A recent infographic published by CSC illuminates the usage index for cloud computing and shared some interesting facts about how the companies reacted to switching to the cloud. These statistics are helpful when determining the benefits in adopting the cloud. Here’s the breakdown:
33% of companies moved to the cloud in order to gain access to information from multiple devices.
Only 17% cited cutting costs as their main cause. Only 14% of companies downsized their IT departments after switching to the cloud. 20% hired more.
Savings in the cloud are visible but small. 82% of U.S. companies say they saved money by switching to the cloud, but for 35%, savings were less than $20,000. Small businesses saw the least savings. Overall, companies in Brazil saw the most savings.
Companies that switch are in it for the long haul. 65% paid for subscriptions lasting one year or longer on their first contract.
The cloud reduces waste, improves IT departments, and increases proficiency. 47% of companies said their operating costs declined while using the cloud.
Fewer employees resist cloud conversion. 74% of small businesses (50 employees or fewer) reported having no one resist the move.
25% of companies claimed to be more concerned about data security after switching to the cloud. Companies in Singapore were the most concerned about security, while 47% of companies in Brazil said they were less concerned.
The government is slowly transitioning to the cloud services, with almost half of government IT workers saying that they’ve already made the move. There is a new requirement that states U.S. federal agencies must adopt a “cloud-first” policy. The statistics came from a global survey of 3,645 IT decision makers in 8 countries. You can view the full infographic here.
As a leader in a growing business, you understand how important it is to keep your data secure. The real question: Why don't some of the world's biggest corporations have this same understanding? In fact, some of the best-known companies have had some of the most astounding breaches of security managable. Here's a list of what I think are the five worst offenders:
In 2005, Citygroup made news when they revealed that their carrier, UPS, had lost the personal data of nearly 4 million consumers. While 50,000 of these had already closed their accounts, the vast majority still had active accounts. Contained in these records were the consumers' names, social security numbers, loan information and account history. Seven years later, the data still has not been recovered.
OFFENDER 2: CARDSYSTEMS SOLUTIONS. This one also happened in 2005 (a really bad year for data security). In January, CardSystems announced that the Visa, Mastercard and American Express card numbers of 40 million customers had been compromised. This was the result of a hacker's use of a malicious computer script. Following an investigation, regulators found that CardSystems was not complaint with security standards within the industry.
OFFENDER 3: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS. I suppose it's no real surprise that even the U.S. government has had an egregious data-security breach. In this case, in 2006, a Veterans Affairs employee took home a laptop computer without proper authorization (but without being stopped). On the laptop: The personal data of more than 26 million people who had been discharged from the military since the mid-70s. Think it's bad enough that the laptop was taken home? It gets worse. Once the laptop was in the employee's home, it was stolen by a burglar, giving the criminal access to names, birth-dates, and social security numbers.
OFFENDER 4: AOL. Somewhere between March and May 2006, the Internet giant AOL accidentally made 20 million keyword searches public. These searches had been performed by several hundred thousand users who had no idea that their searches were going to be exposed. At first, AOL said that no personal identification information had been compromised. That was the official story until an editor for TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, revealed the data and told us that these keyword searches had contained social security numbers, credit card numbers, and even private individuals' physical addresses.
How much storage capacity will you need? Will you be able to add additional storage on-demand? How much data availability are you going to need?
Direct Attached Storage (One-to-One): DAS is adding an external storage device to an existing server or PC to extend storage capacity. DAS is suited for newer small businesses with limited storage needs. Examples of this type of storage are portable USBs, thumb drives, zip drives and the PC external hard drive.
Network Attached Storage (One-to-Many): NAS makes stored data and files available to multiple users in multiple locations, using different operating systems. NAS servers utilize file level transfers, while DAS and SAN block level transfers. Example of this type of storage are file servers, email archiving and storing media files for web apps.
Storage Area Networks (Any-to-Any): SAN makes all storage devices available to any server on the network. Most businesses use SAN for over half of their storage needs. SANs are more complex to manage, but the ability to share the storage on multiple servers allows you to configure storage capacity as needed. Examples of this type of storage are entry-level virtualization, supporting interrelated resources, databases and centralizing enterprise storage.
Cloud (Masses-to-Masses): Cloud is pooled server resources that house massive data stores in remote data centers able to scale on-demand. Examples of this type of storage are serving rich media files, content delivery networks and web hosting. The major differences between all four of the storage solutions are cost, whether storage is shared or dedicated and whether additional storage can be added on-demand.
This often takes the form of consolidation. Consolidation encompasses not just large, glass-house facilities, but also small server clusters and wiring closets. If there are too many data centers supporting the organization, they add unnecessary cost, are less controllable and lead to power inefficiencies. Also, small facilities suck up power unnecessarily, tie up inventory and burn cash out of an IT organization’s budget.
2. Maximum Server Efficiency Through Virtualization
Virtualization is a fast spreading concept. Virtualization is the pooling of physical storage from multiple network storage devices into what appears to be a single storage device that is managed from a central console. Storage virtualization helps the storage administrator perform the tasks of backup, archiving, and recovery more easily, and in less time, by disguising the actual complexity of the storage area network (SAN). Its benefits extend beyond merely improving the efficiency and usage ratio for central servers and storage systems. They also include faster provisioning of new projects, applications or users, as well as greater reliability and business continuity thanks to fast replication of virtual machines as backups.
3. Utilizing External Cloud Computing
A number of organizations are migrating select applications, mainly e-mail and other utilitarian functions, to cloud environments run by third parties. That frees up staff and infrastructure for more mission-focused work such as application development.
4. If It Provides Flexibility, Deploy Internal Clouds
To support a wide range of users and services with easy scalability and rapid provisioning, many organizations have launched their own cloud computing infrastructures. Internal cloud strategies force a rethinking of hardware architectures, utilizing consolidated, converged or data-center-in-a-box approaches.
5. Optimized Power Use
New form factors, mainly blade servers and converged infrastructures, need up-to-date cooling strategies. Instead of simply chilling the interior of an entire facility, the latest cooling technologies focus concentrated cooling where and when it is specifically needed within racks and aisles to radically reduce cooling costs.
Sometimes it’s hard to conceptualize the vastness of disk storage. It’s easier to look at a bookcase full of rare first editions and understand the amount and value of information. Here’s a break down on the size of different forms of data as defined by the IBM Dictionary:
Bit: A Bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses. It can be used to represent two states of information, such as Yes or No.
Byte: A Byte can represent 256 states of information, for example, numbers or a combination of numbers and letters. One Byte could be equal to one character. Ten Bytes could be equal to a word. 100 Bytes would equal an average sentence.
Kilobyte: One Kilobyte would be equal to this paragraph you are reading, whereas 100 Kilobytes would equal an entire page.
Megabyte: Fifteen years ago, a Megabyte was considered a large amount of data. Today a 500 Gigabyte computer hard drive is common. An old 3-1/2 inch floppy disks can hold 1.44 Megabytes or the equivalent of a small book. 100 Megabytes might hold a couple volumes of Encyclopedias. 600 Megabytes is about the amount of data that will fit on a CD-ROM disk.
Gigabyte: One Gigabyte could hold the contents of about 10 yards of books on a shelf. 100 Gigabytes could hold the entire library floor of academic journals.
Terabyte: One Terabyte could hold about 3.6 million 300 Kilobyte images or about 300 hours of good quality video. A Terabyte could hold 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Ten Terabytes could hold the printed collection of the Library of Congress. That's a lot of data.
Petabyte: One Petabyte could hold approximately 20 million 4-door filing cabinets full of text. It could hold 500 billion pages of standard printed text. It would take about 500 million floppy disks to store the same amount of data.
According to the MGI Big Data Report, the United States Library of Congress is storing around 235 Terabytes of data and 88% of industries have more data than that. Enterprises are in someway liable for nearly 80% of the digital universe. Businesses have steady daily file creation and the amount of information stored within the company will quickly amass. Precious items should be kept in a safe place and your data is no different.
Three successful entrepreneurs returning home to Oklahoma from stints outside the state have launched a venture accelerator in Oklahoma City that will develop local startups by providing investment, mentorship, office space, free services and access to further venture capital. Called VentureSpur and modeled on successful venture accelerators throughout the US, the new Oklahoma City accelerator launches on February 1, 2012.
Founders include David Matthews, a partner in VC firm Trailblazer Capital and manager of the Oklahoma Opportunity Fund; Gabe Bass, managing partner of Bass Law, a law firm with offices in Oklahoma City and El Reno; and Kraettli L. Epperson, owner of Black Mesa Consulting, a new Oklahoma City information technology consulting company.
“Over the last several years, venture accelerators have become the leading tool to develop startups that are lean, fast, focused and efficient investment vehicles,” said Epperson. “We’re taking the lessons learned at other successful accelerators and applying them to Oklahoma. Our job is to spark the innovation economy by building businesses that keep and attract talent and investment in Oklahoma, and that produce in-demand goods and services,” said Epperson.
“We think Oklahoma is ripe for an accelerator,” said co-founder Gabe Bass. “VentureSpur is modeled on Y Combinator, TechStars, Capital Factory and Tech Wildcatters, which have seen quick success with multiple companies receiving substantial follow-on investment or acquisitions. We want to do the same in Oklahoma,” said Bass.