Intentionally Making the Most of SD-WAN

September 28, 2016 by Leave a comment

M. Fratto

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

  • Successfully deploying SD-WAN means moving from rigid, static policies to dynamic enforcement of your intentions.
  • Static rules should be a thing of the past and alternative equivalent controls should be evaluated for any lingering static requirements.

Few technologies make me sit up and say, “I want that!” when I see them, and SD-WAN is a game changing technology for organizations that have more than a handful of remote offices and want a better, more efficient way of interconnecting branches and a better, more efficient way to manage them. Regardless of the product you choose, and I discuss them in “SD-WAN H1 2016 Market Update: Vendor Snapshots Show a Crowded, Competitive Field Attempting to Diversify,” the benefits of SD-WAN will seem remarkable, fantastical even, until you see it in action. Implementing the routing, firewall, VPN, link load balancing, application performance, failover, failback, and cost management with traditional branch office equipment is very complex and even more complex to change, including adding new sites. Read more of this post

Filed under Network Tagged with , , , ,

Oracle’s Recommitment to Mobile Opens Up DevOps and Cloud Opportunities

September 26, 2016 by Leave a comment

C. Dunlap

C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

  • Oracle aimed to demonstrate its commitment to mobile and platform services.
  • Oracle has several exciting solutions projects underway, including cognitive analytics, customer engagement services, RAD, container/microservices, and ‘function as a service’ (FaaS).

During last week’s OpenWorld, Oracle hammered home its commitment to mobility. The company rolled out a number of upcoming (some sooner than later) mobile products and features to convince enterprises it will be making significant investments in its mobile and platform services. Oracle has realized that advanced mobile services, cognitive analytics, and new microservices architectures are what’s going to drive and determine the success of its cloud services. Read more of this post

Filed under Cloud Enable, Mobilize

Cisco Systems Should Buy MobileIron: Here’s Why

September 23, 2016 by Leave a comment

E. Parizo

E. Parizo

Summary Bullets:

  • Cisco’s enterprise security portfolio lacks a strong play on mobile devices, especially those running iOS or Android.
  • By acquiring MobileIron, Cisco would gain strong enterprise EMM technology and the much-needed ability to enforce policy on disconnected mobile devices.

Tech industry prognosticators enjoy speculating about what companies Cisco will acquire next. In enterprise security, the vendor has a several needs, perhaps none more glaring than the need for improved mobile device security and policy enforcement.

Cisco’s security objective is to offer end-to-end security from the cloud to the endpoint, but it lacks a strong play on mobile devices – iOS and Android in particular – which has become crucial. On-network devices can benefit from the protection afforded by its network security capabilities, but when mobile devices leave the network, they are vulnerable, particularly to inbound malware. Read more of this post

Filed under Secure

OpenWorld: Oracle’s Ellison Makes an Aggressive Play to Dominate the Cloud He Once Dismissed

September 22, 2016 by Leave a comment

A. DeCarlo

A. DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

• Unveiling its second generation IaaS platform at its OpenWorld user conference, Oracle’s Ellison asserted that it is Oracle not AWS that will lead the market

• But the company has a lot of ground to cover to come anywhere close to dislodging a provider that continues to impress with an ever-expanding portfolio

Eight years after Larry Ellison ridiculed the cloud as a manufactured buzzword that encompassed everything the computing industry was already doing, the CEO has reversed course and is looking to play a spoiler in a market that forecasters predict could top $120 billion in just four years. Ellison turned his keynote into a scathing critique of AWS and a forum to present Oracle in the disruptor role. Read more of this post

Filed under Cloud Enable Tagged with ,

One Box to Rule the Branch, Yet Again?

September 21, 2016 by Leave a comment

M. Fratto

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

  • As companies refresh branch IT products, it’s a good time to evaluate new architectures for a better fit.
  • Network function virtualization (NFV) was born in the service provider space, but the basic concept has legs in the enterprise.

Every five years or so, vendors old and new refocus product development on the branch in an effort both to add capabilities in remote offices and to reduce management overhead as well as the number of trips IT has to make to locations for moves, adds, and changes. There’s always been tension between adding even more appliances to a branch office and consolidating down to fewer multi-function appliances. Having multiple single-function appliances improves performance and increases versatility because functions can be swapped out by replacing hardware, but at the expense of increased management overhead and cost; while utilizing consolidated, multi-function devices promises lower costs, consolidated management and simpler networks at the cost of less versatility in swapping out functional components and the possibility of a failure having a greater impact. Read more of this post

Filed under Network Tagged with , , , ,

Dear HPE, When it Comes to Big Data, All Software is “Core”

September 9, 2016 by Leave a comment

B. Shimmin

B. Shimmin

Summary Bullets:

• HPE is no longer burdened by application delivery management, IT operations management, big data, enterprise security, and information management software, all of which it termed to be “non-core.”

• Unfortunately, with the sale of these offerings to Micro Focus, HPE has dropped the very thing that would have driven forward its newfound remaining portfolio, namely business value.

Not even a full year has passed since HPE broke off from Hewlett-Packard Company and re-launched as HPE last November, creating a standalone company equipped with a pretty impressive software portfolio covering the cloud, data center infrastructure, and workplace applications. That was a lot to take in, given the storied history of Hewlett-Packard Company. But I think the data and analytics industry looked favorably on the idea of HPE as an enterprise-oriented firm, especially one in possession of software assets like Vertica, IDOL, and Haven.
Read more of this post

Filed under Big Data Tagged with , ,

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Spin-outs Pave the Way for More Big Shifts in the Cloud Market

September 7, 2016 by Leave a comment

A. DeCarlo

A. DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

• Consolidation is the name of the game in cloud as more providers look to mergers and other moves to redouble their efforts against the better-resourced industry giants AWS, Microsoft and even Google

• Rackspace is following suit, finding a buyer in equity firm Apollo Global Management that will invest more in growing the company which will operate as a private entity outside the scrutiny of Wall Street

With just a handful of cloud providers dominating the market, second tier and tertiary rivals are looking for new ways to compete. For many, consolidation is the route they take in their quest to level the playing field as they face-off against behemoths like AWS and Microsoft. Read more of this post

Filed under Cloud Enable

VMware and Huawei: Two Mega-Events, Two Mega-Visions of Tomorrow’s Cloud Ecosystem

September 7, 2016 by Leave a comment

C. Drake

C. Drake

Summary Bullets:

  • At their respective annual events, VMware and Huawei delivered their own visions of the emerging cloud ecosystem and their plans for shaping that ecosystem.
  • Key distinctions between these two companies’ approach to cloud building include the way they work with partners and the way they negotiate new technology innovations.

Last week saw two IT giants, on different sides of the globe, articulate their own particular visions of the emerging cloud technology ecosystem and their respective plans for shaping that ecosystem. For virtualization king VMware, the eighth annual VMworld event in Las Vegas was, among other things, an opportunity to demonstrate its efforts to extend the VMware platform to the public cloud while continuing to position its various platform components as the underlying foundation of the modern cloud data center. From the three days at Vegas’ glittering Mandalay Bay hotel, it was clear that VMware sees itself as driving and shaping the evolving cloud ecosystem with its own products and solutions, while building partnerships that complement and supplement its broader business model. Examples of VMware’s approach to cloud building include its strategy towards containers and its new Cross-Cloud Services initiative, which is so new that it has yet to be given a commercial name. Read more of this post

Filed under Cloud Enable

Let Public Cloud Platforms be Your Last Battlefield

September 6, 2016 by Leave a comment

B. Shimmin

B. Shimmin

Summary Bullets:

• SAP has just announced that its new, real-time data warehouse, SAP BW/4HANA, will run equally well on both SAP- and Amazon-run cloud platforms.

• This push to use the public cloud, not as a point of exclusion (our software only runs on our cloud!), but as a point of value on its own will benefit both SAP and its customers through a virtuous circle of choice.

I proudly admit that I’m a serious Trekkie (not to be confused with those oddballs who call themselves Trekkers) and that many of my expectations of how technology and society should work are colored by my exposure to the idealistic stories created by Gene Roddenberry. For instance, I believe technology should make our lives better and that it should serve as a symbiotic partner rather than as an end unto itself, or worse as a means of exclusion. I’m talking to you, Facebook! But I also understand that at this stage in our cultural evolution, money drives innovation, and competitive differentiation, in turn, drives money. Exclusion and inclusion each push and pull value (read money and innovation) in a seemingly virtuous cycle. Read more of this post

Filed under Big Data Tagged with ,

VMworld 2016: VMware’s Plans for Cloud Domination

August 31, 2016 by Leave a comment

M. Fratto

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

  • One key strategy VMware employs is attempting to commoditize infrastructure through abstraction and virtualization.
  • Cloud providers need to watch as VMware’s strategy unfolds, ensuring they aren’t commoditized as well.

With Cross-Cloud Services, VMware wants to commoditize cloud services just like it sped up the commoditization of x86 servers. During the keynote demo of the tech preview, VMware replicated much of the functionality found in various cloud dashboards, but more importantly, Cross-Cloud Services consolidates the views into a consistent and cohesive dashboard. I think it’s a pretty impressive effort and I’m curious to see the final product, but as impressed as I may be, I can’t help but consider VMware’s endgame as it tries to manage all the clouds. Read more of this post

Filed under Network Tagged with , ,

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