Google Cloud has announced a distributed cloud portfolio of fully managed hardware and software services that can be accessed from the edge or a customers’ data centre. 

The new portfolio was one of the biggest announcements to come from the first day of Google Cloud’s virtual Next 21 conference on Tuesday.

The Google Distributed Cloud has been built on Anthos and is aimed at businesses that need to migrate or modernise applications or process data locally with Google Cloud products, whether that’s databases, machine learning (ML) or even third-party services from other leading vendors

It can run across multiple locations, according to Google Cloud, including Google’s network edge, operator edge, customer edge and also customer data centres. The first products to be announced within this portfolio were Google Distributed Cloud Edge and Google Distributed Cloud Hosted.

The latter is designed to run sensitive workloads and doesn’t require a connection to Google Cloud at any time in order to manage infrastructure, services or APIs. It simply uses a local control portal that’s managed in Google’s Anthos, and will be available in preview during the first half of 2022.

«Our goal is to make your journey to the cloud easy,» Sachin Gupta, the GM and VP of product for IaaS at Google Cloud, said. «With transformative capabilities to help you innovate faster and save money, we follow an open approach to give you the greatest flexibility and choice as your organisation evolves.» 

Elsewhere, the cloud giant also unveiled data-centric updates such as Vertex AI Workbench, a unified service to build and deploy ML models faster to accelerate time-to-value. The company also revealed an autoscaling and serverless service in partnership with ‘Spark’. Available now in preview, it aims to enable customers to get started in seconds and scale infinitely, regardless if they start in BigQuery, Dataproc, Dataplex or Vertex AI. 

There were also multiple announcements around sustainability, such as Carbon Footprint Reporting, which provide actionable reports of the carbon footprint associated with a customer’s Cloud usage. Google Earth Engine, which will become available for select enterprise customers, lets organisations combine the power of cloud computing, satellite imagery and AI to decarbonise their operations.

What’s more, Google Cloud will also proactively alert customers of all idle cloud instances and their associated carbon footprints with Carbon Reduction Recommendations. If customers choose to delete them, they’ll reduce their cloud carbon footprints.

IBM plans to provide 30 million people of all ages with new skills by 2030 as it aims to close the global skills gap by expanding access to digital skills and employment opportunities.

According to data from the World Economic Forum (WEF), closing the global skills gap could add $11.5 trillion to global GDP by 2028. In the UK, nearly two in three (64%) report spending more on recruitment, with costs increasing by 49 per cent or £1.23 billion in total because of the skills shortage. 

In a bid to help tackle the growing skills crisis, IBM has announced over 170 new partnerships and programme expansions in more than 30 countries across the world and is improving its existing programmes and career-building platforms to expand access to education and in-demand technical roles.

In the UK, IBM said that the West London-based Ada Lovelace Church of England High School has joined its P-TECH programme, an online platform that offers free technical skills required to be successful in the digital economy. Students are set to benefit from access to foundational knowledge on topics like cyber security, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

IBM plans to educate 30 million people through its broad combinations of programmes, including collaborations with universities and key government entities. These partnerships will also extend to NGOs too, such as the British Refugee Council.

“Talent is everywhere; training opportunities are not,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman and CEO. “This is why we must take big and bold steps to expand access to digital skills and employment opportunities so that more people – regardless of their background – can take advantage of the digital economy.

«Today, IBM commits to providing 30 million people with new skills by 2030. This will help democratize opportunity, fill the growing skills gap, and give new generations of workers the tools they need to build a better future for themselves and society.”

This week, Vodafone found that digital literacy is becoming as important as reading and writing for young people’s future life prospects. Limited access to an internet-connected device, or lack of skills to use one, is preventing people entering the jobs market from attending exams or online lessons, gaining the necessary digital skills, and applying for jobs. 29% of respondents to the report said they had to share a laptop, tablet, or PC for work, education, or leisure in the past year.

Microsoft claims to have mitigated a record 2.4Tbps DDoS attack targeting one of its Azure customers in Europe during the last week of August.

The company said the attack was140% larger than than the highest attack bandwidth volume Microsoft recorded in 2020 and higher than any network volumetric event previously detected on Azure. It also surpasses the previous largest DDoS attack, which peaked at 2.3Tbps and was directed at Amazon Web Services (AWS) last year.

It said the attack traffic originated from around 70,000 sources and from multiple countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, and China, as well as the US. The attack spanned over 10 minutes with very short-lived bursts, each ramping up in seconds to terabit volumes.

The company monitored three main peaks, the first at 2.4Tbps, the second at 0.55Tbps, and the third at 1.7Tbps.

Microsoft’s attack mitigation lifecycle is orchestrated by its control plan logic that dynamically allocates mitigation resources to the most optimal locations, closest to the attack sources. This meant that the attack traffic, which originated in the Asia-Pacific region and the US, did not reach the customer region but was instead mitigated at the source countries.

“Azure’s DDoS mitigation employs fast detection and mitigation of large attacks by continuously monitoring our infrastructure at many points across the network,” said Amir Dahan, senior programme manager at Azure Networking.

“When deviations from baselines are extremely large, our DDoS control plane logic cuts through normal detection steps, needed for lower-volume floods, to immediately kick-in mitigation. This ensures the fastest time-to-mitigation and prevents collateral damage from such large attacks.”

Dahan added that the customer did not suffer any impact or downtime, but if they had been running their own data centre instead of using Azure, they would most probably have incurred extensive financial damage as well as other intangible costs.

In 2020, Google revealed its infrastructure absorbed a 2.5Tbps DDoS attack three years previous. The attack was the culmination of a six-month campaign launched by Chinese-backed hackers that used multiple methods of attack, which ultimately had no material impact.

Oracle has announced plans to launch 14 new cloud regions over the next year to support demand for its customers worldwide.

The company plans to open new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) regions in Milan (Italy), Stockholm (Sweden), Marseille (France), Spain, Singapore, Johannesburg (South Africa), Jerusalem (Israel), Mexico, and Colombia.

Oracle will also open second regions in Abu Dhabi (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Chile. By the end of 2022, the company plans to take its number of cloud regions from 30 to at least 44.

The company also said that it plans to establish at least two cloud regions in almost every country where it operates, to help customers build business continuity and disaster protection while helping them address their in-country data residence requirements. The US, Canada, UK, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, India, and Australia already have two cloud regions.

“Oracle Cloud Infrastructure has seen stellar growth over the past year,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

“We’ve introduced several hundred new cloud services and features and are continuing to see organisations from around the world increasingly turn to OCI to run their most mission-critical workloads in the cloud. With the additional Cloud regions, even more organisations will be able to use our cloud services to support their growth and overall success.”

Oracle currently provides cloud services across 30 commercial and government cloud regions in 14 countries on five continents. OCI operates 23 commercial regions and seven government regions too.

In September, AWS revealed plans to open a new data centre region in New Zealand by 2024, investing around £3.9 billion over the next 15 years and creating 1,000 jobs. The company said its new Asia Pacific region would help more of its customers run their applications by serving end users locally, provide lower latency and ensure customers can choose to securely store their data in the country.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has announced that the decision to return to office will be left to the directors of individual teams. 

The tech giant had previously said it wanted staff in the office three days a week, a policy that was announced shortly before Jassy took over from Jeff Bezos in July.

Those plans were pushed back to 2022 due to the spread of COVID across the US. However, in a message to employees, Jassy said he acknowledged that due to uncertainty and different circumstances, decisions on whether to return to the office would now be made on a team-by-team basis at a director level.

«​​First, none of us know the definitive answers to these questions, especially long term,» Jassy said in a statement. «Second, at a company of our size, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for how every team works best. And third, we’re going to be in a stage of experimenting, learning, and adjusting for a while as we emerge from this pandemic. All of this led us to change course a bit.»

Last week, the new CEO told a crowd at the GeekWire Summit in Seattle that the company could do more to treat employees better, specifically calling out the company’s approach to the pandemic as something where it «fell short». 

Instead of specifying the number of days in office, corporate roles will have their working from home allowance decided by a team director. As such, Jassy said that Amazon expects teams to still continue working «mostly» remotely, while others will form some combination of home and in office. He also suggested that there will be those that chose to come into the office every day. 

«We’re intentionally not prescribing how many days or which days – this is for directors to determine with their senior leaders and teams,» Jassy added. «The decisions should be guided by what will be most effective for our customers; and not surprisingly, we will all continue to be evaluated by how we deliver for customers, regardless of where the work is performed.»

Similarly, Google also recently extended its remote working plans into 2022, saying it would wait for a clearer picture of the pandemic in the US before it made a final decision. 

Antitrust regulators from the European Commission (EC) are reportedly asking Microsoft’s rivals if Teams has more market clout because it is bundled in with the company’s popular Office suite of services. 

The EC appears to be following up on a complaint by Slack with a questionnaire, seen by Reuters, that has been sent to Microsoft’s rivals.

Slack’s complaint was formally filed more than a year ago and accused Microsoft of «illegally» bundling the Teams app into its market-dominant productivity suite. The communications platform argued that this hampers competition because it is unremovable from the software suite, essentially forcing the app upon users. 

At the time, Slack said it was confident of the «merits» of its own product, but said it couldn’t ignore the «illegal behaviour» that deprives customers of access to the tools and services they want. The company said it simply wanted fair competition and asked the EC to be a neutral referee in a legal culmination of a very long tit-for-tat war between the two companies.

The EC had been very quiet on the subject, only confirming that it had received a complaint back in June, although according to the questionnaire seen by Reuters, it is looking at the market from 2016 to 2021. This would cover a year before Teams was launched (2017) and the four years after where it has rapidly grown.  

The Commission is reportedly asking if bundled products give companies access to data that could increase their market power and make it harder for rivals to compete, and is also keen to hear about the barriers to entry and expansion in the workplace apps market. What’s more, participants were asked for a list of customers who have switched to Microsoft Teams or its bundled Office package. 

Slack, which is a much older platform, has always maintained that Teams was a «poor copy» of its product and its CEO Stewart Butterfield has made various comments to that effect. Microsoft has not engaged in the war of words as much, but it has previously been fined by the EC for cases that involve tying services in other practices.  

Citrix has named board chairman Bob Calderoni as interim CEO and president, replacing David Henshall, who had held both roles since 2017.

The changes will take effect «immediately», the company said in a statement, which also thanked Henshall for his service.

Henshall’s tenure at the company covered its transition to the cloud and «significant» improvements to products and SaaS offerings, the firm said. His work was also «instrumental» in helping the company and its employees navigate the pandemic. He has also held CFO and COO roles since joining the company in 2003.

«The entire Board thanks him for his contributions over nearly 20 years,» said Calderoni.

«We remain focused on transitioning the business to SaaS as we work to securely deliver a unified work experience for our valued customers. I look forward to leading the company into its next phase of growth and success, and I am confident that this will be a smooth leadership transition.»

Calderoni brings over 30 years of executive experience in the technology sector, including seven as a director of Citrix. He has previously worked as interim CEO, holding the position from 2015 to 2016, before Henshall’s appointment. The company’s lead independent director, Nanci Caldwell, called him a «natural choice» to lead the Company at this time.

«Bob knows our products, markets, customers and culture,» Caldwell said. «The board is confident he is the right person to drive the company’s continued transformation and deliver value to our shareholders.»

In a final note, Henshall also praised Calderoni, referring to him as a «strong leader» who is deeply familiar with Citrix.

«I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together and confident that the company will continue to innovate and deliver for all stakeholders under Bob’s leadership,» said Henshall.

There were further changes at board level, with Dr Ajei Gopal departing the company after four-years. This was to avoid any potential conflicts of interest that could arise due to him holding both president and CEO positions at another company, Ansys, where Calderoni is also a board member.

Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services is set to launch on 1 November to help financial institutions use the Microsoft Cloud.

The new initiative integrates cloud services across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Power Platform, with new capabilities and customisations unique to financial services. It also has been designed to address the control frameworks and regulatory requirements facing the industry.

The platform provides financial institutions with a unified customer profile, easier customer onboarding, help with personalising customer interaction, and makes automation and collaboration across front and back-office easier. It also helps to identify and prevent fraud, protects the merchant services arms of financial institutions, carries out risk assurance and support, and helps organisations manage compliance requirements.

Microsoft hopes this will help financial institutions and industry partners to unlock value by optimising business processes through integrated collaboration and omnichannel communication capabilities, and enhance the customer experience through comprehensive customer insights and personalised interactions. It also helps accelerate products to market and removes data silos.

“This industry-specific cloud introduces new capabilities that unlock the power of the Microsoft Cloud to help innovate for responsible and sustainable growth,” said Bill Borden, corporate vice president of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft.

“Our industry cloud has a foundation of privacy, security, and regulatory compliance across Microsoft and our partner ecosystem, and it is built on an industry data model that enables interoperability and innovation.”

In September, Atos and IBM teamed up to create a new centre of excellence to help banks and insurance companies improve security and regulatory compliance when moving to the cloud. The platform aims to provide technical and financial services advice and expertise with Atos professionals trained on the IBM Cloud providing local language assistance. Atos will also offer automation services like Robotic Process Automation, AI-driven intelligent workflows, and business processes reengineering.

Microsoft has officially launched Windows 11, with the operating system’s phased rollout kicking off on 5 October. 

The release has been long anticipated by consumers and tech industry professionals alike, with the update bringing a number of new features such as a redesigned Start menu, Microsoft Teams integration, and the promise of faster future updates. 

Windows chief product officer Panos Panay, who was promoted to executive vice president in August, announced the launch on Windows Blogs and thanked Microsoft’s partners for their support.

“We are grateful to our entire ecosystem of partners who have played important roles in helping us prepare to get Windows 11 into the hands of our customers around the world. From OEM and app partners, to silicon, to retail, to our Windows Insiders, a launch of this global scale could not be achieved without them,” he said.

“On behalf of the entire team, we are pumped to bring you Windows 11, the Windows that brings you closer to what you love. We look forward to seeing the dreams and ideas you bring to life with Windows 11. This is just the beginning,” he added.

The tech industry was quick to share its thoughts on the launch, and many believe Windows 11 will fail to make a significant impact, with business uptake likely to be slow.

Gartner senior research director Ranjit Atwal, for example, told IT Pro that he is not expecting the launch to create “significant change” in the wider PC market. Many businesses will likely wait until next year to upgrade to Windows 11, he added, due to uncertainty towards the availability and compatibility of different apps.

Scott Riley, director of Cloud Nexus, a security provider and gold Microsoft Partner, told IT Pro, also believes that business uptake of the new operating system will be slow. When asked about whether users should upgrade today, he said: “The answer is no, Windows 10 is still fully supported by Microsoft until October 2025 so there is no urgency to make the leap,” he added.

Riley added that the operating system «feels like a facelift rather than a complete change to Windows 10”, and noted that Microsoft’s stringent system requirements could be another factor in users’ reluctance to upgrade immediately. 

“There are a lot of changes under the hood, and the minimum requirements have increased to focus on security for home and business devices,’ he said. «Windows 11 now requires a processor which supports security features which were only introduced into Intel and AMD chips following the Spectre and Meltdown attacks in 2018,» he said.

«As such this means that an awful lot of computers produced in 2018 and earlier will not be supported on Windows 11.»

However, Mahadeva Bisappa, principal architect at the Microsoft Partner and digital transformation consultancy, SPR, told IT Pro that the operating system has clearly been designed for the distributed workforce.

“Windows 11 comes out at a time when distributed remote work has become a norm”, she said, adding that its features are tailored to meeting “those remote working needs”.

“This includes all the new user interface improvements, Microsoft Teams for integrated communication and collaboration via text, audio and video modes across devices, and being able to use Windows 11 from any device or operating system,” he said. 

Bisappa also highlighted Windows 11’s security features, saying that Microsoft has been “doing a tremendous job of updating the Windows operating system regularly to address security issues and help users be more productive and secure”.

If you’re ready to make the team, a guide on how to install Windows 11 is available here.

A faulty configuration change has been blamed for taking Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram offline for more than six hours on Monday night. 

The social network’s engineering team said that the changes affected the routers that coordinate the platform’s network traffic between its data centres. This, they said, caused a «cascading effect» on the way its data centres communicate, bringing all of the company’s services to a halt. 

«Our services are now back online and we’re actively working to fully return them to regular operations,» the company said in a blog post. «We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change. We also have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime.»

In order to remedy the issue, Facebook sent engineers to one of its main data centres in California, according to The New York Times, suggesting it couldn’t be fixed remotely. It was also reported that the outage prevented staff from accessing company buildings and conference rooms with their badges.

The incident caught the attention of internet giant Cloudflare, which initially assumed something was wrong with its own DNS servers. However, after an investigation, engineers realised something more serious was happening, and reported in a blog that «social media quickly burst into flames.»

«Facebook and its affiliated services WhatsApp and Instagram were, in fact, all down,» Cloudflare said. «Their DNS names stopped resolving, and their infrastructure IPs were unreachable. It was as if someone had ‘pulled the cables’ from their data centres all at once and disconnected them from the Internet.»

The issues were down to BGP – the Border Gateway Protocol – which is a mechanism that exchanges routing information between autonomous systems on the web. The bigger versions of these make the internet work and have constantly updated lists for the possible routes of traffic, according to Cloudflare. 

«The Internet is literally a network of networks, and it’s bound together by BGP,» the firm said in its blog. «BGP allows one network (say Facebook) to advertise its presence to other networks that form the Internet. As we write Facebook is not advertising its presence, ISPs and other networks can’t find Facebook’s network and so it is unavailable.»