How can CSPs monetize 5G

The advent of 5G technology is currently revolutionizing various industries by facilitating connected vehicles, smart cities, industry 4.0, connected health, and other immersive applications worldwide. Numerous businesses, particularly large tech companies, are developing value-added services that utilize 5G broadband to enhance operations and provide users with exceptional experiences.

Communication Service Providers (CSPs) must seize this opportunity to capitalize on 5G broadband by creating value-added services. This not only allows them to cater to mobile B2C customers but also enables them to diversify their business, establish predictability, and promptly respond to customer needs. Furthermore, it opens up avenues to target specific vertical markets and foster B2B and B2B2X ecosystems.

To thrive in this landscape, CSPs need to go beyond merely selling broadband and instead provide services that deliver tangible value, capitalizing on the enhanced speed and reliability of 5G in industries such as automobiles, utilities, and healthcare.

However, the challenge lies in the limitations imposed by legacy network infrastructure, hindering their progress. The growing demand for bandwidth is straining existing infrastructure, necessitating the migration to Software Defined Networks (SDNs) for improved network reliability. Additionally, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) enables the expansion of network capabilities. Addressing the legacy issue also calls for the implementation of a new service orchestration layer atop the network, offering an avenue to effectively monetize the capabilities of 5G.

Service orchestration entails the ability to create, oversee, and integrate diverse network elements into a marketable product for customers. Since the needs of different industries vary, the underlying services must be provisioned dynamically, adapting to changes in resilience, security, and routing capabilities. Communication Service Providers (CSPs) should possess reusable cloud-based services that can be easily deployed, packaged, and offered as tailored solutions for specific use cases within various sectors like Connected Health or Smart Cities.

By adopting a cloud-native approach, these services become portable, scalable, and more resilient compared to monolithic applications. They operate proactively and respond to events, automating business workflows and simplifying order tracking, failure management, fallout handling, and diagnostics for repairs.

For instance, within the realm of smart devices and IoT sensors, telecommunications companies (telcos) can develop applications that leverage IoT data from factories to provide asset monitoring, predictive maintenance, and enhanced sustainability. This empowers manufacturing customers with valuable insights to drive actionable decisions. Additionally, CSPs can collaborate with automobile manufacturers to create in-car commerce use cases, such as online ordering, in-car payments, and geofencing for curb-side pickups, seamlessly integrated within the infotainment systems.

Architecting a Point of Sales application for the Edge

 Edge computing is a computing architecture that moves data processing and storage from centralized systems to the edge of the network. In a Point of Sales (POS) system, this can bring several advantages, such as:

Latency reduction: By processing data at the edge, latency is reduced, making transactions faster and more efficient.

Improved reliability: With edge computing, the system can operate even if there is a failure in the central system, making the system more reliable.

Increased security: By processing data at the edge, the risk of data breaches is reduced as the data is not transmitted to a centralized location.

Offline operation: In the event of a network failure, edge computing can allow the POS system to continue operating, reducing downtime and providing a better customer experience.

Scalability: Edge computing makes it easier to scale the system as needed, making it more flexible to meet changing business needs.

When considering edge computing for a POS system, some key factors to consider include:

Network connectivity: The system must be able to connect to the edge devices, such as mobile devices, payment terminals, and sensors.

Code and data deployments: A mechanism is needed to deploy the latest code features and upgrades as well as the core data from the 

Data processing: The system must be able to process large amounts of data in real-time at the edge.

Data storage: The system must be able to store data at the edge, either locally or in the cloud.

Security: The system must be secure, protecting sensitive customer data and ensuring that transactions are protected from cyber-attacks.

Integration with existing systems: The system must be able to integrate with existing systems, such as inventory management and customer relationship management 

Security testing in DevOps CI CD

 Security testing in DevOps CI/CD involves integrating security practices and tests into the continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. Here are some steps to perform security testing in DevOps CI/CD:

1. Define security requirements: Determine the security requirements for your application or system. Identify the areas that need testing, such as authentication, authorization, data protection, input validation, and secure configurations.

2. Integrate security tools: Identify and integrate security testing tools into your CI/CD pipeline. These tools can include static application security testing (SAST), dynamic application security testing (DAST), container scanning, vulnerability scanning, and code analysis tools. Popular security tools include OWASP ZAP, SonarQube, and Nessus.

3. Automated security tests: Develop automated security tests that can be run as part of the CI/CD pipeline. These tests should check for common security vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), insecure direct object references, and insecure deserialization. Implement these tests using frameworks like JUnit, Selenium, or dedicated security testing frameworks.

4. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security: If you are using infrastructure as code (IaC) tools like Terraform or CloudFormation, incorporate security checks for your infrastructure code. Ensure that security best practices are followed, such as encrypting sensitive data, setting appropriate access controls, and configuring secure network configurations.

5. Secure configurations: Implement secure configuration management practices in your CI/CD pipeline. This includes ensuring that default passwords are changed, unnecessary services and ports are disabled, and secure communication protocols are used.

6. Secure artifact management: Ensure that your CI/CD pipeline handles artifacts, such as build packages or container images, securely. Scan these artifacts for vulnerabilities and enforce secure storage and transmission practices.

7. Security code reviews: Integrate security code reviews into your development process. Involve security experts to review the code for potential security vulnerabilities, adherence to secure coding practices, and compliance with security standards.

8. Continuous monitoring: Implement continuous security monitoring in your production environment. This can include logging and monitoring of security-related events, intrusion detection systems, and vulnerability management. Use tools like ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) or Splunk for centralized log management.

9. Security training and awareness: Provide security training and awareness sessions to your development and operations teams. Educate them about secure coding practices, common security vulnerabilities, and security best practices throughout the CI/CD pipeline.

10. Incident response and recovery: Develop incident response plans to handle security incidents that may occur during the CI/CD process. Define procedures for identifying, containing, investigating, and recovering from security breaches.

Remember that security testing is an ongoing process, and it should be integrated at every stage of the CI/CD pipeline. By adopting a security-first mindset and incorporating security practices into the DevOps workflow, you can help mitigate potential vulnerabilities and ensure a more secure software delivery process.

Restaurant Trends to focus in Customer Experience

In the competitive world of restaurants, it's important to constantly strive for innovation in order to attract and retain customers. 

One key area to focus on is the customer experience. Here are some ideas for how restaurants can innovate in this area:

Offering personalized recommendations: With the help of technology and AI, restaurants can now track customers' past orders and use that information to offer personalized recommendations for their next visit. This not only enhances the customer experience, but also helps to increase sales by showcasing menu items that the customer is likely to enjoy. Online ordering apps already do this by offering a choice to repeat their past as well as favourite orders. Restaurants can look for moving that capability in-house

Enhance the online ordering experience: With the rise of online food delivery platforms, it's important for restaurants to have a seamless online ordering experience. This can include offering easy-to-use mobile apps, clear menu descriptions and photos, and the ability to customize orders. Customers have frequently complained about online ordering processes where there are too many clicks to get to the final checkout - and this is a major metric tracked among ecommerce marketing teams.

Use technology to streamline the dining experience: There are now a number of technologies available that can help restaurants streamline the dining experience, such as self-order kiosks, mobile payment options, and table-side ordering provided by various vendors. These technologies can help to reduce wait times and improve efficiency, which can enhance the customer experience. However these are most effective when they connect with a single source of data from the restaurant Back of House ideally through APIs that provide the Menu, Pricing, Promotions, Customer, Loyalty and other required data.

Offer unique and memorable experiences: In addition to the food, restaurants can also focus on creating unique and memorable experiences for their customers. This can include things like hosting special events, offering live music, or partnering with local artists to showcase their work. Local produce can be highlighted. Patrons would be interested to visit restaurants that prioritize fresh and locally sourced ingredients as a niche value.

By constantly innovating and looking for ways to enhance the customer experience, restaurants can stand out in a crowded market and build a loyal customer base with returning customers. 

2022 Art work Collection

Here is a collection of artwork I did in 2022

2022 Music Year in Review

 This is what happens when you have a shared Spotify account with the family

How can Cloud help in sustainability

Cloud computing can play a significant role in sustainability in several ways. 

Optimizing the compute resources:

Enabling the use of virtual resources instead of physical ones, which can lead to reduced energy consumption and a lower environmental impact. Cloud-based services can also allow for more efficient use of resources and better resource utilization, which can further reduce the environmental impact.

Remote Work and reduced CO2 emissions:

The use of cloud-based services can facilitate remote work and collaboration, which can help reduce transportation-related emissions. Cloud providers also invest in renewable energy to power their data center, which can reduce carbon footprint.

Hyperscaler energy efficiency:

It's important to note that the sustainability of cloud computing depends on the practices of individual cloud providers and how energy-efficient their data centers and operations are. Additionally, energy consumption of the end user should be considered, for example, if the end user is running energy-intensive workloads on the cloud.

Cloud providers often use advanced cooling and energy-efficient technologies in their data centers to reduce energy consumption. This can significantly lower the environmental impact of IT operations and help organizations achieve their sustainability goals.

Overall, cloud technology can enable organizations to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, while also increasing efficiency and enabling remote work. It has a great potential to be a key enabler of sustainable IT operations.

Building an Automotive Cloud

 

The automotive industry is going through a major transformation, being on a path to recovery from the slowdown in the pandemic years and with the advancements in the connected technology space. The automobile industry has been guided by the acronym CASE (connected, autonomous, shared, electric) since early 2018. There is a recognized need for an automotive cloud that will help reduce the costs of massive compute and data storage requirements, and will bring in new ways of working, tools, and technologies that are enabled by cloud. The demands have led to major shift in customer preference and expectations from OEMs.

Three key imperatives that support CASE and will define the industry future are: 

1.       Development of sustainable products and driving new revenues through a push towards electric vehicles. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global EV stock will reach almost 70 million vehicles in 2025 and 230 million vehicles in 2030 (excluding two/three-wheelers). EV stock share in 2030 will reach 12%.[1]

 

2.       Enhanced car sales through connected infotainment providing commerce and personalization. In larger vehicles and fleet industries, there is a higher focus on driver safety and evaluation of the driver’s physical condition which needs camera data as well as vehicle sensor data.

 

3.       Thirdly, in order to maintain sustainable operating supply chains there needs to be intelligent manufacturing and connected supply chains running to optimum efficiency with tracking via RFID and IoT devices. In Aug 2021,[2] Gartner estimated that the enterprise and automotive IoT platform market will represent a USD 11.3 billion opportunity in 2025, representing a 33% CAGR from 2020. 

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[1] https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ed5f4484-f556-4110-8c5c-ede8bcba637/GlobalEVOutlook2021.pdf

[2] https://www.gartner.com/document/4004507

All of these imperatives require dealing with large amounts of data that needs to be processed quickly at the source – thus leading to edge and fog computing solutions - in addition to transporting this data for processing back to the cloud. Thus a lot of OEMs are looking to optimize their cloud strategy and make it the foundation of their R&D, manufacturing, sales, and servicing models.

With the advancements in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), there is a play for Automotive OEMs to build experiences in the metaverse. It’s only a matter of time before dealers jump on board and develop a metaverse dealership in which users can view inventory, check vehicles, and complete the sales transaction all while wearing a VR headset in the comfort of their office or home. Gartner expects dedicated AR clouds to be formed for each sector to help synergize the content with the underlying cloud infrastructure and remove the requirements of local hardware.

There are many use cases for edge computing within the vehicle. The capability to take data from the nearly hundreds of sensors, compute and take real-time decisions from the data available onboard instantaneously, especially around auto braking, and proximity detection to other vehicles and pedestrians have already been embedded within automobiles. The adoption is already increasing and has potential for many future use cases focused not only on the driver but also the passengers, for example, real time personalized offers when the car is moving past one’s favorite store or restaurant.

Connectivity to media streaming apps will allow personalization of the offer by combining the data available within the vehicle OEM as well as the streaming app tie-up. Adding to this the map data from and monitoring for traffic congestion will allow the autonomous vehicle to reroute its path. Edge will also allow better security monitoring and infrastructure to reduce theft and allow for better insurance policy determination.

The typical building blocks of an automobile cloud platform include:

·       Secure communication for vehicle-to-cloud connectivity

·       Data ingestion for a variety of structured and unstructured data sources – this will be process as well as transactional data

·       Data migration and cleansing through cloud-native techniques which can scale as per the volume

·       Fast and scalable analytics with dashboard visualizations to detect anomalies, and threat modelling including cabin simulations of various scenarios

·       Data models and AI to trigger workflows and notifications such as equipment maintenance, driver alerts, and route notifications and provide location-based services

·       Secure data storage with encrypted data at rest as well as in transit

·       Will need to have a zero trust architecture because of multiple devices and entry points that assumes every device and connection can be breached and hence needs verification and validation

·       Portability between on-premises and hyperscalers – hence suited for a hybrid cloud architecture

Overall, the use of the automotive cloud is transforming the way the automotive industry operates and will play a key role in the development of new technologies and business models in the future.

Digital Cloud Platform for Restaurants

 My latest blog post for Capgemini is hosted at https://www.capgemini.com/us-en/2022/04/digital-cloud-platform-for-restaurants/

Reimagining Digital Transformation

 The restaurant industry is experiencing an unprecedented transformational change. Business disruptions from the global health crisis prompted the restaurant industry to restructure and diversify its operating model and digital portfolio in response to the shift of market trends and customer preferences.

Elevated expectations for cleanliness, health, and safety are accelerating the adoption of contactless technologies, curbside pickup options, and mobile payments to minimize human interaction. Gartner predicts most organizations will leverage contactless technologies for up to 80% of their ordering and replenishment activities by 2024.

Restaurant businesses must prepare to meet the operational requirements of the new normal and drive supply chain efficiency. Furthermore, restaurants should thrive to maintain brand loyalty by providing a seamless and differentiated omnichannel experience through enhanced digital capabilities.

In this post, we will show you how Capgemini’s Digital Cloud Platform (DCP) for Restaurants empowers the industry to reimagine digital transformation by delivering compelling customer interaction and streamlined operations while reducing costs and improving efficiency.

The full version of this article is published at https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/reimagining-digital-transformation-with-capgemini-digital-cloud-platform-for-restaurants-on-aws/ 

Getting Application Modernization Right

 What is App Modernization?

You frequently hear the term - and this can cover and mean a wide set of things.

If you are hampered by your legacy IT systems, you will be keen to take up an application modernization. This is an overall transformation towards a highly scalable and always-on IT ecosystem that changes the traditional project driven mindset of longer release cycles. You want to get away from siloed functions and thinking of quality and operations as an afterthought, to a mindset where you are delivering and operating applications frequently, with much smaller release cycles, improved quality and automations. 

And delivering real business value - not just falling into a trap of measuring how many Story Points were delivered in each sprint. I've frequently seen Story Points as a false measure of business value 

App modernization should provides benefits to an enterprise that accelerate their journey towards a truly digital business - for example - enabling them to launch new and innovative products and focus on their core business instead of spending costs and time in resolving IT issues. 

Jigsaw Puzzle Timelapse Videos

My son and I assembled a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the Cinque Terre view and recorded a timelapse video on the experience. 3 hours of recordings compressed into a 90 second video.

The video is hosted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2zqgsNXYSE 

Here is another 500 piece jigsaw timelapse of Neuschwanstein Castle

and a 500 piece video of a Paris cafe scene and another one which is a mystery 1000 piece puzzle of Alfred Hitchcock clues 

 There are links to some jigsaw puzzles down below. Each one is a 1000 piece puzzle

Enabling the connected vehicle

 The car of the future is connected, autonomous, shared, electric – and it’s already here. For example, by 2030, more than 95 percent of passenger miles will be served by autonomous cars. With sensors now built into every imaginable aspect of a vehicle, from fully voice-operated features and driver attention monitoring to biometric security for reducing theft, the possibilities for the customer experience are endless. Car manufacturers have started thinking beyond traditional car features like design and engine type to consider cutting-edge digital capabilities like personalized subscription services where user can opt in or out of a range of on-demand features from a centralized marketplace.

Because of this, customers have changed the way they purchase cars – it’s not just about aesthetics or performance anymore. There is a shift in customer preferences to include features like personalized digital entertainment and data-powered productivity. Connected cars of the future will also offer facial recognition systems that change in-car settings for the driver, in-car gesture control and voice recognition for advanced security, and in-car shopping with geo-based prompts.

Capgemini’s research indicates that the automotive industry is a leading adopter of smart factories and use of digital technologies such as IoT connectivity, intelligent automation, and cloud-based data analysis and management. However, to take advantage and truly commercialize on the possibilities of the connected vehicle, automotive leaders need to ensure they have a strong technological foundation and that they are:

• Adopting next-gen capabilities that will drive innovation. This includes 5G, cloud, and AI. In fact, up to 15 percent of all new vehicles sold in 2030 could be fully autonomous using next-gen capabilities.
• Conforming to safety and security demands. Given the sensors and the data-driven nature of connected vehicles, they may be more prone to hacking. But turning control completely over to software could lead to new hacking vulnerabilities and other liability issues that companies cannot ignore. To overcome this, automotive companies have to allow drivers to intervene in emergencies.
• Choosing the right operating systems, hypervisor options, embedded software design, and hardware compatibility. These parameters are critical factors to consider given the increasing share of electrified vehicles as a percentage of new vehicle sales. For electrified vehicles, it’s important to have the right OS and embedded software and software.
• Enabling rapid prototyping, development, and testing/verification. There’s no denying that the future of the automotive industryis tied closely to additive manufacturing. Continued innovations in the 3D printing industry – including new materials, printers, and techniques – will continue to change the way companies design and create. To remain competitive, or simply stay relevant, organizations need to adopt smarter and faster ways to prototype and develop.
• Enhancing the capabilities behind design and production. A connected vehicle requires multiple end-to-end capabilities. The industry is in a critical period of disruption, and those who build in the software capabilities in the same way they think about hardware will be able to win mindshare and market share over the long term.
• Think beyond the vehicle. For connected cars, the ecosystem is not just within the vehicle. Because of this, automotive manufacturers need to work with fleet suppliers and service providers to deliver sustainable, connected value across the ecosystem. For example, automobile manufacturers need to work with city planners for better sustainability options such as placement of electric vehicle charging stations based on data.

The automotive industry is at an inflection point that is very similar to that of the telecom space in 2010 with the emergence of Apple. Software architecture will drive the future of the sector, and automotive CIOs need to take advantage of the opportunity by prioritizing the capabilities and differentiating features of their vehicles and connecting with service providers to deliver next-gen customized experiences.

This post was originally published by the author at https://www.capgemini.com/us-en/2021/04/enabling-the-connected-vehicle/