Still here? Okay then, let me explain further. This whole thing started because I was reading the Internet the other day and happened upon a claim that stated: “the attack surface for cloud applications is dramatically different than for highly controlled data centers”.
And that made me frustrated because it isn’t true at all.
The move to DevOps also introduces additional constraints to our burgeoning Iron Polygon, as individual projects become less distinct. In an environment focused on continuous automated testing as well as continuous integration and deployment, individual iterations become the project unit as organizations establish regular cadences of repeated iterations (link is external) instead of the discrete, monolithic project releases that characterize traditional waterfall-oriented development.
Cloud service provider TierPoint has entered into a definitive agreement with comms vendor Windstream to buy its data centre business for a pure cash transaction of $575 million.
As part of the deal the two will enter a reciprocal partnership, selling each other’s products and services to their prospective customers through referrals. This structure will allow Windstream to focus on its telecom offerings while continuing to offer traditional data centre services to enterprise customers.
The boards of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close within the next two to four months, subject to customary conditions and approvals.
Cloud service provider TierPoint will inherit invaluable data centre support expertise according to CEO Jerry Kent. “This is a great strategic fit for TierPoint and our customers,” said Kent, “Windstream Hosted Solutions and its employees have a reputation for providing excellent customer service and enterprise-class solutions. We value these team members as a key asset in the acquisition and their expertise adds to our strength.”
The long-term strategic partnership with Windstream allows both the comms vendor and the service provider to concentrate on their own strengths and complement each other’s contributions and data centre services are still an integral component of enterprise service explained Windstream’s CEO Tony Thomas. “We expect the divested data centre business to continue its significant growth under the leadership of TierPoint, and we look forward to partnering closely with them to provide advanced data centre services to our enterprise customers,” said Thomas.
The deal has a certain logic, but it’s also illogical in some aspects, said Quocirca analyst Clive Longbottom. “A smaller company trying to compete on non-core data centre activities will always be at a disadvantage, so selling to a data centre expert gives much greater capabilities and flexibility, so at this level, it makes sense,” said Longbottom.
However, he questioned the rational of specialisation followed by duplication of effort. “It leaves Windstream to focus on its comms business on one hand, except it says it won’t, as it will resell data centre services through Tierpoint. And Tierpoint will sell comms services through Windstream. Two companies, selling the same offering, but with overlapping and redundant back office costs, so driving the cost to the customer up,” said Longbottom, “it would make far more sense for the deal to be a merger with two divisions, to my mind.”
Cloud infrastructure platform maker DigitalOcean has launched new tools for developing building large-scale applications. The tools, Floating IPs and Team Account Management, aim to speed up the process by removing common blockages reported by cloud application writers.
The Floating IPs platform aims to make it easier for developers to quickly associate an IP address with a different cloud server (AKA Droplet). The system caters for quick allocation through one of two routes, using either the system control panel or application programming interface (API). “This eliminates single points of failure and empowers developers to build production applications at any scale,” said Brooke McKim, director of product at DigitalOcean.
The company has also released Team Accounts, a system to improve support for teams of developers working together to power established applications. The system allows developers to invite multiple users to access and manage the account’s resources, such as Droplets, without having to share their own login credentials or billing information.
DigitalOcean says that since its formation, in 2012, 700,000 developers have used its cloud building system to create eight million cloud servers. The release of Floating IPs will make it a lot easier to tag servers to apps and create highly available applications, according to Moisey Uretsky, co-founder and chief product officer at DigitalOcean.
“Simplicity is difficult to achieve,” said Uretsky, “There’s a lot of benefit in taking the time to get it right and making complex technology easy to use. We wanted this networking solution to have the same qualities developers love about The Droplet: simplicity, elegance and incredible user experience.”
Development of the new products was financed by an $83 million funding round in July 2015, with funds from Series B round of financing led by Access Industries. Other investors include Andreessen Horowitz, which led the company’s $37 million Series A round last year. Container pioneer Docker hosts its applications on DigitalOcean.
“We like Parallels Remote Application Server because it’s flexible and cost-effective. When compared against Citrix, we were able to save over 85% of costs for one of our customers. The support is also very good.” ~ Peter Spithoff & Victor Esselman, Owners Direct Network Services BV chose Parallels Remote Application Server to centrally host customized applications of […]
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The following post is a customer story submitted to our Advocacy program by Tim H. We are incredibly thankful to Tim for sharing his story with us and allowing us to share it with you. Read on for Tim’s experience choosing and using Parallels Desktop. Featured image courtesy of CorelDRAW. In this week’s Customer Story, Parallels Desktop user Tim H. explains […]
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EMC Corporation and VMware have recently announced plans to create a new cloud service business through combination of their individual cloud capabilities, along with existing Virtustream cloud offerings. Virtustream will be jointly owned by VMware and EMC and led by Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream. A definitive agreement is expected to be reached soon, with Virtustream’s financial results being consolidated into VMware’s financial statements in 2016.
Joe Tucci, EMC Corporation Chairman and CEO, has stated, “”Through Virtustream, we are addressing the changes in buying patterns and IT cloud operation models that we are seeing in the market. Our customers consistently tell us that they are focused on their IT transformations and journeys to the hybrid cloud. The EMC Federation is now positioned as a complete provider of hybrid cloud offerings.”
The new business is set to incorporate the capabilities of both VMware and EMC along with Information Infrastructure, VCE, Virtustream in order to provide the complete spectrum of on- and off- premises offerings including: VMware vCloud Air, VCE Cloud Managed Services, Virtustream’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service, and EMC’s Storage Managed Services and Object Storage Services offerings.
VMware will establish a Cloud Provider Software business unit led by Ajay Patel, VMware senior vice president. The software with focus on delivering solutions and software to cloud providers that with hopefully allow them to harness the capabilities of the hybrid cloud. This new unit will incorporate assets and people from the VMware vCloud Air Application Services business, vCloud Director and vCloud Air Network teams.
Rodney Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Virtustream, has also commented, “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to lead the new Virtustream,” said Rodney Rogers, CEO for Virtustream. “Our vision of combining our IP and collective cloud platform and services capabilities for mission-critical applications, backed by the strength and reach of EMC and VMware will deliver an enterprise-focused hybrid cloud solution that is unrivaled in the market. We expect Virtustream will become one of the top 5 service providers globally and are thrilled about what this means to all of our customers, partners, and the Federation moving forward.”
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Today’s modern day industrial revolution is being shaped by ubiquitous connectivity, machine to machine (M2M) communications, the Internet of Things (IoT), open APIs leading to a surge in new applications and services, partnerships and eventual marketplaces. IoT has the potential to transform industry and society much like advances in steam technology, transportation, mass production and communications ushered in the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Vitria will exhibit, conduct a demo theater presentation, and CTO Dale Skeen will deliver a technical session at @ThingsExpo, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Vitria is a leading provider of advanced analytics platforms that enable businesses to transform their operations and boost revenue growth through Faster Analytics, Smarter Actions, and Better Outcomes Faster.
(c)iStock.com/baranozdemir
Service providers expect a significant growth in the desktop as a service (DaaS) market, according to the latest research from Citrix.
The 2015 Global DaaS Market Survey, which polled more than 500 Citrix service providers in 40 countries, shows service provider partners predict a 71% growth in DaaS, while the adoption of public cloud is set to account for half of cloud adoption for DaaS in 2016. Naturally, adoption of desktop as a service through hosted or co-located data centres will be at the same level, but down from 79% today.
The sector is maturing with providers expanding into different solutions, the research notes. While almost half (49%) of providers offer complete workspaces as part of the desktop as a service model, other offerings are on the table, including mobile device management (34%), file share and sync (29%), and cloud VDI (22%). Despite that, vertical focus is predominantly driving business growth, with finance, manufacturing, and healthcare cited.
John Carey, senior director of worldwide channel programs strategy at Citrix, noted in a blog post: “The 2015 survey showed growth in service providers offering this complete desktops as a service approach, but also new trends in hosted mobile device management, file share and sync, plus hosted networking. This is exciting for Citrix and our partners as we continue to develop and enhance the secure mobile workspace technologies that benefit people, wherever they choose to work.”
The evolution of desktop as a service, as well as virtual desktop infrastructure, has been an interesting one in recent months and years. Many industry players argue DaaS could succeed where VDI has failed; not least in terms of reduced cost, essentially renting equipment from the cloud provider rather than putting together a costly on-prem VDI deployment.
At the back end of 2014, NaviSite’s group vice president and general manager Sumeet Sabharwal explained in a company blog post how maturation of technology, expansion of the provider landscape, and expansion of endpoint devices has helped create a perfect storm for desktop as a service going into 2015.
Speaking to this reporter in March, Sabharwal explained how aiming the technology at specific workloads has improved the situation; however issues such as image management, desktop engineering and Active Directory integration means the service is “not child’s play.”