Corporate, IDC, M&A, News & Analysis, SanDisk, Western Digital

Western Digital buys SanDisk for $19 billion for its cloud driving flash

Disk CloudHard disk vendor Western Digital is to buy chip maker SanDisk for around $19 billion as the consolidation of chip-making industry continues.

Flash specialist SanDisk is one of the largest makers of NAND flash memory chips. The capacity of NAND Flash Memory products to store data in a small footprint, while simultaneously using less power but granting faster access to data, has made this technology particularly popular in the mobile, internet of things and data centre sectors, Increasingly, according to analysts, NAND is becoming the storage technology of choice in data centres that support cloud computing.

The market for NAND flash chips rose to $28.9 billion in 2014, according to IDC and SanDisk (with joint venture partner Toshiba) was the largest producer.

Meanwhile the market for traditional disk drives, where Western Digital is a market leader, is declining, say analysts. The commoditisation of hardware, driven by the software definition of data centres, has seen profit margins on sales decline, even if volumes are up.

Western Digital had a leading 44% share of the market for hard disk drives in 2014, according to statistics from market researcher IDC. However, it suffered a sales decline of 4% in its most recent financial year and the overall storage business also shrank, to $32.9 billion.

“With new storage companies coming through with all-flash systems based on consumer-grade substrate, it is not in WD or Seagate’s best interests to try and do economies of scale aimed more at the enterprise only,” said analyst Clive Longbottom, senior director at research company Quocirca. “By buying up consumer flash companies, they get that economy of scale for themselves.”

The disruption of the IT manufacturers by the cloud has changed the strategies of the encumbents like Western Digital, said Longbottom. “ Dell, HP, IBM and others do seem to be more worried about the new kids on the block than each other at the moment,” said Longbottom.

The cash-and-stock offer values SanDisk at $86.50 per share, or a total equity value of about $19 billion, using a five-day volume weighted average price ending on Oct. 20 of $79.60 per share of Western Digital stock. SanDisk’s shares rose 6.4% to $80 in pre-market trading. Western Digital’s shares were down 1.1% at $74.

The deal is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2016.

Uncategorized

The DevOps Drumbeat | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps #API #Microservices

What it means to build quality software has taken a beating over the years. We’re no longer content to strive for defect-free code. We must also make sure the software meets both its functional and nonfunctional requirements. Only now with the rise of more Agile ways of thinking, we’ve placed the notion of a software requirement under the microscope, as building flexible, resilient software often trumps checking items off our requirements list.

read more

Uncategorized

The World’s Many IoTs ‘Power Panel’ at @ThingsExpo | #IoT #Microservices

The Internet of Things is clearly many things: data collection and analytics, wearables, Smart Grids and Smart Cities, the Industrial Internet, and more. Cool platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Intel’s Galileo and Edison, and a diverse world of sensors are making the IoT a great toy box for developers in all these areas.
In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists will discuss what things are the most important, which will have the most profound effect on the world, and what should we expect to see over the next couple of years.

read more

Uncategorized

The DevOps Drumbeat – Part 2 | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps #Microservices

The move to DevOps also introduces additional constraints to our burgeoning Iron Polygon, as individual projects become less distinct. In an environment focused on continuous automated testing as well as continuous integration and deployment, individual iterations become the project unit as organizations establish regular cadences of repeated iterations (link is external) instead of the discrete, monolithic project releases that characterize traditional waterfall-oriented development.

read more

Datacentre, M&A, News & Analysis, TierPoint, Windstream

Tierpoint buys Windstream’s data centre business for $575 Million

Cloud datacentreCloud service provider TierPoint has entered into a definitive agreement with comms vendor Windstream to buy its data centre business for a pure cash transaction of $575 million.

As part of the deal the two will enter a reciprocal partnership, selling each other’s products and services to their prospective customers through referrals. This structure will allow Windstream to focus on its telecom offerings while continuing to offer traditional data centre services to enterprise customers.

The boards of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close within the next two to four months, subject to customary conditions and approvals.

Cloud service provider TierPoint will inherit invaluable data centre support expertise according to CEO Jerry Kent. “This is a great strategic fit for TierPoint and our customers,” said Kent, “Windstream Hosted Solutions and its employees have a reputation for providing excellent customer service and enterprise-class solutions. We value these team members as a key asset in the acquisition and their expertise adds to our strength.”

The long-term strategic partnership with Windstream allows both the comms vendor and the service provider to concentrate on their own strengths and complement each other’s contributions and data centre services are still an integral component of enterprise service explained Windstream’s CEO Tony Thomas. “We expect the divested data centre business to continue its significant growth under the leadership of TierPoint, and we look forward to partnering closely with them to provide advanced data centre services to our enterprise customers,” said Thomas.

The deal has a certain logic, but it’s also illogical in some aspects, said Quocirca analyst Clive Longbottom. “A smaller company trying to compete on non-core data centre activities will always be at a disadvantage, so selling to a data centre expert gives much greater capabilities and flexibility, so at this level, it makes sense,” said Longbottom.

However, he questioned the rational of specialisation followed by duplication of effort. “It leaves Windstream to focus on its comms business on one hand, except it says it won’t, as it will resell data centre services through Tierpoint. And Tierpoint will sell comms services through Windstream. Two companies, selling the same offering, but with overlapping and redundant back office costs, so driving the cost to the customer up,” said Longbottom, “it would make far more sense for the deal to be a merger with two divisions, to my mind.”

DigitalOcean, Infrastructure as a Service, News & Analysis

DigitalOcean simplifies IP addressing of services with new cloud building invention

CloudCloud infrastructure platform maker DigitalOcean has launched new tools for developing building large-scale applications. The tools, Floating IPs and Team Account Management, aim to speed up the process by removing common blockages reported by cloud application writers.

The Floating IPs platform aims to make it easier for developers to quickly associate an IP address with a different cloud server (AKA Droplet). The system caters for quick allocation through one of two routes, using either the system control panel or application programming interface (API). “This eliminates single points of failure and empowers developers to build production applications at any scale,” said Brooke McKim, director of product at DigitalOcean.

The company has also released Team Accounts, a system to improve support for teams of developers working together to power established applications. The system allows developers to invite multiple users to access and manage the account’s resources, such as Droplets, without having to share their own login credentials or billing information.

DigitalOcean says that since its formation, in 2012, 700,000 developers have used its cloud building system to create eight million cloud servers. The release of Floating IPs will make it a lot easier to tag servers to apps and create highly available applications, according to Moisey Uretsky, co-founder and chief product officer at DigitalOcean.

“Simplicity is difficult to achieve,” said Uretsky, “There’s a lot of benefit in taking the time to get it right and making complex technology easy to use. We wanted this networking solution to have the same qualities developers love about The Droplet: simplicity, elegance and incredible user experience.”

Development of the new products was financed by an $83 million funding round in July 2015, with funds from Series B round of financing led by Access Industries. Other investors include Andreessen Horowitz, which led the company’s $37 million Series A round last year. Container pioneer Docker hosts its applications on DigitalOcean.

Application Publishing, Case Study, Direct Network Services, Parallels RAS, Parallels Remote Application Server, RAS, Remote Application Server

Case Study: Direct Network Services BV Saved 90% of Application Publishing Costs with Parallels RAS

“We like Parallels Remote Application Server because it’s flexible and cost-effective. When compared against Citrix, we were able to save over 85% of costs for one of our customers. The support is also very good.” ~ Peter Spithoff  & Victor Esselman, Owners Direct Network Services BV chose Parallels Remote Application Server to centrally host customized applications of […]

The post Case Study: Direct Network Services BV Saved 90% of Application Publishing Costs with Parallels RAS appeared first on Parallels Blog.

CorelDRAW, CorelDRAW on Mac, Customer Story, Parallels Desktop, Parallels Desktop for Mac, run windows on mac, Windows on mac

Customer Story: CorelDRAW on Mac with Parallels Desktop

The following post is a customer story submitted to our Advocacy program by Tim H. We are incredibly thankful to Tim for sharing his story with us and allowing us to share it with you. Read on for Tim’s experience choosing and using Parallels Desktop. Featured image courtesy of CorelDRAW. In this week’s Customer Story, Parallels Desktop user Tim H. explains […]

The post Customer Story: CorelDRAW on Mac with Parallels Desktop appeared first on Parallels Blog.

News, Services

EMC and VMware Discloses New Cloud Services Business

EMC Corporation and VMware have recently announced plans to create a new cloud service business through combination of their individual cloud capabilities, along with existing Virtustream cloud offerings. Virtustream will be jointly owned by VMware and EMC and led by Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream.  A definitive agreement is expected to be reached soon, with Virtustream’s financial results being consolidated into VMware’s financial statements in 2016.

Joe Tucci, EMC Corporation Chairman and CEO, has stated, “”Through Virtustream, we are addressing the changes in buying patterns and IT cloud operation models that we are seeing in the market. Our customers consistently tell us that they are focused on their IT transformations and journeys to the hybrid cloud. The EMC Federation is now positioned as a complete provider of hybrid cloud offerings.”

The new business is set to incorporate the capabilities of both VMware and EMC along with Information Infrastructure, VCE, Virtustream in order to provide the complete spectrum of on- and off- premises offerings including: VMware vCloud Air, VCE Cloud Managed Services, Virtustream’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service, and EMC’s Storage Managed Services and Object Storage Services offerings.

VMware will establish a Cloud Provider Software business unit led by Ajay Patel, VMware senior vice president. The software with focus on delivering solutions and software to cloud providers that with hopefully allow them to harness the capabilities of the hybrid cloud. This new unit will incorporate assets and people from the VMware vCloud Air Application Services business, vCloud Director and vCloud Air Network teams.

Rodney Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Virtustream, has also commented, “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to lead the new Virtustream,” said Rodney Rogers, CEO for Virtustream. “Our vision of combining our IP and collective cloud platform and services capabilities for mission-critical applications, backed by the strength and reach of EMC and VMware will deliver an enterprise-focused hybrid cloud solution that is unrivaled in the market. We expect Virtustream will become one of the top 5 service providers globally and are thrilled about what this means to all of our customers, partners, and the Federation moving forward.”

The post EMC and VMware Discloses New Cloud Services Business appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

The cloud news categorized.