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IBM Watson and the Cloud- Implications of the Next Generation of Computing: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Sat, 19 May 2012 19:00

After attending this year’s All About the Cloud, Abdullah Mashuk shared a summary about the IBM Watson and the Cloud: Implications of the Next Generation of Computing Presentation.

Presenter: Stephen Gold, IBM Corporation

Discussion Points:

Using Cloud to Manage Business Growth: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Fri, 18 May 2012 18:37

After attending this year’s All About the Cloud, Abdullah Mashuk shared a summary about the Using Cloud to Manage Business Growth Presentation.

Moderator: Michael Pearl, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Speakers: Nara Balakrishna (Appirio), Guy Shani (Clarizen), Gil Zimmermann (CloudLock)

Discussion Points:

Business Intelligence in the Cloud: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:25

After attending this year’s All About the Cloud, Abdullah Mashuk shared a summary about the Business Intelligence in the Cloud Presentation.

Moderator: Phil Wainewright, Procullux Ventures
Speakers: David Abramson (LogiXML), Eileen Boerger (CorSource Technology Group, Inc.), Vincent Lam (Information Builders), Roman Stanek (GoodData)

Discussion Points:

  1. Cloud based services can scale better and faster than the on premise services
  2. Additionally cloud services can easily extend to different types of devices (mobile devices, laptops etc)
  3. Enable collaboration
  1. If data is to tell story, it cannot be isolated, it has to be visual and cloud enable that. Standardizations are happening around data visualization so user can easily understand that data at various time spent.
  2. Data should be measurable.
  1. Agility
  2. Adoption
  3. Planning and understanding
  4. Success

The Power of the Customer: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:10

After attending this year’s All About the Cloud, Abdullah Mashuk shared a summary about the Power of the Customer presentation.

Moderator: Shubber Ali, Accenture
Speakers: Todd Bursey (FinancialForce.com), Dominique Levin (Totango), Jon Miller (Marketo), Jeff Yoshimura (Zuora)

Discussion Points:
The context of the discussion is how the power of customer is changing.

Boundary-Free Enterprise- The New Master Architecture: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:53

After attending this year’s All About the Cloud, Abdullah Mashuk shared a summary about the Boundary-Free Enterprise: The New Master Architecture Presentation.

Presenter: William McNee, Saugatuck Technology Inc.

Discussion Points:

Public, Private and Hybrid Clouds: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:40

After attending last week’s All About the Cloud, Satish Shenoy shared a summary about the Public, Private and Hybrid Clouds Presentation

Speaker: Treb Ryan, CEO, Opsource

Key Topics covered: Private vs. Public Cloud – Pros & Cons; What is the answer?

Presentation – Summary Points:
• Choice of Rhino as our “masot” – A Rhino might not be able to see too far into the future but it certainly charges forward.
• Dimension Data takes on cloud announcement in Feb 2012.
• Why disdain for Private Cloud?
o Because it doesn’t offer….
-Immediacy
-Ubiquity & Mobile
-Collaboration – Info sharing, innovation
-Infinite (never a question of out of storage or other resources)
o Sold by hardware guys
-Designed to maximize hardware/software sales – Hardware sold whether they have ability to provide private clouds or not
-Capex, Capex, Capex – Upfront costs – You should be able to pay for something only when you use it
o Innovation and Compatibility Lags
-Private cloud providers software releases are on a different scale (a year vs. the “normal” of weeks/months)
• Issues with Public cloud
o Dave Sovereignty
-Some data cannot reside in anywhere we want…there are laws where data should reside
o Latency Issues
-7 ms latency times need
o Customization
-Someday we will get whatever we want in the public cloud in what is now available in the private cloud.
-Variety is lacking in the public cloud
-In private cloud – you can tweak cloud requirements for certain apps, etc
• Then what is the answer
o Give people private instances within the public cloud
o Always compatible with the public cloud environment
-In a private environment you need to be in perfect sync with your provider
o Disadvantage:
-Sometime you turn on the tap and there is nothing there and you need to find out where to find some.
• Audience Q:
o If you are my ISV,
-Critical things to think about are data sovereignty and latency issues
-Multi-tenant SaaS apps,
-When you write your app, think about future expansion – write your apps for regions and locations
-Important part is where the data sits in terms of data sovereignty and latency issues
o We offer two options – Private cloud within one of our centers, Private cloud in client’s own data center

Heard at the session (Interesting Quotes):
• “(With private clouds) once again, I see hardware turn to shelf-ware”
• “I have disdain for private clouds”

Successful Cloud Managing Strategies: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Sat, 12 May 2012 20:15

After attending last week’s All About the Cloud, Satish Shenoy shared a summary about the Successful Cloud Managing Strategies Breakout Session.

Moderator: John Rowell – CTO OpSource
Speakers: Sven Hammar, Mat Ellis, Jamal Mazhar, Ray Solnik

Topics Covered: Definition of Cloud Management, Who wins, Cloud Management Approach (one vs. multi vendor), Lessons learned, and Success stories (Bonus: Any favorite apps to share).

Discussion Points:

• What does Cloud Management mean to you?
o Ultimately it is about delivering good customer experience; It is about performance and cost; It is about monitoring, deployment, scalability, security, flexibility and elasticity while producing business enhancing results. The baseline definition of what is “secure”, what is “flexibility”, etc could vary based on customer segment (large enterprise vs. SMB)

• Who wins?
o Some companies are doing too much (e.g. Rightscale) so those companies might not be winners but it does depend on how you define a “winner” – Different people might have different definitions. If you look at the data center market, would you say IBM won? Or Computer Associates?
o We are all winners in this thing can could – some of us win by providing predictive analytics or “early warning system” to our clients; Others have other means to “win”

• Approach for cloud management – Go with one vendor who is a generalist or a point solution that is more customized (but with more than 1 vendor)?
o It really depends on the customer and what is important to them. Most customers will likely multiple vendors since it is hard for one vendor to do all things well in cloud management; The key is even with multiple vendors is to get the point solutions that can integrate well with other point solutions.

• What are the things to watch out in public cloud infrastructures?
o Five things – Cost, Waste, Sprawl, Overages and Compliance.
o Cost – Cloud is more expensive in certain areas (storage for instance)
o Waste & Sprawl – Don’t use what you pay for; need for financial controls
o Overages – Watch out for overruns/overages that add up quickly
o Compliance – Ensure compliance to company policy

• Share any success stories
o Slideshare – With a cloud solution, we enabled them to grow very quickly – Place all presentations on the web – and turn on capacity as needed
o Mint.com is another good example – what we have accomplished there – the users are the beneficiaries

• Any Favorite Apps to share
o Ray – Evernote, Dropbox
o Jamal – LinkedIn
o Mat – mint.com, craigslist
o Sven – Spotify

Heard at the session (Interesting Quotes):
• “Cloud Management has become clearly fuzzy” – John Rowell
• “It is important to understand economies of scale vs. economies of acting quickly” – Mat Ellis

Mobile a Must: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:04

After attending last week’s All About the Cloud, Satish Shenoy shared a summary about the Mobile a Must Breakout Session.

Moderator: Russell Hertzberg, Softserve
Speakers: Jan Aleman(Servoy), Roger Bottum(Spring CM), Lisa Reeves (Citrix), Nolan Wright (Appcelerator)

Key Topics Covered: Conundrum of ISVs (Mobile Web vs. Native App or both?), Local content storage, Mixing of Business and Personal more prevalent with mobility; Remotely manageable mobile devices, App Store model for Enterprise Deployment, Alternatives to Apple’s AppStore? A world beyond iPhone, iPAD, Android ?

Discussion Points:

• Classic Conundrum ISVs face – Mobile Web ? Native App ? Hybrid ?
o Half the panelists (Jan and Roger) indicated that they go mobile web (HTML 5) to allow the most flexibility and also avoid not having to code multi-platforms (Google SDK, Apple SDK, etc). The other 2 panelists (Lisa and Nolan) based on customer preference and nature of apps (highly interactive), they prefer native.

• Local content Storage an issue that will be solved?
o Jan – This can be done and we see more and more cases of this (Recent example: Inspection app for the German Railway)
o Lisa – Comes down to context. Expectation is “recent and relevant” is available on mobile devices

• Security requirements when building mobile apps for the cloud
o Roger – Security is more straightforward than you think (with local encryption, etc). It is governance that is hard
o Nolan – Last 15 years – We have moved from the Client-Server model to most mobile apps being client side with APIs in the cloud – Concept of security and where/what to security has changed drastically
Russell: What about BYOD and mixing of Business & Personal –Is this a problem? Or is there creative tension? Is there a need for resolution?
o Jan – Either you don’t store personal and business info on these devices or be ready for risk – Put everything in context
Russell – Should mobile devices have the ability to be remotely manageable/wiped if lost?
o Nolan – Matter of personal preference – especially BYOD devices
o Lisa – More and more this generation is expecting to miss work and personal
o Jan – In terms of security, I believe it is the SA ISV who is responsible for ensuring strong security in what they build

• Is the App store model extendable or even appropriate for enterprise deployment of apps in the future?
o Roger – Large organization are currently comfortable using the App Store model but I expect this to evolve
o Nolan – I second that – I see a world in which there will be 3rd party app management entities
o Lisa – There is a certain level of trust with the Apple store – but going with App Store versus not is just a series of tradeoffs
Russell – I believe the future will see a disintermediation of the Apple store concept; SPs and enterprises with private distribution – I see several alternatives evolving over a period of time.

Audience Q – You speak a lot about iPhone, iPAD, Android – What about Windows Mobile, Samsung., etc ?
o Russell – We are doing some work for Microsoft Mobile
o Jan – Android is going to be very cost effective. Microsoft should just kill their mobile platform and go make Azure better !
o Lisa – Purely customer preference but I am not counting on Microsoft

Heard at the session (Interesting Quotes):
• “If all information is set free, security becomes a secondary issue” Jan Aleman
• “45% of Enterprise CEOs use IPAD and the older demographic among them is using it much more than the younger group” Roger Bottum
• “With more mobility, the current generation (Gen Y) has a clear expectation of mixing personal and work in their devices” Lisa Reeves
• “If you use a traditional development cycle anymore, you are dead” Lisa Reeves

New World Cloud Integration: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:16

After attending last week’s All About the Cloud, Satish Shenoy shared a summary about the New World Cloud Integration Breakout Session.

Moderator: George Collins, Deloitte Technology Practice
Speakers: Lou Guercia (Scribe Software), Ross Mason (Mulesoft), Lance Speck (Pervasive)

Key Topics Covered:
Key integration challenges, Standards for data quality and security, New breed of integration, Speed of integration, Impact of integration by 3rd party providers on the IT department

Discussion Points:

• A growing cloud market is both exciting and is fraught with challenges – Integration is key ?
o Ross – Rise of SAAS, rise of APIs means great opportunity for integration – Also, projection of SAAS market growth… Projection of SaaS market growth is the fastest growth market ever! So much is happening – It is hard for IT organizations to do it themselves. Good at point-to-point integration but not at broader, more complex integration.
o Lance – SaaS application have better APIs and hence easier to integrate compared to premise-based custom application and easier to integration in the ecosystem. When we say ecosystem, we think of more than the platform itself.
o Ross – We need to start enabling the long tail of integration since there are a lot more APIs and apps now than ever before

• Speed to value – Does integration become to enabler or inhibitor
o Lance – With M&A activity, multiple platforms will exist and crucial to integrate smoothly.
o Lou – New breed of integrators
-Pre-built integration with templates
-Order of magnitude more intelligent about the businesses they are serving
-Clever new business models

• What does the integration you do mean to internal IT department?
o Lou – You can’t trivialize work needed to get integration done – but IT organizations cannot act like they know app integration; The day is not far when there will be pre-built solutions for vertical markets
o Ross – Frankly –IT role changes from implementation to governance, oversight. IT organizations need the help with implementation – Also, line of business should realize they cannot do without involving IT
o Big shift in certain areas are moving away from owning infrastructure to governing IT

• What are the standards for data quality and security?
o Lou – I recently heard a great line recently…”The question is How do you know about the absolute security and resiliency of your own data center” in comparison to a cloud solution; Data is less complicated in the simpler cloud model. Interesting

Quotes heard at the session:
• “Integration has gone from being a necessary evil to one that is a competitive differentiator” Lance Speck
• “Projection of SaaS market growth is the fastest growth market ever” Ross Mason
• “Cloud forces not only value but also enables innovation” Ross Mason
• “Integration is a big chunk of friction and you need to find a way to address that”, Lance Speck
• “It is all about control – Who controls what” Lou Guercia

Customer Satisfaction, Trust And Transparency in the Cloud: SIIA’s All About the Cloud

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:48

After attending last week’s All About the Cloud, Satish Shenoy shared a summary about the Customer Satisfaction: Trust and Transparency in the Cloud presentation.

Moderator: Ken Wasch
Participants: Dennis Dayman, Roman Pavlyuk, Frits Veltink, Patrick (for Mark Symonds)

Key Topics Covered: The meaning of trust (in the cloud context), Trust issues and how they are dealt with globally (European community), Certification and Trust, Trust as an issue among customers, Limitations with small cloud service providers.

Discussion Points:
• What does Trust mean?
• The question is how trust evolved over time? Think of how we used to use the credit card over the internet
• Roman – Agreed. The way this works is there are some key early adopters that move forward and initially build trust and then we have a critical mass of users and then followers

Ken: What is happening of trust issues among Euro Cloud community?
- Some key standards have been established and there is a certification program, etc

Ken: Fritz, Who is running the certification program?
- There is a certification authority who certifies

Ken: Patrick, What is going on with SaaS-70?
-New version of cloud trust certification mechanism – It is SSAE-16 – specifically run by AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)

Ken: Let’s talk about certification and trust….
-Fritz – If you look at trust issues – there are 3 issues -
• Are you reliable?
• Are you secure? – Some people are starting to believe that SaaS solutions are more secure than internal platforms
• What are you (as a provider) doing with my data?
Also, it is critical to benchmark yourself and continuously improve.

Ken: Benchmarks are measuring what?
Benchmarks to measure Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Ken to Audience: – Is trust an issue among your customers? Can you share an anecdotal example?
Medical customer – Hospital would not go forward with cloud based technology – Company wanted to take on unlimited liability for this hospital to agree to go to a cloud based infrastructure
Roman – A good DR plan is critical to build trust
Fritz – Good governance structure is critical – this is how we handle ticketing, DR, what we do if there is an incidence – CRITICAL to gain customer trust; If you are able to proactively find an issue and call them before they call you, then you strengthen customer trust in you.

(Roman to Audience) – Any good examples of customers dealing with very sensitive customer data
Audience – One important trust issue is the ability of us as a small cloud provider has the ability to last
for many years as a provider.

(Ken to Panel) : Can small cloud service providers be trusted to last ?
Roman – The key is to provide standards based cloud services so the customer is more comfortable with having the option to swap one service provider with another relatively easily
Patrick- We have seen emergence of “escrow” (insurance) of cloud services – Hold money in escrow to be able to run operations for a certain amount of time in case the provider fails – Not cheap but it is an option to customers but it ends up being such an expensive thing when even large customers look at this as an option

(Patrick in discussion with audience)
The escrow option in some ways is a little ridiculous since it is probably an option that cannot be practical to be executed in case there was ever a need to activate the option.

Ken: We have been successful so far in avoiding over-regulation of cloud industry. Where there is uncertainty, you may be inviting regulation. I see the world as divided into 5 regions -The US, Japan, China, and rest of world… If we end up with a regulatory structure that has 5 different requirements, we are going to diminish value of cloud computing which is “boundary” ignorant
Patrick – It is about intention
Fritz – It is an emotional thing

FINAL Summary Comments:
-Patrick – Data does not know countries or national boundaries; as service providers we need to communicate and inform our customers proactively
-Roman – It is about Reliability, Privacy and Security and if you do well in the 3 areas – you build trust. While reliability and privacy are more of a provider –side responsibility, security is more a collaborative issue between both end user and service provider.
-Fritz – To gain trust, you need to be trustworthy – Have a governance model; drive continuous improvement; Inform, communicate with your customers, benchmark yourself and continuously improve.

Heard at the Session:
• “Trust is an emotional issue and not an infrastructure issue….” Patrick
• ” It is really about intention and making that known…”Fritz


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