Category Archives: Cloud Servers
CRN Exclusive: Tech Data Gives SMB-Focused Partners A Leg Up With New Pre-Configured Microsoft Azure-Based … – CRN
Tech Data Wednesday launched a pre-configured small-business cloud server for Microsoft Azure to make it less expensive and easier for partners to support customers in the public cloud.
The Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor said that many small business have adopted the cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite but have held off on moving additional workloads to the cloud, according to Stacy Nethercoat, vice president of Tech Data cloud solutions, Americas.
"Infrastructure-as-a-Service can be complex and overwhelming," Nethercoat told CRN exclusively. "We believe there is a lot of demand in the market for pre-configured solutions."
[RELATED: Tech Data CEO: Company Is 'Winning In The Marketplace' Following Key Acquisition]
The server can be set up in minutes using Tech Data's StreamOne cloud provisioning and billing platform. The distributor's global solutions design group pre-architected the solution with Microsoft Azure, and then integrated it into StreamOne, Nethercoat said.
Prior to Tech Data's offering, Nethercoat said a solution provider would have needed to employ solution architects and developers well-versed in Microsoft Azure to unlock this capability on their own. But by leveraging the distributor's intellectual property, channel partners can increase their margins and get to recurring revenue faster, she said.
Tech Data plans to leverage its intellectual property and develop global solutions that can be deployed into multiple clouds so that they're available for partners regardless of their cloud provider. The distributor now also enjoys deep relationships with Amazon Web Services, IBM SoftLayer and IBM Bluemix thanks to its $2.6 billion acquisition of Avnet Technology Solutions in February.
Solution providers can swiftly and inexpensively set up the small-business cloud server and deploy and manage the servers remotely, according to Tech Data. Nethercoat said the offering should appeal to any partner servicing SMB or midtier clients regardless of IaaS proficiency, and will come with training and enablement collateral for partners.
The service is available in three sizes: one to six users, seven to 20 users and more than 40 users. Nethercoat said the resources need to be configured specifically based on the size of the environment, although the environment is flexible enough for partners to shift from one size to another as the size of their end-user customers changes.
The support provided by Tech Data remains the same across all three sizes of the service, Nethercoat said. The cloud server will be a monthly, pay-as-you-go offering, she said, and is expected to be the first of many cloud offerings that leverage the distributor's intellectual property.
Tech Data's post-sales support around the small-business cloud server includes everything from addressing simple password problems to needing to expand the environment because the end user has added additional people, Nethercoat said.
See original here:
CRN Exclusive: Tech Data Gives SMB-Focused Partners A Leg Up With New Pre-Configured Microsoft Azure-Based ... - CRN
Tech Data Launches Small Business Cloud Server on Microsoft Azure – PR Newswire (press release)
"The Tech Data Small Business Cloud Server makes it easy for resellers to help them take that next stepand to take the burden of applications and security management off their small business customers as well. It is an ideal base upon which small businesses can start to construct their own efficient and cost-effective cloud ecosystem, and for SMB resellers to use as a platform on which they can build their cloud services revenues."
The service is available in three sizes: 1-6 users, 7-20 users, and 40+ users. Detailed monthly usage and billing information will be provided to resellers via StreamOne, and pre-determined usage thresholds and limits can be set if required. In addition to a Microsoft Azure virtual machine, the Tech Data Small Business Cloud Server comes with Microsoft Office 365 (Exchange, Office and SharePoint) software and provides backup, storage and VPN functionality. Remote desktop is optional for remote access.
Alyssa Fitzpatrick, general manager, SMB Sales for Microsoft Corp., stated: "Microsoft applauds Tech Data's initiative and the investment in setting up its Small Business Cloud Server on Microsoft Azure. It provides SMB customers an option when looking for a flexible and cost-effective cloud-based platform for their IT solutions, and especially for those deploying Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security solutions."
A Small Business Cloud Server can be set up in minutes using StreamOne, Tech Data's cloud provisioning and billing platform. Users can easily be added and removed, while servers can be deployed and managed remotely, enabling resellers to offer swift and inexpensive set-up services.
"Microsoft Azure gives specialized businesses like ours a new world of options when it comes to truly optimizing our back-office environmentno more one-size-fits-all boxes," said Mike Farlow,president at ComTech Network Solutions, an SMB solution provider and Tech Data partner. "Small Business Cloud Server is a great option for SMBs as it provides the flexibility that we've not seen, and it allows us to grow as our business warrants, without the traditional limitations of resources."
"The Small Business Cloud Server solution from Tech Data is very easy to deploy and manage; also, the resources provided by Tech Data were simple to understand and gave us the necessary knowledge and confidence to be successful in this space," said Jim Hunton, owner of Onsite Technical Services, an IT solution provider and Tech Data partner. "We plan on also showcasing this solution to our customers, as it will enable us to provide more options and advise on which solution best helps solve for their business and IT needs."
Tech Data's approach to the cloud helps partners excel through specialization while capitalizing on the high-growth, next-generation technologies that are redefining the future. In addition to the cloud, partners can leverage in-depth expertise in complementary technology market segments, including cognitive computing, the data center, data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobility, security and enterprise networking, and training and education.
For more information on Tech Data Cloud in the Americas, contact tdcloud@techdata.com or call (800) 237-8931. In Europe, contact cloud@techdata.eu.
Click to tweet: .@Tech_Data Launches Small Business #Cloud Server on @Microsoft #Azure http://ow.ly/qXsJ30cz0SA.
About Tech Data Tech Data Corporation is one of the world's largest wholesale distributors of technology products, services and solutions. Its advanced logistics capabilities and value added services enable 115,000 resellers to efficiently and cost effectively support the diverse technology needs of end users in more than 100 countries. Tech Data generated $26.2 billion in net sales for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2017. It is ranked No. 107 on the Fortune 500 and one of Fortune's "World's Most Admired Companies." To learn more, visit http://www.techdata.com, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Media Contact Wally Campbell Public Relations Manager, Americas Tech Data Corporation 480.794.7426 wally.campbell@techdata.com
George Troughton Communications Manager, Europe Tech Data Corporation Mobile: 0034 615 841 745 Telephone: 0034 93 297 0222 George.troughton@techdata.eu
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tech-data-launches-small-business-cloud-server-on-microsoft-azure-300474127.html
SOURCE Tech Data Corporation
Read the rest here:
Tech Data Launches Small Business Cloud Server on Microsoft Azure - PR Newswire (press release)
Integrating cloud and on-premises workflows – ZDNet
Integration stands out as the top challenge for companies that have embraced SaaS and the cloud. We'll deliver expert considerations and tips for IT implementers who need to connect hosted apps and services to the corporate infrastructure.
In the age of the cloud, users expect complete abstraction between themselves and the underlying platforms that are supporting their work. All applications, whether delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or hosted from a co-location facility, or even from on-premises, must be available constantly. This has to be the guiding principle for IT professionals who are supporting on-prem workflows with cloud services.
Look for cloud providers who are happy to cooperate with your operation. Some will welcome the opportunity and support your integration efforts. Some will even offer APIs and other integration tools to ease the process. It is worthwhile to examine how Microsoft in particular has addressed the multi-platform issue at two very specific levels.
Cloud as data center extension
According to a Microsoft Azure website post from November 2, 2014 defining Azure Active Directory:
"Azure Active Directory is a service that provides identity and access management capabilities in the cloud. In much the same way that Active Directory is a service made available to customers through the Windows Server operating system for on-premises identity management, Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a service that is made available through Azure for cloud-based identity management."
"Azure AD can be used as a standalone cloud directory for your organization, but you can also integrate existing on-premise Active Directory with Azure AD. Some of the features of integration include directory sync and single sign-on, which further extend the reach of your existing on-premises identities into the cloud for an improved admin and end user experience."
Since then, many companies have ceased investing in additional servers and storage, preferring instead to simply use Microsoft Azure for seasonally elevated needs, special projects, or promotions that drive significantly increased traffic. All you have to do is unify your Active Directory between Windows Server on premises and Azure subscribed servers, then provision resources instantly from a self-service console.
For users, the connection between local and cloud resources is completely transparent. For corporate IT departments, management of resources on both sides of the connection is seamlessly blended into one Active Directory console. Over time, you can retire on-premises servers and replace them with additional Azure servers. Not to mention apps like Office 365 and SharePoint. This kind of relationship represents a simpler, faster, less expensive, less burdensome path to data center expansion that scales effortlessly.
Integrating individuals and information
The introduction of Microsoft Teams provides a meaningful answer to those users who found it difficult to integrate their work with their communications, making collaboration less robust.
Since Microsoft Teams is "chat-based," users can discuss issues with other team members, referring to information and content that is surfaced along with the chat. Microsoft Teams brings together the full breadth and depth of Office 365 to provide a true hub for teamwork. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneNote, Planner, Power BI and Delve are all built into Microsoft Teams, as well.
Microsoft Teams is also built on Office 365 Groups--the cross-application membership service that makes it easy for people to move naturally from one collaboration tool to another, preserve their sense of context, and share with others.
Microsoft Teams integrates individuals and their information with a truly intuitive, interactive, transparent interface. You can find out more about how Office 365's collaboration tools help keep management connected to mobile field workers here. http://www.zdnet.com/article/cloud-strategies-mobility-collaboration-at-g-j-pepsi-cola-bottlers/
Read more:
Integrating cloud and on-premises workflows - ZDNet
WannaCry is a wake up call for cloud migration – ITProPortal
On May 12th 2017, cyber criminals launched what is believed to be the biggest ransomware attack ever recorded. This ransomware outbreak, dubbed WannaCry, spread with unprecedented speed, taking down the systems of more than 100,000 organisations in over 100 countriesall within a span of 48 hours.
Although the magnitude of this attack surpasses all others of its nature, beneath its success and that of its counterparts lies the same prevailing issues: unmanaged risk and pending vulnerabilities. In this particular case, the vulnerability in question is widely thought to have been attributed to unpatched Microsoft systems.
There is also a wider issue. As systems often reside within a business silo or line of business, responsible stakeholders are regularly not IT nor security experts, but rather those focused on their individual business targets. If these silos were to host these systems virtually in the cloud, organisations could then ensure that their mission critical operations are always in the hands of experts. Theres a solid chance that this move can prevent future breaches on the scale of WannaCry.
The danger of unpatched, outdated systems
This latest ransomware onslaught is a resounding reminder of the importance of security basics, especially when it comes to Microsoft product patching. Security professionals have long stressed the importance of basic security hygiene, such as patching and backups. However with the pace of change and the demands of agility in todays environment, that advice can often be deprioritized by complacency, when security updates are perceived as both an inconvenience and an additional overhead for the business.
For example, a flaw in a file sharing protocol of the Microsoft Windows Operating System was fundamental in its contribution to the scale of this attack, and this could have been very easily avoided. Those who applied critical Microsoft Windows patches released in March were protected against this exploit. Those who didnt were left at risk.
The sheer scale of this attack shines a light on just how many organisations have outdated, unpatched systems and acts as a wake-up call to business and IT professionals to mitigate against future instances. Arguably, the impact of WannaCry could have been significantly reduced had critical Microsoft Windows patches been applied in time throughout organizational networks. This draws us back to a poignant reminder that with systems managed in the cloud, patches and updates are often applied automatically following extensive testing, thereby removing this potential vulnerability.
Safety in numbers
Beyond automatic patching, hosting systems in the cloud also provides exponential scale in terms of monitoring and threat detection. Through continuous, centralised monitoring in the cloud, security incidents are quickly detected and managed. Providing this level of security at the outset and on a proactive basis as opposed to reactively means that any issues or intrusions detected are given immediate attention by the right experts, who can take action for every potential piece of data exposure, whether pertaining to individual customer or organisational data. This extends to malware prevention, including ransomware such as WannaCry.
The depth of data available is key here. IBM for example has the largest database of known security threats, with 8,000 security experts monitoring more than 270 million monitored endpoints and 20 billion incidents daily in 133 countries. Conversely, many businesses are working in the dark, not even aware they have been breached until it is too late and the damage has already been done. By using a managed cloud provider that has security expertise and access to all of the latest data, brands can ensure that any kind of incident will be managed, immediately, by a dedicated incident manager.
Backup to stay up
Maintaining full visibility of data residency as well as ensuring regular data back-up routines are two practices, which are critical to sound security hygiene. These back-ups must be secure as opposed to constantly connected or mapped to the live network. They must also be tested periodically to verify their integrity and value in case of emergency.
Whether organisations have chosen an on-premise, off-premise or hybrid solution, vendors must ensure timely, secure back-ups and disaster recovery. Businesses may even opt to back up their data across data centres in different regions, ensuring that if one region is affected there is still continuity. Through perimeter security in a hybrid solution, businesses can also ensure that an issue or incident will not be transferred from public to private environments.
Beware of weak links
Finally, it is well known in the industry that one of the most volatile security vulnerabilities in an organisation is its people. Identity and access management (i.e. the knowledge of who has access to what, and where) is therefore absolutely crucial. Cloud identity management, often now known as Identity as a Service, is a practice businesses must employ to maintain complete control over this, minimising the insider threat and ensuring that there are no weak links in the chain.
That being said, humans are not the only weak link. Hardware can also prove to be vulnerable. This trend is beginning to shift with the advent of bare metal cloud servers, allowing businesses to have confidence that security is baked in at microchip level. With hardware monitoring and security controls, businesses can be assured that workloads are only being run on trusted hardware. This provides an essential level of confidence and compliance certification.
Prepare for the inevitable
Ultimately, brands cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to security, especially as GDPR enforcement coming next year brings with it the prospect of hefty fines in the cases of data breaches and data accountability. Surveys show that for some brands, these fines hold the potential to shut down operations altogether. Although unique in scale, security incidents are a growing force and WannaCry wont be the last global attack we see. In fact, these incidents hold the potential to become even more frequent and devastating in their impact as our economy and workforce become more reliant on digital means. Many businesses do not have the capacity or expertise to take full responsibility for their data security. In many cases, a more effective cloud strategy will place organisations in a stronger position to mitigate against the potential to fall victim to the next generation of WannaCry campaigns.
Helen Kelisky, VP Cloud UKI, IBM
Image Credit: Carlos Amarillo / Shutterstock
See the article here:
WannaCry is a wake up call for cloud migration - ITProPortal
IBM and HPE’s Server Businesses Aren’t Just Pressured By the … – TheStreet.com
Following a long string of quarters in which the server sales of enterprise IT firms such as IBM Corp. (IBM) , HP Enterprise Co. (HPE) , Lenovo and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) have felt the ill effects of public cloud infrastructure adoption, it's generally well-understood how the preference of companies likes Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) , Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) , Facebook Inc. (FB) and (increasingly) Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) to design their own servers and have them supplied by Asian contract manufacturers (ODMs) has become a headwind for the old guard. Especially as more and more business software workloads are either migrated to a public cloud, or built from the start to be run on one.
What might not be as well-appreciated yet, and which is driven home by some estimates and sales figures released this week, is how the IT giants are also now pressured by the aggressive efforts of one of their peers to take share. Namely, Dell Technologies Inc. (DVMT) , which is making full use of the expanded resources it has as its disposal after merging with storage giant EMC last year.
Alphabet, Cisco and Facebook are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL, CSCO and FB? Learn more now.
On Tuesday, June 6, IDC estimated global server revenue fell 4.6% annually in Q1 to $11.8 billion. The next day, Gartner estimated Q1 server sales fell 4.5% to $12.5 billion (a slightly different methodology appears to be responsible for a higher revenue estimate). Neither number was all that surprising, given the firms respectively estimated 4.6% and 1.9% declines for Q4.
It also wasn't too surprising that sales of servers designed by cloud giants and supplied by ODMs grew strongly following a Q4 lull, as the likes of Amazon and Facebook continued spending heavily on capex. IDC estimated sales of such servers, which it refers to as ODM Direct, grew 41.8% to $1.2 billion (10.4% of industry revenue). It added one unnamed cloud firm single-handedly accounted for over 10% of the 2.21 million servers shipped during the quarter.
What was, surprising, though is that both firms reported Dell, the world's second-biggest server vendor, saw meaningful sales growth in spite of the headwinds faced by peers. IDC estimated Dell's server sales grew 4.7% to $2.37 billion, leading its market share to rise to 20.1% from 18.3% a year ago. By contrast, the firm had estimated Dell's server sales were roughly flat in Q4. Gartner gave Dell a 19% Q1 share, up from 17.3%.
Dell confirmed its share gains on June 8 when the company reported its server and networking revenue grew 5% in the April quarter to $3.2 billion. The company added sales of its mainstay PowerEdge enterprise servers, which run on Intel Corp. (INTC) and (to a lesser degree) AMD Inc.'s (AMD) x86 CPUs, grew by double digits. That offset lower "high-volume cloud" server sales.
IDC thinks HPE's Q1 server share fell to 24.2% from 27.5% (still good for first place), with revenue dropping 15.8% to $2.86 billion. The company announced last week its server revenue fell 14% in its April quarter. Like Dell, HPE's cloud sales have been falling, as a major client (believed to be Microsoft) relies more on internal and open-source designs. Both Dell and HPE have also noted their cloud server sales tend to carry lower margins; the latter suggested on its earnings call it might pare its investments in this space to focus on higher-margin opportunities.
IBM had an even tougher time in Q1. IDC thinks Big Blue's server sales, hurt not only by cloud adoption and Dell but also by mainframe cyclicality and share losses for its Power server line relative to x86 servers, fell 34.7% to $745 million, with its share dropping to 6.3% to 9.2%.
That allowed Cisco to grab third place from IBM. IDC estimates the networking giant's server share grew fractionally to 7%, in spite of a 3% decline in revenue to $825 million. Cisco has blamed recent pressures for the business on an industry shift towards rack servers relative to blade servers, while insisting it's making efforts to the ship.
Lenovo, which bought IBM's x86 server unit in 2014, rounded out the top-5. The Chinese tech giant was granted a 6.2% share, down from 7% a year ago, with revenue estimated to drop 16.5% to $727 million.
Overall, HPE, IBM, Cisco and Lenovo saw their server share fall 690 basis points in Q1 to 43.7%. That's easily worse than their performance in Q4, when IDC estimated their combined server share fell 490 basis points to 48.7%.
Clearly, Dell's rejuvenation is making a bad situation worse. Since closing the EMC merger last September, the company has been pitching enterprises on an end-to-end IT lineup that pairs Dell's servers and networking hardware with EMC's storage hardware and software, as well as the virtualization and infrastructure management software provided by EMC's VMware (VMW) unit. The company has also moved to integrate Dell and EMC's salesforces and reseller partner efforts. In addition, some Dell and EMC resellers have felt pressured to boost to their sales to remain one of the merged company's preferred partners.
All of these efforts are certainly paying off in the server market. Going forward, the launch of Dell's 14th-generation PowerEdge servers (announced in May) could provide a fresh boost. They promise improved hardware and software-based security features, better high-speed flash storage support and revamped management software tools and tech support services. This week, HPE countered by unveiling x86 servers promised to have an unmatched ability to protect a server's firmware, as well as greater support for "persistent memory" modules that combine DRAM with flash storage.
Along with Dell, HPE, Cisco and Lenovo will likely get a server sales boost from Intel's anticipated mid-summer launch of Xeon CPUs based on the company's Skylake architecture. IBM, which no longer sells x86 servers, won't be so lucky. But either way, the server businesses of all four companies have to contend with major challenges that a chip refresh can only provide temporary relief for.
More here:
IBM and HPE's Server Businesses Aren't Just Pressured By the ... - TheStreet.com
Huawei to Expand Its Server Product Portfolio to Deliver Hybrid Cloud Solution for Microsoft Azure Stack – PR Newswire (press release)
The jointly-engineered solution based on Huawei's latest-generation FusionServer and CloudEngine switches uniquely offers built-in integration between Huawei's eSight management software and Azure Stack, enabling customers to implement 360-degree management on hardware devices.
Azure Stack is an extension of Azure, providing the same application model, self-service portal, and APIs. This enables the modernization of applications across hybrid cloud environments, balancing flexibility and control.
The Huawei and Microsoft jointly-engineered solution also shares the same architecture and user interface as Azure, allowing users to seamlessly deploy, manage and migrate applications across clouds. As a result, enterprises can transform their businesses through automated IT services, maintain critical data on-premise, and deploy new services and cloud-native applications faster with fewer costs.
Huawei's hybrid cloud infrastructure features FusionServer, which delivers integrated high-density architecture, large storage capacity, and highly reliable management. It is an ideal choice for cloud computing, big data, and HPC applications. Huawei CloudEngine switch provides high-density 10G access and up to 100G interconnect, enabling networks of high performance and reliability, large cache, and low latency. At the end of 2016, Huawei had delivered over two million virtual machines and 420 cloud data centers to customers in 130 countries in a number of sectors, including government, public utilities, carrier, energy and finance.
"Combining Huawei's competitive strength in server hardware with Microsoft's cloud expertise, the groundbreaking Huawei Hybrid Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack is an ideal option for enterprises moving to hybrid cloud," said Qiu Long, president of Huawei IT Server Product Line. "The jointly-engineered solution epitomizes the successful and symbiotic relationship between the two companies."
Mike Neil, corporate vice president, Enterprise Cloud, Microsoft Corporation said, "We are pleased to work with Huawei on the launch of their new solution, Huawei Hybrid Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack. "Huawei has a strong market position and rich product portfolio, and will help to accelerate the adoption of hybrid cloud platforms with existing and new customers, and expand the strategy to new markets."
About HuaweiHuawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Our aim is to enrich life and improve efficiency through a better connected world, acting as a responsible corporate citizen, innovative enabler for the information society, and collaborative contributor to the industry. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huawei's 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.
For more information, please visit Huawei online at http://www.huawei.com or follow us on: http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei http://www.twitter.com/Huawei http://www.facebook.com/Huawei http://www.google.com/+Huawei http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huawei-to-expand-its-server-product-portfolio-to-deliver-hybrid-cloud-solution-for-microsoft-azure-stack-300471350.html
SOURCE Huawei
See the original post:
Huawei to Expand Its Server Product Portfolio to Deliver Hybrid Cloud Solution for Microsoft Azure Stack - PR Newswire (press release)
IBM could potentially lose WhatsApp as its public cloud customer … – The Tech Portal
In what could prove to a significant blow to IBMs cloud services, Facebook is said to be finally kicking off the migration process of its widely popular messaging platform WhatsApp to its own data center. This will leave IBMs cloud computing facilities hanging high and dry as one of its prominent customers will be departing the platform completely in the coming weeks.
Citing sources privy to the situation, this development was first reported by CNBC, who claims that IBM (orInternational Business Machines) will be losing one of its top five cloud customers (in terms of revenue) when WhatsApp breaks its long-standing tieswith the software company. Big Blue is definitely going to witness a noticeable difference in its revenues in the days going forward.
The report further goes on to mention that WhatsApp wasshelling out close to$2 billion permonth on cloud servers to keep their messaging platform up and running, especially when its user base has now ballooned to over 1.2 billion active users. But, IBM said that the same isnt the case and WhatsApp is presently not ranked among the top five customers of its cloud customers.
While other cloud service providers have boasted about their partnerships with major technology giants, IBM has been fairly quiet on the said front. WhatsApp is one of the most well-recognized platforms across the globe and the companydid not bank upon this very fact. It only once detailedWhatsApps usage in an off-the-record case study, saying itruns atop around700 high-end SoftLayer servers split between data centers in San Jose, California, and Washington, D.C.
Speaking on the same, an IBM spokesperson in a statement said:
WhatsApp has been a great client of IBM Cloud as they used our global footprint and capabilities to scale their business.
We are proud of the role of IBM Cloud in their success. It is completely natural for Facebook to seek synergies across their business.
However, this decision from the social networking giant isnt at all surprising. Facebook has been known to keep all of its acquired platforms close to home. If youve already forgotten, Facebook bought out WhatsApp for a whopping$19 billion back in 2014. The two technology giants have since enhanced the feature set of their services and started sharing anonymized data with one another.
When the social media giant bought the messaging giant, the report mentions, it was in amidst theyear-long migration process of the photo-sharing platform Instagram from AWS (Amazon Web Services) to itsown data centers. Other products acquired by Facebook were initially running on IBM or Amazons public cloud servers, but the company acted instantly to port them to its own data farms.
As the report mentions, and is obviously true, it is only WhatsApp that has taken this long to reach the migration stage. It has been stated that Facebook didnt want to rush any decision related to the said messaging platform because CEO Mark Zuckerberg didnt want it to be under Facebooks influence sharing user data back and forth just yet. Now, thats out of the way and WhatsApp is working to expand its scope beyond the consumer-focused messaging platform to businesses as well, this decision is justified.
We have reached out to Facebook and WhatsApp for more information on the migration process and will update you once we hear back from them.
[emailprotected]
Visit link:
IBM could potentially lose WhatsApp as its public cloud customer ... - The Tech Portal
Is Serverless Computing Better? – Forbes
Forbes | Is Serverless Computing Better? Forbes Just about the same time as people are starting to understand that cloud computing is just servers in a datacenter, we have to get to grips with what is called 'serverless' computing so what is it and why does it matter? The paradoxes are endless i.e ... |
Read the original post:
Is Serverless Computing Better? - Forbes
Cloud VMs without sane firewalls is nutty, right? Digital Ocean agrees – The Register
Running a virtual machine in the cloud without a firewall sounds a bit nutty, right? Because security.
And because even when your servers are designed for developers to spin up on the cheap, as is the case for Digital Ocean's droplets, it's a good idea for folks to at least add a fig leaf of security at the beginning of their efforts instead of hoping it can be shoehorned in later.
After years of renting firewall-free VMs in the cloud, Digital Ocean has come around to this way of thinking, adding a free firewall management to its Droplets. You can always install individual firewall software such as ufw on Linux by hand on your droplets, but now Digital Ocean has added a way to setup safeguards from a web interface.
The company isn't revealing the source of its firewall, but does suggest they're rather limited beasts with the instruction that you might want to run multiple firewalls per droplet if you want to apply rules for different security chores. The company says the effect of running multiple firewalls will be one big unified happy virtual firewall, even if you have to manage each alone.
The new firewalls are free and reflect the fact that Digital Ocean is slowly moving away from offering just simple cloud servers. In recent times it's also added block storage and load balancers and has a roadmap promising new products for networking and reliability too.
See the rest here:
Cloud VMs without sane firewalls is nutty, right? Digital Ocean agrees - The Register
DigitalOcean releases free cloud firewalls service to strengthen security for large-scale applications – SDTimes.com
DigitalOcean, the cloud for developers, today launched Cloud Firewalls, a free service that secures Droplets (cloud servers) by reducing the surface area of a potential attack. Developers can deploy the service in seconds without installing or configuring any software, and define what ports are visible on their Droplets to minimize risk. Along with DigitalOceans free Monitoring Service launched in April 2017, Cloud Firewalls is a key part of DigitalOceans continuous effort to add value back to developers by allowing them to deploy and scale applications of any size.
We are committed to helping developers build great software. This includes offering a simple and automated way to secure their infrastructure, said Julia Austin, CTO of DigitalOcean. Teams of engineers depend on DigitalOcean to stay true to our commitment to simplicity, and Cloud Firewalls ensures they can easily manage their production workloads securely, at scale.
Developers with a large number of Droplets will find it much easier to secure their applications with Cloud Firewalls. It scales automatically from one Droplet to thousands and provides a central location to define and apply access rules to prevent unauthorized traffic from reaching them. Users can leverage tagging to group and organize any number of Droplets, and use them to define how each group of Droplets is secured.
Cloud Firewalls gives users the ability to whitelist which ports are open and which IP ranges, tags, Droplets or load balancers can access them. Users can configure the service easily and quickly through the dashboard or on the command line with doctl. They can also leverage DigitalOceans API to automate tasks and build integrations. Official client libraries are available in Go and Ruby. Rules can be changed in one place and instantly applied to every Droplet that is tagged and the service is available in every region to all Droplet customers at no additional cost.
Read more from the original source:
DigitalOcean releases free cloud firewalls service to strengthen security for large-scale applications - SDTimes.com