Servage TotalCloud

Servage has been placed number 171 in the global group Deloitte’s 2010 ranking Technology Fast 500 EMEA.

Servage, a leading global provider of Cloud Computing services offers companies a complete cloud-based IT-department based on standard applications.

In their congratulatory letter to Servage Deloitte write: “Although the measurement period in the 2010 rankings (2005-2009) was characterized by a global recession with severe consequences for businesses around the world, you have managed to get your company to grow at a very impressive manner worth attention. ”

In the past year Servage has seen a significant increased understanding and acceptance among corporations of Cloud Computing and its benefits, such as scalability, security, flexibility and qualified IT support. This, combined with the growing awareness of the drawbacks of locking critical business data in proprietary systems makes Servage’s TotalCloud solution a very attractive option for companies migrating their IT-environment into the cloud.

In the CEO Survey included in the report a clear majority of those asked mentioned a strong product line as the primary success factor for their strong growth during the global recession, something which also applies on Servage. Furthermore, the high expectations of strong economic growth CEOs in primarily Sweden, Germany, Finland, Hungary and Turkey have, will enhance the possibility of continuing success for Servage.

Yesterday the EU Agency ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency published a report with recommendations for Governments for handling Cloud Computing. The report named Security and Resilience in Governmental Clouds is intended to be a guide for senior governmental management to determine the right way to enter into cloud computing taking into consideration the security, legal and resilience issues involved.

What I find especially interesting with this report is that it clearly the benefits of Cloud Computing. In the executive summary of the report it is stated:

“As a result of our analysis, we have concluded that the cloud computing service delivery model satisfies the most of the needs of public administrations, on the one hand, since it offers scalability, elasticity, high performance, resilience and security.”

The report address the different types of cloud computing solutions, public, private or community clouds, which might be considered for different types of applications and public services. The legal implications including the strict limitations of transferring data outside of EU territory is of course also covered in the report.  Glancing at the report the conclusion seem to be to recommend intra EU or intra country clouds in order to be able to follow the legal requirements and ensure data security.

For us working in Cloud Computing, SaaS, Virtualization or other related businesses this is all good and expected news. Europe has been slow in adapting the benefits of cloud computing but maybe this decision-making guide for governments will change that trend not at least considering the financial pressure currently being put on several European governments.

Finally I would just like to quote one more sentence from the report which I find as a natural development but nevertheless very nice to be confirmed by an EU report:

“It is not unrealistic to assume that cloud computing, in all its possible implementations, will serve, in the near future, a significant portion of European Union citizens, small and medium-sized enterprises and public administrations”

When browsing through my inbox this morning I ran into a quite interesting article published by Guardian.co.uk on the difficulties to legally protect your data when using cloud services.

I assume most of us do not always read through the 100+ pages of fine text when buying services on-line, we just check the agree box. For services like the download of a song from iTunes this is often sufficient but hardly for corporate cloud applications.

This is a matter many cloud vendors tend to avoid discussing. The fact is however that many corporations still need private totally secure IT environments for certain applications and data because of legal or customer requirements. This can be achieved by using private clouds. A service not delivered by most cloud vendors because it requires a more qualified support staff.

By using a Virtual Private Cloud solution you can decide the level of security for your critical data and application. For very sensitive and business critical information encrypted and mirrored solutions are available where not even the cloud vendors’ staff has access to the data. You can have data stored at specific locations or countries and you can also combine the critical applications needing extra security with standard applications such as a virtual desktop.

With this type of solution companies will be able to take advantage of the flexibility and scalability of cloud services without compromising the security issues. They can also limit their legal, technical and support counterpart to one single corporation.

As many of you probably noticed a lot of new computers, TVs and other technical gadgets have been presented at the CES Convention in Las Vegas this week. 3D TVs, 3D Video Recorders, 4G smartphones and even Lady GaGa promoting sunglasses with built in camera.

There is however no doubt that the stars of the show were the large number of tablet computers presented (I am especially glad of that they will now be available in smaller sizes, such as those from Panasonic and Samsung).

What is most interesting is however how this, especially in combination of the rollout of 4G wireless networks all over the world, will affect the way we work and live. That it will boost cloud computing is something no one seems to doubt and that it will boost the demand for streaming videos and TV also seem to be a fact.

Today the only industry seriously working with and starting to use the possibilities of streaming media is the entertainment industry.  I sincerely hope that other industries will start to use this in the future as the possibilities are great for example to use for installation instructions, support, product training etc.

 And, as a late new year’s wish, I would also like to see this technology used for education purposes. 

Instead of all these huge amounts of books (often inherited from previous years classes and in lousy condition) the children have to carry to and from school they can have only one tablet. All student documentation would be available via cloud services anytime and could also be kept updated to include the latest information without delays. Adding videos, interactive tests and short lectures would also make the student materials much more interesting than a normal textbook.  I understand there are a lot of traditional publishers who are not very interested in these possibilities, but those who are will definitively be winners.

Or, if you don´t count the 7 hours of sleep, how about wasting 7,3% of your life?

In 42 years (which is a quite normal time spent working) this amounts to a total of 18,984 hours or just over 2 years and 2 months.

This is the time people who have a one hour commute to work normally spend in cars, buses, subways or a combination of those during their working years.

Why do they do this? Of course human interaction is important, but do you need to sit in your office 8 hours a day for this? The only reason for most people who do this is because they either have a profession where their physical presence is essential (a surgeon, midwife or carpenter for example) or because your employer is not yet familiar (or just ignorant) with the benefits of the modern way of working.

With a cloud based IT environment including a virtual desktop, secure access to all your company databases, financial systems, CRM systems in combination with a unified communication system no customer or actually anyone else for that matter (if they are not standing looking at your desk) will be able to tell you are not in your office.

I know it has been said many times before, but the benefits for companies making it possible for employees to work part time from home is great. Beside the cost, flexibility and security benefits of using a cloud based IT and unified communication system, corporations will be able to cut costs by having smaller offices and their staff will have more time to spend on their work without all the time spent on commuting.

But will the employees actually work when they are at home? Well, there are systems that can measure that, no matter if they are in the office or not. In my experience however a happy employee is often a much more productive employee and I know I am a lot happier knowing that I am not wasting 7% of my life.

OK, I know, Gartner already wrote this in 2008 in their prediction for 2009 and they were right.The skyrocketing continued in 2010 and it seems to be no doubt the rapid growth will continue in 2011 as well.

But let me make a few guesses about the evolution of cloud computing anyway since the path towards the cloud is not always totally straight.

My predictions for the evolution of cloud computing in 2011 are

- Cloud based IT-services will be the number one choice for the majority of start-up companies. 

- Private clouds will be accepted as being an interim solution for organizations with a legacy to consider.

- Several large consultancy companies will struggle hard to adapt to the new IT environment and will face huge challenges.

- Professional customer support and integration of cloud based IT- services will become a bottleneck for several cloud service providers.

- And, based on the recent economic turbulence within several EU-countries, I believe we will see several of those countries focus on cloud based IT solutions in order to cut government spending.

So, maybe 2011 will not only be remembered as the 3^rd,4^th, or 5^th year of cloud computing skyrocketing, but also as the year when Europe finally fully embraced the benefits of cloud computing.  

I wish you all a happy new 2011.

 Now with the holiday season beginning a new study published by Lenovo and Advanced Micro Systems comes to the alarming conclusion that corporate data is frequently put at risk due to cost cutting and lack of knowledge how to handle this in an efficient way.

 

The study investigating over 700 SME business professionals show that the number of employees working during vacations are repidly increasing. 85% of small business professionals agree they conduct work out of office and a clear majority (over 70%) rarely takes an e-mail free vacation. These figures are probably not surprising to anyone in the IT industry. I am acutually rather surprised that there still is almost 30% not checking their e-mails during vacations.

 

One of the problems the study focus on is on how corporate data is sent and received. Most staff use company laptops and smartphones using their home network and some use mobile data connections. A large amount of sensitive corporate data is however sent using unsecured public networks. The study does not specify how often this is done by professionals traveling abroad (on business or vacation). But, considering the cost of mobile data which often is about 500% higher abroad than at home (In Europe about 3€/M when traveling), it is quite easy to assume that the amount of corporate data sent using unsecured networks during holidays is quite substantial. 

 

The second problem is how the data is handled. Usually staff bring home corporate information downloaded to laptops, USB-sticks or maybe at their private photo memory cards. With a smart cloud solution most of the security issues can easily be eliminated. The data will be always accessible, safely stored, automatically backed up and all changes in for example CRM systems can immediately be seen and used by other employees. By using a cloud service provider, such as Servage’s Total Cloud, who can offer a full IT environment with integrated unified communication, all support and integration of the systems are handled by one competent support organization.

 

When it comes to the problem of using unsecured netoworks for corporate data, a professional cloud service provider can handle this by limiting the access to the cloud based services. The easiest way is however to addess this by clear corporate rules.

 

I wish you all the best for the holiday season. 

Were you forever being told as a child to ‘get your head out of the clouds’? You may well have just been preparing for your startup…

Cloud computing is a relatively new development. It was seen as crazy a few years ago to set up a business based around this type of computing. The cloud method wasn’t deemed as reliable as other more traditional systems and was brushed aside as a new age gimmick.

There was very little clamour for larger businesses to switch all of their systems over, whilst barely any companies totally embraced the vision behind the cloud. blur Group and Parallels were two who instantly embraced the trend: the majority of businesses were short sighted.

The benefits of cloud computing are clear. Tunning computer programs from remote servers – is a much more cost effective, accessible and efficient way to run your businesses systems and applications. It saves on space, running costs and provides an interchangeable platform in which to work. There are no Windows to Mac issues with the cloud, you can use any computer, anywhere, without hassle.

Imagine packing up a traditional computer system’s servers when moving office. Imagine the maintenance costs of running those servers and the cost of buying them in the first place. These problems are no more; replaced by immense opportunities for new businesses.

According to U.S. venture capital pioneer Alan Patricof, of Greycroft: ”In 40 years in the business, I’ve never seen such a vibrant startup environment. There’s a lot of money around and there’s an enormous increase in startup activity. Cloud computing eliminates capital expenditure so you can go global very quickly. You don’t have to have extensive servers in every country.” As a result, “more firms are downsizing or coming up with a strategy of how to separate private equity, large investments from earlier investments for startups.”

In the same way that social media and crowdsourcing have revolutionised marketing and consumer outreach, cloud computing is now being recognised as the emerging new development for creating a thriving startup. In an age where startups are more careful than ever to maximise expenditure and cut waste, it would now been seen as crazy not to use cloud computing.

Quite a turn around over the last few years. With world-renowned companies like Apple, Microsoft and particularly Google, embracing the cloud, the future of business computing is definitely in the cloud.

If you’re a new startup, you’d better get your head in the clouds. How much of your business model is cloud-based?

This post was first published at http://www.innovatrs.com/blog/.

One of the greatest concerns for many people when considering whether to put their business or private software and data into the Cloud is how secure it will be, and this is of course is a very important issue which should not be neglected.

Most Cloud service providers have rigorous security procedures and controls for their customer’s data including firewalls, virus protection, backups and parallel computing for the benefit of their Cloud Computing customers. They also have a very high security level for the environment of their equipment, including optimized physical environment (cooling ventilation etc) for servers, restricted access for non-authorized personnel and 24-hour security. Backups are stored at different locations from the original data, multiple internet providers are used for redundancy etc.

All this results in a security level that only very large corporations can possibly afford, that is, if you are not using the possibilities of the Cloud. Many of these security services are even offered to Cloud customers without any extra charge, just to keep other customer’s data out of risk.

How many of us have lost fairly important data because of a computer or phone which suddenly broke down, got stolen or picked up a weird virus? It’s usually not the most important stuff that’s lost (because the people concerned are usually fairly good at backing up) but rather, the not-quite-so-important information, like customer presentations which took you an entire night to prepare.

Up to now, this type of information has had a tendency to linger on the C-drive since it’s often needed when you are out of office and then also out of reach of the corporate servers. However with the Cloud, everything is safely stored within it and you can access your information, documents and data anywhere, anytime and safe in the knowledge that it will always be backed up without you having to think about it.

So, for most businesses and almost every private customer, the question should be:

“How safe is it not to use the Cloud?”

Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks website is on the lips of every news broadcaster, media company, government and political leader on the planet. As the world holds its breath waiting for the next piece of classified information to be drip-fed out through WikiLeaks’ complex Cloud driven software database system, the big question is: “Who is next on Assange’s list?”

At least, that’s the main question from a social and political point of view. However, from a technological standpoint, all is not well in Assange’s Cloud Computing world. Internet Service Providers galore have attempted to host the WikiLeaks site but ultimately failed, as the number of hackers and risks involved in the process to step in and destroy the deluge of international revelations put them off one by one.

Amazon was the next to throw their hats into the ring, offering to host Wikileaks through its own individual Cloud which it uses for its online store. As one of the top 10 searches on Google during 2010, the high number of visitors to the Amazon site suggested it was well equipped to deal with the barrage of interest in the website. Or was it?

The controversy surrounding Wikileaks has forced Amazon to remove them from their Cloud, both from a brand and security perspective. The influence of American Senator, Joe Lieberman, who had criticised the internet giant for their involvement, was probably another key factor too.

“It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy,” Amazon said, in a somewhat retrospective statement.

So WikiLeaks have been forced into retreat. Apparently, the website is now being hosted by Cloud servers in Europe, although details are sketchy for obvious reasons. For Dr Joseph Reger, the Chief Technology Officer for Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Wikileaks’ recent Cloud hosting saga has raised ethical standards practices which the entire industry must face up to.

Deciding upon the suitability of websites like Wikileaks “is not the job of providers,” he said. “It has to be judged by a court of law.

“We should try and turn this fragmentation to our advantage. There should be a European concentration on this problem so that in the EC there is clarity.”

Are websites such as Wikileaks undermining the growth and perceptions of the Cloud Computing industry? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!