Google's Cloud Event favored over AWS Summits Mar 25-26, 2014

I was in SF this week for three days of conference and meetings.   I didn’t make it to the Google Cloud Event.  I did go to the AWS Summit.  My friends who went to the Google Cloud event said great things about the event and how good the party was.  The same friends and I agreed the AWS Summit Keynote was so boring.  There were hundreds of people who walked out of the keynote.  Why?  The AWS event spent time explaining the AWS stack, going over every component.

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There were friends online were making fun of the presentation being so boring.  This presentation could have been made at a Gartner conference, and even included Gartner quotes

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This messaging made sense given the big push was for Amazon Workspaces.

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If you want to see how boring the AWS Summit Keynote was you can watch the video along with the other 763 views.

Or you can watch the Google Cloud video with the other 6,266 views.

I am taking the time to watch Urs.  Good stuff if you want to develop some Cloud apps.  If I watched the AWS I would probably fall asleep listening to how AWS is right for the Enterprise.

 

 

New Data Center Analyst at 451 Research - Dan Harrington

The data center community is a small one, yet important and whose influence in the industry continues to grow.  One of the new arrivals to the Data Center Analyst community is Dan Harrington with 451 Research.  I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Dan and he has a solid understanding of how the data center works.  Here is Dan’s LinkedIn profile.

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Daniel Harrington

Research Manager, Enterprise Datacenters at 451 Research

Dan worked on IT Capacity Planning at Pfizer, then Research Analyst at IDC.  He moved out to Seattle to work for Microsoft in a few positions and he is moving back to Boston to join the 451 Research team working on Enterprise Data Centers.

What is Happening in the European Cloud Market? GigaOm Research Report

I work for GigaOm Research part time and have had a chance to meet Paul Miller another researcher who covers the Cloud and is based out of the UK. Paul and I have discussed the similarities and differences between the US and European Cloud market.  Many of the insights Paul has shared is available to those of you who subscribe to GigaOm Research.  Here is a link to Paul’s report published yesterday.

 

Sector RoadMap: the European cloud infrastructure market

by
Mar. 26, 2014
1Executive Summary

Companies looking to adopt public cloud infrastructure for use in Europe must navigate a complex set of choices in selecting the best service for their needs. The scale, price, and continuing innovation of U.S.-based market leaders such as Amazon, Rackspace, and Microsoft are compelling but undermined to a degree by data protection concerns and last year’s revelations of National Security Agency (NSA) snooping. Less-visible European providers may offer the perception of greater security, a network of data centers more closely aligned to the distribution of customers across the continent, and a support operation better suited to European cultural and linguistic diversity.

This Sector RoadMapTM identifies and categorizes the principal disruption vectors at play in this market segment and profiles a set of the significant solution providers in the space.

Amongst the companies surveyed, those with a strong multi-site European presence found themselves at an immediate advantage. Security and data territoriality remain significant concerns, particularly in Europe, but each of the providers discussed here has a credible position with respect to securing customer data inside the European Economic Area. The clearest point of differentiation for many customers lies in the strength of the partner ecosystem and the extent of interoperability with other systems. Current global market leader Amazon Web Services dominates in both of these vectors for now.

Health and Wealth risks are Driving Movement of China's Talent Pool

In the past there was a large wave of companies who rushed into China.  Over the last few years though there have been more employees who refuse to stay because of concerns of their health.  Not a significant issue to most, but when the China natives decide to leave due to concerns of their health and now their wealth that is of concern.

CNN reports on Chinese who are choosing to leave because of risks to their wealth and health.

Many are leaving China for reasons like education, food and wealth security and air quality.
Many are leaving China for reasons like education, food and wealth security and air quality.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • China sees 8.5 million mainly middle-class living abroad with less than 10% moving in
  • Paper in China calls exodus "the world's worst brain drain"

Hong Kong (CNN) -- "Culture is not the main reason why most Chinese people leave. This is a romantic view. Most people leave China because of practical reasons like education, food and wealth security and air quality."

 

 

Analyst are even making the observation.

Health is wealth

Meanwhile, unbridled economic growth has brought a string of food and environmental scares in its wake. Smog from pollution has reached levels hazardous to human health and blanketed the capital Beijing and much of northeast China in recent months, prompting Premier Li Keqiang to declare a "war on pollution."

Those who can afford to exit are considering their options very seriously.

"High net earners cite wealth preservation, education for their children, food and environmental security as the main reasons for considering investment immigration,"

said Jennifer Zeng, a private wealth expert from management consulting firm Bain & Company.

Can you see the Impact of Spelling Errors in your Systems? Boston Bomber's Misspelling of Name Allowed him to Slip Past Security

So many of our systems are dependent on data entry.  And thanks to spell checker’s it seems like there are more spelling errors rather than less.  At least you notice them more as the computer makes a mistake.  People make spelling errors all the time.  Big deal.  Well it is a big deal when it allows the Boston Bomber to be free.

Spelling mistake let Boston bomber slip by U.S. intelligence

Misspelling of "Tsarnaev" in a cable reminds us that human error haunts even the fiercest national security state

  

TOPICS: TAMERLAN TSARNAEV, DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV, BOSTON BOMBING, MISSPELLING, FBI, CIA,BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING, FSB, RUSSIA, CHECHNYA, 

Spelling mistake let Boston bomber slip by U.S. intelligenceTamerlan Tsarnaev(Credit: AP)

A new congressional report addresses how the Tsarnaev brothers — responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings — were able to evade FBI capture, despite warnings from Russia about the brothers as potentially dangerous.

The truth — somewhat chilling in our age of advanced technocapital and surveillance — is that the bombers were missed because of sheer human error. A spelling mistake let Tamerlan Tsarnaev slip through the intelligence net. As Reuters reports:

In September 2011, the FSB sent a cable to the CIA, restating the warnings of the first memo [about the Chechen's militant links]. NBC News quoted sources close to the congressional investigation as saying a second note about Tsarnaev was entered into the TECS system the next month, but spelled his name “Tsarnayev.”

Bet you so many big data systems are hampered by spelling errors that gets data rejected.  Seems kind of simple to focus on data entry errors, but it is not sexy.