Recently, I’ve been working closely with a number of large enterprise clients who have already gone or will soon go live with Layer 7 solutions at the core of mission-critical infrastructure. I’ve observed that, in the API Management space, proof of concept and initial projects often focus on functional needs but the emphasis shifts to non-functional requirements as environments mature and sharing increases. There’s a clear, three-phase progression for large enterprises.
API Operations AutomationIn Phase 3, it’s all about performance, scalability, operability, security, availability and consumability. The problems are very complex but the goal is to make the resulting solution as usable and simple as possible, given the wide range of users, developers, testers and operators that will be involved in its execution. As technology vendors, we are often guilty of focusing inwardly on bells and whistles, rather than outwardly on interoperability. This works well for phases 1 and 2 but brings a reckoning in the third phase. Fortunately, at Layer 7, we’ve spent the past decade working with enterprise clients and have evolved our products to meet their adaptability, reliability and automation needs.

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Typically, automated sign-on is regarded to be something troublesome and costly, which slows down rollouts, adds complexity and requires involvement from customer IT organizations, something that SaaS vendors often want to avoid at any cost. However, automated sign-on can be one of the most important tools in meeting some of the most important business objectives for a SaaS business:
Engaging customers and keeping them
Minimizing unit costs

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As your datacenter needs more capacity, you’re thinking about going to the cloud. What are the key considerations to help plan for the needed capacity over time? And how can the cloud best work with your existing applications?
In his session at the 11th International Cloud Expo, Brian Jawalka, Principal Solutions Architect, Cloud Strategy at Rackspace Advisory Services, will show how a hybrid approach can add agility, flexibility and speed-to-market for your organization.

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Cloud computing has changed the way we work. People and businesses can now access services, applications and infrastructure over the Internet, with lower costs, higher productivity and an enhanced user experience.
While cloud computing has revolutionized many aspects of business, its effects have been quite dramatic across supply and demand management. Cloud-based Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) is particularly powerful, connecting disparate demand, supply and financial data from a wide swath of packaged and home-grown enterprise information systems as well as a forest of spreadsheets, harmonizing everything into a single, meaningful plan. Delivering this supply chain “Big Data,” analytics and reporting in the cloud means that it can be deployed, scaled, and interconnected quickly, enabling truly collaborative supply and demand planning.

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No one disputes cloud computing as a viable resource delivery model. Now the challenge? Deliver the best solution in a world where processor power follows Moore’s Law, storage is bound by the physics of spinning media, and cloud providers need to deliver optimized system level performance at a reasonable cost. Solid State Storage combined with dynamic, intelligent caching software to “learn” data “hot spots” and move them transparently onto flash memory fills the gap.
In his session at the 11th International Cloud Expo, Scott Cleland, Worldwide Product Channel Marketing Manager at LSI, will describe three flash-based application acceleration alternatives for providers looking to move ahead of the crowd.

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The “consumerization of IT” is a topic we’ve heard a lot about recently – especially when it comes to “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).” One area that is less talked about, yet a growing trend under the “consumerization” umbrella, is the use of free, consumer-type file transfer services in the workplace.
A tough economy has forced IT departments to do more with less – especially within small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Working with limited resources and budget, SMB IT professionals are still expected to manage everything from network infrastructure to cloud services to security and compliance issues, all while keeping the business running smoothly. Sometimes this results in long “wait” times for employees.

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