While the "cloud" is a strange and wonderful new thing, in my humble opinion it has actually been with us for a long time (read here) and cloud based services should be managed like any "service" we purchase or otherwise provide to our partners. As IT professionals we may be attracted by cost, flexibility and other benefits, but we must focus on managing performance, reliability and security just as we do with all of the systems we provide.
When use of the cloud is discussed, invariably someone raises the number one concern; security. How do I know my information will be safe in the cloud? Indeed, we have seen a number of news stories that suggest hackers have been able to penetrate the defenses at some of the major cloud players including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
But we also know that some of the very best private system defenses have been compromised including RSA (the security people), NATO, the Pentagon, the FBI, numerous banks, credit card companies, department stores, energy companies and others. The list is long and growing. You get the feeling no place is secure once the hackers have you in their crosshairs.
Security is a concern for all systems, whether running in-house or at a third party site. The cloud may be no less or more secure than any other location for your data.
Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO, thinks (as I do) the issue has been exaggerated (read here) and he actively encourages use of the cloud. The government can save considerable money (something it sorely needs to do) and be much more efficient by using these services.
In fact, it is likely a cloud service could help lots of small to mid-size companies, offering them better security at a lower cost than they could achieve on their own.
So what should you do differently when dealing with a cloud provider? Obviously you have complete visibility into your technical infrastructure and direct control over your people and policies. With any third party provider, you must determine if the security measures in place meet the level of protection commensurate with the importance of any information that will be reside there.
It is important to investigate and confirm any claims made by your provider. Perhaps we need ways making the provider's security more transparent as was suggested in this article. The approach is to provide a means of rating services much like hotels or restaurants.
You must go beyond the physical infrastructure and discuss policies and procedures. Importantly, look at employee policies and how employees are managed. Look at who your provider relies upon and make sure the risk is transfered down and mitigated at all levels.
Security, along with performance and reliability, must be carefully addressed with provisions embodied in contracts, including specific remedies, and comprehensive plans for dealing with failures of any kind.
Do you have any advice to add to this list?
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Next Big Thing : HTML5
Ask any senior IT manager what are the hot trends in the industry today and they is likely to rattle off two or three categories. They will include, in no particular order:
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
- the "cloud"
- mobile computing
- "big" or unstructured data
Admittedly, big data might be on the edge for some while others would include security. But those are pretty much the hot topics of the day.
I like to keep my ear to the ground and people who have known me for a long time know I have a nose for what is likely to be the next big thing. One of my favorite stories is about the Palm Pilot. Way back in the 90's when this personal digital assistant (PDA) was first introduced I thought it was likely to catch on. Saturday afternoon I went to the mall and on a whim purchased one at CompUSA. At the time, I was working at a major reinsurance company and the Chairman was a real technophile. Sure enough, Monday morning he returned from a cross country business trip waving the proverbial full page ad from the airline magazine for none other than this new handheld device. Shortly thereafter it became de rigueur for executives and wildly popular for years.
I had a similar experience identifying the RIM Blackberry as the device of choice, a distinction it held until recently when first the iPhone and then Android devices swept in. Android (my latest pick of the litter) has moved rapidly into the lead (read here.)
I had a similar experience identifying the RIM Blackberry as the device of choice, a distinction it held until recently when first the iPhone and then Android devices swept in. Android (my latest pick of the litter) has moved rapidly into the lead (read here.)
Lately, I have been reading a lot more about the new HTML standard, HTML5, and how it is going to revolutionize the web experience. While I have not had much first hand experience with HTML programming, it just may be the next "watershed" event in the history of computing. It has been around for years but the most popular browsers IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome, are only beginning to fully support it in their current versions.
Google abandoned their "gears" in favor of HTML5 native offline support. Apple, IBM and Microsoft all published their support for HTML5 as the future of the web, and other pundits have begun to echo the news.
Offering new capabilities, simplicity of development, tighter code and device independence, it seems HTML5 should be the choice of every web developer from this point forward.
Let's see if I called this one right.
Let's see if I called this one right.
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Battle of the Titans
So here we are about one month into Google Plus and the ranks have swelled to over 20 million participants with an expectation of more growth when its opened to the general public (rumored to be soon) and still more when the business community is invited to participate.
Polls abound declaring fifty percent defection rates from Facebook (click here) and the demise of other inferior social networks. Google Plus threads and other sources are full of prognosticators convinced Google Plus will take over the world. According to one story today, Google Plus is even going to be your bank (click here).
Of course, other statistics clearly indicate Twitter has more star power (click here) and Facebook is now bigger than ever (click here) while Google Plus alienated people by shutting them down, requiring use of true identities. Google forced some news services and on-line publications to contribute under an individual name. Surely these acts will cause a backlash and slow or stop its growth. Right?
Wrong.
I predict Google Plus will continue to grow and evolve into the kind of social network that will appeal to a more professional community, while Facebook will continue to be the social network of choice for younger people, and people looking for entertainment, fun and games.
Google Plus will eventually be woven into the whole family of Google applications. The integration has already begun. Like one popular video illustrates, Google is where many people search, e-mail, write, store documents and photos and perform many other tasks. Once integrated, Google Plus will appeal to this segment of the population.
Facebook offers a different experience. It is not about the service, it is the social connections, the electronic relationships that you establish and maintain with your friends and acquaintances. It has clearly reached sufficient mass to continue to attract young social network newbies. It will appeal to high school and college students (its origin) because their friends will probably be on it already.
Similarly, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks will continue to appeal to certain segments. Twitter works well for publishers and news services, while LinkedIn has become the service of choice for human resource professionals.
I see the social network landscape unfolding much like cable television. There are a few dominant cable channels like HBO, Showtime and Cinemax. Then there are dozens of others such as the Food network, Bravo and Comedy Central that sustain their business on a smaller community of interested viewers. Yelp, Groupon, FourSquare, Tripit and many others (some not yet invented) will continue to provide a vast array of networks meeting our special needs and providing enough value to survive. There are 18 social networks devoted to new startup companies (click here) !!!
By the way, last week I predicted that tools would emerge to allow Google Plus participants to post to Twitter and Facebook. Since many, like myself, will likely have a presence in several of these networks for the foreseeable future, I expect over time to see a high level of integration. Extensions for the Chrome browser (click here) began to appear last week. Today I learned about Start Google Plus, a tool designed to more fully integrate content from these other networks.
In a couple of months, I would like to examine the demographics of Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus participants. I suspect over time these statistics will bear me out. What do you think?
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
Polls abound declaring fifty percent defection rates from Facebook (click here) and the demise of other inferior social networks. Google Plus threads and other sources are full of prognosticators convinced Google Plus will take over the world. According to one story today, Google Plus is even going to be your bank (click here).
Of course, other statistics clearly indicate Twitter has more star power (click here) and Facebook is now bigger than ever (click here) while Google Plus alienated people by shutting them down, requiring use of true identities. Google forced some news services and on-line publications to contribute under an individual name. Surely these acts will cause a backlash and slow or stop its growth. Right?
Wrong.
I predict Google Plus will continue to grow and evolve into the kind of social network that will appeal to a more professional community, while Facebook will continue to be the social network of choice for younger people, and people looking for entertainment, fun and games.
Google Plus will eventually be woven into the whole family of Google applications. The integration has already begun. Like one popular video illustrates, Google is where many people search, e-mail, write, store documents and photos and perform many other tasks. Once integrated, Google Plus will appeal to this segment of the population.
Facebook offers a different experience. It is not about the service, it is the social connections, the electronic relationships that you establish and maintain with your friends and acquaintances. It has clearly reached sufficient mass to continue to attract young social network newbies. It will appeal to high school and college students (its origin) because their friends will probably be on it already.
Similarly, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks will continue to appeal to certain segments. Twitter works well for publishers and news services, while LinkedIn has become the service of choice for human resource professionals.
I see the social network landscape unfolding much like cable television. There are a few dominant cable channels like HBO, Showtime and Cinemax. Then there are dozens of others such as the Food network, Bravo and Comedy Central that sustain their business on a smaller community of interested viewers. Yelp, Groupon, FourSquare, Tripit and many others (some not yet invented) will continue to provide a vast array of networks meeting our special needs and providing enough value to survive. There are 18 social networks devoted to new startup companies (click here) !!!
By the way, last week I predicted that tools would emerge to allow Google Plus participants to post to Twitter and Facebook. Since many, like myself, will likely have a presence in several of these networks for the foreseeable future, I expect over time to see a high level of integration. Extensions for the Chrome browser (click here) began to appear last week. Today I learned about Start Google Plus, a tool designed to more fully integrate content from these other networks.
In a couple of months, I would like to examine the demographics of Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus participants. I suspect over time these statistics will bear me out. What do you think?
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Does the Google Chromebook make sense?
Personal computers have evolved into highly portable forms such as laptops, notebooks and tablets. Even sub-tablets like the Galaxy and smart phones like the HTC EVO rival the power and capabilities of the desk top computers of only a few years ago. All these devices have one thing in common; local processing, memory and storage abilities which allow them to work standalone.
Google recently introduced a new portable device called the Chromebook with a very different approach. The Chromebook itself only runs what is essentially an internet browser. It has no local applications and stores almost no data on the device. It depends entirely on the internet with all of your applications and data stored in the cloud.
From the owner's perspective the this model offers a number of interesting and attractive features. The device has been optimized to start in under 10 seconds. It is self maintaining and self healing. It is virtually impervious to malware, but should the device be corrupted in any way, you simply turn it off and back on to boot up with a fresh, clean copy of the OS. If you leave it in the back of a taxi or drop it in the pool, you lose nothing (apart from the device itself) because none of your data or applications are on it. You never have to back it up or transfer your information to another device.
It is an IT managers dream as it can be deployed with no installation or maintenance required. It will never have to be rebuilt. Security is not compromised if an employee's device is accessed or stolen. It is small, light, attractive and affordable.
Now, in the US and other parts of the world, the internet is almost ubiquitous. But some of us who travel frequently by plane, train or subway or who live in remote, suburban communities may find this device challenging to use. Moreover, internet connections and the services we use are not always totally reliable.
For now, I think I will stick with the traditional personal computer. Besides, I never recommend anything I haven't tried personally. So, unless Google wants to send me an evaluation unit I can't say much more.
How about it, Larry?
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
Google recently introduced a new portable device called the Chromebook with a very different approach. The Chromebook itself only runs what is essentially an internet browser. It has no local applications and stores almost no data on the device. It depends entirely on the internet with all of your applications and data stored in the cloud.
From the owner's perspective the this model offers a number of interesting and attractive features. The device has been optimized to start in under 10 seconds. It is self maintaining and self healing. It is virtually impervious to malware, but should the device be corrupted in any way, you simply turn it off and back on to boot up with a fresh, clean copy of the OS. If you leave it in the back of a taxi or drop it in the pool, you lose nothing (apart from the device itself) because none of your data or applications are on it. You never have to back it up or transfer your information to another device.
It is an IT managers dream as it can be deployed with no installation or maintenance required. It will never have to be rebuilt. Security is not compromised if an employee's device is accessed or stolen. It is small, light, attractive and affordable.
Now, in the US and other parts of the world, the internet is almost ubiquitous. But some of us who travel frequently by plane, train or subway or who live in remote, suburban communities may find this device challenging to use. Moreover, internet connections and the services we use are not always totally reliable.
For now, I think I will stick with the traditional personal computer. Besides, I never recommend anything I haven't tried personally. So, unless Google wants to send me an evaluation unit I can't say much more.
How about it, Larry?
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
Monday, July 25, 2011
How High is Up
Everyone knows computers have become smaller, faster and cheaper. Moore's law is often cited and frequently some new chip demonstrates this law is still very much in effect. Memory, too, has reached new heights in capacity, yet consumes less physical space than ever before.
But few people realize that storage has experienced a similar, rapid growth in capacity and speed, while shrinking to unbelievably small sizes.
My first close encounter with mass storage devices came back in the late '70s when disk storage units were the size of your average washing machine and held an incredible 80 megabytes of data. That's not a typo. The actual disk was a five platter assembly with each platter roughly 24 inches across. It could be removed from the unit and stored off-line allowing for multiple 80mb sets of data. It was part of a Prime 400 mini-computer system. The main cabinet housing the processor, memory, controllers and power supply was the size of a small refrigerator.
I recall when we upgraded the system to 300mb drives, and later 550, 800 and finally 850mb disk drives. These larger units were non-removable, sealed containments but only consumed space equivalent to a file drawer. I marveled at the amount of data we could store inside these boxes. They cost thousands of dollars.
Today, we purchase disk units measured in gigabytes or terabytes, and you can easily hold them in your hand. They are assembled into complex arrays offering unparalleled speed and reliability, or they are delivered in storage attached network (SAN) form providing a host of other benefits including flexible management, pooling and sharing among multiple computing systems.
A couple of years ago I added a Seagate 300GB external drive to use as backup to the dual 200GB drives of my home system. Sitting comfortably on my desk was a little box two inches wide, five inches high and five inches deep which hold 1,000 times the information of those washing machine size boxes of yesteryear. It cost less than $100. By the way, this is already outdated and smaller devices costing less offer capacity in terabytes.
Last week I read an interesting blog entry. BackBlaze published the design of a unit with 135tb of capacity which could be built for about $7,500. You can read it here.
It is truly remarkable how far we have come.
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
But few people realize that storage has experienced a similar, rapid growth in capacity and speed, while shrinking to unbelievably small sizes.
My first close encounter with mass storage devices came back in the late '70s when disk storage units were the size of your average washing machine and held an incredible 80 megabytes of data. That's not a typo. The actual disk was a five platter assembly with each platter roughly 24 inches across. It could be removed from the unit and stored off-line allowing for multiple 80mb sets of data. It was part of a Prime 400 mini-computer system. The main cabinet housing the processor, memory, controllers and power supply was the size of a small refrigerator.
I recall when we upgraded the system to 300mb drives, and later 550, 800 and finally 850mb disk drives. These larger units were non-removable, sealed containments but only consumed space equivalent to a file drawer. I marveled at the amount of data we could store inside these boxes. They cost thousands of dollars.
Today, we purchase disk units measured in gigabytes or terabytes, and you can easily hold them in your hand. They are assembled into complex arrays offering unparalleled speed and reliability, or they are delivered in storage attached network (SAN) form providing a host of other benefits including flexible management, pooling and sharing among multiple computing systems.
A couple of years ago I added a Seagate 300GB external drive to use as backup to the dual 200GB drives of my home system. Sitting comfortably on my desk was a little box two inches wide, five inches high and five inches deep which hold 1,000 times the information of those washing machine size boxes of yesteryear. It cost less than $100. By the way, this is already outdated and smaller devices costing less offer capacity in terabytes.
Last week I read an interesting blog entry. BackBlaze published the design of a unit with 135tb of capacity which could be built for about $7,500. You can read it here.
It is truly remarkable how far we have come.
Captain Joe
Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC
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