Mereja

Author: GigaOM

  • Sponsored post: Making the cloud work for your business

    “File Storage Costs Less in the Cloud Than In-House”
    Pay-as-you-go pricing can save you as much as 74 percent over in-house storage, making the cloud an attractive choice. But as this report from Forrester Research, Inc., makes clear, analyzing the real costs of internal versus cloud storage is difficult without a reliable methodology — like the one this report provides.

    “Four Ways to Relieve Data Storage Stress”
    As the glut of data grows, businesses of all types are grappling with the same basic problem: where to put it all. According to this report, the cloud can be an important part of the answer for your company, especially if you know how and when to use cloud storage to the best advantage.

    “Top 10 Considerations for Cloud Computing”
    As business users push for faster and easier ways to roll out the applications they need, cloud usage is on the rise. Unfortunately, many cloud projects are initiated outside the IT realm — and without clear requirements or measurable objectives. Here’s a checklist to help you take a more strategic approach to the cloud.

        

  • IaaS marketplaces: the impact of utility computing

    Cloud-based services revolutionized IT, creating a fundamental shift in the way businesses consume compute, storage and networking. The emergence of open IaaS marketplaces will provide IT with the same degree of agility and choice in the way they acquire those resources, and it could be every bit as revolutionary as the initial move to the cloud.

    Through the application of financial and economic principles and methodologies to IT infrastructure, these marketplaces pave the way for new technical and financial products and offer a path toward more efficient, cost-effective service delivery. These marketplaces could completely redefine the IT purchasing structure and necessitate entirely new delivery structures.

    Marketplaces will also bring new risks and responsibilities. Market manipulation, a loss of quality control, staffing and integration, and the specter of government oversight are among the serious concerns for compute consumers struggling to understand the shifting landscape.

    Our panel of experts will answer these questions and more:

    • What lessons can we learn from previous marketplace failures and successes?
    • What is the role of IaaS brokers and what new products will they develop?
    • What is the impact of potential government regulation and oversight?
    • How will IaaS marketplaces affect staffing, operations and cost?

    Speakers include:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor 6fusion for “IaaS marketplaces: the impact of utility computing,” a free analyst roundtable webinar on Thursday, May 23, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. PT.

        

  • Sponsored post: Cloud and co-location hybridization (live webcast)

    For organizations that desire to retain ownership and control of the compute, storage and network equipment, co-location is a critical IT infrastructure solution.

    However, traditional co-location typically lacks the transparency, automation and flexibility inherent in cloud services, making it difficult to gain a holistic view of the environment or to easily address certain use cases (such as scale-out web applications or “bursty” and unpredictable workloads).

    To solve these challenges, co-located enterprises should now consider an “all-cloud” strategy, right? Not quite. Cloud solutions are not appropriate for every application or workload type, especially if latency, security or uptime is of utmost concern.

    So is it possible to have the best of both worlds — the control and reliability offered by co-location and the visibility and flexibility of cloud?

    Join Internap on Wednesday, June 5, for a complimentary webcast in which we’ll explore how you can leverage cloud and co-location hybridization for your IT infrastructure.

    Attend this webcast to learn:
    • Advantages of both co-location and cloud solutions
    • How hybridization of the cloud and co-location can result in improved visibility and flexibility for your IT infrastructure
    • Real-world use cases in which colocation and cloud efficiently work together

    Register for the live webcast
    Hybridization: shattering silos between cloud and co-location
    Wednesday, June 5, 2013, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT

        

  • Sponsored post: ShoreTel Dock turns workers’ iPads and iPhones into UC end points

    There’s little doubt a transformation is under way in the workplace as employees are bringing their personal mobile devices to the office so they can work with the device they prefer. This BYOD (bring-your-own-device) wave is sweeping the workplace and replacing traditional PCs, analysts say.

    While PC sales have dropped precipitously, Apple for its first fiscal quarter of 2013 announced iPhone sales of 47.8 million and iPad sales of 22.9 million. “Smartphones and tablets will be the two most widely used devices for UC in 2013, passing traditional computers and desk phones,” Infonetics Research said in a recent report.

    Addressing these changes, ShoreTel is offering an innovative solution, ShoreTel Dock, to transform Apple iPads and iPhones into unified communications end points. The industry’s first business-grade device, ShoreTel Dock transforms iPhones and iPads into desk phones integrating the convenience of mobile devices with the power of a business communications system.

    “ShoreTel Mobility is about helping workers to be more productive when away from their desks,” said Kevin Gavin, ShoreTel’s chief marketing officer. “Mobility workers want to have productivity tools to be effective with the devices they choose and carry around with them and now they no longer have to give up the convenience normally associated with traditional desk phones.”

    Employees can slide their iPhone or iPad into the ShoreTel Dock and get access to the battery life and call quality of a business desk phone. When combined with ShoreTel’s mobility and conferencing apps, users get a complete UC experience.

        

  • Sponsored post: The Cable Show 2013: Broadband Takes Center Stage

    From YouTube streams to multiplayer video games to rapid-fire music downloads, the explosion of multimedia content and experiences on the Internet today is possible because of broadband. Today 93% of U.S. homes have access to cable broadband, and a majority of homes with broadband get it from a local cable company.

    Those are just two reasons why The Cable Show 2013, June 10-12 in Washington, DC, is a focal point for what’s happening in today’s media and communications environment. Hosted by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the 3-day event offers insights and exposure to the technologies, strategies, developments and people involved in broadband media and telecommunications. It’s a live forum that offers everyone from app developers to infrastructure specialists current intelligence that can help bring new and innovative ideas to the marketplace.

    With executives from the Internet, content and technology sectors joining cable industry leaders in presentations, discussions, press events and demonstrations, The Cable Show reaches beyond the boundaries of a single industry to represent a broad perspective about what’s happening in the broadband economy. And with an exhibit floor featuring top companies and brands in television, technology and digital media, The Cable Show offers opportunities for a close-up view of what’s new, what matter s and what’s next in broadband.

    Registration’s happening now for a show that’s going to make headlines and make waves. Sign up today at www.thecableshow.com.

        

  • Disruption in the data warehouse

    After more than a decade of inertia and rising costs, the spotlight is again on the data warehousing market. Enterprises have invested millions in legacy data warehouses and are searching for new ways to supplement these systems in a way that can handle increasing volumes of data and faster reporting times, without costing a fortune. The many choices, which are not just limited to next-generation on-premise systems, range from open-source solutions to cloud-only services. But making the right choice to support your business requirements is not an easy decision.

    Our panel of experts will discuss these topics and more:

    • What are the major market drivers disrupting the data warehousing market?
    • What are the new economics of data warehousing?
    • How are enterprises implementing new data warehouse technologies and services?
    • What are the buyer criteria?

    Speakers include:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor HP Vertica for “Disruption in the data warehouse,” a free webinar on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at 10 a.m. PT.

        

  • Sponsored post: Learn about distributed systems at Basho’s RICON East conference

    RICON East 2013 is a technical conference exclusively focused on Riak and distributed systems. RICON East will be held in New York City on May 13-14. More than 25 speakers will discuss applications, use cases and the future of distributed systems, including NoSQL solutions and cloud storage.

    A RICON East conference pass provides access to the following:

    ● Keynote presentation by Dr. Margo Seltzer from Harvard University
    ● Over 30 talks including presentations by speakers from bit.ly, Breather, Comcast, Factual, Gilt Group, the Weather Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, State Farm Insurance and OmniTI
    ● Academic talks provided by speakers from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley
    ● Technical talks from the makers of Riak including Basho’s Chief Architect Andy Gross, Basho’s CTO Justin Sheehy, and Basho senior engineers including Sean Cribbs, Reid Draper, Matthew Von-Maszewski, Ryan Zezeski and Chris Tilt
    ● Insight into distributed systems breakthroughs under development at Basho, including multi-data-center replication, Riak integration with Solr (Project Yokozuna), performance tuning and more

    Ticket information:

    RICON East 2013 tickets are available online at ricon-east-2013.eventbrite.com.

    Basho is a distributed systems company dedicated to making software that is highly available, fault-tolerant and easy to operate at scale. Basho’s distributed NoSQL database, Riak and Basho’s cloud storage software, Riak CS, are used by fast-growing web businesses and by over 25 percent of the Fortune 50 to power their critical web, mobile and social applications and their public and private cloud platforms.

        

  • The data-driven security analyst

    Edge-based intrusion prevention and security information and event management (SIEM) are failing to meet the demands of faster and more sophisticated threats, and a new generation of analytic tools have evolved to meet those challenges. These tools have the power to reshape the security dynamic, but they may require you to rethink your infrastructure, staffing and policies.

    Where can human analysis and augmentation provide the greatest benefit? How should businesses recruit and train security staff to best handle the new realities? Or should you outsource to an MSSP?

    For a discussion about these and other questions related to security analysis, join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Click Security for “The data-driven security analyst,” a free analyst webinar on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at 10 a.m. PT.

    Our experts will address these questions:

    • Security analytics: truly proactive or just faster forensics?
    • The benefits and limitations of automation
    • The new security toolkit
    • The new security analyst: policeman or investigator?
    • How to hire for or cultivate the new security skill set

    Speakers include:

    Register here to claim your spot in this May 14 webinar.

        

  • Sponsored post: What’s So Big about Big Data

    Big Data is enabling organizations to create new products, outpace their competitors and save tens of millions of dollars. These innovations are not driven primarily by growing data volumes. Instead, they are fueled by the need to cope with increasingly complex data variety and velocity and to operationalize Big Data, building new applications that create better customer experiences. With Big Data, organizations:

    1. Build new applications that were not possible before, like a major US city that cuts crime with MongoDB using real-time analysis.
    2. Adapt and develop competitive advantages, like a global telco that built an online streaming video service on MongoDB to compete with Netflix and Amazon.
    3. Make customers happy, like a top 5 insurance company that improves customer service by generating a 360-degree view of over 100 million customers using MongoDB.
    4. Reduce costs, like a Tier 1 bank that saves tens of millions of dollars and meets new compliance standards by replacing legacy technology with MongoDB.

    Why are organizations using MongoDB?

    1. Online Big Data. MongoDB is the best database for taking your Big Data online.
    2. Open-Source. MongoDB’s open-source model lowers costs and accelerates time to market.
    3. Community. MongoDB has the largest developer community of any Big Data technology, and is the leading NoSQL database.
    4. Agility. With MongoDB your application development is agile so your business can be agile, too.
    5. General Purpose. Organizations use MongoDB to solve dozens of problems, building their expertise and amortizing their investment across the entire organization. 

        

  • Sponsored post: Learn about the Leading NoSQL Database at MongoDB San Franciscoe

    On May 10, over 1,000 architects, CTOs, DBAs, developers, and other IT professionals will converge on San Francisco to learn about the leading NoSQL database, MongoDB. MongoDB San Francisco attendees can expect a wide variety of content including:

    • Technical talks from the creators of MongoDB, including presentations on the latest features in MongoDB 2.4 like security, hash-based sharding, geo indexing and text search
    • Use cases and success stories from MongoDB users at companies like Cisco, eBay, Parse, ServiceSource and LBNL
    • Solutions from MongoDB partners such as Red Hat OpenShift, Microsoft, Softlayer, MongoLab, StrongLoop and MongoHQ

    MongoDB San Francisco is organized by 10gen, the MongoDB company. 10gen leads MongoDB development, supports the large and growing MongoDB community, provides commercial subscriptions including support, and offers consulting and training.

    Exclusive offer for GigaOm readers: Receive 25% when registering with the promotional code GigaOm. See you at MongoDB San Francisco.

        

  • Optimizing the cross-platform experience

    Effectively reaching an online audience – and meeting their expectations – has grown increasingly complex. Beginning with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, devices, browsers, and connectivity have become increasingly fractured, presenting a wide range of challenges to content providers looking to deliver a consistent and engaging experience to business users and consumers. While expectations differ depending on context, users across all profiles are demanding better performance.

    Our panel of experts will discuss these topics:

    • How do user expectations vary by platform and use case?
    • What are the limiting factors in user experience and performance?
    • Which industries and application types are particularly performance-sensitive?
    • How do you balance server, client, and data solutions?
    • Considerations for in-house development and choosing vendor partners.

    Our speakers include:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Akamai for a free analyst roundtable webinar, “Optimizing the cross-platform experience,” on Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. EDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT.

        

  • When in-house storage wins out over cloud

    Cloud storage providers have aggressively promoted the cloud model as the way forward. And by and large, they are right. Cloud computing has completely rewritten the playbook for how flexible, dynamic, and efficient IT should be. But there is also still much to be said for ownership which has some clear advantages too. For instance, once you get to a petabyte of data it is more cost-effective to store this in-house than on the cloud. Keeping your data in-house also offers local control, visibility, auditability, and service and performance levels you can’t often get with a cloud storage service, much less guarantee.

    In this upcoming webinar, our panel of experts will discuss:

    • Drivers for moving storage to the cloud
    • Drivers for keeping storage in-house
    • Can you achieve cloud-scalable storage on-premise at cloud prices?
    • Examples of companies building cloud-scalable storage in-house
    • When does the hybrid cloud model make sense?

    Speakers include:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Cleversafe for answers to “When in-house storage wins out over cloud” a free webinar on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 10 a.m. PT.

        

  • Sponsored post: PARC, MEF & Computer History Museum celebrating Ethernets’ 40th

    Wednesday May 22 promises an exciting day of presentations and discussion with top network industry visionaries and pioneers including an opening keynote from Bob Metcalfe on Ethernets invention and early history. This is followed by discussions on what we can learn from the innovation process which conceived Ethernet, led by PARCs CEO Steve Hoover. The afternoon begins with sessions on the status of Ethernet today both in enterprise networking and carrier networks featuring senior execs from the leading players and concludes with predictions on the future of networking from leading industry visionaries.

    A charity gala dinner featuring the “Innovation Awards” in aid of the STEM initiative takes place during the evening.

    Tickets are available to attend the conference and evening gala dinner. Employees or alumni’s of PARC and members of the MEF and Computer History Museum receive preferential conference rates. For more information and to register visit: http://www.netevents.org.uk/portfolio/global-summit

        

  • From SOA to PaaS: How to create enterprise architectures in the cloud

    There are those who believe that cloud computing means we can avoid traditional best practices. They think they can avoid a solid foundation in architecture planning. As cloud systems are created, we find that nothing is further from the truth.

    Lessons learned from the use of SOA and other architectural best practices are beneficial when applied to the construction of cloud-based systems. Applications developed using PaaS and other cloud-based tools should be designed in keeping with principles such as request-driven programmatic access, loose coupling of components, and stateless instances.

    In this webinar, our panel of experts will discuss:

    • The traditional paths to PaaS/cloud architecture, such as SOA
    • Best practices for writing applications for clouds
    • Using PaaS to standardize development workflows
    • Why it’s important to support multiple languages across a variety of platforms
    • How to dial into the capabilities of PaaS for your architecture

    Speakers include:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Red Hat for “From SOA to PaaS: How to create enterprise architectures in the cloud,” a free analyst webinar on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 10 a.m. PT.

        

  • Sponsored post: 100% Green 50% less cost. Renewable energy data center for HPC

    For the many who go with the flow, there are the few who seek the better alternative. Like the Verne Global data center. It’s why we are the first to provide our forward-thinking clients with a genuine zero carbon footprint solution to their HPC data center requirements. It’s why we enable companies worldwide to actually deliver the environmental responsibility they’ve been striving for. And it’s why we believe that a zero carbon footprint solution should come without the expected cost premium. Register now for the Verne Global webinar on Tuesday, April 23 at 11 am EST, to learn how we can address your company’s power and cooling concerns, to learn more about current and future HPC trends, and to discover the most favorable location for your power and cooling requirements.

        

  • Reaching buyers with vertical networks

    Have you tried to sell anything on Facebook lately? For all the promise of interactive targeting technologies, it’s never been harder for marketers to cut through the clutter. Sure, advertisers can buy audiences in real time, independent of context, but that’s rarely the best way to make a meaningful impression on a business decision maker. Wasn’t social media supposed to enable marketing to an engaged audience?

    In response, digital publishers are talking about native advertising as if advertorials were something new. In fact, there are good ways and bad ways to make use of native advertising, and some of the more promising vehicles to reach professionals are emerging vertical networks. This session will look at best practices for marketing to IT buyers and influencers.

    Discussion topics include:

    • How should marketers view vertical networks within the context of social platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook?
    • Where do technology buyers congregate, what are they interested in and how do they like to be engaged?
    • What characteristics make vertical networks attractive?
    • What are the best practices for prioritizing professional and vertical networks as marketing platforms?

    Our panel of experts includes:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Spiceworks for “Reaching buyers with vertical networks,” a free analyst roundtable webinar on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. PT.

        

  • Sponsored post: Leveraging the cloud for more than file storage

    It seems these days that everyone is storing their files in the cloud–or telling you that you should. But as many firms know, the challenges of effectively managing and collaborating on digital files isn’t automatically solved just because your organization’s files live online.

    Whether project team members are in the home office, visiting a satellite office, working in the field or on the road they need to be able to access and edit documents on the fly – and sometimes feedback is needed by multiple remote parties in a very short time period. And while these users are collaborating, they need to be confident that they are always seeing up-to-date files – including comments that may have just been added by a colleague on the road 30 seconds ago.

    To solve these challenges, Bluebeam® Software has developed Revu, a PDF-based markup and collaboration solution for document-intensive industries. Revu’s integrated cloud technology, Bluebeam Studio™, allows users to store, access and edit files in the cloud, even if Internet connectivity is lost, from a desktop, tablet PC or iPad. When working with PDFs, multiple users can collaborate in real time by using the software’s customizable PDF markups to annotate a single copy of the same PDF – all while Revu automatically tracks who said what, and when.
    With solutions like Bluebeam providing real time, anytime and even offline collaboration, it’s important to take a look at your organization’s approach to cloud computing. Are you just storing files in the cloud? If so–why?

        

  • Sponsored post: Hadoop and the data warehouse: when to use which

    Live webinar (April 30, 2013)

    “Hadoop and the Enterprise Data Warehouse: When to Use Which”
    Teradata will bring together two of the most trusted experts in their fields to examine how big data technologies are being used today by practical big data practitioners…

    About the speakers
    Eric Baldeschwieler (aka “E14”), CTO and Founder of Hortonworks, and Hadoop luminary will provide perspective on the role of Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) Relational Databases in the modern data platform architecture. Eric previously served as VP Hadoop Software Engineering for Yahoo! where he led the evolution of Apache Hadoop from a 20 node prototype to a 42,000 node service that is behind every click at Yahoo!.

    Stephen Brobst, CTO of teradata, and leading expert in parallel computing architectures will share insights on how large enterprises can effectively complement their existing data warehouses with Hadoop to drive optimal value. Stephen Brobst is the chief technology officer for Teradata Corporation. He is widely regarded as a leading expert in data warehousing and in 2012, Brobst was rated the number 14 CTO out of 15,000 CTOs in the United States.

    You will learn:
    • How to determine when to use Hadoop, and when to use an MPP Relational Database
    • Real world customer cases on big data applications from the Silicon Valley
    • What to expect from Hadoop in the future, and what not to expect

    Join the discussion on April 30th

    Register now for this live webinar!

        

  • Sponsored post: Your stuff, your way. No matter where you are

    You’ve got work to do. And when you want to be productive, you shouldn’t be limited by restrictions such as time and place. Enter Cubby by LogMeIn — the easiest way to sync and share your stuff digitally.

    Flexibility for your stuff
    Most cloud solutions force you to conform to their storage rules. Not Cubby. You can sync your files and folders as you have them on your computer, so everything is stored where you like it. And DirectSync™ lets you sync unlimited files across your own computers without using precious cloud space. Want even more flexibility? You can share your files publicly but restrict others’ ability to edit, privately for easy collaboration with coworkers, or add password protection for extra security with Cubby Locks.

    Freedom for you
    Not only can you store your stuff your way, you can access it your way, too. Connect to your folders from anywhere with the mobile app or directly from Cubby.com, and manage everything from the desktop app. And unlimited versioning lets you download an older version of your files from the archives, just in case you want to refer back or decided you didn’t like an update.

    Work your way with Cubby, and leave limitations behind.

        

  • Green HPC: how IT mavericks push the envelope with clean computing

    While power consumption and cooling are concerns for all IT departments, high-performance computing (HPC) demands extraordinary amounts of both commodities. With pending environmental legislation bringing government oversight to the table, finding the right environment for your HPC projects is critical.

    Many IT departments are struggling to stay on top of costs and compliance for their traditional architectures, but more proactive businesses like BMW are creating new value opportunities. By leveraging the greater capacity of their green data center environments, they are pushing greater compute loads to the cloud and creating entirely new products.

    In this webinar, our panel of experts will discuss:

    • How should tech management prioritize its agenda and re-take the lead on advanced company initiatives?
    • After CAD and other types of design simulation, what kind of applications will require high-performance computing, and when?
    • How should businesses navigate the decision to build or partner?

    Speakers include:

    Register here to join GigaOM Research and our sponsor Verne Global for “Green HPC: how IT mavericks push the envelope with clean computing,” a free analyst roundtable webinar on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. PT.