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Curious about cloud computing? Here’s everything you need to know
Ask people what cloud computing is, and you’re likely to get a dozen different explanations, which probably doesn’t help you understand any better. The truth is, cloud computing has so many different applications it can be tough to define it on the spot. For that, you deserve a more complete explanation. Here’s everything you need to know about cloud computing!

Cloud computing refers to moving processes and data off of the devices right in front of you (desktops, phones, etc.) and onto the internet, where they are stored in remote servers and used as needed. The “cloud” refers to the many server networks where all these data/services now exist, waiting to be accessed by users.

An excellent example of this shift is Microsoft Office. Prior to the cloud, Microsoft Office was sold as a single license and a physical disc that you uploaded to your local hard drive so you could run the software. Now (while that older model still exists), Microsoft Office is primarily offered as a subscription service that is offered over the cloud via the Office 365 suite of services, as well as a web app. It’s no longer necessary to have a physical disc, and its easier to access a bundle of specific services your home or business needs.

More => https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-cloud-computing/

By Paul Teich
This article focuses on the “under the hood” machine learning (ML) work IBM announced last week at Think 2018, work that will soon accelerate Watson and PowerAI training performance even further. This coincidentally highlights IBM’s partnership with NVIDIA and access to NVIDIA’s NVLink interconnect technology for GPUs.

Last year, I discussed an IBM paper that described how to train a ML image classification model in under an hour at 95% scaling efficiency and 75% accuracy, using the same data sets that Facebook used for training. IBM ran that training benchmark in the first half of 2017 using the 64 POWER8-based Power System S822LC for High Performance Computing systems. Each of those systems had four NVIDIA Tesla P100 SXM2-connected GPUs and used IBM’s PowerAI software platform with Distributed Deep Learning (DDL).

IBM’s new paper, “Snap Machine Learning,” describes a new IBM machine learning (ML) library that more effectively uses available network, memory and heterogeneous compute resources for ML training tasks. It is also based on a new platform—IBM Power Systems AC922 server. IBM’s AC922 has four SXM2-connected NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPUs attached to dual-POWER9 processors via NVIDIA’s latest NVLINK 2.0 interface.

More => https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2018/03/26/ibm-has-ai-training-advantage/#7e1ee1d45434

Cloud computing has been developing rapidly since the term was coined in 2006. It’s played an integral role in the transformation of many businesses over the last decade, particularly valued for the reliability, scalability and versatility that cloud technology brings compared to traditional dedicated servers. And this race to the cloud will only gather pace as technology matures.

Having the ability to understand, evaluate and implement cloud computing is crucial for today’s business leaders, regardless of whether they operate in IT or not. As business needs evolve, so too does cloud infrastructure.

There has been a strong growth within the private and hybrid cloud computing market, and in the next twelve months we can only expect that the technology will gain further importance and adoption.

Research company IDC’s findings back this prediction up, by pointing out that a year ago traditional data centres accounted for 62 per cent of IT infrastructure spending, while public cloud captured 23 per cent and private cloud, 15 per cent.

Illustrating a rapid shift, IDG predicts that by 2020 data centres will represent 50 per cent of the market, with public cloud forming just under a third of the market and private cloud making up 20 per cent. In simple terms, data centres’ importance is diminishing, while public and private cloud technology’s value and usability is growing and gaining traction.

More => https://www.techradar.com/news/how-cloud-computing-will-evolve-over-the-next-12-months