GMO Cloud

Disaster Recovery in Focus After Sandy

Super storm Sandy (of November 2012) highlighted the need for robust disaster recovery procedures. Luckily, there was sufficient notice of the severity of the approaching storm and most businesses were able to take adequate precautions. But that will not always be the case.

Quality of DR

One of the critical parameters linked to business continuity is the quality of your disaster recovery procedures. As businesses depend more on Internet, data has become more critical. A recent Gartner Group study brought out that 40% of businesses that lose data in a disaster collapse within the next five years.

Although cloud computing provides a reliable solution to disaster recovery, there are many issues involved. DR planning needs a DR look at the subject and not simply an IT perspective. You need to think like the military does – self sufficiency and being able to handle multiple threats becomes the key.

Cloud-Based DR and Testing

Cloud based DR has a number of advantages. If you follow a virtualized approach to your primary servers, OS and applications, software patches are readied as images that can create new instances in any data center on the planet. Similarly, transactional data (changing regularly every day) should be replicated in data centers away from your primary ones. Thus if a Hurricane Sandy-style event were to wipe out your primary data center, you have everything available on a different location in mere minutes.

Compared to on-site backup using tape or hard disks, a cloud-based DR site can weather even catastrophic events. You can also fine-tune your cost and capabilities to get maximum value for money. Many companies also use their DR site to take the load off their main site in times of excess demand, and also check efficacy of DR procedures.

Focus on Networks

With basic DR capability becoming reliable and affordable, the focus is now shifting to networks. This is one component of your IT infrastructure that cannot be outsourced or virtualized. Besides this, you need to be able to map your old IP addresses, firewall rules and VLAN configuration rules. As a result, data center operators are now offering complete packages for DR.

DR Site Requirements

When you opt for DR packages, check the physical separation between your existing data centers and the DR center. Some cheaper Greenfield data centers were built on land prone to flooding. One major data center publishes information dating back several decades to prove that their site is intrinsically safe. Companies must ensure their data center uses different grids. There are accepted standards and audits of your disaster recovery sites. If these audits are performed regularly, there is certainty that when the push comes to shove, DR will work.

DR becoming easier?

Prior to Hurricane Sandy, many small and medium businesses found it hard to justify the additional expense of a DR site. However, it has become clear that expenses on DR are an insurance policy that will need to be taken out. Worsening weather, global warming, terrorism and hackers are making it essential to think seriously about DR.

Catastrophes like these are inevitable yet cannot be used as an excuse for businesses suspending operations. Every minute they are inoperative represents lost opportunity. This is why GMO Cloud makes sure that networks are on consistent uptime, facilities are well taken care of, and your company is safeguarded against the effects of natural disasters.

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About the Guest Author:

Sanjay Srivastava has been active in computing infrastructure and has participated in major projects on cloud computing, networking, VoIP and in creation of applications running over distributed databases. Due to a military background, his focus has always been on stability and availability of infrastructure. Sanjay was the Director of Information Technology in a major enterprise and managed the transition from legacy software to fully networked operations using private cloud infrastructure. He now writes extensively on cloud computing and networking and is about to move to his farm in Central India where he plans to use cloud computing and modern technology to improve the lives of rural folk in India.

Japan Social Game Growth on Android and iOS

Japan is home to some of the biggest names in computer gaming with Xbox the only major non-Japanese brand in the market. Future growth, however, is moving away from consoles and towards social and mobile gaming applications. With the slowdown in the growth of console games and concomitant increase in the social gaming market, it is expected that social gaming will be the dominant platform by 2015.

When it comes to social gaming, the Japanese statistics are totally different from the rest of the world. For one, the games are mostly home-grown – it is impossible to make inroads in the Japanese market without localization and Japan-ization.

Localization is not only limited to changing the language to Japanese but altering graphics to incorporate Japanese place names and posters. Culturalization addresses the issue of being Japanese-appropriate. A straight translation of the game app might not take into account the Japanese culture in terms of in-game character behavior. Porting social media games to take advantage of localization and culturalization means the difference between guaranteed failure and a fighting chance. In most instances, getting help from a third-party experienced in localization and culturalization jobs would be the only path to follow before launching the app in Japan.

Besides the above, there is the issue with the gaming platform. Currently, Android and iOS platforms have snatched a combined 50 percent of the market for smartphones. The remaining 50 percent is composed of feature phones which are sold only in Japan, resulting in greater market fragmentation than the rest of the world. This may be a barrier to selling more games, but also an opportunity to have a foothold in the Japanese market. The key is to port the games to run on local feature phones. Normally, this would be a daunting task. However, since the developer would also need to reprogram for localization and culturalization, overhauling the program would incur merely a one-off cost.

Any developer entering the Japanese market should also have a partner as a conduit for promoting and accepting payment for the apps. These partners should be established companies which have a complete roster of games. Of course, the developer has the less burdensome option of simply licensing the app to these channels. The developer only needs to sit back and relax while the money rolls in. Small companies may find this ideal. Larger companies with more games desiring a larger presence in Japan might opt for a more hands-on approach.

The prudent game developer has to understand the major differences between Japan and the Western approach to mobile and social gaming. Developers must have a “man on the ground” for a better understanding of what they should both do and avoid.

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About the Guest Author:

Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.

Why Japanese Social Networks Are Best for Social Gaming

Stop press! The social gaming community needs to look at the large social gaming markets of Japan, South Korea, and other Asian countries. And user acquisition strategies on Japanese social gaming networks make for essential reading!

Western social gaming user acquisition methods

Western social gaming companies’ user acquisition engines leave us puzzled as to how they acquire new users. Rather than attracting gamers based on relevance, they rely too much on giving users incentives to invite friends. There are two fundamental problems:

 
1. The common user acquisition engine relies heavily on cross promotion among games. This strategy relies on making one hugely popular social game and then having that game’s audience play other games advertised heavily. Unfortunately, a botched release or unforeseen circumstance can affect revenues significantly, also making it harder to recover in the long run.

 

2. These games rely on going viral – on users inviting their friends. For example, a game will give a player in-game items, more play time, or faster leveling as a reward for inviting pals. However, virality is not the same as word-of-mouth advertising, seldom leading to sustainable gains over the long term due to its impersonal nature.

The methods listed above are entirely dependent on a social network. Using another network’s growth to advance your particular product is a common practice, but can backfire if your company is not helping the network that is providing your growth. For example, PayPal was helped tremendously by the growth of eBay, and YouTube’s initial growth could not have happened without MySpace. In both cases, PayPal and YouTube provided value for members of the underlying network.

How Japanese social network platforms are different

Japanese social gaming networks like DeNA’s Mobage Town (Mobage for short) and Gree are not based on real identities, meaning people are more likely to send out mass invites and cross promotion is actually welcome. Japanese social network platform models have always been mobile. Whilst many Western platforms treated social gaming as an afterthought, forward-thinking networks like Mogage and Gree provide users with a mobile gaming experience and a community of like-minded fellow gamers.

Our Japanese Social Gaming Clients

While increased traffic resulting from publicity on major portal sites and PR campaigns is welcomed, heavy server load generated by sudden increases can cause site delays or crashes for game operators. This represents not only decreased customer satisfaction but missed business opportunities.

A number of our customers are highly successful Japanese social gaming companies who choose our cloud hosting platform due to its flexible expansions and contracts. Our system allows them to automatically increase and decrease the number of virtual machines and server resources depending on traffic, according to the random timing of visitors.

Learn more about the high availability functions of our Cloud Hosting.

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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.

Small Business Innovation with Cloud Computing

Small businesses have been identified as the most unwilling adopters of cloud technology. This is due in part to the confusion the term “cloud computing” evokes. Some think it represents another complex process that may be time-demanding and expensive; others simply do not want to spend their time and hard-earned resources on a (literally and metaphorically) nebulous concept.

Intriguingly, though, a large number of small businesses have Gmail, which means they have already, unknowingly transferred their email service to the cloud. Some also utilize third-party storage facilities which are hosted in the cloud but which business owners have no knowledge of.

Obviously, small businesses have a lot to gain from using cloud computing. One of the great benefits is guaranteed continuous access by clients or customers. When a business moves its operations from one physical location to another, clients and customers must wait for a certain of period of time. However, cloud computing bridges this moment of transition and helps businesses keep their operations running. Business continuity guarantees that client relationships will be unaffected by the move.

Whether small business owners pay $50 a month or more to keep their IT infrastructure, data, email service in the cloud, they can still enjoy the rare advantage of gradually upgrading or scaling down their IT requirements, saving on bloated in-house IT expenses.

Most small business owners are still unconvinced that cloud computing can offer the much needed protection for their data/information. However, recent developments in IT security and protection reveal cloud computing to be more secure than managers of small businesses think.

Cloud service providers constantly look for ways to make their clients’ IT systems secure, accessible and continuous. Providing constant security to clients’ IT infrastructures does not only help cloud computing service providers to keep their customers, but helps their own businesses to grow.

If small businesses are not expected to worry about the cost of maintaining in-house IT systems or hiring, training and maintaining IT personnel, the money saved can be put to more productive use.

This is why, specifically, cloud computing has been regarded as a tool for business innovation. Cloud technology helps businesses identify new areas of operations as well as maintaining the status quo in their current business activities. Small businesses should take careful note.

One of the unique characteristics of GMO Cloud is its capability to adjust instantly to the demands of the user – on top of the base plan. This allows users to maximize whatever resources they subscribe to without worrying about wastage. Visit the suggested configuration page to see which one is the likely fit for your organization and see the pricing for further details.

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About the Guest Author:

Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/

Penetrating Japan’s Social Gaming Market: A Culture-Centric Approach

The Japanese cell phone market has always been tough to crack, boasting a large number of feature phone manufacturers and a unique phone feature set. Consequently, foreign-made phone apps have traditionally been at a complete loss. With the recent success of iOS and Android phones, though, the social game market seems to be opening up ($3.6 billion in 2011).

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:

Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.