Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Advanced Analytics for All

Today when it comes to analytics it’s a choice between simplicity and power:
Experts can use automated techniques like machine learning
Analysts can manually do statistical analysis
Business users can use rudimentary visual analysis
The future is Advanced Analytics for All (AA4A) combining the power of machine learning with the simplicity of visual analysis. Cloud computing cuts the cost of such computationally expensive analysis, and makes it available to everyone over any device.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Arijit Sengupta, CEO of BeyondCore, will discuss through real case studies how AA4A methodology is already saving lives, money and delivering invaluable insights automatically.

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Is the Cloud Really Less Costly Than On-Premise?

To state the obvious, businesses of all sizes are moving their applications to the cloud or renting software as a service (SaaS) instead of licensing or buying the software outright.
The number one reason people cite is cost. Businesses large and small are under the impression they can save a bundle by moving their apps to the cloud. At the same time, companies who handle a move to the cloud badly can suffer a negative backlash from their user community.
When you consider all the cost factors, like your time, energy and risk to your business, will you save money in the long run by going with SaaS? The short answer is no.
One thing is clear: businesses will pay less up front for cloud vs. on-premise. Modern SaaS systems are rented on a pay-as-you-go basis, or might have short-term contracts. Average license fees for equivalent on-premise software range from two to three years’ worth of SaaS subscriptions. Add in 20% annual maintenance when you buy and install your own software and you are in concept paying three years’ worth of subscription revenues up front for the same tools.

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Cloud Expo: Converging OpenStack Compute with NexentaStor Storage

Reliable, scalable storage is a key component of cloud deployments. Those deploying an infrastructure cloud frequently opt for network-attached storage (NAS) over local storage, to make it simpler to implement enterprise-grade features.
By combining OpenStack Compute, today’s industry-standard open source cloud platform, with NexentaStor, the most popular open storage solution, companies can build clouds that are feature rich, avoid vendor lock-in, offer complete control of the stack, and reduce costs by unlocking the ability to use less expensive commodity hardware.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Boris Renski, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President of Mirantis, will discuss how Mirantis, a leader in engineering services for OpenStack Cloud, and Nexenta, which provides enterprise-class storage solutions, integrated NexentaStor with OpenStack Compute.

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Brass Tacks: Answering the Cloud Security Questions That Matter

Strong InfoSec strategies must answer the key questions of who is logging in, what is accessed, when was it changed and how is the IT landscape affected.
Enterprise security can be a labyrinthine, complex beast with many moving parts, dozen upon dozen of requirements, needs, implications, options and alternatives.
But when we get down to the nitty gritty (the brass tacks if you will), cloud security can be simplified by six simple questions.

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The challenge of predicting enterprise cloud computing growth

69% of enterprises who have separate budgets for cloud computing are predicting spending increases this year and into 2014.

This is one of several key take-aways from a research study published today by TheInfoPro, a service of 451 Research.  TheInfoPro Wave 5 Cloud Computing Study is based on research completed in the first six months of 2013, and relies on live interviews with IT management and primary decision-makers in midsize and large enterprises in Europe and North America. You can view details of TheInfoPro Cloud Computing Overview Program and methodology here.

Additional key take-aways from the study include the following:

  • The worldwide cloud computing market will grow at a 36% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2016, reaching a market size of $19.5B by 2016.
  • 38% of enterprises surveyed break out cloud computing budgets, while 60% include cloud-related spending as part of their enterprise-wide IT budgets.  TheInfoPro asserts that …

SYS-CON Launches WebRTC Journal

SYS-CON Media has launched WebRTC Journal on Ulitzer.com featuring over 160 original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries. WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is an open source project supported by Google, Mozilla and Opera that aims to enable browser-to-browser applications for voice calling, video chat, and P2P file sharing without plugins. Its mission is “To enable rich, high quality, RTC applications to be developed in the browser via simple Javascript APIs and HTML5.”
Follow WebRTC Journal on Twitter at @WebRTCSummit.

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SYS-CON Announces WebRTC Summit November 6-7 Santa Clara Convention Center

SYS-CON Events announced today that the “First International WebRTC Summit” (@WebRTCSummit) will take place Nov 6-7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA.
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is an open source project supported by Google, Mozilla and Opera that aims to enable browser-to-browser applications for voice calling, video chat, and P2P file sharing without plugins. Its mission is “To enable rich, high quality, RTC applications to be developed in the browser via simple Javascript APIs and HTML5.”
A survey by TokBox found that the WebRTC adoption rate among small organizations is growing quickly where over 25% of developers say it is important for their work.

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Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Everything-as-a-Channel

Leverage your existing channels, and identify new ones to increase revenue…
In a recent Gartner report, Lisa Arthur of Forbes predicted that in five years the CMO will surpass the CIO in purchase authority for IT. As the SaaS business model continues to erode the authority of IT in the decision process of acquiring software and apps, opportunities to transform the channel are emerging all around us – platforms that have never been considered part of the traditional channel are being opportunistically recognized in developing new revenue streams and providing routes to market.

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What Do All these SMAC Developments Mean?

I see digital transformation spinning off many different business trends and technology waves. Consumers want to consume media on mobile devices. This in turn drives tablet sales, as most media is easier to view on tablets. Tablets and other mobile devices encourage and promote the digitization of customer engagements and produce more data (code halos) that enables new business models to emerge based on a strategic use of big data analytics tied to marketing and commerce platforms.
The more data and commerce that flows through mobile devices, the more companies focus on mobile marketing and sales channels. I see no end to the popularity of mobile devices, so this trend is guaranteed to continue. The question for us now is how this will impact traditional sales and marketing channels and strategies.

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Government Agencies Decoding Encryption – How to Keep Cloud Data Private

The latest reports surrounding the surveillance programs of the NSA and their International counterparts reveal that these agencies have been able to decode the encryption methods some enterprises and organizations use to keep their online data private.
While these headlines are likely disconcerting for those operating in the U.S. or using software applications from cloud providers, as stated in our recent press release and blog post, enterprises do not need to allow their fears to slow down or stop their cloud adoption.
More attention has been turning to tokenization recently as a strong approach to secure sensitive data. Tokenization, like encryption, encodes or conceals data so it is protected from unauthorized parties. But unlike encryption, in which a mathematical link back to the original data’s true form still exists; tokenization is unique in that it completely removes the original data from the systems in which the replacement tokens reside (in this case, the cloud itself). You can find out more information about tokenization on this resource page.
When implemented in its strongest fashion (a randomized token generation approach

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