Human-like technology. The potential downfall of the data center. Hyper-personalization of data. These are some of the responses IT leaders gave to us when we asked, “What will business technology look like in 2020?”
In 2020, tech experts say, computers could learn from experience, much like the human brain. The end of the data center as we know it might arrive. And technology will know the most important things about us to help us become more productive.
In our new ebook, Business Technology 2020, the experts — who represent organizations such as Intel, IBM, Frost and Sullivan, Aberdeen, ATLANTIC-ACM and Current Analysis and more — also cover topics that include the cloud, health care, cognitive computing and the role of the CIO, giving a holistic preview of how technology will impact your business in and leading up to 2020.
Cloud Computing: AWS Slashes S3 Prices 25%
To keep its cloud at the fore, Amazon Web Services has dropped the price of its S3 storage by roughly 25% across-the-board.
The new prices take effect December 1 in all regions.
By Amazon’s count that’s its 23rd price cut since 2006, “largely in the absence of any competitive pressure to do so.”
Amazon and Google have both cut prices on infrastructure services recently and, according to ReadWrite, are locked in a price war along with Microsoft.
AWS chief Andy Jassy puts the move down to demand begetting lower prices by virtue of economies of scale on the infrastructure. Anyway, it suits Amazon high-volume low-cost model and, according to the company, represents a challenge to traditional vendors who don’t understand the cloud business and are busy selling cloudwash.
Improving Software Services
HP has broadened its BSM solutions to deliver better end-to-end visibility into IT applications and services by exploiting powerful, real-time and historical analytics.
As organizations have adopted virtualization and cloud technologies, the complexity to effectively monitor trouble across these systems has skyrocketed. And, with the rise of shared services, IT no longer knows or controls all the technologies supporting their businesses.
“IT organizations are looking for new ways to deliver predictable service levels,» said Ajei Gopal, senior vice president and general manager, Hybrid and Cloud Products, Software at HP. “The new HP Business Service Management software delivers end-to-end operational intelligence to help IT make better decisions and improve service levels in complex, dynamic IT environments.”
Beyond Intrusion Detection: Eight Best Practices for Cloud SIEM Deployment
Too often overlooked, SIEM (security information event management) needs to be a integral part of any enterprises security best practices. It facilitates a holistic view of an IT landscape and allows a company to be more proactive with its security initiatives.
First and foremost, SIEM (and to a certain extent log management) is about visibility. Who is doing what and when on your network. It is as much about understanding the holistic landscape of your infrastructure as it is protecting proprietary assets. Without it, it’s akin to coaching the Big Game without any idea who is the opponent; or for that matter if you even have a starting left guard.
SYS-CON.tv: The Cloud Computing State of the Union
What are the technical benefits of building a business on the cloud? If that cloud is open, are the benefits fewer or are they more plentiful? In this CTO Power Panel at the 11th International Cloud Expo, Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan discussed these and a host of other questions with Alistair Farquharson, CTO at SOA Software; Dan Graves, Cloud CTO at Symantec; Gordon Haff, Cloud Evangelist at Red Hat; Wayne Ariola, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Parasoft; Alok Rishi, Chief Technologist at Coraid; and Dr. John Bates, EVP and CTO at Progress Software
Nasa making use of cloud computing
Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have announced that they will be looking to make use of cloud computing platforms in order to power the administration’s next generation of projects.
The news was revealed at the 2012 re:Invent conference as Nasa IT CTO, Tom Soderstrom, and software engineer, Khawaja Shams, explained that the staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are using cloud hosting platforms in order to power the Mars Curiosity rover mission.
So, not only have we proved that cloud computing could potentially help save the planet but it can also help discover other planets!
The rover has already made some fantastic discoveries on Mars and it makes use of computing and storage platforms in order to communicate with and process date gathered in the mission. This then gets sent back to mission control.
Furthermore, Tom Soderstrom and Khawaja Shams have stated that the rover was a basis …
SYS-CON.tv: There’s No Business Like Cloud and Big Data
In this «CEO Power Panel» moderated by Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan at the 11th International Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, CA, Chris C. Kemp, Co-Founder & CEO of Nebula; Lawrence Guillory, CEO of Racemi Inc.; Brian Patrick Donaghy, CEO of Appcore, LLC; Rob Clyde, CEO of Adaptive Computing; Joe Weinman, Sr. VP of Cloud Services & Strategy at Telx; Art Landro, CEO of Cordys; and Rodney Rogers; Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Virtustream discussed the business-related issues that are currently front of mind with chief executives of today’s foremost Cloud and Big Data based companies.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting has been creating quite a buzz lately as being the latest, and some claim also the best type of web hosting around. It is quite different to your usually hosting server and certainly requires a lot of skill to use. Most of the time it cannot be run by a single person, but rather by a team of people who can get the job done at a quicker pace. One of the most popular websites in the world that uses cloud hosting is Google. Ever seen Google’s website down? No. So there really must be some excellent points to cloud hosting that we will now look at.
The single most important thing that you need to know about cloud hosting is that the whole process of creating your website, as well as its components and files, are spread out to different servers, instead of everything being packed into one. They are all still available at the same time, and required parts of information can always be taken when needed. This branching of files is what makes the most impressing advantage of cloud hosting – almost zero downtime. None. Because if one page goes down on a server, the other server automatically reboots it. Ok, so there is a tiny bit of downtime in between, but it is literally done in milliseconds, which makes it almost unnoticeable. Other websites that use this type of server are Amazon and PayPal, as well as any other website that simply cannot afford to go down even for a second.
Airclic Helps Dock Workers Stage, Load Shipments from Multiple Suppliers
Airclic, a global provider of cloud-based software for mobile supply chain and logistics operations, today announced that it has released the latest version of Transport Perform® (version r12.4), its cloud-based 3PL transportation solution that improves order accuracy and operational efficiency. With this release, Airclic has expanded its support for high-volume cross-docking, allowing dock workers to receive, stage and load shipments from one or more suppliers in parallel and validate received items or shipments in real time against Advanced Shipment Notice data.
Transport Perform is a third-party logistics (3PL) mobile transportation management product that works with any device or carrier. It has been designed specifically to improve the efficiency and accuracy of cross-docking and delivery within a logistics operation by providing visibility into the mobile supply chain and giving an organization the features and functionality it needs to enable a more scalable and reliable workflow. Costly and time-consuming paper-based processing can be eliminated alongside received versus loaded versus delivered errors, reducing overall costs and increasing customer confidence that their shipments have been executed correctly. Transport Perform is intuitive and easy-to use, ensuring a seamless deployment and rapid ROI, as customers have reported saving an average of $400 per route, per month.
With Transport Perform r12.4, the full and accurate data required to process shipments from suppliers is captured, validated and assured from the first point of contact on the dock. Inbound shipments are validated in real-time against advanced shipment data (at item level, order level and supplier container level) and automatically direct the dock worker to the correct outbound container and route based on shipment details, such as end destination or customer location. It also boasts highly configurable workflows to ensure that dock worker activity is based on the requirements of the original supplier.
“Organizations that have automated their transportation logistics and delivery systems have improved customer satisfaction while reducing the cost of doing business,” said Pól Sweeney, CTO, Airclic. “Improved accuracy and better efficiency have increased customer confidence and given 3PL providers using Transport Perform an advantage over the competition. The new capabilities announced today will help them accurately record items received on the dock, staged and loaded all at the same time, in real-time.”
The key features of Transport Perform r12.4 include:
- A graphical interface for administrators, enabling them to fully setup
and configure workflow forms for dock workers and drivers to ensure
the accuracy of information captured during receiving and staging - Data validation and post-processing behavior definition capabilities
- Customizable Perform Reports designed to support cross-dock receiving
and post-receiving reconciliation with supplier systems based upon the
unique rules of each - Allowance for the upload of custom attributes as part of the customer,
depot or supplier location bulk upload process
Cloud Computing: Google Out to Thump Amazon
Google’s got Amazon Web Services and Rackspace/OpenStack in its sights.
It’s upgrading its young Infrastructure-as-a-Service Compute Engine, still in preview, and piling on 36 new types of server configurations with different virtual cores, memory and disk types, up from the four basic instances it had at introduction in June.
They include high-memory and high-CPU instances as well as a lower-cost diskless file configuration for applications that don’t need a dedicated disk attached to their server.
Google, which is reputedly “blazingly fast” compared to Amazon, also cut prices on its four main instances by around 5% and its standard storage by around 20%.