“Cloud Computing” the BUZZ is in the Air – Part 2

Sundeep Malik

Information Technology Management

December'08

Welcome to my second post on Cloud Computing, this article speaks about the Ontology of the cloud. Though there is no industry defined ontology for the cloud, I found this particular representation most appropriate.

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“Cloud Computing” the BUZZ is in the Air - Part 1

We have been hearing a lot about a revolution which will change the way we do business. A revolution which will make the best IT solutions available to any organization/individual at a very reasonable cost, yes we have been hearing a lot about these two  revolutionary words ‘Cloud Computing’.  These series of my posts will focus on different aspects of Cloud Computing.

Cloud computing draws a very close analogy from the world of electricity. In 1851 Henry Burden invented the big Burden’s wheel to generate electricity for his factory. This revolutionized the way factories operated and in the years to follow many factories started their own electricity generating units. It was not long before Thomas Edison’s assistant Samuel Insull realized the potential of building central electricity generation units and providing factories and households with electricity at a cheaper cost. People saw the benefit of this approach and soon electricity generation shifted from individual companies to electricity generating organizations at a very fast pace allowing businesses to concentrate on their core competencies. All one needed were few wires from the electricity generation plant to their factory and pay for the number of unit of electricity they utilised. The electricity generating organizations were able to significantly reduce electricity cost because of economies of scale and were able to create significant business value out of this approach. This made electricity a utility and a necessity for all businesses and no longer gave companies any competitive advantage.

A similar revolution is currently underway in the technology industry where computing power is being talked of in the same breath as a utility service. The concept is called cloud computing, the general understanding held by the market is best described by this definition from Wikipedia “Cloud computing . . . is a style of computing where IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service,’ allowing users to access technology-enabled services ‘in the cloud’ without knowledge of, expertise with or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them". The idea being a user would now just need a terminal, internet connection (the cloud is the internet) and probably his credit card details to plug into the cloud. And a whole lot of applications and infrastructure would be available to him to use and pay for according to his usage.

In the early years of the last century the nature and economics of mechanical power changed with the centralization of electricity generation and we arrived at a moment where technology extended mans physical powers. We are at another such moment today with technologies that extend our intellectual powers.

Sundeep Malik
Information Technology Management
December’08

Future of the Internet

Varun Kothari

Internet Marketing Management, April ’09 Batch

The Internet is a world wide web of interconnected computer networks which comprises of millions of privately and publicly owned, academic, business, and government owned networks which have local to global scope. These networks are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other technologies.

Commercialization of the internet network started in the mid 1990s, and countless applications in virtually every aspect of modern human life have evolved since then. As internet is touching every aspect of the human life, we are more interested in the future of internet. What would be the role of internet in the future world, let’s say after 10 years i.e. 2020.

Recently a survey was conducted by the PEW internet and American life project to predict the implications of the internet on society in coming times and how internet will be evolved? The survey focused on the responses from the key personnel in internet industry, analysts and technocrats.

I have summarised the survey outcomes so as to understand the future of internet. The major trends that could evolve in internet usage impacting our society are discussed here.

Global network deployed: By 2020, world-wide internet network interoperability will be achieved, which would allow unrestricted flow of data, verification of credentials and billing; mobile wireless communications will be a low cost commodity available to everyone. In future, convergence of more and more services on mobile will happen.

English as the global language: Internet Networked communications will play a major role to combine the world into a single political, social and economic entity where people can connect each other and everywhere to have audio – visual exchanges using internet. English can thus become the primary global language displacing few of the regional languages.

Growing Technology dependence is a problem: In 2020, our growing dependence on the technology and day by day reducing human control as an interface with increasing usage of artificial intelligence which would cut direct human input so completely out of few key activities such as electronic surveillance, security systems that technology out of our control could generate threat of dangers and dependencies that could not be identified until it would be impossible to reverse them.

Personal privacy at stake: The other impact that internet could have in 2020 is that with growing usage of internet and it’s availability at cheaper costs, privacy of not only the celebrities but the common man would be affected. In fact, we will be connected to the outside world all the time. But if we look at the bigger picture, it will be good as both the pros and cons would be highlighted easily and the society will be more aware.

Internet opens doors to success: In 2020, Internet will open the door to success. As rightly predicted by Thomas Friedman in his book The World is Flat, in year 2008, the internet can make it possible for individuals to collaborate and compete globally. The free flow of information will completely blur the national boundaries. The new boundaries that could evolve which will be groupings based on corporate culture with varied geographical boundaries with flat organizations bounded together by the global networks.

Terror risks looms: Increased connectivity and information will led few people to stay away from the global networks to live in peace but few others could utilize the efficacy of these networks for terror attacks as they might not be happy with the way the technology is shaping the world. So, a new type of terrorist segment could arise in the years to come.

These are the major trends that could evolve in the 3^rd stage of internet evolution and we can clearly see how our lives will be changed within few years. The technology will accelerate the change process so fast, that would be, beyond imagination. Semantic web will have a drastic impact on this change cycle in the coming years. We should look forward to evolving convergence technologies to make this world a better place to live in.

The Dawn of Internet Marketing

Sharon Barsey

Service Marketing and Management

December’08

When I graduated from Senior College in 2006 the biggest dilemma I faced was which industry I should make a career in. I met many career counsellors, gave random interviews to see what excites me the most, until one fine day I got an interview call from an internet marketing company. Not knowing anything about this industry I thought lets give it a try. I gave the interview, got the job and from then on there has been no turning back.

The whole concept of using the internet as a medium to reach out to customers and entice them to buy seemed so amazing and promising to me that I decided to test my boundaries in this field.

Internet Marketing or online marketing as some of us call it is essentially using the internet as a medium to market products and services.

The various forms of internet marketing include:

• Affiliate Marketing

• Social Media Marketing

• Viral Marketing

• Search Engine Marketing

• Email Marketing

• Interactive Advertising

• Mobile Advertising

• Banner Advertising

• E-Commerce

Subsequent posts will explain each of these in more detail. Also several internet strategies and models will also be discussed like Web Analytics, Web 2.0 etc.

Another important aspect that will be covered are the competitors – Google, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter

Finally the latest developments in this industry like ICANN conferences, Traffic Conferences and similar stories will also be covered.

So the tall and short of it is that to know the in and out of this ever growing and ever changing industry, that is quickly eating into the market share of other mediums of advertising, keep a watch on this space.