Category Archives: Cloud Computing
Integrating Network Function Virtualization with the DevOps Pipeline … – Open Source For You
The fourth part of this series on integration of network function virtualization with the DevOps pipeline discusses open source cloud computing platforms in general, and OpenStack in particular.
It is very easy these days to deploy any server and make your service public through the internet. All you have to do is opt for paid hosting infrastructures such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, or any other from the many available. You can choose an internet-based system as per your requirement and thats it your service is online. You dont have to bother about what system is driving your application or how it is being hosted you just pay for the specifications you are using. This new model for providing computing services is called cloud computing.
Theres been a surge in the use of technology in the past decade, and todays applications ask for numerous computing and storage requirements. Since this demand cannot be catered to by in-house infrastructure, many companies are now looking for vendors of cloud services to fulfill this requirement. Other factors pushing their adoption include the reliability and robustness that the cloud provides, and the fact that applications using cloud services experience less downtime. Users dont have to care about where this infrastructure is deployed, because for them everything is available locally through the internet.With the availability of cloud services, organisations can now choose their hardware configurations based on their requirements, operating systems, middleware applications, and other platform-based tools. As the traffic on the application changes, the infrastructure can be easily up scaled or downscaled, while eliminating any cost associated with its internal deployment.
Cloud computing is usually viewed under three stacks of service models. These are: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). SaaS gives the capability to use an application over the cloud environment of a service provider. The application can be used via a web browser. PaaS allows the user to provision, facilitate, and run the applications over the cloud computing environment. In this environment, users need not worry about the infrastructure underneath. Its typically associated with developing and deploying the application and its configurations. IaaS provides its users with computation, networking, and storage resources in the cloud computing environment. The user has control over the operating system, storage, and deployed applications.
The open source community is also making numerous contributions to open source cloud computing projects. These projects are being developed to help deploy the cloud computing solutions and interfaces to manage the infrastructure underneath. An open source cloud promises no vendor lock-in, and endeavours seamless integration of applications deployed over different platforms. The source code is widely available for these cloud projects and adopters can modify it as per their requirements. Today, there is a growing concern about the confidentiality of data of organisations, and in-house open source cloud computing platforms help secure the perimeters of the data. A few common open source cloud computing projects are OpenStack, CloudStack, and OpenNebula.
One of the more popular open source cloud computing projects is OpenStack. It is deployed worldwide as Infrastructure-as-a-Service both in public and private clouds. OpenStack serves virtual machines and other computing resources to its users while abstracting the physical hardware it is deployed on. It controls large pools of resources, which include computation, networking, and storage. These resources are managed via APIs, which can be accessed through the command-line interface or the graphical user interface. OpenStack is well regarded as the operating system for cloud setup. Its features are not limited to the basic services of the cloud platform. It also provides orchestration, fault management, and service management, and ensures high availability for the user applications deployed over it.
Scalability and openness have always been the selling point of OpenStack. However, it has also made a great name in the IT industry and among researchers because of its unique landscape. OpenStack is an amalgam of various components that come together to provide cloud computing services. Its architecture offers plug-and-play scenarios, where components can be included within OpenStack based on users needs. It has a modular architecture (Figure 1) and provides various services such as computing, hardware life cycle, storage, networking, shared services, orchestration, workload provisioning, application life cycle, API proxies, and web front-ends. Basically, OpenStack is designed for administrators and researchers to deploy IaaS infrastructure while providing tools and services to manage virtual machines on top of existing resources.
Compute, networking, block storage, identity, image, object storage, and dashboard comprise major components of OpenStack (Figure 2). All these components collaborate to produce an environment that is viable and reliable for IaaS. The dashboard provides the user interface (UI) to all the other components of the system. Similarly, identity provides authentication (auth) services to all the installed components in the OpenStack cluster. The network section provides networking to the compute of OpenStack. Compute provides volumes to the running instances via block storage and uses the cloud images from object storage.
Compute: Nova is the project associated with the computation component of OpenStack. The main role of Nova is to manage the life cycle of virtual machines, which are initiated by OpenStack users. It is also responsible for managing CPU, memory usage, disk usage, and network interfaces on these virtual machines. Nova runs as a set of daemons on top of existing Linux servers to provide that service.
Networking: Neutron is a software-defined networking (SDN) project of OpenStack that is responsible for delivering networking as a service in virtual computing environments. Neutrons key responsibilities include providing IP addresses to virtual machines, subnets, topologies, and traffic routing. IP address allocation can be both static and dynamic. Users can also configure floating IPs to forward or reroute traffic. Neutron manages all networking facets for the virtual networking infrastructure (VNI) and the access layer aspects of the physical networking infrastructure (PNI) in the OpenStack environment.
Block storage: Cinder handles the block storage devices in OpenStack. It is responsible for providing APIs to users so they can manage and consume block storage on their virtual instances. It provides volumes to Nova virtual machines, ironic bare metal hosts, containers, and more while ensuring high availability, fault tolerance, recoverability, and open standards.Identity: Keystone is responsible for providing API client authentication, service discovery, and distributed multi-tenant authorisation by implementing OpenStacks identity API. It provides role-based access control for OpenStack components.
Image: Image service is provided by project Glance in OpenStack. With this service, users can upload and discover data assets that are meant to be used with other services. This currently includes images and metadata definitions. Glance manages virtual machines disk images, and provides image delivery to virtual machines as well as snapshot (backup) services.
Object storage: Swift in OpenStack provides object-level storage via a RESTful API. Swift is a highly available, distributed, eventually consistent object/blob store. Organisations can use it to store lots of data efficiently, safely, and cheaply.
Dashboard: The Horizon project provides administrators with a graphical user interface to administer OpenStack and its various components. Horizon is the canonical implementation of OpenStacks dashboard, which provides a web-based user interface to OpenStack services including Nova, Swift, Keystone, etc.
OpenStack is a combination of various systems and separately installed components. These services connect via APIs and provide users with useful resources like computing, networking, and storage. You can either install OpenStack via a script or individually install its various components.
DevStack: DevStack is an Ubuntu-based minimal installation of OpenStack. It follows a certain template and installs all the components and services. The installation given here is for the OpenStack experience and the development environment.
The local installation was done on an Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS virtual machine, with 4 CPUs, 12GB of memory, and 150GB of storage.
First, lets update and upgrade our target platform:
We create a stack user who will be responsible for handling all the DevStack services on the created virtual machine. DevStack services should be run as a non-root user with sudo permissions. The following commands create a stack user with the appropriate permissions:
Well clone the DevStack repository and change the directory accordingly:
In the devstack directory, well have to make changes in the local.conf file and add passwords to the various services in DevStack:
And thats it; you have successfully configured DevStack. Its time to install the services, and run the following command:
Figure 3 showcases all the successful installations of DevStack and its various default services. The IP address can be used to visit the dashboard of DevStack. The figure also prompts the password and default users created.
Figure 4 shows the login page of the DevStack the user name and passwords can be obtained from the end of the installation script. The login page is produced by the Horizon service in OpenStack.
Figure 5 shows the default dashboard of OpenStack. The dashboard is produced via the Horizon component, where all the other services of OpenStack communicate their metadata, which is published on the dashboard. The Overview showcases the limited summaries of Compute, Volume, and Network. A default network and its related components are created by DevStack on installation.
Manual installation: Manual installation is a bit more complicated than the DevStack installation. Here, you have to individually handle the network and configurations on multiple nodes Compute, Controller and Block. Many services such as Etcd, Memcache, MySQL, and RabbitMQ are installed and configured to work on all the nodes. After the installation of basic services, all the OpenStack components are installed such as Identity, Glance, Neutron, Nova, and more.
The installation procedure is quite complex and involves a plethora of steps. The complete installation instructions are kept in the GitHub repository, and the link for the same can be found at https://github.com/shubhamaggarwal890/nginx-vod/blob/master/OpenStack-Manual.md.
Figure 6 shows the login page of the Ubuntu-based OpenStack; the user name, password, and domain are set by the administrator during the installation process. The login page is produced by Horizon service in OpenStack.
Figure 7 shows the default dashboard of OpenStack produced by the Horizon component. Here, all the other services of OpenStack communicate their metadata and it is published on the dashboard. Since in our installation of OpenStack we didnt install the Cinder component, which is responsible for storing the metadata of all the other components, the limited summaries of Compute, Volumes, and Network are not visible.
Figure 8 shows all the installed services contributing to the OpenStack system. Every service exposes endpoint APIs, which can be invoked by admin, internally and publically.
Figure 9 shows all the hypervisors attached to the OpenStack cluster. In the produced cluster, we went with one Compute node with type Quick Emulator (QEMU). The Hypervisor summary also shows the VCPUs used, along with other details such as RAM and storage size.
Figure 10 shows all the compute services running on their respective host nodes. The columns further detail the status and the current state of these services. The zone is the logical partition of the services.
One can argue that DevStack is easier to install than the manual installation of each service in OpenStack, as it handles all the components and their communication through an extensible script, bringing up the OpenStack environment in no time. But this type of installation has its own limitations. The DevStack environment cannot be tailored as per the administrators requirements. Moreover, DevStack is only for developer-based environments; such a cluster cannot and should not be deployed over production systems. To enable distributed systems and their communication, one must go for manual installation of OpenStack.
We saw that OpenStack abstracts most of the network functions, where we can deploy various networking functionalities through its dashboard or via the call of APIs. Traditionally, the setup of such an infrastructure would require the use of plenty of proprietary hardware. But today thats not the case, because with software-defined networking, all these networking functionalities have been virtualised as software.
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Integrating Network Function Virtualization with the DevOps Pipeline ... - Open Source For You
DaaS In Cloud Computing: Benefits And Risks – Dataconomy
DaaS in cloud computing has revolutionized the way organizations approach desktop management and user experience, ushering in a new era of flexibility, scalability, and efficiency. DaaS transcends the limitations of traditional desktop infrastructures, offering a seamless and immersive virtual desktop experience accessible from anywhere, at any time, on any device. Whether its a bustling metropolis or a remote corner of the world, DaaS empowers users to unlock their full productivity potential, untethered by the constraints of physical workstations. As the demand for remote work, mobility, and collaboration intensifies, DaaS in cloud computing emerges as a transformative force, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and paving the path to a future where the desktop is no longer confined to a desk, but becomes an ethereal gateway to boundless possibilities.
Desktop as a Service is a cloud computing model that delivers virtual desktop environments to end-users over the internet. It provides a complete desktop experience, including the operating system, applications, and data, all hosted and managed in the cloud. With DaaS, users can access their virtual desktops from any device with an internet connection, allowing for increased mobility and flexibility.
In the DaaS model, the desktop infrastructure is hosted and maintained by a cloud service provider. This eliminates the need for organizations to manage and maintain their own physical desktop hardware and infrastructure. Instead, businesses can subscribe to a DaaS service and pay for the resources they need on a usage basis.
The primary purpose of Desktop as a Service is to provide a cloud-based solution for delivering virtual desktop environments to end-users. DaaS aims to decouple the desktop infrastructure from physical hardware by hosting and managing virtual desktops in the cloud. This architectural shift allows businesses to achieve greater flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency in their desktop management approach.
From a technical standpoint, DaaS serves to abstract the complexities of desktop provisioning, maintenance, and management by centralizing these tasks in the cloud. It leverages virtualization technologies and remote display protocols to deliver a rich desktop experience to end-users, regardless of their location or the device they are using. By encapsulating the entire desktop stack, including the operating system, applications, and data, within a virtual instance, DaaS enables seamless access and collaboration, improved disaster recovery capabilities, and enhanced security controls.
There are primarily two different types of Desktop as a Service models: multi-tenancy DaaS and single-tenancy DaaS.
Both multi-tenancy and single-tenancy DaaS models offer benefits and considerations depending on the specific needs of an organization. Organizations should evaluate their requirements, budget, security concerns, and customization needs to determine which type of DaaS model aligns best with their business objectives.
Yes, Desktop as a Service is a specific type of Software as a Service (SaaS). While SaaS is a broad category encompassing various cloud-based software applications delivered over the internet, DaaS specifically refers to the delivery of virtual desktop environments as a service.
SaaS refers to the model where software applications are hosted and provided by a service provider to end-users over the internet. Users access these applications through web browsers or specialized client software, eliminating the need for local installation and maintenance.
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The main difference between Software as a Service (SaaS) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) lies in the nature of the services they provide:
DaaS, on the other hand, is specifically designed to deliver complete virtual desktop environments. It includes the operating system, applications, and user data, all hosted and managed in the cloud. DaaS enables users to access their desktops remotely from any device with an internet connection, providing a full desktop experience.
DaaS, in contrast, provides an entire desktop experience. It includes the operating system and allows users to access a virtual desktop environment that mimics a traditional local desktop. Users can run multiple applications, customize their desktop settings, and perform tasks similar to what they would do on a physical desktop.
DaaS, on the other hand, requires a more complex infrastructure to host and manage complete desktop environments. It includes virtualization technologies, remote display protocols, and storage systems to deliver the desktop experience to end-users. DaaS infrastructure needs to handle not only application delivery but also the complexities of operating systems, user profiles, data storage, and access controls.
One example of Desktop as a Service is Amazon WorkSpaces, provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed DaaS solution that allows users to access their virtual desktops securely from anywhere using various devices.
With Amazon WorkSpaces, organizations can provision and manage virtual desktops in the cloud, eliminating the need for on-premises infrastructure and maintenance. Users can access their virtual desktops through a web browser or the Amazon WorkSpaces client application, enabling a consistent desktop experience across different devices.
Amazon WorkSpaces offers a range of features, including customizable hardware configurations, persistent user profiles, and integration with other AWS services for seamless data storage and management. It provides security controls such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, and network isolation to protect sensitive data and ensure compliance.
DaaS empowers organizations to unlock the value of their data without the need for extensive infrastructure investments or specialized expertise. In this section, we will explore the benefits that DaaS brings to the table.
DaaS in cloud computing offers exceptional scalability and flexibility. With DaaS, businesses can easily scale up or down their desktop infrastructure based on their needs, without worrying about the underlying hardware limitations. The cloud provides the necessary resources to accommodate increased workloads or expanding teams, ensuring seamless operations and user satisfaction. Whether an organization needs to add new users, upgrade software, or allocate additional storage, DaaS in cloud computing allows for quick and efficient adjustments.
This scalability and flexibility eliminate the need for manual hardware upgrades, reducing costs and administrative burden. By leveraging the cloud, businesses can easily adapt to changing requirements and focus on their core operations, while enjoying the benefits of a dynamic and responsive desktop infrastructure.
DaaS in cloud computing offers significant cost savings compared to traditional desktop infrastructures. Instead of investing heavily in on-premises hardware, businesses can opt for a subscription-based model where they pay only for the resources they need. This eliminates the upfront capital expenditure associated with purchasing and maintaining physical infrastructure. Moreover, DaaS reduces ongoing operational costs by eliminating the need for IT staff to manage hardware, perform updates, or troubleshoot issues.
With cloud-based desktops, businesses can also benefit from centralized management, enabling efficient resource allocation and reducing wastage. The pay-as-you-go model of DaaS allows organizations to align costs with actual usage, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes.
Security is a critical concern for businesses, and DaaS in cloud computing addresses this issue comprehensively. Cloud service providers implement robust security measures to protect desktops and data. These include data encryption, access controls, regular backups, and disaster recovery options.
By leveraging the cloud, businesses can ensure that their desktop infrastructure is hosted in secure environments with round-the-clock monitoring and advanced threat detection systems. DaaS also reduces the risk of data loss or theft due to physical damage or theft of hardware devices. Centralized data storage and backup mechanisms in the cloud provide an added layer of protection against potential data breaches or system failures, providing peace of mind for businesses.
DaaS in cloud computing enables enhanced accessibility and collaboration among users. Desktops hosted in the cloud can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, allowing employees to work remotely or access their workspaces on the go. This flexibility promotes productivity, as users can easily access their personalized desktop environments from various locations and devices.
Additionally, DaaS facilitates seamless collaboration among geographically dispersed teams. Multiple users can access and work on the same virtual desktop simultaneously, enabling real-time collaboration and reducing the need for file transfers or version control issues. These capabilities empower businesses to embrace remote work policies and foster a more collaborative and agile work environment.
DaaS in cloud computing simplifies IT management and maintenance tasks. Rather than dealing with complex hardware and software configurations, businesses can offload the responsibility to cloud service providers. DaaS providers handle backend operations such as software updates, security patches, and system maintenance, ensuring that desktop environments are up to date and running smoothly.
This reduces the burden on internal IT teams, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives and core business functions. Additionally, DaaS provides centralized management tools that enable administrators to easily provision, monitor, and manage desktops from a single interface. This simplifies tasks such as user onboarding, resource allocation, and troubleshooting, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing IT overhead.
DaaS in cloud computing offers increased mobility and device independence for users. Since desktop environments are hosted in the cloud, employees can access their virtual desktops from a wide range of devices, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This mobility allows for greater flexibility in work practices, enabling employees to be productive from any location and on any device.
Moreover, device independence means that users are not tied to a specific device or operating system. They can seamlessly switch between devices without any loss of data or functionality, providing a consistent and personalized desktop experience. DaaS in cloud computing empowers organizations to embrace the growing trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, promoting employee satisfaction and work-life balance.
Deploying traditional desktop infrastructures can be a time-consuming process that involves procuring hardware, installing software, and configuring systems. DaaS in cloud computing eliminates these complexities and enables rapid deployment of desktop environments. With cloud-based desktops, businesses can provision new desktops and applications within minutes, significantly reducing the time-to-value.
This agility is especially beneficial in scenarios where businesses need to onboard new employees quickly or scale up operations to meet growing demands. By leveraging the cloud, organizations can accelerate their time-to-market, gain a competitive edge, and respond swiftly to business opportunities. DaaS in cloud computing streamlines the deployment process, allowing businesses to focus on their core activities and achieve faster results.
Ensuring business continuity and recovering from unexpected disruptions are crucial for organizations. DaaS in cloud computing offers robust disaster recovery capabilities that help businesses quickly resume their operations in the event of a disaster or system failure. Cloud service providers implement backup and replication mechanisms to safeguard desktop environments and data.
In case of a hardware failure or natural disaster, businesses can easily restore desktops and access their critical applications and data from alternate locations. This resilience provides peace of mind and minimizes downtime, ensuring that employees can continue working without significant disruptions. DaaS in cloud computing offers a reliable and cost-effective solution for disaster recovery, allowing businesses to protect their operations and maintain high levels of productivity.
Managing software licenses can be a complex and time-consuming task for businesses. DaaS in cloud computing simplifies software management by providing centralized control and licensing options. With cloud-based desktops, businesses can easily provision and manage software applications for their users from a single platform.
This centralized approach streamlines license allocation, updates, and compliance monitoring. It eliminates the need for individual installations and license management on each desktop, saving time and reducing administrative overhead. Additionally, cloud service providers often offer flexible licensing models, allowing businesses to scale up or down their software usage based on their needs. This flexibility ensures cost optimization and helps organizations stay compliant with software licensing agreements.
DaaS in cloud computing offers improved performance and user experience compared to traditional desktop infrastructures. By leveraging the clouds robust infrastructure, businesses can provide users with high-performance virtual desktops that are responsive and capable of handling resource-intensive applications.
Cloud service providers optimize their environments to deliver low-latency, high-bandwidth connections, ensuring smooth and efficient desktop interactions. Users can access their desktops quickly, launch applications seamlessly, and experience minimal lag or downtime. Moreover, DaaS allows for personalized desktop configurations, enabling users to customize their environments according to their preferences and work requirements. This level of performance and customization enhances user satisfaction, productivity, and overall work efficiency.
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In a symphony of cloud-based innovation, the harmonious union of DaaS in cloud computing resonates with transformative power, orchestrating a grand finale to traditional desktop limitations. Like a maestro leading an ensemble, DaaS takes center stage, unlocking a symphony of flexibility, efficiency, and seamless user experiences. It conducts a melodious blend of mobility, scalability, and security, captivating businesses with its captivating performance.
With DaaS as the virtuoso, the limitations of physical workstations are swept away, and the digital realm becomes an enchanted landscape of boundless possibilities. Like a painters brush on a canvas, DaaS paints a masterpiece of improved productivity, simplified management, and liberated collaboration. It erases geographic boundaries, allowing teams to dance together across continents and time zones, their movements perfectly synchronized.
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DaaS In Cloud Computing: Benefits And Risks - Dataconomy
BASF strengthens R&D with more powerful supercomputer – BASF
BASF has started up a new supercomputer at its Ludwigshafen site to replace the existing one. With 3 petaflops of computing power, the new supercomputer is considerably more powerful than its 1.75 petaflop predecessor.
Digital technologies are among the most important instruments to further expand our research and development capabilities, said Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner, member of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer of BASF. As one example, she noted that above-average computing power is required these days to work out the most promising polymer structures from thousands of possibilities. Over the past five years, we have worked very successfully worldwide with our supercomputer Quriosity. It enabled us to considerably shorten the development time for innovative molecules and chemical compounds and thus accelerate the market launch of new products, Maas-Brunner said. But the computing capacity was no longer sufficient. Moreover, the complexity of our research projects and thus the demands on the supercomputer have increased. We therefore decided to invest in a new high-performance computer.
The new supercomputer was manufactured by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and works with AMD processors (CPUs). It has an innovative cooling concept based on warm-water cooling. The system absorbs the heat directly where it is generated in the supercomputer and transports it away, which significantly reduces the energy required and therefore the operating costs. The new BASF supercomputer, named Quriosity like its predecessor, is the worlds largest supercomputer used in industrial chemical research. The previous supercomputer will be refurbished by HPE, with a recovery rate of more than 95 percent.
BASF also relies on additional cloud computing power when needed
In addition to its own on-site supercomputer, BASF also plans to use cloud computing power. This hybrid solution offers us the best possible technical and operational flexibility, said Maas-Brunner. It allows us to handle requests requiring exceptionally large processing power as well as work on special tasks that our own supercomputer is not designed for.
Supercomputer enables fundamentally new research approaches
As a digital tool, the supercomputer is an enormous timesaver. Calculations that would have taken around a year in the past can be carried out by a supercomputer in just a few days. This has not only reduced product development times: We were able to identify and utilize previously hidden connections to drive completely new research approaches, said Maas-Brunner. Modeling, virtual experiments and simulations are becoming increasingly complex and require more computing power. With the new supercomputer, which is approximately twice as fast, we can now provide our researchers with the necessary computing power.
Entire company using Quriosity since 2017
The Quriosity supercomputer has been deployed at BASF since 2017. Since then, it has carried out an average of 20,000 tasks per day and is used by more than 400 employees worldwide. In the personal care business area, for example, the supercomputers complex simulations help researchers to better understand the composition of personal care products and more precisely predict which cosmetic ingredients harmonize optimally together to achieve the desired effect. Simulations also help to plan and optimize reaction processes. For example, the distribution of substances and the temperature in a reactor can be simulated and this information can be used to continuously improve production. At an early development stage for crop protection products, using molecular modeling the supercomputer can quickly identify suitable compounds which will be effective and environmentally sound. However, the supercomputer is also used in projects outside of research and development. It helps, for example, to optimize the fluid dynamics of plant components in production operations.
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BASF strengthens R&D with more powerful supercomputer - BASF
Alibaba approves cloud computing unit spin-off, prepares for grocery and logistics arms to go public – Yahoo Finance
HONG KONG (AP) Alibaba plans to spin-off of its cloud computing business and said Thursday that its logistics and grocery units will explore initial public offerings as the Chinese e-commerce company kickstarts a restructuring of its operations in hopes of spurring growth.
The company in March announced plans to reshape itself into six business divisions with plans to allow all but its core e-commerce business to raise external capital and go public.
In an earnings call Thursday, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said that the Alibaba plans to fully spin off its cloud computing unit and complete a public listing in the next 12 months, allowing it to optimize operations, Zhang said.
Alibabas board of directors approved the full spin-off of the cloud computing unit via a stock dividend distribution to shareholders, the company said.
Zhang also said that Freshippo, its groceries arm, as well as logistics arm Cainiao, are ready to go public.
Alibabas board has approved plans to begin Freshippos IPO process and Cainiao will explore an IPO in the next 12 to 18 months, he said.
Other units such as Alibabas international digital commerce group, which operates Singapore-based e-commerce platform Lazada, will also explore raising external capital as it seeks to expand globally.
Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday posted a lower-than-expected 2% rise in revenue for the quarter ended March, suggesting that spending has been slow to bounce back in China since the removal of COVID-19 restrictions amid slowing economic growth.
The company reported revenues of 208.2 billion yuan ($29.6 billion) for its March quarter. It also reversed losses from the same quarter last year, posting a net income of 23.5 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) due to one-off gains from its equity investments.
Revenue from its China commerce business Alibabas largest business unit by revenue declined 3% compared with the same period last year. Its cloud computing unit also declined 2% in revenue.
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Alibaba approves cloud computing unit spin-off, prepares for grocery and logistics arms to go public - Yahoo Finance
Public cloud contribution to UAE could reach $181bn by 2033 – Trade Arabia
UAE can unlock $181 billion or 2.5% of the its cumulative GDP in additional economic value over the next decade (2023-2033) by accelerating adoption of cloud, says Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a new report.
The study, performed by Telecom Advisory Services, and directed by Raul Katz, Director of Business Strategy Research at the Columbia Institute for Tele-information (Columbia Business School), provides a cutting-edge econometrical method for calculating the aggregate productivity gains realised by economies that adopt cloud computing. It extends previous economic research focused on firm-level productivity by establishing cloud adoption as a driver of national productivity and economic growth.
Unleashing economic power of cloud computing
In 2021, public cloud adoption made a significant impact on the UAE's economy. According to the report, it contributed 2.26% to the countrys GDP, generating an economic value of $9.5 billion, the largest public cloud contribution to GDP in the region. This "productivity" effect is in addition to the "construction" effect of building and operating cloud infrastructures in the UAE, which, in the case of AWS UAE Region, are projected to contribute $11.2 billion to the UAE economy by 2036 and support nearly 6,000 full-time equivalent jobs annually.
In the Mena, the UAE is where cloud adoption is driving the most economic growth in terms of spillovers. The report finds that a 1% increase in cloud adoption by UAE organisations will result in a 0.21% (854.7 million) average GDP growth, which is three times the Mena average and the highest in the region.
Over 91% of this impact, can be attributed to the national productivity gains or so-called spillover effects on the economy, while the remainder (9%) is driven by cloud spending from UAE public and private organisations. As an economic stimulant, cloud computing is 17% more effective in the UAE than mobile broadband.
Tremendous opportunity
Yasser Hassan, Managing Director, Commercial Sector, MenaT at AWS, said: "The findings of our report highlight the tremendous opportunity for the UAE to accelerate economic growth and position the country as an attractive and influential economic hub, in line with the government's We the UAE 2031 vision launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. As cloud computing continues to gain momentum, it is imperative for the UAE to continue to support cloud adoption and develop a skilled workforce to enhance the country's competitiveness on a global scale. With the support of AWS, the UAE can accelerate its digital transformation and unlock new opportunities for economic growth and social development."
The study demonstrates that the economic impact of cloud computing is guided by returns to scale, - greater adoption of cloud computing will lead to proportionally greater productivity gains and economic impact.
The UAE has ambitious plans to diversify its economies through digitisation. In 2021, 43% of organisations in the UAE region adopted cloud computing, versus 49% in Western Europe and North America. With the government's focus on digital transformation, it is well-positioned to become a hub for cloud computing in the region.
Increased efficiency
The widespread adoption of cloud has already led to increased efficiency, cost savings, and job creation in various industries. As more businesses and organisations continue to migrate to the cloud, the economic benefits are expected to grow even further, added Yasser.
The report identifies four key advantages of cloud computing: First, it enhances business efficiency and effectiveness, streamlining processes and improving outcomes; second, it offers access to a wide range of services, enabling businesses to leverage advanced technologies; third, it boosts productivity by facilitating collaboration, mobility, and agility within the workforce; fourth, cloud computing promotes environmental sustainability by reducing carbon emissions per unit of data transmitted.-- TradeArabia News Service
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Public cloud contribution to UAE could reach $181bn by 2033 - Trade Arabia
Women at Suncorp skill up with cloud training program – IT Brief Australia
Over 700 women at Suncorp Group will lead the charge in addressing Australias technology skills shortage, taking part in a cloud technology in-house training program.
Increasing digital transformation across all sectors in Australia has increased the demand for highly skilled technology workers with digital and cloud expertise.
Delivered in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the AWS CloudUp for Her Cloud Practitioner, is a flexible, eight-week, community-based learning program for women to learn the basics of cloud computing.
No technical or IT experience is required to start, making it suitable for any type of role at any level. Suncorp Group says it can also be an entry point for deeper technical certifications.
Adam Bennett,Chief Information Officer at Suncorp, says the program is tackling misconceptions about tech roles and breaking down perceived barriers to careers in tech.
Cloud computing is the way of the future, and as an early adopter, we know that cloud computing can enable our Suncorp team to offer more innovative, digital insurance solutions for our customers; at lower cost and increased agility, says Mr Bennet.
We are blown away by the response, which has seen 1 in 12 of our female employees put their hand up to participate in the first cohort.
Even more impressive is that around 70% come from non-technology roles as our people look to build basic cloud knowledge, future-proof their skills and potentially create new career pathways.
We recognise our talent is our competitive advantage, so this is not only an investment in them and their careers, but helping shape our workforce of the future, Mr Bennet says.
A recent AWS and Gallup study identified that 65% of Australian workers with advanced digital skills expressed higher levels of job satisfaction, earned 24% higher annual salaries, and increased their opportunities for promotion by 32%.
Suncorp and AWS have worked together for the past decade on the insurers migration to the cloud for its mission-critical apps, including its customer apps and pricing engine.
Through Suncorps cloud strategy, the company has committed to exit owned or leased data centres by early 2024, migrating 90% of its workloads to the cloud.
This transformation is expected to enable faster service updates, boost security and risk management capabilities, increase cost efficiencies, create a more agile and resilient architecture, and enhance opportunities for innovation, resulting in more positive customer experiences.
Rianne Van Veldhuizen, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, AWS, says: We have worked together with Suncorp to unlock the power of AWS to accelerate digital transformation and growth, enabling them to meet and exceed the constantly-changing and high demands that its customers are expecting.
To continue this modernisation journey, Suncorp will need employees with the right cloud skills to help the organisation innovate.
Its inspiring to see many women at Suncorp eager to start and continue their cloud learning journey.
Were committed to building and bringing a diverse pipeline of talent into the cloud workforce, and Suncorps implementation of the AWS CloudUp for Her Cloud Practitioner is a great step towards this goal, says Ms Van Veldhuizen.
Lori Richardson, a project manager from Brisbane taking part in the program, says the program has opened new doors for her regarding career options.
Ive already learned so much and can see how this knowledge will benefit my current role. Im learning the language, which will help me build credibility with my stakeholders."
But I also see this as a great entry point to think about what possibilities there might be for me in this field down the track," says Richardson.
The Australian Government has also pledged to address the growing IT skills shortage and aims to have 1.2 million technology-related jobs by 2030.
Read the rest here:
Women at Suncorp skill up with cloud training program - IT Brief Australia
Oracle almost missed the bus on cloud. Can a late charge help it catch up with AWS, Azure, et al.? – Economic Times
Oracle Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer, Larry Ellison, delivers a keynote address during the 2014 Oracle Open World conference.
Synopsis
12 mins read, Last Updated: May 24, 2023, 04:04 PM IST
Oracle Corp was late to the cloud party because its mercurial founder Larry Ellison thought cloud computing was complete gibberish. That led to a multi-year delay before the company had a radical rethink and launched Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) products in 2016.The late start clearly shows in the cloud providers pecking order. The USD500 billion cloud market is led by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform
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Excerpt from:
Oracle almost missed the bus on cloud. Can a late charge help it catch up with AWS, Azure, et al.? - Economic Times
Global Edge Computing Technology Market Report 2023: Increasing Usage of 5G Network to Deliver Instant Communication Experiences Presents…
Company Logo
Global Edge Computing Technology Market Market
Global Edge Computing Technology Market Market
Dublin, May 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Edge Computing Technology Market: Trends and Forecast to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
This report studies the global as well as regional markets for edge computing technologies, identifying newer markets and exploring the expansion of the current application market for various end-users.
A realistic five-year forecast has been made for the future global markets for different types of components in edge computing. The end uses for edge computing are discussed to establish global as well as regional usage. A future forecast has been made for all end-user industries.
Before the concept of a centralized data processing architecture dependent on a cloud data center, much of the processing occurred locally. This method was more expensive and less flexible than cloud computing, but local processing provided faster response time and more computing power close to the application, enabling solid performance.
With the move to cloud computing, most of the processing occurs at the data center, requiring the data to traverse multiple network interconnection points. These hops between internet nodes and gateways can lead to significant bottlenecks that increase latency, delaying application performance.
As the current generation of applications, including big data analytics, cognitive computing, and the Internet of Things, requires high bandwidth and low latency, the cloud model is causing performance degradation. Edge computing uses a new architecture to stage processing for part of the application workload closer to the user. Enabled by cloud technologies, edge computing provides local scaled-down network nodes and mini-data centers that can be deployed within a distributed infrastructure. The goal is to improve application performance without incurring the cost and inflexibility of local processing.
The market drivers of edge computing are creating new installations of software, hardware, and network technologies at the edge of the network, resulting in a market of nearly $41.4 billion in 2021, growing to $124.7 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 21.9% during the period 2022-2027.
In terms of industry, the healthcare and life sciences segment is expected to see significant growth in the edge computing market, driven by the need for real-time data processing and analysis in areas such as remote patient monitoring and telemedicine. The manufacturing industry is also expected to be a major contributor to the growth of the edge computing market, as companies look for ways to improve their supply chain management and manufacturing processes.
In terms of geographical regions, North America is currently the largest market for edge computing, with the U.S. accounting for most of the market share. North America leads the edge computing market with a nearly $18.6 billion segment value in 2021 and a CAGR of 22.4%. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to see the highest growth over the next few years, driven by the increasing adoption of IoT devices and the rollout of 5G networks in countries such as China and South Korea. The Asia-Pacific has invested in edge computing and is quickly picking up the pace with a CAGR of 24.8% to achieve $27.8 billion by 2027. Coinciding with the adoption of software-defined technologies, edge computing in Asia is advancing ahead of Europe.
Overall, the edge computing market is experiencing strong growth and is expected to continue to expand rapidly in the coming years as more businesses adopt edge computing technologies to improve their data processing and analysis capabilities.
Story continues
Market Dynamics
Market Drivers
Rising Demand for Low-Latency Processing and Real-Time Automated Decision-Making Solutions
Rapid Growth in the Consumer Electronics Sector
Growing Adoption of the Internet of Things (Iot)
Increasing Demand for Video Analytics
Market Restraints
Market Challenges
Market Opportunities
Increasing Usage of 5G Network to Deliver Instant Communication Experiences
The Emergence of Autonomous Vehicles and Connected Car Infrastructure
Growing Demand for Edge-As-A-Service (EaaS)
Report Includes
An updated overview and in-depth analysis of the global markets for edge computing technologies
Analyses of the global market trends, with historical market revenue data (sales figures) for 2021, estimates for 2022, forecasts for 2023, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2027
Discussion of industry growth driving factors and major technology issues and challenges affecting the market for edge computing technologies as a basis for projecting demand in the next few years (2022-2027)
Estimation of the actual market size and revenue forecast for global edge computing market, and corresponding market share analysis by business segment, provider type, end-use industry, and region
Updated information on recent market dynamics, industry shifts and regulations, and the impact of Covid-19 and other macroeconomic variables that will influence this market over the analysis period
Analysis of market opportunities with a holistic review of Porter's five forces analysis and value chain analysis considering both micro
and macro environmental factors prevailing in the market
Review of key granted patents and patents published on edge computing technologies by Mar 2023
A look at the major growth strategies adopted by leading players operating in the edge computing industry, along with their recent developments, strategic alliances, and competitive benchmarking
Identification of the major stakeholders and analysis of the competitive landscape based on recent developments and segmental revenues
Key Attributes:
Report Attribute
Details
No. of Pages
180
Forecast Period
2022 - 2027
Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022
$46.3 Billion
Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2027
$124.7 Billion
Compound Annual Growth Rate
21.9%
Regions Covered
Global
Key Topics Covered:
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Summary and Highlights
Chapter 3 Market and Technology Background
Chapter 4 Market Dynamics
Chapter 5 Market Breakdown by Business Segment
Chapter 6 Market Breakdown by Industry
Chapter 7 Market Breakdown by Region
Introduction
North American Market Outlook
European Market Outlook
Asia-Pacific Market Outlook
Rest of the World (Row) Market Outlook
Chapter 8 Patent Analysis
Chapter 9 Competitive Landscape
Chapter 10 M&A and Funding Outlook
Chapter 11 Company Profiles
Companies Mentioned
Alphabet Inc.
Amazon.Com Inc.
Barracuda Networks Inc.
Capgemini Se
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Dell Technologies Inc.
Edgeiq
Ekinops Sa
Fortinet Inc.
Fujitsu Ltd.
General Electric Co.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.
Honeywell International Inc.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
International Business Machines Corp.
Intel Corp.
Juniper Networks Inc.
Litmus Automation
Microsoft Corp.
Oracle Corp.
Rockwell Automation Inc.
Sap Se
Siemens AG
Vmware Inc.
Western Digital Corp.
Emerging Start-Ups in the Edge Computing Industry
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/cvkym8
About ResearchAndMarkets.comResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
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Continued here:
Global Edge Computing Technology Market Report 2023: Increasing Usage of 5G Network to Deliver Instant Communication Experiences Presents...
Dow futures slip as Fitch places United States’ AAA rating on negative watch: Live updates – CNBC
An Hour Ago
European stocks extended the previous session's sharp losses early Thursday, with the Stoxx 600 index 0.13% lower.
Sectors were mixed, with technology 1.65% higher but few other gains. Media and retail stocks led losses, both down around 1.2%.
Germany's DAX fell 0.4% after statistics showed the country entered a technical recession in the first quarter. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 lost 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.
See Chart...
Stoxx 600 index.
6 Hours Ago
Reserve Bank of New Zealand's governor Adrian Orr said the current interest rate of 5.5% will be "sufficiently restrictive" to bring down the country's inflation to its target of 1-3%.
The central bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.5% while indicating that rates will be on hold at the current rate.
Reuters added that the central bank signaled that the RBNZ's rate hikes are done with its hiking cycle.
Orr told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia," explained that "central banks will never say [they're] done."
"What we're saying is our projection ahead is for a very flat 5.50% Official Cash Rate for the foreseeable future. But we retain options," Orr said.
He said that New Zealand's inflation expectations and economic growth is slowing, and "that gives us confidence that we can watch worry and wait, hopefully, and achieve our inflation target."
Despite the country's inflation rate standing at 6.7% in March, Orr predicts that inflation will reach 3% by the middle of 2024, and then to 2% by the middle of 2025.
"From now on, we hope to see headline CPI inflation to continue to fall and the economy achieve a relatively soft landing, although it probably won't feel like that for most people, because we like to spend," he quips.
Lim Hui Jie
8 Hours Ago
The Bank of Korea is expected to start cutting its benchmark interest rate early next year, Deutsche Bank's head of APAC Economic Research Juliana Lee said.
Lee added that she expects the central bank's policy pivot to come in tandem with the U.S. Federal Reserve.
"There are some signs that it's (exports) have hit the bottom in terms of contraction, but in terms of the rebound, we're not expecting until the fourth quarter, hence why we have a more bearish view" for growth than the central bank, Lee told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."
Lee added that she expects the South Korean won to remain widely unchanged until the central bank starts cutting rates.
Jihye Lee
8 Hours Ago
The Bank of Korea held its benchmark interest rate for the third consecutive time at 3.50% on Thursday.
The decision was in line with a consensus forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters that expected the central bank to pause.
The central bank governor earlier this month told CNBC that it was 'premature' to be discussing a rate cut, citing inflation rates in the nation that are still above the Bank of Korea's target of 2%.
South Korea is slated to release its consumer price index for May next Friday.
10 Hours Ago
Dow futures briefly slipped by about 100 points, or 0.3%, around 6:40 p.m. ET.
Top losers in the index include Cisco Systems, which fell 0.95%, and Intel, which dropped 0.9%.
Prior to the action, Fitch placed the United States' AAA rating on negative watch, citing debt ceiling brinksmanship around the debt ceiling negotiations and the approaching X-date, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said could be as early as June 1.
-Darla Mercado
11 Hours Ago
Check out the companies making headlines after hours.
Read the full story here.
Sarah Min
11 Hours Ago
Based on extended trading Wednesday, Nvidia's market cap neared $1 trillion after its strong earnings report.
The AI beneficiary hit $975 billion, adding $220 billion during the after-hours trading session. That's about the entire market cap of Advanced Micro Devices alone. As of Wednesday's close, AMD's market cap was $174 billion. Meanwhile, Salesforce is worth $209 billion.
Investors should be aware that even though Nvidia shares surged 26% in after-hours trading, there is no guarantee that those gains will carry into regular trading Thursday morning and result in a real market cap of that magnitude.
For Nvidia, the earnings beat was its biggest since May 2018, and its biggest revenue beat since November 2017.
See Chart...
Nvidia shares 1-day
Robert Hum, Sarah Min
11 Hours Ago
Nasdaq 100 futures rallied Wednesday night after a strong earnings beat from Nvidia.
Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.7%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.66%.
Sarah Min
Read the original post:
Dow futures slip as Fitch places United States' AAA rating on negative watch: Live updates - CNBC
Clore.ai Introduces Secure Cloud: Unprecedented Affordability and … – Digital Journal
PRESS RELEASE
Published May 18, 2023
KASTANOVA, CZECH REPUBLIC / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2023 / Clore.ai, an innovative six-month-old platform disrupting the tech industry by enabling individuals to rent out their computing resources, today announced the launch of its groundbreaking Secure Cloud system. Offering unprecedented access to top-performing video cards like the 3090 for as low as $0.25 per hour, Secure Cloud is set to redefine the cloud computing landscape.
Secure Cloud emerges from Clore.ai's strategic acquisition of a European data center, enhancing the firm's capabilities in the cloud computing sector. The system offers users high-end computing at an unparalleled price, complete anonymity, and an ultra-stable computing environment.
"Clore.ai is committed to democratizing access to high-quality computing resources," said a spokesperson for Clore.ai. "Secure Cloud is a major milestone in our mission, providing our users with unmatched stability, unbeatable pricing, and the flexibility to manage their computational needs."
Clore.ai stands apart with its unique benefit for Clore Coin holders. Users who acquire Clore Coin and engage in Proof of Holding - a staking system where coins are held in the user's personal wallet - can enjoy up to a 50% discount on service commissions. This feature enhances the affordability and appeal of Secure Cloud, making it even more accessible to a broader range of users.
Moreover, individuals who rent out their computing resources through Clore.ai are rewarded with bonuses in the form of Clore Coin, further incentivizing participation in this growing ecosystem.
Secure Cloud also guarantees the highest level of user anonymity and system stability. Users can rely on Secure Cloud for high-intensity computing needs, such as training neural networks or mining new cryptocurrencies, without concerns about system downtime or interruptions.
"Clore.ai's Secure Cloud is set to revolutionize the traditional cloud computing market," added the company spokesperson. "We are thrilled to see how this system empowers our users and reshapes the cloud computing landscape."
About Clore.ai:
Despite being just six months old, Clore.ai has already disrupted the tech industry by enabling users to rent out their computing resources. With the launch of Secure Cloud, Clore.ai continues to redefine the boundaries of cloud computing, making top-tier computing accessible, affordable, and rewarding for all.
For more information, visit https://clore.ai and explore Secure Cloud at https://clore.ai/secure-cloud
Media Details:Name: CloreEmail: [emailprotected]City: KatanovCounty: Czech Republic
SOURCE: Clore
View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/755668/Cloreai-Introduces-Secure-Cloud-Unprecedented-Affordability-and-Anonymity-in-High-End-Cloud-Computing
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See more here:
Clore.ai Introduces Secure Cloud: Unprecedented Affordability and ... - Digital Journal