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What Factors Determine if Asia is Ready for Cloud Computing?

For cloud-services providers and businesses interested in integrating cloud technology into their business practices, it is necessary to understand if the required environment for cloud technology is available in their target market, specifically, what are the Asian cloud computing factors? In this article we will take a general look at some of Asia’s biggest markets to estimate if the conditions and infrastructure exist to establish high-quality cloud services. There is no question that cloud computing has become an important development in the Asian market and, according to experts, it will be one of the most important forces driving the market in the coming years. Between now and 2020, many experts predict that the value of the cloud market will double, reaching as much as $206 billion in value.

Mapping the readiness of the region

There are already organizations out there which are measuring the readiness of the Asian Market for cloud computing. One of these, the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) publishes yearly reports on the state of this market and its potential for development. The main purpose of these surveys is to find out whether there are bottlenecks that could hinder development in the future and to work towards fixing them to prevent rising costs as well as performance and implementation problems. Often, the obstacles that could limit the adoption of cloud technology in Asia are not merely technological. Legal and commercial bottlenecks may also exist and it is also possible for specific government policies to hinder development too.

To establish an effective measurement of a region’s readiness for cloud computing technology, we need to gauge several factors:

1. Reliability of access
2. Government policies and access to legislation
3. Data and physical security
4. Availability of intellectual property law enforcement and protection

Some other issues that can effect technological costs include data portability, interoperability, and regional vendors. Trust is also a very big issue which often comes into play. Customers need to be able to trust their service provider and the security measures in place to protect their data. Likewise, service providers need to be able to trust the government as well as the network’s infrastructure.  Building that trust will be a very important part of the development of the Asian cloud market. Consider GMO Cloud for example, as a trusted hosting brand in Japan. It goes without saying that the company puts great leverage on its security and the quality of the service that it provides.

Cloud readiness by country

Although there is no question that Singapore has the infrastructure needed to support a booming cloud market, data privacy has become an issue for many investors in this region. In fact, globalization has meant that data privacy has become more important for most businesses using cloud technology. In the Asian market, South Korea has the best data privacy measures, but there is room for improvement in data sovereignty and IP protection.

The main obstacle for Australia and New Zealand and their ability to join the global cloud computing market is their limited international connectivity, which results in problems with speed and data flows. Another issue for these two island nations is the relative risk of their data centers, which are currently comparable with lower ranked countries like Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Another point of interest include Thailand’s lack of specific government regulation on incoming and outgoing data. While most countries in the region have been making great strides forward in their cloud computing regulations and infrastructure, but Thailand seems to be taking steps back in comparison.

Meanwhile, India has advanced considerably in the last year but still needs to catch up when it comes to basic infrastructure and connectivity. Hopefully, the increased scrutiny on the Asian market will enable an open discussion between cloud providers and governments in the region in order to allow investors to fully tap the region’s enormous economic potential.

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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.

A Cloud Computing Architecture for E-learning

The Asian market seems to be tailor-made for cloud-based e-learning businesses. This is because of the huge availability of affordable computers in the region, the higher-than normal average broadband Internet speeds, and the large demand for educational content, specifically in the areas of language study and higher learning. The potential for cloud computing to transform education in Asia is enormous and may necessitate a complete redesign of the region’s existing education systems. The cloud can help us solve complicated issues more effectively, resulting in improved speed and lower costs.

The benefits that cloud computing can bring to e-learning

There are several reasons why cloud computing is ideal for e-learning applications. Here we take a look at some of the main benefits that a cloud computing architecture can bring to an educational system:

1. Some important benefits associated with the use of cloud computing in e-learning is raw computing power and a phenomenal increase in storage capacity that it affords educational institutions. With the ability to store data in numerous distributed computer systems and thousands of individual clouds, educational institutions get a boost that would otherwise have required an investment in costly, impractical infrastructure. Essentially, students can have all this computing power and storage space at their fingertips by simply accessing the Internet.

2. Perhaps the biggest advantage the cloud offers e-learning is continuous availability. The integration of enormous computing power and increased storage space means that e-learning services can vastly increase the quality of their service. With an architecture in place that allows automatic detection of a failed node and its automatic exclusion, this means that the e-learning system can be available for longer periods and with fewer delays and interruptions than systems in local servers or traditional data centers. Learn more about high availability systems and see how GMO Cloud has improved this particular feature by visiting the Features page.

3. Cloud computing brings higher security to e-learning systems. It is important to note that cloud computing’s reputation of having inferior security to traditional systems is entirely undeserved. Technological advances and a specific focus on solving security issues mean that cloud computing security is on par, or even superior to traditional computing architectures. The reason why data on the cloud is more secure than normal is because of highly controlled redundancy and specific management. By enabling managers to handle data across different machines and establish security protocols, security can be guaranteed for participating institutions and individuals. This is especially true if personnel is hired to carry out real-time security monitoring on the system.

4. One of the reasons why many institutions in Asia are attracted to a cloud-based educational system is the degree of virtualization that it allows its users. With cloud computing, physical platforms and applications do not need to be related directly. Virtualized platforms allow the building up resources by sharing and distributing more effectively existing servers, storage space, and networking capabilities.

5. Thanks to the increases in efficiency that this model affords, the costs can be kept considerably lower than traditional e-learning systems. With a cloud computing model, students in remote locations or with fewer resources than normal have access to high processing power at lower costs. While the up-front investment in the technology would require a higher initial cost, the long-term benefits outweigh these expenses by far.

Cloud computing enables interactivity in e-learning

With traditional e-learning, teachers rely on assigning tasks and conducting lectures. However, a cloud computing architecture allows teachers to answer questions and address specific points directly.

Students can also create their own curriculum and schedules and decide on the best learning plan for themselves. Group projects and cooperation among students can be carried out more effectively than with traditional learning. This interactivity is one of the most important demands institutions are placing today on e-learning providers and a cloud-based architecture is the best possible model to provide institutions with the tools they need to carry it out.

There is no doubt that the rapid increase in e-learning in the Asian market will drive changes in traditional education systems, and cloud computing will be a major force in the future advancements in this field.

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.

How Progressive is the Gaming Industry When it Comes to the Cloud?

While cloud computing has revolutionized the IT segment as a whole, the gaming industry specifically has reaped enormous benefits from innovative cloud technology. High scalability and low latency are the two important requirements for gaming. As the cloud offers highly scalable solutions with lower levels of latency, the gaming industry has quickly embraced this innovation, and the future of the sector definitely lies in the cloud.

The most recent E3 Expo, which would normally showcase innovation in gaming hardware, ended up offering nothing significant to gamers. The absence of new consoles underscores that the industry is looking at fully utilizing the resources of the cloud. Also significant in the cloud gaming segment is the acquisition of Gaikai by Sony. Gaikai has been a pioneer in the cloud gaming, and the acquisition will allow Sony to tap into that as well.

Another key player is Microsoft. And to add cloud-based power to its Xbox infrastructure, the company is recruiting some of the former staff of OnLive, one of the leading companies that made cloud gaming a reality. After Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai, many people felt that Microsoft would counter by acquiring OnLive and adding its services to its Xbox 720. However, this acquisition did not materialize.

Why is everyone moving to the cloud?

There are several advantages of cloud-based gaming services. For instance, competitive prices offered by the OnLive cloud gaming site enable users to enjoy amazing games. Users need not download 10GB of data before playing a game, but can simple save the game and access it again from another computer. They can buy daily passes or monthly subscriptions to play hundreds of titles. The automatic scaling feature augmented with low latency makes cloud games the ultimate choice for gaming lovers. All this is not possible with a traditional gaming setup.

Cloud gaming concerns

Current gaming infrastructure is not efficient enough to provide a rich gaming experience to users. However, gaming technology is changing gears. The new GeForce grid processor from Nvidia is specifically designed to improve the performance of cloud games. It combines the power of GPU virtualization and low-latency to provide the best platform for game developers.

Another important concern for the cloud gaming sector is speed. Every gamer does not have the required high speed broadband network to enjoy live streaming of audio and video. However rapid advancement in  telecommunication is sure to deliver high speed internet connections to everyone soon.

On the developer’s end – pertinent to scalability and low-latency features – they will need a reliable infrastructure partner, especially in key areas like security, fault tolerance, and support. To gain a better idea of these concepts, check out GMO Cloud’s High Availability Features section.

The amazing benefits of cloud computing technologies offer a perfect platform for game developers to unleash their creativity. With changing technologies, it is important to stay ahead of the competition.

Cloud-based gaming services are definitely the future of the gaming industry.

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About the Guest Author:

Kaushik Das is an engineer, research analyst and a technical writer in the areas wireless, IT, enterprise software, next-generation hosting, storage and renewable energy. He specializes in competitive analysis, market research, industry insights, white paper and actionable web content development.

Why Game Development is Better in a Hybrid Environment

Game development is a complex process. The life cycle of a game can extend for years and some may go on for decades. Some of the game development processes can be easily moved to the cloud whereas others seem to hit a roadblock. This is the main reason why development in a hybrid environment is growing at a rapid pace instead of comprehensive migration to the cloud.

Understanding the game development process

To understand the game development process, we have to divide it into several blocks.

Pre-Production

Storyboarding

This is the conceptual stage, in which writers and artists are primarily involved. Modern storyboarding can often involve people from various parts of the world, and such collaborative work requires robust tools which speed up decision making and enhance productivity. A cloud-based offering is best suited for this stage. We require an enterprise collaborative environment to enrich the process.

Creating a 2D Prototype

This stage is critical especially when game developers are seeking funding for their project. One must realize that 3D animation is both labor and infrastructure intensive, calling for an infusion of large investment. At the same time, 2D prototyping does not consume as much processing power or memory. For a startup prototyping in a cloud environment is ideal, and typically game developers work on several prototypes simultaneously and then pitch to investors. The cost of developing prototypes can be dramatically reduced in the cloud.

Production

Full Scale Game Development

One must remember that not all prototypes pass the test to reach the 3D development stage. At this juncture the need for extensive infrastructure becomes important. Game development by itself can be divided into several smaller processes: modeling, texture mapping, lighting effects, animation and finally rendering. Executing these processes requires extensive resources which can be accessed in a cloud environment. Rendering farms in the cloud can be very cost effective especially when the demand for the resources is elastic and fluctuating.

The main limitation in adopting cloud technology for rendering is the transfer of data. Since the amount of data transferred is usually in the terabytes, and the time required for this can sometimes negate some of the benefits derived from cloud infrastructure.

Post Production

Compositing and special effects are part of the post-production process, and here there is sufficient scope for using cloud-based infrastructure. The problem of data transfer through internet pipelines can be negated to some extent, since the rendering process is already completed.

Testing

Testing may seem like a tertiary process but in game development, this step is crucial. Game developers utilize the expertise of seasoned gamers, often scattered all over the globe. A cloud-based environment is perfectly suited for testing, mainly because of its multi-location features. You can read more about this on GMO Cloud’s Locations page.

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s pretty clear that some 3D game development processes are a great fit for the cloud environment while others are better suited for in-house infrastructure. Rendering farms in the cloud can only be effectively utilized if the data pipeline is robust. For this reason, game development may be perfectly  suited for a hybrid environment, rather than completely migrated all processes to the cloud.

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:

Sankarambadi Srinivasan, ‘Srini’, is a maverick writer, technopreneur, geek and online marketing enthusiast rolled into one. He began his career as a Naval weapon specialist. Later, he sold his maiden venture and became head of an offshore Database administration company in Mumbai. He moved on as Chief Technology Officer of one of the largest online entities, where he led consolidation of 300 online servers and introduced several Web 2.0 initiatives. He holds a Master’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication.

This Week in the Cloud [March 1, 2013]

This Week in the Cloud [March 1, 2013]

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

Network Based E-learning Market is Moving Towards the Cloud

From the time Compaq originally coined the term ‘Cloud Computing’, this new technology has been creating a lot of hype. Several industries have experienced revolutionary growth by implementing cloud-based technologies.

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E-Learning and the Asian Market

Experts predict that the Asian e-leaning market will grow tremendously before the decade is over. This poses a significant opportunity for cloud technology, often an essential component in providing e-learning services.

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Why Japan Continues to Use In-House Capabilities For 3D Rendering and Research

While Japan continues to see major advances in 3D computer graphic rendering, it has surprised many that this user base in not moving aggressively to the cloud. Research carried out by industry experts and by IT companies …

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Cloud-based 3D Rendering Farms and the Japanese Market

Large-scale 3D rendering of computer-generated imagery and video is one of the fields where cloud technology has allowed smaller companies to level the playing field. Just a few years ago, the capacity to render high quality …

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Bringing Business Intelligence to the Cloud

BI, or business intelligence, is perhaps the fastest growing sector in the cloud computing space. There is a reason for this. In some ways, cloud architecture is ideal for collating, analyzing and experimenting with data …

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