Grazed from TechTarget. Author: Archana Venkatraman.

As VMware readies to kick off its annual virtualisation and cloud conference, VMworld 2013 later this week, Gartner analyst explains what users can expect at the event and the company’s future in the mobile and cloud era. At the event featuring more than 21,000 customers, partners and system integrators, VMware chief executive Pat Gelsinger will discuss the next generation of IT and how the software-defined datacentre (SDDC) can extend virtualisation and automated management across storage, networking and security.

The term SDDC rose to prominence last year during VMworld 2012 with VMware touting it as the next best thing in IT. A software-defined datacentre is an IT facility where the elements of the infrastructure – networking, storage, CPU and security – are virtualised and delivered as a service and the operation of the entire infrastructure is automated by software…

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Charles Babcock.

At the same time, last week’s debate between Randy Bias, CTO of Cloudscaling, and Boris Renski, CMO and co-founder of Mirantis, scored important points about the value of application programming interfaces (APIs) and cloud architecture. And it dealt at length with the wisdom — or lack thereof — of focusing on Amazon APIs while inside the OpenStack project.

The protagonists are two outspoken members of the cloud community. Bias is known for assuming leading positions in the industry without showing any vestige of faintheartedness. At one point during the debate he said he was advocating Amazon APIs because Rackspace was the source of two core sets of APIs already in OpenStack: those for the Nova compute and Swift storage services. Rackspace’s influence is waning in the open source project, he noted, so he had chosen this moment to "kick it in the teeth" and try to correct Rackspace’s early influence in the project…

Grazed from ITProPortal. Author: Anthony Savaas.

European enterprises are currently spending almost one-third of their annual IT budget on cloud computing, spread over private, public and "hybrid" clouds, according to research. But what are the different cloud platforms and how should companies approach their entry into the cloud. The research mentioned was conducted among 455 senior IT staff at large firms, with the data collected by IDG Research Services on behalf of server virtualisation software firm, VMware.

Spending on the cloud and going private first

The study explored the views of IT leaders involved in the purchase process for cloud computing systems across seven EMEA countries, including the UK, and found that 31 percent of IT budgets are now allocated to cloud computing. Of the work taking place in the cloud, the study found that most of it involves private clouds (54 percent), followed by 24 percent in public clouds and 22 percent in public/private hybrid clouds…

Grazed from The Var Guy. Author: Editorial Staff.

The New York Times stated the obvious this evening. And it’s worth repeating: Cloud computing and mobile devices — tablets and smartphones — are pressuring traditional technology giants like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), IBM and Intel (INTC), among others. So what’s the upshot for channel partners?

Right now it’s BAD to be a technology giant because they are so dependent on aging technology platforms. Savvy channel partners — such as the Top 501 MSPs and the Top 100 Cloud Services Providers — have already shifted their business models. But thousands of resellers and VARs need to wake up and explore additional partnering stategies…

Grazed from Trefis. Author: Editorial Staff.

IBM announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Israel-based Trusteer, a security software company. While the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed yet, Bloomberg said the acquisition is worth around $800 million citing a person familiar with the deal.

In its 2015 roadmap, IBM stated that cloud computing will be the key driver for revenue growth and has spent billions of dollars building its cloud business globally with a number of acquisitions in the past three years that includes Softlayer, Keneax, DemandTec and Sterling Commerce, etc…

Grazed from KMWorld. Author: Editorial Staff.

Unisys has introduced a SaaS version of its InfoImage enterprise content manage solution, which provides a secure, cloud-based alternative to on-premises installation of an ECM solution. Available via a monthly subscription model, the SaaS version allows clients to quickly implement and benefit from the capabilities of the InfoImage solution while reducing upfront capital investments and ongoing support costs, Unisys reports.

The new version is securely hosted in Unisys data centers through the Unisys Secure Private Cloud Solution. Customers also have the option of adding the advanced Unisys Stealth solution to provide an extra layer of security protection for customer information and critical transactional data and content…

Grazed from MorphLabs. Author: PR Announcement.

Morphlabs Inc., which makes software and hardware for OpenStack cloud computing systems, announced $10 million in new funding. The round, a series D, was led by Tallwood Management and Entropy Research Lab. The Manhattan Beach company has raised $22.5 million to date.

OpenStack is an open-source project that provides an infrastructure for enterprise clients to connect cloud-computing networks. Morphlabs’ product, MCloud, is a software and hardware suite that businesses can use in the OpenStack framework. In a release, Morphlabs said the new funding would be used to expand the company’s international reach, particularly to train clients in the emerging Asian market.

Grazed from Virtustream. Author: PR Announcement.

Virtustream, Inc., the leading enterprise class cloud solutions provider, today announced it has been included by Gartner, Inc. in the “Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service,”i which includes the leading 15 vendors, on a global basis, and evaluates only solutions that are delivered in an entirely standardized fashion — specifically, public cloud IaaS, along with private cloud IaaS that uses the same or a highly similar platform.

According to Gartner, “the market for cloud compute infrastructure as a service (a virtual data center of compute, storage and network resources delivered as a service) is still maturing and rapidly evolving. As each provider has unique offerings, the task of sourcing their services must be handled with care.”…

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: CJ Arlotta.

Google (GOOG) Apps developer BetterCloud has launched FlashPanel Reseller Console, a dashboard tool that lets cloud services brokerages (CSBs) set up, manage and monitor customer accounts. The console also provides insights into upsells to customer accounts, such as identification of training opportunities within customer sites based on below average Google Apps usage rates and notifications about upcoming customer account renewals.

BetterCloud founder and CEO David Politis said in his prepared remarks that resellers need more tools to help engage with and manage customer accounts. "VARs are core to the success of Google Apps and with the Reseller Console, we’re hoping to automate and simplify a lot of the back office tasks they must see to on a daily basis," he said…