VMWorld 2010

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Posted on 31st August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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This is an Interview with Xsigo CEO Lloyd Carney by Elias Khnaser

Elias Khnaser: I’d like to start out by getting a little bit of background on you. What were you doing prior to Xsigo?

Carney: Let’s see.  I was fortunate enough to be a part of two startups before this one.  I was also Chief Operating Officer for Juniper Networks. I was Chairman/CEO of Micromuse that was sold to IBM about three or four years ago. I was running my own venture firm and then about two and a half years ago I joined Xsigo.  The Xsigo founder – Kenton Murphy, ran all development for me at Juniper.  I’ve been in technology my entire professional career.

I’m curious, how did the Xsigo come to be? Does it mean anything?

Well, it was trying to find a domain name that we didn’t have to pay a ridiculous fee for, and we went down the alphabet, you know every word in Webster’s dictionary has been domain named.  So we made one up – it means nothing.

One of the things that constantly comes up is how do you pronounce the name Xsigo? Some say See- Go, others use Sy-Go, and then you have the X-I-Go. Can you clarify it for us once and for all?

The correct pronunciation is see-go.

How is Xsigo Funded?

Our major funders are Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, Greylock, North Bridge Ventures.

So you guys aren’t going anywhere anytime soon?

We’re well-funded, solid investor base, and you know, on our cart business plan we get to profitability and we still have about $20 million in the bank.

So I know there’s a big announcement that you want to make today, but before we get into that can you give me a brief description of what it is that Xsigo does?

Read Full Story Here

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NTT America Deploys VMware vCloud

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Posted on 31st August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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NTT America announced that it is using VMware vCloud Director to offer cloud services to customers. VMware vCloud Director is software that extends the resource pooling capabilities of VMware vSphere to enable enterprises and service providers to create pools of compute, networking and storage resources with defined management policies and performance levels.  This is helping establish a common model for provisioning IT services with consistent security, compliance and manageability across public and private cloud environments.

VMware vCloud enables NTT America to offer cloud services for its U.S.-based enterprise customers that empowers enterprises to leverage cloud resources globally to efficiently deliver resources to its internal organizations in a secure yet agile manner. Executives from NTT America will be on site to discuss the company’s virtualized offerings at VMworld 2010 (booth #331) in San Francisco, CA. from August 30th through September 2nd, 2010. NTT Communications is a silver sponsor of the event.

“We are pleased that NTT America adopted VMware vCloud Director to deliver enterprise-class services based on the industry-leading VMware platform,” said Dan Chu, vice president, Cloud Infrastructure and Services, VMware. “With VMware vCloud Director, NTT America will be able to bring customers increased datacenter efficiency and business agility by building secure, scalable, and cost-effective private clouds to deliver IT as a service.”

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HP CloudStart

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Posted on 30th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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HP announced earlier today an all-in-one solution for deploying an open and flexible private cloud environment in a month’s time. HP CloudStart is capable of deploying a private cloud 30 days after deployment. It is designed to provide all the expertise needed for clients to transform their existing delivery approaches into more efficient shared-services models.

“To better serve the needs of their enterprises, clients are asking us to help them become internal service providers with the ability to deliver applications through a highly flexible private cloud environment,” HP technology services senior vice president and general manager Gary M. Budzinski said in a statement. “With CloudStart, HP is enabling clients to optimize applications for private cloud computing today, while providing a platform for a comprehensive, open and hybrid environment in the future.”

I wonder if HP is launching this because of of the recent 3Par acquisition that they are trying to get?  It seems that Dell and HP are still trying to buy 3Par and then HP goes and launches something like this… I wonder if it has something to do with the acquisition that is trying to happen.

Will HP CloudStart or HP Cloud Start be a good thing for private clouds or a bad thing?  The fast that you can launch your private cloud and have it up and deployed in 30 days is pretty sweet, but will it have everything that you need?  Thoughts?

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HP and Dell Keep Biddin On 3PAR

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Posted on 30th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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HP and Dell Keep Biddin On 3PAR.  This has been going on for 2 weeks now. HP appears to have the edge right now, but the good news for whichever tech giant ultimately loses the battle for 3PAR is that there are other huge cloud storage providers out there.

HP raised its offer to $30 per share, a $3 increase over Dell’s bid, bringing the bidding to $2 billion. Dell had launched the opening salvo in mid-August when it had offered just over $1 billion to buy 3Par. As of this writing, 3Par had deemed HP’s bid “superior” and Dell was mulling over its response.

Dell/HP 3Par deal updates to come!

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Egnyte Enterprise Available on VMware

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Posted on 30th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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Egnyte announced today at VMworld the availability of its Enterprise Local Cloud solution on VMware. Egnyte ELC can be deployed as a virtual appliance on any VMware Virtual Machine, allowing organizations to deploy a hybrid cloud storage solution on existing infrastructure  whether that includes big iron equipment, low-cost commodity servers, or a heterogeneous mixture of the two. Users can access company information in the cloud at Local Area Network speeds.

Egnyte’s merging of virtualization and cloud computing allows organizations of any size to deploy cloud storage solutions on existing hardware cost-effectively. Once the domain of smaller companies and departments, cloud storage allows large organizations to take advantage of the cost, deployment and management benefits of the cloud without replacing existing infrastructure. Enterprises have spent years building robust, reliable and secure storage environments, and now they can merge their existing infrastructure with the flexibility and accessibility of cloud storage solutions. Almost as important in today’s dynamic business environment, ELC lets organizations deploy cloud storage quickly and cost-efficiently.

“Egnyte Enterprise Local Cloud gives us LAN-like speeds in accessing our files,” said Piotr Malinski, IT Manager, Semperian Asset Management Ltd. “By deploying the software as a VMware VM, we are able to repurpose existing hardware, giving us the best of both worlds: access from anywhere using the Egnyte Cloud File Server, and fast local access using Egnyte Local Cloud.”

“Our larger customers needed a way for their distributed users to operate at LAN speeds,” said Vineet Jain, CEO of Egnyte. “Egnyte’s Enterprise Local Cloud gives organizations the ability to provide their users with fast, reliable access to documents while they’re on the road, in a branch office, or working from home — without dramatically re-engineering the entire storage environment. Earlier, large organizations were locked into big iron deployments. Now they can leverage virtualization to achieve low-cost file serving and cross-office collaboration.”

Full Story

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VMworld Themes

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Posted on 28th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

VMware CEO Paul Maritz will present his company’s vision for the future of IT as a Service during VMworld, while several other vendors, including HP and EMC, will offer their own technology announcements.

Here’s a look at some of the expected announcements.

  • HP and the private cloud
    • HP is unveiling a Private Cloud Readiness Program that will consist of self-assessment tools. HP has designed a scorecard that will help businesses rank and rate the key factors in determining their private cloud readiness. Elements on the scorecard range from knowledge of cloud concepts to cloud security capabilities. The scorecard can be found online at www.hp.com/go/cloudassessment.
  • Clearswift and the new role of security
    • Clearswift will be on hand to discuss the ever-evolving role of security in IT. According to the company, new technologies have changed the role of security in IT.  With the changing climate of security threats, especially as they’re related to social media use on virtualized and mobile devices, Clearswift says security will become central to IT operations.
  • F5 product updates
    • F5 Networks jumped the gun on VMworld announcements to get the news out about two new product enhancements. F5’s BIG-IP Management Plug-In for VMware vSphere is being distributed as a free, software add-on for administering BIG-IP LTM. According to F5, it simplifies common administrative tasks in a vSphere environment, which reduces the risk of error and enables basic automation. F5’s BIG-IP LTM VE and F5’s FirePass SSL VPN have both been validated by VMware as VMware-Ready virtual appliances.
  • EMC’s support of VMware products
    • EMC is expected to make several announcements next week related to its support for VMware products and infrastructure management. A pre-announcement suggests the two companies will be focused quite heavily on the private cloud. EMC will be offering the ability to get practical guidance from its vExperts, see real-time private cloud demonstrations and develop important skills in a hands-on lab. EMC (with VMware) will host more than 20 sessions related to private cloud computing infrastructures.
  • Nimbula to preview Nimbula Director
    • Nimbula will be previewing its upcoming Nimbula Director product. Nimbula Director, which is currently in beta testing, has been designed to provide Amazon EC2-like services behind the firewall. According to Nimbula, the services will enable customers to efficiently manage on- and off-premise resources. It can turn under-used private data centers into easily configurable compute capacity while also supporting controlled access to off-premise clouds.
  • NetApp/Syncsort data protection
    • NetApp and Syncsort will be providing details at VMworld on a new joint data protection solution that will be sold 100 percent through the channel via two of NetApp’s biggest partners. According to NetApp, this yet-to-be-announced solution will be NetApp’s answer to technology provided by one of its biggest competitors.
  • newScale, rPath and Eucalyptus Systems on enterprise cloud computing
    • The companies will demonstrate their newly-announced integrated technology platform that will provide an on-ramp to private and hybrid cloud computing in the enterprise.
  • Wanova desktop virtualization solution
    • Wanova will be launching new features for Wanova Mirage, its desktop virtualization and management software product. It will be announcing support for migrations from Windows XP to Windows 7, new storage capabilities and easier management of multiple base images.
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3Par For Sale, Who Wants It?

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Posted on 27th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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The back and forth between Dell and HP regarding the acquisition of data storage company 3Par continues all day today. Only a few hours after 3Par accepted Dell’s increased $1.6 billion offer, HP upped the ante again by offering $1.8 billion for the company, or $27 per share in cash.

In a letter to 3Par CEO David Scott, HP CTO Shane Robison argued that there are strategic advantages for 3Par to join his company: “HP is uniquely positioned to capitalize on 3PAR’s next-generation storage technology by utilizing our global reach and superior routes to market to deliver 3PAR’s products to customers around the world.” HP says that the addition of 3Par’s advanced server technology “would accelerate its Converged Infrastructure strategy, which provides customers with a portfolio of intellectual property across storage, server and networking solutions.”

Who will win this battle?  Well, it looks as if HP will win considering they did almost 100 billion more in revenue than Dell in 2009.  They have much deeper pockets and can afford 200 million (the price that they last upped Dell in the latest bidding war between the two huge cloud server giants).

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HP Acquires Stratavia

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Posted on 27th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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HP acquired Stratavia earlier today for an undisclosed amount.  The Denver, CO based company Stratavia makes automation tools that span the application lifecycle, from application development to deployment to ongoing management. Its modeling, configuration and management technologies can help bridge the gap between application developers and operational teams and speed the time it takes to get new applications up and running, HP says.

“For eight years, Stratavia has been focused on developing application deployment automation solutions supporting tasks including provisioning, code deployment, configuration management, compliance, patching, as well as common user requests including migrations, refresh and back-ups,” said Thor Culverhouse, CEO of Stratavia, in a statement. “Combining Stratavia’s offerings with HP Server Automation will give clients a way to simplify and automate application deployment operations, minimizing downtime and mistakes.”

This should help make a stronger cloud server platform for HP.

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DriveHQ Updates Cloud Service Offerings

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Posted on 26th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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DriveHQ released another major cloud services offering that is designed to offer businesses a comprehensive set of services including email and Web hosting services, as well as a remote file server, online storage, backup, sharing and collaboration.

According to DriveHQ’s Wednesday announcement, “Cloud Storage & Cloud IT Solution 5.0” is the latest incarnation of technologies DriveHQ has developed in-house since 2003. Promising to drive cost savings and improve remote productivity, the latest version helps companies migrate various aspects of their businesses to the cloud including their file servers, backup systems, FTP servers, email servers, and sharing and collaboration systems.

Now I haven’t tested this out but the new cloud server offerings are rumored to support very large enterprises or educational institutes, with the ability to easily support organizations with more than 10 thousand members.

More than 1 million users, tens of thousands of businesses have chosen DriveHQ cloud-based services, incl. Online Storage, Sharing, Backup and FTP Server Hosting services.  DriveHQ focuses on high quality features that create value and save money for customers.  Their technologies and features are far ahead of other companies.

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Computer Server Shot by Drunken Mortgage Worker

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Posted on 25th August 2010 by cloudhostingguy in Cloud Hosting

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shutterstock_18255388.jpgDrunken Utah mortgage company employee in Salt Lake City, Utah fired shots on the mortgage companies computer server last night.  Right after opening fire on the server he called the local police and told officers that someone stole his .45-caliber weapon and shot the server.

Joshua Lee Campbell was charged with a felony for criminal mischief and three misdemeanors:

  1. Carrying a weapon while under the influence.
  2. Lying to police.
  3. Public intoxication.

Investigators said the 23-year-old Salt Lake City man called police on Aug. 12 and claimed a man stole his gun and fired into the $100,000 computer server owned by RANLife Home Loans.  Investigators say they determined Campbell returned to the office late at night after drinking at an evening concert and he shot the server. Police say Campbell told them he was mugged, assaulted and drugged by a mystery man.

I thought this was a very funny story but proves a point that you shouldn’t have your servers laying around the office.  You should switch to the cloud and have your server in a cloud hosting providers facility.  If this Mortgage Company would have followed these instructions, they would still have a server and all the information that they potentially lost.

Thanks to KSL for the news story!

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