Silicon Valley Data Center Market Poised for Growth

An illustration of what the Vantage Data Centers campus in Santa Clara will look like upon completion. The company is building two new data centers on the campus. (Image: Vantage Data Centers)

We continue our series of stories on the leading geographic markets for data center space. Data Center Frontier is partnering with DatacenterHawk to provide in-depth market reports on each city we profile.

Silicon Valley is America’s leading engine of business innovation. It is also one of largest and most important data center markets in the U.S., providing space to deploy new hardware and services from the Valley’s marquee technology companies, as well as a legion of fast-moving startups.

Hybrid cloud security: What it is and best practices

A virtualized hybrid cloud infrastructure comes with the assurance of better business outcomes but the rapid transformation that accompanies cloud also leaves the infrastructure vulnerable to cyber attacks. This makes risk management critical for every enterprise. Since no two enterprises work exactly the same way, a standard risk tolerance profile cannot sustain the potential risks posed by technical hurdles.

Global Cloud Services Market is Expected to Reach $555 Billion, Globally, by 2020

According to the new report by Allied Market Research, titled "Global Cloud Services Market (Services, Type, End User and Geography) - Global Analysis, Industry Growth, Trends, Size, Share, Opportunities and Forecast, 2013-2020", the global cloud services market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.6% from 2014 to 2020, reaching a market size of $555 billion in 2020. In 2014, the overall cloud services market revenue will reach $209.9 billion, led by public cloud services. The community cloud services segment is gaining momentum and is expected to garner revenue of $1 billion this year, thanks to its adoption in healthcare segment.

Google and the war of the clouds: IoT isn’t the point

At London’s Cloud Expo, Barak Regey, Google’s director of cloud platforms for Europe, recommended that cloud companies simply abandon trying to predict how their data and cloud capacity needs will evolve over the next five years.

The cloud expert stated that with the explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the pace of innovation and change in the technology industry, cloud organisations simply won’t be able to calculate and prepare for how much cloud capacity they’ll need.

Why big data needs a unified theory of everything

As I learned from my work in flight dynamics, to keep an airplane flying safely, you have to predict the likelihood of equipment failure. And today we do that by combining various data sets with real-world knowledge, such as the laws of physics.

Integrating these two sets of information — data and human knowledge — automatically is a relatively new idea and practice. It involves combining human knowledge with a multitude of data sets via data analytics and artificial intelligence to potentially answer critical questions (such as how to cure a specific type of cancer). As a systems scientist who has worked in areas such as robotics and distributed autonomous systems, I see how this integration has changed many industries. And I believe there is a lot more we can do.

When the cloud complicates 508 compliance

The National Institute of Standards and Technology found that as organizations move to cloud-based systems and platforms, the accessibility for employees with disabilities can be compromised.

Accessibility tools for those with disabilities rely on local computers capable of running them. And with most software and information now migrating to remote locations accessed through the Internet, NIST warned, those tools might not function.

The agency's Cloud Accessibility Public Working Group’s draft report, “Cloud Computing and Accessibility Considerations,” explores the challenges, barriers and opportunities federal IT managers are facing as they attempt to comply with two sometimes-competing directives: the accessibility requirements mandated under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the federal “cloud first” policy.

The Rehabilitation Act requires employers to provide equal access to computers and other IT services and information systems for workers with disabilities, and the cloud-first policy calls for federal agencies to implement cloud computing to improve security, reliability and cost-effectiveness.

The barriers outlined in the report begin with version control. When a cloud provider automatically upgrades the cloud computing software, the new version might not be compatible with products already used to aid accessibility.

Some cloud computing solutions also use browsers for cloud applications, adding an extra layer that has to successfully function with the accessibility features. For example, users working with a spreadsheet in the cloud need the operating system, a screen reader, a cloud-based spreadsheet and the browser to work together.

Read More: https://gcn.com/articles/2016/03/07/cloud-vs-508-compliance.aspx

Finally, Red Hat Linux Has A Home On Microsoft's Cloud

Some thought it would never happen. But as of Wednesday, you can run Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, according to a Microsoft blog post.

Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) Market is Expected to Reach $2.8 Billion, Worldwide, By 2020

A new report by Allied Market Research titled, “World Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2014 - 2020” projects that the global cloud IAM market would garner revenue of $2.8 billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 26.2% during the forecast period 2015 - 2020.

Multi factor authentication service is expected to witness fastest growth, at a CAGR of 30.5% from 2015 to 2020.  North America was the highest revenue generating region in 2014 for cloud IAM, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Identity and access management is a business security framework that manages digital identities, both inside and outside an enterprise. Varied technological environments, increasing cyber-attacks, strict regulatory compliances, and increasing digital identities across organizations are propelling the need of IAM services for information security. Integration of IAM with cloud is gaining popularity owing to its low cost and enhanced security.

The user provisioning service is the largest revenue-generating service of the cloud IAM market, accounting for nearly 40% of the total market revenue in 2014. This segment is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the analysis period.

Among the key end use verticals, IT & telecom was the largest contributor, which accounted for around 25% share in 2014. Stringent government regulations and security standards along with the increasing use of BYOD are the key factors supplementing the adoption of IAM services in IT & telecom sector.

Read More: http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2016-01-08/Cloud-Identity-and-Access-Management-IAM-Market-is-Expected-to-Reach-28-Billion-Worldwide-By-2020-198845

Cloud Services are Eating the World

The cloud revolution is impacting the technology sector. You can clearly see it in the business results of companies like HP and IBM. For sure, legacy technology providers are embracing the cloud. They are transforming their businesses from building and running on-premise infrastructures to delivering cloud-based services. The harsh reality is that this is a destructive transformation. For every dollar that exits legacy environments, only a fraction comes back through cloud services. This is the great promise of the cloud – maximizing economies of scale, efficient resource utilization and smart sharing of scarce capabilities.

It is just the latest phase of the destructive force that technology applies to all parts of our economy. Traditionally, technology vendors touted benefits such as personnel efficiencies and operational savings as part of the justification for purchasing new technologies – a politically correct way to refer to fewer people, offices and the support systems around them. This has now inevitably impacted the technology vendors themselves. Early indicators were abundant: Salesforce.com has displaced Siebel systems, reducing the need for costly and customized implementations; and Amazon AWS is increasingly displacing physical servers, reducing the need for processors, cabinets, cabling, power and cooling.

Cloud is Eating the World

Marc Andreseen argued in his 2011 Wall Street Journal article that, “software is eating the world.” In my view, this observation is now obsolete. Today, cloud services are eating the world. Cloud services encapsulate and commoditizes the entire technology stack (software, hardware, platforms and professional services). This model is so impactful and irresistible that even capturing only a part of the value is a big win. This is how cloud services now include platforms – including Google, Microsoft, Salesforce.com; and infrastructure, provided by such vendors as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and IBM/Softlayer.

Read More: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2016/01/04/cloud-services-eating-world/

Hybrid cloud needs to come of age

As the initial barriers to large-scale cloud adoption have given way to more considered approaches, ‘hybrid cloud’ models have emerged as the force de rigueur for enterprise IT.

But many hybrid cloud implementations to date have been more packaging than substance and often result in the creation of the same technology silos that enterprises have been making for decades.

So how did we get here?

Rather than corner oneself into a purely public or private model, CIOs recognised that there is a place for everything and everything should be in its place. What works best for one workload may not necessarily be the best for another.

This thinking gave rise to the hybrid cloud as we now know it: an architecture where a mix of both privately owned (on-site data centres and servers) and publicly available (hyper-scale and off-premise cloud providers) infrastructure is used within the same IT architecture.

While it could be attributed to early levels of maturity, what many organisations are left with is a shambolic environment where legacy applications on on-site servers are completely separated from the workloads that have been migrated to enterprise public cloud and commodity cloud providers.

All the elements of hybrid cloud are there but, without a way to easily mix and match capabilities between these separate environments as required, the true potential of a hybrid strategy can never be realised.

To put it another way, having water, hops, yeast and barley does not automatically mean you have beer. It takes the right mix of these ingredients to create the end product. In much the same way, traditional hybrid cloud models are merely a collection of the required parts but they are not always connected in any meaningful way.

According to research by Telsyte, in less than five years’ time some 40 per cent of Australian enterprises will employ a hybrid cloud model, with the total spend approaching $800 million by 2019.

Read More: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/12/23/technology/hybrid-cloud-needs-come-age

Security in the cloud

it’s no surprise that security, like every other area of IT, is now shifting to the cloud. Or in some cases, components of it are becoming cloud-based. Analysts agree that it’s a big market. Gartner has predicted that the cloud-based security services market, which it defines as secure email or web gateways, identity and access management (IAM), remote vulnerability assessment, security information, and event management, will hit $4.13 billion (US) by 2017, and Global Industry Analysts, Inc., puts the market at $5.6 billion by 2020

The reasons are simple: the cloud provides the infrastructure to do much more than many businesses, particularly small and medium-sized organizations, have the capacity to even dream of. And it does so in a cost-effective, scalable way, with state of the art technology that’s automatically kept up to date without user intervention.

Security in the cloud can range from a complete service to an enabler of on-premise services. It’s being used in the latter capacity today, in fact, by many of the major security vendors, who have mostly stopped delivering the increasingly large, daily-signature files that have caused IT so many headaches in favour of hybrid solutions that refer to their cloud-based databases.

The move is driven in part by the speed with which malware is developed and distributed. Vendors have discovered that they can do a better job of detecting and disseminating information about threats by leveraging the power of the cloud. In the cloud, they can house the huge volume of data about threats, and can instantly make it available to their users. When something suspicious is detected on a system, it can be passed to a cloud-based analytic engine that examines it, decides if it’s malicious, and takes appropriate action. Then information about that new threat is immediately available to all other subscribers to the service. With the trend towards targeted attacks, that agility could prevent a major incident.


Read More: http://www.itworldcanada.com/sponsored/security-in-the-cloud

3 key cloud trends for 2016

As the new year approaches, it's a good time to look forward to what the key trends will be, so we can take advantage of them thoughtfully and effectively.

Here are three key cloud trends I'm certain you'll see unfold in 2016.

Trend 1: The continued rise of cloudops

Cloudops is anything to do with operating systems in public or private clouds. It focuses on security, management, monitoring, and governance, as well as being proactive with how systems run over a long period of time.

Doing so means using predictive analytics to determine when performance will become an issue, or when you see patterns emerge that show the likelihood of a breach.

Trend 2: The continued explosion of containers

I've beaten the container horse to death in this blog, so I'm not going into the "what's a container" pitch (go here instead for the key container notions). They are growing in popularity because they push a commonsense approach to building new distributed applications in the cloud, as well as "containerizing" existing applications.

The good news is that containers are living up to expectations, including containers from Docker and CoreOS.

The bad news: There are still missing pieces, such as networking and security services, that need to be shored up before this stuff is completely enterprise-ready. Expect container technology providers and their partners to address most of the limitations in 2016.

Read More: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3014639/cloud-computing/3-key-cloud-trends-for-2016.html

Security, Cloud, Big Data, smart machines and artificial intelligence to lead 2016: Frost & Sullivan

Technology will be ubiquitous in every aspect of business and everyday living in the new year, according to Frost & Sullivan A/NZ head of ICT research, Audrey William. In its market outlook update, the company outlined the top five technology trends that will make an impact in 2016.

The first and biggest issue in the ICT industry, according to William, is security as it will be driven by rapid adoption of Cloud, mobility and the Internet of Things.

As platforms become more open due to the rapid adoption of Cloud, mobility and the Internet of Things, security threats will rise and this will become the single biggest issue to tackle in the ICT industry, William claimed.

According to her, the recent Ashley Madison incident brought about greater awareness of cyber security threats amongst organisations.

“Cyber insurance will rise in the coming years. We will witness more insurance companies step in to offer cyber insurance policies that will offer more than just compensation and protection from liability in the event of a cyber-attack,” she said.

In the home environment, as smart home solutions witness greater adoption, this will mean that users will use their mobile phones and tablets to control power, cooling, heating, lighting and security. By allowing one interface to control the various applications of the smart home, she said security challenges will be a big issue for the industry players to grapple with.

Read More: http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/589791/security-cloud-big-data-smart-machines-artificial-intelligence-lead-2016-frost-sullivan/

FCA paves way for cloud computing in UK financial services

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has paved the way for banks, insurers and other financial services companies to take advantage of cloud computing services, so long as "appropriate safeguards" are in place, said one commentator.

In proposed new guidance on cloud and other IT outsourcing (PDF), the regulator said there is "no fundamental reason why cloud services (including public cloud services) cannot be implemented, with appropriate consideration, in a manner that complies with our rules".

Financial services and technology law expert John Salmon of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "It is really positive for the FCA to recognise that the financial services sector can move ahead with plans to use cloud services, as long as appropriate safeguards are put in place."

"This is consistent with the regulator's efforts to promote innovation in the sector and should help more firms benefit from cloud solutions," he added.

The FCA said cloud outsourcing can help improve competition in the financial services sector. This is because it can "facilitate entry and/or expansion, and increase the ability of financial services providers, overall, to renew their IT systems in a more efficient manner".

The "improved choice and innovation in outsourcing" should deliver "commensurate benefits for firms and consumers", it said.

The FCA said there are risks that companies need to manage when outsourcing to cloud providers. The commoditised nature of many cloud services means cloud customers "may have less scope to tailor the service provided", it said.

Read Read: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/17/fca_paves_the_way_for_cloud_computing_in_uk_financial_services/ 

Cloud computing for e-governance

The Internet has changed our lives in terms of the way we work, learn and interact. These changes are also influencing the very organization of the government, its relationship with its citizens, institutions and businesses and cooperation with other governments. Increased access to technology brings expectations and demands on government from its citizens and organizations. At the same time, we can notice that the governments are also proactive and are planning new ways of interacting, improving services, optimizing processes and revitalizing democracy by increasing the IT spend. It aims to deliver more interactive services to citizens and businesses through e-governance.

For this, cloud computing may lead to significant cost savings. It entails use of computing hardware and software infrastructure and apps that are remotely hosted. However, governments have been slower in realizing the potential benefits of IT and the cloud to provide its services to the citizens. Cloud computing provides a new service consumption and delivery model inspired by consumer internet services.

Cloud based e-governance

E-governance with cloud computing offers integration management with automated problem resolution, manages security end-to-end, and helps budget based on actual usage of data. At a global level, cloud architectures can benefit government to reduce duplicate efforts and increase utilization of resources. This helps the government going green, reducing pollution and effective waste management.

Enterprises and SMBs are already reaping the benefits of cloud by using the “pay-as-you-use” service model, its massive scalability and readily availability. Since government requires a massive infrastructure it is important for government to use cloud computing on long-term basis.

Avnet Launches Cloud Marketplace, Signs IBM as First Member

Technology distributor Avnet has signed IBM as the first member of its new Avnet Cloud Marketplace, giving partners a one-stop shop for IBM's cloud offerings, according to an announcement by the company on Thursday.

The marketplace, launched this week, is available for partners in the US and Canada to offer cloud-based services to their customers through both consumption- and subscription-based models, Avnet said. Business Partners can also create branded storefronts in the marketplace to feature their own bundled cloud offerings.

“We’re at a pivotal moment where new cognitive and cloud computing capabilities are bringing about a major structural change,” IBM senior vice president of cloud Robert LeBlanc said in a statement. “Avnet is taking advantage of this opportunity to simplify how cloud service providers, IBM Business Partners, ISVs and customers create new routes to market, drive new revenue and inspire new ‘born in the cloud’ IBM solutions.”

Avnet said its cloud marketplace provides the channel access to IBM Cloud infrastructure through SoftLayer and IBM’s PaaS Bluemix. Partners can also access IBM SaaS solutions and can benefit from Avnet Cloud Marketplace’s cloud management toolset and flexible payment options, the company said in a statement.

“Avnet and IBM have continually evolved solutions together for more than 30 years to ensure that our joint business partners have innovative resources like the Avnet Cloud Marketplace to accelerate their success,” Patrick Zammit, global president of Avnet Technology Solutions said. “The Avnet Cloud Marketplace provides a clear way to quickly become cloud masters.

Read More : http://talkincloud.com/cloud-distribution/avnet-launches-cloud-marketplace-signs-ibm-first-member

Microsoft is breaking its cloud-first promise

Microsoft kicked off its own "productivity war" in June last year by doubling its free OneDrive storage and offering competitive pricing and 1TB of space for Office 365 subscribers. That storage, part of a monthly or annual subscription, then transformed into unlimited space late last year as Microsoft aggressively targeted Dropbox and Google to win over consumers and their storage needs. It all won Microsoft lots of new OneDrive customers and a lot of praise. Now that the bait and switch plan has worked, Microsoft is changing the rules of the game.

Technology companies usually pick Apple events to silently drop bad news, but if there's not one available then as late in the day as possible is always a good alternative. Microsoft chose 10PM ET last night to drop some big news, in a blog post, about the future of its OneDrive cloud storage service. Starting early next year, all new and existing free OneDrive storage will decrease from 15GB to 5GB. Microsoft is also removing the 15GB camera roll storage bonus for using OneDrive on iOS, Android, or Windows Phone. If you need to store more than 5GB then you'll need to start paying.

It's clear Microsoft has miscalculated how much space OneDrive needs on average, and it's likely that the company isn't making its targets for switching users over to paid subscribers. Pushing the limits down will help. "These changes are needed to ensure that we can continue to deliver a collaborative, connected, and intelligent service," says Microsoft. The reality is more that Microsoft needs to start generating revenue from its consumer cloud activities and stop giving away thousands of GBs of storage. It was good to entice people in, but now it's time to pay. Microsoft really wants consumers to just opt for Office 365 subscriptions with OneDrive storage and Office software.

Read more : http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/3/9663878/microsoft-onedrive-free-storage-changes-cloud-first

IBM Acquires Gravitant to boost hybrid cloud and enterprise services

IBM has announced that it has acquired Gravitant, Inc., a privately held company that develops cloud-based software to enable organizations to easily plan, buy and manage, or “broker,” software and computing services from multiple suppliers across hybrid clouds. With such capabilities, mixed environments of private and public clouds can begin to be integrated and digitally managed as one for greater performance and efficiency.

With the Gravitant solutions everyone from IT managers to authorized employees can review and purchase compute and software services from different suppliers, as well as compare capabilities and pricing, all through a single, central console. Once purchased, the technology can be offered as a service and managed from the same console for greater efficiency and visibility into how the services are being used.

"The reality of enterprise IT is that it is many clouds with many characteristics, whether they be economic, capacity or security,” said Martin Jetter, Senior Vice President, Global Technology Services, IBM. “Gravitant provides an innovative approach to add choice and simplicity to how enterprises can now manage their environments. It will be a key component as we broaden our hybrid cloud services."

Read more : http://www.firstpost.com/business/ibm-acquires-gravitant-to-boost-hybrid-cloud-and-enterprise-services-2494716.html