China: The Largest Cloud Player

• China is home to some of the world’s largest data centres, a bit of a triumph considering the heavily regulated environment in which they exist and the initial reluctance of international investors to be a part of them.

• In 2009, the Chinese government funded an experimental cloud platform under development by IBM and the Beijing University of Technology.

• The Chinese government has invested $173.2 billion in the development of key cloud computing hubs.

• A recent survey of Chinese IT executives found that 20% are already using cloud-based solutions, and 46% are evaluating cloud solutions for use in their businesses.

• Chinese policymakers have nominated five new cloud computing zones as part of its “12^th Five-Year Plan.” By 2015, the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzen in Guangdong province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Wuxi in Jiangsu province should be well established as hubs of cloud-centric activity. Each of these cloud “laboratories” will work with industry to serve as pilot models for how such technologies work.

• The cloud market in China is expected to have reached almost $14.8 billion in 2012, up from $11.4 billion in 2011. At this rate, China is poised to become the world’s number-one cloud market.

India: Technology Hub

• India has been identified as a hotspot for cloud computing growth over the next few years. Its government has regularly indicated its endorsement of cloud with financial investments.

• Gartner has forecast that India’s spending on green IT and cloud initiatives will double, from $35 billion in 2010, to $70 billion in 2015.

• According to IDC, India is experiencing an information explosion, with digital data growing from 40.000 petabytes in 2010 to 2.3 million petabytes in 2020. The cloud is the means to this end, as Indian companies look to leverage cost advantages.

• Some 40% of professional organizations in India currently use cloud computing; 58% say cost saving is their primary motivation for cloud adoption.

• Gartner says businesses in India are adopting the cloud at a much faster rate than originally expected; two-thirds of Indian CIOs expect the majority of IT to be running on the cloud by 2015.

• Gartner has revealed that there are several “urgent and compelling forces” that will come to prominence in India and its 1.2 billion inhabitants in the near future. Cloud computing is prominent among them.
• Gartner has predicted that IT spending in India will rise by 9.1% to $79.8 billion in 2012, as in-country enterprises invest more in IT systems.

• In a recent survey conducted by virtualization platform provider VMware and Forrester Consulting, 91% of participants from India stated that cloud computing is “relevant to their business.”

We’ve said it before and we will again. Cloud computing is a saviour of sorts—and for more than just your bottom line and overtaxed systems. No, cloud computing has a larger calling than that. One might even say that cloud computing is poised to deliver the world to a finer place, one in which waste and excess are recalled as sins of a more reckless age. With this communal data-storage marvel, the carbon emissions that would otherwise be sent heavenward from a churning-away corporate entity can be slashed meaningfully, and the world thus scores a significant reduction to its reliance on carbon. 

This news comes by way of the Carbon Disclosure Project, an AT&T-funded European study whose just-released results suggest that large companies in the UK and France who migrate their data to shared data networks in the cloud could cut their emissions by a full 50% by 2020.

The savings, quite simply, are a result of the decreased call for energy consumption of the new over the old. The cloud’s responsive flexibility means customers only use what they need, sidestepping the wastefulness and redundancy of yesteryear.

Money Savings, Carbon Savings

The study, which focused its attention on large IT companies in Great Britain and France, found that big UK organizations that move to cloud computing could enjoy carbon reductions that are equivalent to the annual emissions of over four million passenger vehicles. Oh, and they’ll also save in energy costs, to the tune of about £1.2 billion—findings that underscore a recent announcement by a British cabinet minister that the UK government’s cloud strategy could save British taxpayers as much as £460 million a year—so it’s not all selfless stuff on offer here.

The figures were understandably somewhat lower in France, where nuclear power reigns supreme in the business of electricity delivery, but blue-chip French companies are also poised to exploit some pretty noteworthy savings, too. And, say the study’s authors, the exploitation will be on a grand scale, as almost 70% of these organizations’ IT resources will reside in the cloud by 2020. That’s up markedly from the 10% at which the services are currently used.

Closer to Home

Closer to home, the report concludes that a large North American company that made the switch to the cloud now could be sitting on top of $12.3 billion in yearly savings, and annual carbon reductions that are equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil, by 2020.

Considering that neither of these diminutions—energy or cost—serve as the most persuasive reason to switch over to the cloud (that distinction remains a function of speed, and the accelerated pace at which all corporate activities can take place in the cloud), the argument is more compelling still. Where developers used to take 45 days to get new servers, one pundit remarked, the much more responsive-to-demand internal cloud has shrunk that lag to just a couple of minutes.

Send your stuff up into the cloud, it seems, and you just might save the world.

In fact, the looming cloud heralding the next stage of corporate computing, the same one that’s sent nervous naysayers into all manner of anxious fits, has a broad silver lining that these fretful types probably haven’t considered.

The Silver Lining

In a blessedly optimistic editorial published in late October, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Thomas L. Friedman makes the point that the oppressive economic climate currently shrouding the United States is actually conducive to bursts of creativity like no other time in recent memory. And this advancement will unfold, in large part, courtesy of the supremely affordable and eminently functional resource that is cloud computing.

The latest phase in the IT revolution, he says, is being driven by the convergence of social media with the proliferation of cheap wireless connectivity and Web-enabled smartphones—all of it operating under the facilitating miracle that is the cloud. The thousands of software applications stored in this cyber cell transform our handhelds into extraordinarily powerful devices that confer on their users the potential for unprecedented innovation. The cloud has lowered the barriers to entry like nothing else.

Startups to the Rescue

Specifically, goes the argument, this technology shift will clear the way for new companies of all stripes, from insurance brokerages to medical labs, to dip into a nominally priced technological asset and borrow its overarching infrastructure to create from within. With this exceedingly useful tool, entrepreneurs can find their feet more cheaply and easily than they could even five years ago. Where previous eras required serious commitments of capital toward promotion, real estate, labour and technology to establish an operation, the cloud has removed a substantial chunk from the imperatives. The savings to be realized from employing a cloud solution rather than the traditional means and their attendant call for application servers, database servers, various on-premise applications and a slew of expensive IT personnel are genuinely meaningful for a startup. The cloud’s arrival in our midst has delivered supercomputing powers to the masses and, said Friedman in an earlier column, produced a “DIY economy.”

S.O.C.I.A.L

As Friedman describes in this editorial, Marc Benioff, the founder of cloud-based software provider Salesforce.com, this phase of the IT revolution might be summed up with the acronym SOCIAL: S for “speed,” O for “open,” C for “collaboration, I for “individuals,” A for “alignment” and L for “leadership.”

“The emergence of the cloud,” goes the piece, “means than anyone can have the computing resources of Google and rent it by the hour. This is speeding up everything—innovation, product cycles and competition.”

Consider, too, the very prickly subject of cloud security, heretofore much maligned for its apparently inherently contained contradiction but, in a recent show of enlightenment, perhaps rewritten as saviour rather than villain.

Big Picture Author

In this Wall Street Journal article, a big-picture pundit introduces the extraordinary idea that the cloud may in fact be the safest place to store our data, the deafening cries that have long argued the opposite notwithstanding.

The article’s author, John Bussey, submits that data consigned to the cloud actually enjoys an abundance of sophisticated security-enhancing features that an organization, particularly one in the small-to-mid-sized category, simply couldn’t access on its own.

“The sheer size of cloud businesses like Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services,” the piece goes, “allows significantly more investment in security policing and countermeasures than almost any company, large or small, could afford themselves.”

Go Big to Stay Secure

More than that, Bussey points out, the average computer user is not as attentive to even the most routine security imperatives as he needs to be. But sign on with just a “plain-vanilla” cloud package provider and you automatically score security basics such as updated antivirus runs and as-needed software patch applications. Any upgrade from there improves your lot further with enhanced security features like data firewalls, high-end encryption and 24-hour tech support.

“Small and medium businesses are insane not to leverage the advantages of cloud computing,” Jim Reavis, of the industry group Cloud Security Alliance, told Bussey. “It ends up being almost in all cases a security upgrade, because they can’t otherwise afford the practices.”

A Lone Voice in the Wilderness

Of course, this voice in the wilderness is still powerfully eclipsed by the hue and cry of the status quo. And it’s a position endlessly reinforced by the studies that continue to pour in with findings that tell stories of organizations’ enduring wariness of the idea of entrusting their data with an off-site third party. And this is the scene even in spite of an ongoing flurry of initiatives undertaken by IT security vendors, cloud providers and industry evangelists themselves to redress this issue.

Still Talking to Ghosts

Just this week, a study unveiled at the V3 Virtual Cloud Summit in Great Britain reported that a full 87% of enterprises remain concerned about security in the cloud.

And some 72% of small (fewer than 100 employees), and 63% of mid-sized (100 to 999 employees) companies told technology research firm IDC, in 2008, that security was their most pressing concern when it came to the notion of transferring their operations to the cloud. That those numbers had contracted to 50% and 47%, respectively, when the same survey was conducted three years later, is a thundering step in the right direction.

Because revolution, after all, is a slow business. Remember how long it took to come around to that broccoli?

Are a new set of cloud standards starting to form?

So it is with the developing shape of cloud computing. Definition is starting to emerge in the skies with the establishment of a set of standards seeking to best facilitate its adoption. Will they eliminate the confusion that currently shrouds the stuff? It’s a subject that’s scored a whack of attention from folks anxious to corral usability within manageable parameters. We take a look at some of the organizations trying to set the tone for this game changer.

Cloud Standards Customer Council.

This end-user advocacy group claims ownership of more than 100 members. It exists to complement existing cloud standards efforts. It seeks the production of a core set of client-driven requirements that lower the barriers for widespread cloud adoption by prioritizing key interoperability issues, including cloud management, reference architecture and hybrid clouds. It also hopes, with its existence, to facilitate the exchange of real-world stories that might provide illumination and insight into the practical application of this complicated new beast. A “resource hub” on the council’s website offers case studies in which users might find a useful reflection of themselves. The site also provides a compilation of industry news stories on the cloud, and cloud-based webcasts and podcasts can be accessed here. Notable members: Citigroup, Deere & Co., Costco Wholesale, North Carolina State University.

Open Data Center Alliance.

This Intel-backed standards organization was formed last year. Principles claim the membership represents more than $100 billion in annual IT spending power. This organization is behind the recent development of eight discreet “usage models,” designed to help IT managers in negotiations with cloud providers through the provision of various standardized templates. Indeed, this independent IT consortium is dedicated to having these usage models in widespread application in order to best help newcomers comprehensively appreciate the expected delivery of identified customer requirements based on open, industry-standard and multivendor solutions. Notable members: BMW, Marriott International, Shell and Deutsche Bank.

Cloud Security Alliance.

This not-for-profit, member-driven organization is committed to promoting the best practices for security assurance provision within cloud computing. Led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations and associations, the alliance is also keen to provide education on this subject for new users struggling with its dimensions. Its site helpfully lists upcoming events, such as the Cloud Security Alliance Conference 2011 (in Orlando, November 16 and 17). A blog features entries with such titles as, “Pass the Buck: Who’s Responsible for Security in the Cloud?” and “Understanding Best-in-Class Cloud Security Measures and How to Evaluate Providers.” It also provides a highly useful forum for the dissemination of the latest news, research developments and educational opportunities. Notable members: Coca-Cola, eBay, Reed Elsevier.

So as we move into the new paradigm keep an eye out for these cloud players; who knows, they may set the standards your organization has to meet.

Cloud computing - know your business

No sooner have you draped yourself with the very latest in technological bling then the calendar pages catch the breeze and you’re out of step once more. Bellyache all you want, but this constant condition of obsolescence is par for the course in today’s ever-evolving technical landscape.

It would be a tyranny to imagine keeping every last corner of your corporate house in technological currency. Still, it behooves all corporate citizens to take regular stock of the place, and to work to update at least the most outdated of their systems, regarding them particularly in light of how they support the shifting tasks and styles of the people who use them.

Survey Results: Sounding a Warning

It was on the strength of this premise that American telecommunications solutions provider Teo recently asked: Is your communications technology keeping up with the way you work? The survey, undertaken with more than 500 professionals across 13 industries to discover how technology is enabling them to work efficiently outside of the office, uncovered trouble.

Keeping a Grip on Technology: Some Key Results from the Survey

Many companies endure the chaos of operating multiple communications systems—including everything from instant messaging to land-line telephony. Because the individual systems were never integrated with one another, they exist as silos. Updating them to communicate with one another in a cost-effective way is vital.

Topping the list of respondents’ most-valued technology capability? The ability to connect with coworkers and clients via mobile devices. A solid 64% of respondents call the concept of using UC to work more efficiently outside the office “appealing.”

37% of respondents are not satisfied with the technology currently on offer to facilitate their remote working. Three-quarters of respondents spend more than half their time at their desks—likely because they haven’t the tools that will allow them to be productive beyond it. It’s a problem that needs to be solved. One 2010 survey indicated that businesses that let 100 employees telecommute half the time can save more than $1 million a year.

Making Sense of the Survey: Some Suggestions for Integration

The current crop of advanced mobile capabilities means today’s information workers can be every bit as productive as their deskbound contemporaries. Companies with unified communications (UC) enjoy increased employee productivity and efficiency thanks to remote and distributed staffers who are fully integrated with their office-based counterparts.

Critical to today’s telecommunications wishlist is the ability to access all communication tools through a single interface and advanced routing functionality. With UC, employees have a single phone number and IP extension, no matter their physical whereabouts, eliminating the multi-device, multi-ID, multi-application mess that so often hampers productivity.

So if UC is the future it’s important for principals to communicate the benefits throughout their organization; increasing the likelihood that it’ll be exploited to best effect. More than two-thirds of respondents confessed that they are not even aware whether their organization uses UC.

How extraordinary it is to be present at a revolution. How enlightening it is to bear such close witness to the paradigm-shifting arrival and evolution of such a thing as cloud computing. How frustrating it is to have to clean up the mess of misinformation fear-mongering underperformers in this emerging universe have rained down upon the rest of us.

The Climate of Fear

There is a shadow being cast across the encroaching marvel that is cloud computing, and it’s the panic-spawned product of IT providers who are alarmed to find themselves ill prepared for shepherding it in. Rather than scramble to become the experts on the cloud a confused world needs, too many technology vendors have chosen, instead, to propagate a climate of fear around the subject, fanning the flames, specifically, of near-to-the-surface information privacy concerns.

“Don’t migrate to the cloud!” they warn their customers. “Your data will not be secure! Your information will be exposed and available to prying American eyes,” evidence of whose right to same, they will insist, is spelled out in the US Patriot Act. It’s no wonder such a murk of misunderstanding surrounds this subject.

In fact, such claims are nonsense, irresponsibly sprung from a self-centred position that acknowledges an inability to profitably capitalize on the trend, and so seeks to capsize it, instead. At 360, where we’ve been performing successful — and secure — migrations to the cloud for our clients for a full two years, we regard this practice with sincere disappointment.

Canadian Data Remains Protected

By now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of the cloud. Certainly Microsoft’s spent enough money on its cloud campaign to guarantee a buzz, and the consequent rush of queries from companies curious about how they might benefit from the shift isn’t surprising.

How unfortunate that so many of their inquiries have been so recklessly thwarted by IT providers who translate their own states of unreadiness into diatribes of fear and loathing for the stuff.

Yes, most of the brand-name cloud providers do reside in the United States and so, yes, your data will, too, if you sign with them. But Canadian data resident on American soil are subject to every bit the same levels of protection as if they sat in your own server room.

Access to Data Stored in USA Not Free & Easy

Halifax privacy lawyer David Fraser has tackled this notion head on. “Canadians are quick to use the USA Patriot Act as an excuse to avoid cloud computing,” he’s said. “But they might not know many of the same laws already exist in Canada.”

The Patriot Act, a homeland security initiative that surfaced in response to 9-11, does not, in fact, grant the American government free and easy access to any data inside its geographic limits — no more so than the Canadian government has permission to data on its turf. If a US agency is interested in an individual who has ties to Canada, the FBI is obliged to make a formal request to the RCMP or CSIS, and cannot undertake a brazen investigation covertly.

What’s more, it’s important to remember that Canadians have actually been engaging in cloud computing for the better part of a decade, in the form of online banking and Web shopping, and ain’t no one been crying foul about that.

So let’s all relax, shall we? At 360, we have invested endless energy and time into educating our customers about the realities of the cloud-based model, a constant defense against the prevailing and panic-strewn negativity being spread by our less-prepared competitors.

Enough already. The cloud is stable, sweet, safe and smart. And we will see you there.