As Principal Analyst for Data Center Technology at Current Analysis, Chris is responsible for covering the emerging technologies that are remapping the traditional data center landscape. These include software and hardware products that are required to support public, private and hybrid cloud architectures, as well as the underlying virtualization and orchestration technology that is needed to enable process automation and workload management. He also covers the Converged Infrastructure market, with a focus on the latest generations of vendor pre-certified and optimized hardware/software stacks.
• VMware and Microsoft Azure are making speedy progress to commercialize their joint hybrid cloud offering, Azure VMware Solutions.
• Azure VMware Solutions forms part of VMware’s push to offer its customers a hybrid cloud option with all of the major cloud providers.
Amid the inundation of announcements and discussions at last week’s VMworld conference in San Francisco, one piece of news that received comparatively less coverage related to Azure VMware Solutions, a hybrid cloud offering from VMware and Microsoft Azure. Already generally available in some U.S. regions, it was revealed at VMworld that by Q1 2020 Azure VMware Solutions would be offered in eight global regions and would include Azure NetApp Files as an option for storage-intensive workloads. Continue reading “VMware Wants to Maximize Hybrid Cloud Choice for Customers but Coopetition will be a Key Challenge”→
Flexible solutions for consuming on-premises IT, including pay-per-use business models, vendor-managed private clouds, and flexible financing, continue to attract new customers and providers.
Although they will complement, rather than replace, traditional approaches, portfolio expansion, new channel incentives, and efforts to target new markets will all fuel future growth.
Recent months have seen growing interest and investment in more flexible consumption solutions for on-premises IT, including pay-per-use offerings, vendor-managed private clouds, and flexible financing for on-premises IT investments. IT vendors ranging from HPE, Dell EMC, and Lenovo to IBM, Cisco, and NetApp are all looking to tap into what they see as growing enterprise demand for more flexible ways of consuming on-premises IT. Public cloud providers, including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and Alibaba, are also honing in on this emerging need for more adaptable IT delivery and contracting models with managed (or easy-to-manage) on-premises versions of their platforms. Continue reading “Flexible Consumption Options for On-Premises IT Are Gaining in Popularity but Won’t Replace Traditional Approaches”→
Synthetic DNA is seen as a solution to the challenge of how to store rising volumes of digital data generated by smartphones, tablets, and Internet-connected sensors.
Innovations by U.S.-based startup Catalog promise to speed up and reduce the cost of encoding digital data for DNA storage, potentially benefitting commercial adoption.
U.S.-based startup Catalog recently revealed that it had successfully stored all 16 gigabytes of Wikipedia’s English-language text on tiny DNA strands within a laboratory vial, in the latest demonstration of the power and potential of synthetic DNA as a medium for storing digital data. The accomplishment marks a new record for the amount of digital information to be stored on DNA. Catalog used prefabricated synthetic DNA strands to store the Wikipedia data, along with a DNA writing machine, which currently writes data at a rate of 4 megabits per second, but which Catalog wants to make at least a thousand times faster. Continue reading “Catalog Pushes Synthetic DNA Data Storage to New Heights, Promising to Aid Commercial Adoption”→
• NVIDIA’s new edge computing solution uses built-in AI capabilities to analyze and process data generated by IoT sensors close to the points of data collection.
• Leveraging a range of infrastructure partners and integrating with the leading public cloud providers should help to establish NVIDIA as a leading player in the growing edge computing subsector.
In recent weeks it feels as though every major technology company has become intent on capturing what they see as the emerging opportunities associated with edge computing, a burgeoning technology subsector that is being driven partly by rising enterprise innovation with the Internet of Things (IoT). Companies with notably strong strategies towards edge computing include telecoms network operators like Deutsche Telekom and AT&T, public cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, and IT infrastructure vendors like Dell EMC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Continue reading “NVIDIA Is Leveraging Its AI Strengths and a Broad Partnership Approach to Target Emerging Edge Computing Opportunities”→
• Amazon plans to apply its cloud computing business model to the provision of satellite communications infrastructure, while separately unveiling plans for a new satellite broadband Internet offering.
• Potential hurdles to Amazon’s new satellite business include the need to secure regulatory approval and intensifying competition from rival ventures such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX initiative.
• Last week Microsoft announced two new additions to the Azure family of solutions with the goal of targeting an even broader set of customer workloads.
• Microsoft needs to continue innovating with Azure Stack to ensure it remains competitive vis-à-vis a growing number of alternative hybrid cloud solutions.
It’s been a little over a year since the first distributions of Microsoft’s Azure Stack became commercially available, offered by hardware partners that include Dell EMC, Cisco, HPE, Huawei, and Lenovo. Azure Stack is Microsoft’s hybrid cloud play, allowing the vendor to target enterprise customers that, for various reasons, need to keep certain workloads on-premises, while still taking advantage of cloud-based services and resources, including developer tools. According to Microsoft, Azure Stack is now available in 92 countries/regions worldwide and, although the number of Azure Stack customers has not been disclosed, notable customers include Airbus, Royal Dutch Shell, Heathrow Airport, and InterContenential Hotels.
Over the past year Microsoft has continued to add more Azure Cloud features to Azure Stack as part of its regular updates. These updates and additions contribute to a more consistent experience for Azure Stack customers across both their on-premises and public cloud environments, thereby enhancing the utility and overall effectiveness of the solution for a range of use cases. One important new Azure Stack feature, currently in preview, is support for Kubernetes. Users will be able to deploy Kubernetes clusters using the same resource manager templates as in the Azure cloud. This means that applications built using containers can be deployed both on-premises and in the Azure public cloud, while using the same code across each platform. In addition, developers will have access to Azure’s existing service fabric, simplifying migration to and from the public cloud. Continue reading “Microsoft Adds New Solutions to its Hybrid Cloud Portfolio, as AWS and IBM Accelerate Their Hybrid Cloud Strategies”→
Cisco’s soon-to-be-launched HyperFlex 4.0 will come with simplified deployment options and an emphasis on enabling HCI in remote locations such as edge environments.
As part of its edge computing strategy, Cisco needs to be able to address adjacent customer concerns about security, architecture design, and workload placement.
Additions to VMware’s multi-cloud portfolio reinforce the company’s ability to serve enterprises that require a mixture of cloud environments, including on-premises private clouds and two or more public clouds.
To succeed in an increasingly competitive market, VMware needs to continue innovating its developer and DevOps tool sets, as well as in relation to things such as price and flexibility.
VMware recently announced several enhancements to its multi-cloud solutions portfolio, which include the latest version of its hybrid cloud stack, VMware Cloud Foundation, and updates to multi-cloud management tools such as VMware vCloud Director and CloudHealth. The company also announced a growing number of go-to-market partners and the launch of the VMware Cloud in Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in Canada, Paris, and Singapore, increasing the total number of AWS data centers where VMware Cloud solutions can be offered to 13 globally. Continue reading “As VMware Expands Its Multi-Cloud Reach and Toolsets, It Will Benefit from Sharper Articulation of Its DevOps Support and Flexible Consumption Options”→
• A new blockchain-based Data Monetization Platform from HPE and Continental promises to provide car manufacturers and drivers with a more secure and transparent way of sharing vehicle-generated data.
• Potential users should explore the operational, cost, and integration aspects of the new platform, while also investigating opportunities to productize the platform in ways that could benefit all platform participants.
HPE and German automotive manufacturing firm, Continental AG, recently announced a new Data Monetization Platform (DMP), which is based on blockchain technology, and which is designed to help car manufacturers and other partners share and trade data with one other. Data sharing and trading will be used to improve digital services for customers, or to monetize vehicle data (e.g., by helping manufacturers develop and differentiate their brands). By leveraging blockchain, the new DMP aims to address concerns about data sovereignty, security, and transparency, which currently act as barriers to data sharing among competitive automotive manufacturers. The new platform, which is expected to be available later in 2019, was jointly designed by HPE Pointnext and Continental’s Interior division. Continue reading “HPE and Continental Target Vehicle Data Sharing with New Blockchain Offering”→
Initiatives by mobile network operators illustrate the importance attributed to edge computing as an essential component for unlocking the benefits of 5G mobile networks.
However, plenty of challenges lie ahead for 5G and edge computing, including security concerns and the need to develop viable business models and use cases based on the new technologies.
Immersive virtual reality (VR), self-driving cars, and remote-controlled robots are just some of the things telecommunications service providers expect future 5G mobile networks to make possible. However, most large service providers are in agreement that higher-bandwidth 5G networks will, by themselves, be insufficient to support these emerging applications. Recent initiatives by large service providers, including Verizon, AT&T, and Deutsche Telekom, illustrate the importance being attributed to edge computing as an essential component for unlocking the benefits of 5G. Continue reading “Network Operators Experiment with Edge Computing – Seen as Essential to 5G’s Success”→
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