Category Archives: Free

Free, Virtualization, VMware

VMware Hosting Provider StratoGen Offers Free Migration Service

StratoGen today announced the launch of a free migration service aimed at helping larger businesses migrate their on-site VMware footprint into a hosted environment, aiming to both ease and reduce the cost of the transition to the cloud.

“I’m really delighted to be able to announce this service” said Karl Robinson, Vice President of Sales. “For larger organizations moving to the cloud can be a hugely expensive and complex process. Careful assessment and planning is needed to ensure business continuity, along with comprehensive testing to ensure security policies are in place and business applications function correctly. By offering this service free of charge we have taken away one of the last barriers for cloud adoption.”

Engineers in the migration support team at StratoGen hold the highest level qualifications in VMware and Cisco technologies.

Recent surveys have repeatedly shown that business issues rather than technical problems are holding back organizations from migrating to the cloud. The latest report from the Cloud Security Alliance found that data privacy, testing and assurance were top issues.

Organizations planning their migration can also benefit from a consolidation of business applications. According to a recent Cap Gemini report 85% of respondents said their application portfolios were in need of rationalization.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to planning a migration of this type” commented Karl. “We’ve helped countless organizations make the transition to private cloud hosting and enjoy the performance , resilience and agility that StratoGen offers.”

The StratoGen VMware platform is built on Cisco, HP and NetApp components and is available in multiple data centers across the US and Europe.  The company recently announces plans for additional datacenters in New York, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For further information see StratoGen VMware.


Apprenda, Free, PaaS, Tools

ApprendaCloud Launches as a Free PaaS for .NET Developers

Image representing Apprenda as depicted in Cru...

Apprenda today launched a free, cloud version of its private Platform as a Service (PaaS) for .NET enterprise applications. With ApprendaCloud, .NET developers always have access to a free environment for individual projects or to experiment with the Apprenda platform without requiring a download and install of its private PaaS.

“On ApprendaCloud, developers always have a PaaS solution to build next-generation applications or cloud optimize existing enterprise applications,” said Sinclair Schuller, CEO of Apprenda. “At ApprendaCloud’s core is an easy way to educate the developer community on building cloud architected applications.”

Apprenda has made it dead simple for developers to familiarize themselves with a private PaaS solution, trusted by enterprises like Honeywell, AmerisourceBergen and Quest Software. ApprendaCloud includes easy, interactive tutorials that guide developers through building world-class enterprise applications as well as the most common PaaS scenarios – deploying an application, scaling application components, and more.

When applications on ApprendaCloud are market ready, users can download an on-premises install of Apprenda’s private PaaS. The Apprenda platform can be consumed as a downloadable installer, virtual machine images, licensed product or PaaS service.


appMobi, Debugging, Free, HTML5, PhoneGap, Tools

appMobi Offers Free Remote Debugging Tool for HTML5

Today appMobi added to its lineup of free and open source HTML5 development tools with the immediate availability of debugMobi, a free remote JavaScript debugging tool.

Until now, HTML and JavaScript have been difficult for developers to debug on mobile devices because of the closed environments of smartphone hardware and Web browser software. An open source tool called “Web Inspector Remote” (WEINRE) provides remote Web debugging for mobile devices, but it requires developers to configure and run their own servers in order to work.

debugMobi dramatically reduces the complexity of remote debugging on mobile devices with a configuration-free, hosted version of WEINRE that developers and mobile devices can tap into from anywhere on the Internet. Like all appMobi cloud services, debugMobi is hosted on the global Amazon AWS “cloud,” which offers dependable high performance all over the world.

debugMobi provides Web developers with a remote window into the target mobile device while the hybrid app or site is actually running. JavaScript and CSS variables can be examined, and JavaScript code can be viewed and modified on the desktop viewer in real time. Because debugMobi is hosted on the open Internet (as opposed to the more typical WiFi or Intranet hosting), debugMobi can be used to debug devices that are physically anywhere in the world – making it the first truly worldwide “remote” debugging tool for mobile HTML5.

This new HTML5 developer tool can be used by anyone who is developing Web-based code for mobile devices, including Web app developers, and hybrid app developers using appMobi or PhoneGap. debugMobi is available immediately at www.debugmobi.com. For developers who use the Google Chrome browser, it is also available as a  Chrome extension.


Amazon AWS, Amazon Web Services, Chaos Monkey, Free, Netflix, Open Source, Tools

Netflix Chaos Monkeys: “If You Love Something Set It Free”

Image representing Netflix as depicted in Crun...

Netflix has released its Chaos Monkey AWS “test-by-failure” tool as open source for all to use. The tool seeks to improve the resilience if the Netflix AWS cloud by forcing failure.

“We have found that the best defense against major unexpected failures is to fail often. By frequently causing failures, we force our services to be built in a way that is more resilient. We are excited to make a long-awaited announcement today that will help others who embrace this approach.

We have written about our Simian Army in the past and we are now proud to announce that the source code for the founding member of the Simian Army, Chaos Monkey, is available to the community. Do you think your applications can handle a troop of mischievous monkeys loose in your infrastructure? Now you can find out.”


Android, appMobi, Free, iOS, Mobile, PhoneGap, Tools

storeView Offers Free Cross Platform App Store Analytics Service for HTML5, PhoneGap Developers

Image representing appMobi as depicted in Crun...

appMobi today announced storeView, a new, free, cloud-based reporting service for PhoneGap and hybrid HTML5 app developers that aggregates and displays detailed app analytics across all the most popular app stores in a single dashboard.“As game and app developers have begun to leverage HTML5’s ‘write once, deploy everywhere’ power, the issue of app store fragmentation has emerged as these apps have become successful across multiple stores and platforms”

With the explosion of new cross platform app development, developers are increasingly posting their apps to multiple app stores. Each of the app stores uses a different method to report sales and activity, creating massive fragmentation. This “App Store Fragmentation” issue prevents developers from understanding app performance and trends information that every developer needs to achieve maximum profitability. With the release of storeView, appMobi has stepped up to provide a completely free service that solves this issue for PhoneGap and HTML5 hybrid app developers.

“As game and app developers have begun to leverage HTML5’s ‘write once, deploy everywhere’ power, the issue of app store fragmentation has emerged as these apps have become successful across multiple stores and platforms,” said Sam Abadir, appMobi CTO. “We experienced this issue ourselves with Boom Town, the first massively cross platform HTML5 game, currently available in 7 different app stores. We also realized just how little information is provided by many of the app stores. For example, the only analytic provided by Apple’s App Store and Google Play is download count – that’s all they can tell you about your app! We created storeView for internal use and found it to be an invaluable tool. Now we’re giving it away for anyone who’s using HTML5 to create apps.”

storeView is a completely free cloud service. There will never be any charge for setting up an account, for adding apps to the system, nor for the number of users a particular app has. Adding storeView analytics to any HTML5-based app is extremely easy, with the addition of a single include file and just one line of JavaScript code. storeView provides deep, granular insight into the performance and activity of developers’ apps in each of today’s leading app stores, including Apple, Android (Google Play), Facebook, Amazon, Chrome, Mozilla and Barnes & Noble.

To view storeView analytics, developers simply log into their account and select from a variety of reports. The available reports include monthly uniques on all platforms, iOS starts by device, Android starts by device, app starts by platform, and 30 day uniques vs. app starts. Armed with this important data, developers can make informed decisions on allocating development and marketing resources, uncover unseen relationships between devices and platforms, and most importantly, optimize app store profits.

PhoneGap and HTML5 Developers can sign up for storeView free at http://www.appmobi.com/storeView.


Arts and Entertainment, Content Management, Free, Media Production, Scenios, Television, Video

Scenios Launches Free Version of Cloud Platform for Film, Video Production

Scenios LogoScenios now offers a free version of its secure, cloud-based platform for film and television production.  The free version allows film, TV and commercial producers to manage every aspect of their production, including 5 GB of cloud storage and an unlimited number of users.

Studios, networks and production companies can use Scenios as a comprehensive “virtual production office” to manage all aspects of their productions, and to collaborate more effectively online with their teams. Scenios provides a set of online, real-time collaboration tools that significantly streamline the production process, and that help reduce costs for many people working in the industry.  Key features of the Scenios platform include the ability to:

  • Write the script in your web browser, and collaborate on it in real time.
  • Create your budget in Scenios, and restrict who sees it by setting access permissions.
  • Distribute call sheets and other documents instantly.  Send them to individuals, departments, or to the entire production team.
  • Share professional HD video files, and do reviews and approvals in your web browser.
  • Set up video conferences in Scenios for up to 10 people, for things like virtual production meetings and virtual table reads.
  • Customize Scenios to match your workflow, by creating and organizing your own production-related apps.

The free Scenios plan also allows users to connect to one other production that they aren’t managing.

“Many aspects of the production process now require complete flexibility, and our secure, cloud-based platform helps productions operate more efficiently in a real-time, location-based environment,” said CEO Mark Davis. “This new free option will provide the TV and film industry with an innovative, time and cost saving way to manage a production.”

In addition to the free service, additional account options include:

  • SCENIOS PLUS: allows users to manage 2 productions, to connect to 2 other productions, and to get 100 GB of cloud storage ($19 per month)
  • SCENIOS PRO: allows users to manage an unlimited number of productions, to connect to an unlimited number of productions, and to get unlimited cloud storage ($49 per month)
  • SCENIOS ENTERPRISE: provides 10 Pro seats, plus the Enterprise Control Dashboard, and unlimited cloud storage for $299/month. Add more Pro seats for $39/month each.

For more information go to http://www.scenios.com


Caringo, Free, Storage, Virtualization

Caringo Offers VMs of Market Proven Cloud Storage Architecture for Rapid Evaluation

Caringo Inc., a provider of object storage software, today announced virtual machine editions of their CAStor object storage engine, and Content File Server (CFS), instant access to CAStor via standard file protocols (CIFS, NFS, FTP, and WebDAV). The VMs can run on any Windows server via VMware ESX and VMware Player, on Mac via VMware Fusion, and the CFS VM can also run on Oracle VirtualBox (Windows or Mac). The Virtual Editions were designed to enable the quick and easy evaluation of Caringo object storage software, which is ideal for cloud storage architectures. The VMs are available immediately for download with a free 2 TB license, bringing the benefits of object storage and cloud storage architecture to ANY organization within minutes.

“Cloud storage services built upon object storage provide scalability, ease of management, responsiveness and affordability,” said Mark Goros, CEO at Caringo. “With our Virtual Editions we are bringing the same technology to any company or individual to install and try in less than 30 minutes. Now anyone can easily experience the power of object storage and cloud storage architecture quickly and securely.”

Caringo’s object storage software Virtual Editions delivers cloud storage architecture and instant access by providing:

Data access and portability using HTTP 1.1, and customizable metadata that is stored with each object, enabling data mobility based on business value with content moving freely and securely system wide – even across different locations.

Automatic data protection driven by an integrated health monitor that continuously checks and fixes any issues encountered. All servers participate in recovery so as the system grows, recovery times decrease; even petabyte-size stores can be automatically protected without backups or RAID.

Zero provisioning scale-out and zero downtime servicing with automated, system wide optimization and balancing. Combined with rolling software and hardware upgrades results in no-downtime servicing, no single points of failure and no bottlenecks.

Secure multi-tenancy and multi-site storage in a single system with 128-bit unique universal identifier obfuscating all stored data; all account information is stored with an object allowing support for an unlimited number of tenants, employees, or subscribers on the same infrastructure.

Cloud economics using any x86 server hardware, any combination of servers, or even any size drives at up to 98 percent utilization.

Instant access for legacy applications or devices via CIFS, NFS, FTP, and WebDAV.

Both VM Editions are available now at http://www.caringo.com/virtual-editions