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Get more value from Virtual Meetings

June 27, 2023/in 4TC, Blogs, IT Services/by Wingman

Remote meetings are becoming more frequent and appear to be here to stay in the modern working world. Despite the fears around issues such as home Wi-Fi going down, noises and the impromptu appearance of pets and children in meetings, overall, these fears have not materialised in a way that would make the office an obvious better choice; the office can also feature noise, distractions and technical issues after all.

In all, it is increasingly clear that virtual meetings can be just as productive, if not more so, than in-person meetings. However, this new format does present new risks too, particularly in relation to preparation and attendance, technical issues and the risk of digressing from the topic at hand.

This piece runs over the challenges of remote meetings and gives some guidelines for how to find a remote meeting provider that meets your needs. In our next piece, we’ll discuss how to hold effective remote meetings using specific tips and actions.

The challenges of remote meetings

Remote meetings can be lengthy internet conferences with participants from all around the world or brief 1:1 sessions. One of the clear benefits of remote meetings is that they facilitate live collaboration between staff members from across the world. Since there are no longer any geographical limitations, a wider spectrum of talent is now accessible.

A remote meeting differs from an in-person meeting because it takes place virtually. Whilst an obvious difference, there are some unique challenges that arise as a result:

They can affect our ability to read body language and emotion; virtual meetings have been associated with the idea of ‘zoom fatigue’, as it can take more energy to read these visual cues through a virtual interface.
Issues with the audio and visuals, due to technical barriers or settings; ‘You’re on mute!’.

Working together across different time zones and shifts
Hardware and software dependencies creating differences in accessibility and experience
Distractions and technical limitations in the home office

Remote meetings tend to follow the same format and protocol as in-person meetings, despite the additional technical obstacles and geographic distance.

How to choose the right tool for remote meetings

When selecting a platform for remote meetings, several criteria should be considered. It is important to consider the elements that are unique to your team and organisation. For larger and smaller gathering and other requirements, different tools may be better suited than others.

Consider the following elements when you consider your remote meeting options:

Your team’s size
Time zones and locations

Sharing of screens and visuals
Having the ability to schedule in advance
Platform uptime and reliability
Team hardware for accessing remote meetings

How you run your meeting is just as important as selecting the finest platform to host it on. A productive online meeting requires careful planning, keeping track of ideas and activities, central information storage and ensuring remote access to the materials.

Online tools have also emerged increasingly for managing meetings, including digital whiteboards, mind maps, and cloud-based note storage to take notes instantly. The tools to support the meetings, like the meeting software, may vary by requirements. For example, to document a project meeting, you may require a basic Word document or bring in project management software including Kanban boards to capture and organise the insights and actions of the meeting.

It’s crucial to have a tool that facilitates clear decision-making for the team, collects fresh ideas and information, and stores it for future use.

One such tool is Microsoft Teams

Microsoft 365’s collaboration tool, Microsoft Teams, is a leading cloud office tool that encourages teamwork, video conferencing, document sharing and workplace collaboration.

Teams was released in 2017 as a rival to Clack for online communications. Since its release it has grown quickly to become one of the world’s most popular collaboration tools, driven in no small part by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been so successful, that Teams has been dubbed the company’s fastest-growing business app in its entire existence!

Teams has emerged as one of Microsoft’s key workplace productivity and collaboration tools partly because of the necessity of remote working that emerged from the pandemic. Businesses scrambled to set up virtual meetings for remote employees. As businesses closed and sent employees home in March 2020, Microsoft observed a 1,000% spike in video meetings. Teams users also increased dramatically, from 32 million at the beginning of March to 75 million by the conclusion of the month.

Microsoft quickly added new features to enhance remote working capabilities to take advantage of the fast changes in working habits, and to reduce the fatigue that became associated with video conferences. One of the key features, called ‘together mode’, produces a virtual environment, like a conference room for example, where participants’ video feeds are cropped and gathered in more natural settings to create a shared area that feels more suited to collaborative dialogue.

It has many meeting-friendly features. distractions are lessened with the addition of real-time noise suppression. Deep learning techniques isolate the speech signal from undesired background noise. Basic video call features like custom backdrops, screen sharing, hand raising, recording, breakout rooms, and live captioning are also available within the Teams app to further enhance the meeting experience.

How can you determine what is effective for you? We encourage getting clear on your criteria and scouting out the virtual meeting providers that can meet your needs. Even better, a meeting provider that can integrate its software with your other applications can offer additional benefits, such as automation, streamlining and enhanced communications across your organisation.

Want to capitalise on the potential of your technology? Contact 4TC Today

4TC take time to understand the daily challenges that your business faces. We then provide cost-effective tech solutions to these issues that will help you save time, protect vital data, and enable you and your staff to be more effective with your time management. Alongside our proactive IT support, we will ensure that your staff are using the technology at their disposal in a way that works for them, whilst making sure that they are educated on how to use it as productively as possible. The right Cloud solution has the power to revolutionise your business forever – utilising your IT to its full potential is essential to guaranteeing that you and your business can thrive and grow into the future. If you would like to find out more on how 4TC Services can provide affordable tech management for your business, drop us an email or call us now for a full demonstration.

Inside Microsoft Copilot: A Look At The Technology Stack

June 5, 2023/in News/by Wingman

As expected, generative AI took centre stage at Microsoft Build, the annual developer conference hosted in Seattle. Within a few minutes into his keynote, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, unveiled the new framework and platform for developers to build and embed an AI assistant in their applications.

Branded as Copilot, Microsoft is extending the same framework it is leveraging to add AI assistants to a dozen applications, including GitHub, Edge, Microsoft 365, Power Apps, Dynamics 365, and even Windows 11.

Microsoft is known to add layers of API, SDK, and tools to enable developers and independent software vendors to extend the capabilities of its core products. The ISV ecosystem that exists around Office is a classic example of this approach.

Having been an ex-employee of Microsoft, I have observed the company’s unwavering ability to seize every opportunity to transform internal innovations into robust developer platforms. Interestingly, the culture of “platformisation” of emerging technology at Microsoft is still prevalent even after three decades of launching highly successful platforms such as Windows, MFC, and COM.

While introducing the Copilot stack, Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s CTO, quoted Bill Gates – “A platform is when the economic value of everybody that uses it exceeds the value of the company that creates it. Then it’s a platform.”

Bill Gates’ statement is exceptionally relevant and profoundly transformative for the technology industry. There are many examples of platforms that grew exponentially beyond the expectations of the creators. Windows in the 90s and iPhone in the 2000s are classic examples of such platforms.

The latest platform to emerge out of Redmond is the Copilot stack, which allows developers to infuse intelligent chatbots with minimal effort into any application they build.

The rise of tools like AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard is changing the way end-users interact with the software. Rather than clicking through multiple screens or executing numerous commands, they prefer interacting with an intelligent agent that is capable of efficiently completing the tasks at hand.

Microsoft was quick in realizing the importance of embedding an AI chatbot into every application. After arriving at a common framework for building Copilots for many products, it is now extending to its developer and ISV community.

In many ways, the Copilot stack is like a modern operating system. It runs on top of powerful hardware based on the combination of CPUs and GPUs. The foundation models form the kernel of the stack, while the orchestration layer is like the process and memory management. The user experience layer is similar to the shell of an operating system exposing the capabilities through an interface.

Let’s take a closer look at how Microsoft structured the Copilot stack without getting too technical:

The Infrastructure – The AI supercomputer running in Azure, the public cloud, is the foundation of the platform. This purpose-built infrastructure, which is powered by tens of thousands of state-of-the-art GPUs from NVIDIA, provides the horsepower needed to run complex deep learning models that can respond to prompts in seconds. The same infrastructure powers the most successful app of our time, ChatGPT.

Foundation Models – The foundation models are the kernel of the Copliot stack. They are trained on a large corpus of data and can perform diverse tasks. Examples of foundation models include GPT-4, DALL-E, and Whisper from OpenAI. Some of the open source LLMs like BERT, Dolly, and LLaMa may be a part of this layer. Microsoft is partnering with Hugging Face to bring a catalogue of curated open-source models to Azure.

While foundation models are powerful by themselves, they can be adapted for specific scenarios. For example, an LLM trained on a large corpus of generic textual content can be fine-tuned to understand the terminology used in an industry vertical such as healthcare, legal, or finance.

Microsoft’s Azure AI Studio hosts various foundation models, fine-tuned models, and even custom models trained by enterprises outside of Azure.

The foundation models rely heavily on the underlying GPU infrastructure to perform inference.

Orchestration – This layer acts as a conduit between the underlying foundation models and the user. Since generative AI is all about prompts, the orchestration layer analyzes the prompt entered by the user to understand the user’s or application’s real intent. It first applies a moderation filter to ensure that the prompt meets the safety guidelines and doesn’t force the model to respond with irrelevant or unsafe responses. The same layer is also responsible for filtering the model’s response that does not align with the expected outcome.

The next step in orchestration is to complement the prompt with meta-prompting through additional context that’s specific to the application. For example, the user may not have explicitly asked for packaging the response in a specific format, but the application’s user experience needs the format to render the output correctly. Think of this as injecting application-specific into the prompt to make it contextual to the application.

Once the prompt is constructed, additional factual data may be needed by the LLM to respond with an accurate answer. Without this, LLMs may tend to hallucinate by responding with inaccurate and imprecise information. The factual data typically lives outside the realm of LLMs in external sources such as the world wide web, external databases, or an object storage bucket.

Two techniques are popularly used to bring external context into the prompt to assist the LLM in responding accurately. The first is to use a combination of the word embeddings model and a vector database to retrieve information and selectively inject the context into the prompt. The second approach is to build a plugin that bridges the gap between the orchestration layer and the external source. ChatGPT uses the plugin model to retrieve data from external sources to augment the context.

Microsoft calls the above approaches Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). RAGs are expected to bring stability and grounding to LLM’s response by constructing a prompt with factual and contextual information.

Microsoft has adopted the same plugin architecture that ChatGPT uses to build rich context into the prompt.

Projects such as LangChain, Microsoft’s Semantic Kernel, and Guidance become the key components of the orchestration layer.

In summary, the orchestration layer adds the necessary guardrails to the final prompt that’s being sent to the LLMs.

The User Experience – The UX layer of the Copilot stack redefines the human-machine interface through a simplified conversational experience. Many complex user interface elements and nested menus will be replaced by a simple, unassuming widget sitting in the corner of the window. This becomes the most powerful frontend layer for accomplishing complex tasks irrespective of what the application does. From consumer websites to enterprise applications, the UX layer will transform forever.

Back in the mid-2000s, when Google started to become the default homepage of browsers, the search bar became ubiquitous. Users started to look for a search bar and use that as an entry point to the application. It forced Microsoft to introduce a search bar within the Start Menu and the Taskbar.

With the growing popularity of tools like ChatGPT and Bard, users are now looking for a chat window to start interacting with an application. This is bringing a fundamental shift in the user experience. Instead and clicking through a series of UI elements or typing commands in the terminal window, users want to interact through a ubiquitous chat window. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Microsoft is going to put a Copilot with a chat interface in Windows.

Microsoft Copilot stack and the plugins present a significant opportunity to developers and ISVs. It will result in a new ecosystem firmly grounded in the foundation models and large language models.

If LLMs and ChatGPT created the iPhone moment for AI, it is the plugins that become the new apps.

Source – https://www.forbes.com/sites/janakirammsv/2023/05/26/inside-microsoft-copilot-a-look-at-the-technology-stack/?ss=cloud&sh=7a92e15a5b59

The Sobering Truth About Ransomware—For The 80% Who Paid Up

June 2, 2023/in News/by Wingman

Newly published research of 1,200 organizations impacted by ransomware reveals a sobering truth that awaits many of those who decide to pay the ransom. According to research from data resilience specialists Veeam, some 80% of the organizations surveyed decided to pay the demanded ransom in order to both end the ongoing cyber-attack and recover otherwise lost data. This despite 41% of those organizations having a “do not pay” policy in place. Which only goes to reinforce the cold hard fact that cybercrime isn’t an easy landscape to navigate, something that’s especially true when your business is facing the real-world impact of dealing with a ransomware attack.

The Sobering Truth For 21% Of Ransom Payers

Of the 960 organizations covered in the Veeam 2023 Ransomware Trends Report, that paid a ransom, 201 of them (21%) were still unable to recover their lost data. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, who knows, but the same number also reported that ransomware attacks were now excluded from their insurance policies. Of those organizations with cyber-insurance cover, 74% reported a rise in premiums.

Although I feel bad for those who paid up to no avail, I can’t say I’m surprised. Two years ago, I was reporting the same truth, albeit with larger numbers, when it came to trusting cybercriminals to deliver on their promises. Back then another ransomware report, this time from security vendor Sophos, revealed that 32% of those surveyed opted to pay the ransom but a shocking 92% failed to recover all their data and 29% were unable to recover more than half of the encrypted data.

The Decision To Pay A Ransom Is Never A Binary One

Of course, as already mentioned, the decision to pay is not and never can be a totally binary one. But ,and I cannot emphasise this enough, it is always wrong.

You only have to ask the question of who benefits most from a ransom being paid to understand this. The answer is the cybercriminals, those ransomware actors who are behind the attacks in the first place. Sure, an organization may well argue that it benefits most as it gets the business back up and running in the shortest possible time. I get that, of course I do, but maybe investing those million bucks (sometimes substantially less, or more) in better data security would have been better to begin with?

But, they may well argue again, that’s what the cyber-insurance is for, paying out the big bucks if the sticky stuff hits the fan. Sure, but the answer to my original question remains the same: it’s the ransomware actors that are still winning here. They get the pay out, which empowers them to continue and hunt even more organizations.

Ransomware Has Evolved, But Security Basics Remain The Same

Then there’s the not so small matter of how most ransomware actors no longer just encrypt your data, and often your data backups, if they do so at all. Some groups have switched to stealing sensitive customer or corporate data instead, with the ransom demanded in return for them not selling it to the highest bidder or publishing it online. Many groups combine the two for a double-whammy ransomware attack. I have even reported on one company that got hit by three successful ransomware attacks, by three different ransomware actors, within the space of just two weeks.

Which brings me back to my point of ensuring your data is properly secured is paramount. Why bother paying a ransom if you don’t fix the holes that let the cybercriminals in to start with?

“Although security and prevention remain important, it’s critical that every organization focuses on how rapidly they can recover by making their organization more resilient,” Danny Allan, chief technology officer at Veeam, said. “We need to focus on effective ransomware preparedness by focusing on the basics, including strong security measures and testing both original data and backups, ensuring survivability of the backup solutions, and ensuring alignment across the backup and cyber teams for a unified stance.”

Source – https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2023/05/30/the-sobering-truth-about-ransomware-for-the-80-percent-who-paid-up/?ss=cybersecurity&sh=191a618439f6

The Personal Benefits of Digital Transformation in Everyday Life

May 25, 2023/in Blogs/by Wingman

Digital transformation is not limited to the world of business, it has also revolutionised our everyday lives. The persuasive use of digital technologies has brought about significant changes in how we communicate, access information, and carry out daily tasks. We would be a different society without it. In this blog, we will explore the personal benefits of digital transformation and how it has improved our lives in many ways.

Greater Convenience

Where would we be without digital transformation? It has quite literally changed our lives and how we live it. Many of us don’t even realise how prominent technology is in our everyday lives. We wake up to the alarm on our phone, communicate virtually and spend a lot of our time binge watching tv, listening to podcasts or being sucked into the latest video game. From the proliferation of phones to the increased use of AI in everyday life, we really do live in a technology-based world.

We have the ability to access a pool of information at our fingertips, any time, any place. Services and activities such as online shopping, online banking and food delivery apps, digital technologies have simplified and expedited many aspects of our daily routines. Tasks that used to require physical presence or manual processes can now be completed with just a few taps on a screen, saving us time and effort. Some may view it as laziness, but if the services are there to be me used, why not embrace them, and make the most of them?

Seamless Communication

Digital transformation has revolutionised the way we communicate with one another. It has enables to connect with anyone, regardless of geographical location. A hundred years ago, this would seem like the impossible. Platforms like email, social media, and instant messaging apps have transformed the way we stay in touch with friends, family, and colleagues.

The introduction to video conferencing tools have made remote collaboration and virtual meetings possible, facilitating seamless communication and collaboration across borders. This enhanced connectivity has fostered stronger relationships and improved productivity in both personal and professional spheres.

Access to Information

The digital age has adjusted access to information to the extreme. With search engines and online databases, we can instantly find answers to our questions, research topics of interest, and explore a vast array of knowledge. This easy access to information has empowered individuals to become lifelong learners, acquiring new skills and knowledge at their own pace. Digital platforms also provide opportunities for online education, enabling people to access educational resources and courses from renowned institutions around the world.

Personalisation and Customisation

Digital transformation has enabled a higher level of personalisation and customisation. For example, we have access to recommended music, tv shows and movies based on what we have previously engaged with. We also get customised adverts based on our interests and needs. This has allowed for businesses to gain new customers like never before. They can alter their content to fulfil the needs for specific demographics and psychographics, giving them the ability to expand their clientele.

This personalisation also extends to healthcare, where digital tools facilitate personalised treatment plans and remote monitoring, improving the quality of care and empowering individuals to take charge of their well-being.

Entertainment and Leisure

Due to digital transformation, our entertainment and leisure activities have been enriched. There is no way you can get bored anymore! Streaming services offer on-demand access to a vast library of movies, TV shows, and music, allowing us to enjoy entertainment anytime, anywhere. We can even download content so it can be accessed without Wi-Fi.

Social media platforms and online communities enable us to connect with like-minded individuals, share experiences, and discover new interests. People’s lives have been transformed by social media as we create identities based on what we see online and was resonates with us. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies provide immersive gaming and interactive experiences, blurring the lines between the physical and digital worlds.

In conclusion, digital transformation has had a profound impact on our personal lives, bringing greater convenience, connectivity, and access to information. It has transformed how we communicate, access entertainment, and carry out daily tasks. While digital technologies come with their own set of challenges, the personal benefits they offer are undeniable, enhancing our lives and empowering us to navigate the digital age with ease and confidence.

The Advantages of Digital Transformation for Businesses

May 25, 2023/in Blogs/by Wingman

For companies looking for ways to stay competitive and flourish in today’s rapidly evolving business environment, implementing digital transformation is now seen as an essential step. The term “digital transformation” describes the integration of digital technologies into various company operations, significantly changing how the firm runs and provides value to its customers. The process may demand a lot of money and work, but it’s worth it due to the benefits that it brings. In this blog, we will be discussing the main advantages and benefits that digital transformation can bring to your business.

Enhanced Operational Efficiency

operational efficiency is crucial for organisations to stay competitive and deliver exceptional products and services. Digital transformation plays a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiency by streamlining processes and leveraging technology to automate tasks. Here are some key points elaborating on the benefits of enhanced operational efficiency through digital transformation:

Process streamlining – Businesses can find and get rid of inefficiencies in their processes thanks to digital transformation. Organisations may optimise operations, remove bottlenecks, and streamline processes by mapping out existing workflows and utilising technology solutions. This streamlining assures more efficient processes and decreases manual errors and delays.
Automation of Routine Tasks: Many business processes involve repetitive, mundane tasks that are prone to human error. Digital transformation allows organisations to automate these routine tasks, freeing up employees’ time and energy. Through the use of robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), businesses can automate data entry, report generation, inventory management, and other repetitive tasks. Automation reduces the risk of errors, increases accuracy, and allows employees to focus on more critical and strategic activities, which enhances efficiency.
Improved Collaboration and Communication – Digital transformation facilitates enhanced collaboration and communication among employees, teams, and departments. Collaborative tools, project management platforms, and cloud-based document sharing enable seamless communication, knowledge sharing, and teamwork, irrespective of geographical locations. By adopting a collaborative work environment, organisations can improve cross-functional coordination, reduce duplication of efforts, and accelerate decision-making processes.

Embracing digital transformation as a strategic initiative paves the way for operational excellence and positions businesses for success in today’s digital age.

Improved Customer Experience

Digital transformation enables businesses to deliver enhanced customer experiences across multiple touchpoints. Through the use of data analytics, companies can gain valuable insights into customer behaviour, preferences, and needs. This data can then be leveraged to personalise interactions, provide targeted marketing campaigns, and offer tailored products or services. With digital channels and self-service options, customers can enjoy greater convenience and seamless interactions with businesses, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.

Expanded Market Reach

In an increasingly digital and interconnected world, expanding market reach is a key advantage of digital transformation for businesses. For example, digital transformation eliminates geographical barriers and enables businesses to connect with a global audience. Online platforms, websites, and e-commerce stores provide businesses with a 24/7 online presence, allowing customers from around the world to access their products or services. This expanded reach opens up new market opportunities and potential revenue streams beyond the limitations of physical locations.

It also opens doors for partnerships and collaborations with other businesses or influencers in the digital space. Through strategic alliances, businesses can access new markets, leverage complementary expertise, and expand their reach through co-marketing efforts. Collaboration with digital influencers or industry thought leaders can help amplify brand awareness and tap into their existing audience base, driving increased visibility and customer engagement.

Agile Decision Making

Businesses are able to rapidly make data-driven decisions due to the real-time data and analytics provided by digital transformation. Leaders can gain important insights into market trends, consumer behaviour, and operational performance with access to accurate and current information. Decision-makers are better equipped with this knowledge to react rapidly to shifting market dynamics, spot opportunities, and handle potential difficulties. As a result, companies are better able to adapt and change their plans, remaining competitive in the digital era.

Collaboration and connectivity

Digital transformation has revolutionised collaboration and connectivity within organizations, leading to numerous benefits for businesses. There are many advantages of this including seamless communication with organisations. collaboration platforms provide a centralised space where employees can share ideas, best practices, and lessons learned. This knowledge sharing fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement, leading to innovative solutions and approaches. Additionally, digital tools allow for real-time feedback and brainstorming, enabling teams to iterate and refine their ideas more efficiently.

Digital transformation has also facilitated the rise of remote work and flexible work arrangements. Cloud-based collaboration tools and communication platforms enable employees to work from anywhere, promoting work-life balance and attracting top talent. Remote work also opens up opportunities to hire global talent, further enhancing the diversity and expertise within teams. The flexibility provided by digital transformation tools contributes to employee satisfaction and productivity.

Summary

In conclusion, digital transformation offers numerous benefits for businesses willing to embrace the digital age. From increased operational efficiency and improved customer experiences to expanded market reach and agile decision making, the advantages are undeniable. While the journey may present challenges, organisations that successfully navigate the digital transformation process are well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly digital and interconnected world.

The Future Of Computing: Supercloud And Sky Computing

May 9, 2023/in News/by Wingman

Cloud computing, multi-cloud, and hybrid-cloud are all terms we’ve become used to hearing. Now we can add “super cloud” and “sky computing” to the list of terminology that describes the computing infrastructure of the coming decade.

Although it’s hard to believe, given how ubiquitous it is today, cloud computing as a practical reality has only been around for the past decade or so. However, at that time, it revolutionized the concept of IT networking and infrastructure.

In the simplest terms, it involves providing computer storage, processing power, and applications via the internet, so users don’t need to worry about buying, installing, and maintaining hardware and software themselves.

In that time, we’ve seen the emergence of multi-cloud – which involves businesses and organizations picking and choosing services across the multitude of cloud providers – and hybrid cloud, where infrastructure is delivered via both cloud and on-premises solutions.

But technological progress never stands still, and more recently, new terms, including supercloud and sky computing, have emerged to describe what the next stage in the evolution of “infrastructure-as-a-service) might look like.

But what do they mean, and what advantages do they offer businesses and organizations? Let’s take a look at them in a little more depth and examine some of the potential use cases.

What Are Supercloud and Sky Computing?

Both of these terms, in fact, describe very similar ideas – the next stage in the evolution of cloud computing, which will be distributed across multiple providers. It will also integrate other models, including edge computing, into a unified infrastructure and user experience. Other names that are sometimes used include “distributed cloud” and “metacloud”.

This is seen as necessary because, while many organizations have made the leap to multi-cloud, the different cloud providers do not always integrate with each other. In other words, a business pursuing a multi-cloud may find itself managing multiple cloud environments, with each one operating, to some extent, as an independent entity. This can make it difficult if, for example, we want to shift applications or data from one cloud to another.

The answer proposed by the supercloud concept is to create another abstraction layer above this that operates agnostically of whatever cloud platform or platforms are running below it. This is the supercloud, where applications can be run in containers or virtual machines, interfacing with any cloud platforms underneath.

The result is separate cloud environments that operate as if they are interconnected with each other, allowing software, applications, and data to move freely between them.

This means that a business might have service agreements in place with, for example, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Infrastructure could then be reconfigured on-the-fly through the supercloud interface to move services between these different platforms, or between servers in different geographic locations, as requirements change.

Examples of when this might be useful are when services need to be delivered to a new group of users in a new region or when a particular data center becomes overloaded. The entire application can simply be “lifted and shifted” to a new, more convenient data center or a different cloud provider.

In many deployments, supercloud combines the benefits of both hybrid and multi-cloud, as it also gives access to on-premises infrastructure and other models such as edge computing. The important part is that all of it is accessible and usable through a unified user interface, so the actual location where the data is stored and where the applications are running from is invisible to the user, who always has a consistent experience.

As well as simplifying internal infrastructure, systems, and processes, migrating to supercloud models, in theory, makes it easier for organizations to integrate and share tools or data with their clients and partners, who may be using completely different platforms to them.

What Are The Key Challenges With Supercloud and Sky Computing?

Right now, a major challenge when it comes to setting up supercloud infrastructure is security. This is because different cloud providers might have different security protocols, and any data and applications that have to operate across multiple providers will need to be configured in a way that’s compatible with all of them.

Using more cloud services simply means that there are more surfaces where data can be exposed to possible security breaches. A priority for those laying the foundations for supercloud systems will be creating automated solutions that run in the supercloud layer in order to offer protection regardless of what cloud service or on-premises infrastructure is being used.

Fundamentally, cloud computing is designed to be a final stepping-stone on the road to the commoditization of computing infrastructure. This objective is set out in a paper published in 2021 by the University of California, Berkley professors Ion Stoica and Scott Shenker, titled From Cloud Computing to Sky Computing.

Stoika and Shenker were early proponents of the cloud computing paradigm, writing about it as early as 2009. Back then, they predicted that it could lead to compute and storage infrastructure becoming “utilities,” similar to electricity and internet connectivity. This didn’t happen – largely due to the emergence of different standards between different cloud service providers (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and so on). Supercloud (or sky computing, as Stoica and Shenker prefer to term it) may be the way to finally make it happen.

They do, however, posit that while the technical challenges will be fairly simple to overcome – creating services and standards to communicate between different clouds, for example – might encounter some resistance from the cloud providers themselves.

Will Amazon or Google welcome the idea of “sharing” their cloud customers with competing services? Stoica and Shenker point to the existence of applications such as Google Anthos – an application management platform that runs on Google Cloud as well as AWS and other cloud platforms – as evidence that they might be becoming receptive to the idea.

Altogether, supercloud is an exciting concept that has the potential to make it simpler and more affordable for organizations to leverage powerful computing infrastructure. This has to be good news all around, hopefully making it easier for innovators to bring us cloud-based tools and apps that further enrich our lives.

Source: The Future Of Computing: Supercloud And Sky Computing

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