Monthly Archives: June 2022

IT chose to move to the cloud and clouds pay-per-use cost models because it wanted to operationalize instead of capitalize hardware and software. This has rendered hardware and software expenses discretionary instead of fixed, which potentially gives IT managers more flexibility to scale expenses upward or reduce them downward.

This sounds ideal, but cloud spending can also give CIOs and CFOs a false sense of security. Many believe they can turn their cloud costs off and on at will. With pay-per-use cloud, there is also a feeling that cloud resources are never wasted because youre only paying for what you use.

But is this really the case?

When you run an application in the cloud, you're not only running the application, but also the underpinning data, network resources, infrastructure resources, storage, and security that are part of the applications total workload.

Even if your staff has tools in the cloud that help manage your workloads, they don't have the same 360-degree visibility of resource utilization that they do in your own data center.

This cloud resource management problem amplifies exponentially when you add the myriad of cloud applications that end users bring to the cloud computing mix.

How, then, do you get on top of cloud spending as a major source of cost overruns in IT? Here are four ways:

In past practice, IT departments brought in independent cost auditors to look at telephony and data communications spend. This was helpful because the bills from telephony and data communications providers were so complex that IT couldnt decipher them. Once the auditors broke down the bills and showed IT what it was spending, there almost always were opportunities to pare down costs.

Cloud computing is no different. The bills are complex, and this makes it difficult for IT to fully understand what it is getting for its money.

This is where an independent cloud cost audit can clarify the cost picture.

Once you have visibility of what youre actually spending, you can work on cost modeling that more accurately captures what your IT workloads in the cloud require.

An independent cloud cost audit will enable you to get your mind around what each application in the cloud is costing you to run. Just knowing this will get you back to the same feeling of cost control that you have in your internal data center.

The beauty of internal data center budgeting is always that you can fully track resource usage and spend of your IT resources. This enables you to calculate the cost for running the data center on an annual basis for purposes of budgeting.

With an independent cloud cost audit in hand, and information that would enable you to extrapolate resource consumption per cloud application, you can apply data center cost discipline in the cloud, even if you are using the cloud in a pay per use mode.

Once you know how much your annual cloud compute spend is, you can consider a more fixed spending plan with each cloud provider that is likely to net you cost discounts.

Like their customers, cloud providers like cost and revenue stability. If you can assess how much cloud resource use you will incur in a year and present this known usage to each cloud provider, you can negotiate a baseline fixed cost contract that each cloud provider will usually discount. You still have the flexibility of pay-per-use payments for anything that goes above these planned-for fixed costs.

Companies that leave their pay-per-use cloud consumption wide open for IT and end users will inevitably overspend. Sometimes overspending and resource upscaling are warranted, but there are also times when cloud resources that aren't being used are being charged for.

Cloud spend waste can be reduced if you automate your cloud usage policies, which you can do by using management tools that most cloud providers offer.

Here are several examples:

Conclusion

As more companies develop their usage histories with the cloud, budgeting techniques will likewise improve.

The litmus test for IT leaders is whether you can sit down with the CFO or your staff and explain exactly what your cloud spend is, what youre spending it on, and what that spend is likely to look like next year, or three years from now.

Most companies havent arrived at this point, but with the cloud resource management tools and cloud audit services that are emerging, there is every opportunity to improve cost performance in cloud computing.

How to Plan a Pain-Free Cloud Migration

Cloud Security Basics CIOs and CTOs Should Know

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Cloud Spending: How to Get a Grip on Cost Overruns - InformationWeek

New York, June 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CloudSigma and Super Protocol are partnering to open up a new potential market with a win-win situation for each party involved. This is the next step for Super Protocol towards creating a marketplace where customers can work with solution providers, such as CloudSigma.

Super Protocol aims to bring confidential cloud computing to Web3 by providing end-to-end data protection across all of its three states: at rest (in storage), in transit (being transferred), and in use (being processed). While there are existing solutions capable of providing confidentiality for the first two states, the latter remains a gap that requires a more sophisticated approach. Super Protocol is designed to close this gap without sacrificing decentralization along the way.

CloudSigma brings its thirteen years of expertise and infrastructure distributed between fifteen locations to the table as a reputable and easy-to-use provider, capable of supporting Trusted Execution Environment technology.

With its Swiss background, CloudSigma has a perfect understanding of privacy, which is why theyre such a successful cloud service provider. Them working with us is another solid step towards creating a decentralized super cloud. said Nukri Basharuli, founder and CEO of Super Protocol.

The cloud services market is worth tens of billions of dollars and Web3 is in desperate need for a decentralized cloud solution. In addition, a virtually unlimited number of potential providers is one of the big advantages over centralized cloud vendors. You just need someone to bring it all together in a frictionless and secure way, and Super Protocol has everything it takes to be that someone.

Super Protocol leverages the industry-leading security delivered by Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX) through a key infrastructural partner that can provide access to the necessary Intel-certified hardware supporting this breakthrough technology. Intel SGX consists of a set of security capabilities built into 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Designed specifically to support trusted computation and based on the principle of application and data isolation, Intel SGX enables developers to partition code into hardened enclaves. Data processed inside an enclave is invisible to other applications, the operating system or hypervisor, and even rogue employees with credential-protected access.

We are excited to be supporting Super Protocol and their blockchain services, said Robert Jenkin, CEO of CloudSigma. Our uncorrelated infrastructure network provides blockchain companies with resilient infrastructure differentiated from much of the blockchain backbone that is concentrated in the hyperscalers. Add Intels confidential computing and you have a highly secure platform for blockchain service delivery.

CloudSigma infrastructure will be available on the Super Protocol testnet (exact launch date to be announced later this month - stay tuned for the updates).

About Super Protocol

Super Protocol combines blockchain with the most advanced confidential computing technologies on the market to create a universal decentralized cloud computing platform. Super Protocol offers a Web3 alternative to traditional cloud service providers and makes it possible for anyone to contribute to the development of innovative technologies for the Internet of the future.Website |Twitter|Telegram | Discord |LinkedIn

About CloudSigma

CloudSigma is a pure-cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider thats enabling the digital industrial economy through its highly-available, flexible, enterprise-class hybrid cloud servers and cloud hosting solutions in Europe, the U.S., Asia, and Australia. CloudSigma is the most customizable cloud provider on the market, giving customers full control over their cloud and eliminating restrictions on how users deploy their computing resources.

For more information, please visit http://www.CloudSigma.com or find the company on Twitter, Facebook, andLinkedIn. For general inquiries contact: info@cloudsigma.com.

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CloudSigma and Super Protocol Partnership Is about to Bring Confidential Cloud to Web3 - GlobeNewswire

SEATTLE & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RSA Conference The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the worlds leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today released the findings of its latest survey, CISO Perspectives and Progress in Deploying Zero Trust. Conducted by the Zero Trust Advancement Center (ZTAC), the exploratory survey polled more than 800 IT and security professionals to determine where Zero Trust falls as a priority within their organization and the top business and technical challenges they have encountered over the course of its implementation.

Among the reports key findings:

The philosophy of Zero Trust has the potential to fundamentally reshape our approach to securing the technology we use across the board over the course of the next few years. Arriving at this destination requires greater clarity and a common understanding of Zero Trust principles as well as articulating concise strategies and adopting the appropriate frameworks. This survey is data rich and should be carefully contemplated by the industry to identify the roadblocks and opportunities for pervasive Zero Trust. CSA is aggressively producing valuable research such as this within our Zero Trust Advancement Center to bring the topic in focus for our community, said Jim Reavis, CEO, Cloud Security Alliance.

The goal of the survey was to shed light on where C-level executives stand in terms of their Zero-Trust strategies, pain points, vendor needs, management requirements/oversight, technical considerations, legacy challenges, adoption rates, and stakeholder involvement. Specifically, respondents were asked to evaluate the:

The survey received 823 responses from IT and security professionals, including 219 C-level executives, from various organization sizes and locations. It is the first installment of a multi-part survey that will be conducted this year. Additional activities being undertaken by the ZTAC in the next 18 months include courses in Zero Trust architecture and strategy, a CloudBytes webinar series, several research whitepapers, an annual Zero Trust Summit to be initiated in Q4 2022, and a new professional credential, the Certificate of Zero Trust Knowledge (CZTK).

The Zero Trust Advancement Center builds upon several existing CSA projects, including the groundbreaking Software-Defined Perimeter research series, Cloud Controls Matrix, Enterprise Architecture and other related virtualized security models. Organizations can register their interest and participate in the program by navigating to cloudsecurityalliance.org/ZT.

About Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the worlds leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events, and products. CSA's activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry and provide a forum through which different parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.

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Eighty Percent of IT and Security Professionals List Zero Trust as a Priority, According to New Cloud Security Alliance Survey - Business Wire

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For a company like Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) with sentiment at all time lows, the company's recent release 4Q22 results was a positive surprise for investors. I looked into the recent quarter and was pleasantly surprised that there were signs of improvement and that the worst is likely over for Alibaba.

I have written two deep dive articles into Alibaba that you can read further to learn more about the business as well as the regulatory risks of the company. My investment thesis remains as I continue to see Alibaba as currently one of the better risk/reward opportunities out there due to the following factors:

1. China commerce: One of the most valuable assets Alibaba has is its huge consumer base of 1 billion users and spends $1,300 annually, which can bring about further monetization or help scale its other newer platforms.

2. International commerce: This business is a low hanging fruit for Alibaba as it has a replicable strategy and strong moat, as well as logistics capabilities to compete with international e-commerce brands in international markets.

3. Cloud: Alibaba will likely remain the leader in a fast growing cloud market in China and continue to look out for international markets to grow in. Furthermore, its in-house production of chips and development of OS could bring about further cost efficiencies and better products while reducing reliance on third party suppliers.

4. Investing for growth in the future: Alibaba is reinvesting its incremental profits into its strategic businesses which, in my view, is necessary to ensure Alibaba is able to compete and win competitors. Also, Alibaba is continuing its mergers and acquisitions strategy to acquire new businesses to capture future opportunities or bring value to existing businesses.

For the cloud computing segment, it reported revenues of Rmb19 billion in 4Q22, which representing 12% growth year on year. This was compared to the prior quarter's growth of 20% year-on-year and prior year's growth of 38% year-on-year. The slowdown is due to weakness in certain sectors, slowing economic activities, and the company's strategic focus on higher quality revenues.

In particular, the weakness came from the internet industries like online education and entertainment. According to management, the cloud computing revenue growth would have been 15% year-on-year if the revenues from its top customer in the internet industry, Bytedance were excluded. According to management, Bytedance apparently stopped using Alibaba's overseas cloud services for its international business due to requirements that are non-product related.

As a result of weakness in the internet sector, the revenue contribution from non-internet industries increased to 52% as several sectors like telecommunications, retailing and financials reported strong growth to offset the weakness in the internet industry.

On the margins front, the cloud computing segment posted positive 1% adjusted EBITDA margins in 4Q22, compared to -2% adjusted EBITDA margins one year ago. This was attributable to the gradual improvement in economies of scale for the business, as well as better loss control for Dingtalk. Management also expects that margins for the cloud computing business to continue to improve in FY2023 as top line growth continues. In my view, the margins profile of Alibaba's cloud computing segment is at a pivotal moment for the business as it transitions towards positive adjusted EBITDA margins with improving economies of scale.

I think that is is also encouraging to see that management continues to see the long term potential in the cloud industry and Alibaba's cloud segment despite the near term blip. Management believes that the cloud industry can grow 2 to 3 times in the long run to reach Rmb1 trillion in the next few years. This comes as the cloud plays a key role for the development of the economy and for digital transformation. With that, the focus for Alibaba on the cloud computing sector is crucial, and management believe that Alibaba needs to cater to the differing needs of different sectors to be able to leverage on this huge opportunity in the long run. In my view, the other positive is that this will continue to drive top line growth and with the cloud revenues of the entire company already exceeding Rmb100 billion in the last fiscal year, this translates to huge economies of scale and potential for cost reduction and efficiency improvement that will further drive upside to cloud computing margins in the near term.

Revenues from the China Commerce segment grew 7% year on year to Rmb 136 billion. There was a low teens year on year decline in GMV in April and management sees that there are signs of improvement in May. The total FY2022 GMV in China Commerce grew by 2% year on year.

Alibaba continued to grow on the user front. China commerce Annual Active Consumers (AAC) reached 903million, up 21 million users from the previous quarter and up 89 million users from a year ago. Notably, of these increases, 70% are from less-developed areas. This is in-line with Alibaba's push towards rural and less developed customers to grow its customer base.

Specifically, we are seeing growth in Taobao Deals and Taocaicai. Taobao Deals AACs grew to more than 300 million, adding 20 million users in the quarter while paid orders on Taobao Deals grew 35% year on year in the current quarter. In addition, Taocaicai, Alibaba's community market place catered to lower tier cities and rural areas continued to grow AACs to more than 90 million and more than 50% of these were first time fresh produce buyers on Alibaba. Also, Taocaicai GMV continued to expand in the last quarter due to improving average order values.

Alibaba recorded robust user growth compared to peers (QuestMobile; Goldman)

While there were low single-digit declines in Taobao and Small online physical goods GMV, the customer management revenues (CMR) remained stable year on year. This was due to some offset by positive growth in advertising revenues.

EBITDA declined Rmb 7 billion to Rmb 32 billion, representing an EBITDA margin of 23%. This decline in EBITDA margins was due to the drag from Taocaicai and Taobao Deals as management invests in these relatively higher growth and newer businesses. In addition, Sun Art reported a Rmb 1.4 billion loss, most of it due to an asset impairment provision.

Management remains committed to improving efficiency and narrowing losses for Taobao Deals. Furthermore, management has been more disciplined in investment pace for Taocaicai to reduce its impact on margins to the group. It has done so by choosing certain target cities where it aims to improve order density and thus focus establishing regional warehouses and infrastructure in these cities. Thus, the focus will be more on high quality growth for the Taocaicai business.

In addition, in my view, the combined losses from both Taobao Deals and Taocaicai has likely peaked in December 2021 and saw sequential declines in losses in the current quarter. I think we will continue to expect the combined losses to decline as management continued to focus on higher quality growth for China commerce segment.

Revenues from international commerce grew by 7% year on year as AACs grew 4 million compared to the prior quarter, and 64 million when compared to the prior year. There was a growth of 32% and 48% year on year respectively for Lazada and Trendyol while AliExpress saw a decline in order volume. This was due to the changes in EU's VAT rules and supply chain/logistics disruptions due to Russia-Ukraine conflict, as highlighted by management. International commerce segment's adjusted EBITDA margin remained stable at -18% as the company continues to spend on marketing and promotions to increase user engagement and acquisition.

International commerce remains to be one of Alibaba's key growth drivers to tap on less mature e-commerce markets outside of China. While there could be near term competition from other e-commerce companies like Amazon (AMZN) and Shopee, which is owned by Sea Limited (SE), Alibaba's international commerce can still ride the wave of increasing e-commerce penetration in these markets and post higher long term average growth rates than in the mature China Commerce segment.

As for the local consumer services segment, revenues grew to Rmb 10 billion, up 29% year on year. Ele.me, Alibaba's online food delivery platform, continued to show improvement in unit economics and is reaching near break even due to improvements in the delivery cost per order as well as the company reducing spend on user acquisitions.

As Ele.me continues to scale, its unit economics improvement as well as the cost reductions made by management will continue to contribute to bottom line growth for the Group.

Management continues to be committed to add value by assessing the areas of its business where there can be further improvement in efficiencies and to reduce costs to make the entire cost structure of the business more nimble and lean. Some of these control in costs includes stringent control over sales and marketing expenses. This, in my view, is positive for Alibaba as the near term may prove challenging with top line slowing, and management's efforts to provide long term shareholder value through cost efficiencies will be appreciated by the market.

The regulatory landscape also seems to be improving, adding to the signs that the worst could be over for Alibaba. In the recent State Council meeting, the government is rolling out supportive measures, some of which are beneficial to Alibaba's business, including stimulating consumption and the commitment to the recovery of supply chains. Also, management commented that the government shared a clear message to the market to encourage the healthy development of platform economies and that management is fully compliant with all the regulatory requirements and continues to watch for any new development in policies on the anti-trust front. I think this shows that the government is sending a message that it will not clamp down too much on platform companies, but rather continues to see the benefits of the healthy development of platform companies for the economy.

I have previously shared my financial model for Alibaba and derived a target price based on its sum of the parts valuation. I forecasted the financials and used a DCF model for most of its businesses except Cainiao, local services and its associates/investments since these businesses are mostly either private or have limited public information. I used rather conservative forecasts, in my view and also applied a holding company discount of 25%, with other assumptions listed in the table below. Based on the SOTP valuation, I have derived a target price of $164 for Alibaba, representing an upside potential of 76% from current levels.

Alibaba target price based on SOTP (Author generated)

Based on relative valuation, Alibaba now trades at 12x and 9x 2023F and 2024F P/E respectively, while average earnings growth over the 2-year period is expected to be 15%, implying a PEG of 0.8x.

While Alibaba might be the largest player in China, there are risks that competition could threaten Alibaba's market share in both China and in overseas markets. In China, it has to compete against prominent rivals like JD.com (JD) and Pinduoduo (PDD) in a rather mature e-commerce market. As for its international commerce segment, they face competition from international players like Amazon and Shopee, as highlighted earlier. Competitive pressure from both local and international players could slow GMV and user growth for Alibaba compared to expectations.

Alibaba is one of the worst hit companies hit by the regulatory crackdown due to the saga with Jack Ma and the CCP, with the halt of the Ant Financial IPO, one of the first and biggest blows to the company. However, I am of the view that we have seen the worst of the regulatory crackdown and the government is signalling easing of regulatory pressures, which I think are necessary for the government to improve its economy amidst its zero-covid policy. As such, the worst is likely over for Alibaba as most of the regulatory pressures have eased and we could start seeing better times for the company.

Alibaba management has renewed focus on investing in key strategic areas in its business as mentioned earlier. However, this will come down to execution as Alibaba seeks to gain share in these areas. If execution were to be weak, ideal results of the heavy investments may not materialize.

There is risk that Alibaba's cloud revenue growth could slow down given that there is competition from Huawei, Tencent and China Telecom. If Alibaba is unable to maintain market leadership in cloud, this could affect economies of scale effects that it currently enjoys.

I think this presents one of the best buying opportunities for Alibaba as the worst is likely over for the company. Looking beyond 2023F earnings, the business is expected to continue to grow in the 20% to 30% range and the current valuation simply just does not price in this long term potential. I think we could continue to see positive surprises for Alibaba in the next few quarters as it surpasses the very low expectations set by the market. My target price for Alibaba based on a SOTP valuation model is $164, implying 76% upside potential from current levels.

Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

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Alibaba: One Of The Best Buying Opportunity As Worst Is Likely Over (NYSE:BABA) - Seeking Alpha

In the never-ending work of information technology modernization, federal agencies have been working on three tracks when it comes to cloud computing. Theyve moved at least some legacy applications to the cloud in whats commonly called lift-and-shift. Theyve adopted commercial software-as-a-service offerings for applications like email and productivity suites. And theyve developed their own cloud-native applications, typically using the DevSecOps approach.

What comes next? That was the topic of a panel discussion of federal IT...

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In the never-ending work of information technology modernization, federal agencies have been working on three tracks when it comes to cloud computing. Theyve moved at least some legacy applications to the cloud in whats commonly called lift-and-shift. Theyve adopted commercial software-as-a-service offerings for applications like email and productivity suites. And theyve developed their own cloud-native applications, typically using the DevSecOps approach.

What comes next? That was the topic of a panel discussion of federal IT practitioners hosted by Federal News Network and Appian. Panelists agreed, even custom-developed applications age and become legacy. Thats the case for Ravyn Manuel, senior application developer, architect, and DevOps engineer at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The museum opened five years ago. Referring to interactive customer experience applications developed then, Manuel said, Our stuff is becoming legacy. So we have to figure out how to deal with legacy. A key concern is for updated versions is cybersecurity, she added, because theyll be commercially cloud hosted, rather than on internal servers. And theyll be usable via visitors mobile devices, which brings an additional potential theat.

A modernization trend noted by Ray Wulff, the industry lead for global defense and intel programs at Appian, concerns the integration of applications to create new services. This occurs, Wulff said, using what he called an agility layer that lets developers tap the new systems, the new applications and the legacy systems at the same time. Such integration extends to the data connected with various applications, and also to the required cybersecurity and compliance controls, he added.

Wulff said agencies take a variety of approaches to legacy applications besides simply running them in a cloud-hosted mainframe emulator. They may refactor Cobol code, say into Java, or they might use a low-code logic extractor such as offered by Appian. In all cases, he said, IT staffs must figure out, okay, what are the storage and security concerns in the cloud with a refactored application?

Such work offers a chance for agencies to exchange best practices, rather than learning the same ground separately.

Steven Hernandez, the chief information security officer at the Education Department, said, Shared services is driving just an incredible opportunity, both from say, a cybersecurity and security services consumption perspective, but also that user experience. He added, When were thinking about our cloud applications and our workloads in the cloud, a big part of that conversation is, where are those shared service sweet spots that I ought to be consuming? Not just because its fast, its already stood up, the pricing is good. But also because its going to drive a better citizen experience.

A source for shared services is the cloud.gov program office within the Technology Transformation Service at the General Services Administration. One example, said Bret Mogilefsky, an information technology specialist with cloud.gov, is api.data.gov, a service if youre looking to secure and hand out keys for an application programming interface.

API security is a concern at the museum, Manuel said. She cited a project to create an online, searchable exhibit concerning slavery and freedom that can display items drawn from siloed systems housing images of the collections of three other museums, some hosted on premise by the Smithsonians office of the CIO.

I am doing things right now with APIs. Our legacy systems are at OCIO, and I have to work with them. The security piece is very big for them, Manuel said.

Panelists agreed the lift-and-shift era is over. Mogilefsky said that while a bulk cloud move certainly helped energy consumption and security, it doesnt help us with the agility of really being able to do new things in new ways. And also to collaborate between agency silos, he said. He advised to shoot high in the stack with services such as container orchestration to ease what he called the bespoke nightmares of earlier systems integrations.

Whether updating applications or combining components into new applications, Wulff said a number of Defense agencies are turning to the low-code approach. Security and speed of deployments are big reasons.

Theres a reason why youre seeing such an explosion in low code platforms, Wulff said, because the platform itself to develop the applications is getting the ATO (authority to operate). So then you really dont have to go through the ATO process.

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Scalability and security with industry-leading Government cloud - Part 2 - Federal News Network

With infrastructure as code, you can simply write a script that will automatically handle many infrastructure tasks for you. This not only saves time but also reduces the potential for human error.

You may remember the days when you bought and maintained your own servers and machines. We evolved from this Iron age of IT beginning around 2006 with the widespread adoption of virtualization. With virtualization, a single physical server could run multiple virtual machines.

This approach created an infrastructure that was more efficient and easier to manage. It also allowed for the development of new technologies, such as cloud computing.

However, organizations soon found themselves dealing with scaling problems. This problem necessitated the development of Infrastructure as Code. With IaC, businesses can provision and manage their infrastructure using code instead of manual processes. This allows for greater speed and agility when provisioning infrastructure. For example, consider a situation where you need to provision a new server. In the past, this might have involved logging into a server, downloading an ISO image, installing an operating system, and configuring networking settings all manually.

infrastructure as code speeds up this process exponentially.

Also see: Cloud is Down: Protecting Your Organization against Outages

IaC is often confused with IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). IaaS is a type of cloud computing that provides infrastructure servers, storage, networking, and data center space on a pay-as-you-go basis. IaaS providers typically offer a self-service portal that allows users to provision and manage cloud infrastructure on demand. IaaS is often used by businesses that want to outsource the management of their infrastructure.

In contrast, IaC refers to the process of managing and provisioning infrastructure using code. You can do this in either a public cloud, private cloud, or on-premises environment. IaC allows for greater control over infrastructure and makes it easier to automate the provisioning and management of infrastructure.

There are many benefits to using infrastructure as code; they include:

One of the main benefits of infrastructure as code is that it can automate repetitive tasks. Provisioning a new server using infrastructure as code to automate the process is the most straightforward example. As a result, enterprises can scale up infrastructure management without increasing operational expenditure.

Another benefit of infrastructure as code is that it can help organizations scale their infrastructure more quickly. With IaC, businesses can define infrastructure as code templates (or blueprints) that they can use to provision new resources when needed quickly. This allows companies to be more agile and respond rapidly to changes in demand. In addition, infrastructure as code can help businesses standardize their infrastructure, improving efficiency and further reducing costs.

Infrastructure as code can help improve security by providing a way to track and audit infrastructure changes and ensure all changes comply with security standards. With IaC, businesses can track who made changes to infrastructure and when which can help identify potential security issues. In addition, IaC can provide documentation of an infrastructure, which can be valuable for troubleshooting or compliance purposes.

One of the challenges of managing infrastructure is that it can be challenging to track all the changes made to it. This can lead to what is known as shadow IT, where unauthorized modifications are made to infrastructure without proper approval. Infrastructure as code can help reduce shadow IT by providing a way to track all changes that are made to the infrastructure.

With IaC, businesses can define infrastructure configurations and then use these configurations to provide new infrastructure in a disaster. This can help reduce downtime and minimize the impact of disasters on businesses.

Also see:Top Managed Service Providers

While infrastructure as code provides many benefits, there are also some challenges that businesses need to understand. These challenges include:

One of the challenges of infrastructure as code is that it can be complex to define infrastructure configurations. This complexity can make it difficult for businesses to understand and maintain their infrastructure as code.

In addition, there are often conventions and standards that need to be followed when defining infrastructure as code, which can add to the complexity and a steep learning curve. In addition, skill staffers can be challenging to find. Businesses that do not have experience with IaC may not even know where to start and how to interview. Enterprises can remedy this by investing in IaC training and implementing continuous training programs for their staff.

One of the challenges of infrastructure as code is that there are often tooling gaps and feature lag. This means that there are often infrastructure as code tools that do not have all the features that businesses need.

Infrastructure as code tooling can lag in terms of new features and functionality. Therefore, you have no choice but to wait for the vendor to provide coverage; otherwise, you have to extend the functionality yourself or introduce new dependencies. The solution to this is investing in infrastructure as code tooling that is constantly updated and improved.

Configuration drift is another challenge of infrastructure as code. This occurs when there are differences between the infrastructure as code configuration and the actual infrastructure, such as manual or external updates to security patches. This can lead to non-compliance or even service failure over time.

Such differences can lead to unexpected behavior and can be difficult to debug. The solution to this is to use infrastructure as code tooling that can help identify and prevent configuration drift.

One of the challenges of infrastructure as code is that it can be challenging to manage role-based access control (RBAC). This is because infrastructure as code often needs to be stored in a central repository such as GitHub. Without proper RBAC management, this can lead to security issues.

The future of infrastructure as code is bright. As businesses move to the cloud, infrastructure as code will become even more important. As a result, IaC will continue to develop and grow in popularity.

However, the biggest issue is the need for IT personnel to fully grasp IaC language and tooling concepts for enterprises to operationalize IaC fully. This issue has created a mostly unsolved divide between Ops and Dev in most organizations. Ops try to optimize their setups as much as possible, while Devs fear touching IaC scripts out of concern about introducing problems. This situation leads to stagnation and inefficiency. Enterprises have two possible routes to deal with this: execute IaC on a case-by-case basis or bake execution of the IaC setup into a pipeline.

The next logical step for IaC is Internal Developer Platforms. In the future, Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) may provide a middle ground between developers and IaC scripts. Internal Developer Platforms will enable developers to quickly self-serve infrastructure through a UI or CLI provisioned by IaC scripts behind the scenes.

Developers need only concern themselves with the resources (such as a database, DNS, and storage) they will require to deploy and run their applications. The IDP, on the other hand, will handle calling IaC scripts via specialized drivers to provide the appropriate infrastructure back to engineers.

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Benefits and Drawbacks of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) - EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet

iboss Wins Most Innovative Cloud Security & Best Product SaaS/Cloud Security At 10th Annual Global InfoSec Awards at #RSAC 2022

BOSTON, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- iboss, the leading Zero Trust Edge cloud security provider, is proud to announce it has been named Most Innovative Cloud Security & Best Product SaaS/Cloud Security by Cyber Defense Magazine (CDM), the industry's leading electronic information security magazine:

"We're thrilled to be recognized as an innovator and leader by Cyber Defense Magazine," said Paul Martini, CEO and co-founder of iboss. "Our best-in-class Zero Trust Edge platform is designed to meet the security and productivity challenges posed by today's highly-distributed modern workforces by making sensitive resources completely inaccessible to attackers while ensuring fast, direct connections for trusted users."

The iboss Zero Trust platform is a purpose-built, patented, cloud delivered security platform and has more than 100 points of presence globally. A Zero Trust Architecture built on iboss consolidates network security technologies (SWG, CASB, DLP, IPS, malware defense, browser isolation, firewall) into a single unified cloud platform and eliminates the need for a VPN while securing any device, regardless of location. By making all applications private, iboss eliminates the top three initial ransomware infection vectors as identified by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). With applications, data and services made accessible only through the iboss Zero Trust Edge, cyber risk is greatly reduced, breaches and data loss are prevented, and visibility and security are delivered consistently throughout an organization.

"We scoured the globe looking for cybersecurity innovators that could make a huge difference and potentially help turn the tide against the exponential growth in cyber crime. iboss is absolutely worthy of this coveted award and consideration for deployment in your environment," said Yan Ross, Editor of Cyber Defense Magazine.

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Visit iboss at the RSA Conference in the South Hall, booth 455. At the iboss theater, you will learn how to implement Zero Trust as defined by NIST, iboss integrations with identity partners and integrations with Microsoft's security portfolio.

About iboss, Inc. iboss is a cloud security company that enables organizations to reduce cyber risk by delivering a Zero Trust service designed to protect resources and users in the modern distributed world. Applications, data and services have moved to the cloud and are located everywhere while users needing access to those resources are working from anywhere. Built on a containerized cloud architecture, iboss delivers security capabilities such as SWG, malware defense, browser isolation, CASB and data loss prevention to protect all resources, via the cloud, instantaneously and at scale. This shifts the focus from protecting buildings to protecting people and resources wherever they are located. Leveraging a purpose-built cloud architecture backed by 230+ issued and pending patents and more than 100 points of presence globally, iboss processes over 150 billion transactions daily, blocking 4 billion threats per day. More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies. iboss was named one of the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies by The Software Report, one of the 25 highest-rated Private Cloud Computing Companies to work for by Battery Ventures, and CRN's Top 20 Coolest Cloud Security Companies of 2022. To learn more, visit https://www.iboss.com/

About Cyber Defense Magazine Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of cyber security news and information for InfoSec professions in business and government. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and special editions exclusively for the RSA Conferences. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit https://www.cyberdefensetv.com and https://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these winning company executives. Join a webinar at https://www.cyberdefensewebinars.com and realize that infosec knowledge is power.

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Jake Klein, Goldin Solutions for iboss, 646-660-8644, iboss@goldin.com

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Zero Trust Edge Cloud Security Leader iboss Named Winner of The Coveted Global InfoSec Awards During RSA Conference 2022 - Yahoo Finance

Atos and UCLannounced having successfully run the virus sequencing tool, Viridian, which is used to detect mutation of the SARS-Cov-2 strain of the coronavirus, using an Arm-based Ampere Altra processor in a cloud native environment with Atos' integration expertise. This proof of concept (PoC) was coordinated byAtos' Life Sciences Center of Excellencewhich aims to foster a culture of exploration, discovery and co-creation to harness the power of digital technologies in order to advance precision health and accelerate the discovery and development of drugs.

With data growing exponentially and becoming more difficult to process for life sciences applications, data, scientists rely on high-performance computing and parallel computing to quickly process and analyse massive amounts of data.

The Arm Neoverse-based platform, the Ampere Altra, is dedicated to cloud native workloads, meaning the simulation and the results can be achieved not only on-premises but directly on the cloud, on any type of HPC platforms and from anywhere.

This will be even easier with the use of Atos'Nimbix Supercomputing Suite; offering researchers and scientists flexible, scalable, and easy-to-use cloud solutions for compute-intensive workflows.

With more and more laboratories using Arm-based solutions, this successful PoC means that they will now be able to run Viridian on their systems, enabling them to study life science workflows and to detect various mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, in order to ultimately help combat COVID-19.

This work has combined expertise skills from a team of Atos and Arm experts focusing on hardware and software optimizations, together with a scientific team from UCL dedicated to scientific applications for these specific use cases. This collaboration has enabled the optimization of both software and hardware in this co-designing effort to meet the demands of impactful and cutting-edge genomics workflows, which are already deployed in clinical settings.

Emmanuel Le Roux, Group SVP, Global Head of HPC, AI & Quantum at Atos,commentedBeing the undisputed European leader in HPC is not only about delivering the most systems to European HPC centers in terms of PetaFlops but also about working closely with numerous European research and scientific institutions to empower various crucial data productions and simulations daily. This work, under the umbrella of theAtos Life Sciences Center of Excellence, demonstrates that collaboration between academia and industry through the power of supercomputing is creating new avenues for scientific breakthroughs. Today, we have once again shown the importance of hybrid computing to foster innovation and provide scientists with tangible life sciences applications.

Alex Wade, Research Associate at UCL,said: This codesign effort between Arm, Atos and UCL has allowed for the optimization of both new Arm hardware and cutting-edge genomics software, fortifying both for real world life science applications. Collaborating with industry partners has demonstrated a key idea for the future of HPC applications whereby hardware and software are tuned for performance in tandem, as opposed to the typical story of software continuously being updated to match new hardware releases. This work has been performed as part of the Centre of Excellence in Computational Biomedicine (CompBioMed) and was possible because of CompBioMed's wide interdisciplinary expertise. Arm and Atos were valuable partners in this work and we hope this work leads to future collaborations and can act as a template for other codesign activities.

***

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 111,000 employees and annual revenue of c. 11 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 71 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), listed on Euronext Paris and included in the CAC 40 ESG and Next 20 Paris Stock indexes.

Thepurpose of Atosis to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

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Atos, UCL and Arm team up to offer wider cloud computing possibilities for life sciences applications - B - Benzinga

For virtually every enterprise today, moving to the cloud is no longer a question of if; instead, the question is, which apps and when? There is urgency in the answer. In fact, when asked about their deadlines for embracing and adopting cloud technology, many IT practitioners will quip: Yesterday!

However, while most executives understand the benefits of transition to the cloud for scalability, operational efficiencies, security or cost-savings, many still harbor understandable concerns. Business executives face not just the technical challenge of cloud migration, but the added hurdle of reaching consensus amongst enterprise finance and technology leaders -- addressing their concerns and easing resistance to enact mission-critical change.

Here are three common areas of concern along with ways to overcome them and, ultimately, build confidence across the enterprise to move forward with a cloud migration.

Shifting to the cloud has a significant impact that most chief financial officers like -- it keeps more cash on hand. It also makes cash planning more predictable. Rather than dealing with spikes of expenditures when new equipment is needed, maintenance is required or updates are implemented, CFOs recognize that the expenditures become smooth. To get this benefit, it is important to move the correct types of applications into the cloud.

Typically cloud costs are based on computing resource usage, data storage, and data transfer. When you move an application to the cloud, you need to understand if it can use compute resources when needed and release them when idle. If the application uses the same compute resources when idle as it does when busy then you should consider local hosting.

Data storage and transfer also impact costs. Are you storing your data efficiently? Do you have unnecessary copies. and are you compressing where possible? Data transfer is another place where surprise costs can occur. Is the application writing and re-writing data unnecessarily?

To prevent unnecessary costs, applications may need to be re-written or new cloud-ready applications licensed. You can also use the cloud service contract to manage costs. When purchasing cloud services, you can secure a committed use discount which ensures discounted prices based on a commitment to use a minimum level of computing resources for a specified term. As organizations mature in their cloud usage, they can begin to forecast cloud costs and pre-buy committed compute usage annually for a discounted rate. In this way, cloud costs can be lowered over time, and become more predictable.

Optimizing compute spend in the cloud is an ongoing engineering challenge. Better application design improves efficiency and lowers costs. In a distinct advantage over the data center model, the cloud makes application costs visible down to the very last application programming interface. That level of visibility empowers engineers to continuously improve cost-efficiency of cloud operations.

In a data center model, internal IT professionals have a time-tested handle on networking, security, data governance and application deployment. The move to the cloud will disrupt that status quo. The best way to mitigate disruption is through employee communications and training.

Common questions IT teams and leadership must tackle when moving to the cloud include how the cloud transition will impact these functions, or whether they even exist in the same form in a cloud environment. Based on our own experiences with this, as well as helping our customers work through these challenges, the most successful approach to these questions takes a perspective of: how does what we know and do today translate to the cloud?

Upfront investment in cloud training for the workforce is a must. Cloud-specific training will help employees understand how basic concepts translate. For instance, to a networking infrastructure lead, virtual LANs (VLANs) become virtual private clouds (VPCs). Training results in a superior system architecture, because the transition team can design the cloud infrastructure to align with cloud best practices versus recreating the exact data center infrastructure in the cloud. Further, cloud training positions the workforce for continued career growth in an increasingly cloud-centric environment. The investment in training will increase employee engagement and build loyalty, which reduces turnover.

While an organization might wish to take a measured and methodical approach to cloud adoption, the clock is ticking when it comes to app modernization. Todays new applications are born in, and designed for, the cloud. Most legacy apps will either shift to the cloud or become obsolete. As many of the apps are business critical, updates can force cloud migration in order to maintain continuity of important apps.

To ease the transition, a hybrid approach often yields the best outcome. This hybrid scenario entails embracing cloud-native apps to take advantage of cloud-only services; redesigning a subset of legacy applications for deployment in the cloud; and migrating remaining apps through a lift and shift approach migrating on-premise virtual machines to identical virtual machines running in the cloud.

This hybrid approach demands careful decision making around which of these approaches to take with each distinct application. While a lift and shift approach is the most straightforward, it is also most expensive and could result in lower performance and efficiency. Selecting a new, cloud-native replacement app may result in the loss of any residual license value on the existing app, the need to port over existing users and data and perhaps the need to learn a new app interface, service/maintenance and integration points. Redesigning legacy apps similarly leads to new interface and integration points and creates a significant workload for IT. Working collectively on a hybrid solution, the IT team weighs the benefits of each approach and decides the right course of action for each application.

As businesses face the pressure and urgency of cloud migration, successfully addressing cost management, employee training and app modernization will help mitigate common causes of resistance from stakeholders and jump-start a transformation. A careful evaluation of technology and business needs in the cloud transition process will help foster a courageous enterprise culture of embracing the latest technologies to drive innovation and operational efficiency.

Link:

Cloud Adoption: 3 Things to Consider - InformationWeek

This pieceis part of the series All About Chinaa journey into the history and diverse culture of China through short articlesthat shed light on the lasting imprint of Chinas past encounters with the Islamic world as well as an exploration of the increasingly vibrant and complex dynamics of contemporary Sino-Middle Eastern relations.Read more...

The strategic rivalry between China and the US that has developed over the past decade includes a struggle for control of the global digital economy, particularly the digital infrastructure and information communications technology (ICT) markets. In recent years, China has become a global leader in some areas of the digital economy such as e-commerce, digital payments, and investment in digital technologies. Digital economic cooperation has emerged as an increasingly important element of Chinas relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and a focal point of Sino-American great-power competition in the Middle East.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Group of Twenty (G20) define the digital economy as a broad range of economic activities comprising all jobs in the digital sector and digital occupations in non-digital sectors. These include activities that use digitized information and knowledge as the key factor of production; modern information networks as a vital activity space; and ICT to drive productivity growth and optimize economic structures.[1] The digital economy is an increasingly important driver of global economic growth and plays a significant role in accelerating economic development, enhancing the productivity of existing industries, cultivating new markets and industries, and achieving inclusive, sustainable growth.

In recent years, Chinas digital economy has developed rapidly and has gradually become one of the dominant forces in its national development plan. China has not only made the digital economy a cornerstone of its future national development but also introduced various digital-specific strategies initiatives to achieve this goal (e.g., the Digital Silk Road and Jointly Building a Digital Community with A Shared Future Initiative). In January 2022, the Chinese State Council issued a plan for the development of the countrys digital economy, aiming to increase this sectors share of national Gross domestic product (GDP), increase from 7.8 percent in 2020 to 10 percent in 2025 by pushing technologies such as 6G and construction of big data centers.[2]

China ranks 50th out of 131 countries based on the World Bank digital adoption index, 59th out of 139 countries in the World Economic Forum index, and 36th out of 62 in the Fletcher School digital evolution index. Nevertheless, Beijing has become a global leader in several key digital industries, including e-commerce, fintech, online payments, cloud computing, and ICT exports.[3] China is also a leading international investor in key digital technologies (one of the global top three investors). Chinas venture capital (VC) industry has grown rapidly and is increasingly focused on the digital sector. The main industries that attract VC investment include big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and fintech.[4]

Traditionally, the GCC economies have depended primarily on oil and gas resources to drive economic and national prosperity. But this reliance on energy has tapered off in recent years, coinciding with a fall in oil prices and the rise of digital technologies. The Gulf monarchies have diversified efforts to develop their financial sectors and establish knowledge-based economies. They have made considerable progress in adopting digital technologies over the past decade. Indeed, digitalization is vital to the success of their national visions and development plans.[5]

There is great potential and bright prospects for the development of the digital economy in the GCC countries, as the number of young consumers in the region is vast, and the use of internet infrastructure is gaining increasing popularity. The rapid development of digital economy industries and relevant companies (in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and UAE) has shown the flexibility of digitization schemes when facing new markets born out of crises. Thus, it is expected that the digital transformation of the economy will play an essential role as Gulf monarchies pursue economic diversification.[6] In 2025, the GCC states will house much of the worlds growing fifth-generation telecommunication networks (5G) subscribers, with a $164 billion annual market for information and communication technology products.[7] The 5G network will positively impact multiple industries in the GCC, specifically energy usage optimization, cloud computing, ultrafast broadband, and internet of things (IoT) innovation, including self-driving cars transportation, and factory equipment.[8]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted industries such as tourism, aviation, and hotels in Middle Eastern countries. Still, the digital economy has gained tremendous momentum against this trend, making the GCC governments realize the urgency and necessity of developing their digital economies. The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the importance of furthering the growth of the digital economy, making it a requirement for economic resilience and the development and advancement of every sector of the economy. Several GCC countries have increased policy support to facilitate digital transformation by taking initiatives such as expanding their digital sectors, investing in digital infrastructure, adopting e-government platforms, and launching technology parks and business incubators.[9]

Over the past few years, China and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have enjoyed strong relations, and technology and innovation have become a crucial part of their cooperation. The term digital economy has become increasingly commonly used, and digitization is now the engine driving economic growth and transformation of the GCC countries. Their digital economies alone are growing twice as fast as their advanced economy counterparts.[10] Although in the near future energy will remain the central pillar of trade between China and the GCC, the technology sector has emerged as a new and promising area of cooperation.

Growing interest by GCC countries and China in pursuing digital economic cooperation was evident at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen in December 2017, when several countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, agreed to join forces with Beijing to expand broadband access and take steps to spur the development of e-commerce and other related transnational standards.[11] The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led Gulf economies to bolster their digital economic cooperation with Beijing. Since lifting some of its coronavirus pandemic restrictions, China has undertaken major steps to develop global telecommunications providers industrial internet at far lower prices than their Western competitors.[12]

Through the Digital Silk Road (DSR), a component of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing seeks to put herself in the leading position of technological innovation, helping jumpstart global digital development. Because of its central location in Asia, Africa, and Europe, the Middle East is prominent in the Digital Silk Road implementation. The Chinese government has called on Chinese firms to expand digital infrastructure construction and their respective share of ICT markets in countries participating in the BRI.[13] Under the DSR, Chinese technology companies have been rolling out digital infrastructure that facilitates the gathering, transportation, storage, and processing of massive amounts of data from partner countries. Such infrastructure includes e-commerce platforms, mobile payment systems, intelligent data centers, 5G networks, undersea cables, satellites, cloud storage, smart cities, and AI.[14] For instance, telecommunication companies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have signed massive 5G contracts with Huawei.[15]

Despite Western efforts to curtail their global expansion, Huawei and other Chinese tech firms have been relentlessly extending their digital footprint across the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia has signed agreements with relevant Chinese companies and institutions cooperating in smart city construction and the development of AI technologies in Arabic. Huawei provides a solution for the worlds largest photovoltaic energy storage project in the kingdoms Red Sea region. Huawei is also working with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to develop digital infrastructure designed to streamline the pilgrimage to Mecca, including control rooms in Mecca and Medina reception centers. Jollychics platform, one of the most popular e-commerce apps, has extended its services in Saudi Arabia by creating a digital payment wallet and plans to expand its ecosystem to include on-demand food delivery, online travel, and transportation booking.

Alibaba has also been expanding its presence significantly in the kingdom. The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) hassigned an agreementwith Alibaba Cloud to empower Saudi cities with intelligence-driven smart city solutions. Saudi Arabias National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) will work with Huawei to train local AI engineers to ensure a skills pipeline to support a diversified and data-driven economy. In contrast, Alibaba Cloud technologies will support Saudi Arabias smart city ambitions. Meanwhile, Alibaba Cloud has agreed to work with the NCAI to develop digital and AI for smart cities. Through Alibaba Clouds AI Platform, they will jointly build safety and security, mobility, urban planning, energy, education, and health.[16] The Saudi Digital Academy signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei on developing local talent. They will specifically study artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and 5G internet uses.[17]

In UAE, innovation and technology are important contents of the cooperation with China. The collaboration includes joint work on COVID-19 vaccines and Huawei 5G technology. Huawei is building a Modular Data Centre Complex Project at Dubaiinternational airportand has teamed up withDubai Electricity and Water Authority(DEWA) to support the construction of fiber-optic infrastructure and video surveillance.[18]Huawei also plans to build the largest solar-poweredUptime Tier III-certified data centerin the UAEs Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and is working with the Abu Dhabi City Municipality (ADM) to construct aMunicipal Disaster Recovery Data Center.[19] According to research conducted by theRWR Advisoryin 2020, China has exported smart city technology to 15 countries in the Middle East.[20] The Chinese e-commerce portals are accessible to around 80 percent of internet users in GCC countries.[21]

GCC governments are embracing digital adoption to promote sustainability, accelerate economic diversification, and help ensure that the region is well positioned to power evolve into a power-packed digital economy. According to the international consulting firm Kearney Middle East, the total e-commerce business in Gulf countries will reach more than $29 billion in 2021 and climb to $50 billion by 2025. This provides more opportunities for China-GCC digital economic cooperation.[22]

Overall, the economic influence of China through its oil and gas imports from the Persian Gulf, infrastructure investments, technology transfer, and arms sales provide influence and leverage that runs counter toUSinterests in the region. In the age of strategic rivalry, the question is whether China is already well on its way to becoming the most prominent technology partner of the GCC countries.

As, over the past decade, the United States has reduced its involvement in the Middle East, China has begun to fill the vacuum. Clear evidence of this change can be seen in Chinas increasing role in the development of the GCC digital economy. China provides the GCC a strategic opportunity, as it creates a bigger space for its Gulf partners to hedge their bets between two superpowers. It also places greater pressure on the US to align its strategic plan with the GCC states and reassure them about its commitments to their security. Sino-GCC digital economy cooperation is at the heart of the Gulf monarchies national visions and development plans. Both sides are committed to effectively linking the DSR and their national development plan and seeking opportunities to develop new ways of win-win cooperation.

Chinas growing influence in the GCC digital infrastructure network is a challenge to US dominance in the region. Washington has raised concerns about the Chinese internet giants and telecom companies' growing involvement in the region's digital economy. However, unable to compete with China on the digital economy front, the US began to apply coercive diplomacy tactics to pressure the GCC countries to slow Chinas growing influence. Yet, while the US governments efforts to halt Chinese tech companies expansion have succeeded domestically and in parts of Europe, they have thus far failed in the Gulf market.

Even so, as GCC countries become more entangled in Chinas transnational digital infrastructure network and welcome the many benefits such digital integration affords, they must also confront the possibility that this could threaten their ties with the US while expanding and deepening the strategic rivalry between the two great powers.

[5] Mordechai Chaziza, China and the Persian Gulf: The New Silk Road Strategy and Emerging Partnerships (London: Sussex Academic Press, 2019).

[13] John Chipman, Chinas Long and Winding Digital Silk Road, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), January 25, 2019, https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/2019/01/china-digital-silk-road. Sophie Zinser, Chinas Digital Silk Road Grows With 5G in the Middle East, The Diplomat, December 16, 2020, https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/chinas-digital-silk-road-grows-with-5g-in-the-middle-east/.

[15] John Calabrese, The Huawei Wars and the 5G Revolution in the Gulf, Middle East Institute, July 30, 2019, https://www.mei.edu/publications/huawei-wars-and-5g-revolution-gulf#_ftn1.

[16]Karl Flinders,Saudi Arabian authorities work with Chinese IT giants on digital goals, Computer Weekly, October 22, 2020, https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252490964/Saudi-Arabian-authorities-work-with-Chinese-IT-giants-on-digital-goals.

[21] Zhang Yunbi, China, Arab states upgrade digital collaboration, China Daily, March 3, 2021, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/31/WS6063b015a31024ad0bab29fe.html.

[22] China and the UAE launch digital economic cooperation, Seetao, December 15, 2021, https://www.seetao.com/details/128827.html.

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China-GCC Digital Economic Cooperation in the Age of Strategic Rivalry - Middle East Institute