LSI Corporation on Wednesday announced that it is working closely with VMware to deliver breakthrough virtual desktop density for VMware Horizon View™ deployments. Collaborative testing with VMware Horizon View using a single LSI® Nytro™ WarpDrive® application acceleration card achieved concurrent support for 200 active virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) workloads on a two-node cluster with no storage latency.
“Our testing of the LSI Nytro WarpDrive cards confirms Nytro technology can support demanding VDI workload environments with simplified management and increasing security and control,” said Mason Uyeda, senior director of technical marketing, End-User Computing, VMware. “LSI Nytro WarpDrive cards will help enable our customers to overcome the latency demands of VDI-intensive workloads to deliver high performance and return on investment.”
Understanding the fundamentals of cloud security for healthcare
By David Linthicum
Continuing our discussion from my last blog in July, perhaps it’s helpful to drive deeper into security approaches and technology for use within clouds that serve the healthcare vertical. We’ll start by focusing on the fundamentals of cloud security for healthcare. However, some of this is transferable to other verticals as well.
First fundamental: Understand the data that will reside in the cloud
Healthcare data has something in common. It’s dangerous to manage, unless you know exactly what you’re dealing with.
As we migrate health data to the cloud, it’s important to understand the data that will reside in the cloud-based systems, in terms of compliance and security requirements. This means understanding what is PII data, and what is not, as well as dealing with specific security requirements around encryption. This includes data in flight, and at rest.
Second fundamental: Identity-based security …
Forrester: Cloud Computing Fuels IT Spending
As IT departments get the green light to update systems and implement solutions, cloud computing is increasingly getting a slice of those IT budgets.
Cloud computing is on the list of top IT spending priorities for next year, according to Forrester Research.
Software spending worldwide will continue to grow with a big focus on the cloud, and these worldwide trends reflect the focus of midsize firms, according to an article on MidsizeInsider.com.
The Forrester research found that companies and governments spent more than $2 trillion on hardware, software and services. In the most popular segment, software firms allocated budgets for improving mobile apps, analytics, security and collaboration software. Software spending increased last year by more than $540 billion; it is expected to grow 3.3 percent this year and 6.2 percent in 2014, the largest projection for technology categories.
Forrester: Cloud Computing Fuels IT Spending
As IT departments get the green light to update systems and implement solutions, cloud computing is increasingly getting a slice of those IT budgets.
Cloud computing is on the list of top IT spending priorities for next year, according to Forrester Research.
Software spending worldwide will continue to grow with a big focus on the cloud, and these worldwide trends reflect the focus of midsize firms, according to an article on MidsizeInsider.com.
The Forrester research found that companies and governments spent more than $2 trillion on hardware, software and services. In the most popular segment, software firms allocated budgets for improving mobile apps, analytics, security and collaboration software. Software spending increased last year by more than $540 billion; it is expected to grow 3.3 percent this year and 6.2 percent in 2014, the largest projection for technology categories.
Dell: «The World’s Largest Startup»
“Welcome to the world’s largest startup!”
Thus tweeted Dell Chairman CEO Michael Dell on taking the company private. Almost 70% of shareholders approved the $25 billion leveraged buyout proposed by Michael, including more than half of shareholders who are not associated with the company.
Carl Icahn, politely referred to as an “activist investor” in many accounts, had tried to wrest the company away from Dell, opining in the Wall Street Journal that “the Dell board for years presided over the loss of tens of billions of dollars in market value at the hands of CEO Michael Dell. Instead of deposing him, the Dell board froze out shareholders.
I’ve not met Mr. Icahn, but I have met with Michael Dell, and spoke on a conference panel with him in Japan many years ago, when I was young and he was younger. He was an exuberant, cocksure person who took pride in a company that he had founded, as PCs Limited, in his college dorm room.
He seems to maintain that enthusiasm today, as the company has weathered the migration of the “personal computer” as an integral component of enterprise computing, the commoditization of its core product line, and now, the advent of cloud computing.
By going private, Michael and his team – in a global enterprise that employs more than 100,000 people and generates more than $50 billion in annual revenue – can focus on how to win a significant share of the global cloud market without being subject to the whimsy of the enormous casino known as the stock market.
As for Mr. Icahn, perhaps he can explain how the acumen that served him so well in taking TWA private many years ago should’ve, could’ve, would’ve been applied to his vision of a glorious future for Dell.
Dell: «The World’s Largest Startup»
“Welcome to the world’s largest startup!”
Thus tweeted Dell Chairman CEO Michael Dell on taking the company private. Almost 70% of shareholders approved the $25 billion leveraged buyout proposed by Michael, including more than half of shareholders who are not associated with the company.
Carl Icahn, politely referred to as an “activist investor” in many accounts, had tried to wrest the company away from Dell, opining in the Wall Street Journal that “the Dell board for years presided over the loss of tens of billions of dollars in market value at the hands of CEO Michael Dell. Instead of deposing him, the Dell board froze out shareholders.
I’ve not met Mr. Icahn, but I have met with Michael Dell, and spoke on a conference panel with him in Japan many years ago, when I was young and he was younger. He was an exuberant, cocksure person who took pride in a company that he had founded, as PCs Limited, in his college dorm room.
He seems to maintain that enthusiasm today, as the company has weathered the migration of the “personal computer” as an integral component of enterprise computing, the commoditization of its core product line, and now, the advent of cloud computing.
By going private, Michael and his team – in a global enterprise that employs more than 100,000 people and generates more than $50 billion in annual revenue – can focus on how to win a significant share of the global cloud market without being subject to the whimsy of the enormous casino known as the stock market.
As for Mr. Icahn, perhaps he can explain how the acumen that served him so well in taking TWA private many years ago should’ve, could’ve, would’ve been applied to his vision of a glorious future for Dell.
Monetizing Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
There is a burst of creative ideas emerging in the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) space or what has become more affectionately known as the Internet-of-things world. With so many opportunities around the globe to connect devices and assets, many companies are starting to stake out claims in the M2M space. However, while much of the attention has been focused on the machine part of the equation, people are the ultimate stakeholders. After all, it is the individual who will benefit and have the power to act on the information through smart apps. Some of the most promising opportunities are in the automobile, smart metering, eHealth, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and home security industries, but many more examples are emerging.
In many of these cases actual deployment is still minimal, but the potential is there for creative and exciting large-scale implementations, some of which may even start locally and grow into global solutions.
Monetizing Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
There is a burst of creative ideas emerging in the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) space or what has become more affectionately known as the Internet-of-things world. With so many opportunities around the globe to connect devices and assets, many companies are starting to stake out claims in the M2M space. However, while much of the attention has been focused on the machine part of the equation, people are the ultimate stakeholders. After all, it is the individual who will benefit and have the power to act on the information through smart apps. Some of the most promising opportunities are in the automobile, smart metering, eHealth, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and home security industries, but many more examples are emerging.
In many of these cases actual deployment is still minimal, but the potential is there for creative and exciting large-scale implementations, some of which may even start locally and grow into global solutions.
Moving Email to the Cloud, Part 1
By Chris Chesley, Solutions Architect
Many of our clients are choosing to not manage Exchange day to day and not to upgrade it every 3-5 years. They do this by choosing to have Microsoft host their mail in Office 365. Is this right for your business? How do you tie this into your existing infrastructure and still have access to email regardless of the status of your onsite services?
The different plans for Microsoft Office 365 can be confusing. Regardless of what plan you get, the Exchange Online choices boil down to two options. Exchange Plan 1 offers you 50GB mailboxes per user, ActiveSync, Outlook Web Access, Calendar and all of the other features you are currently getting with an on premises Exchange implementation. Additionally you also get antivirus and antispam protection. All of this for 4 dollars a month per user.
Exchange Plan 2 offers the exact same features as plan 1, with the additions of unlimited archiving, legal hod capabilities, compliance support tools and advanced voice support. This plan is 8 dollars a user per month.
All of the other Office 365 plans that include Exchange are either plan 1 or plan 2. For example, the E3 plan (Enterprise plan 3) includes Exchange plan 2, SharePoint Plan 2, Lync Plan 2 and Office Professional Plus for 5 devices per user. You can take any plan and break it down to the component part and fully understand what you’re getting.
If you are looking to move email to the cloud and are currently using Exchange, who better to host your Exchange than Microsoft? Office 365 is an even better choice if you are using, or plan on using, SharePoint or Lync. All of these technologies are available in the current plans or individually through Office 365.
I’ve helped many clients make this transition so if you have any questions or if there’s any confusion around the Office 365 plans feel free to reach out.
My next blog will be on the 3 different authentication methods in Office 365.
How the New BitTorrent Bundles Aims to Combine Content, Social and Commerce
The people behind the format responsible for about a tenth of internet traffic, and until now the bane of content publishers, now aims to build content, social and (they fervently hope) commerce into their new BitTorrent Bundles. As the website puts it:
”(BitTorrent Bundles is the) first media store by the people, for the people. BitTorrent Bundles is where you can access a world of content, direct from artists. Browse titles from some of our favorite creators. Unlock music and film exclusives. Play what you want. Pay what you want.”
