Cindy Jacobs: God Told Me to Hold a Global Day of Prayer Against Coronavirus – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

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Worried about COVID-19? Have no fear! A multi-denominational coalition of Christians is uniting today March 3rd, at 7:14 p.m. CST precisely for a global day of prayer to end the virus and you know it has to work, because God called for it.

The vessel through which he has spoken to the Christian community is Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Generals International. Jacobs says God has spoken to her, telling her in true Old Testament fashion to organize the event. She says the Holy Spirit verbally granted her the authority to decree, albeit only in the event of a global convergence.

Jacobs has quite the track record with the Holy Spirit: They go way back. In her career as a faith healer, shes been able to turn metal into bone, make a grown woman grow taller, control the weather, and even magically inflate her ministrys bank account.

She also thinks that God wants Christians to be rich so the Jews will convert out of jealousy, and that He killed a bunch of blackbirds to condemn the repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell. She and her husband also co-signed an open letter slamming Christianity Todays anti-Trump op-ed, in case youre wondering where her politics lie.

We along with other global leaders are calling for a national day of prayer to end the Coronavirus. After seeking wisdom and prophetic counsel from prophets across the nation and world, we believe strongly that since this is a worldwide issue, its going to take the whole church to cry out together for the mercy and healing power of God to contain it.

Jacobs goes on to discuss the importance of a nation aligned with Gods will, invoking Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War to make some sort of flag-waving point about national unity, despite the event being billed as a global day of prayer.

At least shes willing to add that the promise remains the same for each nation enduring the coronavirus. God will heal all of us but only if we ask nicely enough.

Which begs the question: If God knows that we want the coronavirus gone, why does He need all the pageantry of a day of prayer where the whole world begs Him to take it away? Couldnt He just get rid of it?

Is God basically a bank robber, killing hostages until we pay him in the currency of prayers and appeasement?

And to think: Christians call atheism a belief system without hope.

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Cindy Jacobs: God Told Me to Hold a Global Day of Prayer Against Coronavirus - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

I am Certain of My Atheism. I’ve Said All I have to Say. Or Have I? – Patheos

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I remember that when I used to blog over at Debunking Christianity for John Loftus, all those years ago, even then, he would often declare that he had nothing left to say that he hadnt already said. The volumes of writing he had done both on the Internet and in book form meant that he had exhausted his writing, theological and philosophical reserves. And then he would come back and get a second wind, or a third wind (see alsoKeith Parsons).

At the time, in my newfound excitement, I found this quite surprising, but I have experienced the same feeling several times. I have written over 3000 blog posts and countless books and have given a whole range of different public talks and I often think Ive said everything that I have to say. Theres nothing new left for me to say, and anything that I havent already said, some other blogger or philosopher of religion has stated it probably better than I could.

Oddly enough, Ive actually got a second wind right now. I actually have quite a few blog posts lined up, if I dont forget them; I just need to find time to write them. I do, however, as you have undoubtedly noticed, find it easier to write on politics at the moment because it is so tangible, so imminent, so bloody worrying and so interesting. Philosophy can all too often become very abstract without any obvious connection to everyday life and reality, especially when talking about a non-existent god.

I sort of referenced this a few weeks ago in a previous blog post, but I am also absolutely sure of my atheism. There is not one modicum, not one iota of doubt in my mind because my philosophy is absolutely built on sound foundations. This is why I often complain about theists and, for example, gun rights advocates who start their project from their conclusion and try to work backwards: I like guns. It is written into the Constitution that I can bear arms. It is connected to the Bill of Rights. It is a natural right to do so becausedid I mention the Consitution and the Bill of Rights? Job done.

Hang on there, sunshine. What is a right? What ontology does it have? Where does it exist? Is there another realm in which abstract ideas exist? How do you know what is a right and what is not? All of these questions need coherently answering befor the rest can even hope to follow. Dont start with the conclusion that you just have the right to bear arms because its written on an old piece of paper. That doesnt cut the mustard with me.

The same with religion. People will argue back from the Bible, or back from a belief they have inherited from their parents and scrabble around to post hoc rationalise. I have changed my mind on pretty much every major philosophical conclusion in my life because I have made it my lifes work to follow the evidence to a conclusion. I chose to start questioning all of the beliefs that I had inherited and believed.

I remember the moment I started properly doing this. I was at university and had bought the Daily Telegraph to read in the students union because, well, my father used to read the Daily Telegraph. I read an article on something that I wasnt particularly interested in and ended up having an argument with someone about the topic that the article covered. I ended up vehemently defending the position that the writer in the Daily Telegraph took and the conclusions he claimed, not based on anything other than the fact I had just read it in that particular newspaper. I had an epiphany because, at that moment, I realised how psychological I could be. I didnt particularly care about that subject I was arguing about, but was just arguing that position because Id somehow taken ownership over that position by reading it in a newspaper I had chosen to buy, which I had only chosen to buy because my father read the same newspaper.

Holy crap! What else in my life was I not being rational about? What other positions was I blindly defending without questioning my own defence?That was when I started becoming skeptical, when I started understanding the need to be rational in defending any position I took. And it is when I started diverging away from what my parents believed and not because I wanted to diverge from my parents but because that was where the evidence was taking me. And given the conversation I had today with them, I can safely say that I certainly have a much sounder grip on reality!

I used to believe in God. I used to believe in free will. I used to believe a completely different thing about morality than I do now. I used to believe in a soul. I used to be something of a conservative. I used to be anti-immigration. I used to have different views on homosexuality. The list is long and varied.What is important here is that there are no gaping holes in my wall of thoughts. Those bricks are laid soundly one on top of another, until the wall is complete. My wall is complete and is nowhere in its is a brick engraved with the word God.

There is no hope or faith in my wall. I have no need for those bricks. It is just sensible philosophy and evidence built up from the foundational bricks concerning abstract ideas that lead me to adopt the philosophical and political positions I presently do. Yes, I may still change. But given what I know now, I do get frustrated that other human beings have the same access to this knowledge andrationality, and yet they conclude so antithetically. I am, for example, absolutely astonished and I mean properly astounded that people respect and support Donald Trump. Yes, I am sounding like a stuck record, but I am truly amazed because to me he is so obviously one thing, but to so very many other people, he is something utterly different. And the same can be said with God. I am not privy to any different information, knowledge, rational arguments and so on than the next person. And yet I am really certain that God doesnt exist, whilst the next person is home churching every Sunday and blathering on about salvation through Christ.

Of course, belief is psychological. You cant reason people out of positions they never reason themselves into in the first place. I get that. But, my, it frustrates me.

TL;DR why arent more people sensible, like me? 😉

[I know the answer, its just annoying.]

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I am Certain of My Atheism. I've Said All I have to Say. Or Have I? - Patheos

Bernie Sanders Is the Candidate of Nonbelievers – National Review

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Sen. Bernie Sanders rallies with supporters in St. Paul, Minn., March 2, 2020.(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)And his own religious faith is indistinguishable from belief in socialism.

Once upon a time, Bernie Sanders would have had another political vulnerability besides his socialism namely, his atheism.

In 2016, a DNC staffer had to apologize after the WikiLeaks hack exposed an email he wrote that suggested using Bernies atheism against him in the primary.

This year, Bernies religion or lack of it has barely made a ripple or even occasioned any comment. It used to be expected that serious presidential candidates would have religious faith and discuss it, in keeping with the religious coloration of the country they sought to govern. Just as the taboo against openly socialist candidates has given way, so has the old norm about religiosity eroded nearly to the vanishing point.

Sanders, a secular Jew, doesnt call himself an atheist. The way he puts it is that hes not actively involved in organized religion, and that he believes in God, just not in a traditional matter. To me, he has said of his religion, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together.

Asked by Jimmy Kimmel whether he believes in God, he said, I am what I am. And what I believe in, and what my spirituality is about, is that were all in this together.

Functionally, this means his religion is indistinguishable from the vision of solidarity undergirding his socialist politics.

Indeed, the connection to Israel that Sanders touts to prove that he is not anti-Israel had much more to do with a political commitment rather than a religious one.

He lived for a time on a kibbutz in 1963 as a guest of a secular, socialist youth movement. According to the New York Times, the kibbutz saw the Soviet Union as a model, and often flew the red flag at outdoor events. Sanders told a publication called Jewish Currents that it was there that I saw and experienced for myself many of the progressive values upon which Israel was founded.

His brother said of Bernie in a 2016 Washington Post interview that he is quite substantially not religious.

This makes Sanders an outlier in American life, but less of one than he used to be. According to the Pew Research Center, 26 percent of Americans says that they are atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, up from 17 percent in 2009. The growth of the religiously unaffiliated can be seen across all demographic groups and regions but is especially pronounced among young people who are, of course, disproportionately Bernie supporters. Only 35 percent of Millennials attend religious services weekly or once or twice a month, while 64 percent attend a few times a year, seldom, or never.

The non-religious are Bernies base. A Pew survey in January found that Joe Bidens most supportive religious group was black Protestants, at 44 percent, followed by white Catholics and white evangelicals, at 37 percent each. Bernies best groups were agnostics (36 percent), atheists (30), and the unaffiliated (28).

In New Hampshire, Sanders lost to Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg among voters who attend religious services once a week or more and won among voters who never attend. A rare bright spot for Bernie in South Carolina was beating Biden among voters who never attend church, 36 to 24 percent.

Theres no rule that presidents have to be believers, or Thomas Jefferson never would have occupied the office. But presidential religiosity has advantages. Bill Clinton used it to signal to otherwise politically hostile parts of the county that he understood their values. It fortified George W. Bush under incredible pressure during the War on Terror. Barack Obama tapped the rhetorical power of church oratory.

The Sanders phenomenon is another indication of the weakening of American exceptionalism. When the social scientist Seymour Martin Lipset wrote about it decades ago, he underlined American religiosity and resistance to socialism. If he captures the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders will test how much either still matters or applies.

2020 by King Features Syndicate

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Bernie Sanders Is the Candidate of Nonbelievers - National Review

Technology, media, and telecom (TMT) trends: Cloud computing – Verdict

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Direct competition between US and Chinese cloud computing service providers will increase. China will begin to reap the rewards of its investment in 5G. More businesses will turn to hybrid cloud to achieve digital transformation. Meanwhile, there will be greater scrutiny of carbon emissions resulting from cloud computing.

The cloud services market, comprising infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS), is forecast to be worth $332.8bn in 2020, up 22% on the previous year. According to GlobalData, SaaS will make up 57% of cloud services revenue, while IaaS will be the fastest-growing service line, increasing by 26% to $90.9bn in 2020.

The cloud services sector is dominated by five large companies: Amazon (AWS), Microsoft, Alibaba, Google, and IBM. The status quo will not be disturbed in 2020.The hyperscalers will continue to grow rapidly and expand their geographical footprint.

In 2020, GlobalData expects more companies to adopt hybrid cloud as part of a broader digital transformation strategy. Competition in the hybrid cloud market will increase, with the arrival of Nutanix Clusters on AWS and a new joint offering from VMware and Google. There will also be a greater focus on solutions that support application portability across multiple clouds. For example, IBMs Red Hat OpenShift containerisation software will compete with VMware Tanzu, among others.

Open-source container orchestration systems Kubernetes has become the main driver in digital transformation projects that involve app modernisation. Consequently, a growing number of tech providers have entered the app modernisation market. This trend will continue in 2020. Kubernetes will retain its leadership position in app modernisation directives, and containerisation will spur new partnerships and acquisitions among players at opposite ends of the cloud stack.

Cloud computing has been lauded in the past for its positive impact on environmental sustainability, but studies by US researchers have suggested that information and communications technology (ICT) could be responsible for up to 3.5% of global emissions by 2020, more than aviation and shipping, and 14% by 2040. There will be greater scrutiny of the green credentials of cloud computing in 2020.

This is an edited extract from the TMT Predictions 2020 Thematic Research report produced by GlobalData Thematic Research.

GlobalData is this websites parent business intelligence company.

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Technology, media, and telecom (TMT) trends: Cloud computing - Verdict

Amazon, Microsoft cloud-computing can weather a recession and coronavirus, analysts say – Seattle Times

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In the decade since the Great Recession, cloud computing became the de facto information-technology strategy for startup companies and, increasingly, large corporations alike. The business of renting remote computing power has grown into an enormous industry and, with No. 1 player Amazon and No. 2 Microsoft based in the Seattle area, a mainstay of the regions broader tech-driven economy.

As fears of a recession mount with the spread of the novel coronavirus, cloud analysts are considering how this $263 billion industry would fare in its first significant economic downturn since reaching maturity. The short answer: fairly well, especially for the market leaders.

Among the digital giants, nobodys scaling back for a blip, said John-David Lovelock, chief forecaster with research and advisory firm Gartner, which expects global public cloud-services revenue to increase 33% to more than $350 billion by 2022.

You dont build a cloud provider of the scale were talking about here without a plan to do it that spans decades, said Corey Quinn, cloud economist with The Duckbill Group. It transcends the boundaries of any individual economic cycle.

Even in the event of a severe global recession, there are reasons to expect cloud computing which fundamentally changed the information-technology business model would continue to grow. Thats what happened during the last recession, when the technology was still nascent.

Cloud computing is a fast-growing business at both Redmond-based Microsoft and Seattle-based Amazon, where it balances the thinner profit margins of the retail side of the company. Cloud competitors including Google and IBM also have major engineering offices in the region.

In thequarter ended Dec. 31, Microsoft reported sales of $11.9 billion in the business segment that includes its Azure cloud computing business, lumped in with its traditional server software and business consulting services. The company said Azure sales increased 62% from a year earlier, though it doesnt disclose the revenue figure. Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported revenue of nearly $10 billion in the same period, up 34%.

Cloud services companies allow customers to rent remote computing power, scaling up and down usage, and associated costs, as needed. The cloud has steadily replaced the old model of organizations building and owning their own servers and data centers, which takes time, requires large up-front capital outlays as well as ongoing maintenance costs, and leaves them with excess computing capacity that goes unused except during brief periods of peak demand.

A business running on the cloud that experiences a spike in customer traffic to its website can immediately call on servers in a global network of Amazon or Microsoft data centers to handle the load. When the traffic subsides, they can turn off those services. Likewise, if a company needs to perform a complex analysis or test a machine learning algorithm, it can rent nearly limitless computing power from a cloud provider for a few hours, rather than incurring the cost of owning it.

In practice, businesses tend to scale up their cloud usage but dont often scale it back down, said Quinn, whose firm helps companies manage their AWS bills and has customers that spend in aggregate about $1 billion a year on Amazons cloud.

Whether by strategy or neglect, they opt to incur higher cloud-computing bills rather than risk constricting capacity and upsetting users, he said. That may start to change as businesses consider belt-tightening measures in the next recession.

That is going to come under an increased level of scrutiny almost certainly when companies start looking at where they are able to cut costs, Quinn said.

But even if cloud customers start combing through their bills, for most, theres only so much they can cut. While some customer-facing applications can scale up and down with demand, and discretionary development projects can be put on hold, other cloud applications that are core to a business basic operations dont change much with revenue fluctuations.

Thats a change from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, when cloud computing was a relatively small feature of the information-technology landscape, used for discrete applications or by small teams within an organization.

The difference now is that there are entire companies running their computing environments [in the cloud] at a scale that weve never seen anything remotely close to, Quinn said.

Cloud providers also offer steep discounts for multiyear spending commitments, which could make it harder for a customer to trim their cloud spending rapidly, Quinn said.

Lovelock said cash-flow constraints in a recession could also prompt businesses to use more cloud services rather than buy their own information-technology equipment.

Thats what happened with SalesForce in the Great Recession. The cloud-based provider of customer-relationship-management software saw revenue grow 21% year over year in 2009, while the broader software category shrunk 3%, he said.

There was still business to be done, but there was limited cash flow, Lovelock said. Cloud computing or software as a service, as it was more commonly called then became the way things got done.

Another factor potentially helping cloud computing weather a possible coronavirus-driven recession: With more people in self-quarantine to avoid contracting or spreading the illness, cloud-based applications for telecommuting and entertainment could see even more usage though many video heavy applications, such as Netflix, are distributed through private content delivery networks.

Cloud software revenue grew through the last recession, Lovelock said, but spending on hardware took a hit. Thats what Lovelock expects to happen in the event of a coronavirus-driven recession. Disruptions to the hardware supply chain are already being felt, particularly given the heavy concentration of semiconductor production in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

Tellingly, Microsoft last week revised its quarterly sales guidance, citing a slower-than-anticipated return to normal operations in its hardware supply chain. The guidance update made no mention of impacts to Microsofts cloud computing or other businesses.

And so far, neither of the Seattle-areas cloud giants appears to be slowing its hiring.

On Tuesday afternoon, Amazon had 14,217 job listings for its Amazon Web Services business more than a third of the companys total openings. Microsoft does not allow its job listings to be filtered the same way, but the word Azure appeared in more than half of its 7,301 listings.

Neither company would comment for this story.

(Anika Varty / The Seattle Times)

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Amazon, Microsoft cloud-computing can weather a recession and coronavirus, analysts say - Seattle Times

Changing the game for cloud computing with Neoverse – Design and Reuse

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At the launch of Arm Neoverse, we recognized that building the cloud-to-edge infrastructure needed for one trillion intelligent devices would require a broad ecosystem with technology, expertise, and commitment to transform the internet. The intention for Neoverse has always been to enable a high-performing, flexible cloud-to-edge infrastructure built for the next era of compute; but when we take a step back to think about what one trillion devices looks like, it is incredible to realize the amount of data that will need to be processed as a result.

The existing infrastructure is not ready for whats next. Computing as we know it is changing. Its expanding and happening at multiple layers from cloud to edge to endpoint, emphasizing the need for a nimble and strong infrastructure ready to take on more data processing than ever before.

Our Neoverse product portfolio delivers incredibly strong performance-per-watt for cloud-to-edge workloads, as evidenced by the expanding ecosystem and many partners who have adopted Neoverse products and solutions since the launch in 2018. Today, we are proud to say the expanding ecosystem of Neoverse partners now includes Ampere, who has announced the industrys first 80-core server processor which is based on the Neoverse N1 Platform!

Amperes Altra server processor news is more than just a milestone for Arm in the data center; it is a turning point for the industry in terms of what is possible in data center computing. Todays announcement demonstrates the power of building the right compute for the right applications. Ampere took the N1 platform and integrated its own innovations to design an SoC uniquely built for applications across hyperscale cloud and edge markets, while bringing it to market quickly to address evolving compute requirements.

The importance of scalability and flexibility

By 2021, it is expected that 94% of workloads and compute instances will be processed by cloud data centers, requiring massive amounts of processing for popular applications like video streaming, Internet search, and social networking, and do so within the power availability envelope. Looking ahead, the processing requirements are even greater as faster 5G networks are deployed and billions of smartphones become enabled with ultra-high definition (UHD) or 4K viewing capabilities, for example. When you factor in all the compute required to ensure a flawless end-user experience, while also using compute cycles to process and analyze the data being generated and process it closer to the user, maintaining strong performance at very low power levels is imperative. This was the guiding principle when designing Neoverse IP.

Today, were seeing the capabilities of Neoverse come to life combined with Ampere innovations in the Altra processor which delivers the performance-per-watt, flexibility and scalability to address a diverse suite of compute intensive cloud applications to edge analytics. To ensure efficient scalability, the Ampere Altra processor uses the highly scalable Arm CMN-600 mesh interconnect, ensuring its robust 80-core design is optimized for maximum performance. Additionally, Ampere has utilized our SBSA/SBBR specifications, with a goal to achieve Server Ready certification later this year, to ensure Altra is fully compliant with the Arm architecture so its system partners, ISVs and developers have a seamless out-of-the-box experience.

Choice in transforming the modern cloud-to-edge infrastructure

Arm and Ampere share a common goal of providing the industry the choice and flexibility it has long been deprived of. Building on top of Arm Neoverse platform enables ecosystem innovation and a cadence previously unseen in enterprise infrastructure. Ampere recognizes this and have committed to a roadmap with annual cadence of new products. We look forward to doing our part in enabling this rapid pace of innovation.

Together, with ecosystem partners like Ampere, were challenging the status quo with Arm-based silicon solutions primed to transform the modern cloud to edge infrastructure. I, along with the entire team at Arm, congratulate Ampere on this industry milestone!

About Arm

Arm technology is at the heart of a computing and connectivity revolution that is transforming the way people live and businesses operate. Our advanced, energy-efficient processor designs have enabled intelligent computing in more than 160 billion chips and our technologies now securely power products from the sensor to the smartphone and the supercomputer. In combination with our IoT device, connectivity and data management platform, we are also enabling customers with powerful and actionable business insights that are generating new value from their connected devices and data. Together with 1,000+ technology partners we are at the forefront of designing, securing and managing all areas of compute from the chip to the cloud.

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Cloud computing: More costly, complicated and frustrating than expected – but still essential – ZDNet

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Migrating to the cloud seems to be on every CIO's to-do list these days. But despite the hype, almost 60% of UK businesses think that cloud has over-promised and under-delivered, according to a report commissioned by consulting company Capita.

The research surveyed 200 IT decision-makers in the UK, and found that an overwhelming nine in ten respondents admitted that cloud migration has been delayed in their organisation due to "unforeseen factors".

On average, businesses started planning their migration to the cloud in 2015, and kicked off the process in 2016. According to the report, one reason clearly stood out as the push factor to adopt cloud computing: 61% of businesses started the move primarily to reduce the costs of keeping data on-premises.

But with organisations setting aside only one year to prepare for migration, which the report described as "less than adequate planning time," it is no surprise that most companies have encountered stumbling blocks on their journey to the cloud.

SEE: Cloud v. data center decision (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic)

Capita's head of cloud and platform Wasif Afghan told ZDNet: "There has been a sort of hype about cloud in the past few years. Those who have started migrating really focused on cost saving and rushed in without a clear strategy. Now, a high percentage of enterprises have not seen the outcomes they expected."

Four years later, in fact, less than half (45%) of the companies' workloads and applications have successfully migrated, according to Capita. A meager 5% of respondents reported that they had not experienced any challenge in cloud migration; but their fellow IT leaders blamed security issues and the lack of internal skills as the main obstacles they have had to tackle so far.

Half of respondents said that they had to re-architect more workloads than expected to optimise them for the cloud. Afghan noted that many businesses have adopted a "lift and shift" approach, taking everything they were storing on premise and shifting it into the public cloud. "Except in some cases, you need to re-architect the application," said Afghan, "and now it's catching up with organisations."

The challenges "continue to spiral," noted Capita's report, and they are not going away; what's more, they come at a cost. Up to 58% of organisations said that moving to the cloud has been more expensive than initially thought.

The trend is not only confined to the UK: the financial burden of moving to the cloud is a global concern. Research firm Canalys found that organisations splashed out a record $107 billion (83 billion) for cloud computing infrastructure last year, up 37% from 2018, and that the bill is only set to increase in the next five years. Afghan also pointed to recent research by Gartner, which predicted that through 2020, 80% of organisations will overshoot their cloud infrastructure budgets because of their failure to manage cost optimisation.

Infrastructure, however, is not the only cost of moving to the cloud. IDC analysed the overall spending on cloud services, and predicted that investments will reach $500 billion (388.4 billion) globally by 2023. Clearly, the escalating costs of switching to the cloud is coming as a shock to some businesses especially so because they started the move to cut costs.

Afghan said: "From speaking to clients, it is pretty clear that cloud expense is one of their chief concerns. The main thing on their minds right now is how to control that spend." His response to them, he continued, is better planning. "If you decide to move an application in the cloud, make sure you architect it so that you get the best return on investment," he argued. "And then monitor it. The cloud is dynamic it's not a one-off event."

Capita's research found that IT leaders still have faith in the cloud, with the majority (86%) of respondents agreeing that the benefits of the cloud will outweigh its downsides. But on the other hand, only a third of organisations said that labour and logistical costs have decreased since migrating; and a minority (16%) said they were "extremely satisfied" with the move.

"Most organisations have not yet seen the full benefits or transformative potential of their cloud investments," noted the report.

As a result, IT leaders are left feeling frustrated and underwhelmed by the promises of cloud technology. But Capita's experts argued that the reason for such disillusionment comes down to the misplacement of expectations. Cloud migration, and its promise of cost-cutting, is a means to an end, reads the report; focusing too much on the process might be "a misaligned goal". One that leads businesses to forgetting that the actual purpose of the move is to enable innovation.

Mark Cook, executive officer at Capita, said: "One of the most important questions raised by the research is how far today's IT leaders are able to see beyond cloud as a means to an end while staying focused on their original transformation goals and aspirations."

SEE: Pay for these four tech jobs is rocketing. Cloud computing is the cause

To illustrate, Capita's report pointed to the top transformational priorities identified by respondents. IT leaders largely indicated cloud migration as their top priority above process automation, big-data analytics, and artificial intelligence or machine learning.

In other words, cloud has become the end-goal for many businesses, more so than the applications enabled by cloud and which will drive innovation to create new value. "Could too much focus on 'cloud' be clouding the issue?" asked the report.

Researchers recommended, therefore, that companies recover an "innovation mindset", and remember the original goals that prompted their move to cloud. Combined with a better strategy, including better governance and skilling up the workforce, the report predicts that a fresher vision will let organisations reap the real benefits of cloud computing.

"'Destination digital' can itself become an all-consuming journey," said Cook. "This points to the importance of individually designing and pressure-testing each journey to ensure it will successfully bring the organisation closer to actual business goals."

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Cloud computing: More costly, complicated and frustrating than expected - but still essential - ZDNet

Cloud Computing Is Not the Energy Hog That Had Been Feared – The New York Times

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The computer engine rooms that power the digital economy have become surprisingly energy efficient.

A new study of data centers globally found that while their computing output jumped sixfold from 2010 to 2018, their energy consumption rose only 6 percent. The scientists findings suggest concerns that the rise of mammoth data centers would generate a surge in electricity demand and pollution have been greatly overstated.

The major force behind the improving efficiency is the shift to cloud computing. In the cloud model, businesses and individuals consume computing over the internet as services, from raw calculation and data storage to search and social networks.

The largest cloud data centers, sometimes the size of football fields, are owned and operated by big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

Each of these sprawling digital factories, housing hundreds of thousands of computers, rack upon rack, is an energy-hungry behemoth. Some have been built near the Arctic for natural cooling and others beside huge hydroelectric plants in the Pacific Northwest.

Still, they are the standard setters in terms of the amount of electricity needed for a computing task. The public thinks these massive data centers are energy bad guys, said Eric Masanet, the lead author of the study. But those data centers are the most efficient in the world.

The study findings were published on Thursday in an article in the journal Science. It was a collaboration of five scientists at Northwestern University, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an independent research firm. The project was funded by the Department of Energy and by a grant from a Northwestern alumnus who is an environmental philanthropist.

The new research is a stark contrast to often-cited predictions that energy consumption in the worlds data centers is on a runaway path, perhaps set to triple or more over the next decade. Those worrying projections, the study authors say, are simplistic extrapolations and what-if scenarios that focus mainly on the rising demand for data center computing.

By contrast, the new research is a bottom-up analysis that compiles information on data center processors, storage, software, networking and cooling from a range of sources to estimate actual electricity use. Enormous efficiency improvements, they conclude, have allowed computing output to increase sharply while power consumption has been essentially flat.

Were hopeful that this research will reset peoples intuitions about data centers and energy use, said Jonathan Koomey, a former scientist at the Berkeley lab who is an independent researcher.

Over the years, data center electricity consumption has been a story of economic incentives and technology advances combining to tackle a problem.

From 2000 to 2005, energy use in computer centers doubled. In 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency forecast another doubling of power consumed by data centers from 2005 to 2010.

In 2011, at the request of The New York Times, Mr. Koomey made an assessment of how much data center electricity consumption actually did increase between 2005 and 2010. He estimated the global increase at 56 percent, far less than previously expected. The recession after the 2008 financial crisis played a role, but so did gains in efficiency. The new study, with added data, lowered that 2005 to 2010 estimate further.

But the big improvements have come in recent years. Since 2010, the study authors write in Science, the data center landscape has changed dramatically.

The tectonic shift has been to the cloud. In 2010, the researchers estimated that 79 percent of data center computing was done in smaller traditional computer centers, largely owned and run by non-tech companies. By 2018, 89 percent of data center computing took place in larger, utility-style cloud data centers.

The big cloud data centers use tailored chips, high-density storage, so-called virtual-machine software, ultrafast networking and customized airflow systems all to increase computing firepower with the least electricity.

The big tech companies eke out every bit of efficiency for every dollar they spend, said Mr. Masanet, who left Northwestern last month to join the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Google is at the forefront. Its data centers on average generate seven times more computing power than they did just five years ago, using no more electricity, according to Urs Hlzle, a senior vice president who oversees Googles data center technology.

In 2018, data centers consumed about 1 percent of the worlds electricity output. That is the energy-consumption equivalent of 17 million American households, a sizable amount of energy use but barely growing.

The trend of efficiency gains largely offsetting rising demand should hold for three or four years, the researchers conclude. But beyond a few years, they say, the outlook is uncertain.

In the Science article, they recommend steps including more investment in energy-saving research and improved measurement and information sharing by data center operators worldwide.

The next few years, they write, will be a critical transition phase to ensure a low-carbon and energy-efficient future.

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Cloud Computing Is Not the Energy Hog That Had Been Feared - The New York Times

3 things you should know about cloud security in 2020 – CIO

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The world is now neck-deep in digital. Companies everywhere are trying to conquer the digital universe by revitalizing business models or building new ones from scratch to remain competitive. Much of this action is based on a common foundation: cloud computing.

In fact, the use of cloud computing has exploded over the past decade, and theres no end to the growth in sight. Global spending on the cloud hit $273 billion in 2018 and is poised to exceed an astonishing $623 billion by 2025, according to industry reports.

The reason for cloud's growth is clear: it is often associated with lower costs, greater flexibility, and greater security. But while cloud offers a big boost in physical security beyond what a garden-variety end-user is typically willing or able to afford, its still a shared responsibility proposition. Put another way, the provider oversees cloud security, and the customer is in charge of its own security in the cloud including the integrity of the stored and processed data, and the resilience of all apps and APIs that interface with the web.

But most cloud packages include only basic security. If an extra layer of security isnt added, the customers entire IT value chain is basically a line of sitting ducks. And since more and more corporate and customer data resides in the cloud, tight IP access can become a serious bottleneck. If the cloud platform is offline, its game over.

This is not just a theory. In October 2019, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a major DDoS attack roughly eight hours long. Users couldnt connect because AWS miscategorized their legitimate customer queries as malicious. Google Cloud Platform encountered a variety of troubles at roughly the same time, but the company claims they were unrelated to DDoS. A few weeks earlier, a number of DDoS attacks knocked out a South African ISP for a full day, making internet access widely impossible.

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3 things you should know about cloud security in 2020 - CIO

Benefits of Cloud Computing – – VENTS Magazine

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Cloud computing is a word that is usually used to define the usage of software and hardware offered through a network (mostly internet). The word comes from the usage of symbol that is cloud shaped and represents the working of a complex working that allows the usage of hardware, software, remote services and computation.

In simple words, it is the computing over internet. In the past, individuals used to run programs and apps from software downloaded on a physical device. Cloud computing enables you to use the same types of apps but using internet. The cloud VPS is being used all over the world by many businesses.

Cloud computing benefits

There are a lot of different benefits of cloud computing. Here well discuss a few of those benefits.

Efficiency / cost reduction

If you use cloud based computing, you do not have to spend a lot of money on maintaining and purchasing devices. This reduces your costs very efficiently. You do not have to spend money on facilities, hardware, utilities, or working to build a huge data center to increase your business. You dont have to hire a large number of IT engineers or managers to handle your cloud computing centers because these services are often provided by cloud service providers.

Data security

One of the most important things in any business is the security of the data. It doesnt matter if youre running a small or big business, security of your data is very important. Loss of important data can decrease the revenue of a business and it also affects the image of a brand.

Cloud computing provides you a lot of advanced security features that ensure the safety of your data.

Mobility

It also helps you to access your data through smartphones and other devices, which a great method to make sure that every member of your team knows the activities taking place in your organization. Team members that work remotely or spend most of their time out of the office can use this facility to stay in touch.

Moreover, it is very easy to access the resources stored in the clouds. This data is easy to store, retrieve and, recover with a few commands. This data can be accessed over the internet whenever someone needs it.

Disaster recovery

Loss of data is not a good thing for any organization. The main reason of data loss is lack of data security or backup. The cloud service providers offer you proper data security and backups of your data. So, if you lose your data for any reason, you can recover it without any problems.

Moreover, this data is kept safely considering all of the security measures and you can make sure that your data is in safe hands.

Control

It is important for any company to have control over their data. An important data can ruin the complete business if it goes into the wrong hands. So, cloud computing helps you make sure that your data is in safe hands.

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Benefits of Cloud Computing - - VENTS Magazine

Budget set to boost rapidly-growing cloud computing industry, according to R&D tax expert – Bdaily

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One of the North Wests fastest-growing industries could be set to benefit from R&D tax changes in next weeks budget, according to the national IT lead of Spinningfields-based business adviser Grant Thorntons tax innovation team.

The cloud computing industry is expanding at a rate of seven times that of the wider IT sector and this year is expected to be worth 9 billion to the UK economy. In Manchester, the industry is growing rapidly with Amazon Web Services moving to the city at the start of 2020, joining existing providers like ANS, iomart, and Cisco.

Trade organisation techUK reports that the adoption of cloud services, including software as a service (SaaS), has increased dramatically. In 2016, 36 per cent of businesses were accessing the technology, with that number now in excess of 42 per cent. The growth is driven by the overwhelming digital transformation disrupting multiple sectors and the increasing application of big data.

To date, however, interpretations of unhelpfully-vague eligibility criteria, driven by preconceptions and misunderstandings of the nuances of digital research and development, have prevented many businesses from claiming valuable rebates through HRMCs R&D Tax Credit scheme.

R&D tax credits incentivise businesses to invest in the development of new products, services or processes, or to enhance existing ways of working. The guidelines relating to software projects were revised in October 2018. But the changes did not reflect the evolution in the way software and technology projects are developed, which has seen suites of dedicated hardware and software licences replaced by cloud computing.

The absence of clear, consistently-applied guidelines around the inclusion of cloud computing and big data investment for developmental purposes, is particularly affecting small and mid-sized companies, which are able to claim up to 33.35 per cent of eligible R&D spend back in a valuable cash credit.

That could be about to change, according to Andy Nixon National IT tax lead in business adviser Grant Thorntons tax innovation team: The Conservative manifesto pledged to increase the R&D expenditure credit rate from 12 per cent to 13 per cent and review the inclusion of cloud computing and data within the scope of an R&D claim.

Should the Chancellor follow through on this pledge next week, were predicting an influx of improved or first time claims, particularly those in the entrepreneurial and mid-market space. For many of our clients, innovation now takes place in remote datacentres, far away from the office or laboratory. This is true in software and app development, but it increasingly affects other industries such as pharma and financial services, which are transforming their business models by harnessing big data.

Businesses in all of these sectors would receive a boost by a revision to the eligibility criteria, while the larger corporates providing the infrastructure to enable this virtual R&D would also welcome the move.

Grant Thorntons north west tax innovation team operates from the firms Liverpool and Manchester offices, in addition to its base at the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus. In 2018, GT became the first advisory firm to open a permanent base office at the campus to service its growing science and tech-comprised client base.

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Budget set to boost rapidly-growing cloud computing industry, according to R&D tax expert - Bdaily

The GLOBAL HEALTHCARE CLOUD COMPUTING MARKET is expected to grow by USD 25.54 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 23% during the forecast…

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NEW YORK, March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

Global Healthcare Cloud Computing Market 2020-2024 The analyst has been monitoring the global healthcare cloud computing market and it is poised to grow by USD 25.54 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 23% during the forecast period. Our reports on global healthcare cloud computing market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p02779355/?utm_source=PRN

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by integrated service offering for healthcare industry.In addition, development of hyper-converged infrastructure is anticipated to boost the growth of the global healthcare cloud computing market as well.

Market Segmentation The global healthcare cloud computing market is segmented as below: Product: o SaaS

o IaaS

o PaaS

Geographic Segmentation: o North America

o APAC

o Europe

o South America

o MEA

Key Trends for global healthcare cloud computing market growth This study identifies development of hyper-converged infrastructure as the prime reasons driving the global healthcare cloud computing market growth during the next few years.

Prominent vendors in global healthcare cloud computing market We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the global healthcare cloud computing market, including some of the vendors such as Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., Amazon Web Services Inc., athenahealth Inc., Carestream Health Inc., General Electric Co., IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., Salesforce.com Inc. and Siemens Healthineers AG . The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p02779355/?utm_source=PRN

About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

__________________________ Contact Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001

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The GLOBAL HEALTHCARE CLOUD COMPUTING MARKET is expected to grow by USD 25.54 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 23% during the forecast...

Cloud Security Alliance 2020 Initiatives Changing the Face of IT Audit and Cloud Assurance – AiThority

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Certificate of Cloud Auditing Knowledge and Cloud Controls Matrix v4 represent critical progress to modernize the audit profession and align cloud assurance with technology innovations

TheCloud Security Alliance (CSA), the worlds leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, announced a call for subject-matter experts to support the ongoing review of its flagship document, the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), Version 4 of which will be released later this year. CCM v4 will reflect the current cloud technology landscape, providing cloud users with a better, more comprehensive security framework and guidelines to facilitate both implementation and audit.

Calling all today cloud subject-matter experts! @cloudsa is asking for help to support the ongoing review of its flagship document, the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) Version 4. Join Us!

Additionally, CSA is pleased to announce that theCertificate of Cloud Auditing Knowledge (CCAK)subject-matter expert working group has held initial program development meetings and that the CCAK credential and courseware will be previewed at CSAsSECtemberconference (Seattle, Sept. 14-18). The CCAK is a new credential for industry professionals that demonstrates expertise in the essential principles of assessing and auditing cloud computing systems and will be released in the second half of 2020. The CCAK will provide a common baseline of knowledge and shared nomenclature to ensure that IT and security professionals, as well as auditors, have the right expertise and tools to appropriately and accurately understand and measure the effectiveness of cloud security controls.

Recommended AI News: Incremental Growth in Cloud Spending Hits a New High while Amazon and Microsoft Maintain a Clear Lead

For 11 years, the Cloud Security Alliance has led the industry in delivering the necessary innovations to build the trusted cloud ecosystem on a global basis. In 2020, CSA will focus on supporting the cloud community in acquiring the necessary tools, skills, and expertise to ensure that the many iterations of cloud meet robust security and privacy objectives, said Daniele Catteddu, Chief Technology Officer, Cloud Security Alliance. As organizations adopt DevOps, CI/CD, and related innovations, the audit function must keep pace. With the release of CCM and CCAK, we continue to support the community in their cloud journeys.

The Cloud Controls Matrix is the de facto standard in the market. Its latest iteration will include new control objectives in areas such as container and microservices, cryptography, and identity and access management, along with implementation guidance, and will improve upon the auditability of existing controls.

Recommended AI News: Cubic Signs Agreement With US Special Operations for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance R&D

Cloud auditing skills are becoming a mandatory requirement for IT auditors and will become fundamental expertise for any IT manager and professional, especially in the areas of governance, risk management, compliance, and vendor/supply chain management. Traditional IT audit education and certification do not adequately prepare professionals for the challenges cloud provides. Recent breaches demonstrate the knowledge and responsibility gap that comprehensive cloud auditing frameworks such as the CCAK will solve.

Those interested in contributing to the development of the CCAK are encouraged to join the CSACloud Audit Expert Group. Group members should be familiar with CSAs best practices and control frameworks, such as theCloud Controls Matrix (CCM), theConsensus Assessment Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ), andCSA STAR levels of assessment, as well as have knowledge in such key areas as cloud risk management, compliance, continuous auditing, and more. Members will be tasked with reviewing and providing advice on the scope, curriculum, objectives structure, go-to-market, and value proposition for the CCAK.

Recommended AI News: AiThority Interview with Adrian Leer, Managing Director Triad Group Plc

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Cloud Security Alliance 2020 Initiatives Changing the Face of IT Audit and Cloud Assurance - AiThority

When the cloud falls to earth, it could be time for cloud repatriation – DataCenterNews North America

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Article by Intel Data Center Management Solutions senior application engineer Rami Radi.

For many of todays applications and workloads, cloud computing offers the enterprise a host of advantages over traditional data centers, including lowered operational and capital expenditures, improved time to market, and the ability to dynamically adjust provisioning to meet changing needs globally. Consequently, there has been a massive shift to cloud migration over the past decade, with cloud computing trends showing significant year-over-year growth since it was first introduced, and Cisco predicting that by 2021 cloud data centers will process 94%of all workloads.

According to MarketsandMarkets, the global cloud computing market is projected to surge at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent to reach approximately $623.3 billion by 2023, up from $272 billion in 2018.

Today, however, we are seeing more companies bringing workloads back into their data centers or edge environments after having them run in the cloud for several years because they didnt originally fully understand their suitability in a cloud environment. 451 Research has referred to this dynamic as cloud repatriation, and a recent survey found that 20% of cloud users had already moved at least one or more of their workloads from the public cloud to a private cloud, and another 40 percent planned to do so in the near future.

All of this begs a deceivingly simple question: How do I know when a workload would be better off running in or outside of the cloud?

When latency, availability, and control are key

As with any IT decision, an inadequately researched, planned and tested process is likely to cause setbacks for enterprise end-users when the organization at large is faced with uncertainty whether to move an application or workload out of the public cloud and return it to an on-premises data center or edge environment.

Very often, moving an application or workload from the cloud makes good business sense when critical operational benchmarks are not being met. This might mean inconsistent application performance, high network latency due to congestion, or concerns about data security. For example, we know of one Fortune 500 financial services firm that was pursuing an initiative to move its applications and data to the public cloud and only later discovered that its corporate policy prohibited placement of personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive data beyond their internal network/firewall. Although many security standards are supported by public cloud providers, because of its internal policy, the financial organization opted to keep its data on-premises.

Some companies, such as Dropbox, have chosen to migrate from the public cloud to benefit their bottom line. While cost is but one criterion for leaving, it is a major one. In the wake of leaving the cloud, Dropbox was able to save nearly $75 million over two years.

Generally speaking, applications that are latency sensitive or have datasets which are large and require transport between various locations for processing are prime candidates for repatriation. Consider smart cities and IoT-enabled systems, which create enormous amounts of data. While cloud computing provides a strong enabling platform for these next-gen technologies because it provides the necessary scale, storage and processing power, edge computing environments will be needed to overcome limitations in latency and the demand for more local processing.

Additionally, if your applications and databases require very high availability or redundancy, they may be best suited to private or hybrid clouds. Repatriation also provides improved control over the applications and enables IT to better plan for potential problems.

Yes, moving to the cloud means a decrease in rack space, power usage and IT requirements, which results in lower installation, hardware, and upgrade costs. Moreover, cloud computing does liberate IT staff from ongoing maintenance and support tasks, freeing them to focus on building the business in more innovative ways. And yet, while many businesses are attracted to the gains associated with public or hybrid cloud models, they often do not fully appreciate the strategy necessary to optimize their performance. Fortunately, there are tools to assist IT teams to better understand how their cloud infrastructure is performing.

Demystifying cloud decision-making

No matter the shape of an organizations cloud public, private or hybrid data center management solutions can provide IT staff with greater visibility and real-time insight into power usage, thermal consumption, server health and utilization. Among the key benefits are better operational control, infrastructure optimization and reduced costs.

Before any organization moves its data to the public cloud, the IT staff needs to understand how its systems perform internally. The unique requirements of its applications, including memory, processing power and operating systems, should determine what it provisions in the cloud. Data center management solutions collect and normalize data to help teams understand their current implementation on-premise, empowering them to make more informed decisions as to what is necessary in a new cloud configuration.

IntelData Center Manager is a software solution that collects and analyzes the real-time health, power, and thermals of a variety of devices in data centers. Providing the clarity needed to improve data center reliability and efficiency, including identifying underlying hardware issues before they impact uptime, these tools bring invaluable insight to increasingly cloudy enterprise IT environments, demystifying the question of on-premises, public and hybrid cloud decision-making.

Here are some factors to consider when making a decision about embarking on a course of cloud repatriation:

Are you wasting money paying for capacity that is not being used? Are you experiencing regular performance and availability issues? Are you required to meet certain regulatory compliance standards? Do your workloads require low latencies? Do you have the IT staff bandwidth to take control of your workloads?

If you answered yes to a majority of the questions above, it might be time to consider cloud repatriation.

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When the cloud falls to earth, it could be time for cloud repatriation - DataCenterNews North America

Finding the Right Cloud Solution for Your District’s Storage Needs – EdTech Magazine: Focus on Higher Education

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With its massive flexibility and pay-as-you-go pricing, cloud computing is apotential boonto K12 schools. Schools can rapidly introduce new applications and scale up as use cases expand and shed the cost burden associated with data centers.

But not allcloud solutionsare the same, nor do all school districts have the same IT needs. How best to migrate off of legacy systems and on-premises solutions? Here are K12 considerations for a successful move to the cloud:

MORE ON EDTECH:Read about five best practices for ensuring data security in the cloud.

Beyond these diverse considerations, its also important to take a hard look at the cloud vendors bona fides.

A vendor who has worked extensively with school districts will understand the obligations around student data privacy, financial constraints, the need for scalable solutions based on the school-year model, McLaughlin says. You want a partner who understands the need for a collaborative environment.

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Finding the Right Cloud Solution for Your District's Storage Needs - EdTech Magazine: Focus on Higher Education

The rise of cloud computing has had a smaller climate impact than feared – Engadget

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Between 2005 and 2010, data center electricity consumption increased by a lot more (56 percent), as the New York Times reported. So what happened after that? According to the study, data centers shifted from smaller computer centers over to much larger facilities run by Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech giants.

These companies are highly motivated to save money. Google generates seven times more computing power than it did in 2015, but uses no extra energy, according to Google's technical infrastructure VP, Urs Hlzle. He wrote that the company found those savings by designing high-efficiency Tensor Proessing Units and using machine learning to optimize cooling.

Companies like Apple and Google have also taken steps to make data centers carbon neutral by developing solar farms or using green power to offset energy usage. As it stands now, data centers use about one percent of the world's electricity, equivalent to 17 million US households. That figure is barely rising, and scientists expect it to stay that way for another three or four years.

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The rise of cloud computing has had a smaller climate impact than feared - Engadget

Cloud Computing Security Risks and How to Protect Cloud Customers from Ransomware – Customer Think

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Cloud computing is gradually becoming the preferred choice of businesses to streamline different business processes. As per industry reports around 68% of the businesses use cloud technology while 19% are planning to integrate cloud computing into their business operations. There are also many reasons for companies switching from the traditional business approach to cloud computing. It has been seen that companies that invest in cloud, big data, security, and mobility have witnessed revenue growth of up to 52 percent and these are compelling figures to state why implementing cloud computing helps in the efficient running of the organization and better assist the customers.Besides just helping businesses with better revenue figures the cloud computing services provide numerous benefits such as:

AccessibilityScalabilityCollaborationPay structureControl choicesData securityTool selectionSecurity featuresSavings on equipmentSpeed to marketStorage optionsStreamlined workRegular updatesCompetitive edge

But with the widespread use of cloud computing, many security threats have also evolved over the past few years because the approach of cloud computing has gone through some transformation. Though the cloud environment is more secure than the on-premise environment still there are security concerns that need to be addressed. So lets look at the security threats to cloud computing and what measures can be taken to assure the full-proof cloud environment.

The biggest threat to any cloud environment is a breach of data. The main reason behind data breach is when an unauthorized person or program gets access to the data. It becomes a serious concern for organizations because data breach puts all or partial data at risk because the intruder can view, copy and transmit the confidential data for whatever reason possible.

Data loss is the opposite of data breach because it can occur either due to natural factors or human errors. Physical destruction of the servers due to natural calamities or human targeted attacks can lead to data loss. This is a great setback for businesses because there are few chances of recovering the data.3. DoS or Denial of ServiceThis is an advanced form of attack done primarily to flood the system with immense traffic and take advantage of the situation when the system cannot buffer or crashed through bugs and vulnerabilities. This is one of the most used media to shut down the cloud services and making them temporarily unavailable for the customers.

This security risk is related to take advantage of the growing cryptocurrency frenzy. The hackers install crypto-mining script on the servers which increases CPU load and slows down the overall system. The users computing resources are exploited to process numerous transactions of cryptocurrency.

This is the most common hijacking in the cloud environment where the hackers take advantage of insecure passwords and gain access to the cloud through a staffs account. The hacker can manipulate the data and can interfere with the different processes of the business.

This isnt the hijacking of the server itself but is more related to the third-party services. Internet of Things or IoT solutions is responsible for a data breach to a certain extent. IoT devices like home appliances, connected cars, health monitors tend to collect and send a huge amount of data in real-time. This real-time data is vulnerable and hackers can hijack it by hacking the APIs.

Not every system is full-proof because even if external security threats are nullified then also internal risks like an employee exploiting the privacy and initiating data breach are very feasible. Besides this, unintentional human errors can also put the cloud environment open to malware and cyber-attacks.

As per phishprotection.com conducting regular security, assessments are the best way to safeguard the cloud infrastructure. An up-to-date cloud system and third-party tools from reliable service providers are very vital to protect the data from going into unauthorized hands.The cloud security monitoring using Artificial Intelligence can help in identify and counter-attack the potential danger and helps in safeguarding the cloud infrastructure.Encrypting the data before uploading to the cloud system to ensure data privacy.Making employees aware of potential security threats is a great way to eliminate human errors.Having a data recovery plan helps to minimize the impact of data loss. Backing up data to a centralized server regularly also helps in protecting the data.Hiring cloud security professionals makes sure that a business stays away from cloud-related threats.As per proofpoint.com the access management policies should be very strict. It has been stated by CISA that only the most trusted or the person who needs access should be grant access to. Considering biometric authentication and multi-factor methods is a good move.Securing the cloud infrastructure is not as easy as securing your PC with antivirus like avast.com or following 10 steps for ransomware protection. The scale at which cloud computing operates and the importance of data flowing through different cloud servers is so huge that even a slight technical glitch can cost the company millions of dollars. But like every other technology the risk factors are always there and the only thing required is attentiveness to deal with all sorts of security threats.

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Cloud Computing Security Risks and How to Protect Cloud Customers from Ransomware - Customer Think

Big Data Analytics Industry Report 2020 – Rapidly Increasing Volume & Complexity of Data, Cloud-Computing Traffic, and Adoption of IoT & AI…

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Dublin, March 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Big Data Analytics Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2019 To 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Big Data Analytics Market was valued at US$ 37.34 billion in 2018 and expected to reach US$ 105.08 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 12.3% throughout the forecast period from 2019 to 2027. Increasing volume of data and adoption of big data tools to spur revenue growth during the forecast period.

The rapidly increasing volume and complexity of data are due to growing mobile data traffic, cloud-computing traffic and burgeoning development and adoption of technologies including IoT and AI, which is driving the growth of big data analytics market. Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data generated every day. Data is created by every click, swipe, share, search, and stream, proliferating the demand for big data analytics market globally.

According to a survey, the number of firms investing in big data and AI more than US$ 50 million rose from 27% in 2018 to 33.9% in 2019. The global spending on big data analytics is more than US$ 180 billion in 2019 globally. Thus bolstering the big data analytics market growth.

By 2020, 90% of business professionals and enterprise analytics say data and analytics are key to their organization's digital transformation initiatives. According to a recent research study, approximately, 58% of organizations worldwide plan to adopt big data technology in 2018. The organizations will adopt hybrid IT infrastructure management capabilities. The growing adoption of big data and AI in industries including IT & Telecom, BFSI, and Healthcare among others is further fueling the demand for the big data analytics market.

Key Market Movements

Key Topics Covered

1. Preface

2. Executive Summary2.1. Market Snapshot: Global Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market2.2. Global BDA Market, by Platform, 2018 (US$ Bn)2.3. Global BDA Market, by Deployment Mode, 2018 (US$ Bn)2.4. Global BDA Market, by Organization Size, 2018 (US$ Bn)2.5. Global BDA Market, by End-user, 2018 (US$ Bn)2.6. Global BDA Market, by Geography, 2018 (US$ Bn)

3. Market Dynamics3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Global BDA Market Value, 2017-2027, (US$ Bn)3.2. Market Dynamics3.2.1. Market Drivers3.2.2. Market Restraints3.3. Attractive Investment Proposition, by Geography, 20183.4. Market Positioning of Key Players, 20183.4.1. Major Strategies Adopted by Key Players

4. Global Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market, by Platform, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)4.1. Overview4.2. Hardware4.3. Software4.3.1. Analytics Applications4.3.2. Data Science4.3.3. Stream Processing4.3.4. Application Infrastructure4.3.5. Analytic and Application Databases4.4. Services

5. Global Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market, by Deployment Mode, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)5.1. Overview5.2. On-premise5.3. Cloud5.3.1. Public Cloud5.3.2. Private Cloud5.3.3. Hybrid Cloud

6. Global Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market, by Organization Size, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)6.1. Overview6.2. SMEs6.3. Large Enterprises

7. Global Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market, by End-user, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)7.1. Overview7.2. BFSI7.3. IT & Telecom7.4. Healthcare7.5. Government7.6. Manufacturing7.7. Others (Education, Logistics, & Retail etc.)

8. North America Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market Analysis, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)

9. Europe Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market Analysis, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)

10. Asia-Pacific Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market Analysis, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)

11. Rest of the World Big Data Analytics (BDA) Market Analysis, 2017-2027 (US$ Bn)

12. Company Profiles12.1. IBM Corporation12.2. Splunk Inc.12.3. Dell Inc.12.4. Oracle Corporation12.5. AWS12.6. Accenture PLC12.7. Palantir Technologies12.8. HPE Company12.9. SAP SE12.10. Microsoft Corporation12.11. Cisco Systems Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/laxrs8

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Big Data Analytics Industry Report 2020 - Rapidly Increasing Volume & Complexity of Data, Cloud-Computing Traffic, and Adoption of IoT & AI...

Feature: Is Shadow’s cloud computing future the one we’re already living in? – MSPoweruser – MSPoweruser

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Despite being built on a history of rocky releases and high-profile failures, cloud gaming seems poised to take on the mainstream gaming market in 2020 but this time with the power to succeed. Technology has moved on in leaps and bounds since the age old era of OnLive and now, with its passing, new cloud gaming services have risen from its ashes to take its place.

People think that cloud gaming is the future, like off in 2025, but no, I think cloud gaming is the present, like its today. Florian Giraud of Shadow told me back in December when I went to visit their London offices. Since then Ive had some time to test out Shadow for myself and see if their claims were true, and it looks like were we already living in the future.

Despite the technology already provably working, this might be the first time youre hearing of, or at least paying attention to, Shadow. Unlike Googles Stadia and what were likely to see from Microsofts upcoming xCloud service Shadow doesnt have a near infinite pool of money to market its way onto seemingly every ad block on every platform imaginable. Only those in the UK might have seen an ad for Shadow on YouTube around December, but even these were pardon the pun overshadowed by Stadias marketing efforts that dominated the advertising space.

You might expect the folks over at Shadow to be bitter about Google making Stadia synonymous with cloud gaming, but theyre actually relishing in their successes alongside them. Thats cool for us, because you have a lot of attention around cloud gaming that you didnt before, Giraud told me. Thanks to this push, Shadow has seen people taking cloud gaming seriously for the first time in a long time, effectively freeing the studio of the baggage of past failures Before, we were kind of a bit alone in this space, but now you have all the giants with the firepower in terms of commercial teams, and the marketing budget.

Shadow might be losing the marketing battle, but its not tapping out yet. The team believes in what theyve created and told me that Shadows users do too. In the community, like on Twitter, we have a lot of users, so they say you know what you can do on Stadia? You can do it on Shadow but better. Being better is what Shadow prides themselves on. For them, cloud computing is not just about gaming, but its about the freedom of having the power of an entire PC at your fingertips. I think that the clearest advance that we have, is the freedom. Its the absolute freedom.

To Shadow, its not a question of what youre able or even allowed to play through the cloud, as from the moment you start the client, it just works. Once people realise this, Giraud believes that the days of a gaming catalogue will be numbered as if you dont have the game that is really hype at the moment, if you dont have the game that everything thinks is cool, your catalogue is worth zero.

If Giraud is right, then the bubble of cloud gaming catalogues is soon to burst when gamers realise that having to compromise on what you play is no longer a requirement. However, with cloud gaming being built on such shaky foundations, people are still unsure whats possible and may be reluctant to believe its as good as claimed. Thats why rather than making bold claims through direct advertising, Shadow are focusing on perhaps the pickiest demographic out there to prove that Shadow really works.

Two years ago, we created this product with our priority target: the gamers. Florian explained to me. They are the ones who are the most demanding, they will see for sure if you have the tiniest latency. We thought that if we can convince gamers that playing with Shadow is the same thing as playing on your local PC, we could convince everyone to get rid of their old PC and switch to a cloud-based computer.

If youre already convinced, then you might be wondering what comes next for cloud computing. In the near future, things will most likely unambiguously be better. Improved encoding and decoding will see latency decrease, faster internet speeds and cooperation with internet service providers will allow for higher bandwidths and quality, and in-app developments will see usability and stability become concerns of the past.

While comforting, saying things are going to get generally better might not be the revolutionary step you were expecting, but were already past that point. If you wanted to throw out your PC and just stream from the cloud, then youre already living in the future where thats possible so long as you wait till pre-orders for Shadow Boost get delivered in April.

Its a lot more interesting then, when we look at the slightly more distant, but thrillingly real, future thats on the horizon. If cloud computing is widely adopted, then we could be looking at thinner and lighter form factors of phones, laptops, and even VR headsets that only need batteries, a screen, and an internet connection to have all the computing power thats ever needed.

Shadow believes that computing as we know it is all about to change: that cloud computing is so powerful that well eventually look back on desktops and bulky laptops as foreign objects. This is where we think we are all headed, of course its a long term, often you will say that bringing your laptop into a meeting like here, tomorrow it will be like today if you brought your own chair. It makes no sense.

With the increasing fallacy of Google Stadia becoming more and more apparent, cloud computing requires true merit: like Shadow. With Project xCloud, GeForce Now, PlayStation Now and more battling for pure game streaming, its time for success with a little more practicality.

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Feature: Is Shadow's cloud computing future the one we're already living in? - MSPoweruser - MSPoweruser

Study Explores: Cloud Computing in Education Market Will Generate Massive Revenue in Coming Years – Packaging News 24

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Study Explores: Cloud Computing in Education Market Will Generate Massive Revenue in Coming Years - Packaging News 24