PART I – Hyperbole in the cloud: Welcome to the Wild, Wild West
July 9th, 2010 // Cloud Computing, Software as a Service // Justin Alexander
The state of the cloud
It’s hard to find a technology magazine, blog or portal today that doesn’t contain some article or advertisement for cloud computing. It’s even on the evening news!
All of this excitement is for good reason. The migration of computing capacity from private corporate networks to shared public clouds represents a huge opportunity to make IT departments more responsive to the businesses they support. New technology solutions can be deployed more quickly, additional capacity can be added to existing systems “Just in Time” (JIT), and unneeded capacity can be removed before the next billing cycle begins.
The ability of cloud hosting providers to meet demand for heterogeneous technology solutions using a generic pool of computing cycles also promises to dramatically lower costs for companies of all sizes. Computing capacity appears to be nearly unlimited, and customers only pay for the resources that they use.
The analysts certainly agree. In a recent study, Gartner predicted that cloud computing would grow from $58.6 billion in revenue in 2009 to $63.8 billion in 2010. By 2014, the global cloud computing market is expected to be an impressive $148.8 billion. That represents an annual growth rate of more than 16%.
A modern land grab
But the cloud is not limited to silver linings. In fact, there’s a lot of vapor up there. This is an immature market that has just completed its second wave of incubation. There are no clear leaders yet. Literally thousands of startups and established vendors are vying for their piece of the pie. Commonly accepted standards, operating procedures and legal precedents don’t exist. We’re effectively witnessing a virtual land grab, not unlike the Western expansion experienced in the 19th Century.
A point of convergence
It’s easy to be skeptical about such glowing predictions. Indeed, no one – not even Gartner, can reliably predict the future. However, I personally believe that the cloud computing services trend is real. The most compelling evidence at my disposal is the observation that cloud computing isn’t a single product or even a specific service. Rather, it the convergence of several technical and business trends that, when combined, create the basis for a new generation of computing solutions that solve real-world problems. In no particular order, these trends are:
Virtualization
Simply put, the cloud would not exist without virtualization because it allows the cloud to scale efficiently. Virtualization is what transforms a server from a single-tenant platform dedicated to a single purpose into a generic set of computer cycles that can be consumed by anyone to accomplish anything.
Gartner predicts that 60 percent of server workloads will be virtualized with an average density of 10 servers per physical server by 2013. That equates to 5,708 new virtual machines being created each and every hour of every day. They also predict that this workload will be achieved using only 10 percent of the total number of physical servers sold within the same timeframe. In other words, 60 percent of the world’s computations will be accomplished using only 10% of the physical server capacity.
In my next blog post, I’ll share more trends that are leading to new computing solutions.
Compliments of FileMan Research
Read MoreMassachusetts Hospital Reports 800,000 Personal Records Missing
Health Care IT
By: Brian T. Horowitz
2010-07-21
South Shore Hospital in Massachusetts reveals that backup files containing patient and employee information have disappeared. An investigation to determine what happened to the data is under way.
A Massachusetts hospital is under scrutiny after hundreds of thousands of patient and employee records went missing earlier this year. The missing files underscore the problems health care providers face when balancing patient privacy and the need to store massive amounts of data, especially as new federal rules for electronic health records come into play.
South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Mass., reported July 19 that it’s investigating the potential loss of 800,000 backup files containing personal, health and financial information of patients, physicians and other individuals connected with the medical facility.
The files were sent to a data-management company to be destroyed on Feb. 26, but the hospital was informed on June 17 that only a portion of the backup records had been received and destroyed. It’s unknown when during the four-month period that the files disappeared.
“We engaged a professional data-management company to arrange for the destruction and shipping and it was within this shipping process that these files were lost,” Sarah Darcy, spokesperson for South Shore Hospital, told eWEEK. “It was not something that happened on our campus.”
South Shore provides acute, outpatient, home health and hospice care and is the largest independently operated hospital in Eastern Massachusetts.
The files may contain information from patients, employees, physicians, volunteers, donors, vendors and other business partners who were affiliated with the hospital between Jan. 1, 1996, and Jan. 6, 2010.
South Shore said it arranged for the files to be destroyed because they were in a file format it no longer uses. According to the hospital, the files may contain personal information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, data on diagnoses and treatment, and bank account and credit-card information.
The hospital has been in contact with the Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s office and Department of Public Health as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on this matter, but wouldn’t disclose the name of the data-management company or what type of storage device was involved.
The hospital will notify affected individuals in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the hospital is directing people who may be affected to notify credit agencies of possible theft.
Darcy declined to get into specifics due to the ongoing investigation but expressed regret for the incident and said the hospital will make sure the problem doesn’t reoccur.
“We’ve apologized and want to apologize as much possible because in the end we take responsibility for it,” said Darcy. “We are reviewing the policies and procedures, and the outcome of that review will certainly prevent this from ever happening again. What exactly the steps that will be taken post-review, I can’t say yet because the review is still under way.”
Darcy insisted that it’s unlikely the missing data has been accessed.
“There is no evidence from our investigation or from anything that has been reported to the Massachusetts general’s office that any of this information has been accessed — no evidence whatsoever,” said Darcy. “It would take special equipment, special software and special knowledge and technical skills to access any of the information on the files, let alone decipher it.”
As hospitals move forward with plans for electronic medical records in response to the new meaningful-use guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, data security and privacy will remain a concern.
“We thought we were doing the right thing as far as being stewards of sensitive information,” Darcy said.
Nevertheless, when data goes missing, communication with those affected will be essential. “We are dedicated to being transparent, and this is about informing the community,” the spokesperson said.
Compliments of FileMan Research
Read MoreHouse Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a Hearing on Efforts to Promote the Adoption and Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology
TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2010
Congressional Testimony on Meaningful Use
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a Hearing on Efforts to Promote the Adoption and Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology on July 20, 2010. Text of the testimony provided at the meeting is below the videos:
Testimony By David Blumenthal M.D.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Watch 5:13 video at http://ahier.blogspot.com/2010/07/congressional-testimony-on-meaningful.html
Compliments of Fileman Research
Read MoreGet your customer service act together…. Or else..
July 20, 2010 — John Moore
As customers we have all experienced bad customer service at some point. The impact of this negative experience can range from minor grumbling to completely walking away from a given brand or product (ask me why I won’t buy another Ford).
In this poor economy leaders often fall back to looking at customer service as a cost center and this viewpoint is common across the public and private sector. The focus shifts to revenue generating activities like giving out more parking tickets or rushing products to market. Customer service organizations see reductions in headcount, lower quality tools, and lack of training as the customer service organization is not seen as the revenue generators.
This is clearly not a smart decision in most cases and new research makes it clear that “Customer Service Is Crucial To Repeat Business and Profitability“. According to this research “61% of Americans report that quality customer service is more important to them in today’s economic environment, and will spend an average of 9% more when they believe a company provides excellent service“. Combine this with the fact that more than 80% of consumers use recommendations from friends or family in the decision-making process and it is easy to understand why bad customer service can easily lead to poor sales, lost customers, and ultimately to lay-offs and company closure. Did I go too far?
When I talk to organizations about Social Support Communities I like to point out that poor customer service costs companies $83 Billion annually. $83 billion, that is a number that should catch your eye. As you look at where you are making cuts in your organization weigh the short-term and long-term impact of these cuts. If you do not, you’re going to end up being one of those companies being discussed in next years studies.
John
If you need help from The Lab, drop me a note. If you would like to view more case studies and interviews, or just want to read about The Social Ecosystem, click on the links and let me know your thoughts.
Read more at: http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=155111771&gid=1854392&type=member&item=25186644&articleURL=http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/07/20/get-your-customer-service-act-together-or-else/&urlhash=geqd&goback=.gde_1854392_member_25186644
Read MoreThe Debate Over Electronic Medical Records
Forbes.com Ed Sperling, 07.19.10, 06:00 AM EDT by Ed Sperling
How the rules about electronic medical records will change our perceptions about all information technology.
After more than a year of review, the federal government has finally released its “meaningful use” guidelines for electronic medical records. For the health care field this is particularly meaningful because it’s the first step taken toward adding the kinds of consistency and efficiency through IT that most corporations take for granted.
Electronic records can eliminate duplication in testing, bring together complete medical histories, disclose adverse drug interactions, reduce errors in patient care, add transparency into a system that has been largely closed to review, and set forth best practices for treating illnesses. The meaningful use regulations allow hospitals and physicians to recoup their IT investments toward this end, at once both modernizing an antiquated health care system and helping to reduce the overhead associated with medical care.
All of this makes sense on paper. The whole purpose of IT is to improve efficiency and make information more readily available to those who are qualified to receive it. But it’s also about to set off a debate that will likely last years, if not decades, about the trade-offs between efficiency and patient care, patients’ rights and what constitutes adequate care. This is the kind of debate that hasn’t taken place outside of groups like the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association; it’s now wide open for public review.
The players in this debate will include lawyers, health care providers, insurance companies, chief information officers, chief medical information officers, chief security officers, technology companies, drug companies, lobbyists and government and private oversight agencies and committees. They will define the types of records that need to be kept, how that information is used and by whom, how it should be stored and new ways to utilize that information for improving treatment and identifying trends.
What’s not readily apparent, though, is the effect this will have on the rest of the technology world. Throughout the history of IT there has never been a national debate on how technology gets applied to problems. Decisions typically have been made based upon the needs of a particular company and the capabilities of technology producers to meet those needs. One size doesn’t fit all, and best practices often are closely guarded secrets.
To be sure, these best practices can be a competitive advantage or disadvantage, depending upon both short-term and long-term outcomes and how effectively technology is applied. Some companies have scored big with technology. Others have not. Witness the widespread use of commodity Intel ( IN TC — news — people )-based servers in the 1990s, which created massive integration headaches and caused energy use to spike unnecessarily. Those problems are only now being addressed through virtualization and outsourcing into clouds.
I’ve seen far too many mistakes by doctors in e.g. sending letters to other doctors. Have had to correct many of these to make sure I would not be disadvantaged in my own health. So frankly I don’t t.…
While the meaningful use rules are vague about the exact technology, over time they’re going to become very clear about the processes involved in standardizing records so that when a patient visits one hospital the records can be transferred from another hospital or doctor’s office. This will foster debate about technology practices that have never been out in the open, including the costs of this technology, acceptable times for implementation, upgrade schedules, as well as what works best with what and for what purpose.
In the end, meaningful use will foster meaningful debate, and that debate will reach well beyond the medical field to expose some other closely guarded secrets.
Ed Sperling is the editor of several technology trade publications and has covered technology for more than 20 years. Contact him at esperlin@yahoo.com.
Read MoreIf you want to see my LinkedIn profile, click on this button:
