Global information technology networks that are rich in services are typically complex and require hard-to-manage security solutions. The latest versions of next-generation firewalls now offer multiple security layers that can complicate management, particularly as more and more features are added. This complexity can also serve to reduce the effectiveness of controls by obscuring noteworthy events or failing to recognize trends detected by multiple security systems integrated into the overall system. The answer is a common, unified management approach with granular and contextual access control. Instead of employing multiple and distinct dashboards offering minimal if any integration to manage network security, administrators should be able to access a single dashboard to gain a consistent, unified view across all firewall protected segments. The data must be granular and contextual, empowering IT and network security administrators to execute and control all NGFW operations from a single perspective. And to assure logging of all actions taken and events observed, without regard to operator location.
In the race to implement Continuous Delivery, emphasis on build-and-deploy has overshadowed Continuous Testing. Service Virtualization's simulation technology allows you to test your component in a complete environment—any time you want. "Part of the problem with service virtualization is that the word ‘virtualization' has a strong attachment to the data center. Everyone knows the economic benefits of server virtualization," said Lanowitz, founder of analyst firm Voke, who's been talking about the topic since 2007. "A lot of people don't know about service virtualization yet... It's moved from providing virtual lab environments to being able to virtualize a bank in a box or a utility company in a can so there are no surprises when you go live."
The Open Group, at its conference in San Francisco, will announce a new initiative to help bridge gaps in healthcare industry data sharing to provide a boundaryless flow of information. And so the next BriefingsDirect discussion explores what it takes to bring rigorous interactions, process efficiency, and governance to data and workflows that must extend across many healthcare participants with speed and dependability. Learn now how improved cross-organization collaboration plays a huge part in helping to make healthcare more responsive, effective, safe, and cost-efficient. And also become acquainted with what The Open Group’s new Healthcare Industry Forum is doing to improve the situation.
Agile software development isn’t really a “new” trend anymore. I mean, the Agile Manifesto turns 13 years old next month and while that might be early adolescence in human years, it’s downright ancient as far as trends in IT are concerned. However, one area that has yet to fully mature is the implementation of non-functional testing practices in a Continuous Testing sort of way that can keep pace with more Agile development teams. Load and performance testing definitely fall into that category. You might be a performance tester on a team that is just starting to do more iterative development or a more experienced Agile tester looking to add load and performance testing to your workflow; either way, you’ll likely want to know what you’re in for. Agile development practices can help teams achieve faster time to market, adapt to changing requirements, provide a constant feedback loop, etc. The benefits of load and performance testing include determining how much load an application can handle before it crashes in production, when to add another server, when to reconfigure the network, where code needs to be optimized, etc. What is less well known is the fact that the combination of the two practices can lead to additional benefits that go beyond just the sum of the benefits of each practice, i.e. 1+1=3.
Internet of Things known as IoT is expected to gain momentum in the year 2014 and will continue to find a mainstream adoption in the coming years. From a definition perspective, IoT is about the integration of more devices that are already prevalent using the RFID and other kinds of machine-generated messages, and to ensure that these devices are given the appropriate intelligence to guide themselves without human intervention. The main reason for the increased realization of IoT is the proliferation of cloud and Big Data as part of our ecosystem, so that the massive quantities of data that these devices generate can be sourced and processed and intelligence can be derived out of them. The adoption of IoT will increase in-line with the adoption of cloud and Big Data.
What follows is a list of concepts pertaining to System Thinking that we’ve rallied around in providing our database change management solution Datical DB. Instead of the black box, database change management can become a transparent and flexible part of your value delivery system. The First Way: Systems Thinking - This Way stresses the performance of the entire system of value delivery. Instead of becoming laser focused on the part of the process for which an individual or team is responsible, the individual or team works to understand the entire process from requirements generation to customer delivery. The goal is to eliminate the delivery impediments that arise when a project transitions from one isolated silo to another. Understanding the entire system allows business, development, and operations to work towards a common goal in a consistent manner.
I don’t listen to music before I buy it anymore. I don’t need to – as long as I’m purchasing it from Amazon. Based on algorithms that crawl my purchasing history, the online retailer knows what I like as well as I do and, dare I say, better than my wife. A company develops this intimate knowledge by using Big Data to improve the customer experience in an economical and adaptable way. Amazon has integrated this agility into every aspect of its business, from running its warehouses to its revolutionary ability to publish on demand. Game-changing innovation happens when you simplify everyday processes. But managing a large, traditional application portfolio – however crucial it is to your business – disrupts innovation. The cloud virtualizes your software, protecting you from the inefficiencies associated with IT. As a result, you spend less time and money introducing and maintaining applications and more resources innovating and advancing your business. Whether you implement a software-designed data center, a hybrid cloud approach or and end-user computing strategy, you’re taking the burden off of your own team and into the virtual world.
The Big Data and Cloud market has been growing at a staggering pace. Data is becoming unmanageable and too big to be handled by relational database systems alone and there is a need to effectively provision, manage elastic and scalable systems. Information technology is undergoing a major shift due to new paradigms and a variety of delivery channels. The drivers for these technologies are social networks, proliferation of devices such as tablets and phones. Social business and collaboration are continuing to develop further to enhance productivity and interaction. There has been a big void in the Big data area and a need to come up with solutions that can manage Big Data. Part of the problem has been that there was so much focus on the user interfaces that not many organizations were thinking further about the core - Data. So now with the proliferation of large and unstructured data, it is important to extract and process large data sets from different systems expeditiously. To deliver strategic business value, there should be the capability to process Big data and have the analytics for enhanced decision making. In addition, Big Data can rely on the Cloud to rapidly provision and deploy elastic and scalable systems.
For most organizations, developing a cloud strategy is no longer a matter of “if,” but a matter of how. The right cloud strategy can significantly reduce costs, offer instant scalability, and improve business agility. But to get the most from the cloud and position their businesses for the future, IT leaders must understand the trends that are shaping the rapidly changing landscape. Here are five considerations that should be top of mind for any IT decision-maker in the coming year. 1. Providing the best possible user experience. When it comes to cloud, there’s only one thing that matters and that’s the user experience. It’s easy to forget about the end user while getting caught up in the “arms race” of building and brokering cloud services. When consulting about cloud strategy for a healthcare R&D firm, my colleagues and I were asked the question: “Amazon offers these services, so why don’t we?”
It’s the age old battle of top-down or bottom-up. IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) is clearly being driven from the top down in organizations. Large vendors and consultants are working with their executive counterparts to change expectations for how IT provides services to the enterprise. DevOps, on the other hand, is the traditional bottom-up grassroots movement that like Linux and virtualization has disrupted the status quo and changed forever how IT services can be delivered. In this case, both efforts are working toward a common goal of agility and speed. So, will one effort supersede the other? Will they merge and deliver together?
Siemens Brazil in São Paulo has learned several valuable lessons from its mobile app development experiments and subsequent full roll-out of high-demand work flow apps for business managers. As enterprise IT departments scramble to meet demand for more mobile applications, many are charting entirely new terrain. Lessons from applications development and support from PCs and notebooks don't necessarily provide a guide for the mobile tier. Indeed, mobile apps are very different in what end users expect from them. So how to learn new best practices and simultaneously meet the demand for rapid mobile apps development?
SYS-CON Events announced today that WSM, the pioneer and global leader in web and data server migrations, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 14th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 10–12, 2014, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. WSM – Website Movers International is the first and largest web/data server migration services provider in the industry. The company has progressively evolved under the same founder since 1996, initially as a hosting services provider. Following a sale of the hosting company, Website Movers Incorporated was established in 2003 as the first ever specialized web/data server migration company.. Now doing business as WSM, the company has over 60 technical staff in 4 locations, as well as established partnerships with industry-leading hosting service providers such as Rackspace, SoftLayer/IBM, Peer1, Hosting.com and many others. WSM expanded service solutions include web/application configuration, development, load testing, performance tuning, proactive and responsive security audits/remediation, maintenance and support delivering most comprehensive ‘Server-to-Browser’ service experience for all WSM customers and partners.
Employees using mobile devices to access popular and often times essential cloud applications continue to increase in the workplace, both via private devices and those owned by the enterprise. This increase in use brings with it important data security issues for the enterprise. Some enterprises find themselves scrambling to implement mobile device management (MDM) technologies to address the data security concerns that go along with employees using mobile devices in everyday business. The end goal of these MDM solutions is to allow for the enterprise to securely capitalize on the benefits of mobile devices while not stifling the widely accepted bring your own device (BYOD) policy.
As businesses look to leverage cloud technology to drive growth, many times the questions IT leaders within the company ask are: “Where do I start? What part of my infrastructure should I move into the cloud first?” IT leaders must pick a place to begin with cloud adoption. The decision becomes easier when teams focus on incremental adoption, starting with small, low-risk applications that can be easily tested and improved through an iterative approach before fully launching. Here are some best practices businesses should consider when getting started with cloud technology.
In this webinar, our featured guest Kim Celestre, Sr. Analyst at Forrester Research will share findings from the new report: "Benchmark B2B Social Marketing Efforts," just released this month. Kim will highlight the top social marketing tactics that have achieved the highest level of satisfaction and positive business outcomes for B2B Marketers. Join us to see which tactics made the list - you may be surprised at what they are. Kim will also share her predictions on the future of communities as they move beyond just the customer support function and start influencing buying behaviors earlier in the customer lifecycle through strategies such as gamification, and ultimately driving higher ROI. Liz Courter, Community Manager at Marketo, will showcase how her company has been successfully leveraging online communities to grow customer lifetime value.
Recent commentaries by cloud industry luminaries Reuven Cohen & Krishnan Subramanian address key issues related to relative importance and potential longevity of an independent Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). In his commentary, Reuven poses, "Do consumers really care about the difference between IaaS and PaaS?" The answer to this question is most likely, no, but that doesn't eliminate the need for distinction, it merely is a matter of how best to deliver the value of cloud computing to users. In his commentary, Krishnan does an excellent job of exploring one way to classify PaaS as either service or container orchestration. However, in some ways, the distinction introduces more confusion. For example, his use of Docker illustrates how convergence of IaaS and PaaS actually makes sense for the industry and, thus, diminishes his key point that there's value in the cloud application layer existing as a distinct layer within the cloud stack.
SYS-CON Events announced today that CodeFutures, a leading supplier of database performance tools, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 14th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 10–12, 2014, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. CodeFutures Corporation is a leading supplier of Big Data technology designed to reduce the time and effort required to develop database applications and dramatically increase deployed database scalability, reliability for Big Data environments, enabling customers to obtain maximum value from their Big Data investment.
There are many potential applications for WebRTC and for many interoperability is not a requirement. However, this does not mean that there is not a need for interoperability, particularly at the signaling level, for other applications. Many people have dismissed interoperability as a consideration when using WebRTC - often due to the fact that their favoured use-cases do not require it (and in some cases are even hampered by it). In his session at 2nd WebRTC Summit, Peter Dunkley, Technical Director, at Crocodile RCS, will look at the other side and discuss the case for interoperability and explain how WebRTC can be used to enhance and extend existing services in a way provides benefits to service providers and their customers.
There have been a flurry of "green cloud" announcements recently, and that got us thinking about the relationship between green IT and saving money. Green is also the color of money, after all, and companies are discovering that reducing data center costs leads to substantial green benefits. The cloud takes cost reduction and green even further. In the first announcement, IBM continues to innovate in cloud and in green, and it has patented technology for distributing compute workloads for cloud computing in a way that reduces power consumption. I'd liken it to a load balancer, but instead of trying to reduce response times, they're trying to reduce power utilization overall. Now, it's really interesting because this is not just a green initiative but it is also a cost-savings opportunity for cloud service providers. Power consumption is a major cost driver for cloud service providers. Often, it's pay-as-you go for storage, for compute, even for bandwidth. But no cloud provider is really charging for power utilization. This is a way for cloud service providers to reduce their sunk cost and improve their margins without having to charge the customers more. It's green, but it's also green for your wallet.
The use of in-memory data grids (IMDGs) for scaling application performance has rapidly increased in recent years as firms have seen their application workloads explode. This trend runs across nearly every vertical market, touching online applications for financial services, ecommerce, travel, manufacturing, social media, mobile, and more. At the same time, many firms are also looking to leverage the use of cloud computing to meet the challenge of ever increasing workloads. One of the fundamental promises of the cloud is elastic, transparent, on-demand scalability -- a key capability that has become practical with the use of in-memory data grid technology. As such IMDGs are becoming a vital factor in the cloud, just as they have been for on-premise applications.
A tutorial about Memory Monitoring and Limiting with LXC (Linux Containers) and the importance of building a metrics infrastructure. For a long time we didn't limit the amount of memory that you can use during your build on Codeship. There was the possibility of a bad build eating up all of our memory. A few weeks ago that bad build happened, using up so much memory that it decreased performance and eventually killed the test server. Even though we measure the memory usage of the whole test server, we didn't have the data to figure out exactly which build caused the trouble.
I had the privilege of interviewing the CEO of Capriza, Yuval Scarlat, last week. We discussed a wide range of topics such as cloud mobility, MADPs, MBaaS, mobile strategies and why he thought the market needed another mobile solutions vendor. On a side note, I think Capriza's website design is very effective. Enjoy!
Recent reports of a massive data breach affecting popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo have many companies rethinking security practices and wondering how to protect vital data. If your company uses cloud services to conduct business and manage data or is contemplating a hosting partnership, it’s natural to wonder if your service provider is taking all the steps necessary to keep your confidential information secure. It’s an important issue: Cloud resources are becoming a must-have service for businesses since they offer scalability without requiring a massive investment in hardware. But before choosing a cloud service provider, it’s crucial to make sure the company can deliver the security your business needs. Here are some questions to keep in mind when making an evaluation.
Change in IT is the only constant that you find in IT. Even the methods for managing change, change. Resistance to change is an open invitation to the Grim Reaper of software development projects in decent size companies. I have mentioned this in other book reviews, and find that it applies here as well. I was sitting in a meeting some time ago with a company that was embracing Scrum like a ten year old being offered a warm plate of chocolate chip cookies. They were grabbing at it as fast as they're little hands could reach out and grab the goodies. Watching this made me wonder what is was about Scrum that made them embrace it so emphatically. They had claimed to be an Agile shop for years, but were still failing to deliver quality software on time within budget. In past years they refused every single proposed process improvement recommendation made by consultants.
As companies produce an ever-increasing amount of data that’s pushing network and bandwidth capacity to its extremes, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is becoming a popular solution to these concerns and as an effective platform for a BYOD policy. During the recent bout of intense winter weather throughout the Midwest, many folks were able to receive the news on office closings by receiving work email messages through their personal laptops and smartphones. Access available anywhere is becoming a given for many people who can receive updates on their personal devices no matter where they are. For the typical enterprise IT department, the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy has become a standard, and it’s not uncommon to see different brands and models of laptops throughout the office.