Appcelerator, who’s got a mobile development platform called Titanium
3.0, and SOASTA, who does cloud and mobile testing and has a mobile test
automation solution called TouchTest, have integrated their widgetry to
make things easier for developers.
It’s said to be the first integrated test automation solution.
Cloud computing providers are increasingly falling for bad habits – they are offering customers “standard form” contracts whereby they set the provider lays out the terms, very much like insurance companies do with their policies.
These contracts are somewhat problematic, as they levy all responsibility and liability onto the client making use of the cloud service. Whilst many small businesses may accept these contracts due to not having sufficient legal resources, large businesses have means and are extremely unlikely to take up a one-sided contract.
This contractual quandary could well hinder the process of cloud adoption, unless the providers address the matter, and soon. Large businesses have already taken the lead in rejecting cloud providers with such contracts.
Many of the standard form contracts are extremely basic and presented very much like software contracts whereby you must simply accept the terms in order to proceed, or else don’t accept – “take …
Cloud service provider Interoute has announced the launch of CloudStore, an enterprise app store which doubles up as a compute and storage facility, hosting OS and databases, as well as business apps.
Interoute, known for its virtual data centre and owning Europe’s largest cloud platform, is further focusing its efforts on the enterprise – understandable, given that’s where most of its client base lies – but featuring a much more rounded product than just hosting apps.
Counting Microsoft, RedHat and Ubuntu among its cast list, the Interoute CloudStore integrates several assets, with its integrated network, compute storage platform underneath a layer of appliances, from which secure platforms can be built.
The store also comes with an online knowledge centre, designed to help enterprises choose a bespoke model to suit their business needs.
In a press release, Interoute calls the solution a “game changer” and “the next generation of cloud computing …
Risk is not unique to the cloud. The «how» (aka the technology) changes, but not the mission. True professionals know the argument is not about technology or how security is delivered, but rather one of governance and policy enforcement.
Do a Google search on “cloud security” and the first entry is “How secure is the cloud?” True professionals know the argument is not about technology or how security is delivered, but rather one of governance. You need to know exactly who HAS access to what resources and if these levels of access are appropriate. You need to know who IS accessing resources, and if they don’t have the proper credentials, you need to be notified immediately to take further preventive action. You need know that protocols for compliance are in place and routinely and successfully generate the reporting for periodic audits. You need to know your rights, liabilities (SLA) for any application or service acquired and that they conform to your risk management practices.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Supermicro, a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and innovation, 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.
Super Micro Computer, Inc. or Supermicro®, a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and innovation, is a premier provider of end-to-end green computing solutions for Enterprise IT, Datacenter, Cloud Computing, HPC and Embedded Systems worldwide. Supermicro’s advanced server Building Block Solutions® offers a vast array of modular, interoperable components for building energy-efficient, application-optimized, computing solutions. This broad line of products includes servers, blades, GPU systems, workstations, motherboards, chassis, power supplies, storage technologies, networking solutions and SuperRack® cabinets/accessories. Architecture innovations include Twin Architecture, SuperServer®, SuperBlade®, MicroCloud, Super Storage Bridge Bay (SBB), Double-Sided Storage™, Universal I/O (UIO) and WIO expansion technology all of which deliver unrivaled performance and value.
Continuing its strong commitment to open-source and to the OpenNebula community, C12G Labs has just announced the open-source release of OpenNebulaApps, a suite of tools for users and administrators of OpenNebula clouds to simplify and optimize multi-tiered application management. The new software has been released under Apache license and will be incorporated into the main distribution of OpenNebula. After the announcement made two weeks ago about the public distribution of OpenNebula Maintenance Updates and Service Packs, the incorporation of this innovative functionality consolidates OpenNebula’s position as the most advanced, enterprise-ready open-source cloud management platform.
SYS-CON Events announced today that AppZero 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.
AppZero is the fastest and most flexible way to move server applications to the cloud, without re-engineering, re-installation, or lock-in. With one-click simplicity, AppZero migrates Windows server applications from datacenters to private, public, and hybrid clouds. Patent-pending Zapp migration technology automates the extraction and movement of server-side applications to any cloud or machine in a fraction of the time required by other approaches.
Anyone who has moved houses knows there is nothing worse than hauling boxes and boxes of stuff, only to unpack it all on the other end and discover that the beloved furniture and knick-knacks do not work in the new place. Portability is a tricky concept, and moving applications to the cloud is not much different than moving house. Just as every home is uniquely suited to certain décor pieces and not to others, every cloud requires certain specifications. The code and configurations that worked like a charm in one cloud environment suddenly look like a bull in a china shop when moved to a new cloud.
One of the most advertised benefits of moving applications to the cloud is the so-called portability that the cloud environment offers. The claim is that enterprises can easily switch cloud jurisdictions whenever they need to scale up or add features. Portability is indeed an important factor for businesses concerned about vendor lock-in, as moving applications into a new environment can involve a lot of heavy lifting.
Amazon has announced a new service designed to make transcoding video for use on multiple devices a snap, without having to deal with an EC2 instance or transcoding software. Controlled via the Management Console and using S3 buckets, or via APIs for developer use, Elaastic Transcoder uses presets to eliminate trial-and-error and guesswork.
“Amazon Elastic Transcoder manages all aspects of the transcoding process for you transparently and automatically. There’s no need to administer software, scale hardware, tune performance, or otherwise manage transcoding infrastructure. You simply create a transcoding “job” specifying the location of your source video and how you want it transcoded. Amazon Elastic Transcoder also provides transcoding presets for popular output formats, which means that you don’t need to guess about which settings work best on particular devices. All these features are available via service APIs and the AWS Management Console.”
Amazon Elastic Transcoder supports transcoding into H.264 video and AAC audio in an MP4 container, and supports most common media formats for input including H.264, AAC, MP4, MPEG-2, FLV, 3GP and AVI.
Full details available at the AWS Blog.
Using OpenFlow to extend software-defined networking (SDN) to the optical layer is a compelling prospect for enterprises seeking to achieve joint orchestration of information technology (IT) and network resources for cloud services, to virtualize the network and to more simply manage interconnections of distributed data centers that require synchronization.
Today’s fragmented, specialized management and control approaches are fraught with proprietary protocols and management systems, limited scalability and configuration complexities. With an OpenFlow-enabled transport network, an enterprise could instead engage in a kind of “one-stop shopping” for control of cloud computing, storage and networking resources – all via one, unified application programming interface (API). The benefits could include significantly simplified configuration, management and scaling of large-scale enterprise infrastructures through integration and automation.