“SOC 2 exams are rigorous independent assessments, geared toward technology service providers, especially those running data centers,” said Val Stinson, director of compliance for SoftLayer as SoftLayer Technologies announced that it successfully completed its Service Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type II examination for the company’s 13 data centers, located in the United States, Singapore and the Netherlands.
“With our successful completion of testing, we’re able to provide our customers with greater insights into our controls, procedures and systems for our entire portfolio of cloud based services,” Stinson continued. “To date, approximately 100 customers have requested our SOC 2 Type II report as a part of their compliance efforts.”
The examination, conducted by independent accounting and auditing firm Weaver, evaluated the processes, procedures and controls for security and availability at SoftLayer’s facilities for the year-ending October 31, 2012.
The Emerging IT Stack – Infographic
The IT stacks we saw and worked with until recently are almost things of the past now. This change, of course, can be mainly attributed to the Internet evolution and the way IT is being leveraged these days especially with the blurring of lines between personal and work-related IT use. The role and expectations from IT have vastly changed in an increasingly shorter amount of time than in previous years. The epiphenomenon of these expectations is the emergence of technologies like cloud computing, mobility, Big Data and social collaboration. This has had a dramatic and direct impact on how we look at the IT stack today and in the near future, what we plan to achieve with IT, how we are going to achieve them, and what skills or acumen we should be developing in order to succeed.
Of course, there won’t just be a single IT Stack per se (no one-size-fits-all), but we need a basic framework that will set the direction for future options. Future IT stacks that stem from the proposed one below won’t be driven by technology alone, but by the very nature of the applications and workloads they are created for; and equally, by the end user’s aspiration for newer experiences.
Video Intro: New AWS Diagnostics for Windows Server
Amazon AWS has released a public beta of a new tool to analyze and troubleshoot problems with Windows Server instances.
Layer 7 Technologies to Exhibit at Cloud Expo New York
SYS-CON Events announced today that Layer 7 Technologies, a provider of API Management and mobilization tools for the new open enterprise, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
Layer 7 is a leading provider of security and management products for API-driven integrations spanning the extended hybrid enterprise. Layer 7 products simplify:
The management of open API for developer communities
Partner and cross-divisional integration via SOA
Cloud connectivity
Enterprise mobile enablement for BYOD (bring-your-own-device) initiatives
Layer 7 Technologies to Exhibit at Cloud Expo New York
SYS-CON Events announced today that Layer 7 Technologies, a provider of API Management and mobilization tools for the new open enterprise, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
Layer 7 is a leading provider of security and management products for API-driven integrations spanning the extended hybrid enterprise. Layer 7 products simplify:
The management of open API for developer communities
Partner and cross-divisional integration via SOA
Cloud connectivity
Enterprise mobile enablement for BYOD (bring-your-own-device) initiatives
McAfee Named “Gold Sponsor” of Cloud Expo New York
SYS-CON Events announced today that McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON’s 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), empowers businesses, the public sector, and home users to safely experience the benefits of the Internet. The company delivers proactive and proven security solutions and services for systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world. With its Security Connected strategy, innovative approach to hardware-enhanced security, and unique Global Threat Intelligence network, McAfee is relentlessly focused on keeping its customers safe.
A Cloud-Based Testing Tool for the Budget-Minded
Finally, a low-cost cloud-based QA testing tool hits the market. After an extensive beta program by software testers at 500 companies from 23 countries, QASymphony announced general availability of qTest, a cloud-based enterprise test management solution.
The testing tool is aimed at small and growing QA teams looking to escape the heavy lifting and expense required from enterprise-focused systems such as HP Quality Center.
Its vendor claims qTest is on par with large enterprise systems, yet unlike those heavyweights the platform’s SaaS subscription model makes it a low-risk proposition to pilot and adopt.
At a scant $20 per user per month, it certainly offers teams an affordable path towards formalizing their quality control procedures.
The tool offers a collaborative work environment for teams to manage requirements, design test cases, plan test execution, track defects, and generate status and quality-metrics reports.
Cloud: Commoditizing End Users
Prioritization. It’s something that’s built into nearly every technology, particularly that which services network traffic. Rate shaping. Queuing. Coloring bits.
We do a lot of interesting gyrations with technology to ensure that some user traffic and requests are more equal than others.
Today we still do the same thing, but it’s done in different ways. Software as a Service charges a premium for “extra” API calls, for example, and if you want access to premium content there’s sure to be a paywall in front of it.
But that’s at the service level. It’s not the same as prioritization of individual users; of affording specific users privileges of some kind based either on their position (No, no, the CEO can’t have his e-mail be delayed – never apply bandwidth limiting policies to him) or on their customer status (They’re a “gold” customer, make sure their requests go to the fastest application instance).
Rackspace Cuts Prices
Rackspace has slashed the price of its cloud bandwidth and content delivery network (CDN) services by 33%. It’s also implementing tiered pricing for its OpenStack products, starting with Cloud Files, its object storage service.
Most of the new pricing will kick in over the next few weeks.
The bulk of Rackspace’s revenues still come from hosting. In its last quarter its cloud sales, which compete with Amazon’s, were up 49% year-over-year to $87.3 million. As good as that might sound for the last five quarters its cloud sales have been on a downward trajectory. For instance, year-over-year cloud revenue rose 69% in Q2 but only 57% in Q3.
The Wall Street Journal concluded that the company isn’t delivering on its high valuation. Its growth depends on how quickly its OpenStack Infrastructure-as-a-Service is adopted.
Creating classrooms and learning in the cloud
Patrick Fogarty with some of his students
Guest blog by Patrick Fogarty
Faculty Advisor of Technology and Teacher at Xaverian High School
When I tell my students they need to be learning the skills for jobs that don’t even exist yet, I’m speaking from personal experience. As Xaverian High School’s Faculty Advisor of Instructional Technology, I find myself frequently defining an ever-evolving job I more or less made up for myself.
My responsibilities change with the needs of our students and institution, and that’s why cloud storage has proven to be one of the most invaluable weapons in our arsenal of tech tools.
I work at one of the first iPad one-to-one schools in the United States, which means each and every student and teacher is provided with an iPad and expected to utilize it in the everyday business of teaching and learning. It’s worked …