Top 4 benefits of cloud storage services

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As technology becomes an increasingly important part of business, many companies are looking for solutions that will provide the most advantages for the least amount of money, time and complexity. One technology that is growing in popularity is cloud computing, and specifically cloud storage services. While there are many benefits to storing sensitive documents and information in the cloud, keep reading to find out the top four.

1) Cost-Effectiveness:
Backing up data can be extremely expensive, especially when considering the necessary equipment and hardware. Labor costs become an issue too, as manual backups are time-consuming and complicated. Cloud storage solves these problems by leaving the maintenance and equipment costs to a third party provider. Cloud storage solutions are easily scaled, allowing businesses to only pay for the amount of storage necessary for their business and making it simple to increase or reduce space as client needs change.

2) Security:
Storing information in the cloud is much more secure than keeping paper documents or using physical devices for file storage. Hard drives and USBs can be stolen or lost, while information in the cloud will always stay put. At the same time, security is not a core competency for many companies, but it is for cloud service providers. Because of this, providers who are mainly focused on data security are much more adept at keeping information protected than a business with an IT team focused on dozens of projects and problems at once.

Cloud storage also creates an extra layer of security between privileged data and cybercriminals. Backup files are kept separate from originals so hackers cannot steal everything at once.

3) Disaster Recovery:
In the same way that it is safer to keep duplicate files away from the originals to protect them from malicious actors, it also helps to protect against natural disasters. After a storm or fire, regular systems may not be accessible, but information stored in the cloud will be.

4) Accessibility:
Professionals are using more devices than ever before and cloud storage allows files to be accessed from any of them. Sharing is also made easier with this increased flexibility, as files can be put in the cloud and then accessed by any authorized party. This helps to increase collaboration between in-house and remote employees, as well as improving productivity.

Wi-Fi delivers multiple benefits to schools

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As technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, traditionally low-tech industries are having to adopt more modern devices and systems. The education sector is slowly beginning to implement new technology to better serve students and teachers. Many school districts are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi in classrooms, but there are still a whole host of schools that still rely on wired connections to access the Internet.

A school that uses a wired Internet connection provides a fundamentally different learning environment than those that offer wireless access. Wi-Fi gives students and teaches improved mobility and connectivity between campus buildings, increasing productivity and collaboration. Wireless is also a more cost-effective solution than traditional wired services.

Teachers find advantages with Wi-Fi
A recent Pew Research Center survey of more than 2,000 teachers in the Advanced Placement and National Writing Project programs found that digital technologies have had positive effects on their classrooms and helped them in teaching their middle and high school aged students. Of the teachers surveyed, 92 percent reported Internet access having a major impact on their ability to access content, resources and materials for their lesson plans. Wi-Fi opens up a vast number of learning opportunities for students and instructional ones for teachers.

The survey went on to show that 45 percent of students used e-readers to complete assignments in class and 43 percent used tablets for the same task. Both of these devices can only access the Internet through a Wi-Fi connection. A whole host of new technology is rendered useless by wired Internet, meaning schools without Wi-Fi are blocking students from accessing an entire generation of devices, most of which are easier for them to use than traditional computers.

One of the major benefits of Wi-Fi is the mobility it offers. Wired computers restrict Internet access to specific locations, like computer labs, that greatly reduce the ability for students and teachers to collaborate. Access to wireless Internet increases communication between everyone in an educational environment; student to student, student to teacher, teacher to teacher, etc. The Pew survey found that 69 percent of teachers experienced a major impact on their ability to share ideas with other teachers by utilizing the Internet, and that ability only increases with the mobility of Wi-Fi.

Small businesses increasingly utilizing the cloud, studies find

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As technology becomes an increasingly important part of conducting business, companies are starting to hone in on what really works and what doesn't. A growing number of small and medium-sized businesses are realizing that one technology that is worth their time is cloud computing. Cloud computing essentially democratizes business technology, reducing costs and increasing ease-of-use. The cloud makes it cheaper and easier to start a business or create a new product, as well as providing access to technology and capabilities that were once solely the domain of large companies.

Because of the benefits offered by the cloud, more and more small businesses are adopting it. A recent study on SMB cloud use projected the global market for cloud services to expand to $95 billion over the next year and SMB Group estimates the number of small and medium-sized businesses using cloud computing will grow to 44 percent by 2015.

"I think eventually every business has to have somewhere in its portfolio and go-to-market approach a range of cloud services," said IBM Midmarket Business General Manager John Mason in an interview with Forbes. "This is changing the landscape for small and midsize businesses by allowing them to focus on their own innovations and making them more competitive with larger, established companies."

Mason went on to say that the cloud, along with other innovative business tools, has three distinct impacts on SMBs.

  • It makes it possible for companies to go to market with products much quicker by removing large, upfront investments in technology and personnel.
  • Cloud dramatically increases scalability and allows for greater flexibility.
  • It removes geographic strains holding organizations back and offers the ability to work collaboratively with anyone from anywhere.

Reasons for cloud use vary, but all find benefits 
​A new report conducted by Intuit and Emergent Research has also highlighted the benefits the cloud offers SMBs, as well as some of the driving factors behind why companies are adopting the technology. 

"Today, the U.S. and global economy is going through a series of shifts and changes that are reshaping the economic landscape," said Steve King, a partner at Emergent Research, in an interview with Small Business Trends. " In this new landscape, many people are using the power of the cloud to re-imagine the idea of small business and create new, innovative models that work for their needs."

The study projected that 78 percent of small business will have adopted a cloud platform over the next six years. Research from the two companies also found specific types of cloud use among SMBs. Hives, for instance, are small businesses that are able to work together through the cloud and rarely meet in person. Another group, plug-in players, are organizations that utilize cloud services to handle back-end tasks so they are able to stay focused on tasks and processes that are more critical to the business. This group implements solutions such as cloud storage services and applications for accounting, marketing or human resources.

Data center networking market to reach $22 billion

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A recent study by research firm MarketsandMarkets projects the global data center networking market to reach $21.8 billion by 2018. According to the report, North America is expected to hold the largest share of it over the next five years.

The study noted the dramatic market potential created by the demand for cloud technologies and software-defined networking in data centers. The increased use of mobile, driven by bring-your-own device policies, and the use of cloud services have caused data center providers to shift their network offerings from traditional models to those more capable of providing the flexibility necessary to quickly transfer workloads between servers.

This shift in data center architecture was originally driven by the demand for virtualization, but a variety of new changes in the market have persuaded providers to favor faster and flatter models over traditional core-distribution-edge designs. Some of the new challenges facing data center managers include heavy inter-server traffic, burst speeds faster than 1 gigabit and the shift from fiber channels to Ethernet networks.

Data centers can no longer be built the way they were even just a few years ago, as the fundamental structure of enterprise applications have changed and with them the needs of users. The adoption of new, more advanced hardware is placing greater demands on data center networks and fueling a boom in the market.

"Data center networks are being re-architected as part of a transition to the next generation of data centers, reimagining how applications and data centers are built," wrote Biztech Magazine contributor Joel Snyder. "This change extends from the power and cooling to the servers and storage, as well as the networking."

As new data centers are built and their designs continue to shift, requirements for increased security and greater distributed and managed services will be front of mind. Other factors will help to shape the creation of the next generation of data centers, including higher speed, reduced latency, layer 2 flattening and high availability. Demand for the installation of new virtualization and storage equipment will offer data center providers the opportunity to rethink facility design and create truly modern data centers.

Global unified communications market to reach $75 billion by 2020

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A recent report conducted by Grand View Research projects the global unified communications market will exceed $75 billion by 2020.

The study found that enterprises were the largest market for UC applications last year and they were expected to continue maintaining their market share over the next six years. Small and medium-sized companies have also begun deploying the appropriate IP infrastructure to support unified communications, helping to accelerate market growth.

"Increase in mobile workforce as well as enterprise mobility is expected to favorably impact the global market over the next six years," stated a release accompanying the report. "Growing demand and proliferation of smartphones is also expected to fuel market growth over the forecast period. Increasing adoption of BYOD initiatives by large enterprises as well as SMEs [are] a driving force for the industry."

The adoption of unified communications by government and private-sector organizations have also helped to drive the market. UC platforms have proven the ability to provide improved emergency response capabilities, operational continuity and situational awareness, driving adoption.

The report also found that 60 percent of spending for unified communications systems went to on-premise kits. However, managed services, hosted systems and cloud platforms are projected to increase their market share as companies begin to adopt more of those technologies.

According to the study, North America makes up 35 percent of the global unified communications market. However, the European and Asia-Pacific regions are quickly growing and are expected to lead the market over the next six years. The fast-paced growth in these areas is due in most part to the need for effective communication systems and improved collaboration, as well as the savings that come with implementing UC platforms.

New USB-based malware means big trouble for businesses

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A pair of security researchers recently discovered a major vulnerability present in nearly every USB-connected device. Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell created the BadUSB malware as a proof-of-concept virus that they are presenting at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas this week. According to the duo, the malware shows that malicious software attacks on the firmware of USB devices can remain undetected for long periods of time through the use of reformatting techniques that enslave devices including smartphones, keyboards, mice and thumb drives.

Nohl and Lell discovered the vulnerability when they realized that the controller chips used in common USB devices aren't protected against malicious reprogramming. The firmware of a thumb drive can be reformatted to make it execute malicious commands without a user knowing anything is wrong, meaning that the BadUSB malware won't just infect just a user's computer, but any device the USB is plugged into. Most people don't realize that connecting a USB to a computer is more complicated than simply allowing a connection. It opens a portal that allows connected devices to have nearly unlimited access to hardware and software, creating a major security concern.

When plugged into an infected computer, Android smartphones can be exploited and turned into compromised network cards, fooling the computer into visiting malicious pages that pose as popular sites like Facebook and Google. An infected device could also impersonate a keyboard and type commands that could lead to a variety of issues, including installing more malware and deleting important files from a hard drive. BadUSB is embedded directly into the firmware of USB devices, making it nearly impossible for an average user to remove the malware from the device. Extreme measures would have to be taken to fully disinfect the firmware, such as disassembling and reverse-engineering a compromised device.

"The next time you have a virus on your computer, you pretty much have to assume your peripherals are infected, and computers of other people who connected to those peripherals are infected," said Nohl.

No help in sight
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any effective ways of preventing a BadUSB-type attack, or removing the malware from an infected device. The anti-virus software used by most companies can't scan the firmware of a device and the firewalls of USBs aren't able to block devices with this kind of infection, according to the researchers. The malicious software associated with BadUSB can infiltrate a computer's embedded USB devices or compromise the PC's basic input-output system inside the motherboard, meaning it can't be removed simply by reformatting a hard drive or reinstalling an operating system.

According to Nohl and Lell, the best way to protect systems in the short-term is to only use thumb drives and other USB-connected devices that have been used only in a secure environment and never connect a device to an unknown computer or share it with an unknown user.

"If you put anything into your USB [slot], it extends a lot of trust," Nohl said. "Whatever it is, there could always be some code running in that device that runs maliciously. Every time anybody connects a USB device to your computer, you fully trust them with your computer. It's the equivalent of [saying] 'here's my computer; I'm going to walk away for 10 minutes. Please don't do anything evil.' "

Alternatives to USB
This new vulnerability poses a major problem for enterprises that share files between employees on thumb drives. It's a convenient method for collaboration, but one that can create drastic cybersecurity issues. One way to avoid falling victim to a BadUSB infection is to utilize cloud storage services. Enterprises that keep documents in the cloud can offer employees easy access to files while still ensuring security. The cloud storage allows documents to be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection without having to connect a strange device and expose a system to malicious activity.

New report finds cloud offers increased business agility

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A recent study by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services has discovered companies that move aggressively to adopt cloud services are gaining a competitive advantage by increasing business agility and reducing system complexity.The report included responses from over 500 Harvard Business Review readers who work in large and mid-sized companies in a variety of industries worldwide.

According to the study, 70 percent of participants had already adopted the cloud and 35 percent of those adopters “are very aggressively moving forward wherever it makes sense.” Among those companies that had already begun to implement cloud technology, 37 percent reported that it had simplified internal operations. Other respondents said they experienced better delivery of internal resources and increased collaboration between employees. More than half of aggressive adopters reported seeing significant advantages from the cloud.

The report also found that the use of cloud technology helps businesses to expand their operations. Of adopters classified as aggressive, 49 percent reported having entered a new market in the last three years. Of the companies cautiously adopting the cloud, 36 percent had done the same.

Businesses see multiple benefits from cloud adoption
When it came to reasons for adopting the cloud, 32 percent of all respondents reported an increase in business agility as the top factor for their transition. Among aggressive adopters, the number rose to 41 percent.

“Not even the cautious adopters led with ‘it really saves money,'” said Angelia Herrin, research director for HBR, according to CIO. “If you’re stuck on using new technologies like cloud just to save money, you’re really losing out. Agility leads to being able to do things like enter new markets, improved productivity and improved responsiveness to clients.”

Other drivers toward cloud adoption reported in the survey were increased innovation, lower costs and the ability to scale to demand.

Herrin noted that the companies who have been able to successfully leverage the cloud all seem to have CIOs that are willing and able to drive change in the enterprise.

“We’re really seeing companies that are making big impacts have a lot of involvement from the top,” said Herrin. “I think the conversation about technology is one where the companies that are moving fast and really experiencing digital transformation have a CEO that is really embracing it and pushing it. Those companies who say technology is an advantage for them also say that their CIOs don’t just have a seat at the table, they’re helping to lead the charge.”

Cloud services level the playing field 
Investment in cloud technologies is beneficial to companies of all sizes, but can also help small enterprises compete on more equal ground with larger firms. With the increased business agility the cloud offers, smaller companies can respond more quickly to change and accomplish work faster and with more accuracy, helping to reduce time to market.

With help from a knowledgeable partner, enterprises can avoid costly infrastructure replacements, security and compliance mistakes and expensive server sprawl. Utilizing colocation and cloud services allow in house IT professionals to have priorities that are more aligned with a company’s specific business goals, putting the organization in a better position to grow.

Cities increasingly utilizing the cloud for disaster recovery services

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With state and local governments increasingly feeling the pressure to streamline IT operations to control costs and enhance performance, a growing number of cities are beginning to pursue the most up-to-date tools and hardware architectures to modernize their data centers.

At the same time as there is an emphasis on physical devices, city IT managers and CIOs are also utilizing the cloud in their data center renovations. Instead of using tight budgets on new data center facilities, cities are able to implement pay-as-you-go cloud services to consolidate data and programs from different government agencies in an effective way. Many local agencies are employing the cloud to handle spikes in data center workloads, or as a backup service or a disaster recovery utility.

Under the supervision of CIO Vijay Sammeta, the city of San Jose is implementing plans to use the cloud as a backup mechanism for the city’s critical IT infrastructure. In the next 12 to 18 months San Jose will be transitional virtual machines to the cloud and using the technology to manage various applications, as well as for backup and disaster recovery services.

“When you think about all the components of a highly available service delivery stack: network, servers, database and the applications, it starts [to] make a lot of sense to simply let someone else worry about that and just build redundancy to the Internet,” said Sammeta.

The cloud an alternative to physical facilities
The city of Asheville, North Carolina has also turned to the cloud for its disaster recovery plan. The city was set to build a $200,000 disaster recovery center as part of a fire station construction project, but it never came together so Asheville needed a plan B. Utilizing the cloud allows the city to enter disaster recovery mode only when it is critically necessary. The ability to scale for need saves Asheville thousands of dollars a year as compared to the cost of maintaining hardware in a physical facility. With the new system, the city is also able to encompass a number of applications into the disaster recovery plan that were previously uncovered.

In Michigan, Oakland County is using the cloud to supplement its overworked data center facilities, according to CIO Phil Bertolini. Implementing a cloud infrastructure allows the county to transition some systems to the cloud, taking computing pressure off of the data centers’ servers. The town of Newington, Massachusetts is also getting in on the cloud craze, implementing services to extend the city’s business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities.

FBI in search of cloud storage services

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The FBI announced this month that it is seeking ideas and suggestions from the private sector about how to construct and implement large-scale cloud infrastructure. The agency's Criminal Justice Information Services Division- which manages the criminal background check system, crime statistics and fingerprint services- is hoping to transition its systems and databases to a cloud environment.

Experts say the move could help cut costs and make the agency's operations more efficient. According to industry expert Trey Hodgkins, the FBI could enhance its mission by transferring services and applications to a cloud platform. In an interview with Federal Times, Hodgkins said that FBI systems and databases would be able to run more efficiently and at a lower cost than legacy systems that frequently run in to trouble when trying to connect to new technology.

"Building a cloud infrastructure gives the FBI the flexibility to decide how much they want to use and what controls and authentications they want to deploy," Hodgkins said.

The cloud environment employed by the FBI must be based between two data centers at least 1,500 miles apart, be able to scale to 2.3 petabytes of memory and replicate data between the two facilities. The platform should also be able to support a wide range of services, including pay-as-you-go policies, scalability and the ability to access all stored information securely and in real-time. The agency also requires the infrastructure to include the use of virtualization, rapid elasticity, resource pooling, continuous monitoring and centrally managed multi-site operations.

The FBI is hoping to make a five year commitment with a contractor to help create and run the public cloud system.

New study finds companies increasingly utilizing cloud for disaster recovery

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As technology becomes more prevalent in business and companies increasingly rely on massive amounts of data to complete work, the need for a secure backup service and disaster recovery plan is more necessary than ever. In a recent webinar sponsored by Microsoft, Forrester analyst Noel Yuhanna recommended that enterprises strategically implement public cloud services for disaster recovery to ensure business continuity.

According to Yuhanna, more than 70 percent of enterprises currently have to manage at least two terabytes of data, but at the rate new information is being created that could become petabytes in just a few years. In the webinar, Yuhanna praised the cloud for its ability to automate the data backup process and include encryption while not requiring staff to manage the day-to-day operations of the servers and storage platform.

Forrester recently conducted a survey of more than 200 database backup and operations professionals on three continents and found that 15 percent of companies are currently utilizing the cloud for database backups. This number has doubled in the last year, according to Yuhanna. The report also found that users were driven to the cloud for backup and disaster recovery services due to the need for constant application availability, cost savings and organizational agility.

Cloud offers multiple DR benefits
The cloud is ideally suited for disaster recovery because it is able to replicate data that resides in a physical location without having to create a redundant facility to house it. It is also a cost-effective option, as backups and archived data often sit unused for years at a time with few updates and don’t need to be stored in an expensive physical facility. The cloud therefore creates a dual benefit of storing information in a cost-effective environment that is also offsite in case of a disaster.

The Forrester survey also discovered that the key reasons companies utilized the cloud for backup and disaster recovery services were the ability to save money on data storage and administrative costs and provide more frequent backups.

“You could almost be guaranteed that if you decide to put some data in the cloud that, whether it’s an archive or backup, the next year it’s going to be cheaper to store it there,” explained Forrester principal analyst Dave Bartoletti.

Finally, the report found that 57 percent of respondents reported the use of cloud backup and disaster recovery services actually helped to improve their company’s service level agreements, as processes and systems become more reliable with the cloud.