Category Archives: Cloud Servers
Most data is more secure in the cloud, says Blenheim Chalcot CTO Ridley – www.computing.co.uk
The list of concerns over adopting public cloud services has changed very little over the last five years. In every survey that Computing has conducted over that period security has come top, followed by issues related to control.
"I totally understand that, although I don't agree with it," said Mark Ridley, group technology officer at venture builder Blenheim Chalcot Accelerate, speaking during a Computing web seminar last week.
"When I first started looking after servers 20 years ago I was loathe even to put them into a managed hosting system. Those were the days of Windows NT when servers would go down all the time and I couldn't stand the thought of not being able to physically reboot the server when I needed to.
"I've had to go through an evolution in understanding security in the cloud," he added.
Ridley maintains that, with a few caveats, public cloud encourages greater security, not only because of the expertise that cloud providers can bring to bear, but also because using their services forces organisations to think about data security in greater detail.
"You have an illusion of control and security and governance by having everything being in one space, but actually you're probably not scrutinising your own organisation in the way you would a third party. The cloud provider is not necessarily a friendly actor, so making sure your data is protected against them can often lead to much higher levels of security than if you manage your own infrastructure."
This doesn't mean that all organisations should start putting sensitive data in the cloud, however. For a start, many do not have the right skills and culture to properly manage cloud services.
"You need an organisational change to use the cloud and some companies aren't ready, so they'd be better off with hosting or a private cloud," Ridley said.
"The organisation needs to change the way it looks at security, and it could be that you simply have the wrong sort of people in your organisation. They could be comfortable with thinking that security stops with the firewall, but that changes completely with cloud."
Another caveat is the type of data you might wish to process and store. For example, US cloud providers are legally obliged to allow US government agencies to access their systems. State interceptions have been shown by the documents leaked by Edward Snowden to be motivated by industrial espionage as well as issues of national security. Intrusive laws are being introduced by other countries too, including the UK.
"When you start looking at the public cloud you have to look at how you protect data from government activity," Ridley said, explaining that this too requires fundamental changes in organisational thinking.
"If I'm dealing with very sensitive data then suddenly I'm thinking how do I encrypt every bit of that data in transit and at rest, how do I manage the keys and do I need hardware key management. Suddenly the way you have to think about security completely changes and the organisation needs to change too."
Overall, though, Ridley believes that for most cases security is improved by moving operations to the cloud, and that proving compliance certainly becomes a whole lot easier.
"If you're selling a b2b service and going through lots of compliance checks it will be easier to say I'm with Amazon or Microsoft or Google and here is my box-ticking exercise'. It will be easier for vendors and consumers to understand the compliance measures in place," he said.
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Most data is more secure in the cloud, says Blenheim Chalcot CTO Ridley - http://www.computing.co.uk
Which Cloud Storage is Best for My Business? – Cloudwards
Cloud storage is a great way to protect your data safely and securely, regardless of the size of your business. After all, uncertainties abound in business: disasters strike, devices fail, networks get hacked, customer preferences change and so many other unfortunate events can impede your everyday operation.
Though its practically impossible to insulate yourself from every possible scenario, business owners can take certain steps to minimize the chances of losing all your valuable data, sometimes even for free.
In this article, were going to take a look at certain key criteria you should know about when selecting a cloud storage provider for your business needs. In this sense, cloud storage can be the best decision youve ever made for your business. Lets look at more reasons to choose this option.
Businesses stand to gain much from cloud storage. Here are some key benefits.
Advantages in costperhaps the biggest reason to move to the cloud. Cloud storage is affordable because the cost of infrastructure and services is distributed across many businesses.
In addition, you have no hardware investment or maintenance costs, so overall, you get to save a substantial amount of money.
All that you need to work is a computer and a stable Internet connection because everything else is stored in the cloud. No more servers and complex devices to worry about.
You probably may not even need a large IT team as employees will only have to manage a few devices and a small network. This way, youll save on the cost of physical space and will have only a handful things to monitor. Nothing beats this convenience of limited monitoring.
With all your data stored in the cloud, IT staff dont have to spend a ton of time keeping your servers running and your data safe. Instead, they can focus on the core aspects of your business, and maybe even spend time researching new products and services thatll give you an edge over your competitors.
How many times have we heard of hacking incidents in the last few years? A good way to protect your assets from hackers is to have an enterprise level security. But, this level of security is expensive, and unfortunately, out of reach for many businesses.
But, the good news is, cloud storage providers offer this level of security at a fraction of the cost of buying it yourself. Also, there is no single point of failure in the cloud as your data is backed up across multiple servers.
All this means, your data is sure to have the highest possible level of security when it is in the cloud.
In todays connected world, employees want to have the flexibility to work from anywhere. Whether they are waiting for a subway train or at home with a sick child, they still want to have access to tools thatll maintain their productivity.
Cloud storage offers this mobility for your employees, as they can work from anywhere and from any device thats connected to the Internet.
Even if an employee works from multiple devices, say a desktop at work, smartphone on the way back home and a tablet from home, all the files are synced to the same location. This means, the latest version of a document would be accessible from any device.
Cloud storage providers offer a pay-as-you-go model. This way, you can use as much or as little space, depending on your level of activity. Also, you can adjust the resources available through cloud storage providers, and customize them to meet your needs.
In all, cloud storage is sure to add value to your business, and help you save money as well. Lets now look at some specific features of cloud storage that can help you reap its benefits.
Remember, every business is unique, and may require a different set of cloud storage features, but still its good to know your choices.
Mobile and desktop apps are a convenient way to upload and download files from the cloud. Many storage providers like Microsofts OneDrive offer easy to use and intuitive apps for all devices. In addition, this service also offers 15GB of space for free. Businesses that use Microsoft Office 365 get 1TB of free space as well.
Cloud storage providers not just give you space to store your information, but also make it easy to share it with others. Almost every major cloud service provider offers file sharing services, though some services like Hive allow you to share only with other Hive users.
If you frequently share files with users outside your organization, go for services like IDrive, as its versatile and comes with a full set of features for sharing.
Cloud storage providers like Google Drive give you access to some of their handy tools like email, online documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more. So, youll get more value for your money, and maybe even better productivity and collaboration.
File versioning allows you to go back and look at the previous versions of your file. Some services like elephantdrive and Sync.com give you unlimited versioning, while others like Carbonite restrict you to up to 90 revisions.
Sometimes, you want to try out a service before moving your data, and thats totally fair. SugarSync is a reliable cloud storage provider that offers a 30-day trial period. Livedrive is another provider that gives a free trial for 14 days.
Small businesses dont typically need a ton of space, so they can opt for any of the manyfree cloud storage solutions. However, there is a limit on how much free space comes with such storage providers.
As your business grows, you can choose to increase your storage space, and maybe even pay for the extra space you need.
Many cloud storage providers are based in the U.S., so they are subject to provisions of the U.S Patriot Act. Essentially, this means, the NSA can access your data at any time.
Weve heard of NSA programs like PRISM that monitor the private data of all Americans, and this most likely will extend to your business data too.
If youre keen on privacy, we suggest going with zero-knowledge cloud providers. When you use this service, your data is encrypted and nobody other than you has the key to decrypt them. This way, cloud providers cant give any data to the NSA simply because they dont have access to it.
When it comes to zero-knowledge providers, we like MEGA, pCloud, Sync.com and Tresorit.
Encryption offers an extra level of protection to your data when youre uploading or downloading from a cloud. It also comes handy while sharing your files with others over the Internet.
Most well-known cloud providers offer AES 128-bit or 256-bit encryption for your data. However, not many offer encryption services when your data is stored in the cloud or in your local machine. If youre particular about encryption at rest too, OneDrive for business is a good choice.
To conclude, cloud storage is a great way to protect your business from data loss, natural disasters and other external uncertainties. Besides protection, you also get other advantages such as increased collaboration, lower overheads, maintenance-free data management and the flexibility to work from anywhere.
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There are many cloud storage providers out there that offer a range of different features. You can choose a provider based on your current needs. For example, if you have a small budget, try a provider like pCloud that offers 20GB for free, and $3.99 for 500GB. Or, if you want to store large amounts of data, but dont mind paying for it, then Dropbox is a good choice. Zero-knowledge providers like Sync.com and MEGA are the perfect choice if data privacy is a top priority for you.
In all, the choice of a cloud storage provider depends on your business needs. Just make sure you research thoroughly and understand the benefits and downsides of a service before you sign up for it.
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Which Cloud Storage is Best for My Business? - Cloudwards
High-performance computation is available by cloud computing – Phys.Org
February 27, 2017 Hi-IaaS prototype. Credit: Osaka University
A group of researchers led by Visiting Professor Takashi Yoshikawa developed the world's first system for flexibly providing high-performance computation by cloud computing.
Conventional systems for providing high-performance computation by cloud computing was performed by a special server in a fixed configuration, which had a problem of high cost and poor utilization efficiency. The system developed by this group can provide a computing system capable of handling requests from a user (jobs) by controlling numerous ordinary servers, enhancing work efficiency. By using management software, this computer system can change not only system components such as the number of servers, network connection, and data storage, but also hardware such as Graphics Processing Units (GPU) and Solid State Drives (SSD).
In addition, this group developed a job-resource integrated management system that can change system components according to the nature of a job as well as functions and performance necessary for running a computation job. This has made it possible to provide a computation resource by building a computation system appropriate for user requests by job and efficiently execute the job by reducing wait time of the whole job on queue in cloud computing. This system allows anyone to start analysis of IoT (Internet of Things) data and Big Data and scientific computation in a cloud computing environment.
Currently, the use of high-level computation in the fields of science and engineering is on the rise and it is hoped that this group's achievements will expand the horizon of the usage of and promote sophistication of the system.
The operation of this system was demonstrated at Super Computing 16 which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA from November 13 through November 18, 2016.
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High-performance computation is available by cloud computing - Phys.Org
Google Is First in Line to Get Intel’s Next-Gen Server Chip – Fortune
Diane Greene, Senior Vice President at Google, at Fortune Brainstorm Tech. Monday, July 11, 2016. Aspen, Colo.Photograph by Kevin Moloney Fortune Brainstorm TECH
Intel and Google made good on promises made in November to build Intel's latest microprocessor into the servers running Google's cloud infrastructure.
At that time, they said the brand new Skylake chip would show up in Google's cloud servers in early 2017, and as of Friday, that is the case, according to a blog post by Urs Hlzle, Google ( goog ) senior vice president of cloud infrastructure.
In the post, Hlzle says Google Compute Engine customers are thus "the first to benefit" from this new chip's performance gains.
The Skylake is the latest iteration of the Intel ( intc ) Xeon chip family, promising once again faster and better graphics performance than its predecessors. It's also being pegged as a good choice for graphics-intensive applications like scientific modeling, 3D rendering, analytics, genome research, and engineering simulations.
The Intel alliance was backed by Google senior vice president Diane Greene and Intel executive vice president and general manager Diane Bryant, and it required some co-engineering work between the two companies.
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Amazon Web Services ( amzn ) , Google's main rival in the public cloud business, has promised Skylake servers will come soon. And to be fair, Intel likes to spread its cloud love around. Three years ago, for example, Bryant took the stage at AWS Re:Invent annual conference to announce a new processor designed specifically for Amazon Web Services .
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What's interesting here is that Skylake is showing up in a public cloud's servers before it surfaces in the type of brand-name servers that typically sell into business customers' private data centers. Given the buying power of Google, AWS, and Microsoft ( msft ) , another public cloud provider, that makes sense.
But it is also bad news for the branded server makers like Dell Technologies and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise ( hpe ) , which reported lower server sales on its earnings call Thursday night.
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Google Is First in Line to Get Intel's Next-Gen Server Chip - Fortune
Top 5 Cyber Security Job Skills In High Demand for 2017 and Beyond – The Merkle
Enterprises small and large all over the world will have to pay a lot more attention to cyber security moving forward. Particular skills are needed by virtually every company in the world right now. Below is a brief list of what experts feel will be the top cyber security skills for 2017 and beyond. It is an interesting list with a strong focus on the cloud and network security, that much is certain.
It hardly comes as a surprise to find out the cloud is not as secure as most people would think it to be. While it is a wonderful tool for businesses small and large, it is effectively a way to store information on a different computer or servers. Properly managing cloud-stored data is of the utmost importance, as it will improve the overall productivity. Cyber criminals are targeting cloud servers, which creates new jobs for those who can actively monitor and manage this data while it is in the cloud.
Determining a companys risk to cyber attacks is the first step towards effectively nullifying most threats. A perfectly secure system does not exist, nor will it ever be a feasible goal. Flexibility and collaboration are two pillars of security among employees in both the offline and online space. Evaluating the potential risks and management is becoming a highly-valued skill. Job hunters looking to become part of an enterprise may start to consider training this skill sooner rather than later.
Solely relying on the human eye and brain to process tons of data around the clock will not be sufficient to nip cyber attacks in the bud. Developing more advanced security software is an absolute must at this stage. Developing such software has the added effect of protecting employees against typical security threats at all times, which will benefit productivity.
Moreover, the goal is to ensure this security software can blend with other security measures put in place by the company. Security solutions are anything but convenient, yet they are an integral part of keeping employees and information safe. Agile security software can provide both protection and flexibility at the same time, assuming it is developing the right way.
Managing data stored in the cloud is not the same as working on cloud security by any means. Cyber criminals and freelance hackers pose a legitimate threat to cloud services. Finding the employees with the necessary know-how to create secure software that bars these attacks before they an materialize is of great importance to companies as of right now. Strengthening the environment in which data is saved is the first step towards keeping cyber attackers out.
Hardly anyone will be surprised to learn most corporations have rather fragile network security these days. Most data breaches stem forth from companies who think their network security is impenetrable. Pinpointing suspicious behavior and developing countermeasures against malware and ransomware are just some of the aspects of this important job. Considering how these malicious software threats will only continue to increase anyone with network security management knowledge will have an easy time landing their next job.
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Top 5 Cyber Security Job Skills In High Demand for 2017 and Beyond - The Merkle
GAWK Deploys cutting edge Bare Metal Cloud Servers to meet growing demand – Benzinga
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 23, 2017) - GAWK, Inc., (OTC PINK: GAWK) a cloud-based infrastructure-as-a-service company, today announced the first installations of "Bare Metal" Cloud Servers.
The servers are similar to traditional dedicated servers but allow for additional processing capabilities on a flexible basis, allowing users to provision equipment for baseline needs with the capability to scale when applications have a spike in processing needs.
"GAWK is focused on providing reliable services for our clients and using the most efficient technologies is only part of that service," stated CEO Scott Kettle. "Our customizable platforms and services are perfectly suited to servers that can provide expandable power on-demand."
The Company has begun testing the servers with its new Direct Delivery product. The Company recently announced a customer order of over $1 million that will be fulfilled using these servers. Bare Metal Cloud Servers provide instant provisioning, VPN Access, Unlimited Incoming Bandwidth, and Gawklock Security Hardening. Servers of this capability are ideal for the higher demand of GAWK's end-to-end encryption services.
For investor inquiries please call (888) 754-6190 Ext. 3 or email IR@gawk.com
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About GAWK, Inc.
GAWK, Inc. (OTC PINK: GAWK) offers a suite of cloud communications, cloud connectivity, cloud computing, and managed cloud-based applications solutions to small, medium, and large businesses; and offers domestic and international voice services to communications carriers worldwide. It offers a suite of advanced data center and cloud-based services, including fault tolerant, high availability cloud servers, which comprise platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and a content delivery network; managed network services that converge voice and data applications, structured cabling, wireless, and security services, as well as include Internet access via Ethernet or fiber at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps; and data center solutions, including cloud services, colocation services, and business continuity services, such as storage and security. http://www.gawk.com
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements in this release that are not strictly historical facts are "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements are based on GAWK's current assumptions, beliefs and expectations, and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause GAWK's actual results to be materially different from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "plan," "possibility," "offer," "if," "negotiate," "when," "believe," "will," "estimate," "continue," and similar expressions. Risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: ongoing and future intellectual property enforcement actions; the ability to successfully litigate or settle claims of patent infringement; GAWK's ability to obtain necessary financing, generate sufficient cash flow, and maintain appropriate indebtedness; and the increasing development of market competition in the area of telecommunications. These factors and others are described in more detail in GAWK's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in GAWK's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of these reports can be found on GAWK's website (www.gawk.com) under the heading "Investor Relations." GAWK is providing this information as of the date of this release and, except as required by law, does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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GAWK Deploys cutting edge Bare Metal Cloud Servers to meet growing demand - Benzinga
Profit From the Rising Importance of Linux Software – Investment U
For most of the world, there are exactly two flavors of computer: Mac and Windows. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) make the operating systems for 97% of personal computers. And theres good reason for this hegemony.
Decades ago, both companies were pioneers in bringing the computer out of the IT department and into the hands of ordinary people like us.
However, personal computers arent what they once were. Desktop and laptop sales have been declining for years as more users and services move to the cloud. Instead of running programs on their own machines, people are logging into cloud servers. And most of these severs dont run on MacOS or Windows. Two-thirds run on an obscure but powerful operating system called Linux.
If you really want to invest in the future of computing, youve got to have a play on Linux software.
You may have noticed that theres no stock symbol next to Linuxs name. This important OS isnt made by a public company or even a company at all.
Linux software is open source. In other words, its not a commercial product which anyone owns. Rather, its free software which is developed and improved pro bono by the programmers who use it.
As a result of this democratized development process, Linux is more customizable than a commercial OS. Windows and MacOS both have proprietary designs with usage restrictions, but not so with Linux.
This makes Linux software ideal for the advanced programmers and IT professionals who make cloud computing possible. They often like to tinker with hardware and software in order to optimize it for their purposes.
Tinkering with Windows or MacOS code is risky, and strongly discouraged by manufacturers. It may disable the product or void the warranty. But with Linux, its actually encouraged.
As a reminder, cloud servers are the central supercomputers of the cloud. They power web services like email, social media and file storage. When you log into a cloud-based application like Gmail, youre using your device to remote control a server through the internet.
While Microsoft and Apple still dominate the market for the personal device OS, the same cant be said about the cloud. According to a recent survey by W3Techs, some 66% of cloud servers use Linux. And thats largely thanks to the unrestricted, do-it-yourself nature of Linux software.
Another reason why cloud developers and administrators favor Linux is security. Since Linux software is so customizable, users can fine-tune it to do exactly what they need and nothing more. By contrast, commercial software tends to come bundled with lots of marketable but unnecessary features. These unused bells and whistles (or bloatware) can serve as points of entry for hackers.
Whats more, most viruses are made to infect Windows computers. Its the most popular OS for regular PCs, and one of the oldest. So the brigands of the internet tend to focus on it, leaving Linux with relatively few threats.
Another big recent development for Linux software comes from the personal computing world. Five years ago, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) released the first Chromebooks. These lightweight computers cost as little as $100 - a fraction of the cost of a traditional PC.
Out of the box, Chromebooks are virtually useless without an internet connection. They cant really run software other than the Google Chrome web browser. But, with a couple of free downloads and a few lines of code, Chromebooks can be reprogrammed into fully functional Linux laptops. Unsurprisingly, Linuxs small share of the personal OS market has been ticking up since the advent of the Chromebook.
It may seem contradictory that were telling you to invest in a free product with no owner. And indeed, theres no direct stock play on Linux. If Windows is gaining momentum, you can just buy shares of Microsoft. But investing in Linux software requires a bit more creative thinking.
The sophistication and obscurity of Linux software makes it tough to use for a layman. Theres a whole industry of Linux consultants and custom software companies out there. And some of these are publicly traded.
Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) provides customized Linux software to enterprise clients. Its the largest Linux-focused tech firm in the world. Software giant Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) also does Linux consulting and custom development. Both of their stocks have made steady gains throughout the years.
Chances are, youre reading this article on a personal computer or phone. And its probably running on an OS made by Microsoft, Apple or Google. But at some point today, youll probably check your email, look at a Facebook post, or stream music or video.
All of those services depend on cloud servers and the Linux software inside of them. Your tech portfolio isnt complete without an investment in this powerful open source OS.
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Profit From the Rising Importance of Linux Software - Investment U
HPE’s Whitman Struggles in Shift to Smaller Size, Cloud Pressure – Bloomberg
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.s Meg Whitman, who has been working to transform the company into a more efficient corporate-technology provider, is being thwarted by rising supply costs and aggressive cloud rivals.
Whitman on Thursday cut the companys adjusted profit forecast for the current fiscal year, missing analysts estimates. At the same time, Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported sales that missed projections for the third consecutive quarter. Though citing some challenges beyond her control, Whitman said she pushed some executives too hard while the information technology provider frees itself of underperforming businesses and finds new growth opportunities.
New people, new jobs, some market pressure, and separation -- and we just might have overloaded the troops just a tad here, the chief executive officer said in an interview. Going forward, I feel really good about the strategy, and weve just got to power through commodities and foreign exchange and get everyone settled in for the new company.
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Profit, excluding some items, will be 41 cents to 45 cents a share in the current quarter, the Palo Alto, California-based company said in a statement. Analysts projected 47 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company also reduced its annual forecast to $1.88 to $1.98 a share. Analysts estimated $2.03.
The shares fell as much as 6.7 percent in extended trading after closing at $24.66 in New York.
Revenue declined 10 percent to $11.4 billion in the quarter ended Jan. 31 compared with the average analysts projection of $12.07 billion. Sales in the key Enterprise Group -- which includes servers and storage gear -- dropped 12 percent to $6.3 billion. The business reported declines of 9 percent in the previous quarter and 8 percent in the period before that.
In the enterprise unit, server sales fell 12 percent from a year earlier while storage revenue declined 13 percent. Networking sales dropped 33 percent.
The company citedcurrency fluctuations, higher commodities prices on items such as memory chips for servers and near-term execution issues in reducing its forecast. In addition, Whitman said sales of tech gear were hampered by a customer that is a tier-1 service provider, a reference to a public cloud company. She didnt identify the customer.
They have dramatically decreased their purchasing below commitments that they had made to us, she said during a conference call with analysts.
Whitman said the company has reshaped the Enterprise Group to focus more on hybrid information technology products and services that incorporate cloud-based computing.
While the changes were important for future success, it was a lot for the organization to handle, she said.
This year,Hewlett Packard Enterprise should wrap up two multibillion-dollar deals unveiled in 2016. In September, the company said it was spinning off and merging some software assets in a deal with U.K.-based Micro Focus International Plc. Last May, HPE said it would combine its technology-services division with Computer Sciences Corp.
At the same time, HPE has been buying other companies, including Niara Inc., which uses machine learning and data analytics to find security threats. Terms of the Niara deal were undisclosed. The company also announced plans last month to acquire Cloud Cruiser, which helps companies manage technology assets. It recently spent about $650 million on technology gear maker Simplivity.
HPE reported quarterly profit, before certain items, of 45 cents a share compared with analysts average estimate of 44 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Net income was $267 million, or 16 cents a share, little changed from $267 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier.
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HPE's Whitman Struggles in Shift to Smaller Size, Cloud Pressure - Bloomberg
Storj introduces a distributed blockchain-protected cloud storage service – ZDNet
Storj Labs, a distributed cloud-storage provider, has created a peer-to-peer decentralized cloud storage solution. It protects your files both on the nodes and in transmission by using blockchain technology and cryptography to encrypt files. As an open-source project, Storj unites a large and growing community of developers who are committed to building tools, applications, and secure by design cloud storage.
Storj thinks its blockchained-based cloud storage plan will give you affordable, safe storage on PCs and servers around the world.
This isn't the first time someone's tried a peer-to-peer cloud storage program. Others include Resilo's BitTorrent Sync and Tresorit. Another major early player, Symform, was acquired by Quantium and then shut down.
Storj (pronounced "storage") brings blockchain technology to the table to assure files are both secure and not easily viewed or hacked by unauthorized users.
Here's how it works: Storj organizes a shared community of "farmers." These are users who rent out their spare hard drive space and bandwidth to customers.
All these users are connected over a peer-to-peer network. Storj claims this network "is orders of magnitude more secure, up to 10x faster and 50 percent less expensive than traditional datacenter-based cloud storage solutions."
The Storj system enables users to store data in a secure and decentralized manner. It does this by using such blockchain features as a transaction ledger, public/private key encryption, and cryptographic hash functions.
Datacenters serve as the hub of cloud storage capabilities for cloud giants like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Dropbox. But datacenters come with a high price tag for developers, providers, and users. Stroj adds they also come "with an even higher cost for data failures and security breaches." From physical servers and networking equipment to other infrastructure demands like electricity, cloud service providers spend billions of dollars every quarter just to maintain or grow their service offerings.
What Storj offers instead, said Shawn Wilkinson, Storj Labs' co-founder, CEO, and CTO, is a way "to revolutionize cloud storage by putting the user back in control over their devices and their data. The decentralized aspect of Storj means there are no central servers to be compromised, and because of the use of client-side encryption, only the end users have access to their un-encrypted files and encryption keys." In short, Wilkinson sees security as Storj's biggest selling point.
Today, Storj touts a community of more than 7,500 farmers and more than 15,000 API users worldwide. The company also has a channel partnership with Heroku. This is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud platform. It enables developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud. By joining forces with Heroku, Storj can provide developers with a distributed object storage solution with encryption, optimal speed, and easy implementation.
Storj has raised $3 million in a seed financing round to advance its open-source, distributed cloud storage platform. The offering was oversubscribed. Angel investors from venture capital firms, Qualcomm Ventures, and Techstars, as well as industry leaders in the technology security space. Cockroach Labs, Ionic Security, and Pindrop Security are among the early backers.
So, it's early going for the company and its service. Still, it sounds promising. Both users, looking for safe and fast secure storage, and businesses, looking for a cloud-storage partner with a different approach, should take a close look at Storj.
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Storj introduces a distributed blockchain-protected cloud storage service - ZDNet
Do you want a side of SLBS (server less BS) with your software or hardware FUD? – The Data Center Journal
Did you want a side of SLBS (serverless BS) with your software or hardware FUD?
A few years ago a popular industry buzzword term theme included server less and hardware less.
It turns out, serverless BS (SLBS) and hardware less are still trendy, and while some might view the cloud or software-defined data center (SDDC) virtualization, or IoT folks as the culprits, it is more widespread with plenty of bandwagon riders. SLBS can span from IoT to mobile, VDI and workspace clients (zero or similar), workstations, server, storage, networks. To me whats ironic is that many purveyors of of SLBS also like to talk about hardware.
Simple, on the one hand, there is no such thing as software that does not need hardware somewhere in the stack. Second, many purveyors of SLBS are solutions that in the past would have been called shrink-wrap. Thirdly IMHO SLBS tends to take away from the real benefit or story of some solutions that can also prompt questions or thoughts of if there are other FUD (fear uncertainty doubt) or MUD (marketing uncertainty doubt). Dare to be different, give some context about what your server less means as opposed to being lumped in with other SLBS followers.
Data Infrastructures (hardware, software, services, servers, storage, I/O and networks)
Can we move beyond the SLBS and focus on what the software or solution does, enables, its value proposition vs. how it is dressed, packaged or wrapped?
IMHO it does not matter who or why SLBS appeared or even that it exists, rather clarifying what it means and what it does not mean, adding some context. For example, you can acquire (buy, rent, subscribe) software without a server (or hardware). Likewise, you can get the software that comes bundled prepackaged with hardware (e.g. tin-wrapped), or via a cloud or other service.
The software can be shrink wrapped, virtual wrapped or download to run on a bare metal physical machine, cloud, container or VMs. Key is the context of does the software come with, or without hardware. This is an important point in that the software can be serverless (e.g. does not come with, or depend on specific hardware), or, it can be bundled, converged (CI), hyper-converged (HCI) among other package options.
Software needs hardware, hardware need software, both get defined and wrapped
All software requires some hardware somewhere in the stack. Even virtual, container, cloud and yes, software-defined anything requires hardware. Whats different is how much hardware is needed, where it is located, how is it is used, consumed, paid for as well as what the software that it enables.
There are applications, solutions and various software that use fewer servers, less hardware, or runs somewhere else where the hardware including servers are in the stack. Until the next truly industry revolutionary technology occurs, which IMHO will be software that no longer requires any hardware (or marketing-ware) in the stack, and hardware that no longer needs any software in the stack, hardware will continue to need software and vice versa.
This is where the marketing-ware (not to be confused with valueware) comes into play with a response along the lines of clouds and virtual servers or containers eliminate the need for hardware. That would be correct with some context in that clouds, virtual machines, containers and other software-defined entities still need some hardware somewhere in the stack. Sure there can be less hardware including servers at a given place. Hardware still news software, the software still needs hardware somewhere in the stack.
Data Infrastructure stack layers (hardware and software get defined with increasing value)
Show me some software that does not need any hardware anywhere in the stack, and I will either show you something truly industry unique, or, something that may be an addition to the SLBS list.
Add some context to what you are saying; some examples include that your software:
In other words, dare to be different, stand out, articulate your value proposition, and add some context instead of following behind the SLBS crowd.
Watch out for getting hung up on, or pulled into myths about serverless or hardware less, at least until hardware no longer needs software, and software no longer needs hardware somewhere in the stack. The other point is to look for solutions that enable more effective (not just efficient or utilization) use of hardware (as well as software license) resources. Effective meaning more productive, getting more value and benefit without introducing bottlenecks, errors or rework.
The focus does not have to be eliminating hardware (or software), rather, how to get more value out of hardware costs (up front and recurring Maintenance) as well as software licenses (and their Maintenance among other fees). This also applies to cloud and service providers, how to get more value and benefit, removing complexity (and costs will follow) as opposed to simply cutting and compromising.
Next time somebody says serverless or hardware less, ask them if they mean fewer servers, less hardware, making more effective (and efficient) use of those resources, or if they mean no hardware or servers. If the latter, then ask them where their software will run. If they say cloud, virtual or container, no worries, at least then you know where the servers and hardware are located. Oh, and by the way, just for fun, watch for vendors who like to talk serverless or hardware less yet like to talk about hardware.
Ok, nuff said for now
Cheers Gs
Do you want a side of SLBS (server less BS) with your software or hardware FUD? was last modified: February 23rd, 2017 by Greg Schulz
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Do you want a side of SLBS (server less BS) with your software or hardware FUD? - The Data Center Journal