Microsoft has announced a new platform designed to make it easy to build and operate artificial intelligence-powered technology for use in low-power edge devices, such as cameras and audio equipment.

The Azure Percept Development Kit (DK), which is available in public preview from today, promises to provide a single, end-to-end system that enables customers without coding knowledge to develop an AI product from the ground up.

The hope is that this new platform will help create a Microsoft-powered ecosystem of edge devices designed for low-power implementations, in essence replicating its success with the Windows operating system in the PC market.

The platform, announced at Microsoft Ignite, will run alongside Azure Percept Vision and Azure Percept Audio, two bolt-on services that can connect to Azure cloud services such as Azure AI, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Live Video Analytics, and Microsoft’s various IoT services.

Early concepts suggest the platform is initially aimed at use-cases involving retail and warehousing, where customers can take advantage of services like object detection, shelf analytics, anomaly detection and keyword spotting, among others.

Microsoft explained that the DK “significantly” lowers the bar for what is required to build edge technology, particularly as most implementations require some degree of engineering and data science expertise to make them a success.

“With Azure Percept, we broke that barrier,” said Moe Tanabian, Microsoft vice president and general manager of the Azure edge and devices group. “For many use cases, we significantly lowered the technical bar needed to develop edge AI-based solutions, and citizen developers can build these without needing deep embedded engineering or data science skills.”

Customers signing up to the platform will also be provided with a range of edge-enabled hardware that allows for processes like speech and image recognition to take place without requiring a connection to the cloud. Initially, this will be built by Microsoft, however, the company also confirmed that third-party manufacturers will be able to build equipment that’s certified to run on the Azure Percept platform.

“We’ve started with the two most common AI workloads, vision and voice, sight and sound, and we’ve given out that blueprint so that manufacturers can take the basics of what we’ve started,” said Roanne Sones, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s edge and platform group. “But they can envision it in any kind of responsible form factor to cover a pattern of the world.”

Microsoft’s own hardware also uses the industry-standard 80/20 T-slot framing architecture, which it claims will make it easier for customers to run pilots of their ideas with existing edge housing and infrastructure.

Elevators that are able to respond to custom voice commands, cameras that notify managers when shelves have low stock, and video streams that monitor for availability in car parks are just a few examples of how the technology could be deployed, Microsoft explained.

Azure Percept Studio, another bolt-on service, will provide step by step guides taking customers through the entire lifecycle of an edge tool, from design to implementation. Perhaps most importantly, customers using Percept Studio will also have access to AI models created by the open source community.

The world’s fossil fuel stocks are depleting, and the cost of using them is rising. Meanwhile countries and corporations alike are making commitments to achieve zero carbon status, and individuals are increasingly aware of – and seeking to reduce – their personal environmental footprint. One way tech firms can do their bit to help the steady march to zero carbon is to use what’s known as green cloud. 

The complexities of green cloud

As the name would suggest, green cloud is about being low-carbon, but there are a lot of components in the mix beyond just the power that is used to keep facilities like data centres going. It’s also about how the infrastructure used in cloud facilities is produced and sourced. Some building materials are produced in more environmentally damaging ways, while others are more environmentally damaging to maintain and dispose of at a later date – the whole lifecycle matters. The same lifecycle issues exist for the technology components used to provide cloud services.

Even when we look at energy usage the picture is complex. Renewables are key as an energy source, but they are not the only factor; how energy is distributed around a data centre and energy efficiency are also important considerations. 

All of this means that understanding how green a green cloud provider is can be complex. Subhankar Pal, assistant vice president of technology and innovation at Capgemini company Altran, tells Cloud Pro: “Firms can discover their green-ness by establishing a way to evaluate green KPIs during tests and in production. Green KPIs will be derived from metrics like energy efficiency, cooling efficiency, computing infrastructure performance, thermal and air management metrics.”

Prioritising sustainability matters

Consumers are increasingly adopting sustainability models in their everyday life, and are often prepared to pay more for items that meet environmental credentials. The principles that lead people to look for green energy providers, reduced and recyclable packing in purchased goods, and ethically sourced clothing are the same principles that drive them away from companies that lack green credentials. Firms that add green cloud into their mix stand to gain in reputation, regardless of whether their clients are consumers or other businesses.

As Emma Roscow, Intelligent cloud infrastructure lead for Accenture UKI explains: “Business strategy is increasingly focused on sustainability, with many companies making commitments to reduce their carbon footprint. In fact, 99% of CEOs from large companies now agree that sustainability issues are important to the future success of their businesses.” 

It’s not just about good PR, though – the real environmental gains matter too. Roscow adds: “Accenture recently found that public cloud migrations could reduce global carbon emissions by 59 million tons of CO2 per year, the equivalent to taking 22 million cars off the road.” 

Lead the way and keep a clear head

Given the depletion of fossil fuels and push towards renewables, the move to green cloud is ultimately inevitable. For Pal, the time is right to make the move. “The reason to do this now is because some firms are already experiencing higher cost pressures, and they could be more cost implications in the long run. There could be stricter government regulations, penalties, and higher operational costs for managing non-green data centres,” he says.

But the move should be made with a clear head. Nick Mcquire, vice president, enterprise research at CCS Insight tells Cloud Pro: “We are seeing the cloud providers posturing over ‘my cloud is cleaner than your cloud’ as they commit on the one hand, to massive infrastructure build-outs to sustain demand and differentiate their platforms, and the ability for this infrastructure to be friendly on the planet on the other.” He advises, “customers should push their cloud providers hard on providing energy data around where they place their cloud workloads and for innovation in areas that can cut their energy emissions.”

Roscow highlights some additional factors to be taken into account including, within any firm, “the current hardware’s lifecycle, approach to application development, their sustainable business models and processes, and how they use the cloud to create circular operations”.

There is no easy, off the shelf, method of deciding when and how to make the move to green cloud. Each firm will need to do its own research on both cloud services and its wider use of IT – and that research might be much more in-depth than you think. Roscow puts this plainly – if surprisingly – when she reveals that “Accenture Labs’ research found that even the choice of coding language can impact energy consumption by as much as fifty times, depending on the programming technique”. 

Despite these twists and turns, there is no doubt the move to green cloud is coming for tech firms as for all others. Making the move sooner rather than later might be better financially and reputationally – as well as for the planet.

Google has unloaded a raft of new updates for Google Workspace that regear it towards hybrid working strategies. 

The updates include greater support for frontline workers, time management capabilities and tools for strengthening collaboration. 

“We’re excited to announce new innovations in Google Workspace that will further empower all the ways work happens – and deepen its impact – in an ever-changing world,” the VP and GM of Google Workspace, Javier Soltero, wrote in a blog post. 

For frontline workers, the update takes into account the use of personal devices, such as the use of smartphones and tablets by hospital workers or retail staff. Google Workspace Frontline comes with all the necessary apps – Gmail, Chat, Docs, Drive and so on – but it also includes business-level support and security features like advanced endpoint management to keep sensitive company data secure.

There are also features within Google Workspace to build custom apps directly from Google Sheets and Drive, so frontline workers can collect data in the field, report safety risks, manage customer requests and streamline their work.

This bleeds into other feature updates for managing schedules and workflows as they evolve in hybrid strategies. In the coming months, Google will be releasing new calendar-based features that will help users specify working ‘blocks’ – indications in the calendar that allow teammates to see when they’re online and available for meetings.

This includes ‘recurring out-of-office events’ which will automatically decline invites, and there will also be a setting to let co-workers know where a user will be during work hours, whether at home or in-office. 

For engagement and productivity, Google is also adding features to minimise distractions, which will include basic limitations on notifications and ‘Time Insights’ that will provide information to employees – but not managers – about project schedules and completion times. Google Assistant will also be available to provide calendar details and also be used to join meetings.

Meetings themselves will be getting some new features, including a ‘second screen’ function for Google Meet where users can host a meeting across a mix of devices – hosting on one and presenting data or documents with another. This will also include a split-screen update for the mobile version on Meet, Q&A features, pools and live captions in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French. 

Remote working will play a “huge role” in post-pandemic life and is very much going to be the new normal, according to Citrix. 

The cloud giant said that UK employees want hybrid working models, despite a strong desire to meet in person again. The option to work remotely, it said, makes for “happier” workers that stay committed for longer. 

The comments came in response to remarks from prime minister Boris Johnson, who dismissed the notion that remote working will become the new normal for British businesses. Instead, he suggested that people will have the desire to get back into the workplace and resume in-person meetings. 

His statement echos similar comments the government made in the summer after the first lockdown ended, which saw it urge people to get back to the workplace. The aim was to increase footfall traffic for shops and restaurants in city centres and on popular commuter routes and came after the CBI warned that workers must return to the office or risk urban centres becoming ghost towns.

 “While the prime minister is undoubtedly right that many office workers may have a strong desire for face-to-face meetings once again, this does not mean remote working will not play a huge role in post-pandemic life,” Mark Sweeney, Citrix’s regional VP of UK and Ireland, told CloudPro.
 
Research conducted by Citrix found flexible working initiatives have improved both the professional and personal lives of many UK employees. Around 46% surveyed by Citrix said they would only accept a role that offered flexible work options if they were to change jobs, highlighting a clear desire for remote working to remain, rather than Johnson’s notion of a return to the old ways. 
 
“A key learning we should take from the past year is that work is not dictated by a particular place, and should companies use flexible technologies – such as cloud-based virtual desktops and apps – to offer employees a hybrid model of working, then they are likely to see happier and more engaged workers that stay committed for longer,” Sweeney added.

There is significant evidence to back Sweeney’s comments beyond Citrix’s research. Recent studies have shown that the majority of people that can work remotely wish to continue doing so in some capacity beyond lockdown, and there are reports highlighting how businesses are changing their office space with hybrid models in mind. 

Salesforce is perhaps the biggest promotor of remote and hybrid work. The tech giant recently announced the ‘death’ of the 9 to 5, with sweeping changes to its office space and work policies. Even Googleand Microsoft, which have both offered more negative comment on remote working, have accepted that hybrid office strategies need to be looked at. 

Even the CBI, which warned of ghost towns in the summer, has tweaked its stance; it released a report in November called ‘No Turning Back‘ that also suggested hybrid work was here to stay. 

Welcome to the 14th issue of IT Pro 20/20, our sister title’s digital magazine.

Now that we have a better idea about when the lockdown will finally end, many of us will naturally be thinking about our return to the office. It’s likely that, having grown accustomed to remote working, for most of us this return will be phased and, depending on your role, you may find yourself able to negotiate how often you make the commute in. Some will be desperate to get moving again, while others will have taken cues from the past year to take advantage of new-found flexibility.

However, before the conversation shifts towards life after lockdown, we’ve taken the opportunity to highlight areas of our industry that have played crucial, yet often overlooked roles in this great remote working experiment.

In this issue, we look at how data centres have coped with immense pressure from customers, the benefits and pitfalls of onboarding new staff remotely, how smart cities will underpin life post-pandemic, and much more.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 31 March – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

IBM has announced it’ll make its hybrid cloud available on any cloud, on-premises, or at the edge via its IBM Cloud Satellite.

Big Blue said it’s worked with Lumen Technologies to integrate its Cloud Satellite service with the Lumen edge platform to enable customers to use hybrid cloud services in edge computing environments. The firm also said it will collaborate with 65 ecosystem partners, including Cisco, Dell Technologies, and Intel, to build hybrid cloud services.

It said that IBM Cloud Satellite is now generally available to customers and can bring a secured, unifying layer of cloud services to clients across environments, regardless of where their data resides. IBM added that this technology would address critical data privacy and data sovereignty requirements. 

IBM said customers using the Lumen platform and IBM Cloud Satellite would be able to deploy data-intensive applications, such as video analytics, across highly distributed environments and take advantage of infrastructure designed for single-digit millisecond latency.

The collaboration will enable customers to deploy applications across more than 180,000 connected enterprise locations on the Lumen network to provide a low latency experience. They can also create cloud-enabled solutions at the edge that leverage application management and orchestration via IBM Cloud Satellite and build open, interoperable platforms that give customers greater deployment flexibility and more seamless access to cloud-native services like artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), and edge computing.

One example given of how this would benefit customers is using cameras to detect the last time surfaces were cleaned or flag potential worker safety concerns. Using an application hosted on Red Hat OpenShift via IBM Cloud Satellite from the proximity of a Lumen edge location, such cameras and sensors can function in near real-time to help improve quality and safety, IBM claimed.

IBM added that customers across geographies can better address data sovereignty by deploying this processing power closer to where the data is created.

“With the Lumen Platform’s broad reach, we are giving our enterprise customers access to IBM Cloud Satellite to help them drive innovation more rapidly at the edge,” said Paul Savill, SVP enterprise product management and services at Lumen. 

“Our enterprise customers can now extend IBM Cloud services across Lumen’s robust global network, enabling them to deploy data-heavy edge applications that demand high security and ultra-low latency. By bringing secure and open hybrid cloud capabilities to the edge, our customers can propel their businesses forward and take advantage of the emerging applications of the 4th Industrial Revolution.”

IBM is also extending its Watson Anywhere strategy with the availability of IBM Cloud Pak for Data as a Service with IBM Cloud Satellite. IBM said this would give customers a “flexible, secure way to run their AI and analytics workloads as services across any environment – without having to manage it themselves.”

Service partners also plan to offer migration and deployment services to help customers manage solutions as-a-service anywhere. IBM Cloud Satellite customers can also access certified software offerings on Red Hat Marketplace, which they can deploy to run on Red Hat OpenShift via IBM Cloud Satellite.

Two ransomware strains have retooled to exploit vulnerabilities in the VMware ESXi hypervisor system publicised last week and encrypt virtual machines (VMs).

The company patched three critical flaws across its virtualisation products last week. These included a heap buffer overflow bug in the ESXi bare-metal hypervisor, as well as a flaw that could have allowed hackers to execute commands on the underlying operating system that hosts the vCenter Server.

Researchers with CrowdStrike have since learned that two groups, known as ‘Carbon Spider’ and ‘Sprite Spider’, have updated their weapons to target the ESXi hypervisor specifically in the wake of these revelations. These groups have historically targeted Windows systems, as opposed to Linux installations, in large-scale ransomware campaigns also known as big game hunting (BGH).

The attacks have been successful, with affected victims including organisations that have used virtualisation to host many of their corporate systems on just a few ESXi servers. The nature of ESXi means these served as a “virtual jackpot” for hackers, as they were able to compromise a wide variety of enterprise systems with relatively little effort.

This follows news that cyber criminals last week were actively scanning for vulnerable businesses with unpatched VMware vCenter servers, only days after VMware issued fixes for the three flaws.

“By deploying ransomware on ESXi, Sprite Spider and Carbon Spider likely intend to impose greater harm on victims than could be achieved by their respective Windows ransomware families alone,” said CrowdStrike researchers Eric Loui and Sergei Frankoff. 

“Encrypting one ESXi server inflicts the same amount of damage as individually deploying ransomware on each VM hosted on a given server. Consequently, targeting ESXi hosts can also improve the speed of BGH operations.

“If these ransomware attacks on ESXi servers continue to be successful, it is likely that more adversaries will begin to target virtualization infrastructure in the medium term.”

Sprite Spider has conventionally launched low-volume BGH campaigns using the Defray777 strain, first attempting to compromise domain controllers before exfiltrating victim data and encrypting files. 

Carbon Spider, meanwhile, has traditionally targeted companies operating point-of-sale (POS) devices, with initial access granted through phishing campaigns. The group abruptly shifted its operational model in April last year, however, to instead undertake broad and opportunistic attacks against large numbers of victims. It launched its own strain, dubbed Darkside, in August 2020.

Both strains have compromised ESXI systems by harvesting credentials that can be used to authenticate to the vCenter web interface, which is a centralised server admin tool that can control multiple ESXi devices. 

After connecting to vCenter, Sprite Spider enables SSH to allow persistent access to ESXi devices, and in some cases changes the root password or the host’s SSH keys. Carbon Spider, meanwhile, accesses vCenter using legitimate credentials but also logged in over SSH using the Plink tool to drop its Darkside ransomware.

When it comes to cloud backup, it doesn’t get much easier than Backblaze. There are only three buttons, and you needn’t touch any of them: it comes configured to scan your system for personal files, no matter where they’re located on your network, and automatically upload them to Backblaze’s servers. Continual updates occur whenever you make a change or create a new document. For most people, that’s ample protection with zero configuration.

Of course, if you want to get your hands dirty, there are a few things you can customise. Specific file types, locations and drives can be included and excluded – you’re even able to back up external drives – and you can optionally switch from continuous operation to daily or on-demand backups. And if you don’t trust the automatic encryption, you can also set your own encryption key.

For the most part, though, you shouldn’t need to interact with Backblaze until it’s time to restore a backed-up item. Even then, the client stays in the background because your uploaded files are browsed and downloaded from the publisher’s website. Here you can also rescue lost or overwritten files from the past 30 days, and if one of your computers is stolen, you can bring up a map showing where it was when the Backblaze software last touched base.

On that note, be aware that your subscription only entitles you to back up a single PC or Mac. That’s a necessary restriction: each account comes with unlimited storage to ensure that even the biggest files get protected. And remember that if you work with big video files or the like, they will inevitably take a while to reach Backblaze’s servers. Our 2GB folder took 49mins 35secs to upload. That’s a step up from some of the most sluggish options we’ve seen, but it’s still a drag if you want to back up your day’s work before leaving the office.

The final thing to be clear about is that Backblaze is very much a single-purpose tool: it doesn’t handle local backups at all, nor can it create an image of your hard disk for disaster-recovery purposes. That means it’s only one component in a backup strategy, rather than a complete solution – but as cloud components go, it’s terrifically convenient and effective. 

HPE has doubled down on its commitment to data-driven insights with the acquisition of cloud analysis platform provider CloudPhysics, as well as the release of its new Software-Defined Opportunity Engine (SDOE).

The acquisition adds CloudPhysics’ SaaS-based, data-driven platform for analysis of on-premises and cloud setups, bringing detailed insights to customers and partners across most IT environments, the firm said. 

CloudPhysics’ solution monitors and analyses IT infrastructures, estimates costs and viability of cloud migrations, as well as model a customer’s IT infrastructure as a virtual environment. 

Quick to deploy, the solution can generate insights in as little as 15 minutes, HPE says, while its data capture includes over 200 metrics for VMs, hosts, datastores and networks.

“Through increased visibility and understanding, CloudPhysics transforms the procurement process to be a win-win for both customers and partners,” commented Tom Black, Senior Vice President and General Manager of HPE Storage.  

“Our partners will benefit from shorter sales cycles, an increase in assessed to qualified opportunities and higher close rates. More importantly, our partners become trusted advisors to accelerate the transformation agendas of our customers.”

The CloudPhysics solution will be integrated into HPE’s freshly unveiled Software-Defined Opportunity Engine (SDOE), which is designed to provide customers with data-backed customised sales proposals. 

Powered by HPE InfoSight, the SDOE solution uses intelligence and deep learning to generate holistic technology recommendations for businesses to optimise their infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.

The platform auto-generates a quote with the best storage solution for a customer in as little as 45 seconds – a dramatic reduction on a process that could take weeks previously.

HPE says SDOE will enable businesses to work as trusted partners with their customers as they build a detailed understanding of their workloads, configuration and usage patterns. On average, the streamlined tool also eliminates five meetings from the current sales process, the tech firm added. 

“By utilising software and data-driven analytics, HPE Storage is transforming the sales and customer experience with real intelligence – removing complexity and guesswork, and turning it into a simple and data-driven decision-making process, based on the preference and specific needs of the customer,” Black added. 

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has unveiled a new organisation that aims to help telcos and enterprises take advantage of the wide range of opportunities offered by the 5G market.

The newly-formed Communications Technology Group (CTG) was created by combining HPE’s Telco Infrastructure team with its Communications & Media Solutions (CMS) software arm. The latter alone has generated more than $500 million (£355m) of revenue in the fiscal year 2020, with orders growing by 18% and revenue increasing by 6% sequentially in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020, according to HPE.

CTG comprises over 5,000 professionals who aim to provide consultancy, integration, installation, and support services tailored to the telecoms market.

Commenting on the announcement, CTG SVP and GM Phil Mottram said that “HPE aims to become the transformation catalyst for the 5G economy”, building on “more than 30 years of experience designing, building and tuning telco-grade infrastructure and software”.

“CTG’s founding principle is to drive innovation from edge to cloud through secure, open solutions. We are collaborating with customers and partners to build open 5G solutions that deliver efficiency, reduce risk and complexity, and future-proof the network across the telco core, the radio access network and the telco edge,” he added.

Mottram also unveiled two solutions which he described as foundational to HPE CTG, the first one being the HPE Open RAN Solution Stack, which features the industry’s first Open RAN workload-optimised server – the new HPE ProLiant DL110 Gen10 Plus. The Open RAN Solution Stack aims to enable the commercial deployment of Open RAN at scale in global 5G networks and includes infrastructure with RAN-specific blueprints, as well as orchestration and automation software.

The second “foundational” solution is the HPE 5G Core Stack, first announced in March 2020, which provides telecoms firms with 5G tech at the core of their mobile networks.

CTG’s portfolio is expected to play a crucial part in advancing HPE’s edge-to-cloud platform as a service strategy, providing enterprise and telco solutions alike, such as open, cloud-native, and flexible solutions which aim to facilitate the rollout of 5G services or modular aaS solutions that use cloud economics in order to help businesses manage demand and future-proof their enterprise.

“I am confident that with such a solid foundation and common purpose, we will strengthen our thought leadership in the telecoms sector and are set on a path for innovation and growth,” said Mottram.