Monthly Archives: March 2013

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Weekly Roundup: Amazon Drops Prices for SQS and More News

Last week, there were some offerings and new features release from Amazon. Microsoft made an announcement on Windows Azure Store expansion and new add-ons. Google has published some interesting Google Cloud Platform case studies. Plus, Scalr has announced the extension of their multi-cloud capabilities.
Here’s a quick summary of cloud happenings over the last week.

Early last week, IaaS leader Amazon added three new features to the CloudWatch Monitoring Scripts for Linux. New features include IAM Role Support, Auto Scaling and Aggregate Metrics. These scripts can be run in the background to periodically report system metrics to Amazon CloudWatch. Next, they have announced the beta release of AWS Diagnostics for Microsoft Windows Server. The AWS Diagnostics tool addresses a user request to make the intersection between AWS and Windows Server easier to analyse and troubleshoot.

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Critical Enterprise Applications and Cloud Deployments

New technologies always generate hype. To cut through the hype and find the value, you have to see how things fit in the real world, both in implementation and in actual realized benefits.
That’s one of the reasons BlueStripe Software conducts an annual survey of IT Operations executives. It sheds light on their needs, their aspirations, and “what keeps them up at night.” We’ve uncovered some interesting trends, and this year was no different when we asked about service delivery, performance monitoring tools, and the cloud.
It’s conventional wisdom that the cloud is “good for IT” – that it can enable faster time to deployment, savings in capital and operating expense, consolidated infrastructure management, and flexible capacity scaling on demand. With that in mind, one number that stuck out in this year’s survey was seven – the percentage of executives who said they have committed to investing in public or hybrid cloud solutions for their critical applications this year.

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Cloud Expo NY: How Enterprises Will Seek a Better Network to the Cloud

How do we connect clouds and improve SLA control? As the Internet has no SLA, many organizations are concerned of being exposed to the vagaries of the Internet. There are only a few options for concrete quality of service (QoS) when accessing public clouds.
In his session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Jelle Frank van der Zwet, Manager Cloud Segment at Interxion, will show how cloud providers can extend their coverage and offer hybrid cloud solutions. The session includes a market overview and multiple use cases.

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App Store, AppGlu, Google, iPhone, MEAP, Mobile, Mobile application development, Mobile Enterprise Application Platform

AppGlu Out to Change Mobile Application Lifecycle

AppGlu has launched and hopes to change the way the mobile application lifecycle is managed by giving business people more control of their mobile apps after launch.  AppGlu competes in the Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) space and is ideal for companies creating apps for employees (B2E), apps for business partners (B2B) and apps for their consumer customers (B2C). They have a intro video that tells more:

AvePoint, Collaboration, compliance, Information Management, Microsoft SharePoint, SharePoint

AvePoint DocAve Update Adds SharePoint Governance Automation Features

AvePoint, announced the latest version of DocAve Governance Automation Service Pack (SP) 2. DocAve Governance Automation SP2 allows business content owners to make content move or copy requests directly within SharePoint or through a newly enhanced graphical user interface that promotes a more intuitive, user-friendly experience.

Governance Automation enables organizations to close the custom code gap created by homegrown governance solutions, by providing Service Catalog Offerings such as site collection provisioning, site provisioning, site collection lifecycle management, permissions management, and now, content move or copy requests.

Through an automated approval process and execution, business content owners can now request to move, copy, and restructure SharePoint sites, content, and topology within or across SharePoint environments while maintaining valuable metadata, security and versioning.

“An organization’s SharePoint environment is only as good as its ability to govern the users and content it supports. Governance Automation SP2 provides unique business advantages that redefine SharePoint as a service, allowing organizations the ability to more effectively deliver business-critical workloads and truly monitor and track what is being done in SharePoint on a daily basis,” said George Petrou, Chief Technology Officer at AvePoint. “Governance Automation is another piece to help solve the enterprise collaboration puzzle, providing organizations with the information management solutions to meet their needs now and in the future.”

Governance Automation SP2 addresses evolving information governance policies and organizational change management by enabling end users to submit content move or copy requests through an enhanced user interface or directly within Microsoft SharePoint via a webpart, giving business users the ability to submit requests on their own, increasing ease of use and productivity.

Enhanced features include:

  • Content Move or Copy Service Request: Within a single request and through a fully auditable approval process, business content owners have the ability to comprehensively move, copy and restructure SharePoint sites, content, and topology, along with their corresponding security settings and metadata, across SharePoint farms. Governance Automation also provides developers the ability to request sample production data for in development or testing environments for increased application reliability and improved quality assurance. Requests are then automatically executed by Governance Automation, optimizing operational efficiency and proactively protecting against compliance infractions, thereby enabling your IT resources to perform higher business value activities while ensuring content is only changed by those with the proper permissions to do so.
  • Newly designed graphical user interface (GUI): Designed to mirror SharePoint 2013 and Microsoft Windows 8 style, the newly designed GUI provides users with a simple but contemporary workspace that is effective either as a standalone tool or as a webpart in SharePoint.  Governance Automation’s new GUI was designed for improved usability and intuitive user interaction in order to promote end user adoption and resolve ambiguity around requesting services from IT administrators.

DocAve Governance Automation SP2 is generally available today, March 5, 2013. For more information visit AvePoint’s website.

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Security Orchestration: Herding Digital Cats

Generally speaking when the topic of devops comes up security isn’t something we mention. If we do it’s in hushed tones, eyes darting back and forth, the fear that someone might hear us overriding the certain truth that security can benefit as much from devops as any other operational paradigm but just as certain that even mentioning it in polite IT company might get us labeled as a mite crazy
Because when it comes to orchestrating security, we’re really talking about herding cats. And not the fat, lazy Garfield cats of the world, I’m talking about the almost feral, fiercely independent, runs-your-house-like-their-kingdom kind of cats.
Automating something that’s more art than science, for which exist so many different and highly independent systems and devices with as many different interfaces (and rarely an API) as there are types of beans (seriously, do you know how many different kinds of beans there really are??), is certainly on par with trying to herd that kind of cat.
In other words, it’s not something rational folk decide to do unless they’re into Sisyphean tasks.

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ActivIdentity, Authentication, CAM 2.0, compliance, Saas, Single sign-on, Web application security

SaaSID Releases CAM 2.0, Adding Audit Dashboard for Security, Compliance

Web application security provider, SaaSID, has launched Cloud Application Manager 2.0 (CAM), the latest version of its browser-based authentication, management and auditing solution. CAM 2.0’s comprehensive audit report is now displayed in CAM Analytics, an intuitive dashboard that provides clear visibility of Web application use throughout an organization. The new software simplifies administration of authentication, feature controls and password management to help CIOs comply with data security regulations, standards and internal policies, by making it easier to govern, monitor and audit every user interaction with Web applications.

CAM 2.0’s comprehensive suite of dashboards in CAM Analytics provide at-a-glance graphics, showing managers exactly how employees are interacting with Web applications and associated corporate data, regardless of whether employees are working on company workstations or personally-owned computing devices. Detailed analytics provide managers with a complete overview of Web application use and the ability to drill down into reports for additional information. Activities such as exporting customer lists, or attaching sensitive files to Webmail, are tracked and clearly displayed for compliance. A range of graphic elements show social media activity and interactions with corporate applications, providing managers with complete visibility of departmental and individual use of Web applications.

CAM 2.0 users can now be authenticated and logged into Web applications from the SaaSID server. This server-side authentication improves security by ensuring that log-in credentials are protected from malware that might be present on an unsecured device. Users do not know their login details, so they cannot write them down, share them, or access managed applications from unprotected devices. Once CAM 2.0 has authenticated a user, the session is handed to the device and the user works with the application as normal.

Additional new features within CAM 2.0 include:

  • The new Restriction Learning feature which allows in-house IT staff to apply their own restrictions to application features. The simple GUI allows administrators to test the effect of restrictions prior to implementation.
  • Support for more two factor authentication solutions, including offerings from RSA, Vasco and ActivIdentity.
  • The new Password Wizard which learns the workflow for Web application authentication processes, enabling automated password resets. Organisations can use this new feature to change passwords at chosen intervals and to enforce strong password security for all Web applications managed by CAM 2.0: saving administration time and support costs, without impeding productivity.

CAM is a browser extension that goes beyond single sign-on (SSO) by enabling IT staff to manage Web application features according to employee roles. CAM assists organisations in maintaining security and compliance when they adopt Web applications and implement bring your own device (BYOD) programmes, by creating a comprehensive audit trail of all employee interactions with these Web applications.

To request a free trial or a demo of SaaSID’s CAM 2.0, see www.saasid.com.

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IBM Takes on AWS

Big Blue put its back into OpenStack Monday at its Pulse conference in Las Vegas, almost a year after lending its name to the open source cloud platform started by Rackspace and NASA – which has abandoned it.
It announced that “its cloud services and software will be based on an open cloud architecture.”
It said it’s doing it in the name of open standards, arguing that “this move will ensure innovation in cloud computing is not hampered by locking businesses into proprietary islands of unsecured and difficult-to-manage offerings. Without industry-wide open standards for cloud computing, businesses will not be able to fully take advantage of the opportunities associated with interconnected data, such as mobile computing and Big Data.” Ah, FUD.
Basically IBM has declared war on Amazon Web Services and its de facto standards.

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5 silver linings of the cloud for SMBs

With the growing cloud computing market, there is potential for small businesses to take advantage of the technology in order to compete better with larger companies. Cloud computing is fantastic for SMBs because it allows you get to maintain complete control but without the expensive financial and staff costs and protects your business from downtime distress.

Silver Lining #1: Cloud Security

Reliable cloud service providers will have a dedicated security system in place, which allows a small business to focus on everything other than data protection.  

You will also be confident in the knowledge that your company has superior online security because your IT systems are hosted by the most up to date cloud infrastructure.

Silver Lining #2: Increased Productivity

Cloud computing is becoming more appealing to SMB’s because they will be able to utilize technical skills that would not usually be available to smaller companies. You will be …

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Compuware Expands New Generation APM Leadership

Compuware on Monday announced a PHP deep transaction management solution. With Deep Transaction Management for PHP, Compuware APM now provides a solution that fully combines user experience management (UEM), web-server visibility, deep-dive into PHP, database access and external calls. For the 39 percent of websites using PHP, the solution cuts through complexity and provides full application visibility from a browser-click to the database and back, for all transactions, in real-time 24×7.
Compuware APM provides out-of-the-box advanced support for popular PHP frameworks including Zend and visibility into MySQL databases. It provides the broadest coverage to include other backend systems such as Java, .NET, C/C++, Big Data, MQ, Message Broker and the mainframe. Out-of-the-box dashboards instantly tell users if something is amiss. Advanced automation with one-click to root cause provides rapid time-to-value. All the application lifecycle stakeholders – business, operations, QA and development – can ensure that their business-critical, revenue-generating applications are responsive and provide a superior end-user experience.

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