All posts by Lavanya

Amazon AWS, Google

Google Acquires Qwiklabs

Google scores over its arch rival Amazon by acquiring a company called Qwiklabs, that provides hands-on training for AWS developers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Qwiklabs was founded in 2012 to focus on teaching developers to create and run applications on the AWS platform. Though the original idea was to create a learning tool for cloud-based platforms, the focus quickly turned to AWS because of its dominance in the cloud market. AWS also started using Qwiklabs as its go-to service for providing self-paced labs for different developers.

All that is set to change with this acquisition. Clearly, Google acquired Qwiklabs with an intent to take on its competition head-on. Since the cloud attributes of Google and AWS are fundamentally different, it requires different development approaches. Given this difference, it won’t be a surprise if Qwiklabs transforms from a AWS-based service to a Google-based one, where Google’s own cloud tools and services are showcased to potential customers. It remains to be seen if Google will also allows AWS-based courses on Qwiklabs. Some experts though think Qwiklabs will continue to offer AWS courses, as Google’s cloud head, Diane Greene is a supporter of multi-cloud deployments.

At this point though, Google has announced no major changes to the operations of Qwiklabs, which means, Qwiklabs will continue to offer subscriptions and labs for AWS developers. However, we may not see new AWS courses on this platform, and also, there is no news on when Google’s programs will be included. It is expected that Google will use Qwiklabs to help people understand the Google Cloud Platform and G Suite productivity services better, so more apps can be based out of them.

This acquisition comes as a surprise for many reasons. Firstly, it’s not sure why AWS did not acquire this company before-hand, considering the fact that it sold only AWS-based courses. In fact, Qwiklabs says that more than half a million developers have used its platform, and have spent over five million hours learning about AWS. Secondly, it reflects the multi-pronged strategy that Google has taken over the last few months to get a firm hold on the cloud market. Thirdly, this acquisition can act as the perfect jump board for Google to reach out to more customers.

As for AWS, it has to find a new education partner to fill the absence of Qwiklabs. In September, AWS announced that it will give its Enterprise Support customers free Qwiklabs credits! That has to change now.

This acquisition goes to show the fickle nature of supporting tools. In the past, one company had complete control over all the tools and services that were related to its products, so there was greater certainty. Today, the market is a lot more fragmented, and this can be attributed to the nature of technology and the market itself. Though AWS and Google offer platforms, a host of services and tools from third-party companies are needed to make the most of these platforms, so acquisitions and mergers can significantly alter the market share.

It will be interesting to see the impact of this acquisition for both Google and AWS.

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News

IBM Expanding its UK Operations

IBM announced that it will add four more data centers in the UK to meet its increasing client demand. With this investment, IBM will increase its number of data centers in the UK to six, and its overall presence in Europe to 16. In a press release, IBM has said that this expansion is a part of the long term commitment that it has made to its UK clients.

With this move, IBM joins the ranks of Google and Facebook in investing in the UK. These tech giants feel the need to expand their presence in the UK market, especially after Brexit. Earlier, data centers located elsewhere in Europe was sufficient to cater to the UK market, but all that is likely to change after the UK voted to leave the European Union. This is why IBM and other companies are investing here to ensure that there is no disruption in service for their UK clients.

In many ways, such investments showcase the strength of the UK economy, and the size of its cloud market. According to IBM Europe’s General Manager, Sebastian Krause, a lot of innovation is happening in the UK cloud market, and it’s only right for companies like IBM to support this innovation by providing the right tools, applications, and infrastructure. Further, this move is likely to comply with all rules and regulations pertaining to the presence of data within the country’s borders. Also, it will give UK clients greater control over how they want to manage their data, and leverage the power of cloud for their business.

In addition, the tech scene is UK is unaffected by Brexit, which means, there will be significant opportunities for expanding cloud services. In fact, most tech companies had concluded way back in June, that the UK economy will be strong, regardless of which way voters choose in the Brexit election. This is why they had continued with their expansion plans, and are expected to increase their presence in the near future.

As for IBM, these new data centers would serve some top companies like Thomson, Boots, and Dixon Carphone, National Grid, and the UK government. To give more value to its customers, IBM announced that the new data centers will be infused with cognitive intelligence, so machines can learn and think like humans.

The first of the four data centers will be located in Fareham, and is expected to be operational by the end of this year. Out of the remaining three, another one will also be located in Hampshire, while the location for the remaining two will be revealed next year.

In all, this move augurs well for anyone. For the UK economy, it is expected to create more job opportunities, and also gives small businesses easy access to the cloud. Also, this announcement is likely to support British Prime Minister Theresa May’s efforts to ensure that the UK will be open for business even after Brexit. As for IBM, this presents yet another opportunity to expand its cloud footprint.

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Services

Improving Customer Service with Cloud

Have you ever wondered what thoughts run in your customers’ minds when they decide to buy or not buy your product? These thoughts can determine whether a particular person is going to buy your product or not. Much of these thoughts are based on a range of factors such as the level of customer service they get from the company, quality of a product, personalization, and more.

A survey conducted by Harris International shows that one in four adults in the US do not feel any brand royalty, while 56 percent of respondents said that they’ll switch brands to get better customer service and personalization. This study makes it clear that customers are still the kings, and companies have to compete with each other to grab their attention.

How can cloud help?

Cloud can provide the infrastructure to store and analyze vast amounts of data that can provide insight into the patterns and behavior of customers. In fact, technologies like machine learning and predictive analytics are based on the cloud.

Machine learning is a process by which you “train” machines using algorithms to look for patterns. When you help these machines to “learn”, they can help you find patterns that humans are sure to miss, especially when you’re sorting through zillions of data.  Moreover, machine learning when combined with cloud is a powerful tool as it can access huge data sets including those that are generated on social media, besides information collected by your company. With such huge amounts of data and extensive computing power, it’ll be easy to get the insights you want about your customers.

The best part is you can provide a personalized experience for each customer, and this is sure to boost their loyalty towards your brand. A case in point is the interactive customer service approach by European soccer club Real Madrid. Whenever any user connects with them on social media or visits their website, machine learning algorithms divide them into different subgroups. This strategy is based on the fact that every customer has a different reason to connect with the club. Some customers may like certain players, some would like to know the team schedule, and others might just like the team as a whole.

To give a personalized experience, they are divided into subgroups, and they’re given information based on the sub-group to which they belong. For example, if a fan likes Cristiano Ronaldo and he connects with the team on social media to know more about him, then he gets updates when Ronaldo makes appearances, scores goals or does anything else. This way, that fan gets just the personalized information he wants. Such a customer experience is possible only due to the emergence of cloud, and technologies like predictive analysis that use it.

There are many such examples, where companies have benefited by understanding their customers better. They’re also in a better position to use targeted marketing strategies to increase their revenue and profits.

In this sense, cloud has become a vital tool for providing superior customer service.

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Google

Google’s New Partner in the Cloud: Intel

Amazon is the market leader in the cloud industry, but other companies are fast catching up by introducing new products and making strategic alliances. The latest in that line is Google’s partnership with Intel. In terms of market share in the cloud industry, AWS is the clear leader with a 45 percent share. Microsoft, Google, and IBM have less than 20 percent of the market share, with Google sitting at a paltry five percent, according to a report released by Synergy.

Over the last year, Google has come up with a slew of changes to make its products more competitive, and to take on leaders like Amazon and Microsoft. It all started with the hiring of VMware’s co-founder Diane Greene last November to head the cloud business. Since then, Google has introduced many new APIs that will make it easier for developers to create applications on the Google platform, rebranded its products in a big way, and has embarked on an aggressive pricing strategy as it has slashed the cost of some products by almost a whopping 80 percent. The latest in such developments is its strategic partnership with another market leader, namely Intel.

On Thursday, Google announced that both the companies are planning to closely work with each other to help enterprises move data across cloud in a more secure way. Further, both the companies would work towards identifying areas where joint integration would pay off for its customers. Specifically, high-end cloud services would be offered soon, and both the companies would be involved in joint marketing efforts.

Through such partnerships, Google aims to reach out to those businesses who haven’t moved to the cloud yet. According to a report by 451 Research, only 41 percent of applications run on public or private cloud, while the remaining sit in data centers. Though the rate of cloud adoption is expected to rise to 60 percent by 2018, there are still a ton of companies that store data and run applications on their own premise. Google wants to tap into this market segment, and encourage more people to move to its cloud. It expects price drops, new products, and partnerships with other industry leaders to do this trick.

This partnership is, in fact, an extension of the warm relationship that has been existing between the two companies for some time now. However, this time the objective is to combine Google’s cloud capabilities with Intel’s advanced hardware in areas such as machine learning, cloud cluster management, and more. Under the terms of this partnership, Google’s cluster management technology called Kubernetes is expected to be a big beneficiary. Since Intel already plays a role in this technology, more collaborations, code optimizations, and higher levels of efficiency are expected to make it a more appealing product for enterprises.

This is not the first time Google is partnering with other companies to expand its offerings. Earlier this year, it partnered with Autodesk to make it easy for entertainment companies to render 3D images, and with another company called Okta to help businesses deploy their data on the cloud securely.

Going forward, we can expect more such moves from Google.

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Google

Google Unveils Machine Learning APIs

In a latest move to take on competitors in the cloud market, Google has unveiled a set of machine learning tools, APIs, and services. This announcement also signifies a big push into machine learning and artificial intelligence market for the search-engine giant.

A slew of announcements were made in this regard. Here’s a look at each:

 Google Cloud Jobs API

This API will make it easier for companies to find candidates for open positions in their company, as it uses machine learning to better match the skills of candidates to the existing open jobs. This API is available only in the US and Canada as of now, though it plans to expand it to other countries soon.

As soon as the announcement was made, two leading job sites – Careerbuilder.com and Dice.com, adopted this API and built a prototype within just 48 hours. Currently, this API is available in limited alpha on both these sites.

Cloud Vision API

The next announcement pertains to Google’s popular cloud API – the Cloud Vision API. The company has decided to reduce the price of this service by almost 80 percent because of the significant savings that come from switching its operations to custom TPU chips, that have the capability to amplify machine learning performance. As a result of these capabilities, performance and efficiency are greatly increased, thereby making this API a compelling product for customers.

In addition, Google has enhanced its image recognition capabilities, and has also brought in capabilities to identify landmarks, logos, and other entities.

Cloud Translation API

Google is planning to release the premium version of another popular API called the Cloud Translation API. This API is based on Google Neural Machine Translation System, that uses machine learning to improve speech recognition. This API has the capability to reduce translation errors anywhere between 55 to 85 percent – a significant jump when compared to existing services. It is mainly used in the travel industry where getting the best and closest translation can make a substantial difference.

Currently, this API supports eight languages, namely, English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Turkish, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Soon, the company is expected to add more languages to this API.

Cloud Natural Language API

Google has decided to make its Cloud Natural Language API available for the general public. Also based on machine learning, this API allows a user to reveal the structure, emotions and meaning of any text. In a sample demonstration, Google showed how news stories from the New York Times can be analyzed for sentiments. The same idea can be extended to digital marketing campaigns, where marketers can use the sentiment analysis capability of this API to monitor online product reviews and customer service. The latest version also comes with advanced features such as a more granular sentiment analysis and better syntax analysis.

Cloud Machine Learning Group

Lastly, Google is creating a Cloud Machine Learning Group headed by Fei-Fei Li, former director of Stanford’s AI Lab, and Jia Li, former research head of SnapChat. This group is expected to conduct many more experiments in AI and machine learning.

With these announcements, Google is cementing its place in the competitive cloud market.

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Technology

OpenAI Joins Hands with Microsoft

OpenAI, the non-profit artificial research company, has joined hands with Microsoft to tap into the computing power of the latter.

Founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015, OpenAI aims to build safe artificial intelligence-based frameworks and products, and strives to ensure that the benefits of AI are spread as widely and evenly as possible. In the short term since this company was founded, it has made rapid strides in the world of AI.  Further, this company has hired many top researchers from companies like Facebook and Google to augment its research and to push AI to new heights. It is backed by some of the top tech investors in the world such as Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingstone, and others who share a passion for tech, specially AI. Each of these investors have pledged $1 billion a year for AI research.

To move ahead, OpenAI needs extensive computing power, and it believes this need can be fulfilled by Microsoft. This is why OpenAI and Microsoft have entered into an agreement, under which large-scale experiments of Open AI will be run on Microsoft’s Azure platform. OpenAI’s research is focused on deep learning research that requires enormous farms of GPU processors even for testing. Building such a complex network from scratch can be a waste of time and resources, especially when the same is being offered by another company. In fact, Microsoft’s computing powers are one of the best in the industry as they are powered by Nvidia Corp’s graphic chips. This architecture and composition make it ideal for deep learning, simulations, and for some of the most intense computing workloads.

Besides offering computing power, Microsoft will also collaborate with OpenAI to advance research in artificial intelligence, and also to create new tools and technologies that will boost deep learning, machine algorithms, and other related areas. Further, this partnership can significantly alter the dynamics of a competitive cloud market, where giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google offer massive amounts of computing power. In fact, this deal could give Microsoft an edge when it comes to combining computing power and AI.

In many ways, this move by OpenAI brings out the important role played by computing power for the future of AI. Already, companies like Google and Facebook have the resources to build massive computing power needed for modern AI research, with Google even releasing its own AI processor. Going forward, more companies involved in AI research are expected to focus on building their own computing power or they are likely to partner with companies that already offer them. It won’t be long before we seen more innovations in the field of AI.

As of now though, Open AI will release open-source software and tools to the public, to help them run large-scale AI applications in the cloud. Also, it will work closely with Microsoft to ensure that Azure’s capabilities keep pace with the changes and advancements made in the world of AI.

The future sure looks exciting, as we can expect AI projects to start taking shape soon.

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News

A Look into Zuora’s Predictive Data Product

Zuora is the latest cloud company to join the predictive data market. Its new product released today, called Zuora Insights, helps to turn financial, and demographic data into actionable insights, that in turn, can boost the efficiency and operations of a business.

Zuora was founded in 2007, and is headquartered in Foster City, California. This cloud provider helps SaaS companies to manage their subscription, billing, payments, and other kinds of recurring revenue businesses. Its solutions cover a range of roles, starting from the CEO to finance, operations, and billing. Due to the nature of its business, Zuora has seen much success during the last few years.

Like any cloud business, Zuora also handles vast amounts of data, as a byproduct of its business. Since there is a ton of value hidden in the data that is produced every day,  Zuora decided to put this data to good use. They want to help their customers link subscription data with other metrics of the company, so it gives them a better picture of the company’s current position, and where it is headed in the future. Armed with such information, companies can make the right decisions and come up with pertinent strategies that’ll help them move forward.

This move by Zuora is in tune with what other cloud providers have been doing over the last year. Zendesk, another company that offers customer support platform, recently launched a product called Zendesk Explore, to provide better insights into the existing data. More companies may also choose to take the same route in the future, not only because predictive data is lucrative, but also because it adds much value to their customers.

Of course, Zuora would have a marginal advantage when compared to other providers in the same space, because this company’s product is built on Salesforce. This means, data from Zuora Insights can be combined with Salesforce to provide a comprehensive picture of the customers’ businesses.

So, how can Zuora Insights help a customer? Firstly, this software is intuitive and fairly easy to use. Its dashboard gives customers a bird’s eye view of all the information, and users can explore it further for specific reports. Some of the insights it offers include the usage trends, accounts, and the identity of individual customers. In addition, it also helps client companies to compare across different periods, and users, so they can get a better understanding of where most of their revenue is generated, patterns with respect to defaults, insights into its customer base, and more.

This kind of information opens a ton of possibilities for companies to make appropriate strategies. For example, if they know the background of customers, the marketing team can come up with targeted campaigns that’ll help to expand their customer base. Likewise, if the company can get better insights into its top customers, it can do more to build better loyalty with them. Such actions will go a long way in helping a company to increase their revenue, efficiency, and profitability.

In all, Zuora Insights is likely to make a mark in the world of predictive data.

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News

Oracle and Tencent – New Partners in the Chinese Cloud Market

US-based Oracle Corporation, and China-Based Tencent Holdings Ltd., have come together to tap into a growing Chinese cloud market. This partnership, announced last Wednesday, aims to make the most of Chinese government’s policy to promote the rapid development of cloud market. Earlier this year, the Chinese government announced that it will be earmark certain technological areas including cloud, in an effort to move the Chinese economy up the value chain from a mere manufacturing hub.

To tap into this initiative, Oracle and Tencent have partnered to sell cloud-based solutions to different companies within the country. Under the terms of the partnership, Tencent will be the local partner whose responsibility is to sell Oracle’s cloud computing products in China. Also, this partnership aims to integrate the benefits of Oracle’s cloud functions with Tencent’s WeChat social media platform, to provide a better and more streamlined experience for its users. Currently, WeChat has about 700 million active users, and is termed as one of the fastest growing social media platforms in China. This integration with Oracle is sure to bring on more users within its fold, thereby increasing its reach and customer base.

This is a new beginning for both the companies. For Oracle, this signifies a foray into the lucrative Chinese market, that is already dominated by some big names such as IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft. For the Shenzhen-based Tencent, this partnership opens up new possibilities to expand its business, especially in the areas of retail, and banking. Currently, Tencent plans to sell computing products based on Oracle’s technology to financial companies, manufacturers, and retailers. Depending on the success of these offering, it plans to expand to other sectors too in the near future.

This partnership with Oracle is a natural extension for Tencent for a host of reasons. Firstly, this company understands the importance of getting into the cloud business, but this is not really its domain. It needed a reliable partner with a strong foothold in the cloud market, and Oracle fitted this need well. Secondly, Tencent’s biggest source of revenue is its online games. Though it already uses a limited amount of cloud computing to power these online games, a solid partnership can help to boost revenue from this avenue. Thirdly, it wants to expand its business line, so it has a more diversified portfolio that can withstand any negative impact in the future. Due to these reasons, Tencent stands to gain enormously from this partnership with Oracle.

Besides the two companies, the Chinese market as well as millions of tech-savvy Chinese users will also benefit from this partnership, as it will give them more choices in an already competitive market. Besides, having more companies in the same segment is sure to encourage  innovation. Also, this partnership is expected to boost the digital lifestyle of young Chinese, and can even pave the way for a more interconnected life.

In all, this partnership between Tencent and Oracle augurs well for everyone, even if it’s a little late.

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Press Release

Cisco Predicts a Big Surge in Cloud Traffic

There’s a lot to cheer for cloud companies, as the rate of global cloud traffic is likely to see a big surge within the next few years. According to Cisco’s Global Cloud Index Report, cloud traffic is all set to quadruple by 2020, representing a whopping 92 percent increase in total data center traffic.  Over the next four years, cloud traffic is expected to rise 3.7 fold, up from 3.9 zettabytes (ZB) per year in 2015 to almost 14.1 ZB by 2020.

Region wise, the Middle East and Africa region will see the maximum increase, as the CAGR for this region is expected to be 34 percent. These high numbers are mainly because this region has the lowest number of data centers in 2015 at about 105 exabytes, and this is expected to increase to 451 exabytes. The second fastest growing region is North America, with a CAGR of 27 percent. The numbers here are expected to increase from 2.2 ZB to 7.1 ZB over the next four years.

This phenomenal growth rate can be attributed to many factors. Firstly, more companies world over are moving to cloud architecture because of the obvious benefits that come from it, such as scalability and flexibility. Cloud architecture allows companies to scale up or down quickly and efficiently, and at the same time, they can support more workloads when compared to traditional data centers.

Secondly, cloud providers are able to achieve greater levels of efficiency than before, due to advancements in technology, and the emergence of greater data center virtualization choices. This report brings out this connection between efficiency and increased workloads. It states that business workloads will increase 2.4 times between now and 2020,  but the workload on data centers will go down from 79 percent to 72 percent. These numbers go to show how cloud providers are expected to improve their efficiency to reduce workload on their data centers.

Thirdly, the use of data centers has increased among non-business entities too. Large amounts of consumer data, powered by social media, is also handled by these data centers. In addition, data centers have also become hubs for delivery of content such as Netflix. Fourthly, the emergence of technologies like machine-to-machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT) are expected to generate tons of data, that will be stored and analyzed in data centers. All these factors are expected to contribute to the surge in cloud traffic by 2020.

To make the most of this increase, Cisco has released a new product in the storage optimized server category. Known as the Unified Computing System (UCS) S-Series, this server has the capability to handle data-intensive workloads like big data, unstructured objects, and more. This product is expected to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) by almost 50 percent when compared to cloud.

Cloud providers, including top players such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, are also expected to widen their offerings to make the most of this surge in cloud traffic. In all, the future is sure to be a cloud-driven one.

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Amazon AWS

Does the FBI need cloud?

Cloud has become a ubiquitous term today, and it’s not just restricted to the economic side of our lives. Rather, it encompasses all areas of our society, including policing and vigilance. After all, organizations in charge of security can also leverage the power of cloud to protect their own digital assets, and monitor other critical aspects of national security. This is why, it’s no surprise that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), uses cloud extensively for its operations.

At the 2016 Structure Conference, the FBI explained how it uses cloud to manage security. One of the main challenges that the FBI faces now is information leaks. Post-Snowden era and the prevalence of sites like WikiLeaks have made it that much more difficult for the organization to manage its security. It has to lockdown confidential information, and at the same time, should make some information available to other law enforcement agencies to help prevent terrorist attacks.

In addition, the FBI should also protect itself from insider attacks. Like any other business, this security organization should also protect its data, intellectual property, and other assets from being stolen by its own employees. There are many cases of spying and espionage that have proved to be costly for the FBI. To prevent these insider attacks, the FBI should always stay on top of its data, along with an understanding of the possible ways by which it can be compromised.

Protecting itself from both internal and external threats is quite a challenge for the FBI. This is why it should choose tools that will address both sides of the coin. In this sense, the FBI has the same requirements as that of the private sector, but at a different level. There are other unique aspects too, when it comes to FBI’s security.

Firstly, it doesn’t allow its employees to bring their own device as it can be too much to monitor. With no BYOD, it’s one task less for the IT team. Secondly, the FBI’s website is not a mission critical asset, unlike that of private companies, because its website just provides information to everyone. Hence, the FBI’s website does not need the highest level of protection. Thirdly, availability is a top priority for the organization, as it has to be available for local and national law enforcement 24/7. Fourthly, risk and loss is not monetized. Rather, it can affect the national security or can lead to catastrophic events like the 9/11 attack. In this sense, data breaches can be extremely costly for the country as a whole.

With such unique considerations, it’s no doubt that it needs a customized cloud application. It turned to the market leader, Amazon, and this has resulted in the creation of Amazon GovCloud. Many of the FBI’s security concerns and requirements are being addressed by GovCloud, and the organization plans to move its legacy systems to the cloud  too.

Once again, GovCloud reflects the fact that cloud is a central part of our lives, regardless of the sector or organization in which it is used.

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