Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is to acquire venture-backed Ubiquisys, a Swindon, UK-based provider of intelligent 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) small-cell technologies that provide connectivity across mobile heterogeneous networks for service providers, for approximately $310m.

The acquisition will allow Cisco to add Ubiquisys’ indoor small-cell expertise and focus on intelligent software for licensed 3G and LTE spectrum to its mobility portfolio and Wi-Fi expertise and provide a comprehensive small-cell solution for service providers that supports the transition to next-generation radio access networks. The deal also complements Cisco’s mobility strategy along with the recent purchases of BroadHop and Intucell, reinforcing in-house R&D such as service provider Wi-Fi and licensed radio.

Upon the close of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013, subject to customary closing conditions, the Ubiquisys employees will be integrated into the Cisco Mobility Business Group, reporting to Partho Mishra, vice president and general manager, Service Provider Small Cell Technology Group.
Beyond the above mentioned cash, Cisco will also pay in retention-based incentives to acquire the entire business and operations of Ubiquisys.

FinSMEs

07/04/2013

Related News
22/09/2010: Ubiquisys Raises $5M from Three Asian Investors
15/08/2012: Ubiquisys Raises $19M in Funding

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Cloud Computing And Organizational Inertia

Having spent this last week at the Cloud Connect event in Silicon Valley, I have had a number of interesting discussions with people involved with various aspects of cloud computing. While industry analysts such as Gartner and IDC are projecting that 80% of all servers running on native hardware are expected to be virtualized by 2020, many service provider and media representatives I’ve spoken with continue to be a little skeptical as far as these projections are concerned.

From a technical standpoint, the development effort by industry bellwethers like Cisco, IBM and HP has significantly accelerated the technological development in this space. Based on what I have seen at Cloud Connect and in the course of our daily work, I am confident that the underlying solutions will be ready to hit the mainstream by the end of 2013. Having said that, to meet the growth projections made by the analyst community, finalizing the facilitating technology stacks is not enough.

Over the last couple of months, our team conducted a vendor survey with 102 service providers around the world. Although there is still some work to do as far as technologies are concerned, I think perhaps the most interesting finding was that the biggest obstacle holding service providers back in their cloud and data center automation efforts is organizational inertia, not technology. In retrospect, this is of course logical, because large shifts like this also require changes on the organizational level.

Retail banking is another industry that has gone through a similar change, By now, most of us are used to doing the majority of our banking online, without the need to visit our local branch or to contact a designated representative to complete daily transactions. For banks this has required significant organizational changes involving cut-backs at the individual branches and increases in the size of the workforce managing the technology platforms that make online banking possible. Ultimately, this has made banking a lot more convenient for the average user, while providing the banking institutions with operational efficiencies.

Amidst all the hype, it is easy to forget that cloud computing is really not about technology. Rather, what the cloud promises us all is a new way to consume applications without having to give any thought to the underlying technologies. That translates to cost efficiencies, ease of use and self-service IT, based on process automation. When one thinks about all the companies using IT as an integral part of their operations, it becomes obvious that the impact of cloud computing will affect pretty much all industries, ultimately helping consumers to get more for less.

With an upside of this magnitude, it is no wonder that service providers and IT departments around the world are thinking about ways to benefit from this opportunity. Before embarking on this journey, however, most of these organizations would be well-advised to take a good look at their organizational structures. In traditional computing, various specialist teams have been working in silos, focusing on different areas of computing such as applications, databases, servers and networking. To enable end-to-end automation that spans across all these functions, organizational changes will likely be necessary.

To decide whether or not your own organization is ready for the change, here is a quick check-list:

1. Has the cloud computing initiative been made a strategic priority in the organization?

As people in IT departments always have a number of items on their to-do list, making cloud computing a priority across the organization is key to success. Unless everyone in the organization appreciates the strategic importance, coordinating efforts between different teams will become difficult and the momentum will be lost.

2. Have you named a sponsor who is senior enough to push the initiative through?

Resistance to change is natural. To make sure that the strategic cloud computing initiative is not derailed through politics, the initiative must be headed by a respected senior member of the organization whose judgement other people will trust. Ability to build trust between cross-functional teams is also a great asset.

3. Have you thoroughly assessed the make or buy aspects of cloud computing?

Since cloud computing is all about end-to-end automation and efficiency, a natural reaction within an IT department is to start securing bases by driving the cloud initiative towards home-grown or highly customized technical solutions provided by systems integrators. While this approach can be justified in select service provisioning environments, for most enterprises spending time and/or resources on developing IT systems in-house – or paying someone else to do that on customized basis is a waste of time and money. There are ample cloud computing and automation solutions available that can help your organization in meeting its requirements, making job security the only real driver for home-grown tweaks.

By Juha Holkkola

Juha is managing director of Nixu Software Oy Ltd, the cloud application deployment company, an affiliate of Nixu. He joined Nixu in early 2000 and has since held various business and sales management positions. Before Nixu, Juha worked for Nokia Networks and financial services company Sampo Group in various marketing and treasury positions.

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(Disclaimer: CloudTweaks publishes news and opinion articles from different contributors. All views and opinions in these articles belong entirely to our contributors. They do not reflect or represent in any way the personal or professional opinions of CloudTweaks.com or those of its staff.)

Tagged as: analyst community, application deployment, Automation Solution, automation solutions, Cloud Application, Cloud Computing, enterprise, growth projections, IDC, IT department, job security, organizational inertia, Platform, Security, technical standpoint, technology platform, technology platforms

Interesting discussion

Many people are becoming curious, with the increasing popularity of cloud topology, as to what cloud computing deployment models exist, and which ones are popular. While cloud is a big buzzword right now, a lot of people are kind of mystified in regards to what it really is. That’s ok, that’s what I’m here for.

So, today, I’m going to clarify once more, for those new here, what cloud computing is, then go over some cloud computing deployment models which are popular, and maybe talk a little bit about how they work.

First off, cloud just means that it exists off location, and is being stored, processed and/or served by an outside machine or machines. This is usually utilized so that software or processes can be controlled from devices too weak to actually perform them, but which clusters of servers, or one really strong server, can execute easily. It is an effective way of putting super computing into Joe Everyguy’s hands without a lot of fuss.

It’s also pursued as a safe and secure backup and storage system, as well as used for communications and cooperative software use and work performance online. So it’s pretty much anything web sources or web powered that’s not local network.

So, what are the popular deployment models for cloud computing? In general, there are three of these models that are standardly used, so let’s take a look at what they are.

The simplest model is just a typical webhost scenario, where you use a single dedicated server or host space on a server, and use limited enhanced computing and cloud services from this single source. It is the most affordable and easy to work with.

The second is the grid, which utilizes a series of servers, usually in the same datacenter, linked together to form a great, herculean computing force for all users logged into it. It’s the most expensive model, due to its specificity, but is also not the most powerful one, in technicality, which is …

Cluster computing. Cluster computing maps a global range of available servers regardless of space. It will link them together to form nodes of shared super computing power, often based on distance from the user. If any fail, the next nearest would take its place in an almost cellular or neural configuration. This system is prone to some faults, but is the most dynamic despite being only the middle of the road for pricing.

Algorithms for this model need to be refined and protocols adjusted, but what system doesn’t need that starting out?

If you’re interested in cloud computing deployment models, there exist very long PDFs that go into the deep, scientific details about the different architectures, including less-used ones than the ones I mention here. They also have, gasp, diagrams, which I cannot provide for you.

Cloud computing has some challenges ahead of it in being accepted and made completely practical for its intended range of purposes, but one day, it will take the place of traditional computing in many arenas, so we may as well embrace it now, and understand it to the fullest. Tomorrow waits for nobody, but nobody said we can’t get there early, right?

Published at DZone with permission of Omri Erel, author and DZone MVB. (source)

(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.)

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Great discussion on cloud computing Models for deployment

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5 Cloud Computing Advantages for the Healthcare Industry

Cloud computing technologies are on the rise in the healthcare industry. Although their adoption is held back by regulatory initiatives and security concerns, the cloud computing market in healthcare is expected to grow to $5.4 billion by 2017.  This is the conclusion of the “Healthcare Cloud Computing (Clinical, EMR, SaaS, Private, Public, Hybrid) Market – Global Trends, Challenges, Opportunities & Forecasts (2012 – 2017 published by research firm Markets and Markets.

The health care environment is changing faster than ever before due to the demand of delivering higher quality medical services for less money, and increased competitively between health care services providers. Hospitals, research clinics, private health care institutions and doctors are looking for solutions to increase daily activities, efficiency and decrease their spending.

Cloud computing technologies, if implemented and used appropriately, have a response to all these requirements. Thus, cloud computing provides to the health care environment the opportunity to improve services for patients, to easily share information, to improve operational efficiency, and to streamline costs.

What advantages does cloud computing offer for the health care industry?

1.    Collaboration. In many cases specific information may be needed in two places, by different health services providers at the same time. Through cloud technologies, the information is synchronized and shared in real time.

2.    Speed. Cloud-based tools can upgrade and improve their features faster, less expensively and with minimal or no service interruption. Plus, cloud services enables faster access to important information for health services providers and their patients.

3.    Mobility. Each mobile app is backed up by a cloud infrastructure. By storing data and computing power in the cloud, health care services providers enable their staff to have access to information anywhere and anytime.

4.    Security and privacy. Cloud services providers are required to comply with many privacy standards such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).  Today there are several managed cloud providers offering HIPAA compliance.

5.    Decreased costs. There is no need for the health care institution and doctors to invest in hardware infrastructure and maintenance because these concerns are already taken care of by the cloud computing providers.

Although cloud computing offers significant advantages to the health care industry, it is still perceived by some as unsafe.. The most common concerns are those that make any other business, from any industry, be reluctant to adopting cloud technologies:  security and confidentiality of patient information, interoperability and compliance with government regulations.  These can all be overcome by doing your due diligence and selecting the right partners.

By Rick Blaisdell / RicksCloud

(Disclaimer: CloudTweaks publishes news and opinion articles from different contributors. All views and opinions in these articles belong entirely to our contributors. They do not reflect or represent in any way the personal or professional opinions of CloudTweaks.com or those of its staff.)

Tagged as: government regulations, health care industry, health care institutions, health insurance portability, health insurance portability and accountability, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, medical services, patient information, research clinics

Making it easier for organizations to quickly adopt and deploy big data and cloud computing solutions, IBM (NYSE: IBM ) today announced major advances to its PureSystems family of expert integrated systems .

Now, organizations challenged by limited IT skills and resources can quickly comb through massive volumes of data and uncover critical trends that can dramatically impact their business. The new PureSystems models also help to remove the complexity of developing cloud-based services by making it easier to provision, deploy and manage a secure cloud environment. Together, these moves by IBM further extend its leadership in big data and next generation computing environments such as cloud computing , while opening up new opportunities within growth markets and with organizations such as managed service providers (MSPs).

Across all industries and geographies, organizations of various sizes are being challenged to find simpler and faster ways to analyze massive amounts of data and better meet client needs. According to IDC, the market for big data technology and services will reach $16.9 billion by 2015, up from $3.2 billion in 2010. 1 At the same time, an IBM study found that almost three-fourths of leaders surveyed indicated their companies had piloted, adopted or substantially implemented cloud in their organizations — and 90 percent expect to have done so in three years. 2 While the demand is high, many organizations do not have the resources or skills to embrace it.

Today’s news includes PureData System for Analytics to capitalize on big data opportunities; a smaller PureApplication System to accelerate cloud deployments for a broader range of organizations; PureApplication System on POWER7+ to ease management of transaction and analytics applications in the cloud; additional options for MSPs across the PureSystems family including flexible financing options and specific MSP Editions to support new services models; and SmartCloud Desktop Infrastructure to ease management of virtual desktop solutions.

New Systems Tuned for Big Data

The new IBM PureData System for Analytics, powered by Netezza technology, features 50 percent greater data capacity per rack 3 and is able to crunch data 3x faster 4 , making this system a top performer, while also addressing the challenges of big data. The IBM PureData System for Analytics is designed to assist organizations with managing more data while maintaining efficiency in the data center — a major concern for clients of all sizes.

With IBM PureData System for Analytics, physicians can analyze patient information faster and retailers can better gain insight into customer behavior. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) relies on PureData System for Analytics to handle an enormous volume of data in its trading systems and identify and investigate trading anomalies faster and easier.

“NYSE needs to store and analyze seven years of historical data and be able to search through approximately one terabyte of data per day, which amounts to hundreds in total,” said Emile Werr, head of product development, NYSE Big Data Group and global head of Enterprise Data Architecture and Identity Access Management for NYSE Euronext. “The PureData System for Analytics powered by Netezza system provides the scalability, simplicity and performance critical in being able to analyze our big data to deliver results eight hours faster than on the previous solution, which in our world is a game changer when you look at the impact on businesses every second that passes.”

The Nielsen Company, leading global information and measurement company, provides clients with a comprehensive understanding of consumers and their behavior leveraging Netezza technology to deliver complex analytic capabilities.

“Recently, Nielsen tested two major competitors with their latest products to tackle our highly complex analytic workload,” said John Naduvathusseril, chief data architect, the Nielsen Company. “Both vendors did not match up on consistent performance, simplicity, data refresh speed and overall performance of our reporting needs. Other vendors require customization, which we cannot sustain and they still did not deliver the kind of performance as the PureData System for Analytics.”

The IBM PureData System for Analytics is powered by Netezza technology. It is a strategic part of the IBM Big Data Platform, an integrated architecture that is intended to help organizations achieve Smarter Analytics by leveraging workload optimized systems that work together to tackle advanced analytics.

IBM Makes Cloud Simpler

By simplifying and accelerating cloud deployment platforms, organizations of all sizes and across geographies can increase business agility, minimize business risk and speed time-to-revenue.

One segment of the market in particular that will benefit from today’s announcement is MSPs. MSPs are helping midmarket companies solve complex challenges. However, to grow their businesses, MSPs need to expand their IT infrastructure and service delivery capabilities while minimizing the disruption and risk that often comes with growth. Today, IBM brings to market new offerings designed specifically for MSPs including new MSP Editions, flexible “pay as you grow” financing options, and enhanced marketing and sales support. These offerings are all designed to help MSPs deliver a robust cloud infrastructure that will enable them to drive new revenue streams.

Overall, IBM is introducing new cloud options tailored for the data center that allow businesses of all sizes to free up time and money to focus on innovation. These offerings include:

PureSystems is part of IBM SmartCloud offerings, a portfolio of enterprise-class cloud computing technologies and services built on open standards that provides flexible deployment options including PureSystems and IBM SmartCloud services. IBM helps clients build private clouds with IBM SmartCloud Foundation, which provides a common cloud operating environment across the different deployment options. IBM SmartCloud helps clients quickly build and scale private clouds and hybrid clouds for cloud capabilities such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service.

PureApplication System also continues to gain momentum with the independent software vendor (ISV) community. IBM works with 275 ISVs to offer more than 325 applications across 21 industries that are validated ” Ready for PureSystems .”

“IBM PureApplication System with the POWER7+ architecture offers a greater level of stability and flexibility for our shared customers. Most importantly, we expect to offer an even lower cost of ownership to our customers by optimizing the Manhattan Supply Chain Process Platform with the IBM PureApplication System,” said David Landau, vice president product management, Manhattan Associates.

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Is Cloud Computing Killing Open Source Software

The best thing about open source software systems has always been the fact that it is freely available and any programmer or company can use it to develop its own version of that software. For the longest time they have been the best solution for people willing to go outside the box in order to get the best results in their respective IT departments. Of course these systems have never been without profit and it came from two sources that are now getting to be absolute because of the emergence of cloud computing and the level of affordability most of its components come from.

The way open source software systems have worked so far has been through selling license agreements. Any company could take a software system like MySQL incorporate it in their own product and then they would either have the choice of getting an open source license or buy a commercial license from MySQL, in this case.

However because of the cloud is not actually selling software systems but only time on those systems companies like Amazon, who has developed their Amazon RDS based on MySQL do not have to pay them any licensee fee. The end users get exactly what they needed and are willing to pay for it and cloud service providers like Amazon do not need to pay any fee in licensing.

There is also a second stream of income for big open source companies because it is their software that is modified and sold further on. The process creates a need for specialists and those specialists are delivered by the initial company like MySQL or Red Hat. But if the company that has used the software generates enough revenue from it, they can afford to hire their own specialists. And since their products are not sold further as such but are only accessed by third parties on their own server there is nobody else left who would need those services.

However the world of open source software does not end with MySQL and even they have alternative sources of funding. For one, even the specialists hired by Amazon need to be trained, tested and licensed by a valid authority which will always need to route back to Oracle who currently owns MySQL. And the same is true for any open source software.

Also the entire Linux platform is what currently supports and Android software and as long as that exists there will be little chance for the actual concept of the open source software to go out of date. Even the Android system itself is an open source software system that many companies like CyanogenMod have taken to using and further developing.

So ultimately the cloud cannot take out the open source concept because it is built itself on open source platforms. The game has gotten tougher for many open source companies but they are already fighting back by putting in place new licensing systems like the Affero GPL license.

By Luchi Gabriel Manescu

(Disclaimer: CloudTweaks publishes news and opinion articles from different contributors. All views and opinions in these articles belong entirely to our contributors. They do not reflect or represent in any way the personal or professional opinions of CloudTweaks.com or those of its staff.)

Tagged as: Amazon, android, cloud service providers, IT department, license agreements, Open Source, open source companies, open source license, Programmer, Software, software system, SQL, the cloud

This is a very interesting discussing as if you can get all the services in a cloud why bother with open source software? you can just leverage what is already in the could without worrying about maintenance and development work.

David Lenrow says:

November 9, 2012 at 7:20 am

The value of the SDN architectural approach (Which is what SDN is, it isn’t a network solution and doesn’t do anything in and of itself, but rather lends itself to building solutions with global network view and more abstracted APIs than the device or flow table model) and controllers with their associated NBI, is that it completely abstracts the details of what southbound API is used to talk to the network devices. A controller based on the SDN architectural approach may or may not speak OpenFlow and the answer to that question is a solid “don’t care” from the Orchestration and Cloud OS layer talking to the NBI in the cloud stack. The power of SDN is that a controller can expose a network abstraction and the details of the device level implementation are completely hidden. I completely agree that developing, sharing, and eventually standardizing NBI is important and has the ability to be a game changer, but this is completely orthogonal to whether OpenFlow is the only, or even a good, south bound protocol to control some or all of the forwarding behaviors in a network. The ONF initially made the horrible mistake of positioning SDN as the tail and OpenFlow as the dog when they launched. Now that the interesting conversation in the industry is about the NBI, the ONF is at risk of becoming even more irrelevant in future because they don’t appear to understand that the NBI is the key to integrating virtual networking with the on-its-way-to-ubiquity cloud movement. The most innovative and important data center SDN solutions are being build without the not-yet-ready-to-control-anything-but-the-forwarding table OpenFlow protocol and the ONF needs to have jurisdiction over the interesting decisions for the industry or become super-irrelevant as the flow-table-wire-protocol foundation. NBI is really important, but that has almost nothing to do with OpenFlow and whether it will ever be a comprehensive protocol for controlling network devices.

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I have always believe this to be the only value of sdn as a whole. Meaning the ability to configure complex protocols on multiple devices. Openflow as it is today provides the transport but you will need a lot more implementation at the controller level to make this attractive long term

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This morning Cisco accounted plans to acquire Cariden to enhance it’s Service Provider software-defined networking (SDN) solutions.  Surprisingly, this hasn’t been positioned as an SDN play — though from our direct experience with the company — they fit the definition of SDN and have real customers and revenue to prove it.

Equally impressive, Cariden built the company through blood, sweat and tears, bypassing traditional venture capital financing — providing budding entrepreneurs and folks considering joining an SDN startup inspiration to think differently.

I worked with Shailesh Shukla, the executive responsible for the Cariden acquisition back at Juniper Networks — he’s a smart executive — and made a great purchase.

Cariden is an example of a network application that can drive adoption of SDN technologies.  For example, as Big Switch announced during their product launch, Cariden is integrated with Floodlight.

We believe this is the start of the Cisco acquiring network applications and can eventually be integrated with CiscoONE.  Expect to see more networking application acquisitions from Cisco in the near future.  We also expect to see a continued shift to Cisco and others increasingly acquiring software companies who’ve bypassed traditional venture capital financing.

Congrats Arman and team!

Check out SDNCentral’s other Cariden Coverage:

• Featured Interview with Cariden’s Jeff Bazar
• Cariden SDN Whitepaper

Cisco Press Release Below.

Checkout more SDN company coverage on SDNCentral:

• Press Release: SDNCentral Launches Japanese Version of its Website (11/27/2012)
• Breaking News: Cisco to Acquire Meraki for $1.2B. Is Meraki SDN’s second $1.2B exit? (11/19/2012)
• Big News from Big Switch Networks – Product Launch (11/12/2012)
• FishNet Security Joins SDNCentral (11/6/2012)
• Breaking News: Brocade Buying Vyatta to add to SDN capabilities (11/5/2012)

—
Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Cariden
Acquisition Further Strengthens Cisco’s Ability to Lead the Evolution in Service Provider Networking
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Nov. 29, 2012 – Cisco today announced its intent to acquire privately held Cariden Technologies, Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based supplier of network planning, design and traffic management solutions for telecommunications service providers. With global service providers converging their Internet Protocol (IP) and optical networks to address exploding Internet and mobile traffic growth and complex traffic patterns, Cisco’s acquisition of Cariden will allow providers to enhance the visibility, programmability and efficiency of their converged networks, while improving service velocity.

Cariden’s industry-leading capacity planning and management tools for IP/MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) networks, which have been deployed by many of the world’s leading fixed and mobile network operators, will be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group to enable multilayer modeling and optimization of optical transport and IP/MPLS networks. Cariden’s products and technology will advance Cisco’s nLight technology for IP and optical convergence. The acquisition also supports the company’s Open Network Environment (ONE) strategy by providing sophisticated wide area networking (WAN) orchestration capabilities. These capabilities will allow service providers to improve both the programmability of their networks and the utilization of existing network assets across the IP and optical transport layers.

“The Cariden acquisition reinforces Cisco’s commitment to offering service providers the technologies they need to optimize and monetize their networks, and ultimately grow their businesses,” said Surya Panditi, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group. “Given the widespread convergence of IP and optical networks, Cariden’s technology will help carriers more efficiently manage bandwidth, network traffic and intelligence. This acquisition signals the next phase in Cisco’s packet and optical convergence strategy and further strengthens our ability to lead this market transition in networking.”

The acquisition of Cariden exemplifies Cisco’s build, buy, and partner innovation framework and is aligned to Cisco’s strategic goals to develop and deliver innovative networking technologies and provide best-in-class solutions for customers, all while attracting and cultivating top talent.

Upon the close of the acquisition, Cariden employees will be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group, reporting to Shailesh Shukla, vice president and general manager of the company’s Software and Applications Group. Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $141 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Cariden. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

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Another twist to the SDN story..

Two major new technologies come together for the Cloud Computing and Big Data Workshop, hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at its Gaithersburg, Md., campus Jan. 15-17, 2013.

Combining cloud computing and big data could hasten valuable scientific discoveries in many areas including astronomy. (NASA image of nebula N76 in a bright, star-forming region of the Small Magellanic Cloud.) Credit: NASA

Cloud computing* offers an on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable resources; big data explores large and complex pools of information and requires novel approaches to meet the associated computing and storage requirements. The workshop will focus on the intersection of the two—the meeting is part of the traditional semi-annual cloud computing forum and workshop series with the additional dimension of big data and its relation with and influence on cloud platforms and cloud computing.

“Cloud computing and big data are each powerful trends. Together they can be even more powerful and that’s why we’re hosting this workshop,” said Chuck Romine, director of the NIST Information Technology Laboratory. “The cloud can make big data accessible to those who can’t take advantage today. In turn, big data opens doors to discovery, innovation, and entrepreneurship that are inaccessible at conventional data scales.”

The January conference will bring together leaders and innovators from industry, academia and government in an interactive format that combines keynote presentations, panel discussions, interactive breakout sessions and open discussion. Patrick Gallagher, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST director, and Steven VanRoekel, the Chief Information Officer of the United States, will open the conference.

The first day’s morning panels examine the convergence of cloud and big data, progress on the U.S. Government Cloud Computing Roadmap and international cloud computing standards.

Two afternoon sessions focus on progress made on the Priority Action Plans (PAP)s associated with the 10 requirements described in the first release of the USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Volume I (NIST SP 500-293).** Each requirement has associated PAPs related to interoperability, portability and security. The meetings will showcase the voluntary, independent, cloud-related efforts on diverse PAPs underway by industry, academia and standards-developing organizations.

The second day of the workshop explores the unprecedented challenges posed by big data on storage, integration, analysis and visualization—demands that many cloud innovators are working to meet today. The workshop will explore possibilities for harmonizing cloud and big data measurement, benchmarking and standards in ways that bring the power of these two approaches together to facilitate innovation. Day three offers workshops on exploring the formation of new working groups at the intersection of cloud and big data, kicking off a Big Data Research Roadmap, discussing international cloud computing standards progress, and hearing the status of the USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap Volume III. Special topic briefings will be offered during lunch times.

For more information on the meeting or to register, go to www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/cloudbdworkshop.cfm.

* For the NIST definition of cloud computing, see http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf

** USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Volume I (NIST SP 500-293) is available at www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/upload/SP_500_293_volumeI-2.pdf

Interest read about Cloud Computing and Big Data. They are two of the most interesting fields now in computing.

In a conference in Orlando, Florida, Gartner Inc. revealed that the central focus of IT consisting of social media innovations, mobile devices, web information, and cloud computing can disrupt the whole IT environment. Addressing at least 10,000 participants, Gartner Vice President David Cearley said that at the rate things are going the mobile experience is overshadowing the desktop experience. Cloud computing, together with mobile devices, is set to alter the modern corporation’s primary architecture of computing. Instead of focusing on client-server, IT shops must now set their sights on cloud-client architecture.

With this new type of architecture, it is also possible for skill sets necessary for enterprise software development to be altered significantly. The front-end interface must have better designs and development teams must gear towards HTML5 Web browser opportunities aside from the usual mobile device operating systems. Cearley also claimed that consumers have fresh expectations. As such, application developers and architects must obtain new design skills to meet these new expectations.

According to Kii Inc. Senior VP for platform marketing and developer relations Miko Matsumura, the result of mobile development has caused traditional architecture to evolve and a new breed of developers has turned their mobile perspectives to the cloud. According to him, the client cloud is not something different from a programming platform, programming language, or programming model. On the other hand, Gartner VP for research Jim Duggan said that the alterations in application lifecycles and development are signs that by 2015 mobile applications will be greater than static deployment by 400%. This means that focus should be on developers training as well as outsourcing.

According to Gartner analysts, there will come a time when each corporate budget will be an IT budget and that businesses will have a Chief Digital Officer in their payroll. Gartner further predicts that by 2015, around 25% of businesses will have Chief Digital Officers.

Cloud security is also expected to triple in size. This is primarily because of regulatory compliance. According to Gartner analysts, IT leaders must be able to plan for the upcoming government regulations and interventions. Towards the end of 2015, Gartner expects bigger service providers to acquire cloud-based identity access management solutions. The analyst group also believes that administrative error or user management will comprise about 80% of cloud security occurrences in 2013. Those businesses which require basic security environments can rely on the security provided by the public cloud service or structure. Gartner also expects that 60% of large firms will limit network access connectivity of mobile devices personally-owned by their staff.

Related Articles:

• Gartner: Top 10 Key Technology Trends for 2013
• Gartner: Big Data Market is Worth $3.7 Trillion, Generating Over 4 Million Jobs by 2015
• Gartner Report: One Third of Digital Data will be in Cloud by 2016
• Tecala Survey: CIOs to Increase Cloud Spending
• The Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends According to Gartner