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The Demand for Cloud Computing in the Asian Market

Various companies in Asia have turned to cloud computing as a way of relieving their IT expenses and avoiding costly investments in infrastructure. While regulation in many parts of the region is still a concern, cloud computing represents an innovation that puts computing power and data storage capabilities in the hands of regular businesses at a level that had never before been available. Some of the most well known advantages of cloud computing include its cost efficiency as well as relief from maintenance and implementation of IT infrastructure. With an increased demand for computing power and data storage capacity in nearly every field of business, cloud computing improving at a very fast pace.

Demand is high, but apprehensions among regulators still exist in the Asian market

Developing countries in the Asia region, such as India, Vietnam, and to some extent, China, have adopted cloud technology enthusiastically due to the fact that it allows them to even the playing field with countries with more developed economies, skipping a step in the technology development chain. However, adoption of cloud technology has not been even among all countries in the Asian market. In countries like Hong Kong and Singapore there is still concern about regulation and government intervention, as well as data privacy laws.

Understanding the power of virtualization

Cloud computing is based on virtualization. Rather than having a processor, operating system, storage, applications, and memory all in a single machine, virtualization collects all of these elements in a virtual machine that can be scaled according to the needs of each user and only for the time needed. This means that all of these resources can be shared and allocated as needed between many users, resulting in an efficient and cost effective use of resources.

With the innovation afforded by private, public, hybrid, and community clouds, these kinds of computing pools can be adapted to the needs of different end users and businesses. Virtualization allows a company to save huge amounts in hardware costs and to complete computing tasks at a fraction of the time and cost that they would normally require. In the Asian market, demand for the cloud has been high in the areas of data storage, application development, and app testing, where there is a high need in several different business sectors.

Typical concerns about cloud computing in the Asian market

Of course, there are still issues with cloud computing that need to be addressed. However, the technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that concerns from even only a couple of months ago are are no longer such an important issue now. Analysts in the market have pointed out that some businesses may be affected by reduced computing speeds due to the virtualization of hardware resources. When running tasks that require a high amount of computing power, a lot of the code has been fine tuned and optimized for parallel processing architectures and traditional IT infrastructure. Of course, transferring this code directly to a cloud architecture will often result in the loss of these kinds of optimization measures.

However, it is important to note that this is quickly becoming a non-issue. A year ago, the performance penalty was about twenty times, but today it is only at two times. Soon it will become negligible. Regulators have also expressed concerns when it comes to confidentiality and handling of sensitive data. Fortunately, advances in encryption and security technologies have also improved this aspect of cloud technology considerably (check out GMO Cloud’s Security Solutions to learn more about this). It is important to note for cloud service providers, one of the key aspects that businesses will observe when contracting their services is their ability to handle sensitive data and isolate it and manage it at different security levels.

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About the Guest Author:

Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.

Social Media, Advertising, and the Role of the Cloud in the Japanese Market

If there is one field where Japan has been a slow adopter, it is in social media, particularly the Western brand of social media such as services like Facebook. While private users have eagerly used these platforms, businesses in Japan have been slower. This represents a huge opportunity for companies willing to take advantage of this untapped resource.

How cloud computing can help the development of social media platforms in Japan

There is definitely a rising trend in the adoption of social media platforms by Japanese businesses and it is clear that the next few years will see an increase in the use of this resource for market research and advertising. One of the reasons why the cloud and social media go hand in hand is because most businesses, even the largest companies, do not have the necessary IT resources needed to manage the enormous amounts of marketing data that are gathered through social media platforms. With the promise of virtually unlimited computing power and data storage, cloud providers provide an essential service for marketers.

Japanese businesses tend to move together when making changes to the status quo. Because of this, a snowball effect is likely in the future, when not only one but a large number of businesses will adopt the cloud for industry, marketing, and collaboration. Scalability is also a very large issue. In short, the inevitable adoption of Western social media platforms by Japanese businesses (or homegrown clones and variants) will result in a large influx of marketing data and a need for computer power. Cloud service providers will then step in to allow companies to take advantage of this, and it will also let social media companies adapt to the quick growth that the market will demand.

Advertising methods, marketing and the cloud

The digital age has made advanced marketing techniques and advertising cheaper than ever before. Conventional media advertising represented a huge percentage of a company’s resources before the advent of the Internet. Today, companies seldom use more than 15% of their expenses on traditional advertising, instead increasing their Internet presence. Now, companies all over Japan are fighting for turf on the digital billboard. In Japan, this is especially true of mobile advertising, which is growing even faster than Internet advertising.

Trends show, however, that Internet advertising may grow in the future as more consumers use Internet search engines to carry out their searches for products and services. Some of the most important benefits of Internet advertising include its cost efficiency, broad coverage, and quick effects. Out of all the forms of Internet advertising, search engine advertising is consistently better than banner ads and other kinds of marketing. This represents an important opportunity for cloud service providers because Internet advertising requires higher storage capacities, scalability, and wide availability. These three points are where cloud technology shines.

The role of the cloud in Internet advertising in the Japanese market

Few businesses are prepared to handle the huge amounts of computing power and storage needs needed for an effective online marketing presence. Japanese business values trust and good service very highly. A company must be reliable and dependable in this culture. Cloud computing promises businesses the scalability they need to keep up with growing demand and avoid interruptions of service and downtime. To gain a better understanding of this capability, visit GMO Cloud’s High Availability page to view auto-scaling and fault tolerance features.

The cloud will also be important in helping companies deliver advertisements that are personalized for each customer. While this would be prohibitively expensive when talking of traditional advertising or even digital advertising handled with an on-premises data center, it is considerably easier for a cloud-based advertisement model.

While businesses have been slow to adopt cloud computing, recent improvements in cloud security, data protection, and disaster recovery have helped assuage many business’ fears for the safety of their data. Cloud service providers have also been able to offer lower costs thanks to advancements in this technology and the improvements in Japan’s already stellar IT infrastructure. In the end, the bottom line will win out over any other concerns and, as Internet advertising and Western social media models attract more customers, cloud technology will also be adopted to deal with the increased data flows and management.

Be Part of Our Cloud Conversation

Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Guest Author:

Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.

Japan Scores High in Cloud Computing Readiness

The relationship between Japan and cloud computing technology is somewhat unconventional, presenting several interesting characteristics. One odd aspect of Japan is that it is considered as one of the countries best prepared to adopt the cloud widely in its different industries. This arouses interest because Japan has not had a history of being an early adopter of technology developed outside of Japan.

We have seen time and time again that the Japanese market adapts very slowly to non-Japanese technologies. One common example was the slow adoption of large Western social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Even today, these services hardly have the same kind of presence and market penetration that they have in Western nations. However, it is clear that Japanese businesses are adopting these social media platforms as they realize that it makes more sense to their bottom line. Curiously, the opposite has happened with cloud technology; while this technology was first developed outside of Japan, very few countries are as well prepared to move to the cloud as this Asian nation.

Determining a country’s readiness for cloud computing

There are several factors to take into account when evaluating a country’s cloud computing readiness. A number of organizations around the world study each country’s situation and determine what needs to happen in order to implement cloud technology. Often, adopting the cloud widely when the conditions are not there can result in unwanted bottlenecks, problems with service, and other issues that can result in a backlash against this technology. Some factors that are taken into account include the following:

- The evaluated country must have the necessary legislation to deal with data across national borders.
- The country must have a strong record of managing intellectual property rights.
- There must be strong laws in place against computer crimes such as the distribution of malware and data theft.
- The conditions to enable interoperability must exist.
- The communications infrastructure should be recent and use the latest technologies. Countries with communications networks decades old will probably not fare well in adopting cloud computing in their industries, government, and markets.

In all of the above aspects, Japan has outstanding rankings, making it a very attractive market for cloud services providers and businesses looking to adopt cloud technology in their operations.

Japanese data privacy legislation

Japan has had strong personal data protection legislation since 2005. It has clear provisions that differentiate the public from the private sector and also accounts for size, having specific provisions that apply to larger organizations. This legislation is compatible with similar laws in the European Union and, more importantly, with APAC. Every Japanese government department has a specific person or agency in charge of protecting data privacy, working independently and with no coercion from higher authorities. This is of course, reflected in every individual company’s terms and conditions and privacy policy. To give you an example, check out GMO Cloud America’s Privacy Policy.

Communications and computing infrastructure in Japan

Few countries can match Japan’s existing IT infrastructure. Broadband is widely available, with more than ninety percent of homes having upload bandwidths of over 30 Mbps! They are also aiming to provide optical fiber connections to private users for the whole country resulting in upload bandwidths of over 100 Mbps per household. This kind of IT infrastructure means that Japan would have the infrastructure to really take advantage of the cloud, with applications that would be impossible in most of the rest of the world.

The Japanese postal service is a good example of what cloud computing can achieve in a country with such an advanced IT infrastructure. Prior to 2007, the Japanese post office was having severe problems due to the high volume of mail that they were handling. Subsequent privatization of the postal service and a migration to the cloud solved the problem without interrupting the service.

By combining PaaS and SaaS they were able to scale their service to the huge demand, resulting in quality of postal service that is well beyond any other public postal office in any other part of the world, handling enormous amounts of data. More than 24 thousand post offices in Japan are connected to the cloud adding billions of records every day, a feat that is only possible thanks to Japan’s existing advanced IT infrastructure.

Be Part of Our Cloud Conversation

Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Guest Author:

Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.

Cloud Computing and the Asian Hedge Fund and Investment Market

Various hedge fund and investment firms have expanded their cloud computing capabilities in Asia in recent years. Through the use of private clouds, thousands of hedge fund professionals around the world have streamlined their operations, reduced their up front costs, increased their resilience, and improved their response time to market fluctuations.

More importantly, cloud computing providers have allowed smaller investment firms and independent hedge fund professionals to gain access to advanced, expensive IT infrastructure that is usually only available for hedge funds dealing with billions of dollars.

In today’s rapidly changing investment market which requires the fastest possible computing power to handle millions of micro-transactions, access to the necessary computing equipment is a must for these firms to stay competitive. Gradually, cloud computing has gained a hold around the world with hedge funds and investment firms, and the Asian market is no exception with a drastic shift in the adoption and attitude towards cloud computing.

The most important hedge fund markets in Asia, without question, are located in Hong Kong and Singapore. An important reason for these markets’ importance in this sector is the fact that they have access to high speed telecommunications and governments have friendly policies to financial firms and technology.

The Asian hedge fund market is peculiar in the sense that large funds tend to struggle more than smaller funds. This may be due to smaller funds’ increased flexibility and manageability, an important factor in the modern financial markets that require quick reaction times and efficiency. To deliver positive results and become competitive, firms in the Asian market are looking to streamline their operations and gain the flexibility and agility available typical of smaller firms, an aspect that is helped tremendously by cloud computing technology.

Cloud technology adoption among Asian hedge fund firms

Cloud service providers have an enormous untapped market in Asia, especially those that can deliver increased security and speeds. Most of the demand among financial firms and hedge fund managers is for private cloud services. There is no doubt that the potential is far from realized in the region. Regulations in different countries have led to vast differences in the levels of cloud computing adoption around Asia. Today, many companies are taking a cautious approach to the cloud, waiting for clearer regulations from governments and for a clearer picture of the benefits that the cloud has to offer hedge funds and investment firms.

What are the obstacles for cloud technology in the Asian financial market?

It is often difficult for companies to enter the Asian market due to its competitive nature and the importance of already established players in the region. This also comes from increased regulations in the West, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Many hedge fund managers have run into obstacles from regulations such as AIFMD (Alternative Investment Fund Directive) which have blocked them from attracting investment capital.

There are also differences in how firms do business, and hedge fund managers in Asia tend to be more cautious when it comes to making significant expenditures in infrastructure and technology at the beginning of a new business venture. There is still widespread ignorance when it comes to how the cloud works and unfounded concerns about privacy have also held many firms back from taking advantage of the many benefits of cloud computing technology.

These attitudes were common in the West only a few years ago, but today most hedge fund firms there have adopted the cloud in some form or another. This bodes well for the future of cloud computing in the Asian hedge fund market. Many aspects, such as expensive real estate and infrastructure have meant that hedge fund firms are looking to outsource many of their infrastructure needs. The most important benefits cloud computing has for this market include:

- Increased speed in operations
- Simplified IT
- Improved flexibility and scalability
- Disaster management and recovery

Be Part of Our Cloud Conversation

Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Guest Author:

Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.

This Week in the Cloud [March 17, 2013]

In case you missed it, here are a few notable stories posted on our GMO Cloud blog this past week, highlighting a few topics we focus on here at GMO Cloud. As always, you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook, or sign up for our newsletter updates here.

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Japan Tops the World in Cloud Computing 03/13

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How Japan’s Financial Institutions Have Embraced Cloud Computing 03/12

In recent years we have observed Japan’s banks have embrace cloud computing. The period from 2010 to 2012 saw cloud computing in Japan shifts from a simple buzzword into an essential element of Japan’s financial services …

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