Walking In The Cloud

I have been discussing Cloud Strategy with a group of architects and once again it became evident that most people still seem to think Cloud is just another product that you can adopt without really need for a enterprise wide Cloud Strategy. It is not as simple as selecting one cloud service provider from Amazon Web Services (AWS) , Google, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, and IBM.. Enterprises should take help of Cloud Architect  or else take help from the Cloud service provider to define it's Cloud Strategy. For example if you are considering AWS then AWS architect will provide architecture guidance to the enterprise to define its cloud strategy. Each vendor has multiple products offerings for it's Cloud and it is important to understand how Cloud Service Provider will replace your hardware infrastructure and how it will provide a robust solution.

Key points to decide the cloud strategy

• How data is going to be stored on the cloud and how you will save data center expenses?
• How cloud will enable application to scale on demand ?
• How Cloud Capacity planning is different from owned infrastructure capacity planning? 
• How enterprise will save capital expenses by way of Pay-As-You-Use variable expense
• How cloud will increase speed of delivery by way of using API and reusable services
• How business will become more agile by moving to cloud based architecture
• What are the additional features of individual cloud service provider that differentiate it from others

Many enterprises still lack clarity about their cloud strategy because they are not familiar with the Cloud offerings. An enterprise that wants to adopt the Cloud across all it's business units must have a mature and well-formed understanding of its Enterprise Architecture and a clear view of it's components. Enterprise Architecture Planning enables an enterprises to build structural foundations to support proposed business strategies. It captures the vision of an enterprise by integrating its dimensions to contextualize transformation strategies, organizational structures, business capabilities, data pools, IT applications, and all technology objects. Every business unit of an enterprise is subject to change, and each change may have significant consequences throughout organizational domains.

Cloud Computing is a paradigm to decentralize data centers, by visualizing both infrastructure and platform, and enable services using the internet. It gives access to platforms, services, and tools from browsers deployed across millions of terminals. As well, it reduces the management and maintenance of all the resources associated to technology and infrastructure while providing dynamism, independence, portability, usability, and salability of platform tools.
 

Android Error Solution / Solved : Unable to detect adb version, exit value 0xc0000135

I have Windows 10 license but I prefer using Windows 8.1 on my development laptop. Recently I refreshed my Windows 8.1 and reinstalled Android Studio 3.5.2 and I started getting the following error as soon as I open the Android Studio 

The error basically happens because I have a fresh Windows 8.1 with all required updates but Windows requires  'Windows Universal C Runtime' which gets installed as part of Widows update and because of reinstall of Windows the update is missing. As mentioned in error text 'Android Studio' recommended solution is to download the C run-time package from Microsoft support website (URL is in the image below) or else you can download the 3 ADB specific files from internet and add them to your platform-tools folder on your Windows machine.

Android Studio Error : Unable to detect adb version, exit value 0xc0000135

 

 

Solution:

1. Before you begin implementing changes backup the  platform-tools folder on your machine

2. Add the platform-tools directory path into the system path environment variable.
3. Replace the following 3 files in your platform_tools directory in the path
   (C:\Users\{YourAccount}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools) As you might know the (Your Account) has to be replaced with your Windows Machine name. If you machine name is DataScience, YourAccount should be replaced by DataScience in the path. 
4. And this is image of the 3 files that I downloaded and replaced in my platform-tools folder
5. Restart Android Studio and the error should be fixed

Digital Medicine - Future of Research & Medical Care

The modern practice of scientific medicine depends on the existence of the written and printed information to store medical information. New digital tools can't just record clinical data, they can also generate medical intelligence by analyzing historical data. This leap of industry into "digital medicine" is potentially precise, effective, widely distributed & available to more people than the current medical practice. Critical steps in the creation of Digital Medicine are  analysis of the impact of new technologies & coordinated efforts to direct technological development towards creating a new paradigm of medical care. So Digital Technology can be used in two areas in medicine, to aid research and for medical care.

3D modelling is used to produce precise representations of anatomies in patients. This enables medical teams to plan and visualize complex surgeries & to produce life-saving implants and prostheses cuastomized for individual patients. It’s a remarkable evolution that is  having a tremendous impact on patient’s lives.However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The true revolution in medicine and medical care in the 21st century will not come from such physical models, but from virtual ones. Looking into the future, these virtual models will be able to simulate the true physiology and Pathophysiology of human beings in coming years,  changing forever the way we research, diagnose and treat injuries and disease.

While your virtual twin may seem like a distant dream, progress in bringing this dream to life is actually already well underway in the nascent field of Bio-intelligence. Bio-Intelligence uses computer technologies to model, simulate, visualize and experience biological medical processes in a virtual environment. While drug makers have for some time modeled and screened virtual proteins and compounds against medical databases, drug development and production remain largely rooted in the real world, and collaboration between disciplines and organizations has been limited.

Every day, drug makers work to produce real drugs that they test on real animals, and then on real patients in real clinical trials. And the time and money they expend is staggering. According to studies companies can expect to spend $3 billion over a period of ten years to bring a single new drug to market

Add to this challenge the dynamism and complexity of living systems, and it becomes clear that a collaborative approach to research and development, along with the use of virtual modelling and simulation, could bring enormous benefits to life science and healthcare industries. Collaboration between scientific disciplines and between pharmaceutical companies, research labs, health service providers and computer companies would allow sharing of knowledge and experience to foster insight and innovation.

And, the collaborative use of computer models and simulation would enable researchers to better understand complex systems and more accurately predict the biological effects of various medicines and treatments, enabling drug makers in turn to fine tune real-world assays and eliminate ineffective treatments from trials before the drugs are even produced.

The changing landscape of research today is forcing the bioinformatics community to seek a new level of data sharing and collaboration only made possible with new platforms.Such approaches could also open the door to truly personalized healthcare medicine as collaboratively produced models and simulations are combined with real world data from individual patients. These changes could produce significant innovation and gains in efficiency, effectiveness and safety, bringing better heath treatment outcomes to everyone.

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Smarter BPM using Blockchain concept

Blockchain based distributed ledgers have been used to enable collaboration in a number of environments ranging from diamond trading to securities settlement. Systems ability to execute defined scripts in the form of smart contracts along with blockchain Distributed Ledger Technology makes it capable of managing inter-organizational processes. Blockchain platforms that support both DLT and smart contracts should be capable of not only hosting business data but also the rules for managing the data. Smart contracts execute code directly on the blockchain network as a series of process steps, based on an algorithm programmed to the rules of the contract and the blockchain.

Multi-party Collaboration

Smart contracts can be used to implement business collaborations both within and external to the organization. A blockchain-based real estate registry would allow banks, government agencies, buyers, and sellers to collaborate and track the progress of a process in real-time. Specific aspects of inter-organizational business processes can be compiled into rules based smart contracts to ensure that processes are correctly executed. Smart contracts can independently monitor processes, so that only valid messages are accepted and are sent only from registered process participants. Security and accountability can be factored in the contract, as well as compliance with government regulations and internal rules and processes. 

Blockchain and smart Business Process Management

Even though smart contracts are self-executing, they can play a role in business process improvement. For example, in the case of supply chains, information from blockchain-based tracking of goods and materials can be used to develop algorithms that would prevent counterfeit products or lower quality materials from entering the chain. By combining process information gathered by the smart contract, with visualized process, lean and six sigma techniques, improvements can be made to the rules governing smart contracts.

Digital India cannot be achieved without Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Let me begin by reiterating the subject line - Digital India cannot be achieved without Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. America revolutionized is Healthcare with computers and when it noticed there was a need for a law to ensure compliance it passed  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that also defines the requirement of Digital America and Digital Healthcare for America. If Indian government wants successful Ayushmaan Bharat which is similar to Obama Care of USA it cannot be achieved without2 important foundations
1) Data Protection Law to protect the healthcare and private data of every individual
2) Health Care Accountability Law that mandates certain standard of healthcare in every hospital

For an ordinary man 'Going Digital' means primarily storing information in 'Digital Format'. For government 'Going Digital' also means guaranteeing protection of privacy for its citizen and allowing use of healthcare data in such a manner that the data is Secure, Restricted to authorized entities, ensuring data privacy and should be made available to authorized entities over secured internet with minimal efforts.

When you go to a hospital for a medical test the test reports and your personal data are stored on some hospital computer system. The hospital gives you a print of your report and maintains your medical records
for a undisclosed period of time which could be infinite.

When you go to 2nd hospital to take a 2nd opinion you have to share your paper reports with doctor because your 1st hospital does not give you access to your report over internet in more than 99% of hospitals in #India. The 2nd hospital , he may ask you do another round of test and again give your reports in paper format.

After years a person has hundreds of pages of paper report and the report format varies from hospital to hospital because India does not mandate hospitals to have a standard format for medical records - a major failure of the Indian Medical Association, Government of India and other bodies who are responsible for implementing standards in healthcare.

USA government signed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.  The HIPAA Privacy Rule is composed of national regulations for the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) in healthcare treatment, payment and operations by covered entities. HIPPA was created primarily to

1. modernize the flow of healthcare information, 
2. stipulate how Personally Identifiable Information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft, 
3. and address limitations on healthcare insurance coverage.

HIPAA was created to “improve the portability and accountability of health insurance coverage” for employees between jobs to combat waste, fraud and abuse in health insurance and healthcare delivery. The act also contained passages to promote the use of medical savings accounts by introducing tax breaks, provides coverage for employees with pre-existing medical conditions and simplifies the administration of health insurance. The procedures for simplifying the administration of health insurance became a vehicle to encourage the healthcare industry to computerize patients´ medical records. This particular part of the Act spawned the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) in 2009, which in turn lead to the introduction of the Meaningful Use incentive program – described by leaders in the healthcare industry as “the most important piece of healthcare legislation to be passed in the last 20 to 30 years”


https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_Accountability_Act

Enterprise Guide: Transitioning from Microsoft to Open Source – Cost, Strategy & Tools ( Part-1) – Ajay K Barve

Part 1: Strategic Overview and Key Considerations

1. Introduction

In the modern digital era, enterprises are under increasing pressure to balance innovation, cost efficiency, security, and agility. Proprietary platforms like Microsoft Office 365, Windows, and Azure have long been industry standards. However, the growing maturity, stability, and feature-richness of open-source solutions have made them viable—and often superior—alternatives for a broad range of enterprise needs.

This guide—crafted for medium to large enterprises—provides a structured approach to replacing Microsoft products with open-source equivalents. Drawing on four decades of software architecture experience, this two-part series will help IT leaders make confident, informed decisions, avoid common pitfalls, and unlock long-term value.

2. The Business Case for Open Source

Advantages:

·       Cost Reduction: Elimination of recurring licensing fees and reduced vendor lock-in costs.

·       Vendor Independence: Avoid monopolistic pricing and roadmap lock-ins.

·       Customization: Full access to source code enables tailored enhancements.

·       Security: Open code allows rapid vulnerability detection, audits, and independent fixes.

·       Agility: Open-source communities foster rapid innovation and modular architectures.

·       Ecosystem Maturity: Enterprise-grade solutions like Red Hat, Ubuntu LTS, and OpenStack offer stability.

Disadvantages:

·       Skill Gaps: Requires training or hiring staff skilled in open-source tools.

·       Support Challenges: May need third-party SLAs for critical systems.

·       Integration Complexity: Complex hybrid environments can pose migration challenges.

·       UI/UX Resistance: Some users may struggle with different interfaces or workflows.

3. Key Pillars of an Open Source Strategy

1.       Executive Sponsorship & Cultural Buy-in: Secure top-level backing from CIO, CTO, and finance heads. Foster a culture that values open standards, transparency, and innovation.

2.       Legal & Licensing Readiness: Audit software for compliance with OSS licenses (GPL, Apache, MIT, etc.). Establish an internal legal review process and an Open Source Program Office (OSPO).

3.       Training & Change Management: Develop internal champions, provide workshops, create onboarding documentation. Ensure regular engagement and training to reduce friction.

4.       Incremental Migration: Focus on non-critical systems first. Use a phased rollout strategy. Implement fallback mechanisms for each stage.

5.       Support Ecosystem: Engage with Red Hat, Canonical, SUSE, or other enterprise vendors for SLAs. Contribute back to open-source projects to build long-term influence.

4. Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft Products

Microsoft Product	Open Source Alternative	Notes
Windows OS	Ubuntu LTS, Fedora, Linux Mint	Ubuntu LTS offers excellent hardware compatibility and enterprise support.
MS Office	LibreOffice, OnlyOffice	OnlyOffice offers better fidelity with Microsoft formats.
Outlook	Thunderbird with ExQuilla/Owl	Thunderbird can integrate well with Exchange protocols.
Teams	Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Jitsi	Mattermost is highly scalable and ideal for internal collaboration.
SharePoint	Nextcloud, Alfresco	Nextcloud for file sync/share; Alfresco for advanced DMS.
SQL Server	PostgreSQL, MariaDB	PostgreSQL offers enterprise-grade features, scalability, and tools.
Power BI	Metabase, Apache Superset, Redash	Metabase is intuitive and powerful for most BI needs.
Azure	OpenStack, Kubernetes, DigitalOcean	OpenStack provides infrastructure-as-a-service with full control.
Visual Studio	Eclipse, VS Code (open core)	VS Code is open-source at its core and widely supported.

5. Planning Your Transition

6.       Assessment: Audit current software stack, usage data, and licensing dependencies. Prioritize software based on user base, business criticality, and ease of replacement.

7.       Pilot Projects: Select departments like internal admin or R&D for pilot deployments. Gather user feedback and adapt migration playbooks accordingly.

8.       Security Planning: Implement OSS security tools: OpenVAS, OSQuery, ClamAV. Enforce strict patch management, monitoring, and identity controls.

9.       Migration Roadmap: Create a phased timeline with rollback procedures. Establish KPIs: cost savings, performance benchmarks, user satisfaction.

10.   Evaluate ROI and Iterate: Use analytics tools to measure impact. Plan for continuous improvements based on feedback loops.

6. Risks and Mitigation Strategies

Risk	Mitigation
Lack of Support	Contract vendors for enterprise-grade SLAs (e.g., Red Hat, Canonical)
Integration Complexity	Use APIs, open standards, and middleware like Apache Camel or WSO2
User Resistance	Offer UI-familiar options (OnlyOffice), run workshops, incentivize adoption
Legal Issues	Form an OSPO, define an internal open-source usage policy, track license types

7. Final Thoughts

Transitioning to open-source software is a strategic move—technically, culturally, and financially. While risks exist, the long-term benefits of freedom from vendor lock-in, cost savings, and innovation agility can be transformative.

Done right, open-source transformation creates a resilient, future-proof IT ecosystem.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll explore real-world success stories, architecture patterns, migration templates, and OpenStack vs Azure Stack comparisons.