Grazed from Information Week. Author: Charles Babcock.

The OpenStack cloud community will find it has a major addition to its membership as IBM converts SoftLayer Technologies’ existing 13 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia into an implementation of the open source code cloud. And with that conversion, IBM will have the vehicle it needs to compete with Amazon Web Services for enterprise-level, cloud computing customers. SoftLayer, a seven-year-old, rapidly growing infrastructure-as-a-service provider, will give IBM greater IaaS core competence and extend its reach as enterprise users start to spend on cloud services.

SoftLayer CEO Lance Crosby welcomed the changes Monday, as IBM completed its acquisition, first announced June 4. Crosby said he and the rest of the SoftLayer executive staff will remain in place with multi-year contracts, along with their 700 employees, as they transition into becoming "a foundation unit" in IBM’s new Cloud Services division, which will consist of SoftLayer plus existing SmartCloud services. The division will be a unit of IBM Global Services…

Asigra Inc., a leading Cloud Backup, recovery and restore software provider since 1986 today announced cloud-to-cloud backup support for Google Apps. With this new capability, Asigra now supports multiple Tier One cloud applications and platforms, including Salesforce, IBM SmartCloud, Google Apps and others. Now included in Asigra Cloud Backup version 12.2, this new functionality ensures data recovery while ending the requirement for multiple application/platform centric backup solutions to protect physical, virtual, cloud and mobile computing platforms.

Organizations using Google Apps for business operations are enjoying the benefits that a move to a SaaS-based application presents. However, even as companies transfer their capital expenditure and IT management tasks to Google, they are ultimately responsible for the data stored in these environments.

Mozido, a global provider of mobile marketing, payment and commerce solutions, announced today it has been awarded the Pegasystems (NASDAQ: PEGA) 2013 "Cloud Innovator of the Year" award. Mozido has developed a suite of mobile services for merchants and consumers using Pegasystems’ Build for Change^® technology in the cloud. Mozido empowers business customers to design scalable and secure payment, customer service and marketing solutions to address the latest market opportunities and consumer behaviors.

Mozido was seeking a technology partner that could support its MoTEAF^™ Mobile Transaction EcoSystem Architecture Framework. It chose Pega, after an extensive search, for its ability to dynamically specialize by geography, product or customer type on a proven and secure cloud platform. Pegasystems’ Build for Change technology supports Mozido in helping implement the best mobile adoption and engagement processes for Banks, Credit Unions, QSRs, Retailers, Municipalities and Mobile Carriers. 

MICROSOFT WORLDWIDE PARTNER CONFERENCE (Booth #2124) – Tier 3, a public cloud infrastructure and cloud management platform provider, today announced the availability of new enterprise environment templates known as "Cloud Blueprints" for Microsoft Lync, Exchange, and SharePoint. Enterprise customers can use Cloud Blueprints to accelerate the deployment of applications in Tier 3’s public cloud.

Consider a Microsoft SharePoint environment — a typical 10-server SharePoint farm can require over 30 hours of work to build and configure. In contrast, the Cloud Blueprint for a similar environment which consists of 81 discrete steps requires only 10 minutes to configure. The Cloud Blueprint automatically executes the instructions, and the environment is ready a few hours later. This highly automated approach dramatically reduces the manual time required for IT staff to construct new cloud environments, saving days of effort and reducing the opportunity for human error.

Flexera Software, the leading provider of Application Usage Management solutions for application producers and enterprises, announced today the unveiling of a cloud-based version of its market-leading Software License Optimization solution, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises. FlexNet Manager Suite On-Demand provides software license management functionality to enterprises seeking to reduce software spend and maintain license compliance through a low overhead software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering.

"While on-premises applications will always be part of the IT mix, many organizations see operating expense (OPEX) and capital expense (CAPEX) benefits in purchasing software through a SaaS-based delivery model," said Alan Swahn, Vice President of Product Management at Flexera Software. "FlexNet Manager Suite On-Demand will enable these organizations to implement best-in-class Software License Optimization, while enjoying the benefits of reduced infrastructure requirements, accelerated deployment times, lower learning curves, and a lower initial investment."

OpTier, a pioneer in analytics-driven, SaaS-based Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and transaction-based Big Data Analytics, announced today financial results from its 2013 fiscal second quarter which saw the company net a year-over-year growth rate of more than 400%.

The company’s aggressive growth is attributed to increased customer demand for simple-to-use, fast-to-deploy application monitoring that transcends silos and provides end-to-end application visibility. Earlier this year the company launched OpTier SaaS, a cloud-based version of its award-winning APM solution, which has resulted in increased market awareness and amplified customer demand.

Today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced it would team with Microsoft to accelerate the deployment of private and hybrid cloud infrastructure worldwide. The companies will invest in initiatives to align sales teams and channel partners, while helping customers modernize their data centers with private cloud solutions.

Over the past two years, Cisco and Microsoft have invested significant development resources to integrate best-in-class data center technologies. By combining the innovative Cisco® Unified Data Center architecture with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and System Center 2012, Cisco and Microsoft are helping customers simplify data center operations, boost IT productivity and improve data center economics.

Today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) announced that it is investing up to $15 million in new ecosystem sales collaboration and continued technology integration with Microsoft Corp. to accelerate the adoption of enterprise cloud deployments.

The NetApp Partner Program complements existing offerings in the Microsoft Cloud OS Accelerate program, which provides funds to help customers offset the services cost of deploying Microsoft private and hybrid cloud solutions, accelerates deals, and drives competitive wins. The NetApp Partner Program includes a range of offerings, such as sales enablement, training, and incentives for NetApp reselling partners who are assisting customers with their cloud transition. Through the combination of NetApp^® storage, data management, and converged infrastructure solutions with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and System Center 2012, customers can reduce costs, increase agility, and improve efficiency.

Box today announced new product advancements that transform the way customers collaborate and access business critical content in the cloud. Box Embed, a robust HTML5 framework that makes it easy to embed the entire Box experience anywhere people work, is now supported in Salesforce, the industry’s #1 CRM platform.

"Customer companies turn to the AppExchange as the world’s leading business apps marketplace to stay innovative and transform the way their organizations connect with customers, partners and employees," said Ron Huddleston, senior vice president, ISV and Channel, salesforce.com. "As a part of our partner ecosystem, Box is leveraging the power of the Salesforce Platform to help customers be more connected, collaborative and productive."

Idera, a leading provider of application and server management solutions, announced today the acquisition of CopperEgg, a provider of cloud monitoring for applications, websites, and servers. This acquisition expands the company’s application performance management offerings.