Every year has threatened to be “the year of the Cloud” but my main prediction for 2013 IT industry developments will be that yes, this is the year that it cements its role as the most major of technology disruptions.
It’s hard for Cloud to be defined in such a delineated manner, as it has been underway as a technology trend for many years, there is a wide spectrum of categories of what’s involved which are all continually evolving and also customer adoption has also been underway for many to various extents.
So it’s already been the Cloud for quite some time and so a bit late to make it the Year Of.
Software Sales in the Cloud
Businesses live and die by their ability to sell. Despite common belief, the key to successful selling in the cloud doesn’t rely on the technology infrastructure behind the scenes — the real key is in billing.
In essence, a cloud solution is an agreement between the vendor and the user. The ability to monetize that agreement is the heart of how to sell in the cloud. The more customers using your solution, the more revenue you create. To ensure a steady and predictable revenue stream the back end systems need to be able to support it.
The temptation with any sales process is to sell the sizzle; however, in a cloud environment, function is what’s important. Simplicity is key – from account creation to managing payment processes, billing, and user management, making these processes as simple as possible will make signing up new customers much easier.
Are You Stuck in a Cloud?
Ultimately cloud computing will be driven by customer needs for control and enabled by a new generation of hybrid cloud solutions.
Today public and private cloud operating models offer islands of IT operating efficiency that can be highly desirable for applications and services specifically designed for the cloud or which are already virtualized. Yet for the vast majority of multi-tier applications the cloud is still a pipe dream of promises and expectations. The problem isn’t with the cloud service providers per se, but rather with the vast gulf of manual processes required to migrate and operate apps (and their services) into and between data centers, colocation facilities and various public clouds.
Hybrid Cloud Is the Future
While most pundits have fallen in love with public cloud, behind the scenes a variety of technologies and vendors are evolving the will deliver the ultimate clouds, hybrid clouds.
Amazon and Google have done a remarkable job promoting public cloud, as VMware, Cisco and OpenStack have done similarly with private cloud. Yet late last year at the December Gartner Data Center Conference 2012 the dominant theme was neither public cloud nor private cloud, but rather hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud is form of cloud computing whereby applications and services can run across multiple clouds, colocation and data centers seamlessly, as a single hybrid cloud.
Before you dismiss hybrid cloud as another marketing twist on cloudwashing, consider its roots and evolution from the physical data center into an elastic, software-defined data center (as VMware calls it). We started talking about a new, elastic architecture back in 2010 from the context of the necessary evolution of networks to support elastic and dynamic virtual infrastructures, including clouds.
Belkin Announces WeMo SMART, a Platform to Bring Internet Connectivity to Everyday Devices
Belkin today announced WeMo SMART, a program designed to bring its simple, Wi-Fi based WeMo home automation platform to new brands and a wider variety of household devices. Jarden Consumer Solutions (“JCS”), a leading provider of global consumer products brands, will be the first company to partner with WeMo SMART for its Sunbeam®, Crock-Pot®, Mr. Coffee® and Oster® brands.
“As smart devices become more prolific in the home, we wanted to give companies an easy way to reinvigorate traditional product categories with internet connectivity and the ability to integrate with other household devices and cloud-based services,” said Jamie Elgie, senior director of product management at Belkin. “JCS is the perfect initial partner because its brands make the exact kind of products our fans have been asking us to integrate with WeMo.”
The WeMo SMART platform allows companies such as JCS to bring smart capabilities to their products quickly and without developing a separate hub, by using Belkin’s existing WeMo technology, app development and cloud server. Mature product lines can be quickly brought into the smart home realm, giving them increased functionality and the ability to be controlled via smartphones and tablets.
“With Belkin’s focus on the tablet and smartphone market and recent successes in creating simple solutions for Internet connected devices, it is a natural partner to help some of JCS’s best-known brands create appliances that people can use to make their homes smarter, safer and more flexible,” said Alejandro Pena, senior vice president and general manager, Global Appliances.
By expanding WeMo to other known brands and appliances, Belkin gives people the ability to remotely monitor, program or interact with more devices in their homes from anywhere. The first JCS products with WeMo will launch later this year, with additional product offerings through 2014
Toshiba Announces Cryptographic-erase, Self-encryption Features for New Enterprise SSD, Mobile HDD
Toshiba Corporation today announced new enterprise SAS solid state drives (SSD), mobile SATA hard disk drives (HDD), including self-encrypting drive (SED) models in both product categories, and new enterprise-grade SATA SSD supporting cryptographic-erase. Select drives will start to ship in January with other models following later in the first quarter.
PX02SMQ and PX02SMU series enterprise SED (eSED) deliver government-grade Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit self-encryption and offer Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Enterprise SSC protocol self-encryption and cryptographic-erase support. These high-performance, 2.5 inch enterprise models with SAS interface, target high-end servers and data center applications and provide capacities ranging up to 1.6TB[1].
The PX02AMU value line of SATA eSSD models and the PX03ANU read-intensive line of SATA eSSD models, both for enterprise applications, feature cryptographic- erase for fast and secure media sanitization.
For mobile computing, the MQ01ABU***W series provides self-encryption, cryptographic-erase and TCG-Opal SSC protocol support in a slim 7mm height with up to 500GB[1] of storage capacity. The MQ01ABU***W series also supports Toshiba’s innovative Wipe technology, which adds security features that allows system designers to automatically cryptographic-erase sensitive user data if an unexpected host attempts to access the HDDs or if a defined number of authentication failures occurs.
Toshiba is also reportedly working on FIPS 140-2 certification[2] for select SED products to meet government-class security requirements.
SYS-CON.tv Interview: Solar Solutions for Data Centers
“Our company has been growing in the commercial industry. People want to do the right thing and are making their buildings green and it’s actually a great option for them financially,” explained Ken Ebbert, Director of Channel Sales at Trinity Solar, in this SYS-CON.tv interview with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan at the 11th International Cloud Expo, held November 5-8, 2012, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Cloud Expo 2013 New York, June 10–13, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading Cloud industry players in the world.
MD Buyline Releases Tiered Solution to Tackle Healthcare PPI, Supply Chain Cost Containment
MD Buyline today released the next generation of Buyline Consumables, a comprehensive, evidence-based technology and services suite designed to help healthcare providers achieve greater predictability and data driven cost reductions across their Physician Preference Items (PPI) and supplies purchases.
With cost containment on PPI and supplies being a critical challenge facing healthcare institutions today, Buyline Consumables helps to bring clinical, finance, operational, and supply chain teams together to produce significant and measurable financial results. By utilizing data from thousands of hospital systems nationwide, MD Buyline provides rich insight and analysis to uncover financial savings opportunities. The result is a flexible, cost effective, subscription based solution that significantly improves the financial performance of a critical area of the hospital, while positively impacting both physician and patient satisfaction.
As the foundational layer of the Buyline Consumables solution suite, the Spend Analytics platform includes access to a real-time data platform that aggregates and synthesizes information from thousands of hospitals and vendors. Delivered as a cloud-based offering and accessible to anyone with a web browser, Consumables Spend Analytics enables clinical, operational, supply chain and financial departments to gain detailed line-item level visibility and drilldown views into robust national and cohort benchmarks for PPI and supply spend, resulting in greater fiscal sustainability and improved patient outcomes.
The premium service component of Buyline Consumables solution suite, aggregates Consumables Spend Analytics with a layer of diagnostic frameworks and custom research, to provide an end-to-end decision support service. Unlike open-ended PPI consulting engagements that have little or no cost predictability, Consumables Spend Management is designed to support value analysis processes “from kickoff to implementation” at a fixed cost.
In addition to all elements of Consumables Spend Analytics, the Spend Management services include:
- Custom research for the specific supply category, complete with
summaries of the latest clinical evidence - RFP reviews and insight on contract pricing, terms and conditions best
practices - Custom financial impact and decision support calculators
- Analyst insights, recommendations & negotiation support
According to Satin Mirchandani, CEO, MD Buyline, “The Buyline Consumables solution suite is designed to efficiently and effectively support cross-functional technology selection and acquisition processes, thus driving step-function improvements in PPI and supply spend reduction. The proven MD Buyline technology and services platform, in combination with our experienced analyst team, is well-equipped to deliver an integrated solution that drives improved predictability and financial performance across the healthcare supply chain.”
Cloud Predictions for 2013
Amazon is about to experience a tidal wave of competition from the likes of VMware, Microsoft and a host of leading service providers who want a piece of the growing cloud pie.
I’ve read about a dozen different sets of predictions for cloud computing in 2013 and will coopt many I consider to be the most credible in order to create my own “hybrid” top four list. They are also influenced by a series of conversations with the team at CloudVelocity as well as a couple dozen briefings with some of the top minds in cloud computing held since October. Are you ready?
1) Hybrid cloud will enter the hype cycle as enterprises cross the process chasm between private and public clouds and data centers. New and existing multi-tier apps will be orchestrated across clouds for cloud migration, cloud cloning and cloud failover as the first generation of enterprise grade hybrid cloud solutions. These solutions will allow high performance IT teams to deliver services faster, more efficiently and reliably than other teams stuck in dedicated hardware lock-in traps. Over time these new solutions will have a powerful impact on how IT teams are organized and how the acquire new technologies, because they represent superior operating models.
2013 Top Ten Tech Predictions
“The need to capture and manage Big Data is daunting, but not as daunting as the need to understand and analyze all you’ve captured,” says Jill T. Singer, CIO of the National Reconnaissance Office and an upcoming speaker at 12th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York. “2013 will see increased emphasis on making sense of Big Data rather than just making Big Data,” she adds.