Category Archives: Microsoft

Enterprise IT, HP, Microsoft, News & Analysis

New Microsoft Trust Center aims to offer stability in shifting cloud industry

MicrosoftMicrosoft has aggregated all the information about its cloud services into one single point of reference, in an attempt to clarify and simplify the increasingly ethereal nature of the cloud.

The announcement, in a blog on the company web site, comes in the same week that one of the new incarnations of HP, Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE), repositioned itself as a reseller of Microsoft’s Azure public cloud services.

With the onset of the cloud industry reshaping both the IT industry and companies, the software company turned cloud service vendor has moved to clarify the picture for enterprise buyers.

The new Microsoft Trust Center aims to unify all the different strands of its enterprise cloud services, as confused customers customer began to clamour for a single version of the truth, instead of having to choose between multiple references issued by a choice of Microsoft trusted resources. In the new scheme, the Microsoft Trust Center will be a consistent source of information about all its enterprise cloud services, such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Office 365.

The Microsoft blog post says the Trust Center will be built on security, privacy and control, compliance and transparency. To this end it will advise cloud buyers on how Microsoft’s cloud services will observe international and regional standards, privacy and data protection policies and security features and function.

On Tuesday it was announced that HPE was to become a Microsoft Azure reseller partner, while in return HPE will become a preferred cloud services provider when Microsoft customers need help. The new arrangement, revealed by HPE CEO Meg Whitman in a quarterly analyst call, illustrates how the IT industry is being reshaped around the new hybridisation of computing services. The arrangement means HPE can sell its own hardware and cloud computing software to companies for the private, ‘on-premise’ part of the private-public combination. Meanwhile, the public cloud will be provided by Microsoft’s Azure computing service.

Transparency, according to the Microsoft Trust Center blog, is to be one of the foundations of cloud services.

application development, Azure, Microsoft

Microsoft Blog: The cloud for any app and every developer

The below is an excerpt from a recent post on the Microsoft Azure blog by Nicole Herskowitz.

At Microsoft, our vision for Azure is to enable every developer to be able to create, deploy and manage any application in the cloud, regardless of the tools, technology, architecture or platform they prefer. We continue to innovate in delivering services on Microsoft Azure, often in close partnership with leading innovators across many technologies, to ensure open source and third party offerings have first-class support on Azure. Today we’re announcing new technologies and capabilities that advance our mission to make Azure the preferred cloud for any app and every developer — from back-end cloud services to higher level platform services, to the development process itself.

For building highly scalable back-end services in the cloud many developers are turning to microservice architectures. The independent nature of these microservices offers superior application lifecycle management, performance at scale, 24×7 availability and cost efficiency compared with traditional monolithic architectures for service based apps. Today, we’re announcing the public preview of Azure Service Fabric, Microsoft’s platform for developing and operating microservice-based applications. Service Fabric also brings new innovations to microservice development with support for reliable, stateful services for low-latency partitioned data access at scale, and the Actor programming model which drastically simplifies building high-scale microservice applications.

We’ve already seen strong interest in Service Fabric with over 300 customers and partners already building on the platform during the private preview. With the availability of public preview in Azure, you can now explore the scale-out potential of Service Fabric combined with dedicated Visual Studio tooling. Today, Service Fabric is available on Azure and will extend to Windows Server, Linux and other cloud providers next year providing application portability and hybrid scenarios. To get started, download the SDK, check out our getting started videos and documentation and deploy your application to a cluster live in Azure.

For developers who want to build powerful, enterprise grade web and mobile apps that connect to data in the cloud or on-premises, Azure App Service is a highly productive platform for building scalable apps in .NET, NodeJS, PHP, Python or Java as well as engaging mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows. Azure App Service is one of our most popular Azure services used by more than 60% of customers to host over 700,000 apps. Building on this success, today we announced new capabilities in Azure App Service including:

  • Single sign-on using EasyAuth across all app types making authentication easy, everywhere
  • Code-free interface and data design for rapid development of data-driven Node.js apps
  • API app innovations extended to all app types, eliminating the need for an API gateway

 

To read the entire post, click here.

 

Interested in learning about common migration problems with Microsoft Office 365? Download our latest on-demand webinar.

 

Dynamics AX, ERP, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Saas, Software as a service

Microsoft moves Dynamics AX into the cloud

MicrosoftMicrosoft says the latest incarnation of Dynamics AX will mark its transformation from a packaged application to a cloud service.

On Thursday the vendor announced the latest release of its flagship enterprise resource planning (ERP) system will be generally available in the first quarter of 2016. The main difference, it said, is that the ERP is now a service designed for the cloud.

A public preview of the new solution for customers and partners will be available in early December. The new name of the release, Microsoft Dynamics AX, reflects a departure from branding that reflected the year or the version of the product, a characteristic of software packages, it said. From now on the branding will underscore that Dynamics AX is a cloud-based service that will be regularly updated, it said.

Microsoft said it will also implement a new, simple and more transparent subscription pricing model to make it easier for companies to buy the system as they need it. Dynamics AX will offer a new user experience that looks and works like Microsoft Office and shares information between Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM and Office 365, according to the vendor. It will also combine near-real-time analytics powered by Azure Machine Learning with the ability to visualise data through Power BI embedded in the application, in order to give users more predictive powers.

In response to usability analysis, Dynamics AX will have a browser-based HTML5 client and a new touch-enabled, modern user interface. Now that it’s a cloud system it will adopt the principles of highly visual applications more akin to consumer applications, according to Microsoft.

The classic rigidity of ERP systems has been replaced, according to Scott Guthrie, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise’s executive VP. “Our ambition to build the intelligent cloud comes to life with apps optimised for modern business. When you combine the hyperscale, enterprise-grade and hybrid-cloud capabilities of Microsoft Azure with the real-time insights and intuitive user experience of Dynamics AX, organisations and individuals are empowered to transform their business operations,” said Guthrie.

Avere, Azure, Enterprise IT, hybrid cloud, Microsoft, News & Analysis

Avere-Microsoft joint effort enables Azure hybrids

server rackEnterprise storage vendor Avere Systems is to work with Microsoft so that its Virtual FXT Edge filers can be used with Microsoft Azure.

The hardware maker, which specialises in creating storage devices that caters for hybrid cloud set ups, says the two vendors are collaborating to make it easier and cheaper to get the qualities of the cloud from IT infrastructure that is situated ‘on premise’.

The system aims to simplify the task of creating a system for providing computing power, memory and storage on demand for enterprise IT staff who are not specialists in running cloud services. The Avere technology is designed to make data that is held on network attached storage (NAS) more readily accessible to Azure, so that users don’t experience any latency.

The rationale is that many companies want the liquidity of cloud computing but are not allowed to move their data off the company premises, according to Avere. Its solution was to invent a ‘virtual NAS’ system that is easy for an enterprise IT department employee to install and manage. Meanwhile the system is sophisticated enough to provide multi-protocol file access (including NFS and SMB) and clusters, making it powerful enough to deliver high availability, scalable performance and capacity.

As hybrid cloud systems become the de facto standard for enterprises, it’s important that they are easy enough for IT department employees to manage, according to Nicole Herskowitz, Microsoft Azure’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure.

By adapting the system to work smoothly with Azure, enterprise IT department managers can deploy thousands of Azure HPC instances on-demand to crunch data with low latency and no data migration. This means businesses can tap into hyper-converged infrastructure of Azure with ease, without breaking the bank, Avere claims.

“At Avere, we’ve been dedicated to shattering the myth that organizations can’t have enterprise NAS performance in the public cloud,” said Rebecca Thompson, VP Marketing of Avere Systems, “with Microsoft we’re helping enterprises harness the computing power of Microsoft Azure, which is used by 57% of Fortune 500 companies for big data applications.”

Microsoft, Office 365

Microsoft Office 365: Expectations vs. Reality

There are many benefits to implementing Microsoft Office 365 including reducing capital expenditures, the ability to scale your business quickly, and simplified licensing. There have also been increased features and functionality such as Yammer, Delve and Skype for Business. Keep in mind, however, there can be some challenges associated with Office 365 implementations. Organizations need to take the proper measures to prepare for quality migration  and management of this critical suite of end user productivity services.

I’ll be hosting a webinar on 11/18, with my colleagues Jay Keating and Geoff Smith, to cover strategies for migrating and supporting mobile workforces. If you’re considering implementation, I highly recommend you register. Below are some of the topics Jay, Geoff and I will be covering:

  • Office 365 capabilities and use cases
  • Microsoft Cloud IaaS (Azure) considerations
  • Hidden challenges of migrating to Office 365
  • Licensing, version control, & AD Premium & Office 365 E3 issues
  • The ugly side of post-migration user support
  • SLAs, Quality of Service, and accountability challenges
  • Security, confidentiality, and compliance pit falls
  • Having the CFO talk – risks, benefits, costs

Register now for David’s upcoming webinar, “Microsoft Office 365: Expectations vs. Reality.” Bring your questions, as there will be a Q&A session at the end of the webinar!

 

By David Barter, Practice Manager, Microsoft Technologies

Microsoft, News, Services

Microsoft Plans to Expand into Germany with Help from T-Systems

Microsoft has recently paired with a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, T-Systems, in offering Azure cloud services to Germany. This announcement comes after news of major expansion into the United Kingdom. Two data centers will be located in Magdeburg and Frankfurt. They will start delivering Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics CRM Online to Germany during the second half of 2016.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has commented “Our new datacenter regions in Germany, operated in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, will not only spur local innovation and growth, but offer customers choice and trust in how their data is handled and where it is stored.” T –System will have control of customer access stored on cloud servers. In order for Microsoft to access information stored on the servers, it will have to obtain permission from either customers or T-Systems. Once permission is granted, T-Systems will supervise the activity.  Alex Stüger, area vice president for Microsoft Germany, has stated that: “this will help us meet growing demand for Microsoft cloud services in Germany, and across Europe, by providing an innovative, scalable and consistent cloud computing platform combined with a German data trustee model.”

T-systems

In addition to Stüger’s comments,  CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Timotheus Höttges, has stated, “Microsoft is pioneering a new, unique solution for customers in Germany and Europe. Now, customers who want local control of their data combined with Microsoft’s cloud services have a new option, and I anticipate it will be rapidly adopted.”

The company is also investing in cloud security. The centers will contain features such as biometric scanning, smart cards and other physical access controls while data will be protected by cure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) encryption based on German certificates and multifactor authentication. To ensure data stays within Germany, a private network will be utilized to share data between regions. Doug Hauger, general manager of Microsoft National Cloud Programs has recently written in a blog post, “”These new regions will adhere to the same service and quality standards of all Microsoft Cloud regions. In addition, the services will feature the same industry-leading levels of security, privacy and control, compliance, and transparency that define the Microsoft trusted cloud. Microsoft is committed to innovating to meet the needs of its customers, and understands that customers and partners will only choose technology they trust.”

The post Microsoft Plans to Expand into Germany with Help from T-Systems appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Azure, Datacentre, Enterprise IT, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Red Hat, Virtualisation

Red Hat launches Cloud Access on Microsoft Azure

redhat office logoRed Hat has followed its recent declaration of a partnership with Microsoft by announcing the availability of Red Hat Cloud Access on Microsoft Azure.

The Access service will make it easier for subscribers to move any eligible, unused Red Hat subscriptions from their data centre to the Azure cloud. Red Hat Cloud Access will give them the support relationship they enjoy with Red Hat with the cloud computing powers of Azure, the software vendor said on its official blog. Cloud Access extends to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat JBoss Middleware, Red Hat Gluster Storage and OpenShift Enterprise. The blog hints that more collaborations with Microsoft are to come.

Meanwhile, in his company blog Azure CTO Mark Russinovich gave a public preview of the coming Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets offering. VM Scale Sets are an Azure Compute resource that allow users to create and manage a collection of virtual machines as a set. These scale sets are designed for building large-scale services targeting big computing, big data and containerized workloads, all of which are increasing in significance as cloud computing evolves, said Russinovich.

By integrating with Azure Insights Autoscale, they provide the capacity to expand and contract to fit requirements with no need to pre-provision virtual machines. This allows users to match their consumption of computing resources to their application needs more accurately.

VM Scale Sets can be controlled within Azure Resource Manager templates and they will support Windows and Linux platform images, as well as custom images and extensions. “When you define a VM Scale Set, you only define the resources you need, so besides making it easier to define your Azure infrastructure, this also allows Azure to optimize calls to the underlying fabric, providing greater efficiency,” said Russinovich. “To deploy a scale set, all you need is an Azure subscription.”

Example Virtual Machine Scale Set templates are available on the GitHub repository.

Bitcoin, blockchain, consensys, Database, Microsoft, News & Analysis

Microsoft launches cloud based Blockchain tech for would be bitcoin traders

bitcoin logo2Microsoft has launched a cloud-based ledger system for would-be bitcoin traders. The Azure service provider aims to ease traditional bankers and financial service companies into a new increasingly legitimised market as it gains currency in the world’s finance centres.

The system uses blockchain technology provided by New York based financial technology start up ConsensYs. It will give financial institutions the means to create affordable testing and proof of concept models as they examine the feasibility of bitcoin trading.

Blockchain technology’s ability to secure and validate any exchange of data will help convince compliance constrained finance institutes that this form of trading is no more dangerous than any other high speed automated trading environment, according to Microsoft. In a bitcoin system the ConsenYs blockchain will be used as a large decentralized ledger which keeps track of every bitcoin transaction.

Cloud technology could aggregate sufficient processing power to cater for all fluctuations demand for capacity in online trading. In turn this means that the IT service provider, whether internal or external, can guarantee that every transaction is verified and shared across a global computer network. The omnipresence of the blockchain reporting system makes it impossible for outside interference to go unmonitored.

The Microsoft blockchain service, launched on November 10th, also uses Ethereum’s programmable blockchain technology which will be delivered to existing banks and insurance clients already using Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. According to Microsoft four global financial institutions have already subscribed to the service.

Until now blockchain has been the ‘major pain point’ in bitcoin trading, according to Marley Gray, Microsoft’s director of tech strategy for financial services. Gray told Reuters that the cloud technology had made the technology affordable and easy enough to adopt. According to Gray it now only takes 20 minutes and no previous experience to spin up a private blockchain. Microsoft said it has simplified the system with templates it created, used in combination with its cloud-based flexible computing model.

The new testing systems made possible by ConsensYs create a ‘fail fast, fail cheap’ model that allows finance companies to explore the full range of possibilities of this new type of trading, said Gray.

Azure, Microsoft, Office 365

Bringing the Cloud to Life with the Microsoft Experience Center

It’s oftentimes difficult to get a legitimate user experience when viewing a canned demo. That’s why I’m a big fan of the Microsoft Experience Center. It’s a mobile kit that operates out of the cloud through an Office 365 instance. This allows users to get that legitimate experience of interacting with Microsoft productivity solutions (while having access to experts to answer questions and provide guidance)  because it’s not a prepared environment or running over faster internet. It’s running over whatever the building you’re in is providing so that you can get a real understanding of what the experience will be like accessing these applications from the cloud. Watch the video below where I discuss the Microsoft Experience Center in more detail, including the process, benefits, and key takeaways you’ll leave with.

If you’re interested in learning more about Microsoft Office 365, I’ll hosting a webinar on November 18th entitled, “Microsoft Office 365: Expectations vs. Reality. Strategies for Migrating & Supporting Mobile Workforces. Register here!

This video is also available on GreenPages’ YouTube Channel

 

 

By David Barter, Practice Manager Microsoft Technologies

Datacentre, Enterprise IT, Microsoft, News & Analysis

Microsoft to invest $2bn in Euro cloud infrastructure

datacentre cloudMicrosoft has announced plans to invest $2bn on building the infrastructure across Europe to support nationally-based data centres supporting national cloud services. It means that commercial cloud services can be run from the UK and other major European countries, allaying some data sovereignty and Safe Harbour fears.

From late 2016 Microsoft Azure and Office 365 will be generally available from local UK-based data centres, CEO Satya Nadella said at an event in London. A locally supported service for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will follow in 2017. Microsoft will also offer Azure ExpressRoute to provide customers with the option of a private connection to the cloud.

The new local Microsoft cloud regions are designed to ally fears over data residency for customers in the UK. Once the infrastructure is in place Microsoft will be able to replicate data within the UK for backup and recovery.

Services delivered from these UK data centres will not only improve sovereignty and cut latency but create new opportunities for Microsoft UK’s 25,000 channel partners, said Michel Van der Bel, the general manager of Microsoft UK. The UK is a global leader in using cloud-based systems with an adoption rate of 84% claimed Van der Bel.

“Our commitment to run our cloud services from local data centres will help meet demand from those who want their cloud systems based in the UK,” said Van der Bel. Customers and partners who can innovate will grow with the power of the cloud, he said, and now they can meet the strict regulations of the banking, financial services and public sectors.

Microsoft also announced completion of the latest phase of data centre facility expansion in Ireland and the Netherlands, which serve as cloud computing hubs for European customers.

One channel partner said the local data centres for local people plan is an overdue step in the right direction.

“This is great news for the UK and the technology sector as a whole,” said Avanade UK’s General Manager Julian Tomison, “questions around data residency aren’t new, but at least now we have a new solution.”

It’s good for the channel and the cloud industry said Tomison. “The investment validates the sector and will have a positive impact on the cloud industry as collectively customers will feel they have more control. Having data centres in the UK helps us stay competitive when prices and services are becoming uniform. I predict more investments like this as legislation like last month’s Safe Harbour ruling shape the legal situation here.”