With a slow-growing domestic market and their own consumers increasingly shopping cross border, US e-commerce sites are starting to realize they need to compete globally. But are they ready for it? And are their payment service providers?
A.T Kearney´s “2015 Global Retail E-Commerce Index Report “put it in a nutshell: with the global explosion of e-commerce, being able to effectively sell across borders is going to be a key differentiator between the next round of online-retail winners and losers. By being good at selling across borders, the winners will be able to expand into new markets without the cost of having a physical footprint in those markets(1). This will give them the competitive edge over rivals still locked into just their domestic markets.
Oracle and Verizon announce latest cloud partnership with SDN at forefront
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Oracle and Verizon have announced a new partnership which aims to ‘make the move to cloud easier for global organisations.’
The deal combines Verizon’s Secure Cloud Interconnect services, which utilises Verizon’s network to transfer data and apps securely to cloud service providers, to create the snappily-titled Verizon Secure Cloud Interconnect for Oracle FastConnect. The combination of software defined networking (SDN) from the Verizon side and in-region connectivity from Oracle is what the two companies are hoping will make it a winner for customers.
“Verizon Secure Cloud Interconnect for Oracle FastConnect allows users to connect to applications simply, securely and reliably,” said Shawn Hakl, Verizon vice president of enterprise networking and innovation in a statement.
“With SDN at the heart of our Secure Cloud Interconnect solution, Oracle customers will find it can deliver an unbeatable combination of performance, control and efficiency to enable their digital transformation.” Diby Malakar, Oracle VP product management, added: “With Verizon’s leading Secure Cloud Interconnect service, Oracle customers can benefit from the latest in networking technology as they continually groom their networks to handle the demands of their business.”
Verizon offers partnerships with eight other cloud vendors through this service, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and IBM SoftLayer, while Oracle and Verizon have a cloudy partnership stretching back to 2014.
It has been a particularly busy period for Oracle’s cloud initiatives, dating back to the company’s $9.3 billion acquisition of ERP software provider NetSuite back in July.
Speaking at the company’s OpenWorld event in San Francisco last month, co-founder and CTO Larry Ellison declared that “Amazon’s lead is over” in the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) realm with the release of the company’s next generation data centres, while AWS was also attacked – along with Workday – in Oracle’s most recent financial results, with total cloud revenues approaching $1 billion.
Military Tips on Business Resiliency | @CloudExpo #API #Cloud #BusinessIntelligence
A steel bar is resistant to stress and is capable of maintaining its form while bearing large loads. While steel is also known as one of the world’s strongest metal’s (Titanium, Tungsten and Iconel round out the top four), it is also susceptible to shearing and completely breaking. A rubber brick, on the other hand, will bend easily under even small loads, but it’s extremely difficult to snap or break. Moreover, once the load is removed from the rubber, its flexibility returns it to its original form. This is how the rubber brick displays resiliency
Profits that Kill in the Age of Digital Transformation | @CloudExpo #IoT #M2M #Cloud #DigitalTransformation
Digital transformation initiatives both increase revenue and decrease expenses according to our upcoming study titled Work AHEAD 2016 by Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work. For this study we surveyed over 2,000 executives across 18 countries. The expected net business impact over the next 3 years of rapid digital transformation, i.e. hyper-transformation, is an increase in revenue of 11.4% (Revenue = 10.3%, Costs = -1.3%) amongst the companies in our study. These numbers represent the difference between success and failure in many industries.
Putting the “Converged” in Hyperconverged Support
Today’s hyperconverged technologies are here to stay it seems. I mean, who wouldn’t want to employ a novel technology approach that “consolidates all required functionality” into a single infrastructure appliance that provides an “efficient, elastic pool of x86” resources controlled by a “software-centric” architecture? I mean, outside of the x86 component, it’s not like we haven’t seen this type of platform before (hello, mainframe anyone?).
But this post is not about the technology behind HCI, nor about whether this technology is the right choice for your IT demands – it’s more about what you need to consider on day two, after your new platform is happily spinning away in your datacenter. Assuming you have determined that the hyperconverged path will deliver technology and business value for your organization, why wouldn’t you extend that belief system to how you plan on operating it?
Today’s hyperconverged vendors offer very comprehensive packages that include some advanced support offerings. They have spent much time and energy (and VC dollars) in creating monitoring and analytics platforms that are definitely an advancement over traditional technology support packages. While technology vendors such as HP, Dell/EMC, Cisco and others have for years provided phone-home monitoring and utilization/performance reporting capabilities, hyperconverged vendors have pushed these capabilities further with real-time analytics and automation workflows (ie Nutanix Prism, SimpliVity OmniWatch, OmniView). Additionally, these vendors have aligned support plans to business outcomes such as “mission critical”, “production”, “basic”, etc.
Now you are asking, Mr. know-it-all, didn’t you just debunk your own argument? Au contraire I say, I have just re-enforced it…
Each hyperconverged vendor technology requires its own SEPARATE platform for monitoring and analytics. And these tools are RESTRICTED to just what is happening INTERNALLY within the converged platform. Sure, that covers quite a bit of your operational needs, but is it the COMPLETE story?
Let’s say you deploy SimpliVity for your main datacenter. You adopt the “Mission Critical” support plan, which comes with OmniWatch and OmniView. You now have great insight into how your OmniCube architecture is operating, and you can delve into the analytics to understand how your SimpliVity resources are being utilized. In addition, you get software support with 1, 2, or 4 hour response (depending on the the channel you use – phone, email, web ticket). You also get software updates and RCA reports. It sounds like a comprehensive, “converged” set of required support services.
And it is, for your selected hyperconverged vendor. What these services do not provide is a holistic view of how the hyperconverged platforms are operating WITHIN the totality of your environment. How effective is the networking that connects it to the rest of the datacenter? What about non-hyperconverged based workloads, either on traditional server platforms or in the cloud? And how do you measure end user experience if your view is limited to hyperconverged data-points? Not to mention, what happens if your selected hyperconverged vendor is gobbled up by one of the major technology companies or, worse, closes when funding runs dry?
Adopting hyperconverged as your next-generation technology play is certainly something to consider carefully, and has the potential to positively impact your overall operational maturity. You can reduce the number of vendor technologies and management interfaces, get more proactive, and make decisions based on real data analytics. But your operations teams will still need to determine if the source of impact is within the scope of the hyperconverged stack and covered by the vendor support plan, or if its symptomatic of an external influence.
Beyond the awareness of health and optimized operations, there will be service interruptions. If there weren’t we would all be in the unemployment line. Will a 1 hour response be sufficient in a major outage? Is your operational team able to response 7X24 with hyperconverged skills? And, how will you consolidate governance and compliance reporting between the hyperconverged platform and the rest of your infrastructure?
Hyperconverged platforms can certainly enhance and help mature your IT operations, but they do provide only part of the story. Consider carefully if their operational and support offerings are sufficient for overall IT operational effectiveness. Look for ways to consolidate the operational information and data provided by hyperconverged platforms with the rest of your management interfaces into a single control plane, where your operations team can work more efficiently. If you’re looking for help, GreenPages can provide this support via its Cloud Management as a Service (CMaaS) offering.
Convergence at this level is even more critical to ensure maximum support of your business objectives.
If you are interested in learning how GreenPages’ CMaaS platform can help you manage hyper-converged offerings, reach out!
By Geoff Smith, Senior Manager, Managed Services Business Development
How cloud and IoT services are driving deployment of public key infrastructures
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A new study from Thales and the Ponemon Institute has found that, for more than three in five businesses polled, cloud-based services were the biggest trend driving the deployment of applications using public key infrastructures (PKI).
PKI refers to the ability for users and organisations to send secure data over networks; as defined by TechTarget, it “supports the distribution and identification of public encryption keys, enabling users and computers to both securely exchange data over networks such as the Internet and verify the identity of the other party.”
According to the research, which surveyed more than 5,000 business and IT managers in 11 countries and across five continents, PKIs are being used to support more and more applications. The greatest usage is in the US, but on average PKIs support eight different apps within a business, up one from this time last year. For the 62% of respondents who say they use PKI credentials for public cloud-based applications and services, it represents a 12% increase on 2015.
Yet the report’s findings were not all positive. More than half (58%) of those polled say their existing PKI is not equipped to support new applications, while more worryingly, 37% say they have no existing PKI in their organisation.
Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, argued that in an increasingly cloud and IoT-enabled business landscape, businesses who are not adhering to best practice guidelines around PKIs could see serious danger.
“As organisations digitally transform their business, they are increasingly relying on cloud-based services and applications, as well as experiencing an explosion in IoT connected devices,” he said in a statement. “This rapidly escalating burden of data sharing and device authentication is set to apply an unprecedented level of pressure onto existing PKIs, which now are considered part of the core IT backbone, resulting in a huge challenge for security professionals to create trusted environments.
“In short, as organisations continue to move to the cloud it is hugely important that PKIs are future proofed – sooner rather than later,” Dr. Ponemon added.
Recent studies around encryption and cloud security have the potential for progress. In August, a research paper from Microsoft offered the concept of a secure data exchange where the cloud performs data trades between multiple willing parties to give users full control over the exchange of information.
Why preparation is key to securing your cloud migration
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The benefits of big data are real. And with so many businesses looking to migrate their data to the cloud, they want to make sure everything arrives safely and intact. After all, much of this data contains sensitive and proprietary information, and the prospect of moving it from the safety of the corporate firewall to a cloud environment is cause for concern.
Still, as data volumes continue their exponential growth, moving vast sets of structured and unstructured data from the restrictive confines of an on-premise Hadoop deployment to a cloud-based solution will be an inescapable choice for companies looking to stay competitive.
Fortunately, proper preparation is the key to ensuring a smooth and secure transition to the cloud. With that goal in mind, here are some steps your business can take on the preparation side to secure your cloud migration.
Pick your cloud vendor carefully
Data migration to the cloud necessitates a cloud host. And there are a variety of cloud modular solutions to choose from. The key to choosing the right cloud vendor for your organization lies in understanding your big data needs. While price is certainly a consideration, other criteria such as data security and how well the vendor is equipped to carry out the big data storage and analytics tasks that you need are critical.
If data security is your main concern, then vet your vendors accordingly. If you need a vendor that excels at app hosting, make sure that the hosts you are considering excel in that area. If rapid data analytics and reduced time-to-insight are top of mind criteria, then a versatile cloud solution such as Spark as a Service would be worth your consideration. In all cases, make sure that the cloud vendor’s platform conforms to industry and internal compliance standards before entering into a cloud service agreement.
Take baby steps
When it comes to adopting a new and promising technology, the tendency for many companies is to want to jump in with both feet. But adoption typically comes with a learning curve, and cloud adoption is no exception. By nature, data migration to the cloud can often cause some downtime, which could potentially impact the business. The smart approach to mitigate the risk of business disruption is to take small steps, beginning with the migration of apps and data that aren’t classified as sensitive or mission critical. Once the security and reliability of the cloud host have been assessed, the next bigger step of loading more sensitive data into the cloud can be taken.
Get clear on security
When it comes to data security you need to be clear on which security protocols your cloud vendor uses and the degree to which these protocols can ensure that sensitive information remains private. However, if your organization is like most, you won’t be transferring all of your data to the cloud. Some data will remain on your own servers. This means that you now have data in two different environments, not to mention those cloud hosted apps that come with their own security systems.
Multiple data environments can lead to confusion for your IT team—the kind of confusion that wastes valuable time and reduces the productivity of your big data initiative. To solve this data security dilemma you’ll need to get clear on implementing a broad and coordinated security policy with technology and policy management protocols that cover apps in the data center and apps in the cloud.
Be strict with BYOD
Migrating data to the cloud enables employees to collaborate like never before. And with the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, more and more businesses are bringing the practice of bring your own device (BYOD) into the workplace to make workforce collaboration even more convenient.
However, granting employees access to potentially sensitive data and applications in the cloud poses a number of security risks, especially since mobile devices are fast becoming the favoured targets of skilled hackers. Organisations looking to leverage BYOD need to implement and enforce strict protocols for how data may be accessed and used, along with guidelines that clearly spell out which employees have permission to access sensitive data and cloud-based applications on mobile devices, and which employees do not. Like all security technology and protocols, BYOD safeguards should be segregated solely to the IT department to ensure quality security assessment across the organisation.
As technology advances and data volumes grow ever larger, the rush to the cloud by organizations will only intensify. That being said, the migration of data to the cloud cannot be rushed into. By following these and other guidelines, and by exercising careful planning and preparation to ensure a successful and secure data migration to the cloud, organisations stand to reap the many bottom-line benefits that a cloud solution offers.
Meet the Parallels team at ALSO Expo 2016
2016 has marked the beginning of an extremely successful collaboration between Parallels and ALSO, the largest IT B2B specialist in Finland. As we approach the tail end of the year, ALSO is preparing to celebrate its many business partnerships and solutions at the ALSO Expo Experience, which will be held on October 27 at Tampere […]
The post Meet the Parallels team at ALSO Expo 2016 appeared first on Parallels Blog.
[session] @VMware Compliance | @CloudExpo @IBMcloud @CloudRaxak
Successful transition from traditional IT to cloud computing requires three key ingredients: an IT architecture that allows companies to extend their internal best practices to the cloud, a cost point that allows economies of scale, and automated processes that manage risk exposure and maintain regulatory compliance with industry regulations (FFIEC, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FISMA). The unique combination of VMware, the IBM Cloud, and Cloud Raxak, a 2016 Gartner Cool Vendor in IT Automation, provides a cost-effective way to leverage the cloud, manage risk and maintain continuous security compliance.
ReadyTalk to Sponsor @CloudExpo | @ReadyTalk #IoT #RTC #UCaaS #WebRTC
SYS-CON Events announced today that ReadyTalk, a leading provider of online conferencing and webinar services, has been named Vendor Presentation Sponsor at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
ReadyTalk delivers audio and web conferencing services that inspire collaboration and enable the Future of Work for today’s increasingly digital and mobile workforce. By combining intuitive, innovative technology with unmatched customer service, ReadyTalk provides a seamless collaboration experience for anyone, across any device, platform or location. Everything you need, anywhere you are, for before, during and after your online event. ReadyTalk is headquartered in Denver, CO and was founded in 2001.