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10.31.2011

With the advantages of cloud computing stated loudly all over the web, is it any surprise that Business Intelligence (BI) should be moving to the cloud as well? With its need for reporting and analysis and an ability to control costs, cloud computing has the flexibility to provide just what BI needs.

With the ability to provide customers with a platform that can deliver standalone internally facing reporting and analysis, as well as providing an application framework for reporting and a development platform for function-specific data analysis the cloud-based BI tools are ideal for SMBs.

There are a number of types of analytics and statistics that are typically serviced by BI systems. Some of these that might be considered for Cloud BI are:

• Traditional Relational databases, where they are the primary source data system
• Systems Integrators for assembling customer solutions
• Solving a function-specific data analysis problem such as supply chain analysis
• Giving SMBs web-based applications sophisticated reporting and analytics
• Project experimentation and evaluation at a distance for large enterprises

For a more detailed analysis on cost/operating models, architectural models and business models of cloud computing tools for BI, be sure to read the entire article here.

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10.28.2011

Obama’s New CIO Looking for Cloud Innovation

In his first talk since taking office, U.S. CIO Steven Van Roekel said that he is intending to go beyond what his predecessor did and look for innovative uses of cloud technology in government agencies. While still building on previous directions, the former Microsoft executive saw plenty of opportunities for the U.S. government to become technology-centric in its approach to solutions within agencies and between agencies.

His call to the private sector to be not only a part of the “Future First” movement but to help the government define it will give many industries a chance to implement and direct the kind of technology they want to see, and even perhaps be a part of it.

Dropbox Announces New Security Measures

DropBox, the cloud-based file sharing system that many SMB businesses have used recently announced a new service for more confidential files called DropBox for Teams. With enhanced encryption and two-level security, DropBox sees this as an answer to many corporation’s qualms about using the service for more confidential files. Seen as primarily a system for individuals or SMBs, DropBox is working on increasing security to attract larger businesses to it service.

Cloud Based Mergers – Who Benefits?

A recent look at the flurry of activity in the Mergers and Acquisitions side of technology shows a possible future direction for the cloud. But how does that affect your business? This article looks at what kinds of changes can be forecast and how many of the SMBs are going to be affected.

Symantec is Taking to the Cloud

Wireless carriers will be able to start providing businesses with options for controlling mobile access to their sites soon through a new Symantec offering. It will begin by having the initial product hosted in the TekMark data centers and begin selling the service in the following year. The application will be provided by a third partner that will run on a mobile device and communicate with Tekmark’s data centers.

10.27.2011

This past week at EuroGame Expo, Founder and CEO of OnLive Steve Perlman gave an interesting talk about the future of cloud-based video games and how the development and rollout of games on platforms such as OnLive may be the way all videogames are played in the future.

The OnLive service delivers over one hundred different video games to PCs, Macs, tablets and even to smartphones through high-powered custom servers that stream the video to your device. In other words, this is true cloud-powered video gaming. The input that the user makes during the game is registered on the device and fed back to the servers that control the gaming session.

The Technology

The true test, of course, is the question of latency. This is critical for video games and with OnLive it was pre-tested on over ten million different Internet connections in order to refine a new video codec to create streaming of 720p video at 60FPS with latencies of 50-133 milliseconds. In other words, exactly what you would get if you were using an Xbox or PS3 at home for a video game.

Another side result of the game being a video stream and not local game play is that piracy will be close to impossible to do as the user will never actually own a game, but simply accesses the video stream from the site’s servers. In addition to game play, the site allows users to see a live feed of what other games are currently being played, creating an arena where fellow gamers can be spectators as well as players. Viewers of these live clips can even “cheer” or “jeer” players as the game is played live to encourage combatants.

OnLive and Facebook

Another social aspect of the game that is unique to a cloud-based platform such as OnLive is offering is the ability to create “Brag Clips”. These are short ten-second clips of game play that users can post on Facebook or in the OnLive network to show off a particularly smart bit of play or an achievement. The game site NowGamer.com calls these clips “the YouTube of gaming” and this could easily develop into one of the hot items for this company. Because these clips, as well as the live action, are always available on the site, players interested in a game can preview highlights before making a commitment to a game.

Cloud Technology Makes Pricing Affordable

Pricing is an interesting setup for the company as users can access social sections of the site (live games, brag shots) and guests can try out a thirty-minute demo of any game offered, both for free. Some games can be “purchased” in a range of time-for-use models. But the service most gamers will want is a monthly membership that allows a member unlimited access to all 100+ games. This “PlayPack” option gives users the true advantages of cloud video playing at any time from any of the supported consoles or devices they register with the site.

Although the company has some improvement to be made when it comes to video quality (mentioned in just about every review read) the concept is so powerful that many feel this may be a whole new model for online entertainment. While the die-hard PC gamers may not be ready to give up their higher quality video, a whole new generation of gamers may build around the fact that one can jump on any time, not pay for a single piece of hardware or software and not have to invest in a whole library of games. Just as music entertainment is seeing mainstream adoption with cloud-based streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, the next level of cloud-based gaming may not be far behind.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.

10.25.2011

Whatever type of business you are, the decision to move a part or all of your business to the cloud is challenging. To complicate matters, there is always the question of which type of cloud you need to use: public, private or hybrid. So how does anyone make this decision? Here are a few things to consider when balancing out the needs of your business while looking at the various pros and cons for each of the three types of cloud hosting solutions.

Virtual Servers Benefits

As of 2012, Gartner is predicting that 30% of all enterprises will have moved at least a part of their business to the cloud. The capability to scale on demand to any capacity and to perform that scalability at will continues to draw more businesses to the benefits of virtual servers in the cloud.

One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing is the flexibility to ramp up or down according to the flow of traffic. Disk space can be allocated as the need increases and then released as soon as the demand begins to ebb, with great cost efficiency.

Virtualization gives cloud virtual servers the ability for replication. It also allows them to launch quickly and easily, allowing greater flexibility for IT management. With the growing popularity of viral campaigns, video and social networking, the cloud has become a vital part of any organization. Digital marketing initiatives can create huge divergent swings of traffic. With the cloud, companies have the flexibility during a new marketing campaign when they need more servers, to expand to the capacity it requires until the end of the campaign and then ramp back down.

In a private cloud, the growth of the business is not affected by a need to change platforms or architecture upon expansion. They can add capacity to accommodate the increase of clients effortlessly and automate resources dynamically. In addition, virtual servers can have the physical machine or hardware node segmented into smaller units allowing different functions or even separate systems to be run on the same virtual server.

This streamlining of operations makes virtual servers perfect for businesses that are on the move and growing. It doesn’t matter if you are an SME that is getting geared up for expansion or a large enterprise that needs to outsource IT in-house infrastructure management, or begin a national marketing program. You can simplify operations and reduce costs at the same time.

For some there is always the concern of security risks, but these can be allayed through the use of duplicate servers and firewalls. Your cloud host provider can create layers of redundancy with backup levels and even SAN configured in redundant pairs to reduce the security risks.

Cloud Security Concerns

There have been countless reports of how the major reason many companies have not yet made the move to the cloud is because of the concern for security. It has probably not helped much that the media continues to report security breaches by high profile brands bringing negative publicity to the cloud community.

Sony is a good example of this negative reporting, as early stories pointed to cloud-based security structures as the cause of leaked data. But there is no specific evidence to suggest that the cloud servers were at the heart of the security problem. And while it is true that there have been other security breaches in various cloud platforms, in the case of Sony and numerous other security breaches, the end result would have been the same if the server had resided in-house.

The main difference between an in-house server and a cloud server is that the cloud server is run across the internet. This does pose some vulnerability, but not one that cannot be guarded against in a similar manner as with an in-house server. Private clouds are the most secure as they can be fully protected and cloud clients can be assured that their data is safe.

Public clouds, because of the nature of multi-tenancy servers, do pose a slightly higher security risk. However, a discussion with your host provider can clarify the security measures taken and which cloud server infrastructure is right for your business. If you are concerned about the jurisdiction of the country where the servers that hold your data reside, talk to your host provider.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.