MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside Coogan, Brydon embark on CAMPUS • ACS Doha school culinary odyssey awarded international in The Trip to Italy accreditation P | 4 P | 8-9 MARKETPLACE • Safari 10/20/30 promotion kicks off today P | 6 FOOD • How to make the perfect Chicken Wings P | 7 HEALTH Though cloud computing has permeated • Yoga may reduce our lives, myths swirl around the fatigue after concept. Majority don’t have a clue what breast cancer it is, but most use it in their everyday life. P | 11 TECHNOLOGY • Nintendo defiant as mobile games leave Mario lagging P | 12 Learn Arabic FIVE MYTHS ABOUT • Learn commonly used Arabic words and their meanings THE CLOUD P | 13 2 PLUS | MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2014 COVER STORY Understanding cloud computing The research firm Gartner predicts that companies will spend $788bn on public cloud services in the next four years. And the McKinsey consulting firm forecasts that cloud technology could have an economic impact of $1.7 trillion to $6.2 trillion a year by 2025. By Michael Skok didn’t understand what “cloud computing” meant, The cloud can help them get by without hiring lots with 51 percent believing that stormy weather could of geeks. loud computing has crossed the threshold interfere with it and 54 percent saying they never from a technology issue to a matter of polit- used it — even though 95 percent actually did. 2. Cloud computing is a fad. ical and cultural debate. It is at the center Cloud-computing powers online banking and shop- Although “the cloud” became a buzzword in popu- Cof the controversy over the US National ping, email programs such as Gmail and Yahoo, social lar culture in the past few years, neither the concept Security Agency’s collection of data in the name of networks, online photo and music storage, and dig- nor the technologies underpinning it are all that new. counterterrorism. It has also launched conversa- ital libraries such as Netflix and Kindle. It’s also The idea that computing should be organised like a tions about the future of the workplace in the age of increasingly what supports American workplaces. public utility goes as far back as 1961, when computer telecommuting. But though the cloud has permeated The annual North Bridge Future of Cloud Computing scientist John McCarthy talked about it at MIT’s our lives, myths swirl around the concept. Survey found that 75 percent of companies were centennial celebration. It wasn’t until the Internet using cloud services in 2013, up from 67 percent in matured, however, that the vision became practical. 1. Cloud computing is for geeks. 2012. Salesforce.com began to deliver applications through A recent episode of CBS’s The Good Wife captured The basic concept is that data and applications a website in 1999, and Amazon launched its cloud- all-too-common confusion about cloud computing. stored remotely can be delivered over the Internet, based services in 2002. “Do me a favour,” the character played by Julianna turning computing into a utility like electricity and What’s changed more recently is the level of Margulies asks her son. “I need all my company con- water. “The cloud” is just a metaphor; nothing actu- investment in the cloud — and that ensures it isn’t tacts saved from my company cloud to my cloud, my ally happens in the sky. For individuals, it means we going away anytime soon. The research firm Gartner personal cloud. Can you do that?” Her son replies, can use our computers, phones or tablets to access predicts that companies will spend $788bn on pub- “Mom, you have no idea what any of those words our information wherever we are. For businesses, lic cloud services in the next four years. And the mean, do you?” it means they can access computing resources on McKinsey consulting firm forecasts that cloud tech- She’s not alone. A survey commissioned by Citrix a scale once available only to companies with enor- nology could have an economic impact of $1.7 trillion in 2012 found that a majority of American adults mous amounts of money and technology know-how. to $6.2 trillion a year by 2025. PLUS | MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2014 3 When businesses move from on-site facilities to consolidated cloud data centers, it saves energy and cuts pollution — the same way relying on power companies is better for the environment than if everyone had to run their own generator. 3. The cloud is not secure. assets? In most cases, the answer is anxiety involves concern about gov- 5. The cloud is bad for the Security concerns are the main no. Cloud data centers and networks ernment snooping. That worry was environment. barrier to cloud adoption, as reflected are attractive targets because of the understandably amped up last year This myth has been perpetuated in the North Bridge survey. When huge numbers of records they hold. by revelations that the NSA was min- by Greenpeace campaigns and stories people talk about security threats, But the major cloud service providers ing data from nine cloud-dependent such as the New York Times’ “cloud fac- they’re usually thinking about hack- can invest far more heavily in security Internet companies and had infil- tories” series, which stated that the ing, identity theft, malware and phish- than the average business can, and the trated Google’s and Yahoo’s clouds. “foundation of the information indus- ing schemes. And it isn’t comforting to average business remains pretty vul- Cloud providers and tech executives try is sharply at odds with its image hear reports like the one on New Year’s nerable. In a 2011 survey, 90 percent of have responded by ramping up their of sleek efficiency and environmental Day that hackers had compromised 4.6 companies said they had been hacked encryption efforts while aggressively friendliness.” million usernames and phone numbers in the previous 12 months. Security pressing President Barack Obama to There’s no question that data cent- associated with Snapchat accounts. experts will tell you that the remain- reform government surveillance. ers consume huge amounts of energy. The key is to assess relative risk. Are ing 10 percent just didn’t realize they’d In the same way that retailers have But when businesses move from on- local computers, networks and serv- been hacked. convinced customers that their per- site facilities to consolidated cloud ers better protected than cloud-based A different strain of cloud-security sonal and financial data are secure data centers, it saves energy and cuts when they make online transactions, pollution — the same way relying on cloud service providers will eventually power companies is better for the envi- be able to assuage fears about security. ronment than if everyone had to run their own generator. In one simulation 4. The cloud is not reliable. last year, researchers at Lawrence There have been more than a few Berkeley National Laboratory and news stories about outages affecting Northwestern University estimated the big cloud providers. Pretty much that if all US companies shifted email, everyone went down at least briefly spreadsheets and customer manage- in 2013, with notable outages at com- ment to the cloud, they would shrink panies including Yahoo, which had their computing energy footprints by problems delivering mail for five days 87 percent. And a 2010 report from last month; Verizon’s Terremark cloud Pike Research predicted that cloud service, which took down HealthCare. computing could cut global data-center gov for several hours in October; and energy use by more than a third by Amazon.com, which lost millions 2020. in sales during a half-hour crash in The major cloud service provid- August. ers are also trying to be greener. But what about all the outages that For instance, Apple announced last don’t make news? The ones in smaller spring that it had achieved 100 per- corporate data centers? Or when your cent renewable energy at all its data laptop freezes or your PC crashes? centers. Google is coming up with Those can be devastating because there ways to cut energy demand and cool isn’t the same level of backup, redun- its data centers more efficiently. And dancy and resiliency that cloud provid- Facebook has a Swedish data center ers can offer to contain the damage. that is cooled by Arctic air and pow- Studies by Microsoft and others have ered by hydroelectric sources. Going confirmed that when businesses shift forward, we can expect cloud providers to the cloud, they see improved service to reduce their environmental impact availability. even further. WP-Bloomberg 4 PLUS | MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2014 CAMPUS ACS Doha school awarded international accreditation CS Doha International “We are so proud of this achieve- School has been awarded full ment, especially that we completed the accreditation by the Western phases prior to the final application for AAssociation of Schools and the MYP authorization in two and a Colleges (WASC), one of six regional half years, which is very rare. accrediting associations in the US. “We are so grateful for the support It has also been granted full of the families of ACS Doha who have authorisation by the International recognized the incredible amount of Baccalaureate (IB) for the prestigious work that has gone into achieving these Middle Years Programme (MYP) and milestones and have supported us all Diploma Programme (IBDP) after the way.” commented Dale Taylor, High a year-long stringent and dedicated School and Middle School Principal. application and development process. “The WASC accreditation and IB The entire ACS Doha school faculty, authorisations signify the standard staff and students participated in the of excellence we are able to offer our process to develop their school offering, students, from our Early Childhood to align it with the values of WASC through our High School; ACS Doha and the IB.