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Six USF faculty members recognized with Excellence in Innovation Awards – University of South Florida

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

From predicting suicidality to disinfecting masks, these faculty members are some of USFs top innovators.

Six USF researchers with innovations ranging from artificial intelligence that can detect and predict suicidality, to encrypting and protecting sensitive information from cloud servers, to disinfecting and recharging masks for safe multiple use, are recipients of this years USF Excellence in Innovation Award.

Three of the faculty members are from the USF College of Engineering, one is from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and two have joint appointments with both colleges. USF, one of the nations most innovative public research universities, ranks eighth among American public research universities and 15th among all universities worldwide in generating new U.S. utility patents.

The Excellence in Innovation Award recognizes faculty for their accomplishments in moving inventions to market through creating new startups and commercializing their technologies and by advancing research and development through publishing in peer-reviewed journals and securing grants to support their projects.

This award celebrates innovation and entrepreneurial success by our investigators and scholars recognizing their contributions to the knowledge base, USF President Rhea Law said. These six outstanding faculty members embody high-quality research, invention, and entrepreneurship, inspiring our students and our community. Their work illustrates the level of engagement USF has in research and invention, creating whole new realities that make the world a better place.

This years awards cover achievements in innovation from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. Nominations were reviewed by members of the USF chapter of the National Academy of Inventors.

The winners are:

In addition to demonstrating outstanding productivity, as evidenced by his 12 publications in health technology, Dr. Bunnell had many exceptional achievements during fiscal year2021. He and his colleagues received a $551,840 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) R56 grant to use artificial intelligence to detect and predict suicidality from electronic health record clinical note text. With a $621,296 NIMH grant, he developed Adhere.ly, a web-based platform to help mental health therapists engage youth patients in therapeutic skill development. He subsequently received an $837,485 NIMH Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant to expand the platform for use with adult patients. Dr. Bunnell formed a strategic partnership between his company, Adhere.ly LLC and Doxy.me Inc., a telemedicine platform with 1,000,000 provider users, to integrate Adhere.ly into its user-interface, which is being funded by a $136,289 award from the Florida High Tech Corridor. Adhere.ly LLC holds an exclusive option agreement with USF and is currently negotiating a license agreement with USF Research Foundation.

Jing Wang holds 11 U.S. patents and several provisional patents, including one jointly filed with II-VI, a publicly traded global manufacturing company, and has multiple projects being funded by about a dozen technology corporations and organizations. In fiscal year 2021, three doctoral students and one masters student involved in industry-funded research projects graduated under his supervision. During this time, three invention disclosures were filed by student-inventors. He was also elected a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors and Agere Systems Endowed Chair, a tribute to his translational research and innovation.

Attila Yavuz's research focuses on efficient end-to-end protection of encrypted systems to enable trustworthy machine learning for users without revealing sensitive contents to cloud servers. Prior work has been expensive for embedded devices and relied on strong trust assumptions for data collection and analysis. Yavuz's research presents a series of new techniques that offer lightweight post-quantum signatures, consensus and metadata-hiding file-sharing properties. This research has resulted in several papers and a patent filing.

Sarah Zhong responded quickly to combat COVID-19 by enabling safe reuse of masks through corona discharge, which can simultaneously disinfect and recharge masks. This NSF-funded and patent pending technique addresses mask shortages and environmental burdens caused by the pandemic. It has drawn significant attention from the media and society. She also invented another patent-pending technology to realize ultra-fast binder-free printing through electrostatic printing. Zhongs entrepreneurial accomplishments include a registered startup company and participation in I-Corps training. She published four papers in top academic journals, which included being featured on the supplemental cover of Environmental Science & Technology and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. In addition to receiving an NSF RAPID award, she received a $25,000 USF COVID-19 RapidResponse Grant and a $20,000 USF InterdisciplinaryResearchGrant.

Richard Heller (photo on left) and Mark Jaroszeski (photo on right) have advisory and ownership interests in MMD Technologies, enabling them to commercialize intellectual property related to drug/gene delivery for the veterinary and human clinical markets.During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, they received four U.S. patents for new intellectual property and submitted applications for four utility patents and one provisional patent. Their entrepreneurial achievements resulted in forging a licensing agreement with MMD Technologies. Heller and Jaroszeski have successfully competed for a $25,000 Bull Ring Accelerator Award to foster commercialization and were awarded a nearly $60,000 National Institutes of Health Diversity Supplement to fund a graduate student for instrumentation development related to this technology. They also commercialized a USF-discovered product, partnering with medical device manufacturer PRESCO to design and build a commercial-grade device that is ready for the veterinary market.

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A glance at the Tech Journey that every California state department website follows in order to deliver faste – Techwire.net

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

Automation is the only way to achieve any kind of rapid development and deployment, which none of the California State departments could achieve with their current on-premises architecture, necessitating a move to infrastructure as code.

Developers don't have to manually provision and manage servers, operating systems, storage, and other infrastructure components each time they develop or deploy an application because infrastructure provisioning is automated with IaC.

Advantage of adapting the Infrastructure automation is it reduces the human interaction with IT systems by writing repeatable scripts or functions that can be run by other software or on command.

Shifting to the cloud is the first step toward achieving the goal of automation with IaC, and GitHub Enterprise Cloud is chosen for building an agile framework. The departments selected GitHub based on their previous experience with Microsoft Azure DevOps. The benefits of using the GitHub Enterprise cloud include features such as securing each step while automating the entire workflow. Using a GitHub repository streamlines the process of pulling, working, and monitoring code. However, with GitHub Enterprise Cloud, collaboration has become easier because every state department employee now has access to Azure Devops, and whenever access is required, all that is required is to grant them permission to access the GitHub repository.

When Azure DevOps and GitHub are combined, it creates a shared responsibility for collaboration as well as built-in security from the start of the development process. Not to forget, that this amalgamation of collaboration and built-in security extends the culture of DevSecOps. Every code is pre-scanned before it is committed to GitHub and the developer can see that the code has been pre-committed. However, in reality when code is committed in the backend, the CI/CD pipelines are triggered, and the code is channelled through Veracode (a CDT static scan analysis tool) and SCA's so that any vulnerabilities can be caught during the development phase. Veracode allows you to see any code flaws right away before getting into production phase hence reducing the deployment time.

Tek Yantra inc. is serving majority of the VIP, most visited high user volume top 10 public websites of California in 2019,2020, continued in 2021, We provide multi cloud-based solutions for applications to serve millions of concurrent users with five 9's availability and with zero downtime updates, no more wait for infrastructure, our frameworks and processes enables you to deliver the complex cloud Infrastructure in hours. we can give interim solutions and road map to long term solutions that

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The Best Cloud Storage for Business | Tested & Ranked | 2022

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

What Is Cloud Storage?

Cloud-anything is a massive buzzword in the tech space. But what does it even mean? And, even more importantly:

When you store files on the cloud, where do they go?

In cloud computing, you access services over the internet. So cloud storage (you guessed it) refers to file storage solutions that use the cloud.

The cloud is a system of servers in data centers across the world. Your information doesnt go to one single locationinstead, its distributed over the network of servers. This way, even if one machine goes down, the cloud remains functional.

Cloud storage is simply putting files on the cloud instead of local storage (like your computers memory drive). You can think of file storage companies like landlords. They build and maintain data centers while you rent out the space for your files.

Why would you choose enterprise cloud storage? There are some neat perks:

Yes, you most likely do because it has some serious advantages over local storage.

Heres how cloud storage can make your business operations easier:

Adopting cloud-based file sharing puts important files at your fingertips, speeds up collaboration, and protects essential information from accidental loss or hacker interception.

Bottom line: yes, most businesses benefit from file storage and need it to optimize their sharing and workflow.

With a dizzying amount of file storage solutions, how do you pick the one for you? Heres what to look out for:

Anywhere-access is one of the main perks of online file storage for business. The synchronization between devices is a hasslethe cloud gives you easy access from any internet-connected device.

If youre working on the go, make sure you can make edits on the cloud.

Most business-oriented providers have that option, but some dont. Downloading a file to your hard drive, making the edits, and re-uploading gets annoying very quickly. So double-check whether you can view and edit files from the cloud.

Also, watch out for file versioning functionality that allows you to restore overwritten files with a few clicks. Check if your cloud storage provider supports versioning and how long it keeps the versionsits a potential life-saver for you and your team.

Unlike personal cloud storage, business cloud services are frequently used for collaboration. To determine what features you need, ask yourself:

What does file sharing look like?

Can you send files to people who dont have a profile?

What about access and edit restrictions?

Also, consider what your business actually needs.

For example, smaller organizations wont need access control as much as big teams.

If its just you and a couple of people, it makes sense to give everybody access to everything. For larger teams, user hierarchy and management are essential and worth paying for.

Additionally, if your files are predominantly images, you might be better off with one of the best photo storage services.

The best cloud storage for your business will be the one that works with the rest of your business software.

Watch out for third-party integrations with Microsoft Office, Salesforce, Slack, and whatever other applications youre using.

Consider the API too. A public API makes it easy to develop your own integrations with just some minor tweaks.

Price matters, but value matters even more. Dont be tempted to get the cheapest option; consider things like functionality and scalability.

The best cloud storage for business is the one that can grow as you grow. Some providers offer cheaper plans for small businesses and you can scale up to additional functions and storage as you need them.

Consider your current and future needs, plus your current and future budget. This way, you can choose cloud storage that works for years to come.

Youll be putting important business information and sensitive client data on the cloud. Make sure the cloud provider knows how to protect it.

Secure cloud storage for business will offer:

End-to-end encryption is the top level of privacy that ensures not even the cloud provider staff can view your files.

If youre handling health-related information, ensure the provider is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). For European companies (or companies with EU customers), make sure to also double-check for GDPR compliance.

File storage is one of the most affordable and versatile cloud solutions for business. Whether youre a small coffee shop, a mid-size company, or an enterprise, moving your documents to the cloud has multiple advantages.

Youll enjoy better accessibility and collaboration, as well as file safety and privacy.

And it doesnt have to be expensiveplans start as low as $5 per user per month.

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Cloud Storage Security: How Secure Is Cloud Storage?

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

Storing data on a cloud eliminates the need to buy, manage, and maintain in-house storage infrastructure. Despite this convenience, the lack of control over cloud-based data remains a common concern for businesses, even though cloud storage security is typically superior to any on-premises protection.

This article is an intro to cloud storage security and the techniques cloud providers use to protect data. Read on to learn about the different aspects of keeping cloud-based data safe and see how to distinguish top-tier providers from vendors with inadequate storage protection.

Cloud storage is a cloud computing service that enables a company to store data in the cloud instead of on-site data storage. This model offers a convenient way to keep files on a third-party server and provide employees with on-demand access to data from any device.

Common use cases for cloud storage are:

As cloud-stored data does not reside on an on-prem server, a company using a public cloud must in part rely on the provider to keep data safe. The good news is that a top vendor's data center uses various practices to ensure data remains secure. These measures often include:

Is data security your top priority? Created together with Intel and VMware, PNAP's Data Security Cloud is a platform that protects data with robust encryption, strict segmentation controls, and advanced threat intelligence.

If you partner with the right provider, your cloud storage will be safer than any on-prem infrastructure. However, not all cloud storage platforms are the same, and some of them are less secure than the provider likes to admit.

The right provider offers many features and frameworks a company cannot easily (or cheaply) deploy on an on-prem setup. These capabilities include:

While cloud storage security is likely more robust than what you use to protect on-prem devices, the cloud adds complexity to how data is stored. Your team needs to learn to use new tools, adjust security tactics, and set up new measures to ensure data security.

PhoenixNAP's Bare Metal Cloud enables you to set up custom dedicated server deployments with cloud-like ease and agility without having to wait days or weeks.

While beneficial, the decision to move data to the cloud means exposing files to new risks. Below is a look at the most common risks and concerns of cloud storage security.

Nearly all cloud security failures result from an operational mistake made on the client's side. The most common mistakes include:

The use of unauthorized devices is an especially high risk for a company with a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture. In that case, the management must create and enforce a strict BYOD policy to ensure safe operations.

Operational risks can also occur on the service provider's side. Common issues include:

If something affects your storage provider, the event will directly impact access to your data. You must wait for the provider to fix the issue, and the team may not have access to cloud-based data until the vendor's team resolves the problem.

A large part of data security is making sure no one outside the team can access the data. When you rely on a partner to store files, you increase the attack surface via which a malicious actor can reach your data.

Even if you take proper precautions to ensure no one in the team leaks data, your storage provider might accidentally expose your files and cause data leakage or pave the way for a costly attack.

Since compliance demands vary based on how and where a business stores data, cloud storage must meet all the relevant requirements. These demands can dictate the way a provider must:

Besides meeting current requirements, the cloud service must also be flexible enough to enable a business to adapt to new demands and regulations.

Cloud misconfiguration is any error or glitch that exposes cloud data to risk. Since the end users have reduced visibility and control over data and operations, misconfigurations are a common problem.

Cloud storage misconfigurations typically result from:

A misconfiguration can often lead to a data breach, either from an insider threat or an external actor who gains access to the cloud.

Conflicting and overly complex security controls can also cause issues. The most common problems appear when the provider's and client's teams set up inconsistent rules that leave security gaps a hacker can exploit.

There are two ways to alleviate the risk of conflicting security controls:

Our article on cybersecurity best practices outlines security measures and tactics that play a vital role both on-premises and in the cloud.

Cloud storage security is a shared responsibility between the service provider and the consumer. If only one side has strong data protection, the lack of security on the other end will lead to risks and attacks. Providers and consumers should approach cloud storage security in the following way:

Below is a look at the best practices of cloud storage security that enable vendors and service consumers to ensure data safety.

A cloud provider must encrypt cloud data. That way, if a malicious actor or program accesses a file, all the unauthorized user will find is scrambled data. The only way to decipher data is to use a decryption key.

A provider should encrypt data both at rest and in transit:

A company can boost cloud storage security with client-side encryption. With this strategy, encryption and decryption happen on the target user's device. There are no encryptions or decryptions on the provider's server as the vendor does not keep any keys. Even if a hacker breaches the provider's server, the thief will not obtain your decryption key.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires a user to provide two pieces of info during login. Besides a username and password, 2FA also requires the employee to give an additional credential, which can be:

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security that prevents an unauthorized actor from accessing cloud storage with a stolen password (a common target of phishing attacks). Always look for a provider that enables the use of 2FA.

Both you and your cloud provider should create regular backups:

PhoenixNAP's cloud backup solutions enable you to set up customizable, immutable backups of all critical data and workloads.

A cloud storage policy ensures your employees understand the company's approach to storing and managing data in the cloud. This document should evolve with your company's current needs and the cloud services the team uses. A policy should provide:

If you rely on hybrid cloud architecture, your policy should also cover practices for accessing, managing, integrating, and governing cloud usage within your unique hybrid environment.

Our article on cloud security policies shows how to create a company-wide guideline that dictates how the team operates in the cloud.

A ransomware attack enables a hacker to encrypt your data and demand a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. If the victim refuses to meet the demand, the criminal deletes the key and, as a result, renders target data useless.

This cyberattack type can be devastating to your finances and reputation, so you should always partner with a cloud provider that offers high-end ransomware protection.

Continuous change, access, and activity monitoring help identify and remove potential threats to cloud storage. Most storage services include robust cloud monitoring with alerts for:

In addition to the provider team's alerts, you can also deploy your own cloud monitoring tool. An extra tool ensures you take a proactive approach to cloud storage security and that your team can identify threats emerging from your end.

Educating employees about cloud storage security goes a long way toward protecting files in the cloud. Organize training sessions that familiarize employees with all major aspects of your cloud storage policy, including:

Cloud storage is already considerably safer than an average on-prem server, and projections suggest that this difference in security will only get bigger. Here are several notable trends you can expect from cloud storage security in the near future:

Get on board with the latest standard for cloud security with PNAP's confidential computing infrastructure and ensure end-to-end protection of your valuable data.

You should now be able to tell apart secure cloud storage platforms from those that lack adequate protection. Choosing a vendor that offers most (or, ideally, all) of the aforementioned capabilities will enable you to reap the benefits of cloud computing without adding unnecessary risk to your day-to-day operations.

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Hybrid cloud storage: The devils are in the details – ComputerWeekly.com

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

With the public cloud, you can have more capacity, scalability and so on, but you are still responsible for data integrity, protection, security and privacy. Reading the fine print in the contract will reveal this, but sadly, thats a step too often skipped in the haste to click Accept.

Fortunately, you dont have to reinvent the wheel for cloud storage. Most of what you have long been doing for your on-prem storage will still be valid. Indeed, quite a bit of it will still be necessary.

So far, so good, but of course reality is more complicated than that. In a recent study we carried out around hybrid cloud, it was clear that the majority of IT professionals taking part were already using both on-prem or hosted and public cloud platforms, or expected to be doing so in the near future.

When it comes to storage, that means we need to think hybrid and that, in turn, means consistency of management and administration is vital. The last thing you need is one set of policies, controls, tools and processes for data on-prem and another for the cloud. Perhaps even more importantly, our research shows that many organisations are already using multiple public cloud providers and you certainly dont want to have to administer each cloud differently.

So go with your instincts, leverage your experience and apply the same discipline to the cloud as you have done on-prem. To do so, you will probably need to make the ability to do this a selection criterion for cloud services. If the service provider tries to force you to do it their way, dont use them other providers, both global and local/regional, are available.

Avoid cloud players that shun standards and emerging or established good practices. Can vendors help? Perhaps. Some do allow you to bridge the gap and drive the consistency you are looking for, but others may encourage you to buy into their way, their architecture. Experience tells you to be very wary of any supplier lock-in.

Getting a solid grip on how to implement, optimise and manage hybrid cloud storage is challenging enough now, but it is only going to get worse. Just think you may have new edge workloads coming along, or you might be one of the many organisations that recently told us that dynamic delivery methods are forcing frequent migrations of data and services.

There is also the non-trivial matter of data governance in a hybrid world, especially one where cloud providers offer advanced machine learning and analysis tools that can operate on huge volumes of data coming from multiple sources. Any analysis that includes information from diverse data sources means you must have effective data governance in place.

Why? Putting appropriate usage and location controls on each individual data source is one thing. But now you also need to stop data from multiple repositories, applications or services being combined in ways that legislation may inhibit for example, combining multiple sources may enable anonymous personal data to be de-anonymised.

The potential legal penalties if you get this wrong can be painful, and you certainly dont want to face the negative reaction that it can spark from customers, shareholders and perhaps even your co-workers.

The significant question here is: who in your organisation takes responsibility for data governance? Is it the CIO, CDO, everyone or has no one actually ever asked the question?

All together, you must focus on visibility and openness, and steer well clear of anyone trying to lock you in or constrain your options. The choices you make around data storage and its management need to be able to deal with these trends. Ideally, you should be looking for solutions that will still work not just next quarter or next year, but in five years time.

We used to think of storage and data management as relatively slow-moving disciplines keep safe, dont disrupt, dont make changes you dont have to. That time has gone. Today, unless you have a consistent and coherent strategy and hybrid cloud data management and governance architecture in place across your hybrid estate, you might soon find yourself floundering.

Dale Vile also contributed to this article.

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Lightbits Doubles Install Base YoY on Demand for Cloud Solutions – Business Wire

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lightbits Labs (Lightbits), the first software-defined, NVMe Complete Data Platform for any cloud, ended 2021 doubling its install base, increasing its average deal size, and increasing revenue on a tailwind of IT organizations turning to cloud solutions to enable simplicity, agility, and cost-efficiency.

Despite the uncertain business climate, the organization increased its average deal size by 60 percent and had a significant number of new partners join the GoPurple program. Among these successes, Lightbits also achieved a 2.3X increase in pipeline growth signaling that the company is well-positioned for further success as IT organizations and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) seek storage solutions that enable data center agility, cost-efficiency, and accelerating cloud applications at scale.

The backbone of Lightbits success is derived from the innovative complete data storage platform. Lightbits is software-defined and architected to leverage NVMe/TCP with Intelligent Flash Management built-in. The unique combination makes it easy to consume on commodity hardware and standard networking, dramatically improves flash efficiency and delivers the highest performance with the lowest latencies at scale for bare metal, containerized, or virtual environments. Finanz Informatik Technologie Service (FI-TS) implemented the solution last year for its Kubernetes-based Finance Cloud-Native production interface, solving their need for shared, redundant storage that performs like local flash.

We have been fortunate to be in a position where cloud solutions have been in greater demand during the past few years allowing us to experience strong customer growth and increase in sales opportunities for the coming year, said Eran Kirzner, CEO of Lightbits. We attribute the growth to our unique capabilities in terms of delivering a highly performant, cost-efficient data platform with enterprise rich data services in a shared storage environment that is easy to consume. More companies are adopting NVMe/TCP, and we invented it, its native to our storage software and our announcement last year with VMware is evidence that we are on a trajectory towards delivering an end-to-end NVMe solution. We grew our topline and our company last year, added offices, added 27 percent more employees, and filled key leadership team positions. In 2022, watch for more product innovations with our strategic alliances which will add more customer value to our existing installation base and broaden our appeal. IT organizations need performance, simplicity, and efficiency for their cloudwhether its private, public, or at the edgewe deliver that and more.

Last year, Lightbits announced the first software-defined NVMe/TCP storage solution for VMware after successfully completing a rigorous certification with VMware vSphere 7 Update 3. It was also listed on the VMware Compatibility Guide. Other product innovations were recognized with patent awards, totaling six in 2021 and bringing the number of patents held by Lightbits to 26. In addition, the company received six industry awards and recognition: Storage Tech Trailblazer of the Year, Cloud Storage Innovation of the Year, SDC Award, 2021 Big50 Startup Report, 2021 Digital Innovator of the Year by Intellyx, 2021 CRN Tech Innovators Award.

Details on the new Lightbits patents can be found in the links below:

2021 milestones and industry recognition:

Additional resources:

About Lightbits LabsLightbits Labs (Lightbits) is leading the digital data center transformation by making high-performance elastic block storage available to any cloud. Creators of the NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP) protocol, Lightbits software-defined storage is easy to deploy at scale and delivers performance equivalent to local flash to accelerate cloud-native applications in bare metal, virtual, or containerized environments. Backed by leading enterprise investors including Cisco Investments, Dell Technologies Capital, Intel Capital, and Micron, Lightbits is on a mission to make high-performance elastic block storage simple, scalable and cost-efficient for any cloud.

Visit http://www.lightbitslabs.com or contact us at info@lightbitslabs.com.

Follow Lightbits Labs: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook

Lightbits, Lightbits Labs, and LightOS are registered trademarks of Lightbits Labs, Ltd.

The NVMe, and NVMe/TCP word marks are registered or unregistered service marks of the NVM Express organization in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use strictly prohibited.

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The Pros and Cons of Decentralized Data Storage | ENP – EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

With most enterprises favoring centralized cloud storage providers (CSP) for storing data, hyper scalar CSPs are in high demand. However, they have been accused of monopolizing the market and pigeonholing customers into rigid storage plans. Additionally, they are susceptible to cyberattacks that can cripple systems and cause disastrous financial loss.

As we saw in the Equifax and Experian breaches and the recent TransUnion problem with a criminal gaining access to the data, these centralized data stores are treasure troves for criminals and attract attacks accordingly, says Uri Arad, co-founder and VP of product & research at Identiq. That, in turn, is disastrous for consumer privacy and makes effective cybersecurity and fraud protection far more difficult.

Theyre not just disasters waiting to happen; theyre disasters in progress.

Given the inherent flaws present in centralized solutions, maybe it is time to explore alternative data storage options. Decentralized data storage, which is highly secure and promises more flexibility to the end user, is an option worth considering.

Also read: Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Best Practices & Strategies

Decentralized options, sometimes referred to as providerless, are practical, effective, and safer. According to Arad, an obvious next step for data storage is to combine decentralized options with privacy-enhancing technologies in order to pool knowledge without sharing data. It also allows companies to leverage and weigh the reliability of information from multiple sources.

Moreover, decentralized approaches will allow companies to better align themselves with data protection regulations, the requirements of which will only expand as data breaches and the demand to protect personal data grow.

Decentralized storage works on a reasonably democratic concept where data storage is not concentrated in the hands of a few tech giants. Instead, it is a peer-to-peer cloud storage solution with ordinary users or miners managing the system. Users rent out free disk space on their drives and are incentivized with tokens in return for their contribution.

Decentralized storage works by sharding data, or splitting it into small pieces; encrypting it; and then distributing it over an extensive system of nodes spread across the globe. Each file is encrypted with a private key, and only users with the same set of encryption keys can access the data, making it highly secure. To access a particular data in a decentralized storage platform, threat actors have to launch a concurrent attack on data situated on multiple storage nodes worldwide, making it almost impossible for them to hack into the system.

A decentralized storage model doesnt require significant investment in data centers, making it less expensive than centralized storage solutions. Further, there is a robust market of users willing to rent their unused disk space, which lowers the costs even more.

Load balancing is an essential principle in blockchain-based decentralized storage systems, said Shiv Gupta, CEO of Incrementors Inbound Marketing. Hosts can cache frequently used data locally to avoid having to connect to the server regularly.

It lightens the servers load while also reducing network traffic. In addition, the server can allocate and optimize data to eliminate bottlenecks in the central system resources.

In decentralized storage, files are broken down and spread across several nodes. This ensures that even if one node is hacked the rest are not affected. No single point of failure, trustless architecture, and granular access controls are additional features that enhance security.

Decentralized clouds have less downtime because data is distributed across unrelated nodes. So, even if a particular server goes down, you can retrieve your data from other nodes.

Also read: Top Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) Providers for 2021

While the concept of decentralized storage is promising, it has certain drawbacks that cannot be overlooked.

For instance, decentralized storage systems are only as robust as the miners working their blockchain, said Allan Buxton, director of forensics at Secure Data Recovery. As long as their blockchain has some value and the companies make node services profitable, it is likely that there will be enough nodes to store their clients base data.

However, due to the competitive nature of blockchain and the differing cryptocurrencies that attract minors, Buxton said that using decentralized storage as a primary backup could prove extremely volatile to commercial interests.

Compared to a centralized storage system provider, which places the responsibility of data integrity and privacy with one provider, a decentralized system places this responsibility with many contractors who all have varying equipment and connections, Buxton explained. While the data may be protected by an encryption algorithm and segmented for redundancy, it is important to weigh the benefits and risks of using a decentralized system for primary data storage.

From the data owners perspective, a potential con would be the mere counterintuitivity of this concept (using a decentralized system for data storage), said Adam Garcia, founder of The Stock Dork.

While data isnt stored on a cloud server by a company with nefarious intent, the peer-to-peer nature of a decentralized approach might seem unappealing to non-technological individuals. Whether data is encrypted, shredded, or secured, it still rests with one or many unaffiliated contractors, which can be worrisome to some company leaders, Garcia noted.

Several decentralized cloud storage providers have emerged on the scene, given the interest in this space. A few options are:

Storj is a decentralized storage system where users rent redundant drive space and earn tokens. Before uploading a file to the network, Storj encrypts files using AES-256-GCM symmetric encryption and then breaks them down into 80 pieces, all spread across diverse geographies and ISPs. Doing so ensures that no unauthorized user gets access to your data. Retrieving a file, however, requires only 29 pieces.

The V3 Storj network that was launched recently differs significantly from other decentralized platforms and even the earlier V2 version. Some key differentiators include using erasure codes and avoiding blockchain for storing data.

Sia is an open-source cloud storage company that utilizes file sharding to store data. It works on the proof-of-storage (PoS) mechanism where verifiers issue challenges to renters to prove that they are indeed storing the data. Sia miners can monetize their extra unused storage space and earn rewards in the form of siacoin (SC)the native utility token of the Sia platform.

In contrast to Storj, the supply of siacoins is not fixed and can be minted indefinitely. Siafunds are the other component of Sias unique two-coin system that incentivizes the investors of the Sia network. Siafunds are rare, with only 10,000 Siafunds in circulation currently.

Created by Protocol Labs, Filecoin is an open-source, peer-to-peer network that allows users to rent unused space from those who do not require it. It consists of two groupsminers, who are encouraged to rent as much storage space as possible, and retrieval miners, who are tasked with retrieving data when they receive a get request.

Miners are paid in FIL, Filecoins native token, which is used to rent hard disk space. Filecoin also comes equipped with cryptographic PoS and proof-of-spacetime mechanisms that enable clients to check at any point in time if a storage provider is actually storing the data they have committed to store.

Though decentralized file storage doesnt get enough air time, it is going to have a tremendous impact in the coming years, according to Carlos Cano, creative lead at D-CORE.

This is because without decentralized file storage, many nascent industries, such as NFTs, will be worthless, said Cano. Few people realize it, but most NFTs are basically over-glorified links to images stored in Google Drive and other repositories. Now, the question is: Will those files be there two months from now? Three years? 20 years?

My guess is that well start hearing about cases of NFTs suddenly rendered valueless and people realizing how important decentralized storage is when using applications on-chain. Certainly, Web3 cannot take the next step in its evolution without its core components moving away from centralized and custodial providers.

No doubt, decentralized storage offers a rich alternative to centralized data storage, yet there is time before it becomes fully mainstream. According to Gupta, it is still in its infancy, and businesses will not immediately dump all their data into a decentralized network. It will be a slow trickle at first, and then the dam will burst all at once. After all, the advantages are too good to pass up.

Read next: Best NAS Software for Enterprise Storage 2022

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Evolving Digital Transformation Implementation with Hybrid Architectures | ITBE – IT Business Edge

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

Digital transformation (DX) has become a key initiative for most enterprises. According to Statista, global spending on DX is expected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2024. Digital transformation is an ongoing process that changes the way businesses operate and how they deliver, interact with, and engage customers by integrating digital technologies in all operations of the organization. It requires companies to do things differently by adopting new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), or blockchain to stay relevant.

Many of these new technologies require hybrid networks to work correctly. Hybrid networks are created by combining private data centers, public network infrastructure, and edge computing. According to a Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report, most enterprises have embraced a hybrid network strategy.

In the following discussion, we will explain how utilizing hybrid network infrastructures can help enterprises implement successful DX initiatives, offer the best use cases, and explain how they work and why they are important.

Read next: Emerging Technologies are Exciting Digital Transformation Push

A hybrid infrastructure, also known as a hybrid cloud, is an IT architecture and environment that combines on-premises data centers, private clouds, or public clouds. Depending on the companys needs and requirements, you can deploy operating systems and applications anywhere in this environment.

Hybrid infrastructure involves utilizing hybrid IT infrastructure services, also known as cloud services, to manage and monitor an organizations entire IT infrastructure. This is critical for digital transformation because IT environments and demands are becoming more complex.

There are many benefits to using a hybrid network infrastructure for digital transformation.

Flexibility allows companies to use the right tools for the job. For example, if a company wants to use AI or machine learning (ML), they need access to large amounts of data. This can be done by leveraging public cloud services such as AWS or Azure. However, these services can be expensive and may not offer the needed performance for certain applications.

In this case, a company could use a private data center for their core applications and then use public clouds for AI or ML workloads. This will allow them to get the best of both worlds without sacrificing performance or security.

Hybrid networks are more resilient to outages. For example, if a company experiences an outage in their public cloud, they can still operate using their private data center. This is because the private data center is unaffected by the public cloud outage.

Businesses can use a hybrid cloud approach to protect sensitive data while taking advantage of the power and services of a public cloud, which may decrease the risk of revealing vital information.

While data stored in a private environment will likely still have to run on a public cloud for analytics and applications, you may utilize encryption techniques to limit security breaches. Based on policy, regulation, and security standards, organizations can also choose where to place their data and workloads in the cloud.

Hybrid networks offer better performance and scalability than traditional networks. This is because public clouds provide massive amounts of bandwidth and storage that can be used when needed.

A hybrid architecture allows a firm to take advantage of the flexibility and power of the public cloud while still maintaining business-critical data and operations in the private cloud or on-premises data center. In addition, changing hardware and software is considerably faster and easier in the cloud than traditional network infrastructure, where upgrading may take weeks or even months.

Hybrid networks are easy to manage and monitor. This is because all devices are connected to a single management platform. This makes it easy for companies to track and troubleshoot network issues. In addition, instead of entrusting a third-party cloud provider with managing the companys entire IT infrastructure, an IT department may tailor and modify its hybrid model to match its needs while retaining control over critical operations and data.

Hybrid cloud storage is a compelling alternative to a purely private cloud, which may be difficult and expensive to maintain. Companies can reduce their IT expenses by using public clouds for non-critical applications. And many hybrid cloud providers let organizations pay for public cloud services only when utilized.

Hybrid cloud environments allow the public cloud to handle workload spikes, so private servers wont get overwhelmed as computing demands rise or suddenly surges as the organization transforms into a digital-first company. Companies may also back up data by duplicating it to the cloud. This guarantees that business operations will not be disrupted if a disaster or technical failure occurs.

Many different types of digital transformation applications can benefit from a hybrid network infrastructure. Some of these include:

ERP systems are essential for companies looking to transform their businesses digitally. They manage and automate critical business processes, such as order processing, inventory management, and human resources. A hybrid network can help companies running ERP systems speed up the deployment of new applications and improve performance. In addition, using a public cloud provider for nonessential workloads can save the company money on IT spending.

CRM systems manage customer interactions and track sales data. They can help companies improve customer service, marketing campaigns, and product development. A hybrid infrastructure can help organizations quickly deploy new CRM applications and speed up their time to load customer data into the system.

Predictive analytics is a process of analyzing past performance data to make predictions about future events. It can be used to improve decision-making across all aspects of business operations, from marketing to product development to human resources. A hybrid network can help firms run predictive analytics applications by providing them with the bandwidth and storage to analyze large amounts of data in real time.

The IoT is a network of physical objects, such as vehicles, appliances, and buildings, connected to the internet. They can be controlled and monitored remotely using sensors and software. A hybrid infrastructure can help companies deploying IoT applications quickly deploy devices to the network and manage large volumes of data from sensors.

Also read: 5 Examples of IoT and Analytics at Work in Real Estate

Big data analytics is the process of analyzing large amounts of data to find patterns and trends. It can be used to improve decision-making across all aspects of business operations, from marketing to product development to human resources. Hybrid networks allow firms to store, access, and analyze large data sets that are typical of big data analytics applications.

Integrating digital technologies across all company operations, enhancing current processes, creating new operational procedures, and providing greater value to clients represents a cultural shift toward more agile and smarter ways of doing business fueled by cutting-edge technology.

Hybrid network infrastructures are essential for digital transformation success, and enterprises should carefully evaluate their needs before making a decision. Many DX applications require a hybrid infrastructure, so its important to understand which ones your business relies on the most. By deploying a hybrid network, you can improve performance, speed up application deployment, and reduce costs. Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination, so make sure your business has the best foundation possible for success.

Read next: Top Digital Transformation Companies & Services 2022

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Interview With Manish Soni, CEO Of "Sarvvid" – The Updated Version Of Cloud Storage Companies (an Innovative Way To Decentralize Data…

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

Every individual today wants to have their data kept private and secure. Sarvvid has developed the first decentralized cloud-based storage solution in India, a move that seems to have come sooner than expected, as it is the first company to offer this service.

A centralized ecosystem such as the internet, monopolized by tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, exposes data stored within it and at risk of attack. It is, therefore, necessary to provide alternative data storage options in which data remains accessible while being safer and more secure and not under the control of big online entities.

Decentralized cloud storage is being driven by the emergence of advancements in blockchain technology. By breaking the monopoly rule of big tech companies, you can be the master of your niche with Sarvvid.

Inventiva interviewed Manish Soni, the CEO of Sarvvid, one of the most reliable and decentralized cloud storage providers in the industry. Manish Soni shared with Inventiva that decentralized cloud storage gives the data owner complete control and security. Who doesnt want privacy, security, and authority over their data in todays world? Unfortunately, so many big tech companies have made this priority a non-issue.

Inventiva: What does Sarvvid stand for?

CEO: Sarvvid is a complete solution for decentralized data storage, and it allows users to manage their data decentralized from time to time. Decentralization works on the security of the data stored while helping users get the account of their data while having complete control over it.

Inventiva: Why do you keep the name Sarvvid?

CEO: Sarvvid can be diverted into two sections. One is called the Sarv, which means everything and the other is called Vid, which means Vidya. In short, we can say that Sarvvid means every knowledge or, in short, limitless opportunities.

Inventiva: Where is the Sarvvid venture based? Who are the biggest competitors of Sarvvid?

CEO: Sarvvid is located in Delhi. We do not believe in any competitors as we believe in the upgrade version of Google, Dropbox and all the companies based on a foundation of cloud data storage or centralized data infrastructure.

Inventiva: Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?

CEO: This project on which we are working has tremendous possibilities; every small colony has a SarvvidHub. Every phone is SarvvidNode making India the Data Capital of the world, storing all data in our network. Back three months because of some reasons I had to visit hospital-like I was living in that imagination. It was crystal clear; their whole data came back and forth from our network. There is a philosophy that I believe is that any companys valuation is based on how much value they provide by being in existence, so Sarvvid will be a 500 Billion dollar Company.

Inventiva: What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?

CEO: The most challenging part was to find the purpose, and after I got the purpose, it all crystal clear where we were headed. Its just a matter of how much time it would take.

Inventiva: Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?

CEO: From This Line, a sudden quote appeared in front of my eyes, and that is Krishna Ko Chitra mein Nahi Charitra Mein Bithana hai. One should not hang images and photos of their beloved god; instead, they have to be Gods Image. My Idol is Shri Krishna, as after reading Bhagwat Geeta, I dont believe that anybody is as smart and visionary as him. Elon Musk also plays a big part in being a motivator in life as he is the biggest example that you can learn anything by just reading books and from the internet.

Inventiva: Who are the target audience or client?

CEO: Sarvvid is meant for people who wants to store limitless data. A startup, an individual, an industry, or an organization, everyone can use it. This even targets entrepreneurs, big companies, people handling data online and managing work filled with data.

Inventiva: How is SARVVID better than other clouds?

CEO: We do not say that we are better than other clouds, but we are the upgraded version of cloud data service. A Cloud data service is a storage method that stores data on remote servers accessed over the internet (or the cloud). Users generally pay a monthly or per-consumption fee for managing, maintaining, and backing up their data remotely.

Sarvvid is a good example of a decentralized data management system. With the help of independent users and their data collection, we ensure that all components are done safely so that everyone can keep track of what they save. It is all at a reasonable rate compared to others, and one more thing is that they can earn from their storage with our application Sarvvid Node.

Inventiva: What makes SARVVID unique?

CEO: A decentralized storage platform is Sarvvid Box, Indias first Decentralized Cloud Storage. The service also offers premium services like two devices syncing simultaneously with different passwords for separate folders.

Inventiva: What are the Advantages of Sarvvid Box storage?

CEO: When you back up your files using conventional cloud storage systems and applications, there is a chance that you will lose access to your files if the company or service closes its doors.

Take, for instance, when there was a data leak from Dropbox. The company did not take authority for the action. This is where Sarvvid stands unique. Sarvvid wishes to take authority over the complete data stored by the user while they trust the companys system.

This is not the case with the Sarvvid Box. Because it is decentralized, your data would still be available even if some large corporations went out of business. You also benefit from added security because it is stored without any central server or centre point where hackers can get at it.

Inventiva: How is data secure in Sarvvid?

CEO: When you think of centralized data storage, then there is the fear of losing your data or your data being hacked. But Sarvvid works differently. In Sarvvid, there is no single point of failure as your data is stored across a network of nodes instead of a centralized server which prevents the loss of data or data being shared from one person to the other.

You now know what Sarvvid does and how it works, so what are you waiting for? If its about authority and security, Sarvvid is the way to go. Lets Go!

Article Proofread & Published by Gauri Malhotra.

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Robin.io selected as finalist of the annual Products of the Year Awards by TechTarget’s Storage Magazine and SearchStorage – socPub

January 24, 2022 | Author: admin

SAN JOSE, Calif. Jan 19, 2022 Robin.io, a leader in Kubernetes data management for enterprise applications and operator 5G solutions, has been selected as a finalist of the annual Products of the Year Awards by TechTarget's Storage Magazine and SearchStorage 2021 for the cloud storage category. The winners will be announced on 15th, 2022, in the February issue of Storage Magazine.

The Storage Magazine 2021 Products of the Year Awards recognizes winners in five categories: Backup and Disaster Recovery Hardware, Software and Services; Cloud Storage; Disk and Disk Subsystems; Hyper-converged and Composable Infrastructures, and Storage System and Application Software. All enterprise storage products were judged based on technological innovation, performance, ease of integration, use and manageability, functionality, and value. Under the cloud storage category, the company must include software that pools and centrally manages storage across servers or cloud object stores, cloud-native storage, file systems not tied to specific arrays, and gateway appliances for cloud backup and replication.

"We are incredibly honored to be one of the finalists in the industry's most prestigious and long-standing awards," said Partha Seetala, founder and CEO of Robin.io. This is truly a team honor, recognizing the rapid pace of innovation enabled by our various solutions, products and technology, along with our unwavering commitment to customer support. While it is nice to be recognized and celebrate, we continue to focus our efforts on the needs of our customers," he added.

Along with this, Robin.io was also awarded CRN's 10 Hottest Kubernetes Startups Of 2021, Titanium Level recognition at Intel Network Builders 2021, Highly commended Solution at Most Innovative Cloud Service category at GLOTEL 2021, FutureNet World Awards 2021 for leading solution for network automation/autonomous networks, Automation Initiative of the Year category 2020 and many more.

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Robin.io selected as finalist of the annual Products of the Year Awards by TechTarget's Storage Magazine and SearchStorage - socPub

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