Are Apple Devices Secure from Cyber Spying?

My friend who is a security expert showed me his new Apple iPad 2 fully loaded with 64GB RAM; I wondered with such a large global fan following "Are Apple devices secure from cyber spying ?".
A search on the web did throw out a number of security issues with Apple devices, I share some of the concerns raised in the last quarter of 2011.
a. Why You Shouldn’t Use H1Siri
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/12/06/why-not-to-use-h1siri/
b. GERMAN LEADERS QUESTION APPLE’S MOTIVES OVER USE OF CARRIER IQ
http://www.idevicenews.org/german-leaders-question-apples-motives-over-use-of-carrier-iq/225018/
c.Jailbreak 5.0.1 Untethered (iOS 5) – iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad, iPod Touch 4G, 3G
http://www.jailbreaknation.com/jailbreak-ios-5-5.0.1-untethered-iphone-4-3gs-ipad-ipod-touch-4g-3g
d. Here are some important concerns of NIST before the US Government adopts Apple Devices
1.NIST Tests Ways To Secure iPhones, iPads
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/231300033
2. Vulnerability Summary for CVE-2011-3432
http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2011-3432
Though these security issues are barriers I am sure Apple will fix them quickly .
The key security concern is the Nexus between an US Company (A Democracy) and China ( Communist); Apple has on all its devices "Designed by Apple in California USA Assembled in China.

Original vs Fake Apple both Made in China , courtesy
http://techielobang.com/blog/2009/05/13/this-is-not-an-iphone-video-within/

How does Apple ensure that the firmware and the software loaded by its Chinese suppliers are Secure? Apple's track record in standing up to the Chinese has not been spectacular, it bent backwards on the Dalai Lama issues by blocking all reference to the Dalai Lama on its devices sold in China, its security team seems to be drawn from Pfizer's Viagra team, hopefully making their efforts potent http://www.phonearena.com/news/Apples-counterfeits-team-powered-by-the-Viagra-security-force_id21785 A web search could not provide answers for the above question neither did Apples website or from other security forums address these concerns. 
The big concern is are users of Apple devices secure from the Chinese collecting data from their devices? As corporate and governments  migrate to Apple devices they maybe vulnerable to the Chinese who  are  leaders in espionage and cyber spying.

New Year Resolution to Quit Smoking ?

Seasons Greetings and  Good Luck in 2012.

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Like a Lotus may you have peace, transcendence, enlightenment, rebirth, beauty, and fertility in 2012"][/caption]

If you are a smoker or want to help a smoker keep up one's New Year Resolution to Quit Smoking then you need help from WhyQuit.

I have never been a smoker but I have seen many friends succumb to the joys of tobacco, somehow of them have quit but many quit the habit only when the God Lord decided their time in this world was over.

In later November I was invited as a motivational speaker in Chennai when one of the participants Prince Rajarathinam came up to me and told me he had quit smoking after many failed attempts thanked the Why Quit site for motivating him to quit the habit finally.

I am sure this site will be useful to help you to  Quit Smoking which you may want add to your New Year Resolutions.

Here is the link to the website  :  http://whyquit.com/

And when you quit smoking send an email to prajarathinam@ho.netaccess-india.com .

All the best in Banishing nicotine from your lifestyle in 2012.

Financial Exchanges Forecast 2012

Seasons Greetings and  Good Luck in 2012.

1. Many Financial Exchanges will declare bankruptcy in 2012 creating a flurry of transnational merger of exchanges.

2. Financial Exchanges will move their trading engines to a shared technology infrastructure like cloud computing to bring down their technology cost.

3. Rating Agencies will play a major role by stabilizing global equity markets after the regulator tames their independence by introducing reforms in their rating methodologies.

4. Cloud will be predominantly used for algorithmic and similar computer driven trading, which will make markets operations  cost effective and profitable. 

5. SAAS (Software as a Service Models) will emerge for financial exchanges to use as a service, though it may face resistance from regulators, but this paradigm shift will make technology solutions for financial trading engines a commodity with a Opex budget and will find large scale adoptions by exchanges globally in but developed and developing markets.

6. Traders will stay ahead of Regulators and Exchanges and will continue to make money thus sustaining  the joys and rewards of trading in financial markets.

Cloud Forecast 2012

Cloud forecast for 2012 

Cloud Computing will spread like this Banyan Tree Nourishing Computing Globally. 

1. Amazon and Microsoft will lead, and Cisco, HP, IBM and others will have a tough fight for the third place in the Cloud Computing Business. 

2. Thousands of SAAS Mobile Applications will be launched using the cloud in 2012, you could even have applications for monitoring your dogs health and diet, including posting photos and similar applications.
3. There will be a number of outages among smaller cloud service providers and this will lead to tighter regulation of cloud computing and also trigger a wave of Mergers with stronger cloud service providers.
4. Cyber Attacks will increase many fold using the cloud as the base for launching these attacks, Security professionals will need to gear for many sleepless nights in 2012 to stay ahead of the cyber criminals.
5. Business Leaders will aggressively bring cloud adoption mainstream and it will be a great year for businesses to save costs and cloud service providers will make windfall profits.
6. A number of cloud computing companies will go public by mid 2012 creating wealth for these pioneers in cloud computing services.
Seasons Greetings and  Good Luck in 2012.

Compliance Chokes Cloud Adoption

Cloud Computing provides Agility, Economy, Speed and much more but it cannot be adopted with the Regulator's support.
Lack of guidance for compliance has choked Cloud Adoption and has made cloud adoption similar to  climbing a steep Rock with no guidance.
.

Cloud Adoption is like Climbing a Steep Rock !

It is time for the Regulator to understand the Cloud Benefits, overcome its fears on Privacy and Security and provide guidelines for Adoption.
Let 2012 be the year when Regulators support cloud adoption by providing compliance guidelines and may business and the customer benefit by Cloud Adoption.
Are the Regulators Listening ?
Let  healthcare, banking, insurance, financial service and other regulated business benefit and server it customers better with the Regulators support and guidance for Compliance in the Cloud.

Rating Agencies and the Boy who cried Wolf

These days Rating Agencies seem to be more the story of the Boy who cried Wolf,  here is the story http://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/boy.html

The Rating Agencies today are like the Squirrel in this picture - Insignificant 

There was a  time when even a sniffle by the rating agencies would send a chill down the spine of nations and financial institutions. But thanks to a few mistimed moves the rating agencies are seen more as Squirrels burrowing away rather then Messengers of Risk.
Last month the Rating Agencies threatened to downgrade the rating of the European countries, but surprise was the European Markets rallied back with scant disregard to the threats of the rating agencies.
It is time for the Rating Agencies to act and cry Wolf only when required rather than like the Boy in the story. Else when financial catastrophe descends the rating agencies would not have Rung the Alarm Bells on Time or even if they did everyone would ignore them.
It is time for the Rating Agencies to Roar like a Lion and be effective and be heard and reckoned. Time for them to get their act together and also bring back their credibility in 2012.

A Bicycle called Life

Our life's lessons are learnt when we learn to ride a bicycle in our youth.
We start with someone helping us to balance by supporting us and then we learn to balance the cycle and then Bang we fall down.
We have  bruised shins and a few scrapes but our enthusiasm put us back on the saddle and we are back to learning to cycle.
Life too is a cycle, we make mistakes and we fall, but we must never be scared to pull ourselves up and get back into the game of life.
Sometimes the cycle wobbles, so is life, we are not always on a steady course, but we learn to hold our head true and travel through the rough roads in our life.



The Rally of life too holds its challenges, but never give up, sometimes we need an overhaul  like a bicycle, take time off to pull yourself together and start your journey again. Remember how we used to pedal furiously to climb a hill and the sheer joy of rolling down with hands free and legs in the air, Tribulations in life too are hills which when surmounted bring us joy and rewards.

Never give up on the journey called life, enjoy ever day as a new day, forget the baggage and failures of the past, move on with a new vigor and energy just like you would every morning when you sat on the saddle of your bicycle.

Life is a Bicycle, learn to stay on top and in balance and if you ever fall down pick yourself again and get on with your life. Life is too short to brood and ponder about the past. Enjoy your life and may it be filled with fulfillment and happiness.

Business will Lead Cloud Computing Adoption in 2012

The Business will lead cloud computing adoption in 2012 and beyond.

Just like ERP adoption was led by business and not the EDP manager , cloud computing adoption will be led by the Business and not the CIO/CTO.

If you do not learn how to ride the cloud computing horse, then you are doomed to be trampled under their hooves, learn to adapt to business.

Unless Technology leaders learn to change their stripes quickly and improve their trust and knowledge on cloud computing they stand to be drowned in the cloud computing deluge which is waiting to be unleashed in the coming years.

CIO/CTO/ Die Hard Technology non believers, convert and repent and adopt cloud computing else you will be swept away into insignificance like the old EDP Manager .

Welcome 2012 with the belief and conviction that Cloud Computing and Business will tango together just like the two horses in the picture.

Add Cloud Computing Adoption as the No 1 item in your TO DO list for 2012!

Need for KYC Bureaus in India

Today's Times of India newspaper, Mumbai, published an article "Common KYC for all financial products" .

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Common-KYC-for-all-financial-products/articleshow/10788805.cms

I share my thoughts about the need for KYC Bureaus in India.

Need for KYC Bureaus in India

L.S.Subramanian

Summary:
This article justifies the immediate need for Centralized National KYC Bureaus in India and proposes an outline for their operations and regulations and deliverable. It also recommends that the Government of India bring KYC Bureaus into operation through The Reserve Bank of India by allowing the existing four licensed credit Bureaus namely CIBIL, Experian Credit Information Co. of India Pvt. Ltd, Equifax Credit Information Services Pvt. Ltd and High Mark Credit Information Services Pvt. Ltd. to also operate as Centralized and Automated National KYC Bureaus. It is also proposed to mandate use of two fingerprints for Biometric identification.

Background to KYC:

Knowing your customer – KYC- has become a strong focus of attention in recent years within the Banking and Financial services space, as the Indian Government and Financial organization being to view KYC as a critical, proactive measure against financial crime rather than just another compliance burden.

KYC compliance regulation has been proactive in making it mandatory for KYC norms for various financial transactions including Banking, Insurance, Mutual Funds, Depositories, Stock Market Intermediaries, Pension Fund Managers and host of other Financial Institutions.

Why KYC:
The various terrorist attacks in India and elsewhere in the world has revealed that there are sinister forces at work and that terrorist activities are funded with laundered money, the proceeds of illicit activities such as narcotics and human trafficking ,fraud and organized crime. The combating of terrorist financing has become a priority of Indian and rest of the world. Hence the financial services provider “Knowing your customer” was no longer a suggested course of action since Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance mandates were created by the Indian Government to combat money laundering and the funding of terrorist activities.

What is KYC?
Know Your Customer or KYC refers to the regulatory compliance mandate imposed on financial service providers to implement a Customer Identification Program and perform due diligence checks before doing business with a person or entity. KYC fulfills a risk mitigation function and one of its key requirements are checking that a prospective customer is not listed on any government lists for wanted money launders known fraudsters or terrorists.

Beyond customer identification checks, the ongoing monitoring of transfers and financial transactions against a range of risk variables forms an integral part of the KYC mandate.

Origins of KYC Compliance:
The arrival of the new millennium was marred by a spate of terrorist attacks and corporate scandals that unmasked the darker features of globalization. These events highlighted the role of money laundering in cross-border crime and terrorism, and underlined the need to clamp down on the exploitation of financial systems worldwide.

KYC legislation was principally not absent prior to this era, regulated financial service providers for a long time have been required to conduct due diligence and customer identification checks in order to mitigate their own operation risks, and to ensure a consistent and acceptable level of service.
In essence, the new KYC Laws are not so much a radical departure from self regulated industry practices as it was a firmer and more rigorous regulation of a greater range of financial services providers, and expanded the authority of the law enforcement agencies and regulators in the fighting of terrorism and other anti social activities in India and globally.

KYC Compliance and Cost Implications for Business:
The KYC compliance mandate, for all its positive outcomes, has burdened companies and organizations with a substantial administrative obligation. Additionally, KYC compliance increasingly entails the creation of auditable proof of due diligence activities, in additionto the need for customer identification.
In order to meet KYC compliance requirements, financial institutions must:

1. Verify that customers are not or have not been involved in illegal activities such as fraud, money laundering or organized crime.

2. Verify a prospective client’s identity.

3. Maintain proof of the steps taken to identify their identity.

4. Establish whether a prospective customer is listed on any sanctions lists in connection with suspected terrorist activities, money laundering, fraud or other crimes.

The KYC verification rules place a big financial burden on Banks, Insurance Companies, Mutual Funds due to costs involved on doing a KYC Verification. The centralized KYC Bureau will reduce the transactional costs for the KYC verification.

Stricter customer due diligence laws have forced financial institutions to increase compliance efforts in this area - leading to escalating compliance expenses at a time when the sector can least afford these additional costs.

There is a business need for Centralized and Automated National KYC Bureaus with current information technology that can drive cost savings while ensuring best practice . We are confident that the Finance Ministry of the Government of India will take the lead in ensuring that these KYC Bureaus are operational at the Earliest. The KYC Bureau will also be effective in preventing identity theft fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing.

Approach:
The setting up of a KYC Bureau will allow a customer to be registered and screened by the KYC Bureau only once, thus reducing the burden on the customer to go through the KYC Process multiple times.
Validation of the norms can be done once in five years after registration unless there is a change in the customer like death, migration, address change, change in marital status, and change of income, change of employer or any criminal charges.

Process:
Once the KYC Bureau has a customer registered it will give the customer a unique Customer Identification Number (CIN) and also a KYC Smart Card with his name, address and other key details like date of Birth and biometric details in the smart card. The detail profile of the customer can be accessed by the participating bank/financial services company with access to data for the KYC verification required by its regulator.
The KYC Bureaus will conduct the KYC verification and will also retain the personal data of the customer including biometric information. The KYC Bureau will maintain all ensure data required by various regulators of the Banking Sector, Financial Services Sector like Insurance, Financial Markets Mutual Funds and Pension Funds are addressed at the time of collecting Customer Data.
Participating companies can pay the Bureau on a transaction based model or fixed cost model for verifying the KYC requirements of the customer, the tariffs can be decided by the Regulator.

Information Technology in a Centralized National Credit Bureaus

Information Technology will be the key driver for a cost effective, secure and reliable solution for national KYC Bureaus. The Information technology driven solutions will reduce the look-up times, eliminate the need for analysts to manage multiple data sources and will enable smarter risk-rating so that the riskiest customers get the most attention.

Financial institutions of all sizes are seeking these features in their efforts to hold down the resource-consuming processes entailed in KYC - from Customer Identification Programs (CIP) to ongoing Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) which are all required to make KYC effective.

Many institutions are still bogged down with manual and error-prone processes, while large firms face inefficiencies caused by the sheer volume of searches required, incompatible software in different lines of business, and redundant or duplicative tasks. Today’s Information Technology driven solutions will help in overcoming these hurdles for cost effective, reliable and secure KYC verification. This will translate into saving time and improving risk controls.KYC process driven by Information technology solutions will allow innovation and streamline in regulatory risk to help financial institutions improve productivity and protect hundreds of millions of customer accounts from money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes

The challenges to complying with KYC are numerous:
Multiple data sources are needed for the solution, including internal and external information that is both structured and unstructured. Both automated and manual methods of collection of information are required. Potentially complex risk scoring algorithms must be highly customizable
KYC requirements change frequently, due both to internal policy changes and external mandates.
Filing Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) is one of the most difficult, complex compliance responsibilities financial institutions have. A KYC Bureau will be able to deal with this in a more effective and efficient manner and provide unbiased and independent reports.
A technology solution to these identified problems is a single centralized national system that stores all biometric and associated biographic data that is needed for customer identification. Biometric data and associated biographic data are used by the KYC Bureau to conduct background checks, facilitate smart card production, and accurately identify individuals.
The systems will capture biometric data from individuals to facilitate three key operational functions: Creating a “for life: unique bio-identification number; Conducting fingerprint-based background checks; Verifying an individual’s identity; and Producing identity cards/documents.

The centralized national KYC bureau will operate a secure data center which will offer centralized storage and management area for customer information provided by various financial institutions and governmental agencies. The KYC bureau will host customer information including but not limited to customer fingerprints, photos and KYC information. In certain instances data concerning financial institutions and customer lending amounts will also be stored. Information relating to suspicious individuals will be accumulated centrally and then shared across the financial platform as batch info to banks and real-time identification information to Banks and other related lending institutions and credit bureaus.

Information in this system will be safeguarded in accordance with applicable laws and policies, including the information technology Act security policies. All records are will be protected from unauthorized access through appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards. These safeguards will include restricting access to only authorized personnel who have a need-to-know, using locks, and password protection features. The system will be protected through a multi-layer security approach.
The protective strategies will be physical, technical, administrative and environmental in nature, which provide access control to sensitive data, physical access control to the storage facilities, confidentiality of communications, authentication of sending parties, and personnel screening to ensure that all personnel with access to data are screened through background investigations commensurate with the level of access required to perform their duties.
The KYC bureaus will possess a comprehensive and complete system, including hardware and software as well as a complete team of system experts to manage and assist in populating the database. A management transactional fee is applicable for every transaction been performed and is negotiable on a n end user specific basis as authorized by the Regulator.

KYC Bureaus will also provide the current count of participants in the Indian Financial Markets because of the unique Customer Identification Number as against the multiple counting done today by the industry of the same customer.

KYC Bureaus will be an excellent Repository of Customer and with the right data mining tools it will assist Regulators and Law Enforcers by providing a unified view of various participants in the financial markets.

Sanction and Deployment of the KYC Bureau will have a positive impact on the India’s Country Rating by Global Rating Agencies, thus giving the country an opportunity to raise funds at lower costs.

The Biometric identity in the Smart Card will help the financial services business user to quickly verify the customers KYC status and also review the audit log of financial transactions if required.

KYC Bureaus will be cost effective solution for Businesses to Comply with the various Government and Industry Regulatory Requirements..

KYC Bureaus will reduce the risk and opportunities of fraud and money laundering

Improved efficiency and speed of KYC verification will be delivered via automation

Decreased cost of KYC compliance will allow Businesses to focus on their Core Competence.

The time is now for India to launch a KYC Bureau and make life easier for its citizens.

Choosing Cloud Vendors - Find a Cloud Evangelist

Choosing cloud vendors is like finding a white bird in the picture, it needs skill, knowledge and passion to find the best solution.\You need to be sure the vendor has the ability to provide a solution that blends with your business needs.
Cloud computing without value does not add value to the business or to the technology leader.
Irrespective of what you want to do in the cloud, you need ot remember it is a shared service and you will have to compromise.
Using cloud services is like riding a Tandem cycle, all riders need to balance to get the tandem cycle moving and remember you will reach your destination based on the ability and needs of all the riders.
In dedicated data centers you rode your own bicycle and you called the shots, but in the cloud you need to be malleable and ductile and ever amorphous when needed and metamorphise into a tandem rider :-).
This is a qualatative change in handling vendors, it is first important for you to understand what the vendors cloud services can do for your business before even short listing probable vendors.
A cloud evangelist will be useful to help you in your journey, the evangelist is able to assist you in choosing the right vendor for your cloud needs and thus your time to market is faster and the risk of failure is minimized.
All vendors will advise you, but the vendors will always evangilize their cloud services and solution.
Wherea an evangelist's first love is cloud computing the second your business needs and hence the best friend and advisor for your journey into- the cloud.
So make sure you have a cloud evangelist working with you when you choose your cloud vendor and do post your experience in this blog .
All the best for change of gear into your journey into the cloud; may you be blessed with benign thunder and energizing lightening and an awesome Cloud Messiah (evangelist) to hold your hands through the journey in choosing the cloud vendor.

Bangalore gets Elevated ↑ Namma Metro.

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Namma Metro Logo on the left hand top corner of this picture at MG Road station."]

[/caption]

Indiranagar 100 Feet Road Revisted

Last week I was in Bangalore again and was on the 100 feet road Indiranagar before day break on a walk with my sister.
The weather was beautiful and with a good amount of chill in the air after the earlier nights rain.
Nature had taken upon herself to clean the roads and remaining trees on the 100 feet road, everything was looking freshly minted.
The pavements are not fit for walking, was surprised to see such poor engineering in India's  Silicon Valley.
So most walkers walk on the road and we too decide to follow in a single file, which meant limited conversation with my sister.
My sister showed me the site where some early morning walkers were mowed down by a speeding car a few months ago.
The positive was the presence of policemen patrolling the area, this was reassuring, kudos to the Bangalore Police for their constant vigil.
A young  biker skidded on a T junction and within minutes the police came on a motorcycle and began investigations.
There were more stumps of the  chopped trees , one stump had ferns planted on it, maybe a tribute to the dead tree  since it was Ash Wednesday.
The side streets of Indiranagar still retain their pristine beauty with trees which have still not met the power of the AXE as yet, the question is how long.
The trees around the metro route have been retained which was reassuring  exception I am told was when the poor tree stood on the way of the metro.

[caption id="attachment_168" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The city transforms from sleepy Bangalore to Vibrant Bengaluru!"][/caption]

The 100 feet road today seems to be a hot spot for chain snatching especially among women walkers and the police ask the women to walk with no jewellery.
This visit I accepted that the old Bangalore  was also dying just like the trees of the 100 feet road and in its place was springing up a Mega city.
My only prayer was that Bangalore still retain its soul and beautiful climate in this wanton growth of this once garden city of India.
RIP old Bangalore, Welcome to the World Bengaluru the new Global Mega City.

A quick link to my earlier blog post on this stretch of Bengaluru/Bangalore.
http://subramanianls.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/bangalore-musings-100-feet-road-indiranagar/http://subramanianls.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/indiranagar-100-feet-road-in-pictures/

Digital Garbage in the Cloud

Earlier this week I was at my brothers birthday celebrations and I counted 20 digital cameras in a crowd of 60 people, and maybe an equal number of cameras on the mobile devices .

The shutterbugs were busy creating digital footprints of their presence in the party and also recording the event for posterity.

Set the clock back by three decades when we had the Kodak Instamatic as the camera of choice with 16/24/32 photos on film, subsequently the polaroid and then the SLR cameras.

Photography needed patience, money and expertise and was not a shutterbug activity.

Photos were an art of craft and photography was an expensive hobby.

These days you can click as many photos as you can, there are no limits, you can also shoot digital videos until you run out battery or memory in your camera (not film :-).

I would estimate about fifty digital photos in each camera and there were 20 cameras, which adds up to about 1000 digital photos. Each digital photo is about 20kb in size, so 20,000 KB of data was created by this small event.

The avid shutterbugs need to clean their cameras and share with the world the party and their art on Google+. Facebook, Picasa, Tweeter, blogs and other cloud services which offer free digital storage. Most of the photos will remain in the cloud again to be shared and distributed among friends and family and after a while at rest when the next event is captured by the shutterbug.

This is the new Digital Garbage, photos, email, documents, digital artifacts of any nature, all pushed into the cloud in a state of rest.

How long will the cloud service providers bear the cost of archiving digital garbage in the cloud,imagine the cost of storing this data securely and safely. It is time that companies made users pay for retaining their digital garbage in the cloud.

Let us raise a toast to clutter free Cloud environment.

Photo Courtesy : Ajay Gopal

RIP Public Cloud Computing Adoption

Sunset of Public Cloud Adoption

Public cloud computing adoption has slowed down especially in Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS).

The big hardware and data center companies have been aggressively pushing private and hybrid clouds to retain their marketing share.

Fewer data centers are being closed and the Board is informed that the organization is already using cloud computing.

The private and hybrid cloud allows the IT leader to maintain status quo, declare to the world that the cloud adoption is complete in a secure environment.

Bigger and more efficient data centers will be built for private clouds, when you have your private cloud you are more secure, the public cloud means you have delegated your data and security to a third party.

The CEO is delighted now he has a private jet and also a new technology acquisition one's own Private Cloud :-).

The Compliance and IT Governance teams will continue to push for private clouds, it keeps everyone employed the IT Team and the compliance team; blame it on Security and Governance of the Cloud.

The system integrator, data center equipment vendor and the IT industry are delighted with the deployment of the Private Cloud and will continue to push for the private clouds and additional benefits will include green computing and secure computing environment.

RIP Public Cloud Computing Adoption!

The Markets Will Bounce Back

The global economy will bounce back by end of this year, and it will be business as usual in the financial markets.

Many jobs will be shed and a lean and mean workforce will bring back normalcy in the markets by end of this year.

There is no alternative, if business as usual is not achieved in financial markets the world will plummet into a self destruct mode.

Political leaders across the world will bury their differences and make concessions and compromise their economies to put back the financial markets and the global economy back on track.

The good days will be back again for the survivors in the financial sector, for those who have been annexed it will be a new career, though many will return as the markets gain momentum.

The Bulls are the Losers , the Bears are the Winners.

Is it Pyrrhic Victory for Financial Markets ? (#OWS)

The past decade has seen major upheavals in the financial markets especially Banks, Rating Agencies and Hedge Funds and also in internationals organizations like the IMF. It has been a bloody cocktail of greed, power and sex.

Many financial leaders have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, some have hired the best lawyers and have set themselves free, the regulators struggle to bring order given the clout of the players in the Financial Markets.

Financial Markets have had numerous bailouts all across the world from governments and political leaders who have supported the status quo instead of stepping in to stem the rot that has set in the financial markets.

Suddenly free markets and capitalism do not seem sexy, rather We the people have stepped into the streets and are advocating Socialism again.
The global Occupy Wall Street Protests highlight the anarchy being faced by common citizens and highlight the divide between the haves and have not.
Suddenly America which exported Arab Spring to democratize the world finds itself in a spot when it feels the heat of protests and is clumsy in handling the crisis.
Is it a Pyrrhic Victory for the Financial Markets which have been dodging reform and stricter regulation for more then a decade?

(Pyrrhic Victory : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)

Bringing In Voluntary Change will be an Uphill Task

(Photo courtesy :Ajay Kumar)

It is time for the Financial Markets to voluntary change their attitude and bring in more transparency and self regulation in their operations rather then wait for the regulator and the layman to tell them what to do.
Else global free financial markets which has propelled the world in nurturing innovation and sustaining excellence is on a self destruct mode!

Blackberry Outage strengthens the Bond between RIM and Business

Blackberry has become the standard for business mobility today be it a SOHO, SMB or Enterprise.There are many outstanding features that make Blackberry Business's favorite mobile device a few key features are:
a. Innovation
b. Reliability
c. Security
d. Business Applications
e. Ease of Use.
BB eats breathes and lives Business in its phones and also provides awesome compliance which has resulted in Bond based on TRUST between RIM & Business.
This weeks BB outage would not have affected Business that had reliable Business Continuity Plans; rather  the BB disruption has been a good test of their business continuity planning and technology resilience in adversity.
BB has gone beyond messaging, the BB devices today support some of the most intuitive business applications for quick deployment and acclimatization.
Business leaders will return to their Blackberry Phones with a vengeance this weekend and those that deserted Blackberry in this crisis should review their Business Continuity Plans and get back to their BB devices.
The Blackberry Outage has strengthened the bond between RIM and Business. 

SAP Business ByDesign - agile and different

I had an opportunity to explore SAP Business ByDesign the new offering from SAP which bundles agility, adaptability and on demand deployment in the cloud.
It was wonderful to see the new avatar of SAP and to discuss their strategy in delivering business solutions from the cloud.

The  Agile and Different Avatar of SAP will rain in prosperity for Business. 

(Photo courtesy Ajay Kumar) 

Surprise was there was no reference to ERP in their brochures or by their sales people. the SAP Business ByDesign is a business collaboration tool, which is flexible and can be customized and rolled out in weeks rather then in months. 

This is really fresh breeze blowing from Germany in the month of Oktoberfest.

Accelerated adoption by business of this solution will bring business agility and strategic advantage to them. 

“Bharat Badal” National Cloud Computing for Rural India

India lives in its villages" - Mahatma Gandhi.

Background

This is article espouses the need for building a “Bharat Badal” a national cloud computing infrastructure for India which will benefit the rural India and bring the information technology within its grasp.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal Management effort or service provider interaction.

Cloud computing transforms computer processing, data storage, and software applications, allowing them to be delivered as a utility. Just like people tap into existing infrastructure for water or power, companies can now tap into a variety of services - applications, platforms, raw computing power and storage - all via the Internet. 

Key Drivers of Cloud Computing

The key drivers of cloud computing are:

–      Cloud is a Disruptive Technology.

–      Citizens will benefit from faster, cheaper, better and reliable applications on the cloud.

–      Economic Value Addition will be the  Driver for Cloud Adoption.

–      New cloud service models will emerge to drive growth and reduce costs.

–      Get educated first, educate government leaders second and then identify the cloud strategy for the citizen.

–      The Cloud will mature into a commodity pushing down prices of services.

Rural India:

The real India lives in its villages and smaller towns and therein lies the future of India; some of drivers are : 

•          Rural India constitutes 69% of India’s population.

•          86% of Rural population earns less than Rs. 100 per day

Here are   some highlights from the IMRB/I-Cube report  (as of March 2008) ; India’s ‘Rural population: 568m; Rural Literate Population: 368m; Rural English-Speaking Population: 63m; Rural Computer Literates: 15.1m; Rural Claimed Internet Users: 5.5m; Active internet users: 3.3m The opportunity is that there  are more mobile phones than Radio in Rural India (100million subscriber base).

Rural India has been ignored for more than 60 years and the Cloud will bring the change that is required to bridge the divide between rural India and urban India and will improve the Indian rural economy.

The government of India through BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd)  is providing broadband connectivity up to the Taluk level which makes data connectivity a reality for rural India, this will allow rural India to log into the cloud.

Cloud is Gandhi Engineering

The term “Gandhi engineering" was used by NY Times in an article on the Tata’s Nano and it defines Gandhi Engineering as “a mantra that combines irreverence toward established ways with a scarcity mentality that spurns superfluities”

The cloud computing is a marvel of Gandhi engineering and encompasses  

Low cost ; High operational efficiency ;  Elasticity  and Scalability.

Advantages of Cloud Computing for Rural India

•       Low start-up costs make cloud computing especially attractive for rural India.

•       Ease of management. No worry about keeping licenses or for that matter power and air-conditioning to run the data centers or purchasing additional hardware.

•        Scalability make rapid rural penetration a reality; one can easily expand the number of users and locations at a modest cost  .

•       Device and location independence. The way you access a cloud could be your desktop. It could be someone else's computer. It could be a mobile phone. It could be a solar powered touch pad.

•       Lastly the BSNL broadband project for rural India will provide the data connectivity.

What can be done for Rural India using the Cloud

The cloud will allow information technology to be infused to the smallest hamlet of India and make access to information available to the poorest of the poor to give them a better life by empowering them with knowledge derived through the net book or mobile phone connected to the cloud.  The Cloud will make the following services affordable and accessible at a low cost:

–      Citizen Government Interface

–      Citizen Benefits

–      Weather Forecast

–      Banking & Money Transfer

–      Tele Medicine

–      Commodity /Stock Exchange Prices

–      KYC and Credit Bureaus

–      Agricultural Information

–      Citizen Interface Portals

–      Knowledge Sharing  & E learning

–      Real Time communication

Bharat (the rural name for India)  will benefit by taking the Cloud to Rural India because:

•       The cloud will drive down costs of e-Governance, Education, Medical Care & other Government computerization initiatives.

•       The cloud will bridge the great divide between Rich Urban India and Poor Rural India and will give the same level playing field to all Indians.

•       Lastly the cloud will enable non- English speaking literate Indians to join the information revolution and participate in governance and the future of the country by allowing them to transact on the web in the Indian language of their choice

 

Bharat Badal

India must work on a public private partnership to built of a National Cloud Infrastructure named as “Bharat Badal “ pan India with data centers in five cities, this can be subsequently expanded nationally by connecting to the cloud infrastructure built by the State Governments of India.

The cities where the cloud data centers could be located are  Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengalooru. 

The Bharat Cloud is the solution for empowering the non urban Indian citizens with the power of Information Technology.  

Bharat Cloud will ensure a prosperous and digitally connected India and will bring economic and knowledge growth across the nation and will also be instrumental in unifying India.

Note: This article was published by Information Week sometime ago. 

VC will fund SaaS Solutions in Cloud

As the global economy continues its roller coaster ride the VC has become selective in their funding. 

The one category which the VC will fund are Saas Solutions in the Cloud.

What is the criteria to attract the VC's interest and get the funds you badly need to grow your business.

Photo Courtesy Ajay Gopal.

1. You need a running application which is a SaaS solution in the cloud.

2. You must have an monthly income on the use of your solution with a projected growth of 50% quarter to quarter. 

3. The solution must be unique and if possible you must have a few patents or IPR on some processes. Thus creating a barrier for replication. 

5. It could be in any industry vertical or any consumer/corporate segment. 

If you meet the five criteria above the VC will be calling at your door with the cheque and for their share in growing your business.

You need a great SaaS solution idea which can be developed in the cloud and a credit card to buy cloud services and finally a small team to weave it all together on the cloud. 

All the best to your dreams and ambitions and if the VC does not fund you give me a call and if I like the idea I will fund your company. 

Footnote : Facebook is a SaaS solution in the cloud.

Cloud Appliance the Boat for Enterprise Cloud Computing

Cloud Appliances

A cloud appliance is an off the shelf computing  equipment delivered fully assembled and tested, with the software stack loaded and configured. When the appliance is connected to the power and network and turned on, it works. This is one of the easiest methods to build a private cloud as an IAAS deployment, so if you had three cloud appliances in three data centers and a network, all you need is to plug in the three cloud appliances and Presto you have an enterprise (private)  cloud. 

Cloud Appliance the Boat for Enterprise Cloud Computing

all photos in this blog courtesy Ajay Gopal (aj2z on Twitter)

Today's cloud appliance are more matured and can be deployed for connecting to the public cloud thus creating a hybrid cloud. So now you have your enterprise private cloud and you can connect to the large and powerful public cloud using the cloud appliance. 

This allows the the enterprise to use the cloud appliance as a boat to the public cloud and when the enterprise is ready it can discard its own private cloud by pulling the plug on the cloud appliance (Boat).
I call the cloud appliance a  Boat and not a Bridge because the cloud appliance is used like a boat to cross a body of water at the end of the crossing you leave the boat behind whereas a Bridge is a permanent  structure and is a continuous link . 
As understanding the cloud offering and the marriage with the cloud service providers strengthens, the enterprise  can  abandon the boat and board the Mother ship ( Public Cloud). Of course if the business still requires it  can continue to run the enterprise private cloud and leverage on the public cloud thus benefiting from the strength and security  of a hybrid cloud. 
The business/enterprise will decide on what will run on the Public Cloud and what will run on the enterprise (private) cloud.  The Control remains with the business until it Trusts the public cloud . 

Barriers to using the Powerful Public cloud will be overcome with use of Cloud Appliance. 

The introduction of the cloud appliance accelerates the adoption of the public cloud by the enterprise with the comfort of the CIO/CTO  that the team members and technology investments will not be made redundant immediately, rather they will be phased out in a structured and planned time frame. 
Many cloud service providers and appliance vendors  have introduced or have plans to introduce cloud appliances, they include, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, HP, AMAX offers CloudMax, Intalio and OpenBravo Cloud Appliance to name a few. 


IBM's Cloud Appliance
IBM's offering of Cloud Appliance is its  Workload Deployer v3.0 and WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance V2.0.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/webservers/workload-deployer/features/index.html?S_CMP=wspace

IBM will now be able to offer its Enterprise Customer a ride into Public Cloud Computing offered by IBM which has almost all the popular  Enterprise Applications under its Hood. 

This will allow BIG BLUE an accelerated ride into the cloud computing market and I can sign off by stating that the Elephant has not Forgotten to Dance. 
Footnote: This post was inspired by Mr. Anupam Garg (anupam.gaur@in.ibm.com) of IBM who shared about  IBM's cloud appliance offering at the Mumbai Cloud Camp last week.