I’m a huge fan of context-aware networking. You know, the ability to interpret requests in the context they were made – examining user identity, location, client device along with network condition and server/application status. It’s what imbues the application delivery tier with the agility necessary to make decisions that mitigate operational risk (security, availability, performance) in real-time.
In the past, almost all context was able to be deduced from the transport (connection) and application layer. The application delivery tier couldn’t necessarily “reach out” and take advantage of the vast amount of data “out there” that provides more insight into the conversation being initiated by a user. Much of this data falls into the realm of “big data” – untold amounts of information collected by this site and that site that offer valuable nuggets of information about any given interaction.

read more

Recently (well, last night) I had the opportunity to take the Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge exam and just wanted to put out some of my thoughts while they were fresh in my head. I always like to take a random sampling of certifications. It’s fun to challenge myself (some are more challenging than others) and it gives me a good idea of what sorts of training and certificates I’d like my guys to have (if any). I’ve never been the biggest fan of some of the bigger ones out there, but we’ll save that for another post.

read more

Value Propositions and elevator pitches live in the rarefied air of marketing speak. They are almost seen as mystical accomplishments reachable by only the anointed among us. «But what’s the elevator pitch» we hear time and time again….Give me the 30 second attention grabber, etc, etc.

While I agree that Value matters, and actually matters a lot, I think as sales and marketing professionals, we’ve worshiped at this alter for so long, we’ve lost sight of the end goal. We’ve become Value snobs.

read more

Two of the biggest stars in business collaboration software in the last few years have been Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint Server respectively. However, running these in-house can suck up 70% of your IT department’s time and help contribute to server sprawl as you attempt to keep legacy servers and software up to date. Consider using a ‘blackbox’ approach to running your IT infrastructure through managed hosting services.   Here are the top five benefits of adopting this approach.

Pure Infrastructure

Very few hosting providers can offer pure Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).  Virtual Internet goes beyond this providing blended dedicated and cloud servers to match your business profile.

Orchestrate and innovate

Seal IT complexity inside a VI black box that allows you to orchestrate all your IT assets under centralized dashboards supported by engineers on call 24/7/365.  Further opportunities exist to innovate your systems including automating security, disaster recovery and server …

Over a year ago, I wrote my initial thoughts on VMware's CloudFoundry PaaS platform. Over the past year, the platform has read more

With Cloud Expo 2012 New York (10th Cloud Expo) now just six weeks away, what better time to introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical and strategy sessions at the conference…

We have technical and strategy sessions for you every day from June 11 through June 14 dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing and Big Data, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT, side by side with the exploding use of enterprise Big Data – processed in the Cloud – to drive value for businesses…?

read more

When designing applications for the cloud, or extending on-premise applications into the cloud, it should go without saying that you can’t just deploy and expect good results.

read more

Like other trends in technology, cloud computing is constantly being redefined and re-understood. The fact of the matter is that, while we have a general agreement on what cloud computing is, the term has come to mean many things to many people. The advent of cloud storage services and even Apple’s iCloud has only served to further muddy the waters, even in IT.

In the most basic sense, cloud computing refers to the use of an app or service that’s hosted in a non-traditional, non-server-based manner. In that sense, however, cloud computing is very broad, and perhaps that’s the right approach.

Here are some ways we commonly look at cloud computing, not all of which are completely compatible with one another:

• Cloud computing as the way to solve past IT mistakes. For years, pundits have pushed cloud solutions as a way to get IT out of difficult situations. While that may be true, not all previous IT decisions that didn’t work out correctly did so because they didn’t use the cloud.
• Cloud computing as data center outsourcing. There is a sense in which using cloud solutions allows an organization to outsource many of its data center functions. That being said, there are some basic IT services that will – and should – forever be housed internally. Add to that the fact that internal clouds are an option, and this definition makes less and less sense.
• Cloud computing as virtualization. Virtualization has certainly made its impact on IT and the data center, just as cloud computing has done. Good cloud implementations will rely on virtualization technologies, but the two are not coterminous. There are some cloud solutions that shouldn’t run in a virtualized environment, and virtualization doesn’t automatically put something in the cloud.
• Cloud computing as Internet based solutions. From the consumer perspective, cloud computing seems to be the use of specific services via the Internet. Certainly, you can make a case that online storage providers, or even implementations like QuickBooks Online are the only cloud solutions many consumers will ever see.

At its core, cloud computing is about the correct use of IT resources, about mitigating risk, and about providing users with the solutions they need when and where they need them.

Register today for our upcoming webinar: Introducing Infortrend: Storage Tiering for the SMB.

read more

One of the problems of proliferating SaaS apps might be termed Clutter 2.0 – the end result can be a handful or more of new apps in your world in a mishmash, each with its own integration and IT management costs.

Daniel Saks, Co-CEO of AppDirect, aims to end all that through the company’s Marketplace-as-a-Service, “a unified environment with single sign-on, centralized user management, and consolidated billing,” he says.

San Francisco-based AppDirect is almost three years old, and allows enterprise users to “find, buy, and use” apps, according to Saks, in fields such as communications/collaboration, HR, sales & marketing, and financial management.

SaaS apps appearing in the marketplace include Google Apps, Webex, Microsoft 365, TribeHR, Clockspot, Simplicant, Uberview, WorkETC, Salespod, SendGrid, New Relic, Yendo, FreeAgent, and Wave. The company makes the apps available through a network of service providers, including IBM, Google, Bell Canada, AppCelerator, BestBuy, and Visa.

“AppDirect is the only platform that connects developers and channel partners with small businesses through custom marketplaces,” according to Saks. “No other company makes it easier for small businesses to find and manage all the cloud services they need from one central location.”

Less confusion in the cloud? (Gasp.) Sounds revolutionary to me.

read more

Convirture has updated its ConVirt Enterprise Cloud virtualization and cloud management software to include support for the latest version of OpenStack (Essex). Support for CloudStack will be available in an update to the software that is planned for the third quarter of this year. ConVirt Enterprise Cloud also is also now certified to run on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
The company also released ConVirt 2.1 Open Source, an update to the free, open source version of its management software.

read more