Cool things happening with AWS and the public cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is participating in a really cool event this week.  On Wednesday April 26, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will take part in a panel on the role of advanced imaging and cloud technologies in scientific research and filmmaking. 

Peggy Whitson is the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), and just broke the record for the most time in space.  She'll be joining the panel from the ISS, via the highest resolution video ever broadcast live from that location.   You can watch the live stream here.

The high quality of the live stream is made possible by an encoder from AWS Elemental Media Services, which was delivered to the ISS by a Japanese cargo craft last December.  The crew integrated it into the UHD-ready cameras that were already aboard the station.

The really empowering piece of the public cloud innovation story is that the cloud is so accessible, even individuals and the smallest organizations can use it.  For example, this computer programmer used Amazon Polly and Raspberry Pi to build assistive technology for his son.  This is an amazing story:

The AWS platform is driving business and municipal innovation as well.  Seattle's municipal utility used AWS to migrate it's LoadSEER application to the cloud in 2014, and is now looking at how to use the cloud to support a more distributed grid.  A manufacturer of mining equipment uses an IoT-enabled cloud solution to manage the performance of trucks and machinery.  A payments processor uses big data in the cloud to analyze transactions, extract relevant data, and deliver insights to merchants.  An elevator company adopted a cloud service to deliver predictive maintenance and firmware management.  You can find more examples of innovation and first-to-market strategies in this Security Intelligence article.

It's clear that the public cloud is the place to be, and not just for innovation purposes.  Scalability, ROI, ease of use … all of these factors are reasons to take the public cloud seriously.  There are also some obstacles cloud adoption:

• What about security?  How do I know my application is secure and my data remains private?
• How can I ensure that my connectivity to the SaaS applications and public cloud will be stable?
• What about the investments I've made in my on-premises infrastructure?

These are all serious considerations, and Barracuda has the solutions and expertise to help you answer these questions.  When you're ready, visit our corporate site for more information on our solutions for AWS.  The new Barracuda Cloud Ready initiative can help you move to the cloud faster and with more confidence.  It will also save you money and help you find any gaps in your cloud migration plan. 

Barracuda offers a 30-day free evaluation on most products and 24-7 award-winning support with no phone trees.  Take a look at everything we have to offer at fr.blog.barracuda.com.