Rafay enables developers to automate the distribution, operations, cross-region scaling and lifecycle management of containerized microservices across public and private clouds, and service provider networks. Rafay’s platform is built around foundational elements that together deliver an optimal abstraction layer across disparate infrastructure, making it easy for developers to scale and operate applications across any number of locations or regions. Consumed as a service, Rafay’s platform eliminates the need to build an in-house platform or developing any specialized compute distribution capabilities. The platform significantly simplifies the deployment of containerized apps anywhere. Organizations can now achieve their desired levels of reliability, availability and performance with any combination of public cloud environments through a developer-friendly SaaS offering. From deploying a simple web crawler across multiple regions, to running a cloud gaming platform across multiple public clouds, to operating a ride-share platform, the level of specialization needed to build and maintain a unified distribution platform is very high.

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@CloudEXPO and @ExpoDX, two of the most influential technology events in the world, have hosted hundreds of sponsors and exhibitors since our launch 10 years ago. @CloudEXPO and @ExpoDX New York and Silicon Valley provide a full year of face-to-face marketing opportunities for your company. Each sponsorship and exhibit package comes with pre and post-show marketing programs. By sponsoring and exhibiting in New York and Silicon Valley, you reach a full complement of decision makers and buyers in multiple vertical markets. Our delegate profiles can be located in our show prospectus.

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Most traditional forms of dealing with network and data latency, as well as packet loss, fall short of their promise. This includes WAN optimisation. SD-WANs are great, but their performance can also be improved by adding a WAN data acceleration layer. With the growth of the Internet of Things, therefore, organisations are looking for new ways to reduce the impact of latency and packet loss.

David Linthicum, chief cloud strategist at Cisco Systems, explains edge computing’s benefits. “By eliminating the distance and time it takes to send data to centralised sources, we can improve the speed and performance of data transport, as well as devices and applications on the edge.” This sounds great, but why are people talking about edge computing, which while in many respects has many other names isn’t quite so new?

With technologies such as autonomous vehicles, the answer appears to lie in edge computing because it permits much of the data analysis to be conducted close to the data, while minimising latency and packet loss. However, questions should still be raised about whether this pushes data too close to the edge. One thing is true; edge computing won’t necessarily make data centres redundant. There will still be a need for data to be stored away from the edge to ensure business and service continuity.

Data processing trends

However, the new Gartner Trend Insight Report, ‘The Edge Completes the Cloud’, states: "By 2022, more than 50% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside the data centre or cloud." David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks, thinks these findings are bang on. He says edge computing improves the ability of multi-national cloud companies to make deployment easier.

“In the past edge was difficult, as you would have to create own little data centre or facility, but now it’s all there in the cloud; and its savings in operational expenditure (OPEX) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) that everyone loves at the moment”, he adds.

Edge computing clarity

In response to whether people are confused about what entails edge computing, Trossell says: “I don’t think there is confusion – its function and reason are straightforward. Confusion only arises when people don’t understand why it is needed or try to misuse it.” 

Eric Simone, CEO of ClearBlade, a company that is promoting the benefits of edge computing, nevertheless explains that it is one of the latest ways of applying age-old concepts of distributed computing philosophy and practice.

He recently explained to IoT World Today that his definition of edge computing is about having a solution that runs on the cloud or elsewhere, and a solution that you sync completely with a device in a car, on a train, in a factor and “run it from there.” This requires some standardisation of the way organisations transmit – not just data, but also configure the entire system.

Nothing new

Trossell concurs that nothing is new in computing. “Edge is just a new way of solving age-old problems," he says. "Now that the market consists of the major cloud and other smaller local cloud providers, edge computing is more economically viable to do.

“Like every aspect of computing, edge computing is not a panacea for all problems, but It’s great for low latency applications. However, if the application doesn’t need that level of response or local computing capacity – then it is not the answer.”

Speaking about the question of whether edge will lead to the demise of data centres, he says there are different levels of storage and computation required. At some point, all of the edge data needs to come together for processing. “Data centres meet those high-end requirements – this could be on-premise or in the cloud”, he suggests.  

He observes that edge computing has a specific use case – that being for low power latency and critical applications, while emphasising that latency can only be mitigated with WAN data acceleration and other technologies. So, the answer is often to move the data closer to the end point (such as with edge computing). Despite this, WAN data acceleration is still used to improve the efficiency of WAN connection when moving the data back to the data centre.

Tips for mitigating latency

With these points in mind, Trossell offers his top five tips for mitigating latency and reducing packet loss, with or without edge computing:

• Assess the impact of latency and packet loss on your project because they are a fact of life
• Remember that even though may you have solved the latency by moving control to the edge, getting data to and from the edge can still scupper the project
• Any technology if deployed at the edge to mitigate these, must be lightweight in terms of computing and storage requirements
• Ensure that your edge computing works for all data types, especially encrypted
• Consider deploying a combination of solutions, include WAN data acceleration – or even SD-WANs with a WAN data acceleration overlay

“As people move to more and more connected devices that have to respond immediately to situations, such as autonomous vehicles in motion, plant equipment or process controls, then there is an absolute need for edge computing," Trossell adds. "There is also an argument for edge-to-edge requirements; such as with autonomous vehicles. Their first primary edge within them requires the making of split-second decisions, and the secondary edge is receiving or transmitting information between the central data centre and the vehicle.”

The edge is but one solution

Considering the views of the industry experts cited in this article, it is clear that in many cases edge computing is required. However, it’s not the only technology that’s necessary. A plethora of technologies may provide the complete solution, and this could include WAN data acceleration. It uses machine learning to accelerate data across WANs, and in contrast to edge computing the mitigation of data doesn’t require each data centre to be situated in the same circles of disruption.

This means that any data that has been gleaned at the edge, can be sent for processing and analysis thousands of miles away. It can also be backed up and then rapidly restored whenever disaster strikes. WAN data acceleration can therefore complement edge computing – giving life to new ways to tackle latency and packet loss.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

As you know, enterprise IT conversation over the past year have often centered upon the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration system. In fact, Kubernetes has emerged as the key technology — and even primary platform — of cloud migrations for a wide variety of organizations.

Kubernetes is critical to forward-looking enterprises that continue to push their IT infrastructures toward maximum functionality, scalability, and flexibility.

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For vendors who aren’t at the very top tier of the cloud industry, it can sometimes be a case of Muhammad and the mountain. You can use their migration path to the cloud, or you can just get Amazon, Microsoft, or Google to do it for you. SAP appears to understand this, if its newest launch, Embrace, is anything to go by.

The company announced at its SAPPHIRE NOW event a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud to help organisations’ journey towards an ‘intelligent enterprise’ by offering a single blueprint.

The offering that customers will receive through Embrace consists of several strands. Alongside the foundational services running on SAP Cloud Platform, there will also be a jointly-developed reference architecture and product journey roadmap.

“Our customers are very clear about the business outcomes they expect to achieve when migrating to the cloud – and that includes operational excellence and innovation,” said Jennifer Morgan, president of SAP’s cloud business group in a statement. “Working together with the hyperscalers and global strategic service partners, we’re in a unique position to shape our customers’ journeys to becoming intelligent enterprises.”

The hyperscalers all gave off positive vibes, as to be expected. AWS said it was a ‘proud participant’ in the program, while Microsoft noted the continuation of a long-standing partnership between the two companies.

Google’s perspective however may be seen as the most interesting. From that side, it can be seen as another signpost to enterprise success. Google had a booth at SAPPHIRE NOW to emphasise this partnership. While a lot of the company’s focus at Next in April was on the development and open source side, CEO Thomas Kurian had previously advocated more aggression in its enterprise sales strategy.

“The world’s largest businesses run SAP applications, and increasingly, they’re doing it on Google Cloud,” wrote Snehanshu Shah, Google Cloud managing director for SAP in a blog post. Shah added that more customers were running mission-critical SAP applications on Google’s cloud, adding that SAP was also bringing its HANA Enterprise Cloud to Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

Connor Jones

Both the present and the future of business operations lie in the cloud, there is no point in denying this. In fact, Gartner has projected that the market for public cloud services will grow by 17.3% in 2019 –  totaling $206.2 billion.

It’s important to note that the modern concept of cloud computing is still relatively new in the grand scheme of things (less than two decades). That said, we are in an interesting time of transition where many businesses are still in the adoption phase. If executed properly, cloud-based services can do wonders to help small businesses cut down on essential technology costs, as well as ensure that operations run smoothly and securely.

Now, the exact process of adopting the cloud is going to look a little bit different for every small business. The good news is there are a handful of overarching principles to make the transition as pain-free as possible.

Let’s dive in.

Understand the "why" behind cloud migration

This is perhaps the most important ingredient to a successful cloud adoption. Nearly every business knows how important it is to get up to speed on the cloud, yet pinpointing the “why” can be a struggle for many.

Step one is to outline your priorities.

• Are you looking to lower overhead costs in the long run?
• Set yourself up for better scalability?
• Boost performance and efficiency?
• Add security?
• All of the above?

Once you detail out your priorities, you need to identify your most important areas for cloud adoption. In general, many businesses elect to start with essential company operations, like CRM and finances.

For small businesses, accounting tools like CloudBooks for example are ideal for taking the bulk of day-to-day tasks (like invoicing, time tracking, and expense management) off of manual spreadsheets.

As a cloud-based tool, this program is designed to scale and remain organised as client volumes increase.

In regards to CRM, ConvergeHub is one of the more contemporary cloud options for small businesses.

The platform is built to centralise all customer data to simplify critical business functions like personalised marketing, customer service, and even Salesforce automation.

As you plan out more and more of your cloud adoption, you need to have clear-cut objectives with defined KPIs to lay the groundwork for success – just like any other project.

Look to the future

The beauty of the cloud is that it has created a plethora of opportunities to grow and expand with ease. However, understanding your needs in terms of flexibility must be at the forefront of your adoption process.

Before you make any decisions on which cloud platforms you will adopt or how you will execute the migration, you should have an idea of what your small business will look like in one, two, or even five years down the road. This will be critical when assessing the scalability of each potential platform, storage capabilities, user accessibility, and overall feasibility.

Ideally, the cloud solution(s) you choose should grow with you.

For example, let’s say you currently have a central headquarters for your small business where all employees work. In this scenario, accessibility and collaboration are typically very easy.

As you bring on more employees, you might decide to source more and more people from out of town working remotely. Therefore, your cloud solutions will need to accommodate more, decentralised users. These people would need to have secure access to data centers and company processes – which would need to be a big priority as you gauge the capabilities for cloud solutions.

As you don’t have a magic crystal ball showing you the future, planning ahead can be tough. The most important thing is to assess your realistic options for expansion as a small business. In the process of shopping around for cloud programs, you want to have options, not limitations.

Make sure all critical data is backed up

As you start to make your moves towards the cloud, you need to be very, VERY careful that you don’t lose any of your precious data. Believe it or not, this is easier said than done.

Before you make any sort of move towards cloud adoption, take your time and do an extremely thorough off-cloud backup starting with your most important business information. This is not just for peace of mind. Organising and maintaining your backups allows your IT team to quickly restore the data during the migration and minimise the risk of data loss.

To save yourself a heap of struggle, you are wise to look into a specialised backup and recovery solution that can efficiently replicate your backups to a public cloud – like Microsoft Azure.

Poorly executed backups can set you back months – or even years. Don’t take any risks or cut corners here.

Hire the right help

If you aren’t a seasoned IT expert, managing a full scale cloud adoption will almost certainly be chockful of speedbumps. Keep in mind, cloud adoptions are rarely (if ever) 100% pain-free. Even though it might come with a high price tag, outsourcing to an agency that specialises in digital adoption/transformation is money well spent. To reiterate, a poorly executed cloud adoption can land you in very hot water.

There are many advantages to utilising a professional firm to help with cloud adoption.

First and foremost, these agencies are well-trained and prepared to keep your data safe throughout the entire process. Two, they know the best strategies for minimising downtime. Three, even during downtimes, you want to have the capability to keep operations running as normally as possible. Digital transformation firms are specialised in helping to make sure business runs as usual as you migrate to the cloud. Lastly, many of these companies offer services to train your employees to become proficient in the new technology. As they have (ideally) been on the migration project since day one, they should know your system well enough to get everyone up to speed.

Even if you have the slightest doubt about your own capabilities (or that of your team’s) to ensure a seamless cloud adoption, do yourself a long term favour and leave it to the experts.

Over to you

Cloud adoption is a monumental step for a small business. Depending on how well you plan and execute, it can either be a blessing or a curse.

From communication services to accounting and CRM, cloud solutions are huge enablers of long term survival in today’s business world. With so many options out there, these aren’t decisions you can take lightly. Keep these tips in mind as you plan your cloud adoption strategy.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

Maggie Holland

Ever had that feeling of regret when you find you’re double booked? Well, spare a thought for the enterprise and developer tech world this week. On the US West Coast, Microsoft Build has just completed in Washington while Google I/O charges on in California. On the Atlantic side, meanwhile, ProgressNEXT continues in Florida – where sister publication Developer has been in residence – while Red Hat Summit enters its final day in Massachusetts. Not to mention a small AWS gathering in London yesterday.

It is almost enough to lead one to distraction. Yet parallels can be drawn – particularly with the former and latter events. Microsoft and Red Hat have boosted their alliance significantly over the past few days; and it has ramifications for the enterprise stack.

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared the stage at Summit on Tuesday, ostensibly to announce Azure Red Hat OpenShift. The two companies had already buddied up when Red Hat brought OpenShift to Azure last year – and as those who regularly watch such keynotes will know that having both chief execs on stage is A Big Thing, this should be seen as a significant further step.

As before, the primary watchwords here are hybrid and open. Organisations have realised they can now have it all; moving plenty of resource to the public cloud but keeping some of that on-premises infrastructure. Both companies see containers, in particular Kubernetes, as a bridge to this hybrid goal. For Red Hat, of course, containers are a no-brainer. But it is testament to Redmond’s sustained approach that we can say the same about Microsoft. The company partnered with Docker at the end of last year, and Nadella told attendees at Red Hat Summit of the combined vision.

“We’re big believers in distributed computing and hybrid computing – the cloud, the edge, and the flexibility it provides any customer,” said Nadella. “The ability to be able to use, for example, the GPUs and the FPGA inference capabilities alongside this hybrid support, to me, is probably the thing that helps any customer get the best out of their infrastructure.”

Nadella also spoke of the continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) benefits. “The other one I’m seeing a lot of is the CI/CD pipeline, especially in terms of the agility,” he explained. “Let’s say you’re using GitHub, GitHub Enterprise – your ability to set up your CI there and then use CD to OpenShift, either on the cloud, or on-premise, or any other cloud.

“The ability to have that level of productivity for developers, as well as have the IT productivity, I think is fantastic.”

Given OpenShift runs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), this was not the only Linux-based news to come out of Microsoft towers this week. Perhaps the biggest surprise of Build were the plans for something the industry had scoffed at for years; Linux on the desktop. “Beginning with Windows Insiders builds this summer, we will include an in-house custom-built Linux kernel to underpin the newest version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux,” wrote Jack Hammons, Linux systems group program manager earlier this week.

To kick off the Summit, Red Hat issued research from IDC which argued that by 2019, Red Hat Enterprise Linux will impact $10 trillion of global business revenues and be responsible for the employment of 900,000 IT professionals. Citing a reduction in the annual cost of software, by up to 52%, and a 5% decrease in costs associated with unplanned downtime among others, IDC said that RHEL, as the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, will be increasingly vital as the operating system moves to ‘the heart of every modern enterprise.’

The sands of time are certainly shifting – and for Red Hat, it can be seen to represent an inflection point. The company’s acquisition by IBM late last year – officially approved by the SEC earlier this week – appeared in this publication’s eyes to be a win-win. IBM, in the words of CloudBees CEO Sacha Labourey, got ‘developer love and access to pretty much all CIOs on the planet’, while Red Hat got a surrogate who was willing to espouse open values. At IBM Think in February, CEO Ginni Rometty said the company was embarking on the second round of its cloud story – one with hybrid and multi-cloud at its core, and is open but secure.

Rometty also took to the stage on Tuesday to discuss where things stood with the acquisition. “I think what brought [us] together was we both saw an even bigger opportunity in front of us,” she said. “This opportunity – there’s so much what I would call mission-critical work that can still yet move to the cloud, except for so many companies, they’ve started with something already. And to get there, it means all these different islands, whether it’s public cloud, private cloud, traditional. You’ve got to have some way to modernise and connect all these pieces together.

“The timing in our mind… [companies] now have a fabric, and what [Red Hat has] built and will continue to build… obviously Linux is key but you’ve also got Kubernetes, containers, that are really going to form what I think is a standard for the world to do this,” added Rometty. “The ‘why Red Hat now?’ is that those things have really all come of age.

“I think the opportunity is right in front of so many clients – it’s a problem, they want to address this. And it isn’t just to move everything to the public cloud; there’s lots of reasons you’re going to end up with an environment that’s hybrid.”

Picture credit: "IMG_1686", by titanium22, used under CC BY-SA 2.0

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

Modern software design has fundamentally changed how we manage applications, causing many to turn to containers as the new virtual machine for resource management. As container adoption grows beyond stateless applications to stateful workloads, the need for persistent storage is foundational – something customers routinely cite as a top pain point. In his session at @DevOpsSummit at 21st Cloud Expo, Bill Borsari, Head of Systems Engineering at Datera, explored how organizations can reap the benefits of the cloud without losing performance as containers become the new paradigm.

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