How cloud computing - and other new technology - could lead to the destruction of humanity

Back in 2000, technologist Bill Joy, one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems, penned a feature for Wired magazine that caused a storm. Although Joy could boast a CV packed with technology breakthroughs, "Why the future doesn't need us" saw him cast as a neo-Luddite.

In it, he postulated that far from ushering in an age of comfort and leisure, new and advanced technology posed a potential threat to humanity. He cited nanotechnology with "uncontrolled replicators", genetic engineering, and robotics, to name just three, that separately or collectively posed a mortal threat to humanity if mis-used or mis-applied.

If Joy were writing the same article today, he would no doubt add cloud computing to the list of threats: networks of servers controlled by a small group of companies - which will only get smaller with consolidation - that will increasingly communicate with each other so that organisations can run applications across disparate clouds.

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A Strategist’s Guide to the Internet of Things

The digital interconnection of billions of devices is today’s most dynamic business opportunity.

Post by Frank Burkitt

Humanity has arrived at a critical threshold in the evolution of computing. By 2020, an estimated 50 billion devices around the globe will be connected to the Internet. Perhaps a third of them will be computers, smartphones, tablets, and TVs. The remaining two-thirds will be other kinds of “things”: sensors, actuators, and newly invented intelligent devices that monitor, control, analyze, and optimize our world.

This seemingly sudden trend has been decades in the making, but is just now hitting a tipping point. The arrival of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) represents a transformative shift for the economy, similar to the introduction of the PC itself. It incorporates other major technology industry trends such as cloud computing, data analytics, and mobile communications, but goes beyond them. Unlike earlier efforts to track and control large systems, such as radio-frequency identification (RFID), the Internet connection gives this shift almost limitless versatility. The IoT also opens a range of new business opportunities for a variety of players. These opportunities tend to fall into three broad strategic categories, each reflecting a different type of enterprise:

“Enablers” that develop and implement the underlying technology

“Engagers” that design, create, integrate, and deliver IoT services to customers

“Enhancers” that devise their own value-added services, on top of the services provided by Engagers, that are unique to the Internet of Things

How will your company build value in this new world? That will depend on the type of business you have today, the capabilities you can develop for tomorrow, and, most of all, your ability to understand the meaning of this new technology.

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The Perfect Dev/Test Lab: 10 Principles that make it Possible

Hyper-agility in software development requires infrastructure and automation that not only keeps pace with development processes but actually helps accelerate cycles and improve overall quality. It is arguably economically infeasible to build an ideal lab entirely on-premise due to the bursty and transient nature of dev/test workloads, but now with new technologies that normalize the clouds, hyper-agile development and test is increasingly within reach of most enterprises. The 10 ingredients listed below and described in the article at can make for dev/test lab nirvana.

1. Agile dev/test has bursty patterns and requires practically infinite pool of infrastructure resources
2. Developers should have self-service access to infrastructure
3. Ability to test on replicas of production
4. Infrastructure should be automated at the application level
5. Continuous integration – from application to infrastructure
6. Easy collaboration between dev and test teams across locations
7. Ability to reproduce bugs
8. Rapid prototyping
9. Ability to monitor usage of resources
10. Cost efficiency
11. Bonus: Extreme Testing

10 companies that are deriving ROI from cloud

Considering the numerous benefits of the cloud model like cost flexibility, business scalability, and ecosystem connectivity, a number of Indian enterprises are evaluating the technology and are preparing to jump on the cloud bandwagon. In fact, according to a recent survey by VMware, 79 percent respondents in India said they currently have a cloud-related initiative in place within the organization or are planning to implement cloud or 'as-a-service' approach, in the next 12 months.

Let’s take a look at 10 Indian companiesacross various sectors that are frontrunners in cloud adoption and are already deriving business value from cloud.

1. Hexaware: Unleashing the true potential of cloud with significant cost savings

2. Zovi: Saves USD 200,000 of annual operating expenses due to cloud

3. Narayana Hrudayalaya: Fuelling growth, resilience with the cloud

4. Maharashtra Government: Shows power of cloud with savings of Rs 50 crore

5. Infosys: Using cloud for infrastructure optimization

6. Essar Group: Demonstrating the real power of cloud with superb ROI

7. Maruti Suzuki: Empowering dealers using cloud

8. Thermax: Cloud brings flexibility, security and outreach to remote locations

9. MPS: Saves USD 150,000 per year by moving to the cloud

10. Future Group: Private cloud brings down maintenance costs by 20-40 percent

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Cloud pricing models

Pricing models for cloud services are evolving, and range from free and ad-based models to pricing based on volume, transaction, or user.

For example, a cloud service provider may opt to provide a basic level of service for free, with premium upgrades. This "freemium" model reduces barriers that customers may have in trying out the software. Once they've started to derive some business value from it, customers are likely to consider upgrading to a paid version of the solution. Usage-based or transaction-based models also closely map to value. Transaction pricing and paying per unit of measure may not be applicable for every application, but sophisticated billing, provisioning, and metering techniques enable cloud providers today to offer more flexible pricing models

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Executive Guides

The Executive’s Guide to BYOD and the Consumerization of IT

Executive’s Guide to Best Practices in SaaS and the Cloud

Executive’s guide to the evolution of enterprise software

Executive’s guide to software-defined networking

The Executive’s Guide to the Internet of Things

The Executive’s Guide to Windows 8

A checklist for stepping into Cloud

Before implementing cloud, it is important for a business to take a close look at its existing IT infrastructure, practices and technologies. Few things to keep in mind while migrating to cloud are:

1.Partnering with the right cloud vendor

2.Is the cloud adoption really necessary?

3.Architectural Considerations - Adopting the right cloud model

4.Establish trust for data security

5.Compliance with SLA

6.Interoperability

7.Scaling

8.Upgrade and maintenance schedules

9.Legacy-to-Cloud Migration Planning

10.Enabler ecosystem

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10 Industries That Will Gain From Adopting The Cloud

Cloud computing, or ‘cloud’ as it is popularly known as, is the latest trend in the computer world. Everyone is talking about it and everyday new developments are coming in. Cloud computing is like a huge switchboard; when you need a power outlet, just plug in your device; and when you are done, remove it. You do not have to carry a switchboard or an adapter with you everywhere.

Therefore, the switchboard becomes a ‘service’ given to you at a cost or for free (depending on the vendor). Without doubt, cloud computing is here to stay, and more and more industries are joining the vast virtual world. Let us look at ten industries that will gain from adopting the cloud.

1. Education
2. Marketing Companies
3. Online Entertainment
4. Healthcare
5. Information Technology
6. Finance and Banking
7. Telecommunication
8. Hospitality Industry
9. Start-ups
10. Security

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Video: Google Compute Engine -- Introduction & Technical Details

GCE: Introduction: This one hour video provides an into to "Google Compute Engine" GCE, a new virtual machine based cloud technology for large scale data processing and analytics workloads. GCE allows the world to leverage the scalability and power of Google's data centers to run computationally intensive jobs.

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Access the Session presentation in pdf format

GCE: Technical Details: This one hour+ video session will provide an in depth overview of Google Compute Engine. Google Compute provides Virtual Machines optimized for large scale data processing and analytics. We will dive into the core concepts, API, unique features and architectural best practices in the context of concrete examples.

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7 Lessons on Cloud Security

Though the benefits of the cloud to business are several in number, many organizations are still hesitant to leverage it for business growth, thanks to various misconceptions on cloud security. Here's our guide that gives you a better understanding on the topic.

1. What You Really Need to Know about Cloud Security
2. Cloud Security: Ten Questions to Ask before You Jump in
3. Top Five Key Cloud Security Issues
4. Cloud CIO: The Two Biggest Lies About Cloud Security
5. 10 Ways to Ease Public Cloud Security Concerns
6. Cloud Computing Tools: Improving Security through Visibility and Automation
7. Security in the Cloud is All about Visibility and Control

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Gartner: How Big Trends in Security, Mobile, Big data and Cloud will Change IT

When you go to a Gartner conference one of he main things you'll notice is the sheer volume of data they can generate on just about any IT topic. The recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., was no different. The conference, attended by some 9,000 executives focused on the changes security challenges, mobile computing, big data and cloud will be bringing to IT in the near future.

Trying to get through it all can be daunting so we've tried to simplify that process by distilling a variety of Gartner ITxpo presentations and coming up with the most salient information.

So here goes. From the Gartner analysts, presentations on:

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10 Enterprise Cloud Storage Options

The topic of cloud storage stirs debate in even the sanest of conversations. But, even the most anti-cloud naysayer will agree that the cloud is an excellent choice as a disaster recovery (DR) solution. Providers understand that their clients need security, redundancy and reliability. Cloud storage companies also know that there is a lot of cloud-based fear, and most offer a staged approach to moving to cloud storage, from archive to online backup to live storage.

Many providers sell their services as a "replace the tape" strategy for businesses. And, they make it very enticing to do so by comparing costs, hassles and reliability numbers. Cloud-based backup and storage are compelling when you put pencil to paper and see the numbers for yourself.

This list of 10 cloud storage providers will give you a sense of some of the key players and their options for cloud-based storage. The list is in no particular order.

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Info-graphics: A buyer's guide to cloud apps

This infographic (courtesy of Veracode) offers a snapshot of the cloud application market, the primary purchasing decisions that must be addressed, and a general feel for the data protection issues that concern would-be buyers.

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WorkShift: The future of the office

Technology has ushered in new business paradigms and great changes in the workplace. As technology further evolves, the 'work' and 'office' as we know them become even more fluid and constantly in a state of flux. This paper discusses the future of the office and how enterprises are coping with the changes.

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Cloud computing: What does it really mean for IT jobs?

As adoption of cloud computing services takes off, some argue demand for certain IT jobs will all but disappear.

Just as manual labourers were replaced by the machines of industry in the 19th century so certain IT roles will be swept away by cloud computing.

That’s the argument put forward by Gartner research director Gregor Petri - who believes that many roles managing IT infrastructure will all but disappear.

Manual management of IT infrastructure - for instance provisioning additional storage, servers or network capacity for a particular application - will increasingly be automated as software layers in the cloud automatically divert IT resources to where they are needed, he said.

“It is very much like industrialisation,” he said.

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The 8 Most Important Skills Needed for Cloud Computing Today

The constant promise we hear about cloud computing is that is supposed to lift many of the burdens of information technology management away from companies, and out to some service provider. However, the promise is always a lot sweeter than the reality. And that reality is that new types of skills are required to successfully manage today’s cloud environments.

For one, many clouds are internal to organizations, developed, hosted and managed by IT or another part of the enterprise – thus requiring many of the same skills that an Amazon Web Services or IBM need to keep their offerings going.

Second, for those organizations adopting much of their IT power from third-party providers, there is still a need — or even greater need — for people who know what services to pick, can negotiate service level agreements, and can integrate those off-site offerings with on-site data and operations.

So, either way, cloud computing calls for a range of new skills. Here are the eight essential skills needed:

Business and financial skills
Technical skills
Enterprise architecture and business needs analysis
Project management skills
Contract and vendor negotiation
Security and compliance
Data integration and analysis skills
Mobile app development and management

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Virtualization and Cloud Computing: Optimized Power, Cooling, and Management Maximizes Benefits

IT virtualization, the engine behind cloud computing, can have significant consequences on the data center physical infrastructure (DCPI). Higher power densities that often result can challenge the cooling capabilities of an existing system. Reduced overall energy consumption that typically results from physical server consolidation may actually worsen the data center’s power usage effectiveness (PUE). Dynamic loads that vary in time and location may heighten the risk of downtime if rack-level power and cooling health are not understood and considered. Finally, the fault-tolerant nature of a highly virtualized environment could raise questions about the level of redundancy required in the physical infrastructure. These particular effects of virtualization are discussed and possible solutions or methods for dealing with them are offered.

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Five things you can do to avoid paying too much for cloud services

While cloud computing has many benefits for businesses - such as increased flexibility - the biggest reason companies are moving to the Cloud is to help lower IT costs.

In a survey conducted by IDG Enterprise earlier this year, 71% of organizations said they planned to increase their spending on cloud services in 2012. The biggest motivator: cost savings.

But that doesn’t mean moving applications to the cloud will automatically cut costs for the company. If the proper steps aren’t taken, organizations can find that they’re spending way more on cloud services than they originally planned.

Here are five things businesses must keep in mind to avoid paying too much for cloud computing services:

1. Negotiate a better contract
2. Centrally manage cloud provisioning
3. Right-size your cloud services
4. Watch out for hidden costs
5. Minimize - and plan for - outages

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Top 10 Enterprise Applications for Public Clouds

While there are exceptions, that organizations use the public cloud for core operations, Data security, privacy and concerns about hosting their data possibly alongside their competitors on the public cloud have prevented many organizations from making more use of the public cloud than they would otherwise.

At the same time, CEOs and CFOs are becoming aware of the pay-as-you-go model of the public cloud, and they are looking to CIOs and senior IT management to determine how and where their organizations can use the public cloud, even if it's not for mission critical applications.

Fortunately, a number of applications within any organization completely skirt the concerns mentioned above and are eminently suitable for public cloud implementations or pilots. The following 10 apps are "public cloud ready."

1. Development and Testing
2. Development Platform Services
3. Training Servers
4. One-time Big Data Projects
5. Websites
6. Customer Relationship Management
7. Project Management, Expense Reporting and Time Management
8. Email
9. Human Resources
10. Cloud-Based Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus Services

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Twelve New Programming Languages: Is Cloud Responsible?

Do we need programming languages?.

You may think that the answer is no.

 But, if you go by the recent trend you may need to change your mind.

Why is Google working two (GO, DART) new programming languages?

Why has IBM (X10), Cray (Chapel) and Red Hat (Ceylon) working on creating a new programming language of its own?.

Why have the attendees of the QCon London have selected 5 (HTML5, DART, Scala, Clojure, Node.js) new languages as the most important software development trends for 2012?

What does Neil McAllister mean when he says that these 10 (DART, Ceylon, GO, F#, OPA, Fantom, Zimbu, X10, Haxe, Chapel) programming languages that could shake up IT?

 Are new programming languages getting created just to satisfy the creative urge of somebody or has the technology evolution created the need for new way of programming and hence these new languages?

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