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Insights on the Hardware Encryption Global Market to 2026 – by Algorithm & Standard, Architecture, Product, Application and Region – PRNewswire

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Hardware Encryption Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global hardware encryption market exhibited strong growth during 2015-2020. Encryption refers to the process of utilizing an algorithm to convert information or data into codes to prevent any unauthorized access. It protects sensitive data by transforming it into an unreadable ciphertext which can be decrypted using an encryption key. These types of encryption utilize a dedicated processor, which aids in the tasks of authentication and encryption. This processor is physically located on the encrypted drive which often generates the encryption key that can be unlocked using the user's password. Since it protects the data against threats, such as cold boot, malicious code and brute force attacks, it is widely being adopted across diverse industry verticals, including banking, corporate, IT & Telecom, healthcare, etc.

Escalating adoption rates of portable storage devices which are used to transfer information between computers and create backup are one of the major factors contributing to the market growth. Hardware encryption devices offer efficient confidentiality of personal data from unauthorized access, which has positively influenced their sales globally. Furthermore, the rising cases of cyber-attacks have led private organizations as well as governments to make a shift toward hardware encryption as these systems are more resilient and deliver faster performance when compared with software encryptions. Moreover, the increasing sales of consumer electronics have led smartphone manufacturers to include fingerprint scanners in their devices. This protects the privacy of the users as well as makes the process of encryption and decryption faster. Looking forward, the publisher expects the global hardware encryption market to grow at a CAGR of around 30% during the forecast period (2021-2026).

Competitive Landscape:

The report has also analysed the competitive landscape of the market with some of the key players being Gemalto NV, IBM Corp., Imation Corp., Maxim Integrated Products, Micron Technology, Netapp, Samsung Electronics, SanDisk Corporation, Seagate Technology, Thales, Toshiba Corp., Western Digital Corp., Western Digital Technologies, Winmagic, etc.

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Preface

2 Scope and Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Introduction4.1 Overview4.2 Key Industry Trends

5 Global Hardware Encryption Market5.1 Market Overview5.2 Market Performance5.3 Impact of COVID-195.4 Market Forecast

6 Market Breakup by Algorithm and Standard6.1 Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)6.1.1 Market Trends6.1.2 Market Forecast6.2 Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA)6.2.1 Market Trends6.2.2 Market Forecast6.3 Others6.3.1 Market Trends6.3.2 Market Forecast

7 Market Breakup by Architecture7.1 Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)7.1.1 Market Trends7.1.2 Market Forecast7.2 Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC)7.2.1 Market Trends7.2.2 Market Forecast

8 Market Breakup by Product8.1 External Hard Disk Drives8.1.1 Market Trends8.1.2 Market Forecast8.2 Internal Hard Disk Drives8.2.1 Market Trends8.2.2 Market Forecast8.3 lnline Network Encryptors8.3.1 Market Trends8.3.2 Market Forecast8.4 USB Flash Drives8.4.1 Market Trends8.4.2 Market Forecast8.5 Others8.5.1 Market Trends8.5.2 Market Forecast

9 Market Breakup by Application9.1 Consumer Electronics9.1.1 Market Trends9.1.2 Market Forecast9.2 IT & Telecom9.2.1 Market Trends9.2.2 Market Forecast9.3 Transportation9.3.1 Market Trends9.3.2 Market Forecast9.4 Aerospace and Defense9.4.1 Market Trends9.4.2 Market Forecast9.5 Healthcare9.5.1 Market Trends9.5.2 Market Forecast9.6 BFSI9.6.1 Market Trends9.6.2 Market Forecast9.7 Others9.7.1 Market Trends9.7.2 Market Forecast

10 Market Breakup by Region

11 SWOT Analysis

12 Value Chain Analysis

13 Porters Five Forces Analysis

14 Competitive Landscape14.1 Market Structure14.2 Key Players14.3 Profiles of Key Players14.3.1 Gemalto NV14.3.1.1 Company Overview14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio14.3.2 IBM Corp.14.3.2.1 Company Overview14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio14.3.3 Imation Corp.14.3.3.1 Company Overview14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio14.3.4 Maxim Integrated Products14.3.4.1 Company Overview14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio14.3.4.3 Financials14.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.5 Micron Technology14.3.5.1 Company Overview14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio14.3.5.3 Financials14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.6 Netapp14.3.6.1 Company Overview14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio14.3.6.3 Financials14.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.7 Samsung Electronics14.3.7.1 Company Overview14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio14.3.7.3 Financials14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.8 SanDisk Corporation14.3.8.1 Company Overview14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio14.3.9 Seagate Technology14.3.9.1 Company Overview14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio14.3.10 Thales14.3.10.1 Company Overview14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio14.3.11 Toshiba Corp.14.3.11.1 Company Overview14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio14.3.11.3 Financials14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.12 Western Digital Corp.14.3.12.1 Company Overview14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio14.3.12.3 Financials14.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis14.3.13 Western Digital Technologies14.3.13.1 Company Overview14.3.13.2 Product Portfolio14.3.14 Winmagic14.3.14.1 Company Overview14.3.14.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6v5kst

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

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Light Start: WhatsApp rolls out backup encryption, LG is more attractive, Google goes dark and iPhones only laak gud vaabs Stuff – Stuff Magazines

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

Google is the next to go dark

In case you havent noticed, and at the risk of sounding dramatic, the dark mode revolution is upon us and will consume everything given enough time. Dark mode users rejoice as Google.com will soon offer a dark mode. If all of that went over your head, allow us to change your life for the better.

If you didnt know, the advances in science and technology have allowed us to make our apps darker. Gone are the days of receiving a text a few minutes after turning out the light, going to read the text and your phone screen burning your retinas. You need not suffer anymore. Google.com is by no means the first implementation of a dark mode, but it is an indication that the practice is becoming more mainstream.

Google says the feature is rolling out from today. To check if you can enable it, head to the Google home page in our case google.co.za and look for the settings button in the bottom right corner. From the popup menu choose search settings. On the right, you should see a few options, one of which will be Appearance, you can enable dark mode in there. If you dont see it yet (like us) then youll need to wait a bit longer.

Source: ArsTechnica

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Light Start: WhatsApp rolls out backup encryption, LG is more attractive, Google goes dark and iPhones only laak gud vaabs Stuff - Stuff Magazines

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Revenant REvil. WhatsApp offers encryption. Hortum spyware in Turkey. Update on the UN data breach. Healthcare breaches disclosed. – The CyberWire

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

At a glance.

Last week we noted the servers of recently folded ransomware gang REvil, known for attacks on companies like JBS, Kenneth Cole, and most recently Kaseya, had suddenly sprung to life. While it seemed too soon to say for sure REvil was back in business, it seems where theres smoke, theres fire. Bleeping Computer confirms that REvil has returned, and while some experts thought REvil might undergo a rebrand, instead it seems theyve simply restored their old servers and are operating under the same name. Victims listed on the gangs Tor-hosted negotiation site have had their ransom payment deadlines reset, and evidence of new attacks include a new REvil ransomware sample and screenshots of data stolen from a new victim. Flashpoint adds that REvils frontman, formerly known as Unknown or UNKN, has been replaced on underground Russian-language forum Exploit with a spokesman bearing the less creative alias REvil. Though some speculate that REvils reemergence could be connected to talks between US President Joe Biden and Russias Vladimir Putin and the lifting of sanctions on companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, other experts say theres no evidence of a link.

Messaging giant WhatsApp has made the controversial move to allow users to backup their conversations in the cloud in an encrypted format, TechCrunch reports. WhatsApp has always employed end-to-end encryption, but until now users were only able to store their conversations unencrypted, meaning intruders or law enforcement could potentially access these messages. Though WhatsApp, which considers itself at the forefront of user privacy, has declined to say whether it discussed the change with government bodies, the change is revolutionary as the platform is the first to put the brakes on what some see as a privacy violation. The Wall Street Journal sees the move as the latest blow in the ongoing battle between platforms seeking to increase user privacy and authorities who want access to the treasure trove of potential evidence. Riana Pfefferkorn of the Stanford Internet Observatory notes that the new encryption feature is not the default, meaning there will likely be many users who do not opt to turn it on. That said, WhatsApp says the feature will allow users a way to save messages without the prying eyes of Apples new controversial scanning system.

Zero Day recounts the tale of how Turkish National Police (TNP) might have been involved in police-on-police surveillance using a spyware platform called Hortum (or hose in Turkish). To snoop on members of the influential Glenist movement. The religious-political organization led by Fethullah Glen, a Turkish imam and scholar based in the US, is considered a threat by those who fear the Glenists are plotting an uprising against the Turkish government. Leaked emails show evidence of communications between Italian tech firm Hacking Team, creator of the spyware, and a chief inspector in the IT department of the TNP Intelligence Division, where a police chief and superintendent were arrested in 2016 under suspicion of Glenist involvement. Though there are no clear answers, the story highlights how difficult it is to investigate the use of spyware when the authorities might be the perpetrators.

Digital Journal looks at the recent UN data breach and sees evidence, not of technically sophisticated threat operations, but rather of thoughtful use of social engineering and the resources available in the criminal-to-criminal market, particularly resources taking the form of stolen credential offered for sale.

We received comments on the incident from Neil Jones, Cybersecurity Evangelist, Egnyte, who sees a lamentable tendency on the part of potential victims to overlook reasonably prudent security measures:

"The cyberattack that breached the computer systems at the United Nations is concerning in that it hit so close to the center of global power -- but its a real disaster for the IT team responsible for UN's file security. This particular attack is especially concerning, because smaller nation-states have been looking to the UN for critical leadership, as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Unfortunately, far too often methods and tools are being employed that dont meet the security and control needs of an organization, particularly a large Non-Government Organization like the UN. Security should be viewed as way more than a checklist. The best solutions fit in a broader sense of governance but still make it easy to share files with anyone, without compromising users' security and control.

"The reality is that all content and communications are vulnerable without proper data governance, and it is imperative that organizations protect the data itself. This type of security incident occurs regularly, particularly in decentralized settings like the United Nations and the mission-critical systems they use to communicate with hundreds of global nation-states on a daily basis. If secure file collaboration tools with suspicious log-in capabilities are implemented correctly, they can render cybercriminals attacks ineffective. Used in a case like this where adversaries were able to infiltrate the network and grind activities to a halt, the systems themselves would have been inaccessible to outsiders, and the valuable data would have remained protected."

Danny Lopez, CEO of Glasswall, draws lessons about the necessity for taking better care of employees, especially during on- and off-boarding:

Attacks like these demonstrate that a traditional castle-and-moat approach to network security leaves organisations exposed. Zero trust security sees the world differently. No one is trusted by default, regardless of whether they are inside or outside a network. In a world where data can be held amongst multiple cloud providers it is crucial to strengthen all processes relating to access verification. Without a zero trust approach organisations run the risk of attackers having a free reign across a network once they are inside.

"Reports of a data breach at the UN are troubling, given the importance of the work being done by this organisation. There is speculation that the breach occurred due to UN credentials being traded online. Forensic analysis will most likely reveal more details in the coming days, but for now it's worth underlining the importance of good security practice.

"Organisations like the UN need to adopt robust processes for onboarding and offboarding employees and affiliates that may receive access to key information systems. It's vital to control privileged access and to monitor those that enjoy that administrator privilege. Ensuring that multi-factor authentication is enforced wherever possible, is a vital defence where user credentials find their way into the public domain. This will help to limit the blast radius, and in most cases, defeat the data breach.

"Even if all procedures and policies are well executed, then there's no escaping the fact that adversaries are constantly looking to probe vulnerabilities and to insert malware into the environment, often using everyday business documents which we all use. It's vital that organisations like the UN invest in cyber protection services that stay ahead of attackersby eliminating the threats while still allowing employees to do their vital work."

And Steve Moore, chief security strategist at Exabeam, notes that compromised credentials have become a pervasive problem for organizations of all kinds and sizes:

The United Nations' networks are home to a breadth of sensitive international relations and security data that, in the wrong hands, could put global government officials, citizens and even peace between nations at risk. The intergovernmental organization confirmed this week that its systems were compromised following credentials for internal software being found in criminal marketplaces.

"The UN is not alone. Comprised credentials are the reason for 61% of breaches today. To remediate incidents involving user credentials and respond to adversaries, organizations must move fast and consider an approach that is closely aligned with monitoring user behavior - to provide the necessary context needed to restore trust, and react in real time, to protect user accounts. This should include the ability to understand normal in your network, to detect, using behavioral characteristics, to identify when abnormal events have occurred.

California-based LifeLong Medical Care hasbegun notifyingmore than 115,000 individuals that their personal data (names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, patient cardholder numbers, and information concerning both treatment and diagnosis) have been compromised. Another healthcare provider, Arizona-based Desert Wells Family Medicine, has recentlyinformed35,000 patients that their EHR data were compromised in a ransomware attack.

Sascha Fahrbach, Cybersecurity Evangelist atFudo Security, commented that the PII held by healthcare providers continues to be valuable, and hence an attractive target for cybercriminals:

"These latest attacks show that the healthcare industry, with its valuable PII, continues to be a tempting and lucrative target for hackers and insiders.There were more than 600 healthcare data breaches last year, with more than 22 million people affected, and unfortunately this trend shows no sign of slowing down. Healthcare operators need to reassess their security posture, as well as shifting their mindset, when it comes to safeguarding their data.

"In particular, third parties remain a security liability which needs to be urgently addressed. Many in the healthcare industry are not taking the proper steps to mitigate third-party remote access and third-party vendor risk.As seen with LifeLong Medical Care, this could expose organizations to data breaches, and the risk of costly non-compliance penalties.

"One of the key steps IT teams should take to protect their data is to evaluate the privilege access they are granting to their employees, partners and vendors, as privileged users are one of the most sought after targets by attackers.Taking a holistic approach, which includes a zero trust strategy and tools for monitoring and managing access,will greatly help mitigate these threats."

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Revenant REvil. WhatsApp offers encryption. Hortum spyware in Turkey. Update on the UN data breach. Healthcare breaches disclosed. - The CyberWire

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How a glitch in the Matrix led to apps potentially exposing encrypted chats – The Register

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

The Matrix.org Foundation, which oversees the Matrix decentralized communication protocol, said on Monday multiple Matrix clients and libraries contain a vulnerability that can potentially be abused to expose encrypted messages.

The organization said a blunder in an implementation of the Matrix key sharing scheme designed to allow a user's newly logged-in device to obtain the keys to decrypt old messages led to the creation of client code that fails to adequately verify device identity. As a result, an attacker could fetch a Matrix client user's keys.

Specifically, a paragraph in Matrix E2EE (end-to-end encryption) Implementation Guide, which described the desired key handling routine, was followed in the creation of Matrix's original matrix-js-sdk code. According to the foundation, this SDK "did not sufficiently verify the identity of the device requesting the keyshare," and this oversight made its way into other libraries and Matrix chat clients.

"This is not a protocol or specification bug, but an implementation bug which was then unfortunately replicated in other independent implementations," the foundation insisted.

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to access the message recipient's account, via stolen credentials or compromising the victim's homeserver.

"Thus, the greatest risk is to users who are in encrypted rooms containing malicious servers," the Matrix.org Foundation said in a blog post. "Admins of malicious servers could attempt to impersonate their users' devices in order to spy on messages sent by vulnerable clients in that room."

Admins of malicious servers could attempt to impersonate their users' devices in order to spy on messages sent by vulnerable clients in that room

At the moment, this risk remains theoretical as the foundation said it has not seen this flaw being exploited in the wild. Among the affected clients and libraries are: Element (Web/Desktop/Android, but not iOS), FluffyChat, Nheko, Cinny, and SchildiChat.

A handful of other applications that haven't implemented key sharing are believed not to be vulnerable. These include: Chatty, Hydrogen, mautrix, purple-matrix, and Syphon.

Matrix's key-sharing scheme was added in 2016 as a way to let a Matrix client app ask a message recipient's other devices or the sender's originating device for the keys to decrypt past messages. It also served to provide a way for a user to log into a new client and gain access to chat history when devices with the necessary keys were offline or the user hadn't backed the keys up.

The recommended implementation, as taken in matrix-js-sdk, involved sharing keys automatically only to devices of the same user that have been verified.

"Unfortunately, the implementation did not sufficiently verify the identity of the device requesting the keyshare, meaning that a compromised account can impersonate the device requesting the keys, creating this vulnerability," explained the Matrix.org Foundation.

Patches for affected software have been made available in the relevant repositories. The foundation said it intends to review the key sharing documentation and to revise it to make it clearer how to implement key sharing in a safe way. The group also said it will revisit whether key sharing is really necessary in the Matrix protocol and will focus on making matrix-rust-sdk a portable reference implementation of the Matrix protocol, so other libraries don't have to reimplement logic that has proven to be difficult to do properly.

"This will have the effect of reducing attack surface and simplifying audits for software which chooses to use matrix-rust-sdk," the foundation said.

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Secure cloud storage: which are the most secure providers? – ITProPortal

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

The best cloud storage platforms are designed to enable you to store files, data, and other information in a secure environment. Once youve created an account and uploaded your files to your chosen secure cloud storage platform, you will be able to access them from anywhere with an internet connection.

However, some services really dont perform well on the security front. In theory, your files may be encrypted and stored away from hackers and other malicious third parties, but things arent always as good as they seem.For example, many of the most popular platforms actually control your encryption keys, which essentially means that they can access your data if required.

They may be forced to do this by law enforcement, or hackers may cause a data breach resulting in leaked information.Fortunately, truly secure cloud storage solutions do exist. These generally use zero-knowledge encryption, which means that you have full control over who can view your files.

Versatile administrator controls are usually available, and all data is stored in highly secure, well-maintained data centers.For those looking for the best cloud storage for business, these elements are particularly important and key to have in place when it comes to your confidential, vital business data and information.

Below, we take a close look at the leading secure cloud storage platforms on the market today. We focus on encryption, data safety, and all-around security practices, alongside other noteworthy features.

1. IDrive: the best secure cloud storage providerIDriveoffers lots of storage for incredibly reasonable prices, end-to-end and at-rest encryption for files, and a private key that can be created to enable zero-knowledge encryption too. It supports unlimited devices, provides extensive file versioning, and other top features including data center security measures.View Deal

2. pCloud: a security leader in cloud storagepCloud provides encryption services across the board, not least via its pCloud Encryption add-on, which includes zero-knowledge architecture as well as client-side encryption. For business plans meanwhile, user and access controls are available, with the encryption add-on only $4.99 a month on top of subscriptions.View Deal

Our pick of the best secure cloud storage providers available is IDrive, thanks to its range of excellent secure storage solutions for individuals and businesses. Configurable storage and backups, alongside multi-device compatibility, are top features only enhanced by zero-knowledge and at-rest encryption on all files.

pCloud follows closely behind, its pCloud Encryption paid add-on providing advanced zero-knowledge and client-side encryption for an extra $4.99 a month, while business plans benefit from user and access controls as well as multi-device capabilities.

SpiderOak meanwhile is the leader in zero-knowledge, with advanced end-to-end encryption only adding to its zero-knowledge policy, which means the company and its staff cannot access any of your data or information. We also recommend that you consider Sync.com, Tresorit, MEGA, NordLocker, and IceDrive when considering which secure cloud storage solution might be right for you or your business.

Best configurable secure cloud storage

Automatic backups: Yes | Zero-knowledge encryption: Optional | At-rest encryption: Yes | Support: Phone, live chat, email, online form submission

Compatible with various devices

Uses full end-to-end encryption

Configurable backups

Support for unlimited devices

User interface can be a little confusing

Upload and download speeds are a little slow

IDrive is a leading cloud storage provider, and it offers excellent secure storage solutions for businesses of all sizes. Its known for its configurability, which essentially enables you to specify exactly how you would like files to be stored and how backups should work.

In addition, IDrive offers excellent multi-device compatibility. In fact, accounts can be used with unlimited devices, including on mobile and desktop. End-to-end and at-rest encryption is used throughout, and you can create a private key to enable zero-knowledge encryption.

All of IDrives data centers are located within the USA. They are designed with multiple failsafes, and they employ industry-standard security measures to prevent physical data breaches.

Theres a basic free plan with 5GB of storage, but you will need to upgrade to a premium subscription for full access to all tools and features. Prices start from $59.62 a year for a single user license with 5TB of storage.

It is worth noting that IDrive does have a few small flaws. Upload and download speeds can be slower than average. The user interface is also a little confusing, and you may find it hard to navigate at the beginning.

Find out more in our comprehensive IDrive review; across our comparison features pitting IDrive vs Backblaze and IDrive vs OneDrive; and in our interview with IDrive's CEO Raghu Kulkarni, who discusses its most important recent successes, the impact of COVID-19 on the sector, and the future.

Best overall secure cloud storage platform

Automatic backups: Yes | Zero-knowledge encryption: With add-on | At-rest encryption: Yes | Support: Email

Generous 10GB of free storage

Excellent file-sharing tools

Leading client-side encryption practices

Fast and easy to use

Support is a little basic

The free plan has limited tools

Zero-knowledge encryption is a premium add-on

Swiss-based pCloud is one of the worlds leading cloud storage providers. Its one of our top choices when it comes to secure cloud storage, and it should be easy to see why.

For starters, pCloud provides all of the expected encryption services across the board. Advanced zero-knowledge and client-side encryption is available through the pCloud Encryption add-on, which costs a relatively small $4.99 a month.

The cheapest business plans also offer excellent value for money. Prices start from just $9.99 per user a month for 1TB of storage per user. Admin team members will benefit from a suite of user and access controls, and there are numerous other tools available to streamline the cloud storage process.

In addition, pCloud offers excellent multi-device capabilities. Its available across all popular mobile and desktop operating systems, and its user interface is streamlined and intuitive across the board.

On the downside, collaboration tools are notably lacking. The free version is a little limited, and customer service is basic, at best.Learn more in our full pCloud review, and in our interview with the company's Ivan Dimitrov, who covers the company's future plans, its growth amid a larger industry, and the impacts of COVID-19.

Excellent zero-knowledge storage solutions

Automatic backups: Yes | Zero-knowledge encryption: Yes | At-rest encryption: Yes | Support: Email, live chat

Support for unlimited devices

Point-in-time recovery tools

Tight security all-around

Tidy desktop app

Quite expensive

Phone support is absent

Limited mobile support

SpiderOak offers advanced secure cloud storage solutions through its SpiderOak One product. This enables you to create full backups of all of your files and other data, storing it in a safe cloud environment.

Like most of the providers on this list, SpiderOak offers advanced end-to-end encryption. It has a strict No Knowledge policy, which means that the company and its employees will never have access to your files or any information associated with them. The point-in-time recovery tools are excellent, enabling you to restore previous versions of files or folders.

In addition, all plans come with support for unlimited devices. Prices are a little high, though, with the base 150GB plan costing $6 a month. Theres a 21-day free trial that you can use to test the platform.

Unfortunately, theres very limited mobile support. The desktop client is attractive and beginner-friendly, though, which is nice to see.Read our detailed SpiderOak review to find out more.

Advanced zero-knowledge encryption

Automatic backups: Yes | Zero-knowledge encryption: Yes | At-rest encryption: Yes | Support: Email

Excellent zero-knowledge encryption

Streamlined file sharing

Unlimited storage options

Support is limited to email

Few third-party integrations

Limited collaboration tools

Sync.com is a clear industry leader, and it focuses on data security and privacy across the board. Its known for its advanced end-to-end, zero-knowledge encryption, which basically means that no one will be able to access your data except for you.

The secure sharing tools on offer here stand out as excellent. You can set clear access permissions and control which users have what sort of access. For example, you can set permissions to read-only or read-write as necessary.

On the security front, Sync.com offers advanced two-factor authentication tools. Its compliant with regulations in various parts of the world, including the USA, Canada, and the EU. All data centers are highly secure and protected by tight controls.

Prices start from $5 per user, per month for 1TB of secure storage. Unlimited storage can be accessed for $15 per user a month. Theres also a free version that you can use to test the platform.

On the downside, theres only email support. In-app collaboration is limited, and theres only a small number of third-party integrations.To find out more, read our Sync.com review.

Versatile secure cloud storage for businesses of all sizes

Automatic backups: Yes | Zero-knowledge encryption: Yes | At-rest encryption: Yes | Support: Live chat, phone, email

Excellent encryption tools

Encrypted file sharing available

Real-time collaboration tools

Slow upload and download speeds

Expensive compared to some alternatives

Tresorit is known for its advanced cloud storage solutions which are backed by a suite of collaboration and other productivity features. It uses zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption across the board.

The secure file sharing tools also stand out as excellent, particularly for those dealing with sensitive data. All links are encrypted, and you can set clear access permissions to ensure files are only available to selected people.

In addition, Tresorit boasts full compliance with various regulatory bodies. Its fully HIPAA compliant, and its Swiss roots enable it to offer leading privacy features.

The collaboration tools also stand out as excellent. You can work alongside other team members to edit files. All changes will be tracked, and you can mark files that youre working on as editing to notify your colleagues.

Some users will be concerned by the slow download and upload speeds, though, which are somewhat lower than we would expect with a leading cloud storage provider. Prices are also a little high, with the cheapest plan starting at $14.50 per user a month for 1TB of storage.

Our full Tresorit review covers the service in more detail.

Mega has a great free forever plan

Automatic backups: Yes | Zero-knowledge encryption: Yes | At-rest encryption: Yes | Support: Email

Very competitively priced

Great free forever plan

Tidy user interface

Built-in team messaging tools

Slow upload and download

Limited support options

Few third-party app integrations

MEGA is our clear choice for those looking for a free secure cloud storage platform. It offers 20GB of storage with its free forever plan, which is backed by a full range of premium tools.

As expected, all files are protected by zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption. Two-factor authentication is available, and you can set clear link permissions to ensure only the right people can access shared files.

On top of this, the MEGA user interface is tidy and packed full of advanced features. The collaboration tools are excellent, enabling you to work alongside your colleagues and other team members. Theres a built-in secure chat tool, and theres even a MEGAdrop tool that enables third parties to upload files to your cloud.

The lack of support options will be a little concerning for some, as will the limited number of third-party app integrations. Upload and download speeds are also a little slow.Learn more in our full MEGA review.

Competitively priced secure cloud storage

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WhatsApp is finally allowing users to encrypt chat backups uploaded to iCloud and Google Drive – Buzz.ie

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

WhatsApp has announced that all users will soon be able to store end-to-end encrypted backups of their chat history on Google Drive in Android or Apple iCloud in iOS.

The Facebook-owned company, which boasts two billion users who send over 100 billion messages a day, said that the move makes WhatsApp the first global messaging service at this scale to offer end-to-end encrypted messaging and backups.

WhatsApp's introduction of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) will provide users with the ability to secure their backed up message history stored in the cloud.

While WhatsApp messages have been encrypted since 2016, the app hasnt offered end-to-end encryption of backups, which rely on iCloud or Google Drive.

This lack of encryption on the backed-up messages created a security loophole exploitable by parties ranging from law enforcement agencies to unintended malicious third parties.

But with the latest update, users will be able to opt-in to end-to-end encryption for their backups before those backups hit their cloud storage service.

Users can expect the update in the coming weeks, according to the company.

For years, in order to safeguard the privacy of peoples messages, WhatsApp has provided end-to-end encryption by default so messages can be seen only by the sender and recipient, and no one in between.

Now, the platform is planning to give people the option to protect their WhatsApp backups using end-to-end encryption as well.

People can already back up their WhatsApp message history via cloud-based services like Google Drive and iCloud. WhatsApp does not have access to these backups, and they are secured by the individual cloud-based storage services. But, while WhatsApp doesn't have access to those backups, Apple and Google potentially do.

But now, if people choose to enable end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) backups once available, neither WhatsApp nor the backup service provider will be able to access their backup or their backup encryption key.

WhatsApp users will have to opt in to the new feature which will soon begin rolling out.

To enable E2EE backups, WhatsApp developed an entirely new system for encryption key storage that works with both iOS and Android.

With E2EE backups enabled, backups will be encrypted with a unique, randomly generated encryption key. People can choose to secure the key manually or with a user password.

When someone opts for a password, the key is stored in a Backup Key Vault that is built based on a component called a hardware security module (HSM) specialised, secure hardware that can be used to securely store encryption keys.

When the account owner needs access to their backup, they can access it with their encryption key, or they can use their personal password to retrieve their encryption key from the HSM-based Backup Key Vault and decrypt their backup.

The HSM-based Backup Key Vault will be responsible for enforcing password verification attempts and rendering the key permanently inaccessible after a limited number of unsuccessful attempts to access it. These security measures provide protection against brute-force attempts to retrieve the key. WhatsApp will know only that a key exists in the HSM. It will not know the key itself.

The move arrives as Facebook faces scrutiny over its privacy polices for the messaging service. Earlier this week, ProPublica published a report highlighting how contract workers sift through millions of private messages that have been flagged by users as potentially abusive.

The nonprofit investigative organisation subsequently made clear that WhatsApp doesnt break the end to end encryption.

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Disaster Recovery in the Cloud | TV Tech – TV Technology

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

Every major broadcaster acknowledges that they have to consider disaster recovery. Apart from meeting audience expectations, if a channel is off air, it cannot transmit commercials. Without commercials, it has no income. Getting the station back on airand broadcasting commercialsis clearly vital.

But, given todays very reliable technology, a large investment in replicating the primary playout center could be seen as wasted money: a lot of hardware (and real estate) that will never go to air.

The question, then, is how to ensure business continuity through a disaster recovery site that gets the channel on air in the shortest possible time, that can be operated from anywhere, and involves the least amount of engineering support to launch. And the answer that broadcasters are increasingly turning to is the cloud.

On DemandStart-up costs aside, it can be extremely cost-effective to keep a standby system in the cloud: ready to start when you need it; dormant when you do not. For many, cloud-based disaster recovery serves as a good, practical first experience of media in the cloud.

Whichever provider you choose, what you buy from them is access to effectively infinite amounts of processing power and storage space. We have worked extensively with AWS and other cloud suppliers, but AWS also offers some media-specific services (through their acquisition of Elemental) like media processing, transcoding and live streaming.

It is important to bear in mind that moving to the cloud is not an all or nothing, irreversible decision. The very nature of the cloud means it is simple to flex the amount of processing you put there, so if you should decide to back away it is simple to do so.

The cloud is an element within the IP transitionyou decide when and how to make that transition, and when and how much to use the cloud. For many broadcasters, disaster recovery is an excellent way to try out cloud services.

Keeping it FamiliarWith todays software-defined architectures, systems should perform identically whether they are in dedicated computers in the machine room, virtualized in the corporate data center, or in the cloud. Consistent operation is especially important in disaster recovery deployments; if disaster strikes, the last thing you want is for operators to scrabble around trying to make sense of an unfamiliar system.

That does not mean that the primary system and the disaster recovery site must be identical. But with a well-designed cloud solution, you should be able to emulate the same user interfaces. This makes it easy for the operators to switch back and forth between the two different environments.

It also means you can set resilience and availability by channel. You might want your premium channels to switch over to disaster recovery in seconds, for example, while some of your secondary channels can be left for a while. That is a business decision.

Content is Still KingOne of the common misconceptions about cloud playout is that synchronizing content between premises and the cloud demands a lot of bandwidth and potentially high costs. This need not be the case.

Faced with the imminent obsolescence of video tape libraries, and wary of the eternal cost of maintaining an LTO data tape library, many broadcasters are looking to archive in the cloud. You load the content once, confident that all the technology migration and maintenance will be carried out, flawlessly, by someone else.

You may have collaborative post-production by hosting content and decision lists in the cloud. Contentprograms and commercialscan be delivered direct to the cloud.

Playout, archiving, post and traffic may be managed as separate departments, but if you combine them content is only delivered to the cloud once. It is then available for playout without the high egress costs, and is securely stored at significant cost savings.

Outsourcing SecurityBroadcasters have traditionally sought very high availability from the technology delivering premium channels. Five nines used to be regarded as the gold standard99.999% up time. Even that, though, is equivalent to about 5 minutes of dead air a year.

AWS offers its broadcast clients unimagined availability, up to maybe nine nineseffectively zero downtime. And it achieves that without any maintenance effort on your part: no disk replacement, no routine cleaning of air conditioning, no continual updates of operating systems and virus protection.

If the disaster is that your building has to be evacuated because of detected cases of a communicable disease, playout operators can work from home with exactly the same user interface and functionality as if they were sitting in the MCR.

If you want hot standby (complete parallel running in the cloud for almost instantaneous failover), then the technology allows it, if you choose to pay for the processing time. Alternatively, pick your own level of cold or warm standby, confident that, even from cold, loading and booting the channel playout instances can be accomplished in just a couple of minutes.

Cyberattacks are becoming an all-too familiar headline. Other industries have seen crippling incursions and software systems held to ransom. Developing a business continuity strategy that protects from such attacks is paramount.

Again, the cloud is the right solution. A good cloud provider will deliver better data security than you can do yourself. AWS has thousands of staff with the word security on their business cards. While no organization can hope to be perfect, a good cloud provider will give you your best shot at complete protection, because that is their business. The alternative is to build your own data security team: an unnecessary overhead and a challenge to develop, recruit and manage.

AWS is even used by the U.S. Intelligence Community, which suggests that it is probably working.

Doing it LiveOne comment that is often heard is that you cannot run live channels or live content from the cloud. This is simply not true. At Imagine, we have implemented primary playout systems that feature live content.

In the United States, we recently equipped a SMPTE ST 2110 operations center and cloud-hosted disaster recovery channels for Sinclairs regional sports networks (RSNBally Sports Regional Networks). For Sinclairs Tennis Channel, we provided core infrastructure for a large-scale ST 2110 on-premises broadcast center and a cloud-based live production center for pop-up live events.

The biggest requirement for sports television is that live should be absolutely live: no one wants to hear their neighbors cheer and wait to find out why. Minimum latency is also critical for the big money business of sports books.

Sinclair spun up live channels around the 2021 Miami Open tennis tournament in March, and again for the French Open from Roland Garros. All the playout, including the unpredictable live interventions associated with fitting commercial breaks into tennis matches, was hosted in the cloud, with operators sitting wherever was convenient and safe for them.

As consumer preferences move from broadcast to streaming, what happens after the master control switcher becomes ever more complicated in preparing the output for all the different platforms. That level of signal processing is better done in the cloud, especially with transcoding-as-a-service providing high-performance, affordable delivery.

Stepping-Stone to Next-Gen PlayoutDisaster recovery is fundamentally a business issue, a strategic decision. Using the cloud can deliver the best total cost of ownership, but it can also be a valuable stepping-stone in the broadcasters transition to IP connectivity and outsourced hosting.

The technical and operational teams gain experience and confidence in the cloud as a suitable broadcast platform. Routine rehearsals of business continuity mean that operators will learn how similar the performance of the cloud and on-premises systems, and how the user interface seamlessly switches from one to the other.

This experience gives confidence to move on towards a completely cloud future. Pop-up channels can be created in minutes not months, so it is easy to service sports events or music festivals, while only paying for processor time when you need it.

The cloud is infinitely scalable, so you can add channels or services, support new delivery platforms, and test market 4K and HDR. The direct linkage between the cost of delivery and the revenue won makes for easier business management.

As the legacy playout network reaches life-expiration, broadcasters will know what the cloud can do, and have built up solid information on the costs of operating in the cloud. That knowledge will be invaluable in evaluating proposals for the next generation of playout.

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Grafana Labs and Alibaba Cloud Bring Pervasive Visualization and Dashboarding to Asia-Pacific Region – GlobeNewswire

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grafana Labs, the company behind the open source project Grafana, the worlds most ubiquitous open and composable operational dashboards, today announced a new strategic partnership with Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. Through the partnership, the companies are introducing Grafana on Alibaba Cloud, a fully managed data visualization service that enables customers to instantly query and visualize operational metrics from various data sources.

Our goal at Grafana Labs is to make sure Grafanas dashboarding capabilities are available however it makes the most sense for our users whether thats on their own infrastructure or in a public cloud platform like Alibaba Cloud, said Raj Dutt, Co-founder and CEO at Grafana Labs. Partnering with public cloud platforms like Alibaba Cloud further cements Grafana as the best-in-class solution for open source visualizations, and gives Alibabas millions of cloud users instant access to dashboarding capabilities in a way that is uniquely integrated with Alibaba Cloud and easier to get started than self-hosting, while opening the door to a brand new market for Grafana Labs.

We hope that our cooperation with Grafana Labs can let Alibaba Cloud users worldwide leverage Grafana products more conveniently and efficiently so that they can focus on business efficiency by reducing the need for strenuous operations and maintenance activities, said Jiangwei Jiang, Partner of Alibaba Group, Head of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Infrastructure Products. While putting more efforts into open source fields, Alibaba Cloud will continue to cooperate with more open source vendors to launch complete cloud native products and solutions, providing new momentum for enterprise digital innovation.

To learn more about Grafana on Alibaba Cloud, visit https://www.aliyun.com/activity/middleware/grafana

About Grafana LabsGrafana Labs provides an open and composable monitoring and observability stack built around Grafana, the leading open source technology for dashboards and visualization. There are over 1,500 Grafana Labs customers including Bloomberg, JP Morgan Chase, eBay, PayPal, and Sony, and more than 750,000 active installations of Grafana around the globe. Grafana Labs helps companies manage their observability strategies with full-stack offerings that can be run fully managed with Grafana Cloud, or self-managed with Grafana Enterprise Stack, both featuring extensive enterprise data source plugins, dashboard management, alerting, reporting and security, scalable metrics (Prometheus & Graphite), logs (Grafana Loki) and tracing (Grafana Tempo). Grafana Labs is backed by leading investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital, GIC, Sequoia Capital, and Coatue. Follow Grafana on Twitter at@grafana or visitwww.grafana.com.

Media Contact:Dan Jensen, PR for Grafana Labsdan.jensen@grafana.com

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Setting up and troubleshooting multiple thin client monitors – TechTarget

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

The use of two or more monitors is the norm for many business workstations, and users expect excellent performance when accessing virtual resources on these monitors, regardless of the endpoint.

Unlike a traditional desktop, users can't resolve issues with their thin client monitors and display settings on their own locally because thin clients do not host the OS. Therefore, IT administrators must deliver these resources to the end users' devices and ensure that they have the proper configuration to handle multiple monitors.

There is no universal method to configure thin clients with every virtual desktop management and delivery platform. Still, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) provides a reasonable example that IT administrators can use to learn the general process for enabling multiple monitors on a thin client endpoint.

CVAD user sessions, also known as HDX sessions, present resources to users based on a series of bitmaps on the screen, and organizations often rely on thin clients to provide access to these resources at a low hardware and management cost.

When a user launches or modifies a virtual application or desktop within an HDX session, the server or cloud hosting the virtual resources modifies the bitmaps and sends the updated info to the end-user device. Whether a user is accessing these resources via a Windows, Mac, iPad, Chromebook or thin client device, the session processes are the same. However, once multiple monitors are in the mix, IT has to take administrative action to ensure users have a quality experience. Several challenges exist with multiple monitor deployments on thin clients, and IT admins will need to troubleshoot certain issues.

If any use cases require multiple monitors or extremely high resolution, IT will have to carefully review the model specifications of any thin clients the organization deploys. Many environments that benefit from thin clients, such as call centers, hot desks and general business workers, also benefit from dual monitors with about 1920x1080 resolution.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops can support up to eight monitors, but most thin client devices can only support single or dual monitors. In addition, screen resolution support varies from thin client to thin client. Thin client hardware capabilities are typically far less than full Windows or macOS devices. To address this, thin client devices can run a dedicated OS, such as Igel OS. This stripped-down OS can run as a physical device or via UD Pocket in a USB port that can support eight monitors and 4K resolution. Long gone are the days of Video Graphics Array displays.

Where dual or multiple monitors are in use, it is best for IT admins to deploy monitors based on the same size and resolution. However, this is not always possible, and issues may arise because of these discrepancies.

The most common issue is that users can only see CVAD sessions on a single monitor.

In many cases, multiple monitors will function properly by default, but issues can still arise. Problems with session presentation on multiple monitors focus on two main areas: the CVAD setup and the thin client configuration. Most often, issues will occur on the local thin client device, but the CVAD configuration may require modification.

The most common issue is that users can only see CVAD sessions on a single monitor. If an individual user reports this issue, it is most likely related to the end-user device. This may be a hardware issue or thin client configuration issue. For example, on the HP t430 thin client device, dual displays require HDMI and DisplayPort connections; a display connected via just the HDMI cannot serve as both connections for dual display.

IT admins must allocate sufficient memory for the CVAD environment, whether based on a server or workstation. This is especially important for 4K monitors. In addition, users running GPU-enabled Virtual Delivery Agents need sufficient GPU capabilities as well.

The graphics policy settings are key items within Citrix policies. In particular, the display memory limit setting may affect screen resolution for multiple monitors. The default setting is 65,536 KB, which may not be sufficient; numerous high-resolution HDX sessions require more memory than this.

HDX session presentation on a single monitor may lead to thin client configuration issues. If the thin client is not in multimonitor mode, a virtual desktop admin can remedy this with a configuration setting. For example, on Igel devices, admins can go to the window setting and ensure that the multimonitor configuration is not set to restrict full-screen sessions onto one monitor.

Where the size or resolution of the monitors differs, it is possible that the alignment of screens does not display correctly. Most users will want their CVAD session to be aligned horizontally along the top, but they may prefer center or bottom alignment. Users can adjust monitor alignment appearance on their own via the on-device display settings.

The local settings need to be adjusted if the user sees one or more screens rotated improperly -- upside down or at a 90-degree angle. Using Igel devices as an example, admins can select screen rotation on the client settings and rotate right or left.

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Taking The Long View On Open Computing – The Next Platform

September 15, 2021 | Author: admin

COMMISSIONED Software changes like the weather, and hardware changes like the landscape; each affects the other over geologic timescales to create a new climate. And this largely explains why it has taken so long for open-source computing to spread its tentacles into the hardware world.

With software, all you need is a couple of techies and some space on GitHub and you can change the world with a few hundred million mouse clicks. Hardware on the other hand is capital intensive you have to buy parts and secure manufacturing for it. While it is easy enough to open up the design specs for any piece of hardware, it is not necessarily easy to get such hardware specs adopted by a large enough group of people for it to be manufactured at scale.

However, from slow beginnings, open computing has been steadily adopted by the hyperscalers and cloud builders. And now it is beginning the trickle down to smaller organizations.

In a world where hardware costs must be curtailed and compute, network, and storage efficiency is ever more important, it is reasonable to expect that sharing hardware designs and pooling manufacturing resources at a scale that makes economic sense but does not require hyperscale will happen. We believe, therefore, that open computing has already brought dramatic changes to the IT sector, and that these will only increase over time.

The term open computing is often used interchangeably with the Open Compute Project, created in 2011 by Facebook in conjunction with Intel, Rackspace Hosting and Goldman Sachs However, OCP is just one of four open-source computing initiatives in the market today. Lets see how they all got started.

More than a decade ago, Facebook growing by leaps and bounds, bought much of its server and storage equipment from Dell, and then eventually Dell and Facebook started to customize equipment for very specific workloads. By 2009, Facebook decided that the only way to improve IT efficiency was to design its own gear and the datacenters that house it. In January 2014, Microsoft joined the OCP, opening up its Open Cloud Server designs and creating a second track of hardware to complement the Open Rack designs from Facebook. Today, OCP has more than 250 members, with around 5,000 engineers working on projects and another 16,000 participants who are members of the community and who often are implementing its technology.

Six months after Facebook launched the OCP, the Open Data Center Committee, formerly known as Project Scorpio, was created by Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent to come up with shared rack scale infrastructure designs. ODCC opened up its designs in 2014 in conjunction with Intel. (Baidu and Alibaba, the two hyperscalers based in China, are members of both OCP and ODCC, and significantly buy a lot of their equipment from Inspur.)

In 2013, IBM got together with Google to form what would become the OpenPower Foundation, which sought to spur innovation in Power-based servers through open hardware designs and open systems software that runs on them. (Inspur also generates a significant portion of its server revenues, which are growing by leaps and bounds, from Power-based machinery.)

And finally, there is the Open19 Foundation, started by LinkedIn, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and VaporIO to create a version of a standard, open rack that is more like the standard 19-inch racks that large enterprises are used to in their datacenters and less like the custom racks that have been used by Facebook, Microsoft, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. Starting this year, and in the wake of LinkedIn being bought by Microsoft, the Linux Foundation is now hosting the Open19 effort, and the datacenter operator Equinix and server and switch vendor Cisco Systems are now on its leadership committee.

Inspur is a member of all four of these open computing projects and is among the largest suppliers of open computing equipment in the world, with about 30 percent of its systems revenue based on open computing designs. Given this, we had a chat with Alan Chang, vice president of technical operations, who prior to joining Inspur, worked at both Wistron and Quanta selling and defining their open computing-inspired rack solutions.

It depends on how broadly you define open computing, but I would say that somewhere between 25 percent to 30 percent of the server market today could be using at least some open computing standards. It is not in the hundreds of large customers yet, but in the tens, and that is the barrier that Inspur wants to break through with open computing, Chang tells The Next Platform. He points out that two top tier hyperscalers consumed somewhere around two million servers last year against a total market of 11.9 million machines. With just those two companies alone, you are at 18.5 percent, which sounds like a very large number, but it is concentrated in just two players,

Tens of customers may not seem like a lot, but the server market changes at a glacial pace and it is very hard to make big changes in hardware. For starters, customers have long-standing buying preferences, and outside of the hyperscalers and cloud builders, many large enterprises and service providers they are dependent on the baseboard management controllers, or BMCs, that handle the lights out, remote management of their server infrastructure. The BMC is a control point just like proprietary BIOS microcode inside of servers was in days gone by.

But this is going to change, says Chang. And with that change those who adopt the system management styles of the hyperscalers and cloud builders will reap the benefits as they force a new kind of management overlay onto systems and in particular, the open computing systems they install.

The BIOS and the BMC are programmed in a kind of Assembly language, and only the big OEMs have the skills and the experience to write that code, explains Chang. Even if a company like Facebook wants to help, they dont have the Assembly language skills. But such companies are looking for a different way to create the BIOS and the BMC, something similar to the way they create Java or Python programs, and these companies have a lot of Java and Python programmers. And this is where we see OpenBMC and Redfish all starting to evolve and come together, all based on open-source software, to replace the heart of the hardware.

To put it bluntly, for open computing to take off, the management of individual servers has to be as good as the BMCs on OEM machinery because in a lot of cases in the enterprise, one server runs one workload, and they are not scaled out with replication or workload balancing to avoid downtime. This is what makes those BMCs so critical in the enterprise. Enterprises have a lot of pet servers running pet applications, not interchangeable massive herds of cattle and scale-out, barn-sized applications. And even large enterprises are, at best, a hybrid of these. But if enough of them gang together their scale, then they can make a virtual hyperscaler.

That, in essence, is what all of the open computing projects have been trying to do: find that next bump of scale. Amazon Web Services and Google do a lot of their own design work and get the machines built by original design manufacturers, or ODMs. Quanta, Foxconn, Wistron, and Inventec are the big ones, of course. Microsoft and Facebook design their own and then donate to OCP and go to the ODMs for manufacturing. Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent work together through ODCC and co-design with ODMs and OEMs, and increasingly rely on Inspur for design and manufacturing. And frankly, there are only a few companies in the world that can build at the scale and at the cost that the hyperscalers and large cloud builders need.

Trying to scale down is one issue, but so is the speed of opening up designs.

When Facebook, for instance, has a design for a server or storage, and they open it up, they do it so late, says Chang. Everyone wants a jump on the latest and greatest technology, and sometimes they might like 80 percent of the design and they need to change 20 percent of it. So in the interest of time, companies who want to adopt that design have to figure out if they can take the engineering change or just suck it up and use the Facebook design. And as often happens in the IT business, if they do the engineering change and go into production, then there is a chance that something better will come out by the time they get their version to market. So what people are looking for OCP and ODDC and the other open computing projects to do is to provide guidance, and get certifications for independent software vendors like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and VMware quickly. All of the time gaps have to close in some way.

The next wave of open computing adoption will come from smaller service providers various telcos, Uber, Apple, Dropbox, and companies of this scale. Their infrastructure is getting more expensive, and they are at the place that Facebook was at a decade ago when the social network giant launched the OCP effort to try to break the 19-inch infrastructure rack and so drive up efficiencies, drive down costs, and create a new supply chain.

The growth in open computing has been strong and steady, thanks in large part to the heavy buying by Facebook and Microsoft, but the market is larger than that and getting larger.

As part of the tenth-year anniversary celebration for the OCP, Inspur worked with market researcher Omdia to case the open computing market, and recently put out a report, which you can get a copy of here. Here are the interesting bits from the study. The first is a table showing the hardware spending by open computing project:

The OCP designs accounted for around $11 billion in server spending (presumably at the ODM level) in 2020, while the ODCC designs accounted for around $3 billion. Open19, being just the racks and a fledgling project by comparison, had relatively small revenues. Omdia did not talk about OpenPower iron in its study, but it might have been on the same scale a few years back and higher if Google or Inspur is doing some custom OpenPower machinery on their own. Rackspace had an OpenPower motherboard in an Open Compute chassis, for instance.

Add it all up over time, and open computing is a bigger and bigger portion of server spending, and it is reasonable to assume that some storage and networking will be based on open computing designs, following a curve much like the one below for server shipments:

Back in 2016, open computing platforms accounted for a mere seven percent of worldwide server shipments. But the projection by Omdia is for open computing platforms to account for 40 percent by 2025, and through steady growth after a step function increase in 2020. As we have always said, recessions dont cause technology transitions, but they do accelerate them. We would not be surprised if those magenta bars get taller faster than the Omdia projection particularly if service providers start merging and capacity needs skyrocket in a world that stays stuck in a pandemic for an extended amount of time.

Commissioned by Inspur

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