“eFolder does a lot of different things but we protect data and we are focused on protecting data no matter where it resides,” explained Carlo Tapia, Product Marketing Manager at eFolder, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at Cloud Expo, held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Net3’s Actifio Portfolio | @DevOpsSummit @Actifio @Net3TTech #DevOps
Actifio is powering new application development and testing services from Net3 Technologies (N3T), a managed cloud services provider. N3T’s new Symmetry DevOps™ service builds on its existing Palmetto Virtual Data Center (PvDC) Cloud services for data backup and disaster recovery (DR) based on the Actifio Copy Data Virtualization platform.
Previously, N3T’s data protection and DR services were challenged by overlapping and inefficient legacy hardware and software platforms from multiple vendors, which meant higher costs in licensing and management overhead, and difficulty in responding rapidly to client needs. It was also time consuming for N3T staff needing to perform manual operations across all of these point tools. Shifting these services to Actifio’s platform replaced the inefficiency of multiple backup and replication tools with one simple, manageable access point. For N3T, this enabled it to free up staff time, improve customer satisfaction with a new self-service portal that integrates with the Actifio Foresight™ API, and allow for increased revenues from expanded service offerings.
The Complete ITaaS Transformation Framework By @PhilAbdoulaye | @CloudExpo #Cloud
Certain CIOs for incomprehensible reasons keep off their cloud transformation projects several key IT disciplines including Enterprise Architecture (EA), IT Service Management (ITSM) and most importantly Project Management. Do they consider them obsolete? useless? irrelevant? ITaaS Strategist Philippe Abdoulaye provides 7 keys that will boost PMOs and make them pivotal to any ITaaS (or cloud-related) transformation projects.
DevOps the Wave of the Future | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps #Microservices
As competitive organizations move away from quarterly software releases to faster releases, they are being forced to face the inevitable adoption of DevOps processes and efficiencies.
Businesses today want to deliver software improvements at weekly and even daily intervals, especially in SaaS environments, for mobile apps, and for cloud-based workloads. Yet those kinds of delivery speeds are inconceivable with any kind of manual software development processes.
Jason Bloomberg to Present at @CloudExpo | #DevOps #IoT #Microservices
Cloud computing is unquestionably one of the driving forces of DevOps, as the automation of operations transforms enterprise software development. DevOps, however, is more than a technology trend, as it represents a move toward silo-busting, self-organizing horizontal teams that drive business velocity.
At the same time, enterprise Digital Transformation represents an upheaval across the enterprise, as customer preferences and behavior drive enterprise technology decisions. This transformation extends well beyond technology, however, as companies must rethink their organizational structure, moving toward silo-busting, self-organizing horizontal teams… sound familiar?
Which API Metrics Even Matter? By @JustinRohrman | @CloudExpo #API #Cloud
Software Measurement is a tricky business. When we all agree on what the thing we are trying to count is, like pieces of candy in a jar, it is simple. Sadly, software isn’t candy in a jar.
We try to count things like bugs, or lines of code, of number of stories completed in a sprint but never agree on what any of those things are in the first place. I have been in trouble more than once in my role as a tester from having my performance judged based on number of bugs I reported in a sprint, or the number of test cases written for a release.
Metrics can be dangerous, but we can also use them to build a more complete story about our software.
Let’s take a look at how metrics and APIs can go together.
Verizon announces IBM integration partnership for SCI customers
Verizon has announced IBM as the latest partner in its Secure Cloud Interconnect (SCI) service, bringing the total to eight cloud service options for its clients.
Verizon Secure Cloud Interconnect customers can now connect to IBM Cloud data centre sites in Dallas and San Jose in the US and Tokyo and Sydney in the Asia Pacific region. Two additional sites are planned in Europe for the beginning of 2016.
The Verizon Interconnect supports IBM’s broader portfolio of Direct Link services, which allow customers to link their existing IT infrastructure and the cloud compute resources on the IBM Cloud. The service has three offerings, Cloud Exchange, Network Service Provider (NSP) and Colocation, in a range it says will cover all public, private and hybrid eventualities.
The new IBM Cloud addition means Verizon’s Secure Cloud Interconnect now offers access to eight cloud providers. It already has links with AWS, Google CloudPlatform, HPE Rapid Connect, Microsoft ExpressRoute for Office 365TM, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, Microsoft Azure Government and Verizon’s own cloud service along with service from data centre providers Coresite, Equinix and Verizon. Its service is available at 50 global locations in the Americas, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Users of Verizon’s Secure Cloud Interconnect are promised a direct line to IBM Cloud services through a secure, flexible private link that promises to move workloads easily between clouds. Verizon says it gives enterprise clients more options for storing data. The new service brings a variety of settings, which means data can be stored in a traditional IT environment, a dedicated on- or-off premises cloud and a shared off-premises cloud. This, says Verizon, makes the adoption of a hybrid cloud more achievable and provides a cloud computing estate that is easier to adjust according as business requirements change.
“With SDN at the heart of our Secure Cloud Interconnect solution, IBM customers will find it delivers an unbeatable combination,” said Shawn Hakl, VP of enterprise networking and innovation for Verizon. Yesterday Telecoms.com reported on a similar deal between HPE and NTT.
Elsewhere, Verizon has also announced the expansion of its IoT portfolio, as it launched what it claims is the world’s first Cat1 LTE network feature for IoT. In addition, it announced that it will be giving developers additional tools on its ThingSpace platform, with more application programme interfaces (APIs) and application enablement platforms (AEPs) including an integration of its Bug Labs’ dweet APIs and freeboard visualisation engine.
Iron-Clad Cloud Networks By @JamesCarlini | @CloudExpo #IoT #Cloud
Today, most enterprises have some type of cloud-based solutions or are looking at cloud-based infrastructure for some of their enterprise applications. What is lacking in many organizations is the strategic design focus and sophisticated implementation for very secure infrastructure which not susceptible to cyberattacks.
Hardening data centers as well as enterprise networks (and clouds) is a critical step to ensure an organization’s business continuity. Forget “disaster recovery” as it is a dated term and dated concept. Disaster recovery refers to the organized shutdown of systems and then when the disaster (event) is over, a systematic restart of the total application is initiated.
Apple opens sources Swift programming language
Apple has made its Swift programming language open source in a bid to invite more contributions from developers.
According to Apple community website 9to5Mac, developers have been reluctant to commit to a relatively new language whose code base may disappear at the whim of its monopolist owner. Though it was only introduced in 2014, Swift is the fastest growing programming language in history. According to analyst Redmonk’s Programming Language Rankings, June 2015 report, Swift has “the performance and efficiency of compiled languages and the simplicity and interactivity of popular scripting languages”.
As an open source language, Apple said, a broad community of developers from education institutions to enterprises could contribute new Swift features and help bring it to new computing platforms.
The Swift open source code is available via GitHub and includes support for Apple’s iOS, OS X, watchOS and tvOS software platforms as well as Linux. Components available include the Swift compiler, debugger, standard library, foundation libraries, package manager and REPL. Swift is licensed under the Apache 2.0 open source license with a runtime library exception, meaning users can incorporate Swift into their own software and port the language to new platforms.
In support Apple has published a web site, Swift.org, which explains Swift open source with technical documents, community resources and links to download the Swift source code.
“Swift’s power and ease of use will inspire a new generation to get into coding and take their ideas anywhere, from mobile devices to the cloud,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior VP of Software Engineering, “By making Swift open source the entire developer community can bring it to even more platforms.”
Apple’s Swift team has now posted source code for the Swift compiler and standard library functions and objects.
Google signs five deals for green powering its cloud services
Cloud service giant Google has announced five new deals to buy 781MW of renewable energy from suppliers in the US, Sweden and Chile, according to a report on Bloomberg.
The deals add up to the biggest-ever purchase of renewable energy ever by a company that is not a utility, according to Michael Terrell, Google’s principal of energy and global infrastructure.
Google will buy 200 megawatts of power from Oklahoma-based Renewable Energy Systems Americas’s Bluestem wind project. From the same US state another 200 megawatts will be contributed by Great Western wind project run by Electricite de France. In addition, Google will also power its cloud services with 225 megawatts of wind power from independent power producer Invenergy.
Google’s data centres and cloud services in South America could become carbon free when the 80 megawatts of solar power that it has ordered from Acciona Energia’s El Romero farm in Chile comes online.
In Scandinavia the cloud service provider has agreed to buy 76 megawatts of wind power from Eolus Vind’s Jenasen wind project to be built in Vasternorrland County, Sweden.
In July, Google committed to tripling its purchases of renewable energy by 2025. At the time, it had contracts to buy 1.1 GW of sustainably sourced power.
Google’s first ever green power deal was in 2010 when it agreed to buy power from a wind farm in Iowa. Last week, it announced plans to purchase buy 61 megawatts from a solar farm in North Carolina.