Since its inception, cloud computing has come a long way, yet people still possess misgivings and misunderstandings about what it can do, particularly when it comes to workloads. The history of cloud computing, if only conceptually, stretches back further than you may imagine. The cloud genesis, so to speak, dates right back to the 1960s when J.C.R. Lickider dreamed of an ‘intergalactic computer network'. Lickider imagined a time when everyone on the planet would be interconnected and able to access both programs and data from anywhere at any time. He may never have specifically called this grand plan ‘the cloud', but its similarities to what we now utilize daily are striking.
Like me, I’m sure that many of you nerds have read the book “I, Robot.” “I, Robot” is the seminal book written by Isaac Asimov (actually it was a series of books, but I only read the one) that explores the moral and ethical challenges posed by a world dominated by robots. But I read that book like 50 years ago, so the movie “I, Robot” with Will Smith is actually more relevant to me today. The movie does a nice job of discussing the ethical and moral challenges associated with a society where robots play such a dominant and crucial role in everyday life.
Businesses and business units of all sizes can benefit from cloud computing, but many don't want the cost, performance and security concerns of public cloud nor the complexity of building their own private clouds. Today, some cloud vendors are using artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify cloud deployment and management. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Ajay Gulati, Co-founder and CEO of ZeroStack, discussed how AI can simplify cloud operations. He covered the following topics: why cloud management is a barrier to adoption and the role of AI in cloud deployment.
With 2017 crossing the half way point, let’s look at some technology trends thus far. Breaches: Many personal records are half empty due to the continued rash of intrusions while the crooks are half full of our personal information along with some ransom payments. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), there have been 7,689 breaches since 2005 (when they started tracking) compromising – get this – 900,315,392 records. Almost 3 times the U.S. population. In 2016, 56% of all Data Breaches began with a user clicking on a phishing email. The big story for 2017 I think, is the rise of ransomware. Kaspersky reports a 250% increase in ransomware for the first few months of 2017. From WannaCry to Petya to Fusob, criminals are holding systems hostage until a ransom is paid…or not. Ransomware seems to be this year’s big trend with backups saving some from total embarrassment.
Trying to improve density, lower costs and run applications faster than before? Today, enterprises looking for a secure cloud strategy are increasingly turning to container-based Platform as a Service solutions for on-premises hosted DevOps. In her session at 21st Cloud Expo, Alise Cashman Spence, Offering Manager, Power Systems Cloud Solutions at IBM, will discuss the driving factors behind these cloud trends and how IBM customers are realizing exceptional performance, security and control for data and analytics services.
Leading companies, from the Global Fortune 500 to the smallest companies, are adopting hybrid cloud as the path to business advantage. Hybrid cloud depends on cloud services and on-premises infrastructure working in unison. Successful implementations require new levels of data mobility, enabled by an automated and seamless flow across on-premises and cloud resources. In his general session at 21st Cloud Expo, Greg Tevis, an IBM Storage Software Technical Strategist and Customer Solution Architect, will explore how storage and software-defined solutions from IBM have evolved for the road ahead. Walk-away knowing how you can bring new levels of speed, agility and efficiency to the applications and workloads you choose to deploy across a hybrid cloud model.
What You Need to Know You know you need the cloud, but you’re hesitant to simply dump everything at Amazon since you know that not all workloads are suitable for cloud. You know that you want the kind of ease of use and scalability that you get with public cloud, but your applications are architected in a way that makes the public cloud a non-starter. You’re looking at private cloud solutions based on hyperconverged infrastructure, but you’re concerned with the limits inherent in those technologies. What do you do?
Like so many other IT solutions, cloud computing services have long been promoted from a standpoint of administrative efficiency. As the rationale goes, if you get your cloud services from a single provider, you'll enjoy the reduced hassle of consolidating third party business relationships, receive IT services at bargain prices, and have an easier time coordinating those services. It's true that using fewer service providers can offer some nice perks, but cloud computing is moving in the opposite direction at many companies. Instead of reaping the benefits of placing cloud services under one umbrella, businesses are mining the advantages of the antithetical approach: receiving cloud services from multiple providers - a discipline known as "multi-cloud computing."
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Dr. Robert Cohen, an economist and senior fellow at the Economic Strategy Institute, presented the findings of a series of six detailed case studies of how large corporations are implementing IoT. The session explored how IoT has improved their economic performance, had major impacts on business models and resulted in impressive ROIs. The companies covered span manufacturing and services firms. He also explored servicification, how manufacturing firms shift from selling a product to offering it as a service and discussed methods you can employ to estimate how investing in IoT will affect your firm.
Handling an exception is one of the most common but not necessarily one of the easiest tasks. It is still one of the frequently discussed topics in experienced teams, and there are several best practices and common mistakes you should be aware of. Here are a few things you should avoid when handling exceptions in your application.
“You can’t stop the incessant march of economics” – Bill Schmarzo Okay, so it’s probably not cool to quote oneself, but hey, this is my blog and I get to do what I want. And for anyone who follows me knows, I love to “riff” on the game-changing power of economics. The “economics of big data” – where the cost to store, manage and analyze data is 20x to 100x cheaper than traditional analytics – started this big data and data science craze. But ultimately it is the economics of value, or to be specific, “value in use” where the economics really become a game changer.
Throughout history military leaders have suffered through the "fog of war," where they desperately sought answers to six key questions: Where are my enemies? Where are my friends? Where are my forces? Where are my materials and supplies? What capabilities are available now and at what location? What are the environmental conditions?
How do cars talk to each other today? One driver can honk at another. It's pretty crude. That is quickly changing though - and, for the most part, that's a good thing. Cars are becoming complex computers, expected to drive autonomously, download software updates regularly, and impress riders with the sound quality and entertainment value of a home theater. Soon, cars will be communicating with each other to do everything from switching lanes to balancing traffic congestion. When you combine machine-learning, complex data, and growing automotive networks, you get a dramatically different industry.
Water stress is not an arcane term just used by hydrologists. It is defined as the inability to meet the ‘human and ecological demand for water.’ The effective use of water resources has been well documented as a leading indicator of economic progress and the converse, damages to water resources can significantly impact economic growth. Here in the US, recent high-profile stories about poisoned water in Flint, Mich. and polluted water in Toledo, Ohio, have raised this issue for many who likely hadn’t thought much about our national water supplies before. Alarmingly, as many as 3.5 million people in the US fall sick from water that has been contaminated by sewage each year according to a recent report. The UN reports that by 2040 one in four of the world’s children will be living in areas with extremely limited water resources. To put it another way, 600 million children will be in regions enduring extreme water stress. Saudi Arabia now imports all its grain, after decades of self-sufficiency, brought about in part by fear of water depletion. In recent times, water utilities, non-government organizations (NGOs) and both local and national governments have turned to technologies and Big Data to alleviate some of the root causes of water stress and optimize the “catchment-to-tap” lifecycle.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last decade, you’ve seen cloud computing spread like fire across every industry. You also probably know that the cloud plays a pivotal role when it comes to digital transformation. Whether “the app is the business” is a well-worn subject or not, it doesn’t change the fact that companies are spinning up their apps faster because they can scale, test, and optimize them in real production environments in the cloud. But, like any technology, the cloud isn’t perfect. If it isn’t configured specifically to your application and business needs, you can find yourself dealing with performance issues, unhappy users, and one splitting headache.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pulzze Systems will exhibit at SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place October 31-November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Pulzze Systems Inc, provides the software product "The Interactor" that uniquely simplifies building IoT, Web and Smart Enterprise Solutions. It is a Silicon Valley startup funded by US government agencies, NSF and DHS to bring innovative solutions to market.
SYS-CON Events announced today that IBM has been named “Diamond Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 21st Cloud Expo, which will take place on October 31 through November 2nd 2017 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. In an era of historic innovation fueled by unprecedented access to data and technology, the low cost and risk of entering new markets has leveled the playing field for business. Today, any ambitious innovator can easily introduce a new application or product that can reinvent business models and transform the client experience.
SYS-CON Events announced today that CA Technologies has been named “Platinum Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place October 31-November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. CA Technologies helps customers succeed in a future where every business – from apparel to energy – is being rewritten by software. From planning to development to management to security, CA creates software that fuels transformation for companies in the application economy.
The concept of speed as an advantage is not new. Over the course of 700 years, the Romans built and maintained a system of roads extending over 55,000 miles to enable speedy communications and the quick movement of troops across the vast expanse of the empire. What’s different today is that digital technologies have warped our perception of time. As an example, a person might say they live five minutes from town, but that can have widely different meanings based on whether they were referring to walking or driving a car. Digital technologies compress our perception of time and space while expanding our expectations of what can be accomplished in a given time. We expect to complete the equivalent of one hour of shopping in a supermarket in one minute online. These changes significantly impact the way businesses must operate in a digital era to compete and remain relevant.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Calligo has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Calligo is an innovative cloud service provider offering mid-sized companies the highest levels of data privacy. Calligo offers unparalleled application performance guarantees, commercial flexibility and a personalized support service from its globally located cloud platforms. Through its four pillars of focus, Calligo delivers a platform that businesses can trust to deliver the high level of service and protection they expect and is lacking in many cloud offerings.
SYS-CON Events announced today that CAST Software will exhibit at SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on Oct 31 - Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. CAST was founded more than 25 years ago to make the invisible visible. Built around the idea that even the best analytics on the market still leave blind spots for technical teams looking to deliver better software and prevent outages, CAST provides the software intelligence that matter most.
As more and more companies are making the shift from on-premises to public cloud, the standard approach to DevOps is evolving. From encryption, compliance and regulations like GDPR, security in the cloud has become a hot topic. Many DevOps-focused companies have hired dedicated staff to fulfill these requirements, often creating further siloes, complexity and cost. This session aims to highlight existing DevOps cultural approaches, tooling and how security can be wrapped in every facet of the build and release cycle and how to get sales and customer facing resources wrapped in.
When talking to clients about their business goals, most business executives are pretty clear as to what they want to accomplish, such as reducing customer churn or reducing inventory costs or improving quality of care or improving product line profitability. But these “one dimensional” business initiatives really don’t push the organization’s innovative thinking. For example, I can easily reduce marketing costs if I significantly reduce advertising and promotional spending. Or I can easily improve product line profitability by cutting all marketing and advertising spending and laying off anyone not directly related to manufacturing and sell products.
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The question before companies today is not whether to become intelligent, it’s a question of how and how fast. The key is to adopt and deploy an intelligent application strategy while simultaneously preparing to scale that intelligence. In her session at 21st Cloud Expo, Sangeeta Chakraborty, Chief Customer Officer at Ayasdi, will provide a tactical framework to become a truly intelligent enterprise, including how to identify the right applications for AI, how to build a Center of Excellence to operationalize the intelligence and how to implement a strategy to scale efforts. She’ll pull from her experience helping tackle HSBC's anti-laundering threats and identifying genetic susceptibilities of diseases for Mt. Sinai with machine intelligence.
WebRTC is the future of browser-to-browser communications, and continues to make inroads into the traditional, difficult, plug-in web communications world. The 6th WebRTC Summit continues our tradition of delivering the latest and greatest presentations within the world of WebRTC. Topics include voice calling, video chat, P2P file sharing, and use cases that have already leveraged the power and convenience of WebRTC.