Γεγονότα που συμβαίνουν στο internet κάθε 60 δευτερόλεπτα !!!

Ο παγκόσμιος ιστός (World Wide Web) μεγαλώνει διαρκώς με ταχείς ρυθμούς. Κατά μέσο όρο, καθημερινά προστίθενται σε αυτόν, περισσότερες από 1 δισεκκατομύριο νέες σελίδες. Για να πάρουμε μία ιδέα του μεγέθους του παγκόσμιου ιστού, επεξεργαστείτε τις παρακάτω εικόνες οι οποίες παρουσιάζουν ορισμένες πολύ ενδιαφέρουσες μετρήσεις σχετικά με γεγονότα που συμβαίνουν κάθε 60 δευτερόλεπτα, σε καθημερινή βάση!

Βρετανία: 8,3% του ΑΕΠ το ηλεκτρονικό εμπόριο

Το ηλεκτρονικό εμπόριο στην Βρετανία καταλαμβάνει το μεγαλύτερο μερίδιο επί του ΑΕΠ σε σχέση με οποιοδήποτε άλλο έθνος της Group of 20, σύμφωνα με έρευνα. Η ψηφιακή οικονομία της Βρετανίας αναπτύχθηκε με ρυθμό 10,9% ετησίως, ένα μέγεθος υψηλότερο από τον μέσο όρο 8,1% που επικράτησε στις οικονομίες της G20.

Δεύτερη στην κατάταξη ήρθε η Νότιος Κορέα με ρυθμό 7,3% και τρίτη η Κίνα με το internet να συμβάλλει στο 5,5% του ΑΕΠ.

Σύμφωνα με την έρευνα, αν το internet ήταν ένας παραδοσιακός κλάδος, θα ήταν μεγαλύτερος από τον κλάδο κατασκευών, εκπαίδευσης ή κοινωφελών υπηρεσιών της Βρετανίας.

Το ψηφιακό εμπόριο συνέβαλε με 121 δισ. στερλίνες στην βρετανική οικονομία το 2010 ή 8,3% του ΑΕΠ και το μέγεθος αναμένεται να ανέλθει στα 225 δισ. στερλίνες το 2016, ανακοίνωσε η εταιρία ερευνών Boston Consulting Group. Οι Βρετανοί αφιερώνουν το 13,5% των αγορών τους σε online κατανάλωση, σε σύγκριση με συντελεστή 7,1% στην Γερμανία, 5% στις ΗΠΑ και 6,6% στο πιο «καλωδιωμένο» έθνος του πλανήτη που είναι η Νότιος Κορέα.

Πηγή: euro2day.gr (19 Μαρτίου 2012)

Cloud Computing easily understood - IaaS

Infrastructure as a Service is one of the three delivery methods of cloud computing (the other two are Platform as a Service and Software as a Service).

Users of IaaS have the expertise to maintain operating systems and applications, but don't wish to purchase server, storage and networking hardware and a datacenter to house the hardware. The cloud provider provides these services from a shared pool. The cloud user will then use the virtual machines to fulfill their computing requirements and may install their own operating system and will install their own applications on the virtual machines.

Some characteristics of IaaS:

• Elasticity: you can provision (add) or de-provision (remove) cloud instances to scale up or down your environment.
• Firewalls: may be host-based on each cloud instance (virtual machine - see below) and/or an Internet firewall that offers the customers restrictions on who can access their cloud servers.
• Multi-tenancy: The cloud servers are hosted on a shared infrastructure. This means that your cloud instances co-exist on the same hardware as another customer's cloud instances. To understand multi-tenancy, think of an apartment building (or block of flats). The renters/tenants have their own apartment, but share an elevator or stairway, foundation and roof. The owner of the building rents out apartments as needed and is responsible for the plumbing etc while each tenant is responsible for their own furniture and interior decorations. Similarly: an IaaS customer is responsible for their own applications, the hosting provider is simply providing the infrastructure.(also see segmentation below).
• Networking: is provided at the TCP/IP layer and is usually simple networking between the customer's cloud servers and Internet access from the customer's access point(s).
• Segmentation/Isolation: While resources are drawn from a shared pool and cloud tenants co-exist, there are levels of segmentation to isolate one cloud tenant from another, just like there are walls to segment or isolate one apartment from another.
• Storage: is usually delivered as raw (block) storage.
• Utility billing: The cloud provider will bill the cloud-user for the resources used. Infrastructure as a Service is akin to a utility company providing and billing for electricity, water and natural-gas. You share electricity with everyone on the power grid provided by the power station, and only pay for what you use.
• Virtual Machines: The servers, also called "cloud instances", are delivered to customers as virtual machines. A virtual machine is a server or workstation, with operating system and applications that appears to the user as a physical server. For more on virtual machines, see wikipedia here

Infrastructure as a Service is typically offered in three forms:

1. Private cloud also called on-premise
2. Public cloud
3. Hosted private cloud

Private Cloud/ on-premise IaaS
An organization can build a private IaaS cloud and then provide infrastructure services to their internal departments or partners.
To build a private IaaS cloud, you need virtualization software to run a hypervisor.
Examples of hypervisor software are:

• KVM - Kernel-based Virtual Machine is available with most Linux distributions since kernel build 2.6 and is available as open-source software. Redhat is an example of KVM virtualization
• Xen - is another Linux based open-source hypervisor. Citrix licensed Xen and offers it as a commercial product. Rackspace and Amazon Web Services run Xen.
• VMware - the commercial company has an open-source offering as well.
• Microsoft Private Cloud

Once you have a virtualization or hypervisor layer, then you need cloud software to provide the on-demand and elasticity features of cloud computing as a Service.

Examples of IaaS cloud software are:

Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus open-source and is available commercially.

OpenStack. OpenStack is open-source and licensed as a commercial product by Rackspace, Nebula and many others

I will write tutorials in future blog posts, illustrating the steps to build an open-source private cloud IaaS offering.

Hosted private cloud
Hosted private cloud is a cloud offering for an organization's exclusive private use, but is not hosted in the organization's data center, but rather hosted by a hosting company. This provides an organization with the benefits of a private cloud, without the capital cost of setting it up.
Some hosted private cloud providers:

• Rackspace
• Gogrid
• Hosting.com

Public Cloud IaaS
Public cloud IaaS provides cloud instances to anyone with Internet access. Public IaaS is used by individuals or corporations who don't wish to use capital expenditure to purchase hardware and associated operating expenses. Unlike a hosted private IaaS cloud, the interface to a public IaaS cloud is open to anyone and access is restricted only by firewall and authentication credentials.
Some examples of public cloud:

• Amazon Elastic Compute Infrastructure (EC2), and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) - also called AWS (Amazon Web Services)
• Gogrid
• Rackspace
• SAVVIS
• Terremark
• Virtustream

Risks with Public cloud
Just as there are risks with living in an apartment building, example your upstairs neighbour's shower leaking into your living room, or neighbours eavesdropping on neighbour's conversations through the walls, so there are risks with public cloud. A neighbouring cloud customer could accidentally (or nefariously) gain access to your data on the shared storage or even view data on your cloud instance or access it directly.
Cloud management
The cloud-user may use a cloud management platform to manage public and private clouds. Cloud management is used to provision, automate, secure and govern public or private cloud instances.
Some examples of cloud management platforms:

• Rightscale
• Enstratus

Cloud Computing easily understood - SaaS

SaaS is simply software that I use for myself or my organization, but often with limited customization.
Characteristics of SaaS:

• SaaS customers are provided with login credentials (usually username/password) to the software application.
• SaaS customers are typically billed a fixed fee per month for that they use the software.
• SaaS software offers limited customization.
• SaaS software can be branded with a customer's own look-and-feel.
• SaaS customers usually don't need to install any software to use the application, a web-browser or mobile device will suffice.

Some every day examples of Software as a Service applications for personal use, small or large business, government or non-profit:

• Email, calendaring... - gmail, yahoo, or hotmail are all providers of email which a customer accesses using a browser with a login and password. (Companies that choose not to install and maintain their own email servers and software, can use email services such as gmail, Microsoft Exchange online and others).
• Productivity applications such as Word processing, Spreadsheets, presentations etc. Two examples are Google docs and Microsoft Office 365
• Financial applications such as online tax preparation and personal finance: example turbotax or quicken
• Customer Relationship Management: salesforce.com and sugarcrm are two examples used by small and large organizations.
• Enterprise Resource Planning: SAP and Oracle are two examples used by small and large organizations.
• Backup solutions: Backup files and data from servers, laptops and desktops to cloud storage, two examples: mozy and carbonite.
• Electronic Medical Records. Software as a Service to enable healthcare providers to access patient data via a browser or mobile device. Example: PracticeFusion
• Many others....

In summary, no software to to install, maintain or deploy but little customization available. Simply pay as you go...

Cloud Computing easily understood - PaaS

Platform as a Service is a cloud offering one level higher (see graphic in my first post). No longer am I dependent on the platform offered by an IaaS. I am not required to install databases, web and application servers. Instead I use developer tools provided by the PaaS company to to build applications. These developer tools could be JAVA, .NET, Python, Ruby or several other languages or tools. In my above example, if Tom instead offered Platform as a Service, it would be immaterial to me what server, application and database platform Tom offers. All I need are the development tools offered by Tom, so that I can then build applications, host them at "Tom's PaaS Company" and then offer them to my customers.

Some PaaS providers are:

• Microsoft's Azure platform
• Google's App Engine platform
• Salesforce.com's force.com platform
• Redhat
• Oracle
• Heroku (owned by Salesforce)
• Cloudbees
• Cloudfoundry

Are you ready for cloud computing?

Impressed by the lower costs and increased efficiency promised by cloud computing? You’re not alone. According to recent research, many businesses see the cloud as their top technology priority for 2011.

But just hold on a moment. While cloud computing might think it’s ready for them, not every business is ready for cloud computing.

Neil Cross from Advanced 365 explains seven key things to consider before adding cloud computing to your IT strategy.

1. Work out what you want to achieve and why

Every aspect of your business IT should be about improving how your company operates in some way.

It’s not about technology for technology’s sake. Cloud computing is no different, so make sure you understand what improvements you want to see after adopting cloud computing.

Consider cloud services alongside non-cloud alternatives and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each. Moving to cloud computing because it’s ‘the latest thing’ isn’t a good enough reason.

2. Understand your overall business needs – not just your IT needs

Many businesses decide to adopt cloud computing to make their IT systems more efficient.

However, cloud computing can mean fundamental changes to your IT infrastructure, so it’s vital the proposed changes are well-suited to your entire business. Cost savings alone are not enough to justify such big changes.

3. Prepare thoroughly before you start using it

It might seem obvious, but it’s surprising how many businesses don’t do this. Plan the introduction of cloud computing meticulously. Work out how it will be adopted, managed and monitored.

You can access ‘on demand’ cloud services in minutes with your credit card - this can be a good way to try out different options and see some practical examples of cloud computing in your business. However, this doesn’t mean you should become complacent about the planning required.

4. Make it less complicated as well as less expensive

Cloud computing won’t automatically work out cheaper than managing IT systems exclusively in-house. You’ll incur extra costs for accessing cloud services.

Additionally, things might get more complicated. You’ll have to work out how to manage your cloud supplier(s) and how to link the different parts of your business IT together.

Address both areas – cost and complexity – when considering cloud options.

5. Think about the risks

Carefully consider the potential risks of cloud computing, as well as the benefits. Will your data be held safely and securely? Is your chosen cloud computing supplier reliable and experienced?

6. Choose the right partner

Your choice of cloud computing supplier will be key to how easily your business can start using cloud computing. Don’t judge on cost alone. It’s far more important that your supplier can manage their services in line with your requirements.

Choose your cloud computing supplier with the same care you would pick any other key supplier. Check what level of service they guarantee, what support is available, how they monitor your service and – crucially – how and where your data is stored and protected.

Carefully check the hours your cloud provider’s support team is available. You’ll probably want to choose a provider offering 24/7 telephone support, so you can get things fixed quickly if there’s a problem.

7. Decide what service level agreement (SLA) you need

If you’ll be relying on cloud computing for crucial parts of your business IT, you need to be confident it can be trusted. For instance, if your customer database is in the cloud, losing it even for just an hour or two could cause huge disruption. A day or two and your business could be under threat.

Your SLA is a commitment to you from the cloud provider. It should guarantee you a certain level of availability for the service, and explains how quickly they’ll respond in the event of any problems.

SLAs are contractually binding and give you a performance guarantee you can hold your cloud provider too. Make sure your SLA fits your requirements.

The benefits of SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS allows end users to access applications with the use of a browser, while applications and relevant data are not locally installed (in user’s PC), not even in an internal infrastructure (a server located somewhere in the building).

Applications are hosted and data are stored, somewhere else, in the “internet/cloud”. This type of service, allows small or big groups of users to work in a collaborative environment, even if they are physically located in various places all around the world.

Though there are some security issues, there are many big companies that use it like, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, etc. In fact, almost all of us use a SaaS application like, Gmail, Google Docs, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Office 360, etc. Don’t you? Do you submit your Tax Declaration or Periodic VAT Report through internet? Do you trust your personal data in … who knows where (government or SaaS environments)?

Why?

Because there are significant reasons, that make these services so attractive. Here are some of the most profound:

Reduced Cost

SaaS software is provided with a “pay as you go” model that usually saves significant amounts or distributes the cost in the future. In some cases, especially in home use, the cost is eliminated (i.e. free email accounts).

Automated Distribution

No manual distribution procedure needed. A new version, with improved functionality and bug fixes, are automatically distributed to the end users, as far as the centralized software is updated.

Increased Mobility

End users can access information almost any time from any place. They can do it from their official workstations, from home, after working hours, during weekend, on vacations, etc. They can do it during new deal negotiations or during a new order receipt in the POS (point of sale).

Allows IT to Shift Focus

Many IT professionals believe that SaaS will “steal” their jobs. They believe that an application or data not located in a place where they can physically control, “is not a good thing”. Is it true? Is there any real risk? Only for those that have nothing else to offer. Modern professionals can be disengaged from daily rudimental activities and advance their innovation, becoming much more valuable than “system administration”.

Collaboration (Resources and Knowledge Sharing)

A key issue, especially for medium and big companies, with moving employees and a variety of external cooperators like, dealers, agents, lawyers, mechanics, POSs, etc. A SaaS environment, allows them all to have access in centralized resources and help the company to eliminate redundancy and duplications. An environment like this saves businesses time and money, while it increases overall control and reduces various risks.

So there are a lot of significant reasons that promotes SaaS model provisioning. These are also the reasons that balance relevant risks that drive companies not to use this model.

SaaS allows business to focus on what matters and not to worry about technology and infrastructure.

SaaS is the future; it will continue growing and will eventually overcome all other “old fashion” technologies and methodologies.

I challenge you to comment this article and provide additional advantages and disadvantages / risks for SaaS model. Let’s start gathering material and fabricate the most complete picture for this phenomenon, the SaaS.

Thank you, in advance.

Human Resources - The Most Valuable Asset

Is it true? Organizations really care about their human capital? Or this is just another moto?

In my opinion, this should be true. Organizations must realize that human brain and hands, emotions, inspiration, motivation, logic and all other relevant human characteristics are the ones that make things running.

Up until now, no machine can design or start producing by its own, no product can be sold automatically, no good deals can be established without human contact, thinking, negotiations, etc.

So, think well before you act, especially in crisis periods, what is your first priority? Minimize your "Most Valuable Asset" in order to minimize costs or try to exploit this asset with the most effective way? It is understandable that cutting salaries is an action with immediate result. The point is, is this the right way things should be done? Are dismissals cost nothing?

Finally, what is the smarter choice? Minimize payroll cost or maintain human power. I think that loosing your "Most Valuable Asset" is the same as loosing business power.

Think about it?

Is online accounting software right for your business?

It’s becoming very common for businesses to replace traditional software with online services which you log in to on the internet.

These services are a form of cloud computing. One area which is growing fast is online accounting software.

These services perform the job of traditional accounting software, but work over the internet. So, is online accounting software right for your business?

Online accounting software explained

Most businesses accept that they need some form of accounting software, especially if they’ve been going for a while. It can make it much easier to perform jobs like invoicing, and helps you keep on top of your record keeping.

A common accounting software set up is to have the accounting system running from a central network server on your premises. The people who need to use the system can then log in to the server to access it.

Online accounting software works in a similar way. The main difference is that instead of the data being stored on a server in your business, it gets stored on a server (or servers) which you access over the internet.

Pay by the month for online accounting software

That means, of course, that you need an internet connection to log on and access your financial information. But it also means that you can log in from anywhere (as long as you have an internet connection).

Using online accounting software can therefore offer more flexibility. You don’t need to be in the office to use it – you can catch up on your bookkeeping or invoicing from home or on the road. In fact, many online accounting software packages even allow you to log in from a smart phone.

Unlike traditional packages, there’s not usually a big upfront charge for online accounting software. Instead, you typically pay a flat monthly fee. This could be as little as £5, depending on what features you want from your online accounting software.

It doesn’t automatically mean that online accounting software is cheaper. But it does help to avoid big, one-off expenses – and with most services having no minimum contract, you can always cancel if it’s not right for you.

What’s more, the monthly fee usually includes all updates, upgrades and so on – unlike with traditional software, you won’t be forced to pay again when a new version is released.

Online accounting software helps your accountant too

Additionally online accounting software enables both you and your accountant to look at the same information at the same time but from different locations. This improves your communication and saves time.

One of the principal advantages of online accounting software is that teams working together have instant access to real-time data. It’s ideal for multi branch operations.

But is online accounting software secure?

Businesses usually have one main concern when considering online accounting software: security and backup. With your data stored on an external server, how can you possibly know it is safe?

The answer is to take the same security precautions you would for any cloud computing service. When choosing a provider, do your homework carefully.

Make sure your chosen online accounting software has a good track record of keeping data safe. Look for an ‘uptime guarantee’ or ‘service level agreement’ too – these promise that the system will be available when you need it.

Check for specific information about how and where your data will be stored. Ask the online accounting software provider how often they take backups and where they’re stored. If the answers to your questions are vague, think carefully before signing up.

Having said that, it’s worth comparing the risks of an online accounting software package with those of running software in-house. For instance, if you had a fire or server crash in your business, it could cause serious disruption.

When you weigh up these factors, you may find that using online accounting software will actually reduce the risks. After all, most small businesses have a bunch of assorted servers in an old broom cupboard and are historically bad at keeping back ups!

Cloud computing for business goes mainstream

Cloud computing has been an information technology buzzword for many years. Now it is going mainstream.

Bryan Kinsella has a problem. As chief information officer of business services provider Rentokil Initial he looks after a widely dispersed and mobile workforce.


Email is a key management tool but as the company grew it found itself with 40 different email systems across 50 countries for 20,000 employees, with another 15,000 staff offline.


Setting up a new single email system with a global server infrastructure would have meant a massive capital expenditure.


Instead, he settled on a "cloud" solution, rolling out Google's enterprise email across the company. It's saving Rentokil about 70% in expenditure, he says, with lower support costs on top of that.


The Cloud explained


But what is cloud computing? In the simplest of terms, it is IT-as-a-Service. Instead of building your own IT infrastructure to host databases or software, a third party hosts them in its large server farms. Your company has access to its data and software over the internet (which in most IT diagrams is shown as a cloud).


Cloud fans claim five key benefits:

• Cheap: your IT provider will host services for multiple companies; sharing complex infrastructure is cost-efficient and you pay only for what you actually use.
• Quick: The most basic cloud services work out of the box; for more complex software and database solutions, cloud computing allows you to skip the hardware procurement and capital expenditure phase - it's perfect for start-ups.
• Up-to-date: Most providers constantly update their software offering, adding new features as they become available.
• Scaleable: If your business is growing fast or has seasonal spikes, you can go large quickly because cloud systems are built to cope with sharp increases in workload.
• Mobile: Cloud services are designed to be used from a distance, so if you have a mobile workforce, your staff will have access to most of your systems on the go.

In other words: information technology becomes a utility, consumed like electricity, water, or even outsourced HR or payroll services, says Chuck Hollis, chief technology officer at information management company EMC. This year, he exhorts companies, "is the year to get your cloud strategy together."


Bear in mind, cloud computing is not new. Most of us are using the cloud already, through services like Hotmail, Flickr, Blogger and Facebook. It's business that has been slow in the take-up.


Using the cloud


For Bryan Kinsella, the cloud strategy is paying off at an enterprise level. So far his team has moved close to 10,000 staff on to Google's email services; another 10,000 will have migrated by the end of the year.


"We never went into this to get cost reduction," says Mr Kinsella. It was about "unifying the business... to operate and collaborate on a global basis."


Now he is rolling out Google Sites to share documents across Rentokil and create intranets for both the global company and its many divisions.


It's this easy scaling that makes cloud-computing attractive. Insurance giant Aviva, for example, moved all its enterprise content management and business intelligence tools online, using Microsoft's Sharepoint online service.


Logistics firm Pall-Ex can grow fast and cheaply by moving much of its IT to UK hosting firm Outsourcery.


Universal Music is using the cloud computing services of e-commerce provider Venda to roll out its online store model across Europe.


"It's so expensive to build a world-class e-commerce platform, no single retailer can build it by themselves unless they are the size of Amazon," says James Cronin, chief technology architect at Venda.


Competition boosts cloud computing


Cloud computing can be applied nearly anywhere: the small retailer that needs a secure e-commerce website quickly and cheaply; the ferry operator that has huge computing spikes in May and June while 90% of its IT system idle the rest of the year; the fire service that needs extra computing power to predict the movement of forest fires during the summer.

Cloud services range from fulfilling single business functions, say calculating payroll taxes, to outsourcing heavy-duty computing for complex 3-D modelling.

Many firms "have not moved significantly to cloud computing yet," acknowledges Cassio Dreyfuss at technology consultancy Gartner. But he predicts that "more dynamic" industries, "where business models change very fast, where competition is very hard... will move more quickly."


Right now, the cloud computing market is worth almost $2.4bn, says Gartner and predicts that by 2013 this will have grown to almost $8.1bn.


Get ready now and map your company's IT needs, says Mr Hollis. "If IT is your company's differentiator you may want to keep it in-house." But most IT is just another service that "can go the same way as other corporate functions like finance, logistics and manufacturing".


Storm clouds


Cloud computing is not without problems.


For starters, to be cheap cloud computing tasks need to be standardised. While traditional applications have many little-used features to cope with specialised needs, customising a cloud service costs extra.


For firms on a tight budget this may result in a few standard network solutions. However, it does not mean a standard look and feel. "I challenge you to spot that our customers' websites run on the same platform," says James Cronin at Venda. Plus most Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers roll-out newly developed features to other customers as well.


Usability is another issue. Some people, firmly wedded to "their" software, whether it's Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook, are reluctant to switch to plainer online applications. Rentokil's Bryan Kinsella counters that his migration team received few complaints.


Connectivity is another worry. The City of Los Angeles wants to move 34,000 employees to Google Apps, but there are complaints about speed and reliability - problems that may be rooted more in the city's internal network than Google's service.


But what if you go offline? Well, most SaaS providers offer resilient offline solutions. Microsoft - a late-comer to the cloud computing party - likes to point out that it offers proven offline applications like Microsoft Office that integrate with its new suite of online applications.


In cloud we trust


Security concerns are a much bigger issue. Will your corporate and customers' data be safe? What about data protection? Can you meet all legal compliance requirements?


"There are enormous security [...] and auditing risks that have not been addressed yet," says Gartner's Mr Dreyfuss.

"Cloud computing," warns a top expert for business security, "is the concentration of corporate risk in one single place."

Not so, say the providers of cloud services. "We put together multiple points of replication... multiple lines of defence... multiple levels of sophistication... that a single company just could not afford," says Jean-Philippe Courtois, the president of Microsoft International.


His words are echoed by all his competitors. Dave Girouard, the man in charge of Google's enterprise solutions, says "trust" is the issue customers raise most often when they explore whether cloud computing fits their business needs.

"There are now enough proof-points, enough track record for it to go mainstream," he says. "Company data are much safer inside Google than in a company's data centre."


Pushing Cloud 2.0


If Marc Benioff is not the high priest of cloud computing, then he's certainly its televangelist.

Eleven years ago he founded salesforce.com. Today his "enterprise cloud computing company" is approaching annual revenues of $1.5bn.

Its key product, a cloud service for customer relationship management, is used by organisations ranging from small charities to computer maker Dell.


For years Mr Benioff has been repeating his "no software" mantra, arguing that the old IT and business models of companies like Microsoft, SAP and Oracle are broken.


Cloud computing, he says, is a total revolution of how we use and pay for software, and it is spreading fast.


His company now offers services like Force.com and Vmforce.com that provide developers platforms to build customised cloud services themselves.


Once belittled by rivals, he now revels in the fact that they all compete to prove their cloud computing credentials.


For Marc Benioff, though, one cloud is not enough.


These days he speaks about the transition to "Cloud 2.0". Just as he once queried why enterprise software was not more like Amazon, he now asks why it is not more like Facebook.

Mr Benioff promises that new software like Salesforce's new Chatter will do just that.

"We are going through a major shift in computing," he says, where enterprise computing gets both more social (think collaboration) and mobile (think tablet computers, netbooks and smartphones).


Rentokil may be a case in point. Instant messaging software like "Google Chat has become a very powerful tool for us," says Mr Kinsella, while using Google's Android phones has made the enterprise software mobile. His new intranet, meanwhile, is getting a touch of YouTube: "We are using it carefully, but we now send out video messages to all employees, and they have the ability to comment."


Microsoft's direction is similar. It's new Office 2010 software, to be launched next week, makes steps to integrate both "social connections" and online services.


"People are working more and more from everywhere... home and workspace are merging," says Per-Olof Schroeder at Microsoft's Office software division.


Helpful downturn


Cloud firms are upbeat.


"The growth of cloud computing is phenomenal," says Fabio Torlini of hosting company Rackspace. "In the downturn all enterprises are asking 'what's safe to put in the cloud, and how can I save in the cloud'."


And there are other opportunities for growth. As connectivity improves, cloud computing can bring high-end IT services to developing countries.


Right now, says Google's Dave Girouard, cloud computing is just at the start of its evolution.


"All business computing will be more web-enabled," predicts Mr Dreyfuss at Gartner. "For some [companies] it will reach the point where it will be totally web centric."


Source: BBC news (bbc.co.uk (Μαυ 5, 2010))

Cloud computing: Privacy and trust up in the cloud

Fifteen years ago people carried their documents around on floppy discs, then many people switched to memory sticks, and now a few are turning to the cloud.

Cloud computing means the ability to access, change and interact with data on any platform with a net connection, including on smartphones.

These online services require no software purchase and installation and most run via a browser. Users can pick from the growing number of cloud-based offerings, such as Google Docs and Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Evernote is another system where various pieces of information, such as webpages, business cards and text notes can be collected into virtual and searchable notebooks.

But there are concerns that storing personal data on a server somewhere in cyberspace could pose a major threat to the privacy of individuals.

Phil Libin, Evernote's boss, said his firm offers a two-tiered approach to security.

"Premium users have all of their data go over SSL [encryption], kind of like an online banking site. Free users currently are sending data back and forth just over http - the standard way that the web operates," he said.

"Your username and password is always kept encrypted. We don't see what your password is, we can't unencrypt it - no one will ever ask for it," he added.

Trust value

Dropbox has more than four million customers who can upload digital content which is permanently synced across a number of their devices.

Adam Gross, senior vice president of marketing for the storage service said the cloud needs the trust of users.

"I think with any cloud computing service, it's important that the provider have a trusted relationship with those people using the service," he said.

He believes the cloud is "helping people keep their files backed up and safe and secure, rather than the old model where each individual PC user had to be responsible for it alone."

Mike Elgan from Computerworld.com warned users against being too trusting.

"Services say give us all your data and use the applications from the internet, and don't worry about anything, we'll take care of the security. It's a value proposition based on you trusting the provider," he said.

"What we've learned recently is that no matter how trustworthy the provider is, it's never as secure or bullet proof as you might think it is," he added.

Cloud danger

Unlike Dropbox and Evernote, some services do not synchronise data to personal computers and are based solely in the cloud.

An internet connection failure, or infrastructure downtime, is enough to cut people off from their files on these systems.

Many students have become heavy users of the free collaborative online tools that are based in the cloud. This has prompted some colleges to go as far as banning cloud computing completely.

Others like the University of San Francisco have to send out constant reminders that trouble on the net is unacceptable as a classroom excuse.

Chris Brooks, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco, said: "I'll tell students 'this [site] may go down, don't do your homework at the last minute. Just like the library might be closed at 2am on Saturday morning when you want to do your homework'".

"It's another way of learning responsibility," he said. "But I do think you have to be explicit with them that this is not always a 24/7 thing, so plan ahead."

Limited options

Not relying on the cloud entirely is one concern, but critics advise students to ponder on the physical location of their work, issues over ownership, and the rising fees for accessing it.

These factors may have to be taken into account by governments too in the future, and legislation could be needed to define new parameters for consumers.

Moving information to a virtual computer puts someone else in control of security, and there is an ever-present risk from hackers.

Mr Elgan from Computerworld.com said there was a lack of options.

"Keeping data locally or to manage all of its backup and maintenance yourself is also fraught with hazards. The hackers are going to go wherever the data is including on your own system," he said.

"The problems of managing an increasingly complex body of data is very daunting and that's one of the appealing things about cloud computing," he added.

Source: BBC news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8625625.stm)

Cloud computing to double by 2012

The UK will spend over £1 billion on cloud computing by 2012 - twice as much as today - researchers predict.

This would mean more consumers and businesses subscribing to web-based services, such as Google Apps.


Cloud-based services currently account for around 7.5% of the £8 billion UK software market, according to research company TechMarketView.


But others say cloud computing is hyped and will complement traditional desktop software rather than replace it.


"In the old days, big companies used to generate their own electricity. But they do not do that any more", said Philip Carnelley, senior analyst at TechMarketView.


"Software is going the same way - let others do the processing."


TechMarketView predicts cloud services will be worth around £1.2 billion per year in the UK by 2012.


"This is not just analysts hyping things up", says Philip Carnelley, a senior analyst at the company. "It is a genuine shift."


Cloud computing means that people do not have to invest in powerful computers and software to store their data.


Instead, they can outsource their needs to cloud companies, which charge subscription fees.


Hybrid evolution


But not everyone agrees that cloud computing will replace traditional software which processes data locally.


"The amount of cloud computing is quite small at the moment, so even if it does double that is not such a big deal", says analyst Laurent Lachal at rival research firm Ovum.


"The IT industry loves to concentrate on a topic for a few months and then turn against it. There will be a backlash by the end of the year."


Lachal does not dismiss cloud computing, but he thinks its limitations make it more of an add-on to software.


"It's becoming a hybrid system - for example you create your work on software on your PC, and then you save it and share it through the cloud."


Source: BBC news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8644110.stm)

Google persuades Spanish bank BBVA to use the cloud

Spanish banking giant BBVA is switching its 110,000 staff to use Google's range of enterprise software.

The deal is the biggest that the search giant has signed with one company for its cloud-computing services, where software is offered as a service via the internet.

The bank told the BBC it would use Google's tools only for internal communication.

But the deal can be seen as a breakthrough in corporate adoption.

Banking - with its high security needs and strict regulations - was always considered to be one of the last industries to accept cloud-computing.

BBVA's director of innovation, Carmen Herranz, stressed that all customer data and other key banking systems would "stay in our own data centres" and be completely separate from the cloud solution.

The bank would use Google applications like email, calendar, docs, chat, video conferencing and other collaboration tools to "achieve a cultural change" and get "the whole company working together" across the 26 countries where BBVA is based.

Ms Herranz said the project - with roll-out across all employees to be complete by the end of the year - was not about saving cost.

"The main goal is to promote innovation and making decisions and increase productivity. We are in a challenging market and need to make faster and more accurate decisions... and eliminate duplication," Ms Herranz told the BBC.

Also driving the change was the increasing mobility of the bank's workforce. A lot of the bank's computing needs had moved to smartphones, tablets, laptops and computers at home, she said.

Jose Olalla, chief information officer at BBVA, said because workers now had "access [to] the information they need at any time from any internet-connected device, anywhere in the world, [they] will be able to be more flexible and mobile".

BBVA is one of Spain's largest banks.

It is also the largest provider of financial services in Mexico, and has a large presence in the south of the United States.

'Largest ever deal'

Traditionally, companies have done all their computing on their own premises, to keep their data secure and to stay in control.

However, most enterprises leave some 80% of their computing power idle, and find themselves spending more than two thirds of their information technology budget on maintenance and software upgrades.

Cloud computing tends to be much more efficient, with firms like Amazon Web Services running their servers at more than 90% of capacity. That cuts cost and also helps the environment.

The man in charge of Google Enterprise apps in Europe, Sebastien Marotte, said that his corporate customers on average achieved cost savings of between 50% and 70%.

But the deal with BBVA, argues Mr Marotte, is important not only "because it is the largest ever agreement we have signed with an organisation, it is important because it is a very large financial company, it shows that now even banks are moving to the cloud".

BBVA's data would not reside on dedicated servers - a solution known as private cloud - but would sit distributed across the public cloud of Google's data centres. Both Mr Marotte and Ms Herranz stressed this would meet the demands of banking regulators and data protection officials, and be as secure as any solution on the bank's premises.

A bigger worry will be whether BBVA's computer network will be able to cope with the sharp rise in network traffic that cloud-computing solutions demand.

A pilot with 7,000 staff had not seen any issues, but the bank would closely monitor for any increases in network load. "Our biggest worry is around video conferencing," said Ms Herranz.

Network issues were blamed on serious performance problems when several years ago Google apps were introduced by the city of Los Angeles.

'Starting from scratch'

The biggest challenge for BBVA and other firms switching to cloud computing could indeed be cultural issues.

The bank says it has a training programme in place - including personalised guides - to prepare their staff for the move from their tried and trusted email solution and other tools to the new browser-based online world.

However, the bank encourages its employees to leave all their old email and data in those legacy systems. They will be accessible if necessary, but, says Ms Herranz, but we "want to start from scratch... don't want to carry across old behaviours".

"To move to the future, you have to leave the past in a box," said Ms Herranz.

Source: bbc.co.uk (January 11, 2012)

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