CyberTrend - January 2017

JANUARY 2017 VOL. 15 ISS.
01
CYBERTREND.COM
ANALYTICS
AS A
SERVICE
OFFLOAD BURDENS
& GET TO THE INSIGHTS
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
The Dangerous Side
Of Smart Devices
Internet Of Farming
The Versatility
Of Virtual Reality
Special Section For IT Managers
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CyberTrend
Is The Essential
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Business Technology
For Executives &
Company Owners
Volume 15 : Issue 01 : January 2017
10
48
ANALYTICS AS A SERVICE CAN HELP YOU

GET MORE VALUE OUT OF YOUR DATA
VIRTUAL REALITY FOR

BUSINESS & LEISURE
4 NEWS
Business technology news and research
30 INDUSTRY
The Internet of Things in agriculture
10 COVER STORY
The benefits of cloud-based analytics
36 NETWORKING
How the Open Networking User Group works
to ensure innovation in networking
16 BUSINESS
Retail applications for the Internet of Things
22 DATA
IBMs Watson is finding its way into all sorts
of interesting places
28 ENERGY
Energy efficiency and the environment
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Smart devices are beneficial, but they can
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Conservative Spending Plans Negatively Impact Global Server Market, Gartner Says
Increased reliance on virtualization is among the reasons why server revenue and shipments are down worldwide, 5.8% and 2.6%, respectively, according to Gartner. Only Eastern Europe showed growth in shipments at 0.9%, and only Japan showed growth in revenue
at 1.3% The server market was impacted during the third quarter of 2016 by generally conservative spending plans globally, says Jeffrey
Hewett, research vice president with Gartner. This was compounded by the ability of end users to leverage additional virtual machines on
existing x86 servers (without new hardware) to meet their server application needs. Hewett suggests manufacturers improve their value
propositions to help end users justify server hardware placements . . . . The accompanying chart indicates top vendor market share.
Server
MARKET SHARE
17.5% Dell
-7.9% YOY Growth
7.8% Lenovo
-6.7% YOY Growth
25.5% HPE
7.3% Cisco
-11.8% YOY Growth
5.0% YOY Growth
34.8% Other
7.0% IBM
7.4% YOY Growth
-33.0% YOY Growth
PC Market Continues Decline But

Shows Signs Of Improvement
Some Chief Data Officers Likely

To Move To Other C-Level Roles
World Enterprise Storage Market

Takes Slight Downturn In Q3
According to IDC, worldwide PC shipments declined 6.4% in Q3 2016 compared

to the year-ago quarter, but there are signs
of hope. Backed by early Windows 10
transitions that are expected to boost commercial PC shipments in the next couple
of years, and steady growth of PCaaS (PC
as a service), which should help shorten
refresh cycles of commercial systems in the
long-term, the overall U.S. PC market sentiment certainly seems to be improving,
says Neha Mahajan, senior research analyst
with IDC. The research firm anticipates
-2.1% year-over-year growth for 2017.
Gartners newest CDO (chief data officer) survey, released in November,

found that organizations that establish an
OCDO (office of the CDO) place a high
value on the pioneering position; 30% say
their CDOs report directly to their CEOs.
Because of this and the level of strategic
planning CDOs are involved in, Gartner
expects 15% of todays successful CDOs
will move to CEO, COO, CMO, or other
C-level roles by 2020. Looking at all organizations surveyed, 54% have an OCDO,
20% are planning one, and just 19% have
no plans to establish one.
The enterprise storage market closed

out the third quarter on a slight downturn,
while continuing to adhere to familiar
trends, says Liz Conner, research manager with IDC. The firms latest tracking
report shows factory revenue for enterprise
storage systems worldwide dipped 3.2%
in Q3 2016 compared to Q3 2015, with an
increase specifically in the area of ODM
(original design manufacturer) products
for hyperscale data centers. Conner adds
that spending on all-flash deployments
continued to see good growth and helped
to drive the overall market.
January 2017 / www.cybertrend.com
IDC Says SMBs To Spend $668 Billion On IT Products & Services In 2020, But What Are They Buying?
In its first Worldwide Semiannual
Small and Medium Business Spending
Guide, IDC looks at IT spending
among SMBs (small to midsize businesses), which it defines as businesses
with fewer than 1,000 employees. As
of November, IDC expected SMBs will
have spent $564 billion on IT hardware,
software, and services in 2016, and the
research firm forecasts that total to reach
$668 billion in 2020. IDC expects growth
in all four spending areashardware,
software, IT services, and business serviceswith most software purchases
applying to ERM (enterprise resource
management), CRM (customer relationship management), and content applications. The accompanying chart shows
the expected CAGR (compound annual
growth rate) in those areas.
7.4%
BUSINESS
SERVICES
6.6%
SOFTWARE
3.8%
IT SERVICES
1.1%
HARDWARE
Biometric Authentication To
Move Beyond Fingerprints
Voice Control A Major Driver

Of Smart Home Technology
Smart Cities To Measure Climate

Change, Resilience & More
The use of biometrics (such as fingerprints) for identity authentication in mobile devices has become common. Next
up, says Juniper Research, is the use of
facial recognition, voiceprints, and other
authentication methods. New research
from Juniper estimates these methods
were installed on roughly 190 million mobile devices in 2016, and forecasts that
they will be installed on more than 600
million mobile devices by 2021. These
technologies are easier to integrate, says
Juniper, because they are software-based
and dont require special hardware.
ABI Research expects smart home devices with voice control, a nascent category, to account for about 30% of smart
home device spending by 2021. Voice
control will not only draw in new consumers to smart home functionality, but
it will help transform a wide variety of
new and emerging smart home services
and devices into more attractive investments, says Jonathan Collins, research
director with ABI Research. In the coming
five years, Collins says, vendors, installers,
and smart systems providers will need to
partner in integrating voice control.
About half of smart city goals worldwide

will include KPIs (key performance indicators) for climate change, energy resilience,
and energy sustainability outcome by the
year 2020, according to Gartner analysts.
Advances in IoT (Internet of Things) technologies and data analytics and contextualization have helped drive the development
of smart cities, Gartner says, and about 380
million sensors and other connected things
will help measure climate change, resilience, and sustainability in 2017. Gartner
predicts the number of these connected
things will climb to 1.39 billion in 2020.
CyberTrend / January 2017
Latest Figures Show Workplace Mobile Device Usage Still Lags PCs
According to the 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study, with data derived from surveys of 9,592 respondents in the U.S., U.K.,
and Australia, PCs still represent the lions share of corporate-issued devices despite widespread forays into digital mobility. 80% of
workers used at least one corporate-issued device, the survey said, but only 23% used corporate-issued smartphones, and only 21% used
tablets, whether provided by their employer or personally owned. Usage of personally owned devices in the workplace is nothing new,
but the survey results confirm that this trend has become a new workplace standard, says Mikako Kitagawa, principal research analyst at
Gartner, with two-thirds of respondents saying they use a personally owned devices at work. These charts show additional study data.
75%
23%
Use Corporate-Issued
PCs (Including Laptops)
36%
Smartphones
16%
Use Personally Owned

Smartphones
Laptops
Smartwatches Down, Fitness

Trackers Up In Wearable Market
Mobile Payment Mass Adoption

Not Expected Anytime Soon
Speed Matters A Lot To Mobile

Website Users
Comprising business/productivity and

consumer devices, the wearables market
has fluctuated a great deal based on specific brand trends. Overall the market
grew 3.1% in Q3 2016 compared to Q3
2015, according to IDC, with Apple (and
its Apple Watch) among the biggest wearable downturns at -71% and Samsung
doing the best with 89.9% year-over-year
growth. Basic wearables, including fitness
bands, account for 85% of the market,
says IDC. Ramon Llamas, IDC research
manager, says wearables need to be more
intuitive and focus more on productivity.
According to market research firm

eMarketer, 38.4 million people in the U.S.
claim to have used their phone to make a
proximity (e.g., in-store) payment at least
once in the preceding 6 months. That total
represents 19.4% of smartphone users; but
despite rapid growth among many mobile
payment services, that total will only rise to
33.1% of smartphone users by 2020. Bryan
Yeager, an eMarketer analyst, points to security concerns, inconsistent merchant acceptance, and people not seeing the value
in mobile payments as chief reasons why
mass adoption is not imminent.
New research from DoubleClick, a

Google company, shows that most people
(53%) abandon a mobile website if it takes
more than 3 seconds to load, and the average load time for mobile websites over
3G connections is 19 seconds. DoubleClick
also found that sites that load within 5 seconds are viewed 70% longer, on average,
than sites that load in 19 seconds or more.
Among the takeaways from this data,
DoubleClick suggests, are that mobile web
designers should reduce the file sizes of
mobile web pages and take care to ensure
proper element load order.
STARTUPS
Cloud-Based Health Care System
Provider Closes $31.5M Round
Data Risk Management Company RiskIQ Lands $30.5M In Funding
Blue Cloud Ventures, and announced

it had raised $31.5 million in Series C
funding from these and other investors. In
a post, CloudCare CEO Ken Come indicates the companys appeal: it transcends
basic EHR systems to incorporate best
practices from consumer-facing industries.
Envision a big picture security solution, with which you can zoom out and look
at all of the threats and vulnerabilitiesinternal and external, known and unknown
potentially affecting your organization, and youll have a good idea of what RiskIQ
offers. The San Francisco-based startups platform also uses machine learning and data
science to continually improve itself and its ability to discern lurking threats.
RiskIQ counts numerous
large organizations as clients, including DocuSign,
Facebook, TripAdvisor, and
UnderArmour, and the company continues to grow since
its founding 2009. RiskIQ recently announced it had completed a $30.5 million Series C funding round led by
Georgian Partners. Steve Leightell of Georgian Partners will join RiskIQs board as
part of the transaction.
Georgian Partners Managing Director Justin LaFayette said of the transaction,
Our team of experts in applied analytics, applied artificial intelligence, and security
first could not be better suited to partner with RiskIQ on their next phase of growth.
RiskIQ says it will use the new funding to further develop its platform and increase
global sales.
Startup Makes Data Visualization

Tool For Data Scientists
Cogito Analyzes Phone Calls,

Suggests Improvements
People Analytics Company

Glint Uses Funding To Expand
Data scientists face continually growing

data sets that must be made sense of
quickly to provide organizations with actionable information. San Francisco-based
startup Periscope Data provides a leg up
in this area. Its cloud-based tool connects
with databases, enabling data scientists to
create data visualizations and dashboards
that can then be shared. Periscope Data
says it has experienced 500% revenue
growth and 300% customer base growth
in the past year; $25 million in new Series
B funding will help the company continue
that growth.
Some salespeople and customer service

representatives are better at their jobs than
others, and when it comes to phone interactions having the right words and tone of
voice is paramount means a lot. Cogitos
technology, which sprang from research
at MITs Human Dynamics Lab, analyzes
phone conversations and offers real-time
advice for achieving better engagement.
The Boston-based startup has caught the
eye of OpenView Venture Partners, which
led a $15 million Series B funding round
that closed in November. In total, Cogito
has raised $22.5 million so far.
Glint raised $27 million in a Series C

funding round last summer, and within
a few months received enough additional
funding ($10 million) to open a new office in Lincoln, Neb., to complement its
Redwood City, Calif., headquarters. What
Glint does is something it calls people analytics, intended as a real-time improvement upon the yearly employee survey.
By sending quick pulse surveys to employees, among other means, Glint is able
to assess levels of engagement, approval
of tasks and management, and other data
thats beneficial for HR and managers.
CareCloud offers a cloud-based,

HIPAA-secure EHR (electronic health records) platform for health care providers
that shuns a one-size-fits-all approach in
favor of customization for specific specialities. The Miami-based startup recently
caught the attention of PNC, First Data,
Look For CyberTrend Magazine

At These Technology Events
JANUARY
ISSA Rainier
University of Washington-Tacoma
Garretson Woodruff & Pratt Building
Dawn Lucien Room
1754 Pacific Ave.
Tacoma, Wash.
January 4, 2017
http://rainier.issa.org
ISSA Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge CTC Tech Center
5550 Winchester Ave.
Martinsburg, W.Va.
January 10, 2017
www.issa-blueridge.org
AITP San Antonio
San Antonio
January 18, 2017
www.aitp.org/group/174
AITP Twin City
Ozark House
704 McGregor
Bloomington, Ill.
January 19, 2017
www.twincityaitp.org
AITP Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
January 23, 2017
www.aitp-pgh.org
AITP St. Louis

UMSL Cybersecurity Room
St. Louis
January 26, 2017
FEBRUARY
CISO Summit New York
New York City
February 7, 2017
www.cisonewyorksummit.com
CIO Summit Atlanta
Atlanta
February 9, 2017
www.cioatlantasummit.com
CISO Summit Atlanta
Atlanta
February 9, 2017
www.cisosummit.us
ISSA Blue Ridge
Martinsburg, W.Va.
February 14, 2017
AFCOM Greater Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay, Fla.
February 15, 2017
www.afcom.com/GreaterTampaBay
AITP San Antonio

San Antonio
February 15, 2017
CIO Summit Denver
Denver
February 16, 2017
www.ciodenversummit.com
CISO Summit Denver
Denver
February 16, 2017
www.cisosummit.us
AITP Twin City
Ozark House
704 McGregor
Bloomington, Ill.
February 16, 2017
Industry of Things World USA 2017
Hard Rock Hotel
San Diego
February 20-21, 2017
The Industry of Things World team
invites you to connect with over 500
Industrial Internet experts to challenge
current thinking and unveil latest
innovations at the must-attend
Industrial IoT event.
www.industryofthingsworldusa.com
Look For CyberTrend Magazine

At These Technology Events
FEBRUARY
AITP St. Louis
UMSL Cybersecurity Room
St. Louis
February 23, 2017
CISO Summit Charlotte

Charlotte, N.C.
March 7, 2017
www.cisosummit.us
CIO Public Sector Summit

Washington, D.C.
February 23, 2017
www.ciopublicsectorsummit.com
Internet of Manufacturing Business

Conference
Hyatt Magnificent Mile
Chicago
March 7-8, 2017
The Only Event Exclusively for
Manufacturers Capitalizing on the
IoT Opportunity: Powering Scalable
Processes, Competitive Products &
Smarter Performance.
www.internetofbusiness.net/manufacturingchicago
CISO Public Sector Summit

Washington, D.C.
February 23, 2017
www.ciopublicsectorsummit.com
AFCOM NYC/NJ Metro

Location TBD
March 9, 2017
www.afcomnycnj.com
AITP Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
February 27, 2017
www.aitp-pgh.org
CIO Summit Chicago

Chicago
March 9, 2017
www.ciochicagosummit.com
MARCH
CISO Summit Chicago

Chicago
March 9, 2017
www.cisosummit.us
CIO Summit D.C.

Washington, D.C.
February 23, 2017
www.ciodcsummit.com
CIO Summit Charlotte

Charlotte, N.C.
March 7, 2017
www.ciocharlottesummit.com
DatacenterDynamics Enterprise
New York Marriott Marquis
New York City
March 14-15, 2017
www.dcdconverged.com/conferences/
enterprise
ISSA Blue Ridge
Martinsburg, W.Va.
March 14, 2017
AITP San Antonio
San Antonio
March 15, 2017
AITP Twin City
Ozark House
704 McGregor
Bloomington, Ill.
March 16, 2017
CIO Summit Dallas
Dallas
March 21, 2017
www.ciodallassummit.com
CISO Summit Dallas
Dallas
March 21, 2017
www.cisosummit.us
Analytics
As A Service
OFFLOAD SOME OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE
& GET DOWN TO THE INSIGHTS
KEY POINTS
Analytics as a service is an
umbrella term that covers different types of solutions with
different use cases.
You can use analytics to learn
more about your customers,
determine appropriate product
pricing, and forecast sales and
other outcomes.
Cloud-based analytics can
save you money by moving to
an opex model and give you access to more resources.
Infrastructure as a service
offerings are more secure than
ever, but strong internal policies
remain crucial to minimize risk.
Depending on which type of
service you choose, more people
within the business will be
able to take advantage of data
gleaned from analytics projects.
ONE OF THE main goals for businesses

is always to get as much return as possible on the least amount of effort. And
while that may sound like a mantra
for the lazy, its actually more about
efficiency and ROI than anything else.
You dont want to feel like youre
wasting your time on menial tasks
when there are much bigger fish to fry.
For that reason, companies attempt
to streamline everything, including
how they handle technology projects
and how those projects into the overall
scope of the business.
Over the past few years, the cloud
has been one of the biggest drivers of
innovation and cost-benefit analysis
at the same time. It allows companies
to transition away from up-front capital expenditures and transition into
longer-term operating expense territory. This has extended from basic
cloud storage to SaaS (software as a
service), or cloud-based applications,
and even to IaaS (infrastructure as a
service) where compute resources are
managed and hosted entirely offsite,
even for mission-critical systems. The
cloud, at its core, represents opportunity for a lot of businesses. If youre a
smaller business, you can maybe get

on a somewhat level playing field with
larger corporations, and if youre a
large corporation, you may be use able
to leverage the cloud to gain a competitive advantage.
At this intersection, there is another
type of technology or a general concept, if you will, that also helps level
the playing field for companies of all
sizes, and can also offer a competitive
advantage to savvier enterprises: analytics. You can use analytics to learn
more about your customers, figure out
where to price a new product so that
itll actually sell, or look internally to
look at performance of certain systems
and procedures over time to make
changes and improve efficiency.
Analytics, much like the cloud, is a
collection of opportunities, but unfortunately its not available to everyone. Not
only do you need the infrastructure in
place to run analytics platforms, which
can be quite resource-intensive, but you
also need storage space for and access
to meaningful data that helps you draw
conclusions and make smarter decisions. Fortunately, these two concepts,
the cloud and analytics, happen to be
11
complementary, and many companies

not only offer analytics as a service in
terms of data storage, but also offer to
take on the management responsibilities of an entire analytics platform for
you. Depending on your business needs
and ultimate goals, your experience
with analytics as a service will vary.
The Difference
Jim Hare, research director at
Gartner, says that analytics as a service can be a confusing term if youre
looking for one overarching definition.
However, if you dig deeper into its
many parts, youll find that it can offer
something for almost any business.
You look at it, really, [and] analytics
as a service is an umbrella term for a lot
of cloud-based and not-cloud-based offerings, says Hare. Its really based on
several broad categories. For instance,
major segments under analytics as a
service would include SaaS business intelligence [BI] applications; business
adopting cloud-based analytics or other

analytics as a service solutions gives you
a quicker path to gaining insights. And
in addition to simply making analytics
more widely available to companies
of all sizes, analytics as a service also
makes it possible to save money in the
process.
The big thing with analytics as a
service is that it adheres to and complements the usage-based model,
says Ryan Martin, senior analyst at
ABI Research. When we talk about a
usage-based model, its more toward,
directionally, the thought that a consumption-based economy is something
thats attractive. Youre only paying for
what you use. Analytics as a service very
much complements that, whether were
talking about cloud analytics or taking
something that would otherwise be onpremisesbeing the development or
management of the applicationsand
having it be hosted virtually. Or even,
for that matter, empowering a lot of the
THE MAIN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

FOR COMPANIES IS GOING TO BE
THE DATA THAT THEY HOLD.
analytics that are more platform as a
service, which is much more infrastructure, outsourced, and managed business analytics with some professional
services; and data as a service, which
is packaged data. It really means different things, he adds, depending on
who you ask and what kind of problem
youre trying to solve.
Regardless of which of these use
cases fits what youre trying achieve,
the point of analytics as a service is that
you can take advantage of analytics
platforms without having to deploy everything on-premises and give your IT
team even more moving parts to worry
about. In the same way that moving
almost any internal system to the cloud
will free up some internal resources,
12
autonomous elements of an analytics

solution through edge analytics.
One of the great things about analytics as a service is that even though
its relatively new in the big scheme of
things, there are already tried-and-true
solutions on the market from some of
the biggest technology vendors in the
world. Google offers BigQuery, which is
a cloud-based data warehouse designed
specifically for analytics purposes (and
can be scaled up to the petabyte scale for
large-scale projects). The IBM Cloud has
analytics capabilities built into it and you
can even leverage Watson Analytics for
cognitive dives into data. And there are
also offerings from Oracle, RightScale,
SAP, SAS, and Tableau that all leverage
cloud assets to give companies access to
powerful analytics solutions without the

major up-front cost commitment.
The Benefits
In addition to helping shift some
capex costs over to opex, one of the
other biggest benefits of analytics as a
service is that it can help free up IT resources. Business intelligence and big
data analytics platforms are difficult to
manage and maintain because they pull
in different types of data from multiple
locations and try to put them in a centralized location for the actual analytics
processing. By moving analytics offsite
and offloading some of that burden, IT
can instead focus on other projects that
will help push the business forward.
Moving analytics to the cloud is particularly beneficial for companies that
are familiar with using cloud-based
applications because many of the data
sources youre looking to pull from for
analytics are probably already there. For
instance, if youre a small or midsize
company and youre used to having your
CRM [customer relationship management] application running the cloud,
using analytics in the cloud as a service
is consistent with your other analytics
strategies, says Hare. Your data is already there that you probably want to
analyze. This way you dont actually have
to go and have someone help you deploy
and manage your BI on-premises. And it
also makes it easy for you to handle upgrades. You dont actually have to be the
person that upgrades whenever a new
version comes out. The vendor handles
all of that for you.
As previously mentioned, the cloud
and analytics as a service also make it
possible for smaller organizations to get
a more level playing field with larger enterprises. If you dont have the in-house
expertise and/or resources to manage an
analytics platform and actually utilize
it, then you can instead go with a thirdparty vendor with years of experience in
the field that can lend that knowledge to
Smaller organizations that dont have the technical resources to build and deploy an
analytics solution on-premises are going to benefit from having analytics as a service. Even
in large organizations, those enterprise departments that arent getting exactly everything
they need from IT in terms of domain-specific analytics will benefit from it. Thats where
we see them purchasing analytics applications. Those organizations that are trying to move
their analytics maturity to much more predictive and prescriptive analytics, if they dont have
those kinds of skill sets, what they can do is use some of these packaged analytics as a
service offerings, because they often include predictive and prescriptive. But there are also
service providers where you just give them your data and they send the results back. And
thats very attractive as well.
JIM HARE
Research Director
Gartner
your business. Hare points out that there

are not only companies that will help you
perform your own analytics, but there
are also service providers where you just
give them your data and they send the
results back. You essentially have the
option of how deep you want to go as far
as your responsibility is concerned but
can still reap the rewards of analytics.
Martin agrees and says that in the future, the main competitive advantage
for companies is going to be the data
that they hold, which means that having
these more widely available cloud-based
analytics tools is going to open up a lot
of opportunities even for smaller businesses. Analytics and the cloud-based
model provide visibility into those different facets because [they] creates more
of a level playing field for companies to
access and use the tools that are available
to create custom and bespoke products
for their users, says Martin. The idea is
to use analytics as an enabler for custom
tools instead of basically creating custom
models as a result of proprietary tools.
Overcoming Security
Concerns & Risks
Of course, if there are benefits and advantages to a certain technology, then
there will inevitably be disadvantages,
and one of the biggest challenges with

analytics as a service is, for multiple reasons, the location of your data. On one
hand, you have to worry about where
data is located for actual analytics purposes. Hare says that moving data to the
cloud one time is relatively easy, but if
youre constantly moving data to the
cloud for analytics purposes, youre going
to be at the mercy of the network, which
could potentially slow down your analytics projects and chip away at some of
the inherent benefits. On the other hand,
when it comes to location, you also have
to worry about regulatory compliance issues, which is something cloud providers
have been focusing on quite a bit recently
in order to draw in more customers.
The ways that vendors are trying to
tackle this are to make sure that wherever you land the data, you can assure
its being protected, theyre adding security safeguards so that the data is encrypted as it moves back and forth, and
theres also support for role-level permission so that you can make sure only certain people have access to the data. And
in some cases, vendors are providing
the ability to mask certain elements of
data that may be considered personal
information so that it can be protected.
Sometimes its done on purpose just to
mitigate risk, and in some cases its done

because there are regulatory requirements that say you need to make sure
the data is not being moved into a cloud
thats outside of a certain geography.
Case in point, in certain countries, like in
Europe, you cant actually move personal
data outside of the country. You have to
make sure that if that data is going to be
moved to the cloud, that the data center
is in the host country.
Hare adds that cloud infrastructure
providers are doing a phenomenal job
of hardening the cloud environment, so
many of the concerns that were there at
the outset for some organizations have
been addressed. The problem, he says,
is that these hardened security measures
in the cloud wont make up for loose
security practices inside the organization itself. If you dont really have good
security practices to begin with, its not
going to solve that problem and youre
still going to have issues, Hare says.
Thats something companies will have
to think about when taking advantage
of analytics as a service, and any other
cloud-based solution for that matter.
In addition to these more concrete
challenges, Martin points out that analytics as a service essentially moves analytics processing out to the edge, which
13
Right now, 75% to 80% of a data scientists or an engineers time can be spent on integrating
data to make sure it works well between different and disparate systems. Thats a component
that is being pretty aggressively addressed by a lot of companies to make it more seamless and
also allow companies to focus on higher parts of the stack, analytics specifically. And the way
that analytics becomes much more consumable is usually through better forms of visualization,
so visualization software as well as the tools to create machine learning models, and a lot of
that work happens in the cloud.
RYAN MARTIN
Senior Analyst
ABI Research
introduces some unique issues in its

own right. At the edge, you arent just
pulling information from social media
networks, CRM systems, or websites.
Today, youre also pulling information
from a wide array of sensors and mobile
devices that are part of the overall IoT
(Internet of Things) concept.
Martin uses the example of an
HVAC provider and a lighting provider. An HVAC provider may want to
pull information from sensors within
its products in order to make future
iterations better and a lighting provider
may want to gather efficiency information to better understand how its products are being used within a facility.
Martin points out that as analytics becomes more ubiquitous, companies that
wouldnt typically dabble in it will start
joining the party and find ways to utilize it for their own benefit. That introduces a whole new level of risk that you
may not initially think about, but will
be something to keep an eye on in the
months and years ahead.
As you move toward multiple IoT
subsystems, these different actors,
whether it be HVAC, lighting, or something else, theyre going to realize that
theres value in this data and theyre
going to want to capture it, says
Martin. Thats the risk profile that is
evolving in parallel with this idea of
analytics as a service, which basically
says that not all development needs to
14
be done in-house to have access to the

tool you need to do business.
Impacted Roles
Within The Organization
One of the questions you may be
asking is, Who will be in charge of
analytics as a service if you do decide
to move that platform the cloud? This
question is a difficult one to answer because, as Hare has mentioned, there
isnt a single definition for analytics as
a service but rather myriad options to
choose from depending on the situation. If you want to use it for more traditional BI and data discovery purposes,
then whoever was originally in charge
of internal analytics will still hold that
role. But if youre offloading more of
the overarching responsibility, then it
may ultimately depend on who will use
that platform the most.
In some cases, though, it depends
on what line of business they fall
under, says Hare. Lines of business
are making the decisions to purchase
analytics as a service because often
theyre packaged for particular LOB
needs. For instance, there might be
an analytics as a service [solution] with
analytics [specifically] for a sales and
marketing organization, and another
one for a particular industry vertical
such as retail, where a store manager
could benefit from having analytics as a
service as well. As lines of business are
making much more of the purchasing

decisions for analytics, they are looking
for more role-based analytics vs. general
purpose platforms.
The retail store manager example is
particularly interesting because it shows
that analytics is somewhat moving away
from its more scientific, internal nature
to something that spreads out among
the employees at all different levels in an
organization. It used to be that those in
charge of strategy for the entire organization were the main ones accessing data
to drive future strategies, but businesses
are understanding more and more that
almost anything (anyone, any project) in
the company can benefit from analytics
to some degree. And its that realization that should drive forward the adoption of analytics as a service because the
whole point is to give companies of all
sizes a way to take advantage of data
analytics and gain valuable insights.
Theres a lot of conversation about
the democratization of decision-making
and also the citizen data scientist, says
Martin. I think what that means in
the context of analytics is that there are
new tools available that use the cloud
model and benefit more from distributed decision-making in that employees
at different levels of the organization
have access to valid and reliable data to
make informed decisions that are also
supported by facts that management
can get behind.
Internet Of Things In Retail

TECH IS CHANGING HOW RETAILERS MANAGE SUPPLY CHAINS & REACH CUSTOMERS
KEY POINTS
IoT can be used for supplychain management to track assets throughout the process from
manufacturer to store shelf.
Connected point-of-sale
systems allow for on-the-go
transactions, more product information, and better customersupport collaboration.
Beacons can be spread
throughout a retail store to offer
targeted marketing and promotions to encourage more sales.
Retailers can use gathered
customer data to change processes, improve customer support, and adjust store layouts.
16
THE INTERNET OF THINGS has already

or will soon impact a variety of industries ranging from oil and gas and utilities to manufacturing and data center
management. The retail space is one
other area where IoT has the potential
to illustrate its impressive versatility.
However, its important to understand that retail doesnt just include
an ecommerce website or a physical
brick-and-mortar store, but rather an
entire ecosystem of separate systems
and processes that need to be brought
together through technology.
From the manufacturers to the
shipping service providers and beyond, a long series of events has to
happen for a product to arrive at a
retail store or be delivered to a customers door. Then, from there, you
have to consider what happens when
customers are in a store and looking
for a specific product either through
signage in the store or via their smartphones. And at the same time, you
have to be able to empower your retail
employees, give them the information
they need to close a sale, and help
them provide the best possible customer experience every single time.
Needless to say, retail is a complex,
multilayered industry that requires
equally complex and layered solutions
to get the job done. This is where IoT
fits in perfectly to bring the supply
chain, retail entity, employees, and
customers together in a harmonious
environment where every group gets
what it needs with as little friction as
possible. The promise of the internet
of things is networking and connectivity coupled with real-time analytics
and decision-making. Many retailers
are already taking advantage of IoT
technologies to revolutionize the
overall shopping experience as well
as everything else that goes on beyond

the scenes, but there is plenty more to
be done in the near future to improve
efficiency and performance across
the board.
Supply Chain &

Asset Management
PATRICK CONNOLLY
Principal Analyst
ABI Research
To help with this issue, companies

such as AT&T have developed products and solutions designed to help
track assets from beginning to end,
but especially during the shipping
process. AT&T Asset Management for
Shipping Containers and AT&T Asset
Management for Trailers are two examples of asset-tracking solutions
that can keep track of important merchandise whether its being shipped
overseas or is currently riding across
the country in a semi-trailer. The
system uses a series of monitoring
CREDIT: AT&T
One of the most important challenges facing retailers today is managing the supply chain and tracking
assets throughout the entire process.
A prime example of this is a timesensitive operation such as a grocery
store chain where perishable items
must make it to locations on time and
give employees the ability to easily
track them throughout the facility.
If there is a failure at any step in the
supply chain, including the actual
food grower, the processing partner,
or the shipping provider, then theres
a chance fresh produce, for example,
might sit on a truck for too long, arrive at the grocery store near the end
of its shelf life, and then end up being
thrown away before it can be sold.
In the future, we can see inventory management technologies like RFID being used to track the lifetime of a
product and also offering engagement with the consumer
post-sale. We see this already being used to provide
authenticity of high-value products, but it can be extended
into many different items in the future.
AT&T Asset Tracking sensors can be connected to shipping containers and trailers to monitor assets
as they travel cross-country or abroad.
devices that can be easily connected

to shipping containers or trailers and
are powered via rechargeable battery
or through an external power source,
depending on the application.
These rugged devices are designed
to handle a vast array of environmental conditions and can actually
be used as location trackers or as sensors for temperature, humidity, motion, pressure, vibration, and shock,
among other factors. These capabilities are crucial for products that
must be shipped and stored under
specific conditions, but they can also
be used to understand exactly when
and where an item was damaged or
handled improperly. Its a way to not
only ensure you know exactly where
your assets are, but it also holds shipping providers accountable and gives
retailers a way to assess the performance of their supply-chain partners.
In addition to managing shipping
and tracking assets for delivery to retail, companies are also using IoT to
manage inventory as it is moved from
shipping centers and delivered directly
to customers. In retail, inventory
management is now a huge issue, says
Patrick Connolly, principal analyst at
ABI Research. Retailers need to know
with high accuracy where stock is located to enable them to have the right
products in the right places to meet the
increasing range of fulfilment methods
that are emerging such as click and
17
CREDIT: HEWLETT-PACKARD
CREDIT: HONEYWELL
18
and either not be Microsoft, HP, Honeywell, and Cisco

able to find the come into play to offer that versatility
and empower employees.
product youre
Microsofts approach is prilooking for or
find it and not marily with its Windows operating
system. It offers a sound foundation
get enough information about where you can add on retail-specific
applications to perform a range of
it to make an informed decision. tasks. For example, HPs ElitePad 1000
This is where re- G2 is a rugged and versatile tablet
tail employees that can be configured into a pointare supposed to of-sale machine with the HP Retail
Jacket and used for mobile barcode
step in to provide
scanning and transaction processing.
guidance and
The Honeywell Dolphin CT50 handgive the customer
held computer is a mobile device that
the information
supports Microsofts Windows 10 IoT
she needs. In
the past, this re- Mobile Enterprise platform and can
The Honeywell Dolphin CT50 is a handheld computer that can be used in
quired the store be used throughout the supply chain
multiple areas, including the supply chain or the store.
associate to have from manufacturing to shipping and
on-floor customer support.
a near-encycloCisco Associate Productivity for
collect, next-hour delivery, uberized pedic knowledge of every item sold in
the store and memorize details that Retail is another example of a platform
delivery, etc. Not only are more and
more items being tagged in-store, they most people simply dont ask about. that retail employees can use to better
serve customers. One of the more inare also being pushed further back Its unrealistic and can cause the custeresting features of the system is task
tomer to lose his patience or his faith
along the supply chain.
notification, which is where a store
Connolly says that companies are in the employees expertise.
Point-of-sale technologies have associate will receive an alert for such
starting to use more location-based
situations as an empty shelf and low
technologies, including BLE (Bluetooth now evolved to the point where they
are not just attached to a counter but inventory or when checkout lines are
low energy) or UWB (ultra-wideband),
too long and extra help is required. But
that offer high accuracy at a low cost, also can be carried throughout the
Ciscos platform can do much more
ensuring the right items are delivered to store floor and be used to either offer
the right place and under the right con- customer service or potentially com- than that, including offering videobased training, quick communication
ditions. But these types of low-power- plete a sale right on the spot. But it
consumption technologies can also be isnt enough for
these devices to
used to track items in warehouses and
on factory lines or in data centers, hos- simply give information or
pitals, or wherever the items ultimately
help make a sale,
end up. These approaches significantly
improve the time spent locating stock because they also
[and] raw materials, responding to is- need to be connected to the
sues, and avoiding accidents/errors,
back-end retailer
while also helping to increasingly autonetwork for asset
mate processes based on big data and
management
predictive analytics, Connolly says.
and inventory
tracking. Thats
Point Of Sale &
Employee Empowerment
w h e r e s o l u - Retailers can customize the HP Elite Pad 1000 G2 with special cases that
As a customer, you know how frus- tions from com- allow them to scan barcodes and accept credit- or debit-card payments.
panies such as
trating it can be to enter a retail store
CREDIT: ARUBA NETWORKS
Aruba Beacons give retailers the opportunity

to target specific customers via supported
Meridian apps on iOS and Android.
between co-workers, access to more

produce information to better serve a
customer, and much more. Solutions
like this one better connect an employee to the internal company system
and also help to connect one employee
to another for better collaboration and
teamwork on-the-fly.
technologies such as beacons, which

typically use Bluetooth for data transmission, in conjunction with opt-in
mobile applications to give customers
more information on the products
theyre looking at and to offer discounts or other offers on the spot.
Aruba Networks offers beacons that
can be used to connect to iOS and
Android devices that are running the
companys Meridian-powered mobile
applications, for example.
These beacons can also be used
to gather data on consumers, as
long as they download an available application and opt-in, which
is crucial because you dont want
to negatively impact customer relationships. This information can
then be analyzed and used to make
minutes looking around, then it may

point to inventory issues or the arrangement of products on the shelf.
These are insights that retailers
wouldnt previously have access to
without real-time, location- and
behavior-based data analytics.
What we are seeing is that all of
these technologies link back to the
customer via their smartphone, and
secondary to this, a retailer app,
says Connolly. [Retailers] are using
these technologies to better understand their customers. As mentioned,
inventory management is now crucial to growing retail across all channels, and BLE beacons will have a
similar effect on advertising. It isnt
just about contextual in-aisle ads,
but increasingly retailers can drive
Retailers have been constantly

searching for ways to keep customers
engaged and convince them to make
a purchase in-store rather than going
online or to a competitor. The concept
of using brick-and-mortar locations as
showrooms before making online purchases still exists, but many vendors
are trying to give physical retailers a
leg-up using the internet of things to
better understand how customers are
shopping and to interact with them
and try to make a sale even without
any associate/customer interaction.
Most retailers now have mobile applications that let customers
shop online or check on inventory
in a physical store, but IoT is a way
to take things one step further with
real-time offers and marketing as well
as location tracking and customer
behavior monitoring. On the marketing side, companies are able to use
CREDIT: ARUBA NETWORKS
Beacons & In-Store Marketing
The Aruba Meridian Editor gives companies a centralized control panel where they can manage
multiple Aruba Beacons throughout a location.
real-time or long-term decisions for

the course of the retailer. For example, if customers regularly visit
your store and then make an online
purchase from their devices, you
would be able to see that happening
and find ways to keep the purchase
in-store. Or, if you find that customers enter a certain department
and leave without purchasing anything, even though they spend a few
advertising revenue through onlineto-offline attribution.
Customer Data Analysis &

After-Sale Support
The inherent value of gathering
real-time customer data cant be understated because there are so many
insights for retailers to gain that could
lead to improvements in almost every
facet of the business. For that reason,
19
20
the consumer get something out of

the interaction.
We are seeing a lot of new innovation in retail technology that can
be considered part of the wider IoT
space, says Connolly. For example,
the integration of BLE beacons to
create a link between the products and
the consumer via smartphone, which
creates engagement opportunities but
also the ability to finally understand
exactly the type of customer they are
through analytics. In the future, we can
see inventory management technologies like RFID being used to track the
lifetime of a product and also offering
engagement with the consumer postsale. We see this already being used
to provide authenticity of high-value
products, but it can be extended into
many different items in the future.
Trends In Retail Store

Design & Layout
The possibilities for IoT in retail are
essentially endless and limited only by
what makes the most sense in a physical shopping environment, which is,
in turn, whatever leads to a better customer experience and better overall
efficiency for the retailer. Little pieces
start to come together to form a larger
whole, like beacons that greet customers and offer promotions, barcodes
on products that unlock more information about them, sensors that monitor
the quality of produce, and shelves that
can automatically let associates know
about low inventory.
A recent event called the National
Retail Federation BIG Show 2016 showcased the future of what some refer to
as unified commerce and how the
internet of things, among other technologies, will be used in the future
to evolve the retail experience into
something altogether different. One
simpler example is a plan by Macys
to use Surface 3 tablets with Windows
10 and Microsoft Azure support for
CREDIT: MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL
the focus for retailers when it comes

to IoT needs to be on the mobile
experience and how smartphones can
be used not as comparison platforms
for online shopping, but rather an instore shopping tool for customers and
retailers alike. In others words, there
is already a benefit for retailers to get
themselves onto consumers devices
via applications, but there the customer also needs to get something in
return for her trust and loyalty.
Need evidence that smartphones
are the next customer experience
frontier for retailers? Cisco points to
a 2015 InReality study that showed
that 75% of shoppers used mobile devices while shopping in stores, and
that 25% of those shoppers made purchases on their devices while still in
the store. The Cisco Customer Mobile
Experience is designed to give retailers
access to real-time and historical data
for gaining insights and also help improve the mobile experience for consumers while shopping in the store.
Cisco uses the example of being able
to detect when a customer walks into
a store and then send him a welcome
message and a series of relevant sales
and promotions.
But the concept of IoT being used
to improve the customer experience is
also going to extend beyond in-store
marketing in the near future as a way
to bolster after-sale customer support. As an example, a vendor could
build something into its product that
allows customers to opt-in and send
back real-time information on how it
is performing. This would especially
apply to vehicle manufacturers that
could get data on how a consumer
is driving the vehicle and also give
the owner maintenance information and other diagnostics to prevent
breakdowns. The key with beacon
technologies and IoT in general is
that there needs to be that twofold
benefit where both the retailer and
At The National Retail Federation BIG Show

2016, Mondelez International showed off its
Diji-Touch vending machine, which offers
nutritional information as well as advertising
and promotional deals for customers. It uses
Microsofts Azure IoT Dashboard to monitor
inventory and send notifications if theres an
error on a specific machine.
improved store management, but other

retailers are taking things a step further.
Gerritys Supermarkets, for instance,
plan to put a system in place where customers can scan groceries with their
smartphones, bag them as they shop,
and then pay at special express lanes.
Whether its maximizing efficiency
across the supply chain and passing
savings onto customers or using customer location data to track pathways through a store and make layout
changes, the internet of things offers
more information for retailers to take
advantage of than ever before. The key
for retailers is to use these innovations
to improve the customer experience
both in-store and online with the ultimate goal of retaining those customers
and ensuring future visits. The tools
are out there, so its now up to retailers
to put them to good use and make sure
customers keep coming back to those
physical locations.
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Wheres Watson?
IN YOUR CAR, IN THE CLASSROOM, AT THE HOSPITAL & ALL OVER THE WORLD
KEY POINTS
IBMs Watson will be used in
GM OnStar vehicles to breathe
new life into the service and
offer more personalized results.
Watson will impact the health
care industry both at the general patient level and also at the
cancer-fighting level with access to more genome data.
Retail stores can offer custom
responses to customer inquiries
in the store via the mobile web,
including product locations.
Watson can work as a
teaching assistant to college
professors and answer student
questions when they need help.
22
TO THE MAINSTREAM public, theres a

good chance that Watson is still primarily known as the computer that won
Jeopardy! in 2011 against human opponents. But for those who follow the
technology industry closely, its evident
(and has been for some time) that IBM
has huge plans for Watson that extend
beyond focused public demonstrations.
In fact, over the past year, IBM has made
moves to expand Watsons reach into
more industries, more platforms, and
more programs as it continues to grow.
And that growth will only evolve into the
future as more companies realize the importance, power, and usefulness of cognitive computing.
To help illustrate just how deeply imbedded Watson is going to be in the technology world over the next few years, look
no further than IBMs own estimation
that 1 billion people will be using Watson
by 2018. If you take into account that the
population of the entire world is roughly

7 billion people, this means one-seventh
of the Earths citizens will use the Watson
platform within the next two years. This
the result of IBM taking Watson into
more industries, such as automotive, and
fully embracing IoT (Internet of Things)
as a major pillar of Watsons future.
According to Forrester Researchs The
Forrester Wave: IoT Software Platforms,
Q4 2016, IBM is considered a leader in
the IoT software platform space. And
with that title, IBM recently announced
an aggressive expansion deeper into the
IoT arena with Watson. For one, IBM
is now offering free access to the IBM
Watson IoT Platform for its clients as well
as for developers and startups that are
just beginning to work in the IoT space.
In addition to that move, IBM is offering
IBM Watson IoT Consulting Solutions to
provide its internal expertise to organizations and developers that want to get a
enceand AI (artificial intelligence) in a

wider range of potential applications.
While many of these recent Watson
updates focus on potential outcomes,
there are also concrete implementations
of Watson in a wide range of industries
that help illustrate the versatility and
general usefulness of the platform. And
companies including General Motors,
Johnson & Johnson, Cisco Systems,
and Macys are all taking advantage of
Watson technology in different ways to
improve their respective offerings and
move their industries forward.
General Motors & OnStar

One of the biggest announcements
for Watson is the recent partnership
with General Motors that will put many
layers of Watson functionality into the
companys OnStar service. OnStar is designed as a kind of virtual assistant in
the vehicle meant to deliver information

to the driver, and while its core uses primarily revolve around safety issues and
roadside assistance, it has grown into
a much more robust platform that will
only continue to evolve with the recent
addition of Watson Technology.
Even though this represents a partnership between IBM and GM, many
other companies will take advantage
of Watson functionality with their own
OnStar-based applications. One example
is ExxonMobil, which will use cognitive
computing to not only recommend the
best possible fuel type for a given vehicle, but also help authorize payment for
fuel, car washes, etc., automatically from
inside the vehicle. Another example is
Parkopedia, which will help drivers find
good parking spots while on the road
and then reserve and pay for them all in
within the same transaction.
CREDIT: IBM
better grasp on how Watson can improve

the overall IoT experience. Couple that
with IBMs Watson IoT Academy, which
offers education courses and training in
programming for IoT, and its clear how
serious the company is about the present
and future of the Internet of Things.
However, IoT isnt the only area where
IBM is opening up the Watson platform.
The company also announced at the recent IBM Watson Developer Conference
in November 2016 that it is partnering
with Topcoder, a software development
community, to offer the Watson platform
to developers. Topcoder holds roughly
7,000 code challenges each year with a
total prize pool of $80 million. By including Watson technologies in these
competitions, it will further push forward
the concepts of cognitive computing
broadly, a synthesis of studies in how the
human brain works and computer sci-
IBM recently announced a deal with General Motors to incorporate Watson into GMs OnStar service. IBM calls this the auto industrys first cognitive
mobility platform to connect drivers and passengers with multiple brands.
23
These examples are only the tip of the

iceberg as IBM releases OnStar Gothe
service that includes Watson technology
in 2017 to over two million GM vehicles
that currently have 4G access built-in. IBM
foresees a world where OnStar Go can remind a driver to pick up diapers and milk
during the drive home, automatically offer
restaurant recommendations as the driver
enters a new city, and more. Its also part
of GMs goal to make traveling in a vehicle
not only safer, but also more time efficient
so drivers can more easily get through dayto-day life.
CREDIT: IBM AND CISCO (CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE)
Johnson & Johnson
24
Health care is an industry where cognitive computing, machine learning, and

other major tenets of the Watson platform
can truly shine. Imagine being able to take
the mountains of data generated from
treating patients all over the world and
then learn not only anecdotally how to
better treat patients in the future, but use
analytics to discover patterns and improve
overall patient care and health care delivery through meaningful change. Thats
exactly what Johnson & Johnson is trying
to do by integrating Watson Health into
its patient engagement and coaching solutions, including applications for iPhone
and iPad devices.
The first move, according to Johnson &
Johnson, is to focus on preoperative and
postoperative care for patients going in for
spine and joint replacement surgeries. The
companys Patient Athlete program, which
is designed to help better apply sports medicine-related concepts to patients, is one
area where Watson will have an impact,
especially when it comes to preparing patients for surgery and then following them
through the entire recovery process. This is
particularly important for procedures that
require short- or long-term rehabilitation
where its necessary to measure results to
ensure a proper recovery.
In the future, Johnson & Johnson hopes
to leverage Watsons myriad capabilities to
improve the patient experience at nearly
every level of interaction with health care

professionals. For instance, the company,
with help from Watson Health, would be
able to use data analytics to predict how a
patient might react to a certain medication,
a specific procedure, or some other form
of care. This could help prevent harmful
side effects, or at least make it possible to
minimize their impact and make sure one
action doesnt lead to negative outcomes.
Quest Diagnostics
While individual patient care is clearly
important in the health care industry, there
are also instances where looking at the big
picture is necessary to make progress in
fighting larger threats. Cancer is one of
those threats, and the goal of IBM Watson
Health and Quest Diagnostics is to use genome sequencing and data analytics to develop more targeted treatments for cancer
patients. IBM Watson Genomics from
Quest Diagnostics is a new service born
out of this partnership that focuses on the
genomic sequencing of tumors to better
understand how cancer works and then
find the best way to treat that specific case.
Another interesting part of this announcement is that the Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center is planning on
supplementing this solution with its own
OncoKB knowledgebase, which pulls
cancer treatment information for about
70% of all cancer patient cases in the
United States. This deep well of information gives Watson for Genomics access to
10,000 scientific articles and 100 clinical
trials each month to build a stronger internal database for running diagnostics
and modeling. And because this solution
is somewhat centralized, it means that
more health care providers in more places
will have access to the newest information
and can then apply it to their own patients
rather than waiting to find it on their own.
One of the major hurdles of battling
cancer is time, because doctors have to
sort through so much information to
figure out what type of cancer a patient
has, what stage it is, and how best to treat
it before a tumor gets larger or the cancer

spreads. With IBM Watson Genomics,
a caregiver can send a tissue sample to
Quest Diagnostics and then get an indepth genomic sequencing result in return. The more times this system is used
and the more information uploaded, the
more accurate and efficient it will become
in diagnosing the disease and finding
proper treatment. It also lets doctors focus
on patient care while pathologists and
cancer experts can focus on the analysis
part of the process.
Cisco Systems
One interesting thing about Watson is
that it extends beyond what may seem to
be competitive boundaries and actually
helps companies come together and use
their individual strengths for the greater
good. In fact, almost every instance of
Watson being used in the real world represents a partnership between IBM and
another company where they both bring
something unique to the table, making the
resulting solution that much more powerful and useful. Its no different with the
25
recent collaboration between IBM and

and even product locations. One of the guage processing capabilities, customers
wont have to be particularly specific about
challenges in using this technology, howCisco, focusing on IoT and collaboration.
In June of 2016, IBM and Cisco an- ever, is that it can feel like an impersonal what theyre looking for but instead pose
experience; even though you are connected questions as they would to a store emnounced they would work together to develop comprehensive solutions that blend via Wi-Fi and getting information, it still ployee. Another major piloted feature uses
Watsons Language Translation capabilities
IBMs cognitive computing expertise and doesnt necessarily stand in for those sceto offer a Spanish language interface that
narios where you need help from a human
Ciscos experience with collaboration and
productivity tools. The goal, as expressed employee. Macys, with the help of Watson helps a wider range of customers.
and Satisfi, an engagement platform, hopes
by both companies, is to create a seamto make that experience of using your mo- Pearson
less interaction and integration between
multiple services and toolsets. An example bile device in the store feel more natural
One of the biggest challenges in educaand tailored to your specific needs.
IBM uses is a financial advisor speaking
tion is giving specialized help to students
to a client using Cisco
while teaching staffs revideo while Watson is
main relatively small.
running the background
Add online courses into
handling analytics and
the mix, where a single
instructor could theohelping the advisor give
retically teach hundreds
the most relevant and
of students all from one
accurate advice. Then,
centralized portal, and
during the same call, the
the problem is exaceradvisor could use IBM
bated. To help with that,
Connections to safely acPearson, which offers
cess files and then send
digital learning soluthem through WebEx to
tions for college courses,
the client.
is teaming up with IBM
On the IoT side of
things, IBM and Cisco
to add Watson cognitive
CREDIT: IBM AND BUSINESS WIRE
are combining Watson
computing functionality
IoT and business ana- Macys On Call, a browser-based service that uses IBMs Watson and the Satisfi in-store
to its platform in an effort
personalized
shopping
platform,
made
its
debut
in
a
pilot
program
at
10
Macys
stores.
lytics with Ciscos Edge
to reach out to students
Analytics Fabric to get
with extra help whenever
more processing power
they need it.
Macys program is called Macys On
out to the networking edge. This is an imIn the same way that customers at
portant step for companies that have re- Call, and as of June 2016 it was being de- a retail store can use natural language to
mote locations without immediate access ployed as a pilot project in 10 test loca- find products, students can use natural
tions around the country. Macys On Call language in posing a question within a
to the high-speed Internet and high-bandwidth connections necessary to process is a mobile browser-based service that fo- Pearson learning solution and receive inlarge amounts of information onsite. By cuses on the individual customer and uses
formation back from Watson. Weve all
Watson to offer customized responses. For
extending Watson capabilities out to IoT
been in a situation where were stuck on a
devices, such as sensors, more analytical
example, if you are in the store looking for given problem, whether in math, science,
tasks can be performed at the source rather a specific pair of jeans, you could simply or another area, and the teacher of that
than sending them back to a centralized
type your question into the field provided
specific course is either tied up with other
location. The idea is that this should result and then get information on where that
students or unavailable for some reason.
in gaining insights at a faster pace.
item is located in the store.
In the past, that student may simply fall
This is just one example of how this
behind his peers or even drop the class.
technology could be used in the future, beHowever, if they could ask Watson quesMacys
tions and receive personalized responses to
There has been a great deal of talk about cause there are also piloted features within
get through the problem at hand, that same
using beacons in the retail space to reach the overall Macys On Call pilot program
that could lead to more functionality in
student could keep up with his peers and
out to customers while theyre in the store
the future. Using Watsons natural lanpush forward in the class.
and deliver coupons, product information,
26
Greenovations
The technologies
that make our
lives easier also
produce some
unwanted side
effects on the
environment.
However, many
researchers,
manufacturers,
and businesses
are developing
solutions that are
designed to keep
us productive
while reducing
energy demands
to lessen our
impact on the
environment.
Heres a look
at some of the
newest such
initiatives.
28
CREDIT: SAROS
ENERGY-CONSCIOUS TECH
SAROS makes a floating device that uses energy from ocean waves to produce clean drinking
water for people living in remote islands and coastal locations.
High-Tech Buoy Uses Wave Power To Produce Clean Drinking Water

There are 783 million people worldwide without access to clean drinking water,
according to the United Nations. Many of those people live in remote locations,
including islands and coastal areas, and one of the obstacles they face is access to
the financial resources and electricity/fuel required to build desalination plants. A
North Carolina company called SAROS is seeking to address this problem with a
high-tech buoy that uses wave energy to produce clean water.
By utilizing only the energy within ocean waves to power the desalination
process, SAROS eliminates the need for fossil fuel and electricity, said Chris
Matthews, SAROS director of research and development, in a press release announcing in Indiegogo campaign to raise $25,000 to further the companys research. A single SAROS machine can provide about 3,500 gallons of clean water
per day, SAROS says, adding that 10 to 12 machines can be grouped together to
provide as much as 50,000 gallons of clean water per day.
CREDIT: JACQUELYNNE HERNNDEZ, SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
Green Numbers
With its latest purchase of 237
megawatts of capacity in Wyoming
and Kansas, Microsoft has nearly
doubled its total wind capacity. Its data
centers will obtain 50% of their
energy from renewable

sources within two years.
Source: Microsoft.
Sandia National Laboratories staff meet with Singapore government representatives to discuss
the development and implementation of a grid energy storage system.
Sandia National Labs & Singapore Team Up For Energy Storage

Energy storage systems are essential components in large-scale energy systems,
such as electric power grids that serve communities and metropolitan areas; and as
electricity demand grows, so does the need for more efficient energy storage. In an
effort to identify better, higher-performing energy storage solutions and collaborate in their deployment, Sandia National Laboratories will work with Singapores
Energy Market Authority under a cooperative research and development agreement. Together they will help build Singapores first grid energy storage test-bed.
Researchers will explore improvements in lithium-ion storage, flywheels, and flow
batteries, including the integration of renewable energy sources.
Looking ahead to 2040, the

International Energy Agency expects
a 30% rise in energy demand
worldwide, with natural gas usage rising
50%. The agency also anticipates about
60% of new power generation

capacity will come from
renewable energy sources.
Source: International Energy Agency.
India has increased its installed solar

capacity 10x its 2010 capacity, with the
goal of producing 40% of its energy
from non-fossil fuels by 2030. Now
Adani has built the worlds largest
solar power plant in Kamuthi,
Tamil Nadu, consisting of 2.5 million
solar modules and producing 648
megawatts of electricity.
Sources: Hindustan Times and Reuters.
How To Reduce Device Power Consumption? Start With Transistors

There are many components within an electronic device that draw on that
device's power supply, including transistors, which must switch on and off continually. A research team at Lund University in Sweden has been working with
transistor designs and have finally created a smarter transistor technology
ideal for use in low-energy electronics, such as sensors gobbling up data for IoT
(Internet of Things) purposes, communications solutions, and digital circuits.
The researchers used nanotechnology to optimize transistors so that they use
roughly a third of the energy ordinarily required when used at low voltages under
lab conditions. The extent of real-world energy savings depends, however, on
how well these components can be manufactured. The next step is to continue
to study the physics and to understand the components better, so they can be further optimized, says Lars-Erik Wernersson, professor of nanoelectronics at Lund
University and member of the research team. We also want to find new ways of
transferring the technology to industry. The researchers believe their transistor
design could be put into production within five to 10 years.
At the Chernobyl nuclear

disaster site in Ukraine, China
National Complete Engineering
Corp. and GCL System Integration
Technology Co. are providing the
construction and solar power
equipment, respectively, for a new
1-gigawatt capacity solar

park. Construction begins in 2017;
no completion date was provided.
Source: GCL System Integration Technology Co.
Four of the worlds largest

citiesAthens, Madrid, Mexico City,
and Parishave announced plans to
ban diesel-powered cars and

vans by the year 2025.
Source: The Guardian.
29
The Internet Of Farming

HOW IoT & BIG DATA ANALYTICS IMPROVE EFFICIENCY & INCREASE CROP YIELDS
KEY POINTS
The use of analytics and IoT
(Internet of Things) is growing
steadily in the agriculture industry as a way to increase
yields.
Some solutions in this
space use a combination of a
dedicated sensor and packaged
software to gather and analyze
important information.
Others can leverage existing
sensors and data sources to
take more areas of concern into
consideration.
There are third-party services
that help farmers manage and
maintain aspects of a farm.
30
FARMING HAS changed considerably

over the past few decades as the industry has begun to take on forms
of technology that were previously
sought after mainly by cutting edge
high-tech corporations. Within its
own space, the agriculture industry
has introduced quite a few innovations that have streamlined the
process of planting, caring for, and
harvesting crops. Even after the fact,
when food is being delivered to a retail store or restaurant, for example,
suppliers can use logistics technologies to monitor the condition of the
product and ensure it arrives where it
needs to be on time.
Beyond the more noticeable innovations in the agricultural arena,
such as enhanced equipment, better
irrigation techniques, etc., there have
also been changes when it comes to
utilizing data and analytics. In fact,
the trend of using big data in agriculture has grown so much over the past
few years that the U.S. government
is trying to figure out its place in the
whole matter, as evidenced by a report
released in 2016 by Megan Stubbs, a
specialist in agricultural conservation
and natural resources policy at the
Congressional Research Service. She
points out that while there isnt necessarily one solid definition for big data,
its clear that farmers are using it for
everything from soil analysis to monitoring livestock movement. Its part of
a technological evolution within the
agricultural market that is focused
on enforcing the old adage that you
should work smarter, not harder.
As a matter of fact, thats exactly
what a lot of farmers are doing when it
comes to embracing the IoT (Internet
of Things) in their fields: collecting
relevant information directly from the
source, and then using that information to gain insight into whats happening out in the fields and what they
can do to either overcome issues or
maintain existing success. With sensors and data analytics software to back
them up, farmers can view heat maps
to find trouble spots in a field, collect
real-time weather information to cut
back or increase irrigation as necessary, and much more. Software and
hardware vendors took notice long ago
that changes needed to be made in agriculture in order to support a growing
population and simply make life easier
for farmers and ranchers. And while
weve already seen the positive impact
technology can have on agriculture,
its only the tip of the iceberg as many
other innovations are on their way.
CropX
One of the biggest innovations in
the agricultural space over the past few
years has been the usage of IoT-related
connected sensors that collect data
and send information
back to a central location. It used to be that
farmers would have to
go out into the field
and perform soil tests
to make sure crops
were getting all of the
nutrients they needed,
moisture was sufficient,
and many other factors
were on track. Farmers
would either have to
hope that the information they gathered was
true across every field
or perform multiple
tests and take up a lot
of time doing so. With
newer technologies like
CropX, thats no longer
the case, as farmers can
now set down a sensor
and have a constant
With CropX, you use a combination of multiple in-the-field sensors plus an application so you can
determine when and how much to water crops.
31
Depending on the plan you choose, FarmLogs offers a wide range

of services, including scouting areas that need attention in a field or
generating yield maps for specific crops.
source of data to return to whenever

they need it.
CropX, for the benefit of users who
arent especially familiar with using
sensors out in the field, lays everything out in an easy-to-follow process
designed to make installation and ongoing usage relatively painless. The
first step is that you can either tell
CropX directly what types of soil you
have in your fields or they can refer
to USDA soil maps to find that out
for you. This will help determine what
types of sensors you need and how
many. The sensors are then sent to
you in about three to five business
days. Then, once you receive them,
you can use the GPS feature built into
the companys smartphone app to pinpoint the exact location where you
should put each sensor station, sync
it to your device, and then get started
collecting data.
One of the major benefits of CropX
is that it can help prevent over-watering and under-watering crops based
32
on d at a gat here d
from the soil itself.
CropX doesnt actually give farmers
advice on when and
how to water, but
inste ad of fers up
results so that the
farmer and irrigation
consultant can make
a more informed decision. Whats even
more helpful is that
the data from the
CropX sensor is accessible via web
brow s e r or f rom
the CropX smartphone application,
so whether youre at
home doing a deep
dive or youre out in
the field and need
quick answers, youll always have access to the data you need.
FarmLogs
One big issue in farming is sprawl.
You are dealing with so many different plots of land, and many of them
have their own unique characteristics and quirks, so its up to you to
somehow manage everything consis-
tently year after year. Its not only difficult to physically manage the many
acres that make up an entire farm, but
you also then have to keep track of
where everything is planted, what the
water requirements are, what the soil
makeup is, etc. Its a daunting task, but
its one that many software vendors
are trying to make easier through the
use of real-time monitoring and an assortment of helpful tools.
FarmLogs is one vendor that takes
its own approach to this problem by
offering a free set of tools, plus additional tools at a premium for farmers
who want to get a bit more granular
with how they maintain their fields. In
the free FarmLogs Standard software,
you can access precipitation information so you know how much rainfall
each part of your farm has received
over a given period of time; watch
how heat accumulates in your fields
on a daily basis; view soil maps to fully

understand the composition of your
fields; take pictures and write notes
while out in the field and then share
them on a map with employees; and
put together yield maps to better keep
track of year over year performance.
If you make the jump to FarmLogs
Advantage, which starts at $2.50 per
acre, you can add Nitrogen Monitoring There needs to be someone at the helm what the company calls Electronic
Field Records, or EFRs. EFRs hold a
to improve application and predelegating tasks and making sure that
vent waste and runoff; Crop Health everything is done correctly and in a wealth of agricultural data, which can
either be held for personal usage or
timely manner.
Monitoring, which serves up autoshared with trusted associates. In fact,
Farmobile is a hardware/software
matic alerts when FarmLogs detects an
issue in a field; and activity recording, combination that essentially turns the one of Farmobiles big pushes, at least
farmer into a quality assurance man- looking toward the future, is to create
which automatically takes notes on
what youve done out in the field so ager as well as master delegator. The a data market where farmers can sell
t he propr iet ar y
you dont have to
data they gather
keep your own
in a 50-50 split
m a nu a l n o t e s .
w it h Far mobi l e
From there you
and generate some
have FarmLogs
extra income in
Prescriptions,
that fashion.
which starts at
Where delega$2.50 per acre
tion comes into
plus $8.50 per
play is that the
acre, and prof a r m e r d o e s nt
vides advice on
necessarily need
when and how
to be the one opto apply nitrogen
erating the maas well as how
chinery in order
mu c h s e e d t o
to gain insights
plant based on
from being out in
data gathered
the field. A lot of
about your fields.
farming is about
And FarmLogs
the feel of things.
even offers a
You have to get
physical device Farmobile uses a PUC device for capturing data, which is then sent back to the central software
dashboard where you can create heat maps and view daily activity logs.
out there and witcalled Flow that
ness t hings for
can be connected
yourself. But with
to your combine
Farmobile and the PUC, you can monduring harvest to generate yield maps
itor exactly whats happening in your
automatically as you make your way
fields, know what was applied to crops
through the process.
at what time, and receive daily activity
reports that lay out exactly what was
Farmobile
done in a given day. This means you
The romanticized idea of farming is
can hand out tasks to employees and
a familiar one: a farmer goes out into
still get valuable information from
a field to plant, fertilize, and harvest
the field that will help you make longthroughout the year, all while riding a
term decisions for the direction of your
large vehicle. Farmers may have help
business.
from their children, who will someday
inherit the family farm and keep the hardware is the PUC, which is a small
sensor-like device that you install on
tradition alive into the future. While
FarmX
a piece of machinery on the farm that
that concept still exists on many farms,
Because irrigation is an integral
sends information back to the cen- part of farming, it follows that many
there are also a lot of instances where
running a farm is akin to running an tral hub. The software is Farmobiles
IoT vendors would specifically focus
enterprise, with many workers and Simplicity App and Web Dashboard,
on that area for their ag software
pieces of equipment to keep track of. which both allow farmers to access and hardware solutions. The key to
33
to get a first-hand look. Its

essentially a time-saver in
an industry where time is a
precious commodity.
OnFarm
Although big data and
ana lyt ics arent exac t ly
new concepts, the associated technologies can be
daunting. Farmers have always had to deal with a ton
of information, which is
challenging enough; when
you add to the mix a great
deal of information that was
previously unavailable, it
can become both a blessing
and a burden. This is why
companies such as OnFarm
are working to make these
types of software easier to
use, easier to integrate into
existing work patterns, and
generally more manageable.
OnFarm is capable of collecting data from a wide range of sensors so instead of only focusing on one aspect of
maintaining crops, you can get an in-depth look at the bigger picture.
OnFarms software presents everything in a streamlined dashboard that can
irrigation success is having accurate in a certain area to make up for current
be accessed from a PC or mobile
weather forecasts and current knowl- circumstances.
device, depending only on your ciredge of soil conditions. This informaAs with similar solutions, you can
cumstances. The OnFarm platform
tion helps avoid under-watering and
use all of this information to build
is flexible in that it enables you to
over-watering around precipitation, maps of your entire farm, pinpointing
use only the technologies and feawhich in turn can prevent the excesspecific fields for focus, and then adtures that make the most sense for
sive fertilizer runoff that can result
dress potential problems on-the-fly.
your operation. You can also choose
in lower crop yields at the end of the
This information is available through which types of data are collected, and
season. There are many related fac- the FarmMap software, but there are
then use that data to make more intors to consider and track, which is an
also smartphone-specific features that formed decisions. OnFarm also places
issue FarmX wants to help companies provide updates while youre on the a heavy emphasis on data manageovercome with its FarmMap system.
go, either through the mobile app or
ment. With this software, you can
FarmMap uses weather stations in via text message. FarmMap is another
customize the dashboards to offer up
each irrigation block, which means that
example of a software solution deonly the most relevant data, and you
there are sensors placed at specific insigned to serve as a virtual man on can set up custom alerts so that you
tervals so that you can obtain proper the street, so instead of your having only receive the information thats
data covering the entire farm. You can
to physically visit every plot of land
most important to you, whether that
also remotely monitor water-related under your control, you can instead be specific weather conditions, soil
conditions and better understand the rely on information from sensors composition, etc.
composition of the soil in real-time.
to help you decide what needs to be
OnFarm is also versatile enough
This lets you make informed decisions done or simply know when it may be to pull information from multiple
about increasing or reducing irrigation
time to travel to a specific location sources and sensors, so you can get
34
a more varied and in-depth look at

your crops. While you can use this
platform to get information about one
type of data at a time, you can also
pull multiple data points simultaneously, taking more factors into consideration for a bigger picture.
When the time comes, you can
also look over historic data in order
to identify trends that happen year
over year. These types of insights can
be invaluable because while you cant
predict exactly what will happen in
the future, you can observe patterns
over time that are highly relevant to
planning and future decision-making.
DuPont Pioneer Encirca

While many agricultural IoT vendors focus on ease of use, some make
it particularly easy for customers to
get things up and running quickly.
One such vendor is DuPont Pioneer.
Its Encirca solution is a collection
of services that combine to provide
farmers with the tools they need
to improve crop yields and better
manage day-to-day operations.
Encirca View is essentially a map
and notetaking application that enables you to keep track of various
observations about your fields with
geographic information included. It
also provides access to Community
View, which delivers information
about soil moisture, crop conditions,
and other relevant data from other
farmers in your area.
With the Premium version of
Encirca View, youll also get your own
weather station, which works in conjunction with the software service, as
well as more in-depth weather forecasts and other current industry information.
Three other related services within
the Encirca familyEncirca Yield
Stand Service, Encirca Yield Nitrogen
Management Service, and Encirca Yield
Fertility Management Serviceare all
DuPont Pioneer Encirca is a series of services that help you manage and maintain crops from planting and fertilizing to watering and harvesting.
designed to give you more data about

different aspects of planting, watering,
fertilizing, and harvesting crops to make
sure you obtain the highest possible
yield. Similar to other software solutions
in this space, Encircas solutions give

you access not only to current information but also to historical data so you
can use that past information to ensure
a more successful future.
35
Open Networking Now

USER GROUP HELPS TO ENSURE CONTINUED INNOVATION IN NETWORKING
KEY POINTS
The Open Networking User
Groups primary goal is to give
a voice to the end user when it
comes to networking innovation.
Rising demands in networking traffic coupled with
shrinking budgets have introduced new challenges to IT.
Software-defined WAN is a
major focus for ONUG right now
as a way to solve issues with
managing disparate networks
throughout an organization.
In the future, ONUG will put
much more of a focus on standardization in addition to encouraging more innovations.
36
THE TERM NETWORKING has a couple

of meanings that apply to ONUG, or the
Open Networking User Group. Founded
in 2012, ONUG has only been around
for about four years, but it hasnt taken
long for the organization to have an impact on the technology industry, especially where networking is concerned.
But in addition to helping spur innovation and set industry standards, ONUG
is also involved in networking at the
human level. At ONUG conferences
held every year in the spring and fall,
IT executives and experts come together
to talk about issues in a range of industries and work together with peers to
discover solutions or at the very least encourage and inspire others to look into
new problems.
I would say the biggest mission that
the group has, which it has done a fabulous job with, is to give a strong voice
to the end user, says Lloyd Noronha,
head of global marketing at Viptela and

contributing member of ONUG. Before
the group started, there were many other
events, but they were very vendor-driven
or there were mixed motivations in how
those events were driven, but ONUG
was very fixated on giving the voice
and power to the end user. That was a
very compelling movement. At the first
ONUG that took place three years back,
there were a lot of speakers who came
in and spoke about all of the things they
want from infrastructure and technology,
but they simply werent able to get it and
werent able to solve their problems.
Kindred Healthcare, a major provider
of post-acute care and long-term rehabilitation services in the United States,
was one of the companies that made an
appearance at the first ONUG. The organization was unable to find answers
through other avenues, so it decided to
bring its problems to ONUG and use it
as a forum to voice some of its frustrations and try to find solutions. This was
a unique approach compared to other
events where the primary idea is to talk
about problems and then point to specific solutions in the form of tried-andtrue products. This was a place where
problems were introduced and then industry leaders could go to work solving
them within their own organizations.
That was the No. 1 value, Noronha
says. You fast forward that movement three years later, and you have the
same company, Kindred Healthcare,
talk about how it energized people to
solve those problems and now it has actually solved those problems. When it
spoke three years back, it didnt know
the solution, today it has already solved
the problem. Thats where the power
of ONUG lies. To give users a voice, a
place to express their frustration, and the
ability to suggest ideas to innovators on
how to solve problems. And in the end,
they meet their goal of steering innovation in the right direction.
The Issues
ONUG obviously served, and continues to serve, a purpose, but thats not
the only reason the group was formed in
the first place. Noronha points out that
there is quite a bit of innovation happening
in many other areas of the IT environment. There is a lot of movement on the
storage side with companies leveraging the
cloud through services such as Amazon
Web Services or Microsoft Azure, and that
segment of IT also has solid-state and
hybrid storage systems helping to push
forward performance. Then, you have
the application side of things where more
and more apps are going in the direction
of SaaS (software-as-a service) where almost every company offers its software as
an online, hosted solution. And even before that, you had manufacturers working
on server efficiency, virtualization, and
other solutions that aided in consolidation
efforts and more.
ONUG was able to spur innovation, and now itll be about

standardizing innovation. We have a lot of innovations going
on in the marketplace. There will be one or two leaders
and a whole bunch of other smaller players in the market.
If each one of those is innovating in silos, how does the
enterprise benefit from that? The focus still needs to be on
the end user and how the end user benefits.
LLOYD NORONHA
Head of Global Marketing
Viptela
However, according to Noronha, networking is one area that was left alone
or at least wasnt a heavy focus of earlier
innovation. Companies saw a quick and
tangible benefit to server virtualization,
software-as-a-service, hybrid storage, and
cloud-based solutions in the form of cutting costs and improving performance,
agility, and efficiency across the board.
But the same attention wasnt paid to networking, which Noronha says can alone
consume 20% of the IT budget. Thats
a major component of the overall IT environment that simply wasnt seeing the
innovation it needed.
The goal was to spur innovation in an
area that was very critical, says Noronha.
You can have the best cloud or mobile
applications, but if the foundation youre
sitting on is rigid and broken, then youre
not getting the right experience. One portion of the networking expense is called
the WAN (wide-area network). That
portion consumes about 10% of the IT
budget. Enterprises are paying about $100
per megabyte for bandwidth. Now, traffic
for them is growing at 30% year over year,
but they cant increase their budgets 30%
year over year.
In addition to trying to overcome the
issues of growing demand and shrinking
budgets, networking also ends up being
a bottleneck in many organizations
that prevents important projects from
moving forward in a timely manner. In
fact, Noronha says that some projects can
take from six to 18 months to execute,

and most of the delays are happening
with the networking team. To help with
all of these issues, there has to be a place
for experts to come together and share
ideas on how to move forward, which is
precisely where ONUG comes into play.
It has brought together major players in
industries where high-speed, ultrareliable
networking is not only a nicety, but an
absolute necessity.
That is where the ONUG movement
has put the spotlight on pieces of infrastructure that are extremely critical, but
are ignored, and as a result weve seen
dynamic innovation come about, says
Noronha. In the past two or three
ONUGs, weve had enterprise after enterprise come and talk about how theyve
solved these problems because of the innovations that have come in. GAP presented last year, Agilent Technologies
presented earlier this year, and Kindred
Healthcare presented about a month
back. These companies are large Fortune
500 companies that are able to show how
their infrastructure has become dynamic.
Networking In A Hybrid World

SDN (software-defined networking)
and other innovations in the networking
space in recent years have helped solve
some of the aforementioned issues, but
as other areas of technology continue to
evolve, networking has to evolve along
with them. Hybrid cloud computing and
37
the concept of hybrid in general is one

area where an evolving technology introduced new challenges to individual organizations and to the concept of networking
as a whole. Noronha says that in the early
days of hybrid networking, companies
took heavily siloed approaches where they
signed up with multiple WAN providers,
broadband providers, and any other providers necessary and then built their own
connections, encrypted tunnels, and other
solutions. This approach led to multiple
segmented networks that were used for
different purposes but never felt like they
truly came together into a cohesive whole.
The problem with those solutions is
they made the complexity even worse
than before, says Noronha. As you
tried to make your network hybrid, your
agility suffered a lot and everything got
a lot more complex. The reason for that
is very simple. If youre trying to roll out
a policy, like I want all of my Facebook
traffic to run through a firewall before
it goes to my data center, and youre a
thousand-site retailer, youd have to go
to every one of those thousand sites and
make that policy change. That was your
life before. Now, if you also introduce
hybrid into the mix, you not only have to
go to the thousand sites, but within those
thousand sites, you have to go to each of
those hybrid elements and implement
that policy. Thats what made hybrid networking very complex before.
To help remove some of this complexity or at least minimize it, ONUG
has been putting a bright spotlight on
SD-WAN (software-defined widearea networks) as a potential solution.
Similar to how server virtualization and
SDS (software-defined storage) give
companies a way to store and host workloads on servers and storage systems
that make the most sense, SD-WAN
works to centralize networking so that
applications, users, or any other traffic
moving in and out of your organization
is exactly where it should be for the best
possible performance.
38
For example, many companies have

MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)
networks that are designed to handle
the most resource-intensive traffic, but
then in addition to that, they also have
internet-oriented networks used for
more basic Web applications and use
cases. It would be a waste of resources to
run Facebook or YouTube over MPLS,
so you would want to move that to
your general internet service. Instead
of having to do that manually, with
SD-WAN, you can set it up so that certain applications and workloads run on
the network that makes the most sense.
Youre essentially putting a management overlay on top of your existing networks that brings them together under
one hybrid networking scheme so you
can remove the inherent complexity that
comes with having too many separate
moving parts.
Youre dealing with multiple MPLS
and broadband networks, but you can
add as many of those elements as you
want with SD-WAN, says Noronha.
If you have 100, 1,000, or 10,000 sites,
you can have all of those elements in
the mix, but your complexity doesnt
vary based on that. In the past, managing a 100-store retailer would be 10
times more complex than a 10-site retailer. Weve decoupled that. It doesnt
matter how many sites you have, there is
marginal difference in complexity today.
Thats what brings in agility. Youre no
longer thinking about how many hybrid
elements you want. Youre only thinking
in terms of application availability and
performance, and then the network supports everything.
Looking Toward The Future

SD-WAN is just one example of
a technology ONUG is championing,
but it should prove to be one that has a
major impact on networking in general.
In the future, Noronha says, the focus
for ONUG will move more toward standardizing innovation rather than simply
spurring it. Every time a new technology

or concept in introduced, there are two
or three major leaders in the market and
then a series of smaller ones with unique
specifications. If every one of those companies approaches that new concept in a
different way, then it will be difficult and
more complex than it needs to be for
companies to benefit from. Thats why
ONUG will continue to focus on end
users first and help lead vendors in the
right direction.
The end result of that will be one of
two things, says Noronha. Either you
arrive at a standardizing some elements
of architecture, or you will select one architecture that is the most elegant and
addresses all of the problems and force all
other players to adopt that architecture.
It will be a trade-off between one or the
other, and I think those are the discussions that will be very active in ONUG in
the months and years ahead.
OPEN TO ALL
One of the great things about the
Open Networking User Group is
that even if youre unable to attend the events held every spring
and fall, youll still have access
to multiple resources where you
can learn about potential solutions
and join the general discussion.
Interested parties who dont attend ONUG can still get the gist of
what has happened by looking at
the videos, for example. There are
luncheon videos where customers
come in and talk about their transformations. For the users who really want to contribute or get into a
discussion in ONUG, they can look
at a few of those luncheon videos,
especially the ones that have happened this year, and at least be
able to find one or two videos that
are extremely valuable to them.
GO DEEP
If quality time with the latest, fastest home computing technologies is your
idea of well-spent leisure time, CPU is the magazine for you. Each month CPU
serves up how-to articles, interviews with tech industry leaders, news about
cutting-edge research, and reviews of the newest hardware and software.
Check out the latest edition right

now at www.computerpoweruser.com
or on your iPad via the iTunes Store.
Smart & Dangerous

DEVICES THAT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET (OR EACH OTHER) ARE VULNERABLE
KEY POINTS
The October DDoS attack
against Dyn used about 100,000
different devices to bring down
major websites such as Twitter,
Reddit, and Netflix.
Attacks using IoT and
smart devices are so new that
manufacturers and other organizations havent had time to
properly respond.
Smartphones used to control
smart home devices are inherently insecure, which creates a
cascade effect.
Manufacturers of smart devices will need to make security
a priority in the future.
40
ON THE MORNING of Oct. 21, 2016, if you

sat down at your kitchen table or at your
desk at work with the intent of checking
Twitter, seeing the newest headlines on
Reddit, or making sure your Airbnb
reservation was still good to go, then
chances are you ran into a few roadblocks and probably a few 404 errors as
well. Although its not necessarily rare
for these popular websites to occasionally bend under the pressure of increased
traffic, Oct. 21 was different because one
of the biggest DDoS attacks in history
was perpetrated that day.
The target was Dyn, a provider of
online infrastructure optimization and
domain name system services (the company was recently acquired by Oracle).
However, whats most interesting about
this attack is not that it was a DDoS attack, but that it was made possible by
compromising IoT (Internet of Things)
and smart devices in addition to PCs and
other more traditional endpoints. In fact,

according to a blog post on Dyns website
written by Scott Hilton, up to 100,000
malicious endpoints were used as part
of whats called a Mirai botnet, which is
essentially a large group of computers infected will malware that are used to send
false traffic to a target and overwhelm
the network. These computers are called
zombies because the owners dont know
their computers are being used as part of
a botnet even as an attack is happening.
In that same blog post, Hilton wrote
that during this attack, traffic volume
was 40 to 50 times higher than normal
and that traffic was coming from IP
addresses across all geographies. The
problem was that as Dyn tried to overcome the fake traffic being created by the
Mirai botnet, it was also being flooded
with legitimate traffic at a rate 10 to 20
times higher than normal because people
kept trying to refresh webpages that
wouldnt load. This created a domino

effect that kept major websites offline for
quite some time and illustrated the potential power of botnets if they continue
to take advantage of the many connected
devices coming into our lives.
One in seven computers is a
zombie, says Dimitrios Pavlakis, industry analyst at ABI Research. If you
know 14 people, then on average, two
of them will have a botnet on their computer. With smart devices, that number
increases exponentially, because you can
have a PC at home, a smartphone, and
a connected TV. Lets throw in another
computer for four. With a smart home,
you can increase that by a factor of three,
at least, because you can have a smart
thermostat, connected smoke alarm,
motion detector, IP camera outside, connected doorbell, connected lock, automotive solutions, and wearables. When
you have so many different smart things,
and I put the smart in quotes, the real
threat of botnets increases dramatically.
According to Lawrence Orans, research
vice president at Gartner, thats exactly
what happened with Dyn. He says that
these smart devices have vulnerabilities
that can be exploited and then become
part of a botnet, which means they are
controlled by a centralized command-andcontrol center to do nefarious things. The
big takeaway for Orans is that this proves
that IoT and connected devices are just
as susceptible to being compromised as
Windows devices, which means that they
are going to require a stronger security
focus in the future to prevent more largescale DDoS attacks.
The problem is that, at least for right
now, these types of attacks are relatively
new, so manufacturers havent had
enough time to react accordingly other
than trying to push out firmware updates and encourage safe best practices.
Because of that, the same Mirai botnet
has been used to perpetrate attacks on
a French web hosting company called
OVH, Brian Krebss Krebs on Security
I see that some companies are blaming the users: You

shouldnt have answered this, or you shouldnt have done
that. I wouldnt place the blame on the consumers, the
developers, or the companies, but this is the ecosystem
right now. In cybersecurity, you have to assume that your
system is always under attack.
DIMITRIOS PAVLAKIS
Industry Analyst
ABI Research
website, and many other targets. With

the number of connected devices set
to grow exponentially over the coming
years, the fact that Mirai means future in Japanese paints something of a
bleak picture, at least in the short-term,
for what botnets and other attack types
may be capable of with the use of so
many vulnerable endpoints.
Inherent Vulnerabilities
The troubling thing about IoT-related
security vulnerabilities is that analysts
and experts seem to have a near-endless
list to offer up. You could write books
about this is a common refrain, which
is something that should rightfully concern people who use a lot of connected
devices, and especially in a smart-home
format where multiple devices are connected to a home network, which in
turn is connected to PCs, tablets, smartphones, and other devices that hold
important data. The problem only gets
worse if you actually use your smartphone to control many of these devices.
A smartphone is inherently insecure
and is a funnel for all information you
can find through personal usage and corporate usage, and there are a lot of insecure apps out there, says Pavlakis. If
you have something that is inherently
insecure, no matter how much antivirus
or second-layer authentication you put
in there, when you use that to control a
smart home, which should have a higher
level of security, its not always going to
be a successful marriage. If you use the

smartphone to open the lock to your own
home and you use the same smartphone
to download an app that can read into
the future, [a horoscope or fortune-telling
app] for example, there is a huge gap in
security in between.
The inherent vulnerabilities of these
devices can be the result of downloading
nefarious applications that are disguised
as legitimate programs, but they can also
be the result of weaknesses is certain connection and communication protocols.
ZigBee, for example, is one of the most
commonly used connection languages
for IoT and smart home devices. Its essentially a protocol that determines how
those different devices communicate with
each other to make everything feel like
one cohesive ecosystem.
Devices with the ZigBee protocol use
whats called mesh networking to connect
multiple devices at once, but the problem
is that if a rogue actor can gain access to
one device, then he might be able to get
into any other device on the network. If
you can exploit the trust operations or
introduce a rogue node into the network,
you can start to receive unencrypted keys,
and this is possible with ZigBee at the moment, says Pavlakis. Then, you can obtain network keys. From something very
simple, you can frog-leap to every other
device in the smart home.
In addition to malicious applications and communication protocols,
vulnerabilities can be found in almost
41
any device that can connect to the interneteven smart TVs. Pavlakis says
there has been an increase in ransomware-related attacks against smart
homes using internet-capable televisions. Maybe you receive a prompt on
the screen with a special offer within
your web browser and you click the link
only to have another prompt come up
saying you violated a law or accessed
sensitive material and now must pay a
fine to regain access to your TV. This is
a phenomenon that has happened with
computers for quite some time, but its
now spreading to other connected devices throughout the home.
Internet-connected cameras are
also inherently insecure, according to
Pavlakis. He says that all you have to
know is the manufacturer of the camera
and the IP address, and you have a great
place to start in terms of fully gaining
access and even controlling the camera.
In this instance, the cybercriminal could
record whatever happens in front of the
webcam and then force the user to pay
a ransom to get that footage back. Once
again, these are types of attacks that have
been occurring on desktops for years,
but now hackers are finding ways to use
doorbell cameras, smart televisions, and
many other connected devices to target
their victims.
How To Solve The Problems

For Orans, the challenge in making
connected devices more secure is that
we are in the early stages of these types
of attacks and there is no third-party
certification that says this device has
been tested by this organization and it
has the stamp of approval. This isnt
happening right now because instead
of focusing on security from the beginning of the design process, it is often an
afterthought because the focus has to be
on flexibility, connectivity, and cost.
At the end of the day, the onus is on
the manufacturers of these devices to
make them more secure, says Orans.
42
I dont know if these devices are more vulnerable, but all

software has vulnerabilities, and were starting to realize now that attackers have created these botnets of IoT
devices and its a very real thing. Thats the big takeaway
here. Its not just our Windows laptops or desktops that
can be compromised and become part of a botnet. Any
of these Linux-based devices weve seen can also be
compromised and become part of a botnet.
LAWRENCE ORANS
Research Vice President
Gartner
Its not clear at this point that theyre

going to be incented financially to make
the devices more secure. I cant unfortunately paint a rosy picture right
now, because the focus on a lot of these
IoT devices right now, and especially
the consumer ones, is to keep the cost
down so they can sell them at a reasonable price point. Incentives dont line
up to promote having the most secure
IoT device and the most secure home
device. Its going to take a while get that
mindset across.
Pavlakis agrees that the main goal
of IoT and connected device manufacturers is to simply make these smart
devices smarter. When youre trying
to register a device, you can add some
extra layers of security, he says. You
can add some secondary authentication. You can utilize biometrics if the
necessary security solution is available.
Do not try to secure one device, one
piece of software, or a smart node with
just one password. If anyone can bypass
that, they can potentially gain access to
your gateway, your hub, or your router
and then frog-leap to any other device.
Pavlakis also stresses the importance
of making security an important part
of the development process. He mentions a company that created a smart
doorbell camera where you can see
whos at the front door and then decide
whether to unlock the door. Penetration
testers quickly found that if you physically went to the doorbell, unscrewed
two screws with a garden-variety screwdriver, and then hit a reset button, you
could use your smartphone to gain access to the device and to the network.
This is a relatively simple hack that
could lead to someone having access to
your entire home network just by accessing one camera.
Its important to realize that just
because these types of attacks are becoming more common doesnt mean
that vendors arent working to solve the
problems. Pavlakis says that Bluetooth
5.0, Wi-Fi HaLow, and ZigBee 3.0, for
example, might all make at least the
communication protocol side of the
equation, but its simply too early to
know if thats the case.
As for right now, the best you can do
as a user is make sure you buy products
from reputable manufacturers, change
usernames and passwords on every device that requires them, and continue
using common-sense best practices that
you would apply to desktops, laptops,
and other more traditional computing
devices. Until more stringent security
measures are put in place, it will be more
important than ever to remain vigilant
and introduce as few vulnerabilities into
your network as possible, especially if
sensitive or personally identifiable information is at stake.
What To Do After A Data Breach

THERE IS A GROWING MARKET FOR THIRD-PARTY ADVISORY SERVICES
KEY POINTS
The number of data breaches
continues to grow, and victim
companies response times
leave much to be desired.
Some data breaches are
unavoidable, which is why its
so important to learn from them
and be better prepared.
Its important to not only look
internally, but also externally to
make sure partners and thirdparty service providers arent
introducing unnecessary risk.
Consider using security advisory services to help after a
breach and also to prevent more
breaches in the future.
44
IF YOU HAD AN inkling that you were

seeing more and more data breaches every
day, even involving some of the largest organizations that one would think should be
well-protected, youd be right. In fact, according to recent data from ABI Research,
the number of reported security breaches
and related incidents grew from 3,382 in
2014 up to 3,970 in 2015, and the number
of records exposed in those attacks also
grew from roughly 908 million in 2014 to
over 1.1 billion in 2015.
Whats even more troubling is just
how many of these breaches go undetected by the affected company and for
how long. Michela Menting, research director at ABI Research, points out that an
alarming 94% of companies investigated
learned about their breach from an external source, which was typically either
law enforcement or, embarrassingly, in
press releases from hacktivist groups. And
the average time that elapses between the
breach itself and the moment its actually

discovered is 416 days for large enterprises.
A major contributing factor to these
rising statistics is that hackers are expanding the ways in which they attack
and companies are also self-inflicting
some of the damage. For example, research from ABI shows that if there
are 100 data breaches or attacks, 36 of
them would be Web app-based attacks,
22 would be cyberespionage-related, 14
would be point-of-sale intrusions, 10
would be credit or debit card skimmers,
and eight would be due to insider misuse
(i.e., self-inflicted). Crimeware, denial-ofservice attacks, physical theft or loss, and
other factors constitute the remaining 10.
In addition to expanding their operations, hackers are also getting more sophisticated and targeted in their attacks.
In a recent report from Forrester entitled
Lessons Learned From The Worlds
Biggest Customer Data Breaches And
Privacy Incidents, 2015, the contributing

analysts point out that hackers are taking
the time to deeply research the organizations they target in order to learn how
they are run and where their potential vulnerabilities lie. This makes it much more
difficult to prevent attacks because while
enterprises are simply focused on trying to
grow revenue and serve their customers,
hackers are working tirelessly behind the
scenes to find a way into their systems and
take whatever they can get their hands on.
The Home Depot is a prime example
because in 2014, the company announced
that it had been breached to the tune of
109 million stolen customer records, which
included credit card numbers, email addresses, and other information. That same
Forrester report states that The Home
Depot, so far, has paid over $230 million in
damages, which includes customer settlements and paying cyber insurance claims.
Needless to say, incurring a data breach,
especially one as catastrophic as the one
that struck The Home Depot, can have a
major monetary impact on the organization while also damaging the companys
reputation among its customers.
While many data breaches are preventable through proper security procedures
and internal training, there will be some
instances where a hacker is so persistent
that he gets through and causes some
damage. The key for enterprises is to discover these breaches as quickly as possible
and respond to them in a timely manner.
Not finding out about a breach until 400 or
more days after the fact is unacceptable for
most, if not all businesses, but its the reality today. It takes a combination of constant vigilance, strong security measures,
and possibly a little bit of outside help to
pick yourself up after a breach and minimize the risk of it happening again.
Learning From Mistakes

Unfortunately, data breaches tend to
shake out in any number of ways, almost
all of which are bad for the victim. The
breached information may be released
The ongoing skills gap in the security industry is also

contributing to the growing use of advisory services.
Customers want to benefit from the newest attack detection and analysis technologies, but its difficult to hire and
retain people who can use and maintain the solutions. So
customers sign up for advisory services from the technology vendor or its MSSP partners to get the benefit of the
solution without having to hire more people.
JANE WRIGHT
Principal Analyst
Technology Business Research, Inc.
online to make an example of the company, it might be sold on the cyber black
market to the highest bidder, or it may
even be sold back to the company for
a ransom. Menting says that unless its
somewhat of an isolated incident where
maybe one item is stolen, such as a laptop,
for example, its usually bad for the company and is generally difficult to rectify. For that reason, its crucial to learn
from these mistakes, however small, and
better prepare for the future.
The first step is making sure you have
the proper knowledge and awareness in
place within your enterprise. You have
to be able to understand what happened
during a breach in order to prevent it from
happening again, so doing post-breach
analytics over the short to long term is the
best way, Menting says. Dont just forget
about it and leave it in the past, but look at
all the effects of a breach, including costs,
time, resources, and learning curves. All of
these can help inform on how to deal with
a future breach.
Another important factor is to have a
strong incident response plan in place so
that in the event of a breach, you know
exactly who will be in charge of the investigation and what steps need to be
taken to solve the issue as quickly as possible. Firms have to treat security as if a
breach is definitely going to happen, says
Menting. This is one of the most important things to get right. How fast they can
detect and then react is crucial. Without

a plan in place, detection, reaction and
remediation can take too long and [create]
financial and reputational costs.
From there, you need to look at your
internal and external security risks, especially keeping in mind that 36% of attacks,
according to ABI Research, were targeting
Web-based applications. You need to
make sure you have strong authentication in place to prevent outsiders from getting in, intrusion detection systems that
can spot attacks as they happen, and reporting solutions that search for correlations and alert you if something potentially
malicious is happening in your environment. And if the breach occurred due to
a vulnerability in a third-party partners
service or solution, then you need to determine whether or not you can continue
to do business with them. You have to
learn something from every single security incident and use that information to
strengthen your overall security posture for
the future.
Take Advantage
Of Advisory Services
While some companies have the infrastructure in place to handle their own
security issues after a breach, there are
some newer advisory services out there
that are designed to help companies better
understand security breaches and put a
stronger security approach in place going
45
forward. Jane Wright, principal analyst

at Technology Business Research, Inc.,
defines advisory services as being a set
of offerings that fall between the categories of managed security services [MSS]
and security consulting services. She says
they are more customized than traditional
managed services where customers essentially outsource the monitoring and maintenance of their security solutions, yet they
are less complex, and often less expensive,
than security consulting projects, such as
security systems integration.
How do these services work? After a
data breach, the customer will use them
to find out who attacked them as well as
how and where they were attacked. These
advisors are security professionals and can
not only help with post-breach response
and cleanup, but also work as an ongoing
partner for preventing future breaches. In
fact, Wright says, its quite common for
companies to take advantage of advisory
services after a breach, realize the inherent
value, and then keep them on for a longer
period of time. Wright says these types of
services are growing in popularity because
for some organizations, traditional managed security services simply arent enough
to meet their needs.
A few years ago, it was enough for
customers to know that some malware had landed on some of their systems, and some files were exfiltrated,
says Wright. But newer threat detection technologies are making it possible
for customers to find out many more
details. Exactly which systems got infected and when? What is the best way
to respond? (Isolate the system? Remove
suspicious files? Reimage the system?
Shut down a network segment?) Who
was the attacker? (A business that has
been operating a long time, and likely
to come back again? A lone wolf that
probably wont come back?) Customers
security teams want these added details
so they are better equipped to respond
to current attacks and prevent future
attacks. Customers boards of directors
46
want the added details so they can tell

stakeholders what has happened and talk
about how they are equipped to stop future attacks.
If a company is interested in enlisting
the help of an advisory services provider, Wright has a few tips on what to
look for. Surprisingly, as of right now,
she says pricing isnt playing much of a
role and most businesses are looking at
the service provider staffs skill levels;
SLAs (service level agreements), to make
sure certain guarantees are in place;
and cadence, in terms of how often the
service provider scans the customer
infrastructure or performs proactive
threat-hunting exercises, for example.
All of these factors play a role in how
well-suited an advisory services provider
is to handle your specific infrastructure

and meet your needs. But if you already
work with a trusted MSSP (managed
security services provider), then you may
be able to add on advisory services for an
extra fee.
Not all MSSPs or vendors have built
up a big portfolio of advisory security
services yet, so whatever customers
are saving on traditional MSS, they are
spending that (and even a bit more) to
add on advisory services, says Wright.
Customer spending on security products and services is currently growing
about 11% year to year, according to
TBRs security market forecast, and a
portion of this growth is coming from
customers adding the advisory services.
PREVENTING FUTURE BREACHES

According to Michela
Menting, research director at ABI Research,
enterprises need to take
a hard look at their data
protection practices and
consider altering existing
strategies or replacing
them altogether to prevent future breaches.
Some examples include:
In-depth system and
network security
audits must be conducted periodically
to ensure that only
authorized items are
running on the companys systems and
network.
Organizations need
to develop an authentication and
authorization policy
that leverages best
practices and his-
torical information to
help determine which
users, processes,
and applications have
access to sensitive
information.
Employees need to be
trained on how to securely manage sensitive data, and receive
regular updates as
new policies or solutions are put in place.
A third-party corporate breach and data
security expert should
be hired to analyze
the level of risk and
exposure.
Implementing a data
privacy solution can
be done at multiple
points within the
enterprise. Choosing
the point of implementation dictates the
work ahead and significantly affects the

overall security model.
Encryption modes
include network-level,
application-level,
database-level, and
storage-level.
When considering
a data privacy solution, there are clear
choices regarding the
modes of implementation. Data security
technologies include
encryption solutions,
access controls,
authentication policy
management and access, data integrity
technologies, data
loss prevention strategies and technologies, as well as the
traditional endpoint
security solutions.
The Versatility
Of Virtual Reality
VR HEADSETS MAY NOT BE
MAINSTREAM YET,
BUT VR IS DIVERSIFYING
LIKE CRAZY
VR (virtual reality) is one of those

technologies that conjures up images of science fiction movies
and may seem outlandish, but
thats no longer the case. First
came the mobile-oriented headsets, like the Samsung Gear VR,
then followed the Oculus Rift in
March of 2016, the HTC Vive in
April, and the PlayStation VR in
October. All of these headsets
have unique features that help differentiate them, which also leads
to unique use cases once theyre
actually out in the wild. And while
that maybe hasnt been happening
as quickly as expected, VR and AR
(augmented reality) headsets are
on a steady growth trajectory. Back
in April of this year, IDC expected
shipments of VR hardware to hit
9.6 million units in 2016, but the
same analysts also expect total VR
and AR hardware shipments to hit
110 million units by 2020.
Needless to say, the VR and AR
hardware and software solutions are
here to stay. The reason for that is
that they can offer businesses and
consumers new experiences that
simply werent possible without todays technologies. And while its
true that the first forays into VR
tended to center on gaming-related
activities, there are more and more
vendors jumping into this market
with the hope of applying VR principles to a much wider range of applications. Before you decide if you
want to dive into the world of virtual
reality, whether as a consumer or as
a business, its important to get a lay
of the land and see whats available
to you out the market. As it turns
out, there are quite a few headsets
to choose from as well as software
to go along with them, so chances
are youll be able to find a specific
experience that speaks to you and/or
meets your needs.
VR For
Smartphones
CREDIT: SAMSUNG
The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset designed

specifically for Samsungs Galaxy S6 and newer smartphones.
Samsung Gear VR
The important thing to remember about virtual reality experiences is that they dont
only live on personal computers or pricey standalone headsets. In fact, if you have a
Samsung Galaxy S6 or above, you can dive into virtual reality for about $100 (or less if
you can get a package deal) with the Samsung Gear VR (powered by Oculus). With the
Gear VR, you simply put your phone in the back of the headset, lock it in place, and then
fasten it onto your head. From there, you can move your head 360 degrees to either view
3D rendered spaces, play games, or even watch videos without outside interference.
These types of headsets are interesting in that they are helping push forward the idea
of 360-degree videos. Multiple news agencies and entertainment companies are now
offering 360-degree videos, and Samsung even has its own Gear 360 camera that can
film in full 360 degrees. These headsets are perfect for smaller, more short-term experiences that dont require a ton of processing power outside of whats available on mobile
devices. But considering how powerful smartphones already are, its only a matter of
time before more even more substantial experiences make their way to Samsung Gear
VR and similar devices.
49
VR For
Smartphones
CREDIT: GOOGLE
Google Daydream View

For those who dont own Samsung Galaxy smartphones, Google has its own VR heaadset, now called
Google Daydream View. It supports the companys
Pixel and Pixel XL as well as the Moto Z Droid and
Moto Z Force Droid. Similar in usability to the Gear
VR, you simply hook your phone onto the front of the
Daydream View and then use head tracking or the
included controller to interact with applications. The
lightweight Daydream View costs $79, comes in three
different colors, and allows you to remove the outside
fabric cover to wash it without damaging the lenses.
The secret behind Googles headset is the Daydream platform, which promises to give users unique
experiences, whether that involves using Google
Street View in first-person on the ground, visiting
museums in foreign countries, and much more. As
with other headsets, you can also watch videos from
sources like YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu in a virtual
cinema, or experience concerts and sporting events
in a more immersive way than traditional television
allows. Google Daydream VR is another example of
a more entry-level device that will give you a taste
for what VR can be before you decide if you want to
commit to a more resource-intensive device.
50
Google Daydream View is a $79 VR headset and small

remote from Google designed to work with specific
Android smartphones.
VR For Leisure
& Business
HTC Vive
The HTC Vive is a $799 VR headset that comes with two base stations, which
can be used to set up whats called room-scale VR, and two controllers that have
a variety of triggers, buttons, and trackpads for interacting with the world. Roomscale VR, in fact, was initially one of the major selling points of the Vive because
you were able to physically move around in virtual worlds by setting up boundaries in your living room or wherever you decided to set it up. Since the release of
the Vive, however, quite a few vendors are now adding room-scale VR technology
to their own setups in an effort to offer a more immersive experience.
Whats unique about the Vive when compared to other headsets, aside from its
design and other slight specification differences, is the support that goes behind it
from HTC and Valve. Not only do these companies provide installation services in
select cities to get you up and running with device setup, installing the software,
ensuring proper cable management, etc., but they also offer a Vive Business Edition for $1,200 that includes a Dedicated Business Edition support line as well as
other additional accessories.
CREDIT: HTC
The HTC Vive comes with two wireless controllers in the box as opposed to
selling them as separate accessories. One of its biggest selling points is roomscale VR where you can actually move around in a defined space in VR.
51
Multi-Purpose
VR
Oculus Rift
CREDIT: OCULUS
The base Oculus Rift package comes with the headset, a sensor, and an Xbox One
controller. But the option for adding two Oculus Touch controllers allows you to
interact with virtual worlds using both hands for a more immersive experience.
Originally conceived as part of a crowdfunding project

on Kickstarter, the company behind the Oculus Rift was
eventually purchased by Facebook before the full retail
unit actually hit shelves. After overcoming shipping issues
and the inability to meet demand for the product, the Oculus Rift was released earlier this year. The Rift is unique
in that the base package ships with the headset and an
Xbox One controller, but in order to get the full experience, you also need to purchase Oculus Touch controllers,
which were only recently released. That total Rift and
Touch combination costs $798, which puts it right on par
with the HTC Vive.
The interesting thing about the Vive and the Rift is that
they are similar in so many ways that the only differences
are really the ecosystems. Each headset has its own default store to purchase games and applications, but work
is being down to open up those channels. Room-scale VR
was once unique to Vive, but Oculus is working to make
that a reality as well. Ultimately, the decision between
these two products may come down to brand loyalty and
ongoing support, but both devices will allow you to interact with virtual spaces using multiple input options.
CREDIT: OCULUS
52
Multi-Purpose
VR
CREDIT: MICROSOFT
Microsoft continues to refine its HoloLens device, like the recent addition of being able to use three apps at once. The Windows
Holographic platform will continue to build on this foundation and will introduce even more innovations in 2017 and beyond.
Microsoft HoloLens & Windows Holographic VR

Microsofts focus in the VR space has always been on AR (augmented reality) over virtual reality, although
recent developments are pointing to a more versatile approach in the near future. The companys internal
headset, the HoloLens, stands out not merely in that is supports AR over VR, but also because it is untethered,
which gives users more freedom to move around in virtual spaces. The HoloLens has a larger barrier to entry
than most other headsets in terms of pricing, coming in at $3,000 for the Development Edition and $5,000 for
the Commercial Suite, but the company is working to also bring interesting experiences to smaller budgets.
Windows Holographic is a mixed reality platform that Microsoft recently decided to open up to VR and AR
vendors. Its a community where companies can work with Microsofts tools to develop their own headsets and
applications that work on the Windows Holographic platform. Many companies are already on-board to build
headsets, including Lenovo, HP, and Dell, and instead of costing $5,000 or even $800, most of these headsets will
start at around $300 and are considered mid-range products that dont require quite as much processing power
as some of the existing devices on the market. In other words, if youre interested in dabbling in VR but dont want
to commit to one of those more expensive packages, then it may make sense to wait until 2017 and what comes
out of the Windows Holographic community.
53
VR
For Play
For the full PlayStation VR experience, you

need the headset, a PS4 console, a PlayStation
camera, and two move controllers.
CREDIT: SONY
Sony PlayStation VR
When virtual reality first started to seem like a mainstream possibility, quite a few companies started working on their
own headsets, and while some of those fell away, Sony stuck with it and released the PlayStation VR headset in October
2016. What makes the PS VR stand out from other devices is that it currently only works on the PlayStation 4 gaming console. The base package costs $400, but in addition to a PS4 youll need a PlayStation camera to use the device. And if you
want the full experience, youll need to purchase two PlayStation Move controllers as well. Sony released a launch package
early on for $500 with all of those components included, but supply has been greatly limited.
Other than only working on PS4 consoles and being a proprietary device (at least for right now), the PlayStation VR is
similar to the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive in that you can either use a traditional game controller or two smaller individual
controllers plus head tracking to move through virtual worlds. Obviously, as of right now, PS VR is highly focused on gaming applications, but it also offers virtual cinema experiences for watching videos. Its definitely a more consumer-oriented
device with its own ecosystem, which limits its business usage potential, but again this makes VR more affordable for
those will smaller budgets.
54
VR For Multiple
Industries
CREDIT: ATHEER
Atheer AiR
One segment within the VR/AR space that lost some
favor after the failure of Google Glass is the smart glasses
market. However, over the past few years, vendors have
been quietly working on smart glasses as well as the
software behind them to make these devices more realistic for everyday use. One example is the Atheer AiR, which
is available both as a software suite and as an AiR GLASS
wearable device. AiR GLASS, as you might expect, is fully
untethered, which makes it usable in a wider range of
industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, oil and
gas, and aerospace.
Like HoloLens, Atheers AiR glasses are on the pricier
side at $3,950, but thats because the company packs so
much processing power into a small form factor, plus the
included EPU (Eternal Processing Unit). Atheers AiR Suite
can also be used as a standalone software solution for
third-party smart glasses from vendors including Epson,
ODG, Recon (which is an Intel company), and Vuzix. All of
these companies offer their own smart glasses that use
the AiR Suite as a software foundation.
One of the use cases for Atheer AiR is in the health care industry
where doctors and nurses can view patient information via smart
glasses while interacting with and caring for patients.
55
Multi-Purpose
VR Software
CREDIT: OPUSCOPE
Opuscopes Holostoria can be used in museums, for example, to

offer information about art pieces, all through an AR headset.
Opuscope Holostoria
Another software vendor in the virtual and augmented reality space is
Opuscope. Its Holostoria platform is designed to make it much easier for developers to create VR and AR experiences. Holostoria currently works with the
Windows Holographic platform and the HTC Vive, but support is coming soon for
Google Daydream and the Oculus Rift, as well. Whats special about Holostoria,
especially from an AR perspective, is that it designed to handle data in particularly interesting ways. For example, a museum might build a virtual tour application that enables patrons to walk through the building, click on holograms via the
headset, and experience immersive information about various installations.
In addition to interactive experiences in museums and art galleries,
Opuscope also likes to highlight the potential business use cases of its platform.
For example, multiple users, each wearing a headset, can collaborate from
multiple devices and share information on-the-fly. And you can also import data
models from multiple sources, such as Microsoft Remix3d and others, to make
it so that certain animations play with a simple hand gesture, for example.
56
VR Software
For Virtual Tours
InsiteVR
One of the most appealing use cases for virtual reality is pulling people into
3D models of almost anything imaginable. It doesnt all have to be fantastical
worlds it can also consist of interior and exterior designs. InsiteVR, for example,
is a platform that enables you to upload a 3D model or even convert a 2D image
into a 3D model and walk through it in virtual reality. InsiteVR is specifically designed for smartphone VR headsets, which makes it accessible to more people
and also gives it more mainstream appeal.
Imagine working as a general contractor and being tasked with building and
laying out a new kitchen for a client. Instead of drawing up plans or showing
them models on a screen, you can use VR to also let them move through the
space, look around inside of it in 360 degrees, and tell you what they think
about the design in real-time. Its also a great way to give tours in a virtual
space because you dont have to be in the same room during a walkthrough.
InsiteVR lets you walk through 3D models or even view
2D images as 3D models, as with this panoramic photo.
CREDIT: INSITEVR
57
VR Software
For 3D Modeling
CREDIT: IRISVR
IrisVRs Prospect software lets you make notes within a 3D model

and then call them out to other users when they enter the space.
IrisVR Prospect
IrisVR is another vendor offering software solutions designed for exploring 3D
models, but its much more focused on the building aspects of interior and exterior design. IrisVR actually offers two different software solutions that focus on
two different customer focuses. The first is its Prospect software, which can be
used with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive to convert 3D models created on a desktop
into fully interactive virtual environments. The other software is Scope, which
is designed for Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR headsets and can be
used to view 360-degree panoramic photos in virtual reality.
Whats unique about IrisVR Prospect, in particular, is that it supports
Sketchup, OBJ, Revit, and Rhino software files, which are all used to make 3D
designs. But instead of simply putting a 3D model into VR and walking through
it, you can interact with the models in interesting ways. For example, you can
make notes on the 3D space to point out potential structural weaknesses in a
design. Or you can change the position of the sun in the virtual sky to see how
various angles of sunlight will affect different elements. This allows designers
to think more granularly about their designs and fix issues during planning to
avoid bigger problems down the line.
58
VR Software
For 3D Modeling
Envelop
In addition to companies working on the hardware side of virtual and
augmented reality, there are hundreds upon hundreds of developers and
vendors working on building VR and AR experiences for consumer and
business usage. Envelop is one of those companies, offering a platform
specifically designed to work with Windows on PCs. The platform is unique
in that it not only supports the newest 3D applications and experiences, but
it can also work with 2D websites and applications. In Excel, for instance,
you can create bar graphs and other data visualizations and then see them
in 3D right before your eyes. Envelop for Windows works with both the HTV
Vive and the Oculus Rift as long as the computer is running Windows 10.
CREDIT: ENVELOP
Envelop for Windows lets you build graphs in Microsoft

Excel, for example, and then view them in 3D.
VR Software For
Simulations
MetaVR
It used to be that the only way the
military could train soldiers was through
real-life practice and live-fire exercises.
While those approaches remain necessary, they can now be supplemented with
VR experiences for specific scenarios.
MetaVRs Virtual Realty Scene Generator
(VRSG) Windows-based software features
terrain-generation tools, a scenario editor,
and many other tools to help build realistic
3D models for learning or direct training.
For example, the U.S. Air Force recently
purchased 88 MetaVR VRSG licenses to help
train pilots on how to fly A-10 aircraft. These
simulations enable pilots to train in a wide
range of scenarios, including flying during
day or at night, as well as practice takeoff,
landing, and much more.
CREDIT: U.S. AIR FORCE AND METAVR
The U.S. Air Force is currently using MetaVRs VRSG

platform to train pilots how to fly A-10 aircraft.
59
THE LATEST PREMIUM ELECTRONICS
Lima Ultra Lets You Create Your Own Cloud

The Lima Ultra ($129.99; www.meetlima.com) doesnt enable you to create a real cloud in the usual internet
sense, but it does let you have your own in-home or in-office cloud in lieu of an online service such as Dropbox or Box (although the Lima Ultra doesnt preclude you from using those, too). The Lima Ultra is a half-pound
device with an Ethernet port on one side, which connects to your router, and a USB port on the other, which
connects to your own external hard drive (practically any type and capacity works fine). Once its hooked up,
voila, all of the devices on your wired and/or Wi-Fi network, including laptops and smartphones, can access that
external hard drive. The Lima Ultra uses military-grade 256-bit AES encryption and can work for continuous
background backup. Theres also a mobile app that lets you access files and stream media via mobile devices.
60
A New Twist On The Digital Photo Frame

Digital frames have evolved over the years to become more user-friendly, but the new Aura ($399; www.auraframes.com)
is a smart frame that takes simplicity to an almost ridiculous level. Heres its genius: Aura syncs with your smartphone to
automatically display an ever-changing collection of your best photos. If you really want to do some work, though, you can
manually adjust your collection via the Aura app.
Turn Your Smartphone Into An Instant Photo Printer

Want to share a phone photo? Theres an appand a casefor that! The Prynt Case ($149.99; www.prynt.co) lets you
slide in your iPhone or Android smartphone, snap a picture, and instantly print it out. Prynt uses smudge-resistant ZINK
(Zero Ink) technology and ZINK Sticker Paper ($19.99 for a 40-pack), and even lets you print a video: take a video using
the Prynt Case, print out a still from it, and use the Prynt app to unlock the hidden video clip.
61
Isolate
Malware
HOW TO COMBAT
ATTACKS
An unfortunate fact about using an Internet-connected computer these days, whether it is a personal or companyissued notebook, is the constant threat of malware infection. Even when taking preemptive action to combat malware
attacks, theres a fair chance one will eventually hit your notebook anyway, if for no other reason than the sheer
volume of malware that attackers introduce daily. Frighteningly, a leading security software maker reportedly
detected more than 20 million new malware strains between January and March 2015 alone. Of this number,
Trojan horses accounted for 72.75% of all newly detected malware threats, and were responsible for 76.05% of
all global computer infections. Whats startling is that these attacks included zero-day threats in which, as the
name suggests, zero days expire between when a given vulnerability is discovered and when attackers
release malware targeting the vulnerability. With malware being so prevalent and persistent, a large part of
combatting it is being able to recognize signs that a system may be infected and then knowing how to troubleshoot
the problem. Also important is what security tools are available to detect, protect against, and remove malware.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?

MULTIPLE THREATS
MULTIPLE AIMS
MULTIPLE POINTS OF ENTRY
New malware variants are constantly

being developed and released.
Malware can be designed to steal

personal or company data, hold it for
ransom, or simply wreak havoc.
One good thing about malware is

that it can often be avoided.
There are several common groups,

including viruses, worms, rootkits,
spyware, Trojans, keyloggers,
adware, and ransomware.
62
One thing all malware has in

common is an aim to infect its
victims systems.
Infections can occur when visiting an

infected website, installing infected
software or an app, using an infected
USB drive, or clicking a bad link.
WARNING SIGNS
SLOW PERFORMANCE
DISAPPEARING FILES
OTHER ODDITIES
One of the most common warning

signs is slow performance. You may
notice that applications and/or the
Internet is running noticeably more
slowly than is ordinary. If this is
happening, malware could be using
resources in the background to fuel
whatever nefarious activity it was
designed to do.
In addition to slow performance,

you might also notice that certain
programs, files, or folders take longer
to open or dont open at all. Or your
computer may take longer than usual
to shut down, or it may refuse to shut
down at all.
If you find your notebooks battery

drains quickly, your computer beeps,
or your systems fans speed up for
no obvious reason, something could
be messing with your system. Also
watch out for such things as unusual
error messages, browser toolbars
or software you didnt install, or the
disappearance of shortcuts.
WHAT TO CHECK
An easy check for system performance issues on Windows computers is to look at the processes
running in Task Manager. Press
Ctrl-Alt-Delete to open Task Manager,
and pay especially close attention
to memory or CPU resource usage.
Dont stop anything from running,
though, if youre not sure what it is.
Updates running in the background,

whether overall system updates or
security software updates, can cause
temporarily slow performance, so
check to ensure updates arent running before concluding your system
has been compromised.
WHAT TO CHECK
WHAT TO CHECK
These are common signs of malware,
particularly adware or spyware if
your browser is affected. Scour your
installed programs for anything new,
and check your browser settings
to make sure an extension wasnt
installed without your knowledge.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
SHUT IT DOWN
USE A REMOVAL TOOL
DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN
Switch off your internet connection

immediately if you suspect malware
is attempting to infect your system.
In addition to built-in tools and your

installed security software, there are
numerous malware-removal tools
available for free via the web.
Prevention is the best method for

never having to deal with malware.
Ransomware, in particular, can rarely
be dealt with in any other way than
to pay off the hacker.
If your system appears frozen, or

if you seem to be locked out from
doing anything onscreen, perform a
cold shutdown by pressing and holding the power button.
Sometimes shutting down prevents
malware from installing fully, enabling you to turn it back on and use
a malware removal tool.
Many software suites include

malware-removal tools. Programs
dedicated to the task include:
Malwarebytes
www.malwarebytes.com
Spybot
www.safer-networking.org
Ensure that, at minimum, there is a

firewall running on your computer at
all times. It's also vital to install security updates whenever available.
Make sure you don't inadvertently
click a link or open an email attachment that is in any way questionable.
63
Quick Cloud
Collaboration
KEEPS PROJECTS IN SYNC
AS THE NUMBER OF employees doing

business outside the walls of the traditional office environment increases,
companies of all sizes are adopting new
ways of getting work done. Namely,
theyre moving toward more flexible, efficient cloud-based services. Although
the purposes of online SaaS (software as
a service) options vary, users are taking
advantage of seamless conferencing, file
sharing, idea generating, and so much
more. Read on to find a service that suits
your collaborative needs.
Take Documents Offline
It seems inevitable that wireless internet availability determines when
and where you edit online documents
while you are on the road. But with
the help of the right device-specific
offline app, you dont have to postpone work until you are within range
of a Wi-Fi hotspot. Some basic apps
64
primarily let you read docs offline,

whereas more feature-packed options
let you edit and save changes to collaborative documents, spreadsheets, and
presentations. Microsoft, for instance,
provides a solution for offline workers
via Office 365s (products.office.com
/en-US/business) SharePoint Online.
Using the programs MySite tool, you can
create copies of documents on your PC
and work on them when you are offline.
Then, when you connect to the cloud
again, SharePoint automatically syncs
your work.
Dont Forget Your Webcam
Collaboration is accomplished on an
international level these days, which
means that face-to-face conversations
with globetrotting team members are
commonly conducted via LCD touchscreens. Whether youre working on a
smartphone, tablet, laptop, or PC, using
your webcam as a collaboration tool connects you to colleagues and clients more
intimately than the routine conference
call. We suggest using a videoconferencing app or software that supports
multiuser conversations. Some options
let you incorporate shared whiteboards
and simultaneous document editing.
Consider Using
File-Sharing Tools
If you need to share documents
that dont contain particularly sensitive
data, you can do so using a file-sharing
service. Most file-sharing services let
you securely upload and store a limited number of gigabytes (2 to 5GB is
common) of data. Some services also
give you the tools to organize your files.
Sharing from your mobile device makes
on-the-go collaboration convenient, so
its beneficial to check out file-sharing
apps appropriate for your device.
Consider Online
Productivity Tools
A plethora of web apps fall under the
umbrella of productivity, but in no way
is that a bad thing because there is an
app for practically every task, priority,
project, and goal. For instance, you can
use project management tools to juggle
deadlines, manage to-do lists, track
workflows, and more. Adding to these
capabilities, Microsoft Office 365 gives
team members shared access to master
documents via user-created intranet
sites, so they can edit in real-time and
manage file access among customers
and partners.
Use Whiteboards
When you cant meet in person,
members of your virtual team can interact and brainstorm on full-featured
online whiteboards. Browser-based
whiteboards typically let you invite
meeting participants to create and
sketch on the same board. A number of
whiteboard apps also support real-time
collaboration in which everyone in the
session is an equal participant. This is
a good tool for tablet users who want
to share ideas on the go but need input
from others.
Accomplish More With
Web Apps That Combine
Different Capabilities
Multitaskers take note: Not only
can you collaborate with more team
members in the cloud than ever before,
but you can also complete more tasks
within the same service. Want to walk
your team through a live slide show
from a presentation sharing service? No
problem. Need to create flow diagrams
and share relevant images with your
colleagues online? Theres a service for
that. And, if your team and a third-party
developer are working on a website,
for example, you can work together in
a virtual space where anyone can add
comments, crop images, and more.
With a cloud service such as Microsoft Office 365, you can co-author Word documents, Excel sheets,
and other files with colleagues. Unlike traditional Office products, you dont have to save a separate
version for yourself or wait until another person closes the file.
If youre a Windows Phone user, you can easily access Office 365 apps from your device. Specifically,
you can start a new OneNote page, create a new Office document, or edit files saved in SharePoint.
Manage Time & Tasks

Organizing schedules and all the associated meetings, deadlines, projects,
and so forth can become a daunting
task. Among the available cloud-based
sites and mobile device apps, you can
find apps and services that will help
you manage your work life. Consider
utilizing event-based planners, grouporiented reminder apps, services for
meeting coordination, and visual to-do
lists to keep your busy life on track.
Print Documents
When you need to print content from
your mobile device, you can use one of
many available apps to print documents
to supported printers anywhere in the
world. For example, if you are working

on a presentation on your tablet while
traveling and need to distribute copies
to colleagues, you can print the presentation to a printer in your main office. Some mobile printing apps let you
search a directory for nearby printers
(such as those in hotels or airports) or
locate a printer via GPS, so if you need
to print a boarding pass or other content from your device while traveling,
you can do that, too.
Some cloud-based printing apps
and services also provide the option
to print by sending an email attachment to a supported printer, or to print
documents saved in an online storage
service.
65
PROCESSOR
SPECIAL ADVERTISING & CONTENT

FROM OUR PROCESSOR PARTNERS
Helping IT stay on pace with the
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Processor is designed for the IT world, covering the hardware

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PROCESSOR
HOW-TO
Considering An SD-WAN? Here

Are Some Things To Consider
The Pros & Cons Of Software-Defined Wide-Area Network Implementation
Whenever a new technology is
introduced, and especially if it has
an inherent benefit to enterprises,
it almost immediately enters a hype
cycle where dozens of vendors
enter the market and start singing
its praises. When it comes to networking, Gartner even puts out a
piece of research every year, fittingly called the Networking Hype
Cycle, which aims to show some of
the most hyped technologies in the
space, where theyre heading, and,
in some cases, where theyve gone.
This years edition pointed to one
technology in particular, SD-WAN
(software-defined wide-area network), as a market that now sits
atop the peak of inflated expectations.
Saying a technology is currently
in its hype cycle doesnt necessarily mean it isnt beneficial or
that customers arent actively taking advantage of it beyond the surface level. In fact, Andrew Lerner,
research vice president at Gartner,
says that even while SD-WAN is
currently in its early days, adoption is growing quickly and we
estimate there are 1,000 to 2,000
c u s t o m e r s w h o v e b o u g h t a n
SD-WAN solution using a single
vendors commercial product offering. On top of that, many service
providers and managed service providers are building SD-WAN solutions into their offerings, he adds.
When a technology is being
hyped by vendors in a growing
marketplace, what is important to
keep in mind is whether it will benefit your specific environment. Too
often people will jump onboard the
hype train and implement a new
technology just because its new.

The key with SD-WAN, and any
other innovation for that matter, is
to look carefully at the technology,
look back at your organization to
see if the technology could fix any
pain points, and then move forward
slowly with pilot programs before
going into full production. There
are many benefits to SD-WAN,
but there can also be drawbacks if
you dont go into it with measured
expectations and a steady hand.
What Is SD-WAN?
Before diving into what
SD-WAN actually is, you need to
first get an idea of where wide-area
networks have been and where they
are now. Companies typically use
WANs to connect computers and
other devices together over long
geographical distances, and they
tend to use what are called MPLS

(multiprotocol label switching) networks to get the job done. MPLS
networks are great for businesscritical applications because the
connections are fast and reliable,
but they are also more complex to
manage and can be costly if used
Key Points
SD-WAN makes it easier to provision
and manage multiple networks to make
sure applications are getting the best
possible connections at all times.
SD-WAN lets you take advantage of
other types of networks rather than just
MPLS, which are much more costly and
complex than broadband internet.
This technology is immature, so you
have to avoid backing the wrong vendor
or getting locked into one solution.
67
PROCESSOR
HOW-TO
in a retail shop and you have stores

all over the place and 4G LTE is pretty reliable in your coverage zones,
says Casemore. Its all about being
able to match the application with the
bandwidth needs and therefore doing
it more cost-effectively. Internet
broadband is a lot cheaper than
MPLS, and so is 4G LTE. If you can
use those links instead of backhauling everything through an expensive
MPLS network and yet not suffer too
Benefits Of SD-WAN
much of a compromise in application
The fact that you can use SD-WAN performance, or suffer no compromise in some cases, then its a very
to determine what type of connection
attractive proposition for you.
is best for an application and autoAnother major benefit of SD-WAN
mate that process is one of the biggest
is that it gives companies more simoverarching benefits of the technoloplified tools to put network provigy. Casemore stresses that companies
will still want to use MPLS networks sioning and automation capabilities
for key business-critical applications in place. It can be difficult and timethat need to always be up and avail- consuming for IT and networking
teams to manage traditional MPLS
able to customers, but he also points
networks on their own, but by putting
out that there are many other types of
SD-WAN in place, they can make
applications that dont need to run on
more specific configuration changes
much more expensive MPLS circuits.
In those instances, it would make and adjust on the fly to the needs of
individual applications as well as the
more sense for the application to use
needs of the business as a whole.
a broadband internet connection at
SD-WAN is a much-improved,
least as the first choice of connection.
modern, and advanced way to manYou may have a number of cloud
age the WAN, says Lerner. It
apps, and youll say, My first choice
simplifies management of network
is that I use internet broadband for
those applications and then youll equipment and lowers WAN costs.
SD-WAN is a culmination of four
have a failover choice that may be
key things: Lightweight replaceMPLS or it may be 4G LTE if youre
ment for traditional routers; dynamic load shar. . . there are upwards of 15 to 20 vendors
ing across diverse WAN
transports based on appliactive in the market right now, perhaps more
cation or business polibecause there are more entering the space all
cies; dramatically simplified ease of management,
the time. Its a very hot market, and whenever
including zero-touch conanybody sees a growth market, you see a lot
figuration, high degrees
of automation, and the
of vendors clamoring into it. The danger there
ability to configure withis that you could potentially back a vendor that o u t d e e p n e t w o r k i n g
expertise; and the ability
may have difficulty sustaining itself in future
to coexist within existing
years, and you have to consider the viability of WAN architectures and
support additional serthe vendor.
vices such as security or
- Brad Casemore, Research Director, IDC
WAN optimization.
to connect multiple branch offices

back to a central headquarters.
Today, while there certainly are
still legacy applications and internal mission-critical applications that
benefit from a solid MPLS connection, there are also more and more
business applications that actually go
over the general internet rather than
dedicated MPLS networks. Cloudbased SaaS (software-as-a-service)
applications as well as some IaaS
(infrastructure-as-a-service) solutions
typically run over the internet and
are hosted elsewhere, which is what
inherently makes them less expensive
and easier to implement for multiple
users. These applications are causing
as much as 40 to 60% of enterprise
data traffic to move to the internet and
away from traditional MPLS-based
WANs. Companies that still want to
maintain that style of connection are
taking advantage of technologies such
as SD-WAN, but they are using the
application as the barometer for what
type of network is best.
The cloud is really driving a
requirement for changes in WAN
architecture and is driving a need for
greater WAN agility and flexibility to
use different networks, not just your
MPLS, but also internet broadband
and 4G LTE, says Brad Casemore,
research director at IDC. Its sort of
like what we saw with SDN in the
68
data center, and a lot of those principles and precepts are now migrating
out to the WAN in terms of automated
provisioning, greater programmability, orchestration, and those sorts of
things. Its doing things on an application-by-application basis. What
does the application require? What
type of application is it? Where does
it reside? What sort of connectivity
makes sense for that application?
PROCESSOR
HOW-TO
Potential Drawbacks
15 to 20 dedicated vendors in the

market right now, but there are more
entering it all the time and there are
also vendors that are adding this
functionality to their existing solutions. The issue here, and in hot
markets in general, is that theres
always the potential that youll back
the wrong vendor and end up with
one that wont be in the market for
the long haul. And then theres the
issue of getting trapped in a situation with a vendor where its difficult to migrate away to another
solution in the future.
Youre locking yourself into that
vendor, says Casemore. There
arent interoperability standards
or things like SD-WAN control or
overlay. Theyre all vendor-provided solutions because at this point
theres nothing viable in terms of
open-source SD-WAN, so youre
potentially locking yourself into a
vendor. I know, for instance, ONUG
(Open Networking User Group)
is trying to promulgate standards
in SD-WAN, but thats a long way
from happening at this point.
the challenges your business faces

as well as its overall networking
Most of the potential disadvanneeds. Lerner recommends looking
tages of SD-WAN stem from the
to SD-WAN if youre struggling
fact that the technology is relatively
with WAN complexity, struggling
young (about two years old) comwith high WAN transport or equippared to traditional networking conment costs, looking to build hybrid
cepts and simply doesnt have the
WANs and refresh WAN equipment,
maturity necessary to fit every usage
or renegotiating with a managed
scenario. In fact, Lerner warns that
WAN service provider such as
many SD-WAN solutions cant yet
an MPLS and have an opportunity
address WAN optimization, which
to make a change if needed. From
means that while you do get some
there, he says companies should
of the provisioning and automation
compare vendors to find the differcapabilities, you may not be able to
ences in their approaches and then
impact network speed.
pilot at least two of them in your
Its also important to remember
environment.
that you may end up having to
Once you get to the point
self-manage or pay for the manwhere
youre testing out multiple
agement of multiple broadband
SD-WAN
solutions and trying to
providers when moving to hybrid
find
the
right
one for your environWAN, which is often facilitated
ment,
thats
when
you start to look
by SD-WAN, he adds. What that
at
your
applications
and perform
means is that because not one sinanalytics.
You
need
to
understand
gle network can meet the needs of
how
those
apps
operate,
where
every system and application withtheyre
located,
who
the
users
are,
in an organization, youll have to
and
what
type
of
connectivity
will
deal with multiple providers to get
fit them the best. There isnt going
the right mix for your environment.
to be a one-size-fits-all solution to
That can become overly complex
all of your networking problems, so
and costly if youre not careful,
you need to make sure that the venand its the exact type of scenario How To Choose A Vendor &
dor and the solution you choose is
that SD-WAN is trying to help you Implement SD-WAN
avoid.
The best place to start when try- flexible enough to meet all of your
application, policy, and general netFrom there, the other issue has ing to choose a vendor as well as
working needs.
to do with SD-WAN vendors.
to figure out whether SD-WAN is
Really think about the apps and
Casemore estimates there are about
a fit for your company is to look at
how you want to match
c o n n e c t iv i t y t o t h e m ,
It is very early days, but adoption is growing
says Casemore. Then,
you can look at the venquickly. We estimate there are 1,000 to 2,000
dor offerings. There are a
customers who have bought an SD-WAN
lot of them. Make sure the
vendor offerings give you
solution using a single vendors commercial
not only the policy model
product/offering. The early adopters are orgathats attractive to you, but
make sure the technology
nizations with large numbers of homogenous
is also secure in terms of
branches, often retail and financial services.
the overlays theyre using.
Make sure you are very
We also see service providers and managed
clear with your RFPs and
service providers building SD-WAN solutions
RFIs so that your vendor
selection process can be as
into their offerings.
comprehensive and orderly
- Andrew Lerner, Research Vice President, Gartner
as possible. P
69
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