You want to move your enterprise applications to the cloud, but fear (security, uptime, responsiveness) and loathing (exaggerated claims, undisclosed complexity, etc.) seem to keep getting in the way. It feels like this fear & loathing in the enterprise cloud is resulting in organizations realizing only a small percentage of the potential benefits that can be gained through cloud adoption.
In his general session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Gary Ballabio, Product Line Director at Akamai Technologies, will examine a variety of strategies you can employ to make your cloud architecture better performing, more secure and available. Through a variety of best practices learn how to escape fear & loathing and achieve the optimal reliability for applications running in the cloud.
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: The Evolution of Cloud Flexibility
It was supposed to be about flexibility, wasn’t it? Cloud computing lets you alter your capacity as your demand fluctuates, something on-premise solutions could never do the same way. But, is the cloud as flexible as it could be? With cookie-cutter VM sizes, scalability that removes an entire former dimension, and reserved instance pricing that requires prediction we went to the cloud to avoid in the first place, the first generation of public cloud providers don’t go as far as they could.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Pete Johnson, Chief Evangelist for ProfitBricks, will explain how Cloud 1.0 falls short and how Cloud 2.0 offers the flexibility you’re looking for.
Japan’s NTT Communications Corp Snaps Up Two US Cloud Companies: Reuters
Ever since SoftBank Corp in July completed its $21.6BN purchase of Sprint Corp, Japan’s biggest overseas acquisition to date, it seems that Japanese firms are ramping up their efforts to improve overseas networks through acquisitions. Today, according to Reuters, Japan’s NTT Communications Corp has acquired two US Cloud companies.
Japan’s NTT Communications Corp Snaps Up Two US Cloud Companies: Reuters
Ever since SoftBank Corp in July completed its $21.6BN purchase of Sprint Corp, Japan’s biggest overseas acquisition to date, it seems that Japanese firms are ramping up their efforts to improve overseas networks through acquisitions. Today, according to Reuters, Japan’s NTT Communications Corp has acquired two US Cloud companies.
How Buggy Are Today’s APIs? [Infographic]
This infographic highlights some interesting findings from Parasoft’s research on API Integrity…
With the advent of the API economy, the integrity of the APIs you produce and consume is now more important than ever. As applications grow increasingly interdependent, the security, functionality, and performance of the composite «mashup» is only as strong as its weakest link. The success of an end-to-end transaction depends upon all the parts working flawlessly – all the time.
To better understand the scope and impact of API issues, Parasoft, leading provider of API Testing solutions, recently conducted study on API Integrity. The following infographic highlights some interesting findings…
Time to Get on the Colocation Train Before It Is Too Late
The data center industry is heading toward an inflection point that has significant impact on enterprises. It seems many aren’t looking far enough ahead, but the timeline appears to be 12-18 months, which is not that far out! The issue is a typical supply chain issue of supply, demand and timelines.
First, let’s start with a bit of background… The advent of Cloud Computing and newer technologies, are driving an increase in the number of enterprises looking to ‘get out of the data center business. I, along with others, have presented many times about ‘Death of the Data Center.’ The data center, which used to serve as a strategic weapon in an enterprise IT org’s arsenal, is still very much critical, but fundamentally becoming a commodity. That’s not to say that the overall data center services are becoming a commodity, but the facility is. Other factors, such as the geographic footprint, network and ecosystem are becoming the real differentiators. And enterprises ‘in the know’ realize they can’t compete at the same level as today’s commercial data center facility providers.
SAP and SAS partner for fast big data in-memory analytics
Madan Sheina, Lead Analyst, Software – Information Management
SAP and SAS announced a new partnership to create a joint product roadmap for in-memory analytics solutions. The aim is to make SAS’s advanced analytics software run smoothly on SAP’s HANA in-memory platform, helping joint customers run bigger, more complex, and faster analysis workloads.
The combination of technologies is potentially compelling for customers looking to mine intelligence out of Big Data. However, depending on which side’s perspective you take, this is a curious tie-up between two fierce analytic rivals that each market and sell their own in-memory platforms.
It remains to be seen whether this partnership can bring out the best of SAP and SAS’s core analytic strengths and competencies so that both parties gain, while also creating compelling value for customers. Historically, this hasn’t always been the case. Nevertheless this is one of the more interesting high-profile …
Cloud allows companies to double revenue, claims IBM study
The latest cloud study, this time from IBM, has revealed that companies who use cloud computing as a competitive advantage can expect to have their revenue margins doubled compared to those who don’t have high adoption.
In the global survey of over 800 business decision makers and users, IBM found that leading organisations are moving to the cloud to move away from their competitors in a crowded space.
The report puts companies into three categories: pacesetters, who are “deploying cloud on a broad scale”; challengers, who are at a similar level to pacesetters yet “lag on differentiation and market responsiveness”; and chasers, who are more cautious on cloud.
And the research also details the three areas in which the pacesetters are taking charge: strategic reinvention, such as improving business models and rapid product innovation; making better decisions; and deeper collaboration.
In particular, these companies are 117% more likely to …
Building Your Hybrid Cloud – Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage Foundation
Keith Mayer and myself kick off our new multi-part series today on how you can build your hybrid cloud environment with Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Windows Azure by laying down a quick overview of what we can expect for the series as well as diving into the new features found in Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage Foundation.
Build Your Lab! Download Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Hyper-V Server 2012 and get the best virtualization platform and private cloud management solution on the market.
Cloud Expo: Top 10 Tips for Engaging Customers with Social Media
Over the past decade, social media has disrupted the traditional methods of providing customer support. In the new era, digital tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest are transforming organizations into social enterprises.
For companies of any size, a strong social media strategy is a growing necessity in the world of branding. What savvy businesses are doing is taking advantage of collaborative online platforms to shorten the distance between support specialists and consumers. The bottom line is that social media is a strategic tool that can be used to manage a company’s online reputation, control the spread of misinformation and enhance the overall customer experience.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Robert Collazo, Manager of Social Media and Senior Systems Engineer at Rackspace, will explain how you can leverage social and mobile technologies to drive real business outcomes. Attendees will learn how to optimize their company’s online presence in order to build customer engagement and extract value from social networks like Facebook, micro-blogs like Twitter and multimedia platforms like YouTube.