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Cloud Maturity Study Reveals The Top 10 Issues Eroding Cloud Confidence

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Cloud Maturity Study Reveals The Top 10 Issues Eroding Cloud Confidence

New Research by Cloud Security Alliance and ISACA Identifies Government Regulations, Exit Strategies, and International Data Privacy as Top Concerns

Rolling Meadows, IL, USA (27 September 2012)—Findings from a joint Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and ISACA survey show that government regulations, exit strategies and international data privacy dominate the Top 10 areas where confidence in the cloud is lowest.

A collaborative project by ISACA and CSA, the Cloud Market Maturity study  provides business and IT leaders with insight into the maturity of cloud computing and will help identify any changes in the market.  The report, released today, provides detailed insight on the adoption of cloud services among all levels within today’s global enterprises and businesses, including the C-suite.

The study reveals that cloud users in 50 countries were least confident about the following issues (ranked from least confident to most confident):

1.     Government regulations keeping pace with the market (1.80)
2.     Exit strategies (1.88)
3.     International data privacy (1.90)
4.     Legal issues (2.15)
5.     Contract lock in (2.18)
6.     Data ownership and custodian responsibilities (2.18)
7.     Longevity of suppliers (2.20)
8.     Integration of cloud with internal systems (2.23)
9.     Credibility of suppliers (2.30)
10.  Testing and assurance (2.30)

While there are many positive indicators that support the planned adoption and perceived use and value of cloud services in the years ahead, there remains much progress to be made to engage and gain the buy-in among business leaders.

As a first step, we as an industry must still work to provide a clearer definition of what cloud is and how the many innovative and secure services can help positively impact today’s businesses,” said J.R. Santos, global research director at CSA.  “But, we need to start at the top and engage senior management. Cloud needs can no longer be thought of as a technical issue to address, but rather a business asset to embrace.”

The survey includes responses from more than 250 participants from nearly 50 countries, representing a global group of cloud users, providers, consultants and integrators from 15 industry segments. Participants, 85 percent of whom identified themselves as cloud users, were asked to rank on a scale of zero to five a number of considerations in cloud computing including:

·         Use of cloud services and level of satisfaction
·         Factors in making cloud decisions
·         Level of cloud maturity
·         Innovation in the cloud
·         Expectations about the cloud
·         Cloud support for business goals
·         Forces that influence adoption and innovation
·         Confidence and optimism in the cloud market

“One of the most interesting findings is that governance issues recur repeatedly on the list of the top 10 concerns. Cloud users recognize the value of this model, but are wrestling with such questions as data ownership, legal issues, contract lock-in, international data privacy and government regulations,” said Greg Grocholski, CISA, international president of ISACA. “As cloud services continue to evolve, it is critical that we work together as an industry to provide insights and recommendations on these issues so that service and solution providers can look to innovate and deliver what the cloud services market needs to advance and what enterprises need to succeed.

Results Overview

Results of the study provide much insight on the progression of cloud adoption. For example, business enablers (score 4.08) rather than financial considerations (score 3.5) are the primary factors in making cloud decisions, with the least important factor being the ability to reduce the environmental footprint of the organization (score 2.67). The business enablement factors that most influence cloud computing decision making are related to the reliability and availability of services (mean score 4.59) and quality of service (score 4.29).

Overall, respondents feel there is room for improvement when it comes to innovation in the cloud. Nearly one in four (24 percent) survey takers indicate that there is no or limited levels of innovation in the market.  Forty-three percent of respondents believe there is a moderate level of innovation, while 33 percent report that the level of innovation in terms of products, services and business use is significant.

Survey results show that CIOs and IT management understand cloud best and are most involved in driving cloud innovation in their organizations. This limits cloud maturity and innovation since cloud continues to be viewed as a technical solution and not as a business enabler,” said Yves LeRoux, a member of CSA and the ISACA Guidance and Practices Committee.  “Cloud can provide business-building innovation, but to get to that point, there needs to be more buy-in and a better understanding among business leaders and C-level executives of the cloud’s value and risk.”

Nearly all respondents feel that cloud computing is far from reaching maturity, with only software as a service (SaaS) cautiously placed at the earliest state of growth level, with infrastructure and platform services still considered in the infancy stages.

Still, the respondents remain moderately confident that cloud services are meeting service and strategy expectations and that problems are being addressed. Many rated cloud services as providing confidence in strategy and problem resolution (means score 3.47), indicating cautious optimism that cloud will advance in maturity and problems limiting its adoption will be addressed.

The full survey report is available at www.isaca.org/cloud-market-maturity and https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/collaborate/#_isaca. ISACA and CSA will discuss the study’s findings and implications in a webinar on 11 October. Visit http://www.isaca.org/webinars to register.

About Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and to provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing. The Cloud Security Alliance is led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations, associations and other key stakeholders. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.

About ISACA

With more than 100,000 constituents in 180 countries, ISACA (www.isaca.org) is a leading global provider of knowledge, certifications, community, advocacy and education on information systems (IS) assurance and security, enterprise governance and management of IT, and IT-related risk and compliance. Founded in 1969, the nonprofit, independent ISACA hosts international conferences, publishes the ISACA Journal, and develops international IS auditing and control standards, which help its constituents ensure trust in, and value from, information systems. It also advances and attests IT skills and knowledge through the globally respected Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) designations.

ISACA continually updates and expands the practical guidance and product family based on the COBIT framework. COBIT helps IT professionals and enterprise leaders fulfill their IT governance and management responsibilities, particularly in the areas of assurance, security, risk and control, and deliver value to the business. Follow ISACA on Twitter at @ISACANews.

Source: ISACA / Cloud Security Alliance


Press Release: DreamHost Introduces DreamCompute Public Cloud Computing Service

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DreamHost Introduces DreamCompute Public Cloud Computing Service

A Scalable, Resilient, and Secure OpenStack Powered Cloud for Entrepreneurs and Developers

LOS ANGELES, California—October 15, 2012—DreamHost®, a global leader in Web hosting and cloud services, today announced DreamCompute, a highly scalable and cost-effective cloud computing platform for Internet entrepreneurs and developers. Using DreamCompute’s open source infrastructure-as-a-service platform that is Powered by OpenStack®, customers can create and prosper in the cloud, powering Web and mobile applications, digital media and e-commerce Web sites, big data analytics, and test and development environments.

DreamCompute is an exciting new edition to DreamHost’s growing portfolio of services, which include shared, virtual private, and dedicated Web hosting, as well as cloud object storage with DreamObjects.  DreamHost sets itself apart from the cloud crowd by developing innovative and flexible Web and cloud services using open source software.  Evolving new cloud capabilities are constantly created, dynamically deployed, and expertly supported. DreamCompute is engineered for scale and efficiency using best-of-breed open source solutions, including the OpenStack cloud platform, scalable Ceph block storage, and Nicira network virtualization.  As a champion of the open source community, DreamHost makes major code contributions to open source projects—for example, by working to integrate Ceph into OpenStack.

The newly launched DreamCompute cloud service is highly scalable, quick to provision, resilient, and secure.  It is ready to go for any size workload with compute instances from 1GB to 64GB RAM for ultimate scalability.  All of this power comes with no capital outlay or a lengthy procurement approval process; it can be billed to a credit card, making it easy to expense.  Pricing for the services will be released publicly in the coming weeks and, in the tradition of DreamHost, will be very attractive to Internet entrepreneurs and developers.  In addition, DreamCompute customers will benefit from DreamHost’s long-standing focus on industry-leading customer support.

DreamCompute block storage is powered by Ceph, the open source, massively scalable, distributed storage software created by Sage Weil, founder of DreamHost.  Ceph is now developed and supported by Inktank and a growing community of developers worldwide.  The software is capable of auto-scaling to the exabyte level and beyond, it runs on off-the-shelf hardware, it is self-healing and self-managing, and it has no single point of failure.

DreamCompute works seamlessly with DreamObjects, DreamHost’s low cost, object-based public storage service based on Ceph.  Both DreamCompute and DreamObjects leverage advanced Ceph technology, which is highly scalable and reliable, cost effective, and fully open source.  DreamHost customers can now both process and store virtually limitless data in their quest to write and test web-scale applications.

DreamCompute has been engineered from the operating system up to deliver the next generation cloud compute service that developers are craving,” said Simon Anderson, CEO of DreamHost.  “With OpenStack virtual machine management, reliable and resilient Ceph block storage, and software-defined networking that truly isolates each instance in the infrastructure, DreamCompute sets a new standard for compute-as-a-service.  We’re very proud to be a part of delivering the future of the open and scalable cloud.”

Supporting quotes:

The OpenStack Foundation

“It’s exciting to see DreamHost launch an OpenStack Powered Cloud, expanding the footprint of OpenStack service providers and offering even more choice for our users,” said Jonathan Bryce, Executive Director of the OpenStack Foundation. ”DreamHost and its engineers have been significant contributors to OpenStack since joining the effort in early 2011, especially in the areas of block storage and secure, flexible networking capabilities.  We look forward to their continued participation as we deliver on our mission of creating the most widely adopted open cloud platform.

Nicira

With DreamCompute, DreamHost takes service provider innovation in the cloud to a new level,” said Steve Mullaney, Vice President, Networking Business Unit, VMware, and formerly CEO of Nicira, Inc.  “DreamHost leverages best-of-breed cloud infrastructure solutions, including the Nicira Network Virtualization Platform (NVP) to deliver the true value of cloud.  On demand network provisioning moves the network out of the way and allows cloud customers to increase their business velocity.”

Opscode

DreamHost is answering the entrepreneur and developer appetite for massively scalable cloud computing with a differentiated service combining deep hosting expertise with cloud scale and data center reliability,” said Jay Wampold, VP of Marketing, Opscode.  “By using Opscode Private Chef to automate the infrastructure behind DreamCompute, DreamHost is making unlimited computing power available to the masses, delivering a platform for everything from early stage entrepreneurial endeavors to highly sophisticated application development.”

Dell

Dell and DreamHost are a winning combination in cloud computing.  The new DreamCompute public cloud computing service, based on OpenStack and running Dell’s innovative PowerEdge C servers at the core, set a new standard for open and resilient cloud delivery,” said Forrest Norrod, Vice President and General Manager, Dell Server Solutions.  ”The future of cloud will be paved by companies such as Dell and DreamHost that can deliver exceptional SLAs at very attractive prices.  Dell is very pleased to be working with a company on the leading edge of open source innovation to make this future a reality.”

Canonical

Ubuntu is the reference operating system for OpenStack and is already powering most of the world’s largest public clouds.  We’re excited that DreamHost has selected OpenStack plus Ubuntu to power its new DreamCompute public cloud infrastructure.  Both Canonical and DreamHost have been very active in the OpenStack community for some time, and have together integrated innovations such as Ceph object storage into the latest version of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, released in May 2012,” said Kyle MacDonald, VP Cloud at Canonical.  ”This is just another example of how we work together to forge the future of the open cloud.

Inktank

“I originally created Ceph to solve one of the biggest challenges in computing—highly scalable storage.  Today it is gratifying to see innovative service providers around the world leveraging Ceph storage in many different ways,” said Sage Weil, CEO and Chief Architect at Inktank.  ”DreamHost funded and supported the Ceph project for many years, so it is very exciting to see DreamHost offering this powerful, low-cost cloud computing platform with Ceph to their customers.  Ceph levels the playing field for cloud providers, enabling them to quickly and cost-effectively create cloud offerings that compete with those of the largest vendors.”

For more information about the DreamCompute public cloud compute service, please visit the following site: http://dreamhost.com/cloud/dreamcompute

About DreamHost

DreamHost is a global Web and cloud hosting provider with over 330,000 customers and 1.2 million blogs, websites and apps hosted.  The company offers a wide spectrum of Web and cloud hosting solutions including Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS) and Dedicated Server Hosting, Domain Name Registration, the cloud storage service, DreamObjects, and the cloud compute service DreamCompute.  Please visit http://DreamHost.com for more information.

About Ceph

Ceph is a massively scalable, open source, distributed storage system.  It is comprised of an object store, block store, and a POSIX-compatible distributed file system.  The software platform is capable of auto-scaling to the exabyte level and beyond, it runs on commodity hardware, it is self-healing and self-managing, and has no single point of failure.  Ceph is in the Linux kernel and is currently integrated with OpenStack and other open source cloud stacks.

Please visit www.ceph.com and www.inktank.com for more information.

Source: Dreamhost

Press Release: Cloud Security Survey Reveals Lack Of Business Policies Governing Rogue Cloud Usage

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Cloud Security Survey Reveals Lack of Business Policies Governing Rogue Cloud Usage Even as Data Protection Remains Highest Concern with the Cloud

Forty Percent of Companies Deny Cloud Usage Despite Employee and Departmental Use of Web-Based Applications and Mobile Devices Outside of IT Control

Seattle, Wash. – November 6, 2012 – New research tracking trends and issues in cloud security revealed a growing gap between actual business cloud practices and related IT policies. The survey found that while nearly 20 percent of businesses have no clear security policies or standards around employee or departmental use of “cloud,” the majority do allow employees to use cloud services and access corporate data from cloud applications or connected devices. This policy versus utilization gap is consistent for both the 61 percent of respondents who said their company is using the cloud, as well as the remainder who reported not officially leveraging cloud services to-date.

The October 2012 research, sponsored by cloud backup provider Symform, surveyed nearly 500 companies across a wide range of industries and organizational size, with 18 percent representing enterprises, 34 percent from small to medium organizations, and 48 percent representing IT service providers or small businesses. The survey queried respondents about current cloud utilization, cloud security concerns and benefits, security policies and employee use of cloud services, applications and devices.

For many businesses, data growth is outpacing cloud adoption. Coupled with BYOD and the consumerization of IT, the survey reveals that many businesses are slow to acknowledge cloud adoption within their organization and, as a result, determine the proper IT security and policies to govern this cloud usage. In fact, of the 39 percent who said they are not using cloud, 65 percent claim to allow employees or teams to use cloud services and 35 percent allow employees to put company data in cloud applications.

This research validates how cloud applications and services are being purchased and managed increasingly by non-IT departments, and illustrates the need for IT to re-claim control from a policy and governance standpoint while still enabling the business to benefit from the cloud’s agility and cost-effectiveness,” said Margaret Dawson, vice president of product management at Symform. “I always advise IT leaders to be the centralized source of all IT policy, vendor criteria, compliance management and the definition of “trust” for their organizations. Cloud usage is inevitable but loss of control is not.

Despite the gap between cloud utilization and corresponding security policies, the Symform survey revealed that secure cloud backup is gaining credibility as a safe place to store or use data, with 50 percent of respondents believing even sensitive data can be secured in the cloud. However, credit card information was a huge exception, with 70 percent saying they would not put credit card data in the cloud. This aligns with the belief that the highest perceived benefit of the cloud is data protection. For those using the cloud, nearly 50 percent stated secure cloud storage services allow them to spend less time managing data protection and on IT security overall. For those not in the cloud, over 50 percent believe that better data protection would be the top benefit gained by moving services to the cloud.

The number one stated concern and key criteria for IT managers with the cloud was Access Controls. Other top security criteria when evaluating cloud services were auditing and tracking, securing data both in motion and at rest, vulnerability management and maintaining strong security service level agreements (SLAs). To alleviate their fears, companies of all sizes are turning to large technology vendors to gain advice and learn best practices on cloud security. While leading analyst and industry organizations such as Gartner, the Cloud Security Alliance and Black Hat scored well among respondents, the most trusted sources were Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, IBM and other IT vendors. In fact, Microsoft and Amazon received an equal 46 percent vote as the  top trusted source(s) on cloud security.

While not necessarily related to cloud security, the research did substantiate that Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is the slowest cloud platform to penetrate organizations, lagging well behind Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Only 39 percent of those using cloud reported leveraging PaaS, while 48 percent and 79 percent respectively said they were currently using IaaS and SaaS. PaaS again was the laggard when respondents were asked which cloud model they were least likely to adopt, with 48 percent of those already in the cloud and 70 percent of those not yet using cloud claiming they would not leverage a PaaS solution within the next 12 months.

For more information on the cloud security survey results, as well as other primary research sponsored by Symform, go to http://www.symform.com/join-the-revolution/resources/market-research/.

About Symform

The Symform Cloud Storage Network is a better way to store and backup all of your data. As the world’s first distributed and crowdsourced cloud based backup solution, Symform enables users to pay with bytes instead of bucks. Every business on the network contributes excess local drive space to the grid in exchange for secure, fast and reliable cloud data backup. Before data leaves the source device, it is encrypted and shredded, redundancy added, and then geo-distributed across the global network. With its proprietary and patented technology, Symform is building the world’s largest virtual datacenter using existing Internet infrastructure. Go to www.symform.com or email info@symform.com for more information.

Symform, Symform Global Cloud Storage Network, the Resilient Storage Architecture, and RAID-96 are trademarks of Symform, Inc. References to other companies and their products acknowledge the trademarks owned by their respective companies and are for reference purposes only.

Source: Symform

Week In Review: December 7th, 2012

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Cloud News: Week In Review: December 7th, 2012

For anyone who was still harboring doubts about the importance of the Cloud this week has brought news and changes that have sealed the extraordinary influence the Cloud has on our lives. From CPAs who are planning to adopt their business strategies to factor in the Cloud, to Intel who has recently gave a statement about how the ‘Big Four’ Cloud customers are influencing their hardware development, every business is somehow being touched by it or is even thriving on expanding the range of services that the Cloud can provide.

CPA Role Will Change to Include the Cloud

Speakers at the Digital CPA conference focused on the fact that technology is radically changing the business landscape in a way that has never been done before. The changes are so radical that they are not going to be reversed and that means that the CPA or Certified Public Accountant will need to change with the tide in order to retain his role as a key business advisor. So far the accreditation process still does not require a thorough knowledge of the cloud so it is still in the hands of the current CPAs if they want to change the way they work or not.

Cloud Service Provider, ShopKeep, Raises another $10 Million

ShopKeep is one of the first small business startups that saw the chance to capitalize on the massive success tablet PCs, and especially the iPad, have and expand on that success by using the massive opportunities provided by the Cloud. They currently sell a customized app with every iPad that gives shop owners a cloud based analysis tools for their inventory, sales and customers. The company is simply using existing technologies to provide an essential service in a new way and venture capitalists like Canaan Partners, TTV Capital and Tribeca Venture Partners have seen this as an opportunity to invest another $10 million after having invested another $2.2 million earlier this year.

Wipro SprintInstall Is Here

The biggest problem the Cloud is facing is still the slow rate at which it is being adopted by the business world. And still the fact that companies using Cloud services outclass their competitors is a fact that can no longer be denied. In fact there are companies that are thriving on delivering integrated Cloud services to companies and Wipro is just one such company. Their latest release, Wipro SprintInstall comes to show that competitive businesses need not only cloud services like the Amazon Web Services or the Oracle Fusion Application but need to implement them in their own standard business tools and further integrate them with every other Cloud tool they own. And SprintInstall was developed to provide just such a service.

Cisco Plans to Be the Giant Cloud Service Provider

John T. Chambers has announced his plans to take the company from the giant internet delivering company to a cloud service provider. Currently almost 80% of the world’s internet connections are somehow handled by Cisco hardware and software systems. But that it not enough according to Mr.Chambers because the world is changing at such a rapid pace that none of the former giants of the IT world like Microsoft, HP, SAP, Oracle or Cisco stand any chance to survive unless they make drastic changes in the way they do business and provide services to the world. And Cisco’s answer to this changing business world is going to start on Monday with a marketing campaign called “Tomorrow starts here”.

Intel Grows Learning from the Cloud

Diane Bryant, Intel’s Data Center Group manager has recently made a statement revealing how the ‘Big Four’ cloud customers that rely on Intel for their hardware needs are helping the company grow. She would not reveal who the 4 are but it is very likely they are Google, FaceBook, Amazon and Microsoft. However the really interesting bit of information is that Intel is willing to and has released hardware models to the 4 even a year before the technology was released to the public. Intel’s clients desperately need to stay ahead of their competition so they are willing to take on new technologies from Intel, use them and provide feedback that allows Intel to further tweak and develop their products. Thus the Cloud world is making a very significant mark on the very physical world of computer hardware.

By Luchi Gabriel Manescu

ScienceLogic Delivers Smart IT Software For Enterprise Private Cloud Management

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ScienceLogic Delivers Smart IT Software for Enterprise Private Cloud Management

Multi-tenancy, automation, and extensive out-of-the-box support for integrated cloud platforms supportaccelerated enterprise private cloud deployments

RESTON, Va. – December 12, 2012 – ScienceLogic™ Inc. today announced enhancements to the company’s award-winning data center and cloud management platform to give enterprise IT managers real-time and multi-tenant insight, visibility, and control over private cloud environments. The ScienceLogic platform provides unified monitoring out-of-the-box for integrated stacks like FlexPod and VCE Vblock, and the underlying technologies – Cisco UCS, NetApp, EMC, VMware, Xen, Microsoft Hyper-Vetc – that are designed specifically to deploy private clouds.

 “As more enterprises deploy private and hybrid cloud environments, they must deal with levels of complexity, scale, and speed unlike anything they have faced previously,” said Antonio Piraino, CTO, ScienceLogic. “Enterprise clouds require a highly integrated approach to monitoring and management, across aheterogeneous set of vendors and technologies. Traditional IT management provides only point solutions that were never meant to work together – per vendor, per technology, per data silo. Our customers are able to leapfrog the time and investment needed to integrate these disparate solutions, launch private and hybrid cloud environments confidently, and get to market faster for true competitive advantage.”

Enterprise IT teams who want to be successful at deploying and operating private clouds to launch IT services as rapidly as the business requires will increasingly model their operations against these types of leaders and become a “service provider” to the rest of their organizations. Architected from the ground up to handle dynamic and heterogeneous computing environments at scale, ScienceLogic Smart IT solutions are the platform of choice for leading global service providers, like Equinix, Fasthosts, and Dimension Data.

The ScienceLogic platform integrates the core IT infrastructure management functions needed to run today’s complex, distributed computing infrastructures – including physical and virtual systems, performance, network, service, event and asset management capabilities, as well as multi-tenancy, run book automation and service desk – all in one product with one unified code base, user interface and centralized data repository. Key features of the newest version include:

    • Dynamic visualization of Cisco UCS, EMC, NetApp, VMware, Xen, and Microsoft Hyper-V infrastructure components in real time and grouped logically according to customer, service, or function
  • Automated correlation of infrastructure health and availability issues across the private or hybrid cloud technology stack to business and customer impact for business-aware alerts and notifications
  • First vendor support of just launched Cisco UCS Central, for proactive monitoring of global and distributed Cisco UCS deployments at scale
  • Extended support for FlexPod and Vblock stacks and component technologies

About ScienceLogic

The standard for centralized, “Smart IT” operations and dynamic cloud management across any mix of data center and cloud environments, ScienceLogic enables service providers and enterprises to improve IT efficiency as well as deliver differentiated service offerings. The ScienceLogic platform unites and correlates critical IT functions and data to provide a constantly updated, actionable view of business service delivery. In contrast to legacy tools, ScienceLogic pre-integrates event, fault, availability, performance and asset management, as well as service desk and  runbook automation, in a single product. The platform is easily extended to manage both existing and emerging technologies and applications, making it a solid foundation for the fluidity of modern IT environments. 

ScienceLogic is a selected Network Management Module in the Cisco Smart Business Architecture; Registered Developer in the Cisco Developer Network Program; certified by VCE as Vblock Ready; certified as VMware Ready and a VMware Elite Technology Alliance Partner; Dell Independent Software Vendor partner; NetApp PlatinumElite Partner. For more information, visit www.sciencelogic.com.

ScienceLogic is a trademark of ScienceLogic Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other company, product and service marks may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Source: ScienceLogic Inc

Open Data Center Alliance Publishes Big Data Consumer Guide

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Open Data Center Alliance Publishes Big Data Consumer Guide

Document Promotes Big Data and Outlines a Plan to Provide Concrete Recommendations and Insight to Benefit both Big Data solution providers and Enterprise Consumers

PORTLAND, Ore., December 19, 2012The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) today announced that it has published a new document, titled Open Data Center Alliance: Big Data Consumer Guide to help address the quickly growing need to address big data and associated solutions. A recent report from the states that 15 out of 17 U.S. business sectors have more data stored per company than the U.S. Library of Congress. And by some estimations, 90% of that data has been created in the last two years.

The Big Data Consumer Guide provides an introduction and overview of Big Data, and establishes a common language and definitions that enterprises can use when working with Big Data vendors. The Big Data Consumer Guide was created to allow Enterprises to better understand Big Data and achieve a balance between existing investments and new ones that best address the exponentially increasing volume, velocity, and variety of enterprise data.

The paper will ensure that all parties utilizing and offering big solutions are able to communicate using common terms to help make the process easier and more transparent. The paper also provides insight into potential Big Data use cases.

The ODCA also hope to lay the foundation for a set of future work by the ODCA Data Services Working Group (DSWG). ODCA’s DSWG was established in 2012 to bring solution providers and big data consumers (enterprises) together to help drive the creation of Big Data technologies that are open and standards-based, with a greater degree of interoperability and cost effectiveness for large enterprises in line with the overall mission of the Alliance.

To download the Open Data Center Alliance: Gig Data Consumer Guide and to find out more about the ODCA Data Services Working Group, please visit www.opendatacenteralliance.org.

About The Open Data Center Alliance

The Open Data Center Alliance℠ is an independent IT consortium comprised of global IT leaders who have come together to provide a unified customer vision for long-term data center requirements. The Alliance is led by a twelve member steering committee which includes IT leaders BMW, Capgemini, China Unicom, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., National Australia Bank, T-Systems, Terremark, Disney Technology Solutions and Services, and UBS. Intel serves as technical advisor to the Alliance.

In support of its mission, the Alliance has delivered the first customer requirements for cloud computing documented in Open Data Center Usage Models which identify member prioritized requirements to resolve the most pressing challenges facing cloud adoption.

Find out more at www.opendatacenteralliance.org.

Smyform Closes Strategic Investment From Second Century Ventures

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Smyform Closes Strategic Investment From Second Century Ventures

Deal Includes Financing and a Strategic Partnership from the Venture Capital Fund of the National Association of REALTORS®

Seattle, Wash. – January 16, 2013Symform, a revolutionary, distributed cloud backup service, today welcomed Second Century Ventures (SCV), the venture capital fund of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), as a strategic investor in the company. SCV joined Symform’s $11 million Series B round of funding from 2012, which included financing from Longworth Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, and WestRiver Capital.

Second Century Ventures is committed to identifying and helping develop technology solutions that help our REALTOR® members maintain a competitive edge while growing their businesses,” said Dale A. Stinton, president of SCV and NAR chief executive officer. “As the volume of electronic information continues to grow, proper data backup and protection is becoming mission-critical for all businesses everywhere. Symform is a great fit in our investment portfolio and is also tailor-made for REALTORS®, who have a strong need for a cost-effective cloud data backup solution.

Symform is disrupting the multi-billion dollar global cloud data backup market with our unique decentralized solution,” said Matthew J. Schiltz, CEO of Symform. “Our strategic partnership with Second Century Ventures will put our unlimited cloud storage offerings into the hands of the member base of NAR, the largest trade association in the United States. This investment is an important validation of our model, and is additional momentum as we build the world’s largest virtual datacenter.”

Symform offers mid-market customers and IT resellers the most affordable, secure and reliable cloud storage and backup solution on the market today. The company will use the SCV financing to power product development and accelerate the adoption of Symform. The announcement caps a record-setting year for Symform, as the company’s Global Cloud Storage Network now reaches active users in 160 countries that trust Symform to store over 7 billion data fragments.

As part of the investment, Constance Freedman, managing director of Second Century Ventures, will join the Symform Board of Directors. As managing director at SCV, Freedman manages all aspects of the fund, from cultivating investment opportunities to helping portfolio companies achieve their strategic goals. Freedman is also NAR’s vice president of strategic investments, where she assesses key strategic investment initiatives within NAR.

For more information, or to join the Symform revolution, please visit www.symform.com.

About Second Century Ventures

Second Century Ventures (SCV) is a venture capital fund focused on promoting innovation in the real estate industry and helping to enable the entrepreneurial spirit of real estate thrive. SCV has been fully capitalized by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). With 1 million members, NAR is the largest trade association in the country. NAR can provide immediate strategic value to Second Century Ventures’ portfolio companies by allowing them access to the vast resources of a 300-person organization with expertise, influence and power that comes only by being ingrained in an industry for over 100 years.

About the National Association of REALTORS®

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

About Symform

The Symform Cloud Storage Network is a better way to store and backup all of your data. As the world’s first distributed and crowdsourced free online storage, Symform enables users to pay with bytes instead of bucks. Every business on the network contributes excess local drive space to the grid in exchange for secure, fast and reliable cloud data backup. Before data leaves the source device, it is encrypted and shredded, redundancy added, and then geo-distributed across the global network. With its proprietary and patented technology, Symform is building the world’s largest virtual datacenter using existing Internet infrastructure. Go to www.symform.com or email info@symform.com for more information.

IBM Delivers New Services To Help Clients Move Enterprise Applications To The Cloud

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IBM Delivers New Services to Help Clients Move Enterprise Applications to the Cloud

Financial, healthcare, government and electronics clients tap IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+; IBM SmartCloud for SAP applications is now available globally

ARMONK, N.Y. – 29 January 2013: IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced global availability for its cloud service on five continents—plus a new center opening in Spain– based on its industry-leading sourcing business to host SAP® applications and other core operations. Now clients can turn to cloud computing for enterprise applications while they reduce the overall cost of IT and at the same time, expand online access, while they invest in innovative analytics, social business and mobile computing.

Many organizations are eager to leverage the economic advantages of cloud computing to run their critical applications on the cloud. Their applications require deep technical expertise, around-the-clock customer service, tight security and ongoing maintenance — features typically found in IT sourcing arrangements but not in the “one-size-fits-all” model of self-service clouds.

To address this, IBM developed an infrastructure-as-a-service cloud built on decades of hosting experience gained by being the world’s largest provider of IT sourcing services with more than 1,000 clients. Called IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+ (SCE+), the service combines the best features of sourcing– high service level agreements, security and reliability– with the best features of cloud – elasticity and subscription-based pricing.

This service offers the same level of assurance normally associated with a hosted service to make sure clients can always access their core applications for ERP, CRM, analytics, social business and mobile computing from the cloud. The new service goes beyond the infrastructure offered as a service with typical public clouds. With this cloud service, IBM also helps manage patch updates and identity management, improving security, which analysts often cite as an inhibitor to cloud adoption.

This is a logical evolution of IBM’s sourcing business that gives us an advantage both in our services relationships and the cloud market as we define a new enterprise-grade cloud today,” said Jim Comfort, general manager of IBM SmartCloud Services. “Our clients want sophisticated, economical cloud-based services that provide the same quality and service level as a private, hosted IT environment. With that assurance, they can focus more on driving business value from their data and operations, and less on managing their IT.”

An Enterprise-Grade Cloud Service—SmartCloud for SAP Applications

IBM today is announcing SmartCloud for SAP applications, an enterprise service unique to IBM, is available globally.

As customers expand their use of SAP applications to more business processes, such as marketing campaigns based on Big Data, they often will benefit from more systems and greater management. Operating and managing IT environments running SAP solutions requires an advanced infrastructure and strong SAP operational skills.

IBM SmartCloud for SAP applications automates and standardizes provisioning of IT environments, and can accelerate service delivery with expert certified staff. The SmartCloud services for SAP applications delivers 99.7 percent availability based on a global delivery model to support cloud-based systems around the clock. This service is available for SAP Business Suite software and the SAP BusinessObjects™ solution portfolio as an enterprise-class, fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering for running SAP solutions in a production environment.

IBM’s new cloud service for SAP applications exemplifies our two companies’ work together in the last 40 years in delivering enterprise value to thousands of clients,” said Dr. Vishal Sikka, member of the SAP Executive Board, Technology and Innovation. “Cloud computing is helping our clients transform their IT infrastructures and businesses. We are confident that our partnership with IBM — using their SmartCloud platform and our business applications – will help drive differentiated value to clients around the globe.”

In addition, IBM is marrying its Global Business Services deep expertise, tools and processes with SmartCloud for SAP applications to deliver LifeCycle as a Service. This can transform implementations of SAP applications end to end—from sandbox to production. With this service, IBM takes responsibility and control of the SAP applications and provides management, including software patching of SAP solutions as well as support for the underlying operating system, database and middleware.

Clients may set up their SAP solutions development and test operations on IBM’s public cloud service—SmartCloud Enterprise. Then those SAP applications can be transitioned to the SCE+ platform for production to further assure higher availability of the operations.

Client wins

IBM has clients in finance, manufacturing, telecommunications, electronics, government and healthcare using SCE+.

For example, IBM SCE+ is the cloud platform powering the Philips Smart TV platform for Internet services, which delivers greater interactive services to millions of TV viewers in more than 30 countries in Europe, as well as Brazil and Argentina.

We needed a cloud computing environment resilient enough to support unexpected demands at any given time when millions of TV viewers access a variety of services on our network,” said Albert Mombarg, head of Philips Smart TV at TP Vision, a joint venture between Philips and TV manufacturer TPV. “IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+ provides an economic, flexible way to create new services for our viewers and we expect it to transform the way we deliver Philips Smart TV and drive ongoing business innovation.

Heathcare is also well suited for SCE+. Summit Health, a health care management company, is tapping IBM SCE+ to support the company’s growth plans around health care management and proactive wellness programs. The Generalitat de Cataluña, a regional government in Spain, is planning on using SCE+ in a new IBM cloud datacenter in Spain to improve its healthcare system and share resources among its universities and town halls.

Details on SmartCloud Enterprise+

SCE+ is offered from IBM’s cloud centers in Japan, Brazil, Canada, France, Australia, the U.S. and Germany, giving clients broad geographic choice of where their data resides. IBM announced today the opening of its first cloud center in Spain, located in Barcelona, to service clients worldwide, which will be operative by mid-2013.

The SCE+ environment can have service levels that guarantee availability for each single OS-instance from 98.5 percent up to 99.9 percent.

New also is IBM Migration Services for SmartCloud Enterprise+, which helps clients migrate to cloud more quickly and cost effectively by determining which workloads are best suited to the SmartCloud Enterprise+ environment. Standardized and automation-assisted, IBM Migration Services are economically priced, aim to deliver ROI in 6 to18 months.

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud-based transactions every day. With cloud, IBM helps clients rethink their IT and reinvent their business. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centers. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/smartcloud. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ibmcloud and on our blog at http://www.thoughtsoncloud.com.

Source: IBM


Coca-Cola Bottling Company Quenches Its Thirst For Spend Optimization With Coupa

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Coca-Cola Bottling Company Quenches Its Thirst For Spend Optimization With Coupa

Coupa Brings Mobility and Unparalleled Adoption to Hundreds of Users

SAN MATEO, Calif. – February 5, 2013 – Coupa Software, the leader of cloud-based spend optimization solutions, today announced that Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (NASDAQ:COKE), the nation’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, has successfully rolled out its Coupa implementation. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (CCBCC) decided to swap out its legacy e-procurement platform and chose Coupa for its requisition to order process and for importing invoice information into one of its existing systems.

When evaluating spend optimization solutions, CCBCC really wanted a platform that would support mobile users in the field who rely heavily on iPads and iPhones to conduct business. They had poor user adoption rates with their legacy procurement solution, and they desired a much more intuitive solution that would boost adoption. Coupa supported all of CCBCC’s requirements for its 1,200-person user base. Coupa is also seamlessly integrated to Coca-Cola Bottling’s SAP ERP platform.

Our goal at CCBCC is to make, sell and deliver products better than anyone else in our market,” said Patrick Hopkins, procurement director of CCBCC. “Coupa is one of the technology solutions that is critical for us to sustain that goal. We had a very smooth transition to Coupa which is exactly what you want to see with the deployment of any new technology.”

When the deployment went live, CCBCC users were up and running almost instantly,” said Ravi Thakur, vice president, Services, Customers Success and Adoption for Coupa. “The support phones were quiet on day one, which is a testament to the ease-of-use of Coupa’s platform, and iPhone and iPad users immediately started placing orders for items they needed to keep their operations flowing. With such a successful rollout, we know that CCBCC is on its way to gaining better control over its procurement processes.”

About Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (CCBCC) is the nation’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler. They make, market, sell and distribute Coca-Cola products along with other unique beverages. CCBCC holds cola beverage agreements and allied beverage agreements, under which it produces, distributes, and markets beverage products of The Coca-Cola Company. The company also distributes and markets still beverages of The Coca-Cola Company, such as POWERade, vitaminwater, and Minute Maid Juices To Go, as well as produces, distributes, and markets Dasani water products under still beverage agreements. In addition, it holds agreements to produce and market Dr. Pepper products and various other products, including Monster energy products and Sundrop. CCBCC sells and distributes its products directly to retail stores and other outlets, including food markets, institutional accounts, and vending machine outlets with annual revenues over $1.5B.

About Coupa Software
Founded in 2006, Coupa Software is the leading provider of cloud-based spend optimization software. More than 300 customers in 40 countries use the Coupa purchasing and procurement software to amplify their spend power and reduce spending costs up to 11 percent. Only Coupa provides a true suite of cloud applications that enables customers to launch the solution immediately and quickly realize significant savings. Learn more at: http://www.coupa.com or call 650.931.3200. Read more at our company blog, Making Cents, or follow @Coupa on Twitter.

Source: Coupa/Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated

Capgemini And EMC Extend Global Strategic Alliance

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Capgemini And EMC Extend Global Strategic Alliance

To Enable Brazilian Businesses with Next-Generation Cloud Solutions  

PARIS, FRANCE, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL, HOPKINTON, Mass. – February 7, 2013

Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology, and outsourcing services, and EMC, the global leader in private, public and hybrid cloud infrastructure technologies, today announced the expansion of their global alliance with a strategic go-to-market agreement to expand operations in Brazil. The two companies have committed to work collaboratively to deliver customer value through the implementation of next-generation cloud solutions.

Responding to the strong demand for cloud-based solutions in Latin America, Capgemini and EMC will deliver a portfolio of end-to-end As-a-Service cloud offerings designed for specific vertical market segments. Working closely with EMC, a new dedicated Integrated Solutions business unit will be operated by Capgemini Brasil to bring these innovative cloud solutions to the Brazilian market providing the needed technological infrastructure expertise. The As-a-Service solutions will be aimed at delivering more agile and cost-efficient cloud IT solutions, designed to meet customers’ unique business challenges, requirements and service level agreements for specific vertical market segments, decreasing the need for capital expenditures and increasing the alignment of IT costs to consumption.

The Integrated Solutions business unit will focus on the creation of value-added services standardized on EMC technology and As-a-Service cloud solutions to enable and expand the range of options for IT organizations seeking to gain business agility without sacrificing trust and control in their cloud computing.

The integrated cloud-based services will focus on vertical markets including agribusiness and banking and will include:

  • ·         Foundational services such as

1.     Storage as a Service

2.     Backup as a Service

3.     Archive as a Service

  • ·         Transformational services including

1.     SAP as a Service (SAPaaService®)

2.     Testing Platform as a Service (TPaaService) and,

3.     Enterprise Content Management as a Service (ECMaaS)

According to IDC, Latin America continues to reflect significant growth in IT spending, with increasingly high demand for cloud-based solutions and a high degree of spending around infrastructure services. “Revenues in Brazil Public Cloud will submit a CAGR of 72.8% during the period between 2011-2015, reaching a total value of US$ 798 MM in 2015. IaaS market, with a CAGR of 72.4% (2011-2015) will be responsible for US$ 362 MM in 2015, while contracts on SaaS will reach US$ 370 MM with a CAGR of approximately 77.7% over the period between 2011 to 2015. These two markets will be responsible for 92% revenue with Public Cloud in Brazil in 2015″.[1]  The upcoming 2014 Fifa World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics are also expected to drive a significant volume of both public and private sector IT infrastructure investments to Brazil.

Capgemini’s relationship with EMC dates back to 2002 when the companies began offering joint pay-as-you-go storage services. Capgemini has been an EMC Global Alliance Partner since the program’s inception in 2008. The two companies formed a strategic alliance in 2011, with the aim of driving significant growth through the joint development of next-generation, cloud-based solutions. This new addition to that alliance extends the strategic partnership of the two companies to leverage their expertise to enable geographic, vertical and emerging markets growth, first in Brazil, before rolling out similar approaches in other markets.

Both companies have a long history of commitment to and investment in Brazil. EMC first entered the Brazil market in 1992 via third party distribution and opened a Brazilian subsidiary in 1997. Since 2008 EMC has  invested in manufacturing and research and development facilities in Brazil. In 2011 EMC announced plans to establish a new R&D center which is currently under construction in Rio de Janeiro primarily focused on the acquisition, analysis, collaboration and visualization of seismic data generated by the oil and gas industry. Capgemini has been present in Brazil since the 1970s through its BPO practice and in October 2010 Capgemini acquired a majority stake in CPM Braxis which formed in 2007 as a result of a merger of two Brazilian services providers (CPM, founded in 1982 and Braxis founded in 2006) which became Capgemini Brasil in October 2012 (held through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cap Gemini SA). Under the new partnership agreement, Capgemini Brasil will continue to serve the Brazil market as a reseller of EMC assets and a member of the EMC Velocity Solution Provider Program.

Executive Quotes:

Jean-Claude Viollier, Corporate Vice President, Head of Global Channels and Partners, Capgemini:

EMC’s commitment in Capgemini Brasil is a key milestone in the strategic alliance between our companies. As the fourth largest IT services provider in Brazil, we have witnessed a shift in IT spending patterns as our customers here move to a more service-based cloud approach to IT procurement. Through this initiative we will be able to leverage EMC’s market leading technology to drive significant growth through innovative joint IT solutions that deliver exceptional value and help accelerate the cloud-enabled journey for clients in Brazil.”

Terry Breen, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances, EMC:

“EMC is dedicated to providing customers a wide spectrum of choice in cloud services, which places Service Providers at the core of our hybrid cloud strategy. Working in tight formation with Capgemini Brasil will enable us to continue to bring EMC’s industry-leading infrastructure technology to market to help our customers capitalize on the value derived from trusted, flexible and agile cloud solutions.”

About Capgemini

With more than 120,000 people in 40 countries, Capgemini is one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2011 global revenues of EUR 9.7 billion (approximately $13.5 billion USD). Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business and technology solutions that fit needs and drive the results they want. A deeply multicultural organization, Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore ®, its worldwide delivery model.

Capgemini Brasil

In 2010, the Capgemini Group acquired CPM Braxis, which had been successfully operating in Brazil for more than 30 years. Later in 2012 CPM Braxis Capgemini was newly rebranded Capgemini Brasil. Capgemini in Brazil employs 7,800 people and serves over 200 clients, offering four main service lines: Applications Services, Infrastructure Services and Products and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Learn more about us at www.br.capgemini.com.

Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini.

About EMC

EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset – information – in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com

Source: Capgemini

Backupify Launches “Spring Release for Google Apps”

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Backupify Launches “Spring Release for Google Apps” with Enhanced Backup and Recovery Features

New cloud-to-cloud backup tools facilitate data management processes for large companies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2013 – Backupify, the leading provider of cloud-to-cloud backup and recovery solutions for Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, today launched an enhanced set of backup and recovery features to support its core offering for enterprise-level organizations on Google Apps. The new “Spring Release for Google Apps” includes additional tools designed to provide more efficient ways for administrators and end-users to manage their backups within the complex internal structure of larger organizations.

With the launch of the Spring Release for Google Apps, Backupify continues to deliver on its promise to constantly offer organizations new and better ways to manage their cloud-to-cloud backups. The release also serves as a reminder to larger organizations about the need for better backup solutions due to the growing issue of data loss in the cloud.

Most people are shocked at the number of organizations that have lost data from a cloud SaaS application,” said Dick Csaplar, Senior Research Analyst at Aberdeen Group, whose recent report found that 1 in 3 companies using SaaS experienced data loss. “People overwrite each other’s data, applications conflict and there are always stories of unhappy workers purposefully deleting their data on the way out the door. Organizations need to ensure that this just can’t happen. A backup plan is critical.”

Our updated Google Apps solution highlights Backupify’s focus and commitment to enterprise organizations in need of a complete backup solution that prevents loss of important business information stored on the cloud,” said Rob May, CEO of Backupify. “Features like configurable data retention, advanced admin access control and domain export capabilities – functionality that’s critical for large companies – were all built as a result of listening to our customers’ ongoing needs.”

Following its popular Winter Release launched last December, the new version of Backupify for Google Apps includes additional features that make it the industry’s most comprehensive backup and recovery solution available today. The Spring Release for Google Apps includes the following advanced data recovery and admin controls:

  • Full Domain Export allows administrators to download a full copy of their entire domain for a nominal fee. Whether responding to eDiscovery requests or satisfying internal requirements with an on-premise copy, the full domain export is a simple way to have your entire domain exported in a consumable format.
  • Configurable Data Retention provides administrators with the ability to set a customized email retention period. This feature allows customers to respond to specific legal retention requirements or internal archiving policies.
  • Batch Import of Users gives administrators the flexibility to upload lists of users without the need to pick and choose individuals. This feature is highly effective for implementing employee onboarding activities and for ongoing user management.
  • Restore and Export Folder Hierarchy allows users to keep their organizational structure intact when restoring or exporting an entire account.
  • Google Sites Restore gives both end-users and administrators the ability to restore items back to their Google Sites accounts quickly and easily.

In addition to the new features, Backupify has rolled out unlimited storage to both Professional and Enterprise plans. Backupify has also achieved SSAE-16/Soc2 Security Certification.  Businesses can sign up today for a free trial of Backupify for Google Apps at: https://www.backupify.com/products/google-apps-backup.

About Backupify

Backupify is the leading provider of cloud-to-cloud backup and recovery solutions for Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, offering an all-in-one archiving, search and restore solution for the most popular online services including Salesforce, Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter and more. Backupify ensures that companies can access and control the data they entrust to these systems and prevents data loss from external threats, user error or service failure. Backupify was founded in 2008 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit: www.backupify.com or follow @Backupify on Twitter.

The Creator Of PHP Shows Jelastic Support, As Advisor

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The Creator Of PHP Shows Jelastic Support, As Advisor

PALO ALTO, Ca., July 1, 2013 - Jelastic Inc., the creators of the cloud hosting platform for Java and PHP applications (http://Jelastic.com), today announced that Rasmus Lerdorf, the creator of the PHP scripting language will serve the company as an Advisor. In this capacity, he will support Jelastic with access to his technical expertise and help them to create innovative new technology.
rasmus-lerdorf

Rasmus is also a distinguished engineer at Etsy; he authored the first two versions of the PHP language and participated in the development of later versions led by a group of developers. He continues to contribute to the project.  From 2002 to 2009 he was employed by Yahoo! Inc. as an engineer and in 2010, he joined WePay to assist with development of their API. In 2011 he was a consultant for various startups.

Adding to an already remarkable list of accomplishments, Rasmus was named as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35 by the MIT Technology Review.

Ruslan Synytsky, Jelastic co-founder and CEO said, “Rasmus is an iconic figure in our world and we are honored that he is advising us.  His contributions to PHP are awe inspiring. Having the creator of PHP on board signifies how serious Jelastic is about being the best PaaS in the world.  As part of the Jelastic team, we plan to utilize his knowledge and skills and apply them to making Jelastic even better!

In 2011, Jelastic launched as a PaaS provider for Java applications. In 2013, the company added PHP cloud hosting to their service options. Jelastic has data centers and hosting partners worldwide and 45,000 users on the platform.

Last month Jelastic announced that veteran Microsoft architect, Mark Zbikowski joined the team, and Rasmus signing on makes an impressive statement about the future of Jelastic.  Other Jelastic advisers are Serguei Beloussov, the founder of Parallels and they have received endorsements and support from the father of Java James Gosling, Michael “Monty” Widenius, and the author of the original version of the open-source MySQL database and MariaDB and David Blevins who founded the TomEE project.

Rasmus Lerdorf said, “PHP has always been about making Web development easy and accessible to everyone.  Jelastic’s approach to PaaS fits nicely with this mission and I am looking forward to helping them build more great products.”

About Jelastic

Jelastic, Inc., based in Palo Alto, Calif., offers a Platform as a Service for developers, application designers and hosting service providers. Jelastic is the only Platform-as-a Service (PaaS) offering designed specifically for hosting service providers to deploy and make available to their customers. Jelastic automatically scales Java and PHP applications and allocates server resources, delivering true next generation Java and PHP cloud computing. You can learn more about Jelastic or create a free 2 week trial at http://jelastic.com.

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Equinix Partners With CloudSigma To Market Cloud

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Equinix Partners with CloudSigma to Market Cloud and Data Center Services

Leading Cloud Infrastructure Services (IaaS) Provider Deploys in Equinix Zurich and Washington as First Phase of Multi-PoP Global Agreement

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and ZURICH, Switzerland — JULY 9, 2013 — Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced a partnership with CloudSigma, an innovative Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider based in Zürich, Switzerland.

CloudSigma’s flexible enterprise-class hybrid cloud servers and public cloud hosting solutions have been initially deployed in Equinix’s Zurich International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) campus and Washington (DC6) data center. These deployments represent the first phase in an ambitious targeted roll-out in selected markets covered by Equinix’s global footprint of more than 90 IBX data centers in 31 markets.

Highlights / Key Facts
•       Under the agreement the two companies will jointly market cloud and data center services to enterprise and government customers. The collaboration is designed to improve customer service and cloud adoption processes.
•       Equinix’s global platform of carrier-neutral data center services  and direct connect private line virtual LANs extending into CloudSigma solutions will enable Equinix’s 4,000+ customers to build hybrid cloud architectures incorporating public, private and legacy components.
•       Equinix is well placed to quickly and cost-effectively support CloudSigma through its 900-strong global network ecosystem and extensive Ethernet Exchange Platform.
•       Equinix is also home to over 500 cloud providers, providing a foundation on which CloudSigma can develop new platform (PaaS) and software (SaaS) offerings for Equinix customers.

Quotes
•       Bernino Lind, chief operating officer, CloudSigma
CloudSigma is a global company with ambitions to expand its presence in Europe and North America, as well as newly emerging digital markets such as Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Asia Pacific, fueled by our existing customers’ demand. Equinix is a perfect strategic match for this expansion due to its innovative culture, proactive partnership approach, global footprint and the IBX connectivity solution.”
•       Dick Theunissen, chief marketing officer, Equinix EMEA
CloudSigma’s highly customizable infrastructure is designed to minimize restrictions, allowing customers to incorporate flexibly sized virtual machines running their choice of operating system into hybrid cloud architectures spanning multiple locations and extending private networks into the CloudSigma cloud. They are a new and important component in our global ecosystem of best-of-breed cloud providers.”

About CloudSigma

CloudSigma is a pure-cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider that offers highly-available, flexible, enterprise-class hybrid cloud servers and cloud hosting solutions, both in Europe and the U.S. CloudSigma is the most customizable cloud provider on the market, giving customers full control over their cloud and eliminating restrictions on how users deploy their computing resources. With CloudSigma, customers can provision processing, storage, networks and other fundamental computing resources as they please, as well as extend private networks out of existing infrastructure and elastically into CloudSigma’s IaaS cloud to create easy to manage and transparent hybrid cloud solutions. For more information, please visit www.CloudSigma.com or find the company on Twitter @CloudSigma, Facebook and Google+.

About Equinix

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX), connects more than 4,000 companies directly to their customers and partners inside the world’s most networked data centers. Today, businesses leverage the Equinix interconnection platform in 31 strategic markets across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. www.equinix.com.

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SAP Offers Fast Track To Innovation Via A Flexible Path To The Cloud

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SAP Offers Fast Track to Innovation Via a Flexible Path to the Cloud

WALLDORF, Germany — July 24, 2013 — SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) is taking the next step to make the recently announced unified cloud portfolio vision a reality for customers, putting them in the driver’s seat for their cloud journey. SAP now offers customers and partners a simple, flexible model for extending current on-premise solutions to cloud applications, including offerings from SAP companies Ariba and SuccessFactors.

Based on their existing investments in SAP® software, customers can decide to reallocate elements of their installed on-premise solutions to the respective cloud solutions from SAP, replacing the affected on-premise license and maintenance fee with a cloud subscription. The transaction assumes an expanded investment with cloud solutions from SAP, given the substantial added value from this new hybrid scenario.

Consume Cloud Innovations at Own Pace

SAP removes barriers and enables customers to drive speed-to-value and unlock opportunities to lower total cost of ownership, taking care that existing investments are protected and exploring new options with innovative cloud solutions from SAP at their own pace. The hybrid solution can be fully integrated offering seamless delivery and support as well as full control over the application landscape, including on-premise and cloud applications. With this integrated approach, customers gain the flexibility, choice and efficiencies needed to innovate for growth across their entire business in the cloud.

Unlock Business Value With Flexibility and Ease

SAP® Rapid Deployment solutions for the SAP® Cloud portfolio support the new cloud extension opportunity. Hybrid deployment scenarios can be quickly implemented based on packaged content and implementation services in the areas of human resources, procurement, and business collaboration, among others. The cloud extension model helps companies of any size create entirely new experiences for their customers, empower employees at scale, optimize the use of resources and unlock value for their business.

Proven support offerings from SAP, including SAP® MaxAttention™ and SAP® ActiveEmbedded services, are available to support customers in transitioning without disruption, allowing them to build and run SAP solutions like a factory.

Enterprises can face significant hurdles deploying and integrating cloud solutions into very complex IT ecosystems, so they are looking for pricing and adoption models that offer the flexibility to drive an extension to the cloud at their own pace,” said Elaina Stergiades, research manager, IDC. “Adoption models like this from SAP can help customers streamline their investments in on-premise and cloud solutions, making it easier and more cost-effective to take advantage of these new technologies.”

SAP believes that every customer has a different approach to adopt the cloud innovations based on unique business requirements. The new cloud extension model is an optional model that flexibly supports many different entry points for a cloud strategy.

SAP is delighted to offer this tremendous opportunity to customers, allowing them to redirect existing investments to new innovation areas in the cloud,” said Robert Enslin, president of Global Customer Operations and member of the SAP Global Managing Board of SAP AG. “The unified SAP Cloud portfolio significantly expands our customers’ ability to grow their businesses by offering real-time, secure access to the cloud — all while lowering the cost of entry and through a great user interface. With this new cloud extension option, SAP helps each customer create a unique experience specific to their business requirements.”

This offer is not expected to have any material impact on the company’s 2013 financial year outlook for revenue or operating income.

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IBM Awarded 10 Year $1 Billion Foundation Cloud Hosting Services Contract

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IBM AWARDED 10 YEAR $1 BILLION FOUNDATION CLOUD HOSTING SERVICES CONTRACT TO ASSIST US DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR’S MOVE TO CLOUD COMPUTING

AUGUST 14, 2013 — ARMONK, NY – IBM today announced it will work with the United States Department of the Interior (US DOI) as the Department embarks on a decade long transformation of their information technology (IT) systems to a cloud computing model. As part of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, valued for IBM up to $1 billion, the Department may use IBM cloud computing technologies, services and hosting as the foundation of their next generation infrastructure.

IBM’s solution for the DOI is based on the company’s secure and high availability Federal Data Center capabilities using open computing and process standards. The US DOI will leverage IBM expertise in data storage, secure file transfer, virtual machines, database, web hosting, development testing and SAP Application Hosting. The Department will also be able to tap IBM’s Smart Cloud for Government hosted at the IBM Federal Data Center, the Smart Cloud for Enterprise (SCE) commercial offerings and the very cost competitive IBM AIX Cloud.

IBM has been delivering trusted and secure cloud services to business and government clients for decades, and working with virtualization technologies for more than 40 years,” said Anne Altman, General Manager, IBM US Federal. “Our Cloud offerings are backed by a long history of successful work in hardware, software and services wrapped in world renowned security offerings, unmatched R&D, and secure supply chains. We’re committed to infusing these capabilities, proven security and reliability, and leading-edge technology into our work with the US Department of the Interior over the next decade.”

Other US government agencies can also gain access to these IBM Cloud solutions via the DOI Foundation Cloud Hosting Services vehicle. The vehicle also allows request for quotes/task orders to be issued on behalf of other government customers including both civilian agencies and the Department of Defense.

The US DOI is the steward of 20 percent of the Nation’s land. On these 500 million acres are 397 units of the national park system, 556 national wildlife refuges, 21 national conservation areas and 16 national monuments. In addition, the Department is the largest supplier and manager of water in 17 states overseeing 476 dams and 348 reservoirs; manages the land, subsurface rights and offshore areas that produce approximately 24% of the Nation’s energy; and maintains relationships with 566 federally recognized Native American tribes with a population of 1.7M people.

The sixteen Bureaus and Offices that manage this mission spend in excess of $1B a year on IT. In a period of declining budgets the Department is shifting to a management model for IT that moves from fixed to variable, assets to services and mission impact instead of IT service metrics. The Department has a public commitment to save $100M a year from 2016 to 2021 and then use those savings to fund investments in new business capabilities and applications.

About IBM Cloud Computing

IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud based transactions every day. IBM assists clients in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centers.

For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/smartcloud

 

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Racemi Automates Migrations To IBM Cloud Services

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Racemi Automates Migrations To IBM Cloud Services

Customers can begin migrations to IBM SoftLayer’s cloud from competing services immediately

ATLANTA, September 16, 2013 – Racemi, the leading provider of automated server migration software that streamlines the process of migrating workloads to public, private, and hybrid clouds, today announced global support for IBM public cloud offerings, providing clients an automated migration path to their IBM cloud of choice, at no charge for a limited time.

Racemi

Racemi’s Cloud Path software as a service (SaaS) enables IBM customers to migrate server workloads to IBM’s SoftLayer cloud services at no charge (see terms and conditions).

Working closely with IBM, we are offering customers free migrations to IBM SoftLayer’s public cloud services,” said James Strayer, vice president of product management, Racemi. “This ensures there a fast, easy way to move existing workloads to IBM’s cloud computing platforms.”

Today, clients in a variety of industries ranging from governments, banks, retailers are using IBM’s cloud capabilities to drive innovation and growth. More and more clients are turning to IBM Softlayer cloud offerings as they look to adopt cloud capabilities built on an open, secure comprehensive platform giving them the option to scale as the need for service grows. SoftLayer delivers Infrasturcture-as-a-Service to 21,000 clients across all industries.

Details about this offer and the SaaS migration service for IBM cloud customers can be accessed at www.racemi.com/ibm.

Cloud Path software-as-a-service (SaaS) is a self-service portal that automates the migration of existing Windows and Linux servers to public cloud services. There is no infrastructure to deploy or maintain on the customer’s site and key features such as Live Capture ensure there is no server downtime. All customer data is secured and compressed using AES/RSA SSL encryption over firewall- friendly, fault tolerant outbound HTTPS connections to provide maximum protection and reliability.

This new migration service will expedite IBM clients’ ‘on-ramp’ to the enterprise cloud,” said Kit Linton, director of Cloud Infrastructure Offerings. “As more clients demand enterprise cloud capabilities, they are looking to IBM to deliver the security, privacy and reliability of open, private clouds with the economy and speed of a public cloud through IBM cloud.

Racemi’s server imaging technology quickly clones server workloads between dissimilar physical, virtual or private cloud platforms, reducing the migration process from days to minutes. This results in an average labor savings of over $800 per server versus a manual migration. The Racemi SaaS captures the entire server stack—including operating system, applications, and configuration—and automatically converts it to run on the new cloud platform by applying the necessary tools and drivers during the migration process. This ensures existing workloads are migrated in their time-tested configuration, resulting in better reliability and supportability.

IBM has invested $6 billion in more than a dozen cloud acquisitions since 2007, including, most recently, SoftLayer to extend IBM’s public cloud capabilities and help clients with an easy on-ramp to the enterprise cloud.

About Racemi

Racemi, the moving company for the cloud, has been named a “Cool Vendor” and has hundreds of customers, users, and partners around the globe. The company builds server provisioning and cloud migration technology that allows businesses to quickly migrate their existing physical and virtual servers between dissimilar physical, virtual, and cloud platforms and across geographies. For CSPs (cloud service providers), MSPs (managed service providers), and hosting providers, Racemi is the easiest, most reliable method for onboarding customers to their public, private, or hybrid cloud offering. Racemi also enables customers and partners to automate private data center provisioning by leveraging its market-leading server imaging technology to rapidly provision physical, virtual or private cloud servers in any automated use case.

For more information, visit www.racemi.com.

Cloud-Enabling Technologies Market To Reach $22.6 Billion In 2016

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Cloud-Enabling Technologies Market to Reach $22.6 Billion in 2016, According to New 451 Research Study

End Users Remain Focused on Internal Cloud Initiatives

NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Market Monitor, a service of 451 Research, projects that the Cloud-Enabling Technologies market revenue will increase at a 21% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $22.6 billion in 2016.

The recently published Market Monitor Cloud-Enabling Technologies overview report defines Cloud-Enabling Technologies as technologies that are installed, delivered and consumed on-premises. The report examines 143 vendors, segmented into three primary categories – virtualization, security, and automation and management. Cloud-Enabling Technologies, by definition, are not hosted by third parties. A report overview can be viewed here.

Full report highlights include:

  • Virtualization – the foundation of cloud computing – accounts for the majority of total market revenue, with a 66% share. But, as the most mature market segment, it also has the lowest CAGR through 2016 (16%).
  • Automation and Management, a broad category that includes incumbent technologies and cloud platforms, will continue to grow at a healthy 28% CAGR as users move up the stack from first-tier virtualization implementation.
  • At the top of the stack is security, with no single vendor dominating. This sector has the highest CAGR through 2016 at 29%.
  • Since September 2012, there have been 12 significant acquisitions in the CET space. Going forward, we expect to see more of the same as firms look to either bulk up their cloud offerings or make an initial ‘roll of the dice’ in the cloud market.
  • Revenue generated by public firms accounted for 87% of the total, with private firms accounting for the remaining 13%.
  • Public vendors accounted for 21% of the total companies in the CET space, with private vendors accounting for 79%.
  • A smaller percentage of companies are generating less than $5m in revenue than the year before: nearly half of the vendors in 2012 generated less than $5m in revenue (44%), compared with 58% in 2011. Roughly one-third of vendors fall into the midmarket range (defined as $5m-$25m), up from 27% in the midmarket the year before. Only six vendors have revenue (deriving strictly from CET) over $500m.

The drivers of growth are twofold,” said Victoria Simons, Research Analyst, 451 Research. “Initial adoption of the cloud is driven by the need for cost reduction and more efficient computing options. As the infrastructure is virtualized, customers then need tools to manage, control and secure their IT environments to fully realize the benefits of virtual/cloud environments. We see the cloud-enabling technologies market growing strongly as large enterprises and SMBs continue along the path of flexible computing.”

Leveraging 451 Research’s deep insight into established cloud vendors and startups, Market Monitor employs a pure bottom-up approach, with active participation from sector analysts. The resulting forecast incorporates the unique traits, strengths and weaknesses of each market participant, and when used with in-depth qualitative research from 451 Research, Market Monitor provides a holistic view of the cloud computing marketplace. This bottom-up analysis methodology enables 451 Research to provide granular detail at the vendor and individual service level.

About Market Monitor: Cloud-Enabling Technologies

Market Monitor: Cloud-Enabling Technologies is a quantitative research service that tracks and forecasts the size and growth of the rapidly evolving server virtualization and on-premises cloud-enabling technologies marketplace. In addition to forecasting revenues over a five-year horizon, the service breaks out revenue by geographic region, company size and industry verticals. The service tracks revenue generated by server virtualization, automation and management, cloud security, and cloud platforms. The Market Monitor analyst team uses a bottom-up approach to track and project revenue for vendors operating in this marketplace.

About 451 Research 

451 Research, a division of The 451 Group, is focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. The company’s analysts provide critical and timely insight into the competitive dynamics of innovation in emerging technology segments. Business value is delivered via daily concise and insightful published research, periodic deeper-dive reports, data tools, market-sizing research, analyst advisory, and conferences and events. Clients of the company – at vendor, investor, service-provider and end-user organizations – rely on 451 Research’s insight to support both strategic and tactical decision-making. 451 Research is headquartered in New York, with offices in key locations, including San Francisco, Washington DC, London, Boston, Seattleand Denver.

SOURCE 451 Research

Forrester Study: Cloud Services Remains Elusive For Many Enterprises

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Key Findings Of Study: Cloud Services Remains Elusive For Many Enterprises

Companies Need A Unified Cloud and Network Strategy to Maximize Full Benefits of Cloud Computing, Software-as-a-Service, and Other Cloud-Based Services

HERNDON, VA – October 2, 2013 – Although cloud-based services are now widely utilized by the vast majority of enterprises, a new study by Forrester Consulting has found that many organizations are not realizing the full potential value of these services because their networks are not prepared to support the increased bandwidth demands and complexity of multiple cloud-based services.

saas-cloud

The September 2013 commissioned study, “Building for the Future: What the New World of Cloud IT Means for the Network” which was conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of XO Communications and Juniper Networks, examined current cloud technology adoption trends, application usage types in the cloud, satisfaction levels with expected benefits, and the impacts cloud services are having on the enterprise network. The study surveyed more than 150 IT decision makers at companies with more than 500 employees across several industries.

Key Findings of the Study:

1. Cloud Services Adoption Is Widespread and Business-Critical Apps Are Moving to the Cloud

The study confirms the trend that enterprises are moving to the cloud with a majority of businesses having embraced at least one cloud service.  Moreover, after testing the waters with simple tasks, IT and business organizations are now shifting advanced, business-critical applications and services from internal data centers to cloud platforms. Specifically, the study found that:

•       More than 75% of enterprises are using or plan to use some type of cloud-based service;
•       50% more respondents plan on moving revenue-generating B2B e-commerce sites to cloud environments this year compared to last year;
•       Software, storage, and disaster-recovery-as-a service represent the top three cloud-based services; and
•       More than 50% of IT decision makers said their organization will be using four or more cloud platforms.

2. The True Value of Cloud Services Remains Elusive

While many enterprises are reporting cost savings by moving to cloud platforms, the reality is that very few enterprises have seen values outside of cost savings.  A major finding of the study contradicts one of the largest expectations IT professionals have when adopting cloud services: that the cloud provides them with a fast, easy set of IT resources.  According to the study, only 20% of IT decision makers said they were very satisfied with this benefit.  This is because many aspects of the infrastructure and operations supporting these services are not found in the cloud but in the network, which many enterprises have not refreshed for the new world of Cloud IT.

The findings in the study also reveal some interesting contradictions.  Although 88% of IT decision makers believe cloud-based services will have an impact on the network, less than half of them said their organization had upgraded their network in the last three years.

In fact, the study shows that most organizations have given a higher priority to implementing cloud-based services and other IT initiatives over refreshing or upgrading the network.  According to the study, IT decision makers have placed a higher priority on five other IT initiatives (server upgrades, pursuing cloud services, storage refresh, PC refresh, and upgrading security environments) over the upgrading their network.

3. A Scalable, Agile and High Performance Network is Necessary for the New World of Cloud IT

In order to improve the value of their cloud services and accommodate the impact of cloud services on the network, the majority of IT organizations have had to upgrade their company’s networks.  Specifically, the study found that:

•       78% of enterprises had to upgrade one or more aspects of the network
•       47% of enterprises had to upgrade network bandwidth
•       46% had to invest in new security services

Organizations expanding or implementing cloud services have taken these lessons to heart.  IT decision makers said that upgrading the network is now their top priority for a comprehensive strategy to support public cloud and other cloud-based services offerings.

What is clear in the study is that enterprise networks have reached a tipping point with respect to being able to support more business-critical services that reside in the cloud,” said Don MacNeil, chief marketing officer at XO Communications.  “In order to realize the full benefits of cloud-based services, companies will have to examine their networks for readiness, align it with their business and IT strategy, and start to design new network infrastructures to enable a scalable, high-performing, cost-effective and secure cloud services environment.”

The full study is available for download by clicking here.

In addition, XO Communications will be hosting a live webinar on October 9, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. EDT featuring guest speaker, Forrester Research, Inc. principal analyst Andre Kindness, who will review the key findings of the study.  To register for the webinar, go to http://bit.ly/185i8Mv.

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) delivers innovation across routing, switching and security. From the network core down to consumer devices, Juniper Networks’ innovations in software, silicon and systems transform the experience and economics of networking. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net) or connect with Juniper on Twitter and Facebook.

About XO Communications

XO Communications is a leading nationwide provider of advanced IP communications, intelligent networking, and cloud computing services for business, large enterprise and wholesale customers. These customers include more than half of the Fortune 500, in addition to leading cable, mobile wireless and domestic and international telecommunications companies. XO offers a superior customer experience through its innovative solutions, its employees’ focus on customers and the proven performance of its advanced network. To learn more about XO Communications, visit www.xo.com or blog.xo.com.  XO Communications is also on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

XO and the formative uses of each are all trademarks and registered trademarks of XO Communications, LLC.  Other trademarks are the property of their respective trademark owners.

Juniper Networks and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Juniper Networks and Junos logo are trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

# # #

The following information provides profile information on the respondents to the survey.
Respondents by Company Size:

•       500 – 999 employees: 19%
•       1,000 – 4,999 employees: 38%
•       5,000 – 19,999 employees: 22%
•       20,000 or more employees: 21%

Respondents by Industry:

•       Manufacturing: 31%
•       Healthcare: 21%
•       Financial Services and Insurance: 20%
•       Professional & Business Services (consulting, legal, real estate, transportation services): 12%
•       Retail & Wholesale: 7%
•       Information Technology: 4%
•       Hospitality: 3%
•       Media & Entertainment: 2%

Level of involvement with decisions about the use cloud services:

•       54% said they were the final decision makers regarding their organizations’ use of cloud/SaaS implementations and/or vendor selection.
•       46% said they influence decisions regarding implementation of and/or vendor selection for cloud/SaaS services or manage vendor relations.

Position or title within the organization:

•       45% said they had overall responsibility for the IT department with a title such as CIO, CTO, etc.
•       21% said they held a senior position within the IT department, such as Senior VP, VP, Chief IT Architect.
•       34% said they were a director or manager with the IT department/function.

Verizon Cloud – Verizon Reinvents The Enterprise Cloud With IaaS Offering

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Verizon Cloud  - Verizon Reinvents the Enterprise Cloud verizon-cloud

New Verizon Cloud Delivers Enterprise-Class Performance and Unprecedented Control with Startup Flexibility and Speed 

NEW YORK – Verizon today announced Verizon Cloud – its new cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform and cloud-based object storage service. With this service, Verizon is fundamentally changing how public clouds are built. Large enterprises, mid-size companies and small development shops will get the agility and economic benefit of a generic public cloud along with the reliability and scale of an enterprise-level service with unprecedented control of performance. The public beta for Verizon Cloud will launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

Verizon created the enterprise cloud, now we’re recreating it,” said John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “This is the revolution in cloud services that enterprises have been calling for.  We took feedback from our enterprise clients across the globe and built a new cloud platform from the bottom up to deliver the attributes they require.”

Verizon Cloud has two main components: Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage. Verizon Cloud Compute is the IaaS platform. Verizon Cloud Storage is an object-based storage service.

Verizon Cloud Compute

Verizon Cloud Compute is built for speed and performance. Virtual machines (software-based computers and servers) can be created and deployed in just seconds, and users build and pay for what they need.

With Verizon Cloud Compute, users can determine and set virtual machine and network performance, providing predictable performance for mission critical applications, even during peak times. Additionally, users can configure storage performance and attach storage to multiple virtual machines. Previously, services had pre-set configurations for size (e.g. small, medium, large) and performance, with little flexibility regarding virtual machine and network performance and storage configuration. No other cloud offering provides this level of control.

In addition, while Verizon built the solution for enterprises, it is nimble enough to meet the needs of small and medium businesses, individual IT departments and software developers.

This is a breakthrough approach to how cloud computing is done,” said Bryson Koehler, chief information officer at The Weather Company, the nation’s leading provider of weather forecasts and information. “Weather is the most dynamic dataset in the world, and we also use big data to help consumers better plan their day and help businesses make intelligent decisions as it relates to weather. As a big data leader, a major part of The Weather Company’s go-forward strategy is based on the cloud, and we are linking a large part of our technical future to these services from Verizon.”

Rob Walters, chief technology officer at Engine Yard, a Platform as a Service that lets developers plan, build, deploy and manage applications in the cloud, said: “The new Verizon Cloud will give us ease of deployment and flexibility with full enterprise capabilities, saving us time and money. We’ve had a long and successful relationship with Verizon. We’ve deployed some of our most demanding enterprise-grade applications on Verizon cloud infrastructure to deliver the high scalability and reliability required for business-critical apps running on Engine Yard.

Verizon Cloud Storage

Verizon Cloud Storage is an object-addressable, multitenant storage platform providing safe, durable, reliable and cost-effective storage accessible from anywhere on the Web. Object storage is extra robust and Web-traffic reliable, making it ideal for cloud-based applications. Verizon Cloud Storage overcomes latency issues that have plagued many traditional storage offerings, providing improved performance.

We are putting control and choice back in the hands of the user, while still addressing their needs for availability, performance and security,” said John Considine, chief technology officer of Verizon Terremark. “We started from scratch, building the core components we felt necessary to achieve that goal.”

Powered by Verizon

These new cloud services are backed by the deep technical and operation experience of Verizon and supported by the company’s global IP network, global data centers and managed security services. Verizon also offers a wide range of hosting, managed hosting and colocation services to meet all of an organization’s IT needs.

Companies interested in using either Verizon Cloud Compute or Verizon Cloud Storage can sign-up to be a beta customer through the Verizon Enterprise Solutions website.  The sign-up and customer service experience is managed completely online.

The provisioning and deployment of virtual machines and assignment of performance levels takes just seconds. With a credit card or purchase order on file, customers pay as they go for computing and storage. They can control their use and pay for the cost of the services they are using, adjusting as needs arise.

In order to ensure personalized service for each beta customer, access to Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage will initially be limited to a few hundred new users per month. Customers awaiting their turn will be welcomed into the Verizon Cloud Insider program, which will enable them to be kept up-to-date on feature availability and other improvements as they occur.

As Verizon optimizes customer experience through the public beta program, it will provide opportunities for new clients to take advantage of Cloud Compute and Cloud Storage. The system has been designed to support millions of virtual machines in each location where Verizon implements Cloud Compute and Cloud Storage.

Companies with immediate cloud needs can use Verizon Enterprise Cloud, the IaaS offering of choice for businesses and governments needing scalable, reliable and secure cloud infrastructure. Verizon Enterprise Cloud combines the proven over time stability and performance for enterprise customers.

Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage are installed in Verizon cloud data centers in Culpeper, Va., Englewood, Colo., Miami; Santa Clara, Calif.; and in Amsterdam, London, and Sao Paolo. Initially, clients will be served out of the Culpeper data center, with other centers around the globe expected to be added through mid-2014.

About Verizon

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 100 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries. A Dow 30 company with nearly $116 billion in 2012 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 180,900. For more information, visit about.verizon.com.

Gartner Reveals Top Predictions For IT Organizations And Users For 2014 And Beyond

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Gartner Reveals Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users for 2014 and Beyond

 Analysts Explore Latest Industry Directions at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013 October 6-10 gartner

ORLANDO, Fla., October 8, 2013 Gartner, Inc. has revealed its top predictions for IT organizations and IT users for 2014 and beyond. Gartner’s top predictions for 2014 combine several disruptive topics — Digital Industrial Revolution, Digital Business, Smart Machines and the Internet of Things — that are set to have an impact well beyond just the IT function.

Gartner’s 2013 CEO survey suggests CEOs feel that business uncertainties are declining and yet, CIOs awake each day into a world of technology uncertainty and change,” said Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The savvy CIO will get his or her CEO to recognize the change being brought about by disruptive shifts is coming at an accelerated pace and at a global level of impact.

Gartner analysts presented their findings during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, being held here through October 10. Gartner’s top 10 predictions are broken out into four categories and include:

Digital Industrial Revolution — IT is no longer just about the IT function. Instead, IT has become the catalyst for the next phase of innovation in personal and competitive business ecosystems. One place where this is evident is in the beginnings of a Digital Industrial Revolution that threatens to reshape how physical goods are created using 3D printing.

By 2018, 3D printing will result in the loss of at least $100 billion per year in intellectual property globally. Near Term Flag: At least one major western manufacturer will claim to have had intellectual property (IP) stolen for a mainstream product by thieves using 3D printers who will likely reside in those same western markets rather than in Asia by 2015.

The plummeting costs of 3D printers, scanners and 3D modeling technology, combined with improving capabilities, makes the technology for IP theft more accessible to would-be criminals. Importantly, 3D printers do not have to produce a finished good in order to enable IP theft. The ability to make a wax mold from a scanned object, for instance, can enable the thief to produce large quantities of items that exactly replicate the original.

By 2016, 3D printing of tissues and organs (bioprinting) will cause a global debate about regulating the technology or banning it for both human and nonhuman use. Near Term Flag: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration or comparable agency in a developed nation that is charged with evaluating all medical proposals will introduce guidelines that prohibit the bioprinting of life-saving 3D printed organs and tissues without its prior approval by end of 2015.

Bioprinting is the medical application of 3D printers to produce living tissue and organs. The day when 3D bioprinted human organs are readily available is drawing closer. The emergence of 3D bioprinting facilities with the ability to print human organs can leave people wondering what the effect of it will be on society. Beyond these questions, however, there is the reality of what 3D bioprinting means in helping people who need organs that are otherwise not readily available.

Digital Business — Digital business refers to business created using digital assets and/or capabilities, involving digital products, services and/or customer experiences, and/or conducted through digital channels and communities. Gartner’s digital business predictions focus on the effect digital business will have on labor reductions, on consumer goods revenue, and on use of personal data. While these do not cover the sum total of digital business, they do highlight critical areas of medium to long-term impact.

By 2017, more than half of consumer goods manufacturers will receive 75 percent of their consumer innovation and R&D capabilities from crowdsourced solutions. Near Term Flag: Consumer goods companies that employ crowdsourced solutions in marketing campaigns or new product development will enjoy a 1 percent revenue boost over noncrowdsourced competitors by 2015.

Engineers, scientists, IT professionals and marketers at consumer goods companies are engaging crowds much more aggressively and with increasing frequency using digital channels to reach a larger and more anonymous pool of intellect and opinion. Gartner sees a massive shift toward applications of crowdsourcing, enabled by technology, such as: advertising, online communities, scientific problem solving, internal new product ideas, and consumer-created products.

By 2020, the labor reduction effect of digitization will cause social unrest and a quest for new economic models in several mature economies. Near Term Flag: A larger scale version of an “Occupy Wall Street”-type movement will begin by the end of 2014, indicating that social unrest will start to foster political debate.

Digitization is reducing labor content of services and products in an unprecedented way, thus fundamentally changing the way remuneration is allocated across labor and capital. Long term, this makes it impossible for increasingly large groups to participate in the traditional economic system — even at lower prices — leading them to look for alternatives such as a bartering-based (sub)society, urging a return to protectionism or resurrecting initiatives like Occupy Wall Street, but on a much larger scale. Mature economies will suffer most as they don’t have the population growth to increase autonomous demand nor powerful enough labor unions or political parties to (re-)allocate gains in what continues to be a global economy.

By 2017, 80 percent of consumers will collect, track and barter their personal data for cost savings, convenience and customization. Near Term Flag: The number of Kickstarter-based auctions of personal data will increase by triple-digit percentages by the end of 2014.

The escalation of consumer awareness of data collection practices has set the stage for offering consumers more control over the disposition of personal data — collected both online and offline. As increasing demand and scarcity drives up the value of such data, incentives grow to entice consumers to share it voluntarily. Meanwhile, consumer interest in self-tracking also suggests that consumers are investing more time and energy in collecting data about themselves. They increasingly view such data as a key asset for life improvement, which is potentially consistent with the idea of trading it for value under the right circumstances.

By 2020, enterprises and governments will fail to protect 75 percent of sensitive data, and declassify and grant broad/public access to it. Near Term Flag: By 2015, at least one more Snowden or WikiLeaks moment will occur, indicating an upward trend in corporations and governments’ acceptance that they cannot protect all sensitive information.

The amount of data stored and used by enterprises and governments is growing exponentially, such that any attempt to protect it all is unrealistic. Instead of facing an unfathomable task of protecting all data, enterprises and governments will focus on protecting only a small part of it, but protecting it well. Wider society will also gain from this approach, enabling it to establish better control over government and business, preventing abuses of power and engendering greater trust.

Smart Machines — The emergence of smart machines adds opportunity and fear as “cognizant and cognitive systems” and can enhance processes and decision making, but could also remove the need for humans in the process and decision effort. CIOs will see this as a means of delivering greater efficiency, but will have to balance between the active human workforce and the cold efficiency of machines that can learn.

By 2024, at least 10 percent of activities potentially injurious to human life will require mandatory use of a nonoverideable “smart system.” Near Term Flag: Economically priced cars with “automated assist” technology added as standard equipment will increase by through 2014 as an indicator of adoption.

The increasing deployment of “smart systems” capable of automatically responding to external events is increasing all the time, but there remains a deep-seated resistance to eliminating the option for human intervention. The capability, reliability and availability of appropriate technology are not the issue. The willingness of the general population to accept initial widespread deployment and increasing removal of manual override options is the issue.

By 2020, a majority of knowledge worker career paths will be disrupted by smart machines in both positive and negative ways. Near Term Flag: Virtual personal assistant usage in business grows more quickly in 2017 and 2018 than iPad usage did in 2010 and 2011.

Gartner forecasts that smart machines will upend a majority of knowledge workers’ career paths by 2020. Smart machines exploit machine learning and deep-learning algorithms. They behave autonomously, adapting to their environment. They learn from results, create their own rules and seek or request additional data to test hypotheses. They are able to detect novel situations, often far more quickly and accurately than people. IT professionals need to recognize that smart machines can create substantial competitive advantages, as well as entirely new businesses.

By 2017, 10 percent of computers will be learning rather than processing. Near Term Flag: In 2014, the number of speech recognition applications running on deep neural network algorithms will double.

Deep learning methods, based on deep neural networks, are currently being applied in speech recognition systems as well as some object recognition applications. Quality of life improves when society is able to derive useful information from the copious amounts of unstructured data collecting in the Internet. The most important implication of a learning computer is that it expands much less energy to recognize more complex patterns.

Internet of Things — The Internet of Things cements the connection between machines, people and business interactions in the modern era. With the advent of massively connected devices, businesses, governments and people now have access to more information about themselves and their surroundings than they can actually act on. Gartner’s prediction focuses on the opportunity to build applications and services that can use that information to create new engagement models for customers, employees and partners, and to foster a new set of business and marketing models that make the word “engagement” a truly valuable asset.

By 2020, consumer data collected from wearable devices will drive 5 percent of sales from the Global 1000. Near Term Flag: The number of smartphone apps requesting to share consumer data will increase twofold by 2015, indicating a rise in the number of marketers or proprietors who seek access to customer profile data.

Wearable computing, or wearables, is quickly moving into mainstream society, led by the growing, multibillion dollar health and fitness markets. Within five years, consumer wearables will become more sophisticated, capturing what the user sees, hears or even feels through biorhythmic responses. The technical hurdles that have stalled the adoption of wearables (battery life, augmented reality, chip evolution and bandwidth) are quickly eroding; opening doors to creative minds determined to exploit this technology for commercial gain as evidenced by sizable investments in wearable technology from Samsung, Google, Apple and Microsoft.

While some of these disruptive topics might seem as if they do not have a direct impact on the IT function, we must embrace the notion that IT is now a part of everything,” said Mr. Plummer. “As the structure of businesses and industries change, the IT systems that support them will change and so will the skills, processes and controls needed to keep them functioning. The day when 3D-printed computer architecture exists is upon us, and the days when the digital business, smart machines or the Internet of Things change what computers are may not be far off.”

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo

Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. This event delivers independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world’s leading IT research and advisory organization, and provides access to the latest solutions from key technology providers. Gartner’s annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of attendees’ annual planning efforts. IT executives rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency.

Additional information about Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, is available atwww.gartner.com/symposium/us. Video replays of keynotes and sessions are available on Gartner Events on Demand at www.gartnerondemand.com. Follow news, photos and video coming from Gartner Symposium/ITxpo on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GartnerSymposium, and on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/Gartner_inc and using #GartnerSym.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the valuable partner in over 13,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 5,800 associates, including 1,450 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visitwww.gartner.com.

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