Even though software as a service (SaaS) is more mature than its infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) brethren – and therefore at a lower growth rate – new figures from Synergy Research show that Microsoft leads the ‘burgeoning’ market ahead of Salesforce, with Oracle and Google having the highest growth rates.

Despite the relatively low growth forecast, Synergy argues that the enterprise SaaS market is expected to double in size over the next three years with ‘strong’ growth across all segments and regions.

ERP, with SAP, Oracle and Infor at its top, will have the highest growth rate with almost 40% year on year revenue growth, ahead of collaboration – headed up by Microsoft, Cisco and Google – HR, and CRM, with the latter going at a mere 20% yearly growth. The overall market, the analyst firm argues, hit almost $13 billion in quarterly revenues.

“There are a variety of factors driving the SaaS market which will guarantee substantial growth for many years to come,” said Synergy research director John Dinsdale. “Traditional enterprise software vendors like SAP, Oracle and IBM are all pushing to convert their huge base of on-premise software customers to a SaaS subscription relationship; meanwhile, relatively new cloud-based vendors like Workday and Zendesk are aggressively targeting the enterprise market, and industry giants Microsoft and Google are on a charge to grow their subscriber bases, especially in the collaboration market.”

An example of the former was SAP’s announcement around a ‘new generation of intelligent cloud ERP’ last month which aims to help customers adopt business processes based on real-time insights through artificial intelligence (AI). Part of Oracle’s aggressive growth came in the form of acquiring NetSuite, announced in July last year and completed in November. At the time, Dinsdale told this publication that while the deal would naturally strengthen Oracle’s offering in ERP SaaS, it would also boost its CRM status, although remaining a ‘long way’ behind Salesforce and Microsoft.

If you’re considering migrating your business applications to a public cloud, the chances are that you’ve looked into Amazon Web Services. With its higher capacity and wide range of cloud services, AWS has become the most popular choice for businesses looking to take advantage of the scalability and cost-effective storage that cloud computing offers.

Security in AWS is based on a shared responsibility model: Amazon provides and secures the infrastructure, and you are responsible for securing what you run on it.  This model gives you greater control over your traffic and data, and encourages you to be proactive. However, before migrating your applications to AWS, here are some tips on how to manage and enforce security for maximum protection across your AWS and on-premise environment

Understanding security groups

Amazon offers a virtual firewall facility for filtering the traffic that crosses your cloud network segment; but the way that AWS firewalls are managed differs slightly from the approach used by traditional firewalls.  The central component of AWS firewalls is the ‘security group’, which is essentially what other firewall vendors would call a policy, i.e. a collection of rules.  However, there are key differences between security groups and traditional firewall policies that need to be understood.

Firstly, in AWS, there is no ‘action’ in the rule stating whether the traffic is allowed or dropped.  This is because all rules in AWS are positive and always allow the specified traffic – unlike traditional firewall rules. 

Secondly, AWS rules let you specify the traffic source, or the traffic destination – but not both on the same rule. For Inbound rules, there is a source that states where the traffic comes from, but no destination telling it where to go.  For Outbound rules it the other way around: you can specify the destination but not the source. The reason for this is that the AWS security group always sets the unspecified side (source or destination, as the case may be) as the instance to which the security group is applied.

Thirdly, AWS is flexible in how it allows you to apply these rules. Single security groups can be applied to multiple instances, in the same way that you can apply a traditional security policy to multiple firewalls.  AWS also allows you to do the reverse: apply multiple security groups to a single instance, meaning that the instance inherits the rules from all the security groups that are associated with it.  This is one of the unique features of the Amazon offering, allowing you to create security groups for specific functions or operating systems, and then mix and match them to suit your business’ needs.

Managing outbound traffic

AWS does manage outbound traffic, but there are some differences in how it does this compared to conventional approaches that you need to be aware of.  With AWS, the user is not automatically guided through the settings for outbound traffic during the initial setup process.  The default setting is that all outbound traffic is allowed, in contrast to the default setting for inbound traffic which deniesall traffic until rules are created.

Clearly, this is an insecure setting which can leave your organisation vulnerable to data loss, so it’s advisable to create rules that allow only specific outbound traffic, and protect data that is truly critical.  Because the AWS setup wizard doesn’t automatically take you through the outbound settings, you will need to create these rules manually and apply them. 

Auditing and compliance

Once you start using AWS in production, you need to remember that these applications are now subject to regulatory compliance and internal audits. Amazon does offer a couple of built-in features that help with this: Amazon CloudWatch, which acts as a health monitor and log server for your instances, and Amazon CloudTrail, which records and audits your API calls. However, if you are running a hybrid data centre environment, you will require additional compliance and auditing tools.

Depending on which industry you’re in and what type of data you handle, your business will be subject to different regulations – for example, if you process credit card information, you will be subject to PCI. So if you want to use your AWS cloud platform for this sensitive data, then you will need the right third-party security management products in place to provide you with the same reporting facilities that you would get with a conventional firewall.

The most important thing you need from a third-party solution is visibility of the policies from all security groups and of your whole hybrid estate, together with the same analysis and auditing capabilities as an on-site infrastructure, to give you a holistic view and management of your security environment.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to secure everything that you put onto an AWS environment.  Considering these points and following the steps I’ve outlined will help to ensure that you protect your data and comply with regulatory requirements when migrating to AWS.

Read more: How to achieve HIPAA compliance on AWS: A guide

If you’re considering migrating your business applications to a public cloud, the chances are that you’ve looked into Amazon Web Services. With its higher capacity and wide range of cloud services, AWS has become the most popular choice for businesses looking to take advantage of the scalability and cost-effective storage that cloud computing offers.

Security in AWS is based on a shared responsibility model: Amazon provides and secures the infrastructure, and you are responsible for securing what you run on it.  This model gives you greater control over your traffic and data, and encourages you to be proactive. However, before migrating your applications to AWS, here are some tips on how to manage and enforce security for maximum protection across your AWS and on-premise environment

Understanding security groups

Amazon offers a virtual firewall facility for filtering the traffic that crosses your cloud network segment; but the way that AWS firewalls are managed differs slightly from the approach used by traditional firewalls.  The central component of AWS firewalls is the ‘security group’, which is essentially what other firewall vendors would call a policy, i.e. a collection of rules.  However, there are key differences between security groups and traditional firewall policies that need to be understood.

Firstly, in AWS, there is no ‘action’ in the rule stating whether the traffic is allowed or dropped.  This is because all rules in AWS are positive and always allow the specified traffic – unlike traditional firewall rules. 

Secondly, AWS rules let you specify the traffic source, or the traffic destination – but not both on the same rule. For Inbound rules, there is a source that states where the traffic comes from, but no destination telling it where to go.  For Outbound rules it the other way around: you can specify the destination but not the source. The reason for this is that the AWS security group always sets the unspecified side (source or destination, as the case may be) as the instance to which the security group is applied.

Thirdly, AWS is flexible in how it allows you to apply these rules. Single security groups can be applied to multiple instances, in the same way that you can apply a traditional security policy to multiple firewalls.  AWS also allows you to do the reverse: apply multiple security groups to a single instance, meaning that the instance inherits the rules from all the security groups that are associated with it.  This is one of the unique features of the Amazon offering, allowing you to create security groups for specific functions or operating systems, and then mix and match them to suit your business’ needs.

Managing outbound traffic

AWS does manage outbound traffic, but there are some differences in how it does this compared to conventional approaches that you need to be aware of.  With AWS, the user is not automatically guided through the settings for outbound traffic during the initial setup process.  The default setting is that all outbound traffic is allowed, in contrast to the default setting for inbound traffic which deniesall traffic until rules are created.

Clearly, this is an insecure setting which can leave your organisation vulnerable to data loss, so it’s advisable to create rules that allow only specific outbound traffic, and protect data that is truly critical.  Because the AWS setup wizard doesn’t automatically take you through the outbound settings, you will need to create these rules manually and apply them. 

Auditing and compliance

Once you start using AWS in production, you need to remember that these applications are now subject to regulatory compliance and internal audits. Amazon does offer a couple of built-in features that help with this: Amazon CloudWatch, which acts as a health monitor and log server for your instances, and Amazon CloudTrail, which records and audits your API calls. However, if you are running a hybrid data centre environment, you will require additional compliance and auditing tools.

Depending on which industry you’re in and what type of data you handle, your business will be subject to different regulations – for example, if you process credit card information, you will be subject to PCI. So if you want to use your AWS cloud platform for this sensitive data, then you will need the right third-party security management products in place to provide you with the same reporting facilities that you would get with a conventional firewall.

The most important thing you need from a third-party solution is visibility of the policies from all security groups and of your whole hybrid estate, together with the same analysis and auditing capabilities as an on-site infrastructure, to give you a holistic view and management of your security environment.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to secure everything that you put onto an AWS environment.  Considering these points and following the steps I’ve outlined will help to ensure that you protect your data and comply with regulatory requirements when migrating to AWS.

Read more: How to achieve HIPAA compliance on AWS: A guide

All organizations that did not originate this moment have a pre-existing culture as well as legacy technology and processes that can be more or less amenable to DevOps implementation. That organizational culture is influenced by the personalities and management styles of Executive Management, the wider culture in which the organization is situated, and the personalities of key team members at all levels of the organization. This culture and entrenched interests usually throw a wrench in the works because of misaligned incentives.

read more

A growing number of BDMs (business development) today have a technology or product marketing background. Their role – increase product reach through piggyback marketing.
The job description of BDM is pretty straight-forward – find new opportunities for your business. They play an important role in the direction a company takes. This includes identifying new markets to venture into, new partnerships to build, identifying new products or services that the company could launch and finally figuring out new ways to reach existing markets.

read more

Amazon knows me. Oh boy, do they know me! Our dog thinks the deliveryman is part of our family. Amazon knows what I like, and does their very best to create a wonderful and personalized experience for us by using their «system of intelligence» to provide it. Amazon Prime membership now offers movies, music and audio books in addition to other membership services all tailored to my family and me. Alexa, Amazon’s hit home bot, can be set-up to automate my home and much more to enhance convenience and comfort. All of these offerings and services are designed to improve and personalize my experiences so I will feel inclined to increase my business, loyalty and commitment to Amazon.

read more

A strange thing is happening along the way to the Internet of Things, namely far too many devices to work with and manage. It has become clear that we’ll need much higher efficiency user experiences that can allow us to more easily and scalably work with the thousands of devices that will soon be in each of our lives. Enter the conversational interface revolution, combining bots we can literally talk with, gesture to, and even direct with our thoughts, with embedded artificial intelligence, which can process our conversational commands and orchestrate the outcomes we request across our personal and professional realm of connected devices.

read more

Rackspace has announced a partnership with Google Cloud to become its first managed services support partner.

The news, revealed at the time of Google’s Cloud Next event in San Francisco, represents an alignment between the two companies’ ‘obsession’ with customer service and support, Rackspace said. The two companies will collaborate on a new managed services offering for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) customers which will be made available later this year.

Rackspace already has extensive managed services capabilities for both Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) – so with Google the next cab off the rank it makes a natural step up. “The momentum around GCP is building, and as businesses move workloads to this platform, they’re looking for expertise and a support partner to help with that journey,” said Patrick Lee, Rackspace Google business general manager. “We will be able to help deliver value to joint customers and help them meet their evolving business needs.”

According to figures from 451 Research, adoption of Google’s cloud has ‘nearly doubled’ over the past 12 months. “The partnership between Rackspace and Google is a natural fit,” Michelle Bailey, chief research officer at 451 Research said in a statement. “Both companies have strong technical capabilities and the pairing of Rackspace’s strong service culture with Google’s Customer Reliability Engineering practice is an important step forward in providing enterprise-ready customer support capabilities on the Google Cloud Platform.

“We continue to see rising adoption of GCP globally, so there is real value to Rackspace in being the first to market with this type of managed services partnership that seeks to bring cloud-native capabilities to traditional enterprise customers and business-critical applications,” Bailey added.

In Rackspace’s Q216 results in August – the last before it became a private company with a $4.3 billion transaction from Apollo Global – CEO Taylor Rhodes said the firm had seen ‘strong demand’ for AWS cloud customers, alongside Microsoft and the OpenStack private cloud. The company noted 277 customers acquired on its AWS service over the previous nine months, with 60% of these choosing the higher tier managed services option.

“We plan to launch a bold marketing campaign to tell the world about the value we can deliver as the number one managed cloud services provider,” Rhodes told analysts in August, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “Businesses today are being told that the cloud is simple, that it’s easy to manage on your own, and that whatever the platform the vendor is selling or supporting is the complete solution for every workload.

“What these businesses are learning, however, is that different workloads require different platforms across public cloud, private cloud and dedicated servers,” added Rhodes. “They are finding that the cloud is complex and fast changing, that they need help in managing it and that expert engineers are expensive and hard to find.”

According to industry figures from Synergy Research, AWS continues to hold 40% of the global public cloud infrastructure space – a minimal change from last year – while Microsoft, Google and IBM went up 5% to break the 20% threshold between them.

Picture credit: Rackspace Afterparty TechStars Boulder 2011, by Andrew Hyde, used under CC BY / Modified from original

Rackspace has announced a partnership with Google Cloud to become its first managed services support partner.

The news, revealed at the time of Google’s Cloud Next event in San Francisco, represents an alignment between the two companies’ ‘obsession’ with customer service and support, Rackspace said. The two companies will collaborate on a new managed services offering for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) customers which will be made available later this year.

Rackspace already has extensive managed services capabilities for both Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) – so with Google the next cab off the rank it makes a natural step up. “The momentum around GCP is building, and as businesses move workloads to this platform, they’re looking for expertise and a support partner to help with that journey,” said Patrick Lee, Rackspace Google business general manager. “We will be able to help deliver value to joint customers and help them meet their evolving business needs.”

According to figures from 451 Research, adoption of Google’s cloud has ‘nearly doubled’ over the past 12 months. “The partnership between Rackspace and Google is a natural fit,” Michelle Bailey, chief research officer at 451 Research said in a statement. “Both companies have strong technical capabilities and the pairing of Rackspace’s strong service culture with Google’s Customer Reliability Engineering practice is an important step forward in providing enterprise-ready customer support capabilities on the Google Cloud Platform.

“We continue to see rising adoption of GCP globally, so there is real value to Rackspace in being the first to market with this type of managed services partnership that seeks to bring cloud-native capabilities to traditional enterprise customers and business-critical applications,” Bailey added.

In Rackspace’s Q216 results in August – the last before it became a private company with a $4.3 billion transaction from Apollo Global – CEO Taylor Rhodes said the firm had seen ‘strong demand’ for AWS cloud customers, alongside Microsoft and the OpenStack private cloud. The company noted 277 customers acquired on its AWS service over the previous nine months, with 60% of these choosing the higher tier managed services option.

“We plan to launch a bold marketing campaign to tell the world about the value we can deliver as the number one managed cloud services provider,” Rhodes told analysts in August, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “Businesses today are being told that the cloud is simple, that it’s easy to manage on your own, and that whatever the platform the vendor is selling or supporting is the complete solution for every workload.

“What these businesses are learning, however, is that different workloads require different platforms across public cloud, private cloud and dedicated servers,” added Rhodes. “They are finding that the cloud is complex and fast changing, that they need help in managing it and that expert engineers are expensive and hard to find.”

According to industry figures from Synergy Research, AWS continues to hold 40% of the global public cloud infrastructure space – a minimal change from last year – while Microsoft, Google and IBM went up 5% to break the 20% threshold between them.

Picture credit: Rackspace Afterparty TechStars Boulder 2011, by Andrew Hyde, used under CC BY / Modified from original