Daily Archives: April 9, 2022

Like companies all around the world, US fast-food chain Taco Bell responded to the pandemics commercial impact by accelerating its shift to the cloud. As customers traditional patterns of restaurant and drive-through consumption changed rapidly and permanently to include kiosk, mobile and web ordering, often through third-party delivery services, Taco Bell moved the remainder of its group IT to cloudservices.

But this 100% cloud-based approach stops at the restaurant door. Given that many of its 7,000 outlets dont have fast and/or reliable internet connections, the company has recognised the limitations of the public cloud model and augmented its approach with edge computing. This set-up enables the company to process data near the physical point at which it is created, with only a periodic requirement to feed the most valuable material back to the cloud and receive updates fromit.

Taco Bell is just one of thousands of firms seeking to exploit the fast-evolving and much-hyped distributed IT capability that edge computing can offer.

Edge computing is getting so much attention now because organisations have accepted that there are things that cloud does poorly, observes Bob Gill, vice-president of research at Gartner and the founder of the consultancys edge research community.

Issues of latency (time-lag) and limited bandwidth when moving data are key potential weaknesses of the centralised cloud model. These drive a clear distinction between the use cases for cloud and edge computing. But the edge is also a focus for many organisations because they want to add intelligence to much of the equipment that sits within their operations and to apply AI-powered automation at those endpoints.

Early adopters include manufacturers implementing edge computing in their plants as part of their Industry 4.0 plans; logistics groups seeking to give some autonomy to dispersed assets; healthcare providers with medical equipment scattered across hospitals; and energy companies operating widely dispersed generation facilities.

For such applications to be viable and efficient, their data must be processed as close to the point of origin or consumption as possible, says George Elissaios, director of product management at Amazon Web Services. With edge computing, these applications can have lower latency, faster response times and give end customers a better experience.Edge computing can also aid interconnectivity by reducing the amount of data that needs to be backhauled to datacentres.

In some ways, the emergence of edge computing represents a new topology for IT. So says Paul Savill, global practice leader for networking and edge computing at Kyndryl, the provider of managed infrastructure services that was recently spun out ofIBM.

Companies are looking at the edge as a third landing spot for their data and applications. Its a new tier between the public cloud and the intelligence at an end device a robot, say, heexplains.

But most organisations dont expect their edge and cloud implementations to exist as distinct entities. Rather, they want to find ways to blend the scalability and flexibility they have achieved with the cloud with the responsiveness and autonomy of internet-of-things (IoT) and satellite processors installed at theedge.

Gill believes that cloud and edge are pure yin and yang. Each does things the other doesnt do well. When put together effectively, they are highly symbiotic.

They will need to be, as more and more intelligence is moved to the edge. More than 75 billion smart digital devices will be deployed worldwide by 2025, according to projections by research group IHS Markit. And it is neither desirable nor realistic for these to be interacting continuously with thecloud.

Cloud and edge are pure yin and yang When put together effectively, theyre highly symbiotic

When you start to add in multiple devices, you see a vast increase in the volume, velocity and variety of the data they generate, says Greg Hanson, vice-president of data management company Informatica in EMEA and Latin America. You simply cant keep moving all of that data into a central point without incurring a significant cost and becoming reliant on network bandwidth and infrastructure.

In such situations, edge IT performs a vital data-thinning function. Satellite processors sitting close to the end points filter out the most valuable material, collate it and dispatch it to the cloud periodically for heavyweight analysis, the training of machine-learning algorithms and longer-term storage. Processors at the edge can also apply data security and privacy rules locally to ensure regulatory compliance.

Gill notes that edge computing has shifted quickly from concept and hype to successful implementations. In many vertical industries, it is generating revenue, saving money, improving safety, enhancing the customer experience and enabling entirely new applications and datamodels.

Before achieving such gains, many edge pioneers are likely to have surmounted numerous significant challenges. Given that the technology is immature, there are few widely accepted standards that businesses can apply to it. This means that theyre often faced with an overwhelmingly wide range of designs for tech ranging from sensors and operating systems to software stacks and data management methods.

Such complexity is reflected in a widespread shortage of specialist expertise. As Savill notes: Many companies dont have all the skills they need to roll out edge computing. Theyre short of people with real competence in the orchestration of these distributed application architectures.

The goal may be to blend cloud and edge seamlessly into a unified model, but the starting points can be very different. There are two fundamentally different though not totally contradictory schools of thought, according to Gill. The cloud out perspective, favoured by big cloud service providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, views the edge as an extension of the cloud model that extends the capabilities of theirproducts.

The other approach is known as edge in. In this case, organisations develop edge-native applications that occasionally reach up to the cloud to, say, pass data on to train a machine-learning algorithm.

Adherents of either approach are seeing significant returns on their investments when they get itright.

We may be in the early phase of exploiting that combination of IoT, edge and cloud, but the capabilities enabling these distributed architectures the software control and orchestration tools and the integration capabilities have already reached the point where theyre highly effective, Savill reports. Some companies that are figuring this out are seeing operational savings of 30% to 40% compared with more traditional configurations.

In doing so, they are also heralding a large-scale resurgence of the edifice that cloud helped to tear down: on-premises IT albeit in a different form.

In the next 10 to 20 years, the on-premises profile for most companies will not be servers, Elissaios predicts. It will be connected devices and billions ofthem.

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How to combine the power of cloud and edge computing - Raconteur

Ask most Canadians what the military needs next, and cloud computing might not be the first thing that jumps to mind.

But modernizing how Canadian security officials manage increasingly massive troves of data could be among the most important decisions of the coming years and federal officials have confirmed to Global News that preliminary work is underway.

Militaries are reflective of the societies they live in and a lot of the sort of development of how were going to fight wars in the future is stuff that we see in society today, which is large amounts of data management, said Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Its taking huge amounts of information and organizing and storing it away, and then actually applying them to conduct operations.

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Canadian national security agencies and the military sit atop hordes of data that need to be continually tracked, assessed and managed in order to support the operations carried out to protect the countrys interests.

Increasingly though, those reams of data arent being stored just in filing cabinets or basements or bunkers. They sit in the cloud the digital ether that most Canadians likely know best as the safe haven for backing up old family photos or for syncing information between multiple devices.

As the amorphous nature of cyber warfare and cyber conflict have demonstrated over recent years, being able to gather, interpret, share and act on digital information is already a critical part of how militaries and national security agencies do their jobs in the 21st century.

Yet modernization has been a slow march for Canadian security actors, including the Canadian Forces.

Some of our systems and processes are dating back to the 50s. So [there is] crazy potential to upgrade that with not even modern practices, but to catch up to the 2010s, said Dave Perry, vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and an expert in Canadian defence policy.

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It was a massive accomplishment to start using [Microsoft] Office 365 in recent years.

U.S. military cloud contracts are worth billions

Speculation about whether Canada could look toward a cloud computing contract comes amid plans south of the border to award a multibillion-dollar contract later this year for the Department of Defense.

Last summer, the U.S. Defense Department announced plans to award a contract in April 2022 for what it now calls the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability.

That initiative aims to bring multiple American IT providers into a contract to provide cloud computing services for the military, and it replaces a single vendor program planned under the former Trump administration that was known as JEDI the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project.

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Last month, the Pentagon announced the JWCC contract wont be awarded until December 2022.

Microsoft and Amazon are believed to be frontrunners for different parts of that deal, while Google, Oracle and IBM have also expressed interest.

Some of those firms are now also lobbying Canadian officials to get similar contracts in place here.

Which firms are lobbying Canadian officials?

Google, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft did not have any lobbying listings with national security officials in recent months, although all list cloud computing as among their broader lobbying interests with officials with other departments including Treasury Board Secretariat, Justice Canada, and Natural Resources.

Amazon Web Services does have recent records filed disclosing lobbying with national security agencies and officials, one of its listed interests being seeking contracts with multiple government departments and institutions with regards to Amazon Cloud based solutions and related support services.

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The web giant also has job postings up for working on its push to get cloud computing into Canadian government departments, including an account manager. That role is tasked with increasing adoption of Amazon Web Services by developing strategic accounts within Canadas Federal Government National Security sector.

According to lobbyist filings, Eric Gales, president of the Canadian branch, had meetings with Michael Power, chief of staff to Defence Minister Anita Anand, on Feb. 19, 2022, and one day earlier had met with the acting assistant deputy minister of Shared Services Canada, Scott Davis.

He also metwith Sami Khoury, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, on Nov. 17, 2021.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is part of the Communications Security Establishment, Canadas signals intelligence agency and the body tasked with protecting the Government of Canadas IT networks.

A spokesperson for the CSE confirmed early work on the matter is underway,

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The evolving information technology (IT) world is moving to cloud-based services. We are aware that our closest allies have, or are acquiring classified cloud capabilities, and we continue to engage in conversations with them on security requirements to maintain interoperability, Evan Koronewski said.

The Government of Canadas security and intelligence community is engaged in preliminary research, exploring the requirements for classified cloud services.

He added officials are exploring security requirements with the Treasury Board Secretariat, Shared Services Canada, and the Department of National Defence.

A spokesperson for the latter also confirmed that the military is working on incorporating more cloud capabilities, though not yet for classified material.

We recognize that cloud computing offers key benefits in terms of IT efficiency, said Dan Le Bouthillier.

DND/CAF is building its cloud capacity and has adopted a Multi-cloud Strategy with multiple vendors, namely Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Google.

He added the goal is to strike the right balance between agility and security.

The website for Shared Services Canada, which handles IT services for government departments, states there are framework agreements for cloud computing in place with eight providers: Google Cloud, ServiceNow, IBM Cloud, Oracle, ThinkOn, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

Those will let departments contract cloud services as they need through those providers.

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The U.S. military cloud computing contract is valued at US$9 billion, or $11.2 billion.

Its not clear how much a similar solution for national security agencies here could cost.

Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand have suggested in recent weeks that the government is weighing an increase to defence spending, moving it closer to the NATO target, which aims to see all members of the military alliance spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence.

Canadas current defence spending sits at 1.39 per cent of GDP.

To hit the two per cent target would require approximately $16 billion.

That would be above the increases currently projected under the governments 2017 plan to boost defence spending, which will see it rise to $32.7 billion by 2026/27 from $18.9 billion in 2016/17.

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Will cloud computing be Canadas next big military procurement? Heres what to know - Global News

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Dublin, April 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Gaming Simulation Market by Component, Game Type, and End Use: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Gaming simulation is a type of simulator, which provides real-life scenarios and stimulates various types of environment to end users. In addition, various market players are innovating hardware and are designing different types of simulators to provide better experience to end users, which positively impacts the growth of the market. Furthermore, gaming simulator enhance the computer gaming skill by using 3D modelling, aerodynamics, analytical simulation, and complexity chaotic systems simulation.

Surge in adoption of gaming simulation for training and analysis in various industries and rise in demand for VR headsets boost growth of the global gaming stimulator market. In addition, increase in acceptance of 360-degree camera as next-generation technology across different developing nations positively impacts growth of the market. However, security and privacy issues associated with VR headsets and high cost of VR headsets hamper the market growth. On the contrary, adoption of AI and cloud computing for better experience and rise in collaboration between entertainment industry and gaming simulator companies across the globe are expected to offer remunerative opportunities for expansion of the market during the forecast period.

The global gaming simulation market is segmented into component, game type, end user, and region. By component, the market is bifurcated into hardware, software and service. On the basis of game type, it is categorized into shooting, fighting, racing, and others. Depending on end user, it is classified into residential and commercial. Region wise, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

The key players profiled in the gaming simulation market report are 3D Perception, CKAS Mechatronics Pty Ltd., CXC Simulations, D-Box Technologies Inc., Eleetus, Hammacher Schlemmer & Company, Inc., Play seat B.V., Rseat Ltd., Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., and Vesaro. These players have adopted various strategies to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry.

Key Benefits

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The study provides an in-depth analysis of the global gaming simulation market forecast along with the current trends and future estimations to explain the imminent investment pockets.

Information about key drivers, restraints, & opportunities and their impact analysis on global gaming simulation market trends is provided in the report.

Porter's five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers operating in the industry.

The quantitative analysis of the market from 2021 to 2030 is provided to determine the market potential.

Key Topics Covered:

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 3: MARKET OVERVIEW3.1. Market definition and scope3.2. Key forces shaping gaming simulators industry/market3.4. Market dynamics3.4.1. Drivers3.4.1.1. Growing adoption of gaming simulation for training and analysis in various industries3.4.1.2. Rise in demand for VR headsets3.4.1.3. Growing acceptance of 360-degree camera as next-generation technology across different developing nations3.4.2. Restraints3.4.2.1. Security and privacy issues associated with VR headsets and high cost of VR headsets3.4.3. Opportunity3.4.3.1. Adoption of AI and cloud computing for better experience3.4.3.2. Growing collaboration between entertainment industry and gaming simulator companies3.5. COVID-19 impact analysis on gaming simulators market3.5.1. Impact on market size3.5.2. Change in consumer trends, preferences, and budget impact due to COVID-193.5.3. Economic impact3.5.4. Key player strategies to tackle negative impact in the industry3.5.5. Opportunity analysis for gaming simulator providers

CHAPTER 4: GLOBAL GAMING SIMULATION MARKET, BY COMPONENT4.1. Overview4.2. Hardware4.2.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities4.2.2. Market size and forecast, by region4.2.3. Market analysis, by country4.3. Software4.3.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities4.3.2. Market size and forecast, by region4.3.3. Market analysis, by country4.4. Service4.4.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities4.4.2. Market size and forecast, by region4.4.3. Market analysis, by country

CHAPTER 5: GLOBAL GAMING SIMULATION MARKET, BY GAME TYPE5.1. Overview5.2. Shooting5.2.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities5.2.2. Market size and forecast, by region5.2.3. Market analysis, by country5.3. Fighting5.3.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities5.3.2. Market size and forecast, by region5.3.3. Market analysis, by country5.4. Racing5.4.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities5.4.2. Market size and forecast, by region5.4.3. Market analysis, by country5.5. Others5.5.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities5.5.2. Market size and forecast, by region5.5.3. Market analysis, by country

CHAPTER 6: GLOBAL GAMING SIMULATION MARKET, BY END USER6.1. Overview6.2. Residential6.2.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities6.2.2. Market size and forecast, by region6.2.3. Market analysis, by country6.3. Commercial6.3.1. Key market trends, growth factors, and opportunities6.3.2. Market size and forecast, by region6.3.3. Market analysis, by country6.3.4. Commercial gaming simulation market, by commercial type6.3.4.1. Defense and Security6.3.4.1.1. Market size and forecast, by region6.3.4.1.2. Market analysis, by country6.3.4.2. Civil Aviation6.3.4.2.1. Market size and forecast, by region6.3.4.2.2. Market analysis, by country6.3.4.3. Education6.3.4.3.1. Market size and forecast, by region6.3.4.3.2. Market analysis, by country6.3.4.4. Entertainment6.3.4.4.1. Market size and forecast, by region6.3.4.4.2. Market analysis, by country6.3.4.5. Others6.3.4.5.1. Market size and forecast, by region6.3.4.5.2. Market analysis, by country

CHAPTER 7: GOBAL GAMING SIMULATION MARKET, BY REGION

CHAPTER 8: COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE8.1. Key players positioning analysis, 20208.2. Competitive dashboard8.3. Top winning strategies

CHAPTER 9: COMPANY PROFILE9.1.3D perception9.1.1. Company overview9.1.2. Key Executives9.1.3. Company snapshot9.1.4. Product portfolio9.1.5. Key strategic moves and developments9.2. CKAS Mechatronics Pty Ltd9.2.1. Company overview9.2.2. Key Executives9.2.3. Company snapshot9.2.4. Product portfolio9.2.5. Key strategic moves and development9.3. CXC Simulations9.3.1. Company overview9.3.2. Key Executives9.3.3. Company snapshot9.3.4. Product portfolio9.3.5. Key strategic moves and development9.4. D-BOX Technologies Inc.9.4.1. Company overview9.4.2. Key executives9.4.3. Company snapshot9.4.4. Product portfolio9.4.5. R&D Expenditure9.4.6. Business performance9.4.7. Key strategic moves and developments9.5. Eleetus, LLC.9.5.1. Company overview9.5.2. Key Executives9.5.3. Company snapshot9.5.4. Product portfolio9.6. Hammacher Schlemmer & Company, Inc.9.6.1. Company overview9.6.2. Key Executives9.6.3. Company snapshot9.6.4. Product portfolio9.7. Play Seat B.V.9.7.1. Company overview9.7.2. Key Executives9.7.3. Company snapshot9.7.4. Product portfolio9.7.5. Key strategic moves and developments9.8. RSEAT Ltd.9.8.1. Company overview9.8.2. Key Executives9.8.3. Company snapshot9.8.4. Product portfolio9.9. Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.9.9.1. Company overview9.9.2. Key Executives9.9.3. Company snapshot9.9.4. Product portfolio9.9.5. R&D Expenditure9.9.6. Business performance9.9.7. Key strategic moves and developments9.10. Vesaro9.10.1. Company overview9.10.2. Key executives9.10.3. Company snapshot9.10.4. Product portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wd66ni

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Outlook on the Gaming Simulation Global Market to 2030 - Adoption of AI and Cloud Computing for Better Experience Presents Opportunities - Yahoo...

DUBLIN, April 08, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Cloud Workload Protection (CWP) Growth Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cloud workload protection market is undergoing a digital transformation, with companies worldwide gradually moving their infrastructure to the cloud.

The rise in the adoption of cloud computing and the ineffectiveness of legacy security solutions have presented growth opportunities for the global cloud workload protection market, which is expected to experience a surge in demand for modern and unified cloud-native security platforms. Solutions will be increasingly integrated with artificial intelligence/machine learning platforms, driving the automation and efficiency of the global cloud workload protection market.

This study takes a detailed look at the growth dynamics of the global cloud workload protection market, with a specific focus on four regional segments:

The study provides insights into the global cloud workload protection landscape. It includes market sizing and revenue forecasts, competitive analyses, regional analyses, segmentation by product type and across verticals, growth driver and restraint analyses, and an assessment of future market opportunities.

The study also provides pertinent details about Aqua Security, Broadcom, Check Point Software Technologies, Cisco Systems, CrowdStrike, Kaspersky, McAfee, Palo Alto Networks, Qingteng, Sysdig, Sophos, Trend Micro, and VMware.

Key Issues Addressed:

What are the key trends in the cloud workload protection market? What are the main requirements emerging out of the market? What are the different approaches to growth being adopted by market players?

What are the innovations disrupting the industry?

What are the growth opportunities that are emerging as a result of these innovations and trends in the market?

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Key Topics Covered:

1. Strategic Imperatives

2. Growth Opportunity Analysis - CWP

Global CWP Market Scope of Analysis

Global CWP Market Segmentation

CWP Architecture - Comparison of Agent-based and Agentless/API-based Solutions

CWP Architecture - Hybrid Monitoring and Protection Model

Recommendations for CWP

Customer Segmentation

Research Methodology

Market Segmentation

Key Competitors

Key Findings on Cloud Strategy among Businesses

Why Move to the Cloud?

Workloads Increasingly Move to Public Cloud

Soaring Adoption of Hybrid and Multi-cloud Models

Repatriating Workloads from Public Cloud to Premises

Workloads by Cloud Type

Future of CWP

Key Growth Metrics - Global

Growth Drivers

Growth Driver Analysis

Growth Restraints

Growth Restraint Analysis

Forecast Assumptions - Global

Revenue Forecast - Global

Revenue Forecast Analysis - Global

Revenue Forecast by Region - Global

Revenue Forecast Analysis by Region

Revenue Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - Global

Pricing Trends and Forecast Analysis - Global

Revenue Share by Verticals - Global

Revenue Share by Vendors - Global

Total Global CWP Landscape

Competitive Environment - Global

3. Vendor Analysis

4. Growth Opportunity Analysis - NA

Key Growth Metrics - NA

Revenue Forecast - NA

Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - NA

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - NA

Revenue Share by Vendors - NA

5. Growth Opportunity Analysis - EMEA

Key Growth Metrics - EMEA

Revenue Forecast - EMEA

Revenue Forecast - EMEA

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - EMEA

Revenue Share by Vendors - EMEA

6. Growth Opportunity Analysis - APAC

Key Growth Metrics - APAC

Revenue Forecast - APAC

Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - APAC

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - APAC

Revenue Share by Vendors - APAC

7. Growth Opportunity Analysis - LATAM

Key Growth Metrics for CWP Market - LATAM

Revenue Forecast - LATAM

Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - LATAM

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - LATAM

Revenue Share by Vendors - LATAM

8. Growth Opportunity Universe

Growth Opportunity 1: Increasing Need for Cloud Security Training

Growth Opportunity 2: Increasing Need for Managed and Professional Security Services around CWP

Growth Opportunity 3: Need to Integrate CWP with xDR and Threat Intelligence Services

Key Success Factors

The Last Word

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5jwadv

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220408005197/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com

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Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Research Report 2022: Increasing Demand for "Shift Left" Security is Driving the Future Growth...

In a trading update to investors, the group said it was pleased that renewal levels had improved in the latter half of the year, meaning that recurring revenue - some 93 per cent of full-year group revenue - was more stable in the second half.

Bosses said the inflationary pressures being experienced across the UK business market were being monitored and addressed.

For the year to the end of March, the group expects to report revenues of around 103m, compared with 111.9m the year before, adjusted underlying earnings of approximately 38m, against 41.4m last time, and adjusted profit before tax in the region of 17m, down from 19.6m.

The firms strong profit margins remain stable, Iomart added, and cash generation continues to be strong, with the year-end net debt expected to be about 43m, reducing from 54.6m ahead of expectations.

Iomart added: The group has made good progress in the development and execution of its growth strategy. The year has seen the launch of several new service offerings, the creation of a strategic cyber-security partnership, and continued investments across sales and marketing.

Chief executive Reece Donovan told investors: I am pleased by the progress we have made during the year and reporting financial results in line with market expectations.

We have launched a number of new solutions to the market, recently entered into an exciting alliance to accelerate our managed cyber security offering, reshaped the commercial team and invested in our customer service tools and resources.

It is these steps, along with the on-going execution of our strategic plan, which gives us confidence that we will continue to be successful within the wider growing cloud sector.

The firm expects to report its results for the year to March 31 on June 14.

In December, Iomart secured a 100m financing facility to back its growth plans. The firm said it had agreed a refinancing, replacing an existing single bank revolving credit facility of 80m that was due to mature at the end of next September, with a new 100m facility.

It is being provided by a group of four banks - HSBC UK, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Ireland and Clydesdale Bank, part of Virgin Money group.

The group also insisted in December that its growth strategy was on track and beginning to deliver tangible results after a mixed first-half performance.

Meanwhile, Glasgow-based Beeks Financial Cloud Group confirmed that it had raised total gross proceeds of about 15m through a share placing. The fundraising was significantly oversubscribed.

Chief executive Gordon McArthur said: We would like to thank all new and existing investors who have participated in the fundraising for their support.

With financial services organisations accelerating their cloud transition strategies, we see a huge opportunity ahead for our private cloud, proximity cloud and exchange cloud offerings, and are focused on the conversion of our record sales pipeline and execution of our product roadmap.

A message from the Editor:

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Glasgow cloud computing group Iomart 'pleased with progress' despite drop in revenue - The Scotsman

Today, we have seen the proliferation, popularisation and eventual propagation of cloud computing, mobile device ubiquity and new algorithmically-enriched approaches to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)... all of which have further changed the nature of work.

The sum consequence of much of the development on the post-millennial technology curve is a new approach to digitally-driven work. To explain this shuddering generalisation, digital work means tasks, processes, procedures and higher-level workflows that can be encoded into data in order for their status to be tracked, analysed and managed.

Part of the total estate of big data that now hovers over all digital assets in the modern workplace, digital workflows can now be built that are more intelligently shared between humans and machines.

Where processes are accurately definable, typically repeatable and easily replicable, we now have the opportunity to use autonomous software controls such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and chatbots to shoulder part of our daily tasks. Although there is a period of process mining and process discovery that we need to perform before we can switch on the autonomous advantage, once we do so we can start to focus human skills on more creative higher-value tasks.

Where all of this gets us is to a point where we can be intelligently granular about how we place elements of our total digital workload across data services, across application resources, across cloud backbones and ultimately, across people.

To enable digital work, we still have some challenges to overcome i.e. we need to be able to communicate between each other as humans and machines in a consistent yet essentially decoupled way. Because not every work task has had its genome decrypted, we are still searching for ways to encapsulate certain aspects of enterprise workflows.

This is tough because were aiming towards a moving target i.e. market swings and the dynamism of global trade. But, as we start to build new work systems, we can start to operate workflows that are intelligently shared across different interconnected cloud services, for a variety of core reasons.

Enterprises can now create a layered fabric of work elements and functions shared across different Cloud Services Providers (CSPs), sometimes separated-out on the basis of different cloud contract costs, sometimes for reasons related to geographic latency or regulatory compliance, or often dispersed across more than one cloud due to the various optimisation functions (processing, storage, transactional Input/Output capability, GPU accelerated etc.) that exist in different services.

If private on-premises cloud combined with public cloud is what we now understand to be the de facto most sensible approach we know as hybrid cloud, then this (above) deployment scenario is one move wider. Where workloads are placed across clouds, we are in hybrid territory; but where individual data workflows are dispersed across and between different cloud services, we get to poly-cloud.

The architectural complexity of interconnected cloud services that are established around these terms is not hard to grasp. In order to make this type of lower substrate diversity manageable, cost-effective and above all functional, enterprises will need to embrace a platform-based approach to hyperconverged cloud infrastructure.

Most organisations struggle to effectively manage heterogeneous cloud environments and move workloads back and forth between and among them. Establishing visible benefits from this type of approach to cloud is only possible if the business is able to think of its cloud infrastructure as an invisible foundational layer.

Managing a multi-cloud and poly-cloud infrastructure means being able to simplify cloud management and operations requirements across an enterprises chosen estate of interconnected cloud services. With different providers all offering different software toolsets, different management dashboards, different configuration parameters and so on, there is no point-and-click solution without a hyperconverged higher platform layer in place.

As theoretical as some of the discussion here sounds, many practical examples already exist. South Africas largest bank Nedbank has been bold with its cloud-based approach designed to cope with cost-effectively delivering upon its diverse bandwidth requirements.

Needing low-latency remote worker provision for its 2,000-strong developer function in India (but capable of straddling less performant latency parameters for other functions), the company had to build systems capable of superior service that would be a win-win for staff and customers alike.

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The future of work in the heterogeneous diverse cloud - BCS

Cloud-based analytics help firms become more competitive by delivering data and analytical insights to end-users, allowing them to gather more information.

Fremont, CA: Organizations of all sizes are increasingly embracing the cloud to improve the efficiency of their operations. They are getting forced to keep up with massive amounts of data which can influence corporate decisions. Unfortunately, organizations cannot make faster and better business decisions due to disparities in analytics tools and unclear roles and responsibilities. That's why cloud-based analytic tools are stepping up their game. Because of the promise of cloud analytics, IT leaders are investing substantially and reaping the rewards inside the digital transformation arena.

Moving Data Analytics To The Cloud

Cloud computing is ideal for data analytics. Cloud-native applications have a shorter time-to-value, resulting in digital transformation. Companies used to build their infrastructures to handle high demand till a few years ago. However, due to the infrequency of large analytic workloads, having a flexible computing resource to manage costs became critical. Many service providers are now offering cloud analytics to businesses, incorporating an agent or a script into code that transports data to servers for analysis. It helps marketing departments to increase sales, develop websites, and create customized content for their target demographic. Aside from that, it enables organizations to analyze their market and economic dynamics, along with predict consumer behavior.

Benefits Of The Cloud

The cloud enables ready-made infrastructure and the flexibility to change the infrastructure for businesses to manage variable traffic swiftly. Organizations can use cloud computing to add data storage and data analysis capabilities to their operations, allowing them to change their operations. When a company's business grows, it can immediately increase its cloud storage or lower it when the business slows, which is more cost-effective than purchasing new gear each time. In addition, it enables a corporation to respond to changing market demands and adapt its analytical capacity to match client expectations and capitalize on every opportunity.

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How Is Cloud Computing Reshaping the Future Of Data Analytics? - CIO Applications