SYS-CON Events announced today that OpenStack will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. OpenStack software controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed by a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.
OpenStack powers some of the most widely-used SaaS applications and eCommerce sites, the world’s largest public clouds, and Global 1000 enterprises alike, each of whom rely on OpenStack to run their businesses every day. The open source cloud platform controls pools of compute, storage and networking resources at massive scale, making them available via a self-service dashboard.
MaxCDN Now Accepting Bitcoin
NetDNA LLC, a content delivery network (CDN) provider, today announced that MaxCDN is the first CDN to accept payment via Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency, enables instant peer-to-peer transactions, worldwide payments with low or zero processing fees. The community-driven software operates with no central authority – managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network.
“Developers are a core part of our customer base and have been requesting this payment model,” said Justin Dorfman of NetDNA. “We’re strong believers in open source and part of that commitment is being responsive to developer requests. Bitcoin as the emerging “coin of the realm” for this community and we’re excited at the opportunity to be accepting Bitcoins.”
SAP Pilots Service to Unlock Value of Mobile Data
SAP today announced the SAP Consumer Insight 365 mobile service, a pilot initiative of a new cloud-based offering aiming to unlock the value of big data. The service will be powered by the SAP HANA platform and will allow enterprises to gain insight from the analysis of massive amounts of aggregated and anonymized consumer data residing in operator networks in real time. This market intelligence will ultimately allow brands to strengthen relationships with consumers through more targeted and context-specific marketing efforts.
“The rise of the always connected mobile world is creating a new source of data that has the potential to provide deeper insight into consumer behavior,” according to Guy Rolfe , global mobile practice leader at Kantar Mobile. ”The challenge is that this data is on a scale not seen before, therefore any service that can address this will create a new empirical data source that will not only complement existing research methodologies, but will also enable brands to better connect to consumers.”
There are more mobile devices in the world than there are people. The proliferation of mobile devices has significantly changed the way people communicate, live and engage with each other at work and in their personal lives. As more consumers get connected around the world through mobile devices, smartphones and the Internet, all of these interactions create massive amounts of data. The sheer volume and scale of this data has made analysis difficult.
With SAP Consumer Insight 365, data from operator networks will be analyzed through advanced analytics providing population level insight as well as high-definition detail through an intuitive Web portal, without drilling down into user-specific information. All mobile network operator data will be stored discreetly and individually partitioned within a global network of SAP data centers.
The Real Value of Cloud Computing
“Cloud has everything to do with what has happened with Big Data,” explained Jason Deck, Director of Strategic Alliances at Logicworks, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “Big Data doesn’t exist in its easily accessible way without cloud. From reduced startup costs, to cheap storage, to fast processing, to adequate security, to the easy incorporation of third-party analytics tools, cloud made Big Data accessible to customers of all sizes, with all different budgets.”
Cloud Computing Journal: The move to cloud isn’t about saving money, it is about saving time. – Agree or disagree?
Jason Deck: The move to cloud is not specifically about money or time. The real value of cloud computing is in giving a business the platform to create real operational agility, so an organization can focus economic and human resources on the most valuable parts of its business. Cloud does save time and it does save money but, above all, it provides a company with agility to respond to its competitors and test out new ideas with minimal risk, all while being certain sensitive data are secure and compliant.
DigitalOcean Launches Incentivized Customer Referral Program
DigitalOcean, a New York-based cloud server and hosting provider has launched a commission-based customer referral program. The plan is accessible to registered DigitalOcean customers and will compensate them with a $10 commission for each newly acquired customer that totals $10 in billing. Registered users are provided with their own unique referral code link that allows them to track the customers they’ve brought in, as well as their commission totals.
Boasting over 190,000 Linux–based cloud servers launched since inception, DigitalOcean is a TechStars startup accelerator graduate. Each SSD “Droplet” — the company term for its cloud servers — provides disk and network performance, coupled with the capability to easily migrate and resize existing Droplets with a single click.
“We love listening to our customers and our new referral program is one way we can give back,” says Ben Uretsky, CEO of DigitalOcean. “Referrals have been a huge driver of success for DigitalOcean. We want to give back to our loyal customers by rewarding them for continuing to spread the word and help our business grow.”
Additional cloud hosting plans include options ranging from the initial 512 MB of RAM starting at $5 per month, to a maximum of capacity of96 GB of RAM and 10 TB of bandwidth transfer.
AWS GovCloud Meets FedRAMP Standard
Amazon Web Services said Tuesday that its GovCloud (US) in all US AWS regions has gotten an Agency Authority to Operate (ATO) from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements at the moderate-impact level.
FedRAMP is a US government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services.
Since AWS has demonstrated it can meet FedRAMP’s security requirements, a wider range of government customers can use it to store, process and protect a diverse array of sensitive government data.
Cloud Expo New York: Is Your Organization ‘Cloud-Ready’?
Organizations across the world are increasingly starting to see the benefits of moving more and more services to the cloud. The focus on the cost-saving potential of cloud is rapidly shifting to completely transforming the business with cloud. As organizations are investing enormous sums on technology they are starting to realize that in order to maximize the return on investment and accelerate the business transformation process the first area of focus should be people. By ensuring the organization is ‘cloud-ready’ the organizational adoption will be much faster and much better. A workforce ready and eager to maximize the potential value and benefit will more readily embrace a cloud strategy.
How Cloud-Based Collaboration Boosts Performance
Online collaboration has evolved during the last decade, delivering even greater value — thanks to a new generation of business technology applications. Forbes Insights released «Collaborating in the Cloud,» a Cisco-sponsored study examining the ways business leaders increasingly look at cloud collaboration as a way to increase productivity, accelerate business results and enhance innovation across borders and functions.
The research combines a global survey of more than 500 executives with 15 executive interviews.
«The ability to collaborate in the cloud is becoming a key driver of competitive advantage,» says Bruce Rogers, Chief Insights Officer of Forbes Media. «Leading companies are doing more to foster cloud-based collaboration — not only internally, but also with an ever-wider swath of external groups including customers, suppliers, partners, and even regulators.» The benefits of cloud-based collaboration, Rogers continues, include «greater efficiency, organizational dexterity, and innovation,» to name only a few.
OpenStack New York Meetup Group Syncs Up with Cloud Expo New York
«Since Cloud Expo is running the week of June 10, we thought it’d be a great idea to schedule our Meetup this week. That way, if you have colleagues, friends, or family in town that week for the Expo, you can invite them to join you!» With those words, the OpenStack New York Meetup Group’s organizer’s launched a landing page this week where anyone interested can register for the June 12 evening event.
Adobe’s Out of Box Thinking and Into the Cloud
By Rob O’Shaughnessy, Software Licensing Specialist
I attended Adobe’s MAX conference in rainy, LA, California last week and I felt bad, as a local, that a lot of travelers had to witness our once a quarter rainfall, however with all the forest fires ranging around SoCal it was an unexpected relief. Adobe put some fires out on their own by providing some great insight as to what they are doing to the software community.
It was the first time that partners and Adobe sales team members were invited to this mostly technical event. The room was divided between the cool hipster “Creatives” and the button-up suit with no tie looking sales people. It was a 7th grade dance before the first slow song was played, but we were all there for the same purpose; to find out what’s going on with Creative Cloud.
So let’s backup if you haven’t heard of Creative Cloud. Several months ago Adobe began offering a subscription-based licensing model for their creative products. The Creative Cloud is essentially everything that’s included in the Creative Suite Master Collection. It’s a subscription-based licensing model which gives you all the Adobe creative products for a monthly fee. Like Creative Suite, it’s also an on-premise product so ultimately the big difference between the two boils down to how you want to purchase it – to subscribe to it or own it.
The biggest announcement at MAX was that moving forward Adobe will no longer provide future releases of Creative Suite or other CS products. Like Rocky, Creative Suite has ended at version 6, so moving forward if you wanted to obtain the latest and greatest technology and features you will need to move to the Creative Cloud. Also if you like box product, Adobe will no longer be offering shrink-wrap as well. Customer will now need to purchase a volume license or jump into the Cloud.
In my opinion this is a good thing, because as a Creative it’s important to be up to date with all the latest enhancements that Adobe provides as it will allow access to all the cutting edge technology instantly as it comes out, instead of waiting every 18 months for Adobe to compile a list of enhancements and release an upgrade. Plus the promo price till August 31st ($39.99 per month) is less than what I spend at the local pub, err I mean coffee shop.
If you’re interested in Creative Cloud and want to learn more about subscribing new users and co-terming future users, please fill out this form.