What telecoms products and services are the must-haves for next year?

What are CIOs looking out for in the telecoms market? CBR rounds up ten technologies, products and changes that enterprises want to see next year.

 

1. Enhanced phone hardware

In the era of ubiquitous smartphone ownership, it's easy to neglect the fixed deskphone. But a significant proportion of communication still takes place at a desk and it is important to keep up-to-date with new advances.

Bluetooth headsets will help employees become as mobile with a landline as with a mobile. If combined with the right software, deskphones can be combined with other forms of communication, enabling features such as answerphone to email.

 

2. Fibre to the premises

The data requirements of the average business, including both upload and download speeds, are only going to rise as more and more activity takes place in the cloud.

To ensure the highest speeds, a business really needs fibre installed all the way to the building, not just to the street cabinet. There are several providers that have made a name for themselves offering gigabit wi-fi, including Hyperoptic and Cityfibre.

 

3. Video conferencing equipment

The video phone has been predicted as far back as the 1990s and has begun to take hold in the consumer space with services such as Skype.

In business, face-to-face contact is just as important as in personal relationships in building rapport. Video conferencing can help with organising long distance meetings, but it is important to have hardware that is up to the job.

 

4. VoIP

There is still scepticism about the reliability and pricing of voice over IP, but 2016 will presumably see these being addressed.

Transmitting voice calls over the internet allows more flexible contracts, as well as allowing features such as users being able to have the same phone number through mobile, deskphone or internet. It also cuts the costs of installation and ownership.

 

5. Network analytics

For the modern enterprise, data is everything, whether this is in helping to understand customers, partners or the market generally.

A data-driven approach is increasingly being applied in networks. Through third party services or services offered by providers (Vodafone being one example), enterprises can track the performance of their network and optimise it accordingly.

 

6. Network security

Building a secure network has been a key concern for IT managers since the concept has existed. However, both the risk of an attack and the capacity of tools to handle one have never been greater.

Network security could be a strong firewall, but it could also be something like a VPN. Providing access to the network now has to be inherently mobile and inherently cloud-enabled.

 

7. A software-defined network

A software-defined network allows the manager to centralise higher network functionality in one controller, decoupling it from the hardware. This provides an end-to-end view of the entire network, allows reduced capital and operating expenditure and boosts agility and flexibility.

Applying the same concept to the wide area network, or the one connecting the various branches of an enterprise, will also yield some key benefits. The added intelligence will allow users to build networks around the needs of their particular applications.

 

8. Network functions virtualisation

The flip side of software-defined networking is about virtualising network processes so that they can be run on generic hardware, rather than dedicated hardware such as routers. Key players include BT, Mitel and HP.

Again, this lowers costs and increases the flexibility of the network. It also allows for a much more scalable network.

 

9. More flexible contracts

The traditional model of selling telecoms is essentially long-term contracts with high installation costs. However, recent innovations have reduced the monopoly power of the major providers in offering telecoms.

To ensure that they can keep up with all of the advances, enterprises will want shorter contracts that are more adaptable to their changing needs.

 

10. Regulatory outcomes

As Ofcom dangles the Sword of Damocles over BT and Openreach in its latest review of the digital communications market, the future of the wholesale broadband market hangs in the balance. Sharon White has indicated that the status quo is unlikely to continue, but whether Openreach will be fully separated is unclear.

All the customers will be looking for is an outcome that provides clarity and certainty and benefits them rather than the interests involved, be those BT or its rivals.

http://www.cbronline.com/news/verticals/cio-agenda/network-security-voip-sdn-10-telecoms-wishes-every-cio-wants-for-2016-4752831

Storage Tech Company Nutanix Files For IPO

(Reuters) – Online storage startup #Nutanix has filed for its long-awaited public offering, the latest indication that the IPO window may still be open for some highly valued tech companies.

Nutanix, which builds server and storage systems for companies, was valued at $2 billion at its last private financing round in August 2014.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in April that the initial public offering could value Nutanix at more than $2.5 billion, including debt.

Tuesday’s filing said Nutanix plans to raise $200 million in the deal, but that will likely change when the company offers a share price. The company, founded in 2009, did not disclose how many shares it would sell.

http://fortune.com/2015/12/22/storage-tech-nutanix-files-ipo/

How Businesses Can Make Sense of the Big Data Market

Businesses don't get any points for how efficiently their infrastructure runs or how high they can stack all the Big Data they collect. What does count is the quality of the analytics and intelligence that data produces.

Over the last several years, #Hadoop is the word that's become most synonymous with ingesting, processing, and transforming data. This open-source framework for distributed data storage and processing has spawned its own enterprise space and integrated its way into all the major cloud platforms. Hadoop is far from the only #BigData technology worth talking about, but it's become the one on which many others are built.

The problem for businesses is the Hadoop space is full of distributions and tooling options, and as Gartner Research Director Nick Heudecker explained, many of them look the same. Heudecker, whose research covers information management including the Big Data and NoSQL spaces, said if you're looking at the general data processing options, a lot of vendors offer very similar features.

Breaking Down the Market
There are three main pure-playHadoop start-ups—#Cloudera, #Hortonworks, and #MapR—and they've all grown steadily in 2015. According to Gartner, each has approximately 700 customers, give or take 10 percent, putting the global market between 2,100-2,400 Hadoop customers worldwide. All three offer both a free tier and an enterprise tier of their Hadoop distribution, and each makes significant open-source contributions to projects under the #Apache Software Foundation (ASF) banner.

"Our data indicates that 44 percent of Hadoop use is currently unpaid," said Heudecker. "Is there a clear leader? I don't think so. They're all grabbing market share because it's a very new space."

In the last few months, much of the competition between the three has come down to competition over data analytics capabilities and creative ways of integrating Apache Spark, an open-source Big Data processing engine with use cases from real-time data streams to machine learning. MapR recently announced MapR Streams as part of a "converged data platform" integrating Hadoop, Spark-based stream processing, and analytics. Hortonworks rolled out an update to the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) with in-memory Spark analytics, and Cloudera offers a variety of open-source Spark integrations through its One Platform Initiative, along with offering Spark training classes.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2496736,00.asp

Primary Dispersions to commercialise graphene-based epoxy resins

Primary Dispersions Limited, a spin-out from the UK Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), has formed a group to commercialise specialist #graphene based epoxy resins for the aerospace industr

The group includes: Bombardier, B/E Aerospace Ltd, NetComposites Ltd, The Institute of Occupational Medicine, Nanoforce Technology Ltd.

The InnovateUK project titled ‘NanoSynth’ which began in April 2013 has been able to show significant improvements in epoxy resin mechanical, thermal and electrical properties.

Although still at a low technology readiness level, the programme has developed a method for producing graphene in-situ within the resin.

Once concluded the project has the potential to introduce graphene based epoxy resins into aerospace components leading to parts that are not only stronger and of reduced weight but also possess improved electrical and thermal properties.

http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/primary-dispersions-to-commercialise-graphene-based-epoxy-resins-2015-12/

Dell Discloses Quarterly Revenue Decline, $7.7 Billion Cash Commitment For EMC Buy

As #Dell proceeds toward the acquisition of data storage giant #EMC, it is coping with quarterly revenue declines as well as the need to raise money to pay for the merger.

For the first time since going private in 2013, Dell has published financial results -- in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made by holding company Denali Holding Inc. related to the proposed $67 billion acquisition of EMC.

http://m.crn.com/news/channel-programs/300079181/dell-discloses-quarterly-revenue-decline-7-7-billion-cash-commitment-for-emc-buy.htm?itc=hp_todays_news

Dell Files to Take Its SecureWorks Division Public Next Year

Privately held computing giant #Dell has filed paperwork with U.S. regulators to take its #SecureWorks division public in an IPO early next year.

Dell acquired SecureWorks in 2011, paying $612 million for the Atlanta-based cloud security outfit.

The filing shows that SecureWorks finished the 2015 fiscal year ended in January with $262 million in revenue and a net loss of $38.5 million. For the first nine months of the current fiscal year, revenue was $245 million with a loss of $57.5 million.

The filing doesn’t say how much Dell expects to raise with the offering beyond a $100 million amount that is probably just a placeholder. The proposed ticker symbol is SCWX.

The IPO is taking place against the backdrop of Dell’s proposed acquisition of storage company EMC. Dell has proposed to raise tens of billions in debt to pay for EMC. The proceeds from the offering could be used to help retire some of that debt after the deal closes next year. Dell is also looking to sell off assets like its Perot Systems IT outsourcing unit. Meanwhile, EMC is exploring the potential of taking its software subsidiary Pivotal public in an IPO next year.

http://recode.net/2015/12/17/dell-files-to-take-its-secureworks-division-public-next-year/

Google’s Quantum Dream Machine

John Martinis used the arm of his reading glasses to indicate the spot where he intends to demonstrate an almost unimaginably powerful new form of computer in a few years. It is a cylindrical socket an inch and a half across, at the bottom of a torso-sized stack of plates, blocks, and wires of brass, copper, and gold. The day after I met with him this fall, he loaded the socket with an experimental superconducting chip etched with a microscopic #Google logo and cooled the apparatus to a hundredth of a degree Celsius above absolute zero. To celebrate that first day of testing the machine, Martinis threw what he called “a little party” at a brewpub with colleagues from his newly outfitted Google lab in Santa Barbara, California.

That party was nothing compared with the celebration that will take place if Martinis and his group can actually create the wonder computer they seek. Because it would harness the strange properties of quantum physics that arise in extreme conditions like those on the ultracold chip, the new computer would let a Google coder run calculations in a coffee break that would take a supercomputer of today millions of years. The software that Google has developed on ordinary computers to drive cars or answer questions could become vastly more intelligent. And earlier-stage ideas bubbling up at Google and its parent company, such as robots that can serve as emergency responders or software that can converse at a human level, might become real.

The theoretical underpinnings of quantum computing are well established. And physicists can build the basic units, known as qubits, out of which a quantum computer would be made. They can even operate qubits together in small groups. But they have not made a fully working, practical quantum computer.

Martinis is a towering figure in the field: his research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has demonstrated some of the most reliable qubits around and gotten them running some of the code a quantum computer would need to function. He was hired by Google in June 2014 after persuading the company that his team’s technology could mature rapidly with the right support. With his new Google lab up and running, Martinis guesses that he can demonstrate a small but useful quantum computer in two or three years. “We often say to each other that we’re in the process of giving birth to the quantum computer industry,” he says.

Google and quantum computing are a match made in algorithmic heaven. The company is often said to be defined by an insatiable hunger for data. But Google has a more pressing strategic addiction: to technology that extracts information from data, and even creates intelligence from it. The company was founded to commercialize an algorithm for ranking Web pages, and it built its financial foundations with systems that sell and target ads. More recently, Google has invested heavily in the development of AI software that can learn to understand language or images, perform basic reasoning, or steer a car through traffic—all things that remain tricky for conventional computers but should be a breeze for quantum ones. “Machine learning is a core, transformative way by which we’re rethinking how we’re doing everything,” Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, recently informed investors. Supporting that effort would be the first of many jobs for Martinis’s new quantum industry.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/544421/googles-quantum-dream-machine/

Seven Biggest Technology M&As In 2015

Almost a year ago, IDC researchers predicted that the technology industry is likely to see several major mergers, acquisitions, or restructurings among the top-tier IT vendors in 2015. True to their premonition, 2015 has really been a very busy year for tech mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

The networking, storage, semiconductor, security, and cloud computing markets all saw major changes that altered the competitive landscape. Financial software company Dealogic calculates that 45 transactions worth over $10 billion took place in the first three quarters of the year, with volume dominated by 33 U.S.-targeted deals totaling $858.7 billion. According to S&P Capital IQ, M&A tech activity has totaled over $240 billion till date, making 2015 the second best year ever for tech deals (the best year being 2000, with $390 billion).

Here are some of the biggest tech mergers and acuisitions in 2015.

http://www.cxotoday.com/story/7-biggest-tech-mas-in-2015/

Does hyper-converged infrastructure improve VDI scalability?

BOSTON -- When introducing a technology such as VDI to the workforce, IT administrators need the ability to scale...

up and down, depending on demands and adoption rate. Hyper-converged infrastructure provides back-end flexibility that can help a VDI project meet a company's needs.

One of the major benefits of usinghyper-converged infrastructure ( #HCI ) is that it combines compute, storage, networking and virtualization resources all into one tightly integrated, software-defined system. An admin can upgrade the entire system at once by adding a single node, rather than sorting through a traditional siloed setup.

"You have all of the components of the traditional infrastructure consolidated into a single device, so that allows us to quickly and easily scale out the environment," Sammie Ginger, a principal engineer at #SimpliVity Corp., based in Westborough, Mass., said in a session.

HCI vendors #Nutanix and SimpliVity both hosted sessions here at last week's #VMware User Group UserCon event, and VMware offered a hands-on lab for one of its two HCI products -- the still unreleased EVO SDDC.

http://searchvirtualdesktop.techtarget.com/answer/Does-hyper-converged-infrastructure-improve-VDI-scalability

Flash technology accounts for more than half of total external storage value, analyst claims

IT buyers are snubbing high-end storage systems in favour of new flash alternatives, according to IDC, which said the latter now accounts for more than half of external storage value.

The analyst claims that the external storage systems market fell 9.8 per cent annually in Q3 to $1.57bn (£1.05bn).

The slump was driven by a 27 per cent fall in the value of traditional hard disk arrays. The decline would have been worse were it not for the rocketing value of flash systems. Over the same period, the value of flash technology jumped a massive 75.4 per cent, with hybrid flash arrays enjoying a seven per cent boost in value too.

IDC said this forms part of the move towards the next generation of IT.

"The transition toward the ‘Third Platform' is influencing purchase decisions, with users shying away from high-end systems, which declined for the tenth quarter in a row, to fully embrace new solutions such as flash systems, which passed the 50 per cent threshold of total external storage value," said IDC senior analyst Silvia Cosso.

The EMEA decline in the storage market was mirrored in the UK, which IDC claims is partly down to a slowing down of investments in the financial services space. The UK's status as a hub for storage startups means the region faces greater competition on price, which IDC said also drove the slump.

IDC senior analyst Archana Venkatraman said flash is doing well in western Europe particularly.

"The high growth in flash storage coupled with strong ODM vendor revenue growth shows that western European enterprises are heavily investing in disruptive storage technologies such as flash, software-defined storage, cloud-based storage, and hyperconverged systems when they refresh their infrastructures," she said.

http://m.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2439473/flash-is-the-future-of-external-storage-idc

Nexusguard Introduces Software-Defined Networking to DDoS with Nexusguard AI

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#Nexusguard, the worldwide leader in distributed denial of service ( #DDoS ) security solutions, today announced Nexusguard AI, the industry’s first DDoS solution with automated route engineering powered by software-defined networking ( #SDN ). The capability addresses a number of business IT challenges associated with large-scale or multiple DDoS attacks, automating the management of all network resources in real time to route traffic across Internet-service providers (ISPs) and promote scrubbing center health effectively.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151215005431/en/Nexusguard-Introduces-Software-Defined-Networking-DDoS-Nexusguard-AI

Pivot3 Custom Plug-in Streamlines Control of vSTAC OS Through Popular VMware vCenter Server

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#Pivot3, a pioneer and innovator in the development of hyper-converged infrastructure ( #HCI ), today announced the release of the #vSTAC OS Management Client Integration Plug-In, designed to connect with #VMware #vCenter Server®. This custom plug-in will provide system administrators a single point of control of Pivot3's global hyper-converged infrastructure technology in a familiar VMware interface.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151215006049/en/Pivot3-Custom-Plug-in-Streamlines-Control-vSTAC-OS

Cleversafe takes Software Defined Storage to Industry Standard Hardware

Today #IBM ’s #Cleversafe announced its software defined/hardware aware storage approach to enable organizations with massive-scale data demands to easily take advantage of software defined storage ( #SDS ) with a solution that integrates with industry-standard hardware. The Cleversafe approach reduces cost and complexity by enabling enterprises to manage their storage hardware and software from a single management system. The company also announced newly certified hardware platforms, giving enterprise customers even greater deployment flexibility.

http://insidehpc.com/2015/12/cleversafe-announces-software-definedhardware-aware-storage-approach/

Nexenta to Present Benefits of Open Source-Driven Software-Defined Storage and Industry Disruption atTech Target’s Modern Server & Storage Infrastructure Event

#Nexenta(@Nexenta), the global leader in Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage ( #OpenSDS ), today announced that Eric Cho, Northeast Regional Sales Manager, will be presenting “Delivering the Software-Defined Data Center via Open Software-Defined Storage” at Tech Target’sModern Server and Storage Infrastructure Seminar at 11:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 15 in New York City.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151215005595/en/Nexenta-Present-Benefits-Open-Source-Driven-Software-Defined-Storage

Hyper-converged technology expanded in 2015

Hyper-converged technology and marketing strategies matured in 2015, with early players expanding their products and large vendors jumping into the game.

The appeal of hyper-convergence is the delivery of integrated IT infrastructure on a single hardware appliance that includes compute resources, networking gear, server virtualization and storage. It was a busy year for hyper-convergence news in 2015, and 2016 will likely be the same, with more options for customers to consider.

http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/news/4500260743/Hyper-converged-technology-expanded-in-2015

The Morning Download: Understanding Hadoop

Good morning. The volume of data is soaring, forcing companies in many industries to deploy a level of analytic processing power that was once reserved for the likes of consumer Internet giants and scientific researchers. #Hadoop is often part of that discussion. Every business person with an interest in data should understand Hadoop, regardless of whether it is part of their data strategy or not.

Hadoop is the focus of a new series of CIO Explainers, which explicate complex technology subjects with the business person in mind. Their purpose is to step back from the news, and explain complex topics in a detailed but readable and clear manner. We hope they will be a reference guide that will be useful over an extended period of time. If you’re a data scientist, you doubtless know how Hadoop works. But what about the thousands of business people who increasingly work side by side with data scientists, developers and engineers? They need to communicate effectively with their new colleagues. This series of articles is designed with them in mind.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-CIOB-8704

NetApp To Make $1.2 Billion Bid For SolidFire: Sources

#NetApp is negotiating to buy all-flash storage array vendor #SolidFire in a possible $1.2 billion bid that could be announced as soon as this week, CRN has learned.

The acquisition of SolidFire would give NetApp -- which is in the process of rebuilding a storage business that has been declining over the past year or so -- access to one of the pioneering startups in the all-flash storage array business.

http://m.crn.com/news/storage/300079140/netapp-to-make-1-2-billion-bid-for-solidfire-sources.htm

Enterprise HPC Storage System

In many HPC environments, the storage system is an afterthought. While the main focus is on the CPU’s the selection and implementation of the storage hardware and software is critical to an efficient and productive overall HPC environment. Without the ability to move data quickly into and out of the CPU system, the HPC users would not be able to obtain the performance that is expected. #Dell and #Intel have combined to create an innovative solution.

http://insidehpc.com/2015/12/enterprise-hpc-storage-system/

Dell says it could buy back at least $3 billion in VMware tracking stock

#Dell Inc said in a filing on Monday that it has the flexibility to buy back at least $3 billion in #VMWare Inc tracking stock, the special class of shares the computer maker plans to issue to help finance its acquisition of #EMC Corp .

The disclosure could prove important as Dell seeks ways to boost the value of VMware, a virtualization software maker majority-owned by EMC. The plans to issue a tracking stock have weighed on VMware's common shares, which have lost a quarter of their value since the acquisition of EMC was announced in October.

Under the terms of the deal, EMC shareholders will receive 0.111 VMware tracking share for each EMC share, a move intended to give investors exposure to VMware, which is growing faster than EMC.

Dell said in a registration statement Monday that Dell "intends to consider opportunities to repurchase shares."

Dell said it could support up to $3 billion in share repurchases and other types of payments and that the amount may increase over time, depending on its net income.

Dell said its goal will be to reduce its debt load in the first 18 to 24 months to achieve an investment-grade rating. Dell will have $49.5 billion in debt under current plans to finance the EMC deal.

Since Dell was taken private in 2013, it has reduced its debt by $2.5 billion, while Denali Holdings, the holding company owned by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell that controls Dell, cut its debt by $4.5 billion.

Dell spokesman David Frank said in an interview that Dell will be focused on paying down debt and not buying back VMware tracking shares after the merger.

"It basically gives management flexibility, but the use of cash is largely going to be used to run the business and delever the company," Frank said. 

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-dell-says-could-buy-back-at-least-3-billion-in-vmware-tracking-stock-2015-12

Here's How Dell Wants to Pay Down Its EMC Debt

EMC CEO Joseph Tucci and Dell CEO Michael Dell.Photographs by Getty Images

Slimming down to get bigger.

The #Dell - #EMC saga continued this week with a report that Dell is shopping #PerotSystems for $5 billion. Dell bought Perot, which helps big businesses select and deploy the right information technology, six years ago for $3.9 billion. Dell now wants $5 billion for the Perot business according to Re/Code.

There had already been several reports that Dell is looking to offload several of its businesses to lighten its debt load—estimated to be a whopping $45 billion—that the computer-maker’s proposed $67 billion acquisition of EMC  EMC -0.62%  would incur. For example, private equity firms have reportedly explored acquiring Dell’s #Sonicwall and #Quest businesses.

http://fortune.com/2015/12/14/dell-selling-perot-emc/

Plot Thickens In Dell-EMC Deal As VMware Announces It’s Walking Away From Virtustream Deal With EMC

Ah, nothing goes easy with that $67 billion #Dell - #EMC deal, does it? Today the plot thickened a bit more when #VMware announced in a filing with the SEC that it was walking away from the agreement with EMC to form #Virtustream as a jointly owned company. 

http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/14/plot-thickens-in-dell-emc-deal-as-vmware-announces-its-walking-away-from-virtustream-deal-with-emc/

DataCore Announces Universal VVols Support to Expand Reach of VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#DataCore Software, a leader in Software-Defined Storage and Hyper-converged Virtual SAN solutions, today announced universal vSphere Virtual Volumes (VVols) support which extends the scope and impact of this important industry advance. Many administrators crave the power and fine-grain control promised by vSphere Virtual Volumes; however, most current storage arrays and systems do not support it or are not currently certified as VVol capable. This powerful new capability enabled by DataCore allows VMware’s VVols benefits to work universally across all kinds of storage. With DataCore enabled, VMware vSphere administrators can self-provision virtual volumes from virtual storage pools -- and can instantly specify the capacity and class of service needed for their applications without having to know anything about the storage or underlying hardware. The new capability is already shipping and comes included within the current release of DataCore’s VMware certified SANsymphony™-V Software-Defined Storage and DataCore™ Hyper-converged Virtual SAN.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151214005144/en/DataCore-Announces-Universal-VVols-Support-Expand-Reach

Google’s new quantum computer is '100 million times faster than your PC'

#Google and #Nasa have been working on a lightning-fast #quantumcomputer that is 3,600 times faster than a #supercomputer at solving complex problems

Has Google won the race to build the world’s first commercial quantum computer?

Google and Nasa announced they were collaborating on the #D-Wave X2 quantum computer, which they say is 100 million times faster than a conventional computer chip, in 2013. It can answer certain algorithms in seconds rather than years.

Google director of engineering, Hartmut Neven, said: “For a specific, carefully crafted proof-of-concept problem we achieve a 100-million-fold speed-up.”

The technology company’s artificial intelligence lab believe they may finally have proof that their opinion-dividing quantum computer actually works.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/12042781/Google-D-Wave-quantum-computer-is-100-million-times-faster-than-your-PC.html

Cisco Partners: Acquiring Hyper-Converged Startup Springpath Would Make Ton Of Sense

#Springpath, a hyper-converged infrastructure startup founded by former #VMware engineers, recently pulled out of two industry events and parted ways with its PR agency, raising questions about its future direction, according to a report from The Register. 

The moves are rekindling long-running speculation in the #Cisco channel that the networking giant is planning to unveil an acquisition or strategic partnership with Springpath, which emerged from stealth in February with $34 million in funding. 

http://m.crn.com/news/data-center/300079048/cisco-partners-acquiring-hyper-converged-startup-springpath-would-make-ton-of-sense.htm

2016 Industry Trends and Predictions from DDN

While there has been a lot of disagreement about the slowing of Moore’s Law as of late, it is clear that the industry is looking at new ways to speed up #HPC by focusing on the data side of the equation. With the advent of burst buffers, co-design architectures, and new memory hierarchies, the one connecting theme we’re seeing is that Moving Data is a Sin.
In terms of storage, which technologies will take hold in the coming year? DDN offers us these 2016 Industry Trends & Predictions:
#Hyperconvergedstorage solutions will gain market traction. The new components that drive speed and density are advancing quickly but today’s solutions aren’t keeping pace. Storage and server architectures based on decade-old technologies, retrofitted to include next-generation processors, interconnects and technologies are rife with performance bottlenecks, reliability challenges, complexity and an inherent need for over provisioning. In 2016, storage will take the lead on converging the newest components into a “hyper-converged” infrastructure platform that takes full advantage of advanced technologies to drive the highest performance and lowest latency in a form factor that is extremely efficient, easy to maintain and that will scale without bound.
Optimized storage hardware will come back in fashion. Flash is being used to increase performance for many enterprise workloads. A lot of end users are embracing this flash based solution, while ignoring the cost efficiency side of the equation. Maximizing efficiency and performance of flash requires the optimization of hardware as well as software. In 2016 organizations will increasingly recognize the importance and necessity of purpose-built architectures to encompass greater efficiency and exploit the full capabilities of their expensive flash investments.
HPC technologies will continue to move into commercial, enterprise environments. Storage, data management and application acceleration technologies from the high performance computing (HPC) industry will continue being tapped at even a higher rate in 2016 to meet the evolving requirements of performance and scale and will replace traditional IT infrastructures at even a higher rate. As large scale commercial enterprises learn ever more from the successes of early pioneers in the adoption of HPC technology into enterprise to solve a myriad of challenges including rapidly growing data sets, “Big Data” democratization, analytics initiatives, and data sharing across geographies, they will accelerate their adoption of storage solutions that historically have almost exclusively been deployed in supercomputing labs.
End-to-end, consolidated storage systems will be deployed at even higher rates. As storage buyers look to achieve performance, capacity and cost objectives they increasingly do so by consolidating storage silos into much larger, shared data depots or data lakes. These will be automated, tiered systems that will handle data across a wide and increasingly varied set of applications, including the ability to ingest, process and archive data from multiple locations in a single, unified namespace. Environments where this preference will be particularly pronounced include Finance, Life Science, Manufacturing, Video Surveillance and Oil & Gas.
The storage industry landscape will continue to collapse and converge. Convergence is not just about hardware and software merging – IT suppliers will be consolidating more as well in 2016 into more super behemoths. This consolidation and convergence of companies will have a negative impact on their existing customers – for this reason 2016 will see privately-owned, cutting edge storage companies take a much bigger mindshare as they provide more focus, innovation and value to buyers.
Flash will blur the line between caching and storage. Flash will increasingly be placed outside of the storage array and closer to compute to further reduce latency and increase application performance by orders of magnitude. This move will further blur the line between caching and storage, as the flash layer will naturally become more persistent as performance-intensive applications rely upon this ultra-fast tier to deliver results at speeds that outpace their competition.
Flash media types will proliferate and more emphasis will be placed on architectures that support and optimize them. Organizations are deploying flash to accelerate application and I/O performance. Storage vendors will have to look beyond applications and accelerate entire workflows – which means selecting very specific flash media, whether that be NVM, PCIe, SSD, etc.

http://insidehpc.com/2015/12/2016trends/

Cortana Taps Power BI, Wikipedia Leans On AI: Big Data Roundup

This week we have updates on some very cool use cases of machine learning, how Wikipedia is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its anti-vandalism efforts, #Microsoft 's #Cortana getting integration with Power BI, and more.

Plus we ask the question, is it #Pokemon or #BigData.

But let's start off with different question. What do competing in the Tour de France, prevention of white collar crime, and understanding legal documents have in common? They are all challenges that are being tackled using machine learning. We've got information on those use cases and more for a total of 11 that employ machine learning to work on a host of problems. Let us know in the comments if you've seen other interesting use cases.

http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/big-data-analytics/cortana-taps-power-bi-wikipedia-leans-on-ai-big-data-roundup/a/d-id/1323432

Software defined? No no no, it's poorly defined storage (and why Primary Data is different)

Comment " #Softwaredefinedstorage " is something end users love, and the industry is going precisely in that direction. The only problem I have with it is that, as happens with other buzzwords, the term is being over-abused, and generalization leads to confusion.

I know that I'm not the first to raise this problem, but now that real software-defined storage solutions are appearing in the market, the terminology issue has become more problematic. As always, marketing is the first to be blamed, but finding someone who is NOT responsible for this situation can be quite difficult.

According to Wikipedia, in networking "software-defined" means:

Software-defined networking ( #SDN ) is an approach to computer networking that allows network administrators to manage network services through abstraction of higher-level functionality. This is done by decoupling the system that makes decisions about where traffic is sent (the control plane) from the underlying systems that forward traffic to the selected destination (the data plane). The inventors and vendors of these systems claim that this simplifies networking.
In my humble opinion, the last sentence is the best part. To simplify, #SDS means a separation between the control plane (where things are decided) and the data plane (where things happen).

The only two examples of true software-defined storage that I'm aware of are #EMC #ViPR and #PrimaryData (but feel free to leave a comment if you think differently). The first one has failed miserably because it just wasn't enough – I'd say rudimentary and incomplete – while the latter has all the potential to revolutionize the way large enterprises can do storage.

I've already talked about Primary Data in the past (comparing them to Nicira – now #VMware #NSX), and given that I've met them twice in the last two months I can confirm that, on paper, the solution is really great. Now that the product is available, it's up to them to demonstrate what they can really do. Looking at the various demos available and at the features they already have (and are promising), I think they deserve a lot of attention.

By the way, if you look at Primary Data's home page and collateral, they are the first to be uncomfortable using the term "software-defined." It isn't mentioned, and even though the Wikipedia definition fits very well with what it describes on its home page, Primary Data doesn't use it. I can understand why; it doesn't want to be associated with a meaningless word.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/04/poorly_defined_storage_vs_primary_data/

Something's bubbling up in the Springpath springs

#Springpath, the hyper-converged software startup, has cancelled two US briefing events with journalists and industry types. It's also canned its global PR agency, and calls to its contact phone number are not answered.

The two events are the IT Press Tour this week, and Tech Field Day in February. It was listed as a sponsor for the November IT Press Tour as recently as November 16 but is no longer a sponsor for the event.

Springpath presented at Tech Field Day 7 in March. Our understanding is that it was not at the Virtualisation Field Day 6 event in November, cancelling its scheduled appearance. Here's its history:

2012 – founded as #Storvisor by CTO Mallik Mahalingam and Krishna Yadappanavar, with an $8m A-round.
2014 – $25m B-round, we think, taking total funding to $34m.
2015 – In February, it comes out if stealth as Springpath. In May, Terry Cunningham becomes CEO.
Cunningham replaced Mahalingam who was both CEO and CTO, and reverted to being the CTO. The announcement of Cunningham's appointment is no longer available on Springpath's website, although he is listed on the company's leadership page.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/04/springpath/

Dell solutions boost InMobi ‘s efficencies

Discovery platform #InMobi selected #Dell converged infrastructure offering for accelerated deployment and to drive power its efficiencies.

It follows a partnership announcement in November to build innovative and potentially disruptive solutions to increase business agility and enhance outcomes for InMobi.

“Dell’s rate of deployment and provisioning of servers have helped our business teams serve to market faster and we are extremely happy,” said Sanjay Kharb, Vice President- Production Engineering, InMobi.

Currently, InMobi deployed Dell’s #FX2 servers which is part of Dell’s converged infrastructure strategy.

http://www.infotechlead.com/networking/dell-solutions-boost-inmobi-s-efficencies-36893

Dell Takes Aim At HPE In Synergy Composable Infrastructure Attack

#Dell is taking aim at Hewlett Packard Enterprise's ( #HPE )new "composable" Synergy architecture, saying the new infrastructure product is impractical, expensive and perhaps destined to be counted among the IT market's "derelict big ideas."

http://m.crn.com/news/data-center/300079009/dell-takes-aim-at-hpe-in-synergy-composable-infrastructure-attack.htm

Dell's SecureWorks Plans IPO Amid Parent's $67 Billion EMC Deal

#SecureWorks Corp., the cybersecurity company owned by #Dell Inc., is planning an initial public offering.
The company expects to sell its Class A common stock to the public and use the proceeds for working capital and other corporate purposes, according to a statement Wednesday. The number of shares and price range haven’t yet been determined, SecureWorks said.
The move comes after Dell agreed to buy #EMC Corp. for about $67 billion in the largest technology acquisition ever. To complete the purchase, Dell will add almost $50 billion to its debt load, people familiar with the matter said last month, on top of the $11

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-02/dell-s-secureworks-plans-ipo-amid-parent-s-67-billion-emc-deal

Fidelity boosts value of pre-IPO Roku and Nutanix, sours on Delphix

BOSTON Dec 1 (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments recently boosted the estimated value of video streaming device maker #Roku Inc and storage startup #Nutanix Inc by more than 20 percent, underscoring how some pre-IPO companies continue to shine in a sector that has hit a rough patch.

Boston-based Fidelity, for example, slashed the value of Delphix Corp. by 43 percent in October, according to U.S. regulatory filings. The cut comes just months after Fidelity led a $75 million round of funding in Delphix, which provides data as a service.

Meanwhile, also in October, Fidelity raised its valuation of Roku by 35 percent, according to the company's latest fund holding disclosures. Its valuation of Nutanix rose 23 percent in October.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N13Q1QP20151201

Could we soon all have quantum computers on our desks? Scientists claim to have cracked the problem of how they store data

The prospect of super-fast desktop quantum computers may be a step closer after scientists created a molecule that can function as a stable qubit.

Qubits are the quantum computing equivalent of bits used in traditional computers, but they currently are only capable of holding information for tiny fractions of a second.

Researchers have shown that a molecular complex of vanadium, carbon and sulphur may provide a solution to this problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3342709/Could-soon-quantum-computers-desks-Scientists-claim-cracked-problem-store-data.html

NSA Metadata Collection Has Come To An ‘Official End’

WASHINGTON, November 30, 2015– When the clock struck 12:00 AM on Thanksgiving weekend’s Sunday morning, the National Security Agency (NSA) was forced to end virtually all metadata collection of phone calls made in the United States. Key word: virtually.

In June, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act, which was signed by President Obama. The legislation vested the responsibility of data collection and storage with telecom companies, rather than a government agency.

http://truthinmedia.com/nsa-metadata-collection-come-to-an-official-end/

Exclusive: KKR, Thoma Bravo, Vista eye $4 billion Dell assets - sources

(Reuters) - Buyout firms KKR & Co LP (KKR.N), Thoma Bravo LLC and Vista Equity Partners Management LLC are competing for $4 billion worth of Dell Inc's assets, people familiar with the matter said, as the computer maker steps up asset sales.

Divesting these assets would help Dell bolster its balance sheet after it agreed in October to buy data storage company EMC Corp (EMC.N) for $67 billion. That deal is expected to close by October 2016, subject to approval by EMC shareholders.

The three private equity firms are vying for Dell's Quest Software, which helps with information technology management, as well as SonicWall, an e-mail encryption and data security provider, the people said this week.

Quest Software and SonicWall are each worth around $2 billion, the people said. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) is advising Dell on their potential sale, the people added.

Dell is also working with Citigroup Inc (C.N) on the sale of IT services company Perot Systems, which could be valued at between $5 billion and $6 billion, the people said. Dell is marketing Perot Systems to large companies in the business services industry in the United States and abroad, the people added.

Http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0TK5YJ20151201

Graphene hybrid interacts with electromagnetic radiation

New research led by Exeter University has shown how the unique properties of #graphene can be used to create artificial structures that can control and manipulate electromagnetic radiation over different wavelengths.

A team of international scientists, led by Exeter’s Prof Geoff Nash have engineered a new hybrid structure - or metamaterial - that is claimed to possess specific characteristics that are not found in natural materials.

According to the university, the team combined nano-ribbons of graphene, in which electrons are able to oscillate backwards and forwards, together with a split ring resonator, which is a type of antenna.

Careful design of these two elements leads to a system that interacts strongly with electromagnetic radiation. In these experiments the team used light with very long wavelengths to show that these new structure can be used as a type of optical switch to interrupt, and turn on and off, a beam of this light very quickly.

The collaborative international research included Dr Sergey Mikhailov at the University of Augsburg, Germany, and Prof Jérôme Faist at ETH Zurich.

In a statement, Prof Geoff Nash, from Exeter University’s Department of Engineering said: “In these novel results we demonstrate a new type of structure which can be used not only as an exciting test bed to explore the underlying new science, but that could form the basis of a range of technologically important components.”

http://m.theengineer.co.uk/1021509.article?mobilesite=enabled

Storage Notes: NetApp, HP, IBM Not Really Impacted By Dell-EMC Deal

Storage systems manufacturers such as #EMC, #NetApp, #IBM, #HitachiData Systems and #HewlettPackard have had a tough year in terms of storage hardware product sales, owing to a decline in worldwide spending on information storage. According to data compiled by IDC quarterly reports, global factory revenues for storage systems declined by over 2% year-on-year to $11.2 billion through the first half of 2015. The trend was consistent with 2014 numbers when global factory revenues for external storage systems declined by 0.4% year-on-year to $24.5 billion in 2014.

Over the last couple of years, customer preference is shifting to low-cost original design manufacturer storage boxes, which is cutting into the addressable market for large vendors. This has impacted large storage systems vendors, leading to revenue declines. Despite the decline in global factory revenues this year, smaller vendors have witnessed growth. The combined revenues generated by companies outside the top five vendors saw a 9% increase through the first half of 2015.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/12/01/storage-notes-netapp-hp-ibm-not-really-impacted-by-dell-emc-deal/

Cisco To Carry Moogsoft's IT Event Analytics Software

#Cisco is reselling #Moogsoft 's unified event analytics for IT software under an OEM deal between the two companies.

The networking giant's Cloud and Virtualization Group will package the Incident.Moog software with its Virtual Managed Services software for managed service providers, telecommunications service providers, and cloud-driven companies. Cisco also will resell Incident.Moog generally and has added the software to its product price list.

http://m.crn.com/news/applications-os/300078981/cisco-to-carry-moogsofts-it-event-analytics-software.htm?itc=hp_ots

Nexenta to Bring Open Source-Driven Software-Defined Storage Focus to the Software-Defined Infrastructure Summit

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#Nexenta (@Nexenta) the global leader in Open Source-Driven Software-Defined Storage ( #OpenSDS ) solutions, today announced that it will be speaking at the Software-Defined Infrastructure Summit, Santa Clara. Held at the Santa Clara Convention Center, California (December 1-3), the summit will focus on infrastructure for Big Data and cloud computing and will bring together the industry leading experts and professionals who will showcase the latest innovation.

As the world continues to become more data-driven due to #BigData and cloud computing, the traditional infrastructure relied upon to support such demanding processes has been a constraint. Unable to provide the necessary scalability and consistent performance, the industry needs data center technology to evolve in order to support today’s mass data activities. Software-Defined technology is the next evolutionary step and summit attendees will discover first-hand how Nexenta, with its award winning OpenSDS solutions, is leading the way.

During the summit, Nexenta will be participating and leading the following panel discussions and seminars.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151201005790/en/Nexenta-Bring-Open-Source-Driven-Software-Defined-Storage-Focus

Dell Partners Say New EMC Reseller Agreement Would Smooth Road To Acquisition

#Dell partners wonder whether Dell could begin reselling data storage giant #EMC 's products and solutions before the two companies finalize their proposed $67 billion merger next year.

While some solution providers argued a reseller agreement might be too confusing and complicated to implement, a top executive at a large Dell partner noted during a recent conversation with CRN that Dell took that approach when it acquired #Compellent in early 2011. Dell became a Compellent reseller in the months before the acquisition closed.

http://m.crn.com/news/storage/300078988/dell-partners-say-new-emc-reseller-agreement-would-smooth-road-to-acquisition.htm?itc=hp_ots

Meg Whitman's big new Microsoft cloud partnership is a lot like the one Microsoft already signed with Dell

As promised, #HewlettPackardEnterprise on Tuesday revealed details of its new partnership with #Microsoft to become a "preferred partner" selling Microsoft's cloud, #Azure.

As we previously reported, this partnership is a cornerstone of HPE's plans to keep itself in the all-important cloud computing game now that it decided to shutter its public cloud computing business and not compete head-on with #Amazon, #Microsoft, #Google and #IBM.

There's just one problem: HPE doesn't really appear to be getting any special treatment with this deal. It is extremely similar to the same deal Microsoft cut with HPE's arch competitor, #Dell, back in October.

http://www.businessinsider.com/hps-microsoft-cloud-deal-follows-dell-2015-12

Graphene 3D Lab Announces R&D-Royalty Agreement with a Fortune 500 Manufacturer

December 1, 2015 -- New York, NY -- Graphene 3D Lab Inc. (TSX-V: GGG, OTCQB: GPHBF) (" #Graphene3D ") and #GrapheneLaboratories Inc. are pleased to announce they have signed a research, development and royalty agreement ("Agreement") with a Fortune 500 listed manufacturer. Initially, the Agreement encompasses the development of multi-phased deliverables over the course of the next 12 months. For competitive reasons and pursuant to confidentially clauses contained with the Agreement, neither specific research objectives nor the identity of the Agreement partner can be publically disclosed. Upon successful completion of the research phase, and subject to approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the developed materials will become a part of a consumer retail product.

The Agreement calls for all research and development costs and royalty obligations to be paid by the partner, as well as a first-right-of-refusal for supply of any graphene related materials in future manufacturing pertaining to Intellectual Property (IP) developed under the agreement. All IP developed under the scope of the Agreement will be jointly held by both parties. The partner has consecutively been included in the Fortune 500 list for over 15 years.

"Graphene is a complex and amazingly functional material with properties that provide unique advantages in a wide variety of manufacturing situations. We expect graphene to become a common ingredient in large-scale manufacturing, and the agreement announced today will likely be a common first-step for traditional manufactures," said Elena Polyakova Co-CEO of Graphene 3D. "Manufacturers want the benefits of graphene, but it is a highly-specialized material. We are helping partners develop solutions and processes to incorporate graphene into their existing manufacture processes."

"Our lab team will assist our partner to understand, handle and integrate graphene into future manufacturing," added Daniel Stolyarov, Co-CEO of Graphene 3D. "We are not just replacing other additives with graphene, we are working jointly with our partners to elevate the potential of their products. Product expertise from our partners, graphene expertise from our lab - the results is new products that can do more than before."

http://www.graphene3dlab.com/s/news.asp?ReportID=731909&_Type=News&_Title=Graphene-3D-Lab-Announces-RD-Royalty-Agreement-with-a-Fortune-500-Manufactu...

HPE Synergy Hits Reset For Composabl

#HewlettPackardEnterprise is hosting its first big shindig, the Discover Europe customer and partner conference, as a company separated from PCs and printers, and is trotting out a new line of systems, code named “ #Thunderbird ” and sold under the brand #HPE #Synergy, that are follow-ons to its BladeSystem blade servers. The Thunderbirds are the foundation for what HP and rival #Cisco Systems are calling composable infrastructure.

With composable infrastructure, the idea is to take “infrastructure as code” to the same extreme that the hyperscalers do. But as we pointed out when this idea started being bandied about this year, to provide truly composable infrastructure, the tight coupling between the CPU and its main memory (whether it is DRAM, MCDRAM, or 3D XPoint in the case of Intel) must be shattered and then allowed to be configured on the fly. (You cannot do this today. A system board has a set number of processors and a set number of memory slots, and that is that.)

We discussed this idea both with Hewlett-Packard in June and with Cisco Systems in November, and everyone agrees that customers must be able to add memory independently from compute and, equally importantly, be able to support multiple generations of compute and memory within the same complex of racks and rows, for infrastructure to be the fluid resource pools that HP and Cisco are describing. Presumably, the CPUs and memory will all be linked by silicon photonics light pipes.

http://www.nextplatform.com/2015/12/01/hpe-synergy-lays-foundation-for-composable-infrastructure/

Why cloud changes everything

How is cloud computing bringing society and its ideas closer together?

This got me thinking. Last week the President of the United States started following me on Twitter. Now I realize that it’s not really President Obama on the other side of that virtual table, but the event brought to mind the Six Degree of Separation concept.

In case you don’t remember, this theory states that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world. That random thought led me to wonder if all this social media has actually changed the theory so much that even I can be directly connected to the leader of the free world. A quick internet search revealed that the number of links between two random people have indeed reduced:

https://powermore.dell.com/technology/why-cloud-changes-everything/

IGEL UDC2 now converts enterprise-class Dell Wyse thin clients

The latest updates to #IGEL ’s Universal Desktop Converter 2 solution now allows businesses to convert #Dell #Wyse thin clients from the 5000 and 7000 series into standardized IGEL desktops, with all the remote management benefits of a unified workspace. IGEL’s UDC2 standardizes the operating systems used by thin clients, PCs, and notebooks, turning them into IGEL-like devices that can then be more effectively remote managed using IGEL’s sector-leading Universal Management Suite ( #UMS ) software, which comes as standard with the #UDC2 license.

http://www.realwire.com/releases/IGEL-UDC2-now-converts-enterprise-class-Dell-Wyse-thin-clients

Genomics and HPC

#Genomesequencing is a technology that can takes advantage of the growing capability of todays ‘ modern #HPC systems. #Dell is leading the charge in the area of personalized medicine by providing highly tuned systems to perform genomic sequencing and data management. The whitepaper, The InsideHPC Guide to Genomic is a overview of how Dell is providing state-of-the-art solutions to the life science industry.
There are many aspects of creating a solution that can manage tremendous amounts of data and perform fast sequencing. The system must be architected and tuned to use the right combination of CPUs, memory, network and storage to provide a balanced solution. By integrating the appropriate components, Dell has created an optimized system that has been tested for a variety of applications and storage requirements. The Dell Genomic Data Analysis Platform ( #GDAP ) includes the latest Intel Xeon processors, #InfiniBand and 10 GB Ethernet, as well as the latest #Intel Studio software.

http://insidehpc.com/2015/12/genomics-and-hpc/

Kinara secures investment from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

#KinaraCapital, which provide loans to micro, small and medium enterprises, today said it has secured investment from #Michael&SusanDellFoundation and others.

However, the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

http://wap.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/kinara-secures-investment-from-michael-susan-dell-foundation-115113000788_1.html

How SDN builds next-gen security

As #software-defined technology continues to gain traction in the federal space, agencies can expect to see a significant, positive impact on their own security posture. Those who embrace software-defined and other next-generation technologies will benefit from three key improvements that only a shift towards software can provide: automation, virtualization and a holistic security architecture.

https://gcn.com/articles/2015/11/30/sdn-next-gen-security.aspx?m=1

FalconStor Optimizes Virtual Infrastructure for Swiss Telco While Overcoming Inflexible Cost Structure of Hardware Refreshes Marketwired FreeStor Maximizes Cost Efficiencies With a Unified Software-Defined Storage Platform Without Compromising Customer Value

#FalconStor Software ® Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC), a 15-year innovator of software-defined storage solutions, today announced that #SunriseCommunicationsGroup AG has implemented its #FreeStor® single, converged, hardware-agnostic data service software platform to optimize its virtualized storage infrastructure while continuing to consolidate and reduce costs without compromising customer values.
Sunrise is the largest private telecommunications provider in Switzerland that covers the full range of telecommunications: mobile, landline network, Internet and digital TV. With a nationwide state-of-the-art fibre network backbone and full access to the most advanced next-generation access technologies, Sunrise is committed to delivering a best-in-class convergent experience at the best possible price to its 3.3 million customers.
As the availability of its systems has to satisfy the 24x7 requirements necessitated by a change in focus to selling via the Internet and through its online presence, Sunrise needed to find a way to do upgrades and testing while minimizing downtime and with minimal windows of opportunity. Sunrise looked for a solution that could quickly and easily meet its changing needs, migrate between commodity storage vendors and overcome the inflexible cost structuring of re-licensing business-critical applications when refreshing its hardware infrastructure. Having been a FalconStor NSS and CDP customer for nearly a decade, Sunrise decided to upgrade its system to one built upon the new FreeStor software-defined platform.
"The whole point of the FreeStor deployment is that we are looking at providing a complete solution," said Sandor Orban, Technical Lead Infrastructure Services at Sunrise. "FreeStor helps us to provide infrastructure services that support our business to provide the highest levels of availability and data security. It allows us to support the business by driving faster and lower-cost launches of new products and services. While the future is always changing, we know that FreeStor will be able to help us further optimize our environment, continuing the trend to consolidate and reduce costs without compromising our customer values."

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/11G073560-001.htm

Infographic: Dell OEM embedded technology enables innovation

When #SynerScope, a software company in the Netherlands, had an idea for a big data platform, it needed a reliable partner to power its hardware. It found that partner in #DellOEM Solutions, which provided 13th-generation #PowerEdge servers and global #DellProSupport to get SynerScope’s big data platform off the ground.

Innovative ideas are the first step for Dell OEM customers when building successful solutions.

Founded in 1999, Dell OEM works with partners such as SynerScope, Varian Medical Systems and Emerson Process Management to help them custom-build products.

https://powermore.dell.com/technology/infographic-dell-oem-embedded-technology-enables-innovation/

Microsoft Systems to Mimic How People Glean Info From Images

#Microsoft is teaching computers to see like people; #Skype for #iOS enhanced with multi-tasking features; Ashley Madison users increasingly being targeted by spammers; and there's more.

http://mobile.eweek.com/video/microsoft-systems-to-mimic-how-people-glean-info-from-images.html