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Docker, Funding, Linux containers, News & Analysis, Rancher Labs, Shannon Williams, Sheng Liang

Docker startup Rancher Labs secures $10m for container-based IaaS software

Rancher is developing container-based IaaS software

Rancher is developing container-based IaaS software

Rancher Labs, a startup developing Linux container-based infrastructure-as-a-service software, has secured $10m in a series A round of funding, which it said would be used to bolster its engineering and development efforts.

Rancher Labs, which was started by CloudStack founder Sheng Liang and Cloud.com (which was acquired by Citrix in 2011) founder Shannon Williams, offers infrastructure services purpose-built for containers.It also developed a lightweight Linux OS called RacherOS. “We wanted to run Docker directly on top of the Linux Kernel, and have all user-space Linux services be distributed as Docker containers. By doing this, there would be no need to use a separate software package distribution mechanism for RancherOS itself,” the company explained.

The company said that as technologies like Docker become more popular in production mode so do other requirements around things like networking (i.e. load balancing), monitoring, storage management, and other infrastructure requirements needed to stand up a reliable cloud workload.

“Containers are quickly becoming the de-facto large-scale production platform for application deployment,” Liang said.

“Our goal is to provide organizations with the tools needed to take full advantage of container technology. By developing storage and networking software purpose-built for containers, we are providing organizations with the best possible experience for running Docker in production.”

The company’s goal is to develop all of the infrastructure services necessary to give enterprises confidence in deploying containers in production at scale, and it plans to use the funding to accelerate its development and engineering efforts.

Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director at Nexus Venture Partners, one of the company’s investors said: “Software containers have dramatically changed the way DevOps teams work, becoming an essential piece of today’s IT infrastructure. The team at Rancher Labs recognized the technology’s potential early on, along with the pain points associated with it.”

While the technologies and tools to support Linux containers are still young there seems to be growing volume around using them for production deployments; one of the things that makes them so attractive in the cloud world is their scalability, and the ability to drop them in almost any environment – whether bare metal or on a hypervisor.

Amazon, AWS, Carbon Disclosure Project;, Datacentre, Elizabeth O'Connell, Green America, Infrastructure as a Service, News & Analysis, Todd Larsen

Green America hits out at Amazon for its dirty cloud

Amazon has committed to bolstering its use of renewables, but Green America thinks it needs to go further

Amazon has committed to bolstering its use of renewables, but Green America thinks it needs to go further

Notforprofit environmental advocacy group Green America is launched a campaign to try and convince Amazon to reduce its carbon footprint and catch up with other large cloud incumbents’ green credentials.

Green America said Amazon is behind other datacentre operators – including some of its large competitors like Google, Apple and Facebook – in terms of its renewable energy use and reporting practices.

“Every day, tens of millions of consumers are watching movies, reading news articles, and posting to social media sites that all use Amazon Web Services.  What they don’t realize is that by using Amazon Web Services they are contributing to climate change,” said Green america’s campaigns director Elizabeth O’Connell.

“Amazon needs to take action now to increase its use of renewables to 100 percent by 2020, so that consumers won’t have to choose between using the internet and protecting the planet,” O’Connell said.

Executive co-director Todd Larsen also commented on Amazon’s green cred: “Amazon lags behind its competitors, such as Google and Microsoft, in using renewable energy for its cloud-based computer servers.  Unlike most of its competitors, it also fails to publish a corporate responsibility or sustainability reporting, and it fails to disclose its emissions and impacts to the Carbon Disclosure Project.”

Amazon has recently taken strides towards making its datacentres greener. In November last year the company committed to using 100 per cent renewable energy for its global infrastructure, bowing to pressure from organisations like Greenpeace which have previously criticised the company’s reporting practices around its carbon footprint. But organisations like Green America still believe the company is way off the mark on its commitment.

Green America’s campaign is calling on Amazon to commit to full use of renewables for its datacentres by 2020; submit accurate and complete data to the Carbon Disclosure Project; and issue and annual sustainability report.

An Amazon spokesperson told BCN that the company and its customers are already showing environmental leadership by adopting cloud services in the first place.

“AWS customers have already shown environmental leadership by moving to cloud computing, which is inherently more environmentally friendly than traditional computing. Any analysis on the climate impact of a datacentre should take into consideration resource utilization and energy efficiency, in addition to power mix,” the spokesperson said.

“On average, AWS customers use 77 per cent fewer servers, 84 per cent less power, and utilize a 28 per cent cleaner power mix, for a total reduction in carbon emissions of 88 per cent from using the AWS Cloud instead of operating their own datacentres. We believe that our focus on resource utilization and energy efficiency, combined with our increasing use of renewable energy, will help our customers achieve their carbon reduction and sustainability goals. We will continue to provide updates of our progress on our AWS & Sustainable Energy page,” she added.

Enterprise IT, Jennifer Stroud, Joanne Marshall, News & Analysis, ServiceNow

University of Bradford deploys ServiceNow for HR

The University of Bradford is deploying ServiceNow to modernise its HR function

The University of Bradford is deploying ServiceNow to modernise its HR function

The University of Bradford is deploying ServiceNow in a bid to transform its human resources function.

The university said it is deploying the platform to increase the HR department’s efficiency and responsiveness, and give it stronger technical capabilities to facilitate recruitment. It said it previously relied on a range of manual techniques, with little reporting, prioritisation capabilities or unified visibility on the day to day activities in HR.

“We are seeing increased demand for easy access to HR services and information,” said Joanne Marshall, director of HR at the University of Bradford. “Our old way of working was no longer fit for purpose. ServiceNow has facilitated a new model where employees can complete their own transactions and find answers to a wide range of questions. As a result, we now have the ability to redirect strategic HR resources to other areas within the business.”

Jennifer Stroud, general manager, HR service management business unit, ServiceNow: “We are increasingly seeing organisations adopting a service management approach across the workplace with HR leading the way. As the University of Bradford demonstrated, organisations can see fast transformations and dramatic improvements in the overall service experience.”

While ServiceNow is primarily deployed as an IT service management platform it’s clear the company is keen to refocus its offering on other central functions like HR and finance. Earlier this year the company launched its own application marketplace so customers can buy third-party apps built on the ServiceNow platform including a range of HR, legal and financial services apps.

IBM, Internet of Things, Jai Iyer, News & Analysis, SiCAD

IBM partners with SiCAD on cloud-based IoT silicon design and test service

IBM is working with SiCAD to offer an IoT silicon design service in the cloud

IBM is working with SiCAD to offer an IoT silicon design service in the cloud

IBM is partnering with silicon design platform provider SiCAD to offer a cloud-based high performance services for electronic design automation (EDA) which the companies said can be used to design silicon for smartphones, wearables and Internet of Things devices.

The IBM Electronics Design Automation (EDA)-based tools will be delivered via SoftLayer infrastructure on a PAYG basis and provide on-demand access to silicon design tools.

IBM will initially deliver three key services: IBM Library Characterization, to create abstract electrical and timing models for chip designs; IBM Logic Verification, to simulate electronic systems and design languages; and IBM Spice, an electronic circuit simulator used to check design integrity and probe chip behaviour.

The company said deployment clusters will be segregated (both compute and networking), so clients won’t share any infrastructure.

“The proliferation of smartphones, tablets, wearable devices and Internet of Things (IoT) products has been the primary driver for increased demand for semiconductor chips. Companies are under pressure to design electronic systems faster, better and cheaper,” said Jai Iyer, founder and chief executive of SiCAD. “A time-based usage model on a need basis makes sense for this industry and will spur innovation in the industry while lowering capital and operations expenses.”

The companies said the partnership will help enable startups designing silicon for IoT applications, a venture not only increasingly attractive because of the explosion of activity around IoT and the need for purpose-built chip architectures but the sheer size of the silicon land-grab in the sector.

Big Data, Jignesh Patel, M&A, News & Analysis, Pivotal, Quickstep Technologies, Relational database, Sundeep Madra

Pivotal buys Quickstep Technologies in big data play

Pivotal is acquiring Quickstep Technologies to boost SQL performance

Pivotal is acquiring Quickstep Technologies to boost SQL performance

Pivotal has acquired Quickstep Technologies, a query execution technology developer, for an undisclosed sum. The company said the move could vastly improve the performance of its big data solutions.

Quickstep’s technology was developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by Jignesh Patel, professor of computer sciences and a team of developers at the school, in part with funding from the US National Science Foundation. It’s a relational data processing engine that incorporates a technology called Bitweaving, which uses various techniques to reduce the number of cycles to evaluate and compute a predicate across a batch of code, the result being a massive improvement in performance when asking a database a question.

Patel is no stranger to the database space. His thesis work was commercialised by NCR when it was acquired by Teradata, and he also co-founded Locomatix, a startup that designed a platform to power real-time data-driven mobile services, which became part of Twitter two years ago.

“In the Quickstep project we have rethought from the ground up the algorithms that make up the DNA of data platforms so that the platform can deliver unprecedented speed for data analytics. It is time to move our ideas from research to actual products,” Patel said. “There is no better home for this technology than at Pivotal given Pivotal’s formidable track record in delivering real value to their customers in big data.”

Pivotal said the technology will be integrated as a new query execution framework for Greenplum Database and Pivotal HAWQ, which it claims will “provide orders of magnitude increase in performance for advanced analytics, machine learning, and advanced data science use cases.”

Sundeep Madra, vice president, data product group, Pivotal said: “Enterprises are seeking ever faster speeds for their data so that they can affect outcomes in real time. Quickstep brings to Pivotal a fresh way of thinking about data, one aligned to new capabilities in hardware and demanding expectations today’s businesses have. We look forward to bringing this technology to our customers, and welcome the Quickstep team to the Pivotal family.”

call centre, Funding, Josh Stein, News & Analysis, Software as a service, Talkdesk

Talkdesk scores $15m in cloud contact centre push

Talkdesk has raised $15m to take call centre software into the cloud

Talkdesk has raised $15m to take call centre software into the cloud

Cloud-based contact centre software provider Talkdesk has secured $15m in a series A round of funding led by DFJ with participation from existing investor, Storm Ventures, which the company said would be used to fuel its international expansion.

The latest round of funding brings the total amount raised by the firm since its founding to over $33m.

Talkdesk, which was founded in 2011, said its web-based contact centre solution integrates with Zendesk, Desk.com, Salesforce, Zoho, SugarCRM and Help Scout among other cloud services.

“Today’s consumers are used to instant app-driven communications, but most cloud-based call center solutions do not provide the functionality necessary for companies to meet their rising expectations for service. As such, companies are looking for a more progressive call center technology that provides relevant real-time customer information so they can deliver an exceptionally personalized experience,” said Tiago Paiva, Founder and chief executive of Talkdesk.

“We developed Talkdesk to address the needs of this $20B market1. We accomplished this by making it simple for companies to deploy a robust cloud-based call center software solution that provides contextual information about their customers, without the complexity or high cost associated with implementation,” Paiva said.

Call centres are becoming increasingly dispersed and as a result the software they use needs to be more nimble, slimmed down and flexible to deploy than when these were operating as large, centralised departments. The trend has contributed to the rise of a wide range of cloud-based contact centre solutions delivering omni-channel support.

Talkdesk said it’s one of the companies capitalising on this rise, and at more than 70 employees said it has experienced 1,000 per cent year on year revenue growth since its founding.

“This is the classic cloud-software eats the world storyline that we have seen before,” said Josh Stein, partner at DFJ. “We are seeing a massive evolution in the call center technology space that, until now, has been dominated by antiquated solutions.”

Cisco, Internet of Things, IoT, Kansas City, News & Analysis, Sprint, Stephen Bye, Wim Elfrink

Cisco, Sprint tapped for Kansas City IoT deployment

Kansas City is working with Cisco, Sprint and a range of partners on fa large-scale IoT deployment

Kansas City is working with Cisco, Sprint and a range of partners on fa large-scale IoT deployment

Kansas City, Missourim announced a deal with Cisco and Sprint that will see the municipality deploy an Internet of Things (IoT) platform it said will transform the urban services it offers citizens.

As part of the deal Cisco will offer up its Smart+Connected wireless networking and mobile app services and work with a group of partners to bring together an ecosystem to develop applications including smart lighting, digital kiosks, a development data portal, and smart water innovation development.

Some of the applications being developed by project partners include CityPost, which broadcasts real-time location-based information and alerts through a Smart City network powered on the street by interactive Smart Signs (city posts) and on smartphones, and a series of applications designed to enhance policing.

“It’s exciting to see forward looking cities like Kansas City driving innovations that enable cities to connect people, process, data and things, and bring the Internet of Everything to life,” said Wim Elfrink, executive vice president, industry solutions group, and chief globalisation officer for Cisco.

“Kansas City is empowering its citizens, helping them become more efficient and more productive, and the city is poised to create significant new economic value. We’re pleased to be part of the team that will deploy a Smart+Connected City framework,” Elfrink said.

Sprint will deploy Cisco hardware to build and manage a Wi-Fi network that will serve as the backbone of the connectivity platform.

“Sprint looks forward to playing an integral role in this ground-breaking initiative to bring greater connectivity across a wide range of business and consumer applications that support the Internet of Everything in our hometown,” said Stephen Bye, chief technology officer at Sprint. “Delivering Wi-Fi connectivity is a great fit for Sprint, and enables our customers to more easily use both cellular and Wi-Fi for a better mobile experience.”

The first phase of the project is due to kick off later this year, the municipality said.

Alex Hilton, CIF, Cloud Industry Forum, Enterprise IT, Infrastructure as a Service, News & Analysis, Piers Linney

CIF: Enterprises still struggling with cloud migration

Enterprises are still struggling with their cloud migrations, the CIF claims

UK enterprises are still struggling with their cloud migrations, the CIF research shows

The latest research published by Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) suggests over a third of UK enterprises IT decision-makers believe cloud service providers could have better supported their migration to the cloud.

The CIF, which polled 250 senior IT decision-makers in the UK earlier this year to better understand where cloud services fit into their overall IT strategies, said its clear UK business are generally satisfied with their cloud services and plan to use more of them. But 35 per cent of those polled also said their companies still struggle with migration.

“The transition to cloud services has, for many, not been as straightforward as expected. Our latest research indicates that the complexity of migration is a challenge for a significant proportion of cloud users, resulting in unplanned disruption to the business,” said Alex Hilton, chief executive of the Cloud Industry Forum.

“There may be a case that cloud service providers need to be better at either setting end user expectations or easing the pain of migration to their services. But equally, it’s important that end users equip themselves with enough knowledge about cloud to be able to manage it and ensure that the cloud-based services rolled out can support business objectives, not hinder them.”

Piers Linney, co-chief executive of Outsourcery said the research highlights the need for providers to develop a “strong integrated stack of partners.”

“IT leaders looking for a provider should first assess their existing in-house skills and experience to understand how reliant they will be on the supplier to ensure a smooth transition. Equally, cloud suppliers need to be more sensitive to their customers’ requirements and tailor their service to the level of support needed for successful cloud adoption,” he said.

“The most critical factor is for IT leaders to really get under the bonnet of their potential cloud provider, make sure that the have a strong and highly integrated stack of partners and a proven track record of delivery for other customers with needs similar to their own.”

Angus MacSween, Consulting, Europe, Infrastructure as a Service, iomart, M&A, News & Analysis, Peter Burgess, SystemsUp

iomart buys cloud consultancy for SystemsUp for £12.5

iomart is buying IT consultancy SystemsUp for an estimate £12.5m

iomart is buying IT consultancy SystemsUp for an estimate £12.5m

UK cloud service provider iomart announced it has entered into a deal to acquire IT consultancy SystemsUp, which specialises in designing and delivering cloud solutions, for up to £12.5m.

The deal will see iomart pay £9m in an initial cash consideration for the London-based consultancy with a contingent consideration of up to £3.5m depending on performance.

iomart said the move would broaden its cloud computing expertise. SystemsUp designs and delivers solutions made to run on Google, AWS and Microsoft public clouds among other platforms, and specialises in the public sector cloud strategies.

“The market for cloud computing is becoming incredibly complex and the demand for public cloud services is increasing at pace,” said Angus MacSween, chief executive of iomart. “With the acquisition of SystemsUp, iomart has broadened its ability to engage at a strategic level and act as a trusted advisor on cloud strategy to organisations wanting to create the right blend of cloud services, both public and private, to fit their requirements.”

While iomart offers its own cloud services the company seems to recognise the need to build up skills in a range of other platforms; the company said SystemsUp will remain an “impartial, agnostic, expert consultancy.”

Peter Burgess, managing director of SystemsUp said: “We have already built up a significant reputation and expertise in helping organisations use public cloud to drive down IT costs and improve efficiency. As part of iomart we can leverage their award winning managed services offerings to deepen and widen our toolset to deliver a broader set of cloud services, alongside continuing to deliver the strategic advice and deployment of complex large public and private sector cloud projects.”

The move comes six months after iomart’s last acquisition, when the company announced it had bought ServerSpace, a rival cloud service provider, for £4.25m.

Alibaba, Aliyun, Equinix, Infrastructure as a Service, Intel, Meeras, News & Analysis, Raejeanne Skillern, Sicheng Yu

Alibaba announces partner programme to boost cloud efforts

Alibaba's partner programme will help it expand internationally

Alibaba’s partner programme will help it expand internationally

Alibaba’s cloud division Aliyun has launched a global partnership programme aimed at bolstering global access to its cloud services.

The company’s Marketplace Alliance Program (MAP) will see it partner with large tech and datacentre operators, initially including Intel, Singtel, Meeras, Equinix and PCCW among others to help localise its cloud computing services and grow its ecosystem.

“The new Aliyun program is designed to bring our customers the best cloud computing solutions by partnering with some of the most respected technology brands in the world. We will continue to bring more partners online to grow our cloud computing ecosystem,” said Sicheng Yu, vice president, Aliyun.

Raejeanne Skillern, general manager of cloud service provider business at Intel said: “For years Intel and Alibaba have collaborated on optimizing hardware and software technology across the data center for Alibaba’s unique workloads. As a partner in Aliyun’s Marketplace Alliance Program, Intel looks forward to continuing our collaboration to promoting joint technology solutions that are based on Intel Architecture specifically tailored to the rapidly growing market of international public cloud consumers.”

The move is part of Alibaba’s efforts to rapidly expand its presence internationally. This year the company put its first datacentre in the US, and just last week announced Equinix would offer direct access to its cloud platform globally. The company, often viewed as the Chinese Amazon, also plans to set up a joint venture with Meeras in Dubai that specialises in systems integration with a focus on big data and cloud-based services.