To counter the ever-increasing likelihood of catastrophic disruption and cost due to enterprise IT security threats, data center decision makers need to be vigilant in protecting their organization’s data. Confidential Computing is architected to provide security for data in use to meet this critical need for enterprises today.

The next webcast in our Confidential Computing series is “How to Easily Deploy Confidential Computing.” It will provide insight into how data center, cloud and edge applications may easily benefit from cost-effective, real-world Confidential Computing solutions. This educational discussion on July 28, 2021 will provide end-user examples, tips on how to assess systems before and after deployment, as well as key steps to complete along the journey to mitigate threat exposure.  Presenting will be Steve Van Lare (Anjuna), Anand Kashyap (Fortanix), and Michael Hoard (Intel), who will discuss: Read More

Recently, the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) I hosted a lively panel discussion “What is Confidential Computing and Why Should I Care?” It was the first in a 3-part series of Confidential Computing security discussions. You can learn about the series here.  The webcast featured three experts who are working to define the Confidential Computing architecture, Mike Bursell of the Enarx Project, David Kaplan at AMD, and Ronald Perez from Intel.

This session served as an introduction to the concept of Confidential Computing and examined the technology and its initial uses. The audience asked several interesting questions. We’re answering some of the more basic questions here, as well as some that did not get addressed directly during the live event.

Q. What is Confidential Computing?  How does it complement existing security efforts, such as the Trusted Platform Model (TPM)? Read More

The need for improved data security and privacy seems to grow bigger every day. The continuous attacks and bad actors from hackers and rogue governments are increasing the demand from businesses and consumers alike to make stronger data protection a top priority. In the midst of this need, Confidential Computing has emerged as a solution for stronger data security and is gaining traction from a variety of start-ups and established companies. Read More

While data security in the enterprise has never been for the faint of heart, the move to a more contiguous enterprise/cloud workflow as well as the increase in Edge data processing has significantly impacted the work (and the blood pressure) of security professionals. In the “arms race” of security, new defensive tactics are always needed. One significant approach is Confidential Computing: a technology that can isolate data and execution in a secure space on a system, which takes the concept of security to new levels. This SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) webcast “What is Confidential Computing and Why Should I Care?” will provide an introduction and explanation of Confidential Computing and will feature a panel of industry architects responsible for defining Confidential Compute. It will be a lively conversation on topics including: Read More

Recently, the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) hosted a live webcast “Cloud Analytics Drives Airplanes-as-a-Service” with Ben Howard, CTO of KinectAir. It was a fascinating discussion on how analytics is making this new commercial airline business take off.

Ben has a history of innovation with multiple companies working on new flight technology, analytics, and artificial intelligence. In this session, he provided several insights from his experiences on how analytics can have a significant impact on every business. Aside from analytics, services such as business cards can also be incorporated.

In the course of the conversation, we covered several questions, all of which were answered in the webcast. Here’s a preview of the questions along with some brief answers. Take an hour of your time to listen to the entire presentation, we think you’ll enjoy it.

Q: What’s different about capturing data for Machine Learning? Read More

What’s the best way to make a development team lean and agile? It was a question we explored at length during our SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative live webcast “Continuous Delivery: Cloud Software Development on Speed.” During this session, continuous delivery expert, Davis Frank, Co-creator of the Jasmine Test Framework, explained why product development teams are adopting a continuous delivery (CD) model. If you missed the live event, you can watch it on-demand here.

The webcast audience was highly engaged with this topic and asked some interesting questions. Here are Davis Frank’s answers:

Q.  What are a few simple tests you can use to determine your team’s capability to deliver CD? Read More

Earlier this month, the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) hosted an intriguing discussion on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our expert, Rob Enderle, Founder of The Enderle Group, and Eric Hibbard, Chair of the SNIA Security Technical Work Group, shared their experiences and insights on what it takes to keep AI ethical. If you missed the live event, it Is available on-demand along with the presentation slides at the SNIA Educational Library.

As promised during the live event, our experts have provided written answers to the questions from this session, many of which we did not have time to get to.

Q. The webcast cited a few areas where AI as an attacker could make a potential cyber breach worse, are there also some areas where AI as a defender could make cybersecurity or general welfare more dangerous for humans? Read More

It happens with more frequency these days. Two companies merge, and the IT departments breathe a small sigh of relief as they learn that they both use the same infrastructure software, though one is on-premises and one is in the cloud. Their relief slowly dissolves, as they discover that the cloud-provisioned workers are using features in the software that have yet to be integrated into the on-prem version. Now both have to adapt and it seems that no one is happy.

So, what’s the best way to get these versions in sync? A Continuous Delivery model is increasingly being adopted to get software development on a pace to keep up with business demands. The Continuous Delivery model results in a development organization that looks much like current manufacturing processes with effective workers, modern machines, and a just-in-time inventory. Even large software companies are starting to embrace this cloud delivery methodology to create a continuous stream of new revisions. Read More

On-demand flying through an app sounds like something for only the rich and famous, yet the use of cloud analytics is making flexible flying a reality at start-up airline, KinectAir.  On April 7, 2021, The CTO of KinectAir, Ben Howard, will join the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) for a fascinating discussion on first-hand experiences of leveraging cloud analytics methods to bring new business models to life that are competitive and profitable.

And since start-up companies may not have legacy data and analytics to consider, we’ll also explore what established businesses using traditional analytics methods can learn from this use case. Join us on April 7th for our live webcast “Adapting Cloud Analytics for Practical Business Use” for views from both start-up and established companies on how to revisit the analytics decision process with a discussion on: Read More

The SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative began 2021 discussing the topic that has been on everyone’s mind for the last year – COVID-19. But rather than talking about positive cases or vaccine availability, our experts, Eric Hibbard and Mounir Elmously, explored how COVID has increased cybersecurity concerns and impacted the way organizations must adapt their security practices in order to ensure data privacy and data protection. If you missed our live webcast “Data Privacy and Data Protection in the COIVD Era” it’s available on-demand.

As expected, the session raised several questions on how to mitigate the risks from increased social engineering and ransomware attacks and how to limit increased vulnerabilities from the flood of remote workers. Here are answers to the session’s questions from our experts.

Q: Do you have any recommendations for structuring a rapid response to an ongoing security threat? Read More