Category Archives: Cloud Storage
Cloud Storage Security: How Secure Is Cloud Storage?
Storing data on a cloud eliminates the need to buy, manage, and maintain in-house storage infrastructure. Despite this convenience, the lack of control over cloud-based data remains a common concern for businesses, even though cloud storage security is typically superior to any on-premises protection.
This article is an intro to cloud storage security and the techniques cloud providers use to protect data. Read on to learn about the different aspects of keeping cloud-based data safe and see how to distinguish top-tier providers from vendors with inadequate storage protection.
Cloud storage is a cloud computing service that enables a company to store data in the cloud instead of on-site data storage. This model offers a convenient way to keep files on a third-party server and provide employees with on-demand access to data from any device.
Common use cases for cloud storage are:
As cloud-stored data does not reside on an on-prem server, a company using a public cloud must in part rely on the provider to keep data safe. The good news is that a top vendor's data center uses various practices to ensure data remains secure. These measures often include:
Is data security your top priority? Created together with Intel and VMware, PNAP's Data Security Cloud is a platform that protects data with robust encryption, strict segmentation controls, and advanced threat intelligence.
If you partner with the right provider, your cloud storage will be safer than any on-prem infrastructure. However, not all cloud storage platforms are the same, and some of them are less secure than the provider likes to admit.
The right provider offers many features and frameworks a company cannot easily (or cheaply) deploy on an on-prem setup. These capabilities include:
While cloud storage security is likely more robust than what you use to protect on-prem devices, the cloud adds complexity to how data is stored. Your team needs to learn to use new tools, adjust security tactics, and set up new measures to ensure data security.
PhoenixNAP's Bare Metal Cloud enables you to set up custom dedicated server deployments with cloud-like ease and agility without having to wait days or weeks.
While beneficial, the decision to move data to the cloud means exposing files to new risks. Below is a look at the most common risks and concerns of cloud storage security.
Nearly all cloud security failures result from an operational mistake made on the client's side. The most common mistakes include:
The use of unauthorized devices is an especially high risk for a company with a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture. In that case, the management must create and enforce a strict BYOD policy to ensure safe operations.
Operational risks can also occur on the service provider's side. Common issues include:
If something affects your storage provider, the event will directly impact access to your data. You must wait for the provider to fix the issue, and the team may not have access to cloud-based data until the vendor's team resolves the problem.
A large part of data security is making sure no one outside the team can access the data. When you rely on a partner to store files, you increase the attack surface via which a malicious actor can reach your data.
Even if you take proper precautions to ensure no one in the team leaks data, your storage provider might accidentally expose your files and cause data leakage or pave the way for a costly attack.
Since compliance demands vary based on how and where a business stores data, cloud storage must meet all the relevant requirements. These demands can dictate the way a provider must:
Besides meeting current requirements, the cloud service must also be flexible enough to enable a business to adapt to new demands and regulations.
Cloud misconfiguration is any error or glitch that exposes cloud data to risk. Since the end users have reduced visibility and control over data and operations, misconfigurations are a common problem.
Cloud storage misconfigurations typically result from:
A misconfiguration can often lead to a data breach, either from an insider threat or an external actor who gains access to the cloud.
Conflicting and overly complex security controls can also cause issues. The most common problems appear when the provider's and client's teams set up inconsistent rules that leave security gaps a hacker can exploit.
There are two ways to alleviate the risk of conflicting security controls:
Our article on cybersecurity best practices outlines security measures and tactics that play a vital role both on-premises and in the cloud.
Cloud storage security is a shared responsibility between the service provider and the consumer. If only one side has strong data protection, the lack of security on the other end will lead to risks and attacks. Providers and consumers should approach cloud storage security in the following way:
Below is a look at the best practices of cloud storage security that enable vendors and service consumers to ensure data safety.
A cloud provider must encrypt cloud data. That way, if a malicious actor or program accesses a file, all the unauthorized user will find is scrambled data. The only way to decipher data is to use a decryption key.
A provider should encrypt data both at rest and in transit:
A company can boost cloud storage security with client-side encryption. With this strategy, encryption and decryption happen on the target user's device. There are no encryptions or decryptions on the provider's server as the vendor does not keep any keys. Even if a hacker breaches the provider's server, the thief will not obtain your decryption key.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires a user to provide two pieces of info during login. Besides a username and password, 2FA also requires the employee to give an additional credential, which can be:
Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security that prevents an unauthorized actor from accessing cloud storage with a stolen password (a common target of phishing attacks). Always look for a provider that enables the use of 2FA.
Both you and your cloud provider should create regular backups:
PhoenixNAP's cloud backup solutions enable you to set up customizable, immutable backups of all critical data and workloads.
A cloud storage policy ensures your employees understand the company's approach to storing and managing data in the cloud. This document should evolve with your company's current needs and the cloud services the team uses. A policy should provide:
If you rely on hybrid cloud architecture, your policy should also cover practices for accessing, managing, integrating, and governing cloud usage within your unique hybrid environment.
Our article on cloud security policies shows how to create a company-wide guideline that dictates how the team operates in the cloud.
A ransomware attack enables a hacker to encrypt your data and demand a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. If the victim refuses to meet the demand, the criminal deletes the key and, as a result, renders target data useless.
This cyberattack type can be devastating to your finances and reputation, so you should always partner with a cloud provider that offers high-end ransomware protection.
Continuous change, access, and activity monitoring help identify and remove potential threats to cloud storage. Most storage services include robust cloud monitoring with alerts for:
In addition to the provider team's alerts, you can also deploy your own cloud monitoring tool. An extra tool ensures you take a proactive approach to cloud storage security and that your team can identify threats emerging from your end.
Educating employees about cloud storage security goes a long way toward protecting files in the cloud. Organize training sessions that familiarize employees with all major aspects of your cloud storage policy, including:
Cloud storage is already considerably safer than an average on-prem server, and projections suggest that this difference in security will only get bigger. Here are several notable trends you can expect from cloud storage security in the near future:
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You should now be able to tell apart secure cloud storage platforms from those that lack adequate protection. Choosing a vendor that offers most (or, ideally, all) of the aforementioned capabilities will enable you to reap the benefits of cloud computing without adding unnecessary risk to your day-to-day operations.
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Cloud Storage Security: How Secure Is Cloud Storage?
Hybrid cloud storage: The devils are in the details – ComputerWeekly.com
With the public cloud, you can have more capacity, scalability and so on, but you are still responsible for data integrity, protection, security and privacy. Reading the fine print in the contract will reveal this, but sadly, thats a step too often skipped in the haste to click Accept.
Fortunately, you dont have to reinvent the wheel for cloud storage. Most of what you have long been doing for your on-prem storage will still be valid. Indeed, quite a bit of it will still be necessary.
So far, so good, but of course reality is more complicated than that. In a recent study we carried out around hybrid cloud, it was clear that the majority of IT professionals taking part were already using both on-prem or hosted and public cloud platforms, or expected to be doing so in the near future.
When it comes to storage, that means we need to think hybrid and that, in turn, means consistency of management and administration is vital. The last thing you need is one set of policies, controls, tools and processes for data on-prem and another for the cloud. Perhaps even more importantly, our research shows that many organisations are already using multiple public cloud providers and you certainly dont want to have to administer each cloud differently.
So go with your instincts, leverage your experience and apply the same discipline to the cloud as you have done on-prem. To do so, you will probably need to make the ability to do this a selection criterion for cloud services. If the service provider tries to force you to do it their way, dont use them other providers, both global and local/regional, are available.
Avoid cloud players that shun standards and emerging or established good practices. Can vendors help? Perhaps. Some do allow you to bridge the gap and drive the consistency you are looking for, but others may encourage you to buy into their way, their architecture. Experience tells you to be very wary of any supplier lock-in.
Getting a solid grip on how to implement, optimise and manage hybrid cloud storage is challenging enough now, but it is only going to get worse. Just think you may have new edge workloads coming along, or you might be one of the many organisations that recently told us that dynamic delivery methods are forcing frequent migrations of data and services.
There is also the non-trivial matter of data governance in a hybrid world, especially one where cloud providers offer advanced machine learning and analysis tools that can operate on huge volumes of data coming from multiple sources. Any analysis that includes information from diverse data sources means you must have effective data governance in place.
Why? Putting appropriate usage and location controls on each individual data source is one thing. But now you also need to stop data from multiple repositories, applications or services being combined in ways that legislation may inhibit for example, combining multiple sources may enable anonymous personal data to be de-anonymised.
The potential legal penalties if you get this wrong can be painful, and you certainly dont want to face the negative reaction that it can spark from customers, shareholders and perhaps even your co-workers.
The significant question here is: who in your organisation takes responsibility for data governance? Is it the CIO, CDO, everyone or has no one actually ever asked the question?
All together, you must focus on visibility and openness, and steer well clear of anyone trying to lock you in or constrain your options. The choices you make around data storage and its management need to be able to deal with these trends. Ideally, you should be looking for solutions that will still work not just next quarter or next year, but in five years time.
We used to think of storage and data management as relatively slow-moving disciplines keep safe, dont disrupt, dont make changes you dont have to. That time has gone. Today, unless you have a consistent and coherent strategy and hybrid cloud data management and governance architecture in place across your hybrid estate, you might soon find yourself floundering.
Dale Vile also contributed to this article.
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Hybrid cloud storage: The devils are in the details - ComputerWeekly.com
The Pros and Cons of Decentralized Data Storage | ENP – EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet
With most enterprises favoring centralized cloud storage providers (CSP) for storing data, hyper scalar CSPs are in high demand. However, they have been accused of monopolizing the market and pigeonholing customers into rigid storage plans. Additionally, they are susceptible to cyberattacks that can cripple systems and cause disastrous financial loss.
As we saw in the Equifax and Experian breaches and the recent TransUnion problem with a criminal gaining access to the data, these centralized data stores are treasure troves for criminals and attract attacks accordingly, says Uri Arad, co-founder and VP of product & research at Identiq. That, in turn, is disastrous for consumer privacy and makes effective cybersecurity and fraud protection far more difficult.
Theyre not just disasters waiting to happen; theyre disasters in progress.
Given the inherent flaws present in centralized solutions, maybe it is time to explore alternative data storage options. Decentralized data storage, which is highly secure and promises more flexibility to the end user, is an option worth considering.
Also read: Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Best Practices & Strategies
Decentralized options, sometimes referred to as providerless, are practical, effective, and safer. According to Arad, an obvious next step for data storage is to combine decentralized options with privacy-enhancing technologies in order to pool knowledge without sharing data. It also allows companies to leverage and weigh the reliability of information from multiple sources.
Moreover, decentralized approaches will allow companies to better align themselves with data protection regulations, the requirements of which will only expand as data breaches and the demand to protect personal data grow.
Decentralized storage works on a reasonably democratic concept where data storage is not concentrated in the hands of a few tech giants. Instead, it is a peer-to-peer cloud storage solution with ordinary users or miners managing the system. Users rent out free disk space on their drives and are incentivized with tokens in return for their contribution.
Decentralized storage works by sharding data, or splitting it into small pieces; encrypting it; and then distributing it over an extensive system of nodes spread across the globe. Each file is encrypted with a private key, and only users with the same set of encryption keys can access the data, making it highly secure. To access a particular data in a decentralized storage platform, threat actors have to launch a concurrent attack on data situated on multiple storage nodes worldwide, making it almost impossible for them to hack into the system.
A decentralized storage model doesnt require significant investment in data centers, making it less expensive than centralized storage solutions. Further, there is a robust market of users willing to rent their unused disk space, which lowers the costs even more.
Load balancing is an essential principle in blockchain-based decentralized storage systems, said Shiv Gupta, CEO of Incrementors Inbound Marketing. Hosts can cache frequently used data locally to avoid having to connect to the server regularly.
It lightens the servers load while also reducing network traffic. In addition, the server can allocate and optimize data to eliminate bottlenecks in the central system resources.
In decentralized storage, files are broken down and spread across several nodes. This ensures that even if one node is hacked the rest are not affected. No single point of failure, trustless architecture, and granular access controls are additional features that enhance security.
Decentralized clouds have less downtime because data is distributed across unrelated nodes. So, even if a particular server goes down, you can retrieve your data from other nodes.
Also read: Top Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) Providers for 2021
While the concept of decentralized storage is promising, it has certain drawbacks that cannot be overlooked.
For instance, decentralized storage systems are only as robust as the miners working their blockchain, said Allan Buxton, director of forensics at Secure Data Recovery. As long as their blockchain has some value and the companies make node services profitable, it is likely that there will be enough nodes to store their clients base data.
However, due to the competitive nature of blockchain and the differing cryptocurrencies that attract minors, Buxton said that using decentralized storage as a primary backup could prove extremely volatile to commercial interests.
Compared to a centralized storage system provider, which places the responsibility of data integrity and privacy with one provider, a decentralized system places this responsibility with many contractors who all have varying equipment and connections, Buxton explained. While the data may be protected by an encryption algorithm and segmented for redundancy, it is important to weigh the benefits and risks of using a decentralized system for primary data storage.
From the data owners perspective, a potential con would be the mere counterintuitivity of this concept (using a decentralized system for data storage), said Adam Garcia, founder of The Stock Dork.
While data isnt stored on a cloud server by a company with nefarious intent, the peer-to-peer nature of a decentralized approach might seem unappealing to non-technological individuals. Whether data is encrypted, shredded, or secured, it still rests with one or many unaffiliated contractors, which can be worrisome to some company leaders, Garcia noted.
Several decentralized cloud storage providers have emerged on the scene, given the interest in this space. A few options are:
Storj is a decentralized storage system where users rent redundant drive space and earn tokens. Before uploading a file to the network, Storj encrypts files using AES-256-GCM symmetric encryption and then breaks them down into 80 pieces, all spread across diverse geographies and ISPs. Doing so ensures that no unauthorized user gets access to your data. Retrieving a file, however, requires only 29 pieces.
The V3 Storj network that was launched recently differs significantly from other decentralized platforms and even the earlier V2 version. Some key differentiators include using erasure codes and avoiding blockchain for storing data.
Sia is an open-source cloud storage company that utilizes file sharding to store data. It works on the proof-of-storage (PoS) mechanism where verifiers issue challenges to renters to prove that they are indeed storing the data. Sia miners can monetize their extra unused storage space and earn rewards in the form of siacoin (SC)the native utility token of the Sia platform.
In contrast to Storj, the supply of siacoins is not fixed and can be minted indefinitely. Siafunds are the other component of Sias unique two-coin system that incentivizes the investors of the Sia network. Siafunds are rare, with only 10,000 Siafunds in circulation currently.
Created by Protocol Labs, Filecoin is an open-source, peer-to-peer network that allows users to rent unused space from those who do not require it. It consists of two groupsminers, who are encouraged to rent as much storage space as possible, and retrieval miners, who are tasked with retrieving data when they receive a get request.
Miners are paid in FIL, Filecoins native token, which is used to rent hard disk space. Filecoin also comes equipped with cryptographic PoS and proof-of-spacetime mechanisms that enable clients to check at any point in time if a storage provider is actually storing the data they have committed to store.
Though decentralized file storage doesnt get enough air time, it is going to have a tremendous impact in the coming years, according to Carlos Cano, creative lead at D-CORE.
This is because without decentralized file storage, many nascent industries, such as NFTs, will be worthless, said Cano. Few people realize it, but most NFTs are basically over-glorified links to images stored in Google Drive and other repositories. Now, the question is: Will those files be there two months from now? Three years? 20 years?
My guess is that well start hearing about cases of NFTs suddenly rendered valueless and people realizing how important decentralized storage is when using applications on-chain. Certainly, Web3 cannot take the next step in its evolution without its core components moving away from centralized and custodial providers.
No doubt, decentralized storage offers a rich alternative to centralized data storage, yet there is time before it becomes fully mainstream. According to Gupta, it is still in its infancy, and businesses will not immediately dump all their data into a decentralized network. It will be a slow trickle at first, and then the dam will burst all at once. After all, the advantages are too good to pass up.
Read next: Best NAS Software for Enterprise Storage 2022
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The Pros and Cons of Decentralized Data Storage | ENP - EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet
Lightbits Doubles Install Base YoY on Demand for Cloud Solutions – Business Wire
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lightbits Labs (Lightbits), the first software-defined, NVMe Complete Data Platform for any cloud, ended 2021 doubling its install base, increasing its average deal size, and increasing revenue on a tailwind of IT organizations turning to cloud solutions to enable simplicity, agility, and cost-efficiency.
Despite the uncertain business climate, the organization increased its average deal size by 60 percent and had a significant number of new partners join the GoPurple program. Among these successes, Lightbits also achieved a 2.3X increase in pipeline growth signaling that the company is well-positioned for further success as IT organizations and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) seek storage solutions that enable data center agility, cost-efficiency, and accelerating cloud applications at scale.
The backbone of Lightbits success is derived from the innovative complete data storage platform. Lightbits is software-defined and architected to leverage NVMe/TCP with Intelligent Flash Management built-in. The unique combination makes it easy to consume on commodity hardware and standard networking, dramatically improves flash efficiency and delivers the highest performance with the lowest latencies at scale for bare metal, containerized, or virtual environments. Finanz Informatik Technologie Service (FI-TS) implemented the solution last year for its Kubernetes-based Finance Cloud-Native production interface, solving their need for shared, redundant storage that performs like local flash.
We have been fortunate to be in a position where cloud solutions have been in greater demand during the past few years allowing us to experience strong customer growth and increase in sales opportunities for the coming year, said Eran Kirzner, CEO of Lightbits. We attribute the growth to our unique capabilities in terms of delivering a highly performant, cost-efficient data platform with enterprise rich data services in a shared storage environment that is easy to consume. More companies are adopting NVMe/TCP, and we invented it, its native to our storage software and our announcement last year with VMware is evidence that we are on a trajectory towards delivering an end-to-end NVMe solution. We grew our topline and our company last year, added offices, added 27 percent more employees, and filled key leadership team positions. In 2022, watch for more product innovations with our strategic alliances which will add more customer value to our existing installation base and broaden our appeal. IT organizations need performance, simplicity, and efficiency for their cloudwhether its private, public, or at the edgewe deliver that and more.
Last year, Lightbits announced the first software-defined NVMe/TCP storage solution for VMware after successfully completing a rigorous certification with VMware vSphere 7 Update 3. It was also listed on the VMware Compatibility Guide. Other product innovations were recognized with patent awards, totaling six in 2021 and bringing the number of patents held by Lightbits to 26. In addition, the company received six industry awards and recognition: Storage Tech Trailblazer of the Year, Cloud Storage Innovation of the Year, SDC Award, 2021 Big50 Startup Report, 2021 Digital Innovator of the Year by Intellyx, 2021 CRN Tech Innovators Award.
Details on the new Lightbits patents can be found in the links below:
2021 milestones and industry recognition:
Additional resources:
About Lightbits LabsLightbits Labs (Lightbits) is leading the digital data center transformation by making high-performance elastic block storage available to any cloud. Creators of the NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP) protocol, Lightbits software-defined storage is easy to deploy at scale and delivers performance equivalent to local flash to accelerate cloud-native applications in bare metal, virtual, or containerized environments. Backed by leading enterprise investors including Cisco Investments, Dell Technologies Capital, Intel Capital, and Micron, Lightbits is on a mission to make high-performance elastic block storage simple, scalable and cost-efficient for any cloud.
Visit http://www.lightbitslabs.com or contact us at info@lightbitslabs.com.
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Lightbits, Lightbits Labs, and LightOS are registered trademarks of Lightbits Labs, Ltd.
The NVMe, and NVMe/TCP word marks are registered or unregistered service marks of the NVM Express organization in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use strictly prohibited.
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Lightbits Doubles Install Base YoY on Demand for Cloud Solutions - Business Wire
Evolving Digital Transformation Implementation with Hybrid Architectures | ITBE – IT Business Edge
Digital transformation (DX) has become a key initiative for most enterprises. According to Statista, global spending on DX is expected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2024. Digital transformation is an ongoing process that changes the way businesses operate and how they deliver, interact with, and engage customers by integrating digital technologies in all operations of the organization. It requires companies to do things differently by adopting new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), or blockchain to stay relevant.
Many of these new technologies require hybrid networks to work correctly. Hybrid networks are created by combining private data centers, public network infrastructure, and edge computing. According to a Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report, most enterprises have embraced a hybrid network strategy.
In the following discussion, we will explain how utilizing hybrid network infrastructures can help enterprises implement successful DX initiatives, offer the best use cases, and explain how they work and why they are important.
Read next: Emerging Technologies are Exciting Digital Transformation Push
A hybrid infrastructure, also known as a hybrid cloud, is an IT architecture and environment that combines on-premises data centers, private clouds, or public clouds. Depending on the companys needs and requirements, you can deploy operating systems and applications anywhere in this environment.
Hybrid infrastructure involves utilizing hybrid IT infrastructure services, also known as cloud services, to manage and monitor an organizations entire IT infrastructure. This is critical for digital transformation because IT environments and demands are becoming more complex.
There are many benefits to using a hybrid network infrastructure for digital transformation.
Flexibility allows companies to use the right tools for the job. For example, if a company wants to use AI or machine learning (ML), they need access to large amounts of data. This can be done by leveraging public cloud services such as AWS or Azure. However, these services can be expensive and may not offer the needed performance for certain applications.
In this case, a company could use a private data center for their core applications and then use public clouds for AI or ML workloads. This will allow them to get the best of both worlds without sacrificing performance or security.
Hybrid networks are more resilient to outages. For example, if a company experiences an outage in their public cloud, they can still operate using their private data center. This is because the private data center is unaffected by the public cloud outage.
Businesses can use a hybrid cloud approach to protect sensitive data while taking advantage of the power and services of a public cloud, which may decrease the risk of revealing vital information.
While data stored in a private environment will likely still have to run on a public cloud for analytics and applications, you may utilize encryption techniques to limit security breaches. Based on policy, regulation, and security standards, organizations can also choose where to place their data and workloads in the cloud.
Hybrid networks offer better performance and scalability than traditional networks. This is because public clouds provide massive amounts of bandwidth and storage that can be used when needed.
A hybrid architecture allows a firm to take advantage of the flexibility and power of the public cloud while still maintaining business-critical data and operations in the private cloud or on-premises data center. In addition, changing hardware and software is considerably faster and easier in the cloud than traditional network infrastructure, where upgrading may take weeks or even months.
Hybrid networks are easy to manage and monitor. This is because all devices are connected to a single management platform. This makes it easy for companies to track and troubleshoot network issues. In addition, instead of entrusting a third-party cloud provider with managing the companys entire IT infrastructure, an IT department may tailor and modify its hybrid model to match its needs while retaining control over critical operations and data.
Hybrid cloud storage is a compelling alternative to a purely private cloud, which may be difficult and expensive to maintain. Companies can reduce their IT expenses by using public clouds for non-critical applications. And many hybrid cloud providers let organizations pay for public cloud services only when utilized.
Hybrid cloud environments allow the public cloud to handle workload spikes, so private servers wont get overwhelmed as computing demands rise or suddenly surges as the organization transforms into a digital-first company. Companies may also back up data by duplicating it to the cloud. This guarantees that business operations will not be disrupted if a disaster or technical failure occurs.
Many different types of digital transformation applications can benefit from a hybrid network infrastructure. Some of these include:
ERP systems are essential for companies looking to transform their businesses digitally. They manage and automate critical business processes, such as order processing, inventory management, and human resources. A hybrid network can help companies running ERP systems speed up the deployment of new applications and improve performance. In addition, using a public cloud provider for nonessential workloads can save the company money on IT spending.
CRM systems manage customer interactions and track sales data. They can help companies improve customer service, marketing campaigns, and product development. A hybrid infrastructure can help organizations quickly deploy new CRM applications and speed up their time to load customer data into the system.
Predictive analytics is a process of analyzing past performance data to make predictions about future events. It can be used to improve decision-making across all aspects of business operations, from marketing to product development to human resources. A hybrid network can help firms run predictive analytics applications by providing them with the bandwidth and storage to analyze large amounts of data in real time.
The IoT is a network of physical objects, such as vehicles, appliances, and buildings, connected to the internet. They can be controlled and monitored remotely using sensors and software. A hybrid infrastructure can help companies deploying IoT applications quickly deploy devices to the network and manage large volumes of data from sensors.
Also read: 5 Examples of IoT and Analytics at Work in Real Estate
Big data analytics is the process of analyzing large amounts of data to find patterns and trends. It can be used to improve decision-making across all aspects of business operations, from marketing to product development to human resources. Hybrid networks allow firms to store, access, and analyze large data sets that are typical of big data analytics applications.
Integrating digital technologies across all company operations, enhancing current processes, creating new operational procedures, and providing greater value to clients represents a cultural shift toward more agile and smarter ways of doing business fueled by cutting-edge technology.
Hybrid network infrastructures are essential for digital transformation success, and enterprises should carefully evaluate their needs before making a decision. Many DX applications require a hybrid infrastructure, so its important to understand which ones your business relies on the most. By deploying a hybrid network, you can improve performance, speed up application deployment, and reduce costs. Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination, so make sure your business has the best foundation possible for success.
Read next: Top Digital Transformation Companies & Services 2022
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Evolving Digital Transformation Implementation with Hybrid Architectures | ITBE - IT Business Edge
Interview With Manish Soni, CEO Of "Sarvvid" – The Updated Version Of Cloud Storage Companies (an Innovative Way To Decentralize Data…
Every individual today wants to have their data kept private and secure. Sarvvid has developed the first decentralized cloud-based storage solution in India, a move that seems to have come sooner than expected, as it is the first company to offer this service.
A centralized ecosystem such as the internet, monopolized by tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, exposes data stored within it and at risk of attack. It is, therefore, necessary to provide alternative data storage options in which data remains accessible while being safer and more secure and not under the control of big online entities.
Decentralized cloud storage is being driven by the emergence of advancements in blockchain technology. By breaking the monopoly rule of big tech companies, you can be the master of your niche with Sarvvid.
Inventiva interviewed Manish Soni, the CEO of Sarvvid, one of the most reliable and decentralized cloud storage providers in the industry. Manish Soni shared with Inventiva that decentralized cloud storage gives the data owner complete control and security. Who doesnt want privacy, security, and authority over their data in todays world? Unfortunately, so many big tech companies have made this priority a non-issue.
Inventiva: What does Sarvvid stand for?
CEO: Sarvvid is a complete solution for decentralized data storage, and it allows users to manage their data decentralized from time to time. Decentralization works on the security of the data stored while helping users get the account of their data while having complete control over it.
Inventiva: Why do you keep the name Sarvvid?
CEO: Sarvvid can be diverted into two sections. One is called the Sarv, which means everything and the other is called Vid, which means Vidya. In short, we can say that Sarvvid means every knowledge or, in short, limitless opportunities.
Inventiva: Where is the Sarvvid venture based? Who are the biggest competitors of Sarvvid?
CEO: Sarvvid is located in Delhi. We do not believe in any competitors as we believe in the upgrade version of Google, Dropbox and all the companies based on a foundation of cloud data storage or centralized data infrastructure.
Inventiva: Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?
CEO: This project on which we are working has tremendous possibilities; every small colony has a SarvvidHub. Every phone is SarvvidNode making India the Data Capital of the world, storing all data in our network. Back three months because of some reasons I had to visit hospital-like I was living in that imagination. It was crystal clear; their whole data came back and forth from our network. There is a philosophy that I believe is that any companys valuation is based on how much value they provide by being in existence, so Sarvvid will be a 500 Billion dollar Company.
Inventiva: What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
CEO: The most challenging part was to find the purpose, and after I got the purpose, it all crystal clear where we were headed. Its just a matter of how much time it would take.
Inventiva: Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
CEO: From This Line, a sudden quote appeared in front of my eyes, and that is Krishna Ko Chitra mein Nahi Charitra Mein Bithana hai. One should not hang images and photos of their beloved god; instead, they have to be Gods Image. My Idol is Shri Krishna, as after reading Bhagwat Geeta, I dont believe that anybody is as smart and visionary as him. Elon Musk also plays a big part in being a motivator in life as he is the biggest example that you can learn anything by just reading books and from the internet.
Inventiva: Who are the target audience or client?
CEO: Sarvvid is meant for people who wants to store limitless data. A startup, an individual, an industry, or an organization, everyone can use it. This even targets entrepreneurs, big companies, people handling data online and managing work filled with data.
Inventiva: How is SARVVID better than other clouds?
CEO: We do not say that we are better than other clouds, but we are the upgraded version of cloud data service. A Cloud data service is a storage method that stores data on remote servers accessed over the internet (or the cloud). Users generally pay a monthly or per-consumption fee for managing, maintaining, and backing up their data remotely.
Sarvvid is a good example of a decentralized data management system. With the help of independent users and their data collection, we ensure that all components are done safely so that everyone can keep track of what they save. It is all at a reasonable rate compared to others, and one more thing is that they can earn from their storage with our application Sarvvid Node.
Inventiva: What makes SARVVID unique?
CEO: A decentralized storage platform is Sarvvid Box, Indias first Decentralized Cloud Storage. The service also offers premium services like two devices syncing simultaneously with different passwords for separate folders.
Inventiva: What are the Advantages of Sarvvid Box storage?
CEO: When you back up your files using conventional cloud storage systems and applications, there is a chance that you will lose access to your files if the company or service closes its doors.
Take, for instance, when there was a data leak from Dropbox. The company did not take authority for the action. This is where Sarvvid stands unique. Sarvvid wishes to take authority over the complete data stored by the user while they trust the companys system.
This is not the case with the Sarvvid Box. Because it is decentralized, your data would still be available even if some large corporations went out of business. You also benefit from added security because it is stored without any central server or centre point where hackers can get at it.
Inventiva: How is data secure in Sarvvid?
CEO: When you think of centralized data storage, then there is the fear of losing your data or your data being hacked. But Sarvvid works differently. In Sarvvid, there is no single point of failure as your data is stored across a network of nodes instead of a centralized server which prevents the loss of data or data being shared from one person to the other.
You now know what Sarvvid does and how it works, so what are you waiting for? If its about authority and security, Sarvvid is the way to go. Lets Go!
Article Proofread & Published by Gauri Malhotra.
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Interview With Manish Soni, CEO Of "Sarvvid" - The Updated Version Of Cloud Storage Companies (an Innovative Way To Decentralize Data...
Robin.io selected as finalist of the annual Products of the Year Awards by TechTarget’s Storage Magazine and SearchStorage – socPub
SAN JOSE, Calif. Jan 19, 2022 Robin.io, a leader in Kubernetes data management for enterprise applications and operator 5G solutions, has been selected as a finalist of the annual Products of the Year Awards by TechTarget's Storage Magazine and SearchStorage 2021 for the cloud storage category. The winners will be announced on 15th, 2022, in the February issue of Storage Magazine.
The Storage Magazine 2021 Products of the Year Awards recognizes winners in five categories: Backup and Disaster Recovery Hardware, Software and Services; Cloud Storage; Disk and Disk Subsystems; Hyper-converged and Composable Infrastructures, and Storage System and Application Software. All enterprise storage products were judged based on technological innovation, performance, ease of integration, use and manageability, functionality, and value. Under the cloud storage category, the company must include software that pools and centrally manages storage across servers or cloud object stores, cloud-native storage, file systems not tied to specific arrays, and gateway appliances for cloud backup and replication.
"We are incredibly honored to be one of the finalists in the industry's most prestigious and long-standing awards," said Partha Seetala, founder and CEO of Robin.io. This is truly a team honor, recognizing the rapid pace of innovation enabled by our various solutions, products and technology, along with our unwavering commitment to customer support. While it is nice to be recognized and celebrate, we continue to focus our efforts on the needs of our customers," he added.
Along with this, Robin.io was also awarded CRN's 10 Hottest Kubernetes Startups Of 2021, Titanium Level recognition at Intel Network Builders 2021, Highly commended Solution at Most Innovative Cloud Service category at GLOTEL 2021, FutureNet World Awards 2021 for leading solution for network automation/autonomous networks, Automation Initiative of the Year category 2020 and many more.
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Robin.io selected as finalist of the annual Products of the Year Awards by TechTarget's Storage Magazine and SearchStorage - socPub
How to install NextCloud server on Rocky Linux 8 – Linux Shout
Step by step tutorial to install NextCloud on Rocky Linux 8 for personal cloud storage to store media files and documents using the internet from anywhere; using smartphone or desktop app.
What is Nextcloud?
Nextcloud is a free open source cloud software for the encrypted storage of data in a cloud or on your servers. It is client-server software and forked of another open-source known as OpenCloud. Also, it is a good alternative to cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive, if someone wants a seld-hosted personal cloud solution.
Cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive are very popular nowadays; one of the reasons is the automatic sync of users files to the cloud across different devices, so data is easily accessible and not lost. Well, that facility is also there on Nextcloud.
Although such public cloud storage services are offered by larger companies generally safe and reliable. However, these offers also have disadvantages. They only offer their customers a limited amount of free storage space. If customers need more space to store their data, they have to pay.
NextCloud also offers two-factor authentication to better protect the cloud accounts against unauthorized access. Whereas this personal cloud server can also encrypt data to securely send data remotely, however, to improve the user experience, especially for newcomers, encryption is not enabled by default. Because encryption increases file size by approximately 35%. Further it also comes with Healthcare and HIPAA; GDPR Compliance Kit; Auditing capabilities and File Access Control.
The steps given here will be applicable for other RedHat-based Linux distros such as CentOS, Almalinux, Oracle Linux
Rocky Linux 8 Apache, PHP 7.3, 7.4, 8.0 MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.2/10.3/10.4/10.5 Non-root sudo user 512MB of RAM
If you have just installed a fresh Rocky Linux server or havent updated it for a while then first run the system update command:
Also, install:
Once the update is completed, also put SELinux in permissive mode, which means disabling it temporarily until the next reboot. This will make sure there will be no unwanted restriction in installing NextCloud.
To check the status:
As one of the requirements of NextCloud is the web server, so for that install Apache, along with that being a PHP based web application also configure the same.
Start and enable Apache services
To check the status:
According to NextCloud, PHP 8.0 is recommended to use. Hence, we go for that because the version via the default repository of Rocky Linux is 7.2. Therefore, we have to add the Remi repo manually to get the latest version.
Install:
Increase PHP Memory limit:
Find memory_limit and set the value to 512M
Save the file: Ctrl+O, hit the Enter key, and then exit: Ctrl+X.
We also need some medium to store the data generated by NextCloud, here we are using MariaDB. However, you can use MySQL, SQLite, Oracle Database, and PostgreSQL as well if you want.
Start and enable the service:
Secure Database:
Follow the text-based wizard.
Create a New Database for NextCloud:
Login:
Create database User:
Create DB:
Give all rights of created DB to use:
Note: Replace yourdb with the database name you want to give, whereas the youruser with the username and yourpasswordwith the password you want to assign.
Visit the official website of NextCloud and then download it. Right-click on the Download button and copy the link address.
paste the link with wget
Example:
unzip the file:
Move the extracted file to /var/www/html/ directory
Create a data folder to store uploaded data in Nextcloud
Now, the give the Nextcloud permission to Apache user:
Lets create an Apache configuration file for NextCloud, to serve the file in case you are using the domain name or multiple websites are running on the same server.
Paste the following lines:
Note: Dont forget to replace cloud.example.com with the domain name you want to use. If you dont have any then leave it as it is.
Restart the Apache web server and set SELinux policies:
Once all the above steps are completed you are ready to access the web interface for setting up NextCloud further on your Rocky Linux 8 system.
Open your browser that can access the domain or IP address of the server where you have installed NextCloud. After that point to the Ip or domain:
Create Admin user and enter Database Details
The first page will ask you to create an Admin user and after that select MySQL/MariaDB as Database. There enter the details of the Database you have created.
After that click on the Finish button.
In the future if you want to upgrade your NextCloud using the command, easily, then here is the command:
Edit php.ini
Scroll to the end of the file:
Save the file using Ctrl+O, hit the Enter key, and then press Ctrl+X
Once you have added
Those who also want to set SSL certificate needto run the following commands:
Note: Make sure in your Domain DNS A record is pointing to the Ip-address where you have installed NextCloud.
Once the SSL certificate has been issued successfully edit your existing Apache Configuration:
Delete existing configuration and add the following one. And dont forget to replace the cloud.example.com with the domain name you want to use access NextCloud.
Save the file by pressing Ctlr+O, hit the Enter key, and then exit the same using Ctrl+X.
In this way, we can install NextCloud on Rocky Linux or in any Redhat-based system such as CentOS, Oracle Linux Although it is a good way to set up your cloud to access files remotely, a few disadvantages are always there. Such as the user will be responsible for maintenance, security, and settings including hardware.
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How to install NextCloud server on Rocky Linux 8 - Linux Shout
Tesla and Box: Two Focus List Shorts Poised To Payoff – Forbes
close up shot of a digital stock market tracking graph follwing a recent crash in prices. Bear ... [+] market 3D illustration
My firmsFocus List Stocks: Short Model Portfoliooutperformed the S&P 500 as a short portfolio by 36% in 2021, and 29 out of the 31 picks outperformed. Were starting 2022 by reviewing the two stocks that underperformed last year and their potential returns this year.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and Box Inc. (BOX) were the only two Focus List Short stocks that underperformed as shorts in 2021, and I remain bearish on both stocks.
Focus List Short Stocks Outperformed in 2021
The Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio contains the best of myDanger Zonepicks and leverages superior fundamental data, as proven in The Journal of Financial Economics, which provides anew source of alpha.
The Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio fell[1], on average, -16% in 2021 compared to an average return of 20% for the S&P 500, per Figure 1.
Figure 1: Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio Performance from Period Ending 4Q20 to 4Q21
Focus List Short Performance In 2021
Because my Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio represents the best of the best picks, not all Danger Zone picks I publish make the Model Portfolio. I published 46Danger Zone Reportsin 2021 but added just 11 of those picks to the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio during the year. Currently, the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio holds 28 stocks.
Figure 2 shows a more detailed breakdown of the Model Portfolios performance, which encompasses all the stocks that were in the Model Portfolio at any time in 2021.
Figure 2: Performance of Stocks in the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio in 2021
Focus List Short Performance By Stocks 2021
Performance includes the performance of stocks currently in the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio, as well as those removed during the year, which is why the number of stocks in Figure 2 (31) is higher than the number of stocks currently in the Model Portfolio (28).
Below I detail the expectations for future profit growth baked into each of the two stocks, and why I believe each of them is overvalued.
Underperforming Focus List Short Stock 1: Tesla (TSLA): Up 50% vs. S&P 500 Up 27% in 2021
I originally addedTeslato the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio inNovember 2017, and while it underperformed as a short in 2021, its valuation remains disconnected from the reality of the firms fundamentals and the electric vehicle (EV) market at large.
Main Reason for Short Underperformance: Irrational Investor Exuberance:Tesla bulls continue to pile into the stock on the hopes Tesla will revolutionize not just the auto industry, but energy, software, transportation, insurance, and more, despite evidence to the contrary. The optimistic hopes for these businesses seem to compel investors to buy shares at valuations more suited to science-fiction than investing.
Teslas record vehicle deliveries were a major factor in stock performance in 2021. Selling just under 1 million cars in 2021 sounds great and was no small feat. However, that number is minuscule compared to the number of vehicles Tesla must sell to justify its current stock price anywhere from 16 million to upwards of 46 million depending on average selling price (ASP) assumptions. For reference, Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst, projects Tesla will sell8.1 million vehiclesin 2030.
Why I Remain Bearish on Tesla: Valuation Ignores Weakening Competitive Position:The headwinds Tesla faces are numerous (such as therecent recallof half a million vehicles) and outlined in more detail in the reporthere. The biggest challenge to any Tesla bull case is the rising competition from incumbents and startups alike across the global EV market.
Incumbent automakers have spent billions of dollars building out their EV offerings. Indeed, automakers other than Tesla already account for 85% ofglobal EV salesthrough the first half of 2021. The global EV market is simply not big enough for Tesla to achieve the sales expectations in its valuation unless everyone else exits the market.
The bottom line is that it is hard to make a straight-faced argument that in a competitive market, Tesla can achieve the sales its valuation implies.
Reverse DCF Math: Valuation Implies Tesla Will Own 60%+ of the Global Passenger EV Market
At its current average selling price (ASP) per vehicle of ~$51k, Teslas stock price of ~$1,200/share implies the firm will sell 16 million vehicles in 2030 versus ~930k in 2021.That represents 60% of theprojected base case global EV passenger vehicle marketin 2030 and the implied vehicle sales based on lower ASPs look even more unrealistic.
To provide inarguably best-case scenarios for assessing the expectations reflected in Teslas stock price, I assume Tesla achieves profit margins twice as high as Toyota Motor Corp (TM) and quadruples its current auto manufacturing efficiency.Below are the number of vehicles Tesla needs to sell in 2030 to justify ~$1,200/share.
Per Figure 3, Teslas current valuation implies that, in 2030, it will sell the following number of vehicles based on these ASP benchmarks:
If Tesla achieves those EV sales, the implied market share for the company would be the following (assuming global passenger EV sales reach 26 million in 2030, thebase case projection from the IEA):
If I assume theIEAs best casefor global passenger EV sales in 2030, 47 million vehicles, the above vehicle sales represent:
Figure 3: Teslas Implied Vehicle Sales in 2030 to Justify Current Valuation
Vehicle Production Implied By TSLA Stock Price
Tesla Must be More Profitable Than Apple For Investors to Make Money
Here are the assumptions I use in myreverse discounted cash flow (DCF) modelto calculate the implied production levels above.
To justify its current price of ~$1,200/share, Tesla must:
In thisscenario, Tesla generates$789 billionin revenue in 2030, which is 103% of the combined revenues of Toyota, General Motors, Ford (F), Honda Motor Corp (HMC), and Stellantis (STLA) over the TTM.
This scenario also implies Tesla generates $136 billion in net operating profit after-tax (NOPAT) in 2030, or 46% higher than Apples (AAPL) fiscal 2021 NOPAT, which, at $93 billion, is the highest of allcompanies my firm covers.
TSLA Has 59% Downside If Morgan Stanley Is Right About Sales
If I assume Tesla reaches Morgan Stanleys estimate of selling 8.1 million cars in 2030 (which implies a 31% share of the global passenger EV market in 2030), at an ASP of $38k, the stock is worth just $483/share. Details:
the stock is worth just $471/share today 59% downside to the current price.See the math behind this reverse DCF scenario. In this scenario, Tesla grows NOPAT to $60 billion, or nearly 17x its TTM NOPAT, and just 3% below Alphabets (GOOGL) TTM NOPAT.
TSLA Has 88%+ Downside Even with 28% Market Share and Realistic Margins
If I estimate more reasonable (but still very optimistic) margins and market share achievements for Tesla, the stock is worth just $136/share. Heres the math:
the stock is worth just $136/share today an 88% downside to the current price.
In thisscenario, Tesla sells 7.3 million cars (28% of the global passenger EV market in 2030) at an ASP of $38k. I also assume a more realistic NOPAT margin of 8.5% in this scenario. Given the required expansion of plant/manufacturing capabilities and formidable competition, I think Tesla will be lucky to achieve and sustain a margin as high as 8.5% from 2021-2030. If Tesla fails to meet these expectations, then the stock is worth less than $136/share.
Figure 4 compares the firms historical NOPAT to the NOPAT implied in the above scenarios to illustrate just how high the expectations baked into Teslas stock price remain. For additional context, I show Toyotas, General Motors, and Apples TTM NOPAT.
Figure 4: Teslas Historical and Implied NOPAT: DCF Valuation Scenarios
Implied NOPAT In TSLA Share Price
Each of the above scenarios assumes Teslasinvested capitalgrows 14% compounded annually through 2030. For reference, Teslas invested capital grew 53% compounded annually from 2010-2020 and 29% compounded annually from 2015-2020. Invested capital at the end of 3Q21 grew 21% year-over-year (YoY). Teslas property, plant, and equipment has grown even faster, at 58% compounded annually, since 2010.
A 14% CAGR represents 1/4ththe CAGR of Teslas property, plant, and equipment since 2010 and assumes the company can build future plants and produce cars 4x more efficiently than it has so far.
In other words, I aim to provide inarguably best-case scenarios for assessing the expectations for future market share and profits reflected in Teslas stock market valuation.
Underperforming Focus List Short Stock 2: Box Inc. (BOX): Up 45% vs. S&P 500 Up 27% in 2021
I originally addedBoxto the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio inNovember 2020, and despite the stocks underperformance as a short in 2021, Boxs business continues to lag in an industry filled with large and well-established incumbent operators. The stock price increase in 2021 puts Box shareholders in a more precarious situation than they were in my original Danger Zonereporton the company.
Main Reason for Short Underperformance: Box Returned to Growth:Box beat both top and bottom line in each of its quarterly earnings reports in 2021. After years of slowing revenue growth rates, Box reported YoY revenue growth of 10%, 12% and 14% in fiscal 1Q22, 2Q22, and 3Q22 respectively. In its fiscal 3Q22 earnings report, Box guided for YoY revenue growth of 15% in fiscal 4Q22, which was above consensus estimates of 12% YoY revenue growth.
This return to growth comes at a time when demand for file sharing, collaboration tools, and cloud content storage/management is rising as companies adapt to hybrid work models.
Why Box Remains Boxed Out: Not Profitable In Best of Times:Despite a return to growth, Box remains unprofitable in a cloud/software industry filled with more profitable competitors.
The fact remains thatmost of Boxs target customers already get Box-like services from Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), or Google (GOOG), who also offer high-value products such as word processing, spreadsheet/data management, and video conferencing tools. In comparison, Cloud storage is a low-value add-on, and collaboration tools are becoming more ubiquitous.
Box pitches direct integration with Microsoft, Google, and other partners as a selling point. However, once a user is paying for Microsoft and Google, why would they want to pay extra to use an outside app to edit and manage files when they get the same service from within Microsoft and Google?
With this competitive backdrop, bulls should heed caution given that Boxs busines remains unprofitable in, perhaps, one of the best times to be a provider of cloud storage and related software.
Over the TTM, Boxs operating expenses remain 104% of revenue. Per Figure 5, Boxs NOPAT margin of -3% is well below its competitors. Boxsinvested capital turns, a measure of balance sheet efficiency, fall in the middle of the group, and Boxs ROIC ranks last as the only negative ROIC of the group as well.
Figure 5: Boxs Partners/Competitors Are More Profitable TTM
BOX Peer Profitablity
Box Is Priced to Reach Nearly 56 Million Paying Users, or 340% of Dropbox Paying Users
Given guidance for mid-teens growth rates, investors may think Box has more room to run. However, when I use myreverse DCF modelto quantify the expectations for future growth baked into the firms stock price, I find that Box must grow at double consensus estimates or the stock holds nothing but downside risk.
To justify its current price of $26/share, Box must:
In thisscenario, Box would generate $2.8 billion in revenue in fiscal 2028, which is 3X its TTM revenue and 34% greater than Dropboxs TTM revenue. By dividing the implied revenue in fiscal 2028 of $2.8 billion by the firms fiscal 2021 average revenue per paying user of $50, I arrive at ~56 million implied paying users in fiscal 2028, compared to ~15.5 million in fiscal 2021. 56 million paying users would be 340% of Dropboxs paying users as well.
In the history of the world, the number of companies that grow revenue by 20%+ compounded annually for such a long period isunbelievably rare, which make the expectations baked into Boxs valuation look even more unrealistic.
BOX Has 54%+ Downside if Consensus Is Right: Even if I assume Boxs
the stock is worthjust $12/sharetoday a 54% downside to the current price. This scenario still implies Boxs revenue grows to $1.5 billion in fiscal 2028 and its implied paying users would be 30 million, or nearly 2x its fiscal 2021 paying users. If Box fails to achieve the revenue growth or margin improvement assumed in this scenario, the downside would be even higher.
Figure 6 compares Boxs historical NOPAT to the NOPAT implied by each of the above DCF scenarios. For reference, I include Dropboxs TTM NOPAT as well.
Figure 6: Boxs Historical Vs. Implied NOPAT
Implied NOPAT In BOX Share Price
Each of the above scenarios also assumes Box is able to grow revenue, NOPAT, and free cash flow (FCF) without increasing working capital or fixed assets. This assumption is highly unlikely but allows me to create best-case scenarios that demonstrate how high expectations embedded in the current valuation are.
Disclosure: David Trainer, Kyle Guske II, and Matt Shuler receive no compensation to write about any specific stock, sector, style, or theme.
[1]Performance represents the price performance of each stock during the time in which it was on the Focus List Stocks: Short Model Portfolio in 2021. For stocks removed from the Focus List in 2021, performance is measured from the beginning of 2021 through the date the ticker was removed from the Focus List. For stocks added to the Focus List in 2021, performance is measured from the date the ticker was added to the Focus List through December 31, 2021.
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Tesla and Box: Two Focus List Shorts Poised To Payoff - Forbes
5 best Procreate alternatives for Android you should try – Phandroid – News for Android
Procreate is a popular app for sketching, painting, and digital creation needs. It is widely used by professionals as well as amateur artists but unfortunately, it is limited to Apple devices. This is the reason we have compiled a list of best Procreate alternatives for Android. These apps offer a similar suite of tools and features that a digital artist expects. The good thing is that even if you are just starting out and looking to improve your skills, these apps will be helpful in that aspect as well.
Sketchbook is probably the best Procreate alternative for Android. It is suitable for all your sketching, painting, and drawing needs. It offers a wide range of brush types with customizable options to help you achieve the look you have imagined. There are rulers, guides, and stroke tools with high precision that professionals look for.
One of the best things about Sketchbook is its intuitive interface. It makes it a lot easier to find the right tools and to use them. The tools do not interfere with your drawing experience either. You can choose to sketch something from the scratch or import an existing image from the phone gallery. It supports large-sized canvases with an effortless pinch-zoom experience.
ibis Paint X is a painting and drawing app packed with professional tools. It boasts more than 7100 brushes, 2800 materials, 900 fonts, 79 filters, 46 screen tones, and 27 blending models. With so many options at your disposal, you can paint or draw anything you wish and exactly the way you want to.
The app offers various ruler features and stroke stabilization support. It even lets you record your drawing process that can be shared with others. Similarly, you can check drawing videos of others to learn and improve yourself.
ArtFlow is a drawing and sketching app that should be your choice if you prefer using stylus pens. It has NVIDIA DirectStylus support to ensure that it can make most of a stylus, especially the ones with pressure sensitivity like Samsungs S Pen. There is a palm rejection feature to avoid accidental touches while drawing and thus avoid unwanted zooming and panning.
The app is capable of supporting canvases up to 6144 x 6144 pixels with 50 layers but this will also depend on your devices hardware capabilities. Other important features include over 100 brushes, 10 layer filters, material design-inspired UI, and smudge tools. You can also export and import files in PNG, JPG, and PSD formats.
MediBang Paint is an easy-to-use app for panting and drawing purposes. It claims to have over a thousand brushes and tones. It also has specific tools if you are looking to create digital comics like different brushes, screen tones, backgrounds, and comics fonts. There is cloud storage support so that you can start drawing on one device and continue on another. It has speech-to-text for adding dialogues to your comics. The app has collaborative working support to help you if you are working on a single project with multiple people.
Tayasui Sketches should be your drawing and sketching app choice if you want something without the clutters of tools and options. The app claims to have over 20 ultra-realistic tools that can help you create digital arts that feel realistic. It has a brush editor so that you can adjust the size and opacity level of a particular brush as per your preference.
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5 best Procreate alternatives for Android you should try - Phandroid - News for Android