The problem, Dr. Meyers said, was that the central IT systems had not kept up with the basic change in the nature of medical research. It had become a big data game – a single genome sequence is 3 Tbytes of data, but the IT architecture at the time was running on Microsoft Windows shares.

“I kept bugging the head of research about this until finally I guess I annoyed him and he asked me if I would like to take over running IT as well,” he said at a Wikibon Peer Incite discussion Tuesday, May 15, 2012, recorded here. “I said yes on one condition: I could throw out everything and start over.”

And that is exactly what he did. Specifically, he replaced the outmoded system with a shared resource across the research departments based on an EMC Isilon cluster. He chose Isilon specifically for its ability to handle large volumes of streaming data in what is now called a bit data environment and to support automated data tiering of all that data to move inactive data onto less expensive archive media while keeping it available.

Today that cluster has a 300TB capacity, and BU will add 200 more TBs this summer. But that expansion will all be archive media. One of the ways in which research differs from commercial environments is that researchers are always focused on “the next shiny thing” – the next piece of research. Once they have won the grant or published the research paper, the teams move on to the next project and start generating new data to answer it while the older data languishes. However, preserving that data is important because sometimes it can be reused or the original research revisited. As a result, Dr. Meyer said, the Isilon cluster has plenty of tier 1 capacity but is running low on archive.

Providing remote site backup for this quantity of data presents its own challenges. One of those is adequate filtering. Actually only the fraction of original data in the system needs to be backed up. A great deal of the database is derived data from analysis. If necessary that can be recreated, while another portion that Dr. Meyer calls “scratch data” documenting intermediary steps, questions and comments, do not need to be preserved.

The problem at the time was that none of the systems from the leading vendors, including EMC, really met the need. “One day a consultant suggested that we talk to a startup called Actifio in Waltham that had novel technologies,” Dr Meyers said. He had never heard of Actifio, and at the time they had very few users and none in academia. But the CEO came to BU and discussed their technology in detail, and what he said made an impression. For instance, Actifio has a copy management tool to minimize the number of copies of a database that tend to proliferate in any organization and can become costly when the database is measured in hundreds of TBs. It also could deal with the highly heterogeneous architecture in the research labs, including both bare machine and VM environments, which none of the big vendor systems could manage. And it had the advanced data filtering that Dr. Meyer needed. 

Activio is based on IBM technology and works in a clustered virtual environment. It has a simple interface that makes it easy to set up and is block based, said Dr. Meyer. It sits in band and captures deltas for very fast snapshots. At user-defined intervals it compiles these to create a full, application-aware backup on its internal storage. This can then be replicated to a remote site for backup. And if the main system experiences a failure, it can cut over to the internal Actifio backup while Actifio rebuilds the database on the replacement hardware.

“We actually had a disk failure and lost a LUN,” Dr. Meyer said. “The backup didn’t run as fast as the main system, but it was a lot better than shutting things down. Nobody in the institution realized that anything had happened.”

BU Medical School Combines EMC Isolon, Actifio Backup to Capture, Backup, and Archive Big Data is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

You may also enjoy:

• The Google-MoMo-Huawei Rumor and the China Holdup
• IBM’s Vision of Data Scientists: Our Bridge to the Future
• Amazon Burns Through 1 Million Kindle Fires a Week
• Big Data Spotlight: Hadoop, Local Storage Key to the Future
• Metcalfe’s Law Opportunity Gap: Analysis of the Melting Pot
• Jobs Well Done! A Grammy, Statue and a Million Dollar Signature

Essentially, the way Nvidia and others see it: home consoles can only go so far in power and strength requirements for graphics and this means a cost-barrier to customers. So gaming-as-a-service breaks in by allowing data centers to house extremely powerful graphics cards on servers that run the games, render the graphics, and then stream them to the consoles. Lowering the power and cost needs at the client end and defraying costs for the enterprise.

Dean Takahashi from GamesBeat interviewed Nvidia senior vice president Dan Vivoli about Nvidia’s announcement of the Kepler-based cloud-gaming chipsets and how they might impact the industry as a whole,

But with improved multitasking on Nvidia’s Kepler-based graphics chips, each data center server can handle multiple users at a lower cost. That makes cloud gaming more economical, Vivoli said.

The Kepler-based chips have also been designed to reduce the latency, or time it takes for an interaction between computers, for cloud gaming. That means that there won’t be a perceptible delay in playing cloud games.

Nvidia is partnering with Gaikai, which has 24 data centers in the U.S., to help reduce network latency. Nvidia is building a grid-based computing platform, dubbed Nvidia GeForce Grid, for Kepler-based machines to access. Together with cloud graphics software, the Nvidia GeForce Grid will be enable cloud-gaming companies to operate with lower operating costs, said Phil Eisler, general manager of cloud graphics at Nvidia.

Companies such as OnLive, Gaikai, and Otoy have been seeking solutions to enable gaming services across the cloud for some time now and Nvidia has even sought a partnerships with them. Southern California-based Gaikai, Inc. was in the news last year for their endeavor to provide cloud-streaming and cloud-delivery assets to MMO games such as Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. We’ve also seen OnLive pushing into mobile with support for Xperia PLAY and appear on Internet-enabled TVs through being preloaded onto Google TV.

“The beauty of this approach is that GPUs will continue to improve all of the time,” Vivoli told GamesBeat. “Your hardware stays the same, but the data center hardware can be upgraded to handle better games.”

By using a datacenter packed with the Nvidia Kepler-based graphics cards, each of these different cloud-gaming outfits would be able to render the games in their servers and then pipe them to devices that would traditionally not be able to play triple-A titles such as Crysis 3—a set of devices that include thin-client consoles, Internet-enabled TVs, low-end PCs, and mobile devices.

With the production of this type of equipment we will probably seen the next generation of consoles have two modes: one that uses the internal graphics to allow the play of games the traditional way (possibly the primary selling point) and the second will be much like Xbox LIVE and other Intenet-enabled services that also allow for cloud-based gaming via OnLive, Gaikai and others using gaming-as-a-service datacenters.

Nvidia Prepares Graphics Card Lineup for the Cloud Gaming Era is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Cloud-Gaming Service OnLive Will be Preloaded on All Google TVs
• OnLive Cloud Gaming Goes Mobile
• Xbox LIVE’s Feet Staying on the Ground but Head Firmly Thrust into the Personal Cloud
• GigaSpaces Partners up with Excelian, heads to Finance and Gaming
• Xbox Maintains Stealth Living-Room Cloud Entertainment Crown
• Microsoft Offers 4GB Xbox For $99 — With Xbox LIVE Contract?

At the core of Visual Studio 11 is an updated Integrated Developer Environment (IDE). Within the IDE a number of new features achieve crossover into DevOps principle functionality. For example, back-end server applications and cloud applications can be built through the new features. There are newly integrated HTML5 functions which include drag-n-drop application building. This is also a feature for JavaScript. A newly implemented bridge to Microsoft’s System Center 2012 builds one piece of this integrated realm. System Center 2012 is a suite of data center tools and features a component that monitors the network for system state and other valuable information.

Application monitoring being one of the key concerns in production and development, tracking and analyzing issues in this construct can make a significant difference in DevOps as well as production. Specialized diagnostic information can now directly be integrated and get that information to developers for analysis. Visual Studio 2011 also feature Intellitrace functionality into programs that are built from the tool. Intellitrace allows trace logs to be generated during debugging and provides valuable, quick to acquire information to developers like never before.

The picture being drawn is that the combination of System Center 2012 and Visual Studio 11 have comprised a formidable platform for DevOps operations to take place. In addition, a number of other current and upcoming Microsoft products and features are starting to offer such integration touchpoints, such as Sharepoint, and SQL. It makes the combination of products a truly viable cloud and DevOps offering that can help organizations gravitate to better functionality altogether and do so with a familiar toolset and technology partner. With increased versatility and nimble operations, DevOps and the technology that drives it has created a need for products that can help deliver on the benefits. Microsoft’s growing offerings are primed to step in to satisfy this need across the enterprise.

Microsoft a DevOps Player? is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Microsoft Embraces Node.js, DevOps and Hadoop with new Azure Release
• Android is Too Slippery for Microsoft, Must Remain Open for China
• Can Microsoft’s New So.cl Network Revive Bing Search?
• Chef is Cooking With 715 Contributors in the DevOps Kitchen
• Microsoft Study: For SMBs, Security Benefits Outweigh Cloud Risks
• Xbox Maintains Stealth Living-Room Cloud Entertainment Crown

It was maybe a couple of years ago that these new, powerful and dynamic personal devices such as smartphones and tablets started to seep into environments everywhere.  For many organizations, the initial response was not favorable – there were many questions about data, support, experience, security, and reliability that needed answering.  Fast forward a couple of years and we see the number of organizations embracing the BYOD movement is on the rise.

As described in a recent article – there are a number of enterprise-centric concerns and approaches in approaching BYOD adoption.  Many organizations are on the path to app development, infrastructure upgrades, and all of the ancillary systems and processes that are required to create a healthy and appropriate mobile ecosystem.  Security raises probably the highest concern, but as mentioned,  there are a number of other equally important considerations such as performance, user experience, and support .

Dizzion’s Win-Win

Dizzion’s “cloud-delivered desktop” solution can be summarized as simply as unleashing users to access company data and applications from any device, from any location.  Through its managed desktop service Dizzion’s solution gives organizations the opportunity to bring a best-in-class enterprise grade virtual computing environment to the user base and in doing so, satisfying enterprise concerns along the way.   Users get their jobs done, and the enterprise and the users win.

During a recent discussion with Dizzion co-founder Manny Ladis , I was lucky enough to witness with the service on an actual Ipad device.  Everything I launched was lightning fast, including spreadsheets, email, video – as fast or faster than if it was actually running locally.  It essentially is a presented Windows 7 desktop environment, complete with applications, browser, drive space, personalizations – all of this is an individual desktop workspace that is personal and customizable.  Another interesting fact is that the desktop is also portable, meaning if initially logged in from a Ipad for instance, then reconnected from a desktop, everything is still there, whether you had a spreadsheet open, Outlook in mid-email composition, and a number of web pages, the session is consistent.

So how does this all happen?  Dizzion has put together a proprietary blend of technologies in order to create this service.  Utilizing virtualization products from VMware for instance has created a cutting-edge base for their unique product.  A number of class leading computing platform elements have been implemented throughout the development.  Highly powerful server systems, solid state storage, high end system memory, and performance processor configurations are some of these components.   All of this done with enterprise datacenter-class architecture, which means high availability, and resiliency built throughout the product from the ground up.  The company’s cloud base is rooted in significant high-speed network centers.  Configurations are typically multitenant, but dedicated deployments are available.  In fact, Dizzion’s customer approach is markedly consultative, meaning they have the capacity and attention to detail to work with any size and type of customer.

ROI in days

With Dizzion’s service, a customer could onboard a whole enterprise in days, cutting a number of processes down, cutting that capex investment, and benefit from the service quickly.  The process for any organization starts with a discovery of how many mobile devices are actually in the environment, allowing for planning and forecasting.  Many organizations have security and compliance concerns and these are safeguarded by Dizzion’s system configuration and architecture across the board.  The centralized desktop model can be configured as a hybrid or pure cloud configuration as the organization’s requirements will dictate.  All applications, data, and system configuration can be configured for complete access from the service environment.  No VPNs required, and additional accounts and passwords  can be eliminated with the right configuration.

The customer is given the ability to develop the ‘gold images’ on the system and manage them accordingly.  Dizzion’s services aid in the creation and development of these images.  Windows XP or Windows 7 desktops can be configured with their complete application sets and customized per organization policies.  This centralized model is much like the benefits that a full VDI solution offers, in that management, updating, and deployment are now configurable from one place, and can be deployed out as best allowed.    The Dizzion client also offers  a local mode- meaning network issues on the host device does not necessarily mean a loss of the guest, and guest functionality continues to persist.

Pay for what you need

For now the service is designed for and utilized on tablet devices, laptops and desktops.  Smartphones are not a part of the immediate service base, however a thin or “streaming” app offering is on the roadmap.  Dizzion’s service is localized to the Rocky Mountain region as their data center presence is in Denver.  Future points of presence are on the radar throughout the country as the service grows.  The service is a utility-based model, meaning you pay for what you need, that is all.

So put that all together, a performing product that works on anything – Android, Apple, Windows, Unix, tablet, laptop, and desktop systems.  Add the satisfaction of security and compliance measures, knowledge that the offering is based on enterprise grade architecture, rapid deployment, and easy management and you have a winning combination for most any company.

As BYOD adoption continues to grow, the enterprise will continue to liberate users from desktop and traditional client access methods by employing the best available technologies for their given needs.  With options such as Dizzion at large, those needs can be satisfied, customized, and managed in such a way that business needs on infrastructure can be met.   With device flexibility and increased productivity in hand, the future of BYOD and Dizzion’s position in creating a very potent and flexible solution to users in a variety of computing environments, this is poised to be a very popular service option for many organizations.

Dizzion Dazzles – Cloud meets Desktop is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• HVD: Cloud Desktops Come Of Age
• The Era of Healthcare IT Made Possible By the Cloud, Virtualization
• Research Note: Hypervisor Overview – VDI Virtual Desktops VMware & Citrix
• This Week in the Cloud: New Services, Home Organization and Virtual Gaming
• Day Three Recap: SAP Sapphire 2012
• VDI Showing Signs of Intelligent Life, Says Wikibon Analyst Scott Lowe

According to an article in VentureBeat, the start-up intends to use this investment to increase their stake in a networking technology that they’re selling to networked-gaming studio such as massively multiplayer online games and social games that depend heavily on users interacting with one another,

Badumna allows traffic to communicate via peer-to-peer in a decentralized network. The company argues that this approach enables multiplayer apps that were not possible before. It does so by forming a secondary network of trusted nodes that are used for services such as authentication, third-party arbitration, and others tasks. These tasks are executed in the peer-to-peer network, and so, that network offloads work from the servers.

“As each player joins the game, they automatically contribute additional capacity to the network, making the approach inherently more scalable than any client-server approach,” Steve Telburn, chief executive of Scalify, said in an email. “This is obviously important because publishers do not know if their games will be a success or not, so they need to plan their infrastructure based on the ‘best case’ scenario.”

The Scalify product, Badumna, saw its 2.0 release in 2011 and has recently been upgraded to version 2.1.1. Via this technology, players involved in a peer-to-peer networked video game become an extension of the servers that run the game themselves, providing secondary-services to offload some of the bandwidth and load from the main datacenters.

“Badumna 2.0 includes a distributed validation system that allows developers to design fully secure cheat-resistant applications without having to compromise on the scalability offered by Badumna,” wrote Scalify on Badumna. “Distributed validation system raises the bar on cheating and can offer the security of a client-server architecture on-demand with its ability to dynamically switch between client-server mode and peer-to-peer mode.”

With gigantic MMO games such as World of Warcraft and League of Legends, the datacenters hosting servers for these games must account for hundreds of thousands of users a day (games like WoW have almost 10 million active subscribers total) and as a result they must handle a lot of authentication requests, a lot of playtime, and do so without dropping anyone. By taking a card from BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks like Pando, gaming itself can also be distributed across the gamers themselves in order to lighten the load.

Of course, as mentioned in the quote above, technologies like Badumna will need to harden itself against exploits and man-in-the-middle attacks (especially where authentication is concerned.) As we’ve seen with other systems, it’s possible to handle functions on an untrusted system—a client’s computer—by making sure they’re encrypted and hidden from sight and that core functions are not trusted by the server until they’re validated.

Scalify sees what we all see: the gaming sector is growing and it’s growing fast. PC gaming alone is a $18.6 billion dollar market (as of 2011) and that’s only set to increase in 2012; and with it, the increase in proliferation of MMO games will push further into the cloud, into on-demand streaming, and stretch peer-to-peer delivery networks. Free-to-play MMO gaming has seen a 24% rise in profits in the US alone, netting at least $60 per-user every month, and this factor is seeing a need for better delivery options, and cheaper solutions for housing and handling giant data/server warehouses.

Peer-to-peer and the cloud would appear to be the most obvious answers and Scalify have set themselves a straight course right into the heart of that industry.

Scalify Raises $2 Million for Peer-to-Peer Cloud-Gaming Networking is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Creators of Wizard101 to the 2012 Keynote Digital Kids Conference in April
• Online World Virtual Learning for Kids Delivered to Schools by Fantage
• EverQuest 2 Player Base Swells 300% Since Switching to Free-to-Play
• Rift Developer Trion Worlds Account Database Compromised
• Nexon’s MapleStory Hacked, 13.2 million Korean Online Gamers’ Data Exposed
• Free-to-play MMO Spending Up 24 Percent in the US; DC Universe Online Revenue Leaps 700 Percent After Going F2P

Way Back and Fast Forward

At first, it started happening as employees started bringing their own technology products in.  Using it to conveniently check email, or social network, they initially created security concerns to say the least.  Execs would bring in their high-end consumer tablets, such as the iPad, and expect not only support, but complete functionality from the support branch of organizations.  With the consumerization in full swing and no end in sight, expectations have emerged of a rich user experience across a number of devices is a practical expectation.  This sets the stage for one of the most significant IT revolution events in recent memory.  Enterprises are slowly but surely having to change gears and adapt, embrace, and control the mobile device movement.

New Considerations

The face of this movement is far beyond mobile device management and considerations for adapting such technology are numerous.  Beyond plain functionality are such elements of challenges as mentioned like the user experience, logon, security, data at rest, API integration, reliability, performance, support, and standardization.   Many companies are looking and have embarked on creating their own apps.  Simply ‘webifying’ existing apps does not satisfy the breadth of IT concerns, namely security and functionality.   A focused approach on developing applications therefore must emerge in order to ensure the best success.  Other organizations rely on presentation technologies, such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), or Thin or Streaming Apps and other related constructs.  Infrastructure also comes into focus across these solutions as hardware, networking, and business-grade architecture all are requirements for creating the best reliable, secure, stable experience.

Security is an over-riding concern in all of these cases as mobile devices are easily lost or misplaced.  Data that is at rest can be compromised, encryption should be enabled if possible in all possible scenarios, techniques that can detect and defy malware or recording applications and preventing man-in-the-middle attacks are but a few of a number of significant security concerns that come into play.  In terms of support, departments all around are deciding where to draw the line – do they support Android tablets, what versions they support, exactly what to support on each.

New Efficiencies

Despite all these concerns there is little doubt that the proliferation of these devices and the BYOD movement is changing the game in enterprise environments.  The simple truth of the matter is that despite all the concerns and challenges, the changes are helpful in creating new efficiencies in the workspace, and I must mention the significant cost savings for enterprises that embrace these changes.  VMware is one prominent organization that has embraced the BYOD movement.  IBM is another example of a mass enterprise that recently started moving towards this type of enterprise construct.  In terms of the user experience, the goal posts have moved beyond the trusted enterprise deployed device to the security of data at the application level that requires a deep analysis of how a solution is working and what is happening to the data at any given time – to ensure the best experience, reliability and secure product possible.

The transformation of IT in the enterprise, consumerization of IT, and the BYOD movement are at this time extremely significant elements in shaping other technology trends, such as big data and cloud adoption.  For the enterprise, supporting and embracing this movement will unlock and fully enable the workforce and boost productivity, the likes of which has probably not been seen since PCs first started becoming common.

BYOD and Mobility Shape Big Data, Cloud Revolution is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Virtual Desktops – Not On Top of Your Desk Anymore
• VDI Showing Signs of Intelligent Life, Says Wikibon Analyst Scott Lowe
• BYOD Users Can’t Be Trusted [Report]
• Symantec Mobile Leads the Pack in the Bring-Your-Own-Device Trend Security
• Dizzion Dazzles – Cloud meets Desktop
• Malware on Android for the First Time Poses Threat to Corporate Networks

Duh!

What is this — a so-called “ultrabook” that Intel is pushing through its usual OEMs? Nope. Ultrabooks may be slightly less expensive than a MacBook Air, but that’s par for the course for the usual multi-decade Microsoft-Apple comparison anyway. Nothing new there. Just predictable linear progression.

No, the laptop that will fit this bill is another new class of Microsoft-based product hitting the market simultaneously with the “regular” Windows 8 this October-November. And it’s not based on Intel or AMD.

Microsoft published a lot of details about this new class of laptop Feb. 9:

I thought that the world would quickly absorb this detailed description of Microsoft’s plans. However, in the two months that has passed, I find that few people have drawn any conclusions from Microsoft’s great revelation.

It’s all hiding in plain sight. Just read it.

Side by side with Windows 8 for Intel and AMD, Microsoft is making a version of Windows 8 available for use on devices using CPU/GPU SoCs (Systems-on-Chip) from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments. These will fit almost any “large” (i.e., non-handheld) form factor, including tablet, laptop and desktop. The focus is on tablets, laptops and “hybrid” laptops/tablets.

Just consider, for a moment, some of the key reasons the Apple iPad became so popular: Instant-on availability, great battery life, great security, easy manageability. Those attributes also apply to Windows 8 on ARM. Here’s the difference: It’s an unsuccessful struggle to make your iPad as productive as your laptop. People try all the time, but nobody has shown me that it can be done successfully, for a variety of software and hardware reasons that are not likely to be overcome anytime soon.

What’s the upside here?

1. Form factor: These new chips draw a lot less power and generate less heat than x86, so they don’t need a fan — just like your iPad doesn’t need a fan. This means they can be made thinner, lighter, fit a bigger battery and yield better battery life. Also: instant-on boot-up.

2. Cheaper: The chips are more inexpensive to buy, and the devices are cheaper to build. Expect $50 to $100 price savings compared with regular old Windows 7 PCs.

3. Simpler to manage and more secure: Applications either come pre-loaded (Microsoft Office) or only from the Microsoft app store. This is just like iOS or, of course, the current Windows Phone 7.5 — but unlike BlackBerry or Android, where you can side-load apps. And, of course, unlike Windows 7 PCs today, which remains the Wild West in terms of security and manageability.

What are the major drawbacks?

1. No app compatibility with Windows 7 (or based on x86 processors. Intel makes a big deal of this because it is, of course, in its interest for this ARM version of Windows to have zero success. The argument is that “enterprise apps” won’t work on this new ARM-based Windows 8.

That’s true — for some. But what if all you need is Microsoft Office plus a browser? Then these new ARM-based PCs would be better for many users, compared with their x86 counterparts, built on Intel and AMD.

2. Gaming and external performance. It is unlikely to rival the larger, more discrete PC systems. But then again, this comparison may be unfair.

3. Outlook. Windows 8 on ARM will have Word, Excel and PowerPoint — but apparently not Outlook. Are these people serious? This omission sounds a lot like when BlackBerry launched its PlayBook tablet without email. If Outlook is not provided for Windows 8 on ARM, the whole thing looks like sabotage to me. For many users, enterprise in particular, Outlook remains the remaining reason to stick with a non-Google Chromebook PC/laptop platform. If Windows 8 on ARM lacks Outlook, it will remain a toy until it gets it. BlackBerry eventually added email to the PlayBook as well — after a one-year disaster.

People use Outlook because they have closer to 25,000 contacts than 250, and they need to organize these in an Excel-like format where columns need to be heavily customized for viewing and sorting in specialized manners. Any simpler implementation is a toy, unsuitable for serious contact databases.

That said, what will be the market impact of Windows 8 on ARM? There are two ways of looking at this:

1. Compared with a “regular” x86 Windows 8 laptop: Many users will prefer the ARM version because it will:

(a) Be thinner

(b) Be lighter

(c) Have better battery life

(d) Be more secure and easier to manage

(e) Be cheaper

(f) Have instant-on boot-up

Only people with particular legacy application needs, including gamers, will remain on x86 Windows 8. In addition, the same goes for Outlook users, assuming that issue isn’t remedied.

2. Compared with an Apple MacBook, pretty much the same as in (1), but with greater emphasis on price and perhaps less emphasis on security and manageability.

Here is the really big question for Windows 8 on ARM, aside from its “oops, let’s shoot ourselves in the foot” with the missing Outlook issue: If you buy the security and manageability argument, and you are happy with the compatibility between Google Docs/Drive and the Microsoft Office suite, why don’t you just take the full step and go with a Google Chromebook instead?

The answer may be found in a small number of more consumer-oriented applications rather than enterprise: iTunes and Skype, in particular. Many people require a Windows or Mac laptop because they need it to manage their iTunes podcasts, refreshing the update list every day. As for Skype, there are alternatives such as GoogleTalk, and you can also use Skype on a smartphone — but some people may not like those alternatives.

What about the stock impact? Let’s consider the following players:

1. Microsoft: Windows on ARM has great potential for Microsoft, enabling it to offer a kind of performance for productivity tools that Apple cannot. In addition, it basically punches Intel and AMD in the gut, more than doubling Microsoft’s silicon choices.

2. Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments: All upside, no downside. This isn’t a question of “if.” It’s just a question of “how much.” Every unit sold comes straight out of the pocket of Intel and AMD.

3. Intel and AMD: See the mirror image of (2) above. All downside, no upside. The question is only “How much?”

4. Apple: Actually, same as Intel and AMD above. Incrementally, this strengthens Microsoft, and could either take market share from the Mac, or at least reduce the defections from Windows to Mac.

5. Google: Ambiguous. On the one hand, Windows 8 on ARM will reduce the propensity for people to defect to a Chromebook because the product is much more competitive than “regular” x86 Windows. On the other hand, Windows 8 on ARM may awaken the thought in individuals and corporations alike that “If we are going this far, why not go all the way?” … by getting a Chromebook? The software/management/security architecture behind Windows 8 on ARM is, however, a recognition that Google had it right with the Chromebook.

What’s the bottom line on Windows 8 on ARM? If Microsoft can just plug the “Outlook hole,” it has a huge winner on its hand, offering a product sliced very intelligently between, on the one hand, Windows 8 for x86 and Mac OS and, on the other, Google’s Chromebooks. If Microsoft drops the ball and doesn’t offer Outlook for Windows 8 on ARM, it will still be a plus for Microsoft and its new laptop CPU suppliers (Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments), but not nearly as much upside as it would be if Outlook were available.

I expect both Windows 8 for x86 and Windows 8 for ARM to be available in U.S. retail starting around Oct. 31, plus or minus a few weeks — in numerous form factors ranging from tablets to laptops to desktops and various laptop/tablet hybrids.

[Cross-posted at The Street]

Microsoft’s Laptop Advantage Over Apple is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Google’s Laptops Are Big Sellers
• iPad 2′s Upgraded Video Capabilities Impact Online Video, Gaming
• This article has been withdrawn
• Microsoft’s Overlooked Innovation
• Are Microsoft and EMC beginning a renaissance of geek respect?
• Nokia to Sell the Well-Appointed 808 PureView this Month

The Vita has two high quality cameras (forward and rear) and there are both Wi-Fi and 3G models capable of connecting to the Internet. Perfect for the gamer on-the-go who also wants to stay in touch with friends and family—and feels the need to get a picture with their voice call.

As always, when I think of mobile video-chat devices I hearken back to the old comic Dick Tracy and the video watches. The PS Vita doesn’t quite sit in that role comfortably but it does show that application-ready devices can grow out of their expected niche and reach into others. Currently smartphones are the shining stars of communication with gaming as a secondary; handheld gaming devices (with similar capabilities to smartphones) may be the reverse but have the same sort of multifunction.

The Skype app includes free Skype-to-Skype voice calling, as well as high quality video calling that utilizes PS Vita’s front and rear cameras. The Skype app on PS Vita runs in “background mode” while you’re gaming or using other applications — meaning you have the capability to “pause” a game, conduct a call and then return to your previous activity — so you never miss a call. Plus, with a little Skype credit you can make low-cost calls to landlines and mobile directly from your PS Vita.

One expectation we can have for the PS Vita over something like the iPhone is that Sony will seek to produce a quicker screen, better resolution, and possibly even higher quality cameras. Gamers are exacting creatures who crave speed and quality—although they’re willing to sacrifice quality for reactivity and speed in the end.

Skype and other VoIP entries have been seeking penetration into markets outside of computers and teleconference and they’re starting to show their teeth in the market. With the expected integration with Xbox meaning that hopefully we’ll be seeing video calls coming into the living room and its migration to Android, iOS, Windows Phone and other mobile devices. As a market, video-VoIP is good for mobile devices but with current data rates it might still be a little bit of a barrier for the common customer.

Although we’re starting to see companies like Sprint offer (actually) unlimited data deals, which might enable more customers to take advantage of the higher bandwidth of video calling from mobile devices.

I imagine a future where people with mobile devices can telepresence their friends into conversations, parties, concerts, events by using video-VoIP to broadcast into someone’s living room and back again. Imagine seeing a table full of friends at a bar on the big screen TV even though they’re in Boston and you’re in Phoenix.

Video Chat While You Dominate on the PS Vita with Skype April 25th is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Skype Video Gets Spicy with PlayStation Vita Launch
• Twilio SDK Launches VoIP Starter Kit for iOS Developers
• Mobile’s Underdogs to Watch In 2012
• Skype for Android Plays Catch UP as VoIP Struggles on Mobile
• As Shares Slump by 5% Nintendo Bets on New Games to Revive the 3DS Sales
• The Gamer Plight: Console Price Wars, Virtual Goods Loss

The BBC is running an article on a research paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry that outlines how the process works:

Using a commercially-available 3D printer operated by computer-aided design software, Prof Lee Cronin and his team have built what they call “reactionware”.

These are tiny vessels in which chemical reactions can take place–but the vessels have the chemicals that drive the reactions already built in.

While this is common in large-scale chemical engineering, the development of reactionware makes it possible for the first time for custom vessels to be fabricated on a laboratory scale, Prof Cronin said.

In organic chemistry, reactions are the basic tools used for synthesizing new chemicals from base reactants. The methodology of discovering these reactions not only uses different reactants (i.e. mixing different chemicals together in certain proportions, at certain times, as in a recipe) but also through controlling the components, temperature, pressure, and other factors as they do so.

With the production of “reactionware” that is capable of containing and controlling the reactants it means that otherwise complex chemistry equipment and the attention of chemists can be boiled down into a “3D printable” vessel that would run the reaction for an end user. This essentially black boxes given reactions with basic reactants to produce complex pharmaceuticals.

The ever-growing technology of 3D printers is doing amazing things with how we think about physical objects. As we’ve seen with the MakerBot for physical objects—or in this case the advent of physibles. What we’re seeing here is the possibility of a 3D pharma printer that would take a reservoir of reactants and software and do the businesses set to it. I can almost see containers with all the proper reactants and a firmware chip with software to tell the 3D printer how to produce the reactionware and run the reactions to produce the final products.

Chemistry on tap at the local pharmacy

Professor Cronin added: “3D printers are becoming increasingly common and affordable. It’s entirely possible that, in the future, we could see chemical engineering technology which is prohibitively expensive today filter down to laboratories and small commercial enterprises.

“Even more importantly, we could use 3D printers to revolutionise access to health care in the developing world, allowing diagnosis and treatment to happen in a much more efficient and economical way than is possible now.

“We could even see 3D printers reach into homes and become fabricators of domestic items, including medications. Perhaps with the introduction of carefully-controlled software ‘apps’, similar to the ones available from Apple, we could see consumers have access to a personal drug designer they could use at home to create the medication they need.”

I am intrigued as to how this might make available an array of similar pharmaceuticals to a pharmacy (or at home) with just reactionware and the reactants. However, it would not be possible to do this with reactants that are extremely volatile or toxic—which is the case with a lot of products, byproducts, and reactants in organic chemistry.

It would not be likely that anyone would want to license the production of these sort of pharmaceuticals in a person’s residence, or perhaps even in a drug store. That’s assuming even if the reactants exist in extremely small quantities as one would expect from the difference between industrial grade and individual grade chemical reactions.

This is still a very good sign for print-on-demand chemistry at pharmacies, especially noting that reactions have already been done with this potential product. It could take the weight off certain generic drugs being shipped to various outlets to have them produced on the spot instead of in great bulk in an industrial lab.

It may yet be a long way to go before we see the first of these machines appear in the local Walgreens or CVS—and even longer for one to appear in a residential household—but I will keep looking forward to it.

Glasgow University Chemists See 3D Printers as Innovative for “Printing” Pharmaceuticals is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• The Pirate Bay Delivers Tongue-lashing to Anonymous over Virgin Media DDoS
• The Pirate Bay Experiences Traffic Boost After Block; Youth Look into Privacy via VPN
• Iranian DDoS on BBC has FBI On Alert for Further Cyberattacks
• Will 3D Printers Prompt Next-Gen Piracy?
• McAfee 2.0 Tops This Week’s iPad, Android Tablet Business Apps
• Lonely Planet Wants to Know Where You’re Going…in Zulu

Converged infrastructure is the future. It’s where commodity hardware (servers, networking, and storage) all become integrated and software enables the new IT benefits – speed and performance.  Converged infrastructure is what is powering the modern enterprise where apps, software, and high performances always on infrastructure is job one.

Wikibon lays out some really good advise on how to rollout convered infrastructure.  David Floyer chief analyst and cofounder offers up the following action items for CIO and executives in IT.  David recommends:  “Simplification infrastructure projects need strong internal leadership and a strong interaction with the businesses that IT serve. External advice should be sought from IT services that have a track record of success and are independent of hardware and software suppliers.”

The Converged Infrastructure Playbook

Simplification by converging infrastructure components and the IT organization that supports them has a significant payback. In a recent case study on extreme simplification, the business benefits of taking such an approach were shown to be a reduction of 1/3 or more of the IT budget. The converged components selected were:

• Server Virtualization using HP blades with IO virtualization,
• NetApp Storage virtualization network and snapshot backup software,
• Microsoft Hypervisor, VDI, OS and Application Suites,
• Communication network between two sites for backup, recovery and archive, using the snapshot backup software.

There are many alternative ways of skinning this cat. Cisco, EMC, HP, and others have converged infrastructure combining servers, storage, and networking. Actifio (the subject of a recent Peer Incite led by one of its resellers, Lighthouse Computer Services), Asigra, and others offer local backup appliances and cloud storage options.

Creating a DevOps organization is about combining and integration of development and operations in a single cross-trained group.

Choosing from these alternative approaches and other emerging options, and drawing integration boundaries that are suitable for an IT organization and the business it serves, is and will continue to be an extremely important process.

The advice from successful early adopters is very useful, summarized from the two references above:

• Choose approaches which:
  • Deliver business value,
  • Excite staff,
  • Utilize high levels of skill in staff;
• If tasks don’t meet these three criteria, they should either not be initiated or outsourced;
• Constantly experiment with small projects:
  • Create a “skunk-works” fund;
  • Choose leaders that can both initiate and kill projects;
• Virtualize all part of the IT infrastructure (servers, IO, storage, networking (as networking virtualization matures), desktops (for low-mobile users)and device virtualization (for data access for mobile multi-device users):
  • Separate software and processes from specific hardware constraints through virtualization.
• Simplify all the components and sub-components in the data center ruthlessly:
  • Reduce the number software and hardware vendors:
  • Do not make the highest functionality the most important criterion in evaluating a vendor or product unless the functionality directly leads to simplification.
• Snapshot technology is an important enabler of backup, whether to disk or tape. Snapshots enable versioning and the ability to backup while applications continue to process new data.
• There is an enormous difference between crash-consistent (volume-based) backups and application-consistent backups. With crash-consistent backups, the amount of data that will have to be recovered or regenerated may be as far back as the last backup.
• Be wary of setting different service levels (RPO) for application-consistent snapshots, particularly when applications are highly interdependent in support of a business process. Ultimately, backups should be business-process aware.
• Do not trust any vendor who claims that they can rid of tape.
  • Sure, eliminate tape recovery processes that should be replaced by disk;
  • Data volume is rising as fast if not faster than bandwidth capabilities;
  • A truck full of tapes give an order of magnitude more bandwidth for an order of magnitude less cost, and will maintain the relative advantages into the foreseeable future;
  • New tape technologies such as LTO-5 and LTFS are enabling low cost solutions for many archiving applications
  • Even with cloud solutions, tape should be part of the total solution (e.g., Amazon and Google recovery of data from tape after loss of disk copies)
• Develop clear metrics for measuring success such as:
  • Reduction of the IT budget,
  • Increase in the number of changes made (value of implementations or updates, with an emphasis on number),
  • Percentage of changes backed out (quality of integration)

The Future – Modernize or Die

IT departments have gotten a bad rap.  Some still see their function as standalone and unto themselves.  They’ve forgotten that they are there to provide a technology environment that supports business activity.  In these environments, the CIO sometimes doesn’t even know what business initiatives are being undertaken as he is too focused on the technology.  This is a really bad combination and doesn’t set up well for their future.

Enterprise CIOs are faced with new challenges as mobile now dominates the conversation around real change.  Before mobile it was cloud computing which still is forcing CIOs to transform.  Cloud is the business benefit to transform and mobile is the emotional reason.

People (employees) use their access to the corporate enterprise as a proxy for how relevant their workplace is.  Having old tech in the hands of employees isn’t very motivating and more importantly if technology isn’t driving up revenue (and/or lowering cost) then IT will be outsourced and or replaced.

Buidling the Modern Enterprise – Advice for CIO’s and IT Leaders for Rolling Out Convergered Infrastructure is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

You may also enjoy:

• Social Location Gaming Get Real: SCVNGR Raises $15M
• RSA and McAfee for a Single Security Offering
• WeeWorld Launches In-Game Ad Network around Virtual Goods, Brand Loyalty
• VMware Adjusts vSphere 5 Licensing – Launch Saved?
• Is Rackspace Dell’s Cloud Acquisition?
• LinkedIn Updates Ad Options, Facebook Sees Low CTR