To lower IT operational costs and/or to become more agile, the business must simplify the processes to deliver and manage infrastructure and the applications running on that infrastructure. Focusing on one without the other is simply applying yet another band-aid to an already hampered environment. Delivering IT as a service requires transformative efforts across all of IT and a re-evaluation of the metrics currently used to judge success. Achieving these goals demands a new platform and approach to delivering data and applications to users.
I was recently reviewing a reference architecture for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and was confounded by the sheer complexity still required to deliver what amounts to a starting point for the higher level task of deploying software. Perhaps I set the bar too high, but if I were a CIO, any new infrastructure investment I made today would need to be part of a self-aware automatically elastic resource pool. That is, when I plug in the new hardware (e.g. server, storage, network) I’m asked a couple of basic questions about allocation and voila the hardware is automatically incorporated into one or more resource pools. Moreover, there’s software that sits on top of that pool that allocates it out to users on a metered basis. Any further time spent on operational configuration, engineering and deployment is simply wasted effort.
2014 Predictions for APIs – Hold on to Your Hats
When we made our 2013 predictions for the realm of APIs, our premise was that API adoption and use was still a relatively nascent area, but one about to explode once smart people figured out its potential. We were certainly spot-on in that regard, but few believed us when we suggested that the API Economy was about to get as vibrant as it did. It may be safe to say that 2013 was the year that APIs really caught the business world’s attention.
In these past 12 months, we’ve seen major acquisitions of API enablement companies, new industry conferences dedicated to the business of APIs, and talk of API management is on the lips of leading business executives. Untold billions of dollars have been transacted, all enabled by APIs, and innovation is making the world an easier place to transact as a result of applications, mash-ups and APIs. As we predicted, the discussion and decision-making about how to use APIs to increase customer and user engagement through channels has moved to now include both the technical and business sides of an organization.
IoT: I Don’t Care How Big It Is!
I’m reading a McKinsey report from May 2013 that talks about 12 disruptive technologies, including cloud computing and the Internet of Things (Iot). I’ll focus on the IoT here.
The report estimates the (Iot) Internet to be worth between $2.7 and $6.2 trillion by the year 2025.(The world’s combined GDP is about $72 trillion today.) When it comes to the IoT, the report says there could be 50 billion new devices connected to the Internet by 2025, or maybe a trillion. Give or take.
With all due respect, these numbers are nonsense, perhaps, and irrelvant, doubtlessly. It does no one any good to estimate things within a few trillion dollars or a factor of 20X.
We also have no idea what the world will look like politically more than a decade from now. Will the year 2025 harken the beginning of Hillary Clinton’s third term as President of the United States? Or perhaps the Cruz/Paul administration’s first? Will China be the world’s economic collosus, and/or perhaps the world’s largest democracy?
Over the past two decades, no one expected the fall of the Soviet Union or the Arab Spring; the dot-com meltdown came as a catastropic shock to many (and removed $7 trillion in wealth), and our favorite uncle Alan Greenspan now admits he had no idea that the Great Recession was looming. We humans are terrible at predicting the future.
But we live with the certainty that technology evolves and has great potential to improve the fate of nations and people. Technology is apolitical, agnostic, and indefatigable in the face of geo-political pettiness and conflict. We all know this. “Learning” that the cloud or IoT might add a trillion here and there, or several trillion, adds no value to any discussion.
McKinsey did its due diligence in rounding up a passel of big names (eg, Eric Schmidt, And it gives the usual, clichéd nod to Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction in touting the 12 disruptions.
Let’s Get Specific
But those of us working in the industry need to be a little more specific. The IoT encompasses an enormous range of devices, uses, and industries.
I first led discussions of it at an event in Beijing in 2011. McKinsey, to its credit, issued a nice report sans numbers in 2010. One company tweeted me yesterday that they’ve been doing IoT stuff since 2007.
OK, got it. The IoT is not a brand-new idea. But it is now gaining big traction. It is already throwing datacenter developers into a tizzy as they grapple with delivering a magnitude more processing in a short time. Industrial design is moving to the fore, not just the province of Apple anymore. Google just bought a company for $3.2 billion, a harbinger of an IoT spring.
The IoT generates Big Data, which in turn is best handled by virtualized resources and Cloud Computing, which in turn are begetting the Software-Defined Networks (SDN) and Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC). Emerging DevOps culture also fits in here, as a function of the speed required to bring ideas to fruition.
For my part, I spend a lot of my time working within a start-up that aims to deliver personal websites, photos, and video to as many people as possible, worldwide, some day. We virtualize, we use the cloud, and we will be encountering bigger datasets as we encounter mobile devices on our grid, and the telemetry that goes with them.
It’s a big development challenge, and one in which we operate in blissful ignorance of whether we’re operating within a $1.7 or $6.2 trillion opportunity.
In summary, as a writer and as Conference Chair of @thingsexpo, I have a simple question: what are you doing? Please let me know!
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The Future of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing continues to transform the way organization are doing business, proving to be a transformative innovation for many enterprises. Considering how far the cloud has come in recent years spurs questions of what the future will look like and what types of changes we can expect. Many are speculating about the pace of cloud adoption and what services and capabilities will become available in the future.
Some believe recent reports of online surveillance and data breaches at popular cloud applications resulting from hacking could impede the growth rate of cloud adoption. But we believe recent events will lead to further innovations that will bolster security and corporate control and this will allow more companies to confidently move important processes online, ensuring the cloud continues its path of fundamentally transforming corporate IT. Broadly, the future for cloud computing will include clearly defined and standards-based security solutions and technology that will enable enterprises to retain full control of their sensitive information assets while continuing to move more business functions online (thereby reducing IT and other costs). This year’s The Future of Cloud Computing survey by North Bridge gave some great insights into what might be coming for the cloud and I’ve added a couple of additional ideas below.
Innodisk’s New Peripheral Modules Expand Embedded System Functionality
Industrial and Embedded service provider, Innodisk, is introducing a new line of peripheral modules for embedded applications. Users will be able to interface to LAN, serial ports (USB/RS232-422-485/PCIe), storage devices and video displays easily through these space-efficient embedded peripheral boards.
“Based on our experience in industrial component design, we can provide professional industrial products which are more reliable,” says Joey Hsu, Innodisk director of embedded peripherals division. “Besides a wide operating temperature range, vibration and dust resistance, we are proud of our longevity support.”
SYS-CON.tv Interview: The Purposed Cloud
“We had been a managed service provider but with all the deafening noise around the cloud we have found that we do something that people would love – the purposed cloud,” explained Chetan Patwardhan, CEO of Stratogent, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, held Nov 4–7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Cloud Expo® 2014 New York, June 10-12, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading Cloud industry players in the world.
Book Excerpt: Systems Performance: Enterprise and the Cloud | Part 1
CPUs drive all software and are often the first target for systems performance analysis. Modern systems typically have many CPUs, which are shared among all running software by the kernel scheduler. When there is more demand for CPU resources than there are resources available, process threads (or tasks) will queue, waiting their turn. Waiting can add significant latency during the runtime of applications, degrading performance.
The usage of the CPUs can be examined in detail to look for performance improvements, including eliminating unnecessary work. At a high level, CPU usage by process, thread, or task can be examined. At a lower level, the code path within applications and the kernel can be profiled and studied. At the lowest level, CPU instruction execution and cycle behavior can be studied.
Mobile Expert Interviews: Vaidy Iyer on Cloud Mobility and PaaS
I had the privilege of interviewing mobility expert Vaidy Iyer today. He is the founder and CEO of AppsFreedom, a company focused on providing enterprise mobility solutions in the form of Multi-Channel, Multi-Device Platform as a Service solutions to the SAP community. I asked if they could compete with SAP’s mobile solutions – you should hear his answer! Enjoy!
Grading the Internet’s 2014 Tech Predictions
The time is here for bloggers across the internet to make their tech predictions for 2014 and beyond (we have made some ourselves around storage and cloud). In this post, a couple of our authors have weighed in to grade predictions made by others across the web.
Prioritizing Management Tool Consolidation vs. New Acquisitions
Enterprise customers will want to invest in new tools only when necessary. They should look for solutions that can address several of their needs so that they do not have to acquire multiple tools and integrate them. The ability to cover multiple areas of management (performance, configuration and availability) to support multiple technologies (e.g., application tiers) and to operate across multiple platforms (Unix, Windows, virtual) will be important criteria for enterprises to assess what management tools will work for them. (eweek)
Agree – I have been saying this for a while. If you want a new tool, get rid of 5 and consolidate and use what you have now or get one that really works. (Randy Becker)
Bigger big data spending
IDC predicts spending of more than $14 billion on big data technologies and services or 30% growth year-over-year, “as demand for big data analytics skills continues to outstrip supply.” The cloud will play a bigger role with IDC predicting a race to develop cloud-based platforms capable of streaming data in real time. There will be increased use by enterprises of externally-sourced data and applications and “data brokers will proliferate.” IDC predicts explosive growth in big data analytics services, with the number of providers to triple in three years. 2014 spending on these services will exceed $4.5 billion, growing by 21%. (Forbes)
Absolutely agree with this. Companies of all sizes are constantly looking to garner more intelligence from the data they have. Even here at GreenPages we have our own big data issues and will continue to invest in these solutions to solve our own internal business needs. (Chris Ward)
Enterprises Will Shift From Silo to Collaborative Management
In 2014, IT organizations will continue to feel increased pressure from their lines of business. Collaborative management will be a key theme, and organizations will be looking to provide a greater degree of performance visibility across their individual silo tiers to the help desk, so it is easier and faster to troubleshoot problems and identify the tier that is responsible for a problem. (eweek)
Agree – cross domain technology experts are key! (Randy Becker)
New IT Will Create New Opportunities
Mobility, bring-your-own device (BYOD) and virtual desktops will all continue to gain a foothold in the enterprise. The success of these new technologies will be closely tied to the performance that users can experience when using these technologies. Performance management will grow in importance in these areas, providing scope for innovation and new solutions in the areas of mobility management, VDI management and so on. (eweek)
Disagree – This is backwards. The business is driving change and accountability. It is not IT that creates new opportunities – it is the business demanding apps that work and perform for the people using them. (Randy Becker)
Here comes the Internet of Things
By 2020, the Internet of Things will generate 30 billion autonomously connected end points and $8.9 trillion in revenues. IDC predicts that in 2014 we will see new partnerships among IT vendors, service providers, and semiconductor vendors that will address this market. Again, China will be a key player: The average Chinese home in 2030 will have 40–50 intelligent devices/sensors, generating 200TB of data annually. (Forbes)
Totally agree with this one. Everything and everybody is eventually going to be connected. I wish I were building a new home right now because there are so many cool things you can do by having numerous household items connected. I also love it because I know that in 10 years when my daughter turns 16 that I’ll no doubt know in real-time where she is and what she is doing. However, I doubt she’ll appreciate the ‘coolness’ of that. Although very cool, this concept does introduce some very real challenges around management of all of these devices. Think about 30 billion devices connected to the net…. We might actually have to start learning about IPv6 soon… (Chris Ward)
Cloud service providers will increasingly drive the IT market
As cloud-dedicated datacenters grow in number and importance, the market for server, storage, and networking components “will increasingly be driven by cloud service providers, who have traditionally favored highly componentized and commoditized designs.” The incumbent IT hardware vendors will be forced to adopt a “cloud-first” strategy, IDC predicts. 25–30% of server shipments will go to datacenters managed by service providers, growing to 43% by 2017. (Forbes)
Not sure I agree with this one for 2014 but I do agree with it in the longer term. As more and more applications/systems get migrated to public cloud providers, that means less and less hardware/software purchased directly from end user customers and thus more consolidation at the cloud providers. This could be a catch 22 for a lot of the traditional IT vendors like HP and Dell. When’s the last time you walked into an Amazon or Google datacenter and saw racks and racks of HP or Dell gear? Probably not too recently as these providers tend to ‘roll their own’ from a hardware perspective. One thing is for sure…this will get very interesting over the next 24 to 36 months… (Chris Ward)
End-User Experience Will Determine Success
Businesses will expect IT to find problems before their users do, pinpoint the root cause of the problem and solve the problem as early as possible. IT organizations will seek solutions that will allow them to provide great user experience and productivity. (eweek)
Agree – 100% on this one. Need a good POC and Pilot that is well managed with clear goals and objectives. (Randy Becker)
Amazon (and possibly Google) to take on traditional IT suppliers
Amazon Web Services’ “avalanche of platform-as-a-service offerings for developers and higher value services for businesses” will force traditional IT suppliers to “urgently reconfigure themselves.” Google, IDC predicts, will join in the fight, as it realizes “it is at risk of being boxed out of a market where it should be vying for leadership.” (Forbes)
I agree with this one to an extent. Amazon has certainly captured a good share of the market in two categories, developers and large scale-out applications and I see them continuing to have dominance in these 2 spaces. However, anyone who thinks that customers are forklift moving traditional production business applications from the datacenter to the public cloud/Amazon should really get out in the field and talk to CIOs and IT admins as this simply isn’t happening. I’ve had numerous conversations with our own customers around this topic, and when you do the math it just doesn’t make sense in most cases – assuming the customer has an existing investment in hardware/software and some form of datacenter to house it. That said, where I have seen an uptake of Amazon and other public cloud providers is from startups or companies that are being spun out of a larger parent. Bottom line, Amazon and others will absolutely compete with traditional IT suppliers, just not in a ubiquitous manner. (Chris Ward)
The digitization of all industries
By 2018, 1/3 of share leaders in virtually all industries will be “Amazoned” by new and incumbent players. “A key to competing in these disrupted and reinvented industries,” IDC says, “will be to create industry-focused innovation platforms (like GE’s Predix) that attract and enable large communities of innovators – dozens to hundreds will emerge in the next several years.” Concomitant with this digitization of everything trend, “the IT buyer profile continues to shift to business executives. In 2014, and through 2017, IT spending by groups outside of IT departments will grow at more than 6% per year.” (Forbes)
I would have to agree with this one as well. The underlying message here is that IT spending decisions continue to shift away from IT and into the hands of the business. I have seen this happening more and more over the past couple of years and can’t help but believe it will continue in that direction at a rapid pace. (Chris Ward)
What do you think about these predictions? What about Chris and Randy’s take on them?
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Innodisk Announces Storage Series with Built-in Security
Innodisk, a designer and manufacturer of SSDs for industrial applications, is committed to providing flash storage solutions that meet the unique security demands of the gaming and amusement industry without sacrificing reliability and performance. With its release of a new series of casino gaming industry storage devices, the industry no longer needs to rely on insecure commodity hardware.
AWPs (amusement with prize games), arcade games, slot machines and casinos have strict security requirements.In jurisdictions worldwide, stringent gaming industry regulations include requirements for data storage used in gaming machines designed to enhance security, such as protection of game play data, to ensure a safe and legal market. With the high volume of monetary transactions involved, manufacturers must ensure strong authentication and compliance with strict government regulations.