IBM’s bid to derail Amazon’s awarding of a lucrative $600m CIA cloud computing contract has been rebuffed after a federal judge ruled in favour of Amazon.
The ruling from Judge Thomas Wheeler, which was posted on PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) earlier this week, puts to an end – in theory anyway, IBM can of course still appeal – a saga which has been played out in courtrooms and behind closed doors throughout the summer.
For Jeff Bezos and company, it will certainly appear that justice has been served, after the original contract was handed to Amazon only for IBM to appeal.
Big Blue’s reasons at the time were straightforward enough; Amazon’s proposal was $50m a year more expensive, and the procedures used to rank Amazon’s proposal as being technically superior were wide of the mark, IBM claimed.
A report from the Government Accountability Office …
Sitting in a familiar coffee shop outside Victoria Station in Central London, I await the arrival of David D’Orazi, one of the foremost consultants within the cloud computing and virtualization industry.
Having spent the last five years analysing the way business technology has changed, I’m excited to meet D’Orazi who has over thirty years’ experience in enterprise technology solutions having held positions for a range of managed services vendors such as Selection Services and Commensus as well as being involved in several start-up firms.
My expectations are of a mature man who has witnessed the transition from the mainframe computer years through to the PC era and latterly through the dotcom boom to the rise and stagnation of cloud technologies; but as I meet D’Orazi again, I’m overwhelmed by the knowledge and expertise that he possesses and how the transition of technology has left a …
We know Facebook’s Open Compute Project has a cold storage vault configuration using shingled magnetic recording drives. Both Google (mail backup and more) and Amazon (Glacier) have tape vaults in their storage estate. Shingled drives could change that equation because, probably, the cost/GB of a 6TB shingled drive is a lot less that that of a 4TB drive and, over, say, 500,000 drives, that saving turns into a big sum of dollars.
What are shingled drives, you ask? This video from Seagate explains:
Everyone is talking about the benefits of “the Cloud,” but are you ready to pick up and move your business applications? With Windows Server 2003 end of life approaching, companies are faced with moving large numbers of enterprise applications. Learn how you can modernize your applications (OS up level) and transform them (move to the cloud) at the same time.
If you’re faced with migrating applications from Windows Server 2003 to Windows 2008 or 2012 when moving to the cloud, there is a solution.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Greg O’Connor, CEO of AppZero, will discuss and demonstrate new “up-level OS” migration capabilities, which allow users to effortlessly move server applications from old operating systems to new ones as part of a cloud migration.
In the recent survey «State of Enterprise Mobility 2013» I asked the question, «How many wireless devices do you use daily?» An incredible 69 percent use three or more wireless devices daily. I myself use three – my MacBook Pro, iPad mini and iPhone.
I use my iPad mostly for reading email, notes, news, ebooks and social media, plus I watch videos and listen to music on it. I use my iPhone for the same purposes when I am on the go, plus texting, phone calls, the camera, fitness apps and maps. I use my laptop to do many of the same things, but specifically to write, use Microsoft Office apps, participate in video conferences and conduct research and store photos.
License and compliance management was difficult when most everything you needed was terrestrial – on the ground, tangible, and countable. But as assets float toward and into the cloud, license and compliance management are more complex, more challenging, and even more important.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Erik Iversen, Leader, Software Asset Management Team at SHI International, will demonstrate how to use a simple three-step model to help your company get ready.
They may be small in terms of the number of employees, but small businesses stand to reap big benefits when it comes to cloud computing.
Cloud is uniquely suited to meet the needs of a small business trying to grow quickly. If you are an entrepreneur or own a small business, here are some reasons compiled by SmartDataCollective.com, why cloud computing would be a good fit.
Many potential entrepreneurs are inhibited by the huge upfront costs required in order to get a business up and running. Investing in technology can be particularly consuming, but with the cloud, it doesn’t have to be. A cloud database can provide everything from the basic infrastructure to ready-to-use applications, so business owners only have to plug in and go.
There has been a ton of buzz in the industry lately around hybrid cloud. From enterprises developing multi-vendor cloud strategies to hosting providers offering products that take advantage of different infrastructure types, there has been a definite shift toward hybrid clouds as the preferred IT hosting model.
But what is hybrid cloud? Is it using a public cloud with a private cloud? Or is it using dedicated hosting with a public cloud? Or could it be using an on-premise private cloud combined with an off-premise dedicated hosting provider? The answer is yes! Hybrid cloud could be any combination of using a public cloud, private cloud or dedicated hosting. With a hybrid cloud, you can spread your workloads across each of these different environments to run them where they’re the best fit for your application.
Like most companies, yours is probably building both an internal, flexible IT environment and leveraging the power of public cloud providers (i.e., Amazon, Azure, etc.). Each plays a key role in the IT footprint – and together, they offer unparalleled flexibility, efficiency and the agility to meet changing business needs. You may be starting small – or moving quickly to address a range of business needs, geographies or users. As you do, consider the role of an integrated, holistic management model to your enterprise.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Alan Chhabra, Vice President, Global Architects at BMC Software, will introduce the key qualities of integrated management, built to address the hybrid use cases of public cloud, on-premise converged fabrics, advanced service catalogs, multi-data center deployments, and, ultimately, IT transformation using cloud. You’ve likely already dabbled in – or even mastered – the basics of cloud. Now learn from two case studies what it takes to reach the next level and lead your company to success with a hybrid cloud!
SYS-CON Events announced today that Harbinger Systems, a global provider of software engineering services, has been named “e-Bulletin Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 13th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 4–7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Harbinger Systems is a leading provider of software engineering services to some of the world’s best product companies. Since 1990, Harbinger has developed a strong customer base worldwide. Harbinger’s customers are software product companies, including hi-tech startups in Silicon Valley, to leading product companies in the US and large in-house IT organizations. Harbinger Systems services span across Enterprise Software development, Advanced Testing services for software ISVs and Solution Consulting in eLearning.
Harbinger Systems is a part of Harbinger Group (www.harbingergroup.com). Harbinger Group is a leading global provider of innovative software products and services to companies in over 57 countries.
