Googles top engineer says the network that supports its enterprise cloud, as well as its many massive consumer services, is in good shape to handle the sustained surge in traffic brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

In a blog posted Thursday, the same day Google saw a cloud outage, Google senior vice president of engineering Urs Hlzle said the internet giant has implemented plans to stay well-ahead of rising demand from people confined to their homes and virtualizing their professional and social lives.

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and more people move to working or learning from home, its natural to wonder whether the Google network can handle the load, Hlzle said. The short answer is yes.

[Related: Google Urges North American Staff To Work From Home To Reduce Coronavirus Risk]

That blog post coincided with an outage affecting Google customers across the Eastern Seaboard. Hlzle, in a separate tweet that day, said the incident was not related to increased usage because of the crisis, but instead caused by a router failure in Atlanta.

Just to make sure: this wasn't related to traffic levels or any kind of overload, our network is not stressed by Covid-19, he tweeted on Thursday.

The network supporting Google Cloud, as well as YouTube, Search, Maps and Gmail, was designed to meet large surges in demand, he explained.

The same systems we built to handle peaks like the Cyber Monday online shopping surge, or to stream the World Cup finals, support increased traffic as people turn to Google to find news, connect with others, and get work done during this pandemic, Hlzle said.

While were seeing more usage for products like Hangouts Meet, and different usage patterns in products like YouTube, peak traffic levels are well within our ability to handle the load, he added.

Google operates a network that connects all its data centers with high capacity fiberoptic cables that stretch the world across land and sea, Hlzle said.

That dedicated network handles all cloud traffic until it is handed off for the last mile to more than 3,000 local ISPs, limiting the burden on those regional operators with networks that have different levels of reserve capacity.

Google is working with governments and network operators internationally to minimize stress on the system, he said. An example is the recent decision to default videos on YouTube to standard definitiona lower resolution that reduces traffic.

Google recognizes the importance of its services in the crisis, its top engineer said, and will continue to add capacity to stay ahead of demand.

Our dedicated global network deployment and operations team is increasing capacity wherever needed, and, in the event of a disruption, recovers service as quickly as possible, he said.

Also on Thursday, Googles Vice President for Customer Experience, John Jester, sent a letter to customers explaining Googles continuity planning and reassuring them of the clouds resilience.

Google has long conducted disaster recovery testing, he said, to evaluate the resilience of its infrastructure and processes. Those drills have enabled Google to flag potential problems before they occur and recover from disruptions as quickly as possible.

Googles site reliability engineers are in constant communication with our leadership team and actively monitoring global and local conditions, Jester said.

Because Google runs its Google Cloud Platform and G Suite services on proprietary compute and storage hardware, it can forecast capacity months in advance, and always be sure it will meet future demand.

Were monitoring capacity closely and do not foresee shortfalls at this time, Jester assured enterprise customers.

Google also maintains considerable reserve capacity in its own network and at hundreds of points of presence and thousands of edge location, he said.

The performance of our infrastructure remains as high as it was before the pandemicthe result of years of preparation, Jester said.

More:
Google Says Its Network Not Stressed By Coronavirus Crisis - CRN: Technology news for channel partners and solution providers

There's more to it, of course, because if you break down the big change that McDonald's announced this week, there's a smart, 7-point checklist for just about any business trying to weather the current storm.

Here's what McDonald's is doing,and whyany business leader who wants to emerge on the other side of the coronavirus crisis with his or her business intact and growing should pay attention.

Maybe You'd Like a Little Big Mac Instead?

Quick context: It was nearly five years ago that McDonald's started serving breakfast all day, which was something its most loyalcustomers had wanted for a while.

McDonald's got some good press for that decision, but there were complications.

Rather than increasing the total number of people eating at McDonald's,The Wall Street Journal reported, some regular breakfast customers simply started coming in later.

Result: not only less morning traffic at McDonald's, but some afternoon customers were now buying cheaper breakfast items.

Regardless, that's all over. In a national webcast this week to McDonald's restaurant operators, McDonald's announced it will phase out breakfast-all-day, at least temporarily, according to Crain's Chicago Business.For any business facing trying times, here's what to take away from thatthat decision:

1. Simplify your production

This is the most obvious rationale behind the decision: as Crain's put it, a chance to "streamline kitchen operations during the outbreak." Doing away with all-day breakfast means increased efficiency at the drive-thru, too, with many states banning sit-down meals during the pandemic.

If you're thinking of ways to streamline your business, are there product offerings that take up more than their share of resources? Those might be the ones to target first.

2. Streamline distribution

Fewer choices should mean a faster customer experience, provided McDonald's is confident that it won't destroy its own sales in the process.

This should be a part of your thought process as well. Can you eliminate some customer decisions without further hurting sales as a result of the pandemic?

3. Maximize margins

As noted above, breakfast items are generally lower-priced than lunch and dinner options, and in many cases bring lower margins with them.

McDonald's could have decided to cut back on some lunch and dinner options. There's a reason why they chose breakfast instead.

4. Reinforce customer habits

This is a forward-thinking consideration. Someday, our current troubles will pass. By streamlining things, keeping as many restaurants open as possible, and retaining as many menu offerings available it can, McDonald's continues to enable its best customers' habits.

This is key for many businesses: The more you can keep serving your clients and customers, even if you have to reduce some of your offerings, the less opportunity you give competitors to intrude on their habits.

5. Get ahead of the competitive landscape adjustment

We're in a time when we'll see a lot of good from other people, and businesses might even reach out to help each other in selfless ways. Butthe brutal truth is that some companies won't survive the current economic troubles.

Scaling back your goods and service offerings, and especially conserving resources when demand might be lighter, can position youto take advantage of the new landscape on the other side of the crisis.

6. Take the opportunity to readjust things that aren't working

Nobody ever says this outright, but I've wondered whether breakfast-all-day was a customer perk McDonald's wished it could take back. It was great marketing, but the analyses I've seen make me wonder if it made good sense in the long run.

If so, the coronavirus outbreak gives McDonald's the opportunity, if not the excuse, to pull back. Ask yourself: Are there things your company does for customers that you really wish you didn't have to? This might be an opportunity to reflect on them and even curtail them.

7. Control the timing

Finally, it's worth pointing out that while McDonald's announced this change to its operators, and at least one of them leaked the decision to Crain's, there's no suggestion I've seen that McDonald's planned to announce this change publicly.

For one thing, McDonald's restaurants will phase out all-day breakfast at different times, depending on what distribution centers they use.

Making decisions like this in your business can do something else important, too.

Right now, it seems like we're all reacting to the outside world. This might give you a chanceto make decisions that control your environment, instead of it controlling you.

Published on: Mar 28, 2020

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

See the original post here:
McDonald's Made a Menu Change Nobody Could Have Predicted a Year Ago. Every Smart Business Leader Should Pay Attention - Inc.

Companies with surge in remote workforce now have free, secure resource for online storage and collaboration

PHOENIX, March 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Axway (Euronext: AXW.PA), a leader in enterprise integration technology, today announced that the company is commencing a temporary initiative to provide Syncplicity for Remote Work file sharing and content collaboration at no cost. Syncplicity by Axway can be deployed quickly to provide immediate support and relief for users who are new to working remotely. The step is designed to help employees transition to a remote work setting by providing easy access to corporate files and data, while ensuring data security, governance and auditability.

"We have a strong solution that can help teams work remotely and collaborate securely," said Axway CEO, Patrick Donovan. "As a service to enterprises who need to help large portions of their workforce transition to working remotely, we decided to offer Syncplicity for free so they can adapt to the current circumstances."

Specifically, this initiative will provide access to the Enterprise Edition (EE) of Syncplicity, including cloud storage. Furthermore, Axway will host remote work training sessions and provide other resources to help companies ramp up administration, security and user access and collaboration.

"We understand the needs and challenges companies face as they transition to a remote workforce in record time. We also understand the importance of doing so, securely. Axway has been providing secure file transfer and data sharing solutions to thousands of companies around the world for over 20 years," said Donovan. "Syncplicity is one of the many integration solutions we provide and we hope this action gives companies and remote workers peace of mind in this time of uncertainty."

Syncplicity provides companies the ability to provision employee accounts and to include storage for their users. With this initiative, global teams can access and share folder and files remotely, and collaborate efficiently while their IT departments retain overall control. At the end of the free period, customers willhave the option to continue the service or migrate their data off of Syncplicity.

Click this link for more information about Syncplicity for Remote Work at no cost.

About Axway

Axway gives heritage IT infrastructure new life, helping more than 11,000 customers use what they already have to invent their digital journeys, add new business capabilities, and drive growth. With the future-proof AMPLIFY platform which combines APIs, B2B integration, content services, and digital ecosystems we guide innovation and enhance the customer experience faster and more securely than ever. In business for more than 20 years, Axway employs over 1,800 people in 18 countries. axway.com.

Media Contact:

Joshua Molinajmolina@axway.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axway-to-provide-syncplicity-for-remote-work-at-no-cost-to-help-businesses-with-the-transition-to-a-remote-workforce-301030173.html

SOURCE Axway

Follow this link:
Axway to Provide Syncplicity for Remote Work at no Cost to Help Businesses With the Transition to a Remote Workforce - Yahoo Finance

In January, the NSA issued guidance titled: Mitigating Cloud Vulnerabilities. With security organizations already overburdened with too many threat intelligences feeds, alerts, mandates and fire drills, its understandable that this information might go unnoticed, or be tossed onto the well get to it sooner or later pile.

However when an organization like the NSA speaks, it is generally a good idea to listen. Which raises the question: how does one operationalize guidance from the NSA and other elite security organizations? The short answer is the same as it is for all cybersecurity undertakings: prioritization and outcomes. Lets examine this approach, using the recent NSA guidance as our use case.

Vulnerability Components

The NSA broke down its guidance into four key vulnerabilities: misconfigurations, poor access control, shared tenancy vulnerabilities and supply chain vulnerabilities. It also provided this handy chart to articulate the prevalence and sophistication of exploit for each.

This chart provides clear prioritization for security professionals. In a time where resources (particularly skills on staff) are strained, it is critical to attack problems that represent the highest risk. Here is a look at each.MisconfigurationsIf weve learned nothing else about threat actors over the years, its that they want a good return on investment. This means theyll take the easiest route to stealing data, every time. It is for this reason that misconfigurations represent such a risk to enterprises there is nothing easier than stealing data left exposed by bad configuration management.

Cloud configuration management poses a particularly vexing problem because with the advent of DevOps, the cloud environment is constantly changing. This makes cloud monitoring a major challenge and, within that discipline, configuration and policy management need to transition to a continuous state. Here are the key elements of a modern cloud monitoring program:

Creating a continuous cloud monitoring program is the most important thing enterprises can do to operationalize the NSA guidance. Now lets look at the next most important thing.

Cloud Access ControlExploiting poor access control in cloud systems takes a higher degree of sophistication than simply looking for exposed data, so it is not yet a major contributor to cloud data breaches. However, the problem is widespread and stands to become such a contributor, if organizations do not improve their identity and access control processes.

The good news is the first step to ensuring strong access control in the cloud is also the first step to achieving continuous cloud monitoring visibility. Because cloud services and systems can be spun up by virtually anyone in an organization, it is critical to have the visibility required to understand when this is happening, so security pros can ensure proper access control.

The recurring theme in the NSA guidance is multifactor authentication. Enterprises can dramatically improve the integrity of cloud access control if they implement multifactor authentication across all cloud resources. Ideally, this will be part of a broader enterprise identity and access management (IAM) program that brings all enterprise resources on premises, in the cloud, and hybrid under appropriate identity governance.

Shared Tenancy and Supply ChainIm lumping these together because, for the most part, they are primarily the responsibility of cloud service providers, not the enterprise, and exploitation requires a high degree of sophistication. Therefore, as we sit here today, they are not a likely source of risk. The compromised hypervisor has been a nightmare scenario since the dawn of server virtualization, but according to the NSA, there have been no reported isolation compromises on major cloud platforms (although researchers have demonstrated the possibility of container of hypervisor compromises).

As for supply chain issues, that is the domain of cloud service providers (see chart below). They must do proper due diligence and continuous monitoring to ensure that none of their software or hardware components are vulnerable.

If nothing else, remember the two words that should define cybersecurity strategy and operationalization: prioritization and outcomes. If all security organizations prioritized activities based on the reduction of business risk (the desired outcome), the cyberworld would be a much safer, simpler place.

Read the original here:
Operationalizing NSA Guidance (or any Guidance, For That Matter!) - Infosecurity Magazine

The proliferation of smart phones and mobile devices has benefited our society an immeasurable amount, their existence enriches and simplifies our lives. The convenience that comes with using smart devices, and the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) is so ingrained in our society that we now take it for granted.

We have invested our trust in these devices, we store our schedules, contacts and photographs on our phones, allow smart devices to control the lights and heating in our homes, smart cameras watch over our property and valuables, smart speakers know what song we want next. We trust these devices with the most valuable commodity our data.

Albert Liu is the founder of Kneron.

With the convenience and peace of mind that smart devices bring us it is not surprising that over 22 billion IoT devices are being used in the world. Gartner estimates that by 2025 there will be 41.6 billion IoT devices. A recent study by Deloitte found that, in the US, households have an average of 11 connected devices, including seven smart screens to view content. The number of smart devices in US households is expected to increase once 5G becomes widely available, and 62% of consumers say they will replace their internet with mobile broadband.

Fully connected smart homes will soon be as ubiquitous as smartphones are today, but there is still a major obstacle to the adoption of a fully connected society: concerns over privacy and security.

With the number of IoT and AIoT devices expected to increase by such a huge percentage, we need to answer the question of security. As much as our lives have been improved by smart devices and the IoT and AIoT, there have been countless reports in the media of smart devices in homes that have been breached. When a device has been breached it can act as an open door into the users life, allowing the perpetrators to gain access to anything from the mundane, such as your smart bulbs, to those devices you need to have bulletproof security: cameras, speakers, and even locks.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) in smart devices is what allows the device to learn our schedule, recognize our faces, suggest films and much more. Most devices utilize a cloud connection only to run AI applications and access the databases they require to function, as the cloud provides an easy way to access necessary storage and processing power.

Cloud services, for many years, was the go-to option for consumers and businesses, as the ease of access that the cloud offered was unrivaled. The recent, and frequent, security and privacy breaches have left many questioning if utilizing cloud storage on its own is still the only solution, and if privacy breaches are just the cost of using these devices.

There are several issues with using devices that rely solely on a cloud connection to work.

Security concerns remain the number one asterisk for cloud computing. There have been many publicized cloud breaches. From personal information, employees login credentials, to losses of intellectual property, once data is stored off the device there is a security risk.

In cloud computing, the question of ownership of data is one that many companies and consumers have struggled with. Data and encryption keys reside within your third-party provider, so if the unexpected happens and there is downtime, you may be unable to access that data. If this happens it could mean that the facial recognition camera that allows you access to your home wont automatically open the door.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks are already prolific and highly disruptive. Some of the services that have become so ingrained in our lives are at the mercy of bad actors at any time. With 41.6 billion IoT devices expected to be online in 2025, the resources for DDoS attacks will effectively double.

The current amount of data that needs to be transferred to the cloud for processing is huge and will only continue to grow as our reliance on cloud services grows. This will exponentially increase our bandwidth needs and the associated costs to store and compute everything in the cloud. In the end, the high costs will be passed down to consumers.

On-device edge AI processing is a way of augmenting the use of cloud. Its addition allows data to be processed and inferred locally on the device and it does not need to leave the device for the applications to work. As a result, massive amounts of data dont need to constantly be sent to and stored on servers run by big tech companies or governments.

Instead, most data will have been computed on the device, allowing for most data to be deleted, while only significant data that requires confirmation of action will be saved and sent to the cloud to be processed for further action. It is the most secure and private way of operating business applications and it significantly cuts down on costs associated with higher bandwidth needs and cloud storage.

In the past chips quickly became outdated, but on-device technology is at a point that the chips being used are reconfigurable, meaning they can adapt to upgrades and developments in AI technology and adjust to the AI models of the future. Essentially, by breaking AI models down into basic building blocks, they can be easily reconfigured to take advantage of next-gen software enhancements. So if AI technology sees a major update, the chips can be updated in the same device, rather than a whole replacement needed.

If on-device processing is adopted across the board, it has the power to create the most secure and private environment/network available to connect every AI/smart device and service in a users life. Rather than devices reporting back to the cloud, devices will instead talk to each other in a private network. This will enable seamless, secure, and private use of all AI that will enhance peoples lives.

To completely abandon the cloud and rely solely on on-device processing would be to make the same mistakes as developers did in the past. Its not a choice between cloud and on-device, instead, we should aim to have cloud and on-device work in tandem and complement each other.

The security and privacy of on-device combined with the vast storage and processing power of the cloud will shape the next generation of smart devices and IoT. This hybrid solution will allow AI to reach its full and true potential. The promise of a fully connected society, powered by advanced on-device chips and supported by robust clouds, is closer than ever before. With the right technical implementations, we can enrich our lives and take another step forward into the future.

View original post here:
Security is the future of AIoT - TechRadar