When shopping for a new data processing platform for IoT solutions, many development teams want to be able to test-drive options before making a choice. Yet when evaluating an IoT solution, it’s simply not feasible to do so at scale with physical devices. Building a sensor simulator is the next best choice; however, generating a realistic simulation at very high TPS with ease of configurability is a formidable challenge. When dealing with multiple application or transport protocols, you would be looking at some significant engineering investment.
On-demand, serverless computing enables developers to try out a fleet of devices on IoT gateways with ease. With a sensor simulator built on top of AWS Lambda, it’s possible to elastically generate device sensors that report their state to the cloud.
[slides] #MachineLearning Intro for Anyone and Everyone | @CloudExpo
In his session at 21st Cloud Expo, Raju Shreewastava, founder of Big Data Trunk, provided a fun and simple way to introduce Machine Leaning to anyone and everyone. He solved a machine learning problem and demonstrated an easy way to be able to do machine learning without even coding.
Raju Shreewastava is the founder of Big Data Trunk (www.BigDataTrunk.com), a Big Data Training and consulting firm with offices in the United States. He previously led the data warehouse/business intelligence and Big Data teams at Autodesk. He is a contributing author of book on Azure and Big Data published by SAMS.
[slides] Technical Strategy for IIoT | @ThingsExpo #IoT #IIoT #M2M #AI #DX
No hype cycles or predictions of a gazillion things here. IoT is here. You get it. You know your business and have great ideas for a business transformation strategy. What comes next? Time to make it happen. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jay Mason, an Associate Partner of Analytics, IoT & Cybersecurity at M&S Consulting, presented a step-by-step plan to develop your technology implementation strategy. He also discussed the evaluation of communication standards and IoT messaging protocols, data analytics considerations, edge-to-cloud technical architecture, IoT platform selection, end-to-end security, enterprise systems integration and monetization techniques. Seize market opportunities by following this methodology to design and implement a systems architecture that meets complex demands for security, flexibility, durability, and scalability.
How Blockchain Is Changing the Retail Industry | @CloudExpo #DX #FinTech #Blockchain
Blockchain offers impeccable security with its cryptography-based decentralized system as well as the plethora of possible uses retailers could exploit in the near future.
In a world of increasing cyberattacks, internet fraud and online hacking, blockchain comes as a breath of fresh air. With its encrypted data and decentralized network system, it’s a thorn in every hacker’s side. Generally being associated with the finance sector, blockchain is now taking retail by storm. It’s on a course that will change the retail industry as we know it. But how exactly is it going to achieve such a feat?
[slides] Powering Smart Cities with IoT | @ThingsExpo #IoT #M2M #SmartCities
Smart cities have the potential to change our lives at so many levels for citizens: less pollution, reduced parking obstacles, better health, education and more energy savings. Real-time data streaming and the Internet of Things (IoT) possess the power to turn this vision into a reality. However, most organizations today are building their data infrastructure to focus solely on addressing immediate business needs vs. a platform capable of quickly adapting emerging technologies to address future business challenges.
The 12 Step Plan for Digital Transformation Speed | @ExpoDX #DX #AI #ML
It took Magellan’s crew three years sailing ships to circumnavigate the earth. Today, at hypersonic speeds of 7,680 MPH, it takes just over three hours to circumnavigate the earth. Data on the Internet, however, travels at 670 million MPH, which means it only takes milliseconds to circumnavigate the earth. In this age of digital businesses and digital interactions, companies must digitally transform to work effectively in a world where mass information moves at these unimaginable speeds.
Embracing #Microservices | @DevOpsSummit #Serverless #DevOps #CloudNative
For DevOps teams, the concepts behind service-oriented architecture (SOA) are nothing new. A style of software design initially made popular in the 1990s, SOA was an alternative to a monolithic application; essentially a collection of coarse-grained components that communicated with each other. Communication would involve either simple data passing or two or more services coordinating some activity. SOA served as a valid approach to solving many architectural problems faced by businesses, as applications could be developed by more teams working in parallel and more productively by reusing original code to build new functionality.
Low Code Apps | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps #Serverless #LowCode #NoCode
Gone are the days when application development was the daunting task of the highly skilled developers backed with strong IT skills, low code application development has democratized app development and empowered a new generation of citizen developers.
There was a time when app development was in the domain of people with complex coding and technical skills. We called these people by various names like programmers, coders, techies, and they usually worked in a world oblivious of the everyday priorities of the business world. However, with the passage of time, this scenario is much more democratized now. Newer business models have given rise to new technologies that are replacing old legacy systems and processes. Technology and business teams have come together to build just what is needed for business priorities. Today nothing happens backstage in the name of complex coding – everyone builds and develops apps using simple methods based on modern technology.
The Internet of Things in Your Driveway | @ThingsExpo #AI #IoT #IIoT #M2M
By 2020, 90 percent of all new cars will have some sort of built-in connectivity platform, and by 2022, there will be 1.8 billion automotive M2M connections. As cars join the Internet of Things, cars will stop being independent entities and will become part of a larger, connected ecosystem. Cars as part of the IoT isn’t just a look into the future – it’s already happening.
“Everything that moves will become autonomic, it’s just a matter of time,” says Vishnu Andhare, Consulting Manager at ISG. Andhare notes that all of the big automotive players are already moving towards a future of shared mobility, and mobility-as-a-service – although it will take time. “In the future, it will not be limited by technology, but by the psychological barrier, and by public policy,” he says. “there is a limit to which the human mind can go without semblance of control. At airports, you already see terminal-to-terminal autonomic shuttles. We are used to them. But with cars on the road, there is still a psychological barrier.”
Public cloud: The app compatibility problem and how to overcome it
By now, the benefits of public cloud are well known. Better performance, lower costs, agility and greater flexibility are all key motivators to enable digital transformation. With these benefits in mind, it’s understandable why an organisation might choose to consolidate its data centres and move all of its applications to the cloud, so what is still holding some of them back? Often we hear about cost and security considerations, but within businesses that run bespoke mission-critical apps, the IT team will more than likely want to be running apps in the public cloud, but are unable to do so – here’s why.
If you scratch beneath the surface, as you check into a hotel, collect a hire car, even the largest public and private organisations you’ll find apps running on legacy operating systems, such as Windows XP and Server 2003. The issue this poses is that they simply won’t run on operating systems supported by Azure, AWS and Citrix Cloud, leaving organisations stuck, or with a hefty price tag to re-code their existing software.
The even bleaker reality is that many organisations have so many competing priorities that they do not have the time, money, and in some cases the capability, to rewrite their applications. Applications that were either heavily customised off-the-shelf applications, or were bespoke applications developed to meet their needs entirely, which explains why the people, expertise or media are no longer available.
Why are old operating systems still alive?
Outdated OS’ cause IT teams headaches for a number of reasons. Often defined by very specific functionality and hard coded dependencies, organisations are often reliant on apps created on old systems for mission-critical business processes. This is particularly relevant to companies in highly specialised and regulated industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing or utilities. This proves difficult because once the operating system they are designed for reaches its end of life, they are no longer supported by security patches and are more greatly susceptible to threats.
Even more problematic still is the fact that few public cloud services currently make it straightforward to transfer legacy apps. If the cloud provider doesn’t support the OS that your app was developed for, it simply won’t be supported. So, with this in mind, how can businesses move their applications to the cloud and enjoy its benefits?
A new lease of life
Compatibility container software can circumvent this problem using application virtualisation technology to run the application on a modern platform. Once in a container, organisations can migrate from an on-prem data centre to public cloud, the hybrid cloud, and even between clouds to avoid vendor lock in – all without making changes to the app’s architecture.
Compatibility containers control the packaging, and provide the required redirection, isolation and compatibility for the apps into the external cloud service. Through this process, the application is abstracted from the underlying operating system, preparing it for Windows-as-a-service; where Windows is updated every 6 months.
What this means for IT teams that have previously had their hands tied over a move to the public cloud is that now they have a cost-effective way to get there, as well as keep their critical apps up and running – not just now but for the future. The pace of technology is continually increasing, and organisations need a way to get ahead of the adoption curve, and this is only possible if they invest in evergreen capabilities.