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As the benefits of cloud computing become more pronounced, more businesses are migrating to the cloud. Greater scalability, flexibility and financial security often come as a result of making the shift to cloud computing - and those are just a few of the advantages. The allure of the cloud is well known. However, the fine details of cloud migration and implementation are often overlooked.

Migrating to the cloud is more complicated than many companies anticipate. Too many of the business are pulling the trigger on cloud migration with only the first few steps in mind the cost of the service and the logistics of the physical transfer of the data itself. Moving data is a lot like moving to a new house or apartment. If you have never done it before, you may be thinking, Ill just move all my stuff and pay the rent or mortgage. Anyone who has moved in the past few months can tell you that its often more complicated than that.

For starters, you have to select a place of residence. As you do this, you must consider the needs of your family. Think of the features and amenities in a home that will be of most value to you. Moving into a public space such as an apartment is often cost effective. Still, apartments have their drawbacks. Houses offer the advantage of greater privacy and circumstantial control. If you need something in between, a townhome could serve as a sort of hybrid that offers the best of both worlds. Other considerations: What level of upkeep will the property require? Is there a big yard? Will the house require renovation in order to suit the needs of your family? You could always just build your own home - although, this could become very complicated if you have no experiences with homebuilding.

As you can see, there are numerous unseen variables involved in moving to a new house or apartment. Believe it or not, all of these examples are directly comparable to considerations that should be made when migrating data to a cloud. If you didnt already make this connection, take a minute to reread the previous paragraph with the following comparisons in mind: family = company; home/property = cloud platform; apartment = public cloud space; house = private cloud space; townhouse = hybrid cloud arrangement.

These are just a few of the factors that home movers or data migrants should take into account. With this analogy as a backdrop, consider a few tips for avoiding problems when migrating to the cloud.

Cloud computing is a powerful tool. This technology has created so many options and opportunities to improve the internal mechanism of a company. Still, lets not get hasty. Start by doing some research and assessing your company's cloud computing needs.

Understand the pros and cons of public, private and hybrid cloud computing. Once you have an idea of what you are looking for, consider cloud computing service options. If you dont know much about the market, there are a few providers that are well suited to companies who are beginning their cloud computing journey. According to Logicworks CTO Jason McKay, One cloud does not fit all, but if you pick a major IaaS cloud provider like AWS or Azure, one cloud certainly fits most. You could also attempt to build your own cloud computing platform; however, this is not recommended if you or members of your IT staff have little or no cloud computing experience. The same is said of hybrid cloud configurations.

The point is, keep it simple. Begin with a simple, singular cloud computing configuration. Experts say that most successful complex cloud computing configurations are outgrowths of an initially simple setup.

A survey conducted by IDC revealed that out of over 6,000 executives, only 3% would characterise their cloud strategy as optimised. 47% describe their cloud strategy as opportunistic or ad hoc. In order for cloud computing provide maximum benefit, companies must have a plan for cloud migration. The following are a couple suggestions to keep in mind as you prepare for cloud migration.

Link:
The key aspects to consider when executing a smooth move to the cloud - Cloud Tech

The North Korean government is set to launch its own cloud computing service, a state-run outlet reported on Friday.

The service, similar to iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive, is called Eunjong, meaning benevolent affection, local outlet Arirangmaeri said.

These days, the Information Science Technology Department, State Academy of Sciences is pushing to finish the preparation for the cloud computing service, local outlet Arirangmaeri said on Friday.

The article didnt say exactly when the service will be open to the public, but said it is close to release and that it was part of a move to catch up with the growing demand for the cloud service, it said.

If launched, Eunjongwill be North Koreas first clouding computer service: previous articles in state media have not used the term (cloud computing service).

Soon, the parallel computing service homepage Eunjong will be established, and the users will be able to enjoy data center service software service and do large scale scientific calculation using the website.

Given North Koreas strict control of the flow of information from the outside world, its unlikely Eunjong will be linked to the internet: access will most likely be restricted to the countrys closed intranet system, to which only half a million North Koreans are believed to have regular access.

In the article, the State Academy of Sciences a North Korean government body which manages the nations scientific development claimed thatEunjongs high-performance server will provide up to 40 trillion floating-point operations per second (40T FLOPS).

While the number might seem significant, one long-time North Korea IT watcher said he feels sorry for the North Koreans who would be using the technology, which is more than a decade behind its South Korean equivalent.

Just a single smartphone produced these days has one million, five million or even up to ten million FLOPS, Choi Sung, a professor at the Computer Science department at Namseoul University, told NK News.

While it is far behind South Korea, Choi said that 40T FLOPS is an impressive performance for a North Korean server.

I would sayEunjongs performance would be close to what a South Korean bank website mightprovide, he said. Due to the shortage of servers, which they would haveto spend precious foreign currency to import, it seems that the North Korean IT developers are trying to build a single powerful parallel computer, and run multiple servers on that system using the cloud computing technology.

Multiple reports by NK News indicatethat the countrys intranet is expanding. Last month, North Korea announced the launch of its highly popular Kwangwang website, an apparently intranet-based tourism website which allows users to plan holiday itineraries.

In November last year, Manmulsang, another intranet-based platform for North Korean Donju (entrepreneurs) was announced, claiming over 3.2 million accumulated internal visitors to the website in ten months.

Edited by Oliver Hotham

Featured Image: DPRK Today

The North Korean government is set to launch its own cloud computing service, a state-run outlet reported on Friday. The service, similar to iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive, is called Eunjong, meaning benevolent affection, local outlet Arirangmaeri said. These days, the Information Science Technology Department, State Academy of Sciences is pushing to finish the preparation

Read this article:
North Korea will soon launch cloud computing service, says state media - NK News

As precincts continue to collect, store and analyze data in the pursuit of driving more efficient policing practices alongside budget cuts, cloud computing presents a solution to store and transmit the ever-growing pool of information.

A survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that while just 16 percent of law enforcement agencies currently deploy cloud computing for criminal justice data, 38 percent are planning to implement the solution in the near future.

Some of this growth is likely because law enforcement agencies are rapidly collecting data from police-worn body cameras. With 95 percent of large police departments committing to using body cameras, cloud computing can help law enforcement officers store and manage the video.

But as policy expands and the cloud becomes more trusted in the industry, police departments across the country are finding creative uses for the technology that allows them to banish disparate IT systems and store and manage data in one place.

Kansas is in the midst of moving its 911 system to the cloud, which will help the state defend against the threat of disasters. It will also allow citizens to use multimedia, so they can send pictures and videos to dispatchers or send law enforcement text messages requesting assistance.

Several local police forces, including one in Keene, N.H., are already seeing success with similar projects that embrace community policing and use a cloud-based digital platform, known as LEEDIR, to manage floods of witness videos and photos around an incident. The portal was developed by Scott Edson, special operations division chief at the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, as a way for law enforcement agencies to get the storage capacity and secure portal they often dont have during a major emergency, PoliceOne reports.

One of the main concerns is capturing this media while its there before people delete it off their phones, before things expire, Keene Police Detective Joel Chidester told PoliceOne. Thats where the LEEDIR program really stood out it gave us the ability to very quickly issue a release to the public to upload data and evidence. In many of these cases, these were felony level offenses the statute of limitations would let us prosecute them for years to follow. It relieves some of that time pressure; once you have this evidence captured and secured, then you can go back and start building cases in the days or weeks to follow.

With cloud storage, departments can manage large volumes of multimedia securely without overwhelming servers.

It invokes a partnership with the community in terms of solving significant crimes. Some of the eyewitness photographs and videos of the destruction of property, assaults we would never have been able to obtain if they had not been brought forward by the public and turned over to us through a crowdsourced platform, said Chidester.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Justice (CalDOJ) has partnered with the private sector to help law enforcement agencies plug a gap in protocols that hinders police departments from deploying cloud solutions, Techwire reports.

While the state has a system in place that looks to ensure data is being securely shared across state, local and federal agencies, when the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) requested to deploy Microsoft Office 365 and Azure Cloud, the agencys technology manager, Eric Woods, realized the protocol didnt speak to requirements for the cloud. Moreover, the states telecommunications agency didnt have a process in place to approve requests to deploy cloud services, which was hindering several neighboring police departments from deploying cloud solutions to create more agile IT environments.

Woods then began working with Microsoft to fill in the blanks and develop a protocol that would enable law enforcement to deploy cloud-based solutions. CalDOJ, Microsoft, and the CVPD collaborated to develop a security matrix around Microsoft Office 365 and the Azure Cloud, eventually pushing through procedures to ensure the technologys safe deployment at police departments across the state.

Getting this milestone completed is going to release a lot of pent up demand. Most of these agencies have already embraced the technology, but they now have an additional level of confidence that what theyre doing is right, Stuart McKee, Microsofts chief technology officer of state and local government, who was heavily involved in the process, told Techwire.

More here:
Cloud Computing Rises in the Ranks to Make Police Departments More Agile - StateTech Magazine