SecureWorks Corp., a leading provider of intelligence-driven information security solutions, is bolstering its Cloud Guardian portfolio with a new service that automates the application of strong cloud security policies for organizations embracing digital transformation.

With the Security Configuration Management solution, clients can add another layer of cyber protection for their workloads on Amazon Web Services (AWS) by programmatically implementing and enforcing best practices for security. The service leverages not only the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks for AWS as a best practices library, but also a series of policies based on SecureWorks’ AWS usage and incident response experience. Users can repair their cloud configurations with a single click, simplifying security and enabling organizations to focus on rapidly developing new applications and tools for their customers.

The addition of Security Configuration Management to the Cloud Guardian portfolio continues SecureWorks’ efforts to address the challenges many enterprises and small businesses face as they continue their march towards hybrid IT. With the Cloud Guardian solutions, organizations can receive:

SingleHop, a global provider of on-demand private cloud and managed hosting, today announced the official launch of its AWS managed services offering  – Service First Support for Amazon Web Services. The fully managed solution is the first to offer architecture, management and optimization of environments in the AWS cloud based on the availability, performance and security needs of individual applications.

"Time-constrained IT departments are adopting AWS in large numbers, only to find they first have to master a new set of technical capabilities before they can achieve the desired performance and efficiency gains for their applications,"said Zak Boca, CEO of SingleHop. "Our managed AWS customers avoid this situation entirely by leveraging our extensive automation and AWS-certified engineering team to manage deployments for them.  They want the best vehicle to drive their applications, but they don’t have the resources or desire to build and maintain the vehicle themselves."  

Application-Driven Infrastructure Management for AWS Cloud

Linux Academy, the foremost online Linux and cloud training platform and community, today launched the public beta of Cloud Assessments, a new platform that allows enterprises to test and train their IT teams, as well as prospective job candidates, on their technology. Individuals can also leverage Cloud Assessments to prove real, hands-on skill and earn micro certifications. The first Cloud Assessment offerings will focus on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

"In today’s world of constantly changing technologies and competition for IT talent, it’s necessary for companies to know for certain that their IT staff and new hires have more than a theoretical understanding of their technology, particularly AWS," said Anthony James, CEO and founder, Linux Academy. "Whether it’s used by companies to test, vet, or train their teams on AWS skills or by individuals to assess and learn new ones, Cloud Assessments provides proof of those skills, and we’re very excited about the tremendous advantages and opportunities it presents to both."

Zadara Storage, the provider of enterprise-class Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS), today announced an agreement with Tech Data Corporation, one of the world’s largest wholesale distributors of technology products, services and solutions. Technology Solutions, formerly a division of Avnet and now part of Tech Data, will make Zadara Storage solutions easily accessible to channel partners worldwide through its Avnet Cloud Marketplace. Zadara Storage uniquely offers users enterprise-grade storage-as-a-service in any location (cloud, on-premise or hybrid), supporting any data type (block, file and object) and connecting to any protocol (FC, iSCSI, iSER, NFS, CIFS, S3, Swift). Customers of AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure can access Zadara Storage directly from their cloud virtual machines and enjoy Zadara’s enhanced privacy, performance and data protection features.

According to the industry analyst firm IT Brand Pulse, the public cloud storage-as-a-service market is growing at approximately 25% per year, and by 2020 will capture 25% of a massive $50 billion in enterprise storage spending. The rapid transition from traditional CapEx storage to as-a-service solutions is due to the scalability, elasticity and economic benefits of OpEx-based storage-as-a-service. "At IT Brand Pulse, we believe that the rapid growth Zadara Storage is enjoying is due to their excellent product/market fit," said Frank Berry, CEO IT Brand Pulse. "Users are tired of the traditional model of purchasing and managing storage, and Zadara Storage has a unique, world-class storage-as-a-service solution, providing enterprise-grade storage that is also fully managed."

Grazed from IT Blog.  Author: Marius Sandbu

So the last couple of days I’ve been watching closely on the keynotes at #GoogleNext, where Google was showing alot of the new enhancements to their platform. So a couple of weeks back they also introduced a new relational database service which is geo syncronous as well called Spanner

Now up until now Google has been one of the cheapest providers when it comes to regular IaaS, but now they have also announced commited use discount as well which will cut the IaaS cost even more. Let me give you an example.

Price cut on IaaS