SNIA on Cloud Storage

Survey Says……Here are Data & Cloud Storage Trends Worth Noting

March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 Michael Hoard Leave a comment

With the move to cloud continuing, application modernization, and related challenges such as hybrid and multi-cloud adoption and regulatory compliance requirements, enterprises must ensure they understand the current data and storage landscape. The SODA Foundation’s annual comprehensive global survey on data and storage trends does just that, providing a comprehensive look at the intersection of cloud computing, data and storage management, the configuration of environments that end-user organizations are gravitating to, and priorities of selected capabilities over the next several years

On April 13, 2023, SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) is pleased to host SODA in a live webcast “Top 12 Trends in Data and Cloud Storage” where SODA members who led this research will share key findings. I hope you will join us for a live discussion and in-depth look at this important research to hear the trends that are driving data and storage decisions, including:

Digital Twins Q&A

March 9, 2023March 9, 2023 Michael Hoard Leave a comment

A digital twin (DT) is a virtual representation of an object, system or process that spans its lifecycle, is updated from real-time data, and uses simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help decision-making. Digital twins can be used to help answer what-if AI-analytics questions, yield insights on business objectives and make recommendations on how to control or improve outcomes.

It’s a fascinating technology that the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) discussed at our live webcast “Journey to the Center of Massive Data: Digital Twins.” If you missed the presentation, you can watch it on-demand and access a PDF of the slides at the SNIA Educational Library. Our audience asked several interesting questions which are answered here in this blog.

Q. Will a digital twin make the physical twin more or less secure?

A. It depends on the implementation.If DTs are developed with security in mind,a DT can help augment the physical twin. Example, if the physical and digital twins are connected via an encrypted tunnel that carries all the control, management, and configuration traffic, then a firmware update of a simple sensor or actuator can include multi-factor authentication of the admin or strong authentication of the control application via features running in the DT, which augments the constrained environment of the physical twin. However, because DTs are usually hosted on systems that are connected to the internet, ill-protected servers could expose a physical twin to a remote intruder. Therefore, security must be designed from the start.

Q. What are some of the challenges of deploying digital twins?

A. Without AI frameworks and real-time interconnected pipelines in place digital twins’ value is limited.

Q. How do you see digital twins evolving in the future?

A. Here are a series of evolutionary steps:

Threat Detection through a Storage Lens

February 20, 2023February 20, 2023 Michael Hoard Leave a comment

Cybercriminals have always been about data – stealing data, compromising data, holding data hostage. Businesses continue to respond with malware detection on laptops and networks to protect data and prevent breaches. Since storage houses what the bad actors want, shouldn’t storage be a critical component of a strong defense-in-depth security strategy?

This is the topic the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) will explore on April 4, 2023 at our live webcast “Cyberstorage and XDR: Threat Detection through a Storage Lens.”

“Cyberstorage” is a term coined by Gartner. It is defined as doing threat detection and response in storage software or hardware. A parallel, related trend in the security industry is eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) which shifts some of the threat detection from centralized security monitoring tools (SIEMs) down into each domain (e.g., endpoint, network) for faster detection and automated response. Factor in the growing impact of ransomware and all these forces are driving the need to find creative, new ways to detect malware, including from inside the storage domain.

In this session we’ll discuss:

How to Train Deep Learning Models in the Cloud

January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 Erin Farr Leave a comment

Industry analysts predict Deep Learning will account for the majority of cloud workloads. Additionally, training of Deep Learning models will represent the majority of server applications in the next few years. Among Deep Learning workloads, foundation models — a new class of AI models that are trained on broad data (typically via self-supervision) using billions of parameters – are expected to consume the majority of the infrastructure.

It’s a fascinating topic that the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) will tackle on March 15, 2023 at our live webcast “Training Deep Learning Models in the Cloud” where our SNIA Deep Learning experts, Milind Pandit, from Habana, an Intel Company and Seelam Seetharami of IBM, will discuss how Deep Learning models are gaining prominence in various industries, and provide examples of the benefits of AI adoption.

Kubernetes Trials & Tribulations Q&A: Cloud, Data Center, Edge

January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 Michael Hoard Leave a comment

Kubernetes cloud orchestration platforms offer all the flexibility, elasticity, and ease of use — on premises, in a private or public cloud, even at the edge. The flexibility of turning on services when you want them, turning them off when you don’t, is an enticing prospect for developers as well as application deployment teams, but it has not been without its challenges.

At our recent SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative webcast “Kubernetes Trials & Tribulations: Cloud, Data Center, Edge” our experts, Michael St-Jean and Pete Brey, debated both the challenges and advantages of Kubernetes. If you missed the session, it is available on-demand along with the presentation slides. The live audience raised several interesting questions. Here are answers to them from our presenters.

Q. Are all these trends coming together? Where will Kubernetes be in the next 1-3 years?

What are Digital Twins?

November 14, 2022November 14, 2022 Michael Hoard Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered how intelligent Industry 4.0 factories or smart cities of the future will process massive amounts of sensor and machine data? What you may not expect is a digital twin will most likely play a role. A digital twin is a virtual representation of an object, system or process that spans its lifecycle, is updated from real-time data, and uses simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help decision-making. Digital twins can be used to help answer what-if AI-analytics questions, yield insights on business objectives and make recommendations on how to control or improve outcomes.

Kubernetes at the Cloud, Data Center and Edge

November 2, 2022November 2, 2022 Michael Hoard Leave a comment

The race to the cloud has been fast and furious. The ease and flexibility of turning on services when you want them, turning them off when you don’t, is an enticing prospect for developers as well as application deployment teams, but it has not been without its challenges. Many cite expanding costs, data sovereignty, or security as reasons for repatriation of workloads, but what about other factors, such as data gravity, latency, and extending workloads to the edge? Addressing these challenges will be front and center at our SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) webcast on November 10, 2022, “Kubernetes Trials & Tribulations: Cloud, Data Center, Edge.”