Cloud Computing is evolving into a Big Three of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
Cloud 360: Multi-Cloud Bootcamp, being held Nov 4–5, 2014, in conjunction with 15th Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, CA, delivers a real-world demonstration of how to deploy and configure a scalable and available web application on all three platforms. The Cloud 360 Bootcamp, led by Janakiram MSV, an analyst with Gigaom Research, is the first bootcamp that introduces the core concepts of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) based on the workings of the Big Three platforms – Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, and Azure VMs.
Bootcamp attendees will get to see the big picture and also receive the knowledge needed to make the best cloud decisions for their business applications and entire enterprise IT organization.
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6 Cloud Computing Standards to Watch Out For
Of the numerous platforms available, cloud computing is slowly becoming the next big wave to hit industries and computing professionals around the globe, after Android applications. The cloud computing platform is one of the only ways in which that companies can reach new levels within their industry. One of the growing trends in the world is the rise in open-source cloud computing. Although very handy and easily available, there are factors that one needs to consider before implementing it across the company. We discuss the various problems associated with cloud computing compliance issues.
Plugging the holes in the cloud while you can
Open source cloud has rapidly increased as a mode of communication and storage for most companies around the world. Yet, due to the fact they are open source, there are certain regulatory factors that need come into the purview. Although, open source cloud computing is a conducive and a viable option compared to existing facilities, there are several factors that should be taken care of while on the cloud.
- How secure is your cloud: One of the primary organisations that is ensuring the compliance to security issues is met, is the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). The latter is a global coalition that represents businesses, apart from industry and subject matter experts. This organization is the reason why most companies are ensuring that they achieve the best practices within their cloud, across the world.
- Is the cloud compliant: When placing workloads on the cloud, make sure that you have conducted certain risk assessments before you go on the cloud. Cloud security compliance standards, once implemented is one of the factors that deals with virtualization issues.
- Does it have a license? Per user, device and enterprise licensing models for the cloud are essentially factors that impact companies. Licensing issues are also present in the open-source cloud models and they need to address at the outset. There may issues to be dealt with such as proprietary licenses, and other traditional licenses.
- Is It Interoperable? Portability within your cloud should be the reason that you are sticking to the cloud. Transferring data from one cloud to another should be the reason that you have selected the convenience provided by the cloud. This will bring forth other important factors to the purview which involves certain standards such as those laid down by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE.
- How Scalable is your cloud: The faster you can connect and transfer data on your server, the faster it can upload workloads and store other data. Ensure that you cloud is scalable and brings you the convenience of uploading heavy workload without changing too much in the service contract.
- Evaluate the performance: Your SLA with the cloud should involve factors that allow you the convenience of business continuity and disaster recovery. This will help you measure the performance of the cloud in those critical moments.
It’s vital to have some levels of compliance in any technological advancement to enhance your business prospects. HCL Technologies is one of the technological giants that adhere to the cloud computing standards which is the reason it is in the forefront while delivering innovative SAP Solutions for its clients be it on the cloud, on premise, or through a hybrid approach.
To know more about cloud computing standards and services please visit HCL Technologies.
Fujitsu Invests in Cloud to Support Business Innovation and Agility
A year after globally launching the FUJITSU Cloud Initiative, Fujitsu is strengthening its commitment to unlocking the business-innovation, cost-efficiency and agility benefits of cloud for its customers around the world. In doing so, Fujitsu is well on its way to building one of the broadest portfolios of IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and Cloud Integration Services. Having committed to a two-year investment of approx. 2 billion US$ in business innovation, social innovation and strengthening global delivery capabilities, Fujitsu has been busy bringing to market new offerings, deepening its deployments, and growing its customer base.
Rackspace plays to its strengths with new Managed Cloud offering
Rackspace has today announced a managed services offering called Managed Cloud which aims to give flexibility on managed services but with DIY-styled pricing.
The new Managed Cloud service offers two options: Managed Infrastructure, which offers what seems to be a standard 24×7 access to engineering support plus other features including architectural, security and launch guidance, and Managed Operations, which is essentially Rackspace managing the account 24×7.
Speaking to CloudTech, Rackspace VP technology and products Nigel Beighton said Managed Infrastructure was more of a “reactive” service as opposed to Managed Operations. “Effectively we’re rationalising across the board for all of our products,” he said.
The move towards this product has evidently come from a rise in hybrid cloud, the more pervasive nature of cloud computing yet with a greater variety of customers and options available to those customers. Last year Rackspace released a survey detailing how hybrid cloud was seen as the future for three in five enterprises.
And, with a relatively turbulent time for the firm – moving co-founder Graham Weston back as CEO after the retirement of Lanham Napier, rumours abound of becoming a private company – it makes sense that this latest offering plays into Rackspace’s main strength, managed cloud hosting.
Rackspace offers a fully managed service but often gets lumped in the same category as an Amazon Web Services, an Azure or a Google, leading to what may be considered unfair comparisons.
Beighton refused to agree with it being a ‘bugbear’ when CloudTech put it to him, instead artfully calling it “a good marketing challenge.”
“I must admit I’m forever explaining the difference to people and, do you know what, I think I still will be going forward, just because you’ve got some very strong players in the market,” he explains.
Pricing is a key element in Rackspace’s strategy, least of all being obfuscatory in its cost structure when compared to unmanaged IaaS providers.
“One of the key elements on the pricing is ‘we could have been opaque’ – hide the raw infrastructure costs within the support charge,” Beighton says. “If we did that we just felt that wasn’t being transparent, one of our core values to our customer base.
As a result, when a Racker gets a bill, they get it in triplicate: a service charge; the infrastructure cost; and automatically applied discounts based on their total spend. And this is where the comparisons with Google, in particular, come in.
“We’ve adopted very much the same model as Google in terms of discounting,” Beighton says. “It’s not so much people asking for it, it’s about automatically applying it so they know where they stand.
“That comparison with Google, and Azure, and AWS, will always be there, and it’s why we are transparent on the pricing side of it because there will be part of what we do always compared with what they do.”
Rackspace is quick to note that not every company would be ripe for this Managed Cloud offering. Beighton argues there are three types of customer for this model; startups who are out of their early development phase; SMB to low end enterprise who don’t want to build new skills; and companies who want the agility and cost savings of cloud.
Yet for those who do buy in to the Rackspace product, it’s a big commitment. Similar to the likes of Salesforce and others, Rackspace customers – or Rackers – are seen as fans, who get ‘fanatical support’ from their provider.
Beighton argues this is a good thing for the company. “We’re a human business,” he says. “We’re not about the infrastructure, we’re about the people.”
Managed Infrastructure comes in at £0.0035 per GB/hr RAM with £35 per month minimum, while Managed Operations costs £0.0150 with a £350 per month minimum spend.
You can find out more about the product here.
IBM and SoftLayer celebrate first anniversary together, launch new capabilities on Watson
It’s time to dust off the bunting and get out the birthday cake, as IBM commemorates one year since acquiring SoftLayer – and to celebrate, it’s announcing a series of new features linking up SoftLayer with Watson.
Last month CloudTech trailed the news that Watson and SoftLayer were going to coalesce, and so it has proved, with IBM announcing Watson Engagement Advisor on SoftLayer, which aims to give the insight of the Jeopardy-playing diagnosis-solving supercomputer into big data, as well as unprecedented access for third party developers on Watson Developer Cloud, powered by SoftLayer.
Regarded as one of the best partnerships in the industry to date, the acquisition of SoftLayer by IBM was the first step in its hugely expensive play to become market leader in cloud computing, with SoftLayer’s pure play IaaS complementing Big Blue’s SaaS and PaaS offerings.
“In its first year, SoftLayer has proven to be a pivotal acquisition for IBM Cloud,” said Erich Clementi, SVP IBM global technology services in a statement.
“SoftLayer has quickly become the foundation of IBM’s cloud portfolio anchoring our infrastructure, platform and software as a service offering and transforming the fortunes of many industry companies from Web start ups to established enterprises looking for the speed, flexibility and security that hybrid cloud environments provide,” he added.
With this in mind IBM has taken the opportunity to unleash a raft of updates and iterations, including the announcement of more than 300 services available within the IBM Cloud Marketplace on SoftLayer, as well as the rollout of Aspera on SoftLayer to enable high speed transfer of both structured and unstructured data between data centres.
Indeed, it’s all good news from both sides, with SoftLayer EMEA general manager Jonathan Wisler telling CloudTech that the partnership had thus far been “phenomenal.”
There’s been lots of innovation at the SoftLayer end as well, with a new London data centre recently announced alongside a plethora of expansion across France and Germany, as well as a drop of its prices to fit in more closely with the likes of Google, AWS and Microsoft.
With the price cuts in mind – announced as they were by IBM – CloudTech took the opportunity at Cloud World Forum last month to effectively ask Wisler who was wearing the trousers in this particular relationship.
He explained that the company was effectively performing two roles, both as a separate entity and one which was owned by IBM. It gives SoftLayer the opportunity to grow and expand in its existing environment, Wisler argued, as well as supporting IBM teams on enterprise accounts.
Elsewhere, IBM announced a new storage capability on SoftLayer, code named Elastic Storage – wait and see on that one – as well as IBM Cloud Modular Management, which helps companies decide whether they want to go their cloud deployment alone or have IBM manage it for them.
SoftLayer Fuels Hybrid Cloud Growth for IBM with New Clients and Services
On Monday IBM stated that SoftLayer is fueling hybrid cloud adoption by attracting thousands of new clients including leading enterprises. To support this ongoing growth, IBM is also launching a range of new cloud services designed for the enterprise that are based on SoftLayer infrastructure.
Just one year after its acquisition, SoftLayer has become the galvanizing force behind IBM’s rapid acceleration to cloud leadership. IBM bought SoftLayer for $2 billion in July 2013 and has continued to invest significantly in its cloud portfolio.
Clients all over the world are moving to the IBM Cloud, with thousands migrating to SoftLayer in the past year alone. New enterprise customers including Macy’s, Whirlpool, Daimler subsidiary moovel Gmbh, Sicoss Group and many others are transforming their operations for the emerging hybrid cloud era. Hybrid cloud computing represents the best of both worlds, as it links traditional IT systems to the cloud. Clients can maintain on-premise control of key applications and data while moving other workloads – so-called systems of engagement with customers and partners — to the cloud for quick access to data, expansion of new services and cost reductions. In fact, nearly half of IBM’s top 100 strategic outsourcing clients who are among the world’s largest enterprises are already implementing cloud solutions with IBM as they transition to a hybrid cloud model.
Amazon AWS Moving ‘Up the Stack’ to Applications
Amazon Web Services has entered the applications end of the cloud world with several recent releases:
- Log monitoring and admin with Logs for CloudWatch
- Collaboration and file sharing with Zocalo
- Mobile application development with Cognito, Mobile Analytics and a new Mobile SDK
Logs for Cloudwatch works with the AWS CloudWatch network monitoring console to collect log file activities which can then be stored and analyzed in AWS Kinesis. The new tool automatically moves logs from instances and aggregates them into a central service where exceptions can be set directly on those applications.
Third-party products already that, and companies like Splunk, Logentries, and New Relic , which launched its new Insights real-time analytics tool just hours before the AWS news, will all be watching this very carefully (probably also very nervously).
The new AWS Zocalo collaboration/file-sharing plans are further proof that Amazon knows it must be a broad platform player to compete against two mega platform rivals – Google and Microsoft, as well as two younger, well-funded but more limited contenders in Dropbox and Box. Zocalo thus targets Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, which are part of a much bigger portfolio of end-user products at those companies.
Verizon Named “Gold Sponsor” of Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
SYS-CON Events announced today that Verizon has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 15th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions creates global connections that generate growth, drive business innovation and move society forward. With industry-specific solutions and a full range of global wholesale offerings provided over the company’s secure mobility, cloud, strategic networking and advanced communications platforms, Verizon Enterprise Solutions helps open new opportunities around the world for innovation, investment and business transformation. Visit verizonenterprise.com to learn more.
Five Changes Coming to Today’s Cloud Computing Options
Cloud computing has finally come into its own. While we’ve been hearing for 8 years or more that cloud computing would one day take over the enterprise, the fact of the matter is that it’s been slow going.
While the spread of cloud computing solutions hasn’t been as rapid as many early proponents predicted it would be, we are now to a place where cloud solutions are seen as viable for most organizations, and are being utilized regularly.
Psst – the Cloud Is Easy
What inspired this piece is “Complicating the Cloud,” a recent, insightful article by industry guru Jeff Kaplan. Kaplan makes a number of trenchant points, many of them coalescing around the idea that the vendor community has a vested interest in complexity. That meshes with my belief that it really is easy to get into the cloud — if the decision makers don’t allow the vendors to make it difficult.
Here’s what Kaplan has to say: «I have to admit that the cloud industry is doing a great job of making it increasingly difficult for… corporate decision makers to feel confident about making the move,» he writes. «The initial success of the cloud movement has created a series of problems. First, there’s the proliferation of players… some of whom rebrand or ‘cloud-wash’ legacy systems for this new market… [They want to] join the ‘cloud rush,’ [by] adding more solutions to their portfolios…» And these tendencies, as he sees them, have made migration to the cloud needlessly convoluted.