MetTel, a leading communications solutions provider for enterprises, and VeloCloud Networks, the Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN company, today announced a strategic partnership that adds VeloCloud SD-WAN capabilities to MetTel’s managed communications offerings. VeloCloud enables assured enterprise-grade performance, security and reliability as part of the MetTel managed SD-WAN and bonded Internet solution.

VeloCloud’s Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN assures enterprise and cloud application performance over the Internet and Hybrid WAN while simplifying deployments and reducing costs.

The joint cloud offering is unique within the SD-WAN market, thanks in part to MetTel’s supplementary security features. By integrating VeloCloud gateways seamlessly with the communications company’s private MPLS network, the enhanced Hybrid WAN solution is made particularly competitive for MetTel customers.

Pluribus Networks, the company that brings the power of virtualization to the network, announced today that it will be demonstrating direct support for Nutanix at this week’s Dell World 2015 conference in Austin, Texas. The demonstration will consist of Nutanix turnkey hyperconverged appliances connected via Dell’s latest generation of 10G/40G Open Network (ON) switches, with each switch running Pluribus’ Open Netvisor Linux (ONVL) to form a complete hyperconverged infrastructure. The demonstration will highlight the deep level of visibility possible with Pluribus Netvisor at the flow level specific to Nutanix, along with fabric automation.

As part of a growing ecosystem of partnerships, Pluribus recently joined the Nutanix Elevate Technology Alliance Program to enable the rapid delivery of cost-effective hyperconverged infrastructures for end-users faced with dynamic business challenges.

“Since Nutanix’s inception, we have provided hyperconverged solutions that make infrastructure invisible so forward-looking organizations can focus on the applications and services that power their business,” said Venugopal Pai, Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Business Development at Nutanix. “Pluribus is demonstrating its understanding of what it takes to fully unlock the power of Nutanix Acropolis, with advanced networking fabric that delivers simplicity and resiliency.”

Dell today announced the expansion of its cloud portfolio with a new hybrid cloud solution, featuring technology jointly developed with Microsoft, designed to break down the barriers customers experience on their path to cloud. Additionally, Dell also is offering an industry-unique payment solution to help customers simplify and minimize risks associated with cloud adoption.

According to a recent Dell worldwide poll of IT decision makers (ITDM), 9 in 10 say a hybrid cloud strategy is important to achieve a Future-Ready Enterprise. And, the recently unveiled Dell Global Technology Adoption Index (GTAI 2015) revealed that 55 percent of organizations globally indicated use of more than one type of cloud. The GTAI 2015 also cites cost and security as the biggest barriers to adopting and implementing cloud, and complexity is the barrier most often associated with hybrid cloud.

“The challenges most customers face on their cloud journey are clear. They tell us it’s too complex, the cost-risk is too high, and control isn’t transparent,” said Jim Ganthier, vice president and general manager of engineered solutions and cloud at Dell. “When you couple Microsoft’s unique Azure consistency from public to private cloud and Dell Cloud Manager integrated with the Dell Hybrid Cloud System for Microsoft, customers now have unparalleled cloud governance and control. With our new Cloud Flex Pay program, cost-risk is all but eliminated. These Dell innovations demonstrate we’re the only company today to provide the full range of cloud infrastructure, software, services and payment solutions to help customers unlock the promise of hybrid cloud.”

Grazed from Bidnessetc. Author: Martin Blanc.

Microsoft Corporation and Dell Inc. announced yesterday a new joint venture, with the release of a new product called the Dell Hybrid Cloud System, designed for purpose-built Dell hardware to accommodate on-premise data centers for companies. The new Microsoft cloud software has arrived a couple of years after the two companies revealed the Cloud Platform System premium Software powered by Dell, which was a larger cloud-in-a-box service compared to the latest platform.

Hybrid cloud computing implements a combination of on-premise equipment, private cloud and public cloud services while synchronizing resources between multiple cloud environments. Moor Insights & Strategy’s cloud services lead predicts 80% of businesses will adopt cloud based solutions in the next five years, instead of betting on enterprise-based applications…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: William Craig.

There are a lot of technical buzzwords floating around the business world right now, but “cloud” may still be one of the most misunderstood. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the official definition for cloud computing goes something like this:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models…

Grazed from FirstPost. Author: Editorial Staff.

HP, it seems, is giving up on competing with Amazon cloud as it has decided to shut down it cloud computing platform HP Helion on January 31, 2016. The company, in a blog post, announced that it will stop offering its public cloud for running enterprises’ applications. HP Cloud senior vice president and general manager Bill Hilf wrote: "We will sunset our HP Helion Public Cloud offering on January 31, 2016. As we have before, we will help our customers design, build and run the best cloud environments suited to their needs – based on their workloads and their business and industry requirements."

HP, which is splitting into two entities, HP Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise — said it will continue to "innovate and invest in HP Helion OpenStack platform." Hilf added, "HP Helion OpenStack has seen strong customer adoption and now runs our industry leading private cloud solution, HP Helion CloudSystem, which continues to deliver strong double-digit revenue growth and win enterprise customers…

Grazed from the Globalist. Author: Peter Morici.

With Walmart sales and profits falling, pundits are asking if the economy is again headed down. Hardly so, even though IBM and other business icons are in trouble. Better competitors — and mostly Americans — who herald a new age of American innovation, are simply squeezing the Arkansas retailer.

Walmart’s recipe for success was simple. Through a detailed knowledge of supplier costs, disciplined supply chain management and low wages for store personnel, it bargained hard with manufacturers and delivered goods at the lowest prices. Unfortunately, its methods were hardly occult and others like Dollar General and Target caught on, undermining the Arkansas behemoth’s competitive edge…

Grazed from FirstPost. Author: Editorial Staff.

Hard-disk drive maker Western Digital is buying SanDisk for about $19 billion. The deal is expected to increase Western Digital’s ability to make flash memory storage chips used in smartphones and tablets. Western Digital needs access to SanDisk’s NAND technology to better compete in the market for solid-state drives used in cloud computing, data centres, smartphones and laptops. With this, Western Digital said it will double its addressable market and expand its participation in higher-growth segments.

"The combined company will be ideally positioned to capture the growth opportunities created by the rapidly evolving storage industry," said Steve Milligan, chief executive officer, Western Digital. Both companies have strong R&D and engineering capabilities and over 15,000 combined patents issued or pending worldwide…

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Bob Brown.

Signs that cloud computing is for real are piling up around Carnegie Mellon University’s Tom Dugas, but nothing else brings this home like the fact that the renowned Pittsburgh research school has posted a job opening for its first-ever cloud architect. “Most higher education IT leaders are starting to assign an individual person to be cloud architect or point person for cloud technology,” says CMU’s associate director for client operations.

Dugas (@TomDugas) anticipates that the topic of IT organization transformation will be among many cloud-related issues up for discussion at next week’s annual EDUCAUSE conference in Indianapolis, where he will be wearing multiple hats, including that of co-lead for the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) Cloud Working Group…