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.

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."

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.

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.

This has direct implications for patient care and data, and most significantly for the evolution of security connected to the cloud and information systems. The research company Forrester recently released a report where the title itself says enough: "Cloud Computing Accelerates Enterprise Transformation Everywhere." 

Thus, it’s fair to assert that the future of healthcare can only move in one direction, and that’s to fuller cloud-based integration.

How Tech is Changing Healthcare

As a leader in or of your company, it’s up to you to grab the bull by the horns and make change happen. There’s no reason to be afraid of technology. It exists to make your life and job easier and customers more satisfied. See the technology upgrades that will help your business compete.

The Cloud

If you’re not already, it’s time to check out and implement working in the cloud. Centralize efforts and track issues all in one place. Get access from anywhere at any time to keep the right people informed of important communications. Share documents quickly and efficiently as to not hold up the timing on any projects. You’ll be able to sleep at night knowing your data is secure, safe and easily accessible, should you have to retrieve information on the spot.

Consider Online Solutions

One way that you can increase your security is to transfer your systems to the cloud. By having all of your data and personal information off-site, you are protected by another level of security. It doesn’t just work for your business systems; you can also use it for your servers. Instead of having your own server in the office, you can rent dedicated servers from many companies. It means you can essentially treat it as your own server, although you benefit from expert technical support, flexibility as well as heightened security.

Grazed from Armor

Armor today announced significant advancements in Spartan, the industry’s first threat prevention and response platform for private, hybrid and public cloud environments including AWS and Azure. These enhancements enable businesses of all sizes to accelerate the pace of preventing, detecting and eliminating cyber threats in any cloud or on-premise environment. Clients can now leverage features to uncover hidden threats missed by traditional solutions, make faster more accurate decisions to eliminate threats, and gain on-demand access to highly experienced HIPAA, PCI compliance experts. 

"I am very excited that the public cloud providers continue to take security seriously and continue to expose more capabilities like GuardDuty," said founder and CEO, Chris Drake, Armor. "These capabilities allow for Armor to continue to gather more detail from the AWS cloud, allowing us to better identify and remediate threats on behalf of our clients. Due to the power of automation, there will be a day in the not-so-distant future that the public cloud will be seen as the most secure option for IT. Security integration and automation allows cybersecurity professionals to focus on important activities and not be burdened by managing legacy IT security approaches."