December 8, 2017 Off

Is Cloud-Based Technology the Key to Treating Chronic Disease?

By David
Article Written by Avery Phillips

Despite being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, the United States still harbors one of the most unhealthy populations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seven of the top 10 causes of death are chronic illnesses, and nearly half of American adults are afflicted with at least one chronic health issue. Despite having limitless knowledge at our fingertips, we still can’t seem to get our health in check. 

However, we do have one technology that shows promise in tackling this widespread dilemma: the cloud. Not only does the cloud further research and help with the management of chronic diseases, it can help prevent them too. Hybrid cloud computing, health apps, and internet of things (IoT) can all take part in the improvement of people’s health and healthcare in general. Need a little more information? Here’s what you need to know.

Improving Disease Research

December 8, 2017 Off

Virtustream Provides Flexibility and Consumption-Based Cost Model to AlmavivA’s Hybrid Cloud Environment

By David
Grazed from Virtustream

Virtustream, the enterprise-class cloud company and a Dell Technologies business, today announced the successful completion of the delivery phase of a hybrid cloud project for AlmavivA, a global technology solutions provider based in Rome.

AlmavivA needed a consumption-based, pay-as-you-go model for customer projects of varying sizes that was both financially and operationally beneficial. Additionally, AlmavivA’s customers wanted to test the power of predictive analytics through SAP HANA Business Warehouse (BW), but did not want to over commit to a cloud allocation model that would weigh down their projects with unnecessary costs and administration.

December 8, 2017 Off

VMware and Carbon Black Fundamentally Transform Current Approaches to Data Center and Cloud Security

By David
Grazed from VMware and Carbon Black

VMware, Inc., a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility, and Carbon Black, the leader in next-generation endpoint security, today announced an expanded partnership that will help transform current approaches to cloud and data center security. The companies have developed a new joint solution that will dramatically shrink an organization’s attack surface, while empowering security teams with automated threat detection and remediation to react faster and more effectively to attacks. Today’s announcement expands on a collaboration announced earlier this year, giving VMware AppDefense customers the ability to leverage Carbon Black’s Predictive Security Cloud (PSC) reputation services.

As applications become more distributed and dynamic, they have also become more difficult to secure. Traditional security solutions are not flexible enough to keep up with applications as they change over time, leading to breakdowns in security. The majority of attacks causing damage today are not simple malware easily rooted out with "known bad" signatures. They require watching behavior of applications for any deviation from the norm. They hinge on attackers manipulating the executables, processes, and operating system of the endpoint itself. Identifying these threats requires a deep understanding of both application behavior and threat behavior, something that traditional endpoint security products don’t possess.

December 8, 2017 Off

How to Save Money on Your Family’s Tech

By David
Technology changes the way we go about our days and improves many things in our lives. The new generation of smart home hubs and smart appliances are great examples of how technology changes many things; it is now possible to control your thermostat and other appliances when you are away, allowing you to save on energy bills in many ways.

Of course, you can also save on getting the best tech for your home and family. To help you get the latest gadgets for less, here are some practical tips you can use right away.

December 5, 2017 Off

Red Hat Releases Red Hat OpenShift Application Runtimes to Empower Simple, Flexible Cloud-Native Development

By David
Grazed from Red Hat

Red Hat, Inc., the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced the general availability of Red Hat OpenShift Application Runtimes, enabling organizations to accelerate cloud-native app development with a curated set of frameworks and runtimes for prescriptively building and running microservices-based applications.

At the heart of digital transformation is the opportunity for organizations to reinvent themselves to better compete in a market marked by new competitors, communities, technologies and business strategies. Under these conditions, adaptability is key for survival, and cloud-native development solutions that harness the convergence of Linux containers, API management, service-based architectures, and DevOps automation are ideal for helping organizations respond to unpredictable change and outmaneuver competitors.

By providing a tightly integrated and fully supported offering for developing microservices in multiple languages and frameworks, Red Hat aims to balance developers’ need for choice with the operational requirement for standardization and support – both for creating new applications and re-architecting existing ones. According to a September 2017 survey of Red Hat customers, a large majority of respondents (87 percent) indicated that they are using or considering multiple runtimes and frameworks for developing microservices, with 44 percent citing the preference for using the right tool for the right task.

December 5, 2017 Off

Cloud Standards Customer Council Announces Version 3.0 of Practical Guide to Cloud Computing

By David
Grazed from The Cloud Standards Customer Council

The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC), an end user advocacy group dedicated to accelerating cloud’s successful adoption, today published version 3.0 of its seminal deliverable, the Practical Guide to Cloud Computing. The Practical Guide to Cloud Computing was the first deliverable published by the CSCC in 2011. It is aimed at helping technology and business leaders adopt cloud computing to solve business challenges. Version 3.0 of the guide is available for download at http://www.cloud-council.org/deliverables/practical-guide-to-cloud-computing.htm.

More than two dozen CSCC members contributed their expertise, best practices, and lessons learned to write this guide and successive version updates. "There’s been so many exciting new offerings and capabilities in the cloud computing industry in the past several years and the team has been hard at work to incorporate their insights and expertise in the latest update of this foundational guide," said William Van Order, Lockheed Martin fellow and lead on the CSCC Steering Committee.

December 5, 2017 Off

VMware Introduces Major Update for Integrated Hybrid Cloud Platform

By David
Grazed from VMware

VMware, Inc. today unveiled VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3, which will be the latest release of its integrated hybrid cloud platform. VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 introduces integrated cloud management platform (CMP) capabilities that will provide customers with a simplified path to building a hybrid cloud based on consistent infrastructure and operations. The platform will deliver management and provisioning of compute, network, storage and application services at scale across hybrid cloud environments via integrations with VMware vRealize Automation, vRealize Operations and vRealize Log Insight.

In response to the ever-increasing demand for faster innovation, customers are embracing more agile, service-oriented IT models that rely on both private and public clouds. In a 2016 VMware customer survey, 60 percent of enterprise customers polled stated they are using a public cloud. VMware Cloud Foundation delivers to customers a direct path to the hybrid cloud by providing them a common infrastructure that can be deployed on-premises or run as a service from the cloud with a consistent operational experience across clouds.

December 5, 2017 Off

Egenera Teams Up with Brigantia Partners for Xterity Cloud Services Distribution in the UK

By David
Grazed from Egenera

Egenera, a leading provider of wholesale cloud services to the channel today announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with Brigantia Partners, the largest subscription community of independent technology resellers and MSPs in the United Kingdom. Under the agreement, Brigantia is offering Egenera’s Xterity Cloud Services to its extensive network of UK-based partners.

"We’re seeing demand for cloud ramping up significantly among UK MSPs and solution providers," said Iain Shaw, commercial director, Brigantia. "End users are asking for cloud and the channel is actively looking for competitively priced, high quality services with top notch support and management. Brigantia can now deliver with Xterity."

December 5, 2017 Off

CoreOS Tectonic 1.8 Delivers Industry’s First Open Cloud Services for Enterprise Kubernetes

By David
Grazed from CoreOS

To enable hybrid and multi-platform flexibility, CoreOS, the creator of the Tectonic enterprise Kubernetes platform, today announced that Tectonic 1.8 will ship with industry-first Open Cloud Services that enable enterprises to deploy key infrastructure components with the ease and efficiency of managed cloud services, while avoiding cloud vendor lock-in.

Companies are embracing containerized infrastructure to enable modern, more scalable, agile, flexible IT. According to Gartner, "by 2020, more than 50 percent of global enterprises will be running containerized applications in production, up from less than 20 percent today" (Gartner, Market Guide for Container Management Software, Dennis Smith, Anne Thomas, Arun Chandrasekaran, 10 August 2017). Enterprises need to build for a cloud native world, while DevOps leaders must have the latitude to run their applications in the cloud or hybrid environment of their choice.

With the CoreOS Open Cloud Services Catalog, CoreOS provides enterprises an alternative to cloud vendors’ proprietary services and APIs, offering the equivalent of cloud-based offerings, based on open source technologies that enable customers to build their infrastructures on the hybrid environments of their choice.

December 4, 2017 Off

Equinix to Connect its Data Centers Globally to Expand Interconnection Opportunities for Businesses

By David
Grazed from Equinix, Inc.

Equinix, Inc., the global interconnection and data center company, today announced the next phase in the evolution of its global platform through the direct physical and virtual connection of its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers around the world, enabling customers to connect on demand to any other customer from any Equinix location. Over the coming months, Equinix will announce a series of coverage, connectivity and service initiatives that will deliver increasing value to customers by enabling them to rapidly scale their digital businesses through a dynamic data center and interconnection platform.

The new inter-metro connectivity will be delivered through the Equinix Cloud Exchange (ECX), which has been renamed the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric). It will leverage the software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities currently built into ECX to enable any customer to dynamically connect its own infrastructure across Equinix locations or connect to any other customer on the Equinix global platform, regardless of location. Customers can customize their connectivity to partners, customers and suppliers through an interface that provides all the benefits companies have come to expect from "as-a-service" models. This includes real-time provisioning via a portal or API, pay-as-you-go billing increments and the removal of friction in establishing elastic connectivity between metros.