Grazed from Datamation. Author: David Linthicum.

Microsoft just came out with a private cloud…well, another one. They tried private cloud a few years ago, but quickly moved on to their Azure public cloud service. So far, they have been successful in promoting their public cloud, largely due to their existing customer base. Of course, AWS remains their largest competitor, but Microsoft’s growth has actually accelerated in the IaaS market.

The larger question: how do the private clouds play within the enterprise? That is a larger question than the viability of Azure Stack. Microsoft is the latest to push private and hybrid cloud, but if they are successful, others are likely to enter, or reenter the market, perhaps even public cloud-only AWS and Google…

Grazed from SiliconAngle. Author: Paul Gillin.

Barely a decade into the cloud revolution, consolidation is already setting in, and the implications for customers aren’t good. That’s according to a new report from Forrester Research Inc. The three areas of greatest consolidation are currently in the base-level computing and storage known as infrastructure as a service, desktop applications delivered via the cloud and customer relationship management.

The three largest providers in those markets already collectively hold 70 percent or more of subscription revenues and are unlikely to see their market shares decline, Forrester said. However, not everything is consolidating so quickly. Markets for electronic purchasing, supply chain management, human resources and financial management systems are still wide open. What’s more, the authors point out, far more money is still being spent on on-premises software than on cloud services…

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: James Bourne.

If you’re looking for your next break in the cloud computing industry, be warned: salaries are slowing down while job postings soar. That is the verdict of Experis, a professional IT resourcing provider, whose latest Tech Cities Job Watch looked at the challenges and opportunities in the UK technology job market.

According to the research, which utilised Innovantage’s recruitment software to analyse more than half a million employer websites, the number of cloud roles almost doubled (97.73% increase) between Q216 and Q217, but salaries for permanent roles only went up 2.7% on average. For contractors, day rates have stubbornly remained at £481 year on year…

WhereScape today announced WhereScape automation for Snowflake, an offering created  to help IT organizations accelerate the delivery of cloud-based data infrastructure projects. This week in Anaheim, California, WhereScape will present the new offering at the TDWI Conference. 

WhereScape automation for Snowflake automates key development and operations workflows for Snowflake customers based on the native functions, wizards and best practices of Snowflake and incorporates data warehouse modeling methodologies such as 3NF, dimensional and Data Vault 2.0. Snowflake provides cloud-based data warehousing solutions that deliver the performance, elasticity, scalability, concurrency and simplicity needed to store and analyze all of an organization’s data in one location.

Electric Imp Inc., a global leader providing enterprise secure IoT, today announced its high-performance integration with Microsoft Azure IoT Hub.

The integration with Azure IoT Hub enables Electric Imp’s customers to use Microsoft’s storage and advanced data analytics, while simplifying the setup and management of highly scalable, secure communications between the edge and cloud.

The Electric Imp Platform, already deployed on over a million devices, includes:

Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced the availability of Data Discovery Platform, its big data analytics-as-a-service solution on Microsoft Azure. The solution accelerates insight-driven decision making through pre-built applications for specific industries, such as banking and financial services, retail, energy, education and manufacturing.

Wipro’s Data Discovery Platform will enable businesses to embark on an analytics journey with value added services of process simplification and business transformation to bridge the gap between the insights required by business and the information that is available. Wipro Data Discovery Platform is available in an outcome-based ‘pay-per-insight’ cloud delivery model. The platform leverages Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite which includes HDInsight, Stream Analytics, Data Lake Analytics, Machine Learning and Power BI to build analytical applications. Currently, fourteen Wipro Data Discovery Platform applications have been showcased on Microsoft Advanced Analytics Partner Solution Showcase

Grazed from WSM International

WSM International, a specialized cloud and IT integrator, introduces two new services to ensure cloud and IT infrastructure security, compliance and efficient operation:

• Penetration testing services to assess IT security vulnerabilities and help protect data;
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance testing service.

Both services address the top security concerns found in the recent user survey by 451 Research: preventing infiltration of enterprise IT systems by those with malicious intent; and complying with security standards. 

The Shift to Subscription Only Services

The traditional model of selling computer games was selling a cartridge or DVD from which someone installed the game. World of Warcraft became incredibly profitable by offering an immersive, interactive experience for around $20 a month, every month for years. Minecraft offers subscription based versions and server rentals for those who want to run their own, custom Minecraft worlds. Contrarily to Roblox, for instance. In this case, they make money off both subscriptions and renting virtual servers. After being bought by Microsoft in 2014, the company also started selling games for the Xbox, a rare example of a cloud based game becoming a hybrid product available both via the cloud and the traditional installation disk. If you want a complete rundown of what separates Minecraft from its closer competitor, visit this page.