Using new techniques of information modeling, indexing, and processing, new cloud-based systems can support cloud-based workloads previously not possible for high-throughput insurance, banking, and case-based applications.
In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, John Newton, CTO, Founder and Chairman of Alfresco, described how to scale cloud-based content management repositories to store, manage, and retrieve billions of documents and related information with fast and linear scalability.
He addressed the challenges of scaling document repositories to this level; architectural approaches for coordinating data; search and storage technologies, Solr, and Amazon storage and database technologies; the breadth of use cases that modern content systems need to support; how to support user applications that require subsecond response times.
Hybrid Clouds: The Empire Strikes Back | @CloudExpo #API #Cloud #DigitalTransformation
Clouds are typically classified into four different topologies: private, public, community and hybrid clouds. Let’s focus on hybrid clouds: what are the use cases that require this topology, what are the challenges, and who stands to benefit from the hybrid cloud trend?
First off, a definition: A hybrid cloud is a topology in which more than one cloud infrastructure is utilized to solve a particular problem.
Citrix Web Plugin – What is it?
Citrix Web Plugin is an online plugin offered by Citrix that enables users to access remotely published desktops and applications from a web browser. Users that are running Microsoft Windows can quickly access VDI networks using web browsers, such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. Designed to work with virtual desktops, this web plugin allows Citrix […]
The post Citrix Web Plugin – What is it? appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Cloud Computing in Healthcare | @CloudExpo #API #PaaS #Cloud #Security
The competitive landscape of the global cloud computing market in the healthcare industry is crowded due to the presence of a large number of players. The large number of participants has led to the fragmented nature of the market. Some of the major players operating in the global cloud computing market in the healthcare industry are Cisco Systems Inc., Carestream Health Inc., Carecloud Corp., AGFA Healthcare, IBM Corp., Cleardata Networks, Merge Healthcare Inc., Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., and Oracle Corp.
[slides] Network-Aware Orchestration | @CloudExpo #SDN #Agile #DataCenter #Orchestration
Enterprise networks are complex. Moreover, they were designed and deployed to meet a specific set of business requirements at a specific point in time. But, the adoption of cloud services, new business applications and intensifying security policies, among other factors, require IT organizations to continuously deploy configuration changes. Therefore, enterprises are looking for better ways to automate the management of their networks while still leveraging existing capabilities, optimizing performance and reducing operational risk through standardization and best-practice architectures.
[slides] Network-Aware Orchestration | @CloudExpo #SDN #Agile #DataCenter #Orchestration
Enterprise networks are complex. Moreover, they were designed and deployed to meet a specific set of business requirements at a specific point in time. But, the adoption of cloud services, new business applications and intensifying security policies, among other factors, require IT organizations to continuously deploy configuration changes. Therefore, enterprises are looking for better ways to automate the management of their networks while still leveraging existing capabilities, optimizing performance and reducing operational risk through standardization and best-practice architectures.
Why CIOs cannot ‘blindly trust’ public cloud services in their organisation
(c)iStock.com/ratch0013
Cloud maturity is on the rise, although plenty of problems remain, according to the latest survey data from service management technology provider Fruition Partners.
The study, which was undertaken by Vanson Bourne and polled 400 CIOs from the UK and US, found that for almost three quarters (73%) of respondents, “significant” financial waste is occurring with cloud adoption without IT insight. Yet 85% of CIOs polled believe cloud is reducing their organisations’ control over IT.
“The maturity of cloud services has started to improve, but it is still leagues away from where it needs to be,” said Paul Cash, Fruition Partners UK managing partner. “There has to be a recognition that the need for rigorous management is greater, not less, in the cloud.”
The numbers continue to be worryingly high. 62% of respondents say there are cloud applications being used in the business without IT’s knowledge – otherwise known as shadow IT – while CIOs say more than two thirds of their colleagues (68%) do not feel the need to consult IT when procuring cloud services.
Comparing these figures with 2015’s findings, there is certainly a change afoot. Last year’s analysis found that CIOs were not applying traditional IT service management (ITSM) processes to cloud technologies. One eye-opening example was of a construction firm which had 300 copies of a cloud-based project management tool for only 200 project managers. This time around, in-house IT is on average managed by a combination of six processes; cloud, in contrast, has on average four.
Yet the knock-on effect of the infiltration of cloud applications is that while employees move cloud services into the business, the CIO will end up getting the flak. “CIOs cannot blindly trust that public cloud services will work flawlessly and be delivered perfectly at all times,” said Cash. “The more responsibility CIOs hand over to providers, without ensuring that established ITSM principles are applied, the more they open themselves up to blame if one of those services fails.
“CIOs should still be managing cloud services internally, rather than abdicating responsibility to the provider,” he added. “Otherwise they risk losing control, and increasing both cost and risk to themselves and the business.”
Fruition, which was bought was CSC in 2015, put together three steps for CIOs to, as they put it, ‘bring the cloud under control’ for last year’s report. Focus on the user to provide a better service, focus on business needs and collaborate across functions, and focus on IT strategy and how to make better use of ITSM. Perhaps worryingly, the company feels that not enough has changed for it to alter its message this year.
Hostway and WSM Partner | @CloudExpo @Hostway @WSMINTL #Cloud #Azure
Hostway Services, Inc. and WSM International have partnered to deliver trouble free migration services for any organization that wishes to bring their IT infrastructure to Hostway’s Azure managed cloud services.
WSM is the leader in providing turn-key IT migration services since 2003 and is now the preferred provider to any Hostway customer that is seeking to move its computer infrastructure to the Hostway Azure-based cloud.
Hostway and WSM Partner | @CloudExpo @Hostway @WSMINTL #Cloud #Azure
Hostway Services, Inc. and WSM International have partnered to deliver trouble free migration services for any organization that wishes to bring their IT infrastructure to Hostway’s Azure managed cloud services.
WSM is the leader in providing turn-key IT migration services since 2003 and is now the preferred provider to any Hostway customer that is seeking to move its computer infrastructure to the Hostway Azure-based cloud.
Guest Post: How to Minimize the Damage Done by Ransomware
Below is a guest post from Geoff Fancher, Vice President, Americas Channels at SimpliVity Corporation
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, sweating profusely, scared half to death, and terrified that your data center was infected with ransomware? If so, you’ve had an IT nightmare. Just be thankful it was all just a dream and your data isn’t lost.
Though IT nightmares come in all forms, one thing all IT pros fear nowadays is ransomware. That’s because ransomware is becoming increasingly commonplace and is evolving to become even more vicious and hard to stop once it has entered an IT environment. The cost to business productivity can be crippling, and the data loss that can occur can set a company back for days.
According to Ponemon Institute, the average cost of IT downtime is $7900 per minute. Per minute! The reason recovering from ransomware attacks can be so costly is that backing up from restores can take a long time, typically measured in hours or days depending on where and how backups were stored. Also, depending on when the most recent backup took place, a lot of data could be lost once the backup is recovered.
With the cost of downtime due to ransomware being so high because quick restores aren’t an option, many organizations are choosing to pay the ransom to get their data back. The most notable example comes from Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. The hackers infected the hospital’s computer systems, shutting down all communication between the systems, and demanded $17,000 to unlock them. The hospital, being in an a high-pressure situation without the correct resources to be able to quickly shut down its systems and restore from a recent backup, was forced to pay the ransom to receive the decryption key and get back online.
The fundamental piece, then, to avoiding paying the ransom demanded by cyber criminals is to have a disaster recovery plan in place. You should know what to do if a ransomware attack happens. As the old adage goes, “Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.” That’s the attitude to take and the way to do it is to have a plan.
One company that instituted a solid disaster recovery plan just in the nick of time was an enterprise manufacturing company based in the Netherlands. The company was infected with ransomware while its IT partner was in the process of migrating VMs to a new hyperconverged infrastructure environment that had built-in data protection. Most of the infected folders were already on the new solution, which was lucky because they were able to use the solution’s backup to restore within fifteen minutes, when just a day before, on the previous infrastructure, it would have taken about three hours to restore to the most recent backup. The partner was also performing hourly backups on the new solution, so they lost less than an hour’s worth of data during the restore. Before deploying hyperconverged infrastructure, the partner was backing up to tape every 12 hours, so they saved the company about 11 hours of data loss on the new hyperconverged solution. What a difference a day makes.
For a disaster recovery plan to be successful, the IT team needs to define recovery time objectives (RTOs) – how long it takes to restore the backup – and recovery point objectives (RPOs) – the nearest backup they can restore from. Basically, businesses have to ask themselves two questions: How long can the business shut down while waiting for the restore to take place? And, how many hours of business-critical data can the company afford to lose? There are data protection plans for every size of company and for every budget. The first step to a data protection plan is defining the organization’s requirements.
Hyperconverged infrastructure, for example, can dramatically cut down the hours it takes for businesses to recover from IT downtime. By making data efficient from the start of its lifecycle, businesses are able to quickly recover from a previous backup.
With SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure, companies are able to backup quickly and efficiently with minimal data loss because SimpliVity’s solution is designed to meet even the most stringent RTOs and RPOs to ensure businesses functions aren’t interrupted for long in case of a disaster or ransomware attack. If you’re heading to GreenPages’ Summit Event next week, definitely swing by the SimpliVity booth to chat!