Now, with more hardware! September 21, 2015, Don MacVittie, Sr. Solutions Architect. The “continuous” trend is continuing (get it..?), and we’ll soon reach the peek of the hype cycle, with continuous everything. At the pinnacle of the hype cycle, do not be surprised to see DDOS attacks re-branded as “continuous penetration testing!” and a fee … Read More Continuous Provisioning
Salesforce offers $100m VC opportunity to European cloud startups
Salesforce Ventures has allocated $100 million to invest in European startups as the investment arm of the cloud giant aims to capitalise on a potential $33.3 billion market. Any European cloud start up that impresses the venture capitalists could typically expect backing of between $1 million and $5 million, according to the fund’s development head.
As the investment arm of cloud-based CRM giant Salesforce it has already invested £500 million in 150 cloud and enterprise startups since 2009. However the majority of these have been US based and only 17 European cloud start up firms have been funded. However, researcher IDC predicts that the European cloud sector will grow 12 as fast as any other sector of the IT industry. As Europe catches up with the US, by 2019 its cloud market could be worth a collective $33.3 billion, it said.
As the global shift to the cloud generates demand for exciting new social, mobile and data science technologies it is creating an opportunity that should not be missed, said Salesforce EVP of corporate development John Somorjai. The European investment business will link back to Salesforce Ventures’ operations in the US run by Somorjai. London based Alex Kayyal will head the Salesforce Ventures’ efforts in Europe.
“There is so much incredible innovation happening in Europe today and we want to empower the next generation of enterprise cloud startups in the region,” said Somorjai, “Our $100 million commitment strengthens our mission to help startups grow and give back to their communities.”
However, he admitted that the competition has already started with five investments already earmarked to take a chunk of the budget.
European cloud start ups that have previously won funding from Salesforce Ventures include CartoDB, CloudSense, Cloud9 IDE, NewVoiceMedia, Qubit, Universal Avenue and YOUR SL. It’s not just about the money, according to Ruben Daniels, co-founder of Cloud9 IDE. “It’s the network and introductions, mentorship and framework that help,” said Daniels.
Salesforce Ventures’ global expertise was as important as its funding, according to CartoDB founder Javier de la Torre. “It helps us more effectively bring our data visualization tools to individual and business users around the world,” said de la Torre.
Software AG launches web-based Digital Marketplace
Software AG has launched an online shop for development components in a bid to make cloud application development easier for enterprises.
The Digital Marketplace allows programmers at enterprises to choose and use the essential IT development components they need to solve their business problems. The stock on offer includes solution accelerators, business process models, application components, adapters and industry frameworks. Clients can also get fully-fledged systems created by Software AG’s partners and customers.
Software AG says it has two million developers and an expanding partner base contributing to the online resource. Visitors to the site can browse and take inspiration from industry-specific use cases and – if they fit the bill for the client’s own installation – download components of the systems described.
The vendor was compelled to set up the resource as the model for software purchase and consumption is changing, said Eric Duffaut, Chief Customer Officer for Software AG. “Digitisation is changing everything. Enterprises and governments have to develop and implement their unique digital strategies to meet customer and citizen expectations,” said Duffaut.
The hub is designed to make the increasingly complex world of cloud computing less threatening to the enterprise buyer, many of whom are not particularly technical, according to Duffaut. “These are not run-of-the mill investments and every one is a strategic decision. The Digital Marketplace will make digitisation easier, based on the collective experience of Software AG, our partners and customers.”
Meanwhile, partners will have a new channel to market, said Harish Dwarkanhalli, the Global Delivery Head of Software AG partner Cognizant’s Integrated Process Management practice. “Co-innovation is a key part of the value to our mutual clients. The Digital Marketplace is a new way to highlight the innovation, frameworks and thought leadership we’ve developed.”
Cognizant is using the online market to launch its Intra Day Liquidity Monitoring (ILM) system to clients.
Adobe tweaks Document Cloud to unblock Dropbox and make e-signing easier
Adobe has announced two improvements to document management in the cloud, by making PDF files more manageable in Dropbox and solving one of the snags in electronic document signing.
One billion users of Adobe Acrobat DC and Adobe Acrobat Reader will now be able to edit PDFs as they sit in Dropbox folders, the vendor has announced, as it has worked with Dropbox to simplify the way that PDF files can be edited with Adobe apps.
According to Adobe, the billion mobile devices and desktop computers in the world that have Adobe Acrobat software contain 18 billion PDF files whose functions are limited by Dropbox. The blockage that stopped users from editing those files has now been removed as part of a drive to make Adobe Document Cloud more efficient, the vendor claims.
The improvement was achieved after the two companies integrated their applications and services on mobile devices, desktops and the web, according to Kevin M. Lynch, general manager of Adobe Document Cloud.
Users can now view and edit PDF files stored in their Dropbox Basic, Pro and Dropbox for Business accounts with any changes automatically saved back to Dropbox. Collaboration has also been simplified, Abode claims, as Acrobat DC users can now execute the full range of tasks promised by the application. Editing text on PDF files, organising pages and converting documents to their original format will no longer be hindered by Dropbox environment. Meanwhile, the synchronisation of documents will no longer be restricted by glitches between Adobe and Dropbox operating software.
Adobe has had to adjust as customers have constantly evolved, said Lynch. “Today, mobile has become the rule and people expect to complete work quickly and simply wherever and whenever they need. Our work with Dropbox will help Document Cloud customers be more productive,” said Lynch.
Adobe has also created new options for e-signing in Document Cloud in a bid to make electronic document management easier. New functions include a visual drag-and-drop Workflow Designer, digital signatures (a more advanced secure form of e-signatures) and Enterprise Mobility Management and Signature Capture.
Adobe said it has worked with Workday, Salesforce and Ariba to add e-signing options to their respective HR, sales, procurement and legal systems.
Bryan Lamkin, Adobe digital media’s general manager, promised, “a new level of efficiency”.
Why Desktop Virtualization Matters Today
This blog post has been reprinted with permission from Jeff Steiner, Parallels Sr. Director of Product Marketing, from his LinkedIn blog. The original piece can be found here. I have a pretty strange background. I was a developer for over a decade and then made the switch to the business side (and Product Marketing no […]
The post Why Desktop Virtualization Matters Today appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Azure Cloud Security Enhancement
One of the most anticipated user management and security features for Microsoft Azure has officially been launched. According to Alex Simons, director of program management at Microsoft’s Identity Division, the Azure Roles-Based Access Control, or RBAC, is now generally available. RBAC has been requested by customers that have evaluated Azure as the foundation of their own enterprise cloud sectors. Azure Roles-Based Access Control permits administrators to selectively grant access to both cloud services and production workloads, adding a level of security.
As Dushyant Gill, a Microsoft Azure Active Directory program manager explained, “Until now, to give people the ability to manage Azure you had to give them full control of an entire Azure subscription. Now, using RBAC, you can grant people only the amount of access that they need to perform their jobs.” RBAC interfaces with Azure Active Directory (AD), Microsoft’s cloud-based identity management platform, to show users their assigned Azure resources. Once you extend your Active Directory to the cloud, using Azure AD—your employees can purchase and manage Azure subscriptions using their existing work identity. These Azure subscriptions automatically connect to your Azure AD for single sign-on and access management.”
If an Active Directory account becomes disabled, access to all Azure subscriptions is cut off, enhancing the security of the azure program. Roles-Based Access Control may also provide departments a certain level of independence whilst still being compliant with the organizations IT policies. Gill described, “Using Azure RBAC, you can enable self-service management of cloud resources for your project teams while retaining central control over security sensitive infrastructure. For example, a common setup is to allow project teams to create and manage their own virtual machines and storage accounts, but only allow them to connect to networks managed by a central team.”
RBAC is currently available with a multitude of preset roles; however, “if none of the built-in RBAC roles addresses your specific access need, you will be able to create a custom RBAC role composing the exact operations to which you wish to grant access” (Gill).
The post Azure Cloud Security Enhancement appeared first on Cloud News Daily.
Rancher Labs to Present at @DevOpsSummit | @Rancher_Labs #DevOps #Containers #Microservices
Containers are all the rage among developers and web companies, but they also represent two very substantial benefits to larger organizations. First, they have the potential to dramatically accelerate the application lifecycle from software builds and testing to deployment and upgrades. Second they represent the first truly hybrid-approach to consuming infrastructure, allowing organizations to run the same workloads on any cloud, virtual machine or physical server. Together, they represent a very real opportunity for DevOps teams to drive faster development and cheaper operations, without many of the limitations of existing PaaS platforms.
Why the culture shift is the most important factor in your cloud strategy
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In a recent study which spoke with 300 companies on cloud adoption, 82% of the enterprises stated they had a hybrid cloud strategy, up from 74% in 2014. The continual growth of cloud adoption, in particular for enterprises, is becoming increasingly tricky to ignore.
Before you make this big step, however, there are a number of factors you must take into consideration. What vendor will you select? How will you implement the most effective cloud strategy? And, most importantly of all, how will this impact the company culture and the workforce as a whole?
It’s a factor that can often slip a company’s mind, but the culture shift that can occur from enterprise cloud adoption could have damaging ramifications if not handled correctly. Implement it the right way, however, and you enable your workforce and company to hit the ground running, embracing the many positives that come with such a change. It’s up to you.
Implementing a culture shift
You’ve chosen your cloud provider. You’ve implemented an effective enterprise-wide strategy. The next, and arguably most important step, is to make the culture shift as applicable and seamless as possible. Many within your workforce may be used to working a certain way for some time now. They’ve relied on emails and documents for communication and have yet to fully experience this form of cloud collaboration. It may be a shock to their working day system. It’s therefore your responsibility to prepare your workforce for this adjustment, highlighting the benefits, and educating them on a new way of collaborating.
A survey of several hundred companies by CMSWire found that social, interactive communications, and collaboration technologies resulted in significant benefits, including a 15% increase in productivity across the average enterprise, 2%-4% increase in overall revenue, 21% reduction in email, and 16% decrease in meetings. The benefits of cloud collaboration are there to be seen. You must now highlight this to your workforce, guiding them accordingly.
The why
A company’s employees are its most important commodity. If they aren’t motivated, engaged or in line with a new cloud adoption, the odds of it succeeding plummets substantially. Unhappy or unengaged employees equals lower productivity, which costs American businesses alone over $300 billion a year. On the other hand, companies with happy employees outperform competition by 20%, are 2.1% above industry benchmarks, and earn 1.2%-1.7% more than peer firms. Quite simply, you can’t afford to have your workforce displeased or uneducated on your cloud adoption and the benefits that come with it.
If there’s one keyword that belongs alongside an enterprise cloud platform, it’s collaboration. Cloud adoption provides tools for co-workers to communicate with ease, encouraging a collaborative work culture. That collaborative culture, however, can’t come to fruition if the workforce isn’t on board with the changes, or isn’t trained appropriately.
The how
Implementing a culture shift for an entire organisation can’t be achieved overnight. It requires time, patience, knowledge sharing, training, and strong leadership. Firstly, don’t spring this change on your workforce without warning. Inform everyone of the cloud adoption plans before implementing them, and start a back and forth discussion. Does everyone understand the changes? Do people have concerns? Are people fully aware of the benefits aligned with this platform? If you can resolve these issues and queries beforehand, you’ll be able to provide a far more effective and unified culture shift.
The proof is in the cloud-filled pudding. By 2018, more than 60% of enterprises will have at least half of their infrastructure on cloud-based platforms. It’s a platform that is assisting companies worldwide, and the benefits are clear to see. It’s on you, however, to make these benefits clear to the rest of your workforce, along with having them fully prepared before the new platform is implemented. Doing so will enable everyone within the organisation to embrace their new cloud adoption with great energy, involvement, and competence.
Forefront of adoption
By 2017, cloud adoption is expected to hit $250 billion, with the worldwide software as a service (SaaS) market growing at a rate of 20.2% every year. Enterprise cloud adoption shows no signs of slowing down. Stay one step ahead of your competitors by preparing your workforce for the impending changes, and putting them at the forefront of the adoption.
Enterprise cloud platforms concentrate heavily on collaboration. Surely you can’t expect your cloud platform to truly succeed if your workforce doesn’t have a collaborate culture? If you can implement this culture shift, then the often trickiest, and most vital part of the workplace transformation is already complete.
DevOps gaining ground in businesses, but data security fears linger
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The DevOps movement is gaining ground in the UK with spending topping £1 million for one in three UK organisations, according to latest research published by Delphix.
More than three quarters (77%) of organisations surveyed said they had introduced dedicated budgets and support teams for DevOps. Companies have on average introduced seven DevOps initiatives over the past 24 months, with this figure expected to rise to nine in the next two years.
The influences for DevOps are evident. Two thirds (66%) of teams say they need to deliver software faster, while almost half (49%) say the volume of applications that businesses support is increasing and code is being released more frequently.
Almost three in five (59%) of those polled say DevOps is somewhat to strongly defined – yet the responsibility of who controls DevOps initiatives is still up in the air, with 28% opting for the development side, 22% the operations side and the remaining 50% saying both combined.
The first part of the report’s results, released back in August, showed similar disparity. The most popular definition for DevOps was “developers and system administrators collaborating to ease the transition between development and production” (84%), compared to 69% opting for “using infrastructure automation to facilitate self-service provisioning of infrastructure by development teams.”
Even if the definition is not quite there, organisations are increasingly turning to DevOps to identify defects before they get into production. More than half (56%) of businesses identify issues either once the application has been deployed to production, or during QA and validation, which takes on average five days to resolve.
Yet 46% of teams admit they experience delays waiting for testing and development data environments. The result is that teams are often working against data security constraints, with four in 10 respondents admitting developers and QA personnel are given unaudited access to production data.
“The pace at which companies need to securely deliver and update applications has increased drastically over the last few years,” said Iain Chidgey, VP international sales at Delphix. “Traditionally, IT could update applications once or twice a year, but today expectations are much higher, with releases being pushed out weekly, daily or even hourly.”
You can find more about the 2015 State of DevOps report here.
Announcing @Supermicro_SMCI to Exhibit at @CloudExpo Silicon Valley | #Cloud
SYS-CON Events announced today that Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server, storage technology and green computing, will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions® for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Hadoop/Big Data, HPC and Embedded Systems worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its “We Keep IT Green®” initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly solutions available on the market.