Abstract:

5G has created an unprecedented opportunity for information technology startups and the established cloud industry to become a part of the next generation telecommunications infrastructure - to radically change it through softwarization, AI and edge computing. I will describe the scientific advances and business needs for bringing us to where we are today and then cast an eye to the future in sharing with the audience a vision for where things are going with telecommunications, including key enablers and potential surprises on the horizon.  This will set the context for describing the opportunity ahead for the engineering and research community in the next several years, and beyond, as we stay at the forefront of the modernization that will enable ubiquitous computing via telecommunication networks propelled by innovations in the cloud and edge. I will next move into near-term strategy with Microsoft standing up of a new business division called Azure for Operators (AFO). AFO products are aimed at bringing telecommunications industry into the cloud, as an integral component of Microsoft’s global infrastructure. I will describe the motivation and vision that led to the creation of AFO, its mission, and the significant technical and scientific challenges, which when overcome will lead to the inevitable convergence of two massive industries and new opportunities for established companies, startups, universities and research institutes.

Abstract:

Depending on who you ask, Cloud Computing was either something that emerged as a paradigm shift about a decade ago, or alternatively it is just the last in a long line of incremental developments in how we have been doing computing since the 1950-ies. Be that as it may, it is nonetheless clear that the cloud is not in your basement; if you are using cloud computing, your data is being processed and stored on somebody else's computer. Cloud computing is increasingly being used not only to support critical infrastructure applications, but actually forms a vital part of them. This talk will delve into different aspects of cloud computing for critical infrastructures and outline some security requirements that are relevant to apply to critical infrastructure cloud applications.5G has created an unprecedented opportunity for information technology startups and the established cloud industry to become a part of the next generation telecommunications infrastructure - to radically change it through softwarization, AI and edge computing. I will describe the scientific advances and business needs for bringing us to where we are today and then cast an eye to the future in sharing with the audience a vision for where things are going with telecommunications, including key enablers and potential surprises on the horizon.  This will set the context for describing the opportunity ahead for the engineering and research community in the next several years, and beyond, as we stay at the forefront of the modernization that will enable ubiquitous computing via telecommunication networks propelled by innovations in the cloud and edge. I will next move into near-term strategy with Microsoft standing up of a new business division called Azure for Operators (AFO). AFO products are aimed at bringing telecommunications industry into the cloud, as an integral component of Microsoft’s global infrastructure. I will describe the motivation and vision that led to the creation of AFO, its mission, and the significant technical and scientific challenges, which when overcome will lead to the inevitable convergence of two massive industries and new opportunities for established companies, startups, universities and research institutes.

Abstract:

In the past few decades, industrial automation has become a driving force in a wide range of industries. There is a broad agreement that the deployment of computing resources close to where data is created is more business-friendly, as it can address system latency, privacy, cost, and resiliency challenges that a pure cloud computing approach cannot address. This computing paradigm is now known as Edge Computing. Having said that, the full potential of this transformation for both of computing and data analytics is far from being realized. The industrial requirements are much more stringent than what a simple edge computing paradigm can deliver. This is particularly true when mission-critical industrial applications have strict requirements on real-time decision making, operational technology innovation, data privacy, and running environment. In this talk, I aim to provide a few answers by combining real-time computing strengths into modern data- and intelligence-rich computing ecosystems. I will also explore the topic of Edge AI, which is a process in which the Edge systems uses machine learning algorithms to process data generated by the user’s devices.

Abstract:

The relentless drive to migrate workloads into the cloud is facing various obstacles; one aspect of this is increased regulatory constraints regarding data privacy and integrity (HIPAA, GDPR). Another aspect is a sharper focus on security and compliance, caused in part by an increase in cyber attacks.

Current cloud systems are notorious for the lack of transparency of their security features. Zero trust architectures provide a way to work around this problem, moving the trust from operational assurance by the cloud provider to technical assurance that can be verified by the user.

In this talk we present some of the pain points at zero trust architectures, providing an overview of issues and concerns at system/software/devops levels. We describe some of the innovative project in this domain, such as confidential computing, computer architecture isolation, and compliance process automation.