The world runs on transactional database systems. Every business depends on them, and we each interact with them many times each day. Furthermore the world needs to build thousands more applications of transactional database systems to support the next-generation web. Nothing controversial there, but there is a problem: transactional database systems have stubbornly refused to join the 21st century. The rest of the world is moving toward data center architectures predicated on thousands of commodity machines, commodity networks, and "scale-out" designs. These data centers will offer on-demand computing services that can instantly increase or decrease capacity to applications as needed. It's easy to just add more web servers, application servers, or storage servers as required. Unfortunately while that works at every other level in the computing stack it does not work at the database layer. Database systems are scale-up systems, not scale-out systems.
As you strive to achieve new levels of sophistication when creating performance baselines, it is important to consider how you will navigate the oscillating winds of application behavior as the numbers come in from all directions. The behavioral context of the user will highlight key threshold settings to consider as you build a framework for real-time alerting into your APM solution. This will take an understanding of the application and an analysis of the numbers as you begin looking at user patterns. Metrics play a key role in providing this value through different views across multiple comparisons. Absent from any behavioral learning engines which are now emerging in the APM space, you can begin a high level analysis on your own to come to a common understanding of each business application's performance.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Domo, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) venture that is redefining the business intelligence (BI) market and transforming the way business is managed, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 13th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 4–7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Domo is a new form of business intelligence unlike anything before—a cloud-based business management platform that transforms the way organizations are managed. Domo makes critical information directly accessible to business users, heroizes IT professionals, and delivers the user experience BI has been missing for 25 years.
Verizon is calling on the expertise of one of its recent acquisitions to offer a cloud computing service to its customers. Verizon has announced details about a new cloud computing service for business, Verizon Cloud, an IaaS offering the company claims will offer better end-user control over performance than any other cloud solution. Currently in limited beta, Verizon Cloud features an IaaS elastic computing system, Verizon Cloud Compute, and an object storage system, Verizon Cloud Storage. But where Verizon Cloud differs, according to Verizon, is that it delivers the performance you specify, not just the performance you end up with, according to an article on InfoWorld.com.
In their session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Luke Malpass, Software Architect & Co-founder of Fasetto, and Coy Christmas, CTO & Co-Founder of Fasetto, will discuss their PDQ Offline application, which is an application that allows sharing of files, pictures, videos and any other information instantly between any device, without internet, Wi-Fi or cell data, at no cost. Next they will discuss a new concept – “Cloud Life” – and how they are going about it – bringing all aspects of your life together in a single, accessible-anywhere platform, where all your information on the cloud can access one another, opening up opportunities never thought of before.
In their March 2013 report “Business Technology Innovation,” Ventana Research found that 40 percent of companies attributed cloud usage to reduced costs, followed by improved efficiency of business processes (39 percent).[1] Though the benefits of the cloud, like business and social collaboration, are clear, many organizations are having trouble seeing past the potentially overwhelming transition to the cloud. Most enterprises do not want a one-size fits all solution, which requires them to manage multiple relationships, negotiate multiple contracts, maintain multiple payments, remember multiple passwords all with multiple service providers. Maintenance is already a challenge, and by adding the complexity of transition, cloud computing can easily seem like an IT nightmare.
A new Capgemini Consulting aims to identify how companies are becoming aware of what digital technologies can do to change their business. Nearly 78 percent of 1,500 respondents from more than 100 countries to the “Embracing Digital Technology: A New Strategic Imperative” survey with MIT Sloan Management Review said the transition to new technologies will be critical over the next two years, Capgemini said Tuesday. Sixty-three percent said the their enterprise is adopting social media, mobile, analytics embedded devices and other digital technologies at too slow a pace and cited unclear priorities and a shortage in expertise as key limitations.
As the storage landscape continues to change, the industry must differentiate and mature its business beyond a standardized market by designing new platforms, features and products for specific customers and application workloads. New products and services in the cloud are fueling the growth for faster storage solutions and improvement in throughput and I/O performance with no latency. Economical and operational pressures in the data center to do more with less are driving the need for reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). In his Day 3 Keynote at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Steven Campbell, CTO at HGST, will address industry “pain points” that are keeping IT managers up at night, and the solutions that will help them sleep better.
What should you pack in your suitcase to be prepared for the Journey? According to a recent marketing survey - 91% of IT decision makers have a positive opinion of cloud computing. So how do they get the corporations they manage to leverage the cloud for growth and keep the same standards or improve the business processes, legal, compliance, finance and operations? A 2013 McKinsey survey reported that 75% of CEOs find value for their company in Cloud Computing. So what are corporations waiting for? What do they not understand about the value of cloud computing? The media and others have created a well-documented perception of security and other business risks in the cloud. We believe that are just perception and not reality. Our panelist are working in cloud computing and have educated corporations on the value of cloud computing and managing the business risks.
Not long ago, the dominant form of electronic communication among people was telephones. The core of the infrastructure was the telephone network. When the Internet emerged during the nineties, IP networks become the new core for electronic communications. Many proprietary standards and technologies died during each of these phases – such as the telegraph and, largely, the token ring. As cloud is transitioning into the mainstream, it’s likely that the pattern will repeat. For cloud, data is key and so storage needs to evolve a new core architecture based on IP networking. Companies such as Google and Facebook recognized this new core approach and embraced it in their architectures. However, to reach the stage where storage is a standard core architecture akin to IP networks today, we must move well beyond today’s hype.
In the past, innovation in the IT industry consisted of a few large vendors developing hardware and software products in virtual isolation. This behavior stemmed from the desire to hide trade secrets from competition and maintain a lead in the market. Few solutions dominated the IT landscape and gave customers limited options while allowing products to thrive on high profit margins. Ever since the success of Linux, the market has been moving to a new paradigm in which hardware and software platforms harness co-development supported by a larger ecosystem of developers and partners.
Cloud computing continues to gain momentum as enterprises of all sizes and across all industries seek to harness the business agility promised by this computing model. Despite its long-accepted benefits, the cloud has also fallen victim to performance and reliability challenges, combined with a perceived lack of security. As a result this has led to slower predicted growth and adoption of this still promising infrastructure methodology. In his Lunch Keynote at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Tim Knudsen, Senior Director of Business Development, will discuss how to overcome these challenges, and the role application delivery solutions play in optimizing public and hybrid cloud architectures without sacrificing performance, security or control.
SOASTA’s five-year journey began at the very first Cloud Expo back in 2008 when they launched an enterprise cloud service called CloudTest. CloudTest quickly became one of Cloud Computing's "Killer Apps" by helping the world’s largest consumer brands to test and deliver quality online experiences. SOASTA is a story of the evolution of cloud computing through the eyes of one of its largest consumers. What SOASTA learned along the way may help you with some challenges and pitfalls of cloud computing and will offer some clues as to where the cloud is going in the future: - It’s all about the workload - Know your APIs - Architecture matters - There’s no magic pill. In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Tom Lounibos, CEO for SOASTA, will take an energetic trip through cloud history and provide invaluable tips learned through hard-earned success.
Developers need to be able to run tests quickly or they will stop running them. Slow test suites are often partially caused by slow startup times. Once you've eliminated this problem, you might want to take a look at individual tests. Note that test suites stress your code in a totally different way from the production environment. A slow test suite doesn't mean your app will be slow in production and the other way around. Never optimize your code for the test suite. Sometimes slow tests are an indication of slow code, always measure to be sure.
Overlay networks (virtual networks built on top of existing networks) introduce exciting new potential for a highly inclusive Hybrid Cloud. In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Matt Shover, Manager of RackConnect Operations at Rackspace, will talk about the practical application of overlay networks and how it may be able to help you solve scalability, security, and availability challenges. He will cover: A primer on overlay networks Practical applications for layer 2 adjacency over disparate layer 3 networks Benefits of IP portability The future of networking in the Hybrid Cloud You should gain a solid understanding of overlay networks and its future for the Hybrid Cloud.
Although this book is written for the Java programmer, I would recommend reading it to any .NET or iOS developer as well. It is a must read for the Java developer, but is also a valuable read for developers of other languages because the guidelines are often built around a programmer's intent. No matter what language you use most, many of the intentions that are targeted by the guidelines are the same. Do I wish there was a C# and Objective-C version of this book? Heck Yeah!!! But, one of the things that helped get to a deeper understanding of the guidelines was thinking about where and how they apply to C# and Objective-C. There is Secure Coding in C and C++ (Second Edition) and The CERT C Secure Coding Standard which are both great too.
Stats show risk grows in disproportion to IT security readiness. Security deployed, managed from the cloud provides strong results. How cloud security overcomes the obstacle. It’s simple, really. More bang for the buck. Using the ability to apply operation expenses over capital ones is a significant savings in itself. No expensive servers to buy, no software to maintain and watch depreciate, etc… More importantly is the realization that a company can incorporate a fully capable enterprise juggernaut for pennies on the dollar they would otherwise spend to manage on-premises. Most of us are already aware of the justifying benefits that cloud-based applications provide. I’ve gone on record before stating that for the amount a mid-size company currently pays in support and maintenance for their on-premise initiative, they can easily deploy a robust, fully integrated, fully-capable suite of enterprise-class security solutions from the cloud. The stumbling block here is the proof that such a deployment can adequately meet the specific needs of the unique company. However by applying the 80/20 rule, by covering 80 percent of a company’s needs, it is more than likely well ahead of anything they are currently doing. Now on top of all that is all the professional services and consulting costs that ostensibly go away, or at least are tremendously reduced when managing from the cloud.
Take your business seamlessly from AWS to OpenStack, or even adopt a hybrid cloud strategy using public and private OpenStack clouds. In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, DeWayne Filppi, Director of Solution Architecture at GigaSpaces, will discuss how to build a portable application that can run on Amazon and on OpenStack. He will also discuss how to migrate to a hybrid cloud environment that will interoperate between an AWS cloud and an OpenStack cloud, achieving high availability and reducing costs.
Traditional BYOD policies had two main concerns: Companies worried about security; employees worried about privacy. VDIs are almost perfectly suited to solve these BYOD issues. Bring Your Own Device policies have fascinated both the corporate world and the tech world for some time now. Part of the allure is the added productivity and the added ease of use for workers. But, that doesn't explain why there are thousands of tech pieces on BYOD policies, failings and warnings. The truth is, we're all fascinated by how it flawlessly bridges the gap between home and work life. BYOD first sprung up as Millennials demanded more flexibility, more control. They wanted less of a barrier between work and home life, and working from their iPads while watching Netflix at home struck the perfect balance.
Register here today using coupon code "VIPKeynotesExpo" and attend Cloud Expo® Silicon Valley as our guest! Listen to top Industry Thought Leadership Keynotes and visit the bustling Cloud Expo® Silicon Valley (Nov 4-7) Show Floor for FREE - it's the surest way to get yourself and your company fully "Cloud-ready." Just register here using the code "VIPKeynotesExpo" Cloud Expo® 2013 Silicon Valley, November 4-7, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading Cloud industry players in the world.
More and more people are getting credit cards with a built-in RFID chip in them. That little RFID chip (Radio Frequency ID) can transmit your credit card info out several feet when it is scanned by any reader. Most people don’t know this. You can tell if your credit card has an RFID in it because most cards will be marked by one of several symbols: PayWave, PayPass, or BLINK or the symbol that looks something like this )))) There are some cards that have no indication that there’s an RFID in them.
Performance for end-users is the metric by which most businesses judge their web applications' performance: is the responsiveness of the application an asset or a liability to the business? Studies show that users are growing more and more demanding, while average pageloads are getting bigger and bigger-more than doubling in weight since 2010. Combine that with frequent releases and updates from marketing, and pretty soon the optimization job is never quite done. Ongoing monitoring application performance from the end-user's perspective is therefore critical; fortunately, there's a number of approaches to choose from. But which one(s) are best?
WebSockets provide new protocol between client and server which runs over a persistent TCP connection. Through this open connection, bi-directional, full-duplex messages can be sent between the single TCP socket connection (simultaneously or back and forth). Because it is an independent TCP-based protocol, it doesn’t ideally require HTTP tunneling (similar to Netflix and other streaming services), allowing for simplified communication when sending messages. WebSockets come after many other technologies that allow servers to send information to the client. Web applications that use Comet/Ajax, push/pull and long polling all do this over HTTP. Other than handshaking the Upgrade Header, WebSockets is independent from HTTP.
Let’s face it, developers rule. They have instantaneous access to technology resources that can be spun up easily without your knowledge. It is this pressure that is driving the inevitability of Cloud adoption across enterprise IT. If you still think of your IT organization as a cost center - presiding over a hefty annual budget and responsible for doling out dollars to the developers - then it’s time to rethink and re-imagine the business of IT. If IT continues with the same old tired cost models and budget planning cycles, some of the best, most creative and most ingenious innovations in technology will never see the light of day. It’s a true dilemma for developers and innovators – why spend time creating, when your next great idea or project doesn’t meet the initial business case requirements for funding? But that was the old world of IT. The hard truth is that IT organizations are faced with a fundamental choice: resist or transform. CIOs can either accept the fact that they are now service providers competing with external vendors for budget dollars, or become impediments to change and lose relevance. Those choosing to become service providers are finding they need to develop a new operating model for IT, one that requires new platforms, processes, and skills.
The WebRTC Data Channel is the next big thing in browser real-time communication. In his session at WebRTC Summit, Dan Ristic, a developer evangelist for PubNub, will be exploring the specification of what the data channel is, the potential road blocks to using it, and where to use it in production today. He will also explore the future of the data channel and how it will change the browser landscape in the years to come. Dan Ristic is a developer evangelist for PubNub, the leading provider of real-time technologies. He is passionate about front-end engineering and looks to push the web to its limits every day. His goal is to map the future of the web and how it will change the future of the world.