Cloud Computing: Digital Economy X Factor
Cloud computing is such a powerful investment area for government because not only can it modernize their IT and therefore enhance their business processes and reduce their own operating costs, but this same platform can also boost technology-enabled public innovation across a broader national capacity. This can be aligned to government programs to create more of an ?Innovation Nation? program, such as the UK program of the same name. This encompasses aspects such as ICT skills and programs in schools and colleges, government procurement policies, small business assistance and direct technology innovation stimulus like a tech strategy board.
Cloud Hosting
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CariNet has become a leader in the cloud hosting field with a wide variety of cloud offerings to supplement our traditional servers and server clusters. Whether you work in Linux or Windows, you will love CariNet. We are partners with 3tera in offering their AppLogic Cloud Operating System and we are the only hosting company in the world with an Intel Premier Partnership. We have hosted the world for well over a decade, and are fluent in all things Internet and server related. We build, own and operate all of our datacenters and facilities in the United States and are capable of handling customers and demands of any size. We have also expanded our global footprint through partnerships with other datacenters around the world. Contact CariNet; your Complete Cloud Computing Center.
Verizon and VMware to Launch Hybrid Cloud Computing Solution
Verizon Business and VMware unveiled a new enterprise-class hybrid cloud solution that will enable enterprises to move their applications to the cloud more quickly without compromising security or performance. The new solution, underpinned by Verizon's world-class global IP network and the industry-leading VMware vSphere virtualization platform, will help remove the major barriers to cloud computing adoption, while enabling the delivery of "IT as a Service."
Vordel Enables Management of Cloud Computing Providers via VMware vCloud
Vordel, a provider of fast, safe connectivity for SOA and Cloud Services on Tuesday announced that its Vordel Cloud Service Broker will provide management for the VMware vCloud Director. VMware vCloud Director enables enterprises to manage a hybrid environment of their own datacenters and multiple Cloud service providers. Vordel Cloud Service Broker with VMware vCloud Director enables enterprises to obtain the same level of control and visibility of their cloud infrastructure as they have of on-premises infrastructure.
Cloud Is Not Rocket Science But It Is Computer Science
For many folks in IT it is likely you might find in their home a wall on which you can find hanging a diploma. It might be a BA, it might be a BS, and you might even find one (or two) ?Master of Science? as well. Now interestingly enough, none of the diplomas indicate anything other than the level of education (Bachelor or Master) and the type (Arts or Science). But we all majored in something, and for many of the people who end up in IT that something was Computer Science. There was not, after all, an option to earn a ?MS of Application Development? or a ?BS of Devops?. While many higher education institutions offer students the opportunity to emphasize in a particular sub-field of Computer Science, that?s not what the final degree is in. It?s almost always a derivation of Computer Science.
Cloud Storage and Adaptability. Plan Ahead
Almost exactly a year ago, I inherited several sets of model railroad trains. Two full O scale sets and two full HO scale sets. They were in varying stages of disrepair, and I wasn?t certain any of them worked. I?m not a train person, but my kids might be ? given the chance to try them out. So I took them all to different dealers (who would have thought that different people work on different scales?), and had them all looked at to determine which one was most in need of fixing. It turned out that a diesel O scale was the easiest of the five engines to fix, so The Toddler and I dropped it off this spring.
Hurd To Lose His Only Other Board Seat
Hurd won?t be replaced immediately. It was his only other board seat besides HP, one he accepted in February 2008. Speculation over what exactly happened in HP?s executive suite has turned recently to Hurd?s unpopularity with the HP workforce and his alleged starvation of the company?s R&D. HP spends about $2.7 billion on inventions compared to IBM, its biggest competitor, which spends $5.8 billion, and wannabe Cisco, which spends $5 million. Apple, however, seems to get a bigger bang out of its $1.1 billion R&D budget than any of them. It?s unclear whether it was Hurd?s idea not to stand or Rupert Murdoch?s. Hurd won?t be replaced immediately.
Check Point Simplifies Cloud Computing Security
The new Security Gateway VE is designed to ensure organizations can secure inter-VM traffic and external networks with granular firewall policies and integrated intrusion prevention capabilities to protect against malicious and unwanted network activity. In addition, organizations can automatically apply security policies to all existing or future virtual machines, without changing the existing network topology or experiencing downtime during live migration. With Security Gateway VE, customers are able to meet both the traditional network traffic requirements and the dynamic requirements needed to protect data at the hypervisor level, ensuring they have the most comprehensive security for virtual environments.
HP and VMware to Accelerate Private Cloud Computing
To help customers better control and manage the physical and virtual aspects of cloud infrastructure, VMware and HP are creating an integrated, comprehensive cloud infrastructure solution combining the new VMware vCloud Director with the HP BladeSystem Matrix and HP Cloud Maps. The HP Cloud Map for VMware vCloud Director can be directly imported into customers' Matrix environments to rapidly deploy new VMware vCloud infrastructure. Through the integration of Matrix and VMware vCloud Director, customers can easily scale virtualized resource pools to quickly adjust to changing business demands. The integration will be available as a technology preview by the end of the year.
IBM Rescues California Emergency Management Agency
IBM, a non-contender in the 3PAR event despite the billions it's otherwise spent on storage, said Tuesday that it has thrown California's newfangled Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), a lifeline. Cal EMA is the deficit-ridden, emergency-prone state's year-old combination of its Office of Emergency Services and its Office of Homeland Security and it's supposed to archive stuff like information on critical infrastructure and real-time data collected by satellite for decades, something it's increasingly doing it on VMware virtual machines. IBM says reducing the data in Cal EMA's virtual environment is critical because a full snapshot of the data in its charge would mean backing up 15TB-20TB every time
The Top 250 Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem
In the run-up to the next Cloud Expo, 7th Cloud Expo (November 1-4, 2010) at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, it's time to give my earlier list a complete overhaul. Here, accordingly, is an expanded list of the most active players in the Cloud Ecosystem.
CIA to Present on Private Cloud Capabilities at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
How can organizations use enterprise/private cloud capabilities to improve information-sharing? In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Ira A. (Gus) Hunt, CTO to the CIO of the Central Intelligence Agency, will discuss how the Intelligence Community has been using enterprise/private cloud capabilities to improve information-sharing across the entire community. Ira A. (Gus) Hunt currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the Chief Information Officer in CIA. In this capacity he is responsible for setting the strategic technology direction to enable CIA?s missions, actively engage across the IC to share and communicate IT solutions, and drive solutions for the rapid insertion and adoption of new capabilities to keep pace with technology change in the commercial sector.
newScale Gives Cloud Expo Sponsor VMware a Self-Service IT Storefront
newScale, which just climbed into bed with Eucalyptus last week, is supposed to say at VMworld Tuesday that its FrontOffice Suite supports VMware?s new infrastructure-as-a-service vCloud Director software for building private and public clouds. newScale - whose President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Hammond (pictured below) spoke at 7the International Conference & Expo in NYC - can serve as a front-end to vCloud Director and provide enterprises and service providers with a policy-based e-commerce IT storefront portal that delivers a consumer-like shopping experience for data center services.
Monitis Now Speaks Singlish, Lah!
What makes Monitis' nodes so unique is their True One-Minute Monitoring. This means that each of Monitis' 12 nodes is monitoring a client's site every minute. This is not the case with most other companies that claim to offer one-minute monitoring. Such companies only monitor once a minute from one individual location - not from all of their nodes. If a monitoring service is offering 100 nodes, each node is typically only activated once every 100 minutes - a far from optimal situation. Hovhannes Ayovan, Monitis' Founder and CEO, commented, "As the hub of business in Southeast Asia, Singapore is a critical location for us to offer a monitoring node. Now, for IT managers in the region, the only thing they need to worry about is how hot the black pepper crab is on Joo Chiat Road, and not whether or not they are getting accurate information about their systems."
HyTrust Cloud Control to Enable Accelerated Cloud Computing Adoption
HyTrust, Inc., a provider of access control and policy enforcement for virtualization infrastructure, on Monday announced HyTrust Cloud Control and out-of-the-box integration between HyTrust Appliance and VMware vCloud Director. The solution brings strong authentication, role-based access control, security and visibility to VMware-based clouds, which enables transparency and accountability for cloud services. By offering customers the freedom of open standards and interoperability of applications, VMware vCloud Director offers organizations ability to expand IT capacity or migrate applications to the public cloud. Similar to Amazon?s EC2 offering, VMware-based cloud services ensure visibility of pooled resources along with the elasticity to provide the highest service-levels for applications.
CloudStorageStrategy.com Introduces Cloud Storage Model
CloudStorageStrategy.com on Monday introduced a Cloud Storage Business Model for Enterprises to help IT decision makers who are considering cloud storage. Underwritten by Mezeo Software (www.mezeo.com), a provider of a deployable cloud storage platform for enterprises and service providers, CloudStorageStrategy.com is a forum for industry thought leaders to exchange insights and observations on the evolving cloud storage space and technology.
GlassHouse Technologies Launches Cloud Insight Tool
GlassHouse Technologies, a data center consulting and managed services firm, has announced the launch of its Cloud Insight tool. The new maturity assessment tool is used as part of GlassHouse?s Cloud Snapshot and Cloud Impact Analysis services, and provides businesses with a detailed report outlining preparedness, best practices, strategies and next steps for organizations looking to implement cloud computing. Further, each assessment is tailored to a business? unique IT infrastructure to maximize the success of the cloud implementation and help organizations map deployments to key business objectives.
Zenoss Announces Wins for Cisco UCS-Based Clouds
Zenoss Inc., a provider of dynamic service assurance products for public, private and hybrid clouds, on Monday announced that in its first quarter of availability, it has achieved several significant customer wins for its management offering for the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). The Zenoss solution is compelling to both enterprises and cloud service providers because it provides unified, real-time visibility into the configuration, health and performance of their entire cloud services infrastructure in an open, cost-effective, and rapidly deployable product.
Cloud Expo Exhibitor NComputing Secures Leadership in Virtualization
NComputing, a global leader in desktop virtualization, on Monday announced expanded operations including international senior hires, country expansion, an aggressive channel expansion program, an enhanced OEM program, and integrated solutions with Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware. These actions are in response to growing global market adoption of the company's desktop virtualization devices and technologies. NComputing is experiencing broadening enterprise acceptance and continued education success across all international regions, with year-over-year revenue increasing 40 percent.
Voltaire Announces Switch for Cloud Computing
The switch features 48 ports of 10GbE line rate connectivity in a space-saving 1U device. It provides non-blocking switching throughput of 960 Gbps, low latency and the industry's lowest power consumption of 6.3 watts/port to deliver superior application performance as well as data center efficiency. The Vantage 6048 offers more CEE-compliant features than any other switch available in the industry, including Congestion Notification (IEEE 802.1Qau) to assure end to end congestion management and isolation between applications that co-exist in the data center. The combination of the Voltaire Vantage 8500 Layer 2 core switches and new Vantage 6048 switches enables customers to build flat data center fabrics of more than 3,400 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports with non-blocking, lossless switch fabric capacity of 69.12 Terabits per second. Voltaire Unified Fabric Manager(TM) (UFM(TM)) software orchestrates the fabric as a single logical switch, enforcing fabric-wide service policies, providing real-time fabric flow level monitoring, and simplifying fabric administration across many physical and virtual switching elements.
Precise Releases Precise for Cloud
Precise has announced Precise for Cloud, a transaction performance management solution designed to ensure quality of service (QoS) for applications running on private cloud platforms at the Global 5000 and their global ISPs. Precise has designed Precise for Cloud to solve the most pressing issues facing cloud architects and virtualization managers: application QoS, performance problem isolation, and problem resolution. Using Precise for Cloud, IT executives can consistently monitor performance, predict and isolate issues, and over time, optimize applications running on virtual and physical infrastructure.
EMC Extends Security for Cloud Computing
Featuring an easy to use dashboard based on the RSA® ArcherTM eGRC platform, the solution is designed to give organizations a complete assessment of security and compliance posture across their VMware virtual infrastructure. This allows customers to centrally manage security across both virtual and physical infrastructures using RSA Archer. The dashboard integrates with a library of more than 100 VMware-specific controls such as administrative authentication, that map to the most current global regulations such as PCI-DSS and HIPAA to ensure best practices for deployment. The solution also integrates with the RSA® enVision security information and event management platform to provide a more comprehensive assessment of security events from across the enterprise.
Citrix Buys VMLogix
Citrix announced Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VMLogix, a leading provider of virtualization management for private and public clouds. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, and will - according to a company statement by Citrix - add key lifecycle management capabilities to the Citrix OpenCloud platform, "making it easy for cloud providers to offer infrastructure services that extend from pre-production and quality assurance, to staging, deployment and business continuity."
A Disturbance in the Force
The Internet is quietly being replumbed. That shouldn?t surprise anyone involved with it; the Internet is always being replumbed. But you might be more surprised to learn that the next few years will bring an unusual burst of changes in that plumbing, some with great potential consequences for anyone who relies on the Net. By ?plumbing,? I of course refer to the protocols and software that make the core features of the Internet work. These have been evolving steadily since 1969, but I don?t think any period since the early 1980s has seen as many changes as we'll see over the next few years.
Event Processing in the Cloud ? DataSift is a Big Proof Point
In the past year or so, I’ve heard from many skeptics – people who didn’t believe that Event Processing could be successfully deployed in the cloud. Granted, most of these folks represented firms actively engaged in providing the High Frequency Trading (Algo Trading) industry with tools.
Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share in 3Q 2010
It has certainly been an exciting week in the Cloudsphere with Dell and HP battling it out over 3PAR. It?s clear who is on Dell and HP?s radar, and I?m looking forward to seeing the rest of 2010 Cloud acquisitions as the segment continues to consolidate. Its been almost 2 quarters since the last report, though the BTC Logic team has done an excellent job in their Top Ten Cloud Companies in 2Q10 Report to pick up the slack. CRN released The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors list joining the The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing, 85 Cloud Computing Vendors Shaping the Emerging Cloud, 50 of The Biggest and Best Cloud Computing Companies, The VAR Guy?s SaaS 20 Index, and even Congress has gotten into the Cloud game ? Congress Holds Hearing on Cloud Computing. The list below is a subjective impression of Cloud Service Providers (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) on my cloud computing radar, and beginning with this report, large industry players will be included as it is very clear now that they are paying close attention to the segment. Just take a look at some of these moves by the giants of IT to position their portfolios for Cloud computing and the current Dell / HP battle for 3PAR.
Why Didn?t I Start Salesforce.com?
Between 1991 and 1994 I worked for the French company Rhône-Poulenc in its U.S. headquarters in Cranbury, New Jersey. Rhône-Poulenc is the biggest French company in the world and is owned by the French government. During those three years I designed, coded and delivered a state-of-the-art salesforce automation system for the company, with a support team of five. We spent roughly $2 million on hardware but the company saved an estimated $11 million in outside consulting fees. The best bid for the job would take roughly five years to complete and would have been inferior to what we developed. And it probably would never have made it out in five years anyway. With a five-year project, requirements change, and if the requirements remain the same then the people change. So a consulting company awarded such a contract gets paid but doesn't necessarily need to deliver the goods. The basic rule of a consulting business is to get the contract, you think about delivery later on. If you don't get the contract, you don't have a project to think about. My view of consultants is that most of them are like castrated bulls, all they can do is advice.
Cloud Computing: Fujitsu Hot for M&A
Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto said the company is ?very actively? seeking software acquisitions, particularly the cloud and middleware kind, to ratchet up its global growth, according to BusinessWeek. It could take another six months or more for Fujitsu to light on anything. It?s also interested in alliances presumably like its recent Azure appliance hardware deal with Microsoft.
Geospatial Cloud Computing in Support of National Policy
In their February blog post, "BI's Next Frontier: Geospatial Cloud Computing", Margot Rudell and Krishna Kumar succinctly described this need:
"Competitive superiority and prosperity require timely interpretation of space and time variables for contextual, condition-based decision making and timely action. Geospatial cockpits with cloud computing capabilities can now integrate the wealth of cloud data like macroeconomic indicators on the web with internal operations information to help define and execute optimal business decisions in real-time."
In fact, if Washington, DC CTO Bryan Sival has his way, Washington would become the first "Geocity in the Cloud":
"'The city is already a heavy supplier of mapping applications, having 26 apps that mash maps up with data on crimes, evacuation routes, school data, emergency facilities, addresses of notaries public, leaf collection, and much more.'
Sivak also wants to provide ways for citizens to update city maps or augment maps with additional information such as the location of park benches and traffic lights. The idea is to take crowdsourcing to a higher level of detail by offering the capability to use this geospatial data to mark not just locations but documents and data relevant to the place."
No wonder the NGA and Google are moving fast to link up with each other :-)
( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )
Platform Computing Fields Packaged Private Cloud Computing Eval Solution
Canada?s Platform Computing, which many people might associate with its old-line job scheduling product, Load Sharing Facility (LSF), got into the cloud business like everybody else a year ago with Platform ISF, a piece of software that lets organizations set up and manage private clouds, control both physical and virtual resources, and support a variety of hardware and OS configurations. Now it?s got a $4,995 U.S.-only end-to-end Platform ISF Starter Pack that?s supposed to be a low-risk, low-cost way for companies to evaluate a private cloud.
3PAR Determines HP Proposal Is Superior Offer
3PAR® (NYSE: PAR), the leading global provider of utility storage, today announced its board of directors has determined that the unsolicited proposal by Hewlett-Packard Company to acquire all of 3PAR's outstanding common stock at $30 per share constitutes a "superior proposal" (as that term is defined in 3PAR's previously announced merger agreement with Dell). The 3PAR board of directors notified Dell of its intention to terminate the merger agreement with Dell, immediately following the expiration of the three business day period contemplated by, and the satisfaction of the other conditions set forth in, the merger agreement with Dell, in order to enter into the merger agreement with HP on the terms set forth in HP's acquisition proposal.
Centrify?s Got a Cure for the Cloud Security Blues
Security is a prime impediment to cloud adoption, right? Right. Well, Centrify has this idea: Suppose it turns any company?s venture into the cloud into a lock-box ? sealed off from the nasties ? if anything dastardly happens the user has only its own staff to blame. That way companies won?t be forfeiting their soul simply to take advantage of the cloud?s siren?s song about cheap price points. Next week at VMWorld Centrify is going to offer to isolate virtual machines no matter where they are through the security in Microsoft?s Active Directory ? complements of AD?s policy logic ? and let them take the job away from the host provider.
Cloud Computing: OpenStack Update
OpenStack, the new open source kid on the cloud block, has spawned an adjacent front-end project, an OpenStack iPad app based on the Rackspace Cloud Pro iPad app currently in the App Store. The OpenStack iPad app uses OpenStack?s compute and storage APIs to manage compute and storage resources, and offers a few features outside the scope of the APIs like viewing RSS system status feeds, pinging compute nodes from several locations around the world, e-mailing files from OpenStack Object Storage and integration with Chef, the open source systems integration framework, and the Opscode Platform, a new feature made possible by the developers at Opscode. Meanwhile, OpenStack is claiming 34 community members and that ?hundreds of people have made over a thousand contributions.?
Cloud Computing, SOA and Windows Azure - Part 3
A cloud service in Windows Azure will typically have multiple concurrent instances. Each instance may be running all or a part of the service?s codebase. As a developer, you control the number and type of roles that you want running your service. Windows Azure roles are comparable to standard Visual Studio projects, where each instance represents a separate project. These roles represent different types of applications that are natively supported by Windows Azure.
Platform Computing Steps Up with Solution for Building Private Clouds
Platform Computing has paved the way to faster private cloud adoption with a low-risk, low-cost way for companies to evaluate their use of cloud computing. The Platform ISF Starter Pack, announced this week, will enable architects and IT managers to get a cloud sandbox environment up and running in less than 30 minutes, the company says. Platform ISF manages application workloads across multiple virtual machine (VM) technologies and provisioning tools. It includes self-service, automated provisioning and chargeback capabilities. It supports multiple VM technologies, including ESX, Xen, KVM and Hyper-V, as well as popular provisioning tools, such as Red Hat Satellite, IBM xCAT, Symantec Altiris, and Platform Cluster Manager.
Cloud Interoperability and Portability Down to Earth with OpenNebula
It is said that one image says more than a thousand words. This image illustrates how OpenNebula emphasizes interoperability and portability, recognizing that their users have data-centers composed of different hardware and software components for security, virtualization, storage, and networking.
Cloud Computing: IBM Acquires Sterling Commerce
IBM on Friday announced the closing of its acquisition of Sterling Commerce. The company expands IBM's ability to help clients accelerate their interactions with customers, partners and suppliers through dynamic business networks using either on-premise or cloud delivery models. Organizations are looking for ways to create more intelligent networks of business partners, customers and suppliers in order to enhance efficiency and profitability. These interactions are increasing dramatically due to the proliferation of electronic business transactions, from banks exchanging transaction data and manufacturers sourcing raw materials electronically, to retailers automating stock replenishment and managing orders online.
Cloud Computing: The New Normal in Enterprise Infrastructure
As we work with dozens of companies that are actively running pilots and doing early deployments in the cloud, it made me think about what the ?new normal? will look like in enterprise IT infrastructure. A recent report from the Yankee Group shows that adoption of cloud is accelerating, with 24% of large enterprises already using IaaS, and another 37% expected to adopt IaaS within the next 24 months. It?s clearly a time of major shifts in the IT world, and while we wait for the hype to subside and the smoke to clear, some early outlines of the new paradigm are emerging.
iTKO Named ?Bronze Sponsor? of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
SYS-CON Events announced today that iTKO, the leading provider of virtualization and validation solutions for enterprise cloud applications, has been named ?Bronze Sponsor? of SYS-CON's 7th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1?4, 2010, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. iTKO will be demonstrating its latest LISA software suite, including innovations in service virtualization, validating complex, distributed SOA and BPM, and Cloud-based development and test lab platforms. In addition, ?iTKO Founder John Michelsen will present a session entitled: The DevTest Cloud: An Essential Platform for Cloud Applications.
Harnessing the Power of Cloud Computing
In this webcast from Micro Focus see how SilkPerformer CloudBurst harnesses the power of the cloud to ensure the applications that run your business can support the intense loads that they operate under ? including large spikes of usage from around the globe.
VMware to Present on IT-as-a-Service at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
The industry conversation is all about cloud, but the real goal is the elusive transformation of IT into a business-ready service that is available on demand and as needed. IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) leverages an open cloud computing approach that spans both internal, private clouds and public cloud offerings, giving users simple, self-service access and a feeling of control. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Mathew Lodge, Senior Director in VMware?s Cloud Services group, will provide a high-level overview of VMware's vision for ITaaS and discuss how this model is changing the definition of cloud computing.
The Top 50 Bloggers on Cloud Computing
Ever since I first published here my tentative list of Top Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem there have been suggestions that another prism through which to view cloud computing might be that of people rather than companies. Now Michael Sheehan has encouraged me to Just Do It, so let me get started.
Amazon Earns Half Billion on Cloud Computing
I read where UBS, the Swiss banking giant, found that Amazon Web Services (AWS) earns $500 million yearly from its cloud computing business. While that number may sound impressive to some at first blush, it?s really only around 2% of Amazon.com?s annual revenues. And in the blog I read about this news, that would be less than AWS makes on ?garden rakes.? UBS got its numbers by breaking out a lump sum of Amazon?s quarterly earnings reports that it calls ?other? revenue, separate from its retail revenues. ?Other? includes Amazon EC2, Amazon S3 and other services like packing and shipping goods. On the bright side, UBS predicts that AWS cloud revenue might grow to $2.54 billion by 2014.
Dell Tops HP?s 3PAR Bid; HP Trumps Dell Again; Over to You, MD
The tug of war over 3PAR has picked up its pace. Thursday morning Dell upped its offer for the virtualized storage house to $24.30 a share, a scant 30 cents better than HP's surprise offer of $24 on Monday, but still roughly $1.53 billion, up significantly from the $1.15 billion that 3PAR accepted from Dell last week. Thursday afternoon HP went to $27 a share, say $1.8 billion, 11% more than Dell. Dell now has to decide whether to raise again. It's got perpetual matching rights. Dell said Thursday morning that 3PAR had accepted its amended offer and that if the obscure little company walks away this time it's going to cost its suitor $72 million, up from the $53.5 million termination fee in their original agreement. HP and Dell are chasing the unprofitable $200 million-a-year 3PAR for its cloud potential.
CSC Forms Strategic Cloud Computing Alliance with the VCE Coalition
CSC on Thursday announced it is expanding its alliance with the Virtual Computing Environment coalition (VCE), an unprecedented collaboration of Cisco and EMC with VMware, to develop a new global solutions unit and create centers of excellence based on VCE?s Vblock infrastructure. Today?s announcement confirms VCE?s Vblock as the preferred technology stack for CSC?s cloud offerings to help customers more easily and securely migrate their business processes to the cloud. In addition, CSC and the VCE coalition have committed new resources in engineering, sales and support for customers to test VCE-enabled offerings through CSC?s specialized Centers of Excellence in Chantilly, Va., Aldershot, England and Sydney, Australia within the next 90 days.
Trio of Cloud Companies Collaborate on Private Cloud Platform Offerings
The technology value triumvirate of newScale, rPath and Eucalyptus?with solution practice experience of MomentumSI?is an excellent example of the ecosystem approach most likely to become the way that private cloud models actually work for enterprises for the next few years. A trio of cloud ecosystem companies have collaborated to offer an integrated technology platform that aims to deliver a swift on-ramp to private and hybrid cloud computing models in the enterprise. newScale, rPath and Eucalyptus Systems are combining their individual technology strengths in a one-two-three punch that promises to help businesses pump up their IT agility through cloud computing. [Disclosure: rPath is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.] The companies will work with integration services provider MomentumSI to deliver on this enterprise-ready platform that relies on cloud computing, integrating infrastructure for private and hybrid clouds with enterprise IT self-service, and system automation.
Dell Tops HP's Bid for 3PAR ? Just Barely
If nothing else, HP Thursday morning made Dell's proposed acquisition of 3PAR more expensive. That was when Dell sweetened HP's unexpected $24-a-share bid on Monday for the virtualized storage house by 30 cents to $1.53 billion, up from the $1.15 billion that 3PAR accepted from Dell last week. HP now has to decide whether to raise again, a move that would presumably be conditioned on getting any advance to stick. See, Dell's got perpetual matching rights.
HP Buys More Cloudware
While HP debates whether to up its offer for 3PAR after Dell sweetened HP's $24-a-share bid for the joint by 30 cents Thursday morning, HP announced that another acquisition was already in the bag. It's bought database and application automation company Stratavia on undisclosed terms. The eight-year-old Denver ISV gives HP deployment, configuration and management solutions for enterprise databases, middleware and packaged applications in hybrid IT environments, including on-premise, off-premise, physical and virtual environments.
Cloud Expo Exhibitor SoftLayer Ranked on the 2010 Inc. 500|5000 List
SoftLayer Technologies, an on-demand data center services provider, on Thursday announced its inclusion in the 2010 Inc. 500|5000 list. The company was ranked 155th overall, and 12th in the IT Services industry, based on revenue growth from 2006 to 2009. Issued annually, the Inc. 500|5000 list ranks the fastest growing companies in the U.S. Companies were required to have minimum revenues of $80,000 in 2006 and minimum revenues of $2 million in 2009 to qualify for the 2010 list, and must be privately held, for profit, and independent as of December 31, 2009.
How to Leverage Cloud Storage for Your IT
Cloud Storage is a hot topic this year. Google I/O is talking about it with the introduction of Google Storage for Developers. EMC World is talking about the journey to the private cloud. HostingCon this year is almost completely dedicated to ?the cloud?. You are fully aware of what it is by now. Have you tried it yourself? If you haven?t, here are several steps to jump in. If you have, jump in in the middle.
EMC and VMware Lead Customers on Journey to the Private Cloud
"From our standpoint as a leading healthcare institution, EMC and VMware technology are the foundation of our move toward a private cloud infrastructure. This will enable us to more cost effectively and efficiently provide our 2,400 employees and more than 500 physicians with the technology they need to continue giving the highest level of care to our patients. We're also building the first new hospital from the ground up in New York State in over 20 years, which is scheduled to open in 2011. Our virtualized EMC and VMware infrastructure will be the IT foundation for critical applications at this state-of-the-art facility."
Mezeo Software to Exhibit at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
SYS-CON Events announced today that Mezeo Software, the leading provider of a deployable cloud storage platform for service providers and enterprises, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 7th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1?4, 2010, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Mezeo Software is the industry?s leading provider of a deployable cloud storage platform. Service-enabled, the Mezeo platform is easy to deploy, multi-tenant, highly scalable and secure, with REST Web Services APIs for platform extensibility. With Mezeo, IT Service Providers can rapidly monetize Storage as a Service with a branded offering, and large enterprises can implement a secure, private cloud with clients for BlackBerry, iPhone and the Web. Mezeo was named in CRN?s list of the 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Products and Top 25 Coolest Emerging Vendors of 2009.
Securing the Amazon Web Services Cloud at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
Moving to the cloud raises lots of questions, mostly about security. Providers worthy of your business should answer them clearly and honestly. Amazon Web Services has built an infrastructure and established processes to mitigate common vulnerabilities and offer a safe compute and storage environment. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Steve Riley, an evangelist and strategist for cloud computing at Amazon Web Services, will discuss common cloud security concerns, show how AWS protects its infrastructure from internal and external attack, and explain how you can take advantage of the security features of AWS in your own applications as you extend your enterprise into the cloud.
Cloud Computing: VMware Acquires Integrien and TriCipher
On Tuesday VMware has announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire Integrien, a provider of real time application and infrastructure performance analytics software, and TriCipher, a provider of secure access management and enterprise identity federation for cloud hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. Integrien?s patented real-time performance analytics solution helps customers simplify the complexity of managing application and infrastructure performance by transforming data from existing management tools into actionable intelligence. Combined with VMware vCenter management products, Integrien?s capabilities enable VMware customers to achieve the level of automation and control required for virtualized and cloud infrastructures.
Identity Management in Cloud Computing
Web-services research and protocol applications have been around and in use for quite some time now. With the potential Capex and Opex savings enterprises can potentially realise from utilizing a cloud computing service model, there should also be added focus on ensuring that security is properly implemented either in authentication or authorization. Cloud Computing, with its foundation in the world of virtualization, can take advantage of key aspects of web service implementations and security practice; but only to a point. Web service policies are based on a static model that is known, defined, regulated and contained. However, with Cloud Computing, these dynamics change. We can assert that within the cloud environment we deal with a heterogeneous digital ecosystem that is dynamic in nature.
Adaptivity CTO to Present at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
A successful enterprise cloud requires a well-executed CMDB that will enable an enterprise cloud to be operationalized. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Jim Houghton, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Adaptivity, will discuss the execution blueprint components that an enterprise must implement to create an effective CMDB that enables an enterprise cloud to be operationalized. James Houghton is Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Adaptivity. In his CTO capacity Jim interacts with key technology providers to evolve capabilities and partnerships that enable Adaptivity to offer its complete SOIT, RTI, and Utility Computing solutions. In addition, he engages with key clients to ensure successful leverage of the ADIOS methodology.
Trend Micro Offers Encryption Solution for Cloud Computing
On Tuesday Trend Micro announced the public beta availability of Trend Micro SecureCloud, furthering the company's mission to extend multi-layered protection to data residing in the private or public cloud. By applying new patent-pending key-management technology combined with industry-standard encryption, SecureCloud gives control over data stored in public, private or hybrid clouds back to enterprises. Private and public clouds provide compelling business value in lowering costs and increasing business agility, but also present new security gaps and operational challenges that conventional defenses cannot resolve. For example, IDC conducted a survey of 263 IT executives, CIOs and their line of business colleagues to gauge their opinions and understand their companies' use of IT Cloud Services. Security ranked first as the greatest challenge or issue attributed to cloud computing. SecureCloud was designed to address these concerns: It alleviates data security, privacy and compliance risks associated with deploying information into any cloud-computing environment.
Amazon Web Services' Steve Riley to Present at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
Cloud computing radically alters our thinking about IT. Scarcity evaporates as on-demand resources appear infinite, servers morph into disposable horsepower, and backups lose their fragility. Eliminating the need to own information processing assets helps improve economics by removing requirements of meeting certain guaranteed cash flows to recoup sunk costs. Security and control remain possible because they now derive not from ownership and location but from contracts, standards, and confidentiality and integrity protection. The system administrator role evolves from server caretaker into one that's more aligned with the dynamics of the business and helps the organization add capacity as business needs dictate. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Steve Riley, technical evangelist from Amazon Web Services, will explore how to think cloud and maximize the outcome of your investment in public cloud services. He will combine seven cloud architecture design lessons using Amazon Web Services along with a demonstration of managing various AWS components.
Unisys?s John Treadway to Present at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
There are many different approaches to building and deploying a scalable cloud, from starting with packaged cloud stacks to build-from-scratch models. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, John Treadway, Global Director of Cloud Computing Solutions at Unisys, will cover factors such as use-cases, customers/users, and the various tradeoffs that need to be made in order to ensure that you end up with the right cloud for your needs. He will also explore some of the pitfalls of making the wrong choices, and survey some of the available tools and technologies being used to build clouds today.
EMC Transforms Management of Private Cloud Computing
Further powering its customers' journey to the private cloud, EMC Corporation on Tuesday announced the beta program for EMC Ionix Unified Infrastructure Manager 2.0. This new offering transforms infrastructure management by unifying, and making service-driven, the management of network, compute and storage layers. Ionix UIM 2.0 will empower companies to more easily make the transition from physical to virtual to private cloud infrastructures by unifying and automating the management of Vblock Infrastructure Packages, an element of the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition formed by Cisco, EMC, and VMware.
Savvis VP to Present on the Enterprise Cloud at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
For a cloud to be considered enterprise, it must provide a high-availability solution that accounts for every aspect of an Enterprise IT Infrastructure environment, from development to production including provisioning and maintenance of servers, network, storage, security and software. The value of the enterprise cloud solution is simple: It enables businesses to adapt to the rapidly changing economic and technological environment with speed, excellence and efficiency while reducing the total cost of ownership. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Ken Owens, VP of Security and Virtualization Technologies at Savvis Communications, will introduce the Virtual Private Data Center concept, which provides the high-availability infrastructure, management, support, and multiple levels of QoS required to optimize the delivery of mission-critical applications in the enterprise cloud.
Muscle in the Cloud
In many documents and introductions to cloud computing we have been shown what the Cloud really means and what is possible to do inside it. Things that have been covered have been what systems make up the cloud right up to applications and services running in it. This blog entry aims to covers another aspect and that is computation in the Cloud.
Check Point Simplifies Cloud Computing Security
The new Security Gateway VE is designed to ensure organizations can secure inter-VM traffic and external networks with granular firewall policies and integrated intrusion prevention capabilities to protect against malicious and unwanted network activity. In addition, organizations can automatically apply security policies to all existing or future virtual machines, without changing the existing network topology or experiencing downtime during live migration. With Security Gateway VE, customers are able to meet both the traditional network traffic requirements and the dynamic requirements needed to protect data at the hypervisor level, ensuring they have the most comprehensive security for virtual environments.
Cloud Computing: Digital Economy X Factor
Cloud computing is such a powerful investment area for government because not only can it modernize their IT and therefore enhance their business processes and reduce their own operating costs, but this same platform can also boost technology-enabled public innovation across a broader national capacity. This can be aligned to government programs to create more of an ?Innovation Nation? program, such as the UK program of the same name. This encompasses aspects such as ICT skills and programs in schools and colleges, government procurement policies, small business assistance and direct technology innovation stimulus like a tech strategy board.
Verizon and VMware to Launch Hybrid Cloud Computing Solution
Verizon Business and VMware unveiled a new enterprise-class hybrid cloud solution that will enable enterprises to move their applications to the cloud more quickly without compromising security or performance. The new solution, underpinned by Verizon's world-class global IP network and the industry-leading VMware vSphere virtualization platform, will help remove the major barriers to cloud computing adoption, while enabling the delivery of "IT as a Service."
Cloud Is Not Rocket Science But It Is Computer Science
For many folks in IT it is likely you might find in their home a wall on which you can find hanging a diploma. It might be a BA, it might be a BS, and you might even find one (or two) ?Master of Science? as well. Now interestingly enough, none of the diplomas indicate anything other than the level of education (Bachelor or Master) and the type (Arts or Science). But we all majored in something, and for many of the people who end up in IT that something was Computer Science. There was not, after all, an option to earn a ?MS of Application Development? or a ?BS of Devops?. While many higher education institutions offer students the opportunity to emphasize in a particular sub-field of Computer Science, that?s not what the final degree is in. It?s almost always a derivation of Computer Science.
Cloud Storage and Adaptability. Plan Ahead
Almost exactly a year ago, I inherited several sets of model railroad trains. Two full O scale sets and two full HO scale sets. They were in varying stages of disrepair, and I wasn?t certain any of them worked. I?m not a train person, but my kids might be ? given the chance to try them out. So I took them all to different dealers (who would have thought that different people work on different scales?), and had them all looked at to determine which one was most in need of fixing. It turned out that a diesel O scale was the easiest of the five engines to fix, so The Toddler and I dropped it off this spring.
HP and VMware to Accelerate Private Cloud Computing
To help customers better control and manage the physical and virtual aspects of cloud infrastructure, VMware and HP are creating an integrated, comprehensive cloud infrastructure solution combining the new VMware vCloud Director with the HP BladeSystem Matrix and HP Cloud Maps. The HP Cloud Map for VMware vCloud Director can be directly imported into customers' Matrix environments to rapidly deploy new VMware vCloud infrastructure. Through the integration of Matrix and VMware vCloud Director, customers can easily scale virtualized resource pools to quickly adjust to changing business demands. The integration will be available as a technology preview by the end of the year.
IBM Rescues California Emergency Management Agency
IBM, a non-contender in the 3PAR event despite the billions it's otherwise spent on storage, said Tuesday that it has thrown California's newfangled Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), a lifeline. Cal EMA is the deficit-ridden, emergency-prone state's year-old combination of its Office of Emergency Services and its Office of Homeland Security and it's supposed to archive stuff like information on critical infrastructure and real-time data collected by satellite for decades, something it's increasingly doing it on VMware virtual machines. IBM says reducing the data in Cal EMA's virtual environment is critical because a full snapshot of the data in its charge would mean backing up 15TB-20TB every time
CIA to Present on Private Cloud Capabilities at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
How can organizations use enterprise/private cloud capabilities to improve information-sharing? In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Ira A. (Gus) Hunt, CTO to the CIO of the Central Intelligence Agency, will discuss how the Intelligence Community has been using enterprise/private cloud capabilities to improve information-sharing across the entire community. Ira A. (Gus) Hunt currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the Chief Information Officer in CIA. In this capacity he is responsible for setting the strategic technology direction to enable CIA?s missions, actively engage across the IC to share and communicate IT solutions, and drive solutions for the rapid insertion and adoption of new capabilities to keep pace with technology change in the commercial sector.
newScale Gives Cloud Expo Sponsor VMware a Self-Service IT Storefront
newScale, which just climbed into bed with Eucalyptus last week, is supposed to say at VMworld Tuesday that its FrontOffice Suite supports VMware?s new infrastructure-as-a-service vCloud Director software for building private and public clouds. newScale - whose President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Hammond (pictured below) spoke at 7the International Conference & Expo in NYC - can serve as a front-end to vCloud Director and provide enterprises and service providers with a policy-based e-commerce IT storefront portal that delivers a consumer-like shopping experience for data center services.
Monitis Now Speaks Singlish, Lah!
What makes Monitis' nodes so unique is their True One-Minute Monitoring. This means that each of Monitis' 12 nodes is monitoring a client's site every minute. This is not the case with most other companies that claim to offer one-minute monitoring. Such companies only monitor once a minute from one individual location - not from all of their nodes. If a monitoring service is offering 100 nodes, each node is typically only activated once every 100 minutes - a far from optimal situation. Hovhannes Ayovan, Monitis' Founder and CEO, commented, "As the hub of business in Southeast Asia, Singapore is a critical location for us to offer a monitoring node. Now, for IT managers in the region, the only thing they need to worry about is how hot the black pepper crab is on Joo Chiat Road, and not whether or not they are getting accurate information about their systems."
GoGrid Named ?Silver Sponsor? of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
SYS-CON Events announced today that GoGrid, a leading Cloud Infrastructure and Hybrid Hosting Provider, has been named ?Silver Sponsor? of SYS-CON's 7th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1?4, 2010, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. GoGrid is a Global Leader in Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure hosting. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control free f5 load balanced cloud infrastructures and complex hosted virtual server networks with full root access/administrative server control. GoGrid physical and virtual server instances maintain industry standard specifications with no requirement to learn proprietary standards. Deploying GoGrid infrastructure takes minutes via a web control panel or GoGrid?s API. GoGrid gives users the control of a familiar datacenter environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud.
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Data Privacy, Residency & Security in the Cloud
Public cloud adoption by an enterprise may have numerous barriers and challenges surrounding data privacy, residency, and security. Transitioning from on-premise solutions to the cloud means ceding data governance to the cloud vendor. This may impact your enterprise regulatory compliance, adherence to industry standards, and internal data management standards. Depending on your jurisdiction, you may be subject the EU Data Protection Directive, or cope with a patchwork of disparate and overlapping regulations, as well as sector-specific requirements such as HIPPA for healthcare, or FISMA and ITAR for public sector-related organizations.