Category Archives: Cloud Hosting
Cyber Extortion: Is Your Business Software At Risk? – Techzone360
2017 looks set to be the year of global ransomware attacks a type of malwarethat blocks access to a computer and demands money to release it. In recent months, cyberattacks named WannaCry and Petya have infected hundreds of thousands of computers across the world, hitting large organizations such as Britains National Health Service (NHS), Russian steel and oil firms Evraz and Rosneft, and Pittsburgs Heritage Valley Health System.
Ransomware is a growing risk
Both WannaCry and Petya targeted vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows operating systems called EternalBlue. In doing so, these campaigns of cyber extortion have emphasized growing concerns that a huge number of businesses rely on software that is at risk from aggressive hackers. With most security experts predicting more attacks to come, companies that dont act now run a greater risk of exposure to threats.
Unpatched, outdated systems are a ticking time bomb
The EternalBlue flaw in Windows was first revealed in March this year. Although Microsoft issued a patch almost immediately to protect current versions of the software, the company didnt release a patch for older systems such as XP until after WannaCry struck, despite the fact an estimated 7 percent of the worlds PCs still run on the software.
The huge number of outdated, unpatched systems should act as a wake-up call for businesses to put better security measures in place. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of businesses that dont receive adequate support and dont realize they are in possession of a vulnerable system that needs patching.
Ransomware attacks strengthen the case for cloud migration
Putting your business critical systems in the cloud eliminates the ticking time bomb presented in outdated systems. Software as a Service and managed cloud providers continuously update systems. This simplifies operations, reduces failures and minimizes vulnerabilities. Beyond automatic patching, hosting systems in the cloud also provides other security benefits. At NewVoiceMedia, for example, we are constantly working to improve the robustness of our cloud-based contact center service, and are ISO27001 certified with externally audited Level 1 PCI DSS compliance.
Proactive threat detection
When using the services of a cloud provider, businesses get to enjoy the benefit of a centralized monitoring system. Put simply, this means that security incidents are quickly detected and managed on a proactive rather than reactive basis. Cloud providers also have dedicated security experts on hand, which means they are better equipped for crisis management than most businesses.
Improved disaster recovery capabilities
In the event of an attack, cloud systems offer more robust disaster recovery options than traditional applications. Cloud computing puts your entire IT infrastructure onto a managed environment than can span multiple geographic regions. If one region gets hit, this means you can shift everything from one data center to another in a matter of minutes, ensuring maximum continuity.
Final thoughts
As our economy gets ever more reliant on digital technology, businesses cannot afford to get complacent about cybersecurity. At present, many businesses dont have the capacity or expertise to take full responsibility for data security. However, in a lot of these cases, migrating to the cloud will provide the support needed to prevent ransomware attacks and other unforeseen threats.
About the Author
Ashely Unitt, co-founder and chief scientist at NewVoiceMedia, has more than 20 years experience in developing advanced messaging software. He leads NVMs architecture and research teams, and heads up NVM Labs.
Edited by Alicia Young
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Cyber Extortion: Is Your Business Software At Risk? - Techzone360
Microsoft’s data centre investment to boost SA cloud adoption – IT News Africa
July 12, 2017 General, Opinion, Southern Africa
Robert Marston, Global Head of Product at SEACOM.
Thats the word from Robert Marston, Global Head of Product at SEACOM, who says that Microsofts decision to locally host cloud services such as Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365, will not only enable it to offer better performance and lower latencies, thereby providing a better end-user experience, but will critically lower the cost barrier for adoption of these services for enterprise customers.
This represents a significant step forward for South Africas IT industry because it means organisations can access Microsofts rich selection of cloud services from a local data centre, he adds. This will not only give them more reliability, faster speeds and lower latencies than they can get when accessing cloud services from data centres in Europe or the US, but will also cut out international connectivity costs which have typically been a barrier to entry for the move to the cloud.
Up until now, many enterprises have chosen private clouds or to work with local public cloud providers that lack the capabilities of the worlds top cloud computing providers in an effort to ensure reliable, fast access to cloud applications and services, says Marston. When the Microsoft data centres go live in 2018, enterprises will be able to enjoy the full Azure experience with no performance compromises or hefty data charges.
Many CIOs will also be reassured that their data is hosted in a local data centre that complies in full with South African data protection laws, he adds. Knowing that the data centres are in Cape Town and Johannesburg rather than Ireland or Germany will give many organisations the confidence to migrate more aggressively to the cloud, Marston says.
With Microsoft hosting its cloud services locally, it is only a matter of time before the other cloud providers also start to set up data centres in Africa, says Marston. The investment from Microsoft is a signal that the cloud market in South Africa and the rest of Africa has come of age. This is a great time for companies who have not yet made extensive use of cloud services and applications to jump in, he adds.
The cloud business model simply makes sense for Africa, where skills and budgets are often lower than other developed markets. Using cloud computing for solutions such as infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service promises African organisations massive cost-savings to operate and maintain their own data centres and on-site IT infrastructure. It also enables them to ramp computing capacity up and down in response to changing business needs, and gives them the flexibility they need to innovate and grow with little risk. This is all being made possible by the growing availability and falling cost of high-speed fibre Internet access.
Until the Microsoft African data centres go live, African businesses can fast-track the digital transformation of their organisations by tapping into affordable, dedicated Ethernet links on SEACOMs resilient network between their own IT environments and the worlds leading providers of cloud computing services such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM. SEACOM offers a high-performance, secure alternative to accessing cloud services across the public Internet.
ByRobert Marston, Global Head of Product at SEACOM
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Microsoft's data centre investment to boost SA cloud adoption - IT News Africa
In Illinois, cloud computing debate could open next chapter of utility rate reform – Utility Dive
A new staff report on cloud computing is putting members of the Illinois Commerce Commission in the hot seat.
A new ICC staff report recommends commissioners initiate a rulemaking on how costs for utility-scale data analytics software should be handled by the regulatory process. The staff says utilities should join their corporate peers in banking, healthcare other regulated industries by migrating their data to the cloud.
Current regulatory rules dont make that easy.
The ICCs 2016 Notice of Inquiry (NOI) proceeding revealed a strong consensus that current regulatory accounting rules have not kept pace with technological innovation, the staff report concluded. Utilities should be encouraged to make decisions based on business and ratepayer needs.
Regulatory accounting rules are currently interpreted to allow utilities to earn a rate of return for on-premise software, but categorize cloud-based software as an operating expense on which no return is allowed. This creates a disincentive for utilities to invest in new technology despite the fact that these systems can serve the same functions, staff reported.
The cloud may soon be the only place with the computing power to handle the exponentially escalating amount of data being generated by new smart technologies, according to testimony in the NOI proceeding.
The U.S. now has 70 million smart meters installed in over 55% of households, according to Adam Cooper, Director of Research for the Edison Foundation Institute for Electric Innovation. Based on his research for the just-released Grid Modernization Technologies, Cooper foresees 90 million deployed smart meters by the end of 2020.
That is just tip of the spear. Investor-owned utilities put $32 billion into grid modernization in 2016, according to Cooper. Much of that spending was for sensors and other system monitoring and management systems that produce data that is already creating new use cases and value opportunities.
Led by tech giants like Siemens, GE, Oracle and Amazon,a shift away from on-premise software is coming, according to Chris King, global chief regulatory officer for Siemens.
At some level of penetration, though there is a debate about what it is, the grid cannot support additional renewable energy without this kind of technology," he said.
In Illinois, the NOI proceeding is laying bare the potential benefits of a move to cloud computing for utilities. If the ICC chooses to change its financial treatment, insiders say it could enable more advanced distributed resources on utility systems and pave the way for similar reforms for energy efficiency and other resources.
The ICC report
The ICC proceeding was supported by a non-binding resolution approved by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) at its 2016 annual meeting. The resolution called for the elimination of regulatory barriers and disincentives to cloud-based computing.
Utilities best serve customers, society, the environment, and the grid by making software procurement decisions regardless of the delivery method or payment model, declared NARUCs Resolution Encouraging State Utility Commissions to Consider Improving the Regulatory Treatment of Cloud Computing Arrangements.
NARUC encourages state regulators to consider whether cloud computing and on-premise solutions should receive similar regulatory accounting treatment, it concluded. Both would be eligible to earn a rate of return.
The ICC staff reviewed testimony in the NOI proceeding that addressed possible regulatory barriers to utilities move to cloud-based services. It also compared the cost, reliability, and security benefits to utilities, customers, the grid, and the environment from deployment of cloud-based solutions.
Many utilities are lagging behind their unregulated peers in cloud computing system deployment, which may be preventing ratepayers from receiving the benefits that cloud-computing systems can offer, staff concluded.
To make the benefits from cloud-based software equally available to regulated utilities, the staff urges the ICC to consider a rulemaking. It would not be a debate about the value of cloud-based software, but rather seek to update and clarify rules about capital expenses (CapEx)and operating expenses (OpEx) as they apply to cloud-based and on-premise software.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) permit utilities to capitalize and earn a return on the cost of Microsofts on-premise Office product, staff reported. But the cost of licensing Microsofts cloud-based Office 365 product, which does the same thing, is an expense on which utilities cannot earn a return, staff wrote.
Cloud proponents and utility representatives testified in the NOI proceeding that this is an incentive to on-premise software over cloud solutions, staff wrote. The incentive is without regard to technical or functional merits because utilities favor fixed assets that are included in rate base on which the utility is allowed a return.
The incentive to invest in on-premise software is significant, according to energy consultant Jill Feblowitz. A provider of cloud-based software would need to reduce the typical $1/customer/month charge by half to make up for the utilitys financial benefit, she told Utility Dive.
Not everyone in Illinois is so gung-ho about allowing ROI on cloud computing.
Susan L. Satter, the Public Utilities Counsel to the Illinois Attorney General, wrote in the NOI proceeding fillingthat the attorney general's office "question[s]the notion that treating cloud-computing as an ongoing expense is a disincentive.
Expensing cloud-based software services reflects the way the cost is actually incurred, she wrote. It allows recovery of pass-through costs contemporaneously with consumption. That frees utility capital for infrastructure investment related to system safety and reliability.
Cloud-based software can provide both short-term and long-term services, Satter acknowledged. But regulatory scrutiny and not the rewriting of accounting rules is the way to determine whether it should be CapEx or OpEx.
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rules may allow a way around the disincentive if the utilitys use of the cloud-based software fits the definition of a hosting arrangement, Satter acknowledged.
She rejected the argument that utilities would not make prudent, least cost expenditures on software because it is an OPEX and offers no return. Presentations in a 2015 ICC forum showed Microsoft, Facebook, Linked-In, Uber, and Amazon among the users of cloud-based services, demonstrating their significant value, Satter wrote.
The question for the Commission may not be whether accounting rules are correct, but whether the utilities are prudently managing their operations if they fail to take advantage of opportunities to save costs and enhance operations, she added.
The disparity in accounting rules could also be an advantage for utilities, Satter suggested. The current approach allows them to pass the cost of software through to customers and pass the burden of software to vendors that specialize in business support systems.
Utilities can then focus their attention on their essential and critical responsibility for grid investment and maintenance while keeping a clear eye on prudency, efficiency, and least cost service, Satter wrote.
Oracle UtilitiesJanuary 2016 surveyof 100 utility executives found 45% had turned from on-premises software to some form of cloud-based applications. But a 2014 multi-industry survey showed 83% of healthcare companies already used cloud-based services. And a 2016 survey of more than a thousand IT professionals by Rightscalefound that 95% of respondents are using the cloud.
One way to make a transition to the cloud work under existing accounting rules is to treat cloud-based software "as miscellaneous intangible property, which is how it treats on-premises software, said Oracle Regulatory Affairs Director Richard Caperton.
Miscellaneous intangible property goes into the rate base and allows the utility to request a reasonable rate of return during its rate case, Caperton said. We are confident a commission would see the investment as prudent.
Caperton agreed with Satter that the FASB hosting arrangement ruling, used in 2016 by the New York Public Service Commission, could accomplish the same end. As part of the Reforming the Energy VisionTrack 2 proceeding, the NY PSC ruled, in Matter 14-00581, that utilities may rate-base leased software paid for upfront because it gives the utility a type of host-like ownership, Caperton said.
Either approach will make utilities whole and indifferent between the two types of software, Caperton said. That is the important thing. Regulated utilities investment decisions should be based on the public interest and the interests of the ratepayer and utility, not on archaic accounting rules.
Caperton objected to Satter's argument that there are better CapEx opportunities for utilities than cloud-based software. You cant run a utility without software and IT solutions just like you cant run a utility without poles and wires, he said.
More fundamentally, he added, allowing utilities a return on only one type of software will skew their choices and keep them from delivering the best customer services.
Shifting cloud-based computing from OpEx to CapEx does not need to involve lengthy changes to underlying accounting rules, said Danny Kermode, an accountant and assistant director at the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.
Changes to accounting rules are unnecessary because regulatory bodies are not bound by GAAP accounting, he said. Regulatory bodies can alter GAAP rules to fit their oversight duties and can require utilities to do things differently.
The cost of converting from on-premise to cloud-based software includes migration costs like converting data and retraining personnel, he said. Under GAAP, those costs are OpEx, but regulators can allow the utility to accumulate them instead passing them through to customers.
The commission and the utility can agree on a reasonable time for migration costs to remain on the balance sheet and not be recovered, Kermode said. The utility can then ask the commission for recovery of those deferred costs.
The monthly charge for cloud-based software can be rate based as working capital, Kermode added.
All companies have a working capital provision that can be rate based to fund current obligations," he said."It is a long-term asset concept so it doesnt exactly fit if it is used to finance a short-term asset, but the utility gets a return on it.
Kermode opposes changing the accounting rules to remove the disincentive to cloud-based software because companies are already going to the cloud, he said. The Oracle survey showed that.
All utilities are concerned with their quality of service and that makes cloud-based software a no brainer, Kermode said. It is a prudent decision because it provides better service to ratepayers.
Former California Public Utilities Commissioner Dian Grueneich, now a Stanford research scholar, said there is good evidence that earning a return is a strong incentive to IOUs.
Grueneich cited staffs report that almost every utility in the NOI proceeding agreed there is a perverse incentive in the current interpretation of accounting rules.
Its a case-by-case matter but the last thing I would want as a commissioner is to keep the best tools from utilities because of regulatory rules, she said.
Without changing the current regulatory treatment of cloud based solutions, there is a concern that the utility industry will fail to fully realize the substantial customer service, operational, and financial benefits of analytics solutions delivered via the cloud, Guerneich quoted from the report.
But there is a larger issue, she added. Where do we see utilities going? Where will innovation come from? And should regulatory rules be part of the answers to those questions?
Grueneich is currently focused on energy efficiency and has found there are three factors that drive utility investment. The first is allowing them to recover costs for rebates and other incentives they offer customers. The second is making utilities indifferent to revenue losses from energy efficiency growth.
The third is providing shareholder incentives, Grueneich said. And the highest performing states and utilities have all three.
She rejects the argument that utilities dont need a return for moving to the cloud or to energy efficiency as long as they can recover the expense.
"It gets managements attention when the utility can earn a profit," she said.
A utility faced with whether to build a power plant or do energy efficiency is in a similar position as one deciding whether to use on-premises or cloud-based software, Grueneich said. They are going to look much more seriously at each if the ratemaking treatment is basically the same for either option.
Regulators need to look at prudency and reasonableness but they also need to support utilities in embracing new technologies, she added. I want regulators and utilities to see clearly what reliability, customer service, and costs are possible and not see the one up in the cloud with one hand tied behind its back.
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In Illinois, cloud computing debate could open next chapter of utility rate reform - Utility Dive
BT Named A Leader In 2017 Magic Quadrant For Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe – BT Retains Its Position As … – Exchange News Direct
BT today announced that it has retained its position as a Leader in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe, one of the most influential reports covering the cloud sector. The company has also maintained its overall top rating for ability to execute in the report, which increasingly emphasises digital business enablement.
The 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe assesses cloud services providers completeness of vision and ability to execute in the provision of managed hybrid cloud hosting in Europe.
Gartner Inc. views Leaders as service providers who have proved they have staying power in this market, can frequently innovate on their existing products and can be relied on for enterprise-class needs. They have proved their technical competence and ability to deliver services to a wide range of customers. They address multiple use cases with stand-alone or integrated solutions.
BT believes that its leadership position is a significant achievement as this year Gartner Inc, emphasised digital business enablement throughout its assessment. BT believes that the reports findings will provide valuable insight for its existing and prospective customers looking to leverage hybrid cloud as part of their digital transformation strategies.
Furthermore, the company believes that its retention of the top rating for ability to execute reflects the above-market-rate growth of its hybrid cloud services including its cloud and traditional Compute portfolio as well as fully-integrated, third-party hyperscale cloud services.
Bas Burger, CEO Global Services, BT, said: Were pleased this report recognises that BTs cloud propositions are resonating with customers looking to transform their business and achieve leadership in the digital economy. Our front-runner position reflects the investments weve made in our Cloud of Clouds portfolio strategy. These investments are bringing to market a portfolio of innovative cloud services that remove complexity and improve control for our global customers at every stage of their digital transformation journeys.
We can help customers create hybrid environments combining the public and private cloud services their business demands. We can help them manage their cloud environments, giving them control of what their business consumes to ensure IT spend is affordable. Our global network gives customers access to their hybrid cloud wherever they need it and our track record in enablement reassures the boardroom that their digital transformation plans can be delivered.
The reports publication comes just three months after BT was given the highest scores by Gartner Inc. for Midsize European Network, Large European Network and Core City Backbone, reflecting three of the four use cases in the 2017 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Services, Pan-European report.
To read the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe report, please click here.
Gartner Disclaimer
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
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BT Named A Leader In 2017 Magic Quadrant For Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe - BT Retains Its Position As ... - Exchange News Direct
Atlantic Metro Expands CloudDirect(SM) Suite Nationwide – Marketwired (press release)
Integrated Platform of Managed Cloud Hosting, Server Colocation, and Network Connectivity
PARSIPPANY, NJ--(Marketwired - July 11, 2017) - Atlantic Metro Communications -- a nationwide provider of fully managed IT infrastructure services -- today announced the expansion of its CloudDirect service portfolio to cities nationwide. CloudDirect provides private and dedicated cloud hosting, data center colocation, and network connectivity as a single, integrated IT infrastructure platform.
The CloudDirect offering is now available at all Atlantic Metro sites including:
CloudDirect seamlessly combines cloud hosting and colocation services, while providing fiber connectivity between the cloud, data centers, and customer premises. Customers see increased levels of security, rapid deployment, consistent performance, and on-demand scalability, as well as the convenience of working with a single provider.
"CloudDirect has experienced tremendous growth and success in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, and the increased demand for connectivity to other regions made the decision to expand an easy one," said Stephen Klenert, Chief Strategy Officer of Atlantic Metro. "Bringing everything together under a single service provider enables customers to reduce their risk profile -- Atlantic Metro is able to proactively monitor, test, and support our clients' entire IT infrastructure."
Integrating these core IT Infrastructure components also gives customers the flexibility to augment physical servers in the cloud, easily migrate legacy servers into the cloud as they approach end-of-life, develop a comprehensive business continuity plan, and much more.
"When we were consolidating data centers into one facility, we required high levels of reliability, security, compliance, and low latency bandwidth from our providers," says Max Reynoso, COO of Quant Technologies LLC. "Atlantic Metro fit that profile. Atlantic Metro's ability to deliver a range of services that meet our needs has been an added benefit to our organization."
For more information about Atlantic Metro's CloudDirect platform or to order service, please visit http://www.atlanticmetro.net/solutions.
About Atlantic Metro Communications Atlantic Metro is a Managed Infrastructure Service Provider, delivering cloud computing, and secure data center colocation, and nationwide network connectivity. Recently recognized by the Silicon Valley Review as one of 2017's top ten fastest growing cloud providers, more than 600 customers -- including Fortune 500 enterprises, finance companies, legal firms, media agencies, healthcare organizations, and web start-ups choose Atlantic Metro for the confidence that comes with customer-focused infrastructure solutions. Atlantic Metro's visionary team strives to foster long-standing relationships and is dedicated to empowering the growth and success of its customers.
For more information, visit http://www.atlanticmetro.net or contact us via email at sales@atlanticmetro.net.
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Atlantic Metro Expands CloudDirect(SM) Suite Nationwide - Marketwired (press release)
Microsoft Launches Azure Local Cloud Solution – CFO
The company believes Azure Stack will give it an advantage over Amazon and Google in hybrid cloud computing.
Heating up its cloud competition with Amazon and Google, Microsoft has launched a long-awaited platform for organizations that prefer not to use the public cloud.
Azure Stack offers the same management tools, straightforward provisioning, and usage-based licensing as the public Azure cloud, but can be run on a companys own servers. At its Inspire conference, Microsoft announced Monday that partners like Dell EMC, HPE, and Lenovo will start shipping hardware that has been certified to run Azure Stack in September.
As Reuters reports, Microsoft is hoping to carve a niche among customers who cannot or do not want to have to move all their computing operations to the massive shared data centers that are collectively known as the cloud.
The company is the second-largest cloud player behind Amazon and also competes with Google. All three have been developing so-called hybrid solutions that allow enterprises to run workloads in a public cloud and in their own data centers.
One of the key differentiations we have with Azure versus our two biggest competitors in the cloud platform space is our ability to support true hybrid solutions, Judson Althoff, Microsofts executive vice president of worldwide commercial business, told Reuters.
Microsoft originally announced Azure Stack in 2015 with the intent of enabling organizations to build private Azure clouds on any suitable hardware and with an initial release date in 2016. A year ago, it switched to a 2017 release date and a delivery model using hardware from select partners.
According to HPE, its systems will start at $300,000 to 400,000 depending on configuration.
Mike Neil, Microsofts corporate vice president for Azure Infrastructure and Management, said Azure Stack is aimed at companies that want to remain in control of their data. Customers include Carnival Cruise Line, which is deploying Azure Stack to power many of the day-to-day operations of running a massive cruise ship.
Many of [these companies] have their roots in their environment today in their data centers or their hosting partners data centers, Neil told TechCrunch. We wanted to provide a solution that met these different needs.
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Microsoft Launches Azure Local Cloud Solution - CFO
Jelastic Announces Cloud Hosting Partnership with Diadem Technologies in India – Benzinga
Jelastic announced Cloud PaaS partnership with Diadem Technologies from India, to spread a scalable hosting platform for developers and SMBs via local data center
Palo Alto, CA (PRWEB) July 10, 2017
Jelastic, Multi-Cloud PaaS for hosting providers, enterprises, and developers, partnered with Diadem Technologies, India's leading cloud service provider, offering dedicated and hybrid cloud hosting solutions for clients across the globe.
Diadem Technologies powered by Jelastic will offer their customers elastic PaaS with rich web UI for easy creation, scaling, clustering and smooth updates of monolithic applications and microservices.
"We are excited about our partnership with Jelastic, as from now we will offer world class PaaS and CaaS solutions from our TIER IV IDC in Mumbai to our clients across India. After evaluating various Platform-as-a-Service options over the past year, we decided to partner with Jelastic as it appeared to be the best fit for us due to the following reasons:
"Smart service providers, as Diadem Technologies, keep searching for the advanced solutions to meet evolving requirements of their customers. And Jelastic is glad to help in upgrading commodity IaaS and VPS offerings to a unique appliance of managed PaaS and CaaS hosting," commented Ruslan Synytsky, Jelastic CEO and Co-Founder.
Diadem Technologies offer the following benefits for application hosting on their network:
Diadem Technologies powered by Jelastic provides a 14 day trial period for all customers.
About Jelastic Jelastic is a cloud platform for developing, scaling and managing hosted applications. Jelastic cooperates with trusted partners around the globe, and help them to reach local communities as well as to deliver high-quality solution for IT companies in local regions.The platform provides certified containers for Java, PHP, Ruby, Node.js, Python and .NET and the ability to use custom Docker containers. Jelastic offers agile deployment models without coding to proprietary APIs, flexible automatic scaling for stateless and stateful applications, collaboration, access control, monitoring, backup and disaster recovery, built-in billing and business analytics tools while driving down TCO with high density and hardware utilization. For more information, visit https://jelastic.com/
About Diadem Technologies Diadem Technologies is in business since 2000 and are internally funded and a zero debt entity since inception with a strong focus on providing their clients with state of the art hosted solutions from South Asia's first Uptime Certified TIER IV IDC in Mumbai, India offering 99.999% SLA for its hosting infrastructure. They have evolved from a plain vanilla shared web hosting provider to a fully-fledged managed and cloud service provider offering a multitude of services which includes managed virtual private servers (VPS), IaaS & PaaS solutions on Jelastic, SaaS offerings which includes anti malware, anti spam, email archiving, email hosting solutions, among others.
Web and application hosting services of Diadem Technologies are used by leading brands and organisations including Hewlett Packard India, Emami, Turtle Limited, Yes Bank, Supertron Ltd, BiskFarm, Microtek, Manyavar, Wonderchef, Ittiam Systems, JIVA Ayurveda and over 1500+ organisations which need a secure, highly available and redundant datacenter hosting environment backed with 99.95% uptime SLA and 24x7 technical support.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/07/prweb14492540.htm
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Jelastic Announces Cloud Hosting Partnership with Diadem Technologies in India - Benzinga
School district graduates to cloud-based websites – GCN.com
School district graduates to cloud-based websites
To compete with private schools in the region, Seminole County Public School system in Florida wanted to overhaul the districts online presence to create a user-friendly site that would be easy for school employees to update.
The redesign of the website involved paring 30,000 pages of information down to 3,000 and making it easy for parents to find and access information on to testing, enrollment or bus schedules from a variety of access points.
Supporting nearly 70,000 students and 10,000 employees, the school system wanted a user- and mobile-friendly site for the community "and a back-end content management system for our staff to manage and keep current, Michael Lawrence, SCPS communications officer, told GCN. We see our site as a living, breathing, and evolving entity that we need to continue to give attention to on a daily basis in order for it to be a useful.
SCPS tapped the Solodev Web Experience Platform that offered a content management system and Amazon Web Services for hosting. For the next phase in SCPSs website redesign project -- the 65 individual school websites -- school officials took a different approach.
The county wanted a digital agency quality site for every school, but no school district can afford that. So we worked with them to create a high-quality single-school site and trained them to build all of the school sites themselves, Solodev CTO Shawn Moore said.
By using Solodevs content management system, Moore estimates SCPS saved $3 to $4 million compared to hiring an agency to develop all of the individual websites.
Lawrence said a cloud-hosted environment benefits parents, students and faculty members who expect to have access to information regardless of the time of day.
Our district is moving away from on-premise services," Lawrence said, because it wants more flexibility and a more secure and stable environment. We cant have our websites go down because we are dealing with weather incidents or cyberattacks, he said.
On June 14, SCPS won a $50,000 credit from the 2017 AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge. The credit will go toward the continued costs for hosting the website on AWS servers.
About the Author
Sara Friedman is a reporter/producer for GCN, covering cloud, cybersecurity and a wide range of other public-sector IT topics.
Before joining GCN, Friedman was a reporter for Gambling Compliance, where she covered state issues related to casinos, lotteries and fantasy sports. She has also written for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily on state telecom and cloud computing. Friedman is a graduate of Ithaca College, where she studied journalism, politics and international communications.
Friedman can be contacted at sfriedman@gcn.com or follow her on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.
Click here for previous articles by Friedman.
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School district graduates to cloud-based websites - GCN.com
Microsoft’s Cloud Focus Means Layoffs: Report – Investopedia
With cloud computing becoming a bigger revenue driver for Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the company reorganized its business earlier this week, which resulted in large-scale job reductions at the software company.
A person familiar with the companys plans told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that layoffs could be in the thousands range as it moves its sales focus to large enterprises and small and medium businesses. Late last week, the Puget Sound Business Journal broke the news that Microsoft would reorganize its business to focus on a so-called cloud-first strategy that is being led by Azure, its cloud hosting business.
According to reports, most the layoffs will be in the sales division and outside of the U.S., and the number of layoffs is estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000. Microsoft has not confirmed any of these numbers, but has confirmed the process of informing employees has started.
In an email sent to employees Monday that was obtained by the Journal, the company said its sales efforts will focus on businesses instead of going after specific industries or market segments like startups or public companies. In the email sent by Judson Althoff, the executive vice president who pushes Microsofts technology, he said the sales reorganization is designed to align the right resources for the right customer at the right time and noted he wants to increase the companys technical depth and better align sales and services to solution areas.
The email did not mention layoffs, although they are a likely implication of a reorganization. The Journal said the job reductions will impact employees in offices located around the globe. Microsoft currently has 121,000 employees worldwide. (See also: Microsoft's Azure Cloud Revenue Estimated at $3B.)
While it has long played second fiddle to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and its Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit, Microsoft has been chipping away at its dominance. In June, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brent Bracelin said in a research report that Azure could have more revenue than AWS for the first time in 2017. The analyst said Microsoft is becoming the biggest cloud provider for the first time in 10 years, which would transition it from a cloud laggard to a cloud leader.
Bracelin said he came to this conclusion after conducting an analysis of the 60 biggest cloud computing companies. The analyst is predicting spending on cloud initiatives could explode to $239 billion in the span of five years, with the Redmond, Wash., software giant benefiting the most from the growth. Bracelin pointed to what he called unmatched product depth and breadth" in software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service as the main reasons. (See also: Amazon, Microsoft Still Rule Cloud; Oracle, Alibaba May Catch Up.)
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Microsoft's Cloud Focus Means Layoffs: Report - Investopedia
Interoute named a Leader in Gartner’s MQ for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe for 4th consecutive year – RealWire (press release)
London, 4 July 2017 Interoute has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe[1], for the fourth consecutive year. The annual report provides businesses with an impartial evaluation of vendors strengths and capabilities.
Interoute continues to be a leader in the field for managed infrastructure platforms with a strong focus on automation, self service and application portability. Interoutes unique Cloud Fabric simplifies the integration of public & private cloud, colocation and traditional hosting with its software defined platform. The approach streamlines hybrid cloud adoption strategies by enabling anything from physical legacy hardware to cloud based containers to service enterprise applications together.
Interoute offers customers 13 cloud locations across Europe, in addition to resilient locations in Asia and the US. These allow applications to be distributed across major user locations, minimising latency and supporting data sovereignty requirements. Interoute has also integrated network capabilities into its VDC hosting platform and promotes free data-transfers between regions.
Existing customers can directly connect their ICT infrastructure into the Interoute Cloud at over 300 locations worldwide, including major 3rd party data centres, through Interoute Connect. Enterprise branch offices can also be integrated with the platform and the global cloud ecosystem through Interoutes Edge SD-WAN offering.
Our combination of a robust, secure and high performance global cloud infrastructure means both digitally native and established enterprises, can improve performance and maintain compliance. The ability to integrate legacy, third party and digital environments on our platform also means they can build on their past while driving their digital transformation initiatives, said Matthew Finnie, CTO at Interoute.
The report led by analyst Tiny Haynes, and co-authored by analysts Gregor Petri, Gianluca Tramacere and Ross Winser, said: Leaders have proved they have staying power in this market, can frequently innovate on their existing products and can be relied on for enterprise-class needs. They have proved their technical competence and ability to deliver services to a wide range of customers. They address multiple use cases with stand-alone or integrated solutions. They also have a presence in multiple European locations to offer solutions around data sovereignty requirements.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting can be found here http://www3.interoute.com/2017-gartner-mhch-europe-release.
More details on Interoute and the Enterprise Digital Platform can be found here http://www.interoute.com/digital-transformation.
Notes: [1] Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Managed Hybrid Cloud Hosting, Europe, June 2017, Tiny Haynes, Gianluca Tramacere, Gregor Petri, Ross Winser.
About the Magic Quadrant Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in their research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartners research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About Interoute Interoute is the owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform which encompasses 15 data centres, 17 virtual data centres and 33 colocation centres, with connections to 206 additional third-party data centres across Europe. Its full-service Unified ICT platform serves international enterprises and many of the worlds leading service providers, as well as governments and universities. Interoutes Unified ICT strategy provides solutions for enterprises seeking connectivity and a scalable, secure advanced platform on which they can build their voice, video, computing and data services, as well as service providers in need of high capacity international data transit and infrastructure. With established operations throughout Europe and USA, Interoute also owns and operates 24 connected city networks within Europe's major business centres. http://www.interoute.com
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