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Questions Enterprises Should Be Asking as they Migrate to the Cloud – Infosecurity Magazine

It wasnt too long ago when the question many enterprises wrestled with was whether migrating to the cloud was a worthwhile endeavor. Aside from a few stray server-huggers, enterprises have resoundingly answered in the affirmative and moved beyond that basic question.

Now, though, as the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting widespread transitioning to remote workforces hasten organizations embrace of the cloud and SaaS applications, new questions are arising. Lets examine some of the questions that organizations should be asking to make their cloud migrations successful:

How can we accelerate our move to the cloud?

There is a reason the cloud services market is expected to exceed US $660bn by 2024, according to GlobalData the cloud brings great potential for organizations to become more efficient, flexible and secure, among other benefits. So, why not be bold in making the move? As enterprises plan their migrations, they should consider going beyond the usual budgetary investments. If the management team had more resources to invest in the cloud transition, what could they accomplish? It might be better to invest more up front and move faster.

What percentage of our business-critical applications are currently running on the cloud?

Even IT leaders who are aware of the clouds upside can be deterred from acting if bogged down by existing technologies and processes. That is why it is important to swiftly transition business-critical applications to the cloud. After determining the percentage of business-critical apps that are running on the cloud, a logical follow-up question for cloud champions is whether there are plans to make that total 100%. If not, why? If so, when will the last server be turned off?

Did we include a third-party supplier risk assessment in our cloud risk assessment?

Many organizations have not done so, and the massive SolarWinds hack surely has caught the attention of enterprise leaders. Third-party supplier risk needs to be specifically accounted for as part of the risk assessment. Organizations can automatically assess some third-party risks by using tools that block, report and warn about such risks in the CI/CD pipeline. Any major transition done on an aggressive timeframe poses new risks. Further, there should be a way for management to show the board of directors that all major cloud-related risks have been assessed and the appropriate mitigations have been put in place. It is important to call out which risks, if any, might exceed the organizations risk appetite.

Have we identified sensitive data and protected it in the cloud?

The risk assessment should identify sensitive data stored in the cloud and how well it is protected. Has the organization implemented appropriate and effective data protection solutions like encryption, obfuscation, or microsharding? Does the way the data is stored, used and protected comply with company policy, industry standards and regulations?

Have we implemented DevSecOps to develop and deploy cloud applications?

This should be a firm yes. To put it plainly, migrating to the cloud without DevSecOps doesnt make sense. DevSecOps is the way to successfully implement cloud applications from the standpoints of both security and quality. For organizations on this path, cloud champions should ask what percentage of our CI/CD pipeline is fully automated? Does it include automated unit tests, third-party risk checks, integration tests, security tests, security checks and audit artifacts, and can security leaders show a simple chart reflecting the DevSecOps capability progress over time?

Do we have knowledgeable cloud practitioners in place?

Migrating from on-premise servers and infrastructure to the cloud might require existing employees to be re-skilled and trained for the organizations intended cloud uses. Independent reviews are critical, and cloud audits performed by credentialed auditors will typically surface significant security and/or compliance risks, particularly given the fast-evolving regulatory landscape for data governance and data privacy.

The questions above are just a starting point for making cloud migrations a success. In todays business climate, forward-thinking boards should want to know what their organizations are doing to stay ahead of the curve. Cloud changes rapidly with new capabilities, and management and board directors should be curious about what their teams are doing to keep up on an ongoing basis.

The business landscape will benefit from the large volume of cloud migrations that are taking place, but organizations need to be mindful that just because they are transitioning to the cloud does not guarantee success. Related security, risk and regulatory considerations need to be accounted for to ensure the intended business benefits are realized.

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Endpoint Management and Its Evolving Role in IT – Security Boulevard

Technology is changingrapidlyand IT teams need IT management tools that are keeping up with this pace of change.Traditional endpoint management tools that focus on desktops, laptops and servers are no longer adequate to manage todays complex IT environments. Now, we have virtualization, cloud infrastructure, mobile and IoT devices to manage along with traditional endpoints. A new generation of endpoint management toolsis required tomeet this need. These tools mustenable you to manageall devices and IT environments, right from on-premises to the cloud to IoT and more,from a single console.

Endpoint management is the process that an organization follows to centrallydiscover, provision, monitor, troubleshoot and update endpoint devices.Organizations deploy endpoint management solutions to help themmonitor,manageand securealltheir endpoint devicesfrom a single console.

A comprehensive endpoint management solution enables you to enhance efficiency by automating routine IT processes such as patch management and server maintenance. It provides your IT team with complete visibility of your environment for more efficient IT management and quicker detection and resolution of incidents.

In addition, an endpoint management solution provides enterprise-wide monitoring, alerting and automatic incident remediation. This shortens resolution time and improves system and service availability. You can monitor all infrastructure components, performance metrics (CPU, memory, disk space, uptime), processes and services, event logs, application and hardware changes, and more.

The next-gen endpoint management solution helps IT teams discover, monitor and manage more than just traditional endpoints. It provides visibility and control over your network devices (SNMP), virtual environments, cloud, mobile and IoT. This next-gen endpoint management technology, which we call Unified Endpoint Management, basically enables you to manage everything, streamline your IT operations and do more with less.

According to a report by Grand View Research, in 2019, the global market size of unified endpoint management was valued at $2.75 billion. In addition, this market is estimated to undergo an expansion at a compound annual growth rate of 32.2% from 2020 to 2027.

The definition of an endpoint is evolving too. Traditional endpoints include servers,desktopsand laptops. Now, endpoints encompass virtual machines (VMs), cloud infrastructure, mobile and IoT devices, as well as network devices.Common examples of endpoints and devicesthat must be regularlymonitoredand managedinclude:

Organizations accomplish endpoint management by deploying software solutions that help them discover and manage all the devices in their IT environment. Endpoint management tools help ensure that the systems and applications running on them have high availability, are up to date and secure. Asset management, IT automation, remote endpoint management (aka remote control) and patch management are the critical functions of typical endpoint management tools.

A comprehensive endpoint management solution also helps you gain visibility and control over your entire IT environment. It helps IT teams identify, troubleshoot and resolve IT incidents faster to maintain system and service availability. A network topology map is an important feature in this process. It shows all endpoints and network devices as well their current up/down status, for example.

With a next-generation endpoint management solution, you can remotely monitor and manage everything from traditional endpoints (such as servers, laptops, desktops) to SNMP network devices and printers, virtual machines and more.

An endpoint management solution enables you to automate routine IT processes such as software patch management, and auto-remediate IT incidents. It should also allow you to manage backup and IT security functions, like AV/AM client deployment, from the endpoint management UI.

With endpoint management tools, you can implement IT automation by using agent procedures (scripts) and setting policies to standardize IT management best practices. In addition, you can also run scripts to auto-remediate IT incidents in response to an alert. Some endpoint management tools also offer the ability to run agent procedures from a mobile app to achieve automation on the go.

IT environment complexity is growing rapidly. Workforces are now more distributed and mobile. Cloud migration has accelerated and the use of SaaS applications is exploding. Businesses must now leverage unified endpoint management tools to stay on top of the constantly evolving IT landscape.

Technicians today have to worry about managing and securing not only their local networks but also devices that are off-network and being used remotely.

No longer are all of your endpoints physical devices virtualization and containerization technologies have dramatically altered the IT landscape yet again.

Listed below are some reasons why a modern, unified endpoint management solution has now become even more critical for businesses:

Not only are workforces more spread out, theyre also on the go and working remotely more than ever before. As such, it is imperative for businesses to deploy comprehensive endpoint management solutions that keep all of these remote devices up and running and secure. This includes mobile device management (MDM) and access to an IT management mobile app that also allows IT techs to manage on the go.

The IT landscape has undergone drastic transformations over the last few years, giving rise to an increasing dependency on virtualization as a means to manage business-critical workloads more efficiently. Virtual machines are now commonplace across IT environments. Businesses today look for endpoint management solutions that can manage both physical and virtual devices.

The migration to cloud computing has rapidly accelerated in the past year as organizations have digitally transformed their business. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) extends your IT environment from on-premises to the cloud. The global market size of IaaS is expected to reach nearly $82.2 billion by 2022. Needless to say, IT teams need an endpoint management solution that enables them to manage cloud-based environments on services such as Azure and AWS, as well as hybrid on-prem and cloud environments.

Given the wide range of software products that businesses utilize these days and the huge number of publically disclosed software vulnerabilities each year, the task of regularly tracking and deploying patches has become more challenging than ever before. This intensifies the need for a robust endpoint management solution that automates patch management and frees up time for your technicians to focus on more strategic, revenue-generating projects.

While MS Windows still dominates the OS landscape, many organizations have IT environments that include macOS and Linux devices. Consequently, the need for an endpoint management solution that can manage multiple OS platforms is indispensable for businesses today.

Deploying a comprehensive endpoint management solution is no longer just an option, but a necessity. In a rapidly evolving IT landscape, it is imperative to look for an endpoint management solution that is constantly developing and is designed to handle the complexity of todays IT environments. You need an endpoint management solution that allows you to manage everything from a single console and helps you improve IT efficiency.

Here are some major drawbacks of using an endpoint management tool that isnt keeping up:

With businesses embracing a more mobile work culture, there is an increasing demand for more advanced endpoint management solutions that cater to the changing needs of modern IT environments that are no longer limited to a single office building. Heres a look at how and why MDM, EMM and UEM are fast becoming the norm in endpoint management.

Mobile Device Management (MDM) may be described as the process of strengthening corporate data security by managing, monitoring and securing mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones and so on.

MDM helps IT admins manage mobile devices within their IT infrastructure that are being used to access critical business data. MDM includes deciding on the apps that can be installed on the devices, storing critical device information, locating and securing lost or stolen devices, and so on.

By deploying an effective MDM solution, you can reinforce your endpoint security and achieve advanced capabilities to stay on top of the ever-changing mobile landscape.

Enterprise mobility management (EMM) is a set of technologies and processes that are focused on monitoring, managing and securing corporate data on wireless networks, mobile devices and other mobile computing services. It is usually concerned with protecting intellectual property, systems that integrate with other corporate IT systems and processes that are designed for the purpose of data security.

While EMM is focused on managing the entire mobile device, MDM is only concerned with managing the features of a mobile device. EMM helps businesses achieve app customization, document and data security, policy compliance and integration with network directory services for better endpoint management.

As the name suggests, Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) may be described as a comprehensive solution for centrally monitoring and managing ALL endpoints and devices within an organization. UEM is a more advanced solution as compared to traditional endpoint management.Our definition of unified endpoint management goes beyond even the conventional view as it encompasses not only traditional endpoints and mobile devices (MDM) but also network devices and the next generation of endpoints such as cloud and IoT.

One of the primary requirements of a business looking to efficiently manage its IT infrastructure is an endpoint management tool that monitors and manages all endpoints and devices, including network devices, workstations and servers, as well as virtual machines and cloud resources.

A Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solution,Kaseya VSA allows IT teams to manage a wide range of endpoints and devices. It automates IT to drive operational efficiency allowing IT teams to do more with their existing resources. This is critical in todays environment where the demands on IT are increasing dramatically.

Kaseya VSA brings together software patch management (including OS and third-party patching), AV/AM deployment and management, and backup and disaster recovery management (servers and SaaS app data) in one UI. Kaseya VSA also enables you to patch off-network devices even over low-bandwidth networks a feature that is indispensable for securing work-from-home (WFH) employees computers.

Learn more about managing everything and streamlining your IT operations, boosting technician efficiency and enhancing the security of your IT environment with Kaseya VSA. Download our eBook to know all about leveraging the automation capabilities of your endpoint management tool.

The post Endpoint Management and Its Evolving Role in IT appeared first on Kaseya.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Blog Kaseya authored by John Emmitt. Read the original post at: https://www.kaseya.com/blog/2021/04/02/endpoint-management/

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Benefits and considerations for disaster recovery-as-a-service – ITProPortal

Dramatic events like the Covid-19 pandemic and the widespread power outages in Texas in February 2021 highlight what many IT professionals already know; many businesses disaster recovery and business continuity plans are sorely lacking. Businesses need disaster recovery plans that will ensure they remain operational even in extreme situations when an entire region loses power or physical access to offices and data centers is cut off. Creating this kind of resilience usually means incorporating the cloud into disaster recovery.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), is one of the most common use cases for organizations starting to explore the cloud. It allows an organization to back up and recover data and IT infrastructure in a third-party cloud computing environment, rather than to a backup server of their own. Like other as-a-service models, the cloud infrastructure provider handles management of the resources used for the backups and charges the customer based on usage. Cloud-based DRaaS can offer several benefits over on-premise DR, but there are several considerations that organizations should keep in mind when setting up their DRaaS program. Lets go through these in detail.

Different companies have different needs for their disaster recovery, so its important for each organization to customize their arrangements as much as possible to help ensure business continuity. Here are some considerations for organizations that are evaluating a DRaaS program. Ultimately, the goal is to determine if the cloud is the best fit for their needs and what parameters and details should be included in their contract with the service provider.

With all these considerations in mind, DRaaS makes sense for many if not all customers. Its typically a lack of understanding, confidence or the right skillset that holds companies back from trying the cloud. In many cases, organizations are understandably reluctant to do anything that could negatively affect long standing traditional applications that their business depends on! In this scenario, DRaaS can be a toe in the water for companies to experiment with the cloud without significant risk. By taking such a step, organizations will get a better understanding of how the cloud works, how these per-use cost frameworks are beneficial and build up a level of comfort before considering migrating other workloads that could benefit from the cloud.

George Stamos, Director of Strategic Alliances and Solutions Architecture, Skytap

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eyeson is Moving Beyond Video Conferencing Running Auto-Moderated Town Hall Meetings – PRNewswire

GRAZ, Austria, March 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- eyeson's patented single stream technology provides a feature that optimizes video conferencing streams on cloud servers that are transmitted to all participants in a defined layout in real time. While a unique selection algorithm, also developed by eyeson, makes it possible to go beyond moderated video conferencing towards cloud based auto arrangement of videos and participants based on intelligent activity tracking.

"Virtual events are oftentimes a source of concerns regarding the moderation of the event and participants," says Andreas Krpfl, CEO of eyeson. "We care about excellence and easy communication, so we conceived a technology that dynamically prioritizes activity and allows refocusing of participants as needed."

Merging multiple video/audio streamsinto one stream is well known by now. However, merging hundreds of video meeting participants can cause headache to many event organisers who want to keep discussions controlled and well moderated! The eyeson tech team developed an algorithm that helps you prioritise by activity and keep everyone focused on the essential. With long discussions in mind, where leaders, event organizers and moderators need to coordinate over 100 participants, eyeson brought its users an algorithm that automatically brings active speakers to the virtual main stage.

"Our technology takes over all handling from the client's side and acts as a virtual moderator based on an intelligent cloud-hosted decision algorithm and our cloud-based video transcoding services," says Michael Wolfgang, CTO of eyeson. "Developers even make their own video layout configurations via the API." Whether it is the case of a virtual event, a team meeting with many participants or online classrooms, the intelligence that eyeson brings to video communication facilitates management and reduces online fatigue.

eyesonis a leader in cloud based video conferencing with managed multipoint video processing technology at a scale. Based on its patented single stream technology, eyeson provides API video services to easily integrate video collaboration in business workflows for full customer engagement. eyeson is managing the cloud capacity, scalable video coding performance and data management for the customer. Based on WebRTC technology, eyeson provides browser-based video meeting integrations on all desktop and mobile devices. eyeson offers B2B focused products used by Forbes 500 companies and named by Gartner as "cool vendor in unified communications."

Press Contacts:Giannenta MilioPhone: +436645059291Email: [emailprotected]

eyeson Media[emailprotected]

SOURCE eyeson

http://www.eyeson.com

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Inspur Information Ranked Among Top 3 x86 Server Vendors Worldwide – Business Wire

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inspur Information, a leading IT infrastructure solutions provider, today announced it was ranked among the top three x86 server vendors worldwide in the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker (Q4, 2020). According to the report, the total shipments of x86 servers in 2020 reached over 11.8 million units with the global revenue at $82.6 billion USD, up by 1.8% (YOY) and 3.2% (YOY) respectively. Inspurs market share in terms of shipments is now 9.6%, up by 14.9% year-on-year.

The global pandemic has brought about the explosive growth of new application scenarios of IT such as online education, remote work, and intelligent manufacturing. Propelled by increasing competition, Internet companies and traditional industry users are now more willing to adopt new technologies such as cloud, AI, and big data and are speeding up their investment and deployment of IT infrastructure. This has greatly accelerated the growth of the global server market.

From a regional perspective, x86 server providers in the US market increased their revenue slightly, with a market share of 43.5% and a year-on-year increase rate of 1.2%. Chinese players welcomed a revenue increase of 17.8% (YOY) and a market share of 25.2%. Inspur ranked first among all the Chinese x86 server providers in terms of revenue, with a market share of 35.6% and a year-on-year growth of 33.3% in 2020.

COVID-19 accelerated the application of digitalization, IoT, and artificial intelligence, which requires the computing power of servers to meet diversified needs, said Peter Peng, CEO of Inspur Information. We are now increasingly seeing the development path from general computing needs to heterogeneous computing and edge computing. The emerging, diversified, and niche application scenarios and the need for computing power derived from them have spurred the growth of Inspurs server business.

Having spearheaded the technology advancements in AI and edge computing with major data centers, Inspur offers full-stack capabilities and an agile business model called Joint Development Manufacturing (JDM) and therefore can customize scenario-specific solutions for customers faster.

According to the latest global AI server market data from IDC1, Inspur AI servers take up over 50% of the market share in China, with the strongest, and the most comprehensive array of AI computing products in the industry that covers use cases ranging from training and inference to edge computing and more. For edge computing, Inspur has created four series of edge product: edge micro center, edge server, portable AI server, and intelligent computing microserver to meet the diversified needs of computing power in different edge scenarios.

Now, Inspur is quickly expanding its global footprint and operations. Its business spans 120 countries and regions worldwide, with eight international R&D centers, six global production centers, and two global service centers. Global customers widely recognize the technology of Inspur's server product and solution capabilities, and its market share in the United States, Germany, France, South Korea, and other overseas regions is steadily increasing.

About Inspur Information

Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co., LTD is a leading provider of data center infrastructure, cloud computing, and AI solutions, ranking among the worlds top 3 server manufacturers. Through engineering and innovation, Inspur delivers cutting-edge computing hardware design and extensive product offerings to address important technology arenas like open computing, cloud data center, AI, and deep learning. Performance-optimized and purpose-built, our world-class solutions empower customers to tackle specific workloads and real-world challenges. To learn more, please go to https://www.inspursystems.com/.

1 2020H1 China Semiannual Accelerated Computing Tracker, IDC, Mar.22, 2021

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DHS studying ways to plug cyber blind spots, officials say – Roll Call

In an opinion column in the Washington Post on Sunday, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote that in the Obama administration, Gates had proposed creating the position of a deputy director at the NSA who would be a DHS cybersecurity official. That official would have the legal authority to ask the NSA to conduct surveillance on domestic networks and defend against ongoing attacks, Gates wrote.

The new position would come with legal restrictions on how the new authority would be used and would be designed to safeguard Americans from unwanted, unauthorized surveillance, Gates said. The proposal was signed off on by then Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and receivedthe blessing of the Justice Department, but Gates wrote that the initiative came to naught, mainly because of bureaucratic foot-dragging and resistance.

Asked whether such a proposal was being considered now, the DHS officials who briefed reporters declined to address it specifically. One official said the administration is conducting an in-depth lessons-learned exercise on both the Russian and Chinese attacks and would offer recommendations once it has completed the review.

CISA, which is allowed by law only to provide advisory services to federal, stateand local government agencies and U.S. companies, is not in a position to demand any information from agencies and companies that are affected by a cyber attack, leaving that agency also in the dark about the extent of a major attack.

Lawmakers have called for expanding the powers and budget for CISA to make the agency in charge of all federal government networks that operate under the "dot gov" domain, similar to how the U.S. Cyber Command oversees cybersecurity for the U.S. military network.

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These Highly-Rated VPNs are on Sale for an extra 30 Percent Off for a Limited Time – ExtremeTech

Just because we cant see the nefarious hackers trying to steal our data online, doesnt mean they dont exist. Unlike regular thieves,hackers can do serious damagewithout you having any idea until its too late. If youre ready to take your internet safety more seriously, its time to invest in a VPN. Not only will it help safeguard your important data, but it also comes with added perks like privacy, faster internet and no geographical restrictions.

Ready to find the right VPN for you? These VPN services are on sale during the Semi-Annual sale at 30 percent off for a limited time and are ready to help protect you and your familys precious data as your browse the web.

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These Highly-Rated VPNs are on Sale for an extra 30 Percent Off for a Limited Time - ExtremeTech

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The Hosting Heroes today announced the combining of CyberHostPro, EZPZ Hosting, Reyaltec, Bargain Hosting, UK Web Hosting Services and Yeti Host into…

The Hosting Heroes is about delivering the best possible technology and support to our customers. By bringing these companies together we can deliver on that promise better than ever, said CEO Chris Danks

LISCARD, UK (PRWEB) April 01, 2021

The Hosting Heroes today announced the combining of CyberHostPro, EZPZ Hosting, Reyaltec, Bargain Hosting, UK Web Hosting Services and Yeti Host into a combined brand named The Hosting Heroes. This exciting development consolidates six of the United Kingdoms most trusted infrastructure providers into one entity. Based in Liscard, Merseyside, The Hosting Heroes focus will be on high-performance hosting technology, premium support, and delivering a wide range of solutions to serve a variety of customer needs. From domain names to cloud servers, customers with wide-ranging needs will now be able to find complete solutions from one partner at The Hosting Heroes instead of having to rely on multiple different vendors.

The Hosting Heroes is about delivering the best possible technology and support to our customers. By bringing these companies together we can deliver on that promise better than ever, said CEO Chris Danks. Hosting and infrastructure become more and more mission critical by the day. Your choice in hosting partner can be a make-or-break decision for the company, Danks continued.

With a rich history in supporting small and mid-sized businesses as well as individual customers, the combined resources of the The Hosting Heroes promise to provide a premium hosting experience for customers that demand the best infrastructure, uptime, and support. For years, each of these companies brought unique offerings and strengths to the hosting market. Bringing them together will be a force-multiplier for customers and partners around the world.

When asked about the new brand and the combined companys mission, Danks was quick to reply, Honestly, that is why we put it right there in the name. We want our team members, our partners, and our customers to know what our focus is. Who says your hosting provider cant be heroic?

The Hosting Heroes provide infrastructure based in the United Kingdom and 24/7 support. Continual investments in leading-edge technology combined with managed applications offer customers confidence in their chosen hosting partner. From WordPress to Windows, The Hosting Heroes offer robust solutions for every market need.

For more information about The Hosting Heroes visit http://www.thehostingheroes.com.

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The Hosting Heroes today announced the combining of CyberHostPro, EZPZ Hosting, Reyaltec, Bargain Hosting, UK Web Hosting Services and Yeti Host into...

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How Open Source is Driving the Future of Data Science – RTInsights

With its reliance on a community of physically dispersed individuals and flexibility of adoption, open-source data science is becoming an even more attractive choice among cash-strapped governments, non-profits, and businesses.

Over the past decade, data science and machine learning have made their way from an obscure academic discipline to widespread corporate adoption. The academic community has a natural preference towards open source. Science is a collaborative effort, and its advancement is best served by enabling as large a community as possible to build upon existing research.

Private companies, on the other hand, have a much stronger incentivefor proprietary technology. Developing software systems is an expensiveendeavor. Naturally, a business wants to make a return on this investment.Making the results of your work freely available to competitors doesnt seemlike the smartest choice if you are a business owner.

Still, in data science, several powerful incentives pull corporateinterests in the direction of favoring open-source implementations.

Open source tools offer a lower barrier to entry thanlicensed software. Companies can experiment more easily and with fewerconstraints. They are also more likely to find talent for programming languagesand data science tools that are freely available to everyone.

A case in point is Python, the dominant programming languagefor data science, which happens to be open source. It has the most versatileand extensive capabilities for manipulating data and building machine learningmodels. Python has even superseded commercial tools like MatLab in terms ofcapabilities for data science applications.

Most data science and machine learning frameworks such asTensorFlow, SciKit-Learn, or PyTorch build directly on Python and are also open-source.

Often, their creators are large companies that are alreadydominant in their respective markets. Evidently, the benefits of making alibrary like TensorFlow open-source outweigh the costs for its creator Google.

While Google gave potential competitors a powerful deeplearning tool, it probably benefits more from the massively expanded talentpool, the sprawling deep learning innovation, and the widespread adoption ofthe framework by other companies that open-sourcing TensorFlow entailed.

Other machine learning libraries, such as XGBoost,originatedas research projects in universities. For these institutions, the benefits ofopen-source software are overwhelming for the reasons discussed above.

Most machine learning models require large amounts of datato train. Modern machine learning models, especially deep neural networks usedin computer vision and natural language processing, require vast amounts ofcomputational resources to train. This would present an almost insurmountablechallenge for smaller organizations and individuals, who simply do not havethis amount of data internally, nor the budget to run expensive model trainingexperiments. If it werent for open source data, machine learning would bealmost exclusively the domain of large corporations. This may be in theinterest of the shareholders of said corporations, but certainly not of societyat large, which benefits from the innovations produced by startups andindividuals.

Even for large corporations, the widespread availability of open-sourcedata and pre-trained machine learning models has benefits.

Many of the cutting-edge models developed by researchers atcompanies like Google and Facebook have been open-sourced. Anyone can downloadthese models from Github and use them in their custom data science projects.

But why are these corporations so generous in sharing theirmodels and their data?

From the perspective of an established corporation, it makessense to avoid risky ventures and instead aim to expand market share throughmore traditional strategies.

Startups tend to be better suited for engaging in novelhigh-risk ventures because they are smaller, more agile, and have nothing tolose.

If a large company wants to enter a novel market, or obtainnew technology, acquiring a successful startup in the desired field may be asmarter move than trying to do everything from scratch in-house.

For example, Google acquired Deep Mind in 2014 for thepotential it saw in DeepMinds research in reinforcement learning andgeneral-purpose AI.

To maximize the potential for the emergence of innovativedata science and artificial intelligence startups, it makes sense to giveambitious new upstarts the tools and data they need.

Furthermore, many of the researchers working on commercialprojects come from academic settings. They bring with them a culture ofcollaboration based on open source.

Researchers and developers are naturally inclined toshowcase their work. Therefore, a commitment to open source and the opportunityfor employees to participate in open source projects can go a long way to makea company a more attractive employer for highly coveted data science talent.

The foundational knowledge for data science includesadvanced skills in mathematics, statistics, and programming. Until a few yearsago, this knowledge was deeply buried in academic textbooks and usuallyacquired by obtaining a technical university degree.

Today, an ambitious self-starter can learn all of thesethings via resources that are freely available on the web. An army of Youtubeeducators and bloggers has emerged that makes previously dry and highlyacademic topics accessible in a fun and easy-to-digest way.

These new educational resources grow the talent pool bymaking data science more accessible for a larger group of people, which alsobenefits companies.

Without open-source software and open-source data, offeringthis type of education for free would be much more difficult.

Online education platforms offer academic curricula that often match or exceed traditional university courses in terms of quality. In many cases, these courses are accompanied by Github repositories full of open source code.

Developing and maintaining a custom data science solutionfrom scratch in-house presents a major challenge to most companies. The largera software system grows, the more susceptible it is to bugs and the moredifficult it is to find problems in the source code and deploy the system intoproduction.

Building on open source software and models cansignificantly alleviate these burdens and speed up time to market. Bugs inwidely used open-source libraries are likely to have been discovered byprevious users. If bugs do occur,developers are free to go into the code and fix them without having to worryabout violating licensing agreements. If the open-source tool turns out to notbe a good fit, no money has been sunk on a failed trial.

Even for private businesses who have a commercial interestin protecting their software, there are strong incentives for using andbuilding open-source data science solutions.

More recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has put many organizations under enormous pressure to digitize data-heavy processes as quickly as possible while physically scattering technical talent. With its reliance on a community of physically dispersed individuals and flexibility of adoption, open-source data science is becoming an even more attractive choice among cash-strapped governments, non-profits, and businesses.

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How Open Source is Driving the Future of Data Science - RTInsights

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Space Regime in Deep Distress: Experts The Diplomat – The Diplomat

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The following is based on excerpts from the March 2021 Diplomat Risk Intelligence Monthly Report An Asian Space Odyssey. The full report is available here.

After a relative lull following the end of the Cold War, space is back with a vengeance, along with geopolitical rivalry and accelerated defense modernization plans. What is new and an additional complicating factor, this time around, is the realization that space exploration and presence may be intimately tied not only with national prestige and military gains (its principal drivers during the Cold War) but also with an economic edge for those invested in it. However, technical advances that have contributed to civilian, military and commercial space capabilities in, and aspirations of, key Asia-Pacific powers have not been matched with commensurate shared understanding on how these capabilities are to be put in to play in a way acceptable to all.

In a new Diplomat Risk Intelligence, five prominent experts on space issues examined among many other key issues related to Asia-Pacifics outer space engagement how the space security regime, and capabilities and intent, have not tracked each other, with geopolitics and national economic aspirations introducing further complications.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute scholar Malcolm Davis writes:

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) bans the deployment or use of nuclear weapons in space. It doesnt ban the development, testing and deployment of non-nuclear ASATs [anti-satellite weapons]. Efforts since the OST to prohibit ASATs, such as the Russian and Chinese proposals for a Prohibition on the Placement of Weapons (PPWT) in space, and the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space agreement, as well as an EU Code of Conduct for Outer Space activities, have failed in part due to challenges in defining what constitutes a space weapon and challenges associated with verification and monitoring. The Russian and Chinese efforts with PPWT sought to ban co-orbital ASATs, but did nothing to constrain either direct-ascent ASATs or ground-based counterspace capabilities. Defining what constitutes a co-orbital ASAT is becoming increasingly difficult as a grey zone in orbit emerges due to the blurring between commercial space capability and potentially hazardous or malign rendezvous and proximity operations.

Interestingly, as Secure World Foundation analyst Victoria Samson points out in her contribution to the report:

An added complication is that Russia historically has not accepted that commercial space exists. When negotiations were underway in the 1960s for the Outer Space Treaty (OST), Soviet negotiators wanted it enshrined in the treaty that space would be for nation-states only. Finally, as a compromise, Article 6 of the OST requires nations to provide continuing supervision of any space activities by its citizens. Right now, there are roughly 3500 active satellites. Looking at filings with the FCC for spectrum, there could potentially be 107,000 active ones by the end of this decade. They will not all come to fruition but a lot of them will, and with that will solidify a fundamental change in the space domain, as it is commercial actors launching these mega-constellations, not nation-states. With the space domain shifting from one dominated by nation-state actors to one that is dominated by commercial actors, Russias lack of true commercial space very well may contribute to its drop in space stature.

Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.

The result? Russia could very well like to make up for the lack of its commercial/civilian space heft by doubling down on its military counterspace capabilities, adding further stress on the extant space security regime.

Growing interest in space-resource extraction too is increasingly playing a large role in pushing the edges of the OST. Consider the fact that in April last year, then-U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that allowed the United States to mine the moon and otherwise extract resources from outer space. While his administration had argued at that time that this order was not in violation of the OST and keep in mind that the U.S. is not a signatory to the 1979 Moon Treaty, which the order would have run afoul of had the U.S. been a party analysts have pointed out that Trumps moon-mining plans (and the Artemis Accords that buttress it) run against the spirit of the outer space as a global commons.

Chinas space ambitions too have a significant economic bent. Scholar Namrata Goswami writes in her contribution:

For China, investing in outer space moves beyond prestige and reputation, beyond a flags and footprints model of the Cold War. Instead, China aims to develop capacity for establishing permanent space presence, from which it would economically benefit in the long term. The global space economy today is worth $350 billion but is predicted to be worth between $1.2 trillion to $3 trillion by 2040. The economic returns from future mining of space-based resources like titanium, platinum, water-ice, thorium, Helium-3, iron-ore, are several trillions. By 2050, China aspires to return $10 trillion annually from investments in the Earth-moon economic zone.

Observer Research Foundation scholar Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan flags that the problem with the existing space security regime and the supporting legal treaties is even deeper and foundational. She writes:

There are also definitional issues with the existing treaties. For instance, the understanding of key terms such as militarization of space has undergone important changes over the decades. In the 1950s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union emphasized the peaceful uses of space, at least in their official rhetoric. This, in the initial years, meant non-military uses. But once they launched their own satellites, they began to interpret the term more broadly to suggest non-aggressive actions. By the 1960s, both the U.S. and the USSR were launching many satellites with direct military uses. This was a slippery slope, with the distinction between militarization and weaponization of space becoming vaguer. Today, this understanding has become even broader to mean non-destructive uses. So, while OST has prevented states from placing WMD in space, development of counter-space capabilities with an apparent non-destructive use is considered acceptable. Therefore, in the absence of clarity of what constitutes peaceful use of space or a space weapon, the effectiveness of existing mechanisms is questionable.

It is of course tempting to put the blame for the fraying space security regime on growing capabilities as well as intent especially when it comes to new space military technologies, including the development of co-orbital ASATs and other weapons. But the fundamental issue is that increasingly and quite naturally, as a matter of fact intense geopolitical rivalries are also manifesting themselves as hindrances in further developing new norms and regimes, including those for the outer space. As Carnegie Endowment for International Peace researcher Ankit Panda writes in the concluding section of the DRI report:

While certain technological developments especially in the military realm have stymied progress on governance (for instance, disagreements between the United States on the one hand and China and Russia on the other), technologies in and of themselves are not the source of the continued dearth of institutions and mechanisms to manage the safe and sustainable use of space. With the major powers still divided on space, the obstacles today to better and more robust space governance are largely political. New initiatives, such as the United Kingdoms submission of a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly in 2020, could enhance common understanding among states. Absent major systemic shifts in how the main space powers relate to each other, technological progress is likely to continue to outpace progress on space governance over the next decade.

DRI Monthly Reports are rigorous research investigations that go beyond reportage and commentary to add permanent value for clients. Access previous reports here.

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Space Regime in Deep Distress: Experts The Diplomat - The Diplomat

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