In the midst of the widespread popularity and adoption of cloud computing, it seems like everything is being offered “as a Service” these days: Infrastructure? Check. Platform? You bet. Software? Absolutely. Toaster? It’s only a matter of time. With service providers positioning vastly differing offerings under a generic “cloud” umbrella, it’s all too easy to get confused about what’s actually being offered. In his session at 16th Cloud Expo, Kevin Hazard, Director of Digital Content for SoftLayer, an IBM Company, will break down the most commonly used industry buzzwords and discuss what each “aaS” is good for. No BS(aas).
Today, more enterprises are looking at cloud-based solutions. What is still missing is the ability to “sync up” transactions coming from various outbound originations to a single destination. What is necessary is Cloud Transaction Synchronicity ©. There are many articles and white papers discussing cloud computing and shared services. We have seen numerous articles on new services that are being touted like SaaS (Software as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Cloud Transaction Synchronicity © is the ability to have every transaction synched up off of one Master Clock (not multiple clocks). Just like the timing of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) itself is based on one Master clock (the Atomic clock), the applications needing timing should also be provided with timing.
SYS-CON Events announced today Sematext Group, Inc., a Brooklyn-based Performance Monitoring and Log Management solution provider, will exhibit at SYS-CON's DevOps Summit 2015 New York, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Sematext is a globally distributed organization that builds innovative Cloud and On Premises solutions for performance monitoring, alerting and anomaly detection (SPM), log management and analytics (Logsene), search analytics (SSA), and search enhancement. They also provide exceptional Search and Big Data consulting services and offer 24/7 production support for Solr and Elasticsearch to clients worldwide.
One of the great things about PagerDuty is our API. With our API, you can integrate with a wide variety of partners, and also extend and customize your PagerDuty experience. Our customers have done a number of cool things, including creating custom reports and dashboards, creating status pages to let customers and internal stakeholders know about incidents, and automating the details of their incident response. The PagerDuty API helps you respond to incidents more efficiently. But where do you get started? We’ve highlighted some great add-ons below to help you make the most of PagerDuty. Some have been created by our in-house engineers, and some have come from our talented community. We publish code samples of our favorites add-ons on our tools page, so if you’ve built a PagerDuty tool, we want to know about it! Send it to developers@pagerduty.com.
As the largest financial institution in Northern Europe, for Nordea time is money. Their decision to insource IT from IBM meant a huge project in terms of organization and potential for transitional disruption. Speaking at the Automate Your World conference in London, Nordea Chief IT Infrastructure Specialist Jesper Christensen cited automation as critical in saving time and money on a project of such scale.
The Open Compute Project is a collective effort by Facebook and a number of players in the datacenter industry to bring lessons learned from the social media giant's giant IT deployment to the rest of the world. Datacenters account for 3% of global electricity consumption – about the same as all of Switzerland or the Czech Republic -- according to people I met at the recent Open Compute Summit in San Jose. With increasing mobility at the edge of the cloud and vast new dataflows being predicted with the growth of the Internet of Things (and The Coming Age of Many Zettabytes) in the near future, the carbon footprint of the datacenter industry has become an important issue. Jay Parikh, VP of Engineering at Facebook, Canonical CEO and sometime astronaut Mark Shuttleworth, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin, and HP Enterprise Group SVP Antonio Neri were among the keynote speakers. Also speaking was OpenStack co-founder Cole Crawford, who now heads a startup called Vapor.io that's dedicated to reforming the datacenter hardware industry. Open Compute CEO Corey Bell, who was named to this position in December, was also promiment during the conference. Two Worlds, Meeting Datacenter professionals are obsessed with the cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour, and talk in terms of PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness, the relative amount of power needed to keep all that iron in a datacenter running cool). The number of kilowatts that can be stuffed into a rack, the cost per megawatt to build a new center, and whether buildings really need to feel like meat lockers are all major topics of discussion. Meanwhile, software professionals – like the thousands who've been trekking to New York and Santa Clara for Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo – think about hybrid cloud, lean and agile programming, the new trend toward microservices, and the revival of containers. These two worlds meet in pieces of a couple of Venn diagrams—the first in their commitments to transparency and open source, the second in their renewed thinking about containers. Open Up! Three of the four largest datacenter operators in the world are anything but open, according to a number of speakers at the Open Compute Summit. The fourth, Facebook, was lauded for its willingness to break from the pack. It is, of course, in any datacenter operator's interest to share knowledge, as even small increments in improved performance and best practices can have millions of dollars of operational impact annually to a major operator. The impacts are also important to smaller players as well. All of IT collectively uses about 10 percent of global electricity, according to several sources I've seen. Additionally, the emergence of smart meters, smart grids, and smart appliances will, in theory, allow a magnified impact on electricity use if the IT itself can lower electricity use by all those things attached to the IoT. To Dream the Impossible Dream The research I've led at our Tau Institute for the past three years shows that dramatic increases in societal development throughout the world will not occur unless humanity as a whole vastly improves its energy efficiency. Most developing nations use 3 to 5% of the electricity per-person as the developed world, and it will simply be impossible, economically and physically, to replicate developed levels of energy use on a global scale. Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo More specifically, and in the short term, I need to note that we have just opened some key speaking opportunities on the topic of microservices and containers on the Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo program. Please visit the website or contact me via Twitter to learn more. The Open Compute Project is large, ambitious, and peopled with passionate proponents. But it is just one way to make a difference. Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo are another. Please let me know any other ideas you have!
SYS-CON Events announced today that BroadSoft, the leading global provider of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) services to operators worldwide, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's WebRTC Summit, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. BroadSoft is the leading provider of software and services that enable mobile, fixed-line and cable service providers to offer Unified Communications over their Internet Protocol networks. The Company’s core communications platform enables the delivery of a range of enterprise and consumer calling, messaging and collaboration communication services, including private branch exchanges, video calling, text messaging and converged mobile and fixed-line services.
GENBAND introduced its Real Time Communications (RTC) Client for Lync* to seamlessly combine real-time communications with Lync Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence. “We’re shaking up the economics of delivering Unified Communications (UC) and offering a compelling way to integrate previously bespoke communications technologies,” said Carl Baptiste, GENBAND’s Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions. “We’re offering enterprises the best of both worlds by combining our own high availability voice, video and collaboration with Lync’s IM and Presence; creating a single, web centric, client. Our RTC Client for Lync is delivered like a web page but operates like a traditional desktop or mobile application. More importantly, it looks familiar to Lync users so they don’t need to be retrained and IT organizations aren’t burdened with the cost and complexity of expanding Lync infrastructure to support real-time communications.”
SYS-CON Events announced today that Liaison Technologies, a leading provider of data management and integration cloud services and solutions, has been named "Silver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Liaison Technologies is a recognized market leader in providing cloud-enabled data integration and data management solutions to break down complex information barriers, enabling enterprises to make smarter decisions, faster.
"Programmability in the network" is a wordy yet simpler way to describe the extension of network capabilities through the use of software-defined techniques.
See what I mean?
In any case, whatever you want to call it, there are two distinct methods of leveraging programmability in the network. One is specifically tied to SDN, using the extensible capability of an SDN controller supportive of a plug-in, module or app-based model. The second is more broadly applicable (in that it can be used for SDN but also as part of traditional or legacy architectural approaches as well) and implements an in-path model for executing logic (programmability) on inbound and outbound traffic.
As usual, I think a picture can probably suffice to explain it fully instead of inundating you with words, words and more words.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cloudian, Inc., the leading provider of hybrid cloud storage solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY., and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Cloudian, Inc., is a Foster City, California - based software company specializing in cloud storage software. The main product is Cloudian, an Amazon S3-compliant cloud object storage platform, the bedrock of cloud computing systems, that enables cloud service providers and enterprises to build reliable, affordable and scalable cloud storage solutions. In addition, Cloudian is actively partnering with the leading cloud computing environments including Citrix Cloud Platform and OpenStack, cloud on-ramp providers, and the vast ecosystem of tools and applications that is afforded through true S3 compatibility. Cloudian's customers include Alcatel-Lucent, Vodafone, Nextel, Docomo, NTT, SoftBank, Telecom Italia, Nifty, LunaCloud, Constant Hosting, and Clara Online. The company has additional offices in China and Japan.
Log data provides the most granular view into what is happening across your systems, applications, and end users. Logs can show you where the issues are in real-time, and provide a historical trending view over time. Logs give you the whole picture. We have released our logentries_agent cookbook to supermarket.chef.io! You can check out the docs here, or I've developed the following brief tutorial to walk you through how to automate your installation of the Logentries Linux Agentin your own infrastructure. First off, I assume you have a basic understanding of Chef and its technologies; if you're unfamiliar with Chef I recommend having a look at this overview. (Also, if you dont have a Logentries account, you can get create a free account here in just a couple of minutes.)
Last week I explored how small data, rather than big data, can be a critical component of the Internet of Things. To drive the point home I went looking for more examples of companies using both small and big data to improve decision-making. I stumbled across an innovative startup out of Boston named Ovuline who has built a mobile app for women trying to have children. The app uses data to predict when they are most likely to conceive. You heard that right. Women provide a variety of personal and heal
After a couple of false starts, cloud-based desktop solutions are picking up steam, driven by trends such as BYOD and pervasive high-speed connectivity. In his session at 15th Cloud Expo, Seth Bostock, CEO of IndependenceIT, cut through the hype and the acronyms, and discussed the emergence of full-featured cloud workspaces that do for the desktop what cloud infrastructure did for the server. He also discussed VDI vs DaaS, implementation strategies and evaluation criteria.
As enterprises look to take advantage of the cloud, they need to understand the importance of safeguarding their confidential and sensitive data in cloud environments. Enterprises must protect their data from (i) system administrators who don't need to see the data in the clear and (ii) adversaries who become system administrators from stolen credentials. In short, enterprises must take control of their data: The best way to do this is by using advanced encryption, centralized key management and cutting edge access controls and policies. When an outside party owns, controls, and manages infrastructure and computational resources, how can you be assured that sensitive data remains private and secure, that your organization is protected from damaging data breaches, and that you can still satisfy the full range of reporting, compliance and regulatory requirements?
SYS-CON Events announced today that AIC, a leading provider of OEM/ODM server and storage solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. AIC is a leading provider of both standard OTS, off-the-shelf, and OEM/ODM server and storage solutions. With expert in-house design capabilities, validation, manufacturing and production, AIC's broad selection of products are highly flexible and are configurable to any form factor or custom configuration. AIC leads the industry with nearly 20 years of experience in mechanical, electronic, system-level engineering as well as a dedication to product innovation and customer support. Headquartered in Taiwan, AIC has offices and operations throughout the United States, Asia and Europe.
Bugs. Once upon a time – and not so very long ago – that word had only one meaning: annoying little critters that crawl, sting, bite, and can generally make your life a misery. But in today’s modern technological age, the word bug has a new meaning: flaws in software applications. Though the word is the same, the two meanings are quite different. However, both terms represent a common theme: annoyances.
Everyone in the OpenStack community has a vested interested in making it work. Without a strong guiding hand, the open source community runs the risk of becoming so fragmented that compatibility and integration suffer. This is a bigger challenge than most people realize because the line between opens source "customer" and "developer" is very thin. As Gigaom's Paul Miller points out in his latest research report, local configuration changes and code alterations have a way of moving the enterprise installation away from the community release, and the problem is compounded with each new release of the platform. Over time, the initial cost-savings of turning to an open source solution can be eaten up by complex patching and maintenance requirements and the user becomes further isolated from an increasingly fragmented ecosystem.
SYS-CON Events announced today that IndependenceIT, a leading software provider of simplified IT management solutions for workspaces, applications and desktops-as-a-service, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. IndependenceIT's Cloud Workspace® Suite combines application, end-user and infrastructure management into a seamless, easy-to-manage platform, with a unified management interface and robust API for ease of integration with existing systems, simplifying deployment and increasing responsiveness.
As part of my Share Your PurePath and Performance Clinic initiatives I get to see lots of interesting problems out there. This time I picked two examples that just came in this week from Balasz and Daniel. Both wanted my opinion on why their apps show high response time contribution to their web requests coming from worker threads that seem to be either in I/O or in a Wait state. The question was what are these threads waiting for and whether this is something that could be optimized to speed up these slow response times they see on some of their critical web requests.
SYS-CON Events announced today Arista Networks will exhibit at SYS-CON's DevOps Summit 2015 New York, which will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Arista Networks was founded to deliver software-driven cloud networking solutions for large data center and computing environments. Arista’s award-winning 10/40/100GbE switches redefine scalability, robustness, and price-performance, with over 3,000 customers and more than three million cloud networking ports deployed worldwide.
Recurring revenue business models provide a compelling business proposition: predictable revenue streams, deeper customer engagements, higher customer lifetime value (CLV). What’s not to like? And when you bring the Internet of Things into the mix, there’s even more to like – if you go about it wisely, that is. In this post, we take a look at what works and what doesn’t when it comes to generating incremental revenues from IoT. First, a caveat. A recurring billing model is not suitable for every IoT product. There are hundreds of great IoT offerings like Sonos speakers and Bluesmart carry-on luggage that do perfectly well as one-time purchases. But if you want to create incremental revenues, IoT-related offers are worth serious consideration.
Forget the funnel. Your customers no longer adhere to that nice, neat linear purchase model. But don't worry, Communications Service Providers have the most important tool necessary to communicate effectively with customers: Big Data. Don't plan on following them around like a heartbroken teenage sweetheart either. Many of your customers (current and potential) will send your emails straight to spam, unsubscribe from newsletters, block ads and refuse to share their locations with you. (Well, they might share some data, but only if you promise a big discount in return.)
SYS-CON Media announced today that 9 out of 10 " most read" DevOps articles are published by @DevOpsSummit Blog. Launched in October 2014, @DevOpsSummit Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.
Recent events have taught us that everyone is vulnerable to data breaches. Now that the majority of businesses are running services in the cloud, whether sanctioned, rogue or Shadow IT, there is much work to be done in beefing up cloud security. And, with each major data breach that takes place in the cloud, trust in the cloud is further eroded. Cloud Is an Attractive Target for Data Breaches The increasing pervasiveness of the cloud makes it an attractive target for hackers and cybercriminals. Cloud is not only for business and leisure applications; it’s also the back end for electricity grids, water treatment plants, healthcare applications, smart cars, smart refrigerators and so much more. With each device or source that connects to the cloud it creates additional pathways or access points for unauthorized users to infiltrate. The increasing volume of data that is either stored or transacted in the cloud is a strong lure for hacktivists and cybercriminals.