“The importance of cloud technology can be judged from the fact that $110 billion were spent on cloud computing in 2012, and that number is set to reach $210 billion by 2016,” says division head of Rapid Compute. PHOTO: iStockphoto
The response to the first-ever Pakistan CIO Summit and Expo, which concluded here on Wednesday, was overwhelming according to Kamran Saeed, the man behind putting the event together. Saeed announced that the event will be held every year henceforth, with the 2014 session already scheduled for the last week of March next year.
The two-day event was a gathering of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) – men and women who head a company’s IT department. IT professionals and academia were also in attendance. The theme of the event, ‘Solutions for Tomorrow’, put the latest trends in the ICT industry into focus.
Talking about the event’s background, Saeed, who is the CEO of Solutions Inc, said the CIO Summit is a regular feature in many countries, but until now no such platform had existed in Pakistan. “We felt there should be one such event every year, where IT professionals, academia and decision makers could come together and play a role in formulating successful policies in a relaxed yet focused environment.”
The summit turned out to be a great learning platform for CIOs, Saeed claimed, as they had the opportunity to listen to experts, including Dr Attaur Rahman, former federal minister of science and technology; and Dr Ishrat Husain, director of the Institute of Business Administration and a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.
The presenters talked about the changing role of CIOs in the inaugural session, while focus shifted to big data and security in the speakers’ presentations on the second and last day of the summit.
Problems in computing
Nahil Mahmood, president of the Cloud Security Alliance, delivered a presentation on cloud security and how cloud services providers can gain customers’ trust in a new technology that many are still not aware of.
Briefing the audience about tools used in cloud security, Mahmood mentioned a four-step mechanism: cloud controls matrix, self-assessment, and third party certification and cloud audit. Cloud service providers should follow this road map, he recommended.
“The importance of cloud technology can be judged from the fact that $110 billion were spent on cloud computing in 2012, and that number is set to reach $210 billion by 2016,” remarked Zaeem Arshad. He is the division head of Rapid Compute, the first local cloud services provider and a division of Cybernet – a sister concern of The Express Tribune.
Arshad, who was one of the speakers on day one, told this correspondent on the sidelines of the summit that cloud technology is changing the way IT is done. “This technology helps companies decide their future course of action,” he said, “and the type of expenses and the strategic decisions a company will make”.
Talking about the security aspect, Arshad said: “There is a reason why your money is more secure in a bank than in your home. Similarly, outsourcing one’s data services to a professional cloud provider can benefit them in many ways,” he said.
For example, he said, a small business cannot afford expensive firewalls or highly-skilled IT staff to protect its data from cyber attacks. But a cloud services provider has aggressive firewalls and costly but adequate security arrangements to prevent similar attacks.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2013.
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