Last month, the Information Security Forum released their annual prediction of the top 10 information security threats they foresee for the next two years – through 2016. While I found the entire list insightful, half of the list resonated strongly with me as someone who is working with large enterprises as they wrestle with security and compliance challenges as they embark on cloud adoption. I believe this group of five predictions is particularly relevant for anyone utilizing the cloud over the next two years and I’ve added a few of my own thoughts on each.
1. Service Providers Become a Key Vulnerability
I find this first prediction especially valid and timely because of some recent headlines. Service providers, given the nature of their business, are a prime “aggregation” for all types of sensitive/valuable data. Cyber criminals and hackers realize this, which puts a big target on the backs of service providers. Think about it – a successful breach equals a treasure trove of coveted information from potentially multiple tenants. And the reality is that service providers acting as a central storage point for large amounts of sensitive data will continue to increase over the next two years, so the prize will only become richer. In response and in preparation, enterprises need to takes steps to protect their most sensitive and important data and decide which data they truly need to send to public cloud service providers.
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Integrated PaaS/IaaS Technology Complements Your Enterprise Cloud Strategy
Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service are technologies that are fast becoming integrated, and this is good news for enterprises looking to implement private, public or hybrid clouds.
The availability of resources on-demand through companies like Amazon and Google has provided developers with the ability to quickly define a scalable and highly available infrastructure to develop and deploy applications. The availability of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) means that anyone can provision servers, storage and networking in the cloud with a high level of configurability and control and pay (in general) for the amount of resources reserved.
From PaaS to SaaS to Hybrid Clouds
“I see almost no one running hybrid clouds,” noted Seth Proctor, CTO of NuoDB, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo conference chairs Larry Carvalho and Vanessa Alvarez. “The few examples are usually public cloud deployments with backup and/or DR options in a private setup.”
Cloud Computing Journal: How are cloud standards playing a role in expanding adoption among users? Are standards helping new business models for service providers?
Seth Proctor: I think the only standards are de facto standards like OpenStack or the AWS interfaces. Honestly there are no «cloud standards» I know of that are fueling adoption. What have become standard are the assumptions around virtualization, provisioning tools, monitoring methods, etc.
Docker + Stackato: The Perfect Workload Portability Solution
If you work in technology, you’d have to have been under a rock to have not heard about Docker. In a nutshell, Docker provides a lightweight container for code that can be installed onto a Linux system, providing both an execution environment for applications and partitioning to securely segregate sets of application code from one another. While this high-level description doesn’t sound that exciting, Docker addresses three key issues confronting application developers:
One of the problems confronting IT organizations is how to get the most benefit from computing resources; this translates as to how to raise utilization of servers to ensure that their cost and power use is actually applied to computing rather than being used to operate a server that is running, but performing no useful work. The previous solution to this issue was virtualization, which enabled a single server to support multiple virtual machines, each containing an operating system and software payload.
Cloud Infrastructure for the Real World
Cloud adoption is an evolutionary process that has been leading to hybrid clouds – specifically, open hybrid clouds that provide for portability of applications and data. This new model means avoiding new points of proprietary lock-in and new silos, and breaking from proprietary software and hardware.
Facilitate Cloud Management
“Hybrids need to coexist with private and public clouds as that’s what cloud consumers will request,” noted Chris Tella, CMO and EVP of Sales at Basic6, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo conference chairs Larry Carvalho and Vanessa Alvarez. “The best advice I’ve heard so far was from an AWS representative discussing scalability – make use of the automated tools such as ours which are designed to facilitate cloud management.”
Cloud Computing Journal: How are cloud standards playing a role in expanding adoption among users? Are standards helping new business models for service providers?
CloudPOST Named “Media Sponsor” of Cloud Expo & Internet of Things Expo
SYS-CON Events announced today that CloudPOST has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 14th International Cloud Expo® and Internet of Things Expo, which will take place on June 10–12, 2014, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
CloudPOST aims to provide useful content to the Cloud community.
CloudPOST was created for the sole purpose of offering timely, relevant information to cloud experts, data center and IT and managers. Today, we’re doing the very same same thing – telling you what makes today’s cloud tick, and tomorrow’s cloud as well.
Who Cares About Hybrid Cloud?
How are hybrid clouds evolving to allow the coexistence of private and public clouds? What are the challenges to meeting a true hybrid cloud scenario?
Businesses large and small have been at times both seduced and confused by the grand promise of the cloud. But when they talk about “hybrid cloud,” they are really just seeking the flexibility to utilize the cloud as an extension of their own data center. They also want levels of openness, transparency and ease of use – previously unattained in the enterprise – where production workloads can be easily mobilized, centrally managed and protected.
‘How to Solve the Challenge of WS 2003 End of Life’
Companies are bracing for the challenge of upgrading hundreds or thousands of servers ahead of the «end of life» of Windows Server 2003 in July, 2015. Join this informative webinar to hear Microsoft’s recommendations and see a demonstration of AppZero, the only automated way to «uplevel» applications off WS2003 and onto newer operating systems.
AppZero is a fast, flexible way to move server applications to and across the cloud, without code change or lock-in. Encapsulating Windows applications in VM/OS-free packages, AppZero’s patented software moves complex server applications with ease. AppZero allows you to move from an old operating system to a newer one, with the click of a button – modernize and move to the cloud in one step.
An Open Competitive Marketplace of Cloud Service Providers
“As the cloud service provider market place grows, and cloud standards evolve to support interoperability and transparent migration capabilities, the corporate business risk concerns will be addressed and then, and only then, we may see the cloud architecture move toward replacing on-premise operations,” said Dave Peters, Manager, Systems Integration at ESRI, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference and Tech Chairs Larry Carvalho and Vanessa Alvarez.
Cloud Computing Journal: How are cloud standards playing a role in expanding adoption among users? Are standards helping new business models for service providers?