YOUR PRIVATE CLOUD

Currently, the implementation of a private cloud is basically focused on the protection, mobility and portability of our information, all with the aim of always keeping in mind the security of our data, due to the situation presented with the National Agency Security (NSA) of the United States of America, which is involved in espionage issues to organizations, politicians and individuals, therefore, private and individuals, see this technological solution quite attractive.

Cloud computing has been having a huge boom in these times, due to its innovative proposal, flexibility, security and use of the computing power of server hardware, which offers users an enormous amount of services through from the internet network. Likewise, Cloud Computing offers a promising business model, since it provides a battery of tailored products, guaranteeing the user a product aimed exclusively at their business model.

In the same vein, the implementation of a Private Cloud must have an outlining of points that guarantee its success, that is, it must be seen as a high-impact project, which includes tasks, which in turn are part of some activities and that these at the end result in the launch of our own Cloud Private.

In this sense, proposing a technological solution for the design of our Private Cloud is to venture into a good number of technological solutions oriented to the provision of cloud services, ranging from Apache CloudStack, OpenStack, Ubuntu Eucalyptus, XenServer, VMware vSphere , Proxmox among others. It should be considered that the first thing to take into account is to determine what type of services our cloud will provide, then design the Virtualization Architecture or VM Maps, since it is vitally important to know the IP addressing, Virtual Networks, DMZ, Storage , RAM, VM, Security and Firewalling among others, that guarantee the optimal functioning of the services that our cloud will provide.

The selection of the Virtualization software must be determined by its features, APIs and extensions that enhance the architecture, as well as the quality of the documentation that it possesses, however, the knowledge, domain and expertise of the Cloud Computing Consultant in the technological tool To be selected, it is of importance and value, when it comes to resolving potential support, maintenance, intonation and updating situations. In response to the problems exposed, we can discern that by being the owners and masters of our information, we stop being dependent on third parties for the management and manipulation of our data, expanding the technological infrastructure of our business model to unknown limits.

INFORMATION SECURITY IN THE CLOUD

Organizations have taken seriously the issue of using the cloud as a technological infrastructure for managing their information, however, this decision leads to taking into account the need to mitigate threats that affect the normal operation of our infrastructure on the network. , Currently this point has been evaluated by different specialists in Cloud Computing, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), I identify some threats that organizations face in 2016, when protecting their information in the cloud, generating in turn a report with The purpose of helping customers and service providers to focus their defensive efforts against such threats.

These efforts are focused on eliminating security gaps in the data hosted on servers, raising the level of authentication, minimizing the use of APIs and Interfaces that compromise the security of services, performing verification tasks to reduce vulnerabilities in systems, implementing Validation controls to avoid potential account hijackings, limit the abuse of cloud services, among other efforts that minimize our information.

In this same vein, currently providers that provide cloud services, say in their different modalities (software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service) and in their deployment models (private, public, hybrid, and community). ), have been increasing security levels in data centers, taking as a starting point, the mitigation of threats that put their customers' information at risk.

On the other hand, the responsibility for the security of information in the cloud must be given to both the customer and the service provider, the latter must ensure that the infrastructure offered is secure and that the information of its customers will be safe, Likewise, users, for their part, must take measures to strengthen their applications and use strong passwords and authentication measures, which prevent back doors that are exploited by malicious hackers.

In this sense, cloud service providers must guarantee security through continuous checks in their data centers. Additionally, data centers must be frequently monitored against suspicious activity as this guarantees having early alerts that facilitate the application of timely contingency measures, likewise, providers must provide the correct isolation of their customers' data and define a logical segregation of storage, it is understood that there must be backup policies, with a respective monitoring and control process.

 

THE MANAGEMENT OF AGILE IT PROJECTS

Professionals in the areas of informatics and computing tend to have difficulties when dealing with projects, even more so when we talk about technological projects; Due to the scarce use of good practices to lead them and depending on the type of project (Software, Hardware or Communications and Networks), it will have its own complexity.

In this sense, a specialist in information and communication technologies, must have the necessary skills to lead work teams, around innovation, development and research projects, these skills range from; Leadership, Commitment, Negotiation and Knowledge on the subject, strengths that will make it lead to a successful completion of the project, however, this is not enough, it is necessary to rely on international standards, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI ) and Agile Software Development (Agile Software Development), to manage projects in an agile way and following guidelines that allow effective planning, monitoring and control of project interactions.

Within this framework of ideas, many specialists tend to think that PMI Project Management and Agile Development cannot be complemented, it is understood that the main focus of PMBOK Project Management are processes and tools (artifacts), while that the Agile Methodology relies on individuals and their interactions, that is, in the first we have a progressive or sequential vision and in the second an individual interaction.

The WEB portal PMOInformática.com (2012), made a comparative table between both methodologies. Here are the results.

Activities and Tools PMI vs. Agile Development Activities and Tools:

  Source: http://www.pmoinformatica.com/2012/07/gestion-de-proyectos-pmi-y-el.html 

  Source: http://www.pmoinformatica.com/2012/07/gestion-de-proyectos-pmi-y-el.html

The preceding analysis shows us that the artifacts used by the PMI are commonly used in the initial stages of projects managed through agile methodologies, and that they have integrated change control processes at the end of each interaction or task that is carried out during the life cycle of the project, in this way we can determine that both complement each other.

Ultimately, we can determine that according to the dynamics that the PMO manager defines to apply, to manage a technological project, the processes that are applied from the PMBOK will depend and in turn the change controls according to the agile approach.

LA INTELIGENCIA DE NEGOCIOS

 

Según Steve Haecket, el cociente de inteligencia de una empresa está determinado por la medida en que su infraestructura informática conecta la información, la comparte y le da estructura. Dentro de este mismo orden de ideas, el Business Intelligence (BI) es un proceso aplicado sobre la información interna que manejan las organizaciones, para arrojar información entendible y precisa y lograr así la oportuna toma de decisiones por parte de la alta gerencia.

En tal sentido, podemos indicar que en la actualidad, la definición de Business Intelligence (BI), incluye una amplia categoría de metodologías, aplicaciones y tecnologías que permiten: reunir, acceder, transformar y analizar los datos, transacciones e información no estructurada (interna y externa), con el propósito de ayudar a usuarios y compañías a tomar mejores decisiones de negocio. Esto se puede lograr, bien sea mediante la explotación directa (consulta, reportes, etc.) o haciendo uso del análisis y conversión de la información en conocimiento fácil de manejar.

Modelo Integral de una solución de BI

 

Para lograr el objetivo, de convertir la información en conocimiento, el Business Intelligence (BI), se apoyan en sistemas de información, tales como; la Planificación de Recursos Empresariales o Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Administración de Relaciones con Clientes o Customer Relantionship Management (CRM) o los Sistemas de Soporte en la Toma de Decisiones o Decision Support System (DSS); estos sistemas pueden trabajar de manera independiente o integral.

La importancia de la aplicación del Business Intelligence (BI), se soporta bajo la premisa, de gestionar la información para hacer uso de ella y convertir la misma en datos que permitan la toma de decisiones de forma efectiva y concreta, así mismo, una vez que la misma es procesada y ordenada, podemos hacer uso de ella a través de bases de conocimiento, que propician realizar prospectiva de variables, escenarios, entre otros datos, que produzcan documentos futuros que facilitan a la alta gerencia diseñar planes estratégicos con gran anticipación.

BlueJ – ENTORNO INGRADO DE DESARROLLO

Un día pensando en la manera de enseñarles a mis alumnos a programar en Java de un modo sencillo y amigable, me encuentro con un Entorno Integrado de Desarrollo, cuyo esquema de trabajo, es mostrar gráficamente los objetos, clases y métodos que conforman parte de un programa hecho a través del lenguaje de programación Java, mostrándole al futuro programador de forma visual como se estructura un potencial programa bajo la metodología de Programación Orientada a Objetos, dicho IDE (Integrated Development Environment) es Bluej.

Wikipedia 2010, describe BlueJ como “un entorno integrado de desarrollo (de sus siglas en inglés IDE – Integrated Development Environment) para el lenguaje de programación Java, desarrollado principalmente con propósitos educacionales, pero también es adecuado para el desarrollo de software a pequeña escala.

BlueJ fue desarrollado para apoyar la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la programación orientada a objetos, y como resultado, su diseño difiere de otros entornos de desarrollo. La pantalla principal muestra gráficamente la estructura de clases de una aplicación en desarrollo (en un diagrama muy parecido a UML), y los objetos pueden ser creados y probados interactivamente. Combinado con una interfaz de usuario simple, esta facilidad de interacción permite experimentar de manera fácil con los objetos en desarrollo. Los conceptos de la orientación a objetos (clases, objetos, comunicación a través de llamadas a métodos) son representadas visualmente en el diseño de interacción en la interfaz.”

En tal sentido, Barnes D & Kölling, M (2011) en su Libro “Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ”, nos dicen que Bluej está basado en constructivismo y visualización positiva, es decir trabajar con dicho entorno de desarrollo, le proporciona al alumno la experiencia, de interactuar con entornos abstractos, relacionandose con clases, objetos, instancias y métodos, así como también el envió y recepción de parámetros dentro de un ambiente controlado.

Visto desde la perspectiva de un programador novato, muchas veces le es difícil comprender conceptos abstractos propios de una dinámica de trabajo dentro del área de programación de aplicaciones, por lo cual, la visualización de los procesos y estructuras de uso común y continuo dentro de una carrera orientada al desarrollo de software, garantiza que el futuro programador, desarrolle habilidades y destrezas necesarias para comprender dicha actividad.

LA 4TA REVOLUCIÓN INDUSTRIAL

La primera vez que escuche hablar de la revolución industrial, me pareció algo tan interesante en contenido y propósito, en cuanto a cómo pasamos de la producción artesanal a la fabricación en masa (Línea de Producción), ello genero grandes cambios en la sociedad, ¡cambios! que muy probablemente para la época fueron de gran impacto, que ayudaron a mejorar nuestra calidad de vida, masificaron la accesibilidad de bienes y servicios, así como, la oportunidad de acceso al trabajo a muchas personas carentes del mismo, en mi presente, tengo la fortuna de ser parte de otro gran proceso de cambio, llamado, la 4ta Revolución Industrial, al ser un profesional del área de la informática y la computación me interesa en gran medida, pues este nuevo cambio de paradigma, tiene como principio la aparición de los Sistemas Ciberfísicos, cuyo propósito se enfoca en la combinación de la infraestructura física con Software, Hardware, Tecnologías Digitales de Comunicación y Nanotecnología.

En este mismo orden de ideas, también tendríamos que decir, que otro fenómeno que también forma parte de esta revolución industrial, que se está abriendo paso en nuestras vidas, es la Internet de las Cosas (IoT, en Ingles), el cual juega un importante rol dentro de nuestro día a día, ya que la misma, trae a nuestra vida diaria, las tecnologías de información y comunicación de formas y maneras que nos sorprenderán.

La automatización de los procesos de fabricación y producción son los que mayormente serán afectados por esta revolución ya que la unión de los Sistemas Ciberfísicos, la Internet de las Cosas y el Cloud Computing (Computación en la Nube), convertirán a las fábricas en entes inteligentes, capaces de gestión por sí mismas, la cadena de valor de manera eficiente y con mínima interacción humana, creando potenciales cambios en la economía, sociedad y políticas de cada nación.

Desde este punto de vista, uno de los mayores efectos que tendrá la 4ta Revolución Industrial en nuestra época, será que muchos profesionales pasaran a ser obsoletos, debido a que una gran cantidad de trabajos hasta ahora manuales serán hechos por robots y/o inteligencias artificiales, trayendo como consecuencia una alta tasa de desempleo, sin embargo, aquellos profesionales que evolucionen hacia la adopción de nuevas habilidades, que les permitan interactuar con un nuevo y creciente número de roles que van a ir surgiendo, debido a la multitud de necesidades inherentes al mantenimiento, seguimiento y control de los nuevos sistemas, los convertirán en potenciales talentos a ser seleccionados por multiplex empresas que iran creandose.

PROFESSIONAL DATA MANAGERS PROFILES

INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURES

The revolution of mobile devices and industrialization 4.0, has started a new way of developing, administering and managing computer applications, this being the starting point to generate competitive and self-administered products.

From this point of view, all companies must migrate to technologies that allow their technological infrastructure to be managed in an agile, automatic and secure way, therefore, focus on migrating to: microservices architectures and / or cloud computing (Private, Public or Hybrid) it is essential, likewise, to train the technology team as potential DevOps Engineer, championing a knowledge that allows them to manage in a preventive and decisive way the multiplicity of services and products that are aligned with the business model of the organization.

Go from a traditional (monolithic) model to a micro services, Cloud or DevOps model; It is to understand the flexibility and maturity with which applications and infrastructure interact within production environments, since this is an unequivocal sign of the innovation and prospective process that the world of information technologies is experiencing. In this sense, ICT professionals must gradually build their profiles towards these new technologies, which by themselves, are marking the way to new jobs, where such knowledge is highly valued.

Rationalizing the multitude of advantages that they entail, migrating to microservices-type platforms, are potentially high, due to the amount of benefits that this entails, however, as Martin Fowler ^[1] mentions in his blog "Pre-requisites for Microservices" , there are different challenges in operating systems based on microservices:

1. Rapid resource provisioning skills, either in the cloud or on-premises.
2. Monitoring schemes for distributed services, including application metrics, networks, logs, as well as ways to link an operation or transaction of a client with the different microservices it uses.
3. Agile development practices and product-focused development teams.

The need to innovate as an IT team is essential because these technologies are constantly evolving day by day, therefore, understanding these models allows clarifying potential failures or improvements to processes that allow the proper development of daily tasks of an IT team.

"Agility, automation, insights and security - essential elements for digital transformation." Thomas Erbran.

[1] https://martinfowler.com/bliki/MicroservicePrerequisites.html