GMO Cloud

Cloud Changes the Education Game

Cloud computing is making big waves in the field of education, spawning virtual learning centers, personal learning systems and distant learning programs. Yet another big difference cloud has made involves information durability, ensuring data can be stored in the cloud indefinitely, benefiting several generations over time. Slide sharing sites and video lessons on-line underline the ease with which complex concepts can be explained to students digitally. A lesson can be created just once and yet benefit students all over the globe.

Ever-increasing numbers of libraries are going on-line, with students from different countries already working collaboratively to generate new ideas. All of this is just the beginning of the change that cloud computing can bring to education.

A recent UNESCO report on cloud computing in the education sector makes for very interesting reading, discussing some less well-known benefits of cloud. These include:

• Low impact on the environment – Cloud computing enables educational institutions to reduce their own power consumption. Higher efficiency of cloud data centers lead to overall reductions in power consumption. Many countries also have legislation that sets targets for lower power consumption. Cloud computing is one way of meeting these targets.
• Focus on core business – Just as schools and universities do not have their own electricity generation and sewage treatment plants, it makes little sense for them to have their own computing centers. Since computing services are also becoming commoditized, it makes more sense for them to be delivered by professional computing companies so that universities can concentrate on education.
• End user satisfaction – There are clear advantages of cloud computing as regards end-user satisfaction. The range of services offered is increasing rapidly and one clear advantage of cloud computing over traditional methods is the constant upgrading of services and software. Students always get the very latest software to work on, meaning their work is always accessible to them. In fact there is a recorded instance of a girl accompanying her parents on a very long transoceanic cruise in a sail boat but still being able to keep up with her class by downloading lessons. The girl got all As in her exams.

In spite of the advantages, UNESCO is also quick to point out the areas where universities must be careful about the cloud.

A major concern is of course security of data. There is fear that sensitive student or institutional data could be breached. Reliance on a single cloud provider could introduce a single point of failure. However, should not be overly-concerning. Large financial and legal institutions regularly entrust their data to the cloud. The worry about failure is also overstated as cloud service providers give guarantees of up-times over 99%.

The fear that institutions could receive unwanted advertising can be eradicated by a well-drafted service-level contract. While selecting a cloud service provider, UNESCO recommends that institutions carefully evaluate the functionality offered. They must also see that the platform suits the applications the university intends to use and that the solution also supports tablets and other mobile devices. In addition to this, there could be some technical requirements that the solution is able to meet.

Negotiations for comprehensive cloud services should be carried out by regional or national educational authorities since they have better capabilities to negotiate and select services. Having many institutions use a common cloud service will also help in generating crossflows of ideas, which is afterall the very idea behind education.

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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.

Booming SaaS Market in Japan

For a relatively tight-knit market where penetration of outside and unconventional services rarely succeeds, Japan has already warmed up to the idea of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Based on a recent study of Gartner, the SaaS market in Japan is expected to rise to $495.2 million in 2012, a 16% increase on last year. Whether in the government or private sector, SaaS has definitely made an indelible mark in improving business operations in Japan leading to considerable growth in their respective markets.

SaaS is particularly appealing to the Japanese due to its ease of use and customization features. Japan has always been a driving force in technology, especially in the Asia-Pacific market, and keeping ahead of its competitors means deploying the latest IT systems possible. What could be more advanced than an online-based system? Another factor is SaaS’s capacity to lower expenses compared with traditional hardware and software systems. With SaaS, Japanese companies are able to control their costs with competitively priced applications which are on a subscription-based fee.

After the unfortunate tsunami of 2011, local businesses began searching for alternative means to support operations in case another disaster struck. The diversity and flexibility of the SaaS make it one of the better options for business preservation in times of disaster. Companies wanting to offer their own on-demand software must still jump a number of hurdles before triumphing in this exclusive and hard-to-convince market.

The Japanese most welcome an offered service and accompanying marketing if they clearly understand what you are selling and saying. Thus, if you have a website, manual, or social networking account, you should hire a good translator or communication specialist to get your message across. If budget allows, make sure to have a competent Japanese team on your side who knows the market.

The Japanese also respond more positively to personalized services. Japanese consumers feel more valued when service providers directly interact with them as if they were their real friends. Timely responses offered in a courteous manner always give off the right vibe.

A marketing scheme is always a priority when breaking into a new market. If you want your SaaS product to be noticed, research the channels to saturate. When it comes to Japan, social media is a definite gateway to promote your product. With Facebook and Twitter booming in the market, you can take advantage of these networking sites – without overdoing it. Introducing prizes or freebies for signing up to your service could also lead to more users. It will attract more customers who shall then spread the word about your product – a practice known as “kuchi komi” which proves frighteningly effective in this tight-knit country.

There are indeed grand opportunities for SaaS providers wanting to infiltrate this previously-closed market. If approached the right way, you can gain more in Japan than you initially expected.

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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.

US$94M Digital Malaysia Initiative: How Cloud Computing Creates Opportunities

In October 2011, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched a rare Digital Malaysia Initiative (DMI) meant to turn this South-East Asian country into a hub for e-commerce activities. This giant, one-of-a-kind project aims at creating an initial 160,000 high-value jobs by 2020 and subsequently increasing the per cent of the IT sector’s contribution to GNI by about 17%.

This information hints at bright prospects for IT investment in Malaysia in the coming years. Interestingly enough, the projected success of Digital Malaysia Initiative is entirely pinned on Cloud Computing technology.

DMI is primarily designed to foster rapid growth in areas of online education, e-commerce and mobile technology. It also aims to enhance e-payment among small- and medium-scale businesses, evolution of e-entrepreneurs, and coordination of Internet-based business activities, guaranteeing higher productivity and creating jobs.

With this explosive scale of digital adventures, Digital Malaysia Initiative should bring about strategic changes and challenges to the Information Technology processes in Malaysia. Some of the unavoidable challenges will include:

1. Dealing with an unprecedented increase in the volume of data produced;
2. Guaranteeing optimum performance or efficiency of the IT industry and its numerous diversifications;
3. Maintaining a culture of cost-efficiency;
4. Guaranteeing security and data-protection.

For Malaysia to become the center of Asia’s e-commerce, it must devise appropriate mechanisms for dealing with large generation of sensitive data that will require safe and flexible storage facilities. Online education, e-payment systems, e-entrepreneur activities, e-government procedures and e-commerce operations will all require the kind of efficient storage facility provided by Cloud Computing. Storing time-sensitive and highly confidential data through cloud technology provides the flexibility and scalability most e-business operators desire. And if firms’ storage requirements increase in the near future, they can request larger storage space.

Digital Malaysia Initiative is centered on the premise that cloud computing will play a significant role. This dream is achievable if Malaysian business owners pay serious attention to the potential gains from adopting cloud technology. Apart from leading to dramatic cuts business running costs, cloud computing will also necessitate business continuity and safeguard or protect sensitive data.

DMI also provides opportunities for Western IT firms wishing to actively participate in the Asian IT market. One of the reasons the Malaysian Government supports Digital Malaysia Initiative is to provide a level-playing field for foreign investors. This is the best time for such investors to check out the benefits of DMI for business expansion. Furthermore, Malaysia has long been regarded as a vibrant home to foreign companies such as IBM, Shell, Nestle, Sony, PricewaterCoopers.

Cloud computing will continue to make inroads into Asian economies, with Malaysia leading the campaign. The 21st century has generally seen rapid development in Asia, with China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia leading the pack in IT sector development. This trend will seemingly continue.

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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/

Unique Challenges Face Japanese Social Media and Technology Start-up Companies

There are several factors that make Japan a particularly difficult environment for fledgling companies in social media and technology sectors. Although this has been especially true in the last decade, many experts believe that cloud technology and the many social media breakthroughs in recent years could allow Japan to regain its leadership in technological innovation.

Japan has been looking towards Silicon Valley for inspiration

Some of the most successful programs in recent years have involved learning from Silicon Valley in order to enable a better environment for tech start-ups. While talent and infrastructure are undoubtedly available, new ways of thinking may require getting used to in order to motivate entrepreneurs and innovators. Important concepts Japanese social media and tech companies should embrace to improve innovation include better design thinking, more agile development, consumer-focused product design approaches, and mastering the art of prototyping. Of course, learning to pitch ideas to venture capitalists and investors is also an essential part of any start-up.

Venture capital and Japan

One of the factors that start-ups in Japan will need to focus on is gaining access to venture capital. This is a specific challenge to Japan because, compared to other countries such as the United States, Japan has a lower proportion of venture capital. In fact, the conservatism of Japanese venture capitalists contrasted with the innovative ideas of exciting young start-ups make Japan a very attractive option for venture capitalists and investors from the rest of the world. Due to the lack of competition, there are many promising young companies with great ideas that require financial backing today. One of the reasons why Japanese start-ups in the tech sector tend to struggle is because of the need for a relationship that is the backbone of Silicon Valley: mentorship. Successful tech entrepreneurs in the West will often want to share their experience with the new generation in the form of a mentor-protege relationship. Unfortunately, this is still a relatively new concept in Japan.

The winning formula for a successful start-up social media or tech company in Japan

The fact is that funding and mentorship should be integrated for best results. Because of that, one of the keys to starting up a successful tech-sector company in Japan is finding financial backing and mentors from international sources. While recent years have seen a rise of these in Japan, there is still more that can be done to foster a more competitive, propitious environment for tech start-ups in Japan, particularly in the social media sector, where the Japanese market is among the most lucrative in the world.

Another important challenge for fostering a healthy environment for innovation in Japan will also involve building a community. Finding a way for tech entrepreneurs to communicate, support, and work together will be one of the most important ways of taking the Japanese tech sector to the next level. After all, innovation seldom happens in a vacuum. A complicated ecosystem is necessary in order to foster the necessary conditions for fresh new ideas and start-up companies willing to bring new ideas to the market. This is especially true in areas like cloud computing and social media, where innovation is measured in days and weeks due to the fast-moving nature of these markets. For starters, you will need to know the local environment and how players in this industry, and in this country communicate and conduct business. One valuable research that GMO Cloud provides is a presentation of the Japanese Gaming Market. Take a look at this presentation and learn more about the trends and forecasts.

Apart from mentorship, it will also be necessary to find ways to take products that are highly localized for Japanese social media idiosyncrasies, and re-calibrate them for the worldwide market. While we’ve seen this can be successfully applied to sectors such as game development, there are still many areas in social media where finding ways to create worldwide appeal have not been found.

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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.

The Intriguingly Complex World of Mobile Gaming

A start-up firm is “tabula rasa” by nature, and one of its major advantages is the potential for great opportunities. Though well-established at our home base in Japan, we still count ourselves as newbies when it comes to markets outside of Japan. Resources are ready, support is there, but now our primary aim is to find the market that will greatly benefit from our services.

Learning from Japan’s Gaming Giants

One of Japan’s undeniably lucrative industries is the social gaming market; in the global gaming scene, Japan has captured a 10% share amounting to $6.5B. Web, mobile and social gaming independent consultant, Dr. Serkan Toto imparts, in an informative presentation, the reasons behind a huge social gaming presence in Japan. Aside from the country having a 99% 3G penetration, platforms such as Gree and Mobage are pre-installed in handsets and ease of payment is prioritized – thus providing a sound customer experience.

The US Gaming Scene – Where are they now?

Not far behind is the US social gaming market. According to the Casual Games Report 2012, 77.9 M Americans played social games in 2012, a 20 M increase from 2010′s 57 M.

There is, however, the question of reconciling the two nations in terms of the gaming industry. You would notice that there is little to no traction between the two, and here is what we found out about the “gaming world’s backstage” -

US-based game developers prefer selling games directly to the English-speaking market. To cover ground, they sell the rights to their games to a Japanese party instead. This Japanese firm will then take care of localization (which could take anything from 2 weeks to 2 months) and marketing of the game. This is, however, very costly as reportedly, it costs approximately $300,000 to buy the rights to a single game title. On top of that, royalties need to be paid.

This is now the reason why Japanese publishers prefer to purchase rights to games from China and Korea, which are less expensive and maybe more appealing to the Japanese market. Suffice to say that certain opportunities for US game developers to profit from the Japanese market remains untapped. And perhaps the Japanese market is not provided with enough opportunities to full appreciate US-developed games.

On a wider scale, it is not only the Japanese market that US game developers can try to penetrate. There is a bigger coverage for their market. Studies say that Asia-Pacific countries are highly influenced by social media.

It is certainly a challenge. There are indeed obstacles that are not easy to overcome. But with the right medium, proper communication and, of course, stable infrastructure, a US game developer can easily get through to the Japanese gaming market. GMO Cloud has prepared a presentation on the Japanese Gaming Market, its history, trends and what the foreseeable future is. Gain a better understanding of the market, visit this link and browse through the presentation.

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