Intel recently released what we call a composite API platform with our new API Manager product. What exactly do we mean by this?
A composite platform is a single platform for API management that handles both Public (sometimes called “Open”) APIs and Enterprise APIs. It’s composite because it exhibits both the cost savings of “cloud” through a multi-tenant SaaS partner portal coupled with the control of on-premises gateway for traffic management. Like a composite material, the mingling of two or more constituents gives the final solution different properties not found in either alone.
For a public or open API it’s important to have developers interact in a shared manner, generally done through a public SaaS partner management portal. True multi-tenant SaaS offerings gives the Enterprise cost advantages, as the partner management piece is akin to running a website for potentially thousands of developers.Running a successful website means people, resources, archival and a higher cost of ownership.
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Rackspace To Build Its Own Hardware
Exposed to Facebook’s Open Compute notion, Rackspace has been enticed into building its own servers for one of its next data centers so it can “break down the engineering barriers that lock users into proprietary technologies” save money and get systems deployed on the floor faster.
One might assume that they’ll be running the open source OpenStack cloud platform, a formula customers might follow to simplify hybrid cloud computing.
The new standard: Intelligence-driven security
In his most recent blog post, Art Coviello, the executive chairman at RSA posed an important question. How do we move from traditional security to intelligence-driven security? In his answer he described that the quickly interdependent exchanges between parties (B2C, B2B, B2P, etc) have grown beyond the traditional means of securing the enterprise:
“IT organizations have continued to construct security infrastructures around a disintegrating perimeter of increasingly ineffective controls.”
He described a new-model of cyber-security that includes 5 concepts:
- A thorough understanding of risk
- The use of agile controls based on pattern recognition and predictive analytics
- The use of big data analytics to give context to vast streams of data to produce timely, actionable information
- Personnel with the right skill set to operate the systems
- Information sharing at scale
I have to stand up and applaud. I have been waiting for someone of Art’s stature to publicly acknowledge that …
Microsoft’s Cloud-Based PaaS Offering: Windows Azure Media Services
“Building a media solution that encodes and streams video to various devices and clients is a complex task,” blogged Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie this week. “It requires hardware and software that has to be connected, configured, and maintained. Windows Azure Media Services makes this problem much easier by eliminating the need to provision and manage your own custom infrastructure,” he added.
Used last year by several broadcasters to stream the London 2012 Olympics, Windows Azure Media Services is now live in production, and Guthrie’s blog introduced it in great depth.
Symform Brings in New Leadership
Symform, the distributed cloud backup service, has a new CEO.
The recent incumbent, Matthew Schiltz, is, as they say, “pursuing new opportunities,” replaced by the company’s original backer Mark Ashida, former managing director of OVP Venture Partners and a Symform board member.
The announcement says the Symform board executive team “agreed to leadership adjustments to execute on its aggressive 2013 plan and support the company’s long-term vision.” Its mission is to build the world’s largest virtual data center and cloud storage network. Ashida is supposed to strengthen the company’s management team and drive continued momentum of its Cloud Storage Network focusing on small business and prosumers.
HP’s Converged Cloud and AppZero
As the cloud market matures, the desire to get the agility and cost savings for new and legacy applications that run your business grows stronger. Quickly migrating to the cloud or across clouds is where AppZero specializes.
At AppZero, we’ve had many discussions with IT leaders who plan to empower business unit mangers to choose whatever cloud they want to run their applications. This represents a marked departure from the developer who chooses a cloud for building an application for test and development purposes. Now business leaders want to choose a cloud vendor that can scale and meet their business objectives and it may not be the cloud where the application lives and breathes forever.
Here is a question that in the IT world is equivalent to asking about gun control: Who should decide which cloud is best for which business application, the application developer or the business manager? (You can now see how controversial the question can be.)
Tribridge Updates Offender360 for Corrections Industry
Tribridge, a U.S. based IT services and business consulting firm, today announced its latest release of Offender360 Version 2013, an integrated offender management solution. Built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, Offender360 represents a clear breakthrough for correctional institutions by providing a scalable, user-friendly and cost-effective offender management solution that is capable of managing the entire offender lifecycle. Offender360 Version 2013 will be formally launched on Jan. 28 with an exclusive preview during a private reception at the 2013 American Correctional Association (ACA) Winter Conference in Houston.
Designed to increase information sharing, improve accountability and enhance public safety, Tribridge’s Offender360 Version 2013 leverages Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SharePoint and SQL Server to provide correctional and other public safety institutions with a deployment-ready tool for managing and tracking offenders. Some key features of the offender management solution include Reception and Commitment; Classification; Discipline; Housing and Bed Management; Grievances; and Security Threat Group Management.
Tribridge’s Public Sector experts worked directly with correctional facility professionals and Microsoft to develop a system that is customizable to the needs of individual facilities. Tribridge Offender360 is currently in use or being deployed at several agencies across the United States at both state and regional facilities.
“We are extremely proud and excited about the release of Offender360 Version 2013,” said Josh Jaquish, Managing Director of the Public Sector practice at Tribridge. “While we’ve based quite a few of our modules on CTA (Corrections Technology Association) specifications and guidelines, our customers played a significant role in shaping the newest version of our comprehensive offender management solution.”
Offender360 is one of several solutions that Tribridge has developed for the Public Sector. The sensitive nature of public data and requirements for complete transparency in many cases, as well as the demand for improved constituent service levels and fiscal constraints, elevate the need for technology solutions that are dependable, efficient, cost effective and secure. With hundreds of deployments for various state and local government agencies to its credit, Tribridge’s Public Sector team understands how to help its clients select, adapt and implement technology solutions.
A complete preview of Offender360 Version 2013 offender management solution will be available at the ACA Winter Conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Jan. 25-30. Visit Microsoft booth #831 in the Expo Center for specific information, or to schedule a private demonstration at ACA or any other time, please contact Linda Athans at linda.athans@tribridge.com or 813-287-8887, x1212.
From Infrastructure to Applications: The Next Step in Your Cloud Journey
In the last several years as virtualization and cloud computing adoption has expanded, we have seen endless proof points in support of the value these technologies and solutions bring to Opex and Capex savings. However, cloud has yet to bring to life the agility and efficiency promised to application teams.
In his General Session at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley Shahar Erez, Director at VMware, provides concepts and solutions that can enable customers to leverage their investment in the cloud technologies while surfacing-up capabilities to the application teams to enable them to take advantage of the constructs of the cloud and empowering them to deliver more business value on top of IaaS. He examines types of cloud applications, new approaches to deploy applications, embed policies, monitor the applications and leverage the cloud elasticity.
Elasticsearch, Trifork Partner to Expand Big Data Search
Elasticsearch today announced a partnership with Trifork, a provider of open source solutions, consulting and training for the enterprise market, headquartered in Denmark. Under the partnership, Trifork will include Elasticsearch software within its data and search product portfolio, and offer its global customer base high-end consulting, implementation, training and support for their Elasticsearch-driven big data search projects. Elasticsearch is one of the most popular open source search products in the world and is being used by thousands of companies in production that require real-time data accessibility and transparency across large volumes of distributed data.
“Trifork is an ideal partner for Elasticsearch. Together, we help customers gain invaluable insights hidden in ever-expanding data sets in key markets such as finance, healthcare and telecommunications,” said Steven Schuurman, co-founder and CEO of Elasticsearch. “Their deep experience at developing and supporting business-critical search solutions for its customers is firmly in line with our mission, and will help us to meet the overwhelming demand for Elasticsearch technology.”
A number of Trifork customers already use Elasticsearch including the University of Amsterdam, Greetz, NPO/VPRO, Suppledia, DiVault and PRIME Research. Visit the website to learn more about Trifork’s open source software offerings including the information about our Elasticsearch services.
“We have worked extensively with other open source search solutions, but Elasticsearch has taken real-time information discovery completely to the next level – the combination of its advanced search and analytics capabilities and its user-friendliness makes it the most powerful open source search solution out there,” said Bram Smeets, CTO of Trifork Amsterdam. “We believe in Elasticsearch; the team and the technology and feel both clearly differentiate in a highly competitive market. This makes Elasticsearch the logical choice for both our own internal use and on customer projects.”
Case Study: Raising ITs Credibility at Dole Fresh Fruit with APM
As Senior Director/IT Leader of Information Technology at Dole Fresh Fruit North America, I am responsible for providing consistent and reliable distribution services for our division. Dole’s mission is to provide our customers with safe, healthy, high-quality products and services. To succeed, our business critical systems must be highly available and we need to quickly identify and resolve problems as they arise.
When I assumed this role in March 2008, IT credibility was at an all-time low. Our internal IT user community was very frustrated with the poor stability of the applications supporting our logistics functions including transportation, product tracking and traceability from Dole farms to our distribution centers. System stability was so poor it disrupted our ability to ship products effectively.