Regardless if you’ve migrated multiple applications or this is your first migration to a public Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) you will want to run a small proof-of-concept to make sure that the basic elements of data flow operate as expected and your components will run in the IaaS environment. This week I spent some time experimenting with the three top IaaS offerings: Amazon AWS, Google Compute Cloud and Microsoft Azure. The architecture was relatively simple: 3 docker containers, one hosting a LAMP—Linux, Apache, MySQL & PHP—stack running WordPress, one hosting Postfix mail server forwarding all mail, and one hosting CVS. The results of the testing were informative.
@ATT Launches #Cloud Storage Offer for Federal Government Agencies
Against the backdrop of a new survey demonstrating significant cost savings that can be attained by Federal Government adoption of cloud computing, AT&T* on Tuesday announced a highly secure cloud-based storage solution designed specifically to meet the robust security requirements of Federal Government agencies.
The offer, AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service for Government, is a multi-tenant, community cloud offer. It has the same features, policies, capabilities, and EMC Atmos technology as AT&T’s commercial cloud storage offer.
Cloud Clinique & GovCloud Network Deliver On Affordable Cloud Certification
In August, GovCloud Network and Tech Equity Ltd promised to deliver cloud education and training on a global basis. Today the companies are making good on that promise by announcing a Cloud Certification Best Practices Program for the European and North American markets.
Building upon the Cloud Clinique database of over 7,500 cloud best practice concepts across 18 separate domains, certified cloud practitioners and trainers will now be delivering high quality cloud computing education in a affordable, pay-as-you-go, modular format. IT practitioners can attend any or all of these 16 topical webinar modules for only $25/€20 each. Attendees will also get Free Access to our database of best practice concepts on cloudclinique.com for 3 months!
@ThingsExpo | Wearables Market to Hit $8 Billion by 2018 (#IoT)
The global wearable electronics market is expected to cross $8 billion in 2018, growing at a healthy CAGR of 17.7% from 2013 to 2018. The total unit shipment is expected to cross 130 million units globally. In terms of products, wrist-wear accounted for the largest market revenue in 2012, with total revenue of the most established wearable electronic products – wrist-watches and wrist-bands combined, crossing $850 million. The potential of the industry can be gauged by the fact that both – the big and established players and small start-ups have up their ante in wearable electronics market.
@ThingsExpo | Next Generation @ARMEmbedded Processors (#IoT)
ARM is at the heart of the world’s most advanced digital products. Our technology enables the creation of new markets and transformation of industries and society. We design scalable, energy efficient-processors and related technologies to deliver the intelligence in applications ranging from sensors to servers, including smartphones, tablets, enterprise infrastructure and the Internet of Things.
100 ideas that changed the Web: Big data
© Ryoji Ikeda, data.tron [8k enhanced version], audiovisual installation, 2008-09. Photo by Liz Hingley
Every minute, 2 million searches are made, half a billion links are shared and 48 hours of footage are uploaded. That is a lot of data. And yet, in terms of how much is being produced worldwide, it barely scratches the surface. That is Big Data.
Big Data is the term used to describe data sets that are so large and complex that it takes a phenomenal amount of processing power to interrogate them. So why do it?
Fourteen seconds before the 2011 earthquake in Japan, every bullet train and every factory came to a halt. Many lives were saved thanks to the Quake-Catcher Network.
Many lives were saved in Japan in 2011 thanks to the Quake-Catcher Network
This network is made up of thousands of laptops with free software running in the background. The software makes use of the built-in sensors designed to protect the hard drive if the laptop is dropped. If there is an earthquake, all the sensors go off at the same time. By continuously aggregating and processing the data produced by all the sensors, it is possible to brace for impact before the earthquake strikes.
Fourteen seconds before, as it turns out.
In an increasingly connected world, our ability to capture and store data is staggering. We have sensors in everything, from running shoes to mobile phones. We are divulging more and more personal information to social networks. We supply more and more customer data to retailers, on and offline. Around 90 per cent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. Thanks to the Web, we have gone from information scarcity to information overload in two decades.
We have gone from information scarcity to information overload in two decades
Big Data needs big computers to process it. The algorithms that crunch Big Data require thousands of servers running in parallel. Currently, only governments and web giants like Google and Amazon have the necessary resources.
Barack Obama got elected off the back of it. Twice. By unifying vast commercial, political and social databases, his team was able to understand and influence individual swing voters. Google uses it to predict flu outbreaks, identify human trafficking hot spots and sell advertising.
When the Web was first conceived, it was intended to be more than an interconnected repository of information. The ultimate aim was the Semantic Web, a Web that drew meaning from information. Big Data is half the equation.
Extracted from 100 Ideas That Changed the Web by Jim Boulton, published by Laurence King Publishing, £9.95.
4chan user reportedly hacks iCloud with nude celeb pics – as Google strengthens security
An anonymous hacker on the 4chan site has published a series of naked photos of more than 100 celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, after reportedly hacking into the users’ iCloud accounts.
Even though the photos appeared to originate from iCloud devices – and even though 4chan users mentioned it – it’s not been confirmed that Apple’s cloud storage system provided the leak. Other theories are being banded about as to how the photos were accessed, with one report pointing the finger of blame at Dropbox’s door.
The explicit pictures – not all of which have been verified at the time of writing – were posted on 4chan before circulating on Reddit and Twitter.
Lawrence’s agent confirmed the veracity of the pictures, and threatened legal action against those responsible.
“This is a flagrant violation of privacy,” the spokesperson told the BBC. “The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”
Winstead, posting on Twitter, also confirmed the photos were of her, adding that because of their age she could “only imagine the creepy effort that went into this.”
Elsewhere, while iCloud accounts were being hacked, Google announced its Cloud Platform had received an upgraded set of security certificates.
The new documentation includes an updated ISO 27001 certificate, as well as an SOC 2 and SOC 3 Type II audit report, which can be seen in all its glory here.
“Keeping your data safe is at the core of what we do,” wrote Google Apps director of security Eran Feigenbaum in a blog post.
“These certifications, along with our existing offerings…help assure our customers and their regulators that we’re committed to keeping their data and that of their users secure, private and compliant,” he added.
In 2012, Christopher Chaney was jailed for 10 years after leaking nude pictures of actress Scarlet Johansson.
What do you make of this leak? Does this make you more concerned about the security of your cloud data?
Unified, Comprehensive and Easy-to-Use IT Systems Monitoring
This one-hour webinar will cover the core benefits and features of up.time, including how up.time proactively monitors, alerts and reports on the performance, availability, and capacity of all physical servers, virtual machines, network devices, applications, and services. We’ll take you through the up.time Dashboards, show you how alerting and action profiles work, and dive into up.time’s deep reporting capabilities, including SLA reports. In the end, you’ll know how up.time works and what up.time can do for your company.
Red Hat’s @Krishnan Subramanian To Present At @DevOpsSummit [#DevOps]
The recent trends like cloud computing, social, mobile and Internet of Things are forcing enterprises to modernize in order to compete in the competitive globalized markets. However, enterprises are approaching newer technologies with a more silo-ed way, gaining only sub optimal benefits. The Modern Enterprise model is presented as a newer way to think of enterprise IT, which takes a more holistic approach to embracing modern technologies. This model makes use of Composable Enterprise framework put forward by Jonathan Murray of WMG.
@MartenMickos Joins @DevOpsSummit at @CloudExpo Faculty [#DevOps]
The industry is heated with debates on whether adopting private or public cloud is the smartest, best, cheapest, you name it choice. But this debate is missing the mark. Businesses shouldn’t be discussing public vs. private, but rather how can they make the two work together to their greatest advantage. The ideal is to merge on-premise and off-premise into a seamless environment that can be managed as a single entity – a forward-looking stance that will eventually see major adoption. But as of late 2013, hybrid cloud was still “rare,” noted Gartner analyst Tom Bittman.