Embrane, which builds tools that will enable cloud providers to scale out networking services faster and with less complexity, has raised $18 million in second round funding. The networking sector is heating up as virtualization complicates communication between servers and data centers. Read more »
The shift in networking and the hype around the OpenFlow protocol has led to a a lot of confusion and overinflation of what OpenFlow can do. To get a bit more grounded in reality, I spoke with NEC about what its customers are doing. Read more »
Amazon Web Services announced on Tuesday afternoon that its Simple Storage Service (S3) now houses more than 449 billion objects. The rapid pace of S3′s growth is a microcosm of both AWS’ overall business as well as cloud computing in general. Read more »
With all the great languages, databases and cloud hosting options available, now is a great time to be a software programmers. But that same variety makes it very difficult to be the IT manager tasked with configuring applications. That is where PaaS startup DotCloud comes in. Read more »
Structure LaunchPad startup vCider disguises packets like I disguise zucchini in my four-year-old’s chocolate muffins. Except vCider does it to help companies bridge between different cloud providers while providing a bit less latency and more security that one would with a virtual router. Read more »
CloudFloor, which launched at Structure 2011 last month, has raised $3.1 million from undisclosed investors to build out its software which purports to show both IT workers and business managers how their cloudy assets are performing against business goals. Read more »
PHP Fog is a cloud computing Platform-as-a-Service with a laser focus on PHP applications. It’s what PHP Fog does in the foggy middle that’s so unique and that garnered it a place in our second-annual LaunchPad competition. Read more »
BigSwitch was one of 10 companies launching at our Structure 2011 conference last week, but it’s also riding a sea change in the networking world. I chatted briefly with BigSwitch cofounders to learn a bit more about its goals and opportunities. Read more »
Cloud computing depends on the idea that we will have ample and cheap bandwidth that will allow us to access various types of information and services on any kind of device, anywhere. This need only goes up as we start living in an on-demand world. Read more »
Twitter’s data center plans are reportedly in disarray according to sources. A few people shared that the microblogging service, which announced plans to build a Utah data center back in April 2010, had plans to abandon the site and move to a data center in Sacramento. Read more »
In Silicon Valley, happy days are indeed here again: Investors are feeling generous, the IPO market is percolating, and the tech industry’s biggest players have worked up a very healthy appetite for mergers and acquisitions. Read more »
In the debate over the future of server hardware, it comes down to the need for highly efficient hardware using up a fraction of the space and a fraction of the power of legacy hardware solutions, versus the desire for more powerful options from existing manufacturers. Read more »
Networking is getting sexy again, thanks to OpenFlow and other approaches to network virtualization. So what has prompted this movement towards smarter and more flexible networks? Blame it on the cloud, and the fact that the old ways of networking simply can’t keep up with it. Read more »
When it comes to getting major companies to embrace building their applications in the cloud, Salesforce and its newly acquired platform-as- a-service company Heroku are relying on a tried-and-true method: Peer pressure. Read more »
Enterprise users have different reasons and preferences for deciding between shared and dedicated resources in the cloud. But most shouldn’t be making those decisions based on the infrastructure, but based on the application that they’re trying to run, execs at GigaOM’s Structure conference said. Read more »
In recent years, the increasing abundance of open APIs have changed the way companies do business — in a major way. Some even say that a company having an API today is just as common, and important, as having a website in the year 2000. Read more »
The cloud may have driven down the cost of bandwidth and computing instances dramatically, but engineers shouldn’t take this as carte blanche to be wasteful with resources, said Intel’s GM of high density computing, Jason Waxman, at GigaOM’s Structure conference in San Francisco on Thursday. Read more »
The days of viewing everything in the cloud through an application lens is nearing its end. Instead, we are evolving into a world where quantity, processing speeds and distribution of data compel IT professional to see data as a platform in its own right. Read more »
The world is becoming a giant computer comprised of data centers, networks and devices on the fringe, but that’s not good enough. Datacenters need custom multi-core processors, improved memory and better software before we can gain the rich, immersive services that some computer scientists envision. Read more »
If there’s one thing that can make the idea of platform as a service (PaaS) succeed, it’s this: make it easy for developers. That was the overall consensus from a panel of execs working on the platform as a service at Structure 2011. Read more »
The move to the cloud requires a lot of discussion on the boundaries and expectations for data privacy in a cloud environment. The government’s approach to data privacy, in particular, is of great concern, from the legislation it enacts to the way law enforcement uses it. Read more »
Cloud databases present their own challenges but opportunities abound for companies pushing the edge. That’s the word from a collection of cloud database executives who shared their views at the GigaOM Structure conference on the future of cloud databases. Read more »
New types of storage technology will be needed in order to shift cloud storage from a backup service to a primary function, according to a panel made up of storage entrepreneurs and execs at Structure 2011 in San Francisco on Thursday. Read more »
After purchasing Terremark in January for $1.4 billion, Verizon today announced an expanded suite of cloud infrastructure services for enterprises. Bob Toohey, President of Verizon Business, says the company knows it has to give some control and flexibility in order to attract customers to its cloud. Read more »
Enterprises that express unwillingness to use cloud services are probably already using the cloud — they just don’t realize it, said Netflix founder Dave Hitz at Structure today. But instead of avoiding creating policies around new services, they need to embrace them for the future. Read more »
Not too long ago, getting a great new enterprise software tool into the hands of actual businesses was a daunting task that required a lot more than a cool product. It required a huge sales team and a strategy. Enter the cloud. Read more »
The old days of securing information with virtual barbed-wire fences are over. Today, security aspects have to be incorporated into software applications from the ground floor to ensure safety. And whether an application is hosted in the cloud or on a native server is almost moot. Read more »
AT&T isn’t going after Amazon or Microsoft with its cloud computing offerings. But the company does see a natural intersection between the cloud and its business of infrastructure and managed service and mobility, said John Stankey, AT&T’s president and CEO of business solutions. Read more »
While open standards give customers options, execs from Dell, VMware and Facebook said the availability of free computing options isn’t necessarily the death of innovation. However, businesses that wish to survive will need to provide value over and above the commoditized aspects of open computing platforms. Read more »
VMware, the company that helped jumpstart the cloud with the creation of the hypervisor, is now focused on enabling the automation and scale that are the most essential elements of building out a platform for the post-PC era. Read more »
Here in the United States,cloud computing has allowed emerging companies to build much faster and much cheaper.But in Latin America, the development of the cloud has been nothing short of transformative. And developments are moving rapidly. Read more »
It would be understandable for people to view Microsoft Azure, the company’s enterprise cloud hosting service, as a direct competitive play. After all, the product was launched in February 2010, well after Microsoft’s fellow software giants Amazon and Google had positioned themselves in the cloud computing […] Read more »
Cloud services have a rosy future, but a long build-out industry cycle is expected as businesses are slow to adopt and accept virtual datacenters. Instead of determining to use a public or a private cloud, enterprises should consider a hybrid, best-of-both-worlds approach. Read more »
Amazon CTO Werner Vogels declared stacks a thing of the past during his “state of the cloud” address at GigaOm’s Structure event in San Francisco. Vogels said that the cloud today is about building applications by bringing different services together. Read more »
The future of the cloud is a programmable network with applications that are smarter about using resources, said Lew Tucker, VP and CTO of Cloud Computing for Cisco at Structure 2011 in San Francisco on Wednesday. Read more »
Citrix CTO, Simon Crosby, today explained how enterprise workers will use the public cloud even if it breaks the rules. And the “cloud in your pocket” on a smartphone is changing the I.T. segment faster than anything else. He has a solution for the security though. Read more »
After years of debating what cloud computing really is, we’re finally starting to get a clearer picture. Today and tomorrow at Structure 2011, we’ll look at how the cloud landscape is shaping up. Click here to watch the live stream. Read more »
One of the underlying theme’s of this year’s Structure conference is how cloud computing has matured to the point that we’re beyond arguing over whether it’s a good idea and into how to best implement it. This year’s LaunchPad finalists underscore the cloud’s new reality. Read more »
At Structure 2011, hear from top executives from leading companies and the most innovative minds building the next-generation of the cloud. Find out where cloud services are headed and how they’ll affect everything from application development to data center design. Read more »
