Cloud Computing market Structure (updated version)

It seems that the Cloud Computing Market structure has slightly  changed since July 2009  when I tried for the first time to summarize it. In particular the Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS) segment.

Looking to Service Providers portfolio, a new sub segment has emerged, often called “Hosted Cloud” or “Virtual Data Centre”.  So now we have:

- a Public Cloud -> fully shared (multi tenant) infrastructure, really flexible (pay per use), cheap, but with some  limitations (ACL based security, no access to security logs, no value added services like backup, archiving or application management ..).

-a Private Cloud -> fully dedicated solution (one cloud per customer/project). Value added services are often available (security solutions, backup services, GSLB…), but it can be expensive for non critical applications ; and provisioning can be slow compared to other kinds of clouds.

- an Hosted Cloud (or Virtual Data Center) -> trying to mix Public and Private strengths. The underlying infrastructure is shared (Data Centre, physical servers…) but the resources rented are dedicated (CPU, memory…).  Hosted Cloud includes rapid provisioning (auto provisioning of Virtual Machines,  resource pool can be dynamically resized…) and can be combined with value added services and custom SLAs.

Cloud is not a revolution, it’s an evolution. Virtualization is not a new technology, the cloud risks are the same as any outsourcing project (how do I migrate my application? How can I get out? Who is responsible for what?…). The evolution is focused on delivering outsourcing services (based on Virtualization technology) that have a more flexible business model (pay per use), and more automated tools to allow IT teams to get more control of the Infrastructure.

But still, there is a lot of buzz around “Cloud” so here is my understanding of the Cloud/IAAS market structure :

Cloud Computing and Infrastructure As A Service market structure

NTT Europe is supporting WWF’s Earth Hour 2010

This global event is taking place on Saturday 27^th March 2010, between 8.30-9.30pm.

We are joining other groups and organisations across the world in signing up to WWF’s Earth Hour and helping to highlight this extraordinary event.

The way we live is leading to environmental threats such as climate change, species extinction, deforestation, water shortages and the collapse of fisheries. WWF’s One Planet Future Campaign is working to help people live a good quality of life within the earth’s capacity.

Switch off and support WWF’s Earth Hour 2010

We would also encourage others to show their commitment to climate change – people, wildlife and the planet by signing up here: http://www.earthhour.org/

Earth Hour Video 2010

The cost of lost data

This week saw an announcement from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), alerting organisations to new data protection legislation due to come into effect this April. The new powers will give the ICO the ability to command fines of up to £500,000 if negligence is found to have resulted in a serious data breach. The Commissioner is quoted discussing the thinking behind the new rules: “Getting data protection right has never been more important than it is today. As citizens, we are increasingly asked to complete transactions online, with the state, banks and other organisations using huge databases to store our personal details. When things go wrong, a security breach can cause real harm and great distress to thousands of people.”

The amount of people’s personal data that is held online has risen dramatically over recent years, and the issue of accountability has been seized upon by those worried about the privacy implications this raises. The adoption of cloud computing in particular has raised concerns about the potential loss of control over data that is being held on various servers around the world.

In order to ensure that their customers’ data is fully secure, online businesses should consider the range of process available to guard against leaks. One key industry benchmark is the ISO 27001 standard for Information Security Management, which ensures that the processes involved in protecting data are watertight. Other essentials include advanced firewall and intrusion-detection technology, which play an important role in keeping unauthorised visitors out.

Whilst some may balk at the £500,000 figure announced by the ICO, it is crucial for the development of the internet that web users can share their information, confident that it will remain secure.

Last-minute Christmas shopping

With recent statistics indicating that consumer confidence is returning to the high street, online stores have been welcoming large numbers of shoppers through their home pages ahead of the festive season. Indeed, this year’s ‘Manic Monday’ – an annual event that marks the busiest day of the online shopping calendar in the run up to Christmas – saw the largest concentration of online spending ever recorded, with festive shoppers reportedly handing over £1.4 million in the space of a single minute around lunchtime.

Online retailing now plays a crucial part in the balance of the UK retail sector – and is set to become even more important in the next decade. Retailers take e-commerce seriously, and this includes the infrastructure underlying their websites. ‘Manic Monday’ may seem like a curious consumer phenomenon, but leading retailers take it very seriously indeed and take extra precautions to make sure their sites are able to deal with the massive rise in traffic.

Manic Monday has now passed, but there are a number of similar rises still to come. Today marks the cut off point for the free basic delivery services many online retailers offer. It is likely that many won’t quite have managed to get all their Christmas shopping done by this stage, so stores may be in line for another peak in last-minute trade. Those online retailers that have prepared, by ensuring their web presence is supported by a scalable managed hosting platform, stand to benefit from a welcome boost in sales. Those who haven’t could be setting themselves up for a nightmare before Christmas.

Exclusive Membership Ensures Top Quality @ Bestsecret.com

Bestsecret.com is an exclusive online shopping portal providing huge discounts (up to 80%) on luxury designer brands and merchandise. However to take advantage of these amazing offers you need to apply for membership and unlike most e-commerce websites you cannot simply make a request to join online.

In fact to take advantage of BestSecret.com offerings you will need to be recommended by an illustrious member of this fashion community circle or work for one of the elected companies. Members are also required to maintain the confidentiality of brands and pricing available on the site in order to protect their distinguished suppliers. Even with these restrictions in place the number of members is still growing at a phenomenal rate.

The success of BestSecret.com is surely down to the wide range of designers and the pricing available on their luxury goods. Or is it the use of this VIP concept, the exclusivity of their membership. One thing is certain, with such an elite customer base comes the requirement to provide a top class website experience.

High availability, performance and reliability are key factors to customer retention on an e-commerce platform. NTT Europe Online is very proud to have been chosen to deliver this vital part of the operation as Bestsecret.com’s preferred managed hosting partner.

Successful Marketing Campaigns and Digital Media Content Delivery

EastEnders 25th Anniversary - Marketing Campaign

From a business perspective all communications or content is usually developed and delivered according to the needs of customers or future target prospects.  Digital content distribution over the Internet should form part of your overall brand marketing strategy and compliment existing initiatives. A great example of this is the recently launched marketing campaign by BBC to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the award-winning UK TV drama EastEnders on the 19th February 2010.

First, they will broadcast a completely live anniversary episode revealing a highly anticipated resolution to a long-standing story.  Second, they collaborated with thirteen talented writers aged between 17 and 20 to create EastEnders: E20, available exclusively to on-line audiences from January until the live episode. EastEnders: E20 is a new drama about four teenagers showing their view on living in East London and how they interact with each other and the some of the original TV EastEnders cast. The writers will also produce extra on-line material, including video blogs, designed to enhance and extend the entire dramatic experience.

So when it comes to designing a successful marketing campaign it certainly pays to think carefully about not only what content is valuable to your target market but also how, when and where to distribute. The methods or channels used to market your brand should complement each other and ultimately satisfy your target market. Let me know if you have a favourite marketing campaign that uses digital media content delivery to complement its effectiveness.

Communication breakdown – Strike 1!

A little while ago we were talking about some of the technical challenges online retailers are facing in the build up to Christmas with potentially huge traffic spikes.

In the UK however, online retailers have a new challenge – with postal workers voting to take two 24 hour strikes in protest about changes to the national postal system by the Royal Mail this week. The challenge for online retailers now isn’t about handling traffic, but more the logistical challenge of actually being able to hand over their goods to paying customers when the UK’s leading parcel service goes out of action.

The strikes are by no means without financial implications, with the estimated cost to UK online retailers of around £220 million, according to research commissioned by shopping comparison engine Kelkoo and reported on Computer Weekly http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/10/15/238151/postal-strike-could-cost-online-retailers-220m.htm. For the IT-minded there are also a few technical challenges with many e-commerce businesses (and their managed hosting partners) needing to re-align their back-end systems and tracking services with those of new courier companies.

From what we’ve seen, most of the biggest e-tailers have full redundancy plans with private courier and delivery services picking up where the Royal Mail dropped off: you should be able to rely on taking delivery of your online shopping!