Aliyun Is co-founding "Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory"

Shanghai, China, July 30, 2015 – Aliyun, Alibaba Group's (NYSE: BABA) cloud computing subsidiary, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) today announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Shanghai to co-found the Chinese Academy of Sciences – Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory (the Laboratory). The new research facility aims to take the study and applications of quantum theory to the next level, heralding new technologies and platforms for information security, connectivity and computing. Chunli Bai, President of CAS, Jianwei Pan, Professor and Executive Vice President of University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and a CAS member, and Alibaba Group Chief Technology Officer Jian Wang signed the MoU at the ceremony in Shanghai today. Under the terms of the MoU, the Laboratory will conduct pioneering research in quantum theory with a view to discovering ground-breaking security techniques for e-commerce and data centers, as well as to enhancing computing performance. Both parties will jointly promote the research, development, dissemination and application of quantum computing to lay a strong and stable technical foundation for China to push the envelope on quantum computing. "The CAS - Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory will undertake frontier research on systems that appear the most promising in realizing the practical applications of quantum computing. The laboratory will combine the technical advantages of Aliyun in classical calculation algorithms, structures and cloud computing with those of CAS in quantum computing, quantum analog computing and quantum artificial intelligence, so as to break the bottlenecks of Moore's Law and classical computing," said Professor Pan. Pan is a CAS member, and spearheads a group of experts who have played a key role in enabling China to become an international research hub in the field of quantum theory. Aliyun is committed to identifying opportunities that are special to participate in the world of advanced science and technology. Jian Wang of Alibaba Group said, "This investment in the development and application of quantum computing reflects the scale and clarity of our long-term vision to collaborate with partners in an ecosystem model towards the sustained development of the economy and society. New discoveries in information security and computing capacity based on quantum computing could be as significant in the future as big data technologies are today." As China's premier scientific research institution, CAS will leverage its and USTC's resources, including infrastructure for large-scale quantum communications, to foster innovation and build a pipeline for talent. Aliyun will bring a cutting-edge cloud computing platform and an excellent multi-disciplinary research and development team to the collaboration. The laboratory will recruit top-notch talent to build a "dream team" for quantum computing research. The team will consist of internationally-recognized scientists who will strengthen the scientific community in China, and also put the laboratory on the world map for quantum theory with the publication of significant scientific research. Source:>>

Business Cloud is Getting More Intelligent

Companies are asking questions like how to get more intelligent solutions from ever growing business cloud. Questions like how to connect different types of cloud solutions more intelligently to use the depth of cloud computing more effectively. i.e connecting public and private cloud from a single central point across the business.  Some companies like Accenture calls "the next iteration of hybrid cloud" as "Intelligent Business Cloud".  Increasing number of companies realise that they need to use different types of cloud services in order to meet up customer needs and satisfactions such as public or private cloud services, or the combination of both services as hybrid cloud. The "intelligent business cloud" is thought to be a cohesive cloud platform that spans and manages multiple clouds from multiple technology providers, all from a central control dashboard that provides a single view of all cloud services across the organisation.  Cloud computing is more under pressure with small and big organisations competing ever faster today. They need to compete with each other more faster, with more flexibility,  with fewer resources. They are pushed towards creating faster differentiation in this strongly growing market place. There is a essential need for cohesion while creating differentiation for consuming everything as a service. Companies should have vision for an open, scalable, integrated platforms. They need more connectivity between fundamental components of digital cloud business platforms. Cloud technology is not a trend anymore, but rather is the basis from which companies will carry on growing depending upon how intelligent their business cloud is.

Wind powered Data Centre to Support Facebook's 1.5bn Users

Wind powered Data Centre to Support Facebook's 1.5bn Users Facebook founder has announced from hisd Facebook page  that Facebook's fifth data center will be built in Fort Worth, Texas. He says in his page: "Our data centers power Facebook and will help connect billions of people around the world in the coming years. Fort Worth will be one of the most advanced and energy efficient data centers in the world. It will use 100% renewable energy and it will actually add 200 megawatts of new wind energy to the Texas power grid. It will be built using hardware designed and developed through the Open ComputeProject. This is just one example of new technologies we’re building to create internet services at planetary scale. We’re grateful to the Fort Worth community for helping to make the world more open and connected, and we’re glad to be a part of that community.". Facebook will invest at least $500 million in the global data center, a spokesperson said, and will employ at least 40 full-time employees. The center will also be powered entirely by renewable energy, Tom Furlong, Facebook's vice president of infrastructure, wrote in a blog post. As part of the deal, the 1.4-billion user social network brought 200 megawatts of new wind energy to Texas, Furlong wrote. Facebook opened its first data center in Prineville, Oregon, in 2011. It has also built centers in Altoona, Iowa, Forest City, North Carolina and Lulea, Sweden.

From The Cloud To The Fog

The Internet wave of the 1990s connected 1 billion users, and the mobile wave of the 2000s connected another 2 billion. But the IoT has the potential to connect as many 50 billion “things” to the Internet by 2020, ranging from bracelets to cars to houses.  Fog computing, like many IT trends and advancements, grew out of the need to address certain major concerns: The need for real-time processing of incoming data Limitations on available bandwidth Fog computing is defined by specific characteristics that make it a suitable platform for the IoT, including low latency and location awareness, widespread geographical distribution, mobility, its very large number of nodes, the predominant role of wireless access, the strong presence of streaming and real-time applications, and heterogeneity. Fog computing places some transactions and resources at the edge of the cloud rather than establishing channels for cloud storage, processing and use. In so doing, it reduces the need for bandwidth by not sending every bit of information to the cloud, instead aggregating and processing data at certain access points. Using such a distributed strategy can lower costs and optimize resources. Read More >>