Todas las entradas hechas por Lavanya

Computing

Nvidia Finds its Niche in Non-gaming Technology

Nvidia has been a gaming company for a long time, and it has always tied its revenues and business to its gaming hardware.

But, that’s now changing as the company is seeing profits in its artificial intelligence (AI) segment as well. Over the last year and a half, Nvidia realized that it can go beyond its traditional gaming business.

These efforts are evident in the first quarter results of its 2018 fiscal year. In fact, its traditional gaming business performed less than expected. It earned a revenue of only $1.03 billion against the average forecast of $1.13 billion.

During this same time, its data-center business saw a big boost in revenue. It reported an earnings of $400 million, which is close to what the company earned in the entire fiscal year of 2016. This goes to show the growth of its data center business over the last one and half years. Besides its data center, its self-driving and automation division also saw a big jump in revenue.

A deep analysis reveals some interesting trends for the company. Firstly, it’s moving away from its core business slowly and steadily, as the loss in its gaming division was made up by the buoyant revenue from its AI and data center divisions. In fact, this expansion into other areas was given a big thumbs-up by the investors. As soon as the results were announced, the stock price of Nvidia went for a joy ride.

Secondly, the company’s move came at a right time when cloud computing companies are vying with each other to woo customers. In the process, they want to offer products with faster processing speeds. This requires chipsets with advanced deep learning and AI technology, something that Nvidia was able to cater to.

A press release by the company said that it attributed much of its efforts in cloud due to the adoption of its chipsets by some of the largest companies in the world such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alphabet Inc, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM and Alibaba Group Holding.

If you’re wondering what’s special about Nvidia’s chipsets, well nothing actually.

The Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) were initially being used for 3D rendering and for gaming. Soon, cloud companies realized that the same chip can be used for other processes too as they have high processing power. So, they were adopted by these companies to increase their computing power and that’s how Nvidia’s GPUs became a much sought after product.

Going forward, almost every major cloud provider is looking to standardize the use of GPUs, and this is definitely good news for Nvidia. For its investors and management, it means another few years of bounty results and less dependence on the changing gaming industry. One of the drawbacks of the gaming industry is that it is cyclical, with sales soaring  through the holiday season, but remaining subdued through the rest of the year. This move to the cloud means the company can no longer worry about it.

Once again, these results and trends show the over-reaching impact of cloud technology across all companies and it also affirms the fact that cloud is the driving technology of the future.

The post Nvidia Finds its Niche in Non-gaming Technology appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Technology

A New Healthcare Cloud from Virtustream

Virtustream, an enterprise class cloud company, announced today that it will be launching a new healthcare cloud for its clients. This new product is built on Virtustream Enterprise Cloud and is aimed to helping clients to comply with the security requirements from regulatory bodies.

One of the key aspects of this healthcare cloud is that it offers an environment that is compliant with existing standards like HIPAA and HITECH. The service level agreements ensure that these requirements are met 99.999%, and this can be a big relief for healthcare companies.

Currently, the many regulations take up a lot of time and resources of healthcare companies and it also takes their time away from their core business. If the IT environment they work on is going to take care of all these requirements, then it’s sure going to make life easy for them.

This healthcare cloud product is designed to support a range of different electronic medical record systems and a ton of other healthcare and non-healthcare applications that are used by hospitals worldwide.

The best part is this cloud can be deployed as a public, private or hybrid cloud, depending on the business needs of the client and the infrastructure they want to implement. Such a flexibility is definitely heartening in today’s cloud environment.

This is a significant move from Virtustream considering its history and expertise. Just to give you a brief background, Virtustream is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies. A few years back, this cloud company was acquired by EMC for $1.2 billion in 2015 and it became a part of Dell, when the latter acquired EMC for $67 billion in 2016. As a result, Virtustream became a part of Dell Technologies and this has been a blessing for this division.

Virtustream’s strong cloud presence combined with the IT expertise of Dell makes it a perfect company to offer a healthcare cloud. To top it, this company already has a large target market within the US. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of U.S hospitals are customers of Dell EMC and at least 49 percent of storage infrastructure for hospitals run on Dell software.  Around the world, more than 6000 hospitals use this Dell software for their operations. In addition, seven out of ten top pharmaceutical companies are Dell customers.

This is a significant market and having a healthcare cloud that will make life easy for them would be an attractive option. This way, the company doesn’t have to spend a ton on marketing campaigns, as the target market is clear and ready.

Yet another major feather in the cap is the joint creation of a new connection by Virtustream and VMware. Both the companies recently announced that they will create a VRA Connector to allow VMware’s private cloud customers to extend their mission-critical applications to Virtustream’s Enterprise Cloud.

In all, this is an important announcement and one that can take cloud’s reach to new heights, especially in the healthcare sector. It also, in many ways, shows the wide-reaching impact of cloud technology as a whole.

The post A New Healthcare Cloud from Virtustream appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Google

A Look into Google’s Pricing Strategy

It’s a well know fact that the top players in cloud market are engaged in an aggressive pricing strategy to woo customers and to increase their overall market share. Out of the top names like AWS, Microsoft, IBM and Google, the one company that’s know for its deep price cuts is Google.

So, is it true that Google cuts its prices with an aim to increase the market share?

Apparently no, according to Tariq Shaukat, the president of customers at Google Cloud. In an interview to CNBC, he said that Google will never be involved in a price war because he believes that Google’s products offer a high value for its customers. So, there is no need to engage in a price war.

However, he has also said that Google offers a flexible pricing model for its products and this way, customers are already saving money when compared to what they pay for the same service with other cloud providers.

One of strategies that Google offers to its customers is that they are billed by the minute and not by the hour, like many other cloud providers. This way, customers pay exactly for what they use and not even a minute extra.

In addition, Google’s services are comprehensive as it includes data analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence and more that are built into its products. This way, customers stand to gain a lot more for the same money they pay, opined Shaukat.

While this is a good strategy and can save money for customers, still it’s a form of price war, albeit in a veiled way.

If you look back, Amazon, Microsoft and Google have been locked in a price war that many analysts believe will severely impact the bottom line and profit margins of all the three companies. With increased competition from companies like Alibaba, there’s a possibility that there giants will slash prices even further, much to the delight of customers.

While this can leave customers happy, this price cutting is not a healthy trend for the cloud industry as a whole and this is what is worrying investors and analysts. They would rather prefer the companies to keep up their profit margins, expand their business and spend more on development, so that more products and cloud applications can come out of it. Such an approach would augur well for the health and sustainability of the cloud industry as a whole.

That opinion aside, Google is still moving on with its expansion plans. Already it has invested more than $30 billion dollars in its cloud business and this is not all. Other companies like AWS and Microsoft are also pouring in millions of dollars to spruce up their products because they all believe that this could be the main revenue driver in the years to come.

All this means the next few years are going to be interesting. Will an aggressive pricing strategy followed by these companies score over analysts’ long-term predictions? Time is the answer.

The post A Look into Google’s Pricing Strategy appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

News

AT&T and Oracle Enter Into an Agreement

It’s raining agreements in the cloud sector, and the latest is the one that Oracle entered into with AT&T. Under the terms of this agreement, AT&T will move its thousands of large-scale internal databases to Oracle’s infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS).

This deal gives a win-win scenario for both companies. For AT&T, this deal gives access to Oracle’s cloud services portfolio and all the tools that come with it. Specifically, this agreement will allow AT&T to optimize the scheduling and dispatch of its field technicians.

Currently, AT&T employs more than 70,000 field technicians and it wants to make the most of their services. To optimize the skill and availability of these technicians, it wants to combine its own machine learning and big data capabilities with Oracle’s cloud technology. Through this combination, AT&T plans to increase the overall productivity and efficiency of its workers and ensure that technicians arrive on-time for service requests.

Right now, that’s one of the complains that its customers have, as the company gives a two-hour window for its technicians arrival time. That can be too large a time gap and customers can plan their day better if they know the exact arrival time of technicians. This is why AT&T wants to provide accurate time slots and want to ensure that its technicians arrive at the given time.

This time accuracy is dependent on the work duration of each job. For example, if a technician starts his first service at 9 AM and takes half an hour to finish it. Add another 15 minute commute time, so the next service can be only at 9.45 AM. Now, if the system predicts inaccurately that the technician can finish the job in 20 minutes, then he will not be able to keep up the next appointment. This is why both the duration of the job and the overall schedule of the technicians have to be considered, and AT&T is doing just that with advanced technology.

This is a significant agreement for Oracle too, as it’s looking to expand its cloud-based offerings. Such deep collaborations with existing clients provides more opportunities for Oracle to extend its offerings. Interestingly, Oracle entered into agreements with VMware and Equinix as well, on the same day. These three agreements can greatly boost Oracle’s revenue and more importantly, give it a firm hold in the competitive cloud market.

One significant trend that we’ve been noticing is the flexibility that companies like AT&T have when it comes to entering into agreements with cloud providers. For example, AT&T has earlier deepened its commitment with both Amazon Web Services and IBM to handle cloud services for networking, mobility, security, analytics and the Internet of Things. This is a heartening trend as companies can pick and choose the provider they want for multiple divisions or services, without having to rely on a single company to provide it all.

Overall, this agreement is expected to give rich benefits to both Oracle and AT&T, and hopefully will improve service and offerings to AT&T’s end customers.

The post AT&T and Oracle Enter Into an Agreement appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

News

Verizon Sells its Cloud Business to IBM

Verizon announced that it will be selling its cloud business to IBM to help boost the buyer’s presence in the cloud market. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, so we don’t know the exact amount that transpired in the deal.

This is surprising news for many reasons. In February 2016, Verizon said that it wants to continue providing top quality cloud service to its corporate and government customers, and to this end, it is making substantial investments in the cloud business.

But, by  end of 2016, it sold 29 data centers to a company called Equinux for $3.6 billion. Right after that, this news that it has sold its cloud and managed hosting services to IBM.

With this deal, Verizon has completely quit the cloud business, though it announced that it will be working with IBM on a range of strategic issues and initiatives. Again, the exact detail of these initiatives have not been disclosed.

So, what prompted Verizon to sell its cloud business and come out of the industry altogether? The answer may lie in the history of its cloud business.

Looking back, we can say that Verizon’s cloud business had a rocky start. It put together a new division after it acquired an offering from Terremark. It built too much on it too quickly as it moved its VMware to Xen. During this time, it also started a new object store and a block store. There was also a compute service that was offered for some time, but it was closed down in February of 2016 because Verizon wanted to focus on its virtual public cloud.

The message throughout was patchy and disorganized. One of the senior brass in Verizon, George Fischer, said that the company had ambitious plans for its cloud division as it wants to become the world’s leading managed services provider. To achieve this lofty goal, it wanted to created an eco-system using the best technology solutions from Verizon and other service providers. Within a few months though, the company sold its data centers.

Not sure what happened in the company during this time for such wild transitions and the gap between its actions and statements made by the top management.

IBM is silent on this deal. There has been no statements whatsoever from this company, though it is the one that stands to gain the most from this deal. IBM is one of the top players in the cloud market, but it is trailing heavily behind Microsoft and AWS. Google is also fast closing in on the cloud market.

To compete with these players, the infrastructure and client base it has obtained from Verizon can give it a big boost. Already, the company is making rapid strides in closing the gap, and this deal can further bolster these efforts.

In some ways, this is better for everyone because a few large players sharing the market is way better than a ton of small players who fight with each other for market share. Such a trend is healthy for the industry as a whole.

The post Verizon Sells its Cloud Business to IBM appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Technology

Cloud will Power the Global Communications Market

The global communications market is growing at astronomical rates, a lot of which is powered by the cloud.  In fact, a report by Marketsandmarkets.com, shows that the global communications market will reach $4.45 billion by 2021 and this robust growth will be aided by cloud-based solutions.

We can even say that cloud will power the future of global communications market due to a combination of many factors. First off, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement is catching up in a big way, where employees can use their own personal devices to access work files and even complete their task. Such a system works best with cloud-based solutions where employees can access whatever they want from a cloud system and can put it back there once they’re done.  Since idea is prevalent across all businesses, cloud is becoming an integral part of the network.

Another reason for the emergence of cloud as an important aspect in the global communications market is the cost-effectiveness. As companies expand their reach, they need to tap into a global market. In many cases, their operations are spread across different countries and continents, so building a communications network can be prohibitive. A better option would be to use the cloud as employees from any part of the world can access a central repository to complete their work. Also, subscriptions to cloud-based services are dead cheap and this is another reason for adopting cloud.

The third factor is there is a marked shift happening from standalone communication systems to embedded ones. Many companies today are faced with the choice of replacing their existing PBX systems simply because they’re old and outdated. Instead they have a choice to either have a contact center or to move operations to the cloud. Many are choosing the latter option simply because it’s easy and convenient. Also, it requires no huge investments like rental space and equipment.

The last reason is customization. The needs of every company is unique, so a one-size-fits-all solution is not a practical approach anymore. Each company needs a customized solution that best addresses its needs, and cloud offers the level of customization that companies need in order to make the most of their resources and capabilities. This is more relevant in the communications industry than others, simply because the geographic spread, nature of business and the number of employees will vary greatly.

Besides these factors, companies understand the benefits that come with cloud-based solutions and these include increased operational efficiency, lowered costs, greater flexibility for employees and so much more. Every company wants to leverage these benefits and this is another reason they’re embracing the cloud.

In short, the communication market is adopting cloud-based solutions in a big way as it believes cloud can power the next generation of systems needed for a diverse and globalized workspace communication network. Already many companies have joined this bandwagon and it’s only a matter of time before others get on it too.

Overall, this is fantastic for both the cloud and communications sectors.

The post Cloud will Power the Global Communications Market appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Computing

Punjab University Turns to Cloud for Admissions

Cloud is all-pervasive and is an integral part of our everyday life. Almost every organization, regardless of their niche, is adopting the cloud for varied aspects of their operation. The latest to join this bandwagon is universities, led by Punjab University of India.

This university will hold its online admissions for the next academic season through a cloud-based online admission management tool. This process will be followed, both in its main campus as well as in its regional centers.

Students who wish to submit their applications to the Punjab University have to register online in the university’s portal, after which they will get an email ID and password. These login credentials have to be used throughout the admission process. In fact, this will be the preferred form of application submission and based on the details, the university will make admission decisions.

However, there are some restrictions that have been put in place by the university’s syndicate to ensure that the admission process is streamlined and in tune with its changing rules. For example, students cannot apply for more than four courses in the same application form. Based on a student’s credentials and marks, the university will award a particular course for each student.

So, why did the university take the cloud route for its admissions? According to its Registrar, G S Chadha, the admission process is one of most arduous processes in the university as it takes many weeks to complete it. With a cloud-based software, the university believes it can complete the admission process within a much shorter time than before, thereby saving more resources including time and money.

In general, the admission process in India is a drawn out affair because students apply for many courses in the same university. The manual process of entering the student’s name under each course, updating details such as marks and analyzing whether the students meets the criteria for a given course is effort-centric and time-consuming to say the least.

To top it, India has a unique reservation system where students belonging to certain caste categories have to be given seats even if their marks are lower than the average. For example, a student belonging to a reserved caste category may have a cut off marks of just 60 when compared to a student who doesn’t belong to that reserved caste, as he may have a cut off mark of 90. So, this factor also has to be considered and this complicates the process by leaps and bounds.

Punjab University believes that a cloud tool will greatly ease this process and will reduce the burden for university authorities.

In addition, it’s also beneficial for students because they get to know their admission status in Punjab University, based on which they can decide if they want to study here or look for admission elsewhere.

Overall, such applications bring out the true power of cloud as it benefits people in a real sense. Let’s hope such applications cloud so that every single entity is benefitted by it in some way.

The post Punjab University Turns to Cloud for Admissions appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Microsoft

How did Microsoft Fare?

It’s that time of the year again when tech companies report their quarterly results. For investors and the general public, this is a good time to evaluate how a company is performing, how its different sectors and what can be expected from the company over the next few months.

Microsoft announced its results for the third quarter of 2017, and surprisingly, it fell short of analysts’ expectations. The company reported a revenue of $23.56 billion while analysts were expecting a revenue of $23.62 billion. But in terms of earnings per share (EPS), Microsoft surpassed investors’ expectations as they had been expecting a revenue of $0.70 and Microsoft reported $0.73.

One of the key things to note in the results is the role played by cloud business in boosting the overall revenue of Microsoft. The cloud-based services including Azure and “Intelligent cloud” brought in revenue to the tune of $15.2 billion and this is a 11 percent increase year-on-year. In fact, Azure’s revenue jumped by 93 percent when compared to the same time last year.

According to Amy Hood, the Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft, strong execution and the growing demand for cloud business drove up the revenues this quarter and as a whole, the company expects this demand to sustain over the next few quarters as well. In this sense, they expect to generate more revenue from Azure and its “intelligent cloud” division over the upcoming months.

This is an important trend as it clearly lays out the path for Microsoft, or for that matter, many tech companies that operate in this line of business. Already, Microsoft has been investing heavily in its cognitive services and Azure platform, and we can expect this investment to increase too.

Other important gleanings from these results include the price that customers are willing to pay for services. For example, the results show that 80 percent of Azure customers use premium pricing plans. This means, customers are willing to pay more money provided they get the right value additions for the money they pay.

One aspect that we’ve been seeing is that the cloud wars have brought down the price of cloud services. Leading cloud providers like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google have been slashing their prices greatly in a bid to woo more customers. Due to this trend, premium services itself don’t cost a lot and can in fact, be affordable to many clients. That said, we can infer that this demand for premium plans could be because it’s affordable and companies get more from it.

Besides cloud, Microsoft’s Productivity and Business processes segment registered a 22 percent increase when compared to the same time last year, as its revenues soared to $8 billion. Commercial office was up by seven percent while consumer revenues grew by 15 percent respectively. The Personal Computing segment took a beating though as it registered a seven percent decline in sales.

Overall, Microsoft had a decent performance though not a stellar one, and much of it was driven by its cloud business.

The post How did Microsoft Fare? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

News

Juniper’s QI increases on strong cloud earnings

Juniper Networks, a specialist in networking products, announced the first quarter results of 2017. It reported a revenue of $1.2 billion, which is a 11 percent increase year-on-year. The non-GAAP net income was $1.78 billion and this represents an almost 25 percent increase year-on-year.

Juniper’s business is divided into three main divisions, namely, telecom and cable, cloud and enterprise. Out of these three, cloud grew the most for the company and helped it to surpass the expectations of analysts. This led to the company’s earnings per share to be $0.46, almost four cents more than what the analysts had been expecting.

Going back to the segments, cloud grew the highest at the rate of 25 percent, while telecom and cable grew at 10 percent and strategic enterprise at two percent respectively. In fact, the telecom and cable business sagged a bit over the last quarter when compared to the year before, and this was compensated by a buoyant growth in its cloud segment.

Still, routing remains the staple of Juniper Networks, as it accounts for more than 43 percent of its revenue. However, that business grew only by three percent when compared to the last year.

This revenue clearly shows that cloud is the future for Juniper Networks as the revenue and growth are clearly better than the other sectors. The CEO of Juniper, Rami Rahim even said that cloud is one of the biggest strategies that’s driving the industry today. He said that companies across all verticals are adopting the cloud, thereby opening the cloud industry in many ways. This industry is no longer the exclusive idea of a handful of companies and that’s because cloud is way more than mere infrastructure and storage.

In other words, what this essentially means is cloud adoption is increasing the chances for  many tech companies to make it a primary revenue generator, and Juniper is likely to be one of them soon. This has also opened many opportunities for Juniper to expand within its own strength. Already, many telecom and cable operators are changing their architecture to include cloud services, and Juniper is poised to  handle this transition for them.

Already, Juniper has an interesting list of clients, with the top names being Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Facebook. It is also looking to expand its cloud offerings to traditional telecom providers located within and outside the U.S, as every company is looking to leverage the power of cloud.

Besides cloud, Juniper is also looking to strengthen its security business. The report shows that there’s been a small increase in the sale of security products, and the company is confident that it can do better in the coming months. Of special mention is Juniper’s SRX security portfolio that the CEO believes is gaining traction among its clients. We can expect better results from this product in the upcoming quarters.

With such an impressive result and an optimistic roadmap for the future, Juniper’s investors are sure a happy bunch. The stock price shot by six percent during aftermarket trading on Wednesday.

The post Juniper’s QI increases on strong cloud earnings appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

News

Skyhigh Networks Partners with CIS Cybermarket

Skyhigh Networks has announced that it has entered into an agreement with CIS Cybermarket, the government purchasing cooperative that serves the local, state and tribal governments.

Central Internet Security (CIS) Cybermarket, previously known as the CIS Trusted Purchasing Alliance, makes the most of the purchasing power of the public sector to help them navigate the world of cybersecurity. It specifically collaborates with leading cybersecurity companies to help the public sector take advantage of the advancements made in technology.

This is big news both in government tech and cloud world because this is the first time that CIS Cybermarket has offered the services of a cloud service broker to its members.

In general, security is a major concern for government departments because they deal with sensitive information such as Social Security Numbers (SSN), date of birth and financial details that can bring heavy loss if it falls in the wrong hands.

Moreover, there are still many apprehensions when it comes to storing sensitive information in the cloud, despite all the advancements made in the field of cloud security. Much of these apprehensions can be attributed to the number of hacking incidents that have taken place in the near past as well as lack of knowledge on the processes in place to curb these malpractices.

To assuage these fears, security assurances are important as they give a fair amount of confidence and surety about data safety. In this case, many members of CIS Cybermarket want to move their operations to the cloud, but are wary of the pitfalls. This is why Skyhigh Networks was chosen to provide the much-needed assurance about data safety.

To give you a small brief, Skyhigh Networks is a cloud access security broker that helps organizations to enforce security, compliance and governance policies across all its data points and cloud services, regardless of the device and number of users. In many ways, this cloud-hosted software provider acts as a control point to ensure continuous visibility, so companies can always stay on top of their data and applications. Such a software alleviates many fears and even gives assurance about cloud security.

So, this brings up the next question, why Skyhigh Networks and why not some other cloud access security broker?

One of the primary reasons is that Skyhigh Networks is the only cloud access service broker to be authorized through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. This program is used by federal agencies to assess cloud vendors and to make the right choices based on their needs. Almost all state and local governments use this program as a standard for buying all kinds of cloud services.

Besides this authorization, Skyhigh also has the experience and expertise needed to guide members through the enforcement process across all their SaaS, PaaS and IaaS platforms.

This partnership, the first of its kind, is expected to bolster the relationship between public and private sector, particularly in the cloud industry. Let’s hope that this addresses many of the fears and insecurities that plague the public sector when it comes to cloud adoption.

The post Skyhigh Networks Partners with CIS Cybermarket appeared first on Cloud News Daily.