Imagine how cool it’ll be if you got to work on super computers and super processors.. You’ll be able to do at least twice the amount of work in half the time that you’re using right now.

Well, this could be a reality as companies are looking to offer their supercomputers and super processors as a cloud service.

Leading the way is IBM that has decided to offer its 20-qubit quantum computer as a cloud service. This could be available as soon as the end of this year. The power of quantum computers can be accessed through an open-source platform like QISKit.

Such a cloud-based service is expected to be a big hit because businesses can now leverage huge computing powers without ever having to invest a ton of money in hardware or infrastructure. To give you an example, businesses will be able to process quantum algorithms in 90 microseconds through this quantum computing service.

And that’s not all. IBM is working on a 50-qubit quantum computer that it hopes to be available as a service by next year. Its engineers and data scientists are constantly working on adding qubits and converting the same into a service that will benefit businesses and even the society at large.

It’s not a surprise that IBM is leading the way in quantum computing as a service as the company has always been at the forefront of technological innovation. Other companies are expected to come up with such supercomputing and super-processing services soon. Within the next few years, these super processors will be more ubiquitous for businesses and individuals.

What remains to be seen is how these computers are used by different businesses, research organizations or even individuals to create path-breaking applications.

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Does this question surprise you, especially at a time when all major cloud companies such as AWS, Microsoft and Google are reporting stellar profits buoyed by the success of their cloud business?

Well, we’re still nearing the end of cloud and here’s why.

Long-term sustainability

Building applications in the cloud is not easy, especially when you’re looking to use it over a span of a few years. This is because the app will generate more data every day, so storage and analysis becomes difficult over time. This means, as the app grows, you’re going to spend more time and effort on it.

Bandwidth limitations

Our storage and computing speeds are growing at astronomical rates, but are network bandwidth capacity is not growing so much. As we move to the age of 4k, HD and even 8k, we’re pushing the limits of bandwidth.

Also, the way the Internet is create doesn’t help either. For example, let’s say 100 of us want to see a picture. This means 100 downloads from the same server for the same picture. So, this clogs the servers and makes it more difficult for networks to handle this traffic.

Centralized

The entire cloud system is centralized and that, in many ways, makes it vulnerable to outside attacks and natural disasters.

Though you can argue that all data is stored across different servers and locations, still it poses a risk. What is AWS or Microsoft decides to shut off access to your important documents? You have no control over what they can do. Even if it’ not that drastic, still you’re dependent on them to access your files. That’s scary by itself.

Identity thefts

When your data is sitting within the servers of a single company, it increases the chances for attacks. Remember, what happened to Equifax? Private and sensitive information of 140 million Americans was stolen and even distributed in the dark web before it came to light.

The possibility for such incidents is high because all that a hacker has to do is breach a single point in the network.

All these factors could eventually spell the demise of cloud, unless someone comes up with something drastic to change the way it works.

Probably, a more practical solution is to use technologies like blockchain that alleviates some of these problems. Though blockchain is its nascent changes, it has the power to transform the way we store and access data in the future.

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Aibo robot is an artificial intelligence-powered robot from the house of Sony. This robot dog can wag its tail, chase balls and even learn new tricks from you like giving you a hug or a high five when you come back home.

According to Sony, this new robot can form an emotional bond with you and your family members and shower on you tons of love and affection, just like any dog would.  It may even give you the pleasure of nurturing and living with a companion. It has the capability to understand words of praise and over time, can even know what actions make you happy or angry.

At the same time, it can also do digital things for you. It constantly stores and updates data in the cloud, so based on your mood, it can change its personality. Besides, Aibo can take pictures and store them on the cloud. This means, you can browse through these images on the Aibo app as and when you want.

This robot is a resurrection of the attempt made by Sony almost a decade ago when it experimented with artificial intelligence. In fact, it is a testimony of Sony’s pioneering efforts in the world of robotics and artificial intelligence.

The first attempt to create such a robot happened in 1999. Aibo, which stands for artificial intelligence robot, got people excited. The first 3,000 units were sold within the first 20 minutes of sale online. But unfortunately, interest in Aibo waned after more artificial intelligence robots came into the market. So, it stopped making Aibo in 2006.

But now, artificial intelligence is booming again and many major companies are entering into the fray with their own products. So, Sony also wants to get back in. After all, it has a lead in this market and all that it has to do is capitalize on this lead and brand image.

For reviving Aibo and to fund other artificial intelligence products, Sony entered into a venture capital fund partnership with the U.S company Cogital. Since then, it has been investing in many AI startups.

This cute Aibo dog goes on sale in Japan today and retails for $1,740 before tax. let’s see if this move helps Sony to take on tech giants like Amazon and Google in the artificial intelligence market.

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The cloud industry is booming and almost every day, you hear a new platform or service from a company. The number of cloud-based products and services that are available today is truly mind-boggling. Amidst all this, how do you know which product is right for your company at this given point in time?

One of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make it the type of cloud that’s right for your organization.

Broadly speaking, there are three types of clouds, namely private, public and hybrid. A public cloud is the standard cloud resource where the provider creates the resources or platforms for you, so you don’t have to worry about anything. However, this is a public service that’s available to all Internet users, which means, you’ll be sharing the same infrastructure with other users.

Private cloud offers the same benefits as public cloud, except that you’ll be using a proprietary infrastructure that is not shared by other users. In other words, a private cloud is an infrastructure that’s dedicated to a single organization, but offers the same advantages such as flexibility and scalability.

A hybrid cloud, as you would’ve guessed by now, is a combination of private and public cloud with interoperability.

Choosing which of these is right for you is anything but easy. Here are some questions that can point you in the right direction.

What is the geographic spread?

If your organization has only one office or if you’re looking to downsize by moving all your IT operations from in-house, a private or hybrid cloud is your best bet. However, make sure that you meet the IT disaster recovery requirements as laid down by the PCI DSS standards.

What’s the monthly budget?

What is the IT budget you have in mind? Research shows that there are 12 different IT costs you should keep in mind while framing your budget and while calculating the total cost of ownership with cloud computing costs. In general though, if you want to keep costs to a minimum, a private cloud is a good choice.

How old is the infrastructure?

An important question is to determine the age of your infrastructure. If you’re using an old one and it’s time to replace, then opt for a public cloud as everything is handled by the provider. You can even consider a hybrid cloud infrastructure, if you ‘re particular about using proprietary hardware.

Have you ever been hacked?

If yes, then private cloud is your best bet as it greatly reduces the chances of hackers getting into your system. Today’s public cloud security has also improved greatly, but still a private cloud is better from a security standpoint.

We hope your decision has become much easier now. let us know what you think.

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When cloud first emerged as a potent technology, the reaction from organizations was mixed. Some of them jumped into the bandwagon right away while others waited until their concerns were answered, especially pertaining to security. Within a few years, AWS and Microsoft emerged as the leaders of the cloud market and their rise also shaped the industry and helped it to mature.

Today, organizations that want to embrace cloud prefer to have a hybrid cloud strategy, where they use the services of multiple vendors and also, have their own data centers. The obvious advantage of this strategy is that they can tap into the benefits of different cloud providers and leverage the power of data centers.

In fact, a research by Gartner shows that by 2020, 90 percent of organizations will adopt a hybrid cloud strategy because of the flexibility and cost-saving that comes with it.

That said, implementing a hybrid cloud strategy is anything but easy because of the huge complexities that come with it. For example, let’s say you have application A that runs on Azure, application B that runs on AWS and application C that is in your own data center. How will you control access to all these three applications? Will you use a single sign-on for easy user identity management or will you go in for a complex user management system?

The above scenario should give you a glimpse into the challenges that go with a hybrid cloud strategy. Let’s look at a few more now.

On-premise or cloud

One major challenge in hybrid cloud implementation is to decide which services should be managed on-premises and which on the cloud. This complication arises from the growing sophistication and falling prices of computing, or the CPU and RAM that power systems. Vendors like Dell and HP are providing increased capabilities, thereby giving greater value for money.

Such a scenario makes it difficult to determine if you should deploy workloads on your on-premise infrastructure or on an off-premise system that comes with a continuous consolidation of server environments.

Security concerns

Despite all the advancements made in cloud security, concerns still abound. There is a lot of skepticism about whether critical data will be safe in the cloud. Such fears lead to prohibitive costs, in many cases, especially if you have a large and complex IT infrastructure.

Planning

You could be losing thousands of dollars every month and ineffective IT systems, if you don’t plan well. You need to stay on top of the developments both in the cloud industry as well as hardware advancements in the data center industry to help you maximize the benefits of both.

Overall, a hybrid cloud strategy is being preferred over other forms of cloud implementations and rightly so because it offers many benefits. At the same time, there are also challenges that come with it. So, make sure you address and plan these challenges to truly leverage the power of hybrid systems.

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Innovation is the order of the day in tech industry and this explains why startups and small businesses in the cloud space are getting good funding to pursue their ideas. The latest in this regard is a company called Heptio that has raised $25 million in a Series B funding that was led by Madrona Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Accel Partners.

This round of funding comes just within a year when Heptio got $8.5 million in a series A funding. If you’re wondering about the seed money, this Seattle-based company didn’t raise any because it didn’t have a need for it.

According to the CEO and co-founder,  Craig McLuckie, the last eight months has been amazing for the company as they didn’t expect to raise another round of money within such a short time.

So, what does this company do to attract so much funding?

Heptio helps companies to realize the true power of Kubernetes, an open-source system that automates deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications. Essentially, this system helps to group containers based on the application’s logical units, so that management of these applications is easy.

Heptio specializes in bringing Kubernetes and other cloud-native technologies to enterprises by creating new workflows that make this adaptation easy. In other words, it offers professional services for enterprises that want to bring in Kubernetes into their existing system, along with the necessary training and support.

If you look at it from a broader perspective, Heptio is not just helping companies make the most of Kubernetes, but is bringing them closer to the open-source community. And probably that’s what is making this company unique and that’s also what’s attracting investors and customers to it.

When the company first started this project, a lot of things were unclear. But over the last few months, this project has got a defined direction and the business model is sensible as well.  With a defined set of goals, this company has specific plans for this round of funding. It wants to expand to Europe and Asia and maybe even make new partnerships and acquisitions to reach out to new markets.

Let’s hope companies like Heptio are successful in steering companies towards the open-source community.

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Demand for cloud services is increasing and the overall cloud market is growing at an astronomical rate. Almost every company in the cloud business wants to make the most of this growth, and Huawei is no exception.

It has decided to build a global cloud network on its own public cloud. Well, if that sounds confusing, it means, the cloud data center infrastructure will be owned, managed and branded by Huawei’s public cloud partners, but it is built on Huawei’s network. In many ways, we can imagine this network to be like a Hydra creature with many heads, spreading across different regions in the world.

Essentially, it is creating the infrastructure that includes itself and its partners, so that its customer base and network is spread all over the world. With such a plan in place, Huawei wants to be one of the top five public cloud providers in the world.  According to the CEO, it believes Alibaba, Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services to be the other four public cloud providers against which it will be competing in the future.

This is a strategic move for many reasons. Firstly, the top four companies, according to Huawei, have already established their infrastructure, so it will require massive investments to compete with them.  By partnering with other companies, it may be much easier for Huawei to penetrate into different markets.

Secondly, managing the entire infrastructure can be mind-boggling to say the least. The cost and resources involved will be enormous, so by leasing out its infrastructure, Huawei can have a more workable model that will also be load-friendly.

Lastly, it can avoid vendor lock-ins as all its partners don’t necessarily have to use this network. They can partner with Microsoft, Google, Alibaba or AWS for other operations too. In fact, Huawei offers hybrid solutions that make it easy for applications and customers to integrate  with other third-party cloud platforms that include the platforms of its competitors as well.

This idea and its implementation has been progressing at a rapid pace. This unit of Huawei was first formed in March 2017 and since then, the company has seen a 238 percent increase in its customer base. This goes to show that many of its customers are looking forward to this public cloud product from Huawei.

So far, it has also released 40 new cloud services out of the total 85 cloud services it has released so far. This includes a data warehouse, DDoS protection and content delivery network that are having a big impact on its clients’ operations.

Many notable companies such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Industrial bank of China and Philips are using Huawei’s products. It has also partnered with cloud service providers and telecom companies like Deutsche Telecom, Telefonica and Orange to further its plans.

Overall, it seems ambitious, but it also looks like Huawei has a firm plan in place to further its ambitions. The next few months can give us a better idea of the progress of this product and its acceptance among the global cloud clients.

The post Huawei’s Ambitious Plans for its Cloud Future appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Cloud is a pervasive technology that has touched all aspects of life and business, and the legal industry is no exception to it.

However, it took a while for this industry to join others because of the many questions surrounding cloud security. Since client confidentiality is the cornerstone of the legal industry, there were many apprehensions about moving data to the cloud.

But the benefits that come with a transition to the cloud coupled with improvements made in security have led the legal industry to also follow others.

One of the biggest reasons for this foray into cloud can be attributed to Thomson Reuters Elite, a leading financial and practice management solutions company. Some of the measures it adopted to tap into the advantages of cloud have made this transition a lot less frightening for other companies.

If you’re someone in the legal industry and if you’re looking to move to the cloud, here are some aspects to keep in mind.

Clear policy

One of the first things to start off is to have a clear cloud policy. This should be a comprehensive one that covers various apprehensions and lays down clear rules on what is appropriate and what’s not.

It’s best you involve a cross-section of your employees in formulating this policy because the IT department alone may not be able to do justice to it. In the past, all tech-related policies were formed by the IT department, but that’s not the case anymore simply because IT doesn’t control tech budgets as they’re too big for a single department to handle.

Address all fears

A good way to tackle fear is to address it straight. So, talk to your employees and make a list of all their fears. What is it that’s stopping you from moving to the cloud. Make a list and talk to different cloud service providers and see if they’re able to give you the right solutions that address your concerns.

Based on this feedback, identify the possible gaps that can exist when you move to the cloud and come up with solutions that address this gap. It’s best you employ a few employees across different departments in this process, so you’re transition will be a smooth one.

Stay abreast

A good rule of thumb in the cloud industry is to keep yourself up-to-date on what’s happening. Understand new security practices, new products, their features, pricing and just about everything else. If you find it hard to do that as a business owner, create a team that’ll take care of all this for you.

Overall, cloud offers a ton of benefits that far outweigh the risks and problems that come with it. So, embrace it and move your operations to the cloud. Just remember though to do your homework, so you know what you’re getting into.

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Old warhorses in the tech industry are leaping back into profits and relevance, thanks to their foray into the cloud world. A few days back, Adobe released its results that reflected in success, specifically in the cloud industry. Today, it is Oracle.

Oracle was a relatively late entrant to the cloud market, as rivals like Salesforce.com had already started making a name for itself when oracle decided to enter this market. But that was no deterrent for Oracle as it ploughed its way through competition and has emerged as one of the key players in this industry today.

The latest results announced by Oracle are a testimony to this success. It declared a profit of $10.89 billion, resulting in 89 cents per share. This was way above than what the analysts were expecting, as they were looking for around $10.45 billion in sales and an earnings of 78 cents per share.

These significantly high results took the share price of Oracle to new highs. It touched $51 for the first time, up from the $47 that it was trading the day before the results were announced. This is a significant jump and this could put the potential value of Oracle at around $200 billion, according to a report in MarketWatch.

During the same period last year, Oracle earned 81 cents per share.

The main driver of Oracle’s revenue is definitely the cloud. Total revenue from all cloud related business was $1.36 billion, and this represents a 58 percent increase when compared to last year.

To top it, the company also gave a favorable and positive outlook for the upcoming year. According to its c-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Larry Ellison, Oracle is expecting more big companies to migrate to its cloud platform in the coming year and this means, we can expect more revenue and earnings per share in the future.

Currently, AT&T is one of Oracle’s big customers with more than 10,000 Oracle databases. In an agreement entered into by both the companies, AT&T plans to move thousands more of its databases to Oracle, thereby signaling a deeper relationship, and more importantly, more revenue for Oracle.

Such positive events go well with investors and assuage many of the fears and uncertainties surrounding the tech industry. In fact, such a positive statement from one of the co-founders also contributed to the steady price increase of its shares. That’s not all. It has given a new sense of confidence to its investors and other stakeholders of this company.

All these numbers and statements go to show the power of cloud and how it has changed the landscape of the tech industry. Gone are the days of traditional hardware and licensing because more companies want to move to the cloud to leverage the many benefits that come with it.

It’s up to service providers to enhance their offerings and infrastructure to ensure that more of its clients move to the cloud, so it’s beneficial for everyone involved.

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