TECHNOLOGY

Tech jobs of 2023 – Cloud computing a key enabler for digital transformation

Published

1 year ago

January 6, 2023

In the age of digital, cloud computing is facilitating transformation. As a result of the cloud there are now virtually limitless possibilities for organisations to embrace digital with minimised risk; a rise in opportunity which is inevitably linked to a massive rise in demands for tech jobs and, as a result, the tech talent gap. But can the digital shift be attributed entirely to cloud computing, or is there more to it?

Cloud storage has been around since the 1960s, but over the last decade it has started to take hold on every element of our lives. The use of software accessible via the Web instead of on a desktop opens up a wealth of opportunities. Of course, cloud computing was initially developed as an opportunity for businesses to grow, but today our children are cloud natives and even non-techy people are users of cloud computing be it for school resources, online workouts, banking or home tech. On a corporate side, the global move towards cloud computing has provided the foundations of some of the most innovative and transformational tech advances, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).

Another significant contribution of cloud computing is the rise in hybrid and remote working. Whilst home working may not seem to be as influential as AI at first glance, its implications are huge; tech talent is no longer limited to taking work in a particular area, state or even country; borders are all but eliminated as global teams work together to provide 24/7 service from their home office.

So why is cloud computing such a big deal? Aside from the fact that it is almost single handedly responsible for enabling organiaations to keep going while adhering to covid restrictions, cloud computing opens the door of digital opportunity for organisations with much less risk than before.

Allowing organisations to make a digital shift

As recently as a decade ago, in order for businesses to develop on a digital level, they would need to buy or develop appropriate infrastructures to support complex applications. Once in place, the development and maintenance of digital capabilities would have required a workforce of skilled tech staff, without whom digital elements would quickly fall behind the fast-paced development of the industry. Today, those wishing to invest in digital need only to find the right cloud service provider who will operate and maintain services on their own, purpose-built servers. This has made the leap to digital instantly cheaper, easier to maintain and lower risk than it has ever been.

Throw in the fact that cloud computing makes operations sustainable, scalable, cost efficient and accessible, it is no wonder that going digital has become the best option for most ambitious organisations. Thanks to cloud computing, digital transformation has gone from being a bold risk to something that most forward moving organisations cannot afford not to do.

The true driving force of digital

The rise of the cloud and its impact on the digital transformation demonstrates a virtual cycle: the simplicity of cloud computing makes it more accessible, which means that more people experience the benefits, which makes it in higher demand… whilst cloud computing is a key enabler for digital transformation, it is not the driving force.

The real drivers of digital transformation are all about experience and convenience. Today’s consumers demand omnichannel interactions with businesses of all sizes. They expect to interact seamlessly across platforms and devices and access the information that they need, when they need it, at the push of a button. All of this must be done, of course, whilst maintaining the client’s privacy and storing their data securely.

Another driving force behind digital is employee productivity. Pre cloud computing, the systems utilised by employees both on and off site were clunky at best, and often failed to meet the business’s changing demands. The days where one failed server halted productivity for hours or even days are a distant memory with cloud computing. By utilising software based on off site servers, organisations of all sizes benefit from greater agility while improving the employees’ uptime and, hence, performance, without the costs of implementing the infrastructure directly. What’s more, cloud computing gives you maximum agility, allowing you to add to or amend your services without down time.

The rise of cyber security

Cloud computing has been the root of huge changes over the past decade and a half, and those changes are set to continue through 2023 and beyond. But cloud computing is not without risk and as demand for cloud-based services grows, so will cyber security risks. Although cloud computing simplifies some areas of digitisation, the need for enhanced cyber security is paramount and, amid increasingly complex legislation regarding data collection and storage, organisations must remain ahead of the changes in order to remain compliant, or risk hefty fines, not to mention damage to reputation.

To combat risks of cyber-attacks and non-compliance, cyber security and risk management must be built into the digital model, regardless of the size of the organisation or complexity of their digital transformation. This could be one reason why information security analysis is predicted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to be one of the fastest growing jobs in the future.

Technology moves rapidly and if an organisation doesn’t move with it, it will get left behind. Cloud services promise to make businesses work better, not harder, making tech talent around the globe more accessible and organisations more effective. With that in mind, it is no wonder that global cloud services are predicted to reach $482 billion by 2023.

Whether you are a leader in an organisation or you are looking for a job in tech, this evolution presents you with a choice: ride the digital wave or get left out at sea. For tech talent the time has never been better to scope out the opportunities and embrace them.

Tags: Digital Transformation

Related Topics:Cloud computing Digital enabler Jobs Key tech Transformation

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TECHNOLOGY

Next-gen chips, Amazon Q, and speedy S3

Published

5 months ago

December 1, 2023

Max

AWS re:Invent, which has been taking place from November 27 and runs to December 1, has had its usual plethora of announcements: a total of 21 at time of print.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the huge potential impact of generative AI – ChatGPT officially turns one year old today – a lot of focus has been on the AI side for AWS’ announcements, including a major partnership inked with NVIDIA across infrastructure, software, and services.

Yet there has been plenty more announced at the Las Vegas jamboree besides. Here, CloudTech rounds up the best of the rest:

Next-generation chips

This was the other major AI-focused announcement at re:Invent: the launch of two new chips, AWS Graviton4 and AWS Trainium2, for training and running AI and machine learning (ML) models, among other customer workloads. Graviton4 shapes up against its predecessor with 30% better compute performance, 50% more cores and 75% more memory bandwidth, while Trainium2 delivers up to four times faster training than before and will be able to be deployed in EC2 UltraClusters of up to 100,000 chips.

The EC2 UltraClusters are designed to ‘deliver the highest performance, most energy efficient AI model training infrastructure in the cloud’, as AWS puts it. With it, customers will be able to train large language models in ‘a fraction of the time’, as well as double energy efficiency.

As ever, AWS offers customers who are already utilising these tools. Databricks, Epic and SAP are among the companies cited as using the new AWS-designed chips.

Zero-ETL integrations

AWS announced new Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon Relational Database Services (Amazon RDS) for MySQL integrations with Amazon Redshift, AWS’ cloud data warehouse. The zero-ETL integrations – eliminating the need to build ETL (extract, transform, load) data pipelines – make it easier to connect and analyse transactional data across various relational and non-relational databases in Amazon Redshift.

A simple example of how zero-ETL functions can be seen is in a hypothetical company which stores transactional data – time of transaction, items bought, where the transaction occurred – in a relational database, but use another analytics tool to analyse data in a non-relational database. To connect it all up, companies would previously have to construct ETL data pipelines which are a time and money sink.

The latest integrations “build on AWS’s zero-ETL foundation… so customers can quickly and easily connect all of their data, no matter where it lives,” the company said.

Amazon S3 Express One Zone

AWS announced the general availability of Amazon S3 Express One Zone, a new storage class purpose-built for customers’ most frequently-accessed data. Data access speed is up to 10 times faster and request costs up to 50% lower than standard S3. Companies can also opt to collocate their Amazon S3 Express One Zone data in the same availability zone as their compute resources.

Companies and partners who are using Amazon S3 Express One Zone include ChaosSearch, Cloudera, and Pinterest.

Amazon Q

A new product, and an interesting pivot, again with generative AI at its core. Amazon Q was announced as a ‘new type of generative AI-powered assistant’ which can be tailored to a customer’s business. “Customers can get fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, generate content, and take actions – all informed by a customer’s information repositories, code, and enterprise systems,” AWS added. The service also can assist companies building on AWS, as well as companies using AWS applications for business intelligence, contact centres, and supply chain management.

Customers cited as early adopters include Accenture, BMW and Wunderkind.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

TECHNOLOGY

HCLTech and Cisco create collaborative hybrid workplaces

Published

5 months ago

November 29, 2023

Max

Digital comms specialist Cisco and global tech firm HCLTech have teamed up to launch Meeting-Rooms-as-a-Service (MRaaS).

Available on a subscription model, this solution modernises legacy meeting rooms and enables users to join meetings from any meeting solution provider using Webex devices.

The MRaaS solution helps enterprises simplify the design, implementation and maintenance of integrated meeting rooms, enabling seamless collaboration for their globally distributed hybrid workforces.

Rakshit Ghura, senior VP and Global head of digital workplace services, HCLTech, said: “MRaaS combines our consulting and managed services expertise with Cisco’s proficiency in Webex devices to change the way employees conceptualise, organise and interact in a collaborative environment for a modern hybrid work model.

“The common vision of our partnership is to elevate the collaboration experience at work and drive productivity through modern meeting rooms.”

Alexandra Zagury, VP of partner managed and as-a-Service Sales at Cisco, said: “Our partnership with HCLTech helps our clients transform their offices through cost-effective managed services that support the ongoing evolution of workspaces.

“As we reimagine the modern office, we are making it easier to support collaboration and productivity among workers, whether they are in the office or elsewhere.”

Cisco’s Webex collaboration devices harness the power of artificial intelligence to offer intuitive, seamless collaboration experiences, enabling meeting rooms with smart features such as meeting zones, intelligent people framing, optimised attendee audio and background noise removal, among others.

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, HCLTech, Hybrid, meetings

TECHNOLOGY

Canonical releases low-touch private cloud MicroCloud

Published

5 months ago

November 28, 2023

Max

Canonical has announced the general availability of MicroCloud, a low-touch, open source cloud solution. MicroCloud is part of Canonical’s growing cloud infrastructure portfolio.

It is purpose-built for scalable clusters and edge deployments for all types of enterprises. It is designed with simplicity, security and automation in mind, minimising the time and effort to both deploy and maintain it. Conveniently, enterprise support for MicroCloud is offered as part of Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro subscription, with several support tiers available, and priced per node.

MicroClouds are optimised for repeatable and reliable remote deployments. A single command initiates the orchestration and clustering of various components with minimal involvement by the user, resulting in a fully functional cloud within minutes. This simplified deployment process significantly reduces the barrier to entry, putting a production-grade cloud at everyone’s fingertips.

Juan Manuel Ventura, head of architectures & technologies at Spindox, said: “Cloud computing is not only about technology, it’s the beating heart of any modern industrial transformation, driving agility and innovation. Our mission is to provide our customers with the most effective ways to innovate and bring value; having a complexity-free cloud infrastructure is one important piece of that puzzle. With MicroCloud, the focus shifts away from struggling with cloud operations to solving real business challenges” says

In addition to seamless deployment, MicroCloud prioritises security and ease of maintenance. All MicroCloud components are built with strict confinement for increased security, with over-the-air transactional updates that preserve data and roll back on errors automatically. Upgrades to newer versions are handled automatically and without downtime, with the mechanisms to hold or schedule them as needed.

With this approach, MicroCloud caters to both on-premise clouds but also edge deployments at remote locations, allowing organisations to use the same infrastructure primitives and services wherever they are needed. It is suitable for business-in-branch office locations or industrial use inside a factory, as well as distributed locations where the focus is on replicability and unattended operations.

Cedric Gegout, VP of product at Canonical, said: “As data becomes more distributed, the infrastructure has to follow. Cloud computing is now distributed, spanning across data centres, far and near edge computing appliances. MicroCloud is our answer to that.

“By packaging known infrastructure primitives in a portable and unattended way, we are delivering a simpler, more prescriptive cloud experience that makes zero-ops a reality for many Industries.“

MicroCloud’s lightweight architecture makes it usable on both commodity and high-end hardware, with several ways to further reduce its footprint depending on your workload needs. In addition to the standard Ubuntu Server or Desktop, MicroClouds can be run on Ubuntu Core – a lightweight OS optimised for the edge. With Ubuntu Core, MicroClouds are a perfect solution for far-edge locations with limited computing capabilities. Users can choose to run their workloads using Kubernetes or via system containers. System containers based on LXD behave similarly to traditional VMs but consume fewer resources while providing bare-metal performance.

Coupled with Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro + Support subscription, MicroCloud users can benefit from an enterprise-grade open source cloud solution that is fully supported and with better economics. An Ubuntu Pro subscription offers security maintenance for the broadest collection of open-source software available from a single vendor today. It covers over 30k packages with a consistent security maintenance commitment, and additional features such as kernel livepatch, systems management at scale, certified compliance and hardening profiles enabling easy adoption for enterprises. With per-node pricing and no hidden fees, customers can rest assured that their environment is secure and supported without the expensive price tag typically associated with cloud solutions.

Tags: automation, Canonical, MicroCloud, private cloud