Cloud Committee Concludes

Leading names within the telecoms industry met last week in Latin America to discuss the future of the Cloud, and its effects for the continent.
Representatives from ¬¬¬¬Cable Vision – Federico Juarez Valdez, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks SA - Pedro Luis Planas, CTO LA, Grupo GTD - Cristian Eyzaguirre, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks Latin America - Javier Izquierdo, COO and COFETEL (Federal Telecommunications Commission) - Rodrigo Gutierrez Sandez, CIO – General Coordinator of Organisation and IT among others met in Mexico to discuss the advantages of moving to the cloud and how best to implement change at the NGT LA summit, an event hosted by GDS International.

The Information & Communications Technology (ICT) market will have a strong transformation over the next 10 years. Fixed and mobile network improvements, new infrastructure and application delivery models, along with more intelligent devices will change the way that consumers and businesses use technology, and ultimately the way they do business. It is still extremely important for service providers to set a roadmap for users to follow in order for them to be well prepared and to be successful in the current market transformation.
North America has already looked to the cloud to clean their data, reducing costs and implementing flexibility, but companies in Latin America are seemingly lagging behind; now these companies are seeing for themselves the opportunities for the taking.

Moving to the Cloud is a paradigm change, and much of the Telco and MSP market is fully aware of this. The issue is how to mature the approach to migrate from physical assets to virtualization, which stalls after a certain point, and then to an elastic infrastructure that can scale up and down on demand.

“To eLeading names within the telecoms industry met last week in Latin America to discuss the future of the Cloud, and its effects for the continent.
Representatives from ¬¬¬¬Cable Vision – Federico Juarez Valdez, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks SA - Pedro Luis Planas, CTO LA, Grupo GTD - Cristian Eyzaguirre, CIO, Telefonica Media Networks Latin America - Javier Izquierdo, COO and COFETEL (Federal Telecommunications Commission) - Rodrigo Gutierrez Sandez, CIO – General Coordinator of Organisation and IT among others met in Mexico to discuss the advantages of moving to the cloud and how best to implement change at the NGT LA summit, an event hosted by GDS International.
The Information & Communications Technology (ICT) market will have a strong transformation over the next 10 years. Fixed and mobile network improvements, new infrastructure and application delivery models, along with more intelligent devices will change the way that consumers and businesses use technology, and ultimately the way they do business. It is still extremely important for service providers to set a roadmap for users to follow in order for them to be well prepared and to be successful in the current market transformation.
North America has already looked to the cloud to clean their data, reducing costs and implementing flexibility, but companies in Latin America are seemingly lagging behind; now these companies are seeing for themselves the opportunities for the taking.

Moving to the Cloud is a paradigm change, and much of the Telco and MSP market is fully aware of this. The issue is how to mature the approach to migrate from physical assets to virtualization, which stalls after a certain point, and then to an elastic infrastructure that can scale up and down on demand.

“To effectively implement these solutions, it is necessary to understand the real-time network and applications performance, risk, and quality of business service that impact user satisfaction and productivity. This understanding must bridge across all physical, virtual, and cloud environments, from the mainframe to distributed platforms.” Kenneth Arredondo – SVP and GM Latin America, CA
The NGT LA Committee believe that by maximizing telecommunication companies' Cloud Computing services, capabilities and flexibility will be increased, time-to-market can be vastly reduced, and operational risks and costs can more easily be controlled. The committee hope that by implementing this they will see greater opportunities for offering new services and improving profit margins.

At this stage cloud computing is still relatively new. IT companies, for the most part, must implement their cloud solutions alone, but with meetings such as the NGT LA summit more and more cloud aggregators and integrators will begin to emerge.
ffectively implement these solutions, it is necessary to understand the real-time network and applications performance, risk, and quality of business service that impact user satisfaction and productivity. This understanding must bridge across all physical, virtual, and cloud environments, from the mainframe to distributed platforms.” Kenneth Arredondo – SVP and GM Latin America, CA
The NGT LA Committee believe that by maximizing telecommunication companies' Cloud Computing services, capabilities and flexibility will be increased, time-to-market can be vastly reduced, and operational risks and costs can more easily be controlled. The committee hope that by implementing this they will see greater opportunities for offering new services and improving profit margins.

At this stage cloud computing is still relatively new. IT companies, for the most part, must implement their cloud solutions alone, but with meetings such as the NGT LA summit more and more cloud aggregators and integrators will begin to emerge.

CIO’s Conclude Cloud

Recent reports have shown that companies are shying away from the public cloud due to security concerns, but how accurate are the results and what, if any, are the alternatives?

A committee of CIOs met in Singapore last week. The committee compromised of C-Level executives from the leading companies across Asia to highlight its continual growth of APAC and better understand how to utilize the increasing opportunities to encourage new technology projects, greater business collaboration and maintain growth.
Among the attendees was Alex Siow the head of business Excellence System Technology & CIO at Starhub and Avery Palos CIO Asia at General Electric and Kevin Noonan Research Director at Ovum opened discussions.

“As information technology leaders in Asia, we have the difficult job of representing not only our business interest in the region; but also acting as the bridge head for communications with our multinational parent organizations. Communicating and adapting bilateral needs between our local markets and global corporations is a critical skill for CIO's to master. Leaning in favor too far in one direction or the other can risk your reputation and make it difficult to accomplish your goals. By carefully balancing between the two worlds you can position yourself in the organization to be a key player for future growth and understanding.”

APAC has been facing difficult challenges as it grows and develops and doubts over the political and governmental structure of the region have been raised. To overcome this, incredible drive and enthusiasm to succeed has been seen by large enterprises and APAC can confidently compete with the US and Europe within the telecoms sector.

The cloud offers fantastic opportunity to transform business but discussing the right implications and techniques are vital for a cloud which works throughout the region and offers the same opportunities for all industries. The cloud really will be the next big thing in IT.

“We are at the beginning of the largest and most beneficial wave of change ever to hit the IT industry. This new wave, known as cloud computing, is a new approach to IT that reduces IT complexity, lowers IT costs, improves quality of service, and enables greater IT and business agility.” Tim Posney – Regional CTO APAC, ING Investment Management

Cloud computing is set to deliver these benefits by leveraging the efficient pooling of an on demand, self managed, virtual IT infrastructure that can be delivered and consumed as a service. It’s commonly accepted that the cloud is the future of data storage but as cloud security is called into question the CIO Committee announced that investing in the private cloud is preferable. The private cloud enables businesses to capture all the benefits of the cloud without losing control of your IT and without increasing your risk.

“Cloud computing is a transformative technology. It is built differently from traditional IT, enabling dynamic pools of virtualized resources. It is operated differently, enabling end-to-end service delivery. And it is consumed differently, making it convenient for IT organizations and for those they support. To unleash its full potential, companies need to recognize that cloud computing is a better investment strategy for IT, and one that can enable them to achieve faster and higher returns on their IT investments.” Harmeen Mehta – MD and CIO Global Markets APAC, Bank of America

Organizations such as GE - Avery Palos, CIO Asia, StarHub - Alex Siow, Head Business Excellence and Systems Technology, Bharti Airtel - Rupinder Goel, CIO, ING Investment Management - Tim Posney, CTO APAC and Pfizer - Sirsij Peshin, CIO / VP Business Technology all agreed at the CIO Asia Summit that they must cautiously prepare for growth while evolving their methods of technology implementation. In 2010-2011, CIOs will actively strategize their accelerated IT spending to balance cost and risk while pursuing significant growth. Really a Private Cloud is the only option.

Cloud or Not to Cloud – that is the question

The IT world is locked in an ongoing debate over the usefulness of Cloud Computing; those who believe it directly affects ROI, and those who waver in its importance and believe there is no sure way to keep data safe within the Cloud. To help fuel and resolve the debate, the European Financial industry is assembling in the Netherlands for the FST Summit Europe between the 21 – 24 September.

This committee of CIO’s, CISO’s, Heads of Architecture and Compliance have highlighted cloud computing as a major talking point and are specifically interested in the pitfalls as well as the benefits to determine if this is a viable solution for cost saving initiatives. With representation from major financial institutions like Credit Suisse, Rabobank International, UBS Allianz and Deutsche Bank the need to look at solutions that save on a tight IT budget can be used when providing effective security, data storage and infrastructures.

Markus Shulz, the Global Compliance Officer at Zurich Financial Services explained on Thursday that in a post-financial crises, regulation is expected to increase, specifically in a short term environment, but will likely have long-term effects. While there are many facets to the implications of an increasingly regulated financial environment, this concept does set the stage as to whether cloud computing would survive the obstacles of a strongly regulated industry.

Another consequence of Markus Shulz’s regulated environment is that Senior Management are scrutinized more than other levels of leadership, and these are the budget holders and implementers of cost effective technologies solutions and infrastructures. These are the IT professionals that will be able to determine whether the cloud computing market has matured enough to handle the needs they face when providing kpi’s to the C-level directors.

From a security standpoint the cloud computing technologies need to prove that all aspects of its environment are safe from hackers and prying eyes. The major decisions facing successful implementation of cloud technologies is whether to use a solution providers cloud or bring the cloud inside and oversee the process internally. Vmware and McAfee were locking horns on this issue.

Vmware has taken the standpoint that a hybrid cloud that enables enterprises to hand the transfer of flow between internal data and private clouds and is the most viable option. On the other hand, McAfee is boasting of its ability to provide stronger imbedded security options for private cloud development based on its recent acquisition of Intel. The argument relies on IT departments running the cloud exclusively internally whilst understanding that most public clouds cannot provide the security and infrastructure required of a versatile enterprise.

While the end of this gathering will provide clarity as to the arguments associated with the numerous potential outcomes for implementation of cloud computing, the undeniable consensus is that cloud computing is going to be with us for a number of years. One thing that stands as a testament to the financial industry is that it is able to work in every industry and translate problems and obstacles into bridges toward success.

CIO Committee Calls for Cloud

Last week saw the meeting of the leading CIOs from Latin America’s most successful companies at the CIO LA summit (hosted by GDS International). The meeting was called as a result of the increasingly sensitive approach needed to operate business in our current economic climate.

The CIO Committee believes that there is a growing need to work outside of the box; in essence to create a forward thinking and visionary approach to the IT departments within every company. Latin America has traditionally been seen by the rest of the world to be behind when it comes to information technology. However, a recent announcement from Cisco stated that the company is hoping to form new partnerships within the region, which will boost the level of IT skills. The committee, who met in Mexico last week, believe that the next few months will see an increase in the need for professionals with a greater understanding of technology within their sectors. Increased investment and outsourcing data storage will help the continent to build on the more basic needs of better communication and government support systems for Latin America.

“It is up to each and every CIO to seek out and take responsibility for the most cost-effective and productive IT systems and strategies in order to create opportunity out of an increasingly rocky landscape. Quite frankly, IT is a game changer” David Broffman, Project Director

Key to conversations was the impact of cloud computing on the IT sector. The cloud is not new to business but the potential it holds to transform the internal workings of a company are still being discovered. At the moment, cloud computing is very much in the early years. Chuck Hollis – VP and Global Marketing CTO, EMC Corporation understands that we are still seeing security and networking issues. For bigger companies with large amounts of data there are risks to handing this over to a remote provider. We are seeing a “if you want a job doing, do it yourself” attitude which requires dedicated work from IT service staff. The agility of a business can make or break how it reacts to varying economic changes.

Business depends on quick response times, so it is vital that everyone has access to all relevant information and can keep up with the current economic climate.

“The Journey to the Private Cloud requires a transformational approach that balances an ambitious architecture with a solid operational framework. The result is rationalized business processes, applications and platforms that align with business imperatives – giving you the efficiencies, control and choice you need to thrive in this economy.” Chuck Hollis – VP and Global Marketing CTO, EMC Corporation

The CIO committee last week comprised of Patricio Melo, COO/CTO, Banco de Chile; João Lencioni, CIO Latin America, GE; Marcos Semola, CIO, Shell; and Jose Luis Fernandez Serrano, CIO Mexico, Pepsi Beverages Company. Now more than ever, companies can see the need to migrate towards cloud computing but are wary of the risks.

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining?

The first meeting of Australia’s Leading CIOs has just taken place in Queensland. The event itself saw representatives from companies such as Adecco, Energy Australia and PepsiCo revealing their industry predictions.

The NG CIO Australia committee was formed in reaction to the skills shortage the industry had been experiencing, and the ever more affordable technology used to overcome such shortages. As previously revealed by the committee before the meeting, they had research which showed that while technical and vendor-specific skills seemed plentiful, strategic and conceptually oriented skills were in short supply. New government projects in sectors such as e-government, healthcare and education were also a driving force for organizing the NG CIO Australia summit (hosted by GDS International) where they wished to capitalize on national broadband roll out and discuss the pitfalls of cloud computing.

So what was revealed? Ovum revealed that the governance of cloud computing is too reactive, technology-centric and piecemeal and must be improved dramatically. The independent technology analyst warned the CIO Committee that cloud governance is suffering from the same flaws that are affecting other IT governance areas. They believe a new approach is needed as cloud computing, the latest in a series of disruptive trends affecting IT departments, cannot thrive without an effective governance framework that promotes and ensures coordination between IT teams.

Laurent Lachal, Ovum senior analyst and report author, said: “Most IT governance efforts are prompted by new regulations or by the need to keep up with uncontrolled SOA software services, virtual machines or public cloud services – whereby governance starts when the public cloud bill is much higher than expected.”

Cloud computing makes IT governance more difficult by introducing an additional layer of complexity that those businesses need to control in order to make the most of its benefits. Cloud governance best practices – like cloud computing itself – are still in their infancy and Ovum believes the focus should, in future, be on enabling flexibility.

“Public as well as private clouds’ ability to make it faster and easier to procure, develop, deploy and hardware and software assets will make the biggest difference. Cost and quality of service issues are critical but cloud computing governance should not over emphasize them at the expense of enabling firms to strike the right balance between effectiveness and innovation”, said Lachal.

“Cloud governance is not just about control and keeping an eye on individuals to make sure that they behave as expected. It should also be about empowerment, based on a realignment of objectives and incentives to encourage behavioral change.”

Ovum does not expect a ‘big bang’ implementation of cloud governance, but rather a gradual build-up that provides an opportunity to launch and/or reinvigorate other governance efforts.

With so much change on the horizon who will be the first to capitalize and will cloud succeed as a future technology.