2012, for instance, EMC recorded about $21.7 billion revenue, representing business growth of about 40 per cent across Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme "Lead Your Transformation" at the forum, Florissi noted that the four cardinal drivers of IT businesses in this modern age include Mobility, Cloud, Big Data, and Social Media. However, she hinted that none of these can flourish without trust, adding that it was the main reason many businesses were not harnessing the right tools to stabilize their operations.
She warned that the reason why businesses should take these fundamentals seriously included the recent IDC predictions on growth of data.
"IDC projects that the digital universe will reach 40 zettabytes by 2020, an amount that exceeds previous forecasts by 5 ZBs, resulting in a 50-fold growth from the beginning of 2010.
"With this data growth and in order to meet the service-level demands required by businesses today, IT organizations should recognize the need to transform their infrastructure and operations in order to address the pressing cost, efficiency, scalability, security, and agility questions that they need to manage".
Florissi also said that "while cloud computing offers the promise of transforming IT and significantly lowering operating costs, it is real-time big data analytics that will fundamentally transform businesses across Nigeria by identifying new revenue opportunities through key competitive insights and timely decision-making and improved customer experience.
"At EMC, we strive to help customers achieve their objectives and drive business growth and that's what we have come to showcase at EMC forum."
BitTorrent's Solution for Syncing Files Remotely
Excerpted from BLiNC Magazine Report
BitTorrent, the creator of the peer-to-peer (P2) torrent protocol has just announced that its new protocol, BitTorrent Sync, is in beta. After doing private alpha testing for several months, the developers are ready to allow anyone to download the software from the BitTorrent Labs website.
Unlike the torrents that users want to share, the new protocol encrypts the p2p exchange so that users can share it only with other specified users.
The service might be good for anyone looking to remotely collaborate with files, particularly for video projects in post-production that need to exchange video content remotely over the Internet.
Many of the leading platforms used to sync files store files in the cloud and therefore have a storage limit.
Got questions? The BitTorrent team is keeping a list of FAQs up to date in their forums.
Enterprise Cloud Computing Isn't the Same for Every Enterprise
Excerpted from GigaOM Report by James Urquhart
Many vendors pushing so-called enterprise cloud computing are really targeting those businesses who develop lots of their own software. But there are a whole lot of — maybe too many — companies to whom that description doesn't apply.
I have been discussing, writing about and working on cloud computing for almost seven years. It takes a lot to shake my basic beliefs about the importance of cloud computing, and how its adoption will radically change — heck, has already radically changed — the IT industry. However, every once in a while something happens to remind me that there are more nuances to cloud adoption than any one person, or even group of people, can fully ascertain.
Most recently, I was reminded that "cloud adoption" isn't a single path, and we as industry practitioners (vendors, service providers and customers alike) have to be very careful how we generalize the use of cloud computing in business.
About three months ago, I was asked to speak at the Insight Integrated Systems Real Cloud Summit in Long Beach, CA. IIS is a value-added reseller of hardware and software solutions, and they kindly asked me to come speak about cloud and its affect on operations models. The RealCloud audience was primarily medium size businesses (between 500 and 10,000 employees), and I jumped at the chance to meet a segment of the IT industry with which I rarely interact.
About half way through my talk, which was a variation of the "Big Rethink" and "Operations in a Cloud World" messages I've covered for other audiences, I came to a point I thought was very important to most software developers. On a whim, I asked this audience how many of them saw custom software development as a key part of their IT strategy. I expected about half the room of 100 or so to respond positively.
One hand went up at the back of the room. (It turns out that was someone from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Well, duh.)
Boom. Any discussion about why developers were bypassing IT to gain agility in addressing new models was immaterial here. The idea that Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service were going to change the way software was going to be built and delivered just didn't directly apply to these guys.
I came away from that experience with a new appreciation for several things that I'm working hard to not lose sight of again.
1. It's the services, stupid.
Try as I might, I struggle to remember that cloud computing is more than just recasting IT to better meet the needs of software developers. Part of that is the fact that I live and work in the Silicon Bubble … er, Valley … and work on a product that targets the intersection of IT operations and software development.
But some of it is the insistence that companies selling infrastructure and platform services are targeting "the enterprise," when in fact they are not and cannot and should not target every enterprise. What AWS and Pivotal and Dell and others are largely targeting is enterprises that are developing software services.
I define software services in this context as software that is designed to be run and accessed over the network, and is built for a dynamic set of consumers (human and/or other software). Certainly if you are building an application for personal use, or for the use of your immediate department, you can leverage cloud, but that's not the major market opportunity.
So, if you are a business selling cloud platform or infrastructure technologies or services to the enterprise, you likely aren't wasting much time on these medium businesses that aren't doing software development. So-called "virtual private clouds" can be used as computing pools in any business, but if they don't serve developers, they don't revolutionize the use of IT at nearly the scale as if they did serve developers.
Now, if you offer a software application as a service (aka SaaS), that's a different story entirely. Common business systems and platforms are where the opportunity is with these mid-sized businesses that don't write much code.
2. Most medium-sized businesses (and probably many large corporate IT departments) are ill staffed to handle the change in operations models that cloud will drive.
The scary thing about the transition from a server- or infrastructure-centric operations model to an application-centric model for businesses that don't do software services development is how radical the shift in required skills will be from one model to the other. Most IT departments were created and staffed (from the client-server era on, at least) to do one thing first and foremost — make sure there are computers available on which to run software that the business requires.
Look at the IT staffs of most non-web businesses. One of the dominant skill sets that has been built up over the years is data center, server, network and storage operations. And, if you lump in operating systems and virtualization (which I consider part of the infrastructure, not the application software), system administrators.
In an application-centric world, deep understanding of switch and router operations, NIC and BIOS configuration, filer configuration, data center cooling and so on give way to understanding how application architectures can leverage the services offered by cloud providers and cloud platforms to combine connectivity, services, consumers, computation and data.
Since those skills are light in many of these organizations, it will probably delay movement from infrastructure-centric to application-centric operations models — which in turn will likely delay the realization of the value of cloud computing to those operations teams.
Furthermore, if the move to software application services increasingly occurs in these companies, it will likely displace many of these infrastructure jobs. The good news is that it will also create many new application-administration jobs.
3. If you aren't developing custom services for your business, why the heck not?
Perhaps the most perplexing question to me, however, is why more hands didn't go up in that room that day. As far as I can tell, the Internet and the power of mobile computing are disrupting every industry (except maybe certain face-to-face service industries, like beauticians or psychotherapists).
Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar provides an online data collection and analytics service to keep track of equipment condition. Early pioneers in online learning platforms included several colleges and universities. Even political campaigns have gotten into the custom software act.
So, is it really true that no new revenue could be generated from at least some simple online service applications? Certainly the effect of mobile on your industry has to have been top of mind for the last five years or so, but what about APIs? Data analytics related to your products or services? Automating your supply chain?
Granted, some of these things might be becoming "standardized" enough to warrant acquiring the capability from a SaaS vendor. But, as has been said time and time again, shouldn't IT do more than just keep the computers and networks running? Shouldn't technologists add value to the business by identifying ways technology can expand the business?
That's certainly not to say that custom software development is for everyone, but it certainly should be strategic for more that just the guys sending one-of-a-kind research instruments into space.
All of that said, I'd welcome your opinion. Do we really understand the differences between selling software services to mid-size manufacturers and selling infrastructure and platform services to online businesses? Should there be more custom software development in businesses that have focused on building data centers to support SAP?
Video Platform Kontiki Expands into Europe with Equinix
Kontiki, provider of a cloud-based video platform for enterprises, has expanded its infrastructure into an Equinix data center in London.
The company said expanding into Equinix's LD5 facility will bring it closer to its European customers and enhance performance for them. Kontiki currently operates out of three Equinix data centers in Silicon Valley.
This deal provides Kontiki with access to a global value-chain of more than 4,000 potential partners, customers and suppliers of digital services through Equinix Marketplace, providing the company with significant opportunities to accelerate growth.
Graig Gordon, Kontiki's VP of worldwide sales, said the company had ambitions to expand in Europe significantly. "Equinix is a perfect strategic match for this expansion," he said. "Setting up in a UK data center was vital to the commitment to supporting our growing European customer base with a data management system located in the EU.
"Expanding our use of Platform Equinix will significantly reduce latency and enhance performance for these customers."
Dick Theunissen, CMO for Equinix in EMEA, said, "As well as the considerable business benefits around speed and efficiency, Equinix data centers are also a great revenue opportunity. This relationship will enable Kontiki to benefit from Equinix Marketplace, a tool designed to give companies better visibility on who else is located within Equinix facilities - enabling them to connect with each other, and do business.
"We share a long track record of collaboration with Kontiki and look forward to extending this relationship across Europe."
Gartner: Offshore Providers without a Cloud Strategy Risk Future Growth
Excerpted from Biztech2 Report
While the increased use of industrialized services will reduce the volume of traditional and customized services, the impact on offshore providers will be counterbalanced by new revenue from investments in cloud-based services, said Gartner.
However, service providers that are slow, unable, or unwilling to invest in the shift to the cloud will risk hampering offshore services revenue growth.
Gartner predicts continued strong growth in public cloud services, with end-user spending on public cloud services expected to grow 18 percent in 2013 to total $131 billion. By 2015, the public cloud services market is predicted to exceed $180 billion.
"The initial resistance to public cloud has begun to subside and customers are beginning to realize its efficiencies as the solutions mature," said Ian Marriott, Research Vice President at Gartner. While increased investments in cloud-based services will differentiate the leading offshore providers from labor-intensive "pure-play" offshore providers, they will need to maintain a balanced portfolio of managed services and other traditional delivery approaches, in addition to horizontal and vertically-based cloud offerings.
This strategy will allow them to compete successfully with leading multinational providers, by meeting the evolving needs of buyers, and drive the joint necessities of revenue growth and profitability.
"Cloud-based services will not replace offshore services, but will complement them," said Marriott. "In addition, cloud services will not 'make or break' all offshore providers. There will always be a need for "pure-play" providers that operate a labor-intensive delivery approach. But, for broad-based offshore providers that operate in multiple geographies, industries and service lines, and who seek to compete for significant 'wallet share' in major accounts, strategic investments in cloud-based services are mandatory."
In parallel, offshore service providers feel the increased pressure to adapt to changing market demands, and those that are unable to evolve from traditional delivery models could be displaced. Gartner analysts have witnessed the considerably slower growth rates of the top 10 India-based providers in the past five years (from 21.8 percent growth in 2011 down to 12.7 percent in 2012).
Over time, all leading offshore providers will use their investment in industrialized services and automation to break their labor-intensive linear growth path.
"Having the right number of the right quality people in the right places, when combined with a nonlinear growth strategy, will deliver improved revenue per employee," said Marriott.
The proposed changes in the issuing of H-1B visas (U.S. work permits) could also have a significant effect on offshore service providers that depend heavily on these work visas.
This could increase the need to both invest in local hires within the providers' major target markets and increase investments in cloud-based service offerings.
"The consequence to offshore providers of not responding to such significant market changes will be the deterioration of market share, acquisition by another provider, or its disappearance from the offshore services landscape," added Marriott.
For sourcing managers it is critical that they refresh sourcing strategies at least annually to ensure optimal responsiveness to changing market opportunities and business demands.
They also need to perform a critical assessment of any investments made by their offshore providers in cloud-based services. For some this exercise is mere "window dressing" for a model that remains almost entirely based around low-cost labor.
The 15 Most Valuable Cloud Computing Companies
Excerpted from Business Insider Report by Julie Bort
In the last 18 months, 13 cloud computing companies have gone public and investors have been eating them up.
A few examples include WorkDay, ServiceNow, Rally Software, and Marketo.
Bessemer Venture Partners has created a brand new index that tracks the top 30 public cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies.
"With 30 large public companies collectively representing more than $100 billion in market capitalization and $12.5 billion in estimated 2013 revenue, the cloud computing industry has officially come of age," explains the keepers of Bessemer's new index Byron Deeter and Kristina Shen in a blog post.
Public cloud computing companies are already worth more than $100 billion. Here are the industry's most valuable players:
No. 15 Jive Software: Worth $1.2 billion
CEO Tony Zingale Ticker: JIVE Stock price: $17.39 Market cap: $1.159 billion
Jive offers collaboration software that lets enterprises communicate with employees, customers, and partners.
No. 14 Demandware: Worth $1.4 billion
CEO Tom Ebling
Ticker: DWRE Stock price: $45.46 Market cap: $1.371 billion
Demandware sells a cloud-based ecommerce platform.
No 13 Fleetmatics Group: Worth $1.4 billion
CEO Jim Travers Ticker: FLTX Stock price: $39.21 Market cap: $1.397 billion
Fleetmatics offers a GPS fleet tracking service for companies that own multiple vehicles.
No. 12 RealPage: Worth $1.5 billion
CEO Steve Winn Ticker: RP Stock price: $20.15 Market cap: $1.543 billion
RealPage is an online property management service.
No. 11 Dealertrack Technologies: Worth $1.7 billion
CEO Mark O'Neil
Dealertrack Technologies Ticker: TRAK Stock price: $38.21 Market cap: $1.662 billion
Dealertrack offers software for the automotive dealer industry including a popular tool for helping people get qualified to finance a car.
No. 10: Cornerstone OnDemand: Worth $2.3 billion
CEO Adam Miller
Ticker: CSOD Stock price: $44.15 Market cap: $2.253 billion
Cornerstone offers an online enterprise training and recruiting service.
No. 9 Medidata Solutions: Worth $2.4 billion
CEO Tarek Sherif Ticker: MDSO Stock price: $89.19 Market cap: $2.371 billion
Medidata is cloud-based software for conducting clinical trials and is used by pharmaceutical companies and other research organizations.
No 8 The Ultimate Software Group: Worth $3.7 billion
CEO Scott Scherr Ticker: ULTI Stock price: $132.47 Market cap: $3.662 billion
Ultimate offers cloud-based human resources and payroll management software.
No. 7 Athenahealth: Worth $4.4 billion
CEO Jonathan Bush Ticker: ATHN Stock price: $112.39 Market cap: $4.141 billion
Athenahealth is a cloud-based service for doctors and hospitals for electronic health records.
No. 6 Concur Technologies: Worth $4.7 billion
CEO Steve Singh
Concur Technologies Ticker: CNQR Stock price: $87.29 Market cap: $4.873 billion
Concur Technologies offers cloud-based business travel and expense management software.
No. 5 ServiceNow: Worth $5.9 billion
CEO Frank Slootman
ServiceNow Ticker: NOW Stock price: $44.14 Market cap: $5.928 billion
ServiceNow offers cloud-based services for IT professionals such as help desk software that tracks tech problems.
No. 4 NetSuite: Worth $7 billion
CEO Zach Nelson Ticker: N Stock price: $95.77 Market cap: $7.066 billion
NetSuite offers cloud-based business software for accounting, enterprise resource management, and customer resource management.
No. 3 Workday: Worth $11.9 billion CEO Aneel Bhusri
Ticker: WDAY Stock price: $68.57 Market cap: $11.862 billion
Workday offers cloud-based human resources and finance software.
No. 2 LinkedIn: Worth $23 billion
CEO Jeff Weiner Ticker: LNKD Stock price: $208.53 Market cap: $23.014 billion
LinkedIn is a social network for business professionals that offers cloud-based recruiting software.
No. 1 Salesforce.com: Worth $25.5 billion
CEO Marc Benioff Ticker: CRM Stock price: $43.22 Market cap: $25.496 billion
Salesforce.com is credited with inventing the whole software-as-a-service cloud industry. It offers cloud-based customer relationship management and marketing software.
Has Cloud Computing Boosted the Next Generation of Startups?
Excerpted from BNL User Group Report by Sue Paremba
Two main problems faced by startups today are cash and cash flow management. On top of that, all startups nowadays require compute power, no matter the nature of their business which adds to the strain on cash…until recently.
That's where Cloud Computing comes in.
"Before cloud computing, compute power could only be solved by buying your own equipment and that means capital expenditure on something that is not necessarily core to your business," said Bernino Lind, CloudSigma COO. "Because cloud computing is an '-as-a-Service,' or rental model, this capital expenditure has been turned around to become operational expense, which has less impact on cash flow and can be modeled to fit with the exact needs of a startup and its revenue. In this way the barrier to entry to start a new company has gone from tens of thousands of dollars in capital expenditure to hundreds of dollars in operational expense."
Rackspace Hosting and Manchester Business School in the UK recently conducted a survey of 1,300 US and UK executives and found that cloud computing had a significant impact on the success of startup companies over the past few years. An article in Forbes Magazine stated, "Sixty-two percent of respondents either agreed totally or somewhat with the statement that 'cloud computing is a key factor in the recent boom of entrepreneurs and start-ups,' the survey finds. Twenty-five percent agreed strongly with this idea. Many respondents are speaking from experience — 43 percent of the group, in fact, say their businesses were launched just within the past three years. A majority of respondents with startups in the survey, 52 percent, said they would have not have been able to afford on-premises IT resources, or would have had difficulty acquiring computer systems, if it weren't for cloud computing."
However, Lind isn't sold on the idea that the cloud was the sole reason for the success of these burgeoning businesses. "It is not likely that startups would be more successful just because their cost is more aligned with their revenue. There are many other factors that determines success."
Raj Kadam, CEO of Viralheat, a social media marketing firm, agreed. "Cloud computing is not a magic bullet. It all depends on the startup. Some startups will not benefit from cloud computing. However, there is an entire slew of startups that have benefited from cloud computing. These startups bandwidth and number of instances are proportional to how many users they are servicing. A lot of consumer facing startups benefitted greatly."
And whenever startups benefit, so does the economy, especially in this current "Do It Yourself" economy, where new entrepreneurs are creating new companies and jobs to replace the jobs they lost. The cloud has been a significant player in this DIY economy. "Cloud computing is a great tool for founders who are looking to bring their product to market faster. In the past, setting up and managing an infrastructure was a deal breaker in getting off the ground. Founders now do not have to worry about forking out the cost for servers and networking equipment and focus on tweaking their idea in the marketplace," said Kadam.
The cloud greatly helps startups with a multitude of communication resources, Heddi Cundle, who runs the site myTab.co, which provides travel gift cards. "Using the resources around that builds the cycle of startups using startups is a credit to entrepreneurs that don't need to pay large retainers to still get the job done. It's the epitome of DIY," Cundle said.Cundle's company relies on the cloud to keep the site operating, and because of that has found using the cloud has simply proven to be time and cost effective. "We see the impact of our business growing in a structured format so this equates to a great ROI," she added.
But executives still aren't totally sold on the ROI of the cloud, and it may be because there is still a learning curve with the cloud. Lind suggested, since IaaS is still a relatively immature market, one of the keys to correctly measuring the ROI of IaaS cloud computing is to look at actual performance of specific workloads to do a price-performance comparison. "The issue in the IaaS market right now is that popularly said, a GHz is not a GHz, so what you get on AWS is different from Rackspace is different from CloudSigma and right now customers need to run their specific workloads and measure actual price performance."
Cloud computing has allowed startups to bring their ideas to market faster by allowing startups to focus on their product, and it will continue to be a major player in the DIY economy.
The Virtues of Database as a Service
Excerpted from InfoWorld Report by David Linthicum
Database as a service is nothing new. But you'd think it was considering its low adoption -- fewer than 1 percent of businesses do it -- even as other forms of cloud computing are growing fast. The concept of keeping corporate data in public clouds is new to most businesses.
But as the needs around data analytics and transactional data processing continue to grow -- and IT budgets remain the same -- the use of public cloud-based databases will climb rapidly.
Several developments will help spur that growth:
Many new startup database technology vendors are providing single-purpose databases. They do one or two things really well, such as transaction processing or analytics.
Each of these startups typically has a data-as-a-service offering.
Most enterprises are moving to complex database tools, whether the databases reside on site or in clouds.
The key initial driver is the move to more single-purpose databases. Its use in the public cloud is largely driven by small tactical enterprise IT projects that end up using database-as-a-service providers out of sheer need for the technology, as well as limited budgets. Once, Oracle was the default choice for databases, but that's no longer the case.
Longer term, there's the reality that enterprises balking at the idea of placing some corporate data outside of the firewall due to security and compliance issues often find themselves with in-house data systems that are less secure, slower to market, and way more expensive. Database as a service addresses the needs of the business faster, and with fewer dollars. Security problems are easy to solve, even beyond the capabilities of on-premises systems that IT currently favors.
What most enterprises need to get over is the concept of database-as-a-service. The management of databases in traditional IT shops is all-consuming and expensive. That means it's not sustainable. IT needs to rethink its approaches to databases, including the models of consumption and the technologies it uses.
Although the idea of using database as a service scares many businesses these days, I believe that will change soon. In fact, I suspect it's becoming the first "killer application" of the public cloud.
Researchers Get Supercomputing Cloud
The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), a Government-funded high-end computing service hosted by The Australian National University, has added a cloud computing facility for researchers, supplied by Dell under a $2 million contract. However, this is no ordinary cloud. It's quite different from the technologies that power commercial cloud computing services like those provided by BitCloud.
According to NCI Cloud Services Manager, Dr Joseph Antony, "The distinguishing and innovative characteristics of the NCI facility are the use of floating-point optimized Intel CPUs, high performance Intel SSDs for demanding high-IOPS science workloads and a fat-tree 56Gbps Mellanox Ethernet interconnect — all of which are not the main stay of commercial or academic cloud offerings."
The new facility is part of the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) Research Cloud, an interconnected system of cloud computing facilities located at eight academic and research organizations around Australia.
NeCTAR is a $47 million Australian Government Super Science project, financed by the Education Investment Fund, for which the University of Melbourne is the lead agent. The Australian research sector has committed $54 million as co-investment in the NeCTAR project. The Research Cloud is one of four eResearch infrastructure projects being built by NeCTAR. The others are: Virtual Laboratories; eResearch Tools; and a secure and robust hosting service (the National Servers Program).
According to NeCTAR "The National Research Cloud empowers researchers with new self-service abilities to publish research data, share knowledge and rapidly deploy and access software applications without the burden of operating their own computer servers. Researchers can easily put their great ideas, tools, research applications and data online, instantly."
"The cloud supports the increasingly collaborative nature of Australian research. It is an Australian secure platform to respond rapidly to new developments, access computer power from a single server to thousands of servers and share computational results with national and international collaboration partners."
"Whether you are doing business or contributing to the advancement of mankind, these are exciting times" said Bennett Oprysa, CEO at BitCloud. "Just like the cloud has been delivering on its promise of increased speed, efficiency and cost savings here in Australia and abroad, the cloud makes a huge difference in research. For instance in Europe several agencies have teamed up to make the Helix Nebula Science Cloud possible. Businesses can team up with reputable cloud providers locally to create the same level of success."
The first node of the National Research Cloud went live in February 2012 at The University of Melbourne. In June 2013 nodes at Monash University and Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) were added. More node sites will join throughout 2013 and 2014. In addition to NCI's Super Cloud and a second at the University of Melbourne these will be:
The West Australian Research Cloud node at iVEC, an unincorporated joint venture of CSIRO and four public West Australian universities;
The Tasmanian Research Cloud node at the University of Tasmania;
The South Australian Research Cloud node at eResearch SA, a collaboration between the University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia.
NCI's network of cloud computing facilities will complement its supercomputing platform, Raijin (named after god of lightning, thunder and storms in the Shinto religion and in Japanese mythology), which went live in June. It comprises a 1.2 petaflop Fujitsu Primergy cluster with 57,472 cores, 160Tbytes of memory, 10 petabytes of storage and a Mellanox FDR Infiniband interconnect with 9tbps of bandwidth.
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The Internet of Things Will Change Everything
Excerpted from CIO Insight Report by Samuel Greengard
Today, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.4 billion people worldwide use the Internet. But if you focus on that number you're missing the bigger picture.
An NPD report notes that 315 million people in the U.S. now have 425 million devices connected to the Internet. A Cisco Systems report predicts that the number of Internet-connected devices will reach 25 billion by 2015 and 50 billion by 2020. This evolution in the Internet promises to unleash changes that make today's tech environment seem downright quaint. Cisco predicts that in the future 99 percent of physical objects will be part of some type of network.
Right now, most of the action is in consumer devices such as Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles. The environment, however, is evolving rapidly. For example, Nike's Fuel Band collects data about a person's daily activities and movement, syncs the information with an iPhone via Bluetooth and stores the data on a personal Website. Ecobee's Smart Thermostat allows homeowners to adjust the inside temperature via a mobile phone from anywhere in the world.
CIOs should pay close attention to the Internet of Things. Right now, most machines—industrial, commercial and consumer—aren't networked. But getting these devices—automobiles, microwave ovens, environmental sensors, medical equipment and even tracking devices for farm animals—online can put data into play in new and remarkable ways. It can open the door for predictive maintenance, smarter functionality, lower energy costs and a far better understanding of usage and activity patterns.
What's more, when consumer data gleaned from Internet-connected devices is plugged in, "you begin to understand a person's behavior and actions in a more nuanced and relevant way," says Derrick Daye, managing partner for The Blake Project, a Los Angeles-based strategic brand consulting firm. Of course, this has implications for marketing, customer service and various other functions, especially as social media and other data is plugged into the equation.
Over the next decade, more than a few company fortunes will be won and lost based on how well organizations adapt to the Internet of Things. This environment will require new APIs for products, new data brokering models and, most of all, a focus on extending IT into every nook and corner of work and life in order to provide greater business value.
A Guide to Cloud Computing Terms
Excerpted from BusinessNewsDaily Report by Ryan Goodrich
Cloud computing continues to change the way businesses work. It creates a new way to facilitate collaboration and information access across great geographic distances while reducing the overhead associated with maintaining what was once an expensive series of resources. As a result, software companies are more flexible and cost-effective and allow consumers to purchase only what they use rather than off the shelf as a large initial investment .
Despite how many companies regularly use cloud-based services, many individuals don't fully grasp the terminology associated. The jargon that comes with the cloud is understandably confusing, so here's a quick breakdown of common terms.
Cloud Computing
Rather than storing data locally on individual computers or a company's network, cloud computing entails the delivery of data and shared resources via a secure and centralized remote platform. Rather than using a company's own servers, it places the use of resources in the hands of a third-party organization that handles the maintenance and ongoing availability of any purchased services.
IaaS
Many organizations purchase their own hardware to support infrastructure and shudder under the costs of buying servers, installing and integrating them and employing IT professionals for ongoing maintenance. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) removes the cost of this burden to the cloud and provides companies with the needed server hardware at a highly reduced rate, and with no required maintenance.
PaaS
Budding software companies need a strong infrastructure of hardware and software applications to develop a competitive software application. Platform as a Service (PaaS) offers a cloud-based platform that can be used to build, test and launch applications.
SaaS
The traditional model of companies and software entails purchasing a single software license for each user. When a new version of the software becomes available, the organization is then forced to purchase upgrades to ensure ongoing compatibility with industry standards. Software as a Service (SaaS) breaks that model by offering cloud-based software on a monthly subscription model based on a per-user basis with the perk of ongoing upgrades.
XaaS
Whereas IaaS, PaaS and SaaS refer to specific business models, most any type of product can be offered as a service. XaaS refers to "X as a Service," or "anything as a service," meaning anything capable of delivery over the Internet rather than via a retail store can be sold with this model. IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are the most common forms of XaaS, but other business models include Back End as a Service (BaaS), Storage as a Service (SaaS), Communications as a Service (CaaS), Network as a Service (NaaS) and Monitoring as a Service (MaaS).
SPI Model
This is an acronym that refers to the most common cloud computing service models, namely SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.
Cloud Computing Service Models
Many businesses now sell cloud-based services that transcend the traditional software license model of service. These services are available at a monthly rate via a web browser and provide upgrades to the service on a regular basis. Typical cloud computing service models include IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
Data Center
This is a facility built for the purpose of housing cloud-based resources such as servers and other service-based equipment. Many cloud-based companies own and operate their own data centers which house the data stored for consumers and ensure the ongoing availability of their cloud. Many companies own multiple data centers in different geographic locations to ensure redundancies against data center failures, thus allowing an always-online service offering.
Private Cloud
A private cloud is a cloud service for storing and retrieving data and is designed for use by one company. Employees can access this cloud within the company network to work on files in real time and share projects, but this resource isn't available to individuals outside the company. Companies seeking to take advantage of cloud benefits, but desiring complete control will turn to this model of cloud.
Public Cloud
Countless cloud-based services exist with the ability to provide a public cloud that caters to multiple parties using the same server resources. Whereas a private cloud would restrict server access from parties outside the company, a public cloud pools resources to offer a unified level of service. Users can access their own information in a public cloud, but cannot get the information of other users.
Hybrid Cloud
When an organization has its own server hardware for a private cloud, but needs additional resources for increased traffic on an irregular basis, the hybrid cloud is an often-turned-to solution. It combines both a private and public cloud setup, relying largely on the private cloud for regular data storage and overflowing to a public cloud for increased levels of internal traffic.
Utility Computing
When a company purchases its own server, odds are they won't use all of the resources available with the hardware. With a cloud-based service, companies are given the utility computing model, or pay-as-you-go system, where a business only pays for the resources they needed that month. This usage is typically computed and billed in terms of bandwidth activity and data storage levels.
Coming Events of Interest
First China International Cloud Computing Expo - August 15th-18th in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. The business forum during the expo will focus on exploring trends for the development of the cloud computing industry, especially its application in the post-disaster reconstruction and protecting data.
NordiCloud 2013 - September 1st-3rd in Oslo, Norway. The Nordic Symposium on Cloud Computing & Internet Technologies (NordiCloud) aims at providing an industrial and scientific forum for enhancing collaboration between industry and academic communities from Nordic and Baltic countries in the area of Cloud Computing and Internet Technologies.
P2P 2013: IEEE International Conference on Peer-to-Peer Computing - September 9th-11th in Trento, Italy. The IEEE P2P Conference is a forum to present and discuss all aspects of mostly decentralized, large-scale distributed systems and applications. This forum furthers the state-of-the-art in the design and analysis of large-scale distributed applications and systems.
CLOUD COMPUTING WEST 2013 - October 27th-29th in Las Vegas, NV. Two major conference tracks will zero in on the latest advances in applying cloud-based solutions to all aspects of high-value entertainment content production, storage, and delivery; and the impact of mobile cloud computing and Big Data analytics in this space.
International CES - January 7th-10th in Las Vegas, NV. The International CES is the global stage for innovation reaching across global markets, connecting the industry and enabling CE innovations to grow and thrive. The International CES is owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $209 billion US consumer electronics industry.
CONNECTING TO THE CLOUD - January 8th in Las Vegas, NV. This DCIA Conference within CES will highlight the very latest advancements in cloud-based solutions that are now revolutionizing the consumer electronics (CE) sector. Special attention will be given to the impact on consumers, telecom industries, the media, and CE manufacturers of accessing and interacting with cloud-based services using connected devices.
CCISA 2013 – February 12th–14th in Turin, Italy. The second international special session on Cloud computing and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and its Applications within the 22nd Euromicro International Conference on Parallel, Distributed and Network-Based Processing.
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