How hybrid cloud helps businesses to be more productive

The two most well-known types of cloud computing are the public cloud and the private cloud.

A public cloud is one that is entirely operated by a third party. Your data is stored away in a remote server, and all software and hardware necessary for the operation are handled and owned by the provider.

While the architecture of a private cloud may not be worlds apart from its public counterpart, the main difference is that the server is reserved exclusively for your business. The data centre may be on location at your business or kept by the provider.

Both iterations have their own advantages and limitations – however, providers have recognised there is demand for a combination of these traits. This is where the hybrid cloud comes into play. A hybrid cloud gives you the best of both the public and the private cloud worlds due to interlinking technology that allows transfer of data and applications between both types of servers, maximizing flexibility, scalable elasticity and methods of deployment.

Working with two interconnected servers – one public and one private – provides more than the simple ability to parse data out into different servers. It gives you the scalable elasticity and management efficiency of the public one combined with the speed, customisation, and on top of all, the security of the private one. Then, it’s just a matter of choosing which server is better suited for a particular task.

However, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with a fixed choice. Cloud bursting allows for data to be moved around across servers, especially when a spike in demand requires you to move it to a public one.

At a time when modern business ethics and expectations don’t allow for internet connection failure as a justifiable excuse, unhindered access to data allowing for business continuity is a crucial factor. This doesn’t mean that you’ll have a contingency plan in case of server failures; it simply means the ability to continue doing work even during an unprecedented disaster with no down time. By replicating data from primary servers onto a secondary remote one, such business-crippling issues can be nipped without missing a beat.

Cost is another factor many businesses take into consideration. Owning a private data centre implies capital expenditure for hardware, staffing, power, research, installation, upkeep, and maintenance, and all of this for equipment that will eventually become obsolete and need replacement.

The issue of costs extends itself to concept testing, as a hybrid cloud environment allows for prototyping and testing before actual deployment.

Scaling resources is also an area for which hybrid cloud services can cut down on costs, while also increasing efficiency and the need to make predictions amidst fluctuating variables. When workloads require customised formatting and scalability of resources, hybrid clouding ratchets these settings up or down depending on the business demands, optimising the workload environment accordingly.

With hybrid cloud technology rising in popularity, both the businesses adopting this technology and the providers are turning more towards an OpEx (operating expense) funding model instead of a CapEx (capital expense) one. By opting for a SaaS (Solution as a Service) vendor such as BMIT, businesses have the option to scale the level of functionality in accordance with company growth rate, without having to invest more time and money in restructuring data management methods.

Speed of connectivity is one more key player, and business continuity mentioned earlier is but one reason. Time taken to connect with subject markets is also reduced, making it easier for your business to release tailor-made products or campaigns into the right channels in double time. Taking things one step back, even prototyping and testing we’ve touched upon earlier get an extra gear. Spinning up the right environment for application or product-testing becomes a reality thanks to hybrid cloud technology. All of this can otherwise be bogged down by unreliable public internet connections that act temperamental without forewarning.

Let’s suppose that despite the attractive features hybrid cloud technology offers, you still lean towards the public cloud option. So, which public cloud is best? How do you handle network security and resilience, and what’s the best way to configure your setup? In addition to offering a locally-hosted public cloud set-up, BMIT also offers an alternative platform designed to cater for specialised needs called multicloud connect.

Multicloud connect serves as a liaison between your business and a cluster of major public clouds, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and many more, connecting you to all of them simultaneously. It does this by running your data through BMIT’s own secure private network. It also takes care of all setup, configuration, and after-services you may require down the road. This implies improved performance, enhanced security, and lower latency thanks to the direct private connection.

We’ve only skimmed the surface of what hybrid cloud as well as multicloud connect technologies are bringing to the field of data storage and management. There is very little doubt that bespoke technologies are rising in popularity amongst businesses, and this along with individual business needs is undoubtedly nudging service providers such as BMIT to optimise and stay on top of things.

And now that you are more aware of what’s out there, it’s worth reiterating our earlier question: which cloud technology is best for you and your business?

Are you making the most of cloud for your digital transformation?

The key to capitalizing on cloud is to stop talking tech and demonstrate the business value for your organization.

People adopt cloud for reasons like efficiency and velocity, but they need to focus on the capability it can bring to your organization. It has features and functions that the organization may not have on premise and would otherwise take a significant investment to achieve.

Cloud is the hottest technology trend. However, cloud computing services related to the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence rated lower in terms of the perceived return on investment.

IT Teams should develop a matrix showing how cloud services could be used to benefit the business. As well, a non-technical storyboard on how technology could improve a ‘day-in-the life’ of the company can show concrete benefits to business leaders.

Here is a practice that has seen massive success in Cloud Computing. The Azure cloud services deliver business value.

Simplify backup & disaster recovery

Traditional backup solutions are resource intensive and complex so it means that important data that should be backed up may not actually be backed up.

With Azure Backup, the infrastructure and management is handled by Microsoft. All the company has to do is set up its backup policies. Backup servers can be deployed on-site or in the cloud to support hybrid or on-premises environments. Similarly, if an organization has an existing backup solution, it can continue to leverage that investment by using the Azure Vault for storage to take advantage of the flexibility and cost savings of cloud.

To protect against disasters, Azure Site Recovery automatically replicates an organization’s virtual machines. If disaster strikes, services can be quickly restored according to a predetermined plan. Organizations only pay for the storage, a license per protected workload and compute time used during the disaster. From a business perspective, “it allows for huge cost savings for disaster recovery because you no longer have to run another hot data centre.” It also makes disaster recovery more feasible for smaller businesses that otherwise might not have that capability.

Automate your infrastructure

Over time, there is often some tinkering with the settings on infrastructure components like virtual machines and load balancers, resulting in configuration drift. When the configuration of every component becomes unique, it’s more time consuming to manage and more likely to cause errors.

The answer is infrastructure as code. It uses stored definition files or templates to automatically provision and manage the infrastructure. It protects against misconfiguration or tinkering by monitoring the settings with alerts about changes, and can even revert things back to the original state. It’s more predictable and avoids manual errors.

It sounds technical but it can have a big impact on business transformation. By giving an organization the ability to automatically spin up services in a reliable and consistent way, they can respond faster to customer needs.

IoT Platform Market To Grow in the Coming Years.

The global Internet of Things (ToT) platform market is moderately competitive. With a handful number of players, the market is still said to be in its nascent stage. Analysts anticipate that the competition is likely to intensity in the coming years due to increasing investment in research and development and introduction of intellectual property such as patents. Some of the leading players in the global market are Microsoft Corporation, Google Inc., PTC Inc., and IBM Corporation.

Demand for Better Connectivity Opens Up Tremendous Opportunities for Global IoT Platform Market

The growing demand for internet and seamless connectivity has been driving the global IoT platform market in recent years. The market’s growth has also been supported by the improved connection speed over the last few years. Today, IoT platforms have become an integral part of the industrial as well as domestic setups. Improved accessibility to information and actions through cloud has accelerated the uptake of IoT platform over the years. The biggest advantage of cloud is that data can be accessed from anywhere and at any time.

 Furthermore, the fact that it requires minimal investment is likely to propel market’s growth in the coming years. The decreasing cost of internet has made it affordable to many. This trend has especially supported the rise of the global IoT platform market.

The growing penetration of mobile phones and various other PDAs have also made a fair contribution to the soaring revenue of the global IoT platform market. These devices have enabled greater flexibility while controlling other devices on the IoT platform. Features such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and infrared have enabled an inherent connectivity for smartphones and other PDAs. Owing to these reasons, IoT platforms have been able to penetrate at a rapid rate in recent years. The terrific advancement in production of IoT sensors, their increasing affordability, and their optimum size are also expected to support market growth in the coming years.

Threat of Cyber-attacks Dampens Market Spirit

Despite the advantage of using IoT platform, the global market continues to face certain challenges such as the high possibility of losing data to cyber-attack. The growing concerns about software, network, or encryption are expected to restrain the growth of the overall market in the coming years. The lack of awareness about IoT platforms, especially in the developing regions, is also expected to dampen the spirit of the market in the near future.

The IoT Platform market has been segmented as below:

The IoT Platform Market, By Deployment

• On-Premise
• Cloud

The IoT Platform Market, By Application

• Inventory Management
• Human Capital Management
• Customer Service
• Enterprise Performance Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Infrastructure Management
• Other (Security, Asset Performance Management)

The IoT Platform by Industry

• Retail
• Healthcare
• BFSI
• Oil and Gas
• Transportation and Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Government and Defense
• Energy
• Other (Education, Hospitality)

The Boy Genius Behind the $28.5 Billion Cryptocurrency Ethereum

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin

There are tons of twentysomething entrepreneurs all over the world, undoubtedly coding up the Next Big Thing this very moment.

And then there's Vitalik Buterin.

Unlike most men his age -- or any age, for that matter -- Buterin, 23, has invented a new kind of money, called Ethereum. It's currently worth $28.5 billion in total, growing all the time (with the occasional plunge to keep things interesting). Ethereum is a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, made up of digital tokens called ether. As with all cryptocurrencies, people are primarily using it as a speculative investment asset.

For the crypto-impaired, Buterin's invention differs from Bitcoin in a few key ways. For starters, Ethereum acts as a decentralized computing system for all kinds of applications, allowing key data to be recorded on the blockchain. (The point of using a blockchain instead of a normal database is that no one can unilaterally make changes; consensus has to be established across the entire network.) Ethereum's existence is largely responsible for the recent surge of ICOs, some of which have raised hundreds of millions of dollars.

Unlike the creator of Bitcoin -- who was an unknown person or group of people going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto -- Buterin is very much present. He attends conferences and maintains a lively Twitter presence.

Not that Buterin isn't enigmatic and eccentric in his own right. Word on the street is that Buterin is the kind of prolific traveler who is barely able to spend time at home. (His Twitter bio lists his location as "Earth." @VitalikButerin) He has dual reputations for being a very, very smart guy, especially when it comes to math, and simultaneously an odd duck. He likes cat purses and unicorn sweaters, for instance.