SoftLayer Technologies on Thursday announced the launch of the SoftLayer Message Queue service, a cost-effective messaging and notification service that scales seamlessly to support development of bigger, bottleneck-free applications.
“Message Queue is built to scale easily, giving web and app developers unlimited potential to grow virtually any type of application,” said Duke Skarda, chief technology officer for SoftLayer. “This new service provides a means to pass control flow and information between application servers deployed across our global platform. The uses for a service like this are endless. And since we developed this in partnership with our managed database as a service partner, Cloudant, the persistence and scalability are rock solid.”
SoftLayer Message Queue combines robust and scalable messaging queuing and notification services into a single solution, integrated with the company’s global platform and allowing for secure transmission between geographically distributed processes across SoftLayer’s global private network.
Monthly Archives: September 2012
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Why Capacity Management as You Know It Is Dead
Capacity management may not be dead yet, but with the adoption of virtualization and cloud computing models it’s barely recognizable. IT organizations are radically changing how they plan and manage infrastructure to cope with the complexity of these large-scale shared environments and prevent the over-provisioning that results from old school planning approaches. The focus has shifted from leveraging simple tools and basic trending toward approaches that model demand “pipelines” and forecast based on capacity bookings, which more resembles a hotel reservation system than traditional capacity management. This is creating a whole new operational model that looks at the flow of workloads in and out of an environment (on-boarding and de-commissioning), as well as organic growth, all while optimizing workload placements and resource allocations to ensure optimal use of available capacity.
Cloud Computing in China
Driven by large-scale government initiatives as well as private investment, cloud computing has become a hot growth area in China. Named a ‘Strategic Emerging Industry’ in the government’s 12th Five Year Plan (2011 – 2015), cloud computing is slated to become a primary force in the Chinese IT industry and overall economy in the next 3–5 years. In fact, according to IDC Asia-Pacific, China spent $286 million on cloud-computing infrastructure last year, and the amount will increase to more than $1 billion in 2016. The Asia Cloud Computing Association reports that total investment in cloud computing projects in China is expected to reach $154 billion over the coming few years.
So with all the internal focus on building a suitable infrastructure and nurturing cloud innovation, what factors will companies need to consider when deploying applications to the cloud in China? Key among the issues will be Chinese data privacy and state secrecy laws. Still nascent in comparison to similar laws in other part of the world, national Chinese data privacy regulations are considered quite vague (although they are currently undergoing broad revisions). And the sweeping state secrecy laws permit national security to be used as the rationale for almost any measure pertaining to data privacy and the Internet/cloud.
Can Cloud Computing Scuttle Software Piracy?
With a growing amount of software applications using the Software-as-a-Service model, experts claim that software piracy will eventually be eliminated.
Others, however, are claiming that users will just find ways to circumvent everything so that they won’t pay for software use.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) released new survey results revealing 42 percent of the 15,000 PC users-respondents in 33 countries admitted to sharing their login credentials to paid cloud computing services with other people within their organizations, according to an article on CloudTimes.org.
According to BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman, such an act doesn’t constitute piracy, as some cloud computing services do allow simultaneous logins using just one account. Other than that, sharing login credentials can cause terms of service violations or license abuse.
Some members of BSA believe cloud applications will greatly minimize software piracy. Last year, in an interview with Forbes, Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen said that piracy will be significantly reduced because cloud and Software-as-a-Service applications will continuously require an Internet connection.
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: The Five Steps to Deploying a Private Cloud
If your organization has been looking into deploying a private cloud, you must know the five steps to take to initiate its development. In particular, there are key operational and IT processes that organizations need to agree upon in order to build a cloud successfully.
In his session at the 11th International Cloud Expo, Dr. Rich Wolski, CTO and Co-founder of Eucalyptus Systems Inc., will explain how to bring about greater efficiencies within the data center through a scalable, elastic private cloud.
NJVC Unveils Cloudcuity
NJVC, an information technology (IT) solutions provider headquartered in Northern Virginia, introduces Cloudcuity, a new framework for the company’s cloud service offerings to help customers transition their technology applications to a cloud environment while cutting spending, improving process and billing efficiencies and complying with a myriad of regulatory and security requirements.
“Cloudcuity is not your typical cloud service,” noted Jody Tedesco, NJVC president. “This family of NJVC cloud capabilities, beginning with the Cloudcuity Management Portal, is designed for technology decision makers who must deploy IT applications to the cloud with transparency for managing risk and governance under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) and the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).”
NJVC Unveils Cloudcuity Umbrella Framework for NJVC Cloud Services
NJVC®, an information technology (IT) solutions provider headquartered in Northern Virginia, introduces Cloudcuity™, a new framework for the company’s cloud service offerings to help customers transition their technology applications to a cloud environment while cutting spending, improving process and billing efficiencies and complying with a myriad of regulatory and security requirements.
The first service being introduced under the framework is the Cloudcuity Management Portal—the first commercial, multi-cloud broker service specifically designed to support federal government customers.
The DNA of Cloud Security
When it comes to the cloud, there is a great deal of misconception. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, does that make your application or service truly cloud-based? No. If it doesn’t have the proper “cloud DNA,” it means the end user organization is not realizing the oft-hyped benefits and true ROI the cloud promises.
Just like the Boston Red Sox and lo-cal deserts and hybrid cars, everybody loves a bandwagon. We get caught up in the hype. Business concepts are not immune. Cloud and cloud-centric computing have been getting a great deal of play in business media and the blogosphere, and most companies are quickly moving to adopt various cloud platforms. So much so that that many solutions that claim to be cloud, really are nothing but server-based enterprise applications wrapped in a browser experience.
Just because you access an application from the Internet, does NOT make it a cloud solution. It might look like a duck and quack like a duck, but when you look at its DNA, it’s more like an old goose. So what? If it doesn’t have the proper “cloud DNA,” it means the end user organization is not realizing the oft-hyped benefits and true ROI the cloud promises. AND, if an organizations goal is meant to embrace the cloud as a go-forward enterprise IT strategy, it will discover that applications and solutions without the right DNA will need to be replaced.
Why NGOs Are Moving IT to the Cloud
TechSoup Global (www.techsoupglobal.org) announced today the results of its 2012 Global Cloud Computing Survey of 10,500 nonprofits, charities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 88 countries — the most extensive technology survey ever conducted of NGOs worldwide.
TechSoup Global’s report on barriers and motivators in cloud computing reveals that a majority of NGOs are planning to move their information technology (IT) to the cloud. However, they need more education and support to take full advantage of the benefits cloud computing offers regarding costs, productivity, and collaboration. Many NGOs are not even aware that they are using cloud applications already, or they are not familiar with the full suite of cloud-based applications available to them.
The survey results will enable the global NGO sector to make more informed decisions about cloud computing adoption and will also help capacity-building organizations, funders, corporate donors, and partners develop programs that maximize the potential of these technologies. For example, NGOs state that startup costs of moving information to the cloud and externalities such as lack of consistent electricity or Internet access are barriers that prevent them from using cloud computing.
Key results of the 2012 Global Cloud Computing Survey include:
- 90% of respondents worldwide are using at least one cloud computing
application. - 53% report plans to move a “significant portion” of their IT to the
cloud within three years. - 60% say lack of knowledge is the greatest barrier to greater use of
the cloud. - 79% say the greatest advantage is easier software or hardware
administration. - 47% say cost-related changes and ease of setup would be the greatest
motivators for moving their IT to the cloud. - NGOs in Egypt, Mexico, India, and South Africa have the most
accelerated timetables for moving their IT to the cloud.
Leveraging the resources of TechSoup Global’s 36 partner organizations and more than 200,000 registered member organizations, the survey was translated into 21 languages. It includes statistically significant results (more than 100 responses) from 26 countries around the world.
“TechSoup Global is thrilled to better understand how and why cloud computing can rapidly advance the causes of every social benefit organization in all parts of the world,” said TechSoup Global co-CEO Rebecca Masisak. “By sharing the voices of NGOs with the sector as a whole, this survey will allow us to better use cloud computing to improve organizations’ effectiveness, collaboration, and access to data.”
“TechSoup Global has long worked to bring available technologies to nonprofit organizations. And this survey shows that the global NGO sector can do more to make the cloud easier by creating solutions that address the precise needs of organizations across the world,” said Dan Webb, TechSoup Global’s director of solutions and services.
The 2012 Global Cloud Computing Survey was conducted online using FluidSurveys, a product donated by Chide.it, a TechSoup Global donor partner.
To access the full report, visit www.techsoupglobal.org/2012-global-cloud-computing-survey. Details on responses by country are available in the appendix of the full report. TechSoup Global is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Fision Partners with 3Cinteractive to Integrate Mobile into Its Distributed Marketing Automation
Fision, the leading sales and marketing automation SaaS provider, today announced an agreement with 3Cinteractive, the leading provider of cloud-based, enterprise mobile solutions, to leverage its Switchblade platform to extend sales and marketing automation across messaging, mobile web, smartphone apps, voice, and social media.
“Control, compliance and measurement of campaign distribution across all media channels has always been a recurring problem for businesses,” said Mike Brown, CEO of Fision. “This agreement furthers our mission to provide a simple solution that optimizes that effort. Mobility is the next mainstream media channel and the capabilities of 3Cinteractive extend the power of Fision to address that demand.”
Fision’s platform allows enterprises and small businesses in manufacturing, health care, retail, financial and business services to store, customize and distribute marketing materials, giving companies real-time metrics on customer behavior. Switchblade, 3Ci’s cloud-based mobile platform, provides businesses with a single platform to deploy multi-channel mobile applications to any mobile device throughout the world. The combination of these capabilities will extend Fision’s offering to include mobile solutions that engage consumers and increase their lifetime value.
