Category Archives: Cloud Computing
Cloud computing will power pandemic recovery in 2021 – ZDNet
Looking at the public clouds developed in the last 15 years, it almost seems like they were designed to handle the global demand shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did the pandemic turn millions of office workers into home and remote workers overnight, it also changed how every IT department and development shop functioned. Without public cloud apps, development services, tools and infrastructure available to every business and consumer on demand, imagine how different (and hobbled) the pandemic response would have been. In 2020, cloud proved that, indeed, one should never let a good crisis go to waste.
In 2021, cloud will power how companies adapt to the "new, unstable normal." No one knows how far into 2021 we'll continue to work from home, shop primarily online, or avoid air travel -- but it's clear that every enterprise must become more agile, responsive and adaptive than ever before. Here's how Forrester predicts cloud computing will help companies around the world accelerate pandemic recovery in 2021:
We will see the hyperscale public cloud market return to hypergrowth. After some softening in public cloud revenue growth rates in late 2019, the pandemic turbocharged the market by mid-2020, and Forrester now predicts that the global public cloud infrastructure market will grow 35% to $120 billion in 2021. Alibaba will take the number-three revenue spot globally, after AWS and Microsoft Azure. Buckle up the cloud ride is taking off...again.
Cloud-native tech demand will spike as serverless and containers heat up. Prior to the pandemic, about 20% of developers regularly used container and serverless functions to build new apps and modernize old ones. We predict 25% of developers will use serverless and nearly 30% will use containers regularly by the end of 2021, creating a spike in global demand for both multicloud container development platforms and public-cloud container/serverless services.
On-premises disaster recovery (DR) strategies will fade, with recovery bound for the cloud. COVID-19 shined a bright light on every company unprepared to recover from a data center outage and refocused enterprise IT teams on improving resiliency. Before the pandemic, few companies protected data and workloads in the public cloud. In 2021, we predict that an additional 20% of enterprises will shift DR operations to the public cloud -- and won't look back.
Those are just a few highlights of how we think cloud will accelerate recovery from the pandemic. We'll also see changes in software buying habits, with a resurgence in interest in cloud marketplaces, and watch out for new regulations that restrict how and where companies can store data in the cloud.
You can download Forrester's 2021Predictions eBookhere.
This post was written by VP and Principal Analyst Dave Bartoletti, and it originally appearedhere.
Follow this link:
Cloud computing will power pandemic recovery in 2021 - ZDNet
DDOG: 3 Cloud Computing Stocks That Will Outperform in 2021 – StockNews.com
In the last decade, cloud stocks have been some of the top-performers on the market. These stocks have also been especially strong during the coronavirus pandemic.
Cloud computing remains a promising sector in 2021 for investors given the massive transition of enterprise IT spending in the public cloud. It offers companies the opportunity to save costs as they do not have to manage their own infrastructure anymore.
According to market research company Gartner, global annual spending on public cloud is expected to grow from $250 billion in 2020 to $360 billion in 2022.
Here we look at three cloud computing companies that are well poised to outperform in 2021.
Datadog (DDOG) is a fast-growing software platform
The first stock on the list is Datadog (DDOG), a company that monitors enterprise cloud activity and mines it for business insights. Datadog provides a monitoring and analytics platform for developers, technology teams, and business users.
Its SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform integrates and automates multiple processes such as infrastructure monitoring, log management, and application performance monitoring that provides real-term data of the companys technology stack.
The Datadog platform also provides network performance monitoring and products that include dashboards, advanced analytics, and collaboration tools.
In the most recent quarter, Datadog sales were up 68% year-over-year while it expects full-year revenue to increase 57% based on the companys midpoint forecast. As the company continues to scale, Datadog is also able to improve profit margins.
In the last fiscal year, Datadog reported an operating loss of $5.4 million while the company forecast to report operating income between $28 million and $34 million in 2020. In the June quarter, the number of customers that generate annual recurring revenue of over $100,000 grew 71% year-over-year.
Its customer base grew 37% as well in Q2, while its dollar-based net retention rate stood at 130%, which means customers are spending an additional 30% on the Datadog platform compared to the prior-year period.
Datadog stock is trading at $102 and has gained 180% since it went public last September. The company has a market cap of $31 billion, indicating a forward price to sales multiple of 54x and a price to earnings multiple of 851x. The stock is trading at a lofty valuation but its supported by robust earnings and revenue growth.
Splunk (SPLK) stock has returned 500% since IPO
Splunk (SPLK) develops software solutions that are used by enterprises to gain real-time operational intelligence. The company offers a variety of cloud-based products and services to enterprises.
Splunk Enterprise is a data platform that includes indexing, search, reporting, analysis, monitoring, and data management capabilities. Splunk Cloud is a cloud service for machine data while Splunk Enterprise Security addresses security threats and event management use cases.
SignalFx provides real-time troubleshooting for cloud infrastructure applications and Splunk IT Service Intelligence monitors key performance indicators of critical IT services. Further, Splunk also provides the Splunk App for Amazon Web Services that collects and analyzes data from AWS data sources.
Last year, Splunk shifted towards a SaaS-based business model which resulted in a change in revenue recognition methods. This means its revenue is now recognized over the period of the enterprise subscription contract compared to its old model where revenue was recognized upfront at the time of sale.
This meant Splunk sales were down 2% year-over-year in the first six months of fiscal 2021 at $926 million. However, if we consider the companys annual recurring revenue (ARR) metrics Splunks total sales were up 50% at $1.93 billion at the end of Q2. In the next two years, Splunk forecasts ARR to grow by an annual rate of 40% to reach $4.6 billion by 2023.
Splunk is valued at a market cap of $34 billion which means its price to sales multiple is 14.7x which is significantly lower than Datadog. Splunk stock has already gained 500% since it went public in 2012 and might continue to generate market-beating returns in the upcoming decade as well.
ServiceNow (NOW) stock is up 75% in 2020
ServiceNow (NOW) is the third and final stock on this list. It provides cloud computing solutions that manage and automate repeatable business processes. The company offers information technology service management applications and digital workflow products in customer service, risk management, human resources, and other enterprise verticals.
ServiceNow also provides a suite of IT service management products for enterprise employees, customers, and partners. It ended 2019 with a customer base of 6,200 which includes 80% of the Fortune 500 companies.
It now has 964 customers with an annual contract value of $1 million. ServiceNow has a renewal rate of 97% indicating strong customer retention. This focus on customer acquisition has allowed ServiceNow to expand revenue by 30% in the first half of 2020 while net income was up 69%. For 2020, the cloud giant has forecast subscription sales to rise by about 30%.
ServiceNow is valued at a market cap of $97 billion which means its price to sales multiple is 22x. ServiceNow stock has already gained 2,000% since it went public in 2012 and is up 75% year-to-date.
The final takeaway
We can see that the three companies are trading at high valuations. However, they have experienced stellar growth in revenue and earnings, which should continue in 2021. Growth stocks trade at a premium which means they will outpace the broader market returns in a bull run but also underperform when markets turn bearish.
These companies are part of expanding addressable markets with a subscription-based business model. This allows them to generate a predictable stream of revenue across business cycles and lower massive fluctuations in a downturn.
Want More Great Investing Ideas?
Top 11 Picks for Todays Market
Dangerous Outlook for Stocks Into Election
5 WINNING Stocks Chart Patterns
DDOG shares were trading at $99.55 per share on Friday morning, up $0.61 (+0.62%). Year-to-date, DDOG has gained 163.50%, versus a 8.62% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
Aditya Raghunath is a financial journalist who writes about business, public equities, and personal finance. His work has been published on several digital platforms in the U.S. and Canada, including The Motley Fool, Finscreener, and Market Realist. More...
Go here to read the rest:
DDOG: 3 Cloud Computing Stocks That Will Outperform in 2021 - StockNews.com
Will Cloud Computing Accelerate the Economic Recovery? – ETF Trends
Cloud computing has been a boon for companies that have been able to capitalize on the increased work-from-home labor force amid the Covid-19 pandemic. As more countries continue to undergo a recovery around the globe, cloud computing will be one of those sectors that will assist recuperating economies.
Looking at the public clouds developed in the last 15 years, it almost seems like they were designed to handle the global demand shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, noted a ZDNet article. Not only did the pandemic turn millions of office workers into home and remote workers overnight, it also changed how every IT department and development shop functioned. Without public cloud apps, development services, tools and infrastructure available to every business and consumer on demand, imagine how different (and hobbled) the pandemic response would have been. In 2020, cloud proved that, indeed, one should never let a good crisis go to waste.
In 2021, cloud will power how companies adapt to the new, unstable normal. No one knows how far into 2021 well continue to work from home, shop primarily online, or avoid air travel but its clear that every enterprise must become more agile, responsive and adaptive than ever before, the article added.
As cloud computing continues to power through 2020 and beyond, one such fund ETF investors can consider is theGlobal X Cloud Computing ETF (Nasdaq: CLOU). Seeking to track the Indxx Global Cloud Computing Index, the fund holds a basket of companies that potentially stand to benefit from the continuing proliferation of cloud computing technology and services.
The cloud computing industry refers to companies that (i) license and deliver software over the internet on a subscription basis (SaaS), (ii) provide a platform for creating software applications which are delivered over the internet (PaaS), (iii) provide virtualized computing infrastructure over the internet (IaaS), (iv) own and manage facilities customers use to store data and servers, including data center Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and/or (v) manufacture or distribute infrastructure and/or hardware components used in cloud and edge computing activities.
An additional fund to consider in the cloud computing space is the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund (WCLD). The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, which is designed to track the performance of emerging public companies primarily involved in providing cloud computing software and services to their customers.
For more new and information, visit theThematic Investing Channel.
Continue reading here:
Will Cloud Computing Accelerate the Economic Recovery? - ETF Trends
How cloud computing can empower SMBs in Tier II and III markets and boost Indias economic growth – YourStory
Cloud computing has revolutionised the way businesses are using technology. It provides a simpler and more effective way of running and adapting business operations to evolving market conditions.
Cloud, instead of storing data and application on a single computer, stores them on several different devices, but all are connected and function as one.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, innovative cloud-based technology has made it possible to optimise their external and internal strategies. Small businesses, as well as newly setup startups, cant afford a big IT budget, unlike large businesses.
Fortunately, there is an option for buying cloud software that can be easily managed, updated, and debugged, making it the perfect way to meet the goals of running a successful business.
The cloud is one of the key drivers of socio-economic development in India, according to a recent NASSCOM survey.
The cloud provides mobile access to information for small businesses and helps them to be more competitive within their market. Up to 60 percent of business owners will depend on the cloud for hosting data by 2022, according to research by Gartner, roughly doubling the figures from 2018.
Here are some digital measures and cloud solutions small businesses can adopt to improve Indias socio-economic situation.
There are a lot of initiatives like digital payments to empower and lift small businesses. This will be leveraged by more SMBs to continue to grow faster.
Digitally-engaged SMBs are rising twice in relation to their offline counterparts, according to a Google-KPMG survey. Small companies have been able to open new markets across the digital room. However, there are a staggering number of small and medium-sized firms sitting offline.
Cloud development is being made possible by the rise of emerging technologies, especially Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In fact, the underlying force that empowers businesses to tap into AI capabilities is cloud computing.
Businesses can capture, store, process, and analyse the vast data volumes necessary for AI tools and applications using the cloud. As a result, they can more reliably forecast patterns and use data analytics to turn themselves into a smarter business.
Since cloud storage solutions are highly flexible in nature, they also boost the ability of small businesses to assess and optimise their growth. It makes it possible for them to anticipate and evaluate the usage of resources to maximise possibilities.
By defending against hardware failures, cloud storage maintains backups of all critical and sensitive data. It also enables organisations to incorporate all different application specifications into one multi-application.
One of the greatest benefits and biggest prospects for India to grow in the global cloud adoption ranking is the abundance of IT talent. It needs access to professional knowledge with technological and business experience to migrate to the cloud for an overall digital transformation.
The next step in Indias cloud computing industry, beyond Tier I cities, has all the potential to accelerate socio-economic growth across India. The pace of cloud technology adoption in the country can be accelerated with IT skill set training and new innovation models.
Its an opportunity to further develop Indias position as a global innovation center. Its also a chance to further enhance India's role as a global innovation hub.
To completely leverage cloud technology as a growth engine for socioeconomic opportunities for all, we need to carry IT knowledge to all corners of the nation.
Cloud computing allows SMBs to add resources that keep up with the company's development, as and when needed. Cloud makes it easier to keep working in a crisis or to shift the engineering team from reactive thinking to strategic thinking, more realistically.
No matter what, its a simple win to look for ways to get cloud computing more involved in SMBs.
See the original post:
How cloud computing can empower SMBs in Tier II and III markets and boost Indias economic growth - YourStory
Reducing identity and access security risks in cloud infrastructures: A guide – Cloud Tech
Organisations understand the business value of cloud environments like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), but many havent realised how these infrastructures increasingly place the onus on them to manage security risk. In fact, Analyst firm Gartner has estimated that over the next three years 99% of cloud security failures will be the customers fault. Further, Gartner predicts that 75% of those failures will result from inadequate management of identities, access and privileges.
To manage and reduce their attack surface, organisations must gain control over all human and machine identities and their access privileges within their cloud environments. This is no small task, as the number of enabled permissions in a typical enterprise cloud infrastructure can easily reach into the millions. In AWS alone, there are over 2500 permission settings that can apply to users, devices, applications and services.
Typical IaaS/PaaS applications can contain thousands of identities that belong to a variety of compute types, such as EC2 or lambda functions, and each of these identities have discrete permissions to access multiple resources including data repositories, network assets and secret stores.
Plus, enterprise developers who are under pressure to quickly spin up environments often grant broad entitlements to both people and infrastructure, and these excess permissions are nearly impossible to identify and eliminate once applications are in production. The problem of excess privileges has exceeded the capabilities of humans and our manual processes to manage them.
Given that just one misconfigured cloud entitlement can bring down an application or lead to a devastating breach, as occurred with Capital One, it is imperative to reduce this attack surface by enforcing least privilege across the board.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) was introduced as a technology category this year by Gartner to describe a new approach designed specifically for managing access and enforcing least privilege in the public cloud. CIEM provides the following capabilities to automate the management of cloud infrastructure entitlements at scale:
Account and Entitlement Discovery: The first step toward achieving least privilege is to gather an accurate inventory of all entitlements, which given the dynamic nature of IaaS/PaaS environments, must be a continuous process that covers:
The second step of the discovery process is analysis so that the gaps between enterprise policy and the granted entitlements are exposed.
Centralised cross-cloud correlation: Virtually every organisation in the cloud now uses more than one service provider, and each cloud platform uses different mechanisms and terminology to address permissions. Its become imperative to have a centralised mechanism that can enforce enterprise policies across all clouds.
Visualising entitlements: To make sense of the complex web of access permissions associated with a given identity, its important to have a way to visualise which ones have access to sensitive resources or what the access is for different roles, etc. Its especially helpful if the visualisation can be switched back and forth between a tabular and graphical representation in order to filter, search and view metrics and scores that help quantify risks.
Optimising entitlements for least privilege: One of the most valuable benefits of CIEM is its ability to continuously analyse and remove excessive permissions, and reduce the attack surface of a cloud environment. This is typically accomplished through analytics that understand which permissions are being used, which are not being used and which are unnecessary for the identity to perform its functions. For identities related to services and infrastructure, CIEM can ensure they have sufficient entitlements to run under required scenarios, and nothing more, ensuring both security and business continuity.
Providing guardrails for entitlements: CIEM can also be used to detect when privileges are changed, for instance alerting to privilege escalation threats. Through configurable rulesets, CIEM can define and enforce critical entitlement guardrails in cloud environments.
Detecting threats: An additional benefit provided by CIEM is continuous monitoring of resources and policies to detect suspicious activity indicative of external threats, insider attacks or even human errors. This can be accomplished by configuring rules that correspond with existing enterprise security policy and streaming output to a SIEM or User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) platform.
Remediating entitlements: Since entitlements can span multiple stakeholders and business processes, organisations can use CIEM to support their remediation orchestration pipelines. CIEM can send a new policy directly to the cloud provider via an API, a ticketing system or Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) system for fulfillment. For DevOps teams, remediation can be handled as part of the pipeline using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) platforms.
CIEM fills the void left by two adjacent technologies, cloud access security broker (CASB) and cloud security posture management (CSPM), by enabling organisations to govern identities, access entitlements and enforce least-privilege policies across multiple cloud provider platforms. Most importantly, it reduces cloud security risks by replacing manually-intensive processes with automation for the continuous discovery, mapping and evaluation of millions of entitlements.
Photo byDaniel PscoaonUnsplash
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend theCyber Security & Cloud Expo World Serieswith upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.
Visit link:
Reducing identity and access security risks in cloud infrastructures: A guide - Cloud Tech
Top Cloud Computing Funding and Investment in October 2020 – Analytics Insight
Cloud computing has made it easier for organizations to perform business following a business continuity plan. The technology has driven numerous growth factors across industries, while lessening cost, improving flexibility and client relationships. By integrating cloud infrastructure, startups as well as large enterprises now are able to optimize costs and augment their offerings without purchasing and managing all the hardware and software. According toIDC, over 500 million digital apps and services will be developed and deployed using cloud-native approaches by 2023.
However, as more and more companies shift to the cloud, the occurrence of new issues and pain points is inevitable. In this way, businesses must ensure that they are functioning with updated technology standards and must make the right vendor choice.
Heres a look at the top cloud computing service providers that have raised venture capitals in October 2020.
Amount Raised: US$200 Million
Transaction Type: Series C
Key Investor(s): Spark Capital
MessageBird, a cloud communications company connecting organizations to their customers on billions of devices around the world, raised a mammoth amount of US$200 million in a Series C round. This funding round was led by Spark Capital, with additional backer Bonnier, Glynn Capital, LGT Lightstone, Longbow, Mousse Partners and NewView Capital as well as existing investors Accel, Atomico and Y Combinator. With this fresh round, the Amsterdam-based companys total valuation reached a whopping US$3 billion. MessageBird intends to utilize the funds to increase its global team and further expand into its core markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Amount Raised: US$40 Million
Transaction Type: Series C
Key Investor(s): B Capital Group
Armory, an enterprise software company that commercializes an open-source continuous and cloud-native software delivery platform Spinnaker, bagged US$40 million in Series C funding round. The round was led by B Capital, with additional participation from new investors Lead Edge Capital and Marc Benioff and existing backers Insight Partners, Crosslink Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Mango Capital, Y Combinator and Javelin Venture Partners. This latest financing round brought Armorys total fundraised to over US$82 million.
Amount Raised: US$33 Million
Transaction Type: Series C
Key Investor(s): Cardinal Health
Vineti is a commercial cloud-based platform that expands patient access to life-saving cells and gene therapies. As an industry-leading expert providing safety, security, seamlessness, and scalability, the company secured US$33 million in a Series C funding round. Led by Cardinal Health, the fresh capital will support Vineti to further expand its Personalized Therapy Management (PTM) platform for personalized and high-value advanced therapies. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company offers a digital platform of record to integrate logistics, manufacturing, and clinical data for personalized therapies.
Amount Raised: US$20 Million
Transaction Type: Venture Funding
Key Investor(s): Intel Capital and ClearSky
The cloud cyber resilience expert, Accurics received US$20 million in seed and Series A funding round to improve the security of cloud-native applications with a self-healing approach. Intel Capital leads the Series A and ClearSky leads the seed round. Accurics delivers a powerful solution at a critical time, as cloud-native technologies fuel innovation and power todays applications. This new investment will support the companys market momentum and assist it to continue to build technology that self-heals cloud-native infrastructure by codifying security throughout the development lifecycle.
Amount Raised: US$13 Million
Transaction Type: Series B
Key Investor(s): Felicis Ventures
Yotascale is a next-generation cloud cost management platform for enterprises that rely on cloud cost visibility and optimization for business success. Recently, the company sealed US$13 million in a Series B round led by Aydin Senkut at Felicis, with participation from other capital pools, including Engineering Capital, Pelion Ventures and Crosslink Capital. With this funding, which intends to continue to expand operations and its business reach, Yotascales total valuation reached US$25 million. The companys mission is to optimize the worlds cloud computing spend by empowering engineering teams.
Amount Raised: US$7 Million
Transaction Type: Seed Round
Key Investor(s): DNX Ventures
Macrometa, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based edge computing company that enables web and cloud-native developers to build and run applications across a network, closed a US$7 million in a seed financing round. The round was led by DNX Ventures, with participation from existing investors Benhamou Global Ventures, Partech Partners, Fusion Fund, Sway Ventures, Velar Capital and Shasta Ventures. The new funds will help Macromet to expedite the product rollout and sales of Global Data Network (GDN), a cloud service that enables web and cloud developers to build and run high performance, multi-region, multi-cloud, globally distributed, stateful web, mobile, IoT apps and APIs applications.
Amount Raised: US$1.6 Million
Transaction Type: Pre-Seed Round
Key Investor(s): ISAI
Koyeb, a pioneer in smart storage solutions for the cloud-native era, raised US$1.6 million in pre-seed funding round from Jean-David Chamboredon and Juliette Mopin from ISAI. The round was also joined by Plug and Play Ventures, Kima Ventures, AceCap and a long list of business angels, such as Zachary Smith, Justin Ziegler, Alexis L-Quc, Sbastien Lucas, and others. Koyeb Storage is the industrys first Cloud Platform dedicated to data management and optimisation across multiple Cloud Service Providers. The company also supports a growing number of storage providers, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Wasabi, Backblaze B2 and others.
Follow this link:
Top Cloud Computing Funding and Investment in October 2020 - Analytics Insight
Tax implications of cloud computing, and everything as a service – ETCIO.com
By Tapati Ghose, Vijai Jayaram, and Rohit Lal
Cloud computing has made rapid strides over the years and witnessed tremendous growth. While the global cloud business is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% and reach $345 Billion by 2022, the Indian cloud computing market which was $2.5 Billion in 2018, looks more optimistic and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30%, to become $7.2 Billion by 2022. Further, 70% of the revenue of Indian SaaS players is from exports. Key attributes of cloud computing models are on-demand provisioning, reduction in duplicity, virtual environment with almost no use of hardware, very less capex, etc.
Cloud computing services can be categorised under three heads, viz., Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Under PaaS model,a PaaS provider usually hosts the software and hardware on its own infrastructure to provide all the facilities that are required to support the life cycle of building and delivering web applications and services.
IaaS provides a standardised way of acquiring computing capabilities over web. Such resources include network, electronic storage, virtual servers etc. IaaS helps in the delivery of computer infrastructure as a web-based service which helps companies in cutting down investment in costly infrastructure.
In recent years, data center supply ecosystem in India has expanded exponentially. Such growth in data centers is also the result of data localisation regulations which require data of Indian customers to be stored locally/ restricts data transfer outside Indian borders. IaaS is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25% to reach $2.3-2.4 Billion business by 2022.
In this context, it is important to take a closer look at the key tax issues impacting cloud computing.
The authors are Tapati Ghose, Partner with Deloitte India, Vijai Jayaram, Director at Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, and Rohit Lal, Manager, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP.
Read the original here:
Tax implications of cloud computing, and everything as a service - ETCIO.com
Academic | An interview with Joshua McKenty, co-founder of OpenStack on the art of contemporary cloud computing – IT World Canada
The fact that my songs take a long time to write is no guarantee of their excellence. Leonard Cohen
Over the past decade, cloud services have evolved from being perceived as a nebulous, risky solution suited for non-critical services to a position of strategic prevalence in the vast majority of enterprises; impacting the vast majority of business functions. Cloud services have reliably addressed the false promises of inflated expectations, myopic forays into disjointed and non-critical solutions, and legitimate concerns about security, privacy, and sovereignty.
Despite the oft-heard narrative that cloud adoption is always a moving target of two to five years away, over 90 percent of North American enterprises are already leveraging cloud computing in one way or another. Enterprise cloud is no longer a choice between virtualized cloud-washed solutions from legacy providers and one-size-fits-all hyper-scale solutions, but present a wide range of viable choices for each core and non-critical business function.
Progressive technology companies and leading enterprises are responding by disposing of the traditional portfolio management and capital budgeting approach to transformation and instead adopting Zero Cost Transformation approaches based on significantly reducing or eliminating the capital investment required for wide-scale innovation. Investment by strategic technology partners in digital transformation and compensation for technology partners is often now directly linked to the tangible business value generated, measured, and reported. In 2020, over 30 percent of all transformation initiatives are based on co-investment, and close to one-third of initiatives link some or all vendor compensation to tangible business value generation.
On the eve of the Electronic Recycling Associations new digital event series, Academic, I sat down with Victorias Joshua McKenty, Co-Founder of Openstack and Piston Cloud (Acquired by Cisco) to discuss what the future beholds for a medium near and dear to both of our hearts.
Many of humanitys most impactful discoveries are not significant by virtue of what they accomplish directly, but rather by virtue of what they help others to accomplish. It took almost 25 years to go from the first transistor to the first microprocessor. Just about 28 years after that we had the invention of the World Wide Web. In the 30 years since then, 59% of the worlds population now has internet access, and we expect that to reach 90% by 2030.
I dont like cool technology. Cool generally means complicated, expensive, and hard to use just like a cool restaurant is one where its hard to get reservations, and the appetizers cost $15. Theres nothing cool about sewers or power lines, but Im a huge fan of indoor plumbing and electric lights. So, the way that cloud computing has become boring, while simultaneously making Amazon and Microsoft two of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world, is actually a great sign. The way that the IT industry overall is chasing cool, unfortunately, is not as promising.
This is actually a really tough policy question very much akin to Affordable Housing.
Because renting has such a dramatic impact, in terms of lowering the barriers-to-entry of sleeping indoors, it becomes hard to reason about the impacts of different policies on the housing stock. Cloud computing has had the same effect as opening up the rental market while it makes it very easy for EVERYONE to participate in the sleeping indoors market, it doesnt necessarily create a path to homeownership. Put differently: while Cloud has lowered the barriers to building a new business in the digital economy, those generous landlords have a habit of becoming protectors in the worst sort of way Thats a nice looking revenue stream ya got there. It would be a shame if something was to HAPPEN to it
Ultimately, the promise of globalization was a Pandoras box: Access to an infinitely large marketplace also put each of us into direct competition with an infinitely large number of competitors. The solution, ironically enough, is the same as it has always been: build a business based on real value, delivered one customer at a time. Resist FOMO. Use technology (whether its cloud, social media, machine learning, or just email) thoughtfully, and authentically. Dont chase cool use the cloud to amplify the cool you already are.
One of the basic tenants of the free market is that competition keeps competitors honest, and it keeps prices fair. While OpenStack-powered cloud providers havent emerged as dominant public cloud players,by and large,I believe that the largercloud interoperability movement, of which OpenStack was an important part, has fundamentally succeeded. Very few technology professionals should be using IaaSprimitives these days, anyway either they should beusing an abstraction such as Terraform, a PaaS such as Cloud Foundry or Heroku, or a higher-order, domain-specific offering such as the Azure IoT Hub. (Increasingly, software vendors are packaging their products for Kubernetes, which can be run on any of the major cloud providers or in-house on something like VMwares Tanzu platform).
In political discussions around the world, the theme of UBI (Universal Basic Income) has emerged as a rallying cry for a different type of relationship between the individual and the state. Idream of a world with UBC Universal Basic Cloud where instead of trading my personal privacy for a set of basic services from Google, myBC Services Card unlocked a Microsoft Office 365 account and enough AWS GPU credits to sequence my own genome. Why doesnt mydaughtersGoogle Classroom come with a half-dozen GCP virtual machines?
The window of opportunity for transforming the public cloud landscape has passed in the same way that the x86 architecture cemented Intels role in the personal computing landscape, the unannounced-but-surely-imminent Hashicorp IPO will cement the supported by Terraform public clouds as the new Baby Bells of our era. Our role is now to ignore them and to apply the awesome power of near-infinite transistors to the problems that are closest to our hearts.
The opening chapter of Academic will be hosted by Jim Love, Chief Information Officer at IT World Canada and feature a digital roundtable with five of Montreals leading cloud computing luminaries including:
For additional information or to register for the event, please click here.
The rest is here:
Academic | An interview with Joshua McKenty, co-founder of OpenStack on the art of contemporary cloud computing - IT World Canada
I think this cloud computing stock will thrive in the next lockdown – Yahoo Finance UK
MMA Weekly
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov etched his name in stone in the annals of UFC history with his second-round submission of Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 on Saturday on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.Moments after finishing Gaethje, Khabib then announced his retirement.It was a masterful performance from a man that entered the fight with the heaviest of hearts.Khabib walked into the Octagon at UFC 254 with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Undefeated at 28-0, his spotless record was on the line. His status as the UFC lightweight champion of the world was at stake. Him possibly surpassing Jon Jones as the top fighter in the world was a consideration.Perhaps a heavier weight than any other, however, was Khabibs father having passed away over the summer. Khabibs father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, was his lifelong trainer and driving force. The fight with Gaethje was the first time that Khabib had fought since losing his father.Gaethje earned his shot at Khabib by defeating Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title at UFC 249 back in May. That opportunity came about when Khabib, who had been slated to fight Ferguson, was unable to make it to the Octagon because of being on lockdown in Russia because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Gaethje entered the fight with Khabib on a four-fight winning streak.The first round started slow with Gaethje frequently feinting a takedown. Partway through the round, Khabib started to employ his jab, which set up several combinations that stung Gaethje. Just as Khabib begin to really stick the jab, Gaethje landed a couple hard punches of his own that got the champs attention.It took him until the final minute of the frame, but Khabib shot and landed a takedown, which nearly set up an armbar, but he ran out of time. It was a strong opening round by Khabib, who showed how good his hands are, despite Gaethje landing quite a few solid leg kicks.Khabib knew what he was doing was working and he kept it up in round two. Instead of hanging back for Gaethje to make a mistake, Khabib pressed him with his jab and combinations.He ate a hard left hand and several leg kicks from Gaethje, but Khabib kept pressing forward. He finally shot, quickly moved to Gaethjes back, and dragged him to the canvas.Moments later, Khabib had a triangle choke locked up and Gaethje tried to tap, but fell to sleep.Overcome by the emotion of the moment, Khabib kneeled down in the middle of the Octagon and began sobbing. When he awoke, Gaethje kneeled by his side, hugging the man that had just made him unconscious, realizing the enormity of Khabibs loss of his father.I know he made his father so proud, Gaethje said after the fight.Khabib Nurmagomedov announces his retirementKhabib notched his 29th consecutive win as a professional fighter. And then he called it quits.Citing his love for his father and a promise to his mother, Khabib retired as the undefeated UFC lightweight champion of the world.Today I want to say, this was my last fight. No way I can come here without my father, said Khabib. I promised (my mother) this would be my last fight.The only thing he asked for? That he be elevated to the No. 1 ranking in the Pound for Pound fighter list.You guys have to put me on No. 1 pound for pound fighter in the world because I deserve it.Today is my last fight here in UFC.TRENDING > Robert Whittaker decisions Jared Cannonier in UFC 254 co-main eventRelated Video > Does Khabib surpass Jon Jones as the pound for pound best fighter after beating Gaethje?(Subscribe toMMAWeekly.com on YouTube)UFC254: Khabib vs. Gaethje resultsUFC 254 Main Card (2 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV)Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Justin Gaethje by technical submission (triangle choke) at 1:34, R2Robert Whittaker def. Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Alexander Volkov def. Walt Harris by TKO (kick and punches) at 1:15, R2Phil Hawes def. Jacob Malkoun by KO (punches) at 0:18, R1Lauren Murphy def. Liliya Shakirova by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:31, R2Magomed Ankalaev def. Ion Cutelaba by KO (punches) at 4:19, R1UFC 254 Preliminary Card (11 a.m. ET on ESPN+)Tai Tuivasa def. Stefan Struve by KO (punches) at 4:59, R1Casey Kenney def. Nathaniel Wood by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)Shavkat Rakhmonov def. Alex Oliveira by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:40, R1Da Un Jung vs.Sam Alvey split draw (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)Miranda Maverick def. Liana Jojua by TKO (doctor's stoppage) at 5:00, R1Joel Alvarez def. Alexander Yakovlev by submission (armbar) at 3:00, R1
Read the original:
I think this cloud computing stock will thrive in the next lockdown - Yahoo Finance UK
WGU Aligns to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Framework to Bolster Workforce Relevance of Cloud Computing Degree – Business Wire
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Western Governors University (WGU) announced the launch of key updates to its Bachelor of Science Cloud Computing (BSCC) degree program built in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS). The degree program is designed to prepare students with the skills they need to succeed in todays economy and meet the demands of employers seeking cloud professionals.
WGUs degree programs are online and competency-based, removing the barriers of time, allowing working learners to study and advance in their degree programs according to their schedules. Students in the BSCC degree program complete their credential on average in 18 months and prepare for industry-recognized certifications that include AWS Certifications along their path to degree.
The technology skills gap has been exacerbated by a lack of innovation in technology education, said Dr. Elke Leeds, Dean and Academic Vice President of WGUs College of Information Technology. WGU has a deep knowledge of the skills that employers are looking for, and we will continue to innovate in our degree programs and future educational offerings by ensuring that our curriculum meets the demands of learners and employers.
WGU collaborated with two AWS education programs, AWS Educate and AWS Academy, to update its BSCC degree program. Team members from AWS Educate assisted WGU program developers to embed cloud-specific learning objectives and hands-on experiences into the program with the intent to ensure alignment with the needs of cloud employers. As an AWS Academy member institution, WGU has also incorporated AWS Academy Cloud Operations into its degree, which is a course developed by AWS experts and delivered by AWS accredited educators. As part of the course, students are also required to pass the AWS Certified SysOps Associate exam.
Western Governors University is a leading innovator in higher education, and we are proud to deepen our collaboration via this new bachelor of science degree in cloud computing, said Josh Weatherly, Director of US Education Vertical Sales and Global Programs at AWS. WGUs competency-based learning model aligns with our belief in the importance of working backward from the skills employers are seeking while also providing the flexibility of remote learning anywhere in the world. We are excited for WGUs cloud computing degree help expand and diversify the cloud workforce of tomorrow.
For more information about WGU and the Bachelor of Science Cloud Computing degree program, visit http://www.wgu.edu/BSCC.
About WGU
Established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, online, nonprofit WGU now serves more than 127,000 students nationwide and has more than 202,000 graduates in all 50 states. Driving innovation as the nations leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. In just 23 years, the university has become a leading influence in changing the lives of individuals and families, and preparing the workforce needed in todays rapidly evolving economy. WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, has been named one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies, and has been featured on NPR, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in The New York Times. Learn more at http://www.wgu.edu.
See original here:
WGU Aligns to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Framework to Bolster Workforce Relevance of Cloud Computing Degree - Business Wire