To produce qualified students based on international standards, the Tokyo University of Technology (hereafter referred to as TUT) has always taken an active approach to ICT investment. However, the 100 or so servers that the university currently used as part of its ICT assets were rapidly becoming obsolete. The system needed to be updated. After a year’s worth of discussions, plans emerged for building a university-wide, cloud-based system and a core database that would cut operating loads to the lowest possible level.
Thus, TUT chose Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and other services and technologies offered by Microsoft.
Business Needs
Turning away from aging ICT assets and conceiving the best, most up-to-date system environment
Since its establishment in 1986, the university has promoted three particular aims: training in use of technologies and expert scientific theory for the betterment of society, engagement in advanced research and passing research findings back to society and creating an ideal educational and research environment.
The school takes an active approach to investing in its ICT environment. For instance, when it set up the School of Media Science in 1999 (the first one of its kind in Japan), it required students to have a laptop. The school also actively promoted use of the internet. When the School of Computer Science and the School of Bionics (currently the Department of Applied Biology) were set up in 2013, as a result of the School of Engineering’s reorganization, the requirement that students have laptops was applied university-wide. At the same time, to enable students to use the internet freely, the school implemented a wired ethernet environment university-wide.
However, Kazuya Tago, Head of the Media Center and Professor at the School of Computer Science at TUT, realizes that the network environment reached its zenith more than 10 years ago. It has now become obsolete from a technological perspective: “What the university asked for most urgently was a wireless network. To meet this need, each university institute created wireless access points of its own motive. This solution met local demands, but we still had not achieved the comfort of being able to connect to the internet throughout the whole campus.”
Some 100 servers installed for administrative systems had also started aging. The expenses necessary for maintaining the system started to cut into budgets for equipping students with the latest IT environment. Current students use thin notebooks without ethernet ports, and in their daily lives they have acquired a good command of smart phones. However, no one would have predicted such a state 10 years ago. We then decided that we could not afford to continue with a “maintenance” approach to our existing assets; we had to come up with a future-oriented concept for the best and most up-to-date ICT environment. Thus, since April 2013, TUT has been undertaking bold innovations; what we call the “university-wide full shift of the ICT environment to the cloud”.
The university-wide full shift to the cloud at TUT was based on conclusions gathered during discussions of various options over the course of one year. These discussions began in 2012. Professor Tago said that during this discussion period “we realized that various technologies that would be necessary suddenly appeared right before our very eyes.” These were technologies and services that Microsoft offers; like Microsoft Azure or Microsoft Office 365 or Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Solution
The new solution for a full shift to the cloud at TUT combined usage of cloud services for PaaS and SaaS and effective system operations thanks to building up the school’s core database (hereafter referred to as “core DB”). TUT asked suppliers to conceive the system such that it would plan for the school’s needs 10-15 years ahead and deliver the best possible system environment as concerns functionality, expansion, flexibility, costs, etc. TUT administrators decided to use a combination of three types of cloud services: “Platform as a Service” (PaaS), “Infrastructure as a Service” (IaaS) and “Software as a Service” (SaaS).
Information entered from all systems will be stored in a newly created core DB; and through a redeveloped, university-wide, wireless network, it will be possible to use data extensively for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and for university administration.
Existing solutions can be utilized in their current state. However, in order to reduce workloads (when building the system), it was important that the PaaS, where the OS environment and security are guaranteed above certain level, become our cloud-based ICT infrastructure. We also considered IaaS services like Amazon Web Services (hereafter as AWS) but abandoned this idea at early stage.
Using Microsoft Azure for IaaS and building and operating Oracle database
Professor Tago now recalls that “only Microsoft Azure and Office 365 services matched all university-determined criteria.” Moreover, as work proceeded, the both of services were rapidly evolved and inadequate features disappeared.
Another critical event involved work with the university’s Oracle database. It was a big moment when Microsoft announced Microsoft Azure’s compatibility with Oracle. “TUT had used its Oracle database for a long time to support existing administration systems. Now, thanks to the compatibility, the database could be easily moved to the cloud,” explains Yuzuru Kimura, CEO of Page One Co., Ltd., who was in charge of designing and building the system. Microsoft Azure is now used both for the PaaS and Iaas.
Using Microsoft Lync Online innovates the communication environment for TUT faculty
TUT uses Office 365 for mail or portal sites in the faculty/staff-oriented ICT environment. Through authentication infrastructure using Active Directory, it is possible to access to the system from within and from outside the university. Lync Online offers new functions that were lacking in the previous environment; i.e. information on whether faculty members are present. Lync Online also allows a choice of multiple communication tools for instant messaging, for emails or for web conferences.
Flexible system by end user computing (hereafter as EUC) uses Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft Dynamics CRM
TUT has the highest expectations for use of SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It also has high hopes for Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a data viewer that enables the extraction of data entered into and stored in the core DB. Data also remain anonymous and can be sorted and read based on various criteria. The web template is customized in several ways and works together with SharePoint; enabling fluid use of data within the university.
Benefits
Even better achievement by promoting the EUC and rational systems that can also be diverted to companies
Even though TUT has started its trial efforts to use a full shift to the cloud to reduce workloads for system operations to the lowest possible level, professor Tago gave a small warning: “We have only taken the first step. From now on, the quantity of internal university data that is processed by any university in the world will continue to grow at a fast pace. Given this fact, we feel it makes sense to accumulate databases in the cloud. We also came to the conclusion that the intermingled use of clouds, from PaaS to SaaS, is more rational in terms of operations and costs.”
Mr. Kimura as an IT vendor also agrees with the new system concept:
“Even in the case that EUC at TUT moves forward and the quantity of data in the core DB swells, as long as it is managed using Microsoft Azure, no problems will rise. The expenses for data accumulation will be surprisingly small; even in comparison with AWS, running costs can be reduced.”
Professor Tago concludes with the following expectations:
“This is our first effort to make a full shift to the cloud at our university. As for quantity of data and operational rules, we have started from scratch. However, we ultimately succeeded thanks to a wide range of affordable and flexible cloud services provided by Microsoft Azure. Thanks to solutions like Dynamics CRM and SharePoint, information analysis is proceeding well and sophisticated IR could be realized. This achievement will become evident after further use. Personally, I think that the structure that we have put together could also become a useful model for businesses.”
Microsoft CityNext
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Managed Solution is a full-service technology firm that empowers business by delivering, maintaining and forecasting the technologies they’ll need to stay competitive in their market place. Founded in 2002, the company quickly grew into a market leader and is recognized as one of the fastest growing IT Companies in Southern California.
We specialize in providing full Microsoft solutions to businesses of every size, industry, and need.
Do you or your current IT provider perform regular tests to ensure the recoverability of the stored data? Contact us for your free Back-up and Disaster Recovery Health Check and an account manager will contact you to conduct a 5 minute questionnaire to see how you match up to similar size businesses, get all your questions answered to ensure your corporate data is secure.
Securing productivity, collaboration and enterprise data is critically important as organizations digitally transform.
3 Obvious Reasons You Need A Backup & Disaster Recovery Plan
You need to protect your company data from security threats and hackers. Did you see all the recent news of political breaches by hackers who exposed “secure” data?
Natural disasters do occur and 90% of companies that experience one week of data downtime go out of business within 12 months.
Systems do crash, data gets erased or corrupted, viruses attack.
With vast quantities of vital data moving through your business, even with limited resources and budget, it is critical for an organization to have a true business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place. This is the only solution to deliver an advanced insurance policy against loss of data and downtime.
Managed Solution provides a Business Continuity/Backup & Disaster Recovery Service to protect data from loss and prevent costly downtime in the event of a catastrophic server failure.
Want to hear about the best examples of enterprise computing today? At Open Stack Silicon Valley, August 9-10 you will hear about some of the most innovative implementations in the market and what you will find is that the majority are not purely in the public cloud, nor are they solely in the data center. Enterprises today are getting the most benefit when they take advantage of both, and use the hybrid model of cloud computing.
Why? Because using this “blended” model lets you stop worrying about where your apps are, and focus more on how to leverage the right resources for the right value that helps you deliver innovation and create new value streams for your business. According to IDC, eighty-two percent of you already have a hybrid cloud strategy -- but are you utilizing the mix of resources for maximum gains?
Despite what other cloud market leaders might tell you, hybrid is not a temporary state but the new normal and the normal for decades to come. That’s because compute and data are everywhere and being generated everywhere. And if you want to deliver greater business value you need to embrace and leverage this breadth. In my session at Open Stack Silicon Valley, on August 10 at 10:00 am PDT, I’ll take you through why leading organizations are thinking hybrid now and for the future. The catalyst for this thinking isn’t infrastructure ownership, control or security. It’s what’s right for the apps.
Want global reach, massive elastic scale, and a wealth of innovative compute and data services? Use the public cloud: that’s what it was designed for!
Perhaps you have a factory automation solution, point-of-sale system, or a legacy application that you’d just as soon keep in your data center for now. If there’s a good reason not to move to the cloud, you shouldn’t – but think about connecting those apps to cloud-based, agile and highly scalable business workflows, mobile customer experiences, IoT initiatives and other innovations that help drive your business values forward.
For example, Microsoft and GE recently announced a partnership where GE’s vast base of industrial computing capabilities will connect to its Predix analytics service running in Azure. “Connecting industrial machines to the internet through the cloud is a huge step toward simplifying business processes and reimagining how work gets done,” said Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE. You can’t move the industrial machines to the cloud, obviously, but offloading all the analytics from the data center to the cloud makes great technical and economic sense.
Want to connect on-premises and cloud apps securely so that you have one consistently managed “virtual” data center?
With Azure virtual networking, or Express Route, our dedicated-line solution, you can connect securely and get the bandwidth you need. With Microsoft’s Operations Management Suite, you can have a “single pane of glass” for managing workloads across OpenStack, public Azure, AWS and other deployments.
Here’s what Michael Alatortsev, chief executive officer at iTrend, a provider of data discovery services, said about their hybrid application: “A Microsoft hybrid cloud solution with … Azure enabled us to make more flexible design decisions.” He added, “We can adapt our solution to address different market verticals and situations, and creating a new type of report is very easy.”
Today, using Infrastructure-as-a-Service, you can easily migrate VM’s from your data center to the cloud. With SQL Server, you can keep your database local, shift to a blended deployment using SQL Server 2016, or trivially move it to Azure – as mobile application provider App Dynamic did: “The transition of [the on-premises] database to … Azure SQL Database only took a few hours,” said Pratik Kumar, CEO and founder of App Dynamic.
Microsoft offers the most comprehensive suite of offerings for the hybrid cloud, from networking and directory services to application services like SQL Server and big data, backup and recovery, and our Office and Dynamics offerings, all of which can run either on-premises or in the cloud, and can easily connect to other applications running in either location. No other vendor provides such a rich hybrid portfolio, and why? Because we’ve been providing enterprise-grade technologies to our customers for years and we understand your needs.
At the end of the day, it’s not about where your computing assets are, it’s how they provide value to your business! Think of the cloud as a new opportunity – not an obligation – for you to drive breakthrough levels of value from your computing assets, and design your hybrid cloud for the maximum business value.
Have questions about this premise? Want to hear more about how to implement this strategy at your organization? Join me at Open Stack Silicon Valley on August 10. Already executing on a successful hybrid app strategy? Tell us about it in the comments section below. Let’s get you on stage at next year’s show.
Azure SQL Database Threat Detection has been in preview for a few months now. We’ve on-boarded many customers and received some great feedback. We would like to share a couple of customer experiences that demonstrate how SQL Threat Detection helped to address their concerns about potential threats to their database.
What is SQL Threat Detection?
SQL Threat Detection is a new security intelligence feature built into the Azure SQL Database service. Working around the clock to learn, profile and detect anomalous database activities, SQL Threat Detection identifies potential threats to the database. Security officers or other designated administrators can get an immediate notification about suspicious database activities as they occur. Each notification provides details of the suspicious activity and recommends how to further investigate and mitigate the threat.
Currently, SQL Threat Detection on Azure SQL Database detects potential vulnerabilities and SQL injection attacks, as well as anomalous database access patterns. The following customer feedback attests to how SQL Threat Detection warned them about these threats as they occurred and helped them improve their database security.
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Case #1: Attempted database access by former employee
Borja Gómez, architect & development lead at YesEnglish
“SQLThreat Detection is a useful feature that allows us to detect and respond to anomalous database activities, which were not visible to us beforehand. As part of my role designing and building Azure-based solutions for global companies in the Information and Communication Technology field, we always turn on SQL Auditing and Threat Detection, which are built-in and operate independently of our code. A few months later, we received an email alert that “Anomalous database activities from unfamiliar IP (location) was detected”. The threat came from a former employee trying to access one of our customer’s databases, which contained sensitive data, using old credentials. Because SQL Threat Detection allowed us to detect this threat as it occurred, we were able to remediate the threat immediately by locking down the firewall rules and changing credentials, thereby preventing any damage. Such is the simplicity and power of Azure.
Case #2: Preventing SQL Injection attacks
Richard Priest, Architectural Software Engineer at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and head of the collective at Missing Widget:
“Thanks to SQL Threat Detection, we were able to detect and fix code vulnerabilities to SQL injection attacks and prevent potential threats to our database. I was extremely impressed how simple it was to enable threat detection policy using the Azure portal, which required no modifications to our SQL client applications. A while after enabling SQL Threat Detection, we received an email notification about ‘An application error that may indicate a vulnerability to SQL injection attacks’. The notification provided details of the suspicious activity and recommended concrete actions to further investigate and remediate the threat. The alert helped me to track down the source my error and pointed me to the Microsoft documentation that thoroughly explained how to fix my code. As the head of IT for an information technology and services company, I now guide my team to turn on SQL Auditing and Threat Detection on all our projects, because it gives us another layer of protection and is like having a free security expert on our team.”
Case #3: Anomalous access from home to production database
Manrique Logan, architect & technical lead at ASEBA:
“SQL Threat Detection is an incredible feature, super simple to use, empowering our small engineering team to protect our company data without the need to be security experts. Our non-profit company provides user-friendly tools for mental health professionals, storing health and sales data in the cloud. As such we need to be HIPAA and PCI compliant, and SQL Auditing and Threat Detection help us achieve this. These features are available out of the box, and simple to enable too, taking only a few minutes to configure. We saw the real value from these not long after enabling SQL Threat Detection, when we received an email notification that ‘Access from an unfamiliar IP address (location) was detected’. The alert was triggered as a result of my unusual access to our production database from home. Knowing that Microsoft is using its vast security expertise to protect my data gives me incredible peace of mind and allows us to focus our security budget on other issues. Furthermore, knowing the fact that every database activity is being monitored has increased security awareness among our engineers. SQL Threat Detection is now an important part of our incident response plan. I love that Azure SQL Database offers such powerful and easy-to-use security features.
How to turn on SQL Threat Detection
SQL Threat Detection is incredibly easy to enable. You simply navigate to the Auditing & Threat Detection configuration blade for your database in the Azure management portal. There you switch on Auditing and Threat Detection, and configure at least one email address for receiving alerts.
Managed Solution is a full-service technology firm that empowers business by delivering, maintaining and forecasting the technologies they’ll need to stay competitive in their market place. Founded in 2002, the company quickly grew into a market leader and is recognized as one of the fastest growing IT Companies in Southern California.
We specialize in providing full Microsoft solutions to businesses of every size, industry, and need.
As organizations adopt hybrid cloud models for IT, the challenges for operations management continue to increase. Among those challenges is the difficulty of securing these complex environments, which include resources on-premises as well as in hosted clouds, Azure or AWS. At the same time, the cost of breaches continues to rise – the average cost of a data breach to a single company is $3.5M. To help meet these challenges, today we are announcing the general availability of new and improved security features for Microsoft Operations Management Suite, a set of cloud-based services designed to help customers protect, detect and respond to security issues across hybrid cloud environments.
Operations Management Suite (OMS) is management for the cloud, from the cloud. Delivering analytics, automation, configuration, security, backup, and site recovery, OMS gives you the ability to increase visibility and control from the on-premises datacenter to the cloud. The advantages of cloud-based management include the ability to innovate faster, scale to meet expanding requirements, and get up and running without long deployment cycles. Using cloud-based security tools also ensures that you are always working from the latest information on threats. Security and management go hand in hand, because the same data that indicates a potential performance or health issue, might also indicate a security breach. By bringing security and management together in a single cloud-based offering, OMS provides the tools you need to address threats and remediate issues without the added complexity of point solutions.
Last week we announced the general availability of Azure Security Center, a set of tools to help customers gain visibility into the security state of their Azure resources, take control of cloud security policies, and both detect and respond to active attacks. With OMS Security we bring the security analytics that are built into Azure Security Center to hybrid cloud environments, giving you the capabilities you need to handle today’s evolving security threats. OMS Security leverages the same intelligence and detection that we use in Azure and is based on the security knowledge that we gain from running a hyper-scale cloud.
With OMS Security, you can quickly assess the security posture of your hybrid cloud environment and detect active security threats. OMS Security will continuously monitor the environment for security vulnerabilities such as missing critical security updates, antimalware, and recommended security configuration baselines. To detect active security threats and attacks, the service leverages powerful event analysis paired with threat intelligence derived from Microsoft’s own cloud experience. You can centralize management for protecting systems, as well as creating alerts, implementing automatic security updates across systems, and applying security policies. A simple approach to search and queries across all data sources lets you streamline the security audit process with easy access to comprehensive and actionable security log data. With these new capabilities, IT administrators can avoid being blindsided by a breach and alert the security team if they see indicators of compromise. Security response teams can then use the same simple search capabilities to rapidly get a view across operations and security data to help stop the threat.
The new Security service includes a broad range of tools to help you get deeper visibility across multiple aspects of the security landscape. Highlights include advanced threat detection and the Threat Intelligence dashboard, which lets you visualize attacks using the same data we use in Azure. For customers using Advanced Threat Analytics in Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS), you can now view that information in OMS, giving you a single view of security for IT operations. The new Security Configuration Baseline Assessment identifies vulnerable OS configurations that could be exploited by an attacker. To see OMS Security in action, and get a deeper view on how these features can work for you, take a look at Operations Management Suite Security in this episode of Microsoft Mechanics.
To make it easier to get access to these solutions, we announced earlier this month that you can purchase OMS via a new subscription model. Existing System Center customers can get OMS as an add-on, extending the value of existing on-premises investments.
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Why Every Small Business Needs a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan
As a digitally active business in 2016, you can’t afford to lose your data. Whether at the hands of a natural disaster, human error, or cyber attack, data loss is costly and extremely risky. That’s why you need a backup and disaster recovery solution.
As a small business owner, you’ve probably asked yourself this simple question at least once: “What is BDR?” Well, the most basic definition is a combination of data backup and disaster recovery solutions that are designed to work together to ensure uptime, diminish data loss, and maximize productivity in the midst of an attack, natural disaster, or other compromising situation. In other words, BDR solutions keep businesses safe when trouble strikes.
According to research by Security Week, the total volume of data loss at the enterprise level has increased more than 400 percent over the past couple of years and the trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. With the rise of big data, cloud computing, and BYOD policies in the workplace, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for businesses to protect their private data.
IT Web suggests that the total cost of data breaches will be more than $2.1 trillion by 2019. This is in part due to the fact that small businesses don’t always take security seriously. They wrongly assume that it’s the big corporations that face the highest risks. Unfortunately, this is a false assumption.
A Verizon report says that small data breaches -- those with fewer than 100 files lost -- cost between $18,120 and $35,730. Unless these are expenses that you can easily sustain, it’s time to implement a BDR plan.
Five reasons why SBOs need a BDR plan.
When small businesses don’t have a BDR solution/plan in place, it’s typically because they’re unclear about the true value of BDR.
Let’s review some of the top benefits to give you an idea of why these solutions are so important to the health of your small business.
1. Protects against effects of natural disasters. Whether it’s a flood, earthquake, hurricane, blizzard, or other extreme natural disaster, there are plenty of uncontrollable circumstances that can cause your business to experience downtime. And, according to the National Archives and Records Administration, more than 90 percent of companies that experience at least seven days of data center downtime go out of business within a year. Let that sink in. While a BDR plan won’t prevent a natural disaster from occurring, it will protect your data and ensure that downtime doesn’t compromise your company.
2. Lessens impact of cyber attacks. As more and more data is moved online, cyber criminals are increasing their efforts and focusing on businesses that they believe are unprotected. In most cases, this means small businesses that appear vulnerable. Once again, a BDR plan can limit the impact of an attack and can prevent your business from losing valuable data.
3. Keeps client data safe. Do you store a lot of confidential client or customer data? If so, you can’t afford to lose this data or let it slip into the wrong hands. A BDR plan ensures that all of this information is properly stored and controlled. As a result, you don’t have to worry about damaging your brand reputation, should an unforeseeable incident arise.
4. People make mistakes. While natural disasters and cyber attacks are discussed more than anything else, the reality is that your own employees are sometimes responsible for the biggest data losses. Mistakes happen and a single poor choice can end up compromising data. That’s why it’s so important for businesses not only to train employees properly, but also invest in backup solutions.
5. Systems fail. Finally, we all know that hardware, machines, and other systems fail. Regardless of how much you spend on your technology, no solution is perfect. Even systems that come with 99.9 percent uptime guarantees will falter every once in a while. As such, businesses must invest in robust BDR plans that account for all of these risks.
What to look for in a BDR solution.
Once you determine that your business needs a BDR plan in place, how do you find the right solution? While every business is different, start by analyzing the following:
•Hardware compatibility. Depending on the hardware that your business uses, you may need a BDR solution that’s specifically tailored to your current setup. Keep this in mind as you compare options.
•Scalable pricing. As your business grows over time, you’re going to collect and store more data. A flexible pricing model will allow you cost-effectively to scale according to your demands.
Around-the-clock support. You never know when disaster will strike. Make sure that your BDR vendor has 24/7/365 technical support available.
•Strong reputation. Finally, it’s important to consider the BDR solution’s reputation. How long has it been on the market? What do customers say? The answers to these questions will tell you a lot.
If you can find a BDR solution that meets these four criteria, then you’ve probably found the right solution for your business.
Protect your business.
Nobody wants to assume that something bad is going to happen to their business – and hopefully you’ll never be exposed to any of the risks highlighted in this article – but the harsh reality is that you’ll likely face one of these issues at some point in the future.
There’s no way to prevent a cyber attack, natural disaster, technical malfunction or uncontrollable human error, but you can protect your business from costly data loss by investing in a solution that aids in data backup and disaster recovery. Frankly, it’s unwise to wait any longer.
Managed Solution is a full-service technology firm that empowers business by delivering, maintaining and forecasting the technologies they’ll need to stay competitive in their market place. Founded in 2002, the company quickly grew into a market leader and is recognized as one of the fastest growing IT Companies in Southern California.
We specialize in providing full managed services to businesses of every size, industry, and need.
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3 urgent truths about cloud computing in a mobile world in 2016
In a constantly evolving world transformed by cloud, social and mobile technologies, companies are focused on strategic platforms for streamlining processes, reaching customers and expanding sales. Cloud computing has been—and will continue to be—a big player in the game, impacting every aspect of our business processes. Global spending on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is expected to reach $16.5 billion this year, while the global Software as a Service (SaaS) market is projected to grow to $67 billion by 2018. So what lies ahead for 2016 and beyond? Here are three facts you should know about cloud computing:
Going hybrid is not just for cars
—Companies looking for enterprise cloud solutions no longer want to be forced to choose between their datacenter and the cloud. Businesses require a flexible IT infrastructure that can scale on demand. A hybrid cloud solution offers both. With a private cloud in a company’s datacenter, it can be more agile and manage resources more effectively. Given this fact, it’s no surprise that private cloud adoption increased from 63 percent to 77 percent, driving hybrid cloud adoption up from 58 percent to 71 percent year-over-year. This has allowed companies to take advantage of service providers that offer cloud storage, backup and recovery options with increased efficiency and reduced cost.
Internet of Things (IoT) = cloud-based services
—From vehicles and security systems, to refrigerators and washing machines, every “thing” is now connected. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), by 2018, there will be 22 billion IoT devices installed, driving the development of over 200,000 new apps and services. This has produced a new generation of platforms, which will eventually all communicate via the cloud. From pre-configured solutions that accelerate IoT projects, to the ability to connect devices to efficiently manage multiple assets with expandable scalability, to gathering valuable IoT data and capturing insights that integrate with existing business systems—there are a wealth of possibilities when it comes to using cloud-based services to jumpstart and manage IoT offerings.
There’s a native app for that
—Experts estimate cloud apps will account for a whopping 90 percent of worldwide mobile data traffic by 2019. That means time savings and efficiency are the name of the game when it comes to the application development process. With cloud-native apps reducing overall development time by 11.6 percent, many companies are choosing cloud-development strategies to streamline processes and boost collaboration. Growing alongside this trend are cloud app containers. They’ve emerged as an attractive way for developers to quickly and efficiently build and deploy these “born-in-the cloud” applications. By using containers, developers and IT professionals can deploy applications from a workstation to a server in mere seconds. And they can select from Windows Server containers, Linux containers and Hyper-V containers—both in the cloud and on-premises.
There’s no question—the cloud has been a game changer. With innovative security measures and a better understanding of cloud computing, more and more companies are relying heavily on cloud-based apps and platforms to boost customer demand strategies. Today’s cloud provides layers of security features and operational best practices, not to mention enterprise-grade user and admin controls to further secure an environment, beckoning companies to take advantage of a holistic, agile platform that is also secure.
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