Australian Online Solutions for Cloud Computing Strategy

Press Release: Cloud computing consultancy condemns controversial censorship conspiracy

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:14:40 PST

SYDNEY, 24 December 2009: Sydney-based Australian Online Solutions today condemned the government's plans to introduce draconian Internet censorship laws in Australia.

Senator Stephen Conroy (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) recently announced the introduction of mandatory Internet Service Provider (ISP) level filtering of Refused Classification (RC)-rated content as well as grants to encourage ISPs to filter wider categories of content. This would require the implementation of complicated, expensive and unreliable, yet trivially circumvented filtering technology at the cost of the taxpayer and Internet user, despite a strong message having been sent that this is both unwanted and unwarranted. Reader polls conducted by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspaper showed a staggering 95% of some 25,000 readers reject the federal government's plans to censor the Internet in Australia, on the basis that it impinges on their freedom. "There are better and safer ways to tackle the problem, such as educating parents, teachers and children, offering customisable filtering as a value-added option and improving law enforcement (including cooperation with other countries)" said Sam Johnston, Australian Online Solutions' Founder & CTO.

The full frontal assault on civil liberties aside, Australian Online Solutions has also raised some serious technical concerns about the program. "At a time when individuals and businesses are looking to shed expensive legacy systems in favour of cheap, scalable Internet based services, any action which can only impair performance and reliability while threatening to strangle Australia's connectivity with the outside world calls for extensive justification", said Johnston. "Cloud computing, which delivers computing services over the Internet on a utility basis - like electricity - gives its' users a significant advantage over competitors. However web-based applications such as Facebook, Gmail, Hotmail and Twitter are extremely sensitive to bandwidth and latency constraints introduced by censorship technology", added Johnston. "The proposed law threatens to exclude Australia from this large and growing industry altogether, both as provider and consumer, at a time when it could emerge as a market leader. Would you buy an Internet-based service from China or Iran, or even use one if you were based there?". Analysts Merrill Lynch and Gartner estimate the cloud computing market to reach $175 billion in the coming years.

Trials commissioned by Senator Conroy and conducted by "highly reputable and independent testing company" Enex Testlab were also called into question, on both technical and conflict of interest bases. Enex Testlab, a supplier of "independent" evaluation, purchasing advice and product review services, boasts a corporate client list with over a dozen vendors of filtering technology including Content Keeper Technologies, Content Watch and Internet Sheriff Technology (accounting for around one quarter of all clients listed) and offers formal certification for content filters. As such it is believed they have strong motivation to avoid releasing a report directly or indirectly critical of their clients' offerings.

Furthermore, the scope of the testing was artificially constrained, criticial controls (such as connection consistency) were missing and success criteria were poorly defined or non- existent from the outset, in a trial that appears to be a manufactured success. Nonetheless unflattering results which highlighted serious deficiencies in the proposal were disingenuously touted by Senator Conroy as showing "100 percent accuracy" with "negligible impact on internet speed".

Other problems with the fatally flawed and heavily criticised report include include:

Proof that "a technically competent user could circumvent the filtering technology" while "circumvention prevention measures can result in greater degradation of internet performance".
Admission that all filters were "not effective in the case of non-web based protocols such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer or chat rooms".
False positive rates (over-blocking of legitimate/innocuous content) of up to 3.4% (over 5.1 billion pages per Internet Archive estimates) with failure rates as high as 2% (3 billion pages) considered "low".
False negative rates (passing of inappropriate content) exceeding 20% (over 30 billion pages) with failure rates as high as 30% considered "reasonable by industry standards" (45 billion pages).
Admission that 100% accuracy is "unlikely to be achieved" and that the false positive rate increases with sensitivity, with no attempt to scientifically determine acceptable failure rates.
Faults being perceptible to end users, with some customers reporting "over-blocking and/or under-blocking of content during the pilot" while considering "mechanisms for self-management" and "improved visibility of the filter in action" to be "important".
Unjustified assumptions including that "performance impact is minimal if between 10 and 20 percent", while at least one system "displayed a noticeable performance impact". Some customers "believe they experienced some speed degradation".
Admission of "uncontrollable variables", including ones that could result in "40 percent performance degradation over theoretical maximum line-rate, or more in some cases", even at speeds less than 1/12 that of the proposed National Broadband Network (NBN).
Admission that reliable recognition of IP addresses to be filtered is unreliable (indeed often impossible), particularly for large-scale websites that use load balancing (e.g. most cloud computing solutions).
Results that were "irregular/incorrect" and "highly anomalous with reasonable expectations" (such as physically impossible improvements in performance when transferring encrypted, random payloads).
Complete absence of quantitative cost analysis (e.g. what financial load will be borne by both the taxpayer and Internet subscriber, both up front and on an ongoing basis), as well as any secondary costs such as decreased efficiency.
Overall results indicating that 1 in 5 customers' needs were not met, with 1 in 3 opting out of continued use of the filtered service.

In addition to contacting local representatives, Australian Online Solutions encourages concerned individuals and businesses to join and support organisations including Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), GetUp and The Pirate Party Australia. The immediate availability of a limited number of sponsorships for founding members of The Pirate Party Australia is also announced for those who want to get involved but, for whatever reason, cannot afford the membership fees in this difficult economic environment. To take advantage of this opportunity please contact membership@pirateparty.org.au with a brief explanation of your situation.

"Anyone who cares about their future and that of their children and grandchildren should take action now", said Johnston, who applied to both The Pirate Party Australia and Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) in response to Senator Conroy's announcement. "The government's gift to us this Christmas was draconian censorship, so let's return the favour in helping The Pirate Party Australia attain official status by acquiring 500 exclusive members".

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About Australian Online Solutions Pty Ltd
Australian Online Solutions is a boutique consultancy that specialises in cloud computing solutions for large enterprise, government and education clients throughout Australia, Europe and the USA. Founded in 1998, Australian Online Solutions has over a decade of experience delivering next generation Internet-based systems and is a pioneer in the cloud computing space, whereby technology previously delivered as hardware and software products are delivered as services over the Internet. Cloud computing is Internet ('cloud') based development and use of computer technology ('computing'). For more information refer to http://www.aos.net.au/

About The Pirate Party Australia
The Pirate Party Australia (http://www.pirateparty.org.au/) is a political party with a serious platform of intellectual property law reform and protection of privacy rights and freedom of speech. The Pirate Party Australia aims to protect civil liberties and promote culture and innovation, primarily through:

Decriminalisation of non-commercial copyright infringement
Protection of freedom of speech rights
Protection of privacy rights
Opposition to internet censorship
Support for an R18+ rating for games
Reforming the life + 70 years copyright length
Providing parents with the tools to run their own families.

About Electronic Fronteirs Australia (EFA)
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is a non-profit national organisation representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms and rights. The EFA is the organisation responsible for the "No Clean Feed" (http://nocleanfeed.com/) grassroots movement to stop Internet censorship in Australia. They are also dealing with related issues such as the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and censorship of computer games. Individual memberships start at $27.50 and organisational memberships are available. For more information refer to http://www.efa.org.au/

About GetUp
GetUp is an independent, grass-roots community advocacy organisation that is actively tackling this and other pertinent issues including climate change. For more information about how to get involved refer to http://www.getup.org.au/

About Sam Johnston
Sam Johnston, Australian Online Solutions' Founder and CTO, is a prominent blogger on cloud computing, security and open source topics. He maintains a blog at http://samj.net/

Press Contact:
Sam Johnston <sam.johnston@aos.net.au> +61 2 8898 9090 (pager)
Australian Online Solutions Pty Ltd
http://www.aos.net.au/

For the latest version of this release please refer to http://tinyurl.com/cloudcensor

An open letter to the community regarding "Open Cloud"

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:01:00 PDT

I write this letter in order to be 100% transparent with you about a new initiative that could prove critical to the development of computing and the Internet: the protection of the term “Open Cloud” with a certification trademark (like British Standards’ Kitemark® and the FAIRTRADE symbol) as well as its definition via an open community consensus process.

Cloud computing users will soon be able to rest assured that offerings bearing the “Open Cloud” brand are indeed “open” in that critical freedoms (such as the right to access one’s own data in an open format via an open interface) are strongly protected. It will also ensure a level playing field for all vendors while keeping the barriers to enter the marketplace low. Offerings also bearing the “Open Source” mark will have additional freedoms relating to the use, modification and distribution of the underlying software itself.

Cloud computing is Internet (“cloud”) based development and use of computer technology (“computing”). It is the first significant paradigm shift since the introduction of the PC three decades ago and it is already changing our lives. Not only is it helping to deliver computing to “the other 3 billion” people, but also facilitating communication and collaboration, slashing costs and improving reliability by delivering computing as a utility (like electricity).

The Open Source industry is built around the Open Source Definition (OSD), which is itself maintained by the non-profit Open Source Initiative (OSI). The fledgling “Open Cloud” industry should be built on a similar set of well-defined Open Cloud Principles (OCP) and the associated Open Cloud Initiative (OCI) will closely follow their example. The proposed mission is simply “To define and protect ‘Open Cloud’” and the body will be developed from inception via an open process. Even if USPTO eventually reject our pending registration, by drawing attention to this critical issue now we may have already won.

I need your help, which is why I have called on individuals like Joi Ito and Bruce Perens, as well as established vendors including Google and Amazon (and their respective developer communities) for assistance. By way of this open letter, I commit to donate assets held in trust (domains, trademarks, etc.) to a non-profit similar in spirit to the Open Source Initiative which acts to protect the rights of the number one stakeholder: You.

Sam Johnston
Founder

Cloud Computing Strategy

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:56:03 PDT

Due to the overwhelming increase in cloud computing activity Australian Online Solutions is now focusing on an pure consulting services model delivering strategic advice on issues relating to cloud computing to large enterprises throughout Australia, Europe and the USA.

No new customers will be accepted for existing products and services and existing customers will be contacted individually to discuss their options.

"Save the Netbooks" campaign launched to fight impending trademark threat

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:06:03 PST

The "Save the Netbooks" campaign is fighting the impending trademark threat from Psion Teklogix, who have given until the end of March 2009 to cease using the term, citing trademarks relating to a line of products discontinued over 5 years ago.

For more see the Press Release and http://www.savethenetbooks.com/.

iPhone Enterprise Configuration and Deployment

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:16:22 PDT

Coinciding with today's launch of iPhone 2.0 for Enterprise, we are happy to announce immediate availability of our iPhone 2.0 configuration service which has been in development during the beta period.

Configure your users securely and seamlessly over the air so as to allow them to be immediately productive with their revolutionary new communication device. Google Apps users enjoy fully automated configuration of identity, inbound (IMAP), outbound (SMTP) and security (SSL/TLS) settings and custom configurations (including Microsoft Exchange) are available on demand.

Features include:

Push email
Push contacts
Push calendar
Global Address List (GAL) support
Certificates and identities
WPA2/802.1X
Enforced security policies
More VPN protocols
Device configuration
Remote wipe

TrustSaaS declared 'Mashup of the Day' by ProgrammableWeb

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:00:49 PDT

TrustSaaS.com has already won it's first accolade within hours of its launch, having been declared 'Mashup of the Day' for 7 July 2008 by ProgrammableWeb!

TrustSaaS uptime monitoring, alerting and reporting for SaaS launched

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:01:52 PDT

We are pleased to announce the launch of TrustSaaS.com today, an uptime monitoring and alerting service ('SaaS Weather Report') for Software as a Service (SaaS) run by an independent third party. It checks service status every 60 seconds (over 500,000 times per service per year), instantly alerting subscribers of problems by email and/or SMS. TrustSaaS records downtime with the highest resolution possible and response times are also analysed. This information is included in monthly reports delivered by email to subscribers, allowing them to make comparisons between providers, monitor end-user experience, verify Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance and trust that SaaS is delivering on its promises.

During the launch period subscriptions are only $100 per provider per year.

Microsoft Exchange™ Connector for Google Calendar

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:24:24 PDT

Improve user efficiency with seamless integration between Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange™

Seamless, efficient Server<->Cloud solution
Rapid, low-risk remote installation & support
Google & Microsoft trained & certified engineers

Allow your users to communicate effectively through the bi-directional sharing of Free+Busy information between Microsoft Exchange™ Server and the Google Calendar component of Google Apps. This seamless, scalable and elegant solution functions as a connector between Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange™ servers and requires no client side components. Various deployment options (eg sync vs real-time) meet the needs of all clients.

For more information see Microsoft Exchange™ Connector for Google Calendar in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

Remote Deployment for Google Search Appliance (GSA)

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:52:36 PDT

Remote management of the entire GSA deployment process from ordering to production via telephone, email and remote access. Guaranteed.

Fastest possible deployment by search expert
Guaranteed delivery of production search service
Includes telephone, email & remote access support

For more information see Remote Deployment for Google Search Appliance (GSA) in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

Remote Deployment for Google Mini

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:52:50 PDT

Remote deployment of Google Mini. Guaranteed.

Fastest possible deployment by search expert
Guaranteed delivery of production search service
Includes telephone, email & remote access support

For more information see Remote Deployment for Google Mini in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

Universal Search powered by Google Search Appliance (GSA)

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:18 PDT

Access information from every corner of your business securely. Right from the search box.

Instant access to relevant data from many sources
Seamless security filters results for each user
Easy to use, requires little or no user training

For more information see Universal Search powered by Google Search Appliance (GSA) in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

Business Continuity powered by Google Apps

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:16:58 PDT

Avoid becoming a statistic by preparing for the worst with a next generation business continuity solution powered by Google Apps.

Simple URL based access requires minimal training
Collaborative tools allow users to stay productive
Dual delivery of mail for seamless transition

For more information see the 'Business Continuity powered by Google Apps' in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

OneBox Integration for Google Search Appliance (GSA)

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:45 PDT

Integration of the Google Search Appliance with enterprise infrastructure using existing OneBox modules. Guaranteed.

Instant access to relevant data from many sources
Seamless security filters results for each user
Easy to use, requires little or no user training

For more information see OneBox Integration for Google Search Appliance (GSA) in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

Google Apps Premier Edition

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:29:00 PDT

Google Apps Premier Edition was launched today after much anticipation, bringing with it a new era in enterprise computing.

Google Introduces New Business Version of Popular Hosted Applications

Mountain View, Calif. - February 22, 2007 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) - today introduced Google Apps Premier Edition, a new version of Google’s hosted services for communication and collaboration designed for businesses of all sizes. Google Apps Premier Edition is available for $50 per user account per year, and includes phone support, additional storage, and a new set of administration and business integration capabilities.

Google Apps™, launched as a free service in August 2006, is a suite of applications that includes Gmail™ webmail services, Google Calendar™ shared calendaring, Google Talk™ instant messaging and voice-over-IP, and the Start Page feature for creating a customizable home page on a specific domain. More than 100,000 small businesses and hundreds of universities now use the service. Google Apps Premier Edition now joins Google Apps Standard Edition and Google Apps Education Edition, both of which will continue to be offered for free to organizations.
Features unique to Google Apps Premier Edition include:
10 GBs of storage per user – Offers about 100 times the storage of the average corporate mailbox, eliminating the need to frequently delete email.
APIs for business integration – APIs for data migration, user provisioning, single sign-on, and mail gateways enable businesses to further customize the service for unique environments.
99.9 % uptime – Service Level Agreements for high availability of Gmail, with Google monitoring and crediting customers if service levels are not met.
24x7 support for critical issues – Includes extended business hours telephone support for administrators.
Advertising optional – Advertising is turned off by default, but businesses can choose to include Google’s relevant target-based ads if desired.
$50 per user account per year – Simple and affordable annual fee makes it practical to offer these applications to everyone in the organization.

On-site Deployment for Google Search Appliance (GSA)

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:59 PDT

Full service deployment of Google Search Appliance from ordering to production. Guaranteed.

Fast deployment by proven search expert
Guaranteed delivery of production search service
Includes telephone, email & remote access support

For more information see On-site Deployment for Google Search Appliance (GSA) in the Google Enterprise Marketplace.

Salesforce.com Partnership

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:32:01 PDT

Australian Online Solutions has partnered with Salesforce.com in order to enhance our enterprise Web 2.0 offering with the Force.com 'Platform-as-a-Service' complete with the AppExchange suite of existing enterprise applications.

About Force.com Platform and the AppExchange

Salesforce.com’s Force.com (http://www.force.com/) reinvents the traditional development, deployment and distribution of any business application with platform-as-a-service. Developers, customers and partners can use Force.com to easily create a new generation of on-demand applications and deploy them worldwide as a service. Force.com allows applications to be easily shared, exchanged and installed with a few simple clicks via salesforce.com's AppExchange marketplace, enabling all the innovation that Force.com unleashes to be easily distributed to the entire on-demand community.
The AppExchange economy continues to expand, with thousands of customers installing applications via the AppExchange. Customers of all sizes can quickly and easily extend Salesforce with additional on-demand business applications available on the AppExchange, found at http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/.

About Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com is the market and technology leader in on-demand business services. The company’s Salesforce suite of on-demand CRM applications allows customers to manage and share all of their sales, support, marketing and partner information on-demand. The Salesforce Platform, the world’s first on-demand platform, enables customers, developers and partners to build powerful new on-demand applications that extend beyond CRM to deliver the benefits of multi-tenancy and The Business Web across the enterprise. The Salesforce Platform allows applications to be easily shared, exchanged and installed with a few simple clicks via salesforce.com's AppExchange directory, available at http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange. Customers can also take advantage of Successforce, salesforce.com’s world-class training, support, consulting and best practices offerings.

As of April 30, 2007, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 32,300 customers including ABN AMRO, America Online (AOL), Dow Jones Newswires, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, Sprint Nextel, Staples and SunTrust Banks. Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM". For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

Founding Sponsor of League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA)

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:50:46 PDT

Australian Online Solutions is proud to announce that we made a donation to the fledgling League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA) today and in doing so became a founding sponsor. We encourage others to support this worthy cause, either by sponsoring, or simply joining.

UNSW Room Booking system migrated to the web

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:18:57 PDT

Problem
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Facilities Department maintains an aging 'Room Allocation, Planning, Information & Booking System (RAPIBS)' which is accessible only by a limited number of operators. This makes planning and allocation extremely difficult for the Centrally Allocated Teaching Space (CATS) staff, so the university sought a technological solution to the problem.

Solution
Australian Online Solutions (having been referred by the UNSW Chancellery) rapidly developed a web based solution which allowed all users (both on and off campus) to access real-time information about room availability via a simple-to-use read-only interface. This allowed them to conduct planning without consulting the database operators, who were then only required to execute the booking itself.

Specifications
The existing database was DataFlex hosted on a Novell NetWare server and accessible only via a proprietary command line interface. The new system was developed using Active Server Pages (ASP) with a DataFlex ODBC driver and hosted on Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) on Windows NT 4 using commodity PC hardware. It was simple to use, performant and reliable.

Australian Online Solutions Founded in NSW

info@aos.net.au (Sam Johnston) — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:05:41 PDT

Australian Online Solutions was founded in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia today in order to serve the needs of its initial clientele, including:

The University of New South Wales
- New College
- Shalom College
- The Kensington Colleges (Basser, Baxter, Goldstein)
- International House

News Limited
Fairfax

Its founder (Sam Johnston) had already completed a significant software development project for Telstra MobileNet Digital and various tasks for UNSW, where he is a resident, student and employee as well as contractor.