Category: Cloud Enable

Cloud Enable examines the options available to IT departments considering adopting or managing cloud-based architectures in their business environment.

AWS Summit 2018: Amazon Targets Enterprise Developers for App Cloud Migration via ML, Microservices/Containers, and Serverless Computing

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable, IT Leader
Charlotte Dunlap – Principal Analyst, Application Platforms

Summary Bullets:

• Amazon’s high-value services and cloud status make it a competitive threat against PaaS rivals

• Customers are concerned about the cost and effort involved in migrating applications from data centers to the cloud

Amazon has built a behemoth cloud business through its compute power and rudimentary platform services, bringing the notion of IT as-a-service to the masses early on. It has no intention of losing its popular cloud status to technology companies that are innovating in advanced cloud technologies such as AI/ML, chatbots, microservices/containers, and serverless computing. Continue reading “AWS Summit 2018: Amazon Targets Enterprise Developers for App Cloud Migration via ML, Microservices/Containers, and Serverless Computing” →

Low-Code Platforms Are a Driving Force Behind the Cloud’s Success

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Dunlap
C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

  • A new wave of innovative low-code tools is being integrated into popular cloud offerings to provide developer access to high-value cognitive and IoT services.
  • New low-code platforms are being integrated with operational tools to automate workflows and other application lifecycles.

Cloud providers are finding new opportunities offering low-code platforms that address the labor-intensive requirements involved in the development of web, mobile, and IoT apps. Modern apps are being developed through visual UI tools and frameworks, which engage customers through access to high-value services including analytics, IoT, and big data. Continue reading “Low-Code Platforms Are a Driving Force Behind the Cloud’s Success” →

SREs Take DevOps to the Next Level

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable, IT Leader
C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

  • SREs will play a key role in determining the shape of the DevOps pipeline.
  • Lack of quality SREs has hindered some containerized apps from moving into production.

The evolution of the DevOps pipeline highlights the importance of the software reliability engineer (SRE), as is increasingly evident amid the growing complexity surrounding the application lifecycle. This topic came up during last week’s Container World conference in Silicon Valley in reference to container management and orchestration. Enterprises need to invest in SREs whose operational expertise will take DevOps to the next level, as these experts strive to support new services to empower the knowledge worker. Continue reading “SREs Take DevOps to the Next Level” →

2018 Predictions: What to Expect in Application Platforms

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

  • Technology vendors will productize and operationalize key application platform components through pre-assembled toolchains and pipelines to ease configuration complexities.
  • Traditional MEAP solutions are being enhanced and repositioned to address advanced app development requirements, including mobile, web, IoT, and chatbots.

In 2017, IT operations played a greater role than ever in the application development and deployment process, albeit amid extreme configuration complexity. The prospect of advancing modern app development through new architectures that better support the DevOps model and need for continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD) was certainly part of vendors’ messaging throughout the year. However, deployment complexities were prevalent, stunting the potential of emerging platform services. Continue reading “2018 Predictions: What to Expect in Application Platforms” →

In 2018, Data Center Technology Will Become Smarter, Hybrid, More Distributed, and Easier to Consume

by Chris Drake, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Drake

Summary Bullets:

  • In 2018, rising enterprise demand for hybrid cloud solutions will fuel new and expanded partnerships between traditional infrastructure vendors and hyperscale public cloud providers.
  • Vendor initiatives will target the challenge of managing workloads across hybrid and increasingly distributed IT environments, along with ways of simplifying the procurement, deployment and consumption of IT.

2017 saw a growing recognition that private cloud technology is both a realistic and desirable way to manage enterprise workloads, and can be used more efficiently through effective integration in conjunction with public cloud services. A common theme during the year’s industry events was envisaging and enabling multi- and hybrid cloud futures. At the same time, in 2017, data center infrastructure vendors from Cisco and Dell EMC to IBM and HPE continued to transform their solutions and services businesses. These transformations were a response to enterprise digitalization initiatives and recognition that in the future, IT will be hybrid, and must be able to span the full spectrum of enterprise locales from the cloud to core data centers to the network edge. In 2017, individual vendors went through quite different transformation processes: in addition to launching new solutions, technology companies acquired and integrated new businesses, and forged alliances with one another and with hyperscale cloud providers in order to fill out their portfolios. These developments were all driven by a competitive push to help enterprises modernize their traditional data center environments, capitalize on the benefits of hybrid cloud, and expand their ability to handle growing volumes of data at the edge of their networks. Continue reading “In 2018, Data Center Technology Will Become Smarter, Hybrid, More Distributed, and Easier to Consume” →

GlobalData’s Newest MEAP Competitive Landscape Assessment Recognizes Leaders’ Innovation in Integration and ALM

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable, Internet of Things, Mobilize
C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

  • The newest MEAP platforms are being repositioned to address modern app development issues as operations plays a larger role involving the leveraging of cloud services.
  • New advancements in AI, low-code tools, integration and API management, and serverless computing all play into DevOps’ need to abstract infrastructure complexities while improving management around app deployments.

Application platforms providers are repositioning traditional mobile platforms to address broader, modern app development including web, IoT, and chatbots. Vendors such as IBM, Kony, Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce, and Adobe are helping to drive this new era of app development in which modern applications need advanced platform services to respond to continuous integration, continuous deployment (CICD), a prospect which presents enterprises with boundless opportunities to improve businesses, along with extreme challenges. Continue reading “GlobalData’s Newest MEAP Competitive Landscape Assessment Recognizes Leaders’ Innovation in Integration and ALM” →

HPE Discover 2017: Under Antonio Neri, HPE Will Expand Its Focus on the Edge and Intelligent IT

by Chris Drake, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Drake

Summary Bullets:

• At its Discover event in Madrid, HPE communicated its vision and strategy and to an industry eager to comprehend the impact of Meg Whitman’s decision to step down as CEO.

• In addition to its goal of making hybrid IT simple for enterprise customers, HPE, under its incoming CEO, Antonio Neri, will strengthen its focus on IoT, what it terms “intelligent IT”, edge computing, converged OT control systems, and analytics.

For HPE, last week’s Discover event in Madrid was an opportunity to communicate its vision and strategy to an industry eager to comprehend the impact of Meg Whitman’s announced decision, the week before, to step down as CEO. In her time as CEO, Whitman oversaw the company’s transformation from a provider of traditional data center infrastructure to a business focused on enterprise cloud and hybrid IT solutions. This transformation saw the creation of HPE at the end of 2014, followed by a further slimming down of the company via the disposal of non-core businesses. At the same time, HPE acquired several new companies, including wireless-network infrastructure provider, Aruba Networks and all-flash hybrid storage array provider, Nimble Storage. Continue reading “HPE Discover 2017: Under Antonio Neri, HPE Will Expand Its Focus on the Edge and Intelligent IT” →

OpenStack Sydney: Community Raises a Call to Action for Improved Integration with Non-OpenStack Technologies

by Chris Drake, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Drake

Summary Bullets:

  • The latest OpenStack Summit highlighted the need to improve integration between OpenStack and external technologies for managing containers and edge IT environments.
  • The November Summit also saw a change in the language that’s used to define OpenStack development initiatives, to focus less on projects and more on use cases such as containers and edge infrastructure.

News stemming from the November 2017 OpenStack Summit in Sydney, Australia, reflected the maturity of the OpenStack platform and the stability of its core technologies: Nova for virtual machines, Swift for object storage, Cinder for block storage and Neutron for SDN. However, the Summit discussions also reflected an acknowledgement of the limits of OpenStack and the need to ensure the stack’s integration with a host of additional technologies – including technologies for managing applications and containers and those that support the successful operation of edge IT environments. Continue reading “OpenStack Sydney: Community Raises a Call to Action for Improved Integration with Non-OpenStack Technologies” →

Salesforce Dreamforce 2017: Salesforce DevOps Focus Acknowledges Next Phase of Cloud Development

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

• Salesforce Lightning brand leveraged to promote low-code, customization capabilities

• Salesforce DX emphasizes advanced dev tools: CLI, Scratch.org, repackaging/distribution

Amidst all the hoopla of a big city mega conference which attracts 135,000 attendees were some very important points about how developers and operations teams wish to proceed over the next year with their cloud native app development/deployment projects. Continue reading “Salesforce Dreamforce 2017: Salesforce DevOps Focus Acknowledges Next Phase of Cloud Development” →

Nokia Innovation Forum: Enabling Digital Transformation Through Telcos

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, Internet of Things, IT Leader, Network
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Nokia uses its strength and experience in network solutions as well as its strong relationships with telcos to drive digital transformation.
  • In emerging markets where digital transformation is slow, Nokia needs to work more closely with the telcos and focus on particular solutions and verticals.

Nokia held its Asia-Pacific Innovation Forum in Singapore on the October 24, 2017. Various topics and use cases around IoT, 5G, cloud, network and security were discussed by not only Nokia executives, but also its industry partners, its telco customers, start-ups, government agencies and end users. Despite the diverse topics, the presentations and discussions throughout the event focused around digital transformation themes. Continue reading “Nokia Innovation Forum: Enabling Digital Transformation Through Telcos” →